Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

Adhere to the Group’s Opinion

942Question: What causes failure when we try to awaken a spiritual idea?

Answer: Failures occur because we cannot awaken the group by simply shouting about it because our cry instantly dissipates. Instead it requires the work of each individual making a demand of everyone else. Each person should catch themselves: if they disagree that the greatness of the Creator should be the main thing in the group, they should pull out this point of disagreement and stick to the group’s opinion without hesitation.

This is called going by faith above reason. This will not be considered fanaticism, because with each step a person reveals a greater degree of reason. And each time, one is compelled to subject the matter to a rational analysis. Nothing can be done.

The group’s opinion is that the goal of adhesion with the Creator is the only thing we have, and there is nothing else in our lives besides it.

This should be the general attitude. For example, as it happens during Passover, there is a general excitement. It may not be very clear to us that it relates to the greatness of the Creator; the goal is not entirely clear, but there is a sense of upliftment. Everyone seems to be floating slightly above the ground.

The same atmosphere should prevail in the group, and you should not let yourselves fall. This must determine how and what I do in my life.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/7/26, Rabash, What Is, ‘There Is Nothing that Has No Place’ in the Work?”

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Success During the Time of Preparation

231.01Question: How can I tell whether or not I have succeeded in attributing everything to the Creator? And if I have not succeeded, what should I do next?

Answer: Success means that right now, I feel that I am taking a step forward and clarifying my state more deeply. This does not mean that I gain clear vision against the disturbances. I gain clarity in the sense of the saying: “You shall see your world in your lifetime,“ but this is not yet the true attainment of the goal.

However, when causes and consequences become revealed to me as the governance of the Creator, I begin to understand that through this action, I have united my attitude, His work upon me, and the state to which I have arrived. That is, His governance becomes clarified to me in some form, but it becomes clarified only so that I will immediately fall into an even greater disturbance and clarify it in an even greater darkness.

Thus, each time I am given additional strength and knowledge, or one could say, the strength of knowledge, so that I will be ready for the next disturbance.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/26, Rabash, “According to What Is Explained Concerning ‘Love Thy Friend as Thyself’”

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Don’t Deviate from the Chosen Path

938.05How can one come from Lo Lishma to Lishma? It is written: “When teaching children, women, and uneducated people, they are taught to work only out of fear and in order to receive reward. Until they gain knowledge and acquire much wisdom, they are taught that secret little by little”. This means that within us, there are certain qualities called “women, children, and uneducated people.” And if I begin to study the method of advancing toward the Creator, even if I have nothing except these qualities, I can still advance from them and reach their correction, reach the goal.

In essence, this is how everyone begins. No one is born a great Kabbalist. Of course, everyone has a different level of preparation according to what a person has gone through in previous incarnations, but no one is born with qualities that are ready to feel the upper one and to live in the upper world.

You yourself must create the desires to feel the spiritual world within you; you create them out of sufferings, one after another! Otherwise, you will not feel the thirst for knowledge and will not feel its fulfillment.

There is no other way but to go step by step, desire after desire. It cannot be acquired in any other way. Everyone must go through the entire path. Therefore, you are given the opportunity to choose whether to shorten the path, to pass it quickly and joyfully, or to stretch it out and receiving blows and suffering.

What is the purpose of suffering and prolonging time? How do they help, what do they prevent? In any case, you go through the same degrees, but at each of them, until you acquire mind and reason, you suffer and receive blows that return you to the previous state.

For example, you are standing before a difficult problem, before an obstacle: “I am tired of all this. I do not want it anymore. The goal is far away; maybe they are right, but in just a few months I have already heard everything they talk about here. In short, I do not feel that I can stay here. I will go home.”

And so your life returns to its usual track. Blows and sufferings begin, but you still do not connect them with anything: “Everyone in this world suffers.” You spin around, burn your life, you are born again, and so it continues until you return to the thought that it is impossible to live like this, and the same question arises again: “What is the meaning of my life?” Then you will come again to Kabbalah, and again you will find yourself in a state in which you will need the support of the environment.

In other words, if in the previous state (when you left everything and went away) you had turned to the environment and received support, desires, impressions, excitement, and inspiration of the feeling of the greatness of the goal from it, you could have advanced successfully. But instead, you drop out for dozens of years only to return to the same place, being more ready to listen to the environment. That is all that has changed.

All our study is intended only for this: at every degree, at every step, to protect us from such dropouts that last dozens of years, and to move forward without deviating to the side. This is our entire choice.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/9/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Before the Egyptian Minister Fell, Their Outcry Was Not Answered, in the Work?”

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Become Worthy of Receiving the Torah

943Question: How do we make sure that we are worthy of receiving the Torah, that we are ready to be each other’s guarantors?

