Baal HaSulam, from “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: If a handful from Israel betray and return to the filth of self-love, without consideration of their friends, that same amount of need that is put in the hands of those few would burden Israel with the need to provide for it themselves.

This is because those few will not pity them at all; hence, the fulfillment of the commandment of loving one’s friend will be prevented from the whole of Israel.

This is talking about an incontestable mutual guarantee, about group responsibility that links everyone into one whole so strongly and tightly that the life and death of everyone depends on this. If one of them were to violate the Arvut, all would be sentenced to death. This is already something  greater than the usual interdependence.

Therefore, everyone in a group needs to understand that this is a condition that cannot be changed. The issue here is not the faces of the friends, not their nature or their habits. To me, none of this matters. The main thing is: Am I creating with them a system of mutual guarantee like this or am I not?

Along with this, none of us know what is going on with the others. It is as if each is responsible for his plug sealing a hole in the shared boat. However, no one sees this. No one even feels what he himself is doing. When I take out my plug, I don’t notice that our ship is sinking.

We work in conditions of complete concealment, and we need to demonstrate responsibility, to yearn for adherence and unity; we need to remember that we depend on the upper one. Only He will unite and protect us.

Efforts on the way will help us understand what else we are missing.

Thus, these rebels cause those who keep the Torah to remain in their filth of self-love, for they will not be able to engage in the commandment, “Love thy friend as thyself,” and complete their love for others without their help.

I need to reach a state where I require the Torah, the method, to be united with the friends. This is my goal, and I am concerned only about that. Unity with friends is the supreme value in my eyes, and in order not to harm them, not to betray them, I require the help of the Creator, of the Torah.

I am dedicated completely to the group and fear only one thing: harming the friends. So, I ask the Creator: “Help prevent me from causing harm. This is all that I need from you, nothing else.”

Meanwhile, I am not thinking about how to satisfy Him. That level is still far from me. Being concerned about it now would be like not being concerned at all. What is waiting for me now is not love for the Creator, but love for people, love for the friends.

However, I am not ready to love like this. I only hate them, am jealous of them, reject them, or at the very least, don’t care about them. I forget about them all the time. So, I ask for strength from Above to be devoted to my friends, to be responsible for them, and to do everything that depends on me only so that I will be incorporated wholeheartedly in a group.

So, nothing will remain of me at all other than this intense concern that fills all my thoughts and feelings.

This is all that I ask from Above when I know that I cannot maintain this kind of devotion by myself. This is all I expect when I rely on help that will come and not leave me so that I will be able to protect my friends.

This is the first level that we need to attain, and if I truly want this, I merit receiving the Torah. You see in a case like this that I really need the Light that Reforms that will unite my vessels, my shattered desires, that will correct my soul, transforming it into a boat for everyone. In it, I will hold and protect my friends, making sure that nothing bad will happen to them.
[106731]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/5/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: And you evidently find that the giving of the Torah had to be delayed until they came out of Egypt and became a nation of their own, so that all their needs were provided for by themselves, without dependence on others. This qualified them to receive the above Arvut, and then they were given the Torah.

I need a big desire to receive called “Egypt,” and I need to make an internal decision. I don’t have the strength to actualize this, but I have the strength to clarify and to conclude that I want to leave this Egypt, that I must rise above it.

In a way, I already feel that it is possible for me to get help from Above. Through my clarification, I understand that spiritual advancement is none other than a mutual integration between everyone into one vessel and its correction by the Light.

I require this Light. I agree to do everything that depends on me. I understand the urgency, necessity, and feasibility of what is happening and require only Light.

In such a circumstance, I am ready to receive the Torah, meaning the method of correction. I have all that is required for this need: a vessel of the proper size, deficiencies, necessities, awareness of the imperative of correction, connection, and also an inner struggle with myself for or against connection.

I already understand and feel all this, I agree with the spiritual way and want it. I lack only the Light that Reforms. I am ready to work with all these components that are found in me to obligate the influence of the Light that Reforms.

So, I reach a tipping point: From my side, I have attained all that has been required for a first contact, and I finally contact the upper Light.

It is important to remember here that the Creator is not the one who accepts a decision to give me the Light that Reforms. Rather, it is I myself who establishes this. Therefore, one shouldn’t expect any kindness and mercy from Above, as it is written: “A fool folds his hands, and sits and eats his own flesh.” Nothing just comes from Above—it is specifically I who opens all the doors.

