Question: What should we concentrate on now? Where should we direct our efforts? I mean dissemination and the group work.

Answer: In group work, we should direct our efforts to our workshops on Sundays.

On the other days, there must be at least some classes. I see that there are groups that study seriously. A lesson, in general, is organized and directed towards unity. Practically, the entire course material speaks about this. Even in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, it is speaking about unity, about the connection of souls between themselves. Everything that is described there is only the connection of souls in a single system.

Besides that, we have begun to create courses for training lecturers of the “Mutual Guarantee” movement, that is, lecturers for the 99%. They will become leaders and organizers of workshops, round tables, etc. Today, already around 300 people are ready, and new people are being added; a new wave is coming.

In our country [Israel], we have reached a point where we are invited as permanent lecturers and education consultants in schools, workplaces, city halls, and other places.

I think that within a few months, we will come to a point when the experts, prepared by us, will be able to start working in various organizations. In any case, we are approaching such a state when no business can operate if it’s not internally re-organized and people are not correctly connected with each other into a small integral community. Nothing will work without this!
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From “Questions About the Workshops” 5/27/12

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: Thus, the portion that is given into the hands of foreigners will not be secured for any person from Israel because his friends will not be able to provide for those needs, as they will not be in possession of them. Consequently, as long as the individual is troubled with concerns for himself, he is unfit to even begin to keep the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself.”

By correcting the desire to receive to be in order to bestow, we can divide it into two parts:

• One part can be attributed to actions of bestowal, dissemination and connection—when a person yearns to exit himself he gradually advances towards bestowal, towards the Creator.
• The second part is the desire to receive itself, that is still with the intention of in order to receive, thinking only about itself in different manners, which is called “given into the hands of foreigners.”

It is as if a person is “split”: Part of him is in exile and part of him is exiting to redemption. So as long as the egoistic desire controls a person and doesn’t allow him to think about dissemination, bestowal, connection love, etc., this means that it doesn’t allow him to worry about others, through which he learns how to treat the Creator, there is no chance he can come out of exile. By being in his egoistic desires to receive, he begins to receive blows, and having no choice, he doesn’t hope for a better corporeal life anymore because it doesn’t bring him any pleasure, but only suffering.

Then a person is ready to escape from Egypt, from the domination of “the nations of the world,” which means from the domination of his own ego, and is ready to dedicate himself to bestowal. The blows help him decide that it is better to be on the other side, where at least there are no blows. This helps a person to get rid of the part that is under the domination of foreigners, to restrict himself, and to move to the side of bestowal where he begins to make efforts. This is called the “path of suffering.”

At the same time there is the “path of the Torah” where by different actions we summon the Light which reforms our attitude by emphasizing the good and wonderful feeling of bestowal. This Light changes my set of values and lets me feel that bestowal is sublime, respectable, and good. This is how it is depicted to me, and then I am drawn to bestowal more strongly and am ready to restrict the receiving part that now seems contemptible to me. This is how I advance with the help of the Light, in the path of “I shall hasten it.”

We can follow one way or the other, but a person should always see himself as “half guilty and half innocent.” One part of him is under the domination of the friends in the group where he is ready for bestowal and connection, and his other part is under the domination of foreigners. We are talking about this kind of person, not about those who are totally submerged in the passions of this world, who cannot leave them, and don’t feel the aspiration to rise above themselves.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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From Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” (text of the article in bold):

And you evidently find that the giving of the Torah, to a person, had to be delayed until they came out of Egypt, which means until he escapes his ego and decides that he doesn’t want to be connected to it any more.

Only then do they became a nation of their own. Now a person is ready to connect with all the friends in order to develop above the ego.

Then all their needs were provided for by themselves without dependence on others. The group wants to establish itself in a way that only the attribute of bestowal will reside among the friends in order to create and to stabilize the force in order to bestow upon the Creator.

This qualified them to receive the above Arvut, and then they were given the Torah. By that they qualify themselves to the connection called “mutual guarantee,” that is stabilized and revealed to them by the Light that Reforms, called the “Torah.”

