Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim, Degel Machaneh Efraim: It is best to be always united…when they unite below, they cause their root above to unite too.

What does it mean that by uniting below, we cause our root above to unite too? The moment we unite, we oblige our upper one to unite. We know this from the structure of the upper system: Above us, there is a Partzuf that cares about us, called Aba ve Ima (father and mother), Hochma and Bina, and above it, there is Keter, the Creator. Hochma and Bina are two parts, two desires, two attributes, Hassadim and Hochma.

Through our desire to connect, we give rise to the connection between them. Without this, they are “turned away” from each other, that is, they are not connected to each other, and so the Light is not revealed within the creature.

The moment we want to unite, we arouse their connection. Then, the Light passes through them to us and fills us. Thus, when we connect below, we call upon the connection in the upper one, and it brings the Light from Keter through Aba ve Ima (Hochma and Bina) to us, to ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukva). And this is how we reach correction.

So, it is all achieved by our connection, and not even in the connection itself, but in our desire to connect. We have to desire with all our might to connect with each other, to try to unite. The connection is carried out from Above. The Light comes and connects the desires.

Whenever we feel a desire to connect or the lack thereof, we should realize our yearning to be one. When we feel different disturbances, even the slightest and weakest ones, it is important to pay attention to them and to build the connection on top of them.

Then, we will rise above the great mass of small disturbances that separate us and will finally arouse the first connection between the upper Aba ve Ima so that they will pass onto us the Light of Hochma dressed in the Light of Hassadim. With the help of the Light of Hassadim, we will acquire the intention to bestow, the Light of Hochma will fill the intention, and then we will feel the upper reality.

This should really happen and be felt inside us. It all depends on our efforts. We will do it! So, whatever we do, let’s devote all the time during the convention to being above the body all the time, above all personal thoughts. I want to “lose” myself in others, I want to feel “we,” and not “me,” “you,” or “him.” I want to feel us connected into one whole: one desire and one thought and try to hold on to that as hard as I can.

It’s like a weight lifter who needs to lift a weight above his head and hold it for several moments. This is enough—he has reached the desired result. It is the same with us. All of us together have to raise our desires and thoughts above us, hold them together for one moment, and it will happen!
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From Lesson 1, Arvut Convention at the Arava Desert 11/18/2011

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Question: In the group, we need interaction, contact. That is the only way I can reveal love and hate for my friends. When we work together on dissemination, I receive a real inner response. But in all other regards, we just sit together at lessons or meals, sing and dance together. I don’t find any interaction there….

Answer: Still, try doing this together with the group more and more. In reality, this is the work: to sit together with friends, to eat with them, to dance and sing with them. This will cause greater repulsion to be revealed inside of you. Overcome yourself and try to submerge deeper into the group—and you will discover your weakness.

This is already the expression of the truth. The more you try to take control of yourself, the more negativity you discover toward the friends. This is the entire essence and nothing more is necessary.

The sons of Israel received the method of correction only when a strong egoistic desire ripened in them. This was no longer a clan or a family, but a great number of people who felt that they didn’t belong to one another. That is how a nation emerges: I am part of a group, I was brought to it, and I participate in the life of the friends, who are connected by a common goal. But to be perfectly honest, I don’t harbor any warm feelings for them.

And now I must form the deepest connection that can possibly exist in reality—the same as the connection with the Creator. Can you imagine: to cleave to the friends like to the Creator, without any excuses, and to feel them closer than myself. Is this possible? Yes. You make efforts, and in response, Light comes from above and corrects you.

In mutual actions, everything that’s important is inside. You can take physical measures only if you can vest the intention into them. Otherwise, you shouldn’t. We need actions that will become an expression of our interconnection. This includes conventions and dissemination work. But in reality, if a person is really dear to me, then I invite him to a coffee shop or to my house to socialize with him in a friendly setting. I try to be as close as possible to him.

The gist of the matter is not for every person to prepare for the convention in his own niche, hoping that these external efforts will unite us. Rather, we must feel a much greater proximity, which is what we were slightly able to achieve at the convention in the Arava dessert. After the December convention, we will continue acting in this direction to come even closer to one another.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/11, “Mutual Guarantee”

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Question: What does it mean to aspire towards a past state that we achieved at the desert convention? Shouldn’t we be going forward?

Answer: That is correct. But for the time being, you are awakened by the desire to rouse a state you have already experienced so that it will manifest now. You live in the past, like an old man. In spirituality, you are not a “man” or a “youth” yet to be building new degrees. Right now you are not able to achieve a connection with others in order to attain even higher states. You live in your past memories.

This is why I say: “Fine, awaken the past! But make the past new in the sense that now you are changing the reason, your attitude towards it.” And this is a good thing! Do not neglect the past; it is the Reshimot (reminiscences) from a past state. After all, even now we live in the past as we have Reshimot from our descent from Infinity.