Even though we talk about mutual relationships between a person and the upper one, it is actually I who construct the upper one. The upper Light is at absolute rest. Everything depends solely and only on my vessel, on my desire. If I am ready to open the valve, the faucet, then the upper Light arrives and performs the required action.

Everything depends on the person, on his efforts with the primary sources, with the teacher, with the group, with dissemination. Everything begins from below. If I have enough of a strong and correct desire below, then He will open the gates and activate all the spiritual forces from Above. A foundation of everything is the preparation by the lower one.
[106734]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/5/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Our only hope is to use the Light that Reforms that brings us faith, the Light of Hassadim, and the Torah, the Light of Hochma, into our corrected vessels.

Our role is to tie ourselves constantly to the Creator, that is, to His attributes. It is as if we want to hide in Him, like in a state of the embryo (Ubar), or to resemble Him, like in a state of smallness (Katnut), or to be His partners, like in the state of greatness (Gadlut). We want to merge with Him to such an extent that we will be able to perform all the actions with Him, not before or after Him, but together, by acquiring from Him all the attributes of bestowal and love of others.

Everything is attained by the Light that Reforms on the way to one whole connection: Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one. The Creator is the attribute of bestowal and love. The Light that we can receive from Him is our connection to Him. Thus, we advance until we reach unity. However, all this is attained by self-annulment, by the dressing in the Light of Hassadim and then by the dressing in the Light of Hochma.

On the way, we attain faith, the light of Hassadim, the desires to bestow, the state of smallness. Then, we come to complete faith, the dressing of the Light of Hochma into Hassadim, the state of greatness. This action is fulfilled by adhesion to the environment that provides me with an example of the Creator. Instead of working with Him, I work with the environment, which is the same thing. It is because I don’t feel that anything enters my desire to receive, and so I don’t feel others nor the Creator. This is why it is said, “from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator,” which is the only way we can advance.

Otherwise, I will always go wrong and lie to myself that I am a complete righteous. This is why the actions of different organizations and people in this world show who is motivated by love of others and for whom it is most precious because it stems from the purpose of creation. This is the criterion by which we can identify those who are close to us, but in the meantime, I have not identified anyone.
[106588]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/30/13

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: On the positive side, if they keep the Arvut until each cares and satisfies the needs of his friends, they can fully keep the Torah and commandments, meaning bring contentment to their Maker.

The relations with the Creator are established in a collective vessel under the influence of the general Light. The general form of bestowal that is revealed to us is the Creator. Therefore, as it is written: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.”

But for now, we have to regard the Creator as a means and not as the goal. Our goal should be the connection in the group and mutual guarantee. If I define mutual guarantee as the unchanging goal and that there is nothing more sublime than that, I must pull all the forces together, and the Creator serves me in that.

By demanding the Light that Reforms, we actually want the Creator to serve us and to correct us. This is the reason that we draw it, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Eventually, it is about this state that it is written: “My sons have defeated me.” Our approach here should be very practical and efficient.

So, we form a collective vessel and then develop our attitude toward the Creator, begin to understand who and what He is and what is concealed behind this concept.

Everything is attained in the vessels (desires), in the desires, and not by abstract thoughts that have nothing to do with understanding the Creator. We haven’t yet come close to Him but we already are trying to imagine Him and, through that, we create an idol….
[106728]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/5/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Question: How should our global group unite and make an effort in order to avoid the state of “spiritual miscarriage”?

Answer: If we connect as one global group, then everyone experiences everything that one of its members, or the entire group, goes through. Therefore, we are incorporated in one another and go through all these states quickly. In terms of speed, such a development of many groups together differs qualitatively from the development of one group, not to mention a single individual.

Although the changes seem to be indirect, they are included in everyone and serve as preparation for us. So suddenly, I have thoughts and feelings that others already have experienced and thus, they evoke new states within me.

It’s similar to how in our world we learn from one another: A child born in the 21^st century uses the experience of all the generations that preceded him. So, it is very beneficial and worthwhile to be connected as strongly and as closely as we can since it shortens the way significantly. Today, nature simply demands this.
[106713]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: The unity convention in New Jersey is coming soon. We understand that everything depends on preparation. How do our friends throughout the world need to get ready for this meeting?

