Question: I have no doubt that we will come to the convention in high spirits and greatly impressed. But what should I do if the situation changes and a descent starts?

Answer: Of course we should expect waves: each of us separately and possibly everyone together. It is clear, but it is above them that we should work. Or do you think that the first contact with spirituality will set you free of all the problems? No, you should delve inwards with all your might and hang on like a bulldog.

When a big dog attacks you, you have to shove your hand into his jaws, as deeply as you can, and then it will have to let go. It is the same here: push forward as hard as you can.

Question: Will I be able to do that by myself?

Answer: You will be able to make everyone follow you, without a word. If you care about them, you “shift yourself and the whole world to a scale of merit.” This is because the spiritual force passes from one to all and from all to everyone. It isn’t just our mutual connection; it is above us.

Question: I don’t understand what the spiritual force is, but I do know what my egoism is. It will pressure me, but I won’t admit it and will hide it. And what if it comes to extremes, to unfounded hatred? I will bring everyone harm, won’t I?

Answer: These waves have been passing through you for years. It is normal, and we should overcome it. No one says that the convention is heaven into which you fly like an angel; of course not.

We gather together and disconnect from the world in order to create an atmosphere that will impress all of us. Then together, we will be able not only to neutralize our evil inclination, but also to overcome and to control it. It will “swell up” under us, like dough, and by staying on top of it we will reach the spiritual level. We have to go through all the thickness of the concealment, which is actually revealed in hatred.

Don’t expect everything to go smoothly, without any mishaps. We want it, we want to rise in one spurt, but each one will have his own thoughts and discernments. So bring all your hatred and don’t fear it. The main thing is that it is stirred up by the desire to connect with all the friends and not by something else.

Question: And what if I see that the friend goes though this state? Should I intervene, or should I leave him alone?

Answer: You must set another example for him: to hug him, to do something without pressure, gently, in order to help him rise. Don’t just ignore it because internally he disturbs everyone. We are all in the same boat; can we let anyone drill a hole in it? You have to envelop him with warmth so that he will be happy, so that he will come out of the descent.

Question: But what if I go wrong: It could be that he is deep in thought and I may think that he is in a descent.…

Answer: Think about everyone’s salvation and everything will be fine. Only love and concern.
[70533] 
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/2012, Constitution of the Arava Convention 

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The entire work of the priests, Cohens, about whom so much is written in the Torah, is essentially dedicated to caring about others. It may seem that these are some kind of ritual services in the Temple, carried out by the chief priest (Cohen HaGadol) together with the Cohens and Levites, while all the people serve them by bringing sacrifices. However, they teach the people and lead the entire correction because the Creator is expecting it particularly from the deepest and most distant from Him levels of desire.

We think that priests are something separated from the people, somewhere high up there. But on the contrary, the “kingdom of priests” are those who go to the people and take care of them, like taking care of a baby until he grows up and teaches complete adhesion with the Creator. The responsibility of a Cohen is to bring the people to this state.

The Light acts on the upper levels of the desire, which are called Cohens, Levites, and Israel. Then, these levels of desire work on the rest of the levels. This pyramid does not change until the final correction. However, when the Light of Rav Paalim uMekabtziel comes at the end of correction, it turns this pyramid into a circle.

Until then, a special order of corrections is observed, always coming from Above down through all of the worlds, until the very end, to the broken souls, and back up from them again.

According to the depth of their desire (Aviut), the souls receive a different governance through the worlds of Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya; or they even completely disconnect from the private upper governance, which is called the level of this world. That is why those who are in the lower worlds must receive governance through higher levels, the Cohens, Levites, and Israel, who have to provide the nations of the world with care, teaching, and upbringing. (This is how the four levels of desire are called.)

The nations of the world suffer on their level from material, earthly, problems, but this suffering is irremediable since these problems do not have a solution. The form of suffering is material, but its essence is spiritual because one has no other means for healing besides the movement to unite with the Creator.

That is why we need to organize a general system of new education and care for everyone. Only thanks to this will we become worthy of adhesion.

We need to understand that the goal of creation was originally directed at all of humanity. Hence, while aspiring to unite with one another, we must always remember for whose sake we are doing this. It is in order to bring the method of correction to the entire world that, day by day, is discovering its ever more desperate state. The world sees that it needs the method of correction, but it is not there. That is why we need to reveal it for ourselves and then pass it on to the world.
[70523] 
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/19/2012, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”  

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A person should reach a state in which he feels that is the Creator’s partner: I do half the work and He does the other half. Half for me and half for Him. It is like a saw with two handles that two people hold, each one in his turn pulls to his side: One time the first person and then the other person, and so they saw the log.

