Question: Why is having a group so important for the study of Kabbalah?

Answer: The role of the Kabbalistic group is similar to that of family, friends, relatives, social security, and medical insurance in our life. If I’m in a tough situation, fall ill, or lose my job, there is a system that helps me in that weak moment.

This system of mutual support in spiritual development is called "mutual guarantee" (Arvut). The speed and ease of our advancement toward the goal – the revelation of the Creator – depend upon the strength of this system. It influences everyone, and its strength accumulates as a result of our common efforts.

Rabash writes: “We have gathered here to establish a society for all who wish to climb the degrees of man (Adam), and not remain as a beast.” When we make a joint decision to follow the method of Baal HaSulam, rise above our egoism, and reveal the Creator in the connection between us, we are already making an agreement.

We have to help each other to value the greatness of the goal and the Creator, seeing all the friends as the greatest in the generation, inspiring them with the greatness of the spiritual goal, and realizing our own insignificance. I guarantee to the friends that I will help with this, regardless of what state I am in. These are conditions of our agreement.

Following this, there can be two states:
1. Either I support the group in inspiration, power, unity, and the greatness of the Creator,
2. Or as soon as I become weak, they begin caring for me.

It’s like two communicating vessels. The moment a drop of water is removed from one of them, the water immediately flows into it from the other one, and the water levels always even out in them. The width or volume of each vessel does not matter: If they are connected, the water level will be the same in both.

This is how we are connected in the group. They give me strength, and I give strength to them. It’s impossible to advance without such a mutual guarantee.
[21435]
From the Lesson on Rabash’s Article, 9/17/10

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Question: What is constant faith?

Answer: Faith is a force which I receive from the Creator. It illuminates me, keeping me above my desires, my nature, like a magnet that holds a piece of metal in the air, against gravity.

There are two forces: the force of gravity (the will to receive pleasure) and the force of bestowal (the power of faith, a magnet) that draws a “piece of metal” up. These two forces oppose each other. If the force of faith that the Creator radiates to me holds me up, above my desire to feel pleasure, I am “righteous.” If the Creator lets me go, I immediately fall into egoism, and then I am “wicked.”

What does constant faith mean? I reach the state when my connection with the group supplies constant aspiration toward bestowal, as if I make a covenant with the group about our mutual support, and the Creator becomes a witness to this by promising to always illuminate us, holding us in bestowal above the will to receive (faith above reason).
[21409]
From the Lesson on Rabash’s Article, 9/17/10

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The force of faith is illumination that expands from Above and is regarded as the Creator’s testament, as it is written: “The Creator will testify that he will no longer revert to egoism.” What does the Creator testify by? He testifies by His property, the simple Light. However, by expanding to us through the system of the worlds, the simple Light forms into the illumination of three lines and shines to us precisely in the middle line.

This gives me an opportunity to realize my evil (through comparing good, the right line, with the evil, the left line), to perform the analysis of “true/false” over “bitter/sweet,” to ascend in bestowal above the will to receive (what is called faith above reason), and build myself in the middle line by following the example of the Light (the Creator’s property of the middle line, His testament) expanding onto me.

I see what the Creator models for me, receive forces from Him, and build myself in similarity to Him. But all of this is possible while the Creator illuminates me, and I will never have the power of faith on my own. This is what is called the Creator’s testament.
[21408]
From the Lesson on Rabash’s Article, 9/17/10

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After studying in a Kabbalistic group for a number of years, a person arrives at a realization that in order to advance further, he needs a “foreign” force. It takes a person several years to reach the feeling that alone he is incapable of attaining the revelation of the spiritual world, the Creator. At the beginning one wants to advance through learning the knowledge of the wisdom of Kabbalah and therefore he strives to study more. Later he wants to advance by participating in dissemination, thinking that he will attain what he desires through force and power.

