Room two hundred eighty-six in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 9 Elul 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Teitzei, fifth aliyah, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim: from the 9th of the month one recites from chapter 49 through chapter 54 inclusive. In addition to the three extra chapters recited during the month of Elul, on this day one adds chapters 25, 26 and 27.
Tanya: On this day we continue with Letter 12 in Iggeret HaKodesh. The daily portion begins on page 118 with the words "Hineh moda'at," and concludes on page 236, "pe'amim kacha, etc."
The source of the daily saying is a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on 21 Adar Sheni 5695. The Rebbe Rayatz relates that once, in the winter of 5671, he was strolling with his father, the Rebbe Rashab, in Rostov, and in the middle of the walk he asked his father to explain to him the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov — brought in "Hayom Yom" on 9 Iyar — that from everything a Jew sees or hears he should derive a lesson in his service of Hashem. The Rebbe Rayatz thus asked his father: How so? What is the meaning of this?
In his first response, the Rebbe Rashab told him that this is not an easy matter at all, and added that it is even a difficult thing. That is to say, it is quite difficult to learn this formula that "from everything one can derive a lesson in the service of Hashem," and it is not an easy matter.
When he strolled with him another time, the Rebbe Rashab added and explained to him: In general, when a matter concerns you, one can learn to do anything; if the matter concerns you, you can also aim toward the truth. And then he told him that once he entered into yechidus with his father — the Rebbe Rashab entered to the Rebbe Maharash — and asked him about a certain matter, how one could attain it, and his father answered him during the yechidus.
And here we come to the daily teaching, the reply of the Rebbe Maharash. Thus says the Rebbe Rayatz: "My grandfather, my teacher and Rebbe [the Rebbe Maharash] said regarding contemplating with depth of comprehension a matter that is difficult to grasp," that one must contemplate something which is very hard to grasp — and how does one grasp it? In that same yechidus he told his son, the Rebbe Rashab: "If the matter is of concern to you, then you understand and grasp it in the best way" — if the thing touches you and matters to you, you will understand it in the best possible way.
"And a proof from the Torah, in the laws of women etc. and their claims that they are able to make" — there are in the Torah and in halachah various cases that speak of certain women, even those who are not fully Jewish, such as a shifchah charufah and the like, and in them are discussions: if they claim thus, and if they claim thus. And who adjudicates their claims — whether they say and whether they do not say — "and the Tannaim, Amoraim, and Geonim discuss this" — the discussions of the Tannaim from the time of the Mishnah, of the Amoraim from the time of the Gemara, and of the Geonim in the period after the sealing of the Gemara — "who are all people of exceptional intellect." The Tannaim and Amoraim possessed immense intellect and refined minds, and they state these claims.
Now, "and the Torah is a Torah of truth" — the Torah is a Torah of truth, and we are speaking of Torah concepts that the Tannaim state. And what are they discussing? The claims that a certain woman might make. But this requires understanding: who is this woman? Is she on the same level as the Tannaim and Amoraim? "But the woman is not on the level to raise such claims" — the woman in question is not at all on the level to raise claims that require the sharp intellect of an Amora's argument. How, then, do they even discuss what she might claim?
What is the answer to this? The Rebbe Rashab explains: "But the truth is that when the matter is of concern, even those of weak intellect come up with profound insights" — when the matter touches you and you care about it, when it concerns your very life. That woman may be a lowly maidservant, but since the story affects her life, affects a halachic ruling in her own life — the matter concerns her, and she comes up with profound insights, suddenly voicing ideas that would ordinarily require a Tanna to articulate such reasoning. But when the matter is of concern, even the simplest person will raise the point, because it concerns him.
In a talk in Likkutei Sichot, Parshat Tavo, volume 34, the Rebbe brings the well-known principle that there are matters about which it is said that forty years must pass until "a person grasps the mind of his teacher" — until one plumbs the full depth of his teacher's understanding. And the Rebbe asks: When are forty years required? In an ordinary matter that one learns from his teacher — it will take forty years. But if the matter is of personal relevance to a person, he can in a short time reach the depth that normally would require forty years. The Rebbe proves this from a story in the Torah about Moshe Rabbeinu and the Jewish people: we see that when a matter is personally relevant, it brings you to the idea in a swift and wondrous way. This is the daily teaching.