The eighty-second "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 12 Adar I, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Tetzaveh, revi'i, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 12th of the month, one says chapters 66 through and including chapter 68.
Tanya, on this day we are in chapter 29, from the passage beginning with the words "Ve'im kein hu", until page 72, at the word "mista'efet", the end of chapter 29.
The daily teaching is a short one, whose source is in a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on 5 Av of the year 5698. The background of the letter: it is a letter to a Jew whom the Rebbe Rayatz is arousing to take part in all the activity in his city, in all the matters connected with bringing matters of Yiddishkeit into the community, and to be among those who bring merit to the many.
And with what does the Rebbe Rayatz strengthen him in the background of the letter? He writes to him that there are people - and apparently this man was among them - who think that since most of the members of the boards of the various organizations and institutions are wealthy people and well known businessmen, important people, they will do what needs to be done. And this man says to himself: "I am not wealthy, I have no knowledge of business, and I am not such an important person; how can I get involved at all, express an opinion, or do anything?"
To this the Rebbe Rayatz writes to him that this is a mistake, for a person's greatness is not in wealth; rather, true wealth is as Chazal said, "There is no wealthy person except in knowledge, and no poor person except in knowledge." Consequently, a sacred duty rests upon every Jew who trembles at the word of Hashem to take part in all the matters of the institutions in the city, and especially in the religious institutions - taharas hamishpachah, Shabbos observance, kashrus, yeshivos and Talmud Torahs; every Jew must have a part in this. And one who holds himself back because of all sorts of reasons, the Rebbe Rayatz writes to him, besides not fulfilling his duty, also brings upon himself the opposite of good, materially and spiritually; for everyone must hear the inner cries of Jewish souls who are thirsting for some point.
After all this length, almost toward the end of the letter, comes the passage from which the Rebbe brought the daily teaching. He cites the verse in Mishlei (chapter 18, verse 16): "It is written: A man's gift makes room for him, and leads him before great men."
When one looks at this verse in Rashi, first the plain meaning is brought and afterwards the Midrash. What is the plain meaning? When a person needs to reach the intercessors, to come before great men with one request or another - the gift, the giving that he gives, will widen the way for him and lead him to his goal. This is the simple plain meaning, which we know from life.
Afterwards Rashi also brings a Midrash on the verse. What is the Midrash? Rashi says that here it is not speaking of a person who gives to people whom he needs to approach with a request, but rather of a Jew who gives tzedakah. "A man's gift" - a Jew who gives tzedakah; one should know that a person who gives tzedakah widens his portion for the time to come, and not only for the time to come, but even in his lifetime they will say of him that he is an important person - "and leads him before great men." That is the Midrash.
The Rebbe Rayatz gives here his own interpretation of the verse, in connection with that Jew, and explains to him how to look at the verse in a different way. And thus he says: "There are people who are men of renown in their wisdom and in their wealth" - the verse is speaking here of those who are great, and the question is who is found before the great ones.
There are great people, "men of renown", who have great fame and great standing, whether in wisdom or in wealth. "But 'a man's gift'" does not mean that a person gives something, but rather "when a person gives his own 'man'" - when you give yourself, your "man", "in some involvement in strengthening the religion"; when a person feels and sees that in the city where you are there is a need to become involved and to give, and even though there are great ones and men of renown, he does not make calculations but gives himself.
And you should know, "that not only will it 'make room for him'" - not only will the matter widen for him, giving him influence and abundance, and he will not lose out from having given himself - "but moreover, it will lead him before great men", that he will stand before those great ones and wealthy ones and men of renown, and will even be ahead of them, because he gives himself, his "man".
And we also know from the Rebbe's sichos, where he spoke many times and brought what was said in the name of the Tzemach Tzedek in the name of the Alter Rebbe, that when a person gives himself to others he does not lose from it, and in the language there, "his mind and heart become a thousand times more refined", and the Tzemach Tzedek himself added to this, "and this is no exaggeration at all". That is, when a person gives himself in something, certainly and most certainly he does not lose, and on the contrary - he receives even more gain and the most wondrous abundance. This is the wondrous thing in this teaching, "a man's gift", that a person should give himself entirely to that to which he must give himself.