When I begin to examine my internal system and the external system outside of me, and how I might use the external system to control the inner system, I discover that, apart from the external force acting upon me, I have no other point of contact with my own development.

Then I realize the necessity of a group (a small, limited, united environment) that remains under my influence and control that allows me to analyze my states, my level of development, and the nature of the influences on me.

Then I think about what, in fact, I can determine in this environment. After all, I need to develop from my current state to a more advanced one, to rise a little above my current level. This means I will gain more power, a greater form of giving than I have now.

To imagine a greater form of bestowal, I cannot take an example from myself or my environment; I need an example from what in Kabbalah is termed the AHP of the upper. In other words, the Creator Himself must enter the picture I imagine and show me this form, just as in our world the big one shows the little one what to do.

Then the little one carries out the action, and through this process begins to understand the big one. Thus, we ultimately arrive at an understanding, an intellect, that emerges as a result of action.

So, there must be:

• I,
• the world, or the group, friends, and
• the Creator as the Giver of true form.

It is in accordance with this form that I structure the group. Neither I nor my environment understand or can reason about what our corrected form is. I am beginning to understand what it means to give more than I do now. And this is something new that I did not have.

Here you can ask: “You have received this understanding from above, but you said that your next form, in fact, already exists inside you, encoded in your gene. All you need from the outside is strength.” This next form exists in a broken form in a Reshimo, and to identify this Reshimo, you must see what it should be in its corrected form.

This form exists inside you, in your genes, so you can recognize what the Creator is communicating to you from the outside. We can only perceive from the outside what we have internal prerequisites for. If I have a certain awareness of the meaning of something inside me, and I see a corresponding external phenomenon, then I understand it.

For example, I once got a blow. Now, when I see someone else get a blow, I understand what it means, and I can imagine what they are feeling right now, how it affects them, what accompanies it, and what it leads to. After all, I have already gone through it; it is recorded in me. However, the form in which this happens to him does not necessarily have to be inside me.

Thus, the Reshimot we have inside, in the seed, in the kernel, in the soul, are not yet enough to give me a picture, an image of how I should look in each particular state. This is why I need the Creator to give me what is called a “picture of the Creator” before my eyes, and each time He shows me some semblance of a higher stage than mine.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/26, Rabash, “Rosh Hashanah”

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Question: What should our approach be toward a friend in the group that seems to be showing disregard for you or others? How can we elevate him, the group, and the goal in our own eyes?

Answer: Our teachers wrote extensively about how we should relate to our environment. I do not think there is a Kabbalist who has not written about this. However, they offered only brief guidelines, either because these matters were self-evident to them or because other writings on the subject already existed.

Moreover, writing was expensive—where could one even get paper? Rabash told me what a challenge that was. Today, of course, we have paper in abundance. Nevertheless, we see that each of the Kabbalists touched on this subject in one way or another.

When we perceive our environment as something indispensable for advancing toward spirituality, many questions arise. We encounter a thousand different situations, and I do not think it is possible to provide a prescription for every single one. However, based on everything the Kabbalists have written and the principles they have established, it should be clear to us how to respond to one phenomenon or another.

You are asking about a friend who shows disregard for others. If this is someone who has always been together with us, but now I suddenly notice that he is acting dismissively, he may be undergoing a crisis.

In that case, I must help him. I should gather several other friends and take care of him as I would care for someone who had fallen from the tenth floor and lost spiritual consciousness. He is sick, he is unconscious, and I must somehow help him continue on his path from this state until he recovers.

However, if this state has become permanent for him, and he prefers various social circles that are completely contrary to our spirit; if he comes here with different opinions and wants to instill ideas in us that are not found in the books we consider holy (primarily the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash), then that is the end of it!
[360920]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work?”

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A person arrives to the desire to become like the Creator through their own inner development. But if the group discusses this and begins to value it, they thereby evoke a collective surrounding light. This influences everyone, and makes each individual more sensitive.

There is no need to actively exert force from within the group. If the group focuses its attention on these details of perception, the individual, through the general illumination from above that the group evokes, naturally gains heightened sensitivity to them.

For instance, suppose we decide to raise the level of awareness of the importance of a particular matter within the group, for example, the idea that everyone, without exception, start a family. We would not pressure the bachelors; we would simply discuss the topic in a positive, light, framing it as an essential standard for everyone, something absolutely necessary, and so on.

You don’t address them directly or pressure them, nothing of the sort. You will find that they will not be able to remain here; they will either leave or get married.

I am not suggesting we actually do this; it is only a neutral example. They will not be able to remain here because the opinion of the group, combine with the light from above that we have drawn upon us in by focusing on this specific aspect, would exert such an influence that they will immediately see everything clearly.

Or, suppose we elevate a certain property relating to the group or to the Creator to the greatest height possible for us. You will see how the entire group’s sensitivity to that quality intensifies. No punishments are needed here. A person will feel an internal fear of being left behind. The group exerts pressure.