It turns out that even after the reception of the Torah, if a handful from Israel betray and return to the filth of self-love… This means that it isn’t speaking about the final success, since they can always return and fall and leave the mutual guarantee. …without consideration of their friends, that same amount of need that is put in the hands of those few would burden Israel with the need to provide for it themselves. This is because those few will not pity them at all. If every member in the group doesn’t invest all his powers and add to the mutual guarantee, to the general mutual connection, or if he completely leaves the way, his power is lacking in the whole system and because of such people everyone descends.

Hence, the fulfillment of the Mitzva of loving one’s friend will be prevented from the whole of Israel. The vessel is called “mutual guarantee,” and the Light, the feeling that fills them, is called “love.”

Thus, these rebels cause those who keep the Torah to remain in their filth of self-love. The “keepers of the Torah” are those who constantly worry about connection and for that draw the Light that Reforms so that their connection will be compatible with the Light and will grow in intensity towards a greater connection with the Creator, such people constantly hold on to the Torah and the Mitzvot (commandments), which means to corrections and connections which are increasingly greater and more complicated.

…for they will not be able to engage in the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself,” and complete their love for others without their help. It is necessary to constantly reinforce the mutual guarantee, the connection among them, and it is there that the Light of love is revealed in an increasingly growing intensity.

As a result, all of Israel are responsible for one another, both on the positive side and on the negative side. “Israel,” which is the yearning for Yashar- El (straight to the Creator) is possible only by mutual guarantee. On the other hand, without mutual guarantee there is no Israel, which means that they are not called “Israel” if there is no mutual guarantee among them.

“Israel” and “mutual guarantee” are synonyms that symbolize the spiritual vessel in which the Light is revealed.

On the positive side, if they keep the Arvut until each cares and satisfies the needs of his friends… A person worries about the whole general vessel, so that he will be in mutual guarantee and in connection on all sides, in a whole integral system.

They can fully keep the Torah and Mitzvot. They constantly add corrections to what is revealed to them. Of course, corruptions are revealed to them, as it was with the children of Israel in the desert. Here the Torah is needed, which means the study and instruction that shows them how to correct the corruptions that are revealed after the exodus from Egypt. By rising above their “Egypt”, the children of Israel begin to stabilize the nation of Israel, by drawing the Light called the Torah and by being constantly on guard, ready to learn how to do that. This action, this process, is the “nation of Israel,” that advances straight to the Creator.

They can fully keep the Torah and Mitzvot, meaning bring contentment to their Maker. And this is actually the goal and the reason for this whole work. Only two states can be here—either mutual guarantee or self-love, it cannot be somewhere in between.
[79657]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Baal HaSualm, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: Therefore, the Tana described the Arvut as two people on a boat, when one of them began to drill a hole in the boat. His friend asked, “Why are you drilling?” He replied, “What business is it of yours? I am drilling under me, not under you.” So he replied, “Fool! We will both drown together!”

From this we learn that since those rebels wallow in self-love, by their actions they build an iron wall that prevents the observers of the Torah from even beginning to fully keep the Torah and Mitzvot in the measure of “Love thy friend as thyself,” which is the ladder for reaching Dvekut (adhesion) with Him. And how right were the words of the proverb that said, “Fool, we shall both drown together!”

This is a very clear example: No matter where the hole is, in any case, I eventually drown and as a result everyone dies. This is why we should worry about all the participants, and this concern should first be revealed internally, inside me, when I worry about my own desires, and also outwards when I worry about the group and the world.

A person is a small world. Eventually my inner structure connects with the structure of the group and the structure of the whole world. So it turns out that if I could keep the right, accurate, basic form of my vessels, the corrected and the uncorrected ones, I could keep the external vessels of the group and of the whole world. This is called “judges himself and the whole world to the scale of merit.”

We can bring the example of a Matryoshka (a set of nesting dolls): I am inside, then there is the group, and then the whole world. And all of this is only in my imagination—my ego is divided into “layers” from the internal layer to the external layer. Actually, however, it is about one structure, one system. Therefore, I am responsible for everyone. If I carefully guard myself, I guard the whole world by that.

