Rabash, “Concerning Above Reason”: It turns out that a person has qualities that his parents bequeathed to their children, and he has qualities that he acquired from the society, which are a new possession. And this comes to him only through bonding with the society and the envy that he feels toward the friends when he sees that they have better qualities than his own. It motivates him to acquire their good qualities, which he doesn’t have and of which he is jealous.

Thus, through the society, he gains new qualities that he adopts by seeing that they are at a higher degree than his, and he is envious of them. This is the reason why now he can be greater than when he didn’t have a society, since he acquires new powers through the society.”

A person is born a small animal, and what he grows up to be depends on the upbringing. If we are talking about an ordinary, earthly upbringing, then a person develops due to society. He envies others and longs for pleasure, money, power, fame, and knowledge, and that is why he learns from society how he can achieve these goals, that is, success in this world. If he has prerequisites for spiritual development, he finds himself in the environment that can instill in him new properties —spiritual.

In the material society, a person develops naturally, by instinctively adopting the values ​​of society and seeking to learn from it how to reach worldly success. But spiritual upbringing is different because it requires a person to cancel himself, that is, it gives him the freedom of choice: to adopt its spiritual values from the environment or not.

Only to the extent of his self-nullification will a person be able to see the society as higher than himself. He will have to apply much effort to look at society from the bottom up, and then he will be able to receive from the society its values, the importance and greatness of the goal, and thus advance spiritually.

Spiritual success depends not only on the environment, but also on how a person uses it, that is, how much he annuls himself and appreciates society, whether he agrees to suffer, seeing others higher than himself. Envy forces a person to feel humiliated, but he needs to understand that it is for his own benefit to see the others as great. If he is capable of such an attitude, then he will advance. In the end, a person has to enjoy that he can stand against his egoism and trample over it in order to attain spiritual values and get closer to the spiritual goal.

That is why advancement in the material society is completely opposite to spiritual advancement. And success in the material world does not guarantee that a person will be able to succeed in spirituality because it is determined by the free choice of the person himself.
[108940]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/13

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Question: What is so special about the love of friends that allows me to cover all sins?

Answer: Love of friends covers all sins. After all, if we work on connecting our sparks in the group, then all the other desires surrender to the Light of love despite the fact that they are so opposite from one another to the extent that they actually hate one another. This Light operates on us from above, from the upper level, when it covers us with one blanket, one umbrella, a Sukkah of peace, and obligates all of us to unite, although internally we remain very different.

Question: Do I choose the friend once or anew every day?

Answer: I don’t choose according to corporeal criteria. In the meantime we don’t know why we have been brought into one group from above, he and I. It depends on the root of the soul, on the sentence of the souls, which we will learn about later. But because we are in a group we have to fulfill our freewill and to connect into one system, one group.

Choosing a friend means being loyal to him despite the repulsion and the doubts. I shouldn’t feel any difference between him and me. Every moment the thought and the desire change in me, I have to choose him in the exact same manner, I examine myself and him.
[108153]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/13, Writings of Rabash

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Rabash, “The Need For the Love of Friends”: Therefore, one must cling to the society…There is a special power in the adhesion of friends. Since views and thoughts pass from one to the other through the adhesion between them, each is mingled with the power of the other, and by that each person in the group has the power of the entire group.

In corporeal life a person is unconsciously drawn to society since his evil inclination pushes him to look for greater success and profit, and the greatest success for him is to establish himself in the eyes of others. Therefore, a person constantly examines what those around him consider good or bad and what is important for them. Accordingly, he establishes the parameters and determines his attitude to everything that happens. He is not even aware of that, but his opinion is totally based on what society appreciates, and without this a person would remain an animal.

The method of Kabbalah also raises a person from the animate to the human level but in a different manner. A person has to forcefully exert himself, in order to adhere to the right society; he has to know what it is exactly that he wants to buy from it. It’s only possible to acquire the values of society if one submits himself before it. Besides, he also needs to rise above the friends in order to bestow upon them the greatness of the goal and to uplift their spirits.

