Question: What should I do when I see that a friend is harming the group? Is it an indication of my lack of correction or that he is really harming the group?

Answer: If a friend was very dedicated before and suddenly changes, we have to help him. Of course, we mustn’t throw him out now since he is wounded by his evil inclination. We have to take care of him and to lift him. We can take him to a bar and have a beer together, go for a walk, or have a social gathering with some friends. We can ask him to do some kind of work that no one but him can do, and so we have to turn to him and really ask for his help. This means that we should try to get close to him in different ways, to evoke him and to warm him up. It’s very helpful to turn to his family for help.

We should try to do whatever we can, even if he speaks against the group. We should understand that this may be a temporary state of mind and should treat it patiently and wait until we see that there is no choice and only then break off from him, although it’s always a great problem if it’s an old friend who has been in the group for years. We should always rely on the group’s opinion and not on a personal opinion since you can never count on yourself when it comes to such matters.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/13, Writings of Rabash

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” “Concerning Above Reason“

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The Book of Zohar – Introduction

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 10

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings“

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There cannot be any difference between us during the convention: the young group, the old group, or an individual that studies virtually by himself. A convention is a special state so we have to break all the barriers between us—the boundaries of the groups of ten and other forms of barriers—and become one whole group.

You should feel the closeness that you felt in your group of ten with regard to everyone who participates in the convention. You should have the same attitude since you don’t break free of the framework of the ten, but actually all the thousand people become your group of ten. Try to relate to them this way and see if you can do that or not! If you can’t it means that your group of ten is still far from the spiritual state.

If a person melts and disappears into the group of ten, then it makes no difference whether it’s ten people, a thousand, or seven billion. The main thing is to lose yourself in order to find the force of bestowal and to find the Creator.

“The king’s glory is in the multitudes,” so it turns out that if we are a separate group of ten, we seem to be missing out since we can be more strongly impressed by a greater number of people. If everyone in a crowd of a thousand says half a word it will make a very big impression, but a group of ten is important since in it I can follow the reactions, the connection between us, and my self-criticism.

The group of ten is very dynamic and I can respond to it very quickly. But I expect to feel that we are all one group of ten during the convention so that everyone will influence me and that I will feel his vibes. I hope that it will shake my “donkey” and force it to follow its owner by submitting to a new mind and heart.

This should be our work during the convention compared to working in a group of ten. The whole convention should become one group of ten. The young groups have to be incorporated in everyone and all the boundaries should disappear. They should get to know the others as much as possible and to mingle with people that they don’t know. The main thing is to be impressed by others as much as possible.

Suddenly I begin to recognize and to feel the greatness of the friends about whom I haven’t thought before. It’s easier to be impressed by people who are more distant, since the impressions are doubled by the distance and create an exceptionally powerful impression.

Therefore the young groups have to totally lose their concentration in the general mass to disperse in different directions and keep physically away from one another. This is the whole point of the convention, to achieve such a mixing so that no one will remain with people who are already close to him and will be incorporated in everyone by accepting everyone as his group of ten. Let’s hope that we will succeed and attain a great powerful connection.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What should we do so that the Light that Reforms will convince us that only through connection can we reach the attribute of bestowal?

Answer: This recognition may come by the path of suffering, “in its time,” when a person feels a big disappointment that he has devoted much energy and has reached nothing. This happens after many years.

It can also be by the ordinary initial connection with the group when a person begins to understand and feel that only the Light that Reforms can summon the change in him. It isn’t enough just to hear that; a person needs to already feel it in his heart, his heart has to hear.

When the heart perceives this information, we accept it as a fact that it is impossible to manage without the help of the Light. We don’t have to look up where it says so since this wisdom already will live in us, in our feelings and not in our mind. We need the mind only to support and help clarify the feeling.

In order for the heart to listen, we have to subdue ourselves before the environment. Our heart is deaf and cannot hear! We cannot do anything with it. We hear something through our ears, but it doesn’t penetrate the heart. It hits the “the stony heart” and bounces, like when hitting a wall, without penetrating it. Therefore, we must work on submitting ourselves—as it is written, “Buy yourself a friend and make yourself a Teacher”—submitting ourselves forcefully.

We do not control our desires, but we live in the world of actions, and so our physical actions also help, even if they are against the desires of our heart. Try to bring the friend a small gift everyday—anything. Buy a matchbox and give him a match everyday as a present. You will see how hard it is since you will have to constantly think about that. It doesn’t matter what the gift is worth, as it is written: “until many pennies accumulate into a great sum.”

Try it and see! You will have to think about the friend, to remember it, to justify your actions, and to value their benefit. Do you have the money to buy a matchbox? So you have nothing to worry about. You have the means to enter spirituality.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/13, Writings of Rabash

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”, Item 25: …about the reason why the Torah was not given to our fathers, because the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself,” the axis of the whole Torah and around which all the Mitzvot revolve, so as to clarify and interpret it, cannot be observed by an individual, but only through the consent of an entire nation.