Thus the correction is carried out internally. Of course I should also worry about the external part, but the real work is done inside me. Therefore by growing stronger internally, we radiate the power upon our groups and upon the whole world.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: If a part of the nation does not want to keep the Arvut, but rather chooses to wallow in self-love, they cause the rest of the nation to remain immersed in their filth and lowliness without ever finding a way out of their filth.

This refers to a person who isn’t perfect in his efforts to keep the mutual guarantee and in restricting the same desires which cannot keep it. If he has a dilemma and is partially for mutual guarantee and partially against it, he weakens all the other desires that are not corrected yet, meaning, “the nations of the world.”

Besides, the whole world is divided into “Israel” and the “nations of the world,” and it plays an important role in our generation. If we the “people of Israel” are not adapted to the laws of mutual guarantee, we convey to the “nations of the world” that it is okay to remain in the ego and empower them to do so. On the other hand, by our true work in mutual guarantee and connection, we reveal the Light in Israel and by that help the nations of the world correct themselves.

“Israel” are called GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim).  And the “nations of the world” are called AHP that is under the first restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph). We work on mutual guarantee, not in AHP since it is impossible to do so, but only in GE. However, if to some extent we allow the presence of corruptions that belong to the corrupt desires, if we are lazy, or if we neglect the correction of certain parts, we strengthen the vessels of AHP accordingly.

In the meantime, we are also in contact with the nations of the world, and accordingly the Light influences GE and flows to AHP and to the nations of the world who feel their power.

Thus, our internal division affects what goes on in the world and when nations accuse Israel of anything, they are basically right. If we had corrected ourselves, then there wouldn’t have been any negativity in the world. It all depends on the correction of Israel, and this is where all the global consequences stem from, both the good and the bad.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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“The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” is the most important article of all articles written by Baal HaSulam because it talks about the principles, the roots, of our work. It explains why people of Israel were created both in history and in the overall process of development, why a transition link is important to transfer the method of correction from the Creator to the creatures, and why this methodology should come through a special group that separated from the rest of mankind in ancient Babylon in the times of destruction, which it symbolizes.

It was from there that a group that, after a long time required for preparation of humanity and themselves, passes the method of correction to the whole world. Baal HaSulam also explains the relationships of this group with the world and what processes both sides should go through, and that, in essence, is all our history.

And the main thing in this history is the current situation. We have reached the so-called beginning of the final stage and must now implement the method of correction. Besides, it is not enough to implement the method on us by overcoming rejection, rising above our egoism, uniting among ourselves, and revealing the Light of the Creator in this unity.

It is also necessary to bring Light to all nations of the world, by that we realize the methodology. We must bring people to the level of which it is told: “For they shall all know me from the smallest to the greatest.” And then everyone will reveal and know the Creator, each according to his vessels, desires. And by uniting and revealing a single Light together, the Creator will become revealed in the common vessel.

This is what the article “The Arvut” tells us. Different vectors can be drawn out of it to understand responsibilities put onto us that are mirrored in history, education, culture, and world events. Hence, it becomes clear why the world should have to go through all sorts of epochs and processes, striving for freedom, wealth, power, fame, and science. We understand why, as the result of this egoistic development, the world should plunge into a crisis, what is happening today, and what still has to be revealed before the world realizes the need of a fundamental, not just an external, correction.

After all, it is not about the natural environment and external systems that bring order, but in ourselves, among us, in relationships among us that we must adopt a new system connecting people. And in order to do that, we need to change our natures. Egoists can no longer give us a solution to the current situation. It will change only if we change ourselves. Then we will transform our network of relationships—and thereby change the world.

All of this together is a consequence of the foundation described by Baal HaSulam in the article “The Arvut.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/3/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, by fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.

All the other things that we would like to attain by using the wisdom of Kabbalah have nothing to do with it. It is like using a physics book with the hope that we may learn medicine from it or going to chemistry lessons in order to learn political science. Here, too, it is the same thing: The wisdom of Kabbalah is only meant to help us reach the revelation of the Creator, period. If you want that, this wisdom will serve as a means for you; if you have no such need, do what ever you like.

