Room one hundred and eighty-nine in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 1 Sivan, 40th day of the Omer, Rosh Chodesh, 5703.
In today's teaching there are three parts: a directive, the shiurim, and the teaching.
We begin with the directive: "Until the 12th of the month - inclusive - we do not say Tachanun" - meaning, from today, 1 Sivan, until 12 Sivan inclusive, Tachanun is omitted. This is already found in the Siddur of the Alter Rebbe; there is a section in the Siddur appearing before the psalm "Lamnatzeach Yaancha", after the morning prayer, before "Uva Letziyon", which lists all the days when Tachanun is not said - and one of them is from 1 Sivan up to and including 12 Sivan.
What is the reason for this? It is known that the festival of Shavuot does not have Chol HaMoed like Pesach and Sukkot, but at the time when the Beit HaMikdash stood, they were able to make up and offer the festival sacrifices during the following week. Thus, 12 Sivan is the end of the days of compensation (tashlumin), so that whoever did not bring a sacrifice could bring it until 12 Sivan.
What is the emphasis here on "until 12 Sivan"? As the Rebbe once explained in a sicha: seemingly, if we look at the other festivals, like Sukkot or Pesach, in the diaspora the period of not saying Tachanun extends for an additional day, since there is a second festival day of the diaspora. According to this, on Shavuot in the diaspora, the period of omitting Tachanun should have ended on 13 Sivan, by adding a day to the days of compensation. If so, why only until 12 Sivan?
The question becomes stronger: it is known that the reason for the two days of Yom Tov on Sukkot and Pesach is due to doubt - they did not know when the Beit Din established the new month and declared Rosh Chodesh, and until the news reached distant places, they added a day. However, on Shavuot, as cited in Halachah, there is no doubt, since Shavuot is fixed - the fiftieth day of the Omer - and the date of Pesach is already known. So when Shavuot arrives everyone already knows, even in the most distant places, and if so, there is no need to observe two days for Shavuot.
And what is stated in Halachah? That even though this is indeed known, nonetheless, in order not to differentiate between the festivals, they established that there should be two days for Shavuot as well, so there would be no distinction from one festival to another. Thus, the second day of Yom Tov of Shavuot has a stronger validity than that of the other festivals, since on the other festivals the second day is due to doubt, whereas on Shavuot there is no doubt, yet they still established two days due to the decree. According to this, the question is reinforced: why shouldn't we add an additional day without Tachanun, to include the second day of Yom Tov, since there are five days of compensation following it - and if so, Tachanun should not have been said on 13 Sivan either?
The answer is simple: the entire matter of bringing sacrifices is in the Land of Israel, in the Beit HaMikdash. And for those in the Land of Israel at the Beit HaMikdash offering sacrifices, there certainly are not two days of Yom Tov for any festival - they do not have the concept of doubt regarding the day, and it is not comparable to the diaspora. In the Land of Israel, where the whole matter of compensation applies, it is only until 12 Sivan, and after the 12th there is nothing. And this is the point the Alter Rebbe emphasizes: "Until the 12th of the month" - the main emphasis is that it is not afterwards - we do not say Tachanun.
Shiurim: Chumash, Bamidbar, Friday, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 1st of the month, we start again from the beginning of Tehillim - on the first day from Chapter 1 up to and including Chapter 9.
Tanya, we continue learning chapter 52. The daily shiur is from the words "Umahu halevush" until the word "Hatorah", all on page 73.
We will examine the daily teaching, which originates in a letter of the Rebbe Rayatz from 11 Sivan 5699. The teaching opens with a quote originating in the Midrash: "Zrok chutra la'avira a'ikareh kai". Its translation: when one throws a stick into the air, ultimately it does not remain in the air but falls down, to its source, to the ground; and not just that, but - according to one interpretation - it falls in such a way that the part which is its head, its center, its essence and root, will be facing down; it falls on its root. The Midrash says that this is what people commonly say.
The Midrash says this in the context of the story of Hagar taking a wife for her son Yishmael, as it says, "And his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt." Rashi cites there, based on the Midrash, why Hagar took a wife for Yishmael specifically from the land of Egypt - "From here you say: throw a stick into the air and it will fall on its root." For Hagar herself came from the land of Egypt, and when she sought a match for her son she went to the very place from which she came; meaning, she returned to her root.
