We are in a very special place, a desert. In fact, this is the same landscape, the same place where people who were willing to exit their ego (their Egypt) and reach a desire directed “straight to the Creator,” to the upper one, passed through.

This desert seems lifeless, but that’s not accurate as we find a land full of life. There is everything here, and people can live in a desert. There are underground waters, special air, animals, and plants here. It only seems to a person that there is nothing here because he is not used to living in a state when he has risen above himself. When he reveals this state, he sees that he doesn’t need anything else, only to rise.

Thus, there is a desert in an egoistic desire, but when we rise above it with our own efforts, we feel that it’s actually a land flowing with milk and honey, which has everything needed. Thereby, the desert turns into the land of Israel where we reveal the upper world.

Because this place is extremely special according to its root and branch, it has to help us. There are no foreign thoughts here, no foreign desires. Let’s try to do that! Everyone has to try to rise above himself internally in the common desire, the same way drops of water join together to become one drop, one whole, and not a set of a few drops. That is the nature of the quality of bestowal. In the same way, we have to feel that here exists just one desire, one thought, one intention.
[61425]
From Lesson 1, Arvut Convention in the Arava Desert 11/18/2011

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Question: After two years of studying, I realize that intention is the main thing on the spiritual path. How do I overcome my unwillingness to become included into the group? It has suddenly pounced on me and won’t let me keep the intention.

Answer: Pay somebody to bring you to the lesson every day. Sign a commitment where you will lose something if you don’t perform certain tasks in the group. If you are capable of building your life only inside the corporeal framework, bind yourself to the group in the same way you are bound to your family or job so that a failure to fulfill obligations will lead to a real loss.

“Marry” the group and provide for it the same way you provide for your wife and children. A person must work on himself. You are waiting until you have a desire to take the spiritual path. Well, you may take your time. Such desire will never appear. On the contrary, it will become even easier to justify your idleness with a sober and realistic approach.

You probably will be sent more sufferings and spite toward this world. One way or another, something will happen. If your desire doesn’t burn now, then wait and see.

The world is going through such stages now that it is much easier for people to rise above everyday life. This is being done on purpose in order to help the spiritually weak layers of society come closer to the upper world. The current crises are required exactly for that purpose, but strong people are being given opportunities to fight their matter during times of material bloom and prosperity.

The spiritual world is built on freedom of choice. If a person doesn’t commit to the group and the group doesn’t commit to him, then he must not be pressured because he is not in the family. He hasn’t taken the burden. Thus, nothing can be done. He is free to make his choice.

What kind of requests can a person who has not bound himself physically to the group make? How can he ask the group to become an elevator raising him to a higher degree? It is silly to complain about a lack of desire. It is better to act physically. Catch a brief moment of bursting desire and sign an agreement with the group, which will obligate you later when desire ceases.

Put yourself into a hopeless position, trick yourself just like a bitter enemy, so as to continue with the path even when you don’t want to. Do you like your boss? Nevertheless, you go to work since you have no choice.

If we don’t work on binding ourselves hard to the group, we won’t be able to build a vessel of mutual guarantee. At the Arava Convention, we achieved an important preparatory step toward the December convention; we gained a common feeling. Now, we must sustain it. We must commit to holding onto this feeling with all our might, bring it to the convention, and with it, light up thousands of participants and the millions of people around the world who are connected to us.

To the degree that each person invests physically into this preparation, he binds himself to the group. It is not accidental that Kabbalists from the groups of Ramchal and the Ari signed customary agreements among themselves. After signing, you cannot escape. You must fulfill the obligation. The same happens in life: You sign an employment contract to receive salary. However, here, instead of money, you will receive a different kind of reward, a higher and more valuable one.

Let us hope to meet at the convention prepared and united. Then, we will be able to actually rise and become a Light for the entire world.
[61773]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: When we try to realize the force that the upper degree sends to us, we discover that it’s impossible…

Answer: That’s absolutely correct. We are endeavoring the impossible, something that is beyond our ability.

