"Room" one hundred forty-eight in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Shabbos 19 Nissan, 4th day of the Omer, 5703.
First of all, there is a reference here to two customs practiced on Shabbos of Chol HaMoed Pesach, and afterward the study portions and the daily teaching.
The first custom: "Gam besimcha uvetzahola". The intention is regarding the recitation of "Lecha Dodi" on Shabbos, where at the end, in the final stanza "Boi veshalom", the regular text is "gam berina uvetzahola"; but when Yom Tov or Shabbos Chol HaMoed occurs, the word "besimcha" is emphasized in parentheses. And how do we say it? Do we add, omit, or replace? Here the emphasis is that we say "gam besimcha uvetzahola" - we omit the word "berina" and say "gam besimcha uvetzahola". This is the custom on a Shabbos that falls on Yom Tov or Shabbos Chol HaMoed.
The second custom: "Shalom Aleichem, Eishes Chayil, Mizmor Ledovid, Da Hi Seudasa, and on Motzaei Shabbos Veyiten Lecha - silently". "Mizmor Ledovid" is said before the start of Kiddush; "Da Hi Seudasa" is the passage said on Friday night before Kiddush; and here he also adds "Veyiten Lecha" of Motzaei Shabbos. In such an occurrence, when Shabbos falls on Yom Tov or on Shabbos Chol HaMoed, all of these are said silently. What is the novelty in this? In the customs of our Rebbeim, there are places where it is described that our Rebbeim did not say this at all, and indeed in the first edition of the Hayom Yom in 5703 it was not written like here, but rather that we do not say all these things; and in other places it is written that our Rebbeim did say them. In practice, the Rebbe introduced the custom, and thus in the second edition it was changed, that we say it but silently - since there is no compromise between "not saying" and "saying", therefore we say it silently.
Study portions: Chumash, Acharei Mos, Shevii, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 19th of the month, from chapter 90 to chapter 96 inclusive.
Tanya, on this day we begin chapter 42, from the beginning of the chapter, from the word "Vehinei". The daily study portion concludes on page 118 with the words "Yeida v'go'".
The entire teaching refers to an explanation once given by the Rebbe Rashab on the four questions of "Mah Nishtanah", in which he explained how they are four explanations of the superiority of the future Geulah compared to the previous redemptions. This superiority is generated as a result of the various changes that occur during the time of Golus, in the refinement of the body, and from them four changes were created, which he points out in the four questions.
First he says: "My father, the Rebbe [the Rebbe Rashab], once explained Mah Nishtanah" - since the text says "Why is this night different from all other nights" (Mah nishtanah halailah hazeh mikol haleilos). Night is a metaphor for Golus, and therefore he explains "why is the night different", meaning how is the "Golus, which is compared to night, 'this' - the final one, different from all the nights - the previous exiles". The main question is what changes in the outcome - what will happen after the final Golus, when we reach the future Geulah, compared to what occurred after the previous exiles; for in them too there were certain redemptions, but the redemptions were not perfect, whereas the future Geulah that will come after the current Golus - will be perfect.
The entire explanation that the Rebbe Rashab explains here in pnimiyus, the Rebbe once repeated on Pesach in 5732, and explained some of the passages in a way that must be explained even to children, so that they too would understand; the Rebbe explained some of the concepts in accessible language that is understandable even to children. Let us examine the text and try to understand.
The first question - here according to the order of the Chabad text, which begins with the question "On all other nights we do not dip". And so he explains: "On all other nights we do not dip (matbilin) - a term denoting cleansing, cleanliness and purity - even once". Tevilah (immersion), as is known, like a person immersing in a mikvah - its inner concept is cleanliness and purity. Every Golus comes to bring purity to a person, to cleanse him, and to remove from him the inappropriate matters that have clung to him; however, the previous exiles, even though they cleansed and purified, their purity was not absolute. This is "even once - the cleansing in them was not concluded", meaning we did not complete and rectify it.
There are several areas in which a person can and must rectify - to cleanse and rectify the matters of the body, or to cleanse and rectify the matters of the soul (nefesh). The Rebbe, when explaining this to children, said that even a child knows there are two types of sins: sins from the perspective of the body and sins from the perspective of the neshamah. And he gave an example: a person who eats something that is not entirely kosher - the thing that drags him is the lust of the body; and on the other hand, there are sins that are more related to matters of the soul, such as reciting Krias Shema without the proper love for Hashem, for these are matters of the soul. Seemingly we would expect that after a certain cleansing, at least one area would be completely sorted out and would not return again - either the area of the body or the area of the soul.
But he says, that on all other nights we do not dip - a term of cleansing, cleanliness and purity - even once, that the cleansing in them was not concluded. "Even once", meaning even one area, it cannot be said that it was completely sorted out, since after them came another Golus, and again there were challenges related to the body or the soul. But "this night - twice", meaning in the current Golus, the cleansing will be absolute, and we will succeed in sorting out both directions - there will be "cleansing of the body and revelation of the soul"; there will no longer be challenges of bodily lusts, and there will no longer be challenges of failings of the soul. This is the explanation for the first question.
The second question: "On all other nights we eat chometz or matzah", as he will explain later, that chometz and matzah are symbols of avodah: matzah - the avodah of the G-dly soul, and chometz - avodah and action for the animal soul. If so, on all other nights, "meaning that even after the Golus", what is our avodah? "Chometz or matzah" - we have, thank G-d, involvement with the neshamah, but we still also have involvement with the body; we do not eat only matzah, and we do not involve ourselves only with the neshamah. And as he details, even after the previous exiles, "the avodah is from the perspective of the G-dly soul" - the expression of which is "matzah", whose concept, as is known, is "bitul", as it is not allowed to rise - "and from the perspective of the animal soul", the expression of which is "chometz", which is "yeshus".
