Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

Three Factors as an Indivisible Whole

282.01Question: What should I be concerned about: ensuring that the spirit, intention, and aspiration exist within me, within the friends, or in the group as a whole?

Answer: I must ensure that all three of these factors exist as a single indivisible whole. Then, in whatever state I happen to be, my preparation will help me sense if I am somehow falling out of that unity.

I must not separate my work in the group, the group itself, its direction, and the work of the friends into “me,” “them,” and “our common goal.” Just as we must unite the person, their actions, and the Creator from a single point, so here too we must be as one person with one heart, one task, and one goal. This must truly be one.

We do this together, united as a single vessel, within the one Creator, with one fulfillment. What division can be made here? In the point of general unity, everything connects. So why should I divide this now when I am going to correctly realize my state? How can I separate these things?

It is a different matter when working in this way and I fall out of the “I–Creator–action” system, which is the group, the general Kli, then I immediately sense that I have fallen out. Otherwise, the Creator disappears, and I do not feel it; the group drifts away, and I do not feel that; I am absent from the entire process, and I do not feel that either.

Question: Can this be likened to the way an organ of the body cares for the whole body?

Answer: An organ of the body cares about its connection to the whole body so life, the spirit of life, may exist within it. Such is the concern of an individual regarding the group and the Creator. In other words, one must look at the group as a general Kli that is coming into connection with the Creator. Period.

Can one receive the Torah and receive the light if we are not fused together in such a desire? It is impossible. This will be revealed in a simple form. If we do not go through some critical state, critical mass, that is, unless I step outside myself to some definite measure, I will not begin to sense the revelation of the Creator.
[357079]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/26, Rabash, Letter 59, 1962

Related Material:
Three Factors For A Properly Working Mechanism
A Single Whole: “I, The Group, And The Creator”
Entries To Our Spiritual Account

Strength from Outside: Either the Creator or the Group

938.04Question: What does the process of acquiring a Kli mean?

Answer: Acquiring a Kli is the process in which you determine the correct attitude toward spirituality: how I imagine it to myself, how I am tuned to the spiritual wavelength, how ready I am to disconnect from this world in order to fully devote myself to spirituality.

This is what is called “building a Kli for spirituality.” A Kli is a desire.

Question: So we must fight with every new obstacle?

Answer: No, we cannot fight with every obstacle. If now I am in a state of despair, how can I rejoice? I cannot. Well, I can if I force myself, for example, to dance. However, this will produce only a short-term effect. Therefore, true advancement can only be through the group. Working in it, I acquire and attach additional Kelim to myself.

Question: So when the next obstacle manifests, must I tell myself that this manifestation of force from above is an angel?

Answer: It is desirable to imagine that it is an angel hindering you, and not you yourself. Then we will be able to force ourselves to work against this foreign force. Later, we will still forget about it. After all, this angel is smarter than us, it confuses us, and we simply forget. In the end, nothing will remain for you except working in the group. Listen! That is exactly how it will be!

Question: But what if this state lasts for an unlimited time?

Answer: Imagine the best state in which you would like to be, and work for the group so that it also wishes this. Very simple. There is no need to be too smart!

Question: But why can a person not go through all these states?

Answer: Because these states are him. He cannot overcome himself. For this, he needs a force from outside that will change him. And the force from outside can be either the Creator or the group. The group is the Creator, but only this force is in our dimension.
[357072]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/26, Rabash, “The Difference between Charity and Gift”

Related Material:
The Creator Is the Goal and the Group Is the Helper
How Should I Relate to the Group?
The Correct Attitude Toward the Group

During Prayer

239Question: How should a person prepare and direct themselves during prayer?

Answer: In the Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot  (TES), Baal HaSulam writes that during prayer, a person should focus on only one thing—to desire that what he studies in the Kabbalistic books be revealed within him, to strive to know and connect with the material being studied.

But if the subject is so distant that a person cannot see how it relates to what is taking place in his soul, then he should regard it as a remedy.

As it is written: “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice.” And it is also said it: “Heals every illness.” It will give me what is necessary for my advancement; it will come as a remedy, as help from Above.

Question: How can one avoid forgetting this during the lessons?

Answer: If you suffer from an illness, you do not forget about it. Sometimes cancer patients come to see me; they do not forget their illness for a single moment. They are ready to follow any instruction from morning to evening in order to be healed. Without a doubt, they are willing, and they do not forget.

Therefore, everything depends on the recognition of the importance of the goal and the degree of pain. And the importance comes, once again, from the group. Only the group can increase  the importance of the goal, the importance of spirituality, within you.
[357180]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/26, Rabash, “The Difference between Charity and Gift”

Related Material:
The Prayer Before The Prayer
Proper Prayer
What Is the Essence of Prayer?

