Guidelines for the Role of Rotating Connection Duties (<em>Shaliach Tzibur</em> [Sha&quot;Tz] and <em>Gabbai</em>)

Guidelines for the Role of Rotating Connection Duties (Shaliach Tzibur [Sha"Tz] and Gabbai)

The Role of the Shaliach Tzibur [Sha"Tz, Prayer Leader)

From the words of Rav Michael Laitman on the role of the Sha"tz:

“Three times a day, before your meeting, the Sha"tz should send everyone a short sentence, or two at most, stating: this is how we pray, this is how we all turn to the Creator. That is why he is called Shaliach Tzibur (Sha"tz, Prayer Leader) – he dictates to you what you pray. And with this, you come to the meeting.”
- Rav Michael Laitman, 5.6.2020

• The Sha"tz is responsible for the spiritual organization of the group.
• The Sha"tz should feel that he is the representative of the ten before the Creator. He must pray and care for the ten, thus binding the ten to the Creator.
• The Sha"tz cares, in a spiritual way, to raise the deficiencies of the ten to the Creator.
• The Sha"tz must ensure that the entire ten prays. It is not that someone is appointed to the role and then everyone else is free from prayer. Rather, each one should serve as Sha"tz in turn, receiving an impulse to awaken and care for everyone. After several cycles in which each one takes on the role, it will become a habit for everyone, and the entire ten will be like Sha"tz. The purpose of the rotation is that all will integrate into this role and feel themselves in such a position.
• The Sha"tz should awaken his ten several times a day by reading a short passage – perhaps from Psalms, or from Rabash, or from Baal HaSulam. Short sayings suitable for us, that awaken us to focus, to be together, and to direct our desire towards the Creator. “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one” – this is what we need, and through such verses we become aligned.
• The Sha"tz addresses the Creator. He clarifies, corrects everything, and gathers the thoughts, intentions, desires, arranges them, and connects them – that is, he turns the public into one direction. This is the role of Shaliach Tzibur.
• The Sha"tz is the one who ensures the spiritual cohesion of the ten, ensuring that they always have spiritual awakening.
• He prays on behalf of everyone. He is responsible for gathering all the deficiencies into one central deficiency, so that we are all in the center and pray together. The Sha"tz is like a shepherd dog who gathers the flock together.
• The Sha"tz must lead the group within a week towards the end of correction, just as the Creator created the world in a week.
• Each one must taste what this is and work according to this role – not think that we are doing it formally, but feel more strongly what it means to be connected and to care for the group.
• The Sha"tz is responsible for ensuring that everyone prays to the Creator, asks, or praises Him.

The Role of the the Gabbai (Organizer)

From the words of Rav Michael Laitman on the Role of the Gabbai:

“Each one is a Gabbai. He must feel how he takes care of the ten, that within it there will immediately be a necessity for each of the friends to move from a personal demand (which the Creator awakens) to a demand to integrate with the group, which is the corrected state. This is called ‘My sons have defeated Me’—that He awakens them in this way, and they shift into the correct, corrected form.

How do we ensure that in the society there will be such a force that I don’t even think twice? That if something awakens in me, I immediately pass it into the correct form, into the correct thought and feeling? How does each one take care not to fall out of this?”
- Rav Michael Laitman, 25.11.2018

• The Gabbai is responsible for organizing the ten on the material level.

• The Gabbai should arrive first, sit in the study hall, ring/call, and motivate everyone to come.

• The Gabbai organizes everyone to be together, prepares the place for the lesson and for prayer for their connection.

• The Gabbai takes care of the material, administrative side.

• The Gabbai arranges all the material things so they are ready and supportive of spiritual advancement.

• Preparing the place, arranging everything—everything that comes before the correct intention (which belongs to the Shaliach Tzibur [Shatz])—this belongs to the Gabbai.

• The Gabbai must organize the group for meetings (e.g., 3 Zoom meetings). He must make sure it is done properly, not haphazardly. There is no such thing as coincidence—there is a responsible person, and he must do it.

• The Gabbaim are the forces that push you forward, demanding that we invest, because otherwise we will not have the desire.

• The Gabbai is responsible for the well-being of each individual and of the group as a whole.

• The Gabbai is responsible for the administrative order of the group.

Both roles 

• The Gabbai is responsible for organizing the ten on the corporeal level, while the Sha"tz is responsible for the spiritual organization of the group. The Gabbai arranges all the corporeal matters so they will be ready and supportive of spiritual progress, while the Sha"tz gathers the deficiencies of all, arranges them, directs them towards connection and towards the Creator. Thus, these are the two roles that must exist in the ten.
• Both the Gabbai and the Sha"tz must give the group feedback on the situation, on what they have done – not in vague generalities, but in a short report.
• Through the Gabbaim and Sha"tzim we must give an account – each one for himself, and the ten as a whole. When there is a heaviness of the heart, we must consider how to awaken the others. A person cannot awaken himself, but if he cares for others, he thereby awakens himself.
• Through the Gabbaim and Sha"tzim we must give an account—each one individually and the ten as a whole. When heaviness of the heart comes, we must see how to awaken the others. A person cannot awaken himself, but if he cares for others, he thereby awakens himself.

• Both the Gabbai and the Sha"tz must give a daily report to the group, about the state and what they did—short and concrete, not vague generalities.

• The Sha"tz ensures the spiritual cohesion of the ten, and the Gabbai ensures their material connection: that they attend the lesson and take care of the physical side.

• Each one must taste what it is and work according to this role. Not to think that we are doing it formally, but to feel more what it means to be connected and to care for the group.
• These roles can be assigned not only to one person, but to two as Sha"tz and two as Gabbaim.