The one hundred and twenty-fourth "room" in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 24 Adar II 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Shemini, Revii, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 24th of the month, from Chapter 113 to and including Chapter 118.
Tanya: We are in the middle of Chapter 38. The daily shiur is from the words "ki baguf" until its conclusion on page 100 with the words "bo yitbarach".
The daily teaching is very short, a line and a half. We will read the teaching and explain what it is about. The teaching says: "When saying Ana Bekoach". As is known, during the day and the week we say "Ana Bekoach" several times: in the morning during Shacharit, in the Bedtime Shema, on Friday evening, and during Sefirat HaOmer. There are several opportunities when we say this prayer, the "Ana Bekoach", and it is attributed, as is known, to the Tanna Rabbi Nechunya ben HaKanah.
In the printed siddurim, for each of the seven lines of the "Ana Bekoach" - in the right column - there are the words that are said, and in the left column there are the acronyms, the Kabbalistic names. These acronyms are the initials of the words of "Ana Bekoach". What should we do with this sight before our eyes? Do we say it? What is its meaning?
The wording of the teaching says: "One must look at - or envision in one's thought - the Names, which are the acronyms, but not say them". That is, when you say "Ana Bekoach", look with your eyes at the Names - the letters on the left side, which are the acronyms of "Ana Bekoach" - but do not say them; we do not say these words, rather we only look at them. This is the entire daily teaching.
Let us explain a bit what is happening here. First we will quote an interesting thing written in the responsa of the author of "Yosef Ometz", the Yaavetz, in one of the responsa in section 44. There someone asks him regarding the kavanot (intentions) of various mitzvot - for example in the blowing of the shofar, or in "Ana Bekoach", and all kinds of kavanot that appear in the siddur - whether one needs to say them or not, and how to relate to them. In his answer, the Yaavetz writes that the kavanot do not depend on the expression of the lips, but only on thought, only on intention.
He also explains an interesting thing. For example, in the kavanot of blowing the shofar: The kavanah is not a world unto itself, but part of the mitzvah of blowing the shofar; and therefore when must one have it in mind? At the time of blowing the shofar. There is no point in saying the kavanah separately and the blowing separately, since they are like soul and body - they go together. Therefore, all these kavanot and allusions - while saying "Ana Bekoach" they hold the significance of the kavanah, but one does not need to say them, rather only think about them or see them with one's eyes. And there is a complementary teaching, which we will reach with God's help on 2 Tishrei, which also discusses this matter of "Ana Bekoach" and these kavanot and letters.
Now we will relate to the core of the matter. What is the concept of "Ana Bekoach", and what is the wondrous allusion in it? It is known that the Alter Rebbe explains in a Maamar, that in "Ana Bekoach", if we count the words, there are forty-two words, which in Kabbalah is called the "Name of Mem-Bet (42)". What is the concept in this number? As we see in the division of the lines in the siddur, there are seven lines and in each line six words, which together amount to forty-two. The concept is immediately understood: The seven lines correspond to the seven middot (attributes), but in each of the middot there are only six words.
The matter is that in each of the seven middot only six of the middot are included. We know, for example, that in Sefirat HaOmer there are forty-nine days - seven sefirot, and each one includes seven, and together forty-nine. If so, what is the calculation? Why here is it forty-two and there is it forty-nine? Why here is each sefirah not comprised of all seven, but only of six?
The Alter Rebbe explains an interesting point: In each sefirah all the other sefirot are included, and every additional sefirah included in it is part of the essence and content of that sefirah. For example, in the sefirah of Chesed there is "Chesed shebeChesed" and "Gevurah shebeChesed", and every detail expresses how the content of the sefirah is expressed in each of its parts. And so too the sefirah of Malchut - there is Malchut as a general sefirah, and there is Malchut included in each and every sefirah.
What is the concept of the sefirah of Malchut? As is known, Malchut in every world and in every place is the intermediary and the bridge for drawing down below. The sefirah of Malchut draws down the world of Atzilut to the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah; in the world of Beriah, Malchut draws down to Yetzirah; and in every place the concept of Malchut is not to be a source and content in and of itself, but to transmit what it receives from the higher sefirot and draw it down below. In one word: The concept of the sefirah of Malchut is drawing down below.
The Alter Rebbe says: "Ana Bekoach" is a prayer whose entire concept is not drawing down but elevation. Therefore - even though he does not say this explicitly in the Maamar, but it is written in other places - when do we say "Ana Bekoach"? Usually at those junctures in prayer, in the week and in life whose concept is an ascent to a higher level: At the beginning of the day, when starting Shacharit and wanting to be elevated, we say "Ana Bekoach"; and in the Bedtime Shema, when the soul ascends above and we part from the order of the day, we say "Ana Bekoach". This is a prayer whose concept is elevation, and it is the Name of Mem-Bet.
Since its concept is elevation, there is no place for the sefirah of Malchut within it, because the entire concept of Malchut is the opposite - drawing down below - whereas the entire concept of "Ana Bekoach" is elevation. Therefore we say all the middot, but not in a movement of descent rather in a movement of elevation. This is the concept of the Name of Mem-Bet specifically - forty-two words and not forty-nine - since there is no concept here of rectifying every middah, but rather a movement of elevation. This is the essence of the words of the Alter Rebbe, which are brought in other places. Here the Rebbe does not elaborate on the teaching, but at least we have grasped the meaning of this wondrous matter of "Ana Bekoach".