"Room" one hundred and sixty-nine in the hall of the Hayom Yom.
Shabbos, 14th of the Omer, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, finishing Parshas Emor - Emor, Shevi'i, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim: On the 10th of the month we say from chapter 55 until chapter 59 inclusive.
Tanya: We begin today to learn chapter 47, from the beginning of the chapter with the word "Vehineh". The shiur concludes with the words "kemo shenitba'er le'eil".
In the daily teaching we first have a reference to a specific conduct, and then the teaching. First, regarding the conduct, the Rebbe writes: "It is our custom to dip the piece of Hamotzi three times in salt, and not to sprinkle the salt on the piece" - meaning, after breaking the Hamotzi, one should dip the piece in salt three times, and not sprinkle salt on the bread but rather dip the bread into the salt.
The source is, as the Rebbe writes in his diary about himself, that he once sat at a meal together with the Rebbe Rayatz. The Rebbe writes about himself: "I sprinkled the salt on the bread, and he corrected me that I should dip the bread into the salt." On another occasion the Rebbe elaborates on this and says that according to Kabbalah, the holy Ari writes that one must dip the piece in salt three times, and the Alter Rebbe brings this in the Shulchan Aruch; on the other hand, there is a maamar of the Alter Rebbe where he writes that the main intention is for the bread to have a taste of salt, and not necessarily the dipping but the taste.
In this custom there are several levels: one aspect - that there should be salt on the table, regardless of whether it was dipped in it at all; a second point - that there should be the taste of salt in the bread; a third point - that one must dip the bread in the salt; and an additional emphasis - that this should be done three times. For example, regarding the sacrifices in the Beis Hamikdash it was written that on every sacrifice there must be salt, "on all your offerings you shall offer salt," and there the order is that the salt is placed upon the sacrifice, and not that the sacrifice is dipped into the salt. In any case, this is the reference to the conduct.
As for the teaching itself - each of our Rebbeim said the teaching on the same date, on the 2nd day of the festival of Shavuos, years apart. Let us look at the sequence of events. On "the 2nd day of the festival of Shavuos 5621, at the meal, the Tzemach Tzedek related" - when he sat with the chassidim on the festival of Shavuos - an incident that occurred previously with his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe.
What did he relate? That on "the 2nd day of the festival of Shavuos 5555, at the meal" - and one should note that in that year, 5555, the Tzemach Tzedek was a boy of six - when he was a six-year-old boy by his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, on the same date of the 2nd day of the festival of Shavuos, "my master, my grandfather, my master and teacher said" - the Tzemach Tzedek is referring to his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe.
And what did the Alter Rebbe relate then, sixty-six years earlier? He related an incident that occurred even earlier, twenty-seven years prior: that "on the 2nd day of the festival of Shavuos 5528, at the meal, the holy master and teacher the Maggid of Mezritch said". It turns out that the Tzemach Tzedek is repeating in the name of the Alter Rebbe in the name of the Maggid.
What is the point? We are currently in the days of Sefiras Haomer, and the festival of Shavuos is the conclusion of Sefiras Haomer, and the reference in this teaching is to the special avodah of Sefiras Haomer. And so said the Maggid of Mezritch regarding the verse "Usefartem lachem": What is the inner hint in this phrase? First he refers to the word "Usefartem", and then to the connection between "Usefartem" and the word "lachem".
What is "Usefartem"? The Maggid said: "Usefartem - is from the root of sapirus and bahirus (luminosity and clarity)". The word "Usefartem" hints at something bright, a sapphire, like a diamond - a completely clean and shining stone. And what then is "Usefartem lachem"? The Maggid said: "One must ensure that the 'lachem' (you) is luminous"; everyone must work so that the "lachem" - your inner self, your essence - will be luminous and shining. This is the meaning of "Usefartem lachem". This is what the Maggid of Mezritch said, and this is what the Alter Rebbe related, and this is what the Tzemach Tzedek related to us.
Now there is an addition, in which the Tzemach Tzedek relates what happened by his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe: "And my holy master, my grandfather, my master and teacher leaned upon his holy arms". The Tzemach Tzedek relates that his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, after saying the words "Usefartem lachem", leaned on his arms "and sang the niggun of the Dalet Bavos with great deveikus" - he sang the famous niggun, the niggun of the Alter Rebbe.
"Afterwards he raised his holy head and said with a questioning niggun". The Alter Rebbe raised his head and said with a questioning niggun. Many times it is brought that the Alter Rebbe would speak in the form of a certain niggun - even when he spoke with people in yechidus it was with a certain niggun. Here too, after he leaned on his holy arms and sang the Arba Bavos, he asked with a niggun: "And with what does one make the 'lachem' luminous?" - we have a directive that the "lachem" must be luminous; how do we do this? What is required of the Jew, the chassid, so that his "lachem" will be like a sapphire and luminous?
"And immediately he said with an answering niggun" - he asked, and immediately, without waiting, answered with a niggun. And what did he explain? That the answer is found in the verse itself: "Usefartem lachem sheva shabbasos temimos tihyenah". The words "sheva shabbasos temimos" (seven complete weeks) are the answer to the question of how to accomplish "that there will be Usefartem lachem". And he explained what is meant by "by 'sheva shabbasos temimos' - by the birur of the seven middos" - the seven shabbasos correspond to the seven middos in the soul.
And the seven middos must first of all undergo birur, and in their birur there are two stages. The first stage - "that each and every middah will be inclusive of seven", as we see in Sefiras Haomer, that in each of the weeks, every day is inclusive of the following days. And as is explained in the maamarim, what is the difference between a small child and a person who has mochin? A small child, or a person lacking mochin, cannot tolerate an opposite middah; if he is naturally in a movement of gevuros, he cannot tolerate the middah of chessed and respond with a reaction of chessed, and vice versa - since he is entirely middos without mochin, his middos are very forceful and are not ready to accept a blending of the opposite middah.
But a person who has more illumination of the mochin takes things calmly, and then he has the ability to blend his middos with opposite middos. This is the first movement - that each and every middah will be inclusive of seven: when a person is in a movement of chessed, he will be able to tolerate the opposite middah too, the gevurah as well, the tiferes as well, and the netzach as well, that there will be a combination in him. This is an avodah in itself, which is called awakening the mochin in the soul so that he will be able to tolerate the other. This is stage one.
And there is an additional stage here: "And the seven middos themselves should be seven shabbasos". By blending the additional middah you have still not reached the ultimate goal; you have reached an advancement where the mochin illuminate and you are capable of tolerating the opposite, but now you must act so that the middos themselves will be "shabbasos", Shabbos-like. What is "shabbasos"? "For Shabbos does not require birur". It is known that according to halachah one of the forbidden labors on Shabbos is "borer" (selecting), and it is explained in chassidus why - because there is no need to select: on Shabbos the world is rectified and elevated to a higher level, and there is a separation between kelipah and kedushah, and therefore there is no need to perform birur.
If so, after stage one, in which a person has awakened the mochin within them and is ready to tolerate the opposite as well, he must act so that the middos themselves will be refined, rectified and organized - that he will not have a "mess" of kelipos, evil inclinations and undesirable matters within his middos. The middos must be whole (temimos) in the manner of Shabbos. This is the answer to how one accomplishes "that there will be Usefartem lachem" - through "sheva shabbasos temimos", which includes two matters, as we have detailed.