Room two hundred fifty-eight in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 11 Menachem Av, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Va'etchanan, Chamishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim: on the 11th of the month, one recites from chapter 60 through chapter 65 inclusive.
Tanya: On this day we study the first part of the third letter in the section "Iggeret HaKodesh." We begin from the start of the letter, from the word "Vayilbash," and the lesson ends on page 208, after the parentheses, with the words "chas v'shalom."
In the present passage, the Rebbe brings a section of what the Rebbe Rayatz said on the second day of the festival of Pesach 5698. There the Rebbe Rayatz recounts the first time the Alter Rebbe traveled to Mezritch, to the Maggid. And thus he says: "Our Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe, traveled to Mezritch together with his brother, the Maharil," that is, Rabbi Yehuda Leib, the brother of the Alter Rebbe.
The two brothers traveled together to the Maggid. When did this take place? In the year 5524. "Maharil traveled without permission from his household" — "his household" is a delicate way of referring to his wife — "and therefore he turned back from his journey": Maharil did not remain there, because his wife had not given him permission to travel, and he had not asked, and therefore he returned and did not stay with the Maggid.
However, the Alter Rebbe traveled with his household's permission, and therefore he stayed there for a longer time. How long did he stay? He puts it this way: "And our Rebbe came to Mezritch and remained there" — the Alter Rebbe arrived in Mezritch and stayed there, tarried there. How long did he tarry? On that first journey, in the year 5524, he tarried there "until after the festival of Pesach 5525." [It is not specified exactly when in 5524 he traveled, only that he remained until after Pesach 5525.]
This time reference is interesting — that he remained there until after Pesach — which the Rebbe records here in "Hayom Yom", and the same thing will recur when we reach the teaching of 22 Marcheshvan, where the Rebbe will again explain this point, that the Alter Rebbe stayed there until after Pesach of 5525.
But what is intriguing here? When one examines the original sichah of the Rebbe Rayatz from Pesach 5698, in which he concludes this story, one finds that the Rebbe Rayatz writes that the Alter Rebbe returned before the festival of Pesach — and not, as the Rebbe apparently transcribes from there, that it was after the festival of Pesach.
To summarize the matter: The Rebbe wrote, as is known, a commentary on the Haggadah of Pesach, which was published later than the "Hayom Yom". In the Haggadah of Pesach, under the heading "Bedikat Chametz", the Rebbe cites a certain saying that the Alter Rebbe said regarding the words "bodkin et hachametz" (we search for the chametz), and there the Rebbe also briefly relates this point, that the Alter Rebbe traveled for the first time to Mezritch. Except that there the Rebbe writes that he returned before the festival of Pesach — that is, that in his final version the Rebbe returned to what had been written originally before. It requires study why there was this change; but in any case, in practice, he returned before the festival of Pesach.
And what is the conclusion of the teaching? "For two weeks he was uncertain whether to remain there." The Alter Rebbe traveled, and it is written in actuality that he stayed there until after the festival of Pesach, but the account relates that over the course of two weeks he had doubts whether to remain or not. "And the first maamar he heard was — Nachamu Nachamu" — the first maamar he heard from the Maggid was on the words "Nachamu Nachamu ami" (Comfort, comfort My people). This is the connection of the teaching to these days, for this is the haftarah recited on Shabbat Va'etchanan, on the verse "Nachamu Nachamu."
"And there is some doubt about this, whether it was the first maamar upon his arrival" — immediately when he arrived, even before he had any difficulty — as written here, "the first maamar he heard was Nachamu nachamu ami."
According to this, it is understood that although I said earlier that it is unclear when he arrived and the matter is not written here — he arrived in 5524 in the month of Av, and the first maamar he heard was "Nachamu nachamu ami" ("Comfort, comfort My people"). And the doubt is: does this mean that this was the first maamar he heard when he arrived, or the first maamar after the two weeks during which he decided to remain and to connect himself.
There were two weeks of wavering. His brother returned immediately, and he wavered over whether to stay. After two weeks, when he decided to stay and to become bound — that is, to be a chassid and bound to the Maggid — he heard the maamar "Nachamu nachamu ami" (Comfort, comfort My people). The doubt is whether "Nachamu nachamu ami" was said before he decided to stay, "or the first one after the two weeks when he decided to stay and became bound" — after he had already decided to remain with the Maggid.