The Torah, “Exodus,” Chapter 18, verses 13-14: It came about on the next day that Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from the morning until the evening. When Moses’ father-in-law saw what he was doing to the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you sit by yourself, while all the people stand before you from morning till evening?”

It means that it is impossible to clarify anything and to advance this way with so many people who are not organized according to the spiritual structure.

Verses 15-16: Moses said to his father-in-law, “For the people come to me to seek God. If any of them has a case, he comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and His teachings.”

Moses is the point in the heart that determines a person’s path, investigates and studies how to judge, and checks where he is according to his desire to receive. Thus, Moses judges the people with his point in the heart with regard to his desire to receive.

Verses 17-18: Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out both you and these people who are with you for the matter is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.

It is impossible to clarify things in the spiritual work this way and to judge the people according to the Lord’s laws.

Verses 19-20: Now listen to me. I will advise you, and may the Lord be with you. [You] represent the people before God, and you shall bring the matters to God. And you shall admonish them concerning the statutes and the teachings, and you shall make known to them the way they shall go and the deed[s] they shall do.

This means that Jethro teaches Moses how he should organize everything.

Verses 21-27: But you shall choose out of the entire nation men of substance, God fearers, men of truth, who hate monetary gain, and you shall appoint over them [Israel] leaders over thousands, leaders over hundreds, leaders over fifties, and leaders over tens. And they shall judge the people at all times, and it shall be that any major matter they shall bring to you, and they themselves shall judge every minor matter, thereby making it easier for you, and they shall bear [the burden] with you. If you do this thing, and the Lord commands you, you will be able to survive, and also, all this people will come upon their place in peace.” Moses obeyed his father-in-law, and he did all that he said. Moses chose men of substance out of all Israel and appointed them as heads of the people, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens. And they would judge the people at all times; the difficult case they would bring to Moses, but any minor case they themselves would judge. Moses saw his father-in-law off, and he went away to his land.

It is clear that we are very far from what is described here and there is a great deal of work ahead, but we already have split up into groups of ten in order to clarify which states we are in and to what extent we advance. It is because the advancement of Israel is based on a strong connection, until we reach the revelation of the Creator which is called entering the Land of Israel, the desire that is aimed “Yashar El.” Therefore, we have split into groups of ten and we try to do the work. Then, there will be additional phases.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/13, Talk About Tens

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Some of the friends in the group of ten are in a state of ascent and others are going through hard times and descents and have an additional Aviut (coarseness). We are not responsible for these states, and so whether I like it or not, I simply have to take advantage of every state in order to advance. All the states come from Above and we mustn’t criticize them, and no matter whether we feel them as good or bad, we have to use them all as a means to advance.

Every group of ten is one cell, since it can generate only one unit of bestowal. One person in a group of ten or two or three people don’t count. Only if all the group of ten is connected correctly does it become one unit of bestowal, and then it begins to reveal its first Light of Nefesh.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/13, The Zohar, Introduction

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Question: Why isn’t a prayer for self-correction effective?

Answer: It is only a prayer of many that works. A prayer for oneself is needed so that a person will finally understand that it doesn’t help and that it is ineffective. This world confuses us since people who think about themselves succeed. A person starts a business, engages in sports, and the more efforts he makes, the greater his success. This is a real fact.

However, spirituality is opposite from corporeality. The more I think about myself and do certain exercises, the more it proves that I cannot succeed this way. The laws that operate in spirituality are opposite from all the laws of this world: It isn’t the wise one who succeeds thanks to his wisdom, and it isn’t the brave one who succeeds thanks to his bravery. Whereas these qualities are very helpful in our world: The more power, brains, or money you have, the more successful you are.

This world is based on egoistic bravery. However, in the spiritual world it is the opposite, and everything depends on how much I exit myself and remain powerless, brainless, and totally unable to succeed by myself, but only by investing in others, subduing myself before them, and being influenced by them. Thus, I teach myself that this is the way to advance.

It is a very delicate issue. We work in the integral system, and only through my connection to everyone else—to the extent that I can attribute myself to them—can I succeed. I never will be able to exit my “circle” and to be aloof with regard to the others, and I don’t want that! Advancement indicates a greater penetration into the group in order to be equal to everyone else.

It is actually opposite to the laws of this world. So, all the rules we read about in Kabbalistic texts are not just good advice and suggestions of a concerned granny to a child trying to persuade him not to jump around, not to fight, and to sit quietly. Rather, these are iron-clad rules of the upper system. We have to forget all the habitual egoistic systems and try to get used to and accept the laws of the upper system where everything goes through the group, through the “ten,” only through the environment.

You will attain everything, but the means, the rules for success, are different from the ones that are accepted in this world. Your success depends only on you to the extent that you subdue yourself before the environment, your wanting to bestow everything upon the friends, to worry about them, and to love them like the people who are dearest to you and most beloved. Even if you don’t feel that, you force yourself to act that way, as if each of them is a great person, the greatest of our generation, the one who is closest and dearest to you, even more than yourself.