Can we ask a donkey to sing us an aria from an opera? It is incapable of that both by its development and physical ability. But we are in a much more dire situation. A donkey at least has auditory and vocal faculties, while we don’t have anything from the spiritual world. We are absolutely cut off from it.

That’s because the spiritual world is the quality of bestowal. So how can we feel it in the egoistic desire? Can bestowal dress into reception? Can fire dress into water? Of course not.

Therefore, our enormous desire is not just aimed at an abstract idea, but at having the upper Light correct us. Three components must be welded in this desire: Israel, Torah, and the Creator. Stated differently: me, the group, and the upper Light. The Light is what corrects me; I will never achieve anything alone.

Therefore, at the Mutual Guarantee Convention, we raise MAN—a desire, a plea, a need for the upper force to correct us. This is the entire essence and objective of the convention.
[62266]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/11, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Question: Each time after an intensive day, the morning lessons seem to “heal all the wounds,” opening a new page and giving us a new urge.

Answer: That’s right, throughout the day you do many things, prepare yourselves, and do your internal work so that the next morning we can make a breakthrough.

Question: How can we keep this trend from slowing down before the convention?

Answer: We will not slow down. After all, we’ve become a great global vessel, world Kli, and we have the power to unite and not to lose the deficiency. Besides, we should understand that we have to do only half the work: to create a deficiency, a vessel. The filling will come from Above, the Light that Reforms will do the work. We have to recognize evil, our lack of power, and this will be our greatest accomplishment. At the same time, we need hope, readiness, and confidence that the Surrounding Light will do its job.

So in order to raise a request for correction (MAN), we need two things: a feeling of helplessness and confidence in the power that comes from Above. You believe in Bina, which is called “faith,” “bestowal,” and at the same time you also see that you, meaning Malchut, cannot do anything.

Question: We are riding on a certain wave now. How can we not feel “drunk with success”?

Answer: Everything will be alright. We don’t have to be absolutely sure of ourselves, and at the same time we shouldn’t worry. There are always two opposites that operate here: How can I be worried if I believe in the upper force? I have to worry that we will all connect in one desire. We don’t need anything except for that. Only mutual guarantee will enable us, by the prayer of many, to demand the upper force to be revealed. The more we connect, the more we will reveal its Light.

Question: How can I fine-tune this yearning and not be satisfied with the natural joy from the gathering?

Answer: You cannot avoid the ups and downs. Someone my feel emptiness now, and someone else may be dancing with joy. This is how we complement each other. Thus, the shattering of the vessels manifests: By working on themselves, they connect and actually incorporate into each other.

We have to increase our efforts. The main thing is to reach the prayer of many that will burst out of our unified heart.
[62070]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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There are two paths for attaining the level of “Adam”: the path of suffering and the path of the Light. Being in our world in the lowest state, we suddenly revealed a push that led us to the group, to the general system of uncorrected separate souls.

However, we have all the means: the teacher, the books, and the instructions to begin our correction and become similar to the system of Adam that exists in the world of Atzilut. If we unite and wish to be like Adam in order to bestow to the Creator and thereby become similar to Him, then from this general system of Adam, during our studies we receive the influence of the Surrounding Light or Ohr Makif. It gradually corrects us and connects us into one whole.

It all depends on the extent to which we try to gather into a group, study together from the sources, and strive to attain the goal of creation. These are the means for attaining our higher state. Altogether we must come to the state of Adam.

There are two paths of advancement toward the goal: the path of the Light, when we attract the influence of the Light, and the path of suffering, when we are in the group, but don’t really wish to advance. This creates great problems for us because as years go by, we don’t know what to do with ourselves and why we are not getting anywhere. Due to the fact that we aren’t using the means that are given to us, our advancement becomes slow, difficult, and lengthy. In other words, we advance by the path of suffering.

If we could only rise above ourselves and with clenched teeth strive towards each other, to see that only in this connection between us will we find a happy, perfect future, then we would instantly reveal the Light of correction within us, the Surrounding Light that connects us. In this connection we would instantly sense the upper world.

