The two hundred and seventy-third "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 26 Menachem Av, 5703.
Lessons: Chumash, Parshas Re'eh, sixth aliyah, with the commentary of Rashi.
Tehillim, on the 26th of the month, one recites the second half of chapter 119 — from the letter mem, beginning with the word "mah," until the conclusion of the chapter with the words "lo shachachti."
Tanya: On this day we conclude the seventh letter of Iggeret HaKodesh. The daily portion begins on page 112 with the word "V'hineh," until the end of the letter with the words "hagoral mamash."
The source of the daily teaching is a letter of the Rebbe Rayatz from Isru Chag of Pesach 5699. There the Rebbe Rayatz relates words spoken by his father, the Rebbe Rashab, on Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Vaeschanan in the year 5672. He recounts in the letter that on that Shabbos, before Kabbolas Shabbos, the Rebbe Rashab delivered a maamar of Chassidus that is part of the well-known "Hemshech" — "Hemshech Ayin-Beis." The twelfth maamar in the "Hemshech" begins with the words "Nachamu nachamu ami."
The Rebbe Rashab delivered the maamar, and afterward, at the Friday night meal, he expounded at great length on the maamar and told various stories, until by the end of the Shabbos meal it was already morning light. Afterward, at the daytime meal, he invited many chassidim who were sitting there, told them many stories, and then spoke about the comparison between the effect of Chassidus and the exodus from Egypt.
One portion of the words spoken by the Rebbe Rashab we have already studied in the Hayom Yom saying of 25 Tevet, and here, today, we have the continuation of those words. In the letter, the Rebbe Rayatz relates that the Rebbe Rashab said that just as with the Exodus from Egypt — where it is not enough for a person to know that there were miracles and wonders at the Exodus from Egypt, but rather there is a mitzvah in the Torah to recount the miracles and wonders anew each and every year, and mere knowledge alone does not suffice.
The Rebbe Rayatz brings that his father said that the same thing applies also in Chassidus, and this is the daily teaching. In the original it was written in Yiddish, and in translation — "From the talks of my father, my teacher and Rebbe [the Rashab]: In the exodus from Egypt of the teachings of Chassidus there is a mitzvah of recounting the exodus from Egypt through speech". Just as regarding the general exodus from Egypt it is not enough to know that there were miracles, but rather the mitzvah is to speak and recount the exodus from Egypt — so too in Chassidus there is a mitzvah to tell the story of the exodus from Egypt.
What is meant by this? "To tell chassidic stories and to absorb the story into the innermost core of one's inner being" — to internalize the story, to understand it and to live it in the most inward way within the soul. Every story has content, and as he elaborates: "One must know that every story is a lesson in life; every story should bring about a good character trait and inner vitality in the meticulous performance of a mitzvah, and the 'absorption' of the pleasant ways of the teachings of Chassidus". That is to say, every chassidic story told to us is a guidance and instruction on how to live; each story is meant to effect within us an improvement in a good character trait, and to instill in us inner vitality to fulfill the mitzvos with hiddur; and the story is meant to strengthen this matter within us and bring us to internalize and to live the pleasant way of the teachings of Chassidus. This is the tremendous virtue of chassidic stories.
It is worthwhile to add a further point that the Rebbe once made at a farbrengen on Shabbos Mevorchim of the month of Teves in the year 5729. The Rebbe spoke about chassidishe stories and said that in the past, chassidishe stories were regarded as something secondary to the teachings of Chassidus — as if there is the teaching of Chassidus, and around it there are also stories, which are an external matter that comes to complement it. Says the Rebbe: But now we know that the way we relate to chassidishe stories is just like our relation to the teaching of Chassidus itself. And the Rebbe brought proof of this from the fact that the Rebbe Rayatz made a great effort to spread chassidishe stories, and not only the teaching of Chassidus. That is to say, the matter of the content of Chassidus and the spreading of the wellsprings includes within it also the chassidishe stories, for chassidishe stories are an essential matter that gives inner vitality to the entire subject of the teaching of Chassidus.