"Room" one hundred and fifty-eight in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 29 Nissan, 14th of the Omer, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Kedoshim, Shlishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 29th of the month, saying chapter 140 up to and including chapter 144.
Tanya, we are at the beginning of chapter 44 (which we actually started the day before). The daily shiur begins on page 63, from the words "Ahavah Rabbah", and ends on page 126 with the word "teva".
The daily teaching is taken from a diary the Rebbe wrote for himself of things he heard from the Frierdiker Rebbe (Rebbe Rayatz). Here it refers to a sefer called "Likkutei Torah Al Gimmel Parshiyos". Let us provide a brief background for this: It is known that there are the maamarim of the Alter Rebbe on the Torah, in the two seforim "Torah Or" and "Likkutei Torah" - "Torah Or" on Bereishis and Shemos, and "Likkutei Torah" on Vayikra, Bamidbar, and Devarim.
In the year 5644, about a year and a half after the histalkus of the Rebbe Maharash, a sefer called "Likkutei Torah Al Gimmel Parshiyos" was sent to print. "Gimmel Parshiyos" refers to the first three parshiyos of the Torah: Bereishis, Noach, and Lech Lecha. What did the sefer contain? It contained maamarim of the Alter Rebbe, but with explanations, drushim, and glosses by the Rebbe Maharash - and as mentioned, this was about a year and a half after the histalkus of the Rebbe Maharash.
In the daily teaching, the Rebbe brings what the maamar was that was chosen to serve as an introduction and opening to that sefer. [This is not the place to get into it, and it is not mentioned in the teaching either; in other places, one can find extensive information about this sefer and the controversy that arose around it, as the sefer was not published and distributed as planned. In fact, the maamarim there were printed from the Tzemach Tzedek, and they are included today in the "Or HaTorah" series. Whoever searches for "Likkutei Torah Al Gimmel Parshiyos" will find the episode that surrounded it - but this is not relevant to the daily teaching].
"The introduction to Likkutei Torah for the Three Parshiyos." As mentioned, we will speak about the introduction - about the maamar chosen to serve as a prefatory maamar to that sefer. The prefatory maamar begins with the words "To understand the matter of the G-dly soul, it is written 'You shall not eat'". The verse "You shall not eat over the blood" is taken from the daily shiur of Tuesday in Parshas Kedoshim, and thus there is a connection to the teaching for this specific day. The maamar opens by stating that in order to understand the matter of the G-dly soul, it prefaces with the verse "You shall not eat over the blood" and explains the whole matter.
What is the source of the maamar and what is its story? "A maamar that the Alter Rebbe said before the Tzemach Tzedek, and the Tzemach Tzedek repeated it before him." This is a maamar of the Alter Rebbe, which he said before the Tzemach Tzedek, who was his grandson; and after the Alter Rebbe said it before his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek repeated before him the maamar he had just heard from his grandfather.
"And the Alter Rebbe said: Well, what is the reasoning (taam)?" Then the grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, gave the Tzemach Tzedek a task, telling him to explain the maamar and add reasoning and explanation to it. And so the Tzemach Tzedek received a task to take the maamar he heard from his grandfather, and repeated before his grandfather, and now explain it.
"And the Tzemach Tzedek wrote the hanachah with glosses in parentheses." The Tzemach Tzedek wrote and transcribed the entire maamar he heard from his grandfather; but since he received an instruction to add reasoning and explanation, he inserted into every section of the maamar, in glosses in parentheses (brackets), his own explanation of the maamar. Thus, one could distinguish in the maamar what were the words of the Alter Rebbe and what were the additions and explanations added by the Tzemach Tzedek.
"Our Rebbe reviewed the hanachah and commanded him to incorporate the glosses into the body of the maamar." The Alter Rebbe went over everything the grandson had written, and commanded him to insert the glosses into the body of the maamar; he told him not to leave the explanations in parentheses by themselves, but to insert them into the maamar, in such a way that one learning the maamar would not distinguish at all what was originally from the Alter Rebbe and what was the added explanation of the Tzemach Tzedek. He commanded him that the glosses he added should not remain in parentheses, but should enter as an integral part of the maamar itself.
"Upon the suggestion of my master, father and teacher [the Rebbe Rashab], they chose this maamar as an introduction to Likkutei Torah." They wanted to print the sefer "Likkutei Torah", as mentioned, about a year and a half after the histalkus of the Rebbe Maharash. The son of the Rebbe Maharash, who was his successor, was the Rebbe Rashab, and he suggested that when this sefer is printed - with the maamarim of the Alter Rebbe and the glosses of his father, the Rebbe Maharash - the introduction to the sefer would be the maamar written by the Tzemach Tzedek following the instruction of the Alter Rebbe. This is the content of the daily teaching referring to this point.
As for the connection to the Rambam's Mishneh Torah (Yad Hachazakah), which we always seek in these teachings: we are currently in Sefer Avodah, in its final halachos - Hilchos Meilah. In the previous teaching we read the day before, we dealt with Hilchos Avodas Yom HaKippurim, and the halachos that follow them, with which the Rambam concludes Sefer Avodah, are Hilchos Meilah.
At the end of Hilchos Meilah, in the final halachah, the Rambam provides the summary and instruction from Hilchos Meilah, and in his words: "It is fitting for a person to contemplate the laws of the holy Torah and to know their ultimate purpose according to his capacity." It is fitting for a person to contemplate the words of the Torah and explain them to the best of his ability, to give them reasoning and explanation, and to understand the words of the Torah. And he added: "And a matter for which he finds no reason and knows no cause, let it not be light in his eyes." Do not think that if you did not understand, the matter is Heaven forbid light in your eyes; rather, exert yourself. It is fitting for a person to exert himself to find a reason for the matter.
And this is exactly the content of the daily teaching - that the Alter Rebbe tells the Tzemach Tzedek to add reasoning so that the matter would be understood and explained; and it is exactly the content of the final halachah in the Rambam's Hilchos Meilah.