In these two ways of treating others, from below and from above, a person acquires the powers that he lacks. The powers that come to him are not egoistic, his ego isn’t increased like in this world where thanks to the influence of society a person receives an egoistic force that is ten times greater than his single egoistic force. Here he concedes and annuls himself, wanting to establish good relations and to convey joy and the greatness of the goal so that everyone, including himself, will submit themselves with regard to it and accept it by “faith above reason” no matter what. By that he doesn’t receive only a greater force than he had before, but a totally different force, the force of bestowal.

Thanks to his efforts, he receives the force of bestowal from the upper Light. If there is a group of ten (Minyan), then through it each one receives the force of bestowal from the source of bestowal above. Thus, a person acquires a force that is ten times greater, and is even corrected, with which he can advance.

This is the first phase of the spiritual path, and a person must constantly examine himself as to whether he really submits himself before the group. Perhaps it’s the ego speaking from inside him, thus confusing him in different ways. He should try to outwit this cunning snake that prevents him from being incorporated in the group.

This first level is the most difficult, and the sages say that “a thousand enter a room but only one comes out to the Light.” We have to take into account that our “school” is meant for unique individuals. The test is only in a group of ten. If we don’t look at the whole world, at yourself, and at the friends through the group of ten, you are always wrong.

A person can be part of a group, of some committee, or of some department, but if he doesn’t work in a group of ten, he cannot see anything but his ego.
[108710]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/13

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There cannot be any difference between us during the convention: the young group, the old group, or an individual that studies virtually by himself. A convention is a special state so we have to break all the barriers between us—the boundaries of the groups of ten and other forms of barriers—and become one whole group.

You should feel the closeness that you felt in your group of ten with regard to everyone who participates in the convention. You should have the same attitude since you don’t break free of the framework of the ten, but actually all the thousand people become your group of ten. Try to relate to them this way and see if you can do that or not! If you can’t it means that your group of ten is still far from the spiritual state.

If a person melts and disappears into the group of ten, then it makes no difference whether it’s ten people, a thousand, or seven billion. The main thing is to lose yourself in order to find the force of bestowal and to find the Creator.

“The king’s glory is in the multitudes,” so it turns out that if we are a separate group of ten, we seem to be missing out since we can be more strongly impressed by a greater number of people. If everyone in a crowd of a thousand says half a word it will make a very big impression, but a group of ten is important since in it I can follow the reactions, the connection between us, and my self-criticism.

The group of ten is very dynamic and I can respond to it very quickly. But I expect to feel that we are all one group of ten during the convention so that everyone will influence me and that I will feel his vibes. I hope that it will shake my “donkey” and force it to follow its owner by submitting to a new mind and heart.

This should be our work during the convention compared to working in a group of ten. The whole convention should become one group of ten. The young groups have to be incorporated in everyone and all the boundaries should disappear. They should get to know the others as much as possible and to mingle with people that they don’t know. The main thing is to be impressed by others as much as possible.

Suddenly I begin to recognize and to feel the greatness of the friends about whom I haven’t thought before. It’s easier to be impressed by people who are more distant, since the impressions are doubled by the distance and create an exceptionally powerful impression.

Therefore the young groups have to totally lose their concentration in the general mass to disperse in different directions and keep physically away from one another. This is the whole point of the convention, to achieve such a mixing so that no one will remain with people who are already close to him and will be incorporated in everyone by accepting everyone as his group of ten. Let’s hope that we will succeed and attain a great powerful connection.
[108577]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What should we do so that the Light that Reforms will convince us that only through connection can we reach the attribute of bestowal?

Answer: This recognition may come by the path of suffering, “in its time,” when a person feels a big disappointment that he has devoted much energy and has reached nothing. This happens after many years.

It can also be by the ordinary initial connection with the group when a person begins to understand and feel that only the Light that Reforms can summon the change in him. It isn’t enough just to hear that; a person needs to already feel it in his heart, his heart has to hear.

