The Conditions for Raising Oneself Above One’s Circle - Excerpts from the Sources - 2019

1. Baal Hasulam. Shamati 225. Raising Oneself
One cannot raise oneself above one’s circle. Hence, one must suck from one’s environment. And one has no other counsel, except through much work and Torah. Therefore, if one chooses for oneself a good environment, one saves time and efforts, since one is drawn according to one’s environment.1.

2. Rav Kook, Orot 3,6
A man of Israel who wants to attain the Light of Life in truth must agree to plant himself in the assembly of Israel with all his heart and with all his senses and strength, physically and spiritually.

3. Baal HaSulam. The Freedom
Although everyone has “his own source,” the forces are revealed openly only through the environment one is in. This is similar to the wheat sown in the ground, whose forces become apparent only through its environment, which is the soil, the rain, and the light of the sun. Thus, Rabbi Yosi Ben Kisma correctly assumed that if he were to leave the good environment he had chosen and fall into a harmful environment, in a city where there is no Torah, not only would his former concepts be compromised, but all the other forces hidden in his source, which he had not yet revealed in action, would remain concealed. This is because they would not be subject to the right environment that would be able to activate them. And as we have clarified above, only in the matter of the choice of environment is man’s reign over himself measured, and for this he should receive either reward or punishment.

4. Baal HaSulam. The Freedom
He who strives to continually choose a better environment is worthy of praise and reward. But here, too, it is not because of his good thoughts and deeds, which come to him without his choice, but because of his effort to acquire a good environment, which brings him these good thoughts and deeds. It is as Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Perachya said, “Make for yourself a Rav, and buy for yourself a friend.”

5. Rabash. Mighty Rock of My Salvation
A person has a desire within him, which comes from himself. In other words, even when he is alone and there are no people around him to affect him, or from whom to absorb some desire, he receives an awakening and craves to be a servant of the Creator. But his own desire is probably not big enough for him not to need to enhance it so he can work with it to obtain the spiritual goal. Therefore, there is a way—just like in corporeality—to enhance that desire through people on the outside who will compel him to follow their views and their spirit. This is done by bonding with people whom he sees that also have a need for spirituality. And the desire that those people on the outside have begets a desire in him, and thus he receives a great desire for spirituality. In other words, in addition to the desire that he has from within, he receives a desire for spirituality that they beget in him, and then he acquires a great desire with which he can reach the goal.

6. Rabash. Mighty Rock of My Salvation
Each person in the group, besides having a desire of his own, acquires desire from the friends. This is a great asset that can be obtained only through love of friends. However, one should take great care not to be among friends who have no desire to examine themselves, the basis of their work—whether it is to bestow or to receive—and to see if they are doing things in order to reach the path of truth, which is the way of nothing but bestowal. Only in such a group is it possible to instill the friends with a desire to bestow, meaning that each will absorb a lack from the friends, which he himself lacks the power to bestow, and wherever he walks, he is eagerly searching for a place where perhaps someone will be able to give him the power to bestow. Hence, when he comes into a group where everyone is thirsty for the power to bestow, everyone receives this strength from everyone else. This is considered receiving strength from the outside in addition to the small power that he has within him.

7. RABASH, “The Environment Matters Most”
“Choose life.” The most important is the environment. A person is always in an environment and is necessarily taken after them. Hence, if a person is immersed in the thoughts of Abaye and Rabbah, he is necessarily influenced by them. And if he places his thoughts elsewhere for a moment during the learning, meaning thinks about something related to corporeal matters, he is necessarily immediately placed in a corporeal environment and begins to yearn for the desires that the environment compels him to. Likewise, concerning Abaye and Rabbah, if he regards them as merely astute learners, he might crave only learning. But if he regards them as ones with attainment, he will crave attainments.

