Rabbi Elimelech from Lizhensk, “A Luminary and the Sun”: The main thing is to unite with each friend in love, serve the Creator with the single heart, to give a hand together, to extend connection among us and solder with each other’s hearts to become one whole and serve the Creator wholeheartedly.

In general, all our work is in one action: to unite as one man with one heart, to solder with each other’s hearts to become one whole and serve the Creator wholeheartedly. This is how we correct the breakage created specifically for us in order to reveal the degree of our separation and to build a bridge of love over it.

It’s in this manner of working with the help of an obstacle given from Above, the height of a bridge extending over the abyss of our egoism, that we build our common spiritual Partzuf and reveal the eternal reality in which we are to live. Thus, we’ll be getting even more blows of separation on the way and will be building a connection of love in mutual guarantee, unity, and complement like a perfectly tuned mechanism of an integral system. Each time we have to aspire toward perfection. Malfunctions and new details that need to be added to our system to become perfect will be revealed to us. And we’ll be happy to find and fix these details because corrections lead us toward true perfection.

We have to be happy with the evil being revealed. I am happy and rejoice in these apparent and appearing impairments, writes Baal HaSulam in the Igrot (Letters) 5, P. 11. He continues: I do indeed regret and complain about the impairments that are still covered, and are destined to be uncovered, for a covered corruption is in no hope…. Thus it’s very important for the flaws to be revealed. And they have to be accepted with joy. When a person is connected to a group in the right way, he accepts all the obstacles, problems, and difficulties with joy because he understands that by overcoming them and building a proper connection above them, knowledge, wisdom, and love will become revealed above evil. To the extent of an evil abyss’s depth, he climbs a spiritual height and perceives the Creator’s eternal world.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/19/12, “Advice for the Arava Convention”

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Rabash, Shlavey Hasulam (Steps of the Ladder), “The Need for the Love of Friends:” There is a special power in the adhesion of friends. Since views and thoughts pass from one to the other through the adhesion between them, each is mingled with the power of the other, and by that each person in the group has the power of the entire group. For this reason, although each person is an individual, he contains the power of the entire group.

When children are together they learn good things from each other. Actually they sometimes “infect” one another with bad things, and in general, if a person is ill he infects others. Can this be happening in the group too? What do I need this for? Isn’t it better to stay at home?

There are those among us who think that it is better for kids to stay at home, and not be with children their own age, although this is absolutely contrary to our approach. Of course they receive both good things and bad things from the environment. There is no doubt about that, but a person can’t grow without the two things.

Therefore there is a special power in the adhesion of friends, if it isn’t a society of criminals or a gathering of jokers, of course. It’s said that dispersing the evil is good for them and good for the world. But we’re talking about those who want to reach adhesion with the Creator. In such a case, adhesion, the connection among them is only for their own good. In the mutual connection among us we want to discover the upper force, the force of bestowal and love. If we discover it among us, according to the law of equivalence of form, we will discover its root, the Creator.

The views and the thoughts pass from one to the other, if we are on a certain level of adhesion, in connection. Therefore each one is mingled in the power of the other, and that is the main thing. I need the power of the friends. Alone, no one has enough powers to attain spirituality. Whoever sits by himself and doesn’t connect with others has a problem. It could be that he hears talk about unity, but he doesn’t act and doesn’t carry it out. Many hear, but they don’t actually listen, they don’t connect to the action. I understand that it’s necessary, that there is no other choice, but something inside stops me. I don’t know what to do. I make “Herculean efforts,” come very close and retreat again. Everyone has this strong internal psychological barrier. No one can approach others easily.

The external ease doesn’t reflect what is happening inside at all. A person who finds it easy to hug the friends will soon discover that it’s actually very difficult. There are people who are very easy going, they connect, and converse with others easily. But in fact they can’t even imagine what an internal connection is.

Therefore, we should understand that it’s about working on internal unity. Even if it’s very hard, it’s thanks to this that a person begins to receive spiritual powers from all the friends. Rabash says, each one is mingled in the power of the other and by that each person in the group has the power of the entire group. When I am incorporated in the group I acquire its power. If I had the true power of the group now, even one gram from each one, it would be my net profit.