And this is why it took until they came out of Egypt, when they became worthy of observing it. And then they were first asked if each and every one of the nation agreed to take that Mitzva upon himself. And once they agreed to it, they were given the Torah.

I cannot reach anything in a group of ten if all the other friends don’t support me and don’t cooperate with me. In fact, we must be “as one man in one heart.” My personal efforts will be ineffective if the others don’t participate in the efforts.

This may seem like a very big obstacle, but in fact, it isn’t an obstacle. If I cannot incorporate into a framework called a “corrected group of ten,” it means that I have not reached my personal correction yet and have not become the one who bestows, adhered to the Creator, at least to a certain extent.

The perception of the spiritual reality already operates here. I mustn’t see anything on the outside as an external factor. The pattern of the ten is inside me as a replica of my inner world that is meant only so that I can work with my attributes that seem to be on the outside, in the friends. This helps me approach the correction in a more practical manner.

The Creator is not revealed to an individual created being, but only in a group of ten. This matches the structure of the nation and of the entire world. Therefore, I must work on the whole wide dimension of reality.

It is because all this is actually me. I see my inner attributes on the outside, like radiography, in the still, vegetative, and animate nature and in human beings. It is as if everything is spread from me outward.

So, I must see how all the others are advancing to correction and to what extent I can help advance every part that is external to me. In one place, I introduce integral education, and in another place, I present introductory material for integral education. However, one way or the other, it stems only from me, from the same source, and is aimed in only one direction, toward actual integral education and onward to more internal circles, which means the desires that are closer to my point in the heart. Here, I can engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah and work in a group of ten, which means in an environment that is closer to the spiritual spark in my point in the heart.

This is how I should see the general picture. Through this perception, I understand that if I restrict my perception and don’t worry about the entire world, it will lead to nothing.

However, a person advances along this path by the Light that Reforms that gradually helps him perceive things correctly. So, we must do only what we are obliged to do, and eventually we will change. The Light will come and illuminate, and then I will see and understand that my approach and my perception should be general. The Light will let me feel and understand what the attribute of bestowal is, and I will accept it and continue.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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All the changes are made by the Light that Reforms, but the desire to change comes from the environment. The Creator keeps the covenant between us, but we obligate Him to do so, as it says: “My sons have defeated me.”

We have to establish the right environment below that will become “Knesset Israel, the assembly of Israel, yearning for the Creator,” an assembly is a Minyan, a group of ten.

If each of us totally annuls himself before the others we obligate the upper Light to be revealed among us. It’s revealed the moment we establish a systematic contact, when we connect this way to one electrical circuit as if by wires that resemble His nature.

This happens according to the laws of spiritual induction, the equalization of frequencies and the equalization of attributes. It isn’t you who changes and it isn’t you that changes anything, but it is you who performs the actions that will bring about the change in you. This is how it happens on every step: you have to perform the actions and the Creator makes the changes. If your actions are not successful yet, it means that you haven’t succeeded in reaching an adaptation to the Light in your connections with others. You haven’t reached the right frequency range yet.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/13, The Zohar

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Rabash, “Make Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend- 2”: It was written in the book, Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah, p 143), that one is not impressed by the society or takes their appreciation of something, unless he regards the society as greater than himself. This is the reason why each one must feel that he is the smallest of them all, since one who is great cannot receive from one who is smaller than himself, much less be impressed by his words. Rather, it is only the smaller one who is impressed through appreciating the greater one.

This is one of the recommendations as to how a person has to organize his thoughts, his desires, and his attitudes in order to reach the goal. The ultimate goal of course is in the initial thought, but in order to reach that a person has to build from the endpoint to the to the very beginning.

The advice can be general and individual. The general advice is from the foundation for the individual’s advice, and it’s our obligation to follow the spirit of the general advice. The individual advice refers to specific thoughts that suddenly come to a person, but the foundation has to be solid and common to everyone.

This is why it is necessary to feel the importance of the group and it has to be as strong and great as possible, which means great in quantity and quality. It’s because a person is a desire to receive. Everything begins from the ego that must be corrected. So we have to think about what works most effectively on my ego, on my desire to receive, which members of the society.

Some can influence me, and someone cannot. I need to be like an objective doctor, an outsider who is taking care of this patient, of my desire to receive, which I have to cure. So I need to check which society I need for that and which people impress me, and which actions, and what bestowal I should ask from the friends. When I am sick I am allowed to ask the friends for help, since it says: “They shall help one another.”

When we gather, we have to praise the society and speak of its greatness and then speak about the necessary measures by which we reach the love of friends, and from the love of the created beings we reach the love of the Creator. So I can advise them and ask them to perform such actions that I believe will affect my desire to receive most efficiently.

