The seventy-first "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Shabbos, 1 Adar I, Shabbos Rosh Chodesh, 5703.
First, something interesting about the heading, even before we get into the content of the day. The year 5703, as we see, is a leap year, and there is a very noticeable difference here between the way the first Adar is designated and the way the second Adar is designated: when it comes to the first Adar the wording written is "Adar Alef," and when the second Adar arrives the wording in the heading, throughout the entire month, is "Adar Sheini" (second Adar).
Rabbi Zeligson, who was among the first to begin studying the precise wording of Hayom Yom, asked the Rebbe about this in 5740; he submitted a note to the Rebbe and asked: why is there no consistency between the designations of the months? Let it be written in both "Adar Alef" or "Adar Rishon, Adar Sheini" - why does the Rebbe write "Adar Alef" for the first Adar and "Adar Sheini" for the second Adar, and what is the reason for the change?
The Rebbe answered him with a reply that included three parts, and interestingly, two weeks later, at the farbrengen of Shabbos Mevorchim Adar, the Rebbe addressed this question at the farbrengen as well. What did the Rebbe answer? I will convey the content of the words, not verbatim. First, the Rebbe says that the question is not a strong one, since it is common in many places that even regarding seforim people write "Chelek Alef," and afterwards "chelek sheini, shlishi and revi'i" - this is not such a big question, and one need not be so precise about it, even though perhaps it would indeed have been fitting to write "rishon, sheini." Second, says the Rebbe, look at the days of creation: we see that on the first day of the creation of the world it says "yom echad" (one day), and afterwards "sheini, shlishi and revi'i." Third, writes the Rebbe, it is entirely possible for there to be a situation in which at first there was "Adar echad" - the alef from the word "echad," one - and it was still not known whether the beis din would indeed intercalate the year and there would be a second Adar or not; it is possible that in the middle of the month the beis din convenes and decides to intercalate the year, and then the second one is "Adar Sheini," but the first is not called "rishon" but rather "echad."
And a month later, as I mentioned, when the Rebbe held a farbrengen on Shabbos Mevorchim Adar I in 5740, the Rebbe addressed the question and said a point somewhat opposite to what he said in his written reply, in connection with the matter of Moshiach: it is possible that the beis din will convene in the first Adar and decide not to intercalate the year, and consequently it will turn out that there will be only "Adar Alef," one. That is, the matter can go in both directions; and therefore, when one is in a leap year and in the first Adar, it was called "Adar Alef," since one of two things is possible - either the coming month will be Nissan and there will be no second Adar, or there will indeed be a second Adar and only then is it certainly "sheini." That is why the wording is "Adar Alef." This relates to the heading alone.
Shiurim: Chumash, Mishpatim, sheivi'i, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the first of the month, we begin from the beginning, from chapter 1 through chapter 9 inclusive.
Tanya, on this day we begin a new chapter, chapter 26, from the first word "Beram," and we conclude with the words "ha'etzem kanal."
Before the beginning of the teaching there is here a short quotation from the Rebbe Rashab's corrections on Likkutei Torah-Torah Or. Throughout Hayom Yom the Rebbe consistently copies the Rebbe Rashab's corrections, each time in accordance with the week in which the weekly chassidic parsha is studied. Here the Rebbe brings in a correction on a maamar in parshas Mishpatim in Torah Or. And what is the wording? "Torah Or, dibur hamaschil "Lo Sihyeh Meshakeilah"" - in the maamar that opens with this verse from parshas Mishpatim, "the se'if beginning "V'hinei achar"." As we have mentioned on previous occasions, in Torah Or there is no division into se'ifim by letters but rather by passages, and therefore it is written "the se'if beginning with these and these words."
