The eighty-fifth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Shabbos 15 Adar I, Shushan Purim Katan, 5703.
In the daily saying there are several customs, shiurim, and a saying that comes from two sources, which the Rebbe joined together into one "cheder".
First the Rebbe brings the practice written in the first line: "Av HaRachamim and Tzidkascha are not said". These are two passages - one before Mussaf and one after Mincha - which, as is written in the siddur, on a day when Tachanun is not said, were it to fall on a weekday, are not said. And since we are in Shushan Purim Katan, on which Tachanun is not said, these two passages are not said in the davening.
Shiurim: Chumash, Tetzaveh, Shevi'i, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 15th of the month, chapters 77 and 78.
Tanya, on this day the conclusion of chapter 29, from the words "od yasim" until the end of the chapter, with the words "as is written in the holy Zohar".
Now the Rebbe brings two more customs, connected with Shabbos in general, and not specifically with this Shabbos of Shushan Purim Katan. Let us preface an introduction to the following custom: it is written in the Shulchan Aruch regarding every day, and not specifically on Shabbos, that there is value in joining the brachah to the eating as much as possible, not to make an interruption between the conclusion of the brachah of HaMotzi and the eating, but rather the smallest interruption possible. Therefore, one of the things that takes time - a little, but time - is that at the conclusion of the brachah one has to slice the bread if it is not sliced, and this slicing takes a few seconds.
The halachah says that one can somewhat minimize even this: on a weekday, before beginning the brachah, one can begin to cut into the bread - not much, so as not to detract from its wholeness and its size, since there is value in reciting the brachah over a whole and large loaf - and at the conclusion of the brachah he continues cutting, and thereby he has shortened the interruption by a few seconds. This is said regarding a weekday.
And what about Shabbos? It is written in the Shulchan Aruch that on Shabbos, since there is something more important there - that there must be lechem mishneh and a whole loaf - and there is a remote concern that when he cuts a piece before the brachah, perhaps he will cut too much and the bread will lose its wholeness (and then we enter into the details of the halachah regarding the required measure). In order not to enter into that, we say that on Shabbos one should not cut at all; that is, the importance of the wholeness overrides the shortening of the time between the brachah and the eating. So it is written in the Shulchan Aruch.
Concerning this comes the custom that the Rebbe brings: "One marks the bread before the brachah of HaMotzi". On Shabbos, even though in the Shulchan Aruch it is written not to cut, nevertheless one "marks" - one makes a sign with the knife, a small cut that does not penetrate the thickness of the bread but is only the mark of a cut; this one does, but one is careful not to actually cut, as is written in the Shulchan Aruch.
It is worth adding here a point that the Tzemach Tzedek once said, that after a person has made the mark and recited the brachah, he does not have to search for exactly where the point of the mark was in order to cut precisely there; it is enough that he cuts in the general area, and even though it is not exact - it is fine.
The next custom that the Rebbe brings: "In Kiddush over bread as well one says Savri Maranan". The plain meaning of "Savri Maranan" is an address to those present, that the one making Kiddush calls them "Maranan" and asks that they pay attention to the brachah and intend to fulfill their obligation; as if saying to them: "Savri Maranan" - listen, is it your intention to fulfill the obligation together with me? - and then he says the brachah.
It is also written in Kabbalah that the number of words in Kiddush, from the word "Vayechulu" until "mekadeish haShabbos", is an exact number according to Kabbalah, from which one of the Divine Names is formed; and some of the words that complete this number are the words "Savri Maranan". There is a place where it is written that this is said only in Kiddush over wine, but in Kiddush over bread one does not say "Savri Maranan"; and here the Rebbe brings in the custom that one says "Savri Maranan" always - both in Kiddush over wine and in Kiddush over bread.
And it is interesting to note one thing that emerges from another: when the Rebbe would conduct a siddur kiddushin - in which there is no Kiddush but only the brachah of hagafen - he would say "Savri Maranan" then too, before the brachah of hagafen in the birchas eirusin. It emerges that this is not only because of the number of words that completes the Kiddush, but rather he would always say this.
Now comes the daily saying itself. As mentioned, it contains two passages, and it is printed in "Hayom Yom" in two parts. The first passage is a quote from a letter that the Rebbe Rayatz wrote on 2 Marcheshvan 5698 to a chassid named Reb Dovid Meir Rabinowitz. This chassid came from Boston to Eretz Yisrael, and on the way back he stopped in France and from there continued on to Boston. In the letter the Rebbe Rayatz expresses appreciation and writes to him about the very presence of a person together with friends in a certain place, when at that time they say words of Torah or review a matter of substance - how much this refines the world and brings merit to the place. There are quite a few sayings in "Hayom Yom" of this sort, which emphasize the matter of saying the letters of Torah in every place where one finds oneself.
Let us look at the wording of the saying. In the original it is written in Yiddish. "Regarding the "time to come" it is said: "For a stone shall cry out from the wall, and a beam from the timber shall answer it"" - the wording of the verse. The physical stone itself will cry out. And what is "the stone will cry out", about whom, and when? The Rebbe Rayatz explains: "Now the "inanimate" is silent" - it does not speak, "and they tread upon it - and it keeps silent. But a time will come, in the revelations of the future, and the inanimate will begin to speak, to tell, and to demand: if while walking they did not think or speak words of Torah - why did they tread upon it?!" This is a passage from the letter we mentioned.
It is interesting to add one sentence with which the Rebbe Rayatz concludes there. Let us read the wording of the letter: "Master of the worlds, Cause of causes and Reason of reasons, who brings about the causes with His particular providence, blessed be He, brought one from the land of Russia, the second from our Holy Land, the third from the United States, the fourth and the fifth from Lithuania, and all of them as one came together upon a stretch of land in the land of France near the city of Paris", and there they farbrenged and spoke stories that arouse one to Torah and mitzvos, to the avodah of the heart and to ahavas Yisrael. The Holy One, blessed be He, arranges who should come, where and how, and one must make use of the opportunity - and not arrive at a place and in essence just tread and do nothing, and miss the point.
The next passage appears elsewhere, and the Rebbe joined them together. This passage appears in a sichah of the Rebbe Rayatz for Simchas Torah 5703 - although in the sefarim before us, in the sichos of Simchas Torah 5703, the passage does not appear; apparently things were said that did not actually make it into the sefer of sichos, but the Rebbe notes that this is the source.
And what is written there? "The earth upon which one treads waits thousands of years, ever since the six days of creation - while in the meantime various creatures, animals and so on tread upon it - for the sole of a Jew's foot to tread there, two Jews, and for them to speak words of Torah". And this is essentially the reason that the place was created - so that someone should refine it and bring out the spark hidden within it.
"And if not" - if the Jew, or two Jews, tread there and do not speak words of Torah but merely tread or speak of other things - then "it says: you are just like an animal"; so many animals have trodden upon me, but I never had an animal like you. That is, the earth demands and expects that when you tread upon it you should be a human being - and if you are a Jew, say words of Torah. This is the purpose and the intent of everything in the creation of the world.