Hevruta - Following Lesson 32 - Principles of the Work in the Ten
Hevruta - Following Lesson 32 - Principles of the Work in the Ten
Today, we will review the principles of the work in the Ten, which we began discussing on Sunday. These principles are important because they form the foundation of the preparation we need in order to understand how the inner dynamic of a group should work.
As always in our study, we do not build this from our own ideas or opinions. Everything is based on the sources, on what the Kabbalists gave us as guidance for the path. So today, we will go through these different principles, look at the sources connected to them, and try to clarify together what they mean in practice.
We will also leave space for discussion and for your questions, so that we can understand not only the words themselves, but how they can help us build a stronger and more correct connection between us.
Principle 1 : We must constantly artificially raise the importance spirituality
Now we will move to the first principle in the work in the Ten: raising the importance of spirituality.
We know that our desire to receive is always growing and developing. Because of this, a person is constantly drawn back to personal interests, personal calculations, and concern for oneself. This is natural. This is how the desire develops in us. On one hand, this growing desire stands in opposition to spirituality. On the other hand, it is also the material we can work with.
It is similar to climbing a step. In order to rise, we need something to push against. In the same way, the ego that awakens in us can become the very point from which we rise higher, if we use it correctly.
But in order to rise, we need importance. In spirituality, ascent and descent are mainly measured according to importance. When the goal is important, when the Creator is important, when connection is important, we feel that we have strength to move toward it. When the importance disappears, everything becomes distant, dry, or unclear.
This is why the Ten is so necessary. The Ten is the place where we constantly renew the importance of the goal. We help one another remember why we are here, what we are aiming for, and what kind of connection we want to build between us and with the upper force.
And when the goal itself feels too far from our heart, we can begin with the means: the importance of the lesson, the importance of the meetings, the importance of the sources, the importance of the friends, and the importance of taking part. Because if these means are what lead us to the goal, then they also become precious and important.
So this first principle teaches us that the Ten is a place where I can constantly invest importance, receive importance from the friends, and help them rise together with me toward the spiritual goal.
Exception: One who is compelled is exempt. A person who has other obligations, family, work / livelihood, etc.
Raising the importance of spirituality does not mean ignoring ordinary life or forcing anyone. Each person must keep a healthy balance: work, family, health, and basic responsibilities are also part of the conditions that allow us to advance.
In the Ten, we do not pressure a friend or make them feel guilty when life requires their attention elsewhere. There is no coercion in spirituality. Sometimes the Creator gives a person obstacles that must be handled in a normal, responsible way in this world.
Our work is to raise importance mainly by example. I show that the goal is important to me by my own effort, my own participation, my own attitude, and my care for the friends. We inspire one another, but we do not constrain one another.
Sources
“We have to work on one point, that is, to value spirituality.”
(Rabash, Article 17, “Order of the Assembly Meeting,” 1986)
“The main thing we lack, for which reason we have no fuel for the work, is that we lack the importance of the goal, which means that we do not know how to appreciate our service, that we should know to whom we are bestowing. And we also lack the knowledge of the greatness of the Creator, that we should know how happy we are that we have the privilege to serve the King, for we have nothing by which we can understand His greatness.”
(Rabash, Article 24, “The Main Thing We Lack”)
“Each one must try to bring to the society a spirit of life, and full of hope, and to inject energy into the society, so that each one of the society will have the ability to say to himself, now I am starting a new page in the work. That is, before he came to the society, he was disappointed regarding progress in the work of the Creator.
But now, the society has instilled in him a spirit of life full of hope, that through the society he has attained confidence and the power to overcome, because he now feels that he has the ability to reach perfection.
And all that he thought stood before him as a high mountain, and thought he could not conquer it, but in truth they are strong disturbances, he now feels that they are truly nothing and null.
And all this he received from the power of the society, because each and every one tried to introduce a state of encouragement and to establish a new atmosphere in the society.”
(Rabash, Article 30, “What to Demand from a Friends’ Gathering,” 1988)
The Second Principle : To work on building equality in the ten.
We clearly see that we are all different, each and every one has a different potential.
So in what are the members of the group equal? We are equal in that each one of us acts toward our common goal—the connection—with all the force and uniqueness that was given to him by nature (in which we are not equal). Therefore, there are no great and small among us, no successful and unsuccessful. Because we all strive to connect. Each one invests in the connection as much as he is able. Equality is expressed in that each one invests the maximum he can, physically and internally—a specific/relative effort.
And he receives back according to the measure of his investment. And so everyone receives according to the measure of their investment.
“The law of love cannot be depicted between a great and a small, because two true lovers must feel equivalence between them.”
(Baal HaSulam, The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy)
It is written, “And the people encamped, as one man with one heart,” meaning, that they all had one goal, which was for the benefit of the Creator. And we must understand, how can it be as one man with one heart, for it is known what the sages said, “Just as their faces are not similar to one another, so their opinions are not similar to one another,” so how can it be as one man with one heart?
The answer: If we are speaking of each and every one caring for his own need, then it is impossible to be as one man, for they are not similar to one another. But if all annulled their own authority, and all cared only for the benefit of the Creator, then there are no longer individual opinions, for all the details are annulled, and all have entered into the domain of the individual.
(Rabash II, Letter 42)
How is it possible to consider one’s friend, who is greater than oneself, while at the same time seeing that one has greater qualities than one’s friend, meaning that he is more talented, has by nature better qualities? This can be understood in two ways:
A. He goes with the quality of faith above reason, that at the same time as he chose him as a friend, he already looks at him above reason.
B. This is more natural, meaning within reason. Since if he decided to accept him as a friend, and works with himself to love him, it is the way of love that one sees only good things, and bad things, even though they exist in his friend, he does not see them, as it is written: “Love covers all crimes.”
(Rabash, Article 17, Part 1, “Concerning the Importance of Friends,” 1984)
The third principle : We must be careful to preserve the character of each friend, so that he does not lose his individuality.
The individuality of each one can be expressed precisely in his investment in the connection of the group. In every group there should be a person responsible for raising the motivation, the mood, and the general atmosphere.
“There are no two people in the world whose opinions are identical, for each one has a great and exalted possession, which thousands of his ancestors bequeathed to him, and others do not have even a trace of it. Therefore, all this possession is considered the possession of the individual, which society is warned to preserve its flavor and spirit, so that it will not be blurred because of his environment. Rather, each individual should remain with the wholeness of his heritage. Then, the opposition and contradiction between them will remain forever, in order to always guarantee us the criticism and the advancement of wisdom, which is all the advantage of humanity and all its true eternal desires.”
(Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”)
Q&A