Lesson #33. Building a Good Environment: From Within and Beyond - Practical Kabbalah

Part 1: Building a Good Environment: From Within and Beyond.

Selected Excerpts from the Sources

1. Each and every individual in society is like a wheel that is linked to several other wheels placed in a machine. This single wheel has no freedom of movement in and of itself but continues with the motion of the rest of the wheels in a certain direction to qualify the machine to perform its general function.

And if there is some malfunction in the wheel, the malfunction is not evaluated relating to the wheel itself, but according to its service and role with respect to the whole machine.

- Baal HaSulam, "Peace in the World"

2. If several individuals come together with the force that it is worthwhile to abandon self-love, but without the sufficient power and importance of bestowal to become independent, without outside help, if these individuals annul before one another and all have at least potential love of the Creator, though they cannot keep it in practice, then by each joining the society and annulling oneself before it, they become one body.

For example, if there are ten people in that body, it has ten times more power than a single person does.

However, there is a condition: When they gather, each of them should think that he has now come for the purpose of annulling self-love. It means that he will not consider how to satisfy his will to receive now, but will think as much as possible only of the love of others. This is the only way to acquire the desire and the need to acquire a new quality, called “the will to bestow.”

And from love of friends one can reach love of the Creator, meaning wanting to give contentment to the Creator.

- RABASH, Article No. 6 (1984), "Love of Friends – 2"

3. The essence of the assembly is for everyone to be in one unity and for all to seek but one purpose: to find the Creator. In every ten there is the Shechina [Divinity]. Clearly, if there are more than ten then there is more revelation of the Shechina. Thus, each one should assemble with his friend and come to him to hear from him a word about the work of the Creator, and how to find the Creator. He should annul before his friend, and his friend should do the same toward him, and so should everyone do. Then, when the assembly is with this intention, then “More than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to nurse,” and the Creator approaches them and He is with them, and great mercies and good and revealed kindness will be extended over the assembly of Israel.

- Maor VaShemesh, VaYechi

4. One must disclose the love in his heart towards the friends, since by revealing it he evokes his friends’ hearts toward the friends so they, too, would feel that each of them is practicing love of friends. The benefit from that is that in this manner, one gains strength to practice love of friends more forcefully, since every person’s force of love is integrated in each other’s.

- RABASH, Article No. 2, (1984) "Concerning Love of Friends"

5. One should depict his friend as serving the Creator more than him, […] and “authors’ [also counters’] envy will increase wisdom.” By this, he will grow increasingly stronger in the work of the Creator. This is the meaning of “Each one is burned by his friend’s canopy,” from the word “fervor.” By seeing that his friend’s canopy is bigger than his, a fire will burn in him and his soul will further ignite toward the work of the Creator, and he will attain more attainments of Godliness.

- Maor VaShemesh, Portion Yitro

6. Each one should try to bring into the society a spirit of life and hopefulness, and infuse energy into the society. Thus, each of the friends will be able to tell himself, “Now I am starting a clean slate in the work.” In other words, before he came to the society, he was disappointed with the progress in the work of the Creator, but now the society has filled him with life and hopefulness.

Thus, through society he obtained the confidence and strength to overcome because now he feels that he can achieve wholeness. And all his thoughts—that he was facing a high mountain that could not be conquered, and that these were truly formidable obstructions—now he feels that they are nothing. And he received it all from the power of the society because each and every one tried to instill a spirit of encouragement and the presence of a new atmosphere in the society.

- RABASH, Article No. 30 (1988), “What to Look For in the Assembly of Friends“

7. It is impossible to observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] except through Arvut [mutual responsibility], when each one becomes responsible for his friend, since the essence of observing the Torah, which is the desire, is through unity. Therefore, anyone who wants to take upon himself the burden of Torah and Mitzvot, which is mainly through the intensification of the desire, should be included in the whole of Israel with great unity. It follows that precisely through the Arvut, when all are regarded as one, precisely by this they can observe the Torah, since the essence of love and unity is in the desire, when each one is pleased with his friend, there is no disparity of desire between them, and they are all included in one desire. By this they are incorporated in the upper desire, which is the end goal of the unity.

- Likutei Halachot, Hoshen Mishpat, Hilchot Arev

8. Every person should say, “The whole world was created only for me” (Sanhedrin 37). It follows that if the whole world has been created for me, I have to look and delve into the correction of the world at all times, satisfy the needs of the world, and pray for them.

- Likutey Moharan, First Edition, Mark 5

9. Life’s direction is to attain adhesion with Him, strictly to benefit the Creator, or to reward the public with achieving adhesion with Him.

- Baal HaSulam, "The Writings of the Last Generation"

10. By causing the entire world to receive the delight and pleasure that exist in the purpose of creation. It follows that he has become a partner of the Creator in that through him will come the assistance by which everyone will achieve the purpose of creation. Thus, he has become a partner of the Creator.

