The two hundred sixty-second "cheder" in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Monday, 15 Menachem Av, 5703.
The Rebbe first notes that on this day, 15 Menachem Av, "Tachanun is not recited," as is well known from the words of the Mishnah, "There were no days as festive for Israel as the fifteenth of Av"; these are among the days on which Tachanun is not said.
Shiurim: Chumash, Eikev, Sheni, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 15th of the month, one recites two chapters — chapter 77 and chapter 78.
Tanya: On this day we begin Iggeret Chof-Chof of Iggeret HaKodesh, from the beginning of the letter, from the word "Vaya'as." The daily portion concludes on page 214 with the words "shemevin hakol."
The passage the Rebbe brings as the daily teaching is a summary from a maamar of the Rebbe Rashab from the year 5670, beginning "Nachamu nachamu ami," in which the Rebbe Rashab explains the inner meaning of 15 Menachem Av. The point is written here briefly, and in the maamar itself it is elucidated at much greater length. Let us first say a few words orally, and then it will be easier to read the material from within.
It is well known that everything that occurs with the moon — since the Jewish people set their festivals according to the cycle of the moon, and the expression of Chazal is that "Israel is likened to the moon" — is such that what we observe physically in the moon is a parable and an allusion to what transpires spiritually within the Jewish people. Generally, the day on which the moon appears at its fullest is the middle of the month, the fifteenth of the month, when the moon is at its fullness; and this is a symbol and an allusion to the fact that the Jewish people are in an elevated state, in their finest condition. Therefore the festivals as well — Pesach, which begins on the fifteenth of Nissan, and Sukkot, which begins on the fifteenth of Tishrei — fall on the fifteenth of the month, which is a day symbolizing greatness and perfection within the Jewish people.
The Rebbe Rashab comes to explain that the 15th of Menachem Av, about which our Sages say "there were no festivals for Israel like the fifteenth of Av," is in a certain measure greater even than the 15th of Tishrei (Sukkot) and the 15th of Nissan (Pesach). What is the difference? Seemingly, to physical eyes all the days of the 15th of the month look identical — the moon is full, and what does it matter in which month we are? The Rebbe Rashab explains that the fullness of the 15th of Av symbolizes, from a spiritual standpoint, a level far deeper and higher than that of the 15th of any other month. Why? On this a further word will be said.
The moon in itself has no light of its own; when it shines fully, this means that the light of the sun is reflected in it perfectly — it receives the light that comes from the sun. In every month the moon expresses, on the fifteenth of it, the fullness of reception: it receives the sun's light in a perfect manner. But on the fifteenth of Av there is another quality, one far deeper. Why? Let us first introduce another point.
Let us take an illustration to make this tangible [even though it is not written explicitly in that very maamar]: a righteous person, the son of a righteous person, who was born into a family of tzaddikim and conducts himself in a wonderful and good manner. Even though his conduct is very good and wonderful, he is nonetheless walking along a path that others taught him and receiving through vessels that were given to him; and one could say that the greatness and the light within him are not attributed to himself — this is not his toil and his own avodah, but rather he receives the light that the family and the parents transmit through him. In contrast, a baal teshuvah — who was entirely far removed and ostensibly has nothing of his own, and yet aroused himself, exerted effort, and reached the perfection of avodah — this is his own avodah, and this is his "credit"; his deeds have power, and he shines. It is not that he receives light from previous generations and it is reflected within him, but rather the light comes from himself.
It is written in that same maamar from the year 5670 of the Rebbe Rashab, that when the Holy One, blessed be He, punishes the people of Israel — such as through exile — outwardly it appears as though He is distancing them or punishing them; but in its depth, precisely this time of punishment and chastisement expresses the depth of the connection and the depth of the love. A father who imposes limits on his son, disciplines him, and rebukes him — as in the verse "and he who loves him seeks to chastise him" — precisely through this shows that he cares about him and that he loves him and wants him to change and to shine and to become good. If so, precisely the distance, which outwardly appears as distance, on the contrary — expresses the depth of the connection.
