Room two hundred twenty-two in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 4 Tammuz 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Chukas, Revii, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, day 4 of the month, from chapter 23 through chapter 28 inclusive.
Tanya, on this day one begins chapter 10 in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah. The lesson begins from the start of the chapter with the word "Ach," and concludes on page 174 with the word "midarkeinu."
The daily saying is a quote from an interesting and short letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on 22 Tevet 5688. As is known, the Rebbe Rayatz left Russia after being released from prison in 5687; on Isru-Chag of Sukkot he left Russia and traveled, as his first stop, to Riga. This letter was written three months after his arrival in Riga, on 22 Tevet, and was sent to a chassid who was then living in the United States — Rabbi Simpson, a well-known chassid.
The Rebbe Rayatz opens the letter and writes: I keenly feel your yearning, yours, the chassidim, to see one another. The chassidim had already asked to see the Rebbe, for they had not seen him for many years. And the Rebbe himself says: this is my aim — to unite with the temimim and the chassidim, so that together we may illuminate the darkness of the world with the light of the Torah. And he adds one more sentence: as the Alter Rebbe — who is called "Rabbeinu HaGadol" — explained, that each chassid, "the one shall become a thousand." That is to say, every chassid has the power to act in a manner that will transform an entire world.
The following sentence is the quotation cited in the teaching, that we see tangibly that "a single chassid or a single student, when he devotes his heart, his mind and his soul to the Torah and its strengthening" — meaning even if he is a single individual, but if he gives all his attention to how to strengthen the Torah — "brings about salvations in a large city in all the matters of the city," a single individual can transform an entire city, "and this is in a manner from Above, beyond the way of nature." It need not be in proportion — he is an individual and it concerns a large city — rather he brings about salvations, beyond the way of nature, and this is "in the merit of the forefathers of the world." This is the power that every chassid possesses.
This is what the Rebbe is saying: the Rebbe indeed wants to meet with the chassidim, and this is in order that we may be able to reveal the inner potential that exists within each and every one of them. This saying encapsulates within it the entire matter of the shlichus that the Rebbe wants from every shliach — to send a single individual to a distant place, to an entire country, and certainly that "the one shall become a myriad."
And the connection of the saying to the Rambam: we are in the final days, in the Rambam's Sefer Nezikin, in the Laws of Chovel u'Mazik (One Who Injures and Damages). The daily saying corresponds to the final halachah that concludes the Laws of Chovel u'Mazik. There is a halachah there, that if a group of people are traveling together in a ship, and within it is a heavy load that is almost so weighty that the ship is liable to sink from it, and one person stood up and wanted to lighten the weight of the ship, and began to throw objects from the ship into the sea — the question is asked: is he obligated to return the things that he threw into the sea? Is he in the category of chovel u'mazik or not?
The halacha states that the heavy cargo inside a ship has the status of a "rodef" — it is, as it were, "pursuing" the people on the ship and attempting to kill them. Therefore, the person who threw the items overboard performed a great mitzvah, for through this act he saves all those aboard the ship. This halacha teaches that a single person, who sees the situation of an entire ship, can, through one action, save them all. This is essentially the content of the saying — that a single chassid can arrive in a large city and effect salvation for the entire city.