Room one hundred twenty-two in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Monday, 22 Adar II 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Shemini, Sheni, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 22nd of the month, we say two chapters - chapter 106 and chapter 107.
Tanya: Today we continue chapter 38. The shiur begins with the words "Ach af al pi chen", and concludes on page 50 with the words "Kol chai".
The daily teaching relates to the subject of Birchas Kohanim, which also appears in the daily Chumash shiur, the Sheni of Shemini. It is said of Aharon Hakohen, "And Aharon lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them", and Rashi explains there that he blessed them with Birchas Kohanim. Here we have a reference to Birchas Kohanim.
As an introduction: The source of the daily teaching is in the Sefer Hasichos of the Rebbe Rayatz, Simchas Torah 5699. There, the Rebbe Rayatz discusses at length the well-known niggun sung during the recitation of Birchas Kohanim - which we are familiar with on Yom Tov, during Nesias Kapayim. The Rebbe Rayatz says that one who contemplates the movements of the niggun sees that it corresponds to two movements: a movement of haala'ah (elevation) and a movement of hamshachah (drawing down); and he even details in another place in that Sefer Hasichos that there are six haala'os and six hamshachos in this niggun.
This point - that one feels the movement of haala'ah and hamshachah in the niggun - completely matches the kavanos of Nesias Kapayim, the kavanos of Birchas Kohanim. The source of the niggun itself, as he cites there, is from the choir of the Mitteler Rebbe. And the Rebbe Rayatz says that we see the custom is that when the Kohanim say the words of Birchas Kohanim, they sing on all the words, except when saying the name of Hashem - then they do not sing.
He explains that from the order of the niggun and the fact that they do not sing on the name of Hashem, we see in this itself that the niggun is very precise; for the name of Hashem corresponds to Atzmus. He does not say this explicitly, but it is possible that this is also in the manner of the verse, "Hashem is not in the noise" - that the revelation of the name of Hashem is not in noise but in a still, small voice, and therefore also on the word "Havayah", the three times it is mentioned in Birchas Kohanim, they do not sing.
In any case, in the teaching, the Rebbe does not refer to the niggun but to the content - to the kavanah of Birchas Kohanim itself - and shows how in Birchas Kohanim too there are these two movements of haala'ah and hamshachah, and even shows that there is a complete partzuf of all ten sefiros here. Let us read the text.
"Birchas Kohanim". The word "berachah" is from the root of hamshachah, as is known, and therefore Birchas Kohanim "is the hamshachah of mochin" - the concept of the Kohanim is mochin, and their blessing is the movement of drawing down the mochin from above to below. Conversely, the movement of "raising the hands" - that the Kohanim raise their hands even before the blessing - "is the haala'ah of middos". It is known that the hands symbolize the middos, as it is written in "Pesach Eliyahu": "Chessed is the right arm, Gevurah is the left arm"; the hands symbolize the middos, and therefore raising the hands symbolizes the movement of the haala'ah of the middos.
Although he brings the order here as first hamshachah and then haala'ah, in practice the order is reversed - for first they raise their hands and then they begin the blessing - because haala'ah always precedes hamshachah, as we know from the concept of "isarusa dilesata" (haala'ah) which brings about "isarusa dile'eila" (hamshachah). In any case, we have here both the concept of mochin and the concept of middos.
And the conclusion of the teaching: "And they bless Yisrael". The recipients of the blessing from the Kohanim are the Yisraelim in the shul, and even - as the Gemara says - the people in the fields also receive the blessing, "for they are children of kings": The Gemara in Maseches Shabbos, at the end of the sixth chapter, calls the Jewish people "children of kings": The Mishnah there says that there is a certain item of clothing that is permitted to be taken out on Shabbos, and children of kings go out with it; and the Gemara explains why it is noted that children of kings go out with it - because all of Yisrael are called children of kings.
Here the Rebbe refers to this and says that the Jewish people, the recipients of Birchas Kohanim, are known as "children of kings"; and "kings" corresponds to the sefirah of "Malchus". It turns out that we have here "thus a complete partzuf of ten sefiros": the mochin, the middos, and the sefirah of Malchus, which together are all ten sefiros in their entirety - this is the hamshachah of Birchas Kohanim.
Also, the date in the month is the 22nd. It is known that the Rebbe mentioned several times the hint in the words "and every day the days of the month": 22 (chof-beis) are the letters "becha" (in you), and from this comes the verse "becha yevarech Yisrael" (in you shall Yisrael bless) - the 22nd is a day of blessing. And here the daily teaching speaks about the great blessing which is Birchas Kohanim.