The thirty-fourth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 23 Teves 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Shemos, chamishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 23rd of the month, from chapter 108 through chapter 110 inclusive.
Tanya, on this day we conclude chapter 12, from the words "rak shelazeh" until the end of the chapter, which concludes with the words "im achas".
The daily teaching is divided into two. In the first part a correction is brought that the Rebbe Rashab made in Torah Or. The Rebbe would bring each week the Rebbe Rashab's correction on the maamarim of that week, and this came as encouragement and strengthening for those learning the daily shiur, that they should also learn the daily shiurim in the chassidic parsha, the maamarim of Torah Or.
In Torah Or on parshas Shemos there is a maamar. Let us first quote the wording and then explain. The Rebbe says: "Torah Or, d"h [dibur hamaschil] Misham Po" - this is the opening of the maamar - "in the section beginning V'hanimshal yuvan". As has been mentioned several times, in Torah Or the division of the sections is not marked with the letters alef, beis, gimmel, as in Likkutei Torah, where each chapter has its own letter; rather the sections are divided without letter markings. Therefore it says only "the section beginning with the words V'hanimshal yuvan". And there is a correction there: in place of the words "ki yeish bechinas maalah" ("for there is an aspect of superiority") that are printed in Torah Or, the Rebbe Rashab corrected that it should read "v'chein yeish maalah" ("and likewise there is a superiority").
What is the substance of the correction? Let us give a bit of background. In that maamar the Alter Rebbe speaks about the superiority found in practical mitzvos; for a practical mitzvah has a very great superiority, and in a certain measure even more than Torah study. And the Alter Rebbe brings several examples in which one sees the superiority of the deed.
One example: at a funeral one interrupts Torah study in order to fulfill the mitzvah of escorting the deceased - so there is a superiority in a practical mitzvah. A second example: there is a story in the Zohar that because of the mitzvah of hachnasas kallah they interrupted the recitation of Shema; even though Shema has a very great superiority and contains lofty yichudim, nevertheless the practical mitzvah of hachnasas kallah comes first. A third example: the halachah states that a positive commandment overrides a negative commandment - again the same idea, that a mitzvas asei, which is something active, has an added superiority over a mitzvas lo saaseh, even though the level of a lo saaseh is very lofty.
These three examples the Alter Rebbe brings, and he concludes that this is because of the superiority of the deed. And then he adds another sentence: that even a very simple Jew who fulfills a practical mitzvah without kavanos and without secrets, but only because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded so - it is possible that this fulfillment is precious in Hashem's eyes, in a certain measure, more than the great kavanos and comprehensions of tzaddikim. So far the quotation from this part of the maamar.
The printed wording is: "ki yeish bechinas maalah yeseirah mibechinas tomchin d'Oraisa yoser mei'inyan ha'eidah". When one reads it this way, one could understand that the ending comes to explain the preceding examples - that in all of them we saw a superiority in the deed - and therefore he concludes "for there is a superiority in tomchin d'Oraisa", that even those who do not study Torah but only support it have in them a superiority more than "inyan ha'eidah".
But the Rebbe Rashab changed the wording, and this is the correction: not to write "ki yeish bechinas maalah" - for this passage does not come to explain what preceded - but rather "v'chein yeish maalah yeseirah". That is, the Alter Rebbe now comes to say an additional thing: besides what was said earlier about the superiority of the deed and the examples, there is another matter - "and likewise there is a superiority in tomchin d'Oraisa more than inyan ha'eidah". Here it is not speaking about the matter of the deed, but rather about the idea that tomchin d'Oraisa have a great superiority. This is the content of the correction that the Rebbe brings in the daily teaching. So far the first section.
The second section of the teaching, which is its continuation, is a quotation from a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz. I will give a bit of background. It is known that after the Rebbe Rayatz left Russia, he visited the Holy Land, afterward he visited the United States, and after that he returned to Poland and remained there for about ten years, and then he settled in the United States for ten years.
