The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.

Daily Morning Lesson: January 31, 2026

Part 1: A lesson based on the articles of Rabash

Rabash. Article 24, (1985). Three Times in the Work

Original lesson date: 27.04.2003

Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson we will learn from a lesson from April 27, 2003. This one is based on the article “Three Times in the Work.” You can find it in Rabash's writings, so you'll read it together in the Ten. Tens who will finish before time are welcome to begin a workshop on the main points from the article. We'll read from Rabash's article, “Three Times in the Work.” 

Reading: (00:58) Three Times in the Work

Article No. 24, 1985

A person should discern three times in his work: 1) past, 2) present, 3) future.

“Past” is when he begins with the work of the Creator. At that time he must look at the past, meaning the reason why he now wants to take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven. That is, he must scrutinize the reason—if this reason is sufficient for him to begin with the work of the Creator to the point of “And you shall reflect on Him day and night,” when he has nothing to think of but the Torah because he has come to a resolution that nothing is worth contemplating but the Torah.

This must be because he feels he is in big trouble, and he has nothing in the world worth living for, and he finds nothing but Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. But to be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator, one must exit self-love. And to exit self-love he believes in the words of our sages: “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.”

This is the reason that compels him to contemplate the Torah day and night, for otherwise he cannot exit self-love. It follows that the reason for the Torah is Dvekut with the Creator. And the reason that obligates him to be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator must always be renewed, since there are many who are against this reason. Each time the body comes with new questions and wants to question that reason. At one time it tells him this is difficult; another time it tells him this is not for him, and brings him sparks of despair; and sometimes it brings foreign thoughts into his mind and heart.

Therefore, we must look at the past, meaning we must always examine at the reason that gave him the initial awakening for it. That is, perhaps there were other reasons that have made him begin the work of the Creator, meaning that his initial reason was not in order to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, but perhaps it was another reason. Afterwards, because “from Lo Lishma [not for Her sake] we come to Lishma [for Her sake],” the second reason was in order to achieve Dvekut with the Creator.

It could also be to the contrary, that the first reason was to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, and then, for various reasons, he acquired other reasons that obligated him to take upon himself the burden of Torah and Mitzvot [commandments]. It follows from all the above that we must always examine the reason that compels us to walk in the work of the Creator. This is regarded as having to learn from the past, referring to the reasons that surround all the ways of his work. That is, the reason is regarded as the goal: according to the greatness and importance of the goal, to that extent a person can exert.

However, there is a difference in what is regarded as “importance.” With regard to importance, it depends on what a person regards as important. Usually, people appreciate things that yield self-gratification, meaning only what concerns self-love. But if the goal is to bestow, it is unnatural that one should regard this as important.

For this reason, if the reason is not a real reason, he cannot go all the way, meaning achieve Dvekut. This is so because when he sees that he will not have self-gratification, he promptly escapes the campaign because the reason for which he took upon himself to keep Torah and Mitzvot was not so as to bestow, but for his own benefit.

For this reason, when he does not feel self-gratification during the work, he is compelled to be negligent in the work, since he sees that he does not feel that this will be a reward for him because the whole basis of his work was in Lo Lishma. However, from Lo Lishma we come to Lishma, so the order is that he is shown what Lishma feels like, meaning not for his own benefit but for the benefit of the Creator, and then he promptly escapes the campaign.

Hence, one must always scrutinize one’s goal, meaning his reason. He must always remember that the goal is to bestow upon the Creator. Then, when he is shown the feeling of bestowal, he does not become confused but knowns that it is difficult because it is against his nature.

Only now, once he sees that it is difficult to work in order to bestow, there is room for prayer from the bottom of the heart because he sees that he cannot do anything except pray to the Creator to give him that strength. For this reason we must always study the past, meaning to have a real reason that compels us to engage in the work of holiness.

“Present” is a discernment that a person feels during the work. A person should do the work of holiness on several aspects. It is as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 1, Discourse 2), “He would say, ‘The world stands on three things—on the Torah, on work, and on good deeds.’”

“World” means “man,” for every person is a small world in and of itself, as it is written in the holy Zohar. In order for man to exist, meaning for man to exist in the world, and feel and attain the Creator as benevolent, he needs the three above-mentioned things, since man was created with the evil inclination, which is the desire to receive only for himself.

There was a Tzimtzum [restriction] on that will to receive, meaning concealment of the upper abundance, so the delight and pleasure are not felt before a person achieves equivalence of form, when all his actions are only in order to bestow. For this reason, we need the Torah, as our sages said (Kidushin, 30b), “I have created the evil inclination; I have created for it the Torah as a spice.”

