Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee): With this collective responsibility, each member of the nation was liberated from worrying about the needs of his own body and could keep the Mitzva, “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.

There are two discernments here.

First, mutual guarantee and mutual concern free a person from worries about himself. Each one leans on others and everyone feels good. This is the “psychological therapy” to get rid of fear.

Second, we actually connect in order to be connected with the upper for ourselves. We want unity because we see it as a way to reach this connection. We always yearn upward and every action we take below should be aimed at the final goal and not for self-sedation. Different from a football team that connects in order to succeed, our connection is in order to raise us upward. Even if by that we get rid of all our problems, it isn’t the tranquility we are looking for. We are simply changing the previous troubles and the problems that push us to unite, to troubles and problems of a different quality that are created when we unite with the Creator.

This is called “upper fear,” and this is where love resides. Fear is a vessel, and love is its filling. Now I feel fear in facing the Creator, not in facing the threat of troubles, shame, despair, etc. I exchange all that to fear of being close to the Creator, to the desire to go to Him, to be close to Him in bestowal. This is my goal.

When will I yearn for it? When it doesn’t matter what is behind me, as long as it increases my attraction forward.

Thus we exchange the corporeal problems with spiritual problems called “love pangs.”

Question: But if the friends absolutely support me, don’t they extinguish my main problem, don’t they blur my desire to approach the Creator?

Answer: If I enter the group correctly, I acquire new fears instead of the old fears. No one is promising me a tranquil life; there is a restless adventure that I anticipate, which mountain climbers, pioneers, and world travelers experience. Their concern is the anticipation, they are constantly advancing toward something better; so I also feel a deficiency on the spiritual path, but I anticipate the joy, and this anticipation is better than the joy itself.

We know from experience that the pleasure disappears immediately, but the anticipation can make a person feel alive for many years. In spirituality this is really a filling, which we summon with the help of the Returning Light, above the desire to receive, clothed in bestowal.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: There is such a notion “long range.” Where eventually should our actions to organize the workshops lead?

Answer: We do this just to go into the world. We need to work out this system, firmly grasp our unity, the center of the group. We have to feel how we begin to see in it the manifestation of the higher state, the upper Force, how it affects us, how we cling to it, and it holds us, not letting us go. Each of us should understand clearly how he works on all his egoistic manifestations, rejections, etc.

When this method is correctly established in us, we will look at the world differently. We will see everything that is against us like help “against us,” not just “against.” And then we will be able to bring this into the world.

After all, everything started from resistance movements in all the countries. That is why, we began to go out and make circles.

And now, we make these circles, these “round tables” within ourselves. We need to work them out spiritually on a different degree, to go into the world, and to start to disseminate them there, not as we did this before, but in a more intensive bright form, connected with the upper root, so that the world feels that it’s not just an agreement between us but there is a force with which to solve problems. That is important.
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From the Virtual Lesson 5/20/12, “Fundamentals of Kabbalah”

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Baal HaSulam: “The Arvut, (Mutual Guarantee)”: 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.

We are demanded to correct the general vessel, the desires that now feel that they are detached, foreign, and even opposite to one another. Before, the Light advanced them to connection and to unity, but now, because of the shattering, it separates them, leads them to oppositeness, to quarrels, violence, etc. We need the Light to come and to correct and connect these desires.

We don’t know how to correct them, how to put the parts of the broken vessel together, because we don’t know in advance what the vessel should be like and any assumption we make is only a guess. So what should we do? The point is that we don’t correct anything by ourselves. We ask, demand, and evoke the upper One so that He will perform the correction.

There is no way a person can correct himself. Each time we rise to a higher level, but can a baby be smarter than his mother? So every ascent is accompanied by a request and the upper in response performs the necessary work on it and moves us to the next state.

There is a request on our part and the work on the part of the upper. This is why it is called “God’s work.” It is He who works, and my work is to request.

If we are constantly careful in dividing this work, we save a lot of energy and are not confused. We must make sure that we do that and do not forget about it. We as a rule want to operate on our own, while the actual action on our part is to prepare ourselves for His work, to exert ourselves, and then to discover our helplessness. Baal HaSulam says: “There isn’t a happier state in a person’s work than when he is despaired of his own powers.” A person should understand that only the Creator, the upper Force, can correct him, and that’s the way it is all the time.

It isn’t by chance that our mission seems so difficult: to become “as one man in one heart,” to unite completely; how is that possible? These are illusions that can only lead to crisis and disappointment, to an even greater collapse than the one we’ve seen in the USSR for example. It is really so if we use the wrong means, the wrong program. But the method of Kabbalah provides us with a natural plan that is led by nature itself: Your life doesn’t have to be bad, you only need to discover, to identify that you are in a bad state. This is enough so that you will demand a change and you will receive the next state.