8. Rabash. Purpose of Society (2)
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. For this reason, society must consist of individuals who unanimously agree that they must achieve it. Then, all the individuals become one great force that can fight against itself, since everyone is integrated in everyone else. Thus, each person is founded on a great desire to achieve the goal. To be integrated in one another, each person should annul himself before the others. This is done by each seeing the friends’ merits and not their faults. But one who thinks that he is a little higher than his friends can no longer unite with them.

9. Rabash. Article 6 (1984) Love of Friends - 2

Several individuals must come together with the desire to abandon self-love, but without the sufficient force and appreciation for bestowal to become independent, without help from the outside. Now, if these individuals annul before one another, since each of them has at least potential love of the Creator, though they cannot actually keep it, 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.

10. Rabash. The Severity of Teaching Idol Worshippers the Torah
It is impossible to receive the influence of the society if he is not attached to the society, meaning if he does not appreciate them. To the extent that he does, he can receive from them the influence without any work, simply by adhering to the society.

11. Rabash. Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friends (1)

After he has bonded with a group of people who wish to achieve the degree of love of the Creator, and he wishes to take from them the strength to work in order to bestow and be moved by their words about the necessity for obtaining the love of the Creator, he must regard each friend in the group as greater than himself. One is not impressed by the society or takes their appreciation of something unless he regards the society as greater than himself.

12. Baal HaSulam. He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous
If one does not have any desire and craving for spirituality, if he is among people who have a desire for spirituality, if he likes these people, he, too, will take their strength to prevail, and their desires and aspirations, although by his own quality, he does not have these desires and cravings and the power to overcome. But according to the grace and the importance he ascribes to these people, he will receive new powers.

13. Rabash. Article 17 (1986) The Agenda of the Assembly 2
Before one obtains some illumination from above by himself, he should seek out like-minded people who are also seeking to enhance the importance of any contact with the Creator in whatever way. And when many people support it, everyone can receive assistance from his friend. We should know that “Two is the least plural.” This means that if two friends sit together and contemplate how to enhance the importance of the Creator, they already have the strength to receive enhancement of the greatness of the Creator in the form of awakening from below. And for this act, the awakening from above follows, and they begin to have some sensation of the greatness of the Creator. According to what is written, “In the multitude of people is the King's glory,” it follows that the greater the number of the collective, the more effective is the power of the collective. In other words, they produce a stronger atmosphere of greatness and importance of the Creator. At that time, each person’s body feels that he regards anything that he wishes to do for holiness—meaning to bestow upon the Creator—as a great fortune, that he has been privileged with being among people who have been rewarded with serving the King. At that time, every little thing he does fills him with joy and pleasure that now he has something with which to serve the King.

14. Rabash. Concerning Above Reason
A person has qualities that his parents bequeathed to their children, and he has qualities that he acquired from the society, which is a new possession. And this comes to him only through bonding with the society and the envy that he feels toward the friends when he sees that they have better qualities than his own. It motivates him to acquire their good qualities, which he doesn’t have and of which he is jealous. Thus, through the society, he gains new qualities that he adopts by seeing that they are at a higher degree than his, and he is envious of them. This is the reason why now he can be greater than when he didn’t have a society, since he acquires new powers through the society.

15. Rabash. Concerning Above Reason

Our sages said, “Counters’ envy increases wisdom.” In other words, When all the friends look at the society as being at a high level, both in thoughts and in actions, it is natural that each and every one must raise his degree to a higher level than he has by the qualities of his own body.

16. Rabash. Concerning Above Reason

If one sees that the friends are at a higher degree than his own, he sees within reason how he is in utter lowliness compared to the friends, that all the friends keep the schedule of arriving at the seminary, and take greater interest in all that is happening among the friends, to help anyone in any way they can, and immediately implement every advice for the work from the teachers in actual fact, etc., it certainly affects him and gives him strength to overcome his laziness, both when he needs to wake up before dawn and when he is awakened. Also, during the lesson, his body is more interested in the lessons, since otherwise he will lag behind his friends. Also, with anything that concerns Kedusha [holiness], he must take it more seriously because the body cannot tolerate lowliness. Moreover, when his body looks at the friends, it sees within reason that they are all working for the Creator, and then his body, too, lets him work for the Creator.

