The twenty-third "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Sunday, 12 Tevet 5703.
Lessons: Chumash — on Sunday we begin a new parsha, parshas Vayechi, the first section with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 12th day of the month, from Chapter 66 through Chapter 68 inclusive.
Tanya: On this day we begin from chapter 9, from the beginning, "de'ikkar mekom," until page 26 at the word "shebemochin."
In today's teaching we learn of an incident that occurred with the Rebbe Rashab in the year 5648. The saying tells of a custom that existed in those times, whereby they would choose a "gabbai for the chevra kadisha" — and "gabbai" here means something like a president, the head person in charge, and the like.
The custom was that after they chose the gabbai for the chevra kadisha, that gabbai would make kiddush on the night of Simchas Torah — in the manner of a farbrengen — for all the members of the chevra kadisha, in his home, in an intimate way; and after the kiddush they would escort him to the central shul of the place, with a chuppah and great joy, with a rav accompanying him.
So too it was with the Rebbe Rashab, in the year 5648. When he arrived at the shul, he stood at the amud and delivered a special maamar of Chassidus, whose dibbur-hamaschil was the phrase from the Gemara: "The Holy One, blessed be He, does not come with unfair claims against His creatures."
Those present in the crowd were all the people who came to the synagogue on Simchat Torah. Aside from the regular Jews, on the night of Simchat Torah all the simple folk came especially — the butchers, the wagon-drivers, the tailors, the carpenters — everyone arrived at the synagogue, and the Rebbe Rashab delivered the maamar. And although every chassidic discourse was generally delivered in Yiddish, apparently on that occasion it was said in an even simpler language. [The Rebbe Rayatz relates here about his father, the Rebbe Rashab, who was the gabbai of the chevra kaddisha.]
It is also possible to understand the connection of the teaching to the day of 12 Tevet, on which one begins reciting the first section of Parshat Vayechi, in which Yaakov Avinu says to Yosef, "and you shall do with me kindness and truth," and Rashi there addresses this, saying that the kindness done with the dead is a "kindness of truth" — which was also the appellation of the Chevra Kadisha; and apparently this is the connection to this day.
"As is customary," the teaching continues, "they escorted him on Simchat Torah, accompanied by the Rav and the members of the synagogue. It was then that he said the maamar 'Ein HaKadosh Baruch Hu ba biteruniya' (The Holy One, blessed be He, does not come with unreasonable demands)." This maamar was very beloved; the Rebbe Rashab was especially fond of describing this maamar to the Rebbe Rayatz, repeated it many times over, and it was printed several times — once it was distributed as a token gift to all the students of "Tomchei Temimim" in Warsaw. This is a maamar that the Rebbe Rashab cherished greatly, and many other maamarim are founded upon it.
[In the letter in which the Rebbe Rayatz recounts this, he adds a few sentences about the conclusion of the maamar:] "The conclusion of his words was in a mighty voice, emerging from deep within his heart, ablaze with the flame of di-nur" — thus did the Rebbe Rayatz describe it; and he concludes by saying that even today, decades later — more than thirty years afterward — "even today, thank G-d, in my ears there still rings the glory of the voice of the flame of the words of his holy mouth". That is, the Rebbe Rayatz says that the flame of the words that were spoken still reverberates for him, and how powerfully it kindled a mighty fire in his heart.
And what did he say? "In conclusion: even people of intellect who exist nowadays" — people of intellect, who understand and know Torah and grasp matters in a deep and inner way — "must set aside their intellect and not follow reason and understanding," not to build everything up and wait until they understand and connect to it.
Among the things said there was another expression that does not appear here, which the Rebbe Rashab himself stated: a simple person is ready to devote himself to worthy goals without preliminaries and without understanding. And he gave an example: One wishes to establish a cheder? The simple person gives the first coin — and in his words he specified the coin, a "tzvantziger" — he gives the first coin without thinking; it is not hard for him to give of himself, even though perhaps it is difficult for him. In contrast, the man of intellect thinks and wavers, and in the end his intellect tells him not to give of himself. This is the problem of one who approaches a matter with intellect.
And here he states it plainly: not to follow reasoning and intellect, "for they can be led astray by their intellect, G-d forbid" — for the intellect is liable to turn a person in the wrong direction — "until, G-d forbid, one ends up sick in the end"; that is to say, if the intellect leads him in the wrong direction, he will not want to devote himself, and may arrive at a place that is not good. "And this is the main thing in this present time, in the footsteps of Mashiach, not to follow intellect and reasoning and understanding, but rather to fulfill the Torah and mitzvos with wholeness and simple faith in the G-d of Israel."
There is another interesting point: in one of the sichos the Rebbe brings a parable from that very maamar — the well-known parable of the foot. When one wishes to place the foot into boiling water, the foot obeys at once and enters; but the head, if you wish to place it into boiling water, hesitates and does not leap in immediately. So too are the simple folk — they are like the feet.
In conclusion: whenever the Rebbe speaks about the topic of mesirus nefesh, specifically during the time of exile and specifically in the era of ikvesa dimeshicha, he cites as a reference this maamar of "Ein HaKadosh Baruch Hu ba bitrunya" from the year 5648 — a famous and unique maamar on this subject. This is the conclusion of the daily teaching.