"Room" one hundred and forty-two in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Sunday, 13 Nissan 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, here we begin a new parshah, Acharei Mot, the first parshah with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 13th of the month, we say chapter 69 until the end of chapter 71.
Tanya, on this day we continue in chapter 41, from the words "uve'atifat tzitzit", until the shiur concludes on page 57, with the words "la'adono umalko".
The daily teaching is a short teaching referring to the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek. This day, 13 Nissan, is the day of the hilula, the day of the histalkus of the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek. And as the Rebbe details: "Hilula of the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek - he was nistalek in the year 5626 in Lubavitch, and his resting place of honor is there".
The Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, as is known, was a mighty and strong man all his days. There is a description written by the son of the Mitteler Rebbe, Reb Nochum, in one of the sources: "All the members of our family are healthy, except for the Rebbes whose bodies become weakened from the distress of Yisrael". The family was very strong, but the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek himself, in the last five years before his histalkus, was ill and suffered very great agony.
The Rebbe Rayatz relates in one of the sichos from the year 5702, that half a year before the histalkus of the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, speech in general was difficult for him, but there were very great giluyim - and he does not detail what. At that time he did not agree to receive chassidim for material questions, as he said that he no longer sees the body but only the neshamah, and therefore he cannot answer regarding material matters. This was half a year before his histalkus.
At any rate, the histalkus was on 13 Nissan. It is interesting that this day, 13 Nissan, was also the day of the histalkus of Rabbi Yosef Caro, the author of the Beis Yosef. And there is a saying based on the verse in Megillas Esther, "And the king's scribes were called in the first month on the thirteenth day of it": "The first month" is the month of Nissan, "the thirteenth day of it" is 13 Nissan, and "the king's scribes" refers to Rabbi Yosef Caro who wrote the Shulchan Aruch - and it is possible that they also intend this for the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek.
The Rebbe Maharash told various stories, and among other things he said the following: "From the stories of my grandfather: The Tzemach Tzedek began writing nigleh and Dach when he was twelve years old". From the age of twelve, the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek began writing matters in nigleh and in chassidus. And he detailed there, that he wrote for about sixty-five and a half years, and he calculated how many days he had to write - after deducting all the Shabbosos and Yomim Tovim in all those years - and he had nineteen thousand eight hundred and fifty weekdays left on which he could write.
And it is described that he managed to write approximately sixty thousand "boygen". What is a "boygen"? The word "boygen" comes from Yiddish, from the term for folding. In the past, printing presses would print very large sheets of paper - roughly like an open folio of the Shas, as if you opened two volumes of Gemara side by side. On this large sheet they would then print the seforim, and fold it: some folded it into four, and then a larger sefer was produced, and some folded it into eight, and then a smaller sefer was produced. Each such large sheet is called a "boygen", named after the folding into four or eight.
If so, the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek managed to write during his lifetime about sixty thousand such "boygen", sixty thousand sheets; and it comes out that he wrote more than three sheets a day, three "boygen" a day, in all those nineteen thousand eight hundred and fifty days in which he could write from the age of twelve - writing nigleh and chassidus all the time.
We will arrive, with God's help, later on to 14 Menachem-Av, where a teaching appears in which the Alter Rebbe said to his grandson, the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, the well-known phrase from Pirkei Avos with a change in vocalization: "Uk'neh lecha chaver" (and acquire for yourself a friend) - that your friend should be the "kaneh" (the quill), meaning that he should write. And indeed he wrote a tremendous amount of chassidus throughout all the years; and this is the description that the Rebbe describes here in this Hayom Yom.
We are trying to find an allusion according to the Rambam. We are currently in Sefer Avodah, and we have already seen in a previous teaching an allusion to Hilchos Maaseh HaKorbanos. In the daily teaching as well, one can find an allusion to Hilchos Maaseh HaKorbanos, since in chapter 14 of them the Rambam elaborates on korbanos that come as a vow - a person who vows a korban - and there are various halachos regarding vows of hekdesh, which a person consecrates.
The halachah states from what age a person's vows have significance and from when he can vow vows of hekdesh - from the age of twelve. The age of twelve is the time when one can vow, and he is already considered an adult regarding vows of hekdesh. And this is the teaching of today, which alludes to the mitzvah: from the age of twelve the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek had already begun to write chassidus, and all the years until his histalkus. The age of twelve is the allusion to the point connected to Hilchos Maaseh HaKorbanos.