Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

Questions about Spiritual Work—217

281.02Question: What should one do if he comes to a mutual guarantee, to a covenant, but then encounters corporeal obstacles and realizes that his friends do not actually provide for all his corporeal needs, and he falls?

How can one rise again and return to mutual guarantee?

Answer: A person must correct himself in a state of descent.

Question: Does the desire we reveal between us and the Creator then become the source of all changes?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Who initiates the formation of a covenant? Is it me initiating the covenant or does the Creator grant me this opportunity?

Answer: Of course, it comes from the Creator. Everything begins with Him.

Question: When Jacob makes the covenant, he sets conditions to the Creator. We are taught that we should not expect any reward. Why then are conditions set?

Answer: A condition does not imply a reward. If we want to form a covenant, it already includes obligations from both sides that must be fulfilled. This is exactly what we need—to take a specific position on this matter relative to Jacob.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/25, “Arvut on the Way to Lishma”

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Catch the Upper Light

530Question: I feel that it is impossible to catch the light entering the vessel. How do we work with this? How can we hold it?

Answer: None of us individually can receive the light, but only if we come together. Each of us separately does not have the receptacle, the vessel. We form the receptacle by connecting our receiving and bestowing qualities. At their intersection, we create a network, and in this network, we catch the upper light, the Creator.

Question: What do we receive from the ten?

Answer: By annulling ourselves before the ten, each of us represents Malchut. The other friends, in relation to each of us, are the first nine Sefirot, the qualities of bestowal.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson 2/19/20, “Preparation for the Convention”

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Rely on Friends

938.01When I experience a new desire for something, it is called a descent. In reality, there are no descents: “Holiness increases, not decreases.” However, when a new corrupted desire arises within us, we perceive it as a descent.

Each of us experiences the emergence of new egoistic desires. If we are correctly connected with one another, these desires automatically bind us together, and we instinctively respond to them.

This means that I perceive my friend’s desires as my own, and they perceive mine as theirs. In this way, we continuously pull each other up and rise together. It does not take a month or even a week for us to linger in a state of descent, to wait for the Creator’s mercy to lift us out of it. That does not happen.

If we are part of a group, each new descent, which is necessary for the revelation of the entire Kli (vessel), the entire desire, is felt by everyone as a tremendous advantage, as a great discovery. This is why it is said that an old man walks bent over as if searching for something he has lost. “Where are my desires? Where are the uncorrected intentions I can lift from the ground, elevate, and thereby elevate myself?”

But this is only possible if you are part of a group, if you rely on your friends and know with certainty that you are connected to them. In this way they support you and you support them.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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The Ten Is an Atom of the Spiritual World

939.02Question: Many friends from all over the world are going to the big congress or to the mirror congresses. What should our intention be on the way to the congress?

Answer: It does not matter where the friends are: on the road, already at the congress, or staying in their places at home. The main thing is that they are all together in the same state.

Most important is for a person to be in a ten, where he can, together with his friends, implement a system of the common Kli. Therefore under no circumstances do I divide people into those who are far away, on the road, or even somewhere else in the world. The only difference is how much a person wants to be included in this common Kli.

When he comes here and participates in the congress, he works in tens, takes part in workshops, and unites with friends. We can also study at home. We see that people who come, both men and women  (women even to a greater extent) absorb the material correctly, ask excellent questions, and are aware of what we are studying.

We meet these people everywhere. Many, even without knowing about the congress, listen to us and understand us. Suddenly it becomes clear that a huge number of people in the world nourish themselves from us.

Why am I saying this? To emphasize that the most important reason we gather is not to acquire knowledge, but to get the impression that it is precisely in the ten that we can see the structure of the world, the ten Sefirot.

And when we perceive these ten Sefirot in the ten and their division into the upper, middle, and lower parts (Rosh, Toch, Sof), when we feel the right and left lines and the light of NRNHY that is clothed in them, we will begin to work practically with this construction. And there is nothing else beside it. It is an atom of the spiritual world.

We cannot talk about any quality, about anything, if it is less than ten. We can say, “This is a hydrogen atom; this is an oxygen atom, something else or something else,” but we cannot speak of anything smaller than that, because there are no qualities there.

There must be a collection of some elements—pluses, minuses, electrons, protons, neutrons, and so on—that make up this object, which can be called by a certain name based on the combination of pluses and minuses. All substances are made of them. And then interesting relationships occur between them, all kinds of dynamic connections. Then this substance is called either vegetative, animate, or human.

In other words, we must gather in such a combination that would start such a life among us! That is why we come to the congress, and not to see the faces of our friends there. No! The main thing is to feel the gathering of people who can reveal the Creator and manifest the world.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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For the Sake of Friends or the Creator?

165Question: There are commandments between me and my friends and between me and the Creator. In the state of Lishma, should my intention be directed at my friends or at the Creator?

Answer: Both at the friends and at the Creator.

Question: Let us say that I love everyone, but I cannot make others love me. Does Lishma depend only on everyone and not on me at all?

Answer: It depends on everyone and on you; you just have to keep working.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/25, “Connecting to Lishma“

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An Archipelago of Egoism

937Question: How can I restore my connection with the Creator after a descent? Should I begin to think that it comes from Him and directly make such a calculation? But if you say it is impossible to do this without experience, then what should I do in this situation?

Answer: One person cannot do anything alone. One will ascend and descend for a long time, struggling until a person finally finds a group. A thought will arise within him that this is necessary, and he will be brought to the group.

