The eighty-fourth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 14 Adar I, Purim Katan, 5703.
In the heading, before the lessons, the Rebbe writes: "Tachanun is not said", since Purim Katan is one of the days on which Tachanun is not said.
Lessons: Chumash, Tetzaveh, shishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 14th of the month, from chapter 72 through and including chapter 76.
Tanya, we are in the advanced and nearly final part of chapter 29, from the words "vegam mi" until page 37, ending with the word "umaaseh".
The daily teaching is very short, and it relates to the editing of the sefer "Likkutei Torah" by the Tzemach Tzedek. It is known that the Chabad Rebbeim would write down themselves the maamarim they said publicly, but not all of them: the Alter Rebbe and the Rebbe did not write down their maamarim, whereas all the other Rebbeim, from the Mitteler Rebbe until the Rebbe Rayatz, did write down their maamarim.
The Alter Rebbe is the first, and he did not write down his maamarim himself. His maamarim were written down by a group of chassidim whose role was to record the maamarim. For example, the Alter Rebbe's brother, known as the Maharil - the holy Rav, Rabbi Yehuda Leib - was one of the famous transcribers of the maamarim. So too the Alter Rebbe's sons, and especially his son, the holy Rav, Rabbi Moshe; and there were other chassidim who wrote them down, such as Reb Pinchas Reizes and others.
In the present teaching the Rebbe relates to the manner in which the sefer "Likkutei Torah" was compiled out of the totality of the Alter Rebbe's maamarim. Let us look at the wording of the teaching: "My grandfather [the Rebbe Maharash] told my father [the Rebbe Rashab]". "Aazmu\"r" is an acronym for "adoni avi zkeini mori verabi" (my master, my grandfather, my teacher and my Rebbe), and the Rebbe Rayatz's intent is to his grandfather - the Rebbe Maharash; this is something the Rebbe Maharash relates to his son, the Rebbe Rashab. "Told my father" - that is, his father the Rebbe Rashab.
And what did he tell him? "The maamarim printed in "Likkutei Torah" - my father [the Tzemach Tzedek] selected them from among two thousand maamarim [of the Alter Rebbe]". Out of two thousand maamarim of the Alter Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek selected the maamarim to include in "Likkutei Torah".
There are references by the Rebbe in his sichos to this number, noting that this is a selection out of two thousand maamarim. For example, in a sicha the Rebbe said on Shabbos Mevorchim Adar II of the year 5725, the Rebbe addressed the precision that the Tzemach Tzedek selected specifically from two thousand maamarim, not less and not more. What is the number two thousand? The Rebbe connected it with the well known statement of Chazal, "The Torah preceded the world by two thousand years". And in chassidus it is explained that two thousand years are not time, but rather two thousand levels that differ one from another - "shanah" from the word "shinui" (change); two thousand years are two thousand levels differing one from another which preceded the world.
And what is the hint in our matter? That the maamarim in "Likkutei Torah" were selected by the Tzemach Tzedek out of two thousand maamarim; that is, he took all two thousand levels of chassidus and concentrated them in "Likkutei Torah". It emerges that in all the maamarim of "Likkutei Torah" there are included, in effect, all the subjects and all the maamarim of chassidus - all of pnimiyus haTorah is found in it; he took from all the two thousand and brought them in here.
Therefore the Rebbe says that when one makes an effort each year to complete and learn all the maamarim of "Likkutei Torah", this advances Moshiach's promise that "when your wellsprings spread outward" Moshiach will come - for "Likkutei Torah" in effect includes all of chassidus, everything. This was a sicha of the Rebbe. And interestingly, years later, on the night of Simchas Torah of the year 5748, the Rebbe admitted and said that one must examine whether the intent of "two thousand" is exactly two thousand - not one thousand nine hundred ninety nine and not two thousand and one - or whether the intent is simply to say that this is a selection out of an enormous multitude, and not necessarily that the number is precise. So said the Rebbe, that it requires examination, in 5748.
And there is an interesting story in the sefer "Lishmoa Ozen" by Rabbi Duchman, who relates all sorts of precise and interesting recollections and stories: after "Likkutei Torah" was printed, the Tzemach Tzedek said to someone: "I selected the very best from the grandfather [the Alter Rebbe] and brought it in here" - the finest portions of all the teachings of the Alter Rebbe are found within the sefer "Likkutei Torah".