Work is required because work is prayer. A prayer is work in the heart. That is, since the root of man’s heart is the will to receive, and he needs the opposite, meaning that it will work only to bestow and not receive, it follows that he has a lot of work in inverting it.

And since this is against nature, he must pray to the Creator to help him come out of his nature and enter what is discerned as above nature. This is called a “miracle,” and only the Creator can perform miracles. That is, for man to be able to exit self-love is a miraculous act.

RASHI interprets “good deeds” to mean “lending his money to the poor. This is greater than charity because he is not ashamed. Moreover, good deeds applies to rich and poor, to the living and to the dead, to one’s body and to one’s money.” But charity is as was said, “Good deeds is greater than charity,” and as was said, “And the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,” “For I said, ‘A world of mercy shall be built,’ to teach you that the world exists for mercy.”

Because mercy is the exit from self-love to love of the Creator, as Rabbi Akiva said, “Love your neighbor as yourself, this is the great rule of Torah,” in the “present,” we should see that the three above discernments operate in him in the present. At that time he should also include the past in the present, meaning the goal for which he is making all the efforts.

“Future”: He needs to see the future, what can be attained until he achieves his wholeness, since it is known that Ohr Pnimi [Inner Light] means what illuminates in the present, and Ohr Makif [Surrounding Light] is what he should receive in the future.

Usually, when a person makes a deal and invests a lot of money, It is certainly in order to make a lot of money. Accordingly, we understand that if he bought a lot of goods it was in order to make a lot of money by selling the goods right away. That is, the merchant bought goods in the fair. When he brought the goods, and his town’s people saw he brought a lot of goods, they all thought that he would soon rent many shops in order to sell the goods right away. But then they saw that he put all the goods in warehouses and did not want to sell the goods. Yet, everyone saw that although he did not sell the goods, he was as happy as if he had made a fortune. The people close to the merchant could not understand him. They asked, “Why the happy face? After all, you did not sell a thing, and you did not make any money, so why are you so happy?”

He told them: “I bought a lot of goods cheaply because their prices dropped, and all the merchant were reluctant to buy them. I bought them because I know by calculation that two years from now they will be in great demand for they will be rare. At that time this will make me rich. So when I consider my future, I am happy, though at the moment, I have not made any profit.”

Therefore, we see that if the future shines in the present, although he still has nothing in the present, it is of no consequence. Rather, he can be happy about the future as about the present

. However, this is so precisely if the future shines in the present. In the language of Kabbalah, it is considered that he enjoys the Ohr Makif, meaning that he enjoys the light that will come in the future.

That is, if he sees that there is a valid way to achieve the goal, although he has not achieved wholeness, if the confidence of the goal illuminates for him he can enjoy in the present as though the Ohr Makif shines for him now in the Kelim.

Baal HaSulam said similarly about the words of our sages, “Righteous say psalms about the future,” meaning that the righteous can say psalms about what is destined to come to them later. That is, they believe that in the end they will be rewarded with wholeness, and based on that they say psalms, even though they have no yet attained wholeness.

This matter is brought in The Zohar (Vayelech, item 47): “Rabbi Elazar said, ‘Israel are destined to say psalms from below upward and from above downward, and tie the knot of faith, as it is written, ‘Then Israel shall sing this singing.’ It does not say, ‘sang,’ but ‘Shall sing,’ meaning in the future.’” It follows that man should receive illumination from Ohr Makif, which is from the future, after the present, and needs to draw it into the present.

This is why all three times—past, present, and future—are included in the present. However, the counsel of the evil inclination is always to the contrary, meaning to divide the three times so they do not illuminate together. Therefore, we must always go against the evil inclination and say, “What it says is certainly not in our favor, as it is not its role to assist us in the work.”

For example, it is written in article no. 11 (Tav-Shin-Mem-Hey) that when the evil inclination says to a person, “Why are you exerting so long in prayer and Torah? After all, your aim is not for the Creator. I can understand why other people exert in Torah and prayer, since their intention is for the Creator, but this is not so with you.” At that time we should reply to it: “On the contrary, I do work for the Creator, and I do not want to listen to you,” since it wishes to obstruct him in the work, meaning cause not to engage in Torah and Mitzvot.

