Room two hundred eighty-eight in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Shabbos, 11 Elul, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, "Teitzei", Sheviei, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 11th of the month, one recites from chapter 60 through chapter 65 inclusive. And on account of the three chapters added during the month of Elul, one recites chapters 31, 32 and 33.
Tanya: On this day one studies the entirety of Letter 13 in Iggeret HaKodesh, which begins with the words "Mah rav tuvcha" and concludes with the words "b'sukkah, etc."
The daily teaching is drawn from a lengthy letter that the Rebbe Rayatz wrote on 5 Tammuz 5695, addressed to the Rebbe. In the letter the Rebbe Rayatz describes the first yechidus of his mentor, the chassid R' Chanoch Hendel, with the Tzemach Tzedek. From this same letter there are additional teachings in "Hayom Yom"; for example, in two days from now, on 13 Elul, there will be another saying — "The chassid R' Hendel related" — from that very letter.
The Rebbe Rayatz describes there that R' Chanoch Hendel arrived in Lubavitch at a time when the Tzemach Tzedek was not yet there, since he had traveled — as we already read in "Hayom Yom" — to the conference of the assembly of rabbis in Petersburg. On 10 Elul the Tzemach Tzedek returned from Petersburg to Lubavitch, and from Wednesday, 11 Elul, until Friday — three days — the chassid R' Chanoch Hendel fasted before entering yechidus, and he entered yechidus with the Tzemach Tzedek on Friday.
The Rebbe Rayatz describes at length how Shabbos was spent at the Rebbe's; how the reception was when the Tzemach-Tzedek arrived in Lubavitch, and how even the gentiles came out to greet him — a very interesting description. He describes there the order of the Shabbos meal and how the Rebbe conducted the Kiddush on Shabbos day. And in the midst of these matters he brings something that the Rebbe told at the daytime meal of Shabbos parshas Teitzei — which is today's date, 11 Elul, Shabbos parshas Teitzei. He describes there that the Rebbe would tell stories whose content dealt with the meaning of the World to Come, and following that comes the present teaching.
He puts it thus: "Shabbat Parashat Teitzei, 5603" — exactly one hundred years before our date here, 5703, Shabbat Parashat Teitzei — "at the table of the daytime Kiddush," when the Rebbe held the Shabbat daytime meal, during the Kiddush, "the Tzemach Tzedek saw fit to say," and he spoke before the assembled congregation: "This world is a world of falsehood" — the world in which we find ourselves is called the world of falsehood, and "therefore, behold, even within the good there is admixed dross"; in the world of falsehood there is no absolute good, but even in the good there is mixed a bit of evil and a bit of dross.
And consequently, what is a person to do with the things he encounters, in each of which there is both bad and good? "And a birur is required" — the separation of the good from the bad. And how is this birur accomplished? There are two ways: "by way of from below to above and by way of from above to below." By way of from below to above — for example, when a person prays, or when a person decides on his own and says: it seems to me that this thing is not good for me and is liable to bring me down, and therefore I abstain from it and invest more in the other. That is, he conducts the birur between the good and the bad as befits his life — this is from below to above.
And in the manner of top-to-bottom — the ruling continually determines for the person: in the Torah it is written that this is forbidden and that is permitted, and the person does exactly as he is told; the clarification is determined from above to below, and the person is merely the executor. Either way, through his avodah the person must bring about a state of clarification and separation between good and evil. This is Olam Hazeh.
The Tzemach Tzedek continued and said that this very same teaching — which in this world means to refrain from something negative and from something evil — how is it studied in Gan Eden? For in Gan Eden too Torah is studied, "the World to Come is a world of truth"; in Gan Eden there is no evil. If so, it cannot be understood there with the same meaning as here, where one comes to say "do not behave this way" or "do not do this" because it is evil — for there is no evil in Gan Eden. "Behold, even the matters in the words of Torah that speak of things which appear as a deficiency, the way they are studied in Gan Eden — they are a virtue." Therefore that very same teaching, as it is studied in Gan Eden, is from the outset in a positive meaning. This is the principle, and he will shortly bring an example; but first he said that this is the difference between this world and the World to Come.
The account continues: "and he began to sing" — the Rebbe himself began to sing together with those assembled — "and he gestured with his holy hand as a sign that they should sing with him," an indication that he began singing alone and wished for everyone to join in the niggun. "The sons of the Tzemach Tzedek began to sing" — the Rebbe's sons who were seated there sang together with their father — "and after them all the chassidim responded in a voice of song that inflamed the hearts." Everyone sang together; the notes of the niggun are not preserved here, but it was an inspiring niggun, and all were immersed in it very deeply.
"When he finished playing, the Tzemach Tzedek said" — he continued the theme he had spoken of earlier, but now he gave an illustration of his words, and said: "ba'alma dein," in this world of ours, what is "the meaning of the statement (Sanhedrin 99b)" in the Gemara it states "one who learns Torah intermittently" — the Gemara speaks of a person who learns Torah intermittently, sometimes yes and sometimes no, whenever it happens to suit him "who learns Torah at times" — and speaks of him disparagingly, that this is not proper conduct. Rashi likens this sharply to a person who does not live an orderly family life in a steady marriage, who knows with whom he lives, but rather intermittently, sometimes this way and sometimes that way. Thus the Gemara speaks of such a person in a negative light.
This is the interpretation of the saying in tractate Sanhedrin in this world. "In Gan Eden they explain the statement" — but in Gan Eden too this saying is studied, and how do they explain there "one who studies Torah intermittently"? There it cannot carry the same meaning as in this world, that one studies Torah sometimes yes and sometimes no, in a negative sense; rather, on the contrary, that very statement speaks of something entirely positive. What, then, would the interpretation be in the World to Come? "That he studies Torah and the Torah 'breaks him up' into parts, the words of the Torah 'take hold' of him" — that he studies Torah, as the wording "one who studies Torah" implies — and what is "intermittently"? Not as in this world, "that at times, sometimes yes and sometimes no; but rather that the Torah breaks him up and penetrates every single part of his body, every single portion of his soul. He studies Torah in a manner that it penetrates his very being; the words of the Torah take hold of him and penetrate within him.
It emerges that the very same statement — which here in this world means to cause us to flee from something negative — is studied in Gan Eden in the opposite manner, to do something positive. Why? Because in Gan Eden there is no evil, and it is impossible to interpret the teaching in a negative way; therefore everything is interpreted in a good and positive manner.