The preparation for the general spiritual work consists of several stages that are described as fables. The spiritual work in groups of ten is described in the Torah in the section about Jethro. Jethro was the chief priest in Midian, as well as Moses’ father-in-law, the father of his wife Zipporah. Moses lived at Jethro’s home when he escaped from Pharaoh and it actually is according to his instructions that the structure of the nation of Israel was formed.

It is a wonder why some priest of Midian, one of the sages of the nations of the world, brought such knowledge to the nation of Israel and knew how to form each of its camps so that they would better understand the laws and behave correctly according the Lord’s sentence. What do these subtle concepts that have to do with the inner corrections of the nation have to do with a priest of Midian who tells them how to organize the nation?

Jethro advises Moses after he already has received the Torah! This may seem very strange, but the method of organizing the nation stems from the wisdom of the nations of the world, as it is written, “If a person tells you there is wisdom among the nations of the world, believe him.” Besides, Jethro is not a stranger. He actually connects the desire to receive to the Torah to the desire to bestow.

We advance according to the steps that the Torah dictates, and it determines how we should divide into groups of ten, and then into groups of hundreds, thousands, and thus, advance in our spiritual work. It is a natural division according to the nation that should exist in a group. A simple crown came out of Babylon, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob began to organize them into a nation.

They did not wander from one place to another in their journeys. The group came out of the general ego, from Babylon. It had broken off from the Babylonians and settled in one place surrounded by Babylon on all sides. In this place, they went through all the stages called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then, they reached the stage in which they began to feel that the ego is separating them—the exile, the distance—despite their strong desire to connect as they learned from their forefathers. After this group had received the method of connection from their forefathers, they already knew the stages of advancement to the revelation of the Creator. They understood that it is all revealed only in the connection between them, in “Love thy friend as thyself,” from which one comes to the love of the Creator.

However, when they actually began to work on the connection between them by following the advice of the three upper levels of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they began to feel how hard it is to fulfill this. They understood how exhausting this work is and how powerless it leaves them. They go through 400 years of exile and totally lose hope.

We try to fill ourselves through different external actions just to find new powers. However, all these innovations are always external, even if we learn another new thing and organize another convention. It is all fine and right, but it doesn’t lead to meaningful advancement. We are still building “Pithom and Ramses,” which means that we make efforts in order to discover that there is no hope!

Then, a more intensive, efficient and focused type of work begins in the groups of ten, and we see that if we want to be incorporated in the spiritual work, we first must split up into groups of ten.

There is a stage in which we must split up. The work in groups of ten already advances according to the regulations that stem from the advice of Kabbalists and especially Rabash who formulated all the principles of working in a group based on the method of Baal HaSulam. We have all we need for this work, but we must learn the special structure of the group of ten, how to build it and how to fulfill the method of connection that is the method for the revelation of the Creator.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/13, Talk About Tens

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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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Question: I understand that we have to love the friend but how do I feel it in my heart?

Answer: If you don’t think about the Light that Reforms while making efforts, if you don’t expect to receive it as a result of all your plans and actions, but rather hope to correct yourselves by these actions, it’s a fatal mistake.

It means that you don’t add the goal, the Creator and His help, the Light that can change you, to your actions. It turns out that despite your efforts, you are still advancing by the “path of suffering!”

The “path of Torah” is called the Light that Reforms that was created in order to correct us. We should focus on drawing the Light with every action that we make so it will come in response to our efforts. If we don’t throw a rod in order to catch and draw the Light, if we have no such attitude towards our actions, then these actions will lead us along the “path of suffering” and not along the “path of the Torah.”
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/13, Writings of Rabash “Concerning the Importance of Friends”

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Question: What is the indication that a person is advancing? Is it when he feels that he is increasingly more repulsed by the friends or that he values them more?

Answer: A person’s advancement doesn’t depend on either one of these signs, but rather on the extent to which a person can “weave” the right picture and correctly combine the feeling of repulsion and attraction. The repulsion stems from the evil inclination and the attraction from the good inclination, and a person determines when he has to choose. He creates a connection, the combination, and he works like a weaver on a loom.

Everything depends on how he combines the two opposite forces: He understands that the repulsion is just as essential as the attraction. He has to discover that all the forces that are revealed in him with regard to the upper are always a blessing, and for his own good. There is nothing in the world, in reality, that is harmful or bad; everything depends on whether a person can see and justify it.

Can he unite the two opposite forces, not just in order to connect them but in order to make a new reality out of them? This is the new psychological picture of the world that is woven of two forces, as from two threads.

This reality doesn’t exist by itself: All of reality, both the fictitious and the real, exist only if we begin to identify it as we create it for ourselves. So we have to try to connect all the power and force and obligate them to work together, as this is all our work.

We have to see the whole Torah, human history, our whole evolution that is made of the creation of the spiritual reality from the two forces that were revealed to Abraham in this light, in this perspective. Our success depends on how well we manage to connect the two: the evil inclination and the good inclination, and do everything for the connection, the unity between them.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/16/13, Writings of Rabash

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Rabash, Letter 41: Thus the Torah is names of pleasures, and each pleasure has a different name.

Question: There are also sufferings and troubles other than pleasures, what names should we give them?

Answer: We name things according to the vessels, to the desires. It’s because we understand and perceive everything in the vessel, including the Light. It doesn’t exist by itself, apart from us, but rather like electricity about which we speak only with regard to its effects. Similarly, we discern the phenomena that stem from the Light, the effect of its actions inside us.

Pleasures are extra Light, a filling by the Light, and everything is revealed in the vessel. This is where the names stem from. Each one indicates the beginning and end of an action, as well as what happened in the actual process.

The name expresses an action that was performed by the force behind it. We, the created beings, have no other way to describe something. It’s because we don’t have any contact with the Light itself. We are limited in the matter of the desire and the form it takes on as it changes from its initial state until it resembles the Creator.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: You are well aware and have a good understanding of the situation in Israel’s society. On one hand it represents a society of Torah, and on the other hand it is a civilization of high technology, while it also exists in an unfriendly surrounding. How do you see the process of this society’s development? Will we manage to solve anything in this small area of the world?

Answer: I am sure that the future of Israel and its fate has no connection with technologies, science, industry, banking business, army, weapons, or the relationship between us and our neighbors.

I am sure that everything depends only on the ability of Israel’s society to restructure itself according to the new requirements for humanity. Everything depends on the degree of its unity, equality, harmony, and how much people will be able to connect into one integral system. Then they will start living in harmony with the surrounding nature. Practically, the whole goodness which can manifest in humanity and society depends on this.
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From KabTV’s “Global Crisis,” 3/19/2013

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Rabash, “What is the Preparation for the Receiving of the Torah”: As for the Lord, it says “and the Lord descended upon Mt. Sinai, at the top of the mountain.” And as for the people, it says “and they gathered at the bottom of the mountain.” And we should understand what a “mountain” means. A “mountain” (Har) originates from the word “doubts” (Hirurim), which is a person’s mind.

If we accept this message in our mind, it means that the Creator is at the top of the mountain, meaning that He operates that way and we feel and agree that we have no choice and that we must receive the Torah. It’s because after we understand that the evil inclination prepares us for burial, we must receive the Torah, to be saved from death, from this doomed life.

So where is our free will if we are naturally forced to receive the Torah? The evil inclination itself, which is our desire to enjoy this life, leaves us to this choice. But is this called receiving?

So when we gather at the foot of the mountain and discover our evil inclination, and opposite to it we reveal the Torah, it’s a start. We clearly understand that we begin to live under these conditions. Now as the evil inclination is revealed in every step we make, we have to decide: Why has it been revealed, why do I need it, and how can it be corrected by using the evil inclination and the Torah that was given for its correction correctly? Can we ascend to the Creator’s level, to the top of the mountain?

This is the preparation for the receiving of the Torah, but it’s only the preparation and not its fulfillment yet. Here we still act out of necessity: There is such a revelation that doesn’t leave us much choice. We see that we have an evil inclination and a means to correct it, the Torah, and if we refuse to accept it, this will be our burial place. Otherwise we have no chance of being saved from this life, which is worse than death, and so of course, a person accepts the condition he is given.

Free will appears later with every step a person makes along the way, when we begin to fulfill the Torah during the forty years in the desert. All these years of wandering are already the real levels of the receiving of the Torah, by which we rise higher and higher, until we reach the top of the mountain.
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From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/13

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: Because the Torah was not given to them before each and every one from Israel was asked if he agreed to take upon himself the Mitzva (precept) of loving others in the full measure, expressed in the words: “Love thy friend as thyself” (as explained in Items 2 and 3, examine it thoroughly there). This means that each and every one in Israel would take it upon himself to care and work for each member of the nation, and to satisfy all their every needs, no less than the measure imprinted in him to care for his own needs.

This condition seems clear, yet in fact, all of reality is concealed here, all that life can give us. And since there is only one condition that stands before us which must be maintained, “And you shall love your friend as yourself,” so everything that happens in my personal life, in relationship with myself, with my family, with the environment near and far, with humanity, with the world, everything that has happened to me up until this moment, must be directed towards only one goal. And at every moment I must check, have I lived it to reach love for others?

If I begin to evaluate myself in this way, then understandably, at every moment there will be many questions for me: “Why? What for? How is one thing connected to another? What do I get out of this?” and so forth. Rejection and resistance will grow, but if I truly want to clarify what must be clarified and corrected, then everything will be considered according to only one criterion, according to that phrase, “And you shall love your friend as yourself.”

It’s written that this is a major rule in the Torah, in other words, this is the principle that includes all of reality, includes all of my incarnations, and in general, everything that has been. Therefore, someone who is ready to accept this principle as a basis, as a measuring rod for his life, he is ready to accept the Torah, the method of correction. You see, the whole Torah is designed only to realize this principle.

