The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: December 25, 2025
Part 2: LESSONS OF THE RABASH ON TES
Reader: We are going to learn from the “Study of the Ten Sefirot” with the Rabash. We will read part 4, “Inner Observation,” chapter 6, item 95. Before we start the mutual studies, let's hear Rav about the main topic of the lesson.
M. Laitman: (00:27) One light fills all reality, filling all of reality, motionless, meaning no changes, it's just in complete rest. There's nothing it needs to change with its one intention: to bestow to the will to receive, that is in it as existence from absence. And when all of that is there, we relate the rest to that light, to the reflected light. And what we discover from direct light is from the reflected light we have the matter, which is reflected light, and the form dressed in the matter is a direct light that we can only discern through reflected light. There is no direct light without reflected light. We can't reveal it; we have no vessel to reveal it. You can ask, and what before the first restriction, where there is no reflected light? How can we there speak about direct light? So, the Kabbalists that get to that state and reveal it, they reveal it through the direct light that they reached at the end of correction, the world of Ein Sof. They discover it through their complete reflected light. And then they say about the Creator's relation towards the created being, that on His behalf direct light appears without clothing in reflected light, and it is ready to bestow to the lower ones. But they discover it in their reflected light. The created being can never reveal, only when it reaches Ein Sof. It reaches Ein Sof with all the reflected light that it gathered and built in all the 125 degrees. That's clear, right? Also, when you reach the end, we discover the form that is clothed in the matter, direct light and reflected light. That same light that has no form in Ein Sof, they reveal it through reflected light.
Reader: So again, Part 4, “Inner Observation,” chapter 6, 95. Let's connect to Rabash.
RABASH: (02:55) He says, we need to remember that we are from below, the lower ones. But there is a rule, as we begin to discuss the abundance, there is a rule that anything which is an innovation is to be discussed. And seeing as there is an innovation in Zeir Anpin, as it incorporates different Sefirot, that means that there is a new revelation here. The light which shines in Keter, Hochma, Bina, as it shines in one, it shines in the other. No innovation. Conversely, when Zeir Anpin is incorporated in Keter, when it's included in Zeir Anpin, there is an innovation there. What he has in Keter, the incorporation of Hochma, is incorporated in Zeir Anpin, and so there is renewal, innovation there. And therefore, a new name, a different name. What is incorporated in Bina and incorporated only in Zeir Anpin, that's a new thing. And his own discernment is that of Netzach, and what is incorporated into Hod from Malchut is called Hod. And with that comes a new thing called Yesod, which in truth, comprises many things, such that it is impossible to single out one thing. Meaning, he says, what is Yesod? It has no aspect of its own, Yesod. If so, what is its innovation? That it incorporates all discernments together, all five discernments together. I once told an allegory. Remember the allegory about taking five different kinds of vegetables, five discernments of vegetables? You say five discernments? Kinds of vegetables. Let's say: tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and I make a salad. I won't serve you just five vegetables, I'll make a salad. So I look, where is the salad? I find five kinds of vegetables there, but where is the salad? That is called a salad. What? Mixing those five vegetables together. But why did you mix them together? Because it produces a different flavor. In spirituality, there's the issue of Yesod, which illuminates upon Malchut, an illumination from all five discernments together. Not from his own discernment but all five discernments together. That is a new thing that comes from many additions. And then there's Malchut, which in truth, according to the meaning of the words of the holy ARI, all ten Sefirot, when we speak of the upper decrees, they all extend from the world of Atzilut. We used the same names before that, but the foundation is taken from the world of Atzilut. Yesod. Why? He says that anything we speak of in that world, all the names we give, they are names of this world called the world of correction, meaning it doesn't have the roots above from the correction.
RABASH: (07:20) Even though we speak of things from before the world of correction, it is only to soothe the ear. What does it mean to soothe the ear? For the ear to hear something. And yesterday, we discussed studying “Panim Meirot u Masbirot”, what it means to soothe the ear. It's by the light of the ear called SAG that we can learn and know something, but he doesn't interpret it. In general, the beginning is in each and every Sefira, only from Bina downwards. Even in Atzilut, he says that. I told you. He begins to interpret the world of Atzilut for us, telling us that there is Atik of Atzilut, Atik means ancient, Arich Anpin of Atzilut, big face, the upper Ima of Atzilut, the upper mother, Atzilut of Tvuna, which means wisdom, and that requires clarification. Tvuna is called the first Hey, the first letter Hey in Hebrew. So, he says that you should know that in Tvuna as well, the first Hey has the entire HaVaYaH. Well, the tip of the Yod is Keter, Yod is Hochma. We don't talk about Keter and Hochma. Our studies only begin from Bina. And so he starts explaining things from the first Hey. Tvuna is SAG, and he tells us, Tvuna is the first Hey. So, the first Hey has three more lines. That's HaBaD, that's Bina of Bina. Vav is ZA of Bina. What do I want to emphasize here? That whatever we talk about, we are speaking only about Bina and below. Of Keter and Hochma, we don't speak at all. Why? There are many excuses, many reasons. In effect, it's only from Bina and below, which we call from the ear and below, that discernment. I said that, but in Atzilut, there's no such thing. If it's Atzilut, we aren't talking about that. That's why I say that all the… how do you say, all the names and appellations are taken from the world of Atzilut. They're from the world of Atzilut. And there we talk about Yesod of Abba, Yesod of Ima, Yesod AB, Yesod AB SAG, Arich, Yesod judgment, widening, shortening. There's the issue of Yesodot [foundations] there, but we don't speak of those discernments of the Yesodot, but only in brief. And in Peh [the mouth] in the part about touching and not touching, the Rav says a new thing.