Soon, you actually will feel that this is so and everyone will become very important and dear to you: his state, his health, and his success. You will understand and feel that you depend on this and will have no other worries except for their well-being and health.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 05.20.13, Writings of Rabash, “Concerning Love of Friends-2”

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Question: What does “the ascent of the lower to the upper” mean?

Answer: The ascent to the upper depends on how much the lower can annul himself before the upper. He does it, of course, thanks to the Light that Reforms and not because of inner manipulations. He only has a clue that the Creator brings him to the right environment, to the good fate and tells him “take it!” If you manage to hold on to that point and to start working with it, you will succeed.

The ascent depends on what you consider an ascent. If you think positively about one of the friends at least once a day, unlike you have thought about him before, it’s already a great joy, since it indicates a qualitative inner change in you. You should worry that each of the ten friends in the group of ten will constantly aspire for such an ascent, and this is the mutual support and mutual guarantee. If you worry that all the friends should feel the same way and worry about one another, then your concern is conveyed to them.

This is easy for some of the friends and more difficult for others, and so we complement one another when we gather and connect. Those who find it difficult because of the hardening of the ego add power of Aviut (thickness) to the group of ten. Those who feel the ascent, which means the influence of the Light, pass this Light to the group.

The “shattering” of the vessel allows us to do this. I cannot draw the Light in my current shattered state since there is no connection between us. But I connect with the friends into one unity in which one adds the power of the coarse egoistic desire and another adds the spiritual ascent.

One pulls upward and another downward, but we are connected. Those who pull upward are influenced by the Light that Reforms and thanks to the fact that we are connected in one system, they also influence me. How is that possible? The point is that we have shattered the Machsom (barrier) between us, in our relationship we have worked and made efforts to overcome the gap between us. It’s as if we have placed a Masach (screen) over the egoistic receiving of the Light and now it can influence us.

The Light influences those who deserve it since they are in a state of ascent at the moment and through them it affects me. Even if we are not as close as we were before and not connected as strongly into one as we were, we have made a covenant and agreed that we will hold on to the connection between us as strongly as we can and will break down the wall between us.

It turns out that the shattering is simply a gift from Above; it’s a stick that we constantly have to kiss. It allows us to be constantly connected to others and to be in contact with the Light even in the worst state. If I lose contact with the others, there is the covenant by which I stay in contact thanks to those who are in a state of ascent and can draw the Light.

Thus everyone operates with regard to the others. This special connection of the shattered desires is called “this world.” It’s not what we see and feel at all, it’s not our corporeal ego, but a system, special conditions that allow us to connect to the upper. Although we don’t deserve anything judging by our state, we still accept this connection: either according to the conditions of the covenant between the friends, thanks to our connection, or thanks to the mutual support.

The friends may lack the willpower and I add it to them by my descent, and they help me convey my deficiency and hold on, just like healthy people treat those who are ill. The mutual help that we provide for one another, this shattered state, all these conditions are called “this world,” thanks to which we contact the Light that Reforms. So the advice and guidance of Kabbalists are focused on one point: How to connect to the Light in a state of detachment.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/13, Introduction, “Mother Lends Her Clothes to Her Daughter”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee): A person can help all the people in the world in the ascent up the levels of love of others. Thus he affects a certain measure of advancement on the ladder of love for others in all the people of the world in general. This is because that degree, which that individual caused by his actions, whether large or small, ultimately joins the future in shifting the world to a scale of merit…

And one who commits one sin, which means that he cannot overcome and conquer his filthy self-love, and hence steals or does something of the sort, sentences himself and the whole world to the scale of sin.

Thus we see that Kabbalists look at reality as a unified system. Of course, when a person sentences himself to the scale of merit or to the scale of sin, he sentences the whole world in the same way. His actions necessarily affect and influence all the other mechanisms and the other parts of the whole world down to the very last. Today we discover this in reality, but in fact, all the worlds including our world are a system that is interconnected.

So we have to acknowledge the responsibility for making the right choice, for sentencing myself to the scale of merit, in the dimensions of the whole system. I have to understand what I am responsible for right now, when I worry about the correction. I have to double my concern according to how I imagine the general picture.

This is because with the disclosure of the filth of self-love…, a person subtracts a certain amount from the sentencing to the final scale of merit. This is similar to a person removing from the scale that single sesame seed his friend had put there… Because he could not overcome his petty lust, he pushed the spirituality of the whole world backwards.

This is the system we are constantly in and the slightest movement by even one millimeter is enough to move the whole system. But there is a weakening mechanism, “filters” of concealment, or the worlds.