Unfortunately, for now, we have yet to establish and demand adherence to some of the most crucial principles that ought to be literally burning within the group.
[363155]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/9/26, Rabash, “Go Forth from Your Land”

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Comment: Our problem is that we always lack something. We cannot break through toward the goal.

My Response: You will always feel weak and incapable of doing anything. Even if people shout at you and pressure you, you disregard it. For months, some standard, a certain demand, will stand before you, and you will be unable to approach it and change yourself in accordance with it. Such is the path.

This will continue until this feeling intensifies to such an extent that you will hate your state and be compelled to change it. This is how we work against each of our properties. One can disregard something for years, not want it, be incapable, remain in evil, and not find the strength to eradicate it. It is clear that you are not doing what is required; everyone demands it of you, and you cannot.

How can one ensure that it will not take so much time, that I force myself to act instead of sitting all the time under the rule of this evil without touching it? This will happen only if we increase the pressure of the group, raise the standard, and elevate the importance of this property in the eyes of the environment.

I can sit for months over some bad property that I must work on and do nothing. I know about it and cannot force myself to do anything. Only if the group elevates the importance of this will I find the endurance and do it. Otherwise, a very long time will pass until this suffering accumulates in me to such an extent that I begin to act.

A person is unfortunate if they are in an environment that does not awaken a desire to overcome various properties, to correct what they must correct, and to perform the necessary actions. Such a group truly brings no benefit.

A group ought to evoke a sense of pain in a person whenever they neglect something, even for a moment, and does not engage with it. This is, in essence, the main help we need from the group if we speak of the form of negation and criticism, and in the positive sense—to realize love.

Here, each of us faces a particular problem. We know what we must correct, improve, and do, even in a practical sense, in action and not in intention, and we cannot. This can continue for years if the group does not insist on it. Moreover, one must distinguish whether this relates to a person’s character or to their advancement toward the goal. Here, one must learn to draw the line: is it character or an increased desire?
[363160]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/9/26, Rabash, “Go Forth from Your Land”

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The group’s work should be directed at each of its members ensuring that each member feels that they are under constant control and persistent spiritual pressure, compelling them to conduct themselves properly.

One should be ashamed to look into the eyes of one’s friends if one lets them down by “drilling a hole in the common boat,” risking the lives of everyone on board. Therefore, it helps a lot when everyone in the group reminds one another of how dependent they are on each other.

If I am sitting here dejected, struggling, feeling disappointed, detached, or exhausted, I have to understand that by doing so, I am effectively cutting off the oxygen supply to my friends, and I should feel ashamed before them. We need to constantly develop a sense of responsibility within ourselves. Now we are given the opportunity to experience this feeling. That is why I consider our current state to be very good. Let us try to feel it together, and you will see how simple it is.

In fact, there is no fatigue. What does Gmar Tikkun (final correction) entail? Does it mean a person no longer sleeps, eats, or drinks, or perhaps is in some kind of euphoria, as if floating? What happens in this state? Does one experience fatigue? Does one ever feel a need to take a break from spirituality? After all, when nothing changes, it is also not a very good state either: it can be an unhealthy, hyperactive, or overstimulated state.

Gmar Tikkun is a benevolent state of inner balance between you and the Creator, because it is only through this balance that a state of peace is achieved. At each degree, balance is felt for a moment. And then, when egoism grows again, and correction grows accordingly, and they merge, peace is felt again for a certain period of time. And so on, until we reach eternal peace.

Therefore, we must attain a state in which constant striving forward will be felt by us as the most absolute peace.
[362231]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 9/30/26

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When studying Kabbalah, a person often forgets that he must examine himself, and he can examine himself only with the help of the light of the Creator. He forgets that all his desires at every moment, until they are corrected, are determined not by him but by the Creator or his own egoism.

The only way to change this is not by his own willpower to search for something somewhere, but through the surrounding environment, through the group that will help him reassess his values, elevate the goal, and exalt the Creator.

There is nothing in a person except the initial point of Bina. Therefore, he must look for everything else outside himself: either from the group or from the Creator. This anti-egoistic, unnatural state for us is the greatest obstacle on our path. We are always blaming ourselves, looking for the reason inside us, hoping to find some resources and strength inside us. In fact, all of this is outside of us.

And turning to something external is extremely against egoism, which is why it is very difficult for us to remember this and control ourselves.

I forget about this and begin to imagine myself as supposedly the source of strength, capabilities, and thoughts. I begin to blame myself. “Why am I not like that?” But I cannot be any different. I should blame myself not for that but for forgetting about the external sources of my good thoughts and strength with the help of which I can move forward and realize these thoughts.

But what can I do if I forget? The group should remind me of everything. It should appear to me as a repository of methodology, a repository of my good thoughts, directions, a reserve, a memory that will always support me. Friends should remind me where I am, what I am, and in which direction I should move. They should awaken me, constantly give me strength.

Why? Because I have invested all of this in them in advance. I have agreed with them that we will have such mutual guarantee. Therefore, each of us is now thinking about how to return this most important information to others, and through them, as a result, to ourselves; otherwise, we will completely fall off our spiritual path.

