Room one hundred and sixty-six in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 7 Iyar, 22 of the Omer, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Emor, Revii, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 7th of the month, recite from chapter 35 up to and including chapter 43.
Tanya, we are in the middle of chapter 46. The daily shiur begins on page 130 with the word "Vekulam", and concludes with the words "Ein Sof Baruch Hu" on page 66.
In the daily teaching there is a reference to two of our customs: the first concerns the manner of wrapping oneself in the tallis gadol, and the second - the custom to learn Maseches Sotah during Sefiras HaOmer. Let us start with the first part.
It is known that the blessing instituted by Chazal when a person wraps himself in the morning in the tallis gadol is "asher kideshanu bemitzvosav vetzivanu lehitatef batzitzis". Since Chazal established that the text of the blessing is "lehitatef batzitzis", they thereby attest that at the time of the blessing you must be wrapped in a garment. What is wrapping? There is a concept in halachah of "like the wrapping of the Ishmaelites" - just as the Ishmaelites walk in the deserts wrapped, their heads completely wrapped in a veil that covers them entirely. Similar to the wrapping of the Ishmaelites, lehavdil, must be the wrapping of the tallis gadol, in order to fulfill the mitzvah and so that we can bless "lehitatef batzitzis".
How far down must one pull the tallis over the head so that it is considered "like the wrapping of the Ishmaelites"? In the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, in siman 8, it is written how one must cover, and his wording is: to cover the head with the face until the dimples in the cheek below his mouth - meaning below the mouth, on the chin, there is a dimple, and until there one must pull down the tallis gadol when wrapping oneself and blessing "lehitatef batzitzis". So it is in the Shulchan Aruch.
However, in the Piskei HaSiddur written by the Alter Rebbe, as printed in our Siddur, it is explicitly written "and he does not need to cover his head until his mouth" - that there is no need to cover the garment until the mouth. So until where does one need to? We will now read the daily teaching and see. "When wrapping in the tallis gadol one does not need to cover his head until his mouth" - a quote from the Piskei HaSiddur of the Alter Rebbe, "and as is written in the laws of tzitzis which are in the Siddur". Not as written in the Shulchan Aruch, but until where then?
In practice, as the Rebbe notes that he heard from the Rebbe Rayatz, "but the custom is to cover also the eyes with the upper part of the tallis gadol". While one does not need to cover until the mouth, until the eyes - and also the eyes - must be covered with the tallis gadol; the eyes too must be covered.
There is an interesting letter, in which someone asked the Rebbe: If we note that the Ishmaelites are wrapped until the eyes, in reality, had the Ishmaelite been wrapped until his eyes, how would he walk? And yet they walk; and if so, apparently they are not wrapped until the eyes - so why then must one wrap until the eyes? The Rebbe answers him in his letter, that indeed there are several countries of Ishmaelites in which one can see that in order to protect the eyes from the sands there, they do put the wrapping over the eyes. But what? They do not tie it over the eyes, and it is not bound over the eyes in a way that one cannot walk, but rather it is suspended thus in the air and covers the eye area. And when it is in this form, one can in reality see downwards, and even - in his words - a few amos ahead. And indeed, one must cover also the eyes, up to over the eyes; this is our custom of how to wrap oneself in the tallis gadol.
The second part of the teaching refers to the custom of studying Gemara, specifically during the days of Sefiras HaOmer. There are sefarim in which it is written that during the days of Sefirah one studies Maseches Shevuos, whose number of pages is identical to the number of pages of Maseches Sotah - 49. But the Rebbe notes here, as he also wrote in a letter, that this is what he heard from his father-in-law, the Rebbe Rayatz: Even though there are those who write to study Maseches Shevuos which has the same number of pages, our custom is, as is evident from his wording, "it is our custom to study Maseches Sotah during the days of Sefirah - in addition to the regular shiurim - a daf a day, a daf a day". That is, in addition to the regular daily shiurim - Chitas, Rambam, and the like - one should add during the days of Sefiras HaOmer and also study Maseches Sotah, a daf a day, since the number of pages is like the number of days.
However, one should note that even though in Maseches Sotah there are up to 49 pages, the Gemara begins on daf 2, so it turns out there is one day less; and on the first day of Sefiras HaOmer we do not yet have a daf corresponding to it to study. Nevertheless, during a farbrengen on the eve of the festival of Shavuos 5745, the Rebbe addressed the matter and said that on the first day of Sefiras HaOmer there is a page that one needs to connect to - it is the title page, the cover page of the Gemara. Seemingly it looks like a mere technical page, which holds the Gemara, but what is written on the title page? The name of the maseches is written on it, in large letters - "Sotah".
It is known what the Alter Rebbe says in "Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah", that for everything, the name by which it is called in Lashon Hakodesh is the life-force of that thing. It turns out that the life-force of the entire Maseches Sotah is included in the title page, which is the name of the maseches. On the first day one must therefore connect to the central and general concept of Maseches Sotah - not to the details that will appear on the other pages; but certainly on the first day too there is the concept of needing to connect to this maseches.
And what is the connection between Maseches Sotah and these days of Sefiras HaOmer? There are several explanations for this from the Rebbe's letters. In one place the Rebbe writes, that since there was suspicion upon the sotah, and through drinking the water the Torah says "and she shall be cleared and shall conceive seed" - the matter removes the suspicion from her and brings her cleanliness. This is exactly the meaning of the days of Sefiras HaOmer, as we say in prayer every day at the conclusion of the Sefirah, "to rectify our souls from every dross and blemish, and to purify us and sanctify us". That same stage that the sotah undergoes by drinking the water is essentially our goal during Sefiras HaOmer.
In another place a different point is written: It is known that the offering brought for the meal-offering of the sotah was of barley, and the Omer meal-offering is also of barley - and these are the only meal-offerings in the Beis HaMikdash that come from barley, since usually the meal-offerings are of wheat. And barley, as is known, is animal fodder; and regarding the sotah it is said, that since she acted like an animal, therefore her offering is an animal's offering. What is the connection to Sefiras HaOmer? From an inner perspective, this is the time when a person must refine his animal soul throughout all those days, and therefore every day we mention one of the middos and sefiros - as each one is comprised of seven. This avodah of rectifying the middos and rectifying the soul - is the connection between Sefiras HaOmer and Sotah.
And what is the connection of this teaching specifically to this day? We are already at the 22 of the Omer, and should already be on daf 22 or 23 - if so, why specifically here? One can say simply, that on this day we study the Chumash shiur of Parshas Emor, Revii, and in it the Torah speaks about the Omer offering and Sefiras HaOmer. Therefore the Rebbe incorporated here the custom and the teaching regarding studying the matter of Maseches Sotah during Sefiras HaOmer.