When the heart perceives this information, we accept it as a fact that it is impossible to manage without the help of the Light. We don’t have to look up where it says so since this wisdom already will live in us, in our feelings and not in our mind. We need the mind only to support and help clarify the feeling.

In order for the heart to listen, we have to subdue ourselves before the environment. Our heart is deaf and cannot hear! We cannot do anything with it. We hear something through our ears, but it doesn’t penetrate the heart. It hits the “the stony heart” and bounces, like when hitting a wall, without penetrating it. Therefore, we must work on submitting ourselves—as it is written, “Buy yourself a friend and make yourself a Teacher”—submitting ourselves forcefully.

We do not control our desires, but we live in the world of actions, and so our physical actions also help, even if they are against the desires of our heart. Try to bring the friend a small gift everyday—anything. Buy a matchbox and give him a match everyday as a present. You will see how hard it is since you will have to constantly think about that. It doesn’t matter what the gift is worth, as it is written: “until many pennies accumulate into a great sum.”

Try it and see! You will have to think about the friend, to remember it, to justify your actions, and to value their benefit. Do you have the money to buy a matchbox? So you have nothing to worry about. You have the means to enter spirituality.
[108471]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can I practically annul myself before the group of ten or before the group?

Answer: It is just as you do at work, having no choice when you annul yourself before the boss and carry out his orders, although inside you curse him and think that he is dumb. Still, you do what he says. It is the same with the friends. Although you think you are more important than everyone else and that you understand better than the friend, you still annul yourself before him as if he were your boss. Try to feel that you want him to manage you!
[108588]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/13, Writings of Rabash

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From Rabash’s article “The Matter of Suckling and Conception:” It is written, “Serve the Lord with Joy,” meaning that the joy has come to a man from serving the Creator. However, if he is working without joy, this is because of lack of faith in the greatness and importance of the King. Otherwise, there has to be joy and an uplifted spirit without any preparation for that.

Meaning, he should not see that he has no joy from the work, rather one should see that he will prepare himself to know whom it is he is serving and what His importance is, and joy is the outcome. Saying, that if he has no joy in the work, it is an indication that he has no idea about the importance of the Creator, and then one has to correct himself regarding the matter of faith.

There are people who feel no connection to spiritual matters at all and just live an earthly life. There are people who light up with spirituality and cannot leave it. And there are those who tend towards one and then the other side, wavering between the two.

It depends upon how much the Light illuminates a person. Perhaps, the Light is so weak that it gives a person only a sense of earthly existence. He chases pleasures, but they are directed not at the Creator, but just at something that he sees before him.

If the Light becomes a little stronger, then a person begins to discern that all that exists has its internal root and it comes with a particular purpose, for a reason. Thus a person advances, sometimes more, sometimes less, feeling the question, “What is this life for?”

In the end, the Light brings him to the place where he can realize his desire for spirituality. But even there, the Light pulls him to one side or to the other side, and due to these changes of states a person reveals that he lacks a connection with the source of his destiny, the source of life, the force that controls him. The more he feels his dependence on the upper force, the more he desires to know it, to understand, to approach it.

He faces various states in which he has to change his attitude towards what is happening. After all, on the one hand, he feels these states as pleasant and unpleasant, and on the other hand, he must understand that all of them come from the same Light that shows a person either day or night, either light or darkness.

The Light wants a person to relate to these states above them; that is, it doesn’t matter whether a person feels them as good or bad. What’s important is that through these states he knows the root from which they came. This means that a person works on the greatness of the Creator. He does not care what he gets from the Creator, he uses everything for advancement.

And then even more, he welcomes everything that comes from the Creator not because in this way he advances, but because in this way he can bring joy to the Creator. Thus, a person adheres to the Creator more and more and senses His greatness. He identifies himself less with the states that he receives from the Creator and his feelings, but he looks more at the One from whom he receives it all.
[107632]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/13

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Question: If everyone in the group of ten wants to annul himself, why do they reach a feeling of hate?

