Question: How can we help each other at this convention so that everyone will be able to rise above himself?

Answer: First of all, if I am thinking about rising above myself, thus I help others. It is enough that I “plug” my personal “hole at the bottom of the boat.” This is one thing.

Second, if I think about others and care about them, I help them. Third, my concern for others is expressed in the fact that I see my friends who have invested so much effort, time, strength, and money against many disturbances, and I want to reach such a state when my effort contributes to their spiritual attainment because they deserve more than I do.

I am concerned that they do not disconnect from the correct intentions, true desires, the connection between us. In my desire, I am so worried that they do not “fall” and think only about that.

This concern is the best protection possible in our state, and it ensures that not a single person falls out of this mutual guarantee between us, and we are always above our ego. Everyone should be on alert, thinking only about his friends, like a mother who cares about all her children.
[61427]
From Lesson 1, Arvut Convention at the Arava Desert 11/18/2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s like a weight lifter who needs to lift a weight above his head and hold it for several moments. This is enough—he has reached the desired result. It is the same with us. All of us together have to raise our desires and thoughts above us, hold them together for one moment, and it will happen!
[61216]
From Lesson 1, Arvut Convention at the Arava Desert 11/18/2011

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Question: I cannot tie the relationship between us with what we are reading in any way. It seems as if the material we are reading is hanging in the air and has nothing to do with me. How can I tie it to myself?

Answer: At the moment, you are not feeling any connection with the material you are reading because you are not connected to the friends, to any of them. The moment you start to bestow upon someone, you will immediately understand what a Partzuf (spiritual organism), a Tzimtzum (restriction of desire), and a Masach (anti-egoistic screen) are, how to calculate with the intention to bestow, how you are connected with others through the spiritual Partzufim, and what is referred to by Ibur (conception), Yenika (nursing), and Mochin (maturity).

What is the meaning of begetting someone? I beget my attitude toward someone else. When I beget all my attitudes toward all the others, it means that I beget all the Partzufim of my Malchut, of my desire.

I beget all the Partzufim from the bottom upward, from my Malchut (desire to receive) to Keter (desire to give) of the world of Infinity. This ascent is made of ten Sefirot, and I have to beget my relationships toward the whole world within them.

How can I feel the entire world and all the people? It’s simple. The closer I get to the spiritual system, the more clearly I discover the network of connections before me. It even is said about our corporeal relationships that through six people we know, we can connect to the rest of the world. That is, we see that this is possible.

In the spiritual world, you will feel as if everyone is actually by your side. It is hard to grasp, but all of humanity is by your side. You will connect with each one, not indirectly like in our world where we discover that through six people, we can come in contact with everyone, but directly, with everyone.

It isn’t like our body in which there is a certain order and system of connections. By bestowing upon each part of the spiritual body, I connect with each one directly, like a point on a sheet of paper, folded several times, is glued closely to all the other points. I connect with everyone and bestow upon everyone, by creating the Partzufim.

Astrophysicists actually are discovering that our universe exists in this “folded” form.
[61099]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/6/2011, TES

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The stages of the development of the desire are often called “spies.” A person is under the influence of the Light and feels frustration and weakness; he is in disagreement with the Light, its program, and with his own goal. He is displeased with his desire, natural qualities, and the help the Light gives him. He gets to a state where all power is taken from him.

However, these impressions are necessary for our desire to determine what it lacks to become similar to the Light because inside of the desire, naturally, there is no independent power or mind. There is nothing but a reaction to the Light. The desire to receive is built like an imprint of the Light. Everything that exists in the Light is absent in the desire, meaning that the desire is nothing more than “absence.”

However, the Light exists; it is “existence.” Thus, the entire abundance, all that the desire to receive acquires, is the attainment of the difference between “existence” and “absence.” Something that it lacks in order to add to itself is called a Masach (screen) that the desire uses to reach the degree of the Light.

However, the spies revealed within us, who curse creation, the Creator, and the desire to receive created by Him, are the states that help us advance. We just have to try to gain strength with the help of the group, the environment. Advancing together with them, we overcome the spies.
[61002]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/2011, Writings of Rabash

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

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

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

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

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

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

The gist of the matter is not for every person to prepare for the convention in his own niche, hoping that these external efforts will unite us. Rather, we must feel a much greater proximity, which is what we were slightly able to achieve at the convention in the Arava dessert. After the December convention, we will continue acting in this direction to come even closer to one another.
[61440]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/11, “Mutual Guarantee”

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

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

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

But now the time has come to build a new desire for my past state, like in TANTA, when I attain a new desire (vessel) as the screen becomes thinner. Right now we are approaching practical work. This is only for those who go through these states in the sharpest possible form, who have the Reshimo, the memory of what we have attained. Every one of us has this Reshimo, and we can awaken it.
[61313]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/2011, The Zohar

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Question (from the Italian group): We want to pass joy onto our friends. Do you feel it?

Answer: It’s not just joy because joy can be frivolous and carefree.

I feel a long lasting joy that is based on facts, a solid matter, a strong group, on the current condition of the world. My joy is the joy of a person who stands on very solid ground. He knows that his joy is constructive, that it opens a new path for humanity. Surely, everything is done by the upper force, but we are involved in the process. We participate in it, and that is why I feel great joy.
[61328]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: You’ve mentioned that the environment is the only means for keeping a person in the correct intention. Does this mean that the only way one can advance is by creating an environment like at the desert convention, which will constantly motivate him to remain in the correct intention and in the quality of bestowal?

Answer: This is correct. Without the influence of the environment a person loses himself. There are lots of people who simply burn their time by sitting home and watching soap operas or reading suspense and romance novels. Time passes by…. They feel that they fill their time with empty things, but they can’t do anything about it.

I receive complaints from people: “I am not doing anything! How can I break out of this state?” A person promises himself that starting tomorrow he’ll take charge of his life, but then tomorrow comes, and he is still in the place he was yesterday. Day after day goes by, and the clock can’t be turned back.

What can a person do? There is actually nothing he can do. This is how he’s being shown from Above that without the influence of the environment he won’t have the strength to advance. He must immerse himself in a correct environment, like a child who enters an adult environment. By doing this he will receive strength from them.

Rabbi Jossi Ben Kisma said: “What will I do without my students?” Did he need to receive knowledge from them? No, but he did need their general desire toward the goal. Did he not posses his own desire? After all, his desire was much greater than all of their desires! This is true. However, without connecting to them, he wouldn’t have his “billion times greater desire plus one.” Without them he wouldn’t be able to advance a single degree further. If he was left without his students, starting the next day he would go from reading The Zohar to reading the news.
[61011]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/2011, The Zohar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer: If you have received the opportunity to enter mutual guarantee with your friends, then by participating in the common work, obviously you shift the world to goodness. After all, every person is part of the common network and we are its central part. Therefore, by strengthening the group, I strengthen the whole world in its spiritual ascent. And the opposite is also true.
[61337]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/11, “Mutual Guarantee”

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