The one hundred and thirty-seventh "room" