A Covenant Between The Friends

"It follows that making the covenant is for the future. It is like a contract that they sign that they will not be able to regret when they see that the ties of love are not as they were, that this love gave them great pleasure while they were doing good to each other, but now that love has been corrupted, they are powerless and none can do anything for the other.

But if they do wish to do something for their friends, they must consider the making of the covenant that they had before, and out of that they should rebuild the love. It is like a person who signs a contract with his friend, and the contract connects them so they cannot part from one another." Rabash, You Stand Today, All of You

The efforts to maintain a framework in the ten is very significant - it's one of the great challenges on the path. We have a few ways to do that. You mentioned how some friends cannot join all the events due to their work schedule. We spoke about last week how a friend that is doing dissemination during the lesson is considered participating in the lesson. But if you're talking about another situation where the friend is not participating in the framework - we need to think about who created the framework? Did that friend have a say in that? First and foremost, it needs to be a framework that he agreed to.

We need to understand that we're all different, and have all kinds of different situations with regard to making a living. So we need to be very sensitive and gentle. Maybe a friend can't join for all kinds of reasons - whether it's health, or work, or family. So all we can do is support the friends by giving a good example, lifting the friends, etc. Maybe something will change and he'll be able to participate more. We don't know exactly how these things work, but we do need to help each other participate 100% in our activities. Not everyone can do that at the moment so we must support each other. There is no point in arguing about it. If a friend is late will it help shouting at him? He finally made it to the meeting and instead of receiving fuel he received a negative reaction. So next time he'll think twice about making the effort.

It's very important to maintain the framework but not with force. Just because I have an opportunity to maintain the framework and participate in everything doesn't mean I should start giving others grief about not showing up. So we really need to think about how we treat the friends - it's a very delicate subject.

If you feel you've done everything you can and there is no one from your ten around you. Then you need to reach out to your coordinators to discuss that you may need to move to a better environment. You're giving a good example, but a few years have gone by. We didn't used to have that problem because everyone who sat in front of Rav in the morning lesson - there was no such thing as not showing up.

A ten is a very delicate thing because some people have a strong desire while others have a weak desire - they may see Kabbalah as a hobby. That may be bad for you because you don't have a strong environment. We feel that every person needs to have a group of at least 5-6 people maintaining the same framework. This is why we opened this evening slot - to enable everyone to join.

This was our reasoning for adding evening lessons. First of all, we're spread out all over the world. In Europe the morning lesson could be at 1am - and it's difficult to get up at that hour. In the afternoon people are working, in the evening there are other things going on. So decide which slot is best for your ten. We're planning on doing all kinds of engaging things here like quizzes and workshops. It's good to sit and actively engage with your ten in this lesson - even if it's only half of your ten.

If I use my time to support the friends and participate in activities, contribute to dissemination and pay my tithe - everyone needs to do what they can. We do many different things and hope we do them with the right intention. And in the meantime the light is working on us. The main thing is to constantly "elevate in holiness - and not descend down."

Let's imagine we created this common fund - let's call is the Adam HaRishon Fund. And we'll all add our good thoughts and intentions there. And from that field of forces, when I'm down I can draw on those forces just like from a bank account. If you didn't invest in that fund, and didn't make a contract, you will surely fall. You'll be left without forces and the Creator can't transfer you to new states. That's why some people appear stuck for years in the same situation. Our great Kabbalists can go through tons of states in a second because they invested in that fund.

Whatever we invested in the fund - that's what will help us. Our friend said earlier that all the friends are in different states, and that's so true. That's why we're putting all our efforts to connect, all our inspiration into that fund. So when things get challenging and it's difficult to get through something - what we invested in the past - it serves us in the present. And gradually this maintains us. It's like Rabbi Akiva explaining how he fell off a ship and got to the shore. He was holding onto a wooden board. Everyone asked how he got through it. He said that every time a wave came he put his head down and waited for it to pass. And sometimes that's exactly what we need to do.

Clip: Making a Covenant (2014)

Question: Rav, does he say that making a covenant is primarily for the future?

Rav: Of course, for what do you put money in the bank, for today you need to put it in your pocket. But for tomorrow and beyond.

Student: So the question, Rav, is the wealth we worked on, that we accumulated in the past and in the future, it is renewed, it is added, so how can I use what we acquired on the new wealth. That is what is difficult for me to understand.

Rav: Why?

Student: We made some common property in a certain situation.

Rav: What do you mean you made common property?

Student: We connected over a certain wealth in a certain situation. Great.

Rav: Yes.

Student: It is over, a new situation has begun. I don't know how to take what we have accumulated now into the new situation, everything starts all over again.

Rav: Why?

Student: So explain to me, Rav.

Rav: Why doesn't the previous elevation help you today? If you are alone and inflate yourself with importance for spirituality, for bestowal, for love, for the Creator, there is nothing else good and beneficial besides Him, "Ah, this can't be anymore, I'm already exploding" and in an instant you fall and what you had is gone, because the Creator now adds more materiality to you than before. Then all your admiration you see is buried, worthless.

Now the question is, what to do. If you don't keep it alone but put it in an external reservoir, which is a group, what are you doing here? You have to overcome the... how to say, you have to overcome the fact that you don't believe in friends, don't believe in the group, don't believe in the Creator and don't believe in the Rav, don't believe in anything. You don't want to invest in them, "I don't see any importance in that". They tell you that you have to invest in them more than you feel. That is, you have to go with faith above reason. You don't believe in this bank. They tell you, "Yes, invest." "No, I know, it's safer if I plant it at home like this under the kitchen tiles or something, right? Where do you keep your money at home?

So I need to add a great deal of work here to bring my elevation into the group. That is, that extra level of thickness that the Creator will give me the next moment and I will fall, I am not falling here, I am investing in the group. I demand from the Creator to bring me strength so that I can bring my elevation into the group. And I receive. I receive support, help.

If I come to the group and awaken them, I put everything I have about spirituality, greatness, importance, purpose, eternity, devotion to the Creator into it, I put everything into it, so I put in addition to what I received from above, the awakening itself, I put in another great deal of work from me, that I did not believe in the group and did not want this work and did not want these members or anything.. I worked on the importance of the group. The importance that this group that I gave here, in order to invest in them my elevation, is in height, size, and strength equal to that fall that the Creator wants to give me. Then I go directly. It is called a voltage rectifier. And that is it.

I mean, I work, I... It's not easy to make a covenant, look at what it says, but I'm replacing "in due time" with "in due time." There are no setbacks. Michael Laitman