Afterwards it comes and argues, “You are righteous, and your intention is only for the Creator. You are not like other people.” At that time one should say to it: “On the contrary, all my work is not for the Creator, and I know that everything you say is not for my benefit,” since it wishes to fail him with the transgression of pride, which is the worst thing of all, as our sages said, “Anyone who is proud, the Creator says, ‘He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.’” Therefore, one cannot determine which way to go—on the path of lowliness or on the path of greatness. It is all done on a case by case basis.

Reader: Now we'll enter a lesson with Rav from April 27th, 2003.

M. Laitman: (21:52) Three times for the person in the work, past, present and future. In truth, there are no times in spirituality, the past, the present, the future, but rather there is an order of actions that the person is in. There is a sequence of degrees or states where he discovers where he truly is. Every state that he goes through is a part of the eternal perfect state that in truth we are in. 

However, the person's relation each time to the state that he’s in must be out of two adjacent degrees, from the previous degree and the next degree, which is what we call the past and the future. And it depends on what kind of connection a person has in these two degrees, the upper one and the lower one, with respect to his state, so that everything will enter the present. He takes the confidence from the past, and he builds upon it a faith in the future, in that he is already happy about the next state that he will reach. 

He draws from the next world's surrounding light that shines to him already in the present, from that next state. And this is how he builds the states that he goes through. Likewise, we should do the same in our states, in which we don't see the future. We don't even understand what good state we have in the present. Also, we don't know how to correctly use the past. 

Nevertheless, if we will try to relate in a purposeful way to these three states, meaning those three times, then we can always be in upliftment, and in inspiration with forces to realize each and every moment towards the goal, and in this way to shrink the time. Each time that we are in some state we’re under the control of the lights or the vessels. Either records from the vessels are revealed to us, or already the lights that shine to these vessels are revealed to us. 

If the lights shine to the vessels, then we have no problem in coping with the states that we're in, because this is already a state that we're rewarded with following the corrections in each and every degree. But if we're still in the illumination of the Malchut, the illumination of the lights in each and every state, those states shine to us the emptiness, the lack of wholeness, which is manifested in lack of confidence, in suffering, in fears, in all kinds of lack of filling. Then, the person who is adhered to the vessel, he feels these states. But if instead of being attached to the vessel, the person shifts to those lights that are destined to be revealed by the vessels that he's now in, meaning he tries to tie himself with the future, what we call surrounding lights, then immediately those lights shine to him, even if he's present. And then he's in adhesion with the Creator, as we call it, even in the worst possible states. 

M. Laitman: (26:17) This means that in each and every state we have the possibility to be connected with the lights, with the giver, not with the vessels, the deficiencies. And the work is divided in such a way to past, present, and future, so that in each and every state, out of these three states we have the possibility to adhere to the Creator. Either because the vessels are empty, when we feel the lack of the power to bestow, then those vessels shine on us and push us to adhere to the Creator, because this feeling of deficiencies helps us. Or, if we have the power to adhere to the Creator then lights shine to us. And then even though lights shine, then we could adhere to them because it feels good to us, the feeling of the lights. But instead, we adhere, we connect to the feeling, not because they're feelings, but because they come from the giver. 

Meaning the feeling of fulfillment is also in order to bestow, meaning it's the opposite. The work is to always adhere to the vessels, or to adhere all the time to the lights. It's a work which is opposite to man's ego. It seems to us that states of Katnut, smallness, and lack of wholeness are given to us because we exist in such states where we're not able to tie ourselves. But that's incorrect. We're given these states because we don't have the forces to be adhered through the abundance. If we could be in adhesion with the Creator, even when the abundance shines, then we would receive the abundance. But because we can't do it yet, then we're given a feeling of the deficiencies, because out of the feeling of the deficiencies, it is easier for us to be adhered to the Creator. 

Meaning each time a person receives the maximum from the Creator, according to how much and in what state he can be in adhesion with Him. Therefore, will I be in a state of lack of wholeness, lack of filling, or feeling work on the right line or the left line in all kinds of states. Each and every state is determined not by any other reason, but according to the maximum, the highest possible state that allows me to be adhered to the Creator. And if I, in spite of all the pleasures that I'm full with, can still be adhered to the Creator, then there is no reason for these pleasures to go away.  Meaning, if it is certainly in order to bestow then in order to bestow is eternal, permanent, it does not stop. Therefore a person who is adhered either to the inner lights or the surrounding lights he is in a state of wholeness, in eternity. This is the whole reason why they teach us to adhere to the Creator in three states, past, present, and future. It's not clear enough? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (30:56) The matter of the past, why do you need the present to shine into the past, to shine into the present? 

