"Room" one hundred and sixty-eight in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 9 Iyar, 24th of the Omer, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Emor, Shishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 9th of the month, from chapter 49 to and including chapter 54.
Tanya: Today we conclude chapter 46, beginning from the words "Vezehu she'amar Asaf", on page 66, until the end of the chapter with the word "ha'atzilus".
The daily teaching appears in numerous places and is a very famous saying, but the phrasing as it appears here is a quote from a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on 21 Adar II 5695. In that letter, the Rebbe Rayatz begins by saying about himself that today he saw something from which one can truly learn an example and a concept in avodas Hashem, and then he cites the saying of the Baal Shem Tov, that everything a Jew sees or hears, etc. Let us read the teaching, and afterward we will see another interesting thing that the Rebbe Rayatz adds in his letter.
And this is the text of the teaching: "Moreinu the Baal Shem Tov said: Every single thing that a person sees or hears". Why are these two specifically emphasized - the sense of sight and the sense of hearing? The Rebbe notes that the Gemara says these two things are central and comprehensive in a person's life: regarding sight it is said that a blind person, who does not see, is considered as dead; and regarding hearing - in other damages the payment is for the loss of that specific limb, but regarding a deaf person it is said "one who deafens him pays his entire value". We find that hearing and sight are senses connected to the entire essence of the person. Also in pnimiyus hatorah it is brought in one of the maamarim, that the pleasure in seeing and hearing is incomparably higher than all the other pleasures and senses in a person. Therefore these two things are very important.
Returning to the teaching. The Baal Shem Tov says, that every single thing that a person sees or hears "is a directive for conduct in avodas Hashem". That is to say, the Holy One, blessed be He, inherently shows him a path how to conduct himself, through what he sees or what he hears. "And this is the concept of avodah" - this is the demand required of a Jew in avodas Hashem, "to understand and comprehend from everything a path in avodas Hashem", meaning, from every single thing that a person sees or hears he must understand and comprehend a path in avodas Hashem; everything must lead him to a path in avodas Hashem.
In that same letter, even before he relates what happened that day that aroused him to write this, the Rebbe Rayatz relates that on one of the walks he once took with his father, the Rebbe Rashab, he mentioned to him during the walk the saying of the Baal Shem Tov, and asked his father to explain its meaning to him. The Rebbe Rashab expressed himself and told him "this is not a simple alef-beis" - that it is not an easy thing to execute; and added "it is possible that this is quite a difficult alef-beis", and remained silent for a long time without explaining.
On the next walk, apparently on the following day, the Rebbe Rashab again initiated the conversation with his son, the Rebbe Rayatz, about that same teaching of which he had said it is a "difficult alef-beis", and continued by saying: when the matter is relevant and touches one deeply, then it is possible to learn this alef-beis. Meaning, when a person pays attention to matters of avodas Hashem and has an inner desire, he aligns with the truth and knows how to learn.
In one of the footnotes the Rebbe notes that this teaching also has a source in nigleh. One source he points to is in Hilchos Taanis, where the Rambam writes at the beginning of Hilchos Taanis that it is forbidden for a person to relate to an occurrence and say "it was a happenstance", that the event happened by chance, but rather he must understand that everything that happens is not by chance - and this is a source for the teaching. Another source the Rebbe points to is in Hilchos Brachos: there are a multitude of brachos over everything, and the Rambam writes that the reason the Sages instituted so many brachos is "in order to remember the Creator constantly" - again a source that the Holy One, blessed be He, shows you things and makes you hear things all the time, so that you will remember Him through them.
Later in the letter the Rebbe Rayatz brings a story that happened that day concerning medical matters - how they gave him an injection, and how they cleaned the area beforehand so there wouldn't be bacteria - and describes at length the entire procedure they performed on him, and learns from this a directive for how one should conduct oneself at a farbrengen between chassidim, where sometimes one also needs to give a "poke" to someone, and the area must be disinfected well beforehand. There is an entire interesting elaboration there regarding the matter.
We see that over the years the Rebbe always taught us this line in avodas Hashem, and one can see a variety of subjects in his sichos where the Rebbe learns directives from everything: from cars, from dry cleaning, from the method of extracting oil, from watches, from the atom and more. A multitude of things that the Rebbe takes and learns from them a directive in avodas Hashem, since this is the special path that the Baal Shem Tov teaches us.