Room two hundred ninety-seven in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Monday, 20 Elul 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Nitzavim-Vayelech, Sheni, with the commentary of Rashi.
Tehillim, for the 20th of the month, one recites from chapter 97 through chapter 103 inclusive; and the three additional chapters in the month of Elul are 58, 59, and 60.
Tanya: On this day we conclude Iggeret 16. The daily portion begins on page 248 with the words "vehineh zehu," and ends at the conclusion of the letter with the words "lev vanefesh."
The source of this brief daily teaching is in the concluding portion of a chassidic maamar by the Rebbe Rayatz, the discourse beginning "Beha'alotcha et hanerot," from the year 5700. The maamar explains what we ask of the Holy One, blessed be He, "berachamecha harabim rachem aleinu" (in Your abundant mercy, have compassion on us) — that we do not simply say "have compassion on us," but rather emphasize that the compassion should be "from Your mercies," for only You know how to have compassion on us, whereas we ourselves do not understand the compassion that is fitting for us.
He explains this by way of a parable: if we take a prince who was accustomed to a life of very high standard and quality, and now he is placed in prison — since he was accustomed to such loftiness and now he is confined in jail, the compassion for him is greater than for a person who was of a low quality of life from the outset.
And what is the analogue? The neshamah. The neshamah, whose intrinsic level is very lofty, was in supernal exaltation — in the World of Atzilus, in utter self-nullification to G-dliness — and it descended below; the Holy One, blessed be He, brought it down into a body, into a natural soul, into a dark world. And here, in this world, not only does it not see G-dliness as it saw when it was in the upper worlds, but it sees only the ish (self-existence), the coarseness and grossness of the world, and it cannot be devoted to that to which it ought to be devoted. Moreover, the second soul disturbs it with many distractions. This state is a very great cause of compassion upon the neshamah, and therefore we say "berachamecha harabim" (in Your abundant mercies): we do not so much comprehend the magnitude of the compassion for our neshamah, for we do not so much comprehend the loftiness of the neshamah; but You, the Holy One, blessed be He, know the loftiness of the neshamah, and therefore also understand the magnitude of the descent — therefore have mercy upon us.
And why do we not understand this? Here comes the saying, which is the only passage written in Yiddish within a maamar whose source is in Lashon HaKodesh, and in it the Rebbe Rayatz explains why we do not understand. And so he says: "One who is lowly and coarse does not sense his own coarseness and lowliness" — a person who is himself lowly and coarse cannot notice or feel his own materiality and lowliness, because he himself is in a lowly state. The one who can feel the materiality and lowliness of another is precisely one who stands outside the matter and is not part of the problem. And this is the analogy for the state of the neshamah within the body, that it does not truly understand or feel the pain and pity upon it; only the Holy One, blessed be He, in His abundant mercies, can have compassion upon us.