17. Rabash. Concerning Above Reason
The body is unwilling to tolerate lowliness. Instead, everybody has pride, and he is unwilling to accept a situation where his friend is greater than him. Thus, when he sees that his friends are at a higher level than his own, this causes him to ascend in every way.

18. Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Epstein, Maor VaShemesh, Yitro [Jethro]
One should imagine that his friend serves the Creator more than he, and “Author’s envy increases wisdom.” By this he will grow ever strong in the work of the Creator. This is the meaning of “Each one is burnt by his friend’s Huppah [canopy],” meaning excitement. By seeing that his friend’s Huppah is greater than his, a fire will burn within him and his soul will be excited toward serving the Creator more and more, and he will attain more attainments of Godliness.

19. Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Epstein, Maor VaShemesh, “Intimation of Song of Songs”
The heart and the root of the work of the Creator is love of friends. By this, one can come to the real work of the Creator. When he sees that his friends aspire and yearn to serve the Creator in Torah and prayer, it will excite his heart to join them, and all the deeds of his friends will be greater in his eyes than his own deeds.

20. Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Epstein, Maor VaShemesh, Ki Tetze
Through love of friends, adhesion of friends, and closeness to the righteous of the generation. By this he achieves the complete submission because he sees his friends’ work, the intensity of their hearts’ flames, and their excitement to serve the Creator. By this he will learn to do likewise and will acknowledge his humbleness and will repent in complete repentance.

21. Rabash. Article 2 (1984) Concerning Love of Friends
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. It turns out that where a person has one measure of strength to practice love of friends, if the group consists of ten members, then he is integrated with ten forces of the need, who understand that it is necessary to engage in love of friends. However, if each of them does not show the society that he is practicing love of friends, then one lacks the force of the group. This is so because it is very hard to judge one’s friend favorably. Each one thinks that he is righteous and that only he engages in love of friends. In that state, one has very little strength to practice love of others.

22. Rabash. Concerning Love of Friends

We must remember that the society was established on the basis of love of others, so each member would receive from the group the love of others and hatred of himself. And seeing that his friend is straining to annul his self and to love others would cause everyone to be integrated in their friends’ intentions. Thus, if the society is made of ten members, for example, each will have ten forces practicing self-annulment, hatred of self, and love of others.

23. Rabash. They Helped Every One His Friend
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.

24. Rabash. What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends

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.

25. Rabash. Letter 24
You must always stand guard, all day and all night, when you feel a state of day or feel a state of night. We say to the Creator, “Yours is the day, and Yours is also the night.” Thus, the night, too, the darkness of night, comes from the Creator to man’s favor, too, as it is written, “Day to day utters speech, and night to night expresses knowledge”. It follows that you must evoke the heart of the friends until the flame rises by itself, as our sages said about it, “When you light up the candles.” By that, you will be rewarded with awakening the love of the Creator upon us.

26. Rabash. Notes. Article 124. To Serve Me

“The whole world was created only to serve me.” According to the interpretation of Baal HaSulam, it means that all the faults that a person sees in others, he believes that they are his. Therefore, he has what to correct. It follows that the whole world serves him by providing him with his faults, and he does not need to look by himself. Instead, they are doing him a big favor by providing him with his flaws.

27. Rabash. Concerning the Importance of Friends

If one has love of friends, the rule in love is that you want to see the friends’ merits and not their faults. Hence, if one sees some fault in one’s friend, it is not a sign that his friend is at fault, but that the seer is at fault, meaning that because his love of friends is flawed, he sees faults in his friend. Therefore, now he should not see to his friend’s correction. Rather, he himself needs correction for what blemishing the love of friends. And when he corrects himself, he will see only his friend’s merits and not his faults.