A person associates his spiritual advancement with everything else except acquiring the desire to bestow. Nevertheless, he goes through a process of spiritual development while studying in the group and the Light influences him, causing questions to arise: “What will happen to me? Will I ever acquire the quality of bestowal?” Gradually bestowal gains more importance in his eyes.

He gradually begins to feel that bestowal is very valuable and cannot be attained through anything in this world. He sees that those who have attained bestowal have something so precious that nothing can exceed its value. And all of these realizations result from the influence of the Light. Once a person feels this, he comes to agree with all of the group’s conditions so they will become his guarantors in acquiring the quality of bestowal. That is when a person is ready to form an alliance with them.
[21450]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/10, “A Transgression Does Not Put Out A Mitzva”

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Question: Rabash writes that the Creator “hears the prayer of every mouth.” But you say that the prayer has to be internal. So what prayer does He hear?

Answer: A prayer is a desire that actually reaches the Creator. There are only two forces in the world: the forces of reception (attraction) and bestowal (rejection). And there is a law of the equivalence of form: In the degree of their similarity, the forces (objects) grow closer, and in the degree of their difference, they grow apart.

Since the Creator is an absolute will to bestow, He “expects” from us equivalence with Him, where the will to receive would desire to become similar to Him and also become the force of bestowal. To ensure this, He placed His spark, “the point in the heart,” the initial point of the quality of bestowal, into the will to receive, our nature. And we must cultivate it.

The Creator responds only to a prayer for this. All other kinds of prayers don’t reach Him. The Creator hears the prayer of everybody who is asking for the force of bestowal. The Creator is the law of bestowal, so he reacts to no pleas but those asking for the ability to bestow. And if we don’t ask for it, He sends us even greater suffering so that we may realize for what we should be asking.
[21407]
From the Lesson on Rabash’s Article, 9/17/10

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As we read The Zohar, what is important to me? Is it to know the text in all its details or to get to know the Creator? After all, The Zohar talks about Him and His actions. Do I wish to know what’s written about the actions themselves or about where and from Whom these actions come?

There is a breaking point concealed here which leads either to success or failure, Light or darkness, revelation of the Creator or remembrance of the text, studying the Torah or attaining the One who gives the Torah. The goal is to reveal and get to know the Creator who is behind the text. He is precisely what is important to me, and that is why I think about how to reveal the force through the actions that are described here.

It is like I sit at the table with the Host, who has prepared the most exquisite dishes for me. However, I don’t even look at the dishes or pay attention to anything around me. It’s not that I neglect everything; I use it just in order to reveal Him and to obtain a connection with Him.

Why did I come to this table in the first place? I came for the sake of the Host, in order to meet Him, not for the food. Once I perform various actions in order to get to know Him, I am then allowed to take anything I want from the table, to taste it and enjoy it. I can do anything as long as He is important to me and everything else is just a means.

As we read The Zohar, we study the Creator’s actions, and the only purpose of doing so is to reveal Him. We should concentrate on what is behind the text and try to permeate through it. On the one hand, the book seems to confuse me. On the other hand, through my effort to penetrate through the text, I suddenly begin to see the Creator behind it. There is no other opportunity to reveal Him. There is no other connection to the Host.

I don’t understand Him because He is concealed behind the table. I can understand Him only by studying the dishes given to me. For example, I like sweets and He has prepared them for me. He created me to like sweets and He gave them to me. What does He desire by this? In addition, I don’t really like sour things, yet He gives me sour. Why? I need to reveal Him through myself.
[21569]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, The Zohar

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The spiritual world will become revealed only if you demand this revelation through the group during the study. You want to feel the Giver, the Basis, the single Root of everything. However, you should only desire this through the group, through bestowal, according to the law of equivalence of form when you are ready for it.

Even if you still don’t understand what you’re asking for, the Light gradually does its work. When you demand it, the Light acts more and more strongly until the spiritual sensation ignites inside you and becomes clearer.