But now the time has come to build a new desire for my past state, like in TANTA, when I attain a new desire (vessel) as the screen becomes thinner. Right now we are approaching practical work. This is only for those who go through these states in the sharpest possible form, who have the Reshimo, the memory of what we have attained. Every one of us has this Reshimo, and we can awaken it.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/2011, The Zohar

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Here are some pictures from the convention at the Arava Desert, November 18-19, 2011.

[Show slideshow]

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Many sparks have gathered here, each of us carries a big spark—so let’s try to connect them! The Light is waiting to connect us into a single soul, one Kli.

As soon as we attain the first degree of unification between us, the lightest and the weakest one, the very first step on the spiritual ladder between here and the world of Infinity, at that point we’ll be able to reveal the Light, the presence of the Creator between us.

We’ll hope for it to happen! Everything depends on our efforts. Our goal here is to rise above our physical bodies, above all our personal thoughts and desires, and begin to exist together above them in one desire and one thought. We need to constantly try to let go of the sensation of our body and instead sense only the higher reality where we are all connected.

The spiritual world is connection and unity. The fact that such different people have gathered here can actually make for a faster and more successful connection.

We are extremely happy that our friends came from abroad just for one day. They show just how important and special this event is to them. We must put in the effort. After all, there are millions of people out there who are connected to us and who are looking at us.

We are the central group, and the Light that we attract will spread everywhere and reach everyone. Just feel the importance of this mission, the intensity of this moment. There are no outside disturbances and no outside world; there’s only us, united into one heart and one thought for the sake of revealing the upper force between us.
[61177]
From Lesson 1, Arvut Convention at the Arava Desert 11/18/2011

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Question: We have pledged to take care of one another in order to uphold the standard we achieved in the Arava and to keep moving further. But what should a person do if he suddenly discovers that he has “fallen out of the loop”? Should he feel that he is drilling a hole in the common boat?

Answer: Of course. And this should be a source of great distress for him. First of all, it’s not simple to reach the sensation of unity, but he should at least regret the fact that he is separated from it. Secondly, let him feel bad from knowing that all the friends are already there. Thirdly, his absence harms others, and this entire harm is recorded in his account.

This way, he misses out on much more than his personal concern because his part is idle in every one of the friends and does not complete each one of them. It turns out that his harm is multiplied by the number of members in the group.

Until now we talked about the egoistic calculation, but now let’s look at the problem from the other side. A person does not support his friends with mutual guarantee, does not become similar to the Creator, and does not attain bestowal to Him by working in the group. This spiritual damage is not as obvious, but we have to remember about it as well.

Question: Can we say that by doing so a person shifts not only the whole group, but also the whole world to evil?

Answer: If you have received the opportunity to enter mutual guarantee with your friends, then by participating in the common work, obviously you shift the world to goodness. After all, every person is part of the common network and we are its central part. Therefore, by strengthening the group, I strengthen the whole world in its spiritual ascent. And the opposite is also true.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/11, “Mutual Guarantee”

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Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 13: You should believe that there are plenty of sparks of bestowal in each friend, and if we gather them all in one place, in brotherly unity, love, and friendship, of course, it would be enough to reach a significant spiritual level now and for life.

Nothing was created in the world but one soul. The parts, sparks, of that one soul wake up from generation to generation and achieve correction. All the generations, which have completed their correction, unite in the last generation, which begins with us.

Our generation is special. It should connect within itself all the previous generations: from Adam HaRishon, through Abraham and Rabbi Shimon, the Ari, and Baal HaSulam who have performed big corrections in one soul and have prepared its significant, special, and lightest part for us. But besides that, we must connect to ourselves all the future vessels or desires (Kelim) that complete correction.

We connect within ourselves those who are behind us, our forefathers, and those who are ahead of us, our sons, all of them together. We have reached the condition when the world begins to demand correction; souls begin to awaken. And although people do not understand this, it is not necessary because they belong to the part of the collective soul that reaches correction unconsciously, thanks to the connection with us.

Our duty is to unite, to connect within ourselves all the holy sparks of bestowal, which corrected this system before us—and to complete correction.

This is an extraordinary time; we feel that this is a special state. And we see how the Creator helps us, that is, makes it possible for us to unite and purify ourselves so that what we desire so much becomes realized.
[61183]
From Lesson 1, Arvut Convention at the Arava Desert 11/18/2011

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A group of Bnei Baruch students in Montreal are seriously preparing for the forthcoming World Arvut Convention. Presently, there are about twenty people studying at the group’s learning center located in the city center, across from the Jewish General Hospital.

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Question: How can we explain to the friends that it is impossible to attain correction by oneself and that we need a group?

Answer: This is what our sources say. I only have a shattered vessel, so what should I do with it? I have to absorb my friends’ desires in order to draw the Light that Reforms.

Together with the friends we raise a common prayer, and as a result we receive the force of correction. I will not be able to receive this force if I am alone. At least ten people are required in order to attain it. Only then will we begin to connect to each other and to build the common vessel between us.

It seems that we are together now, but actually it isn’t so. So how can we unite? We activate the force of the mutual prayer for that. No one operates on his own. The common desire to correct ourselves connects us, and in it we want to reveal the special force that will dwell between us, to reveal the Light, the Creator. When He is revealed, we each will disappear as an isolated entity, and one desire filled with one Light will arise.

