The twenty-fifth "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 25 Adar II 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Shemini, Chamishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 25th of the month, the first half of chapter 119 - from the beginning, from the word "Ashrei", until the end of the letter Lamed, which ends with the words "rechavah mitzvatecha me'od".
Tanya: On this day we study chapter 38. The shiur begins with the words "velo sheyitbatel", and concludes on page 51 with the words "chai umedaber".
The daily teaching is a very fundamental teaching in chassidus. Its source is a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on 24 Sivan 5697, a letter written with a certain sharpness, and it is addressed to the mashpia in the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah in Otwock, Rabbi Baruch Friedman.
The story was that bochurim in the yeshivah really wanted to enter the Rebbe Rayatz for yechidus, and the Rebbe did not receive them and did not want to receive them. The mashpia wrote to the Rebbe Rayatz that the bochurim were downcast, their hearts had fallen within them because they could not enter for yechidus, and the matter affected them deeply, and he wanted to arrange for them to enter for yechidus regardless.
The Rebbe Rayatz writes to him at length and sharply, explaining to him what yechidus is in general. The bochurim assume that yechidus is a technical matter - simply to enter the Rebbe's room; but it is not so. The essence of yechidus is an internal matter, an inner content in avodah, and this inner content of yechidus is lacking in the bochurim. And why do they lack it? Either because their guides are not educating them, or because their guides do educate them, but they are not truly devoting themselves to this education. Whatever the reason may be, they lack the inner guidance of what yechidus is [and the lengthy point on this matter will be studied, please G-d, in the teaching of 10 Elul, in that same letter where the Rebbe Rayatz explains what yechidus is].
The Rebbe Rayatz continues and says that in order to enter for yechidus, one must be prepared in advance for inner, personal avodah, even before entering for yechidus, and it is not a technical matter. In his words there: There are some new ones, who have recently come, who have just drawn near and their eyes and hearts have not yet opened - they despise discipline, stand on their own authority and guide themselves; and of course, when there are no teachers and guides and no guiding friend, they go and err and create confusion, "the primary becomes secondary and the secondary becomes primary," "daydreaming" and "full of illusions." They do not truly pay attention to what yechidus is; they only heard that when one enters for yechidus one must complain about having foreign thoughts and not feeling any taste in the avodah of Hashem, "Rebbe, give me advice" - but in truth the matter does not touch them.
At the end of the letter, the Rebbe Rayatz brings the story cited in Hayom Yom, which shows how much mental-spiritual effort was required of the chassidim even before they entered for yechidus, so that they would be worthy to enter it, and what the required preparation was. The story is told by "the chassid Rabbi Mordechai of Horodok related", who told it to the chassid Rabbi Shmuel DovBer Yashar.
And so he related: "The first teaching we heard from our Alter Rebbe when we came to Liozna" - they were a group of young married men, and when they arrived in Liozna, to the Alter Rebbe for the first time, what was the first teaching they heard from him? "The forbidden is forbidden, and the permitted is superfluous". This was the first teaching they heard.
"For about three or four years we worked on this" - for three or four years they worked on themselves in this direction, "until we brought this approach into the matters of our lives"; that is, until they permeated all matters of their lives with the recognition and perspective that what is permitted is unneeded and superfluous. "And only then did we enter yechidus to ask for a path in avodah" - only then, after they internalized this direction for three or four years, did they enter for yechidus to the Alter Rebbe to receive a path and guidance from him in the avodah of Hashem. This implies that they took the whole concept of yechidus very seriously: one should not just enter for yechidus for no reason, but must first work on oneself for a few years.
At a farbrengen on Shabbos Lech Lecha 5691, the Rebbe Rayatz spoke and said that there is a disease in America. The Rebbe Rayatz, who had just arrived in America, spoke and said that there is a disease in America, and he called it in Yiddish "men meg" - permitted; permissiveness.
He elaborated and said: What is the problem? That even permitted things. Let us take the example of food - food that is permitted, kosher, mehudar, everything is fine. Why are you eating it? If the intention in eating is for the person's sake, he is not thinking about the food with the goal of sanctifying and refining it, but rather thinking about himself, that it is tasty and good for him. If so, not only does he not refine and elevate the food, but on the contrary - the food takes over the person and lowers him to a low level, and the food descends together with him. A Jew's approach should be: "Permitted" - who says it is needed? If he reached the conclusion that the thing is needed in order to elevate it, and he thinks about the matter - how good; but if it is merely "permitted", then it is completely open and unrestrained.
This is a general example of the teaching, which shows that the concept that appears in chassidus - the concept of "iskafya" - is not a concept that belongs exclusively to previous generations. The Rebbe included this concept in a teaching in Hayom Yom, and we already studied a similar teaching on 27 Shevat.
In conclusion, the connection between the teaching and the order of the Rambam's "Yad Hachazakah" is very interesting. According to the teachings of the recent period we are in Sefer Zeraim: We saw the similarity to the first laws - Hilchos Kilayim, Hilchos Matnos Aniyim, Hilchos Terumos and Hilchos Maasros - and now we correspond to Hilchos Maaser Sheni and Neta Revai. Neta Revai is about how to treat fruits in their fourth year. The Rambam explains that in the first three years it is forbidden to eat the fruits, and even in the fourth year they cannot be eaten freely, but must be taken up to Jerusalem, for they contain holiness.
And this is the whole idea of the teaching: There is that which is forbidden - the first three years; and there is that which is permitted - but even with it one must know how to behave. And the permitted and the forbidden here: three years it is forbidden, and in the fourth year it is permitted with conditions. And it is fitting that even in the teaching it states how long they worked on themselves in the matter - "for about three or four years we worked on this"; even this detail matches exactly the concept of Neta Revai - three years and following them the fourth year. This is the connection between the daily teaching and this order in the Rambam.