Therefore, although each person is an individual, he contains the power of the entire group in which he is incorporated. Everyone becomes equal to the group in his powers. Then we connect again and not just to connect or multiply our powers, but we actually raise them in the power we have attained, for example, one thousand in the power of one thousand. Thus it isn’t just power but the power of a “nuclear explosion.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/19/12, “Advice for the Arava Convention”

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The friends unite through one goal. Together with them I can constantly check what our goal is and how to achieve it through unity. It doesn’t mean that first we connect and then aspire to the goal. It isn’t somewhere on the outside, and we don’t look for it like a special forces unit (the green color). No, the goal is achieved in our unification (the red color). We are together, and we reach such an adhesion among us that the goal is revealed inside. It is in our adhesion that we discover the Creator, according to the law of equivalence of form.

The levels of our advancement are dressed into each other, and every step we make is aimed inwards. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the internality of the Torah.

Our egoistic desires are like black points, and we build the connection above reason with the help of the Light that Reforms. The Light itself is also inside, in us, and it is called the Surrounding Light not because it is poured on us from the outside, but because it comes from a higher level, that is, from inside. It connects us and fills the void of our interconnection, like a cloud covering a valley.

Then we feel that we are like croutons in a soup. It is as if we step into the fog, get into the water, and sink into the thickness of the collective sensation. In it we discover the root that’s there: the Creator and adhesion with Him.

It is all inside. There is nothing on the outside.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/19/12, “Advice for the Arava Convention” 

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Rabash, Shlavey Hasulam (Steps of the Ladder), “Judges and Guards”: It is said: “You should post judges and guards at all your gates.” When a person wants to start the work of the Creator, he goes through two stages:

1. Theory. He first makes himself a plan: what he should do and what he shouldn’t. That is, this is the clarification of good and evil, and this theoretical part is called a “judge” who tells him what to do.

2. Then he has to put theory into practice, and it is already called a “guard.”

It isn’t a single day’s work, but one has to exert himself in the work daily. Therefore, the plural form is used: “judges and guards.”

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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/19/12, “Advice for the Arava Convention” 

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Question: In the last convention in Israel I felt an unprecedented sense of connection. But afterward, for a week I felt such a descent, which, too, I had never felt before. Now I am afraid of conventions. What can I do?

Answer: It is very good. It is excellent. We should really be afraid. We also see that before the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt.

Just imagine that you are being thrown out of the place you are used to, and that you escape in the middle of the night, not knowing where to. Pharaoh’s cavalry is chasing you. You are confused, you jump into the Red Sea, and suddenly a miracle takes place. Actually it isn’t so delightful. Then the people praise the Creator: “The horse and rider drowned at sea.” But we should understand that a person goes through very extreme states that resemble birth; he feels great pressure like an embryo during labor pains.

Then after the journey in the desert almost a thousand laws are “imposed” on you: what you should do and what you must not do, and what punishments you will receive if you don’t follow these laws. In other words, you get the plan of your future correction, even before you are at the foot of Mt. Sinai: “This is what is expected, whether you want to or not. It makes no difference. Take it and start doing it.”

Only now do you discover what the work of the Creator is. Up until now you thought that you are a hero among zeros and now you see a list that reaches the sky before you. In every line it says: “if you don’t perform—you will get problems, catastrophes, death….”

Furthermore, you are also told: “On the whole, if you don’t connect—this will be your burial place.”

Then the point of Moses gladly comes out of every heart, the point that pulls us toward the Creator. We connect these points and discover to some extent the connection with the upper force. It is done gradually: At first only the point of Moses discovers Him, while the other points—the sages, the elderly, the priests, the Levites, Israel, the women, the slaves and the children are standing at the foot of the mountain. They say, “We shall do and we shall hear.” In other words, all our desires that are ready to surrender receive the force.

It is happening today, and the next day we immediately build the golden calf.

