Making A Hole in the Boat

Hello dear friends - welcome to our Learning from the sources lesson. We're studying a very special article - The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee). This is a very key part of our studies. It's about all of Israel standing together in mutual guarantee of one another. Today we're doing to dive into what that means for our spiritual work.

It's wonderful to see that some of the friends have gathered specially for this lesson. Today we're studying the Arvut. But the truth is we don't want to study it, we want to achieve Arvut between us. And for that we need our sources by Baal HaSulam. Thanks to him we're able to even think about something like Arvut. Maybe we'll make great efforts and ask for help from Baal HaSulam, Rabash, Rav and the Creator of course. To be able to take another significant step toward the Arvut between us. Our Arvut in the ten, in the group. We're heading into a regional convention where we'll meet veteran and new students - so we'll have plenty of things to ask for.

Baal HaSulam wrote the Arvut right after Matan Torah. Rav often told us that he saw the Arvut as the implementation of the main idea in Matan Torah. Matan Torah talks about Love thy neighbor as yourself - so the question is, how do you do it? The way to do it is to build this connection between us. So to understand how to get close to it, what is demanded of us, and most importantly - how we manage to implement such a lofty and special state between us.

Reading from the sources -

18) Therefore, the Tana described the Arvut as two people who were on a boat, and one of them began to drill a hole in the boat. His friend said, “Why are you drilling?” He replied, “Why should you mind? I am drilling under me, not under you.” So he replied, “Fool! We will both drown together in the boat!”

Meaning, as we said, 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 observe the Torah and Mitzvot in the measure of words “Love your friend as yourself,” which is the ladder for achieving Dvekut [adhesion] with Him. Indeed, how right were the words of the proverb that said, “Fool, we will both drown together in the boat!” The Arvut

Baal HaSulam is using this practical example to demonstrate how much the actions of one person impact another - and vice versa. He goes on to explain to us how dependent we are on one another for our spiritual advancement.

This parable is not so simple. At the beginning it seems so clear - we're in the same boat. Someone drills a hole in the bottom of the boat - so water comes in and we drown. It really doesn't matter who drilled the hole because if we're on the same boat - we'll drown. Up to here it sounds very logical. But now we start thinking - what is this boat? Is the boat me? Is it my friends in the ten and I? Is it my friends in the group and I? Perhaps the boat is the whole global group - all the friends that study the wisdom of Kabbalah. Later on he talks about Israel and all of humanity. So where does the boat begin and where does it end? It's not really clear.

Another question is what does it mean to drill a hole? We're students learning the wisdom of Kabbalah doing our best to advance on the path. Of course we're not perfect. Of course we make lots of mistakes. Is that what he means by drilling a hole? Where does the measurement begin or end toward myself? If I look at myself it would seem that I'm totally full of holes. On our path we're always trying to do lofty things - in some of them we succeed and some are really far from us. So is that what it means to drill a hole? Is a hole only in a state where I don't make the maximum effort? When is it called drilling a hole and toward who? Is drilling a hole a good thing or a bad thing? After all our path is all about trial and error - I do things and discover "the advantage of light through darkness" - that's how we learn. That's how we grow. That's how we develop.

Clip: Arvut is Concern for The Whole World

"A clear example is that no matter where the hole is - I drown. At the end of the day we all die. This is why we need to look after all the participants. This concern for all the participants must come from inside me first and foremost. On all kinds of desires of mine, and from inward outward. Toward the group and the world. At the end of the day my whole inner structure - a man is a small world. He connects to the structure of the group and the whole world. And truly through this concern - even if I really knew how to be concerned through my corrected and uncorrected vessels, by guarding them carefully, I'd also be guarding all the external vessels of the group toward the world. That's called judging yourself and the whole world favorably. It's like those babushka dolls, where I'm inside, then comes the group, and then the world. It's only my imagination because there is no such thing - the structure is one. It's only my ego that sees all these layers. My internality, and an outer system and even more outer system. But actually, it's a single system. And then by guarding myself that I'm responsible for the whole world, if I guard myself carefully I'm actually guarding the whole world." Michael Laitman

You can watch the full lesson here.