The system is totally revealed in the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) to its full size and depth. Accordingly, whoever is there has to be responsible for the whole system, as he feels it and fully manages it, without a flaw, just like the Creator. There we are totally equal to Him, adhered to Him.

On the other hand, it’s our responsibility and our obligation to enter the system integrally by understanding our mind and our feeling, which depend on the current level that is part of the levels that descend from Ein Sof. We are responsible for the system in general since it’s a qualitative characteristic and not a quantitative one, but to a lesser extent.

For example, I am responsible for keeping the system “clean” and you are responsible for its “color,” and someone else for the “electricity,” another for the “air conditioning,” and so on. Thus I fulfill the uniqueness of my soul, since without me no one will make up the part I have to fulfill when I operate the system in my own unique style. Without me it will not reach wholeness, since it is integral by nature. So every level increases my responsibility: It’s as if I replace the Creator in different aspects, and when I begin to understand the system I begin to understand Him, to feel Him, and to resemble Him.

The system is actually the relationship between the friends. After all, there is nothing but that. We discover everything in the friends, in humanity, in the still, vegetative, and animate nature. This means that we have to discover all the parts of this world in addition to the world itself. This collection of ties is actually the spiritual worlds, mutual bestowal, the system of creation. It’s as if we put on special glasses and see all the mutual connections between all the components.

But this system is revealed gradually. First in the group of ten, and then it grows wider and deeper in discernments that we couldn’t discover otherwise. First it was difficult to notice the connection between us; it was hard to discern it, but with time it’s revealed more in our understanding and feeling and in the most varied forms.

Thus we connect and discover the system and the forces that operate in it that are actually the Creator who sustains this whole complex. We discover the form that He creates in the matter of the desire. He is revealed in matter and not in an abstract form and not in the essence.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Having started to work in groups of ten, you can think about your big group only through your “ten.” The ten is now the cell through which you connect to the world, whether it is speaking to your wife or to your boss at work. Every action you make is through this group; you dress in them.

A group of ten is not about physical bodies, but about principles that we clarify and fulfill together. Gradually, you begin to feel that this invisible, airy formation becomes clearer, connects with the forms of your relationships, and takes on a certain weight, shape, stability, and a real, tangible existence.

Now, in the relationships between you and others, you feel things that you only heard of or read about before. It already becomes a reality.

A group of ten is a sensible, materialized image of your unity, like a family. Indeed, what is a family? There is a woman who lives with me, and I have several kids who live in the same house. A family, however, is not separate people, but something that is a single whole: our relationships, our dependence on one another, the mutual bestowal, and the concern. It is a whole system that is called a “family.”

I don’t worry about someone personally, but about the well-being of the entire family. This is the feeling I should have with regard to my group of ten so that I will approach every discernment and feeling only through it. Otherwise, I never will see the upper world. I must start looking at everything through this focusing lens, through an aperture adjuster.

It limits my sight, and I look at everything only through it, through this very narrow aperture. If I look through a very small hole instead of using glasses, I will see everything sharply just as with glasses since glasses merely limit and focus the ray of light. This is why this very narrow aperture also allows me to see well as if I had very powerful glasses. We can look through the group in the same way. If you don’t look through the group, you won’t see the world.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/13, The Book of Zohar – Introduction

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The connection between us is where we will find everything. We begin to discover the idea of “connection” according to our advancement and we see that everything concentrates in it and depends only on it, including our private life, our health, our success, family welfare, the entire world, and our spiritual attainment. Everything depends only on the connection in the group that advances by the power of faith, by mutual bestowal.

There is no other means by which we can change anything in our reality except for making greater efforts to connect. Then, everyone receives everyone else’s power (of the whole group of ten) and thus acquires the general force of bestowal as one whole by which he can advance.

We must reinforce the connection in the spiritual cell that is made of ten people in order to ascend to the second level, and we need a greater connection with the external circle for that. Thanks to the connection with the external circle, you can “squeeze” the inner circle of friends even more and thus reach the second level, the Light of Ruach, in order to advance even further.

The quality and the quantity complement one another and allow a person to advance. Everything concentrates in the center of the group and depends only on it. The main thing is to reach the first feeling, and then you will not be able to break away from it anymore, but rather will be attracted to it like to a source of life.

In the meantime, however, we must act artificially as we play. Soon it actually will be revealed, and then you will see that it is really so. Then, you will discover that, instead of greater efforts to connect and to squeeze, you will have to do the opposite kind of work and try not to hurt or harm others.

The Creator will give us opposite exercises. When you are in the ego, you enjoy the fact that the others suffer a little and that they feel bad, and if it is your enemy, you actually enjoy the fact that you can harm him and beat him. However, now you are ready to give up everything for people that you didn’t love before and by whom you even were repulsed and hated, as long as they feel good. You are amazed at your previous attitude since everything turns the other way around.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/19/13

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The first and primary rule is that the upper Light is at absolute rest. The influence of the Creator on us is constant, as it is written, “There is none else besides Him”; His manifestation, HaVaYaH, is invariable. Therefore, the reactions and changes within us need to reach stability and cease changing as well so that from our side also, there will be a permanent relationship existing at absolute rest, meaning in perfection.