Before the desire to reveal the Creator was evoked in people in the course of our evolution, the wisdom of Kabbalah wasn’t revealed so as not to confuse people. Today, when this desire is expressed generally and demands an answer, Kabbalists say that it is time for the wisdom of Kabbalah to be revealed to the world as a means, as a solution.

If you are looking for miracles, or for recipes of how to succeed in life, or how to make the world a better place, or for some secrets, holy water, red strings, or different promises, the wisdom of Kabbalah will be of no help to you in any way. It is a waste of time and you’d be better off going to a fortuneteller or a psychologist. The real wisdom of Kabbalah, and not the mysticism that is sold under this label, is only the revelation of the Creator to the created being and nothing more than that.

Baal HaSulam puts it very simply: If you have the right desire for it, go ahead. Then you have to ask Kabbalists: “How should I use the wisdom of Kabbalah in order to reveal the Creator?” They will tell you that there is the condition of “Love thy friend as thyself.” You should organize a group and in it fulfill this condition by studying and the mutual work against our ego in order to rise above it and to reach the goal.

But first I must clarify whether the goal of my life is adapted to the goal of the wisdom of Kabbalah. This should be clearly explained to people, leaving no room for confusion. Of course, everyone checks himself openly for everyone’s sake, but if the desire a person has isn’t ripe yet, if he isn’t ready for the revelation of the Creator yet, he mustn’t be drawn inside forcefully.

Our approach should be tough and clear cut: We treat everyone with respect and consider those who have a desire aimed at the Creator as members, friends. If you don’t have such a desire, Kabbalah isn’t for you—enjoy this world.

Today it is a new era: On the background of the global crisis and helplessness, the whole world is becoming aware of the fact that we have to discover the upper world, the Creator, because otherwise we will not survive and will not be able to exist. This is already a different situation in which we gradually have to tell everyone about the method to some extent. So, we begin to teach people about the principles of mutual guarantee, showing them that it is possible to transcend the troubles of the current crisis and to rise to a life of prosperity through unity and the love of others.

We don’t mention the revelation of the Creator to the general public, but rather present the good life in the world as the goal. By that we are already following the same path: On our part, it is the principle of the unity of Israel, the Torah, and the Creator, and for all the others accompany us, they want to fix their corporeal life. Eventually, thanks to the mutual support, we will all connect with the upper force and reveal it, so today we are taking a course with all of humanity.

The problem is that the masses only see the survival from the crisis and the material prosperity, while we see before us the revelation of the Creator. The goal is different, but the direction is the same.

So the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed to one percent of humanity, and the method of mutual guarantee is meant for the other 99 %. Mutual guarantee is the same wisdom of Kabbalah but without the details and the forces that operate on us. As Kabbalists tell us, people who are not ripe for that should receive what is right for them.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/01/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Some of our groups find it hard to tie the wisdom of Kabbalah with mutual guarantee. People who have come to study Kabbalah don’t really want to learn about mutual guarantee and of course don’t want to disseminate the message of mutual guarantee to the world.

Actually I understand them. When I came to Rabash at the age of 33, I was a scientist by character and in my previous occupation. Before I came to Israel, from the age of 6 to the age of 28, I studied and read scientific literature all the time. This also stemmed from a deficiency to discover the Creator, the force that manages everything.

At Rabash’s, I heard about “love thy friend as thyself.” In Russia this principle was distorted in favor of the elite and it was very unpleasant for me to hear it because behind the words about love there were the greatest swindlers and thieves who did the exact opposite and exploited others for their own good. It was very hard to get used to the idea that this principle is the basis of the wisdom of Kabbalah because it’s supposed to speak about the secrets of creation, and suddenly it speaks about the old stuff.

Then I started learning about the inner system: It turns out that the shattered desire to receive has become egoistic, and in order to return to the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), we should correct our ego. This means that we should bring inside and closer to us that which seems distant, to turn what seems as hated into beloved. Despite our current desire, despite the pride, the passions, the respect, you should step on yourself and reject your ego more and more by getting closer to people that you hate. Thus you climb the steps of the spiritual ladder.

