The sixteenth "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 16 Adar II 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Tzav, Shlishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 16th of the month, from chapter 79 to and including chapter 82.
Tanya, we are still in the middle of chapter 37. The daily shiur is from the word "Umei'achar", and concludes on page 48 with the words "hamemutza'at beineihem".
The daily teaching is taken from a long letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz in the year 5695. The Rebbe Rayatz addresses the Jew who received the letter as "my honorable and exalted friend, Moreinu Harav Rabbi Aharon, may he live, Shor". From the letter it is understood that he was a businessman who wrote to the Rebbe Rayatz that his worries over the collapse of his businesses were weakening his health and confusing him greatly, and he asked for guidance. The letter is very long, and from it the Rebbe took four teachings for Hayom Yom; today is the first instance.
First of all, I will point out a few points before we read the daily teaching. The Rebbe Rayatz initially writes to him about the concept of "moach shalit al halev" (the mind rules the heart): from the perspective of the heart, a person feels worry, etc., but there is the concept of "moach shalit al halev". He explains to him that the mind indeed has a disadvantage, in that it is cold and apathetic, whereas the heart has the advantage of being warm; however, the apathy of the mind sometimes has an advantage - that it can rule over the heart. One needs to know how to use it in the right places and times, and then it is specifically an advantage.
He brings there at length the famous story of Rabbi Moshe Meisels, who was suspected of being a spy, and Napoleon unexpectedly saw him inside the war command room, yelled at him that he was a spy and felt his heartbeat - and the pulse was calm as if nothing was happening. He himself explained that what gave him strength was what he learned in Tanya regarding the concept of "moach shalit al halev". The Rebbe recounts this story at length, that a person should not be like someone who gets agitated from the heart pushing him into all sorts of matters, but rather be more calculated.
Afterwards, the Rebbe Rayatz introduces the matter of how to overcome worries about parnassah, and speaks with him very strongly regarding this issue. Then comes the teaching from which the Rebbe took the "daily teaching", and it is the continuation. It is written thus: "Of the avodah of a businessman" - one of the things that a businessman must strengthen very much within himself: "to awaken within himself complete emunah and bitachon in Him who nourishes and sustains all flesh" - a businessman must awaken within himself faith in the Holy One, blessed be He, that is one point, and complete trust in the Holy One, blessed be He, that He sustains everyone. "For He, blessed be He, will grant him his parnassah in abundance" - one must have complete trust that the Holy One, blessed be He, will give to him in abundance.
One of the letters the Rebbe writes to a Jew concerning these matters of parnassah worries is interesting. The Rebbe initially writes to him personally: you have seen miracles in your life, and you see that the Holy One, blessed be He, helps you. And afterwards there is a sentence there, and we will read the Rebbe's wording: "Suddenly he worries, whether He who nourishes and sustains all, which is approximately one thousand and eight hundred million people - then will He also sustain the members of his household, may they live" [the number of people alive at the time the Rebbe wrote the letter]. What are you worried about? If the Holy One, blessed be He, sustains so many millions, do you not know that He will also give you your parnassah? Be calm.
The calmness needs to be so powerful, and this is the touchstone. If you truly trust - the Rebbe Rayatz concludes and says - "and he must be truly joyous and in good spirits, as if his parnassah is already prepared before him". One must be so joyous that even if you do not yet see how the parnassah will arrive - it is as if it is already present before you in actuality, and you rejoice in it. You must be so certain that it is present, that you already rejoice in it. You still do not see it? This is the touchstone for bitachon, and this is the test that a person must withstand. This is the avodah of a businessman.
For quite a few days now we have not spoken about the sequence of the connection to the seforim of the Rambam's Yad Hachazakah, since there was a pause for several teachings in which the connection was not found. We are, as recalled, in Sefer Zeraim in the Rambam: the first halachos in it are Hilchos Kilayim, then Hilchos Matnos Aniyim, and afterwards Terumos, Maasros, Maaser Sheini, etc. We are still in the final part of Hilchos Matnos Aniyim.
We have already had teachings related to Hilchos Matnos Aniyim, and here the connection is very prominent - in the final halachah that summarizes Hilchos Matnos Aniyim. It is written there how a person must conduct himself in a manner of relying on the Holy One, blessed be He, that He will give him everything, and the Rambam's wording concludes: "And about him and those like him it is stated, 'Blessed is the man who trusts in God'." This is the conclusion of Hilchos Matnos Aniyim, and this is precisely the subject of the daily teaching - that a person must have complete bitachon in the Holy One, blessed be He.