Thus our work is simple. If we all gather and work according to the law of mutual guarantee, the mission becomes much easier: We discover the evil and at the same time we discover the good, which means the source and the means for the changes. The tension between these two poles advances us to correction; we summon the Reforming Light and it performs the work. This arrangement repeats time after time.

The real life, the real ascent, will be revealed in the permanent closeness of people, in common circles, in discussions, in impressions, in excitement, and in mutual help. Thus we will discover more deficiencies in us in comparison to the corrected state of the general unity; we will discover the effectiveness of the greatness of the state of mutual bestowal, and we will activate the upper Force that performs the whole work. It says: “He that makes peace in Heaven, will make peace on us.” This is the order of the actions.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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A ladder, which divides the worlds into levels and the Light into portions, descends from Above, from the whole state, all the way to our world, until the total concealment. The concealments were created so that we will grow and fill them with our recognition, our work, with our exertion and efforts.

Instead of working with the vessels of receiving, we should begin to work with the vessels of bestowal, which means with the desire to receive in the intention of in order to bestow and not with the intention of in order to receive. Thanks to that, a person acquires freedom and independence, knowledge and the feeling that he’s in the Creator’s world, in the upper world.

In order to bring a person to this state, he’s shown concealments from a certain point in his development, which is happening in our times. For selected individuals this already happened in previous centuries, but today the whole world feels the concealment, a kind of obscurity, confusion, helplessness, and disorientation. There’s a feeling that we can no longer advance with the old attributes and forces to calculate our exertion and our desires to make plans and achieve results.

There is nothing to yearn for since the world is covered by a shadow. But this shadow is the same concealment, which we have to balance and to fill with our exertion. We know that this concealment was given to us on purpose, not in order to divert us from the good goal, but on the contrary, in order to bring us to the good but consciously, by understanding and feeling it as grown-ups.

Accordingly we have to determine the right way to advance, by clarifying what is required from us and how to organize all the means we have and our vessel, so that they will raise us above the concealment. We don’t annul the concealment, but we rise above it.

Everything depends upon how a person accepts these states. It says: “and each man shall help his friend,” the group has to give each one the powers as well as to constantly remind him that “there is none else besides Him,” and that we must ascend the levels of bestowal in “faith above reason.”

Then all the concealments will turn into a shade of Holiness by which we acquire vessels of bestowal, which are called “holy.” If we forget that, both we and the group, it’s a serious problem because we no longer exert ourselves in order to rise above the concealment; we are not thankful for the concealment and don’t accept it as something that’s desirable, as a springboard to ascent. Instead, we are angry about the concealment and ask for it and all the unpleasantness in life to be removed.

The concealment can be very strong, but a person should remember that there is none else besides Him. A person is only required to determine his relationship with the group correctly in order to raise a request and to draw the Reforming Light, and then he will attain adhesion above the concealment. This is how he will advance.

Otherwise it will turn into a shade of the Sitra Achra, of the egoistic forces, which will lead to a greater fall, which won’t allow him to fulfill himself correctly. No matter what happens, he should rise again and start everything anew. The main thing is to determine a framework for himself: a schedule for studying and for working in the group, which will remind him in every state that his obligation is to differentiate between the shade of Holiness and the shade of the Sitra Achra.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/12, Shamati #8

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Question: What does it mean to “talk from the center of the group”? What is it?

Answer: When I stop feeling the “I” and begin to feel only “we.”

This feeling should be manifested in us during the discussion, as if we are inseparably tied in a single whole, in one body. I should leave the workshop with this feeling.

Question: Is this the “height of unity”?

Answer: Yes, already I cannot look at things differently. That’s how I see the world, myself, and everything around me.
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From the Virtual Lesson 5/20/12, “Fundamentals of Kabbalah”

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Question: How can we maintain unity with a friend when he denies it?

Answer: We cannot enter into contract between us if the Creator is not used as a guarantor for this agreement. How can we commit to each other if we aren’t in control, but are completely managed from Above? How can I seriously promise something for tomorrow and expect something from you? This is completely naive.

We need to call the Creator, so that He will be a witness to our agreement, and only then will the agreement exist.

By signing on an agreement, we, first of all, clarify if you are the full owner of this property. If this land, the property, and the bank account, are under someone’s authorization, and that owner doesn’t participate in the signing of this contract, then what is the point of signing it?
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can the desire to receive bestow?

Answer: A person has a chance to work with his desire to receive in order to bestow for the good of others. In our world, there are situations in which I feel that I depend on someone, and then I try to make him happy either for my own benefit or to avoid troubles.

