The two hundred fifty-fourth "cheder" in the Hall of Hayom Yom.
Sunday, 7 Menachem Av, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, we begin here a new parashah — Va'etchanan, the first parashah with the commentary of Rashi.
Tehillim: on the 7th day of the month, one recites from chapter 39 through chapter 43 inclusive.
Tanya: on this day we begin the fourth section of the Tanya, called "Igeret HaKodesh". The daily lesson is in the first letter — we start from the letter alef, at the word "potchin", and conclude with the first part of the letter on page 204, at the words "vehaguf shebanefesh".
On this day, as mentioned, one begins studying the Iggeres HaKodesh, the first letter. The first two letters at the beginning of Iggeres HaKodesh — letters 1 and 2 — deal with matters that were relevant to the chassidim in those days. The first letter opens with the words "posschin bivrachah" (we begin with a blessing); and at its start the Alter Rebbe praises the fact that in the communities of chassidim they completed the study of Shas, and thereafter the letter contains two more sections.
The Alter Rebbe did not write the first letter as a single lengthy missive, but in three stages. The first stage — which is studied in the daily lesson — was written even before the Alter Rebbe was with the Maggid, when he had only decided to travel to Mezritch. At that time he already had a group of disciples and students who were close to him. Even before he became a student of the Maggid, the Alter Rebbe wrote them a kind of note of arousal toward the service of Hashem, which concludes with the words "shebanefesh" — precisely as the daily lesson in Tanya concludes.
The second part was written by the Alter Rebbe when the Maggid revealed to him what his mission and task in the world were — at a later stage. And the third part he wrote after he had already actually begun to lead the chassidim.
Interestingly, the Rebbe once addressed a question: when one examines the first part of the letter, it states there that the Alter Rebbe gives thanks to Hashem that in most of the towns and minyanim of Anash they completed the Shas. And seemingly, if the Alter Rebbe wrote the first part even before he traveled to the Maggid — then he did not yet have Anash, nor minyanim and towns of Anash — how does it state there that he rejoices that in most of the towns and minyanim of Anash they completed the Shas?
The Rebbe says that when the Alter Rebbe wrote the first part of the letter, these words were not written in it at all. Rather, after he wrote the last part, the third one, he also updated the earlier parts and adapted them to the situation that existed then — when he already had students and chassidim and minyanim of Anash. In other words, the Alter Rebbe updated the first part so that it would fit the later period, but the foundation of the first part was written much earlier. This is with regard to letter 1.
Regarding the second letter, which will appear afterward: it begins with the word "Katonti," and is called the "Igeret Katonti." This is a famous letter that the Alter Rebbe wrote after he returned from Petersburg, after he returned from his imprisonment in the year 5559. In this second letter, the Alter Rebbe addresses the chassidim and gives them guidance on how to relate to the misnagdim of that period — that they should not "hiss" at them, meaning to remain silent; and there is a lengthy discussion of this matter there. This is the second letter.
What we read today in the daily saying: the Rebbe brings a citation of a line and a half from the farbrengen of the Rebbe Rayatz on 19 Kislev 5693, where the Rebbe Rayatz relates what he heard from his father, who heard it from his grandfather — the Rebbe Maharash. Let us read the wording: "The Iggeret HaKodesh 'Potchin BeVracha' was written ten years before the writing of the letter 'Katonti'". That is, the letter "Katonti" was written in the year 5559, when the Alter Rebbe was released from imprisonment; whereas the first letter, "Potchin BeVracha", was written in the year 5549 — ten years earlier.
We are speaking about the first part, but of course, as we said at the outset, the second and third parts of the first letter were written later. The editor of the Igros Kodesh of the Alter Rebbe, in which this letter is printed like all the letters, proves that the third part was written in the month of Cheshvan 5563 — four years after the letter "Katonti." But that is with regard to the third part; whereas the first part of the letter "Pos'chin Bivrachah" was written ten years before the letter "Katonti." This is the daily teaching.