The two hundred ninety-second "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 15 Elul 5703.
Lessons: Chumash, Tavo, Revi'i, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 15th of the month, chapter 77 and chapter 78. And the chapters designated for the month of Elul are three: 43, 44, and 45.
Tanya: On this day one continues Iggeret 15, from page 108a with the words "ach tzarich," and the portion concludes on page 108b with the word "u'melitzah."
On this day the Rebbe notes the sequence of the founding of the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah. Let us read the text and provide a little background on the matter. The Rebbe writes: "The founding of the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah". When was the yeshivah founded? "Sunday, 15 Elul 5657" — that is today's date, when the Rebbe Rashab founded the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah. "The commencement of studies in nigleh and Dach [divrei Elokim chayim]" — when did the yeshivah's study schedule begin in an orderly fashion? "Wednesday, 18 Elul 5657". The founding of the yeshivah took place on the 15th, but the start of the studies was several days later, on the 18th of Elul.
And when was the name "Tomchei Temimim" given? "On the night of Simchas Torah 5659" — that is, two years after the founding of the yeshiva on 15 Elul 5657 [and in practice about a year and a month, for it was from the end of 5657, through all of 5658, until the beginning of 5659 on Simchas Torah] — following the hakafos, "my father, my teacher and Rebbe, proclaimed," this being the Rebbe Rashab, "the yeshiva's name is Tomchei Temimim, and the students who study and conduct themselves in its spirit — their name is Temimim." This is a brief account of the founding of the yeshiva.
Let us add a few details on the matter. There is a memoir in which the Rebbe Rayatz writes at length about the whole process that appears here in very abbreviated form. There it is written that the very day, the 15th of Elul on which the yeshiva was founded, was the day of the Rebbe Rayatz's wedding feast; on Friday, the 13th of Elul 5657, was the day of his chuppah, and the feast took place on Sunday, the 15th of Elul. On that day (15th of Elul) at midday, a few hours before the feast, his father — the Rebbe Rashab — convened a gathering of some fifty men from among the select rabbis and the wealthy men among the chassidim.
The Rebbe Rashab began by saying that he had resolved to establish a yeshiva for young men who would devote themselves to the study of Chassidus, and he explained that the study of Chassidus must be combined with the study of nigleh. He clarified the differences between studying nigleh alone and studying nigleh together with Chassidus, and that when this is done in combination it constitutes orderly avodah — and this had been the desire ever since the teachings of Chabad were founded, that there be such orderly avodah. He said that for many years he had been thinking about the yeshiva, and now the time had come to establish it. This was on Sunday, 15 Elul.
Two days later, on 17 Elul, the Rebbe Rashab chose eight students — these were the first eight students — and chose the mashpia R' Shmuel Gronem Esterman from the town of Zembin, and arranged that they would study Chassidus together. Indeed, immediately after the holidays of that year, those eight students traveled together with the mashpia to study in Zembin. They studied there for a year, and during that time another ten students were added; and after a year, following Elul 5658, there were already eighteen students.
They came to the Rebbe Rashab, and he was very glad to see them. This was already at the end of 5658, and on the night of Simchat Torah 5659 — some three weeks later — when they reached the seventh hakafah, which was late at night, already at four in the morning, the Rebbe Rashab spoke with the chassidim who were there about the matter of the hakafot, and said that, thank God, he had founded a yeshivah of students studying nigleh and Chassidut, and he instructed that they sing a niggun.
When they finished playing, he began to recite the passage said during the final hakafah, which starts with the words "Kadosh venora" (Holy and awesome), "Hoshi'a na" (Save, we pray), "Chanun verachum" (Gracious and merciful), "Hatzlichah na" (Grant success, we pray). He recited a few passages and they circled around the bimah, and then he stopped and instructed that they play. They played another niggun, and when they finished playing he said "Tomech temimim hoshi'a na," which is the concluding part. And then the Rebbe Rashab said that by the grace of Hashem he was now calling the yeshivah by the name "Tomchei Temimim," for the purpose of the yeshivah is that it be "Toras Hashem temimah" (the perfect Torah of Hashem). This was the name that the Rebbe Rashab chose.
It is remarkable that the mashpia Rabbi Shmuel Levitin related that in Lubavitch it was said that the Rebbe Rayatz spoke about his father, that he chose the souls of the Temimim who would study in the yeshiva — not only of that particular year, but of all the generations; whoever would merit to be counted among the Temimim, his soul was chosen thus by the Rebbe Rashab. The mashpia Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Kesselman spoke in this way as well.
An interesting point: at the farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Tavo 5749, the Rebbe spoke about making efforts, wherever appropriate, to establish a branch of the "Tenuas HaTemimim" — that is, to found a new yeshivah in every place possible, and where a Chabad yeshivah already exists, to give it the name "Tomchei Temimim," naturally with the approval of the central administration of the yeshivah in the United States. The Rebbe wanted there to be "Toras HaTemimim" in every single place, and for it to spread throughout the entire world.