A person should also feel that they act alternately: One time he acts and one time the Creator. Of course, I don’t do the work by my own powers. The power comes from Above. The Creator performs the action and the request comes from me, then again an action on His part and a request from me. Thus we complete one another each time.

The best state is when a person feels that he can perform this rotation without stopping. It means that we are actually working “face to face,” and that a “horse and his rider” are working together as one whole to such an extent that a person begins to feel more and more what the power he is about to receive will be, and what exactly he should give on his part.

After all, we raise a prayer, MAN, until the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), until the last coupling before Gmar Tikkun (the end of correction), which is the coupling of “Rav Pealim Mekabtziel” in which all the previous prayers come together. On every step of the spiritual ladder, the prayer becomes more clarified and more accurate, more detailed and clear, because a person understands and feels more. This is all the attainment.

He doesn’t feel any shame because he gives his share and so he is the Creator’s partner, in adhesion. Thus he overcomes the “judges and policemen” that reject him and seduce him, and he makes them his assistants. He already feels their actions as assistance.

We can describe this as if a person and the Creator work together on the desire to receive. A person feels that he is together with the Creator above this desire, or that the desire is between them, that the person is on one side and the Creator is on the other side, and between them is the desire to receive that separates them. A person doesn’t see the desire as his own. The very first thing is to disconnect from the egoistic desire and to receive above it, to be separate from it.

Then we should already see the ego that separates us, that is between the friends and a person and the Creator, as our common obstacle. Therefore we work on it together when we connect with the Creator or the friends in order to work together against the ego that disturbs us, without trying to erase it because we cannot do without it, but I yearn to rise above it.
[70551]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/12, Writings of Rabash

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The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” Item 237: This is why it is written about Moses, “No shrub of the field was yet in the earth,” meaning that the righteous, Moses, has not yet grown, from whom the verse, “Truth springs from the earth,” is written, and of whom it is written in regard to truth, “Cast truth to the ground,” referring to disciples of the wise, who are like grasses that grow in the earth. They do not grow and do not come out of the Divinity in exile until the verse “Truth springs from the earth,” comes true.”

On every level, in every state, all of reality is revealed to us, but to differing extents. It is Ein Sof (Infinity), but each time in a minimized or enlarged manner. Just like a holographic picture where all the details are always there but we see them more or less: Yet it is always a full spiritual vessel.

Therefore, now we should relate to our situation this way, since if even the smallest spiritual degree is revealed, it seems like Ein Sof to us, and there are all the forces including Moses.
[70517]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/12, The Zohar

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Question: These days before the Arava convention, the friends are experiencing great pressure and fear of the unknown. How can I help them during the lesson to focus this pressure in the right direction?

Answer: A person should reach such a level of fear and pressure like at the foot of Mt. Sinai: “You either connect or here will be your burial place.” It is because a person should bury his desire to receive, not identify with it, and rise above it. This is called the receiving of the Torah. He asks the Light to perform an action that is the opposite of burial. But he must see that this is what he wants to do with his ego in order to connect with others and to reach bestowal.

Of course, at the same time he must feel tension and pressure. There isn’t a more tense situation in all our lives than this passage. It is birth and birth is a most natural process, but at the same time, it is the most dangerous and dramatic event in a person’s life.
[70514]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/12, The Zohar

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The Constitution of the Convention in Arava: Our brother, the physical and spiritual conditions that you must observe are before you. Prior to joining us, check carefully: Are you ready, do you realize and feel the importance of the stage to which you connect; do you understand that the Torah, the Reforming Light, will change you so that you love and serve everyone? Do you want this? You should be clear that you come here not to receive, but to receive the force of bestowal.

Even while just reading the story of the Torah about the exodus from Egypt, we see that it involved people of all types: elderly, young, children, men, and women. They differed, some with a great desire to receive, others with a great desire aimed at bestowal. All of them, including Moses and Aaron, were still in the receiving desire. However, the Creator was revealed to them; we will discover what revelations they were.

This is why we open the convention in the Arava to all the men. We do not check whether they participate in all our activities. A person may arrive at the convention but he will not be able to take part in it fully if he does not study during the morning lessons, if he does not pay Maaser (tithe), if he does not participate in the meeting of friends, in their connection, and if he is not involved in dissemination. These are the four conditions according to which a person is my student and a member of Bnei Baruch, a friend for everyone.

First of all, we are talking about physical actions that are followed by deeper levels to the extent a person invests one’s heart and really wants to exert in order to reach the goal. So, there are different gradations.