Answer: First of all, we connect in the convention in order to reach unity, Arvut, merger between us—all those conditions are required to discover the upper force that controls the world and constructs all of reality. This is the goal of learning the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is designed specifically in order to find this upper force. The wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the upper force to the created beings, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: “This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, by fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as ‘the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.’”

This is the reason that we gather at a convention: to build the conditions through which the Creator will be revealed. The discovery of the Creator to the created beings is the goal of the wisdom of Kabbalah. This is realized through the unity between us. This is what we want to attain at a convention, and we must think about this.

The force that we discover is the force of bestowal and love. The “Creator” is the foundation of bestowal and love. He is the good and benevolent because benevolence is the characteristic of someone who does good. And “there is none else besides the good who does good.”

To reveal Him, we also need to acquire two details  of perception:

·       There is no one except us, united as one person with one heart;
·       Each one of us is good and benevolent for all the others.

In this way, we create a “place” where the Creator can be discovered according to the law of equivalence of form. When relationships between us are adjusted to the principle of the “good who does good,” then the upper Good who Does Good will be manifest among us. This is how we will reveal the Creator in the created beings by becoming  Shechinah, meaning the “place” where He dwells.

This is what we want to discover throughout the world in the convention that will be held in another week. This is what we must prepare ourselves for.

It must be said that the convention will be unique in its scope. A wide variety of participants will be gathered there, and this is good. Diversity gives power to unity.

I hope that we can connect properly and that all of us feel that we belong to that unity to which we must return; to be integrated, to be like one again. Then, within this common unity, the one Creator will be discovered, and the discovery of this upper force will solve all of our problems, both physical and spiritual.
[106593]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: This means that each and every one in Israel would take it upon himself to care and work for each member of the nation, and to satisfy all their every needs, no less than the measure imprinted in him to care for his own needs.

And once the whole nation unanimously agreed and said, “We shall do and we shall hear,” each member of Israel became responsible that nothing shall be missing from any other member of the nation. Only then did they become worthy of receiving the Torah, and not before. 

With this collective responsibility, each member of the nation was liberated from worrying about the needs of his own body and could keep the commandment, “Love thy friend as thyself” in the fullest measure, and give all that he had to any needy person, since he no longer cared for the existence of his own body, as he knew for certain that he was surrounded by six hundred thousand loyal lovers, who were standing ready to provide for him.

If we understand that to reach spirituality and receive all the good is possible only if we connect, then the Light that Reforms begins to influence us. It acts such that I stop being concerned for myself because everyone is concerned for me. The main thing here is to attune yourself correctly to summon the Light that we can direct towards each of us as if we had a torch.

My egoistic motives demand that I form a connection with others. When I connect with them, it seems as if I am letting go of myself and am concerned for them as I can’t attain what I want otherwise. This is exactly the way everyone acts, so by aspiring to discover the Creator, who is within the group, through the connection between us, in this way we attract the Light that Reforms.

A question can be raised here: Why does it arrive if we are still egoists? What are the higher laws of nature according to which it’s discovered? We all want to receive for ourselves: “Bring me this world. Bring me the next world.” It may seem that in either the Light, meaning pleasure, itself must reach us, or darkness, if there were some kind of valve that exists in spirituality, which realizes the necessary conditions for being altruistic.

But the idea is that we surrender ourselves to each other. We learn together, we carry out shared tasks together, and in spite of our ego, the Light does its work. But it arrives first not as pleasure, but as correction. Thus we are changed—thanks to work within the group we bow our heads before each other for selfish reasons.

With an approach like this there is no lack of agreement, it’s open and very honest. It’s possible to talk a lot about love of the other, but it’s necessary to judge according to the facts. We are dominated by the ego, but we accept a condition that obligates us to aspire for love. Why? It’s because we expect a reward.

In the future, the whole world will correct relationships between people, taking into the account the gain it will bring. Everyone will hope to benefit from relationships based on love, and at the same time the Light that Reforms will pass to them through us and not the darkness that would arrive if not for the use of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Likewise, a person, who already understands this and hasn’t learned enough yet, is not sufficiently included within the group, and ultimately will receive darkness instead of correction, and will flee. And the opposite, if someone were to give of himself one hundred percent, then he would never feel darkness and descent. Even though he might have additional difficulties on the way, he would work with everything in the right way and would be corrected by the Light.