- RABASH, Article 11 (1987), "Purim, and the Commandment: Until He Does Not Know"

Part 2. The Structure of the Upper Worlds

Items 37, 39, 40 from the "Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah" >>

37) Thus we have explained the emergence of the Partzufim one below the other by the clash of surrounding light and inner light, which refines the screen of the Guf until it brings it back to the state of the screen of the Peh of the Rosh. At that time, it is incorporated there in a coupling by striking, which takes place in the Peh of the Rosh, and through this coupling, it elicits a new level of ten Sefirot. This new level is considered the son of the previous Partzuf.

In this manner, AB emerged from Partzuf Keter, SAG from Partzuf AB, MA from Partzuf SAG, and so on with the remaining degrees in Nekudim and ABYA. Yet, we should still understand why the ten Sefirot of AB emerged only on phase three, and not on phase four, and why SAG was only on phase two, etc., meaning that each lower one is inferior to its upper one by one degree. Why did they not all emerge from one another on the same level?

39) It follows that by the clash of surrounding light and inner light, the screen of the ending Malchut became the screen and Malchut of the mating Malchut once more (Item 35). This is because the clash of surrounding light refined the ending screen from all its coarseness of the Guf, leaving in it only fine records [Reshimot] of that coarseness, equal to the coarseness of the screen of the Rosh.

Also, it is known that equivalence of form attaches and unites the spirituals to one another. Hence, once the screen of the Guf equalized the form of its coarseness to the screen of the Rosh, it was immediately incorporated in it and they became seemingly one screen. In that state, it received the strength for coupling by striking like the screen of the Rosh, and ten Sefirot of the new level emerged on it.

Yet, along with this coupling, the records of the coarseness of the Guf, which were in it from the beginning, were renewed in its screen of the Guf. In that state, the disparity of form between it and the screen of the Rosh incorporated in it appeared in it once more to some extent. The recognition of this difference separates and removes it from the Peh of the Rosh of the upper one, since after its first origin from the Peh of the upper one downward has become apparent once more, it could not continue to stand above the Peh of the upper one, as the disparity of form separates the spirituals from one another. It follows that it was compelled to descend from there to the place from the Peh of the upper one downward.

Hence, it is necessarily considered a second Guf with respect to the upper one, as even the Rosh of the new level is considered as merely the Guf of the new level with respect to the upper one, since it extends from its screen of the Guf. Thus, this disparity of form distinguishes them into two separate Gufim [bodies]. And since the new level is entirely a consequence of the screen of the Guf of the previous Partzuf, it is considered its child, like a branch extending from it.

40) And there is another difference between the lower one and the upper one: Each lower one emerges with a different level in the five phases in the screen, as written in Items 22 and 24. Also, each lower one lacks the highest phase of the lights of the upper one and the lowest phase of the vessels of the upper one. The reason is that it is the nature of the clash of the surrounding light in the screen to eliminate from the screen its last phase of coarseness.

For example, in the first Partzuf of AK, whose screen contains all five levels of coarseness, down to phase four, the clash of surrounding light in the screen of the Guf completely refines the coarseness of phase four, not leaving even a record [Reshimo] of that coarseness. Only the records from the coarseness of phase three and above remain in the screen.

Hence, when that screen is incorporated in the Rosh and receives a coupling by striking on the coarseness that remained in its records from the Guf, the coupling emerges only on phase three of coarseness in the screen. This is because the record of coarseness of phase four is eliminated from there. Therefore, the level that emerges on that screen is only at the level of Hochma, called HaVaYaH of AB of AK, or Partzuf AB of AK.

We have already learned in Item 22 that the level Hochma that emerges on the screen of phase three lacks the Malchut of the vessels and the light of Yechida from the lights, which is the light of Keter. Thus, Partzuf AB lacks the last phase of the vessels of the upper one and the highest phase of the lights of the upper one. Because of this great disparity of form, the lower one is considered a separate Partzuf from the upper one.

Additional excerpts for Part 1:

11. It is the way of the world that one does not speak slander (lashon hara) about someone he loves, because this causes separation of hearts. Therefore, we do not want to speak lashon hara about someone we love, so that the love between us will not be harmed, since lashon hara causes hatred.

From this we learn that the severity of the transgression of lashon hara is that love of others leads to love of the Creator, and hatred of others leads to hatred of the Creator.

- Rabash – “What Is the Severity of Lashon Hara and Against Whom Is It?” (1987, Article 10)

12. When the evil inclination comes and shows him the lowliness of the friends, he must go above reason. But certainly, it would be better and more successful if he could see—within reason—that the friends are on a higher level than himself.

- Rabash, Article 21 – "Concerning Going Above Reason", 1986