The two-hundred thirty-fourth "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Monday, 16 Tammuz 5703.
Lessons: Chumash, Pinchas, Sheni, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 16th of the month, one recites from chapter 79 through chapter 83 inclusive.
Tanya, on this day we continue with chapter 3 of Iggeret HaTeshuvah. The daily portion begins on page 184 with the words "ומכל מקום" (umikol makom), and concludes on page 93 with the word "בהצדקה" (bahatzedakah) at the end of the passage.
The source of the daily saying is a sichah that the Rebbe Rayatz delivered on Simchas Torah 5701. In that sichah, before reaching this subject, the Rebbe Rayatz relates the wondrous ahavas Yisrael that the Baal Shem Tov possessed—a love beyond measure.
Among the matters he relates is that the Baal Shem Tov revealed himself when he received instruction from his renowned teacher and master to reveal himself, in the year 5494. Over a period of approximately twenty-one years, until 5596, the Baal Shem Tov would refer to his disciples with special terms of endearment — "ohavim" (beloved ones), "yedidim" (dear ones), "chevra ahuvim" (a beloved fellowship), or "chevra yedidim" (a dear fellowship). The term "chassidim," familiar to us to this day, was actually chosen by the misnagdim; the Baal Shem Tov had other names and appellations.
Continuing this introduction, the Rebbe Rayatz brings the saying of the Maggid of Mezritch, and let us examine his wording. "The ahavas Yisrael of the Baal Shem Tov cannot be measured" — it is impossible to gauge its intensity. "The Rav, the Maggid of Mezritch, said: "Would that people kissed the Sefer Torah with the same love with which my teacher would kiss the children as he led them to cheder", when he was a "behelfer" [the melamed's assistant]". When the Baal Shem Tov served as an assistant to the melamed, he would take the children, bring them to cheder, and kiss them. Said the Maggid: Would that we loved a Sefer Torah with such love as the Baal Shem Tov loved the children.
Elsewhere the Rebbe Rayatz recounts the same story, within a wondrous description of his father the Rebbe Rashab's yechidus with his own father, the Rebbe Maharash — a very interesting point in the description of the matter. In the course of things, the Rebbe Maharash told the Rebbe Rashab a list of stories, and among them this story. There the wording that the Maggid said about himself was: "I bless myself" — the Maggid blessed himself — "to kiss a Sefer Torah with the same affection with which the Baal Shem Tov would kiss a Jewish child who recited the alef-beis." There he does not emphasize the point that he was a "behelfer" who led them to cheder, but rather a small child who recites the alef-beis, and how greatly he cherished him with very great affection.
Following the noting of the aphorisms alongside the "Yad HaChazakah" of the Rambam, today we begin in the Rambam cycle a new book that corresponds to the teaching: Sefer Mishpatim, which opens with Hilchot Sechirut (the Laws of Hiring). In Hilchot Sechirut there is an interesting halachah, of which one could say that the daily teaching is its antithesis — its positive aspect. In the tenth chapter, the halachah also teaches about a teacher of young children: a teacher of children who was negligent with the children and did not teach them — he is removed from his post, for he does not perform his work properly. And conversely, there is the positive side: what is a proper teacher of children? One who invests so much in his work, who takes the children, cherishes them and loves them. And this is the description of the immense ahavat Yisrael of the Baal Shem Tov.