Cheder number two hundred ninety-four in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 17 Elul 5703.
Chumash: Tavo, Sixth aliyah, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 17th of the month, one recites from chapter 83 through and including chapter 87; and the three chapters for the month of Elul — on this day one recites chapters 49, 50, and 51.
Tanya: On this day we continue with Iggeret 15 in Iggeret HaKodesh. The daily portion is on page 108, from the words "vehineh midot," and concludes with the word "midoteihen."
The daily teaching is taken from a diary the Rebbe wrote during the month of Elul 5694, while he was in Warsaw. The Rebbe heard a story from the Rebbe Rayatz, recorded it in his diary, and brings it here in the daily saying. Let us read the teaching and then explain its content. "The Alter Rebbe himself would read the Torah" — the Alter Rebbe always read the Torah in the synagogue. "Once he was not in Liozna on Shabbos Parshas Tavo" — one time, on Shabbos Parshas Tavo, the Alter Rebbe was not in the town of Liozna.
"And the Mitteler Rebbe — while he was still a lad before his bar mitzvah — heard the reading from the substitute [baal-korei]" — since the Alter Rebbe was not in town, another person read from the Torah on that Shabbos, and the Mitteler Rebbe, the son of the Alter Rebbe, who was then a lad before his bar mitzvah, heard the Torah reading from the substitute baal-korei. Now in parshas Tavo, precisely in the daily Chumash portion of Friday, 17 Elul, is found the section that speaks of the tochachah and the curses.
"The anguish caused by the curses in the tochachah brought him to heartache" — the pain of soul that the Mitteler Rebbe felt from the curses written in the Torah in Parshas Tavo caused him such intense weakness and heartache, "that on Yom Kippur the Alter Rebbe was in doubt whether he would be able to fast" — Yom Kippur fell about three weeks later, and the Alter Rebbe was uncertain whether the Mitteler Rebbe was strong enough to fast on it, or whether he would perhaps be unable to fast because of the weakness caused him by the Torah reading.
The essence of this teaching lies in its conclusion: "When they asked the Mitteler Rebbe — this parsha is read every year," and this is not the first time you are hearing this reading, so what happened this year that you took it so hard? — "He answered: Az der tate leyent hert zich nit kein kelloles [=when father reads, one does not hear curses]." When father reads — for all those years the Alter Rebbe would read from the Torah — one does not hear curses; it sounds entirely different.
There is an explanation of this in Likkutei Sichos, volume 30, in Parashas Noach. The Rebbe explains that the curses written in the Torah are regarded and heard as curses only when one studies them on the level of the plain meaning; on that level they are indeed curses. But those very same verses, when one studies them as they are in the higher worlds, are not curses at all but great blessings, holiness and blessings. When the Alter Rebbe would read, the Mitteler Rebbe heard within the words their inner content as it is in the higher worlds, for everything there is good — as the Alter Rebbe himself writes in a maamar in Likkutei Torah on one of the verses of the curses: "But in truth they are only blessings."
There is an example of this that the Tzemach Tzedek points to in connection with this account, from the famous story in the Gemara in tractate Moed Katan (9b): Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai sent his son to receive a blessing from two sages, and when he returned to his father he related what they had told him — words that greatly distressed him. And this is what they said to him (translated from the Aramaic): "May it be His will that you sow and not reap, that you bring in and not take out, that you take out and not bring in, that your house be destroyed and your lodging place settled, that your table be in disarray, and that you not see a new year."
The son returned home confused by those statements, and his father explained to him what great blessings they had blessed him with. "May you sow and not reap" — that you should have sons and they should not die. "May you bring in and not take out" — that you should bring daughters-in-law into your home and your sons should not die, and the daughters-in-law should remain with you always and never need to leave. "May you take out and not bring in" — that you should have daughters and they should live with their husbands always, and never need to return home, for they should live in peace with their husbands.
"May your home be destroyed and your lodging be settled" — this world is considered a "lodging" [a temporary dwelling], while the home is the World to Come; and the blessing is that you should live long here in this world. "May your table be in disarray" — that you should have many sons and daughters, and there should always be commotion around you. "And may you not see a new year" — that your wife should not die and you should not have to marry a new wife, for one who takes a new wife, this is like a new year. Thus these very same words can carry a very positive meaning.
It is interesting to add that once, on the night of Simchas Torah 5747, the Rebbe made a precise observation: Why did they not ask the Mitteler Rebbe, "But you have studied the parsha before" — why did they attribute this specifically to the reading of the Torah? The answer is that when he studied, he always studied on a lofty level; but in listening to the reading of the Torah one must hear the plain meaning of the verses, for in the Torah reading there is no commentary and no lesson explaining the depth, rather one hears the pshat. And the novelty is that the Mitteler Rebbe, even when he heard the pshat from his father, heard something else.
And on Shabbat Parshat Tavo 5748, a year later, the Rebbe said that the expression "when Father reads" means that every Jew must reach a state in which, when he hears the reading of the Torah, he hears "Father reading" — he feels that the Holy One, blessed be He, is speaking here, and that His words are always good.
To conclude, it is interesting to bring another intriguing episode with the Mitteler Rebbe in connection with the reading of the Torah — the same idea, but from a different angle. As related in the sefer "Reshimos Devarim" of Rabbi Chitrik, once the Mitteler Rebbe traveled on a mission of his father to the city of Orsha, and he remained there over Purim. During the reading of the Megillah in the shul, it was customary to place a silver bowl on the table, and each of the participants would place in it a few coins as payment for the baal-korei.
The Mitteler Rebbe placed down a coin of five rubles — a very large coin. To grasp just how large: from all the worshippers together less than a single ruble was collected, yet he alone gave five rubles, more than five times what all the worshippers gave. The baal-korei felt uncomfortable with such a large sum, and said: "I don't deserve so much, you overdid it in your giving." The Mitteler Rebbe replied to him: "You do deserve it; such a beautiful story I have never heard as I heard today, and therefore you deserve it."
The mashpia R' Gronem of Lubavitch explained the intent of the Mitteler Rebbe: when he would hear the Megillah from his father, he heard an entirely different story, for from his father he heard how things unfold in the upper worlds; but such a story as it is in its plain sense — this is the first time I have heard it, and therefore you deserve a special and great gift.