The twelfth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 1 Tevet, Rosh Chodesh, sixth day of Chanukah, 5703.
Today we enter a new month, the month of Teves, having concluded the month of Kislev.
Studies: Chumash, Miketz, Revii, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim: since it is Rosh Chodesh, one begins from the beginning — from chapter 1 up to and including chapter 9.
Tanya: we are in the middle of chapter 4, from the words "bnei sheloshah" until "levushim eilu".
In the following passage the Rebbe notes several customs, indicating that they were taken from his notes — the entries the Rebbe wrote in his diary. This passage contains three matters relating to Hallel on Rosh Chodesh. The first of them deals with the case of reciting "half-Hallel" — a Hallel that is not complete.
On that very Rosh Chodesh, 1 Tevet 5703, Chanukah fell, and on Chanukah one recites the full Hallel in any case. However, since this was the first Rosh Chodesh in the "Hayom Yom" calendar, the Rebbe notes the customs of Rosh Chodesh in general, and not specifically in relation to that particular Rosh Chodesh that fell on 1 Tevet 5703.
What is the first custom the Rebbe addresses regarding Rosh Chodesh? The Rebbe writes: "It is customary that an individual recites the blessing before and after Hallel even on those days when the full Hallel is not recited." Let me explain the matter at hand: In the recitation of Hallel, generally speaking, there are two situations. There is the recitation of the complete Hallel — on the first day of Pesach (and outside the Land of Israel on the first two days), on the festival of Shavuos (and outside the Land of Israel on both days), throughout the festival of Sukkos, and on Chanukah; whereas on Chol HaMoed Pesach (until its end) and on the days of Rosh Chodesh, half-Hallel is recited.
In addition to the two ways of reciting Hallel itself, there are two further modes: whether you recite the Hallel with a congregation, or in private prayer. When one recites the complete Hallel — one always makes a blessing. When you recite the complete Hallel in private, you certainly make a blessing, since there is no one to fulfill your obligation on your behalf. And even when you pray with a congregation and the complete Hallel is recited and a blessing is required — you do not fulfill your obligation through the blessing of the chazzan, and you make the blessing yourself.
What is the reason for this? The Alter Rebbe brings in the laws of Yom Kippur that on the night of Yom Kippur we recite the blessing "Shehecheyanu" as on every festival. The chazzan recites "Shehecheyanu" slowly, and the entire congregation quietly recites the blessing "Shehecheyanu," as is noted in all the machzorim. The Alter Rebbe brings a complete halachah and states that by right it would have been proper for the entire congregation to fulfill their obligation with the chazzan's blessing, rather than each person reciting it on his own — because of the principle "berov am hadras melech" (in a multitude of people is the King's glory); that the chazzan should recite the blessing "Shehecheyanu" before the multitude, and everyone would listen and thereby fulfill their obligation.
And why, in practice, does each person nonetheless recite the blessing individually? Because for the most part the chazzan does not have in mind to fulfill the obligation on behalf of everyone; and in order not to enter a situation in which it might be that the chazzan did not intend to fulfill it for me at all — therefore each person should recite the blessing quietly for himself. Thus rules the Alter Rebbe, and at the conclusion of the halachah he says: "And the same law applies to the blessing of Hallel." That is, also regarding the blessing of Hallel, when you pray with a congregation and they recite the complete Hallel and one must recite the blessing — even though by law it would have been fitting to fulfill the obligation through the chazzan, on account of "in the multitude of people is the King's glory," since it is not necessarily the case that the chazzan will have you in mind, you should recite the blessing yourself. And this is said regarding the complete Hallel.
And what happens when you recite the "half-Hallel" with a congregation? When one examines the siddur of the Alter Rebbe, there are a few lines that the Alter Rebbe wrote before the Hallel, in which it is explicitly stated: "On days when the complete Hallel is not recited and one prays with a congregation, the practice should be that the chazzan alone recites the blessing at the beginning and at the end, and the congregation answers amen and fulfills their obligation with his blessing." The Alter Rebbe is speaking about a situation where there is a congregation and the Hallel is not complete — and since in such a case there is a halachic doubt whether one recites the blessing or not, because it is not a complete Hallel, therefore in such a case the practice should be that the chazzan recites the blessing and the congregation fulfills their obligation with his blessing.
But what happens when you pray individually on days of "half-Hallel"? On this there is no explicit reference. Regarding this the Rebbe says here, and this is also understood from the rest of the rule that he writes concerning Hallel: an individual who prays alone and recites the half-Hallel — should make a blessing at the beginning and at the end, even on the days that are half-Hallel; and when you pray individually you should recite the first and the last blessing. This is the first custom.