I also may perceive the other as part of myself if it is my child or a beloved person. Then, by making him happy, it is as if I make myself happy and even more.

This is one of the forms of the influence of the upper Light, which brings us the right feeling. On the other hand, if the Light disappears, a person sinks to the bottom of his existence, losing all contact, and any sense of belonging even to people who are closest to him.

When the feeling of closeness is taken from us, we are left with the desire to receive by itself without any sentiments. Then, I don’t take anything into account except for any possible damage that I may cause myself. At the same time, the upper Light can influence me in such a way that I suddenly will feel a quantum leap and will want the other to feel good, not because I will benefit from it, not egoistically, but I simply want him to feel good.

How can that be? We don’t know, but Kabbalists tell us about this. They also say that we all should reach this feeling: “You have no other choice, and, if you don’t listen to us, you will experience great suffering, so you will want it one way or the other.”

Only the upper Light can provide me with a new, altruistic attitude toward others. I can never acquire it by myself.

– “So let the Light influence me!” I am told.

– “No, it will influence only if you want it to.”

– “But how can I want it if I am an egoist?”

This is why you were given a “point in the heart” in addition to your desire to receive, a grain of understanding. I admit that bestowal is special, and this candle, which you didn’t light by yourself, burns within you and evokes you.

Besides that, the upper Light flows upon this point or this candle, bringing you to the group, to the study, and placing you in such an environment that enables you to resemble the actions of bestowal, the forms of bestowal. Like a small child who imitates the grown ups, you were given a bit of a desire, so use it.

By that, you will summon the Light that will influence you more strongly, and you will suddenly acquire new attributes. Then, the other, which is the friends, humanity, nature, and the Creator, will become more important that your own self.

The Light does all that if we raise a request for correction and do “good deeds,” which means that we play together in bestowal as if we want it and, by that, reach a prayer, a demand: “We have done so much, and where is the result?” Then, we begin to pray, understanding that only the Light can give us the form of bestowal, and so we advance.

Today, you have no connection to bestowal except for this game. In order to bestow upon the Light, we must resemble it, which is possible only by connection and unity in the group. This is the only form of bestowal that you can express and exhibit in our world in order to resemble the Light and to summon its influence upon you.

– “Okay, we are holding hands. We really want to unite. What’s next?”

This isn’t enough. You don’t connect like a football team; you want to feel the need for bestowal. You lower your heads before one another and unite. What is this for? It is in order to reach the One who bestows.

In order to do that, you should know that you must have the right attitude toward Him. So, please, take a book and read about how to do that. If you want to be big, read what the big ones have written, what they do, and how they prepare their actions of bestowal upon the Creator.

If you really want that, play at it like a child who wishes to resemble a grown-up. Unite with the friends equally by wanting to reach mutual guarantee and as an expression of mutual bestowal. Yearn upward for bestowal upon the Creator, use the sources, and advance together toward the goal.

Then, you will be influenced by the Reforming Light and will reach your goal. Without the Light, nothing will happen. You only evoke a desire that is as correct, as efficient, and as intensive as possible, to the fullest.

You will reach the desirable measure of exertion so that the Light will turn from the Surrounding Light into the Inner Light. In other words, it will bring the attribute of bestowal into your desire, and you will perceive this feeling as the Light itself, as life and vitality.

If you were given the feeling of bestowal now, it would seem to you as hell. The only difference is that, by correcting yourself, you will be prepared for bestowal and be happy with it, whereas now it only will cause you pain and make the darkness seem like death since the Light of Hochma that isn’t dressed in the Light of Hassadim will be like a knife that cuts your whole life.

A small portion of this Light brings about our descents by evoking us to look for the way to rise to Hassadim. You are drawn upward, asking the friends and the Light for a bit of the attribute of bestowal that will pull you out of the descent. By that, you are begging for Hesed (mercy), for the dressing of the Light of Hassadim. When it comes, you receive a little vitality and come out of the abyss.

So, the Reforming Light is different from the Light that does not reform by giving you a Masach (screen), which means the readiness to stand bestowal and even to accept it as the real life.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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If my goal is connection, I see everything in the world as fragments of the shattering that have drawn away from me only so that I will be able to collect them and put them back together again. The particles don’t have to be identical in order to connect. On the contrary, they have to be different!

If there is a plus in one place and a minus in another, if there is more here and less there, then there is a connection between the parts. A big one can give to someone who is small, and a small one can receive from the big one. If they are both perfectly equal, what will they be able to give one another, how will they be able to connect?

It is the equality that leads to detachment! So how can we achieve general equality? Here we begin to understand that the concept of equality doesn’t refer to attributes, thoughts, desires, or identical actions, but rather is expressed in attaining the goal. It is for the goal that we all connect and with regards to it we are all equal.

