The ninety-sixth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 26 Adar I 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Vayakhel, Revi'i.
Tehillim, the 26th of the month: we say the second half of chapter 119, from the letter mem which begins with the word "mah" until the end of the chapter, which concludes with the words "lo shachachti".
Tanya, still in chapter 32. The daily shiur begins with the words "umah shekasuv baGemara", and ends on page 82 with the word "chareidim".
The daily saying is taken from a letter that the Rebbe Rayatz wrote to a group of young men who were in Riga, on 26 Adar 5694. The Rebbe Rayatz wrote a similar letter, almost word for word, to the young men in Vienna a year later, on 12 Nissan 5695, and the letter arouses the young men to act and to bring other young people closer to Torah and mitzvos. From that very same letter a saying was already taken earlier, on 7 Adar I, from its beginning, and today's saying is from the continuation of the letter.
To what does the Rebbe Rayatz arouse the young men here? That they must approach with three foundations - ahavas Hashem, ahavas haTorah and ahavas Yisrael - and by means of them bring other young people closer to Torah and mitzvos. And these are his words: "With three klei shareis, ahavas Hashem, ahavas haTorah, ahavas Yisrael, young men of Torah must approach the work in the vineyard of Hashem Tzva'os".
First of all, we see that the Rebbe Rayatz calls the three things with which one must work - ahavas Hashem, ahavas haTorah and ahavas Yisrael - by the name "klei shareis". "Klei shareis", as is known, is a concept taken from the Beis Hamikdash: the vessels used in the Beis Hamikdash for the holy service are called "klei shareis". The Rebbe Rayatz is hinting thereby that the work of these young men in bringing other young people closer to Torah and mitzvos is a holy labor, like the service in the Beis Hamikdash, and therefore he calls the vessels being used "klei shareis".
One must therefore approach with ahavas Hashem, ahavas haTorah and ahavas Yisrael "to work in the vineyard of Hashem Tzva'os". "The vineyard of Hashem Tzva'os" is also the language of a verse - at the beginning of chapter 5 in Yeshayahu, the prophet Yeshayahu calls the Jewish people by this name. That is, one must look at every Jew as being part of the Divine vineyard, and therefore he possesses a great quality - even before we have begun to work with him, he is already a vine of the Divine vineyard.
And what should the work of those young men be? "To draw close the hearts of their brothers to the fulfillment of practical mitzvos and to setting fixed times for Torah, without taking into account the sickness of partisanship". The goal is to bring young people closer to practical things - to fulfill mitzvos and to set fixed times for Torah. In the original letter there are several more sentences that the Rebbe omitted here, and from them it is understood that those young men whom one must draw close are afflicted with the "sickness of partisanship": the Rebbe Rayatz specifies there that they are drawn after the leftist parties and appear far from any matter of Torah and mitzvos. Therefore one must not take the "sickness of partisanship" into account, but rather keep the objective before one's eyes - to bring them closer to Torah and mitzvos.
The way in which the Rebbe omitted those sentences and left the words more focused has a double meaning: not only must one not take into account the problem of those young men who are caught up in all sorts of parties, but there is also a hint here to those doing the outreach themselves - it is possible that you too belong to some party, and you must not draw them close to your party but to Torah and mitzvos. That is, "without taking into account the sickness of partisanship", in both directions.
In any event, this is how the work must be. There is also an expression there in the letter, that the work must be "with an organized, developed and perfected force" - the Rebbe arouses the young men to work in a very organized manner, with a very strong purpose, to bring the other young people closer to the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos.
The saying continues and comes to give the correct outlook on how one must look at other young people: "And the absolute truth is that the heart of a Jew is a wellspring, a source of living waters". Even when one sees someone who appears very far away, first of all one must look at him as one of the vineyard, and look at him as "a wellspring, a source of living waters".
This expression is based on a similar expression written in Shir Hashirim about the Jewish people - "a wellspring of gardens, a well of living waters"; and here he uses the wording "a wellspring, a source of living waters". The expression "source of living waters" is written in another prophet regarding the Holy One, blessed be He - "Me they have forsaken, the source of living waters" - whereas the wording about the Jewish people, that they are called "a wellspring of living waters", is written in Shir Hashirim. That is, one must look at every Jew as being "a wellspring and source of living waters", and consequently one must work with him and influence him.
And he concludes: "And a covenant has been made that work and campaigning do not return empty". The Holy One, blessed be He, made a covenant - there is a Divine commitment here - that work and campaigning for positive matters do not return empty. There is no such thing as working and campaigning and nothing coming out of it; certainly something comes out of it. Perhaps one does not always see the result immediately, but one certainly sees something.
One can say that this saying sums up in a few words the Rebbe's entire constant demand of the chassidim in our generation - to spread Judaism and the wellsprings to all types of Jews, without looking at this or that partisanship; rather, one must look at every Jew, just as he is, with a proper eye, and consequently draw him close to the important work of practical mitzvos and setting fixed times for Torah.