Begin to accept this specific society surrounding us, created by us artificially, deliberately, as your mind, as your memory, as your guide, your instructor, parent, educator, doctor, whatever you like. We should develop a feeling that we are completely dependent on our group.

Consciously or not, we all draw nourishment from the group. Therefore, the understanding that everything necessary is outside of me; all my memory, all my strength are in the group and not in me is, in fact, a true understanding of what exists on our path, and it greatly helps to correctly attune to connection, to a certain style of relating to the environment, to the group.
[362136]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 9/28/26

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Question: Intention exists beyond the Machsom. Do we have any branch of intention here?

Answer: The intention for bestowal begins beyond the Machsom. Here, we undergo preparation. Therefore, the entire period, which may last many years, is called the time of preparation, a preparation for intention.

The fact that you begin to think about how you relate to the Creator is the beginning of a correct intention. Whether it is correct or incorrect does not matter. An incorrect intention is called Lo Lishma, for oneself, while a correct intention is Lishma, for the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/8/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,’ in the Work?”

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We see the extent to which a person is dependent on society in everything that society defines. Therefore, our choice lies in finding a suitable environment. I must not be satisfied with just any environment.

In one of his letters, Rabash gives the example of a tailor who finds himself among tailors who are not particularly skilled. If you want to become a true professional, you must be among the best craftsmen.

Suppose you have sewn some item of clothing. If you have done it well, they will tell you so; if you have done it poorly, they will explain in the finest detail what is wrong. In other words, they respect work done perfectly. Among such people, you too will become a specialist and will not tolerate any shortcomings. Everything depends on the environment.

Therefore, if you want to become a skilled craftsman, you need a society that demands precisely this in every respect, and then it will not be difficult for you. All our difficulties, all the problems that arise when we are incapable, lose our way, fight with one another and with our own desire to receive, are caused by the fact that we do not build the environment.

We should not feel any effort in our work if our environment is corrected accordingly, because, by my nature, I will want to do what is accepted in the group. Therefore, being concerned with one’s own spiritual advancement is nonsense, real foolishness. A person must be concerned with establishing the concept of advancement in the group to the degree he needs, and then he will realize it.

We are the direct result of all the desires, thoughts, goals, and the importance that prevail in the group. Therefore, if we are already speaking about correcting the Reshimo, this is accomplished only through working with the environment.

Here we see how correctly all these things are connected within a single topic that you are working on. You work on your attitude toward the group, which is, in essence, your attitude toward the Creator. In response, the environment influences you and awakens you once again to the same work.

In other words, you see that all the beginnings, all the forces, all the prerequisites, and everything that must be revealed at the end are contained in a single topic, and you do not need to scatter your efforts across numerous factors. You have only one factor in which you begin and complete all the work, all the efforts, all the corrections and the fulfillment of the Kelim.
[362768]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/26, Rabash, Notes 882 “Rosh Hashanah”

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Question: In what form can I give to the group when I feel that I am becoming detached from it and that I have no common denominator with it? How can I annul myself before the group?

Answer: If you feel that you have no common denominator with the group, examine yourself. Perhaps the group’s goal does not coincide with your goal, and you are in a position to make some correction. Perhaps you should turn to the group and say, “Friends, I think you are getting it wrong.”

You must shape the group: “Buy yourself a friend.” You are obligated to invest effort and build them up so that they influence you. You yourself must awaken this in the group.

Perhaps your friends are not doing the right things; perhaps everyone acts quietly rather than openly, and this does not awaken you. You do not receive a sufficient impression from it. Or perhaps you do not want to be impressed by these things at all but need to be impressed by something else.

If I want to lose weight, I join a weight-loss group. There, they motivate me through all kinds of means of influence: lectures, discussions, films, anything to ensure that I retain a sense of the importance of the idea. And we must do the same thing. For any society outside our framework, this principle is clear. At any company, in any private business, the main question is: How do we inform the whole world that our product is the most necessary and the most important?

If I produce crackers, I want the whole world to eat only my crackers, not meat or fish, only these crackers. And I want everyone to think that they need nothing else. That is, essentially, what occupies the thoughts of a factory manager. And it should be the same for us. This is called external dissemination, as well as internal dissemination within the group.
[360722]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work?”

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Question: How can we build a group that will obligate us to advance in the right direction?

Answer: We see that everything depends on the effort a person invests, not in the people he has artificially surrounded himself with, but in that with which he truly integrates.

Sometimes it helps him to choose a few people with whom it is somewhat easier for him to speak and establish a closer connection. However, as we advance and pass through various states, we begin to understand that it is wrong to close ourselves off in some small circle.

The group has no clear boundaries separating what is within it. The group is a spiritual concept, and perhaps I am not even able to see and outline for myself precisely what it consists of.

Ultimately, all the aspirations, desires, understandings, connections with the higher force, and all the joint efforts we make together constitute the concept of the group. Only one thing is missing: for the greatness of the Creator and the greatness of the goal to burn within it so strongly that they obligate everyone, and no one would have any difficulty thinking about this and living by it constantly.
[362809]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/26, Rabash, “Rosh Hashana”

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