Answer: If a person is ready to act as a guarantor for others (and we know that it is a condition for receiving the Torah to be “as one man with one heart”), then, of course, what one actually desires is to receive is not the Torah!

If one wants to be ready to become “like one man with one heart,” and is unable to do so, this task looms before the person like a mountain, meaning that the impulse to act “for the sake of receiving” is abhorrent and one wants to act “for the sake of bestowal,” then it is defined as being “like one man with one heart.”

It means uniting the points in the heart. This is the only correction the Torah brings, nothing more.
Our standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, along with all the doubts and all the hatred, serves one purpose: to effect the transformation from acting “for the sake of receiving” into “for the sake of giving.” For the sake of giving means that you unite all hearts and form a common vessel into which you receive the Torah. But if you do not do that, then what you get inside will not be the Torah but something else, some kind of science.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/26, Rabash, “What Is Preparation for Reception of the Torah? – 1”

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Can Effort Be Measured?

281.01Each one of us tries to integrate into the group, and each one might say: “How can I determine the efforts of my friends? One may invest a great deal in the group, but can barely squeeze out a few sentences a week. Another shouts and argues.” It is true. As long as we are in this world, we are not capable of correctly measuring the effort of each person.

Often, we take as an example the one who makes more noise, who leads and helps despite the fact that his inner effort maybe smaller compared to the one who remains silent. And we must agree with this; we have no choice as long as it is this way. After all, as long as we are not corrected and do not feel one another as parts of the soul, it is important for us to be impressed by each other externally.

Therefore, the one who speaks loudly about what is correct, about awakening the group, is more important to me than the one who perhaps exerts a greater effort but whose external expression is calm. Nothing can be done about this, because we are all below the Machsom, in concealment, and this is the way our examination works. When we rise to a spiritual degree, we will judge differently.

Question: But perhaps the one who makes less noise awakens me more?

Answer: Everyone is impressed in their own way, according to the traits of their character. When I see a person who works quietly, although no one pays attention to him, he steadily and precisely does his work, he influences me more strongly than the one who makes a lot of noise. It touches me more deeply; from it, I receive a stronger inner impact. And the same happens with all those who are able to perceive this phenomenon.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/7/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘There Is Nothing that Has No Place,’ in the Work?”

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The Accelerator of Spiritual Development

530Comment: It is written: “I have created the evil inclination.” It is clear that each of us has the same evil inclination.

My Response: No, each of us is different from the others. Baal HaSulam writes in the article “Freedom of Will” that we all came from different points of Adam HaRishon, and we are forbidden to suppress anyone, force them to do something, change them, interfere with the culture of other people, or forcibly bring progress to the so-called primitive peoples.

Everyone should develop in accordance with their personal qualities, because this is the only way they can realize their desire to receive. Everyone is an independent creation, and even if they want to, they cannot change their desire to receive, their starting point.

Baal HaSulam explains what a starting point is and the program by which it develops. There is a predetermined order of influence in society and in the laws of environmental development; a person cannot force their way in and change anything. The only change is in its external form under the group’s influence.

But the modification of the external form does not imply that a person acquires additional desires or properties not found in him from society. He acquires excitement, a desire for the source he must reach. This serves as additional fuel for him to accelerate his development and the correction process. But he does not acquire any new Kelim, new properties or new thoughts by doing so.

It only accelerates the emergence of these inherent qualities and determines the speed of their development. Therefore, it is crucial to relate to the group, to the opinions of our friends and to the very structure of the group with the understanding that everything we acquire from it serves solely as an accelerator, a catalyst, that provides us with the energy to act. But this accelerator has no inherent character of its own; it only provides an additional push in the direction in which I am already moving. I choose where to go, not it. I expect the same from the group. That is, I must come to the group and demand additional forces in the direction I have already chosen, rather than the group coming to me and attempting to brainwash me.

Any “brainwashing” by the group should only be in strengthening my chosen direction. Otherwise, it will not be a free choice. Otherwise, it will be a group that suppresses individuals.

It does not have to bring me new ideas. It should only help me solidify what I already have. Therefore, it is said that each of us should give to the group and receive back according to our investment, only many times more.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/26, Rabash, “What Is the Preparation to Receive the Torah in the Work?-2”

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Invest in the Friends

938.02Question: How can I perceive the desire within a friend?

Answer: I should not try to see the desire in a friend; rather, I must invest efforts in him, because in return I receive an awareness of the importance of the upper one from the entire environment.

In other words, I can invest efforts in the group through a few specific friends from whom I see absolutely nothing directly, I can suddenly receive an additional feeling that helps me become inspired by an awareness of the importance of the Creator that previously I did not perceive.

