The thirty-seventh "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Sunday, 26 Teves, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, we begin a new parsha in Sefer Shemos - Parshas Vaeira. Sunday, the first section, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 26th of the month, we say in chapter 119 from the letter Mem, which begins with the word "Mah", until the end of the chapter at the conclusion of the letter Tav, "lo shachachti".
Tanya, today we begin chapter 14, from the word "V'hinei" until page 38, at the words "lichpor ha'emes".
Before us today is a very short teaching, which comes to explain a certain passage in one of the berachos of Shemoneh Esrei - the berachah known in short as "Birkas HaMinim", familiar to us by its opening words "Velamalshinim". There is an interesting reference here to the wording within this berachah.
The source of the teaching is a letter that the Rebbe Rayatz sent to a Jew by the name of Ulman, who asked the Rebbe various questions in matters of tefillah. The reply is divided into sections - section one for question one and so on - and when he reaches the second question, that Jew asks what the nusach of the Arizal is in Birkas HaMinim.
What is the question? It is known that there were certain periods in which, because of the censor - that is, because of the government - various changes were made in this berachah, so that a situation would not arise in which people would say "the Jews are praying against them" and so on, and in order to lessen the fear of the gentile authorities. But that Jew asks the Rebbe Rayatz what the correct wording is according to the nusach of the Arizal - and not the wording that at times they were forced to change.
The Rebbe Rayatz answers him, and quotes in the letter itself: "The wording to which I was accustomed from my childhood, and which I likewise heard from" his father - for when his father was the chazan and davened Shemoneh Esrei aloud, he was able to hear the wording. He quotes in the letter the exact text that is to be said, without any doubt: "Velamalshinim", "vechol oyvei amcha meheirah yikareisu", "umalchus harishah meheirah" - the text without any change.
Further on there is a reference to the four expressions in this berachah, which seemingly refer to that same malchus harishah and so on: "te'aker", "useshaber", "usemager", "usechania". The Rebbe refers the reader to the sefer "Shaar HaKollel", where these four expressions are discussed. First, "Shaar HaKollel" is precise that one should say "usechania" in the singular, and not "usechaniem" in the plural as is written in certain siddurim - as though it were speaking of the doers of wickedness and of the kingdom of wickedness in the plural; rather the wording should be "usechania" in the singular, and he also brings a reason for this.
Let us now read the teaching, in which the Rebbe brings the reason briefly, and expands a bit upon what is written in "Shaar HaKollel". And this is what the teaching says: "In the berachah of 'Velamalshinim' one pauses slightly between 'usemager' and the word 'usechania'". This is what the Rebbe Rayatz would hear from his father - that one says "te'aker useshaber usemager", pauses for a moment, and then says "usechania", and not in one continuous flow. Why? This fits with the kavanah, as explained in "Shaar HaKollel", and here the Rebbe brings a summary of what the kavanah is.
"'Te'aker useshaber usemager' - the first three expressions, which are said consecutively - correspond to the three impure klipos which must be removed entirely", as explained in Tanya, that there are three klipos that are entirely impure which cannot be rectified, and must be nullified; and with the coming of Moshiach their nullification will be complete. Regarding them we say "te'aker useshaber usemager".
And why with three expressions and not with a single one? "Shaar HaKollel" explains that the three impure klipos are not equal - the first is the worst, the second slightly less so, and the third slightly less than that - even though all three are klipos that must be removed; and therefore the wording of the request from the Holy One, blessed be He, as to how to nullify them, changes. Regarding the first, the worst one, we say "te'aker" - that it be uprooted completely without a trace. Regarding the second, which is somewhat weaker than the first, we say "useshaber" - not an expression of complete uprooting but of breaking. And regarding the third, which is weaker still, we say "usemager" - that it be cast down from here and be no more.
But when it comes to the fourth klipah, what is the wording? "'Usechania' corresponds to klipas nogah, which requires subjugation". Klipas nogah does not merely stand in fourth place in the order of the klipos, but is entirely different: a Jew can, through proper use, rectify it and transform it into holiness, since it contains a mixture of good and evil. Therefore the request is "usechania" - that the evil part must be subdued to the good part; there is a birur in it, and it is possible to refine it and transform it into good. And that is why the wording changes.
It emerges that not only has it been explained why the wording changes, but also why one must make a certain pause - because we are in fact dealing with two types of klipos: the three entirely impure klipos are one type, and klipas nogah is another type, and therefore one pauses between them.
We also find here a hint to the sequence of halachos in the Rambam. As we have discussed, the Rebbe hints in the teachings to the books of the Rambam, and we are now in the second book - Sefer Ahavah. We spoke earlier about the hint to Hilchos Krias Shema, and the halachos that follow are Hilchos Tefillah; and here one sees tangibly the connection to Hilchos Tefillah, since the entire teaching speaks of a certain explanation in tefillah. Thus it is clear that this hints to Hilchos Tefillah in the second book of the Rambam.