RABASH: (10:38) Actually, ZA, when incorporated in Malchut is called Hod. He asks, if Malchut is called Hod, what is Yesod of Malchut? There are two diminutions. Hod of AB illuminated with the light of Hassadim, with the illumination of Hochma there. The abundance passed to Yesod of AB. It had Hochma. It had Hassadim with one Yod. When it passed on to Malchut, Hochma is now gone. It follows that Malchut, starting from Hod and below, has two diminutions. Hod, called Malchut, has one diminution in Yesod and one diminution in Malchut. That's why you get confused, I told you. He says that they took the tongue above in the discernment of Atzilut. If so, they spoke, they talked about the tongue, the language of Atzilut. And they talked about above Atzilut. What's your question?
Student: How could they connect above Atzilut? How did they attain something from the phase of Bina, that they themselves had attainment higher than Bina?
RABASH: I understand. Below. He says that in each and every degree, the discussion starts from Bina and below. Keter, from Bina and below. Hochma, from Bina and below. ZA, from Bina and below. Each and every degree that you may mention. We are speaking of Bina and below. In Keter, Hochma, those are the roots. What's so difficult? Why is it so? He does not explain. In one place, he does explain that the expansion from Rosh to Guf starts from Bina downwards, whereas the eye, Histaklut, a narrow view in Hebrew, remains above. There are many explanations for this. It means that whatever discernment it is that's being discussed, the discussion is about what's from Bina and below. If you want to know more, we could put it differently. Whatever discernment is being discussed, the discussion is only about Malchut and below. Only Malchut. Whatever Malchut attains, that is from Bina and below. So, what does it mean when we speak about direct light? You must say that there had to be four stages by which the will to receive, called the vessel, which was created by the light, is distance removed from the bestower. We say that everything comes from the bestower. He made for us four phases after which we feel that this vessel is far from Him. In that, we may deduce that if He made four stages by which we are distanced from Him, then we need to make four actions by which to get close to Him. And that is called reflected light.
RABASH (Source Text/Commentary): (14:54) What's so difficult to understand? The ten Sefirot of direct light are considered a single illumination. They are separated from one another only when they clothe in the reflected light.
95. The third discernment is that the ten Sefirot of direct light in and of themselves are not separated degrees from one another, as when they are clothed in reflected light. Rather, they are regarded as a single illumination. However, when they clothe inside the ten Sefirot of reflected light, great and enormous differences appear between them.
What's written here? 96. What's the title? There are distances in the ten Sefirot of direct light in terms of themselves. Look, though they are as one illumination, in any case, four distances, how is that possible? Let's see.
96. The fourth discernment is the distances in the ten Sefirot of direct light, from the perspective of the self of each and every Sefira, as written in part one. He doesn't say. Here, he means, as he says in the beginning, that the expansion of Ein Sof, infinity, is for the making of the vessels. What does it mean, the expansion of infinity is for the making of the vessels? That until the vessel called the created being emerged, there is no spark of reception. Four stages pass, and the abundance itself, we learned it here. Previously, we learned that Keter is His desire to benefit His created beings. The abundance He wishes to give to the created beings, created something from nothing - the discernment of the receiver. Until then, there was no created being, and this he calls the Sefira of Hochma, which is already removed from the Keter, as here there already exists a receiver. But both the abundance and the reception are made by the upper one. The lower one has yet to do anything. After that, another distancing happens. Meaning, the Hochma at its end, although, yes, that's where the restriction was born, but there was no true reception there. It was only the upper one giving to her. Now, nothing remains. She received from the upper one and wants equivalence of form.
