The one hundred and twelfth "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 12 Adar II 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Vayikra, Shishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim for the 12th of the month: From chapter 66 up to and including chapter 68.
Tanya: Today we begin a new chapter, chapter 37, starting from the beginning of the chapter with the word "Vehinei", and the shiur concludes with the words "be'aveirah chas veshalom".
The daily teaching relates to the theme of the weekly parshah, Parshas Vayikra. A central theme in Parshas Vayikra, the idea of which already appears in several places in chassidus - beginning with the famous maamar of the Alter Rebbe in Likkutei Torah, Dibur Hamaschil "Adam ki yakriv", where the Alter Rebbe opens with several questions and arrives at the central question mentioned here too. The question is, grammatically speaking, why does the verse say "Adam ki yakriv mikem korban l'Hashem"? Seemingly, the word "mikem" should have come before the words "ki yakriv" - "Adam mikem ki yakriv korban l'Hashem" - so why does it say "Adam ki yakriv mikem", as if the korban is "mikem" (of yourselves)? This is the question that the Alter Rebbe already asks in Likkutei Torah.
This question repeats in many maamarim of chassidus, and the content of the daily teaching is taken from a maamar published by the Rebbe Rayatz in the year 5701, Dibur Hamaschil "Ush'avtem mayim besasson", printed in Sefer Hamaamarim Kuntresim, a maamar in Yiddish. From this maamar, the Rebbe took the teaching - not exactly word for word, but rather as a distillation and summary of the points written there.
The Rebbe Rayatz opens beforehand at length, that as is known, it is said regarding the building of the Mishkan "Make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell within them", and the intention is within the heart of each and every one, inside each and every individual. And all the avodah that took place in the Beis Hamikdash also exists within the human soul. From here he transitions to the avodah of the korbanos, and says that the korbanos brought to the Beis Hamikdash to atone for a person's sins have an inner meaning - not only the animal that was brought, but primarily the avodah of teshuvah and vidui that the Jew brought along with the korban.
For, as is known in the commentaries, and as the Ramban says, upon bringing the korban a person must think that this is a great kindness; for everything done to the korban should rightly have been done to the sinner himself, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave him a substitute - similar to the "kapparos" that we are familiar with from the eve of Yom Kippur. By Hashem's kindness, we were given the option to bring an animal, and this would serve as an atonement for our sins.
Based on this, the Rebbe Rayatz begins in the maamar to explain the first verse in the parshah of the korbanos: "Adam ki yakriv mikem" - and this is the daily teaching. Let us read the teaching in translation from the original Yiddish. "The beginning of the parshah of korbanos is: "Adam ki yakriv mikem korban l'Hashem"" - this is the first verse that introduces the subject of the korbanos.
And he asks: "Shouldn't it have been written "Adam mikem ki yakriv etc."?", that the word "mikem" should come before the words "ki yakriv", which would have been more fitting. "To this the Alter Rebbe says" - and this is a maamar in Likkutei Torah, where the Alter Rebbe already asks this question - that the Torah's intention is to tell us this: What is the meaning of "Adam ki yakriv"? In order for a person to draw closer to Elokus", so that he can be closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu - "it must be "mikem korban l'Hashem", from yourselves must be the korban". The korban he must bring is "mikem", from within yourselves. Do not bring something external, some external animal, and fulfill your obligation; rather, bring your internality, bring yourself to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, "mikem" and from within your very selves; and the korban must be literally from within you.
And what must one sacrifice? "To sacrifice the personal animal, the yetzer hara which is called the nefesh habehamis", for about this it is said "Adam ki yakriv mikem". And as the Alter Rebbe also explains in Likkutei Torah, the intention is to a person's nefesh habehamis, to the yetzer hara whose designation is "nefesh habehamis".
As is known in Tanya, at its beginning the Alter Rebbe cited the terms from the Gemara - "yetzer hara", "yetzer tov" - and afterward transitions to calling them "nefesh habehamis" and "nefesh Elokis". What is the difference between the designation "nefesh Elokis" and "nefesh habehamis" and "yetzer hara"? Seemingly they refer to the exact same thing, and yet in chassidus they specifically call it "nefesh habehamis" and not "yetzer hara". Why? Because when you say "yetzer hara" it connotes a thing, a form, or an evil inclination; but when you say "nefesh", it is understood that this is an entire system - a complete soul with an essence, faculties, and contents; it is no simple matter.
In one of the maamarim in 5708 the Rebbe Rayatz focuses on this and says, that when saying "yetzer hara" the intention is primarily to the middos; the "yetzer hara" is primarily what clothes itself in the levushim of the soul - thought, speech, and action. That is the "yetzer hara".