The one hundred and thirteenth "room" in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Shabbos, 13 Adar II, Parshas Zachor, 5703.
Today's shiurim consist of three parts: the customs related to this day, the daily shiurim, and the teaching itself.
We begin with the introduction, with the custom of this day. We are on Shabbos Parshas Zachor, and the Rebbe refers first to the Haftarah recited on it. According to all customs, the Haftarah of this Shabbos is from chapter 15 of Shmuel I, which tells of King Shaul and the matter of Agag, etc. However, there is a difference in customs: according to the Sefardim, the Haftarah begins from the first verse of the chapter, with the words "Vayomer Shmuel", and according to the Ashkenazim, it begins from the second verse, with the words "Koh amar Hashem". The Rebbe points out that we begin the Haftarah with "Haftarah: Koh amar Hashem", that is, according to the Ashkenazi custom.
The second section: "Av Harachamim is recited". We are on Shabbos Zachor, which is one of the four Parshiyos. In this matter there is a dispute: on the one hand, the Rema, in his sefer "Darkei Moshe" on the "Tur", writes that in each of the four Parshiyos - of which Zachor is the first - we do not say Hashkavas Neshamos, meaning we do not say "Av Harachamim". Conversely, the "Elya Rabbah", Rabbi Eliyahu Shapiro of Prague, writes that we do say "Av Harachamim". Here the Rebbe rules that our custom follows the "Elya Rabbah" and not the "Darkei Moshe", and therefore we say "Av Harachamim" on Shabbos Parshas Zachor.
The third thing: "Tzidkos'cha is not recited". Since we are at the afternoon of 13 Adar, which is Erev Purim - as 14 Adar is Purim, and Tachanun is not recited on Erev Purim - and "Tzidkos'cha" is said on Shabbos after Minchah, and on a day when Tachanun is not recited we do not say "Tzidkos'cha", therefore we do not say "Tzidkos'cha" on this day.
Shiurim: Chumash, on the Shabbos of Parshas Vayikra, Vayikra Shevi'i with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 13th of the month, from chapter 69 up to and including chapter 71.
Tanya, in chapter 37 which we have already begun. The daily section begins with the word "Umaos" and ends on page 47 with the word "hatefillah".
The daily teaching speaks about the significance of Amalek. We are in Parshas Zachor - "Zachor asher asah lecha Amalek" (Remember what Amalek did to you) - and therefore the content of the teaching deals with the matter of Amalek. The teaching itself is taken as a sort of summary from a maamar of the Rebbe Rayatz, Dibbur Hamaschil "Vayavo Amalek" 5690, which was actually published in the year 5709, on Shabbos Beshalach (where Amalek is also written about in Parshas Beshalach).
In the maamar, the Rebbe Rayatz asks several questions, and through them arrives at the inner understanding of the concept of Amalek. I will quote some of the precise observations he asks there: One observation - throughout the Torah the nation is referred to as "Bnei Yisrael", whereas here, in the war with Amalek, it is written "Vayavo Amalek vayilachem im Yisrael", and not "vayilachem im Bnei Yisrael". A second observation - why was the instruction of Moshe Rabbeinu stated in the singular form, "Tzei hilachem ba'Amalek" (Go out and fight in Amalek), rather than as a narrative description such as "vayetz'u lehilachem" or "tze'u" in the plural? A third observation - why is it written "Tzei hilachem ba'Amalek" (fight IN Amalek), and not "Tzei hilachem im Amalek" (fight WITH Amalek)?
After all these precise observations, the Rebbe Rayatz explains the concept of Amalek in the avodah of Hashem within a person's soul. He explains that the matter of Amalek comes to a Jew when he is awakened with faith in Hashgachah Pratis, sees miracles that transcend nature, and this affects him greatly - and specifically then Amalek comes to cool him off. He notes carefully that the Torah relates that Amalek came to fight the Jewish people "b'Rephidim". The Gemara (in tractate Bechoros, in the chapter "Eilu Ne'emarin") discusses what "Rephidim" is: there are two opinions - whether "Rephidim" is the name of a place, or if it represents a state where the Jewish people were weak (rafu) in words of Torah.
Here the Rebbe explains in the maamar that when there is a weakness in words of Torah, a weakness in a Divine-spiritual matter, Amalek immediately enters the picture and causes a person coldness and doubts, to cool him off from a serious attitude toward matters of Torah and Yiddishkeit. Therefore, when it is necessary to fight, one must not fight with the coldness itself but with the underlying cause that brings it. One does not fight "with Amalek" but "in Amalek" - in the very thing that is the cause of the coldness, the weakness in words of Torah and the coldness regarding matters of the sanctity of Torah. This is what must be uprooted, meaning to strengthen oneself in the holiness of the Torah, and consequently the nullification of Amalek will follow.