RABASH: (19:44) Now, there is a distance already. Phase two exists. It was distanced from phase one. And this action she performed, why did she perform that action? Because she felt as though she was receiving. But from all these bestowals, it didn't turn out that the bestower is called light, wanting to bestow. She was nonetheless still receiving. Thus Bina too, although we speak of distancing there, was not yet removed from bestowal, not removed from the light, and therefore still not considered the created being. Third phase, what is that? Seeing as Bina, lights of Hassadim, drawn by her wanting equivalence of form that is canceled before Bina, like a candle before a torch, and therefore, she emerged, has her own reality, own entity. And there's a greater distance then in Hochma, but there's the illumination of Hochma there already. But Hassadim did not yet emerge, or not yet removed from the bestower to be called the created being, that's only to receive the created being. And after this, it is said that Ein Sof reached phase four, meaning due to the creation of the will to receive. As we learn, Zeir Anpin, at its end, wanted to receive the light, but not only in Zeir Anpin, expansively, to receive the light expansively, by way of Atzilut, as she was in the light of Hochma. But here she does not yet have that light. There's only an action taken by the lower one, the lower one yearns, but who wants the lower one to yearn once more? The upper one. His desire is to benefit His created beings that passed through several stages until coming to a place where she wants only to receive in order to receive and not to bestow anything. It follows that in the direct light itself, we find a lot of distance, and only after that do we learn that Malchut, at its end, also wants equivalence of form. She does not want to receive in order to receive, which is called the world of restriction, that is only in order to bestow. And so she continued to draw her light back, drawing her light back. And when the light returns, we say the desire of the upper one becomes a compelling law, an obligating law in the lower one. We find that when the light returns, now we discern up and down in it, high in importance, low in importance, since the will to receive is already in the fourth phase. That's the beginning of the reflected light, but now we are learning about direct light, so we stayed on this page, we need to start 97.
RABASH (Source Text/Commentary): (24:32) Everything around receives from the reason. So, the illumination remains primarily in its cause, and only a branch of it is imparted to the consequence.
97. The fifth, discernment. There are six discernments in the screen. Here, he's speaking about the fifth discernment. Do you hear?
97. The fifth discernment is the measure of the distance between the cause and the consequence. And that all that exists in the consequence, it receives from its cause. It cannot receive anything to any degree above its cause if not through its cause. As much as the cause imparts to the consequence, most of the illumination remains in the cause. And only a small branch of it is imparted and reaches the consequence, although the illumination comes primarily for the consequence.
What does he want to explain here? I heard that he gives that fifth discernment through the direct light. Here, okay, so every lower one receives something from the upper one. And the main illumination remains in the upper one and only intends on a small part. We understand that the expansion from here will be that the first degree of direct light, it's revealed where? From the Keter. How do I know it's revealed from the Keter? Who is the first receiver? Who's called phase one? Hochma.
RABASH: (27:47) So here, it's as if something second from someone else, we call it Keter. It doesn't matter the name, just that he is the first. He is the one bestowing Hochma to Aleph, to the first phase. So he tells us, who receives from Hochma? Bina. Why Bina? Who is the cause that the discernment of Bina will be in the world? Hochma. Hochma in its end felt that it is a receiver. And since every branch wants to resemble the root, that's why it doesn't want to be a receiver. It only wants to remain in equivalence of form. So, let's say the light of mercy comes, meaning the abundance on that vessel called Bina. So, I should also say that we learn that Bina receives from Keter. So how can that be? Where are we skipping degrees? I can depict it that it's above, or that below, and there are no places whether it's up, or down, or left, or right. So what does that mean? That if we give them their names according to their actions, So what is the action of Hochma? To receive? I can't say that Bina receives a force of bestowal from Hochma. It's not its cause. That's the reason that she wouldn't want to receive. She says she does receive. That's why we are relating it to Keter. But who does she receive it from? From Hochma. And we must say that the main mercy also remains in Hochma. So, according to that rule, if there were places... Well, it's a question. If he bestows to the right or to the left. But not to the right, not to the left, it's interesting. But we're still saying cause and effect. So, it's a different reason. What is that reason? Since Hochma, in the end, is a receiver, and it wants to be in equivalence of form. That's why it does not want to receive the phase of Hochma. That's a different phase. Who? Just as Keter bestows, he wants to bestow like Keter. So, we see that in that, it's considered that it receives from Keter. But Keter is the upper upper one.