M. Laitman: The meaning of the past relative to the present state can be in two manners. Either the past is better than the present state, or the past is worse than the present state, right? You can’t have more than that, these two cases. If the past is worse than the present state, it brings you to gratitude. If the past is better than the present state, it brings you to cry and ask about your situation. Where are the meat and the onions and garlic that we ate in Egypt? What did you bring us to, compared to all the good that we had there, that everything was good there. 

So, these two kinds of relations to the past build the present for you. And also, these two kinds of relations to the future build the present for you. From the relation between the present to the past you build the vessels. And from the relation of the present to the future you build the yearning, the intentions. The relation to the future from the present can also be in two manners. Either the future does not shine at all, meaning there is nothing in spirituality, just like my situation is not good, spirituality is also not good, and the next state doesn't bring me anything good so you are in despair. You have no present and no future, meaning that surrounding lights do not shine, and the inner light does not shine in the present. If it is to the opposite, you have nothing in the present, but you have surrounding lights, then you're drawn, you build from that the intention of where to reach, and in order for whom to reach, or to whom to reach it. So then the present itself is also felt for you as either a filling or emptiness. Filling or emptiness in the present are measured relatively. It's only with respect to the past and the future, so it depends on how you check it. What does it mean that it depends on how you check it? Is it with respect to the vessels, or with respect to the lights? With respect to the vessels, it could be that you have greater vessels, but they're empty compared to what you had before. But you check them then maybe towards the future, according to the surrounding lights that you are destined to receive, and then your present is full, as though you've already reached the filling. 

So, these three states, these three times they build within you all the possibilities for how to build yourself towards the present state, and the past and the future in relation to the Creator who brings you those three states. That's it. The moment you are able to work with these three states, it is considered that you've realized that state and then you replace it, so new records awaken in you. So the question is, how do we feel these times? A degree is a degree, and in it there is nothing from the past, from the future, or from the past seemingly. So first of all, because in every degree we have a part from the upper Partzuf, its AHP, is in the Galgalta Eynaim of the present state. And from the AHP of the present state we have an entrance to the previous state, the lower one. So actually each and every degree on its own does not actually form a state, but rather to the extent that I have a Partzuf, Galgalta Eynaim and AHP within my Galgalta Eynaim I have the AHP of the upper one. And on my AHP, the Galgalta Eynaim of the lower one are clothed. 

So it turns out that I have no part in my Partzuf in my level which is not connected either with the past or with the future. So it turns out that the present has no reality in and of itself, but only in the connection to the past and the future I have a present. So the present becomes some kind of a tiny moment, like that song we sing, right? There is a tiny moment between the past and the future, and this is called life, this is called the present.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:49) It's not clear our perception of the previous stage. 

M. Laitman: How can we feel the AHP of the previous state? If a person truly performs actions and by that he wants to discover the future, so the future is revealed in him as the AHP of the upper one that is cloaked in his Galgalta Eynaim. According to how much a person is willing to go forward in vessels of bestowal in the Galgalta Eynaim, he discovers the AHP of the upper one. Without having preparations for vessels of bestowal it is impossible that I have a place in which to discover the AHP of the upper one, because it clothes within my Galgalta Eynaim. I cannot discover a more internal state if I don't yearn towards it. Our work is through all kinds of means. Whatever is within your power and to do, you should do it. In the group, in dissemination, in the study, this work actually prepares us to feel the AHP of the upper one. That's it. 

If a person is just studying without yearning forward, meaning he doesn't make special powers so that he'll have a vessel of reception for the AHP of the upper one, then he will not be able to feel it. The AHP of the upper one is what is revealed through our efforts. And the feeling is not good, because the AHP of the upper one is first revealed in its empty state so that we will adhere to it in order to bestow. If we try to accept the spirituality which is revealed to us in a way that's not good, not attractive, not pleasant, nevertheless, we agree to accept it, to receive it, because it is the truth. The point in my heart nevertheless chooses that, then I adhere, I become attached to the AHP of the upper one and I start to rise with it to a higher degree, to my next state, the future. So this is only on the condition that a person can relinquish the emptiness that he feels in spirituality compared to the truth that is there. Meaning he doesn't go according to the feeling, but because there is no choice, that's how it is. Why? Because there is no justification to it, but this is my life. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:53) In the last sentence in the article, right at the end, it says, one cannot determine what path to take, lowliness or greatness. Everything is according to the matter. What is that? 

