Local Meeting # 22:

The Greatness of the Goal

We started last week discussing topic of the environment and the group, and we continue today to clarify what is exactly a group in Kabbalah, and which kind of interaction in this group can lead to spiritual progress

The work of connection is the heart of the process of correction

> Watch Clip 1

1. RABASH, Article 1 (1984),"Purpose of Society – 2"

Since man is created with a Kli called “self-love,” where one does not see that an act will yield self-benefit, one has no motivation to make even the slightest motion. And without annulling self-love, it is impossible to achieve Dvekut [adhesion)] with the Creator, meaning equivalence of form.

And since it is against our nature, we need a society that will form a great force so we can work together on annulling the will to receive, called “evil,” as it hinders the achievement of the goal for which man was created.

2. Rabash, Article 24. "The Main Thing We Need"

The main thing we need, and for which we have no fuel for the work, is that we are lacking importance of the goal. That is, we do not know how to appreciate our service so as to know to whom we are bestowing. Also, we are lacking the awareness of the greatness of the Creator, to know how happy we are that we have the privilege of serving the King, since we have nothing with which to be able to understand His greatness.

In the words of The Zohar, this is called “Shechina [Divinity] in the dust,” meaning that bestowal upon Him is as important to us as dust. Naturally, we have no fuel to work, since without pleasure, there is no energy to work.

Raising the Shechinah from the dust

We lose the importance as a condition for progressing using free choice — so we have a place we can invest our own effort.

Just like when doing sport, you increase the difficulty to increase progress; the Creator gives us a little extra room for progression every time, so we have more room for investing by ourselves.

But it’s important to remember we are never given an obstacle we cannot overcome, else there would be no free choice

What is a group in Kabbalah?

What Clip 2

3. Rabash, Article 4 (1984) "Each One Shall Help His Friend"

We must understand how one can help his friend. Is this matter specifically when there are rich and poor, wise and fools, weak and strong? But when all are rich, smart, or strong, etc., how can one help another?

We see that there is one thing that is common to all—the mood. It is said, “A concern in one’s heart, let him speak of it with others.” This is because with regard to feeling high-spirited, neither wealth nor erudition can be of assistance.

Rather, it is one person who can help another by seeing that one’s friend is low. It is written, “One does not deliver oneself from imprisonment.” Rather, it is one’s friend who can lift his spirit.

This means that one’s friend raises him from his state into a state of liveliness. Then, one begins to reacquire strength and confidence of life and wealth, and he begins as though his goal is now near him.

It turns out that each and every one must be attentive and think how he can help his friend raise his spirit, because in the matter of spirits, anyone can find a needy place in one’s friend that he can fill.

About the rising the mood

In Hebrew, the term "matsav ruach" refers to the "state of the spirit." So when Rabash speaks about the need to uplift the matsav ruach of a friend, he is really talking about raising the importance of spirituality in their eyes. From this, we draw renewed strength for the spiritual work. While this idea is sometimes translated as "raising the mood," its deeper meaning lies in emphasizing the value of the spiritual. Since we naturally tend to lose this sense of importance over time, the group serves as a kind of spiritual playground where we can actively work together to restore and elevate it.

Workshops

Workshop Question 1
Why is our path structured so that we have to work on the importance of the goal ourselves, rather than simply continuing to receive it as we did in the initial awakening we experienced (of the “point in the heart”)? What spiritual benefit does this give us?

Workshop Question 2
Rabash writes that “each and every one must pay attention, and think about how he can help his friend, to give him an uplifting spirit” – how do we put this into practice?
If we finish early, follow-up question: Describe one thing you can do to give importance to your friends.