Can I reveal the force of bestowal by myself? What or to whom will I be able to bestow? I must simply have someone else there too. My point in the heart (•) is my first urge for correction, in other words, for connecting with someone. This means that I have to absorb his desire. Then I have two desires: a desire to draw away from egoism and a desire to draw closer to bestowal.

So I have to receive my friend’s spiritual desire and to attach it to mine. Without this I will not really want to bestow. This is the only way I can raise MAN, a request for correction.

“The minimal multitude is two,” but actually, two is not enough. The more friends there are around me, the more chances I will have to be impressed, to attach their powers to me, and to demand correction. By that, I demand namely the connection with them. I supply the “territory” in which the connection will be realized, my wishes about what needs to take place here, and our common force. In short, I have to prepare the most possibly correct “mold.” It can be done only together. All our work takes place in the group.

Besides, women also support this group, and human society surrounds it on the outside. These factors also have either a positive or negative effect in pushing us towards connection.

Question: What does one feel when the Light fills our desire?

Answer: One of the points is me. All of us together is we. The yellow part in the drawing symbolizes our connection, and the red color symbolizes the upper force, the Creator. We have to unite Israel, the Torah, and the Creator into one, and this has to be revealed in our feeling. The Creator is the upper force, the source. The Torah is unity, the vessel. And we are the parts moving toward unity.

Let’s hope we will succeed in this.
[60797]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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To develop our spiritual sensation, we unite and connect. We have to attain the kind of unity that is called, “mutual guarantee.” Essentially, this is the vessel for feeling the spiritual, eternal and perfect life that is outside the body.

For that we have to do what Kabbalists, who are people that have already gone through this path, advise us to. They are our teachers and are therefore called “Rabbanim” in Hebrew, which is the plural of Rav, meaning a “great” person before whom I bend down my head like before an experienced instructor that is worthwhile to listen to.

He accomplished the transition from the sensation of just this world to the sensation of the upper world, and moreover, he went through many states and levels there. Therefore he can help me with advice throughout the whole path, until I complete my development in the true world. By virtue of Kabbalists, I reveal the gates to the world, enter it, and advance.

Kabbalits advise us to unite, and in that unity, by making great efforts in spite of our egoism and natural disregard, to look precisely for the feelings we disregard. I reject the neighbor and hate him, I am unable to even think about how we can be truly close to one another. But Kabbalists tell us that we have to be as one man with one heart, uniting in the mind and feeling to such an extent that no boundaries will remain between us in thoughts or desires.

This is all painfully opposite to our nature. We are being offered such conditions that we would be willing to trade them for anything else. We are nauseous from this and are thrown away from it at every moment in different directions—anything but unity. We just want to cover ourselves up with half-hearted advice and actions, lie to ourselves and others that everything is normal…But we can’t.

What can help us here are demands imposed by physical unity: We act all together and no one can evade his responsibilities. That is exactly why we are in this world of actions that are not defined by intention. In spirituality, the thought is the action, but in corporeality they are divided: I can think about one thing, desire another, and do a third.

This is the wonderful quality of our world: Here we can start the path to spirituality without even yet thinking about it for real or wishing for it sincerely. We are able to make actions that pride, passion, ambition, envy, and shame incite us to do—everything that is inherent to our egoism.

Therefore, being in the group, at the end of the day, I must carry out what it obligates each of its members to do. After that, by virtue of that, I advance involuntarily. I must only push myself into the group, take on obligations, and sign a “unified agreement” with the friends that under any circumstances, they have obliged me and I have obliged them to need one another. That is how we advance, using our egoism.

Thus, in our world we have the opportunity to start the spiritual path from zero, from pure ambition. We activate its negative qualities, connecting with one another by the unity of mutual help, and use all the negative qualities just to observe this unity. In this case, you obligate the friend and he obligates you, and you both advance, having no other choice.

This is exactly what we saw when we went to the convention in the Arava desert. We found ourselves together without external influences and discovered that the group can obligate every person to rise and come closer to the sensation outside the body, where a person begins to discern details hitherto unknown, a different existence “outside of the skin of his body.” It turns out that “outside of us” is really possible. That is how we advance.

Today we can unite with one another in this world by means of the right egoistic actions. However, now every one of us has to “jump out of his skin,” rise above his personal egoism, above his entire being, and unite with friends into a single whole. Stated differently, every person must rise above himself and go from the material group to the spiritual one.

Then the common vessel will form, the common soul, the holy Shechina where we will reveal the Creator on the first spiritual level. We made a big step toward this and acquired a common sensation, and now we must strengthen ourselves.

Thus, we build the vessel of mutual guarantee: We pledge not to forget one another and all together we take care of our spiritual life. After all, this is the purpose of our current existence in the material world, the goal of all people and this whole reality. Only by virtue of mutual care will we rise to the level of spiritual unity.
[61241]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 11/20/11, “Mutual Guarantee”

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