Room one hundred and eighty-four in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Sunday, 25 Iyar, 40th day of the Omer, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, we begin here a new book and a new parshah - Bamidbar, first parshah, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 25th of the month, we say from the beginning of chapter 119 from the word "Ashrei", and conclude at the end of the letter Lamed with the words "rechavah mitzvatecha me'od".
Tanya, on this day we learn chapter 51, from the word "Vekachah" until the words "batachtonim mamash", located on page 72.
The source of the daily teaching is a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on 24 Adar 5698. He cites there that an elderly chassid recounted what he had heard as a young man from elder chassidim, who had heard it from the mashpia named Rabbi Mordechai, who heard the teaching appearing here from the Alter Rebbe himself. And the date when it was said, as written at the beginning of the teaching, is "From the maamarim of Rabbeinu Hazaken in the year 5555 in Liozna".
Let me preface a few words to what is about to be explained in the teaching: Every mitzvah has the "principal" of the mitzvah and its "fruits". The principal of the mitzvah is also the reward of the mitzvah, which is not felt and received at this time but only in the World to Come; whereas the fruits of the mitzvah - in the words of the Mishnah "a person eats their fruits in this world". Here the Rebbe Rayatz explains in an inner way what the "principal" of the mitzvah is, the thing we will receive only in the future, as opposed to what the "fruits" are, which can be received already today.
And this is what he says: "The reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah" - the reward of the mitzvah is that the mitzvah itself contains its reward. And he explains: "The mitzvah in its very essence is the reward" - the essence of the mitzvah, the very fact that a Jew fulfills it, connects and binds him with the Holy One, blessed be He; this is the essence of the mitzvah, and it exists in every single mitzvah, whatever the subject may be - every mitzvah connects a Jew with the Commander of the mitzvos. "And the revelation of the Essence will be in the future" - and the revelation of His blessed Essence, to which a Jew connects in every mitzvah, will be in the future - only in the future will a person feel and the Essence present in every mitzvah he fulfilled be revealed. "But this is the existing principal of the mitzvah" - and that which will be revealed in the future, the revelation of the Essence in every mitzvah, is the "existing principal" of the mitzvah, its basic essence, which will be revealed only in the future.
"However, its fruits a person eats in this world" - the fruits of the mitzvah are the personal, focused, and specific aspect of every single mitzvah. The existing principal is the same in all mitzvos - the very connection with the Essence of the Creator; but the fruits of every mitzvah, as we will immediately see in the example, are what the mitzvah effects upon a person here. Every mitzvah has its specific theme, and when does a person merit to see its fruits? In this world. "And this is in every single mitzvah according to its theme" - every single mitzvah has its personal theme and its personal quality, which effects upon the person already in this world. "For when he needs that thing, he is answered" - when a person needs to receive a certain specific blessing, and fulfills the mitzvah that is meant to arouse that matter for him, he benefits and receives it here in this world.
When reading the teaching, the concepts sound very abstract. Later in the letter, the Rebbe Rayatz tells a story that illustrates this. He tells of a certain community during the time of the Alter Rebbe, where there was an informing by the misnagdim, and because of it several chassidim sat in prison for a prolonged time. When the chassidim were set free, they wanted to notify the Alter Rebbe and share the good news with him, and they decided to send a letter by regular mail. Even then there was a concept of express mail - a special person who would run quickly - but its cost was much higher; and therefore the chassidim decided to send the item by regular mail.
Among the chassidim was a Jew named Rabbi Shimon the tinsmith, a chassid afflicted with suffering and utterly destitute. Once he learned that there was now an opportunity to share good news with the Alter Rebbe, he made an effort and brought a sum of money, and said to the chassidim: "I am giving the entire sum so that they send this with an express courier, so the news reaches the Rebbe as fast as possible." There was a great debate among the chassidim whether it was permissible to take from him, from a person afflicted with suffering and utterly destitute; eventually, after some details, they agreed, took the money from him, and the letter indeed reached the Rebbe quickly.
And the conclusion of the story: After a period, a courier arrived from the Alter Rebbe to that community, with a letter in the Alter Rebbe's handwriting addressed to that Rabbi Shimon the tinsmith. The Alter Rebbe thanks him personally for his effort to hasten the good news, and blesses him: "In the merit of your bringing me good news - may you become a bringer of good news." Within a short time, all his family members recovered, his financial situation changed completely, and he became a man of great wealth. Do we see what the example is? He acted with immense ahavas Yisrael in bringing good news, and what did this mitzvah do for him? He received the fruits immediately - since he needed that same thing, he was answered, and he became a bringer of good news about his own life. This means that the fruits of the mitzvah are given here immediately.
There are several examples of this in the Rebbe's letters, and I will bring only two. One Jew once wrote to the Rebbe that he has no children. The Rebbe replied to him that he should study pnimiyus hatorah, and pnimiyus hatorah will cause him to have ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem; and it is written in pnimiyus hatorah that love and awe are called a "son" and a "daughter" in spirituality. If you will have love and awe in spirituality - you will have a son and a daughter in physicality. In other words, you act in this matter in spirituality, and the result will immediately follow.
Let us take an example in another direction. There was also once a Jew who wrote to the Rebbe that he constantly has bad breath, and they cannot manage to find a solution for it. The Rebbe wrote to him that he should be careful with matters dependent on the mouth: he should be careful of lashon hara, he should increase in saying Tehillim, he should ensure that the food he puts in his mouth is kosher, and he should increase in Torah and tefillah - and then he will be answered for that same thing in literal physicality, and he will have good breath. We thus see in the examples what the Rebbe Rayatz says in the teaching: "Every single mitzvah according to its theme" - you act in something, and the fruits of it come immediately, here, in this world.