The 274th "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Shabbos, 27 Tammuz, when we bless the [coming month], 5703. This Shabbos is the Shabbos on which we bless the month of Elul.
In the heading, which the Rebbe includes on every Shabbat Mevorchim throughout the entire Hayom Yom calendar — he repeats it again and again: "We bless the month of Elul."
This Shabbat is Shabbat Mevarchim, which has a special chassidic conduct — two things. First: "reciting the entire Tehillim early in the morning" — on Shabbat Mevarchim, before davening, early, one must recite the whole book of Tehillim. "A day of farbrengen" — regarding Shabbat Mevarchim, it is the takkanah of the Rebbe Rayatz that there be a day of farbrengen on this day.
Chumash: Re'eh, Shevi'i, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim: On the 27th of the month, one recites from chapter 108 through chapter 112.
Tanya, on this day one studies the entire eighth letter of Iggeret HaKodesh. The eighth letter begins with the word "zorea" and concludes with the words "b'chutz la'aretz v'dai l'meivin."
The daily teaching is a summary, with a quotation that is not continuous but proceeds in short skips, from a maamar of the Rebbe Rayatz — the discourse beginning "Lecha Amar Libi" ("To You My Heart Said"), in the year 5696. The content of the maamar is that the month of Elul is a month of soul-accounting. Since we are now in the Shabbat Mevarchim of the month of Elul, the maamar comes to explain what the essence of the month of Elul is.
It is well known what is written in Likkutei Torah in the name of the Arizal on the verse in Parshas Ki Seitzei: "And she shall weep for her father and her mother a full month" ("yerach yamim"). The Arizal says that there is here an allusion to "yerach yamim" — to the month of Elul, in which a person makes a spiritual accounting. And as he elaborates in the maamar, let us read the wording.
"The month of Elul is the month of reckoning" — the month in which a Jew must make an accounting of the entire past year. And he elaborates: "for just as in material matters, a businessman," who throughout the year has no time to make a reckoning — all year long he is busy buying, selling, and conducting business, and does not even know the state of his livelihood, whether he is profiting or losing; this is a cycle that goes round all year long, yet he must stop once in order to truly see where he stands.
"In order for the enterprise to be conducted properly and yield great profit" — so that the business will indeed be successful and generate profit, "one must from time to time make an accounting". He cannot busy himself all the time merely with turnover, without knowing whether he is profiting or losing, for one day he might find himself with nothing at all. He must make an accounting from time to time so that there will be great profit, "and correct all the deficiencies" — for it is possible that in the accounting he will find several things that he did not do properly, and he will have an opportunity to correct them.
And so it is also in the analogue: "so too it is in spiritual service, in the service of Hashem, may He be blessed." A Jew who serves Hashem is engaged in the "business" of the Holy One, blessed be He, "for throughout the year all of Israel are occupied with Torah and mitzvos and good character traits"; yet he does not know the true balance of his condition. Since all of Israel are occupied throughout the year with Torah and mitzvos and good character traits, a person may have a sense that everything is good and excellent, while he is generally engaged in good things — but in truth he does not know what his condition really is.
"The month of Elul is the month of reckoning" — "in which each and every one of Israel lefum shiura dilei," every Jew according to the measure of his own level; for each person must make his own reckoning, not that of his fellow. If so, each one according to his personal situation — "whether the one who dwells in the tent [of study] or the businessman," whether it be a person who sits and studies Torah all year, or a businessman whose occupation is mainly in material matters; both alike "must make a true reckoning in their souls of all that has passed over them during the course of the year."
When the month of Elul arrives, a person must make a truthful reckoning: what has transpired with him over the past year, and what is the overall balance of his deeds; "to recognize the merits in their divine service and to strengthen them". The accounting of the soul is not only for finding shortcomings, but also for finding the merits and for knowing what within oneself was good; and on the contrary, this is where one begins — first of all to see what was good, what the merits are and in what one succeeded, in order to strengthen them and to realize that now one must strengthen them even more. "And the shortcomings within them and within their divine service, and to correct them" — and in parallel, one must also find the shortcomings within oneself and within one's divine service, and how to correct them in the coming year.
"That through this good preparation" — when a person prepares himself in the month of Elul for the coming year, through the soul-accounting required regarding everything that occurred — "one merits a good and sweet year both materially and spiritually." Just as in physical business one gains great profit when one does an accounting from time to time, so too in spiritual avodah: when one makes the accounting and approaches the coming year in a more precise and prepared manner, one merits that the Holy One, blessed be He, grants us a good and sweet year in all matters. Amen.