28. Rabash. What to Look For in the Assembly of Friends
Concerning love of friends that is built on the basis of love of others, by which they can achieve the love of the Creator, is the opposite of what is normally considered love of friends. In other words, love of others does not mean that the friends will love me. Rather, it is I who must love the friends. For this reason, it makes no difference if the friend is slandering him and must certainly hate him. Instead, a person who wishes to acquire love of others needs the correction of loving the other. Therefore, when a person makes the effort and judges him favorably, it is a Segula [remedy/power/virtue], where by the toil that a person makes, which is called “an awakening from below,” he is given strength from above to be able to love all the friends without exception. This is called, “Buy yourself a friend.”

30. Baal HaSulam. Not the Time for the Livestock to Be Gathered

One must not exclude oneself from the public and ask for oneself, not even to bring contentment to one’s maker, but only for the entire public. One who departs from the public to ask specifically for one’s own soul does not build. On the contrary, he inflicts ruin upon his soul, as in, “All who is proud”, for there cannot be one who retires from the public unless with an attire of pride. Woe unto him, for he inflicts ruin on his soul. That is, there was not even an awakening of anyone from the children of Israel to demand anything personal, for no one needed anything because they did not feel as separate selves, and this was their power to come out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Thus, every one must gather with all of one’s strength into the whole of Israel with every plea to the Creator in the prayer and in the work. Instead, he should include himself in the only one, the root of all of Israel.

31. Baal HaSulam. What are the Three Bodies in a Man
One must think only of the inner body, for it is a clothing for the soul of Kedusha. That is, one should think thoughts that are after one’s skin. This means that after the body’s skin is called “outside one’s body,” meaning outside one’s own benefit, but only thoughts of benefiting others. This is called “outside one’s skin.” This is so because after one’s skin, there is no grip for the Klipot [pl. of Klipa], for the Klipot grip only that which is within one’s skin, meaning that which belongs to one’s body, and not outside one’s body, called “outside one’s skin.” This means that they possess anything that is clothed in the body, and they cannot hold anything that is not clothed in the body. When one persists with thoughts that are after one’s skin, he will be rewarded with what is written, “And after my skin they broke this, and from my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19, 26). “This” is the Shechina [Divinity], and she stands after one’s skin. “Broke” means that it has been corrected to be a pillar “after my skin.” At that time, one is awarded “and from my flesh shall I see God.” It means that Kedusha comes and clothes the interior of the body specifically when one agrees to work outside one’s skin, meaning without any clothing.

32. RABASH. Notes. “Run My Beloved”
It is impossible to receive anything without equivalence. Rather, there must always be equivalence. Hence, when one invokes mercy on oneself, he engages in self-reception. And the more he prays, not only does he not prepare a Kli for equivalence, on the contrary, sparks of reception form within him. It follows that he is going the opposite way: He should have prepared a Kli [vessel] of equivalence, but instead, he has prepared a Kli for reception. “Cling unto His attributes” is precisely “As He is merciful, so you are merciful.” Hence, when he prays for the collective, through this prayer he engages in bestowal, and to the extent that he prays, he fashions a Kli for bestowal on which the light of bestowal, called “Merciful,” may be revealed.

33. Noam Elimelech, Likutei Shoshana
One must always pray for his friend, as one cannot do much for himself, for “One does not deliver oneself from imprisonment.” But when asking for his friend, he is answered quickly. Therefore, each one should pray for his friend, and thus each works on the other’s desire until all of them are answered.

34. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Sasov, “Love of Peace”
One who prays for his friend is answered first. That is, one who prays for his friend becomes a pipeline of bestowal to bestow upon his friend. Because the abundance flows through him, he is answered first, since the abundance flows through him. By this we will understand the words, “He who blesses is blessed,” since the one who blesses becomes a pipeline of bestowal; hence, he is blessed.