In addition, if we still feel constant changes within us, if we feel physical or spiritual time, movement, or place, this is a sign that the creature has not yet reached perfection. We must yearn for a state where everything will be invariant, where adherence will be permanent.

All of our work is to act on those outside of us and help friends reach this kind of state. We cannot influence ourselves. Nobody works on himself since a person is not master over himself. However, since we are in a closed integral system, it follows that all the action is done only outside of the person and directed toward others and from the others, on the person himself. The person cannot act on himself.

Therefore, all the activities are done within a group, in a group of ten. Together with this, I need to desire that the action of the group on me will hold me in a perfect and permanent state. If I behave like this toward the friends and they behave like this toward me, then from this, we learn how to behave toward the Creator. To the degree that we connect to Him correctly, we discover His relationship with us, until we reach permanent connection and adherence.

All the changes are intended to show to us where we still lack permanence so that we can reach absolute rest. Therefore, one of the main rules of behavior in the group determines that a person cannot influence himself. Instead, he is activated and influenced only by the environment. To the degree that he influences others, he discovers himself, developing within himself sensitivity to the similar, external influences of the friends.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/13

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Many people in the world are connected to all kinds of groups, associations, alliances, and communities, and they are quite satisfied with these “hobby clubs.” In addition, people also cooperate in businesses in order to make a profit together.

There are the great and small, supervisors and subordinates, but, ultimately, there is a clear goal for everyone, and they understand that everyone needs to have his own place and contribute for the benefit of all. The picture is clear when the result is felt in the pocket or our desire for pleasure is delighted in some other way.

All the ways and forms of connection differ, including the religions. However, in general, people enjoy shared interaction that provides everyone with some benefit.

It seems to be different when a person asks the question about the meaning of life, “Why and for what am I here?” After all the searching, this question only grows, leaving a sensation of emptiness inside. So, finally, the person comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

However, in addition, he opens books and doesn’t find an answer. Essentially, the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t reveal anything. On the contrary, it is called the “concealed wisdom” because it removes the cover and only shows a person that something is hidden from him. What is this exactly?

What is concealed from us is the Creator. He is what we are missing. If we were to discover the higher power in nature that activates all of its forms—the still, the vegetative, the animate, and the speaking—then everything will become clear to us.

So, actually, in our world, in our life, there is no other question than the discovery of the Creator. In this way, we will solve all problems. We will understand what is happening to us, how we should act, what the consequences of our actions are, how they come back to us, and so forth. In brief, everything will be revealed to us. When we go beyond the limitations of this world, we feel not only the shortness of material life but also the entire way that stretches to Infinity. All this is provided that we discover the Creator and understand and feel reality in the same way that He does.

In addition, we don’t understand and feel. Here, the question arises, “What do I get out of this understanding and feeling?” The wisdom of Kabbalah answers like this, “You can understand and feel to the degree that you can become like the Creator.” In other words, the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t make it possible for us to recognize that particular phenomenon called the “Creator” but presents a condition that is not characteristic of our world.

Here, we look at things from the side. For example, I go to a ballet performance and see people dancing on the stage. I enjoy watching them, but I can’t perform like them myself. However, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, this would not be called attainment. True attainment requires that I carry out this activity myself. From this, I will understand and feel what is being said; I must be “on stage.”  [Read more →]

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Question: How is a decision reached in a “group of ten” (a training group of ten people): Is it according to a simple majority vote or must everyone agree?

Answer: If there is some kind of “majority,” this is no longer called a “group of ten.” A group of ten is “one man with one heart,” so what kind of “majority” can be there? A minyan is formed from ten people if they are all united in one heart, in one prayer. So how could a group of ten adopt some kind of resolution if a part doesn’t agree wholeheartedly?

You cannot show that you are a hero and agree with the decision of the friends despite your dissatisfaction. There is no coercion in spirituality! In a group of ten, a resolution can only be adopted if there is universal agreement; otherwise, the “group of ten” concept doesn’t exist. All must be as one.

In contrast, the spiritual directorate adopts a resolution with a “compelling” majority, 8 out of 10 for example. This is because it’s composed of people with different opinions regarding various problems relevant to our world and they are trying to find a solution. They don’t make decisions about spiritual work.

There are people who decide what we will eat at the meal, what the schedule will be for the day, which article we will learn in the lesson, and I don’t even ask them what kind of a decision they adopted. But the concept of a “group of ten” applies only to spiritual connection as one person.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/16/13, Writings of Rabash

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