Only after I understood the way, I stopped shuddering when I heard words about love. It took me about two to three years and it wasn’t easy at all compared to the strong repulsion I felt at the beginning. But the fact that I learned the system and its laws helped me, just like a doctor who looks at the results of tests or at an x-ray. Then I understood where these words were taken from; I understood that these words have nothing to do with human aspects or with being good and living in brotherhood. It’s about the source of all our conflicts, about the basis of our nature, which we, having no choice, must fulfill. This is what convinced me.

Therefore, we should explain to all our friends in Israel and abroad so that they’ll understand that dissemination to all those who want to learn the wisdom of Kabbalah and the wider dissemination of mutual guarantee to the whole world is what Tikkun (correction) means. If in the past a Kabbalist could correct himself by himself or with the help of a teacher, today it’s impossible.

It isn’t I who says this, Baal HaSulam writes about the fact that we have to do this. So you can’t reach internal correction if you don’t establish a group. For the group to start living and to advance in the right direction, you have to be connected to the whole world and to disseminate with all your might the idea about the essence of the current problems and their solutions to the whole world. First, dissemination should be done in Israel because the people of Israel should become the source of the system for the whole world.

Thus the circles are created: Around you there is the group, around the group there is Israel, and around Israel there is the whole world. If you don’t take this system into account you won’t succeed and you will not draw the Light that Reforms. You must encircle everything to a certain extent. This stems from the shattering of the vessels and from the necessary correction of the whole ladder from the vital period about which Baal HaSulam writes. People who don’t want to fulfill that simply don’t want to hear what our spiritual teacher says.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/01/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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“How wonderful and pleasant it is to sit together as brothers.” These are friends who are sitting together, not parting from each other. At first, they seem to be people in enmity with each other and wanting to kill each other. But afterward, they return to brotherly love. And then they exclaim: “How wonderful and pleasant it is to sit together as brothers.” By doing this, they reach similarity to the integral system of nature and they correspond to it. And in their common love, they reveal the essence of nature, its perfection and eternity.
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The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Acharei Mot”

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Israel’s “Book Week” is starting soon and some call it “The Festival of the Hebrew Book.”

In general, a book is a source for the revelation of the human essence itself. It is here that the main difference between a human and a beast is found; at a certain point in our evolution, man began to write. Although at first it was carving on rocks and later writing on parchment, one way or the other, it was already human. Beasts pass on a lot of information to one another, but they have no written form to pass it to distant or succeeding generations.

Thanks to man’s ability to write, he can overcome distances, motion, and time and transcend the temporal axis and the three spatial axes, and overcomes nature’s control over his body. By knowing how to write, it is as if I exit my body since my writings reach those whom I will never actually meet. This is the essence of being human.

It is about very deep roots. In the past, books were parchment scrolls, but in the modern world there is still a form different from the electronic form. Although it is much more convenient to read from a computer screen and many have gotten used to it, I still don’t think that the paper pages of a book will disappear so fast.

We feel by seeing visual images: Clips can be moving and can evoke you, but written texts give you an understanding. The wisdom comes through letters and the feeling through visual images.

Therefore, it is worthwhile to publish books in any form. Everyone can disseminate them no matter if you are a veteran or not. Every group has a chance to participate in the correction of the world through the corporeal action and to “earn” a spiritual reward.

Because our world is the last and special degree in the ladder of the worlds, we can exert ourselves physically here and receive a spiritual reward. By embracing the friends despite the hatred we feel, I still summon the Reforming Light. So from an egoistic intention of Lo Lishma (not for His sake), we advance towards the intention of in order to bestow Lishma (for His sake), from the evil inclination to the good inclination. The Light comes in reaction to my physical action and changes my desire. This doesn’t exist in the spiritual worlds. We only need to know how to use it.

Similarly, by disseminating books, I actually bestow. Not even knowing how, by my inclination, I open up the way for the Light, which later passes through me to people. Thus I become a “pipe” that passes on the Light. What can be better than that? This is actually all of our mission: to pass on the Light from the Creator to the world. So it is actually an action that belongs to the Kabbalistic method, and there is nothing more beneficial to a person than to follow exactly this way, directly.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)“

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