"Room" one hundred seventy-three in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 14 Iyar, Pesach Sheini, 29 of the Omer, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Behar, Revii, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 14 of the month, from chapter 72 to chapter 76 inclusive.
Tanya, we are in chapter 48. The daily shiur is on page 68, from the word "vehamashal", and ends with the words "ha'adam veda'ato".
The daily teaching explains the meaning of Pesach Sheini and the lesson derived from it - the famous lesson that nothing is lost. The source of these words is a sicha delivered by the Rebbe Rayatz on Pesach Sheini in the year 5701. It is interesting to bring the preceding passage to this statement. There the Rebbe Rayatz says that there is a saying that chassidim used to say, that there are three things called "sheini" (second): There is the "nefesh hasheinis" (the second soul), which the Alter Rebbe revealed in Tanya; there is a "cheder sheini" (a second room), which is made in chassidic synagogues ["Chabadnitze"], the room where the baalebatim who wish to pray peacefully pray. [By the way, at certain times this was so strictly observed that they would not enter a synagogue to pray if it did not have a cheder sheini]. And there is "Pesach Sheini".
The Rebbe Rayatz explains what Pesach Sheini is, and then comes the teaching before us, in which he apparently connects all three together. Let us look at the wording of the teaching. He says: "The theme of Pesach Sheini" - what is the theme of Pesach Sheini? - "is that there is no 'lost' situation: it is always possible to correct and make amends. Even one who was impure" - as is the law of Pesach Sheini, regarding a person who was impure on the first Pesach and therefore did not offer the Pesach sacrifice, and spiritually this means he was in a poor spiritual state - and even "one who was on a distant journey", which is another possibility for why he did not offer the first Pesach.
It is possible that a person was impure, or on a distant journey, which allegorically means he was in a poor spiritual state, having stumbled and fallen into a certain situation. And the teaching adds: "And even - 'to you', that the matter was willful" - that the fact that he was impure or on a distant journey came by his own choice, that he decided to fall, and even deliberately. Regarding this comes the message of Pesach Sheini and says, that nevertheless, it is still possible to correct even such a situation, and in his words "despite everything it is possible to correct".
The Rebbe says in one place that the deliberate sin that can be corrected is not deliberate impurity or deliberately taking a distant journey; meaning, even if he was not impure and was not on a distant journey, and nevertheless decided that he does not want to offer the first Pesach - he too can bring a Pesach Sheini. But here the Rebbe Rayatz connects things according to the plain meaning of the verse, that the "to you" - meaning that it was of his own will - refers to the two previous situations; that a person who chose to be in a poor state, can nevertheless make amends.
In that same sicha, the Rebbe Rayatz connects, after explaining what Pesach Sheini is, the three concepts called "sheini" that we mentioned: the nefesh hasheinis, the cheder sheini, and the Pesach Sheini. And this is what he says: One takes the nefesh hasheinis, enters with it into a cheder sheini, and then accomplishes a Pesach Sheini - meaning, accomplishes the ability to correct everything. For when one brings the nefesh hasheinis into a cheder sheini, it becomes Pesach Sheini. This is the message he conveys in that sicha.
It is known that in his sichos and letters the Rebbe repeated this concept countless times: that a person should never throw up his hands and despair of any particular situation. There is no despair at all, in anything; it is always possible to correct.
After the pause we had here in the daily teaching for the Rambam shiur - towards the end of Nissan we concluded Sefer Avodah, and today we begin the hints for Sefer Korbanos. The first halachos of Sefer Korbanos are the laws of the Pesach sacrifice, which first of all speak about the Pesach sacrifice; and moreover, in the laws of the Pesach sacrifice themselves, the fifth chapter speaks explicitly about Pesach Sheini, and explains all the laws of a person who did not offer the first Pesach but has a Pesach Sheini. This teaching thus opens Sefer Korbanos in the Rambam, so that we will see in the subsequent teachings the connection to the additional matters as well.