Room two hundred and three in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 15 Sivan 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Behaalotecha, Shishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 15th of the month, we say two chapters - chapter 77 and chapter 78.
Tanya, on this day we conclude chapter 4 in Shaar Yichud Vehaemunah. The shiur begins from the start of the parentheses, with the words "Vehinei bechinat", on page 158, and ends on the same page at the conclusion of the chapter, with the word "leyodei'ahem".
The source of the daily teaching is in a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz in the month of Sivan 5681. There, the Rebbe Rayatz details the different stages in the development of the style of saying Torah and chassidus by Admor Hazaken, compared to the style of his son, Admor Haemtzai, or of the Tzemach Tzedek. By Admor Haemtzai and the Tzemach Tzedek, the maamarim were generally all in a similar style, and if there were specific instructions for certain chassidim, they were usually given in yechidus. However, by Admor Hazaken there were different styles in his maamarim, and it turned out, as the Rebbe Rayatz writes there, that for every chassid there was the specific content in his avodah that suited him. That is, there were different styles in Admor Hazaken's saying of Torah, and here the Rebbe Rayatz details all the stages, and the title for each stage.
And so he says: "At first our great Rebbe would say very brief derushim, deeply moving and highly inspiring, and they were called derachim". The first stage was called "derachim". This style is similar to almost all the teachings we have from the great figures of chassidus, from the Baal Shem Tov: highly concentrated ideas, written in a few, sharp and brief words, so that the one who reads and studies them is very deeply affected by them - in his words here, "deeply moving and highly inspiring". Something brief and to the point. This was the style of the Baal Shem Tov and his students, and so too initially was the style of Admor Hazaken's words of Torah, and it was called "derachim".
Then he continues: "Afterwards they were called igrot and they are longer". Here the uniqueness of Toras Chabad already began to be expressed - that they transmit the ideas and cultivate the understanding and comprehension of the learner. In igrot, it deals with one specific idea, which is detailed and explained in a very elaborate manner, and there is no need for a person with special faculties to grasp the concept - as was the case with "derachim", the previous stage, where faculties were needed to grasp the depth of the brief teaching - rather, even a person who does not have highly special faculties can understand the explained concept. Nevertheless, this was not yet a path unique only to Admor Hazaken; one can find a similar style also in the written words of Torah of several Rebbes of chassidus of that era - for example, in Kedushat Levi by Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, and in Noam Elimelech by Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk - where there too one can find a single point elucidated with greater expansion. By Admor Hazaken this was called "igrot". This is the second stage.
He continues: "Afterwards it evolved that they were called torot and they are the roots of the derushim that are in Torah Or and in Likkutei Torah". The third stage was called "torot". What changed here compared to the "igrot" that preceded it? Here it is not one idea explained at length, but several ideas, from which they even made a broad framework coming to explain several concepts - this will be understood based on that, and this will be reinforced based on that - as one can find in the style of the maamarim in Likkutei Torah and Torah Or ["in order to understand this matter we will preface another matter", and "this will reinforce that", and so forth]. This is already a much broader framework than "igrot", and certainly than "derachim". This is the special stage called "torot".
And then comes the conclusion of the passage: "Afterwards slightly longer and they were called ketavim, and they are in explanation with broad comprehension relatively". The fourth stage is "ketavim". What is their uniqueness? Here one already sees prominently everything implied in Toras Chabad. It speaks of entire books that take a single subject and clarify it from all sorts of sides and angles, expansively, in a long, complete, and very detailed framework. This is a unique thing that has no parallel at all by any of the other students of chassidus of the Baal Shem Tov. This is the main part called "ketavim", by Admor Haemtzai. By Admor Hazaken himself there was from the outset this style of "ketavim", and so certainly also by the Rebbes who followed. And thus we have learned here the development of matters by Admor Hazaken in all four stages.