The visit he made to the United States lasted a bit more than ten months. He visited Jewish communities, and the purpose of the visit was to strengthen the Jews of the United States, who were very far removed, and only a few in each place were observant of Torah and mitzvos. In the month of Teves, from 12 Teves until 4 Shevat, the Rebbe Rayatz stayed in Baltimore in order to strengthen the place. On 23 Teves he wrote a letter to a Jew in Baltimore by the name of Reb Avraham Reznik - and this is precisely the teaching that the Rebbe brings on 23 Teves.
What does the Rebbe Rayatz write to him? This is a relatively long letter, in which he describes the purpose of his visit to the United States. He relates that he met with many Jews, religious and not religious, and he sees that the Jewish heart is awake and open, and that all the young people of the generation, even though they are asleep now, their heart is awake, and all that is needed is that a good awakener should come who can arouse them.
And then he says: we are accustomed to complain and to sigh over the situation - and here comes the teaching - but "with sighs alone we will not be saved". The sigh itself will not bring salvation. He is not saying that the sigh is not a good thing; in the sefer Hayom Yom there are four teachings that deal with sighing, and in one of them he explains its virtue. But in the other three teachings he says that the sigh, with all its virtue, is not enough; rather it is only an opening from which a continuation must come.
What is the role of the sigh? "Die hanacha iz nor di kapos hamanul" [the sigh is nothing but the handle of the lock]. "Kapos hamanul" is an expression whose source is in Shir HaShirim, in the wording of the verse that deals with opening the door. Kapos hamanul is like the handle of the door. The Rebbe Rayatz says: the sigh is nothing but the door handle; in order to enter the house one must grasp the handle - that is indeed an action - but if you only grasped the handle and did not enter, there is no virtue in grasping the handle and opening it; one must go inside.
So then, the sigh by itself is nothing but "kapos hamanul", "to open the heart and to open the eyes". And what does it come to arouse? Not to sit with folded arms. You sigh over the situation - but it is not enough to sigh and to receive strength from the sigh, rather "to arrange work and action, each and every one according to what he can, to act and to engage in campaigning for the strengthening of Torah, the spreading of Torah and the observance of mitzvos". That is, you sigh over the situation, but one must see what is done with it. And what must be done? Each one in the area in which he is strong - this one with his writing, this one with his speaking, and this one with his money; each one should give from the side in which he is strong, and with it help bring the purpose of the sigh to realization.
This point is connected, by hashgachah pratis, to the Thursday of parshas Shemos on which the Rebbe brings it. In parshas Shemos we read earlier, I believe on Tuesday, that the Jewish people sighed - "vayei'anchu Bnei Yisrael"; but on Thursday of parshas Shemos we see that the Holy One, blessed be He, does something with it: He tells Moshe Rabbeinu to go and gather the elders of Israel, and to inform them that the redemption is coming, and to show them the wonders so that they will believe. One sees in Thursday's Chumash shiur that the sigh did not remain merely a sigh, but rather brought also to "opening the heart and opening the eyes", to doing something. This is the message of the teaching.
I will conclude with another interesting point regarding that letter of the Rebbe Rayatz, which was written in the year 5696 during his visit to the United States. At the end of the letter there are interesting expressions, a sort of prophecy about the future of the United States. And these are his words: "My heart tells me of lofty futures in the lives of these young people. These dry bones, they can rise to life, and a new generation, with His blessed help, they can establish; thousands and myriads of Jewish homes, with the observance of family purity, kashrus, Shabbos and tefillin, they can with Hashem's help set up in the Jewish street" - he is speaking about all the young people of the United States.
That is, there is here a possibility of lifting a person up from focusing on his poor state. And so he writes: "Behold, instead of sighing over oneself - although at times this is necessary - it is certainly better to begin activities, to add in Torah and mitzvos over what he lacked, and they are assured of an increase in the blessings of Hashem for one who occupies himself with this while feeling the pain". That is, the sigh is good, but it is only a key; the main thing is that a practical continuation should come out of it - as in the wording the Rebbe brings there as well, that one action is better than a thousand sighs, with all the virtue that a sigh has. This is the conclusion of the teaching.