The seventy-seventh "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 7 Adar I 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Terumah, Shishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 7th of the month, from chapter 39 through chapter 43.
Tanya, on this day we conclude chapter 27, from the words "umikedushah zo" until the end of the chapter, which concludes with the words "me'at me'at".
Today's teaching is short. First I will give the background of the context in which it was written, and then I will read the teaching. When the Rebbe Rayatz moved to live in Warsaw, he once traveled for about a week and a half to visit Riga, in the month of Adar 5694. There was an organization in Riga called "Tzeirei Agudas Yisrael", and during that period the Rebbe Rayatz met personally, in a private yechidus, with almost every one of them, gave each one instructions and guidance, and took an interest in each and every one.
Afterwards they very much wanted to hold a general convention, at which they would all gather together and the Rebbe would speak to them all about general matters, but it did not come about because of the shortage of time. Therefore, when the Rebbe Rayatz returned to Warsaw, he sent them on 26 Adar - right after his return - a general letter. In the letter he opens by saying that he had pleasure from the private visits, and since he did not manage, for lack of time, to speak with all of them, he is therefore now sending this letter. In the letter he wants to tell them what the purpose of young men of Torah and fear of Heaven is - for this was "Tzeirei Agudas Yisrael" - and what their aspiration ought to be.
The first sentence in the letter is today's teaching. And this is what he writes to them: "Every Jew must know that he is an emissary of the Master of all". That is, every Jew must first of all know that he is a shliach - the Holy One, blessed be He, sent every Jew, "in order to bring into actuality - wherever he may be - His blessed will and His intent in the creation of the world", and wherever he finds himself he must reveal and bring out the intent of the creation of the world.
And how does he do this, and in what is his shlichus expressed? On this he elaborates: the shlichus is "that they illuminate the world with the light of Torah and avodah" - illuminate the world with the Torah you learn and with the service of Hashem that you do. And how does one illuminate the world with the light of Torah and avodah? "And this is through the fulfillment of practical mitzvos" - when a person fulfills practical mitzvos he illuminates the world with the light of Torah, for the Torah includes the mitzvos; "and the implanting of good middos" - when a person implants good middos, first of all in himself and then in his surroundings, he illuminates the world with the light of avodah. These two things - to illuminate the world with the light of Torah and with the light of avodah. This is the teaching with which the Rebbe Rayatz opened the letter.
Afterwards the Rebbe Rayatz continues at length in that same letter, from which two more teachings appear in Hayom Yom further on. But in the next passage he says an interesting expression: the Holy One, blessed be He, has many ways of leading a person to the place where he is to express his shlichus. Sometimes it seems to a person that he arrived at a certain place by chance, or at the very least through a good opportunity; and sometimes it seems to him that it is a bad opportunity, that he ended up there and does not know how. A person does not always know how to interpret the purpose correctly - sometimes the thing seems good to him and sometimes not good.
But a person who believes in hashgachah pratis, who keeps Torah and mitzvos properly, has open eyes to see that everything is hashgachah pratis, and that the Holy One, blessed be He, arranges the causes for each one to bring him to his place. And when you have arrived at a place, instead of complaining "why", or simply rejoicing that you arrived there for some external reason - know that your purpose is to express your shlichus. That is the point.
And this is the whole idea upon which the Rebbe built the enterprise of shlichus. One can say that this is the teaching "Every Jew must know that he is an emissary" - the Rebbe wants every Jew to be a shliach, to express the ultimate intent of the creation of the world.
We will conclude with the connection of the teaching to the sequence of the Rambam's Yad HaChazakah. As we saw in the previous teachings, we are in Sefer Kedushah, which includes Hilchos Issurei Biah, Hilchos Ma'achalos Assuros and Hilchos Shechitah. We saw in the previous teachings the connection to the earlier halachos, and today's teaching corresponds to the end and conclusion of Hilchos Shechitah.
What is written at the end of Hilchos Shechitah? I will quote the Rambam's exact words, with which he concludes Hilchos Shechitah: "for the honor is not for the mitzvos themselves" - the purpose is not for the sake of the mitzvah itself, but rather "but for the One who commanded them and held us back from stumbling in them" - the purpose is for you, He commanded you, and He means you; "and saved us from groping in the darkness" - the mitzvos come so that we should not grope in the dark, so that we should have guidance; "and He set them as a lamp to straighten our deeds and a light to teach the paths of uprightness" - all the mitzvos came so that a person should know how to walk in the correct way and how to illuminate the world; "and so it says: Your words are a lamp to my feet and a light to my path". This is the conclusion of Hilchos Shechitah.
And this is the content of today's teaching - to illuminate the world with the light of Torah and to establish the correct way everywhere. This is almost a word for word quotation from the conclusion of the Rambam's words in Hilchos Shechitah, with which we concluded another sefer in the halachos of the Yad HaChazakah.