In fact, as Baal HaSulam writes, that in the middle way, by way of the middle line, one experiences falls, deviations to the right and to the left, ascents, and descents. This is called “normal” progress; it’s not ideal, but not too terrible either.
[105966]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/25/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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If a person has a strong will to attribute everything to the benefit of the Creator, it is a good thing, and he can pray to fulfill this yearning. To want to use all his desire to receive in order to bestow means to be written in the book of the righteous.

However, if he has a strong will to use everything for his self-benefit, it isn’t so bad either since here, everything is clear, and a person can understand the desires he has. He can pray for his desire to receive asking to record him in the book of the wicked who are doomed to death, which means that he wants to annul his ego.

He chooses in which book he wants to be recorded. But if he wants both and finds it hard to decide which one to prefer, it is already a problem. He must try to be in this unclear state as little as possible. Wanting to work for the Creator but, at the same time, to take a little for himself is very dangerous. If a person doesn’t fight against this split state, he can remain in the undecided state for many years, unable to prefer one side over the other.

He may think that he has received a bit from one side and a bit from the other, and so it is okay to wait, and everything will be alright. This is the worst possible state.

It means that a person must try to determine his state with the help of his exertion in the group and the influence of the environment so that he will know that he is wicked and will want to destroy his ego, that is, will want to be recorded in the book of the wicked who are doomed to death. This is called the First Restriction.

Then, he will want to be sentenced to life, being able to work in order to bestow, which means that he will be recorded in the book of the righteous. There must be a very strong request for the intention of in order to bestow upon the Creator so that a person at least will see that he only worries about his self-benefit.
[106643]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/13

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Question: Can it be that the group doesn’t give a person the support that he needs?

Answer: The group gives a person all the support that he needs according to how much he can feel it. The question is whether he is sensitive enough to feel this support. Perhaps, he is not connected to the group at all, what goes on it doesn’t concern him, and he lives his own life. He comes to the lesson, studies, and goes home. He may come to the lesson again after a couple of days when he doesn’t have anything more important to do. He doesn’t care about what happens in the group. He doesn’t develop the inner sensitivity to feel a response, an impression, an inspiration from them. He simply comes to the lessons occasionally. He never will receive anything from the group this way.

The group is a vessel, a means to adhere to the upper one, the place where the embryo adheres to the mother’s womb, the placenta through which a person adheres to the Creator. In the meantime, he is only in the form of an embryo, and the group is his whole world, like a mother’s womb. However, later, it receives the form of the entire world.
[106345]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The main thing is to hold onto adhesion to the Creator. From this point, a person begins to see his entire life as a series of exercises that are meant to connect him more strongly to the Creator. All the shells operate as “help against him,” and all the events he goes through are essential since this is the way he can correct, according to the root of his soul, all the flaws of lack of adhesion.

So, a person blesses the evil just as he blesses the good and thus, advances. He understands that everything that happens are true gifts that come from Above, from the Creator who wants to bring a person closer to Him. So, instead of feeling angry or dissatisfied, he feels grateful as he uses everything as a means to adhere to the Creator.

If a person doesn’t take it this way, then he immediately begins to activate additional screens of concealment upon himself that force him to advance in the same direction, but in a much longer and more difficult way. In that case, he will have to be equipped with different sub-systems to help him react correctly to the interruptions that he felt initially and which he couldn’t immediately see as a means of adhesion. Now, he will have to go through several additional phases in order to be able to see that.

It is up to the environment whether he is ready to see that or not: the study, the group, his participation in duties, and the work with the friends. According to the conditions and the means he is given from Above, a person has to resolve the problem, that is, the obstacle that seems to come between him and the Creator, as if Pharaoh appears between them.

If a person prepares himself correctly through the environment, the study, and the support of the group, he can solve this problem correctly. It is because he can find the solution in the same place that he prepares himself together with the environment. However, if he doesn’t prepare this place, the obstacles draw him further away. He cannot hold on under the pressure of all the invitations he receive from Above to strengthen the connection, and so the opposite happens. The force that comes to awaken him is not felt as a clarion to adhere, but as an interruption.
[106348]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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