Room one hundred and eighteen in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 18 Adar II 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Tzav, Chamishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 18 of the month, we say only two chapters - chapter 88 and chapter 89.
Tanya, still in the middle of chapter 37. The daily shiur begins with the words "Ki klalut" and ends on page 48 with the words "yetzirah asiyah".
The daily teaching is a short teaching taken from a maamar of the Rebbe Maharash, the dibbur hamatchil "Al Chomotayich", printed in the sefer Torat Shmuel among the maamarim of the Rebbe Maharash of the year 5638. At the conclusion of the maamar, the Maharash refers to the verse stated by the prophet Yeshayahu at the beginning of chapter 66 - a well-known verse, familiar to us from the haftarah: "So says Hashem, the heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool." And the second verse there says: "For all these things My hand has made, and so all these things came to be, the utterance of Hashem."
At the conclusion of the maamar, the Maharash explains the meaning of the verse in avodas Hashem. He says that the two expressions in the verse - "made", relating to action, and "utterance", relating to speech - allude in avodas Hashem to two modes in the study of Torah.
And so he explains: The word "made" is not merely an action, but it is known that the concept of "doing" also has the connotation of coercion. Just as we find regarding tzedakah, that the gabbaim of tzedakah compel people to participate in the giving of tzedakah; and in the maamar he brings another example - a "get meuseh" (coerced bill of divorce), where the husband is forced to give it. There are thus several expressions showing that a thing done out of necessity and compulsion is called "action".
According to this he explains, that when it says in the verse "For all these things My hand has made", the intent is the study of the Written Torah. And what is the connection of the Written Torah here? Because with the Written Torah a person is liable to say to himself: Why must I study this all the time? After all, I already know the stories of the Torah, and the Written Torah is a known matter, and seemingly it appears to him "I know what is said in the Written Torah, so why should I study?". To this they come and say that in truth this is not so.
Therefore, this is the matter that compels us, that we must study every day the Written Torah with Rashi's commentary. Every day a Jew is obligated to study the Written Torah - this is the takanah of Chitas, the daily Chumash, where we study the verses of the Torah every day with Rashi's commentary - and this is the expression alluded to in the verse "For all these things My hand has made": that you should compel yourself to study every day the Written Torah with Rashi's commentary.
Let us look at the wording of the beginning of the teaching: "My master, my father's father, my master and teacher, writes in one of his maamarim". When the Rebbe Rayatz says "my father's father", the intent is the Rebbe Maharash. And so he writes in one of his maamarim, as the reference we noted: "One must study every day the Written Torah with Rashi's commentary". Here he does not mention upon which verse this is said, but as stated, this relates to the verse "For all these things My hand has made".
In the maamar he uses an interesting expression - what is special about Rashi's commentary? In his words, "for this is the choicest of the midrashim of Chazal". "Choicest" - the select compilation; Rashi's commentary is a compilation from all the midrashim of Chazal. Even though the compilation is, in the words of the Rebbe, according to the simple meaning of the verse, nevertheless the compilation from all the midrashim of Chazal is found within Rashi's commentary. Thus, when you study every day the Written Torah with Rashi's commentary, you are actually studying every day the Written Torah with all the midrashim of Chazal.
Afterwards he adds in the continuation: Indeed the conclusion of the verse, after "For all these things My hand has made", is "and so all these things came to be, the utterance of Hashem", and he explains in the maamar the allusion in these words - that "the utterance of Hashem" is the Oral Torah, which is in speech ("utterance" relates to speech, not to writing). And he brings there what is stated in the Laws of Talmud Torah, and also in the Tanya in the final Iggeret Hakodesh, that "and at the very least" - and this is the wording of the continuation of the teaching - "everyone must study a tractate of Gemara a year". Meaning, that every person must study Gemara, and that there should be a set schedule that everyone studies at the very least one tractate a year.
The conclusion of the maamar of the Maharash is interesting: And also one who digressed from the path and did not study - what will be of a person who did not follow the directive and did not study? - with all this he should not despair; do not despair, nothing stands in the way of teshuvah. You have not done so until now? Do teshuvah and do it from now on. Meaning, this is the schedule that must be.
And this topic, that one must study every day, is brought in the Laws of Talmud Torah, and its source is in the Gemara. The Gemara in tractate Kiddushin says that a person must divide his time into three - a third Scripture, a third Mishnah, and a third Talmud - to divide his life into three and study a third in each period. And the Gemara immediately asks: How is it possible that a person divides his life into three, is he told in advance how many years he has to live so he can plan "until then I will learn, and then in the next third"? "Who knows how long he will live?" - does a person know in advance how long he will live, that he can divide the years? And the Gemara answers that the intent is "by days".
What is "by days"? In this Rashi and Tosafot argue there. Rashi says: "By days" - divide the week; that is, on Sunday and Monday you learned this third, and on Tuesday and Wednesday this third, and so on. And Tosafot argues with Rashi and says: Even the days of the week, from where do you know them? Do you know in advance that you will have the whole week? Therefore Tosafot says that one must narrow this down further - on each and every day itself a person must divide his study into all its parts.
And this is also the wording of the Alter Rebbe in the Laws of Talmud Torah, who specifies like Tosafot. The wording of the halachah: "Therefore he is obligated to divide his study time into three on each and every day" - on each and every day a person needs his study to be a third in Scripture, a third in Mishnah, and a third in Talmud; these three must be every day. And this is the point that the Rebbe emphasizes here in the teaching.
And to conclude, in continuation of the teachings that correspond to the books of the Mishneh Torah of the Rambam: In the teachings of these days we are in the Book of Zeraim, and we have already seen its first two sections of halachos - the Laws of Kilayim and the Laws of Matnot Aniyim. The connection to the following halachos, the Laws of Terumot, is very prominent, for today we learn what is the "terumot" (choicest) of the midrashim of Chazal in Rashi's commentary - as he says explicitly in this quote - that such should be the daily study of us all.