The se'if there speaks about a Jew: there is a situation in which he has love of Hashem and fear of Hashem, and there is a situation in which he does not. The Mitteler Rebbe explains that when a Jew does not have love of Hashem, his designation is "Chanah," as it says "and Chanah had no children" - and children are love and fear. And what happens then? It says "and Chanah prayed al Hashem." The Alter Rebbe examines the precise wording: what is "and Chanah prayed al Hashem"? And he explains that "Havayah" is from the expression havayas ha'olam - the coming into being of the world, that the world comes into being from nothing into something; the Jew must contemplate the level that is above the coming into being of the world, and this will lead him to absolute devotion to Elokus. The wording in the maamar is "b'mesiras nefesh," and the next word is an acronym of three letters: "bfa"a." Here the Rebbe comes and deciphers the acronym and says that its meaning is "the decoding of the acronym is: bifnimiyus atzmuso" (in the innerness of his essence); that is, a Jew gives over his soul in a manner in which he becomes completely united and reaches devotion in the innerness of his essence. This is the Rebbe's annotation on the matter.
And now let us examine the content of the teaching itself. The source of the teaching is a letter of the Rebbe Rayatz, which he wrote in the month of Elul 5685. In this letter there appear two explanations of the verse "Man goes out to his work and to his labor until evening." This verse, as is known, is said in the chapter "Barchi Nafshi" which is recited on Rosh Chodesh, and this is the connection between the teaching and this day, which is Rosh Chodesh Adar I.
Both explanations explain, in avodas Hashem, what "man goes out" means. The first explanation says that the intent is to man, meaning the neshamah, and that "goes out" refers to the neshamah's departure from the upper world to descend into the body, and accordingly he explains the entire flow of the verse. The second explanation is the opposite: what is "goes out"? That the neshamah goes out from the body to ascend back upward, and accordingly he explains the continuation of the verse. These are the two explanations. The explanation is not brought here in the name of its author, but in the Sefer HaMaamarim Yiddish of the Rebbe Rayatz this teaching is brought in the name of the Baal Shem Tov.
Let us see what the teaching says according to the two approaches. The first explanation, as stated, speaks of the neshamah that goes out from the upper world to be clothed in a body. Let us read the wording: "It is written: Man goes out to his work and to his labor until evening. Now, every neshamah in its descent below" - that the neshamah goes out from the upper world and descends below in order to be clothed in a body - "has general and particular tasks." It has a general avodas Hashem, a type of avodah whose heading applies to all Jews and to all types - this is the general avodah in the world; and there is a particular avodah, in which each one has his own specific personal avodah, which he and only he will do, and it does not pertain to anyone else.
Based on this we will understand the verse. "And this is: Man goes out to his work" - what is "goes out"? As stated, this is the neshamah that goes out from the treasury of souls to descend into a body; "for the going out of the neshamah from its standing in the lofty heavens in the treasury of souls," when the neshamah goes out from the state in which it was in the lofty heavens, and descends below, "in its descent from level to level until it comes" - where does it arrive? - "to be clothed in a body and a natural and animal soul." That is its going out. And the verse comes and says "goes out" - that the neshamah goes out from the treasury of souls to be clothed in a body - "this is for the sake of "man to his work"," meaning so that man will accomplish in the world what he must accomplish.
And what must he accomplish in the world? There is "in the general tasks," the general avodah that is the same by everyone, whose heading is identical by all. And what is it? "To make the form prevail over the matter" - a person received a material body and received a neshamah which is the form, the inner essence, and his avodah in the world is that the form should prevail over the matter, that the spiritual should prevail over the physical - "to illuminate the world with the light of Torah and the lamp of mitzvah." The Jew's entire avodah in the world is to illuminate the world, to bring Torah and mitzvah into it, to make the form prevail over the matter. That is the general avodah.
The verse continues and says "and to his labor" - what is "and to his labor"? "Which is the particular task." In addition to the general heading, in which everyone is equal, each one has his personal portion, in the place and time in which he must accomplish. "For every neshamah has a particular avodah in the intellect or in the emotions according to its nature and its matter" - every neshamah has its nature, its character and its matter, and accordingly it must carry out its avodah.