It is important that we understand: It is all within our reach. We escape the ego, and we really need to feel this escape. You come to the convention, fully ready, fearing that you might not fulfill the mission and reach the desired goal. You are afraid of being restricted and obliged, just like the escape from Egypt.

On the other hand, you feel obliged to all the friends. You look at them and you desperately look for our collective point of connection.

Eventually, we should bring all our powers to one moment. But for that moment we should be taut during the whole convention, like a taut string. We should be connected in time, movement, and place, in the connection among us. It is said: “Israel the Torah and the Creator are one.” This is like the situation of the great priest in the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur….We should reach that one single unique moment and then it will happen.

Then the path will continue, but it will be with the connection to the Reforming Light.

These are the conditions: You are actually running away; it isn’t in your power to go back to your previous life; you must achieve the desired goal; and at the same time you must pull together all your powers for that single moment. This aims you very sharply at the target. Let’s see how all this will happen.

In The Book of Zohar, (Nasso [Take] Items 98-99) it says: “…and they shall gather at the foot of the mountain. At the foot of the mountain they were told: ‘If you receive the Torah, good, and if not, there shall be your burial place.'”

This means that we with our egoistic desire will see the beastly life as “wonderful.” We will feel that we are in this “beastly burial,” and some won’t even feel that. Then instead of internal mental, goal-oriented, human disturbances, we should expect beastly problems from which the whole world suffers.

Therefore, we must prepare for the convention very seriously. If we’ve taken it upon ourselves, we mustn’t withdraw. It is a very narrow bridge and the main thing is not to be afraid.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/19/12, “Advice for the Arava Convention”

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Question: What is the importance of the conventions that are intended not only for us, but mainly for the world?

Answer: The point is that we need to take advantage of each convention in two ways: to advance upward toward the Creator, to the attribute of bestowal and love, and simultaneously to move downward, towards the remaining 99%. Essentially, we need to separate the two and afterward to connect it all into a single whole. This is what we have to do.

Thus, at each convention we will talk about our advancement forward, upward, and also about our movement downward to all of humanity since one cannot exist without the other.

We received the disclosure of the wisdom of Kabbalah, the disclosure of the condition of unification, the attainment of the spiritual quality, because we need to call for the unification of and connection with all the others, to rescue humanity from the state it is in. This is why we are like this; otherwise, we wouldn’t have been given this.

We connect all of humanity: the 99% and the Creator. Under no circumstances can we forget either of them.

Between ourselves, we must go forward, to the attribute of bestowal and love in order to become one whole. For this we need the connection with the Creator. And all of this is in order to bring humanity to the same state.

It is precisely because the ego and the crisis have manifested in the world enough that we were given the opportunity to bond between us, to work with the book, to understand the system, to discover the world, and in this way to advance it forward. This is the only reason we exist.

We represent Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), and all of humanity is the AHP. If we advance forward, we will be able to attain only a small illumination. Our advancement needs to be as follows: We need to advance toward the Creator, and the Creator will lower us down toward humanity. Afterward we will advance a little more toward the Creator and then back to humanity.

And thus it alternates. Otherwise GE won’t have the Kelim (vessels), desires, since GE do not have enough Aviut (coarsenss or thickness of the desire).

All of the Aviut comes from the AHP, from humanity. Thus we must, like from Egypt, take from there all the Kelim and “drag” them with us. When we bond with them and begin to transfer their Aviut, we will begin to advance forward with the help of descents and ascents. Thus we will move all the time, in a circle, until we bring the entire humanity to connection with the Creator.
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From the Lecture on Unity Day “To Acquire a Desire to Give” 1/29/2012

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Baal HaSulam: “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“: And while one sees how one’s environment slights His work and does not properly appreciate His greatness, one cannot overcome the environment. Thus, one cannot obtain His greatness and slights during one’s work, as do they. Now you can understand the verse, “In the multitude of people is the king’s glory,” since the measure of the greatness comes from the environment under two conditions:

1.            The extent of the appreciation of the environment.
2.            The size of the environment.

Everything depends on the connection with the group. From it a person draws the strength to connect, and it is there that our might grows until we reach the Creator who is in the center of the environment.