After the previous exiles, we were still not only with matzah but also with chometz; but "this night, after the final Golus - entirely matzah - that the spirit of impurity will be removed", meaning after the final Golus, we will no longer have involvement with matters of the animal soul and with yeshus. Why? Because "the spirit of impurity will be removed" - there is no longer involvement with the spirit of impurity, there is no longer yeshus; and therefore it is entirely matzah, to be involved only with the G-dly soul.
The third question: "On all other nights we eat other vegetables (she'ar yerakos)". What is the meaning? In the inner sense: in all the exiles, after we left the Golus, a yearning was awakened within us to ascend in G-dliness; and every yearning to ascend in G-dliness is kinah (zealousness). Usually, we recognize the concept of "kinah" as a negative thing - jealousy for a material thing; but here the intention is kinah in a positive sense: I am zealous and want to ascend, I want to be more refined. The exiles from which we emerged and reached Geulah caused us a yearning and a desire to ascend - they caused us kinah, and kinah is related to the implication of the word, as the saying goes "Whoever is jealous, his face turns green (morikos)" [from the word for the color green (yarok)], that a person becomes contracted and bitter, since he wants something and cannot attain it. "And in all the exiles there are many levels in kinah: the jealousy of scholars and the like" but in the previous exiles we had yearnings to ascend, and alongside them still yearnings for worldly matters, and not absolutely only for matters of holiness. Therefore it is called "she'ar yerakos": there are the vegetables and the greenness, there is the bitterness, but not in an absolute manner.
When the Rebbe translated the meaning of this question for small children, he gave an example: when a child is playing, and in the middle of the game his parents tell him "come eat lunch", he goes to eat, but the food has no taste, because his head is immersed in the game and he wants to finish; even though they bring him the tastiest food, it has no taste for him, and it seems to him like a bitter thing, because he wants to return to the game. This is an example of how when a person is immersed in G-dliness, worldly matters are for him like a bitter thing. But after all the exiles we did not reach a state where only G-dliness interests us; a vegetable is still a tasty thing, and sometimes one eats bread with vegetables and it has taste. Even in the other exiles from which we emerged, worldly matters were still like vegetables for us - there was a little taste in them.
This is a translation into simpler terms of the concept, that the yearning is not absolute. The text: "On all other nights we eat other vegetables (she'ar yerakos) - 'Whoever is jealous, his face turns green (morikos)'"; meaning there is "she'ar yerakos", all kinds of levels in the yearning for exalted matters; and in all the exiles there were many levels and kinah, many degrees, and not in all of them was the kinah and the yearning absolutely for G-dliness, but rather there are levels in this. But "this night - after the final Golus - is entirely maror - the greatest kinah, along the lines of the saying of our Sages of blessed memory, 'Every tzaddik is scorched by the canopy of his fellow'", meaning after the final Golus the refinement will be absolute; and even though the text is not "entirely maror" but "maror", to sharpen the point he says "entirely maror".
What is "entirely maror"? A greater kinah, where he has no desire for anything else; he is completely bitter, since he only wants the supernal yearning. In translation for children - the child is so immersed in the game, that the food they give him is maror, truly bitter, and he finds no taste in it and wants none of it. And in translation to G-dliness - he so desires matters of holiness, that all worldly matters they try to give him - he does them because the body needs them, but for him it is an absolute compulsion, it is maror. "Entirely maror, a greater kinah", along the lines of the saying of our Sages of blessed memory, "Every tzaddik is scorched by the canopy of his fellow" - a description of the Time to Come, that there will be such a great G-dly revelation, that every tzaddik will have an absolute yearning for further revelation, to the point that he will receive a burn from his inability to reach the yearning he wishes to attain.
The fourth question: "On all other nights we eat whether sitting upright or reclining". What is the intention? "Eat", as will be explained, implies delight - as in its simple meaning, that a person eats and delights from the food, and here the intention is of course to delight in holiness and G-dliness. If so, on all other nights, meaning after all the exiles, when we reached Geulah - what kind of Geulah did we reach? "All the revelations brought about by the exiles" and after them, which are hinted at in the word "eat", meaning from the "level of delight" - "whether sitting upright or reclining", which are two types of delight: "And there is the expansion of delight and the essential delight, and there is one who reaches through his avodah the expansion of delight, and there is [one who reaches] the essential delight". Sometimes one feels the delight in its absolute G-dly essence, and sometimes one does not feel the essence but only its expansion, its distant waves.
The difference between feeling the essence and feeling the distant waves is like the difference between "sitting upright" (yoshvin) and "reclining" (mesubin): "Sitting upright" means in a settled manner, that he did not receive the essence but received the distant waves; whereas "reclining" means like one who leans, who is entirely within the matter, in absolute delight. This is like the difference between the revelation of "Memale Kol Almin" to the revelation of "Sovev Kol Almin". In all the revelations that came after the exiles there was delight - there was "eating" - but it was dependent: not everyone was "sitting upright"; there are those "sitting upright" and there are those "reclining". There are those who merit to receive the essence of the delight, and there are those who arrive through their avodah only at a level called the expansion of the delight - to the distant waves and not to the essence; and there are those who reached higher levels, to the essential delight.
But "this night - after the final Golus - we are all reclining - that all of Israel will reach the level of essential delight", after the current Golus, everyone will reach the most exalted G-dly level, the essence of delight, and will not suffice with the distant waves, but rather we will have the thing itself, and automatically we will be at the level of "reclining". What is the intention of "we are all reclining"? That all of Israel will reach the level of essential delight - we will all reach the essence of delight and not things that are similar or distant, and we will have a connection to the inner essence of G-dliness; and this will be after the current Golus, in the true and complete Geulah.