We lack an attack directed at lowering oneself and elevating the quality of bestowal and love for each other above ourselves. I hope that we will be able to achieve this at our forthcoming convention. We have all the necessary conditions to make it happen.
[61931]
From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 11/6/2011

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Question: You say that it is necessary to be in constant worry and fear before the convention. How do we raise such a feeling inside the group?

Answer: In The Book of Zohar it is said that there are two degrees in reaching the goal of creation. The first degree is fear, but it’s not a physical, animalistic fear for oneself. It is a quavering, a worry, about whether I can reach the quality of bestowal. We have to have that specific kind of fear, to ask ourselves: “Am I ready for that? Am I capable of that? Will I be able to reach that?”

If such a fear exists in a person, he relates to the friends, the group and even perceives the world in a completely different way. He feels constant internal worry in the search for the quality of bestowal. He wants to know how to find it, how to determine it, and what it is exactly.

If he is in a constant search to find that quality of bestowal inside and outside of himself, to see its examples, he gradually reaches the quality of quavering that is required of him. Then, from the quality of quavering (his worrying about revealing bestowal to some extent, feeling it, and letting it fill him), he comes to the quality of bestowal.

Thus, a quiver is a vessel, a condition, a desire, that has to be inside of us in order for us to receive a fulfilment inside of it. But what kind of fulfilment do we get? We get the ability to give.

Nothing else is required because as soon as a true intention to bestow appears in me, the upper Light instantly becomes revealed to me, and the Creator gives me everything He has. If I want to and can bestow to Him, I begin receiving from Him to the extent of my desire, my intention to bestow. The contact between us happens in such a way that I rise above egoism, and I am working in the quality of bestowal.

The more I receive, the more I give to Him. I become filled, receiving pleasure from everything I get from the “Host.” At the same time, I feel the enormous pleasure that I invoke in Him, how He enjoys me. In this way, we please each other.

It is a wonderful state when people feel that their common actions are in pleasing one another. Such a relationship, when I do everything to please you and you do everything to please me, is called love. It doesn’t matter which one of us receives or gives physically, whose it is, and to whom it is attributed. The main thing is our intention to fill one another.

It doesn’t matter that initially, the Creator had the pleasure and I had just the desire. What counts is that we come to a state where we feel love by filling each other with pleasure. It cannot be unrequited. Love is a mutual fulfilment of one another.

We have to come to that state. Let’s try reaching it at our upcoming convention.
[61928]
From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 11/6/2011

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Question: I am trying to imagine 72 hours at the convention. How will this process bring me to the One, Unique, and Unified?

Answer: I enter the convention hall like a holy pool (Mikveh), a place that will purify and correct me. This is a place filled with holy water, the quality of Bina, the mother’s womb that I become included in and grow in. I don’t need to do anything besides settling in there like a drop of semen inside the womb. I must only cleave to it, and everything else will be done by others. I must simply become part of what is happening.

It is written, “The Creator dwells inside of his nation,” where “inside of the nation” means the place where everyone gathers and each person annuls his egoism as much as he can for the sake of uniting together. Then we reveal that there, inside of this unity, the upper one is present—Malchut, the Shechina. And inside of it—the Shochen, the Creator.

We don’t need anything else! Just come there and don’t be a smart alec. Lose your “I”: You come in and dissolve. Someone asks you to do something, so do it. Just connect to it, without any clarifications. The most important thing is to go with the common flow.

That is why the convention is appropriate for everyone, for every person. If a person can just come there, then a powerful force will arise there that will take us over and will spin us all in one whirlpool, like one whole. And we don’t need anything else. We won’t need a special mind or lengthy studies, but just that force. With it, you will already receive an impression of the upper one, of the upper level. So come!

You came there and you’re singing, dancing, eating, and preparing food, and you annul yourself before what is happening as much as you can. This will bring you to the upper level because it is there, inside, in the connection between people.

The tradition to hold mutual meals, to sing songs, and dance was established by Kabbalists. All of this leads to unity, and without unity, it’s impossible. Abraham once invited guests to his tent and first of all, he sat them down at a common meal, while explaining that it is necessary to unite and love the neighbor.