And what is the conclusion of the verse? "Until evening." What is the simple meaning of the words "until evening"? The Rebbe Rayatz says in the letter: "until evening" means "while there is still time to do," as long as evening has not arrived. "Evening" is the conclusion of the avodah - the person returns the keys, and the neshamah departs from here. As long as he is alive and as long as he is here, let him fill himself up and use the time to accomplish what he must do, "as it is written "today to do them"." This is the portion of the letter in which the Rebbe Rayatz relates to what was written to him, that there is a certain Jew close to the age of eighty who decided to clear himself of all his affairs and sit all day in the tent of Torah; and in accordance with this report the Rebbe brings the teaching whose content is - as long as there is time and as long as he is here, excellent, this is exactly what a Jew must do.
And then comes the second half of the teaching, the second explanation: "And in the depth of the matter, the explanation of the verse" - how can one understand the verse in a deeper way? "Goes out" does not mean, as at first, that the neshamah goes out from the treasury of souls to descend below, but rather here it is the opposite - that a person concludes his avodah in the world and goes out. "For it refers to the whole matter of the ascent that comes about through the descent of the neshamah below" - the deeper explanation is that the verse refers to a person who has concluded his avodah in the world. And what happens when he goes out? "For "man goes out"" - what is the simple meaning? "For when the neshamah ascends from its being below clothed in a body," when the neshamah goes out from the body and ascends upward - where does it go, and what is its matter and its occupation in the upper world after it has concluded its avodah?
The verse says "to his work" - what is the meaning? "It is occupied in the World to Come in the manner of its occupation in this world"; what he did here in the world is what he will have above in the World to Come. And he elaborates: "and if he set fixed times for Torah," if in this world his occupation was setting fixed times for Torah, then "there too they bring him into the tents of Torah" - also in Gan Eden, in the World to Come, he will be in the tents of Torah, in accordance with his work here. And the verse continues "and to his labor" - what is this? "If he engaged in his avodah properly," if he did his avodah properly and completed his mission, then "behold, his ascent is until evening" - what is "until evening"? Behold, his ascent is "adei erev," and "erev" here is from the expression "areivus" (sweetness) and "pleasantness"; that is, "that it ascends in ascent after ascent until the pleasantness and sweetness of the Essence of the Ein Sof, blessed be He." It ascends and reaches the absolute and perfect sweetness above. These are the two explanations of the verse, and it is all the explanation of the Baal Shem Tov on the verse.
In that same maamar we mentioned, in Sefer HaMaamarim Yiddish, the Rebbe Rayatz brings an additional and brief explanation of this verse from the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe says: "Man goes out," when a person goes out to do his avodah - first of all "to his work," first of all be a laborer, meaning do with kabbalas ol, like a worker, what you are told to do. And if you will do so as a laborer, then "and to his labor until evening" - in your avodah you will begin to receive sweetness and pleasantness, and you will have joy and delight. If you begin with kabbalas ol, in the end you will have sweetness within the avodah.
In conclusion, let us see where the connection lies in the sequence of the Rambam's books to the daily teaching. We have concluded Sefer Nashim, and now we are entering Sefer Kedushah, which includes Hilchos Issurei Biah, Hilchos Maachalos Assuros and Hilchos Shechitah. What is the connection to the teaching? First, the general nature of the book, even before we enter into the details - and this we will see in the coming days - one can say that it is connected to the heading we mentioned in the teaching, "to make the form prevail over the matter"; for all the prohibitions discussed in Issurei Biah, in Maachalos Assuros and in Shechitah, their matter is that a person should not be dragged after the matter but rather should make the form prevail over it and conduct himself as the Holy One, blessed be He, wants. That is the general connection.
And in greater detail: it is known that the Rambam opens each book with a heading that is one verse from Tanach. And what is the verse with which he opens Sefer Kedushah? A verse from Tehillim: "Establish my footsteps in Your word, and let no iniquity rule over me." This verse speaks of "my footsteps" - from the expression of steps - that a person's steps should be in the proper manner. This corresponds to the heading here, "Man goes out to his work" - the steps that you walk, what your role is in them and what you must properly do in them. This corresponds both to the general heading of the book and to its general content. The details of the halachos we will see, with Hashem's help, in the coming days.