We are all the result of a shattered soul. Each of us is a fragment, a shard, and we must gather these broken parts back together into one whole.

The shattering occurred when a great light acted upon the collective desire and caused it to break apart. This desire then filled the spaces between the fragments, between its broken pieces. In this way, the desire became multilayered, complex, and egoistic. Now, between all its fragments, egoism resides.

What should we do? Within this system are our individual desires, and between them, between all of us, lies egoism, and filling all the spaces between us is a force intentionally created by the Creator.

Now we are like an archipelago, small islands in a sea separated by egoism. We need the Creator to act upon this sea of egoism and transform our egoistic interactions into altruistic ones—into connection, bestowal, and love. This is the correction.

Therefore, without a group we cannot achieve anything. If I try to work alone, I will have no opportunity to achieve anything.

There was a period in human history, from Adam to Abraham, when it was not necessary to correct oneself through interaction in a group. At that time, egoism was not manifested in such a way that it required the attraction of the upper light within a group to transform intentions from reception to bestowal.

But now, I cannot imagine how this can be done without a group. A person, of course, may detach themselves slightly from the material world, but they cannot move forward and ascend the spiritual ladder because the implementation of the method of correction consists in reuniting into the one soul called Adam.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”

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What Does Love for the Neighbor Give Us?

A 938.02“neighbor” is not just any person; it is my friend who stands opposite me, and I gradually begin to achieve love for him in order to come to love for the Creator.

It is a strict formula: first I turn to the Creator, and in order to connect with Him, I unite with my friends, my “neighbors.”

I work on love for my neighbor because it is a prerequisite for reaching love for the Creator!

The neighbor and the Creator are interconnected because relative to my desire to receive, they hold an equal position. They are equidistant from me, and I feel the same way about both of them!

The Creator is entirely bestowing, and the neighbor seems to me just as hateful as the quality of bestowal. Therefore, I reject them both.

If I do not reach the point where I relate equally to the Creator and to the neighbor, I will not be able to work correctly. It is like aligning a sight, bringing my view, the front sight, and the target into one line.
If I am more inclined toward either the Creator or the neighbor, I am no longer aiming properly.

I must align myself precisely with the target so that the one striving for the Creator (Israel), the light of correction, and the Creator unite into a single whole.

A neighbor (a Kabbalistic group) is the spiritual vessel, the system of souls, while the Creator is what fills this system.

But then I realize that they are one and the same, because the vessel becomes like the light. There is no light without a vessel, without a Kli! And for me, everything merges into one.

The group becomes an example of the Creator for me. Through my attitude toward them, I learn how to relate to Him: whether to love or hate Him.

After all, the only possible attitude toward the Creator is one of bestowal. And here, the group is provided for me to test how much I am in a state of bestowal.

What creates the distance, the difference, between the Creator and the group? Only my own egoism! If it were not for my ego, there would be no distinction between them.

Why do I still feel a difference? Because I receive some pleasure from the Creator but none from the group. That is the entire difference!
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/10, Writings of Rabash “What Does the Rule “Love Thy Friend as Thyself” Give Us”

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Feel the Movement of the Creator

938.03Question: How can one grasp the Creator at a convention?

Answer: To do this, you need to feel the collective mass present at the convention and try to feel how the Creator is present within everyone, filling them. Then, you will develop the correct attitude toward Him to the point where you begin to feel Him.

You will start to feel Him in the movement of those present; something is happening within them; they are moving in some way, flowing and shifting.

For example, if a small raft floats on the surface of the water, you can see the movement of the water through the movement of the raft. Similarly, in the movement of the crowd, you will gradually feel the movement of the Creator through them.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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When a New Degree Comes

032.01Question: The closer we come together, the more we drift apart, right?

Answer: The more egoism is revealed within us, the greater the connection we can build above it, and in so doing, we can perceive the Creator. This state is like a sandwich made of three layers: at the bottom is the egoistic quality (reception), on top is the quality of giving, and between them is the Creator.

Question: If we know in advance that closeness will lead to hatred, how can we move toward closeness?

Answer: The fact that you know this in advance does not matter. When rejection and hatred toward your friends arise, you will forget everything. You will think it is your personal problem, that you and no one else is doing this.

But after experiencing discord with your friends, you will begin to rise above this feeling. No tricks or preparations for the future will help you remain “good.” A new degree comes with new sensations and interactions, and all previous understandings and corrections no longer apply. A person is new every day.

So don’t dwell on what happened yesterday. You may look at the outward appearance of a friend, which you are familiar with, but inside, we are entirely different every day.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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The Great Deed of the Creator

276.01Question: What determines the duration of states of ascents and descents?

Answer: The duration of ascents and descents depends on the intensity of the work within the ten. If the ten is actively working on itself, you can pass through these states very quickly and realize them with incredible speed.

There is a story about a student who came to Baal Shem Tov and said: “That is it, I cannot do this anymore. I have experienced several descents and ascents just this morning.” To this, Baal Shem Tov replied: “I go through 400 such states in a single day.”

First, ascents and descents can be calculated. Second, imagine what it means to experience 400 conscious transitions from a small state, to a greater or intermediate one, and so on.

And all of this occurs in sensations, in the awareness of joy, like a symphony unfolding within us, like a marvelous harmony. This is attainment, delight, the great deed of the Creator!
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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