We won’t manage anything without unity. I understand that our egoism, our nature is against it. I was also opposed to unity once, and even more than you are. But that doesn’t scare me: For any egoism, there is a force capable of defeating it. Most importantly, try to be as determined as you can and set your mind to coming there and losing yourself.

Get lost in some unknown place, like a wallet that you had and is now gone. There’s just nothing you can do about it: It was there, and now it’s gone! Try it!
[62141]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: Can I bring my body to the convention, even if I have no desire or intention…?

Answer: At least I lack the desire, I have a negative intention. Coming without any intentions isn’t good. You should at least feel: “I don’t want to, but I am doing it.” Then you should do everything that is required. When you cannot dissolve in your friends, doing what needs to be done is also a wonderful state.

One way or the other, you should be aware of what you are going through in the convention: I incorporate myself into them with all my thoughts and desires, and I put everything else aside. Only my point in the heart enters the convention, and besides it, I have nothing else with me.

Question: But I have no control over that.

Answer: This is precisely why we need the preparation that will enable you to be free of the unnecessary load. You come in order to expand the point in your heart, that is, to connect it with all the other points. No one needs the extra “load” that you have. Only our sparks, which connect into one, should glow in the space of the convention hall. I don’t bring the load of all my problems there.

Question: How can you lose yourself among the friends, dissolve in them?

Answer: You should do everything that they do, everything they want you to do, and try to add your desire to these actions. In other words, you try to “clothe” in the group.

Question: Will these physical actions influence my thoughts?

Answer: Of course, the hearts follow the actions.
[61962]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Question: What should we do if a friend is no longer imbued with an aspiration to spirituality? Should we pressure him or should we wait?

Answer: The convention is such a special thing that we must wake the friend up. In other cases it could be possible to wait, but now we have a very special and rare opportunity. Therefore, if we see that a friend doesn’t intend to come to the convention, we must do our best to convince him.

Of course, we do not use force, but persuasion because if we don’t do so, he will miss this great, once in a lifetime opportunity. We should leave him alone only if he finally says: “Leave me alone, I am not going.”

There should be two attempts. Imagine that your friend is leading his donkey along the road (this example is brought in the Babylonian Talmud that was written in exile, at the time between the first and the second Temples). And even if he isn’t your friend but your enemy with whom your relations are bad, if his donkey falls under his load, you must help him.

You take the load off the donkey, put it back on its feet, give it food and water, and then put the load back. If the donkey falls again, you repeat the whole process: You take the load off its back and strengthen the donkey with food and water, meaning with the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) and the Light of Hassadim (Mercy). After all, the “donkey” (“Hamor” in Hebrew) is the human matter (Homer), egoism. And then you put the load back on it. If he falls again, you are allowed not to help him any more.
[61965]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Question: Can you advance in spirituality only by suffering?

Answer: No. Advance by goodness, it depends on you. Sufferings come from Above according to the plan, and you, on your part, can move forward with the help of the Light. Raise MAN (a request for correction), and then the Light will come and draw you forward in goodness. If you don’t ask for it, you will advance by suffering.

There is the force of evil and the force of goodness. The question is do I ask to receive the good force that will draw me forward more strongly than the evil force that will push me from behind? The negative force operates according to the plan (in its time), and the positive force acts according to the desires and the connections in mutual guarantee. My role is to do my best so that the evil force won’t reach me and to place the good ahead of the bad.

Question: How can we do that if we all suffer?

Answer: All the friends are happy every moment of their lives, except for you. We feel that we are inside the Creator who fills and envelops us. We feel eternity and perfection; we swim in the growing abundance. So join us and so that you will place the good ahead of the bad.

Question: How?

Answer: Do what we want.

Question: What do you want?

Answer: We want you to dive inside and detach yourself from your egoism. A “friend” is someone who forgets himself. Why should you worry about yourself if there, inside, you feel bad? Leave the desires and the thoughts that make you feel bad and come empty. Here, you will get new thoughts and desires from us. The choice is in your hands.
[61968]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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