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (40:20) Let's read the end of the article. Afterwards it comes and argues, “You are righteous, and your intention is only for the Creator. You are not like other people.” At that time one should say to it: Meaning, why is he now tempted in such a way? “On the contrary, all my work is not for the Creator, and I know that everything you say is not for my benefit,” meaning, a man's pride, his ego is telling him that he is great. it wishes to fail him with the transgression of pride, which is the worst thing of all, as our sages said, “Anyone who is proud, the Creator says, ‘He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.’” Meaning he can no longer adhere to the higher degree, he cannot have any connection with the Creator. Therefore, one cannot determine which way to go—on the path of lowliness or on the path of greatness. It is all done on a case by case basis. Or according to his feeling of poverty, how much he can advance with the present vessels. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:59) How in the time of preparation I can hold on to None Else Besides Him, without settling for that feeling of, that everything comes from Him? 

M. Laitman: That's our general question. What is actually the work? The work is to always be in adhesion if we were given a point in the heart, and that did not depend on us. You know, take that, now it's given to you. 

So from that point in the heart, we now begin to work. The point in the heart is our existence in the infinite, perfect, eternal state. But we in that infinite state only feel a point, that we yearn for something, we want something, we lack something, and it's lacking only as a point, it's not a true desire. Also a feeling from Ein Sof, from infinity, it's just a point that we feel that there is something like that. Out of this state a person now needs to reach a void in the vessels, and that it would be full of all the NRNHY, of the lights, of the wholeness, of the end of correction. So all of our work is in the effort to remain all the time to be directed towards the revelation of Ein Sof, meaning complete adhesion with the Creator- to an infinite, eternal, perfect measure. This is brought to us in the words, there is None Else Besides Him. This is what we should aim for all the time, and all of our work should actually direct us only towards that. And all of the disruptions are only in order to move us in all kinds of different directions of our spiritual character, spiritual character meaning pride and fear, and all kinds of feelings and thoughts that the Klipot, the shells, seemingly bring us. So the shells seemingly want to contradict us from that point and we, in spite of this contradiction that they pull us in some direction -  let's say the shell of the right pulled me ten centimeters towards the right. Ten centimeters means it gave me some foreign thought and lack of confidence so now I need, in spite of this foreign feeling of ten centimeters of lack of confidence, in spite of that I have to come back and be in that central point. There it's my adhesion with the Creator. Even at the same point if I do it, I already expanded my state with ten centimeters to the right. Now I have a disruption of ten centimeters to the left or down or up, it doesn't matter how. In each, all kinds of directions away from that center, this is how I build the Sefirot so the shells actually give me some flesh on which I build from the point I build a space, a void and in that space I feel it along with the fact that I receive the disruption, but I fill it instead of the disruption with adhesion. 

So it turns out that from that small point of a Sefirot, I begin to expand it into a greater sphere, a greater sphere. Until I receive, let's say, all of the disruptions and I overcame all of them, and I was in adhesion in spite of them, or even together with them into this never-ending coupling with the Creator. And it is considered that I finished my work. I reached the end of correction. So it turns out that the shell actually helps me to grow, and in its work it gives me, on the one hand, the possibility to grow, but it also keeps me, it guards me while I grow. 

M. Laitman: (46:34) In short, what am I trying to say? We shouldn't be afraid of alien thoughts or all kinds of disruptions. They awaken within us precisely according to the state that I'm in, and through them we advance, and from them we build our next states, our future. So these disruptions do not pull us backwards, it's the opposite. By seemingly pulling us backwards, they give me the possibility to the same extent, to the same measure to advance forward. This is the whole difference between the work of the Creator to what is without the work, what is not the work of the Creator. To just be in some study or go through certain states the whole wisdom is in how to use the will to receive, right? Kabbalah, reception, the wisdom of Kabbalah, of reception, is the wisdom of how to use the will to receive. Meaning how to use the shells, how to use disruptions, whereas with other methods they're usually seemingly afraid of the disruptions. They teach a person how to avoid the disruptions, how to run away from them, how to not use them.

Enter to righteousness be only in the refined vessels, seemingly try to ride a little bit above this world. And then the person doesn't get the substance upon which he can build the degrees. 

Reader: Now we will share in our impressions from the lesson, what do we take from it to use it in the Ten. Please. 

Reader: We’ll move to the next part of the lesson. First, we'll sing a song.

Song: (54:55) 

Reader: We will learn, we will read from TES. Item Ten, the words of the ARI.