The two hundred and twenty-third "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 5 Tammuz 5703.
Lessons: Chumash, Chukas, chamishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the fifth of the month, one recites from chapter 29 through chapter 34 inclusive.
Tanya: on this day we continue with chapter 10 in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah. The lesson begins on page 174 with the words "u'mikol makom," and concludes with the words "iskasya kula."
The source of the daily saying is a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on 17 Menachem Av 5693. The letter itself is not particularly long, and yet several sayings were taken from it for "Hayom Yom": on 13 Adar I and on 30 Adar I, sayings from that same letter already appeared, and the daily saying is the final portion of that same epistle.
In this letter, the previous Rebbe recounts something he heard from his father, the Rebbe Rashab, concerning a "yechidus" that one of the great chassidim, who was among those closest to the Alter Rebbe, had. In the original it is described that this chassid entered in great pain, full of complaints about his many debts — he had to marry off children and to meet many expenses, and his financial situation was very difficult. And here it is told what the Alter Rebbe answered him.
And so it is written: "The Alter Rebbe asked one of the great chassidim, among those closest to him, when he was with him in yechidus, about his situation. And the chassid lamented that he had lost his possessions, etc." — the chassid recounted all his financial troubles and the calamity that had befallen him, that he had lost everything. "And the Rebbe answered him" — the Alter Rebbe answered him thus.
[Earlier, the letter contains a somewhat sharper reproof, which the Rebbe omits here. The letter states that the Alter Rebbe said to that chassid: "You worry only about what you need, but for what are you needed? About this you do not worry at all?"].
"You are needed to illuminate your surroundings with Torah and avodah shebalev; parnassah and your other needs — it is incumbent upon the Almighty to provide them for you. Do what is incumbent upon you, and Hashem will do what is incumbent upon Him." The parnassah about which you complain, the things that you yourself need, this the Almighty must provide for you; these are not your worries, but the Almighty's. You focus on your mission, and the Almighty will do His.
At the conclusion of his words in that letter, the Rebbe Rayatz notes that this saying can be found in various versions, since the story occurred with several chassidim, and therefore it appears several times, each time in a slightly different version.
And what is the connection between this saying and the Rambam's "Yad HaChazakah"? We are in the final halachos of Sefer Nezikin, Hilchos Rotze'ach uShemiras Nefesh. The saying, as we have seen, states that the Alter Rebbe instructed the chassid what was demanded of him: to illuminate his surroundings with Torah and with avodah shebalev.
In the laws of murder and safeguarding life, there is an interesting halacha in the laws of cities of refuge. A person who killed someone unintentionally must flee to a city of refuge. And the halacha states that if a student is exiled — that is, a yeshiva student who killed unintentionally and was exiled to a city of refuge — "his teacher is exiled with him," meaning that his teacher too must go with him to the city of refuge. Why? Because the role of the teacher is to give life to the one connected to him, and the life of the student is the Torah. The verse says that one must care for the life of the one dwelling in the city of refuge, and his life is not only physical life but also spiritual life; therefore the teacher must go with him, to illuminate that place with the light of the Torah, so that he can grant it to his student.
This is essentially the same point we see here: the Alter Rebbe says that your task is to illuminate your surroundings, and if your surroundings are at present the city of refuge — then even in the city of refuge one must do this. The goal does not change, even when one finds himself in such a place.