The two hundred and seventy-seventh "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 30 Menachem Av 5703, Rosh Chodesh — the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul.
Before today's lessons, the Rebbe notes the customs connected to Rosh Chodesh Elul — what pertains to the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul and what pertains to the second day.
The Rebbe writes: firstly, "we begin reciting L'Dovid Hashem Ori" — the psalm "L'Dovid Hashem Ori v'Yishi." In the Siddur of the Alter Rebbe it is written that from Rosh Chodesh Elul until after Hoshana Rabba, the psalm "L'Dovid Hashem Ori v'Yishi" is recited twice each day, at Shacharis and at Mincha. Here the Rebbe indicates when this custom begins — not on 1 Elul, but on 30 Menachem Av, which is the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul.
Another custom that the Rebbe notes here is the practice in the household of our Rebbe, as was the custom of our Rebbeim, the Nesi'im: "During the day one sounds [the shofar] — to practice. And one begins sounding it after the prayers from the second day of Rosh Chodesh." That is, on the first day of Rosh Chodesh one sounds the shofar to practice, and from the second day of Rosh Chodesh one begins to sound it after the prayers.
As is known, there are various opinions as to when the custom of sounding the shofar each day during the month of Elul begins. This is not an obligatory blowing — the obligation applies on Rosh Hashanah — but rather a custom of Israel to sound it already beforehand, as it is written in the Shulchan Aruch, "throughout the entire month of Elul." The opinions differ as to precisely when one begins: whether on the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, which is 30 Menachem Av, or on 1 Elul, which is the second day of Rosh Chodesh.
The Rebbe notes here that our custom is a sort of compromise between the two customs: there is a difference regarding when one blows an organized set of tekios according to a fixed order — teshras, tashas, tarrat. The organized blowing begins on the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, on the 1st of Elul; but on the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, which is the 30th of Menachem Av, one already begins to blow as well — except that the expression is "one blows in order to learn." "One blows in order to learn" means that there is no organized order of blowing according to the ten sounds that we are accustomed to blow throughout the entire month of Elul, but rather a blowing without order and without a set course — even a single simple sound.
Interestingly, the Rebbe, in one of the talks of Rosh Chodesh Elul (the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul 5742), explained a fascinating point and said that there are different levels in the sounding of the shofar. There is the sounding of the shofar of the Torah-mandated mitzvah on Rosh Hashanah, and there is the custom of Israel to sound the shofar during the month of Elul; and these soundings have a fixed pattern — on Rosh Hashanah, the one hundred sounds and the arranged order, and during the month of Elul, the order of ten sounds according to our custom. But we have, at the beginning and at the end [on Yom Kippur], two soundings that are similar in that they do not include the entire pattern.
The Rebbe explains that the inner meaning of this is that it expresses a simple sound that transcends form — the highest sound of all. What are the two extremes? The great tekiah blown at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, which is a single sound, an expression of the innermost point of the soul that transcends all form; and the tekiah of the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, which comes before everything and resembles the tekiah at the end. Even the blowing done "for the sake of learning" is a sound that has no orderly form of a particular sound, but rather expresses the very essence of the sound of the shofar. And in a certain sense, the tekiah of the first day of Rosh Chodesh is loftier and deeper than the tekios that follow it. This is the custom practiced among us.
Shiurim: Chumash, Shoftim, third portion, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 30th of the month, the last day, we recite the final portion of Tehillim — from chapter 145 until the conclusion of Tehillim.
Regarding this brief teaching, the Rebbe notes in his own handwriting that its source is in Shabbos Chukas of the year 5700. However, that sicha is not before us; apparently there was a transcription of that farbrengen which did not reach us, and for that reason variations in the wording of the saying also arose in the later printings of the Hayom Yom.
I will read the version as it appears in the original Hayom Yom, where the Rebbe's handwriting also appears, as well as in the Rebbe's diary notes. The saying begins: "The Mitteler Rebbe would at first deliver short maamarim." At precisely this point, a change was made in the additional printings of the Hayom Yom, which turned the teaching into one about the Alter Rebbe — because there is indeed a sicha of the Rebbe Rayatz from 5709 (which is not the source the Rebbe cites), in which this same point is told about the Alter Rebbe.
Generally speaking, whoever is familiar with the sequence of development of the maamarim of our Rebbeim, our nesi'im, knows that the expression "short maamarim" appears in connection with the Alter Rebbe. But here we are dealing with a different saying, concerning the Mitteler Rebbe. The Mitteler Rebbe is known specifically as one who said and wrote very long maamarim — to the point that he is called "Rechovos HaNahar," the Binah of Chassidus. However, as the Rebbe notes in his diary entry, at first the Mitteler Rebbe would say short maamarim; even though in writing he wrote at length, when he spoke he initially said short maamarim. And the intent is not "short" like the short maamarim of the Alter Rebbe, known as the sefer "Maamarim Ketzarim" of the Alter Rebbe, which are extremely short; rather, "short" here is relative to the long maamarim of the Mitteler Rebbe.
If so, one should read the source here as it appears in the first edition: the Mitteler Rebbe would at first say short maamarim. And the Rebbe brings an example: "for instance, the maamar beginning [dibbur hamaschil] Zecher Rav Tuvcha and its biur in the Siddur". There is the Siddur with "Divrei Elokim Chaim", and although it is a Siddur of maamarim of the Alter Rebbe, the maamarim in it were written by the Mitteler Rebbe, and these maamarim were apparently also said by the Mitteler Rebbe himself.
The Rebbe brings as an example the maamar "Zecher Rav Tuvcha," which in the printed Siddur is a lengthy maamar. And when the Mitteler Rebbe delivered it — "it was said in six installments," not all at once but in a concise manner, each time yet another installment and another installment, "somewhat more expansively than the printed version." The maamar in print is not of the length in which it was actually delivered, when it was said in six installments.
In any case, this is the daily teaching, with the emphasis — unlike in all the printed editions — that it is a saying about the Mitteler Rebbe. Regarding the Alter Rebbe we already had a saying in the "Hayom Yom" of 15 Sivan, where it is brought that the Alter Rebbe would at first deliver short maamarim, and he called them by the various names that appear there. The point about the Alter Rebbe thus already appeared on 15 Sivan, and here the discussion is about a teaching relating to the Mitteler Rebbe.