But if a person doesn’t connect with the environment, he has no one to receive the strength from, and so he doesn’t find the upper force in the center.

Many details make up our connection: positive ones and seemingly negative ones. They belong to different levels of Aviut, meaning the coarseness, “thickness” of the desire. A person cannot do anything with his Aviut by himself. He must receive stimuli from the environment, such as needs, obstacles, and problems. When he overcomes them, he turns to the friends again because it is impossible to advance without enough negativity either.

So there is a lot of work to do and it is all in the society. Only there does a person gradually acquire the thickness and the purity of the desire. Eventually, his efforts add up to the necessary measure and he discovers the Creator within the unity with the friends.

If a person doesn’t see the Creator among the friends, it is a sign that he hasn’t connected with them yet. If he doesn’t understand that the Creator is revealed specifically there, it means that he is still far from unity. A person must at least believe the sages that the Creator is revealed within our unification, in its center. On the way to it one must acquire great thickness of the desire, experience many disappointments, and at the same time overcome many obstacles and refine himself.

Both things are necessary. If a person doesn’t despair, he can very quickly discover the Creator, like in the exodus from Egypt.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/19/2012, “Advice for the Arava Convention”

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Question: We are saying that the Arava Convention requires one to be serious. What does it mean to be serious during the convention?

Answer: This means that I do not allow myself to deviate to any thought or desire outside of the goal. I must be united with others and reveal the Creator in this unity.

Along the way I see that I lack desire. Sometimes I want it, and sometimes I do not. And then I come to prayers and questions, I analyze my state, and this, essentially, is our preparation. As we arrive in Arava, we need to feel a constant need for the Reforming Light, so it would give us unity.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/19/20,  “Advice for the Arava Convention”

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In order to acquire the attribute of love and bestowal, we have to undergo a certain preparation. We have to gather together, to influence, to encourage, to spur each other to activity, that is, to do everything so that the Light will begin to awaken us according to how we awaken each other. It’s possible.

And for this we need a great deficiency for bestowal, for love. There needs to be a longing for it, meaning a desire for a deficiency. This is called “a prayer before a prayer.”

It is a little misunderstood in our world since we usually long for fulfillment, and here the fulfillment is the deficiency. This means that if I want to bestow and love, that is enough for me.

Imagine to yourselves that you love someone. What brings you fulfillment? It is your relation to your loved one, and that is enough for you, it fills you. And this is the attribute of the spiritual world, the attribute of bestowal, the attribute of love. Thus the desire to obtain a deficiency for bestowal, the desire to obtain a deficiency for love, is, in fact, our preparation for the convention.
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From the Lecture on Unity Day “To Acquire a Desire to Give” 1/29/2012

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Question: I suddenly understand that we are in a convention every day. Is this the surrounding Light? How can we pass it on to the friends who are around the world?

Answer:  Everyone is mutually connected and they feel it. I am in contact with many people and they tell me about very strong impressions, about great hopes, about the concern, about their intentions… and its good.

I am happy about our serious approach towards what is expected. It is unlike any previous convention. Today it takes on a totally different form. It is hard work, including the time of preparation. We have to make great serious efforts, and be aware of the special responsibility we have. The convention is becoming more a place to exert ourselves than a place for entertainment, and I am very happy about that.

Everyone feels that. Hundreds of friends are coming from abroad for the three days of the Arava convention. It isn’t about the number of days, but about the quality and the essence of the designated activity. I am very impressed and moved by this response. There is a week left, and we should use it for preparation. We have to bring all the hopes together, as clearly as we can.

Actually, it isn’t the physical participation that counts. It doesn’t matter where the friends are; they will try to perceive the general frequency and won’t have to buy plane tickets. We will still feel that we have gathered in one place, because a “place” is a desire. If it is truly one, you don’t feel the physical distance at all. You will forget about your body, just as you forget about it in rare moments of awe, when only the spirit remains.

I really hope that we will connect, and will stop depending on the kilometers that separate our bodies. In every place in the world you can dance with us in the desert and be with us in your heart and soul. It is really so. There are no distances. Everything is determined by the desire.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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