The two hundred and fifty-third "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Shabbos, 6 Menachem Av, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Devarim, Shevi'i, with the commentary of Rashi.
Tehillim, on the 6th of the month, one recites from chapter 35 through chapter 38 inclusive.
Tanya: On this day one completes chapter 12 of Iggeret HaTeshuvah, which is the conclusion of the entire Iggeret — for Iggeret HaTeshuvah has twelve chapters. Chapter 12 begins with the word "veTa'am," and concludes with the final words of the chapter and of the Iggeret, "veyimatzei hatov."
The daily teaching is a brief quotation from a farbrengen held by the Rebbe Rayatz on Shabbos Parshas Pinchas, 16 Tammuz 5687 — immediately following his liberation from imprisonment. The redemption took place on the 12th-13th of Tammuz; on Erev Shabbos the Rebbe Rayatz traveled from Kostroma to Leningrad, and on Shabbos there was a farbrengen. At the farbrengen sichos and a maamar were said, and the Rebbe Rayatz said that this was a seudas hoda'ah — a meal of thanksgiving for his release from imprisonment.
Before the passage that will be brought immediately, the Rebbe Rayatz prefaces with a well-known matter: that the Mitteler Rebbe, the son of the Alter Rebbe, differed in his avodas Hashem from his father the Alter Rebbe, and they had different approaches in avodas Hashem. The well-known story is brought there, that the Mitteler Rebbe once said to his father the Alter Rebbe: "I have more distinguished lineage than you, for you did not have a father such as I have." His father the Alter Rebbe answered him: "I have more distinguished lineage than you, for you do not have a son such as I have."
The path and avodah of the Mitteler Rebbe, as the Rebbe Rayatz described it, was along the line of muchin (intellect), whereas the avodah of the Alter Rebbe was along the line of middos and hispaalus (emotion and emotional arousal) — two different lines. After the Alter Rebbe returned from Petersburg, from his imprisonment, many things changed; and then he came to his son, the Mitteler Rebbe, and said to him: "You are right" — your line, the line of muchin, is correct; only that in order to reach this line, avodah is required and effort is required. And in continuation of this, he told him the following teaching.
Interestingly, the Rebbe Rayatz relates something that the Alter Rebbe said upon his release from imprisonment, and this took place on the very Shabbos on which the Rebbe Rayatz himself found himself following his own release from imprisonment. Let us read the passage from its beginning: "The Rebbe (our Alter Rebbe), when he arrived from Petersburg, said before the Mitteler Rebbe a maamar — one that was but a few lines long" — when the Alter Rebbe returned from his well-known imprisonment, he said before his son, the Mitteler Rebbe, a maamar, except that the maamar was very short, only a few lines. As is known, before Petersburg the Alter Rebbe was accustomed to say very short maamarim, and here too, immediately after Petersburg, he said an exceedingly short maamar.
And what was the maamar? He brought the verse in Tehillim: "Lift up your hands in holiness and bless Hashem; may Hashem bless you from Tziyon, Maker of heaven and earth," and explained it according to the inner dimension of the matters. "Lift up your hands in holiness" — there are hands here that need to be elevated, and to where? "To the holiness." And what are hands? As is known from what is written in "Pasach Eliyahu," hands are an allusion to the middos — for chesed is called "the right arm" and gevurah "the left arm"; that is, the middos, the attribute of ahavah and the attribute of yirah.
The Alter Rebbe explains: "This is the elevation of the middot into the mochin and the illumination of the mochin within the middot" — the hands, the middot, must be uplifted; and to where? "To the holy" — these are the mochin, which are called "holy." A person's emotions — and this matter is explained at length in Tanya, chapter 39, that there are two categories of emotions: the emotions of angels and the emotions of Jews, and the emotions ought to arise not in a natural manner but through intellectual contemplation — and this is the "elevation of the middot into the mochin" and the "illumination of the mochin within the middot." The matter is two-directional: to elevate the middot so that they conform to the contemplation, and the intellectual contemplation intensifies a deeper level within the middot.
He continues to explain the wording of the verse: "and bless Havayah" — through a Jew conducting himself in this manner, he as it were blesses the Name of Hashem. "Berachah" means a drawing-down; as it were, he draws forth a greater flow into the Name of Hashem. As mighty, elevated, and sublime as the Name of Hashem is, the Jew through his avodah brings about an ascent in the Name of Hashem. In the Rebbe's words: "that through this one draws down the Name Havayah of Above". As is known, there are several levels within the Name of Hashem — as in the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy where "Havayah, Havayah" is said twice, alluding to the existence of "Havayah of below," the Name of Hashem at a lower level, and "Havayah of Above." When a Jew elevates his middos to the mochin, he brings about a drawing-down of "Havayah of Above."
He continues: "through this one brings about that there be "yevarechecha Hashem miTziyon" — the drawing down of the Name Havayah from the essence of the soul." The matter is reciprocal: the avodah of "and they will bless Hashem" brings about that there be "yevarechecha Havayah miTziyon." "Tziyon" — as is known, is related to the word "siman" (sign); and in Chassidus it is brought that "Tziyon" alludes to the essence of the soul, to the point of the yechidah within the nefesh. And from where will you draw down the Name of Hashem? "miTziyon," from the essence of your soul, as the wording states, "the drawing down of the Name Havayah from the essence of the soul."
The Alter Rebbe concludes and says to his son: When a Jew accomplishes all of this — elevating his middos to the mochin, and bringing about a loftier revelation of Hashem's Name that is revealed from the very essence of his neshamah — do you think the matter will remain contained within its effect upon himself and his own soul alone? Regarding this, the verse says "Maker of heaven and earth — for through this comes the sustaining of the worlds": through this, the sustaining of the worlds is brought about; that is, the entire creation is transformed, elevated, and sustained as a result of the Jew's avodah. The personal avodah of a Jew has the power to affect all the worlds, the entire order of hishtalshelus.
On that same Shabbos the Rebbe Rayatz also delivered a maamar of Chassidus, beginning "Se'u yedeichem kodesh," in which he elaborated at much greater length on the subject of the middos. He said that even on lower levels, a person who does not work on his middos to have them be accompanied by hisbonenus and mochin is liable to become unruly, and his middos may erupt in an unhealthy and improper manner; but if he does this in a measured way, with the mochin that is within the middos, then he elevates himself.