Then you will see that the spiritual reality exists. The reason for the concealment is the lack of concentration and importance.
[21594]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, “The Greatness of a Person Depends on His Faith in the Future”

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Sometimes the language of The Zohar appears to be very odd, but in fact the story behind it is extremely simple. There is my “neighbor” and “myself.” There is a distance between us that is divided into five parts. The most remote part is felt as “this world.” If I connect with my neighbor completely and attain total unity with him, I will sense the “World of Infinity.”

My drawing closer to my neighbor occurs in five steps: I ascend into the worlds of Assiya, then Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, and Adam Kadmon. Five worlds with 25 steps in each make up 125 steps of us drawing closer together. Before starting this process, while I am still in this world, I have to fully realize that I am separated from my neighbor (the realization of evil).

I perceive myself and the world around me in the connection between me and my "neighbor." The Zohar speaks exclusively about what is happening between us: The still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of nature described in The Zohar, in fact, represent my desires of the still vegetative, animate, and speaking levels in relation to my neighbor (other souls).

The entire Torah speaks only about the ways of building the connection between me and my “neighbor.” It is what is called the “method of correction.”

The Torah is the Light concealed in the text, and I can derive it to the measure that I desire to unite with the other. The moment I connect with the other, I reveal the Upper World within this connection and exist in spirituality to the extent of this connection.
[21379]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/10, The Zohar

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In reality, all the worlds exist within one’s “neighbor.” The “neighbor” (or the group) is Malchut of Infinity. I exist outside of her.

At first, the earthly will to receive develops within me throughout multiple generations. Then, in our time (in the present reincarnation of the soul), a “point,” a spiritual desire, starts evolving within me. When I make attempts to become closer to the group, I begin to feel my nature as egoism and evil; that is, I become aware of my evil inclination.

When I study Kabbalah in the group, then to the extent that I realize my egoism as evil, I demand correction by the Light that Reforms that makes me similar to the Creator. All of this happens while I’m still not connected with the other (“neighbor”).

When I come to the decision that I am obliged to reach the connection with the other, it’s as if I come in contact with the group from the outside. Then I begin to connect with the group with the help of the Light that Reforms (Ohr Makif, the Surrounding Light), which shines upon me from inside, from the center of Malchut of Infinity.

All these stages of my connecting with the group and the measure of connection between us are the 125 spiritual degrees or the five worlds: Assiya (A), Yetzira (Y), Beria (B), Atzilut (A), and Adam Kadmon (AK). When my connection with the "other" is truly close and unbreakable by my being in the "center" of this "other" and completely merging with him, this state is called the “World of Infinity.”
[21376]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/10, The Zohar

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There are no merits or transgressions, ascents or descents. We simply need to go through a chain of states in order to build a big desire (spiritual vessel) within ourselves and accept all the goodness that the Creator wishes to give us. It is for this purpose that we go through many different states both in our heart (feelings), where we feel bitter or sweet, and in the mind, where we sense false or true.

We constantly get confused between analyses in the heart and in the mind, between sweet/bitter and true/false. We are thrown in one direction and then the other. However, it is precisely this that helps us build a perfect desire and a clear mind.

A person is not born a hero ready for the mission that is placed upon him. The Upper Light creates only a single point “from absence.” It differs from the Light only in that it has a desire to enjoy instead of the Light’s desire to give pleasure. However, a person needs to develop all the other qualities within him on his own, through understanding and sensation, and that’s possible by him being connected with the Light that acts upon him.

Only then will he learn and feel everything that exists in the Creator, the Light, and will become the same as Him. The state of the Light is perfect, and the plan of creation supposes that the creature will also become perfect, like Him.

In other words, the creature, initially being just a point, has to receive a series of impressions, pleasant and unpleasant, clear and unclear. Eventually, the creature reaches a state where it truly feels and understands everything and is then able to replace the Creator in His work.
[21369]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/10, Shamati #52

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