On this basis, the Rebbe Rashab explains that in the month of Av the Jewish people experienced a decline unlike any in any other month — the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash on Tisha B'Av, which seemingly indicates a profound exile. Yet precisely this brought the Jewish people to reveal the truth within them, their goodness and their conduct — that they are not merely recipients of what is given to them, but that it comes from within themselves. Therefore the light that shines afterward, when the 15th of Av arrives following the decline of Tisha B'Av, when the moon reaches its fullness — is a fullness of a different kind. It is not like every other month, a fullness of the moon that receives from the sun, but a fullness that is, as it were, its own light, whose innermost dimension is revealed in the most exalted manner.
Now let us read the wording of the teaching. The Rebbe writes: "My revered father [the Rashab, of blessed memory] noted," meaning the Rebbe Rayatz records in the name of his father the Rebbe Rashab, "the superiority of the fifteenth of Av over every fifteenth of the month." What is the superiority of the 15th of Av over all the months? In every month, when the 15th of the month arrives, "this is only the completeness in revelation" of the moon; yet even though the moon is full on the 15th of every month, "nevertheless it is only the aspect of a recipient" — receiving from the light of the sun, and this is not its own light. If so, even though the 15th of the month is a great virtue — it shines and is complete — this completeness does not come from itself, but rather it receives from above.
"But on the fifteenth of Av," with physical eyes one does not see the difference — one sees a full moon, and does not grasp the inner dimension, and it appears just like all the other months. To this the Rebbe Rashab says: it is not so. "The light comes in a fixed manner" — the light of the moon on the fifteenth of Av is something fixed, coming and beginning to shine from the side of the recipient. Why? "Because the ascent is according to the measure of the intensity of the descent on the ninth of Av"; since on the ninth of Av there was an immense descent, the ascent that comes after it is likewise immense. This is the lower realm itself — the Jewish people themselves — beginning to shine and radiate; this is the power of the fifteenth of Menachem Av.
Based on this, the Rebbe Rashab connects an additional point. It is known from the Gemara that from the 15th of Av onward "this is when the strength of the sun wanes" — the power of the sun begins to decline. What is the inner meaning of this? Let us preface with an introduction: there is an expression in Tikkunei Zohar that calls the sun "chama bisha" — the sun is something that brings shame, since it is an object of idol worship for the nations of the world and gives power to the nations of the world, "idolaters reckon by the evil sun." But when the Jewish people begin to shine by their own power, on the 15th of Av, and their inner and essential light illuminates — the power of the kelipos is weakened. This is "the strength of the sun wanes": the sun, which gives power, as it were, to the kelipos, becomes weak.
"And on the fifteenth it wanes" — when the fifteenth of the month arrives, the strength of the sun weakens, and this is the meaning of "it wanes." "How much more so than in the time of the Beis Hamikdash, when they submitted to Shlomo" — during the time that the Beis Hamikdash stood, and there was no exile, the nations of the world came and submitted to King Shlomo. But now, on the fifteenth of the month following the exile and the destruction, the light is far more powerful — the essential light of the Jewish people, its inner core, is revealed; and therefore the nullification of the nations of the world will also be deeper. For in the time of Shlomo they submitted to him, yet they did not lose their existence — they merely submitted to Shlomo's light.
"All the more so in the Time to Come, 'and they shall stream to him,' in a manner of complete bittul, 'and I shall remove the spirit of tumah' etc." And all the more so in the Time to Come, when the bittul of the nations will be far stronger, as in the wording of the verse "and all the nations shall stream to him" — all the nations will come to Melech HaMoshiach, in a manner of complete bittul. In the time of the Beis HaMikdash, in the time of King Shlomo, there existed a reality of nations who understood that the Jewish people possess a great light from the Creator and nullified themselves to them; but in the Time to Come they will understand that all the light is found with the Jewish people, and that they themselves have no reality whatsoever — this will be complete bittul, as it is said "and I shall remove the spirit of tumah," that there will be no reality of the spirit of tumah at all.
"And a foretaste of this on 15 Av, when [the sun's strength] weakens" — a foretaste of the revelation that will occur in the time to come radiates on 15 Av; on 15 Av there radiates a foretaste of what will be after the coming of Mashiach, and this is "the sun's strength weakens," the power that will be present on 15 Av. This is the essence of the matter from that maamar of the Rebbe Rashab.