We will never be able to be equal if we don’t connect with the Creator and don’t consider Him as our goal. Accordingly, I already begin to recruit forces, to find out what the method of connection is, to look for ways to connect with others; I examine everything that goes on in the world as an opportunity that is given to me every moment in order to rise above my ego, above the forces of separation, and to attain general connection.

We can connect as equals only when the Creator is among us and is the goal of our connection. Therefore it says that the condition of: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one,” determines the correct direction for correction.

By wanting to connect and to attain full equality, but at the same time for each one to keep his uniqueness and his own individual attributes, we connect as one body. The Creator, the upper Light, has to give this body life according to the law of the equivalence of form.

Many desires connect in one spiritual body, in one Partzuf, under one Masach (screen), in order to create a general adhesion with the one Light. Then there is Zivug de Haka’a (coupling of striking) with the Light in the head of the Partzuf and a formation called the “soul” (Neshama) is created. At the same time, all the individual particles keep their natural uniqueness in their thoughts and desires and operate as organs in one body, as everyone does his job and connects with others in order to attain the general goal, the spiritual life. This life is equivalence and adhesion with the Light.

Here the formula of “Love will cover all sins” is activated. The sins remain, the differences between us are kept, and on that basis everyone judges and justifies himself. Of course, he accuses the others, since “one judges according to his own flaws.” But by connection we understand that all the differences between us actually help us attain a greater connection among us if we can fulfill the connection on a higher level by rising above all the differences between us.

If we just erase the differences between us, we will have no basis for connection, we will have nothing to give one another. Everyone needs to give others, by appearing as their “minus” with regard to a “plus” and receiving from others as a minus from a plus.

This means that we are all different! But if we do it under one “umbrella of love,” then everyone comes out equal. When a baby smiles to his mother, she is ready to give him the whole world. It says “love will cover all sins,” and if there is love, then it ties us all in one net. Then we connect above all the gaps for one cause and attain it.

This is the method that was prepared for us by the Light, by many preliminary actions. The Light created a desire and works on it by lowering it and making it go through all the degrees, by breaking it and creating the worlds of BYA of Holiness and of impurity and the “first man” Adam who is also shattered.

Only today, in this new era in which all of humanity finds itself, we begin the correction of the world, so that instead of a terrible and terrifying world, whose growing sickness and corruption are revealed day by day, we will see the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) before us.
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From the lesson 5/25/12, Writings of Rabash

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In our longing to rise above our ego, to correspond to nature, to its attributes of bestowal and love, we need to be careful not to postpone our correction until “later.” This is what our ego pushes on us in its resistance to be diminished. Whoever postpones his correction from “ today” to “tomorrow,” “That which changes today for tomorrow for you,“ will discover his mistake only after many years of lack of advancement, “And he that can wait until tomorrow will get lost after years, G-d forbid.”

The reason for such a loss is the negligence in relation to the efforts in loving his friends, in relation to the necessary and sufficient methods of correction of all our ego.

We must understand what a huge force is hiding in the unity of the group and in each one of the friends. After all, we are not dealing with friends or a group, but with the huge force of nature. Each one of us is in unity with it, only the illusion of this world around us and all of its parts confuses us and hides from us the great forces and attributes of nature, of its system of governance regarding us so that each one of us will attain the attributes of bestow and love.

If we connect our forces to each of nature’s representatives, then in the assembly of friends, in love and friendship, we will discover forces that change us to be similar and to become equivalent to the upper force of nature.
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From Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (Fruit of the Wise), Letter 13, 1925

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Question: Conventions where we actively were using the workshops as a way to unite produced the astonishing results.

Some friends, who in the past couldn’t find the common language, suddenly, by rising above personality differences, were able to unite. However, at the same time there were people who could not enter this process, they could not force themselves to sit in the circle.

Answer: The reaction of rejection is taking place. These people have a good and healthy egoism. They will too go forward, but we have to be patient for a little while and not push them! Gradually it will happen in them as a result of the influence of the common field. I know these problems many of which I experienced myself in different ways. Generally this is all legitimate.

In any condition, in any combination, in any possible form these friends should participate in common events; they can do it purely in the mechanical way, they can help do some work, sit at the computers, help with the general connection between the groups during that time. It doesn’t matter what they do. Gradually it will come.

There are such types of egoism, which have a very hard time establishing a contact. Even sitting together in a circle and talking about something only in the mechanical way is not so easy. In this regard we have to always raise another person and try to justify him.
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From the Virtual Lesson 5/20/12, “Fundamentals of Kabbalah”

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