"Cheder" number two hundred ninety-six in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Sunday, 19 Elul, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Nitzavim-Vayelech, two combined portions, first portion with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 19th day of the month, one recites from chapter 90 through chapter 96 inclusive; and the three chapters recited during the month of Elul — chapters 55, 56, and 57.
Tanya: On this day one begins to study Iggeret 16, from the beginning of the letter, from the word "Ahuvai" (My beloved ones). The daily lesson concludes on page 248, with the words "daf peh."
The daily teaching is brief, and it relates to the verse that appears in the daily Chumash study, at the beginning of Parashat Nitzavim. These words were said within a talk that the Rebbe Rayatz related on the seventh day of Pesach in the year 5698. Let us begin reading the first portion of the saying, which in its original was written in Yiddish, and we will explain.
"The Alter Rebbe, while he was still in Vitebsk, once said a 'Torah' [a brief Torah thought] on the verse 'Atem Nitzavim' etc." — at the time when the Alter Rebbe was still in Mezritch, after his marriage, when he was living in his father-in-law's home, he once said a brief Torah thought on the verse that opens the parsha, "Atem Nitzavim."
The verse presents a list of all the categories within the Jewish people: "You are standing today, all of you... your heads, your tribes..." and so forth. When one reflects on this, almost the entire list consists of ranks of people — "your heads, your tribes, your elders" and the like. Yet at the conclusion, two are mentioned that are specifically roles and occupations, and the commentators address the question of to whom this refers: "from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water" — for these are occupations, unlike the preceding ones which are ranks.
Concerning this, the Alter Rebbe delivered a "Torah," a hint — what these two things come to teach us in avodas Hashem. And thus, "he explained 'from the hewer of your wood [meychotev eitzecha]'" — by way of hint, "eitzecha" is "an expression of eitzah [counsel]," which is an expression of thought. Although in its plain meaning "eitzecha" is from the word for wood [eitzim], by way of hint it is from the word eitzah, like a thought.
And what is the meaning of "one who chops your wood"? "One must uproot the "many thoughts in the heart of man"" — to chop the wood, that is, to uproot thoughts from a person's heart. There are many thoughts in the mind that are not in accordance with Torah, and these must be uprooted — this is "the one who chops your wood," to remove all those thoughts.
And the conclusion — "drawer of your water." What is meant by "drawer of your water"? It is known, and it is also written in Tanya at its beginning, that water causes all sorts of pleasures to grow; water is a symbol for pleasures. "Drawer of your water" means "to draw off the water that causes all sorts of pleasures to grow" — those very pleasures on account of which a person is drawn to all sorts of matters. One must draw off this water, that is, to nullify it. This is the work of refining the person, which is alluded to in these words.