The group had a great awareness of the importance of the Creator even before, but I would come there and see none of it at all. I was like a cat walking into room. If the cat were to pass through here, would it be inspired by what we are speaking about? Would it be influenced by it? The same was true for me. I would come, sit in my place, study some science with the friends, look at the drawings on the board, and leave. It had no effect on me.

However, through the efforts that I invest in the society, I receive an additional sensitivity, and then I begin to see: indeed, they truly aspire to the goal, they are so deeply immersed in it, they strive for it so earnestly! Then I begin to experience a genuine response to the group. This depends not on the group, but on the efforts I have invested.

The group may remain exactly the same, yet suddenly I begin to discover within it more and more forces that are beneficial for my advancement, solely in accordance with the efforts I invested in it.

Consequently I no longer need to demand the friends do something for me, that they shout louder —be more vocal, although these expressions have their place. Indeed, we raise toasts for those who have accomplished something praiseworthy, and so on. It is helpful; it gives an example and in one way or another assists everyone. However, my main work is that by investing efforts, I begin to see the society differently and hear what is happening within it differently. And this is something that one does not demand from others.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/26, Rabash, “Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend – 1”

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The Greatness of the Goal Is the Beginning of All Thoughts and Actions

942A group will never be completely clear or fully corrected. On the contrary, it is said that “the destruction of the elders constitutes construction.” That is, the more clashes occur, provided they are in relation to the spiritual idea, the more this leads to building something, because such disagreements are truly for the sake of heaven.

Disagreements about what? About the way that you, I, and he each think we can help the group ignite more strongly with the greatness of the Creator, the greatness of the goal. This does not concern physical work or physical changes in the group, but only the inner effort of a person in relation to the group.

One thinks in one way, another thinks differently, so let each do what he thinks. But our common idea must be heated to the maximum, sharpened, clarified. Besides that, there are a thousand paths to it. Each person feels it in his own way, within his own soul, and in this, there are no disagreements. Here, I cannot help you, and you cannot help me. Each one understands within oneself, but everyone must clearly understand what the idea itself is.

Thus, these are not arguments, but clarifications. An argument can exist only if someone thinks that the main idea is not the most important thing. Because everything we do must be only for its sake. It is not that I place something in a corner behind glass in some special cabinet and call it sacred.

Great means that this idea is the guiding force, the origin of all my thoughts and all my actions.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/7/26, Rabash, “What Is, “There Is Nothing that Has No Place,” in the Work?”

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The Need for a Strong Environment

938.03Question: If it is written, “Buy yourself a friend,” why is one friend not enough for me? Why do I need many friends?

Answer: Because one is not enough. As Baal HaSulam writes in “The Giving of the Torah” and in “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar,” “In the multitude of the people is the King’s glory.” This means that I am not able to be inspired by one person.

I am able to be inspired by many who share the same opinion as I do and who can be my environment. Of course, it may also be one person, but still it will not influence me as much as needed.

I need as large an environment as possible, although within it I see different people. It does not matter; each time I can pay attention to those from whom I will receive inspiration.

I can be inspired by some, while I invest efforts—“buy for yourself a friend”—specifically in others. However, since all are connected into one society, it does not matter. This is how it works. The environment must be as large and as strong as possible.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/26, Rabash, “Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend – 1”

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Identify the True Goal

938.01If a person is unable to draw inspiration from their friends, it means that the goal is still not important to them. Perhaps the goal is important to them, but they haven’t figured out what it is yet. The goal is adhesion with the Creator through equivalence of qualities, which I can achieve only if I gather strength from my environment; the Creator gave me the initial impetus.

For such a person, this entire process has not yet been fully understood and they don’t connect their goal with the true goal. They believe it lies in knowing a lot, in seeing the whole world from end to end, in feeling eternity, in being above the world. They haven’t yet deciphered the correct definition of the goal of creation. It isn’t yet completely connected to the giver with the understanding that they too must come to the force of bestowal. Then they replace the true goal with another goal, they dress it in a different garment that is more egoistic, more understandable to them. This is normal. What can they do? It is the result of his state.

Nevertheless, one must increasing focus on seeing the goal as clearly as possible in a form closer to the truth. And then, thanks to this, a person will see that indeed he or she lacks strength, knowledge, and understanding of where to begin, and will feel the need to turn to the group.

If a person truly, reveals time after time, an even more true goal, more directed toward bestowal, more distant from them by virtue of their nature, they will more clearly feel that they are unable to take a step toward it. Then they must remember that the forces for this exist only in the environment. And since they have already entered it, they turn to it out of desperation.

The absence of a way out is the stimulus that compels me to turn to the group, since otherwise I will not be able to find the strength to move forward. It is like the need to maintain life within yourself, and so I come and ask. It is only in this case, the request in itself does not help. You must invest effort and receive strength in return.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/26, Rabash, “Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend – 1”

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