The two-hundred-and-eighty-fourth "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 7 Elul 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Ki-Teitzei, third portion with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim: from the 7th of the month one recites chapter 39 through chapter 43 inclusive; and as for the three chapters per day that are added during the month of Elul, on 7 Elul one recites chapters 19, 20, and 21.
Tanya: On this day we continue with Iggeret 12 in Iggeret HaKodesh. The daily portion begins on page 234 with the words "hinei is'aruta," and concludes on page 118 with the word "hamechayehu."
In the daily teaching, the Rebbe addresses the verse in the parashah, "lo yavo petzua daka" etc., and the question of how the word "daka" should be written — with an aleph at its end or with a hei. The Rebbe cites: "The Alter Rebbe directed that petzua daka be written with an aleph at the end — and not with a hei."
What is the reason for this? Further on we shall see that the Rebbe notes to look into the sefer "She'erith Yehudah," where the reason is explained. What is the difference between "daka" with a hei and "daka" with an alef? "Daka" with a hei is a verb form, whereas "daka" with an alef is a noun. An example of this is from the verse "I dwell on high and holy, yet with the daka and lowly of spirit," in which "daka" with an alef is a noun. And here the verse comes to describe a state — as Rashi explains, that his testicles were wounded and crushed — and therefore "daka" here is a noun and not a verb form, and thus it must be written with an alef.
The Rebbe Rayatz related — and the Rebbe brings this here to reinforce the point that "daka" must specifically be written with an aleph — ancient traditions of Sifrei Torah from earlier generations, that indeed this is how it was written. And he brings two testimonies.
The first testimony: "In Prague," the city of the Maharal, "there is a Torah scroll" that is very special, "concerning which they have a tradition that Ezra the Scribe corrected it." Ezra the Scribe, well-known from the era of the Second Temple, was called "the Scribe" because he was very well-versed in the Torah, engaged extensively in transcribing it, and instituted many enactments; therefore he was given the honorific title "the Scribe." And they hold by a tradition that this Torah scroll was corrected by Ezra the Scribe — meaning it is a scroll that a reliable authority corrected and verified the contents of.
The Rebbe here brings, in brief, a story surrounding that particular Torah scroll. The details of the story are not entirely clear and are not spelled out in the source, but it is written that because of an incident that occurred, "it is read from only on Simchat Torah" — a Torah scroll that is taken out of the Aron Kodesh only on Simchat Torah; and in the original text an additional passage is added, which is not here, that when it is read on Simchat Torah it is read without a blessing — neither before nor after. And it is written there "because of an incident that occurred" — and I do not know what the incident was — "and it is always rolled to Parashat Shema," meaning it is always rolled in such a way that if it is opened it would be found at Parashat Va'etchanan, at "Shema Yisrael"; this is the place where the scroll would be opened.
In any event, the Rebbe Rayatz relates: "When I was in Prague in the year 5668, I saw it." It is told that the gabbai was even afraid to take the Torah scroll out of the Aron HaKodesh, but the Rebbe Rayatz took it and removed it, wishing to see how the word "daka" is written in the Torah scroll that Ezra HaSofer proofread. And he notes that he saw the scroll, "and 'daka' is written in it with an alef." This Torah scroll, which Ezra HaSofer proofread, has "daka" written with an alef — and this lends support to that testimony, that indeed, as the Alter Rebbe instructed, it must be written with an alef.
The second piece of testimony predated the previous one in years, yet the Rebbe first brought the testimony from the sefer that has an older tradition, that of Ezra the Scribe, and now he brings an additional testimony: "Likewise, when I was in Warmaisa [Vermayza in Germany] in the year 5667" — a year before he was in Prague — "I saw there a sefer Torah, which is held by tradition to have been written by the Maharam of Rothenburg."
The Maharam of Rothenburg — his story is well known. He was one of the great Rishonim of Germany and among the last of the Baalei HaTosafos. At that time the Jews of Germany were regarded as serfs of the crown, and they were forbidden to leave their location. The Maharam of Rothenburg organized a group, with himself at its head, to travel to Eretz Yisrael — that is, to leave Germany. He had already managed to cross over and reach Italy, but then he was captured as one who rebelled against the law of the land. They brought him back to Germany and placed him in prison. The German emperor demanded a very large sum of money, an enormous ransom, in order to release him.
However, the Maharam of Rothenburg instructed the Jews not to redeem him, saying that if they were to pay a large sum, it would whet the appetite to seize more Jews. For this reason he did not agree to be released and remained in prison. There is a story there that he asked the warden of the prison to bring him parchments so that he could write a Torah scroll, and afterwards they would be able to sell the Torah scroll and would have money.
In any case, the Maharam of Rothenburg wrote the sefer Torah while in prison. There is a lengthy account there of how the sefer Torah then had to reach the Jewish community: they could not get the sefer out of the prison, and the gentiles were unable to touch it, so there was no choice but for the Maharam of Rothenburg himself to leave the prison. They built a special box, placed the sefer Torah inside it, and cast it into the sea — just as Moshe Rabbeinu was placed in a basket among the waves. There is a lengthy account there of how specifically the Jews succeeded in taking the sefer, for the gentiles and the priest came and no one was able to touch it; in the end the box remained in the hands of the priest who took it, but the sefer Torah itself reached the Jewish community in Worms.
This Torah scroll — about which the Rebbe Rayatz relates that he saw it in the year 5667 — "in it too the word "daka" is written with an alef," in accordance with the ruling of the Alter Rebbe.
In conclusion, the Rebbe notes that one should study the works dealing with this matter. The first work — "and see Sheiris Yehudah", whose review we brought two days ago on 5 Elul, a work written by the Maharil, brother of the Alter Rebbe; and he refers to "Sheiris Yehudah", "Yoreh Dei'ah, siman 16", where there is a short passage — whose content was brought earlier — that notes the difference between "dacha" with a hei and "daka" with an alef, whether it is a verb form or a noun. This is the first source that brings what the Alter Rebbe's directive was.
The second book — "Divrei Nechemia", a sefer which we also mentioned on 5 Elul, in "Yoreh Deah, siman 22"; there the author himself brings the testimony of the Maharil in the name of the Alter Rebbe, and writes that a new Sefer Torah certainly must be made this way, and he deliberates whether to correct sifrei Torah that were already written with a hei and change them to an alef.
The third book — "and in the Sefer Mishnas Avraham," a work written by Rabbi Avraham ben Tzvi Yaffe, one of the grandsons of the author of the "Levushim"; on the first page it is stated that all his questions and answers deal with the laws of a Sefer Torah, and he brings a list of the poskim upon whom he relies, one of them being Rabbi Yitzchak Tzedek. "Siman 32" — a short siman devoted entirely to the matter of "daka" with a hei or with an alef — "cites several books that discuss this."
This is the point, and the Rebbe strongly emphasizes the matter. There is a lengthy letter from the Rebbe that brings numerous additional sources and manuscripts of ancient books and various Tanachim; the Rebbe cites a Tanach that is a Yemenite manuscript from 500 years ago, and all sorts of sources, all of which spell it with an alef and not a hei. In one of the pieces of evidence, the Rebbe brings a manuscript of a student of the Rashba, in which it was written with a hei, and one can see that he corrected it to an alef. In any case, this is the directive written on this day, how it should be written in a Torah scroll in the correct manner.