Contribution to the Group

938.03Question: In our state, can contribution to the group be limited only to thoughts?

Answer: In our state, no. A contribution to the group is expressed, not only spiritually, but also corporeally. After all, we are connected together, we work together, and we perform actions together. Through performing corporeal actions, we are granted strength from above, reinforcement from above.

It may seem that we are simply publishing books or engaging in dissemination. But through this, we receive tremendous spiritual power as a reward. As long as we exist in this world, you cannot separate the spiritual from the corporeal and say: “That’s it, now we are as if without bodies and deal exclusively with spiritual concepts.” That is impossible.

You will always be dealing with bodies and physical actions in this world: creating something, disseminating, and so on. Therefore, one must understand that through such actions, one also comes to spiritual values.

Baal HaSulam writes about this: the more effort a person invests in something, the more important that thing becomes to him, and he can no longer leave it. This connects him to the work until he begins to feel that it is worthwhile to invest effort there, to bring benefit, and even to devote himself to it.

One should not diminish the importance of corporeal actions. If we had not performed the corporeal actions that we do during or before Passover, we would not have attained what we have attained.

Question: So, are physical actions in the group together with correct intentions the proper combination for spiritual bestowal to the group?

Answer: Yes. We must strive for both corporeal actions and spiritual actions to become as one, truly as one so that there is not a single bodily action arising from conscious desire that is not connected with the correct intention.
[357192]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/26, Rabash, Letter 59, 1962

Related Material:
The Hearts Are Drawn After The Actions
How Can A Corporeal Group Influence Spirituality?
Physical Actions That Lead To The Spiritual World

The Near and the Distant Environment

423.02Question: How should I deal with my surroundings outside of the group (work, family, and friends) who have no aspiration for spirituality?

Answer: You have nothing to do with such a society unless you come to them in order to teach them the wisdom of Kabbalah and they accept this path, become inspired by it, and are willing to work according to what is written in our books.

You may offer them various teachings and methods, and if they accept specifically our method of spiritual ascent, accept the goal, and are prepared to follow this path, then they form a goal-oriented society moving toward spirituality. This is possible. But as long as they have not accepted our method, you cannot relate to them as a Kli  (vessel) through which you will continue your spiritual advancement.

Question: How does my close environment, which has no connection to my path, influence me?

Answer: It depends on how significant and important the goal is to you. If it is important, then they have no influence on you.

For example, I visit my mother, and she begins to complain: “You never rest, you never sleep. How can you live like this? Just look at yourself! How many years have you been living this way?” I sit and listen to her, since she is already advanced in age, but it does not affect me. There is nothing to be done; mothers are all the same. She speaks, and I remain as I am.

However, there are environments that are quite aggressive and can harm me through their influence. In such a case, I prefer to distance myself from them, because I have no obligations toward them. Toward my mother, I must show respect; I have duties toward her. But a friend is someone connected to you by a common goal. The word “Haver” (friend) comes from Hithabrut (connection, joining).

For example, friends from my hometown may come to visit, people I once invited and spent time with, yet today I have no connection with them. I have close relatives who have lived in Israel for ten years or more, and I have not even met with them. Sometimes my mother asks me to call a relative, and then I call and inquire about their health once every few years.

Why do I behave this way? Simply because it is not within my field of attention. How can I maintain a connection with a person with whom I have nothing in common?

I am not telling you this without reason, it is a common situation in life. Everything depends on a person’s desire.
[357176]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/26, Rabash, “The Difference between Charity and Gift”

Related Material:
Influenced By The Outside World
‎Special Environment
The World Is Our Inner Video Image

Obstacles and Scrutinies

222Question: Let’s say I automatically attribute the obstacle to the Creator. Is this enough?

Answer: When obstacles come and I attribute them to the Creator, this is not the whole work but only part of it. Thank God I do not forget; I try every moment of my life, and if I lose my connection with the Creator, I return to it. That is, I am always in and out. This is great! But this is only part of the work.

After I have resumed my connection with the Creator, what must I do?

This is where I scrutinize our relationship, how I perceive Him, what He is to me, how I explain to myself what the forces of bestowal are, and what for the sake of reception means. Resuming the connection is essential when I return from the animal state to the state of Israel.

Question: How are obstacles defined?

Answer: Everything that separates me from the awareness of the Creator is called an obstacle. And if I return to Him with the help of obstacles, this is called “help against him,” against the ego. This is how everything works in the world and the purpose is solely in order to bring us back to connection with Him.
[356670]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/11/26, Rabash, “The Severity of Teaching Idol Worshippers the Torah”

Related Material:
Connecting with the Truth
How Can I Correct a Disturbance?
What Is a Disturbance?