However, it is never too late to start. We see that this month, more and more people study during the daily Kabbalah lessons and many began to pay maaser because they understood that these funds are dedicated to the dissemination of the method of Kabbalah in the world. In essence, this is our correction. We exist for this purpose: to perform the role of Israel for the world, to receive the method from above and pass it down.

Thus, understanding and awakening are growing in our community; finally, people take the straight path. However, we do not need to be great, we just have to realize the opportunities that we are given. This is what is important.

Many kinds of desires came out of Egypt: children, old, young, men, women, slaves, goats, and sheep. There were all levels: still, vegetative, animate and speaking, but each desire wanted to participate in this fully. A child who is completely ready to take part is also included.

Therefore, we open the convention for everyone. A man can say: “I have been watching the lessons on TV for a long time, and I will try to do the rest.” And he too can come. We turn no one away. In spirituality, only a person can check his heart before the Creator, no one can interfere in this.

However, we ask—and it is very important—that people at least try to be with us during the days of the convention with their whole heart and soul. That is why we put material terms and conditions for the inner work that must be followed.

People who enter the grounds of the Arava convention are obliged to observe the Constitution. They are given all the conditions for participation. If they do not take part in the shared effort, they harm everyone, and this will cause them a lot of damage.
[70541]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/12, “Advice for the Arava Convention”

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There are different types of “judges and guards” in the spiritual work. There are those who act until one acquires the first Masach (screen), which is called the “crossing of the Machsom (barrier).” Judges and guards work both directly and in an opposite manner; that is, they increase our desire to enjoy by seemingly giving a person a greater punishment. Then a person has to rise above it and present his “merits” that attest to his desire to escape this ego.

It isn’t just ignoring it, but rather recognizing it, until a person understands that he must pray for help, to raise MAN. After all, one cannot escape from the deep cellar of the egoism by himself, but only to the extent that he prays and understands that he is in prison. Then he begins to ask for help in order to get out.

Afterward, instead of the suffering in this world and feeling the darkness of the cellar, he is given pleasures so that he won’t want to get out of the cellar. He remains in the egoistic cellar that suddenly seems like a palace to him, like the Garden of Eden, and seemingly fills all his needs. He is offered everything he might desire: “If you wish, you can have all the treasures of the next world in this world—everything besides unity with others in order to merge with the Creator.”

This is how a person is tempted, and he should understand that this test comes from judges and guards in order to eventually provide him with the need for a screen that will enable him to come out of the cellar and to create a shield for himself, the screen against his ego and the egoistic pleasures.

What is man: It is a big desire that we draw like a vessel, and above him there is a great pleasure. The question is only whether he has a screen that separates one from the other: a great desire, hunger, cold, darkness, and helplessness in the desire to receive, and above it all the pleasures. How can a person resist them? He may either take them or ask for a screen over them in order to be filled by adhesion with the Creator.

All our work is through judges and guards. There are many ways we can speak about, but let’s get to know them from real life.
[70544]
From the 1st pat of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/2012, Writings of Rabash

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Question: I am in a virtual group. If a guarantee of two friends is required to attend the convention, who can sign it for me?

Answer: For now, be concerned about that.

Besides men who left Egypt, there were also women, children, and the elderly. Do you understand that you go to the convention as a “woman,” “child,” or an “elderly person”? Do you understand that your mission is to cancel yourself as much as possible? You do not know how to connect with the friends because a woman cannot connect. But you really want this to happen because a woman has to support this unity in every way.

And perhaps you are a “slave,” that is, you obey your egoism but are willing to serve and help in whatever way needed. You are looking for personal gain, want spirituality for yourself, and cannot disconnect from the egoistic concern about your own good future. However, you are aware of this and understand that you are a slave to self-love, and yet you want to join the spiritual attack.

A “slave” is under the external power; Pharaoh or the Creator rule over him, which is the same because Pharaoh is the Creator’s means. And if you still want to participate, then you come to the convention aware of your degree and put all your efforts to be with the friends.

Either way, you are making every effort, and your possibilities do not depend on you—they are categorized by degrees. If you have exerted a little bit, you are a “child,” if more, you are a “slave,” even more, an “an elderly,” more, a “woman,” and even more, a “man.” You are given strength from Above, but you have to apply it completely in order to try to keep up, to become involved. It is not about your level that is important. A person who is trying his best to be with us, similar to a child clinging to adults, does not interfere at all, but only helps. So, wherever you are, come.

Question: Under what conditions does a person go to the convention as a “man?”