And conversely, someone who doesn’t direct himself towards this, he doesn’t need the Torah. He can read it, be interested in it as a historian, or use it in some other way. Throughout history, everyone has wandered through it as they saw fit. That said, the true Torah is revealed to me, moves me, and opens the way before me only on condition that I aspire to “And you shall love your friend as yourself.”

In this way I begin from a distance, from the greatest resistance, from an absolute lack of understanding, from the furthest place, until I gradually begin to understand that this is important, that this is connected to the entire reality, to the world, to all other people and  to my ego. I begin to be interested in this principle at least in an egoistic form, with the hope of somehow gaining from this. And so I have something to hold on to already; this expression becomes important in my eyes because I see this as a means for receiving pleasure, knowledge of self, an opportunity to get something new. And even if this connection is not arranged as I would like it, and passes through the reverse side, this is still a connection, and it’s very important.

A state like this is called “Lo Lishma,” and it’s a high level where I am already holding onto the principle of “And you shall love your friend as yourself,” and through it, love for the Creator, Who is to be found in the other, in the community, as is written, “I live among My own people.” Therefore, everything is arranged for me except the intention.

First, from my “healthy,” materialistic, egoistic desire, I grasp this principle strongly; then it’s possible to speak about intention. First of all, it’s necessary to build a healthy relationship, as is written: “Educate the youth according to his way.” And the more ruthless his desire to fulfill himself, the better because then you can open the way before him and explain to him upon what progress depends.

In general, all the steps leading to both purity and impurity are subject to the same dependency and are found in the same way. Only the relationship is different. About this it is written: “The Creator made this opposite to that” (Ecclesiastes 7). We use the same Kelim for both egoistic and altruistic actions; and only in intention are these actions opposing.

Before me is the system of my relationships with the group. I give myself over to it and through it to the Creator, Who is within it. I want to adhere to Him and thereby fill myself with all the Light of Infinity. This is the desired, worthwhile and imperative approach.

If I begin to confuse myself with superfluous considerations, I only reduce my desire even before it grows, so that I will have something to correct. A person corrects only what is discovered in him, and one should not be ashamed or be timid because of his egoistic spiritual aspirations. This is normal. The main thing is to be clear, that specifically in the system called a “group” I will reveal the Creator.

In general, this system includes all of reality, and even though it now seems to me to be divided, later I will see that everything is included within it. So, it’s important to see the real state, even if at this stage it’s for my own benefit.

This is the beginning of self-nullification; this puts me in front of the perpetual questions: “How can I be incorporated into the system? How do I enjoy it?” And then the Reforming Light works on me. The system is built such that the posterior side of the upper is found in the front side of the lower, and therefore, even if I think about ascent egoistically, the upper perfects my defect and gives me a remedy for my ego. After all, this ego is directed towards “And you shall love your friend as yourself.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/25/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Rabash, Letter 40: And should you ask, “What can one do if he feels that he has a heart of stone toward his friend…”

The advice is very simple: The nature of fire is that when rubbing stones against each other, a fire starts… And only when both of them intend for a gift and not for charity, through the wearing out of the hearts, even of the strongest ones, each will bring out warmth from the walls of his heart, and the warmth will ignite the sparks of love until a clothing of love will form. Then, both of them will be covered under one blanket, meaning a single love will surround and envelop the two of them, as it is known that Dvekut [adhesion] unites two into one.

When a person begins to work in a group he doesn’t feel repulsed by others. But as soon as he feels the need to connect with the friends, as it is the means for attaining the goal, the vessel for the revelation of the Creator and through this connection one attains bestowal and adhesion, and only after that are the others called “friends” and not before; this is where the problems start. These people don’t seem like strangers anymore: Everyone takes on a certain color, a form, and becomes versatile and full of different emotions.

The friends summon in him very complex emotions and it isn’t easy to connect with them anymore. He doesn’t want to connect with them anymore. He doesn’t want to hug them and to sit at the same table with them for a meal or to dance together.  Different evil thoughts overcome him with regard to his relations with others and he begins to feel that it’s very difficult to connect with them.

The more he understands the need to connect, the more distant and unrealistic it seems to him. New interruptions are increasingly evoked. It’s about this kind of work that the Torah tells us first in the story of Abraham and Isaac and then about Jacob, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Eventually, this work becomes the exile in Egypt, when a person feels such terrible distance from others that it’s impossible to ignore it and it’s impossible to connect.

The more a person tries to overcome his ego and to connect with others, the less he succeeds. He experiences “seven years of satiety” and “seven years of hunger,” with regard to the connection since the whole war against the evil inclination is only over the connection. Then there are the plagues of Egypt, the plagues of Pharaoh, that force a person to finally understand that only the upper Light can help him.

He decides that he cannot live without absolute love anymore, that will break his heart and the shards of his heart will penetrate the hearts of his friends. This is the only thing he wants and nothing but it. Thus he begins to work on the love that doesn’t immediately turn into true love, but starts from some preliminary connections, but this is at least a certain connection.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/16/13

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