"Room" one hundred and eleven in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 11 Adar II 5703.
The daily study is divided into three parts: the first - the special practices related to this day; the second - the daily study portions; and the third - the teaching.
We will begin with the practices related to this day. The first heading: "Taanis Esther Mukdam" (the fast of Esther moved earlier). It is known that the eve of Purim - usually every year on 13 Adar, and in a leap year on 13 Adar II - is the day of Taanis Esther. However, in the calendar arrangement of the year 5703, 13 Adar falls on Shabbos, and on Shabbos it is impossible to fast; therefore, in such a case, we advance Taanis Esther to the preceding Thursday, namely to 11 Adar.
It is worth adding: usually, when a fast day falls on Shabbos, we do not fast on Shabbos - except for Yom Kippur - and the fast is postponed to Sunday. But here it is an exception: the fast that falls on Shabbos and on which it is impossible to fast, we advance to Thursday.
As for the reasons for this, why Taanis Esther is different from the other fasts: there is one explanation that all the fasts came about because of calamity - the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, the siege of Jerusalem, and the like - and since the essence of the fast was established due to calamity, there is a rule that "we do not advance a calamity", and therefore we postpone it. In contrast, Taanis Esther is not a fast that came about because of calamity, and therefore there is no problem advancing it to Thursday.
Another reason: another fast that falls on Shabbos and we postpone it to Sunday - there is no problem, they will fast on Sunday; but in our case, Sunday is already Purim (14 Adar), and Monday is Shushan Purim (15 Adar), and therefore it is impossible to postpone the fast. Because of this, there is no choice but to advance it two days earlier, to Thursday. And this is the beginning of the daily teaching - "Taanis Esther Mukdam".
The next thing: "Selichos, Avinu Malkeinu". We have already noted earlier, in the teaching for 10 Teves, that there too the Rebbe emphasized that we say "Selichos and Avinu Malkeinu". The reason for this is that the matter was not so clear in the famous custom in Chabad - that on fast days we say "Selichos and Avinu Malkeinu" - and there is even an account from the Rebbe Rashab that he did not usually say "Selichos and Avinu Malkeinu". Therefore, the Rebbe noted this both on the fast of 10 Teves and here on Taanis Esther, that indeed we do say "Selichos and Avinu Malkeinu" in Chabad.
The third practice: "Machatzis Hashekel". It is known that at the time when the Beis Hamikdash stood this was an annual collection, where every Jew would give half a shekel once a year in order to buy communal sacrifices from it. At the time when the Beis Hamikdash stood the collection would open on 15 Adar, and after the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed they continued the matter as a "remembrance of Machatzis Hashekel", and the custom is to give it on Taanis Esther. And consequently, since here the fast was advanced to 11 Adar, the practice of the remembrance of Machatzis Hashekel also remained attached to Taanis Esther, and we give it on 11 Adar II.
Afterwards - the daily study portions. We are in Parshas Vayikra: Chumash, Vayikra, Chamishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, for the 11th of the month, we say from chapter 61 up to and including chapter 65.
Tanya, on this day we conclude chapter 36. The daily study begins from the words "rak she'achar kach" until the end of the chapter, with the words "rak shechas veshalom".
Afterwards there is also a teaching, taken from a reshimah written by the Rebbe Rayatz in the year 5659. In this reshimah too appears the general concept - the two main things that the teaching of chassidus includes. We will read the text: "Chassidus includes two primary concepts" - in the approach of chassidus to the study of Torah there are two primary concepts, how the teaching of chassidus relates to matters of Torah.
"A.", the first concept: "Understanding every halachah in its source and essential root in spirituality". Like, for example, what is written in one of the maamarim regarding the phrasing that we say "v'al Torascha shelimadtanu" - why does it say "Torascha shelimadtanu"? Because the Torah is "Your Torah" (Torascha), connected to upper worlds, to the world of Atzilus, and we merited that "Your Torah" taught us; that is, that the Torah in its source is found in much higher upper worlds. There is a well-known concept from the analogy: "The Torah speaks of the upper realms and hints at the lower realms" - but the speaking of the Torah is truly in the upper realms.
When we study a halachah - how to conduct oneself, what to do on Shabbos, how to put on tefillin and how to conduct oneself in every area and matter - we study it in the lower realms. And what does the teaching of chassidus give us? To understand the meaning of the halachah in its upper root, "understanding every halachah in its source and essential root in spirituality"; namely, what its intention is in the spiritual root, "meaning in the sefiros and levels, in every single world according to its context, as explained in the words of the living G-d" - every single halachah according to its context, to explain what its meaning is above.
It is known that the halachos are also studied afterwards, when the souls ascend to Gan Eden and study all those halachos; and of course there they do not have the physical meaning of every single halachah, but they study them according to the inner, spiritual meaning.
There are quite a few examples of this matter. One of the famous ones is on the Mishnah "Two hold a garment, this one says it is all mine and this one says it is all mine - they divide it". From a higher perspective it speaks of a Jew whom someone drew close to the Holy One, blessed be He, to Torah and mitzvos, and then an argument arises between two - who merited to be the agent and the "makah b'patish" to draw that individual close: "this one says I found it", "and this one says I found it", "this one says it is all mine" and so on. This is one example, and similarly there are examples in very many halachos, which have a higher meaning above. This is the first concept that he brings.
"B.", what is the second point? "Understanding the concept of every halachah in avodah" - how to take every halachah and say that it is not only in the simple sense of which it speaks, but it also has an application in practical daily life. And as he elaborates: "Although it is wisdom in the intellect of G-d and a law of the Torah" - even though we are speaking of a halachah that is Divine, as we said in letter A that the halachah is Divine - nevertheless, and this is what the teaching of chassidus teaches us, one must know how it has an application to your physical life, how it speaks to you on a daily basis and what you must do. "Nevertheless one must find in this a matter in avodah", in the avodah of G-d, "in the conduct of a person in the life of this world".
And there is another emphasis here: even though the halachah generally refers to a very specific matter and a certain area, and there are many halachos that do not concern you - because they speak of the time when the Beis Hamikdash stood, or about Kohanim, or about someone who has a field and so on - despite the fact that the halachah speaks of a very specific case, it also has meaning in your personal life and in your avodah of G-d.
For example, there is a halachah learned from the verse "When you build a new house, you shall make a guardrail for your roof". On the plain level it speaks of a person building a new house, how he must make a guardrail so that no man falls; and that same halachah, as is clarified in the sichos, has meaning in daily life - when a person gets married, or enters a new endeavor, he must take encouragement and guidance and a "guardrail".
Or, for example, as the Rebbe Rayatz speaks in this sichah from which the idea is taken, and from there an example for the verse "When a man among you brings an offering to the Lord" - which will be discussed in the teaching of the next day: there is the simple meaning of the sacrifice, that a person who sinned must bring an animal; and there is the inner meaning, that a person must sacrifice "from the animal" of his own - his animal soul.