It is worthwhile to add an interesting point of practical relevance: it is told of the Rebbe Rashab that even when he prayed with the congregation and it was half-Hallel, he would recite the blessing for himself quietly, in a whisper; and the Rebbe Rayatz expressed it with the words "in our family it is different," and without publicizing it — that no publicity should be made of this — meaning, he would always recite the blessing for himself. And the Rebbe, on Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av 5741, which fell on Shabbos, at the conclusion of the farbrengen, said that the custom among chassidim is to seize the opportunity and recite the blessing quietly, even when praying with the congregation and reciting half-Hallel.
The upshot is that there is a discussion here — which I will not enter into now — about at precisely which point one should recite the blessing: whether to say it together with the chazzan slowly, in which case there is no need to answer amen, or to wait until the chazzan finishes and then recite it. But the conclusion that emerges from all this is that always, no matter what situation you are in — whether with a congregation or alone, whether it is a full Hallel or half Hallel — you always recite the blessing at the beginning and at the end. This is the first custom that the Rebbe addresses.
The second custom relates to the conclusion of Hallel. In the blessing at its end, the Rebbe says: "the wording is 'yehalelucha'—'yehalelcha Havayah Elokeinu (al) kol maasecha'," with the word "al" appearing in parentheses. There are two variants here that completely change the meaning: whether one says "yehalelucha Havayah Elokeinu al kol maasecha"—without parentheses—or one says "yehalelucha Havayah Elokeinu kol maasecha," omitting the word "al."
Why? Because the question is who is doing the praising: are we praising the Holy One, blessed be He, for the works He created, or are the works You created the ones who praise You? This is a difference in meaning. The Rebbe in his siddur placed the word "al" ("for") in parentheses, meaning that one should not say it, but rather say "yehalelucha Hashem Elokeinu kol maasecha" — and this is the wording of the verse "yoducha Hashem kol maasecha" ("all Your works shall thank You"), according to which too the works themselves thank You. And the Rebbe entered here in the Hayom Yom that this is indeed how one should say it, without the word "al."
Interestingly, there is a letter of the Rebbe in "Igros Kodesh," in which the chief rabbi of Bnei Brak, Rabbi Yaakov Landau, wrote to the Rebbe after he published the "Hayom Yom," and remarked that he recalls having heard from the Rebbe Rashab, while he was praying and reciting Hallel, that he indeed said the word "al" — a kind of comment to the Rebbe on the matter. The Rebbe replies to him that all the practices which he included in the "Hayom Yom" are in accordance with the directive of the Rebbe Rayatz, and before printing everything was before the eyes of the Rebbe Rayatz; therefore, several things that were not a directive for the public he instructed to omit, and whatever he left in — this implies that he wanted it to remain. Accordingly, this is why the Rebbe included this matter, and this is why it remains here.
The Rebbe adds another word for him, from which it is understood that his memory is not necessarily precise: when a person knows that he must consider how something is said, and intends to listen carefully, there is room to say that he remembers exactly; but when he does not yet know at all that there are differences in customs, and remembers that this is how he heard it — it is possible that the memory becomes mixed up with habit. Nevertheless, the Rebbe also reflects, in a certain place, that his memory is not one hundred percent certain, but it is clear that the Rebbe Rayatz wanted it to be this way here.
The third custom that the Rebbe brings in the Hayom Yom: "All tefillin are put on before Musaf". This is something ruled in the Shulchan Aruch: since during Musaf we say "Keter", and not "Nakdishcha" as in the regular prayer, the Shulchan Aruch states that it is not fitting that while we say "Keter" we should have upon us the "Keter" of the tefillin, and therefore the tefillin are removed before Musaf.
The Rebbe apparently means that those who put on more than one pair of tefillin — whether they put on Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, or as noted in "Hayom Yom" of 19 Menachem Av that some put on four pairs of tefillin — "all the tefillin are put on before Mussaf"; that is, by the time one reaches Mussaf, one has already put on all the tefillin, and Mussaf is prayed without tefillin.
The Rebbe concludes by saying: "The remaining portions are studied after completing the entire prayer". What are "the remaining portions"? There, in the "Hayom Yom" of 19 Menachem Av, when the Rebbe speaks about the four pairs of tefillin that one puts on, he notes that with each of the four pairs there are portions of which one studies a part — the daily Tehillim portions or the daily Chumash portions and the like. And the Rebbe says that in the case of Rosh Chodesh, when you put on all four pairs, you study these portions after the prayer, and there is no need to study all the portions before Musaf. The main point: by the time you reach the Musaf prayer, you will already have finished putting on all the tefillin. This is the conclusion of the daily lesson and the matter.