Let us now read the text of the teaching, in which the Rebbe summarizes that maamar in his own words. The teaching begins: "Vayavo Amalek vayilachem im Yisrael b'Rephidim", and it explains what "b'Rephidim" is - "when they weaken in Torah". [And the explanation in the maamar, which in its original was also written in Yiddish: "they become weak in Torah"]. In what does this weakness manifest? "For the study of Torah is meant in order to do and to fulfill". Because the purpose of Torah study is not just beautiful intellect and wonderful ideas, but actual fulfillment - to study Torah with kabbalas ol, that whatever the Holy One, blessed be He, says is what must be done. The weakness is when one studies the Torah only for its intellectual and conceptual side, and not from an approach that it is a practical matter.
And what is Amalek? It is that which cools off the Jew, instilling in him a coldness in all his attitude toward the sanctity of the Torah. "Vayilachem im Yisrael" (And fought with Israel) - and here comes the answer as to why it says "im Yisrael" and not "im Bnei Yisrael": there is a hint here that he is not fighting only against the nation, who are Bnei Yisrael, but he fights against the sanctity of the Torah, and this is alluded to in the word "Yisrael". How so? It is known that "Yisrael" is "an acronym for 'Yesh Shishim Ribo Otiyos LaTorah' (There are 600,000 letters in the Torah)", meaning that every Jew has an inner, soulful and spiritual connection to every detail in the Torah, "for every single Jew has one letter in the Torah". The Torah belongs to the Jew, and everyone has their own letter in it.
"And therefore all of Israel are accustomed to writing a letter in the Torah". In the simple sense, this could mean that at the completion of a Sefer Torah people step up to write in it, but the Rebbe mentioned this maamar in the context of the "Os b'Sefer Torah" campaign, that every Jew should have a letter in a Sefer Torah. The Rebbe explained that the meaning of these words, that all Israel have the custom to write a letter in the Torah, is that everyone feels they have a very deep inner connection to the Torah.
If so, Amalek comes and fights with Yisrael - he comes to fight against this matter, against the approach of the sanctity of the Torah; "And Amalek cools off the sanctity of the Torah". This describes the first half: what Amalek does, and how one deals with it. "And the advice for this" - what is the advice? What did Moshe Rabbeinu do when Amalek came? It is written that he said to Yehoshua, "Choose for us men". And the precision is that they must be "men of Moshe" - in order to fight Amalek, one needs people who are connected to Moshe, to the Moshe Rabbeinu of the generation, who gives you the sanctity of Yiddishkeit and not the approach of your own logic and intellect.
And "Moshe" is not only Moshe Rabbeinu who lived then, at the time the Torah tells of Amalek, but "v'ispashtusa d'Moshe b'chol dara u'dara" - that in every generation there is an extension of Moshe. And just as there is an Amalek in every generation, so too in every generation, in order to cope with the coldness of Amalek, one must connect with the Moshe of the generation, "for in every generation there are the heads of the thousands of Israel"; and when one connects with the Moshe of the generation, one has the ability to cope with the coldness of Amalek.
Now the Rebbe addresses the final precise observation we brought from the maamar - why it does not say "vayilachamu" or "tze'u" (in the plural), but in the singular. "V'tzei hilachem ba'Amalek" (And go out and fight Amalek) in the singular: The reason Moshe Rabbeinu says this "in the singular" is to emphasize that this is not merely a narrative account of a war that occurred back then, but a contemporary and eternal expression. They are telling you: whenever you study this verse - "Go out and fight Amalek". "Because the Torah is eternal in every generation, in every time and in every place equally", and therefore the directive is an eternal directive for every generation. And in order to make it clear that this is an eternal directive, Moshe Rabbeinu expressed himself in such a manner.
In one of the years, the Rebbe mentioned this entire teaching, and said - when speaking about himself - that the matter is connected to his having gone out with all the Mivtzaim (campaigns). The Rebbe said that the whole idea of the Mivtzaim is to strengthen this matter: to strengthen the Jew's connection to the sanctity of the Torah, and consequently nullify the coldness of Amalek. He elaborated: Mivtza Torah - to speak with Jews so they will come to learn Torah in public, so that they have the opportunity to learn; Mivtza Tefillin - as it is said that the prerequisite to Torah must be avodas Hashem, and tefillin are connected to the subjugation of the heart and mind, and this will assist that the Torah studied afterward will be proper; Mivtza Ahavas Yisrael - a prerequisite for prayer, which comes even earlier; and similarly Mivtza Chinuch and all the Mivtzaim - the Rebbe said that all the Mivtzaim are this very concept.
And especially, the Rebbe spoke then about the "Os b'Sefer Torah" campaign, which is literally the campaign that pertains to this matter. In other words, all of the Rebbe's campaigns have one general goal: the Moshe Rabbeinu of the generation mobilizing the Jewish people to fight the coldness that Amalek brings; and when one works in the manner of "men of Moshe", one certainly succeeds in reaching this goal.