35. RABASH. Notes. The Ruin of Kedusha [holiness]
One must not ask the Creator to bring him closer to Him, as it is insolence on the part of man, for in what is he more important than others? However, when he prays for the collective—which is Malchut, called “assembly of Israel,” the sum of the souls—that the Shechina [Divinity] is in the dust, and he prays that she will rise, meaning that the Creator will light up her darkness, then all of Israel will rise in degree, too, including the beseeching person, who is included in the collective.

37. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Assorted Rules, “Rules of the Guarantor,” 5
It is impossible to observe the Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] unless through Arvut [mutual responsibility], when each one becomes responsible for his friend. Since the essence of observance of the Torah, which is the desire, is through unity, anyone who wishes to take upon himself the burden of Torah and Mitzvot, which is primarily by overcoming the desire, must be included in the whole of Israel in great unity. For this reason, at the time of the reception of the Torah, they immediately became responsible for one another because they were regarded as one. Precisely by each being responsible for his friend, which is the quality of unity, specifically by this can they observe the Torah. Without it, it would not be possible to observe the Torah whatsoever, since the heart of observing the Torah, which is the desire, is through unity, when all are regarded as one. It follows that specifically through Arvut, which is when everyone are regarded as one, is the heart of observing the Torah, since the essence of love and unity is in the desire, when each one is pleased with his friend and there is no disparity of desire among them, and all are included in one desire, by which they are included in the upper desire, which is the complete unity.

38. Baal Hasulam. Article Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah] 16
If six hundred thousand men abandon their work for the satisfaction of their own needs and worry about nothing but standing guard so their friends will not lack a thing, and moreover, they will engage in this with great love, with their very heart and soul, in the full meaning of the Mitzva, “Love your friend as yourself,” it is then beyond doubt that no one in the nation will need to worry about his own well-being. Because of this, one becomes completely free of securing his own survival and can easily observe the Mitzva, “Love your friend as yourself,” obeying all the conditions given in Items 3 and 4. After all, why would he worry about his own survival when six hundred thousand loyal lovers stand by, ready with great care to make sure he lacks nothing of his needs? Therefore, once all the members of the nation agreed, they were immediately given the Torah, for now they were capable of observing it.

39. Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov, Degel Machaneh Ephraim, VaEtchanan)
It is written, “The Lord is one and Israel are one”; hence, they are attached to the Creator, since it befits the One to cling to the one. And when is this? It is when Israel are bundled and attached together in complete unity. At that time, they are regarded as one, and the Creator is upon them, for He is one. But when their hearts divide and they are apart from one another, they cannot be adhered to the One and the Creator is not on them. Rather, another God is on them. This is implied in the verse, “And you who are adhered,” meaning when you are adhered and united with each other, “You are alive every one of you.” When they are in one unity, it befits the One to cling to the one, and the one Creator is upon them.

40. Baal HaSulam. 600,000 Souls
There is indeed only one soul in the world, as it is written (Genesis, 2:7), “and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” The same soul exists in all the children of Israel, complete in each and every one, as in Adam ha Rishon, since the spiritual is indivisible and cannot be cut—which is rather a trait of corporeal things. Yet, saying that there are 600,000 souls and sparks of souls appears as though it is divided by the force of the body of each person. In other words, first, the body divides and completely denies him of the radiance of the soul, and by the force of the Torah and the Mitzva, the body is cleansed, and to the extent of its cleansing, the common soul shines upon him. For this reason, two discernments were made in the corporeal body: In the first discernment, one feels one’s soul as a unique organ, and does not understand that this is the whole of Israel. And this is truly a flaw; hence, it causes along with the above-mentioned.

In the second discernment, the true Light of the soul of Israel does not shine on him in all its illumination force, but only partially, by the measure he has purified himself by returning to the collective. The sign for the body’s complete correction is when one feels that one’s soul exists in the whole of Israel, in each and every one of them, for which he does not feel himself as an individual, for one depends on the other. At that time, he is complete, flawless, and the soul truly shines on him in its fullest power, as it appeared in Adam ha Rishon.

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