Originally this was said regarding Egypt, about Hagar and Yishmael, but the teaching is now applied to the positive side, and this is how the Rebbe Rayatz brings it in the letter. There is an interesting emphasis there: the terminology used by our Sages is "chutra", meaning a stick, as opposed to a "soreg", which is a shoot or a branch. The difference between a stick and a "soreg" is that a stick no longer grows and is dry, whereas a "soreg" still has vitality and growth. In this lies the novelty: even the stick, which no longer grows and is completely dry, also returns to its root.
The analogy refers to chassidim: as we will see shortly in the text, the Rebbe gave the early chassidim a special power. The early chassidim were deeply bound to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe granted that all their descendants throughout the generations, always, no matter where they may be, will return to the root and the source. Of course, we will see here what needs to be done for this to be revealed, but this is the point: taking "zrok chutra", which originally referred to the Egyptian side, and turning it into the positive side - that a Jew will always return to their root.
Let us read the text of the teaching inside: "Zrok chutra la'avira a'ikareh kai, a heritage without boundaries was bequeathed by our ancestors, our holy Rebbeim". "Heritage" means an inheritance, "without boundaries" means without limits - an unlimited power was given by our Rebbeim to the early chassidim. The early chassidim of our Rebbeim, our leaders, received from the Rebbe a tremendous power, a special heritage without any limitations.
What is the power, what is the gift? "That the children of their sons and the children of their daughters throughout their generations" - that all their descendants forever, until the end of all generations, "in whatever country and environment they may be", no matter where the descendants of chassidim may wander, "will possess that same 'ikareh'", that same root, which comes from the connection of their ancestors to our Rebbeim, our leaders. Every Jew who stems from the lineage of chassidim has this root, this same "ikareh", and thus - even if they fall - they will always reach the root in some way.
And what is that "ikareh" possessed by chassidim and their descendants? "And that is the drawing of the innermost depths of the heart to the rock from which it was hewn" - that the inner heart of the descendant of the chassid will always be drawn to the rock from which it was hewn, to the root from which it was carved and from which it came, namely to our holy Rebbeim.
The letter concludes the teaching: "Sometimes the ikareh is covered and concealed in several garments". It is true that everyone has a root, and everyone comes from a source connected to the root, but sometimes, for that descendant who has fallen to some place, the root is concealed, and it is not easy to find how to return them to it. Therefore one must do something, a personal avodah, to remove the concealing layers, and then the root will be revealed.
What must be done? "And this is the avodah of one who desires life, to remove the concealments" - anyone who desires life and wants to return to their roots, their avodah is to remove the things that cover and conceal the renewed connection to the root. "And to establish times for study in the teachings of chassidus" - when that distant descendant studies and sets fixed times for the study of chassidus, the connection of the innermost depths of their heart to the rock from which it was hewn will be awakened. "And to practice the religious chassidic customs" - when one instills a chassidic custom, a custom from the avodah of chassidim, in that descendant, it returns them to the root.
These words were written by the Rebbe Rayatz in the year 5699, and the Rebbe included them in Hayom Yom in 5703. Interestingly, in a sicha in the month of Sivan 5748, the Rebbe said that since the teaching was included in Hayom Yom in 5703, fifty-five years have already passed, and therefore the blessing and the power instilled by our holy Rebbeim are no longer just for the early chassidim and their descendants, but have spread to the entire Jewish people - since the dissemination of the wellsprings outward has been accomplished in the broadest manner. Thus, today our Rebbeim have instilled the "ikareh" within every single Jew, and it is possible to return every Jew to the root.
The Rebbe also once interpreted the words "Zrok chutra la'avira" in an interesting way: the "Zrok chutra la'avira" is part of the action that the Rebbe does with a Jew - picking them up when they are on the floor, throwing them into the air and elevating them upwards. And by the Rebbe elevating every Jew into the air, this itself awakens the "a'ikareh kai", and reveals their root. That is, the Rebbe takes the entire teaching from its beginning as a positive action: not that the Jew is thrown and then returns, but that even the upward throwing is part of the action that the Rebbe effects in every Jew - and this is even if they are not directly from the descendants of chassidim; everyone has received this wonderful gift, to connect properly to their root.
With this we conclude the four teachings of the recent days - as we discussed in yesterday's teaching, about the Rebbe's connection to every Jew and to every chassid in a complete manner, and that ultimately everyone will be connected and will return to the rock from which they were hewn, with God's help.