Answer: If a person attends all the morning lessons, pays Maaser (tithe), participates in the gatherings of friends, in all the group activities, and is fully involved in mass dissemination, then he follows the advice of Kabbalists. These are the minimum, physical conditions, not related to the spiritual work yet. This is necessary.

And beyond that, does he really in his soul cancel himself before the group in order to feel the need for unity? This need should give rise to his cry for help, to which the upper Light will respond.

Thus, the external conditions say nothing about a spiritual level; they are necessary, but not sufficient. They can be observed regardless of the spiritual states. And besides that, there are sufficient conditions that you must perform internally.
[70376]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2012, Constitution of the Arava Convention

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The Creator is one, unique, and unified force. As it says: “There is none else besides Him,” “I have not changed my HaVaYaH,” or “the Light is at absolute rest.” It is all about one essence.

All of our reality can exist only if we separate from the One and exist outside Him. But actually there is nothing but that One. The question always comes up: “If there is none else besides Him, then who are we?” But actually we don’t exist. All of our reality is in our imagination until we return to the One: one desire and one Light, as it says, “He and His name are one.”

Then everything but that One disappears. The whole process we seem to go through outside that One exists only in our corrupt imagination, detached from the true reality, in concealment, in a distorted perception. This is what we have to correct: From our delusive vision in which there are two, we should switch to the truth in which there is only One.

This One is the only thing that exists and rules. We must understand that the world we see in which there are many different creatures is like a dream, an optical illusion. It is as if we cannot focus our vision and find the right thought or feeling. We as if are lost in the fog, confused, and hence feel the world this way.

So how can we return to the truth spoken about in the wisdom of Kabbalah, called “the wisdom of truth,” meaning the method that leads us to the truth? How can we return to the true, full, and correct awareness? What is the reason that there are so many of us and that we are all in this false, confused state and then return to the truth—to the One?

Kabbalists write that in order to reach that One, we have to go from imperfection to perfection. Due to this, the One is revealed and a different unity appears.

Now it is impossible to recognize the final goal and how high it is. But we try to somehow imagine the difference between everyone’s private desire and thought and the desire and the thought that connect and adhere to the concept of “One.”

The unity we reach thanks to our connection is not a simple combination of the forces of many people that come together. It is a force that grows not just in quantity and not even just in quality. The law of equivalence of form is in effect here. If we connect because we want to reach bestowal, to rise above our present nature, then according to the law of equivalence of form, we reach the concept of “One” that resembles the Creator.

If we simply connect, we become an ordinary group, like a group of football fans or soldiers in the army, which receives the general sum of forces of all its members. But here it isn’t just about the sum of individual forces. After all, everyone doesn’t come here with his force, ego, mind, and desire in order to connect all the attributes, desires,  forces, and brains together.

Rather, everyone rises above his mind and feeling, and so they connect their desires in order to be above reason, above themselves. Then they are incorporated in the concept  of “One” called “the Creator” and acquire one mind and one feeling. This one mind and desire begins to rule over them.

Therefore, all the sages and Kabbalists have one desire and one thought, although it seems that they express different opinions and even argue (like the House of Hillel and the House of Shamai). But they debate only to better clarify the concept of “One,” to see how every individual feels it from his point of view, after he rises above it and discovers this One.
[70394]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2012, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Rabash, Shlavei Hasulam (Steps of the Ladder), “Purpose of Society 2”: To be integrated in one another, each person should annul himself before the others. This is done by each seeing the friends’ merits and not their faults. But one who thinks that he is a little higher than the friends can no longer unite with them.

For us to be integrated into one another, I have to “annul” myself, lower my head (the black arrow), rather than consider myself equal to the other. Why? After all, we unite and thus have to be equal (the green arrow).

The truth of the matter is that I constantly play with my egoism, which wants to “put me on a pedestal” (the red arrow) all the time. If I withstand and “play down the ego,” I have a chance to reach interconnection.

Question: A very fine work is needed here: On one hand, I want to give my maximum to the group, but on the other, I have to annul myself. One seems to contradict the other.

Answer: This is because we work in confrontation to our egoism. If my attitude towards the friends was neutral, I would have no problems. However, I am “in the minus” from the beginning, and I have to cover it.

The spring of my egoism constantly pulls me upward, to self-importance (a). And thus, to counteract it, I have to apply an opposite force (b). Then out of these two forces the third will be formed (c). This is how we arrive at the formula of interconnection: a­­−b=c. I don’t have any other choice.

Queston: Does it apply to the Arava convention as well?

Answer: You have to lower your ego before the group all the time and to constantly ascend, awakening the group towards the goal. To raise the group, you need to “come from above,” while your individual work demands self-annulment.

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