As One Man in One Heart
The Creator created one Kli [vessel] called Adam HaRishon, and shattered it into numerous tiny fragments, so that they would learn together what it means to love, and together reach all the way to Him.
From the book, The Wise Heart
One of the necessary means for spiritual development is the group.
To be prepared for spiritual development, the Creator evokes two sensations within us. The first is one of emptiness with regard to this world, and the second is a longing to attain the source of life. This is the awakening of the “point in the heart.”
The point in the heart connects us to the place where we can feed and nourish it—the group. Indeed, you can see that those whose point in the heart has awakened are naturally drawn toward one another. This always happens in human society: birds of a feather flock together.
The group allows for true bonding to others according to the new principles of love and giving, as opposed to hatred and separation. Hence, group work is a necessary means for achieving the revelation of the Creator. It allows one to measure one’s true relationship with others, and prevents one from falsely believing that one has already obtained personal contact with the Creator because after all, the Creator is the quality of love and giving that exists within the corrected connection between us.
Such groups have always existed throughout history. By changing relationships among group members into one of bonding and mutual love, they created the necessary conditions for us to sense the actual reality. From the vast experience they have acquired, they wrote about the world that opened before them. The books they left behind them allow us to reach this new life in the shortest and most efficient way.
A group of this kind is called a “group of Kabbalists,” and its only purpose is to unite them, as it is written, “As one man in one heart,” “That which you hate, do not do to your friend,” and “Love thy friend as thyself.”
The atmosphere created in a group of Kabbalists is very special. To somewhat sense it, let us examine a few examples of bonds among the members of known groups from the past:
We have all taken it upon ourselves to behave with love and brotherhood, and to spare one’s friend’s honor as one’s own.
The group of the sages of Egypt, among which was the Ari, 1558 [1]
Tie a strong and unfailing tie of love, brotherhood, and peace among us ... as though we were a single body, as though we were brothers to the same father and mother from conception and from birth, all the days of our lives.
The group of the sages of Egypt, 1564 [2]
Let each think of one’s friend as though he is truly a part of him with all his might and soul.
Let us unite as one man, friends in every which way, to help and to assist, to strengthen and to support one another.
The Rashash group, Kabbalists of Beit El, Jerusalem, 1757 [3]
They have taken it upon themselves to love one another ... and to all try to come to the study of The Zohar each day.
The Ramchal group, Padua, Italy, 1731 [4]
Correcting the relations in the group from self-love to love of others can only be done by that same higher force that created our egoism. It is the only thing that can transform the evil inclination into a good inclination. The Creator says, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice, for the light in it reforms it” [5], changing it to bonding and love [6].
Even now, we are within the corrected reality—tightly connected among us as parts of a single organism, but we haven’t awakened to the recognition of that state. This awakening, that reviving power, the light that reforms, can be obtained when we come together.
In the group, we read together in The Book of Zohar. The Zohar speaks of our connected state; hence, reading together with the aim of achieving unity and love evokes the light that reforms [7]. Gradually, we begin to rise above our natural self-centered feelings and feel the connection of love that is among us. And within that, we feel the Creator. This is the way to realize the essence of the wisdom of Kabbalah, the revelation of the Creator to the creature.
[1] From the magazine, Collections, a yearbook for Jewish studies, ninth book, Jerusalem, 1995, Editor: Meir Benayahu, pp 152-154
[2] From the magazine, Collections, a yearbook for Jewish studies, ninth book, Jerusalem, 1995, Editor: Meir Benayahu, pp 152-154
[3] From the magazine, Collections, a yearbook for Jewish studies, ninth book, Jerusalem, 1995, Editor: Meir Benayahu, pp 152-154
[4] From the book, Let Moses Raise, pp 11-15
[5] Babylonian Talmud, Kidushin, 30b
[6] One can never have the strength to go against nature alone, since regarding the mind and heart, in which one must be complemented, one must be assisted in that, and the assistance is through the Torah, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the spice of Torah.” By engaging in it, the light in it reforms them. (Rav Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag, the Rabash, The Writings of Rabash, essay, ‘What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Lord”)
[7] When engaging in this composition ... Divinity shines and illuminates from that Light as when it was first created. And all who engage in it reawaken that same benefit and that first Light, which Rashbi and his friends had revealed while composing.
Ramak, Ohr Yakar [Precious Light], Gate 1, Item 5