RABASH: (32:05) We say there's one light. In the light, there's not bestowal, not reception, there's just one light. How is the light called? One name. His will to do good to His created being. Don't forget that. Who makes changes in the light? What did we learn? The receivers, not the light. That's why we say that after the vessel of Hochma was inspired by the sensation it got, from who? From the desire to do good, the desire to bestow. She got something from that. Those are called to the surface. One. She received from the upper force without asking in advance. She didn't even know that there was such a reality. I'll give you an allegory. We need to believe that the earth is filled with His glory. Well, everyone could believe. So, what do you have to give up for this? That’s called that he already receives from the bestower. So, the sages tell us, a person should not study Torah not for its sake, for Lo Lishma. But from Lo Lishma we come to Lishma. How? The light in it reforms. What does that mean, the light in it reforms? If a person is rewarded by attaining, by feeling that there is a reality that He wants to bestow to the created beings, his vessel awakens by feeling that, that he wants to bestow just like the light. That's called that the light that reforms him for the good. If we say reception isn't a good thing, what does it mean that it's reforming him to the good? That he also wants to bestow who? The light, or the vessel? So that's why you have to say that the light of Hochma that receives this as one discernment. We learn in spirituality that every innovation is a new phase, a new discernment, that it feels it receives that second phase, that feels that she is receiving from the bestower. And then, she wants to resemble the root, also become a bestower. Now, if we say that all the discernments in the vessels are in the vessels, we have to say that after she felt that she received abundance from the bestower, that causes that she won't be a receiver now. Just as until now she was in the Sefira of Hochma, now it's considered a different phase called Bina that wants to be like Keter. She was bestowing to Hochma, so she also wants to be like Keter, to bestow. But when we say that on that awakening abundance came upon Hochma, that was the cause. So, we have to say that the direct light remains in Hochma and only receives a small part, but that isn't called Hochma. Hochma is what it receives. And here it's the opposite. It's the light that is revealed on the awakening of bestowal. So, it's two things. I'm speaking about the light of Hochma. I'm speaking about a vessel that feels that there is light. What is light without someone who feels it? What? Who? What?
RABASH (Source Text/Commentary): (39:06) 98. All that is closer to phase four is regarded as coarser. In direct light, in the discernment of the proximity of phase four, the closer it is to phase four, the lower and coarser it is considered. This discernment, an innovation, begins in the direct light only from the restriction downward, when phase four became a vacant space. There is no light there, and in order for there will be light, it was corrected with the screen. According to its screen, it can be used with the vessel reception. Hence, this discernment that the most coarse that belongs to phase four does not apply to the circles, since there is no screen there. Because there is no screen, it doesn't mean anything to us. He says, because it's still lower in importance. In importance, that's why it's called a revelation. Why? Because there, you need a more precise discernment. What is the discernment of Malchut of the circles? Malchut of straightness. Malchut of circles once had light that filled all of reality, and it rejected it. Again, what did it have? That Malchut of straightness never tasted what is in all of reality. It never had it. That's why it's called lower in importance, and it's called circles. So, what were you asking?
Student: Rav says that Malchut…
RABASH: I said, what will I tell it? What I say, what you say, I want to know.
Student: I'm saying that in Malchut of straightness, there's also a record, which who…?
RABASH: Wait a minute. Enough, enough. I'm telling you, no.
Student: So, no Galgalta?
RABASH: (42:23) Let me finish. I'm saying, let me finish, why not? I can tell you. I'm left from what I had. That sounds good. In Malchut of circles, there was a light that filled all of reality or not? When it departed, I say that a record was left in every ten Sefirot of circles from the light of Ein Sof. Afterwards, we say, Malchut of circles, the records extended the light back to Malchut of circles. How? It had records. Malchut of straightness in reality, was it there? Not yet. When do I say Malchut of straightness? Since we say that the desire in the upper one became an obligating law in the lower one. That's why afterwards, when the light, when the abundance came below, and Malchut was not allowed to receive anymore, so we say that every new form is a new phase. So, I ask, what is in Malchut of straightness? It never had it. 99. Your question, maybe I understand it. In 97, it said that there's a cause and effect. In 99, when there's circles, there's up and down. So, he says, above and below belongs to being after the restriction. Before the restriction, there were circles. So you're asking me, cause and effect, was it specifically after the restriction or before the restriction? There was also a cause and effect, so I'm telling you that before the restriction, there was a cause and effect. You're asking me, since before the restriction, there wasn't a matter of disparity of form. So the lower one, yearns for equivalence of form or not? That's what you're asking. So, I'm answering you, that in holiness, yes, and in Klipa, no. So, 99.
RABASH (Source Text/Commentary): (46:11) 99. Here, he's not saying anything, he's just summarizing.
All these above discernments except for the last, apply to the ten Sefirot of direct light even before the restriction. What is the sixth discernment? That whatever is closer to phase four is worse. Meaning, if I say that phase four is worse, so everything that's closer becomes worse. But if I say that before the restriction, so it's not called that it's worse, when I speak of that discernment. Is that clear or not? So, here he says, all these above discernments except for the last, which is the sixth discernment, they apply to the ten Sefirot of direct light even before the restriction, even though we have no attainment whatsoever prior to the restriction. So, The ARI says here, why before the restriction is it called Ein Sof? Because we're already limited after the restriction. Nevertheless, the upper one is still studied from the lower one. Remember these discernments well, and let them not move before your eyes when you engage in the study of the wisdom. So here, so we finished. Well, today's Hannukah, how do you say latkes?
Student: Fritters.
RABASH: Yes. Let's see who's going to do it.