Every Action Tips the Balance

Welcome to all our interns who have joined us here in the studio. We already did a very serious preparation here in the studio together along with our friends in the Arvut system.

In this article Baal HaSulam is sharing how this law of Arvut applies to our life. He's talking about a very central topic - that every person can shift the world to the side of merit. And vice versa. The responsibility lies with us.

Divinity doesn't deal with individuals but rather the whole system. The part that needs to be corrected first is Israel. The thicker part, the nations of the world, comes afterward. Every person must feel that the entire process of correction depends on him alone.

Rav explains that we need to implement the connection between us - that the upper light needs to dress in us and that's called Arvut.

Our connection is hidden from us to give us the opportunity to connect freely. So this law of Arvut is not morality but rather just like any other physical law in our world. Baal HaSulam is saying that our awe from revelation of the Creator and revelation of correct relations between people are one and the same. Feeling the Creator in a corrected vessel or feeling others is the same thing because once I acquire the attribute of bestowal - there really is no difference between how we treat our ten, the group, or all of humanity. That's why we start off with a ten - basically strangers I'm not related to. I reach such relations with them that you'll see there is no difference between bestowing to the Creator or to a friend. If you succeed in doing acts toward a friend without expecting benefit - then the Creator will be revealed to you.

Clip: You must do only good to your friends

Question: It is said here "And it was said: "And one sinner will lose much good." For, because he, who cannot resist his tiny desire, caused a backward push to the spirituality of the entire world." Who is the sinner he is talking about?

Let's assume.

Student: And what is this tiny desire?

It doesn't matter what reason. But you disconnect from society, from your friends, from the fact that you must do them only pleasure and good and pray for them that they will receive everything they need from God, as we discussed yesterday that the purest appeal of a person, which is truly intended to bestow, is to ask the Creator to help his friends so that He will connect them and fix them and that he will have peace of mind from it. Or that He will be revealed within them, because this gives him peace of mind. That is to say, I pray for them, that from them the repaired vessel will come out and the Creator will be revealed within this vessel, which gives him peace of mind.

Student: But who does he mean? Who are those sinners, is it us or is it all The world?

No one in the world sins, only us. Only those who receive the ability, who are brought to a place and told to "take it," from that moment on have an account with him. From that moment on, an account is opened for you at the "grocery store." Either they write you a minus or they write you a plus, or you pay on the spot, that's your business. You can deposit some amount there in advance.

Student: What is called a "sinner"? What am I sinning about?

The word sinner is from the word "sin."

Student: I came here to study, how can I sin here?

This sin is called "in order to receive."

Student: He says, "And one sinner will lose much good." When I come to study here, what sin can I commit towards my friends?

We gave you an opportunity to connect with them, to do some work, to make them connect, to make a place for the Creator to be revealed and to enjoy, and you don't do it. Because you don't do what is incumbent on you, you cause harm to them and harm to the Creator. That's called "sin."

Student: So I need to understand what is incumbent on me when I come here. I'm just learning, I'm doing everything that needs to be done.

It's not called learning. Learning for us is learning how to connect. This is the learning. We learned this in the article "Matan Torah", and now we learn this in the article Arvut. We must be connected to the network so that just as it comes to us from above, we must cause the same thing from below, and with this we will complete our correction.

The Arvut

22) And this is what Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, quotes from the writings: “One sinner destroys much good.” It has already been explained in Item 20 that the impression that comes to a person when engaging in Mitzvot between man and the Creator is completely the same as the impression he gets when engaging in Mitzvot between man and man, since one is obliged to perform all the Mitzvot Lishma [for Her sake], without any hope for self-love, meaning that no light or hope returns to him through his trouble in the form of reward or honor, etc. Here, at this exalted point, the love of the Creator and the love of his friend unite and actually become one, as said in the article, “Matan Torah,” Item 15.

In this manner one affects a certain measure of advancement on the ladder of love for others in all the people of the world in general, since that degree, which that individual caused by his actions, whether large or small, ultimately joins the future in shifting the world to the side of merit, since his share has been added and joins the shift.

As written in Item 20 in the allegory about the sesame seeds, one who commits one sin, meaning he cannot overcome and conquer his filthy self-love, and therefore steals or does something of the sort, sentences himself and the whole world to the side of sin. This is because with the disclosure of the filth of self-love, the lowly nature of creation is reinforced. Thus, he takes away a certain amount from the sentencing to the final side of merit, like a person removing from the scale that single sesame seed his friend had put there.

Thus, to that extent, he slightly elevates the side of sin. It turns out that he regresses the world, as they said, “One sinner destroys much good.” Because he could not overcome his petty lust, he pushed the spirituality of the whole world backward.