We must hope, wait, expect, and check, whether our feeling towards the love of friends and towards getting closer to one another is constantly growing, and whether I feel help from above by that, meaning the bestowal of the Light that Reforms. We must constantly check ourselves: which changes occur from one day to the next, from one week to the next, and whether we feel the changes as we get closer to the friends, the growing importance, necessity, and the strengthening of our connections. I check my ascents and descents according to these criteria and not according to my mood. Thus we advance.
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From the Preparation of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/13

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Question: How can I practically annul myself before the group of ten or before the group?

Answer: It is just as you do at work, having no choice when you annul yourself before the boss and carry out his orders, although inside you curse him and think that he is dumb. Still, you do what he says. It is the same with the friends. Although you think you are more important than everyone else and that you understand better than the friend, you still annul yourself before him as if he were your boss. Try to feel that you want him to manage you!
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What sort of annulment is required from the group of ten in the coming men’s convention?

Answer: We must attain total self-annulment with regard to the group of ten. It will not happen immediately, but rather gradually. Eventually, I must disappear, melt into the group just like a liquid that is poured into another liquid and is mixed until there is a total merger. I want to melt into everyone, to penetrate everyone. This is the self-annulment that I should reach with regard to my group of ten.

The moment I reach full disappearance in it, at the exact point that I disappear, I begin to feel the Creator. It is the hole through which I enter the spiritual world, which is called “the point of the needle.”

It is hard work, but it can become very easy if each of us supports everyone and we all help one another. Everyone should set an example for the others as to how much he annuls himself, and how he lowers himself and submits himself. You must show that, and this also will help you and awaken the others. Then, they will impress you in their turn. This is very important.

A group is a womb, and, the moment a person disappears in it, he is conceived in spirituality, like a drop of semen, and begins to grow as a spiritual formation. Only the initial spark remains of him, and around it, his new spiritual vessel is formed that is made of all his future concessions.

After the first ultimate self-annulment that turns you into a spiritual embryo, new egoistic desires are evoked in you on top of which you continue to annul yourself before the environment and the Creator. You already feel His Surrounding Light that isn’t just the Light that Reforms, but you feel the Creator in the Surrounding Light, like a pillar of smoke or a cloud.

You already begin to identify His presence to a certain extent, which means the attribute of bestowal. It is because you already have annulled yourself, and you continue to concede. You cannot see actual clear formations in the vessel that is formed by your self-annulment and your concession yet, but you already can sense them. This is why it is called a cloud or smoke.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/13, Writings of Rabash

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From Rabash’s article “The Matter of Suckling and Conception:” It is written, “Serve the Lord with Joy,” meaning that the joy has come to a man from serving the Creator. However, if he is working without joy, this is because of lack of faith in the greatness and importance of the King. Otherwise, there has to be joy and an uplifted spirit without any preparation for that.

Meaning, he should not see that he has no joy from the work, rather one should see that he will prepare himself to know whom it is he is serving and what His importance is, and joy is the outcome. Saying, that if he has no joy in the work, it is an indication that he has no idea about the importance of the Creator, and then one has to correct himself regarding the matter of faith.

There are people who feel no connection to spiritual matters at all and just live an earthly life. There are people who light up with spirituality and cannot leave it. And there are those who tend towards one and then the other side, wavering between the two.

It depends upon how much the Light illuminates a person. Perhaps, the Light is so weak that it gives a person only a sense of earthly existence. He chases pleasures, but they are directed not at the Creator, but just at something that he sees before him.

If the Light becomes a little stronger, then a person begins to discern that all that exists has its internal root and it comes with a particular purpose, for a reason. Thus a person advances, sometimes more, sometimes less, feeling the question, “What is this life for?”

In the end, the Light brings him to the place where he can realize his desire for spirituality. But even there, the Light pulls him to one side or to the other side, and due to these changes of states a person reveals that he lacks a connection with the source of his destiny, the source of life, the force that controls him. The more he feels his dependence on the upper force, the more he desires to know it, to understand, to approach it.

He faces various states in which he has to change his attitude towards what is happening. After all, on the one hand, he feels these states as pleasant and unpleasant, and on the other hand, he must understand that all of them come from the same Light that shows a person either day or night, either light or darkness.

The Light wants a person to relate to these states above them; that is, it doesn’t matter whether a person feels them as good or bad. What’s important is that through these states he knows the root from which they came. This means that a person works on the greatness of the Creator. He does not care what he gets from the Creator, he uses everything for advancement.

And then even more, he welcomes everything that comes from the Creator not because in this way he advances, but because in this way he can bring joy to the Creator. Thus, a person adheres to the Creator more and more and senses His greatness. He identifies himself less with the states that he receives from the Creator and his feelings, but he looks more at the One from whom he receives it all.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/13

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