The Group Is the Upper

527How can the group feel that it needs the effort of every friend? It is much easier to work on the principle of “myself in relation to the group,” and much harder to work from the side of the group relative to each person.

Baal HaSulam writes that a person must be concerned with spiritual flourishing and feeling gratitude to the Creator for twenty-three and a half hours a day, and only after this to dedicate half an hour to critical analysis.

It is the same here. We must analyze the contribution of the friends to the group only after we have unequivocally made efforts to understand the concept known as the “group.”

Once we perceive it as a spiritual concept and share a mutual understanding of what it entails, then we can discuss, at a gathering of the friends, how to evoke an extra measure of effort from everyone and how we can lift up the group.

Ultimately, we will not make demands of any individual: “Why are you not bringing benefit to the group?” Instead, we will hold ourselves, the group as a whole, accountable for failing to bring people come to the correct understanding that they contribute to the group and integrate with it heart and soul, or they see that they are outside the group.

In that case, if they remain present despite clearly standing outside and opposite to the group, then either they leave on their own or they are removed.

In spirituality, when you look at a person from the group’s perspective, the group is upper relative to that individual. And the upper must awaken the lower. If he cannot awaken the lower, then he leaves him be; and if he leaves him, it means the lower does not belong to the upper.
[357143]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/26, Rabash, Letter 59

Related Material:
Can Effort Be Measured?
Invest in the Friends
The Greater the Investment…

According to the Measure of Connection with the Creator

239How can one begin to feel a Hisaron (lack) for the Creator again while in a state of descent (if you have fallen into a bad state and lost contact with Him and no longer feel the connection? The only way is to persist in your study with the group, and through by coming to the friends and including yourself in them, you again return to yourself the connection with the group, your connection with the Creator.

We have the opportunity to accelerate this process. Above all, one must not fall due to slipping into the sensation of animalistic pleasures, that is, enjoying the ascent rather than the connection with the Creator. One must not commit a sin in the ascent.

And how does one avoid sinning during an ascent? It is by constantly striving to increase one’s awareness of the greatness of the Creator with the help of the group. In this way, it is as if you are constantly maintaining a sense of Hisaron; you add a yearning for the Creator through the group that allows you to advance further.

And if a descent does occur, as it inevitably will, it is not your fault because you were constantly striving to receive an increase in desire from your environment. You were increasingly motivated to ascend, and to ascend not merely in terms of sensation, but in unification with the Creator.

Then your descent is not experienced simply as the loss of a “good state”; rather, you define the descent as a loss of connection and contact with the Creator. That is why it is painful for you. You measure ascents and descents no longer according to sensations, but according to the measure of connection with the Creator.
[357086]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/26, Rabash, Letter 59, 1962

Related Material:
How Can You Recognize a Spiritual Descent?
Descent Is Disconnection from the Creator
Descent is the Material of the Ascent

How Can One Add a Desire for the Creator to the Group a Desire?

938.03Question: Is it possible to give something to the group while in a state of descent?

Answer: If you are in a descent without completely losing your connection to the Creator, meaning, that even in the descent you know that you have lost connection with Him and it is precisely this that you lack, then in such a state you add a Hissaron (deficiency) to the group for contact with the Creator, and the group benefits from your descent. It now has unfulfilled desires.

If, however, you have fallen like an animal, simply feel bad, and are only under the influence of this sensation, this is also an addition. It means that soon you will have a recognition of evil.

But still, this addition is not spiritual. Through the group and through efforts, you will gradually rework this addition into a spiritual Hisaron, a Hisaron for the Creator. But that is a long journey.
[357135]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/26, Rabash, Letter 59

Related Material:
For The Sake of Bestowal
How Can We Make the Necessity for the Creator a Property of the Ten?
Acquire to Save

A Group Committed to the Right Goal

939.02Question: You say that all the work of acquiring Hisaron and building the Kli must take place through bestowal to the group. But what if I am in the company of a person who does not have spiritual attainment?

Answer: We are not talking about spiritual attainment. The society should be a group of people striving for the right goal. They do not know exactly what this goal is, are not in attainment, and are not excited by it. But they study together, gather, participate in various activities, and devote their free time to the group.

Then I can check whether this group is suitable for my advancement, whether I can advance toward the goal together with it. If I cannot inspire it, and move it from its place, then perhaps I need to think about a suitable replacement. Maybe I even take a few friends with me and leave, and let the others continue their life in the “nursing home.” And we will continue the path forward.
[357132]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/26, Rabash, “The Difference between Charity and Gift”

Related Material:
Friends For A Purpose
You Can Safely Annul Yourself Before This Kind Of Group
What Is A “Group?”