Answer: If everyone annuls himself, we begin to rise, and then we are added extra ego. Suppose we are together, having achieved a certain connection, and through that, everyone receives the power to annul himself before the friends.

In the previous circle, we all were equal, and as a result of our mutual work we rise and create a new circle in which we all become greater and higher than we were before. Each of us seems to remain in the same place, but he raises the whole circle and looks at it from below. All the friends are above, and only I am left below. I don’t see myself in the upper circle, but rather down below. Thus, everyone sees the group as higher than him.

We all have annulled ourselves before the others and thus have received a great collective power. We have ascended and corrected ourselves. This means that we have attained our total self-annulment in this new state, but how can we keep on growing? Here, each of us is added an extra ego so that we can grow, like an embryo to whom is added flesh, and then this flesh must take on a certain form. The embryo receives his mother’s blood that clots and turns into flesh by which he grows.

This additional ego generates hate in us, and we feel it on every level. If we ascend and annul ourselves, we are ready to ascend to the next level, and then we receive an additional, uncorrected desire to receive from the shattering. We were on the root level of Aviut (coarseness), but in the new state, we already need the Aviut of phase one. Since we need to receive this gap between the levels, the additional ego is revealed as hate. This is actually what helps us grow.
[108324]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Do we need to begin to prepare now to become one group of ten at the convention?

Answer: It’s impossible to achieve anything serious without preparation. If success came without preparation, then it was given from Above: You were pushed and you ran forward and did what you have been awakened to do. This success is not added to your account.

Any serious progress of the lower one takes place only due to preparation and is determined by its size. The action that took me ten seconds to complete could take ten years of my preparation. This preparation will determine the power of action.

So, we need to think about preparation. We continue to work in groups of ten to prepare ourselves for the convention: to one big group of ten. Otherwise, you will find yourself at the convention, in the crowd of a thousand, and just exit the boundaries of your group of ten. But you need to become integrated in the convention with your group of ten and see everyone as one group of ten.

You should not go beyond the circle boundaries, but at the convention, everyone is included in this circle. The whole place and all the people are the limits of our circle. Afterwards, you will work on how to connect virtually with other groups so that distance does not separate them.

Then we will work so that time does not separate us. We will begin to connect with Kabbalists who lived at all times since there is no time! We understand how it is possible that there is no distance because we can virtually connect to any point in the world. But time does not exist either. Even our world brings us closer to the border beyond which time does not exist. We need to work to make the concept of time, space, and movement disappear.
[108575]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/13, Writings of Rabash

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Because all the good spiritual attributes fell into the egoistic desire, they begin to cultivate it and make it cunning, corrupt, and cruel. Thus a corrupt person who can correct himself in the future is made.

An animal doesn’t need correction since it has no desire to bestow in order to receive, it isn’t cunning. Therefore it is called non-cunning animal. A baby isn’t cunning either until he grows. When he grows he becomes a human being and learns to cheat. Until the age of two or three he behaves like an animal and doesn’t know how to “outsmart” others yet.

We love the animate form since it is simple and innocent, and we would like to see all the people that way. But we must understand that we were meant to be human and therefore, “he who is greater than his friend his desire is even greater than he.” We only have to correct the ego and then everything will work out.

Any negative or deceitful attribute that is typical of humans only shows us that the harmful force must be turned into the beneficial one. What can a primitive, undeveloped, naive person do? He cannot rise and reach the desired height. Great people are usually not very pleasant, until they correct themselves.

So we should love the friend in the group (in his ten) with all his corrected and uncorrected attributes. It is because he has received them from the Creator and wants to correct them, and everyone should help him do so. To criticize the friend’s attributes is to criticize the Creator who has made him that way. “Go to the craftsman who has made me,” but we have to help one another to reach correction. Baal HaSulam often says: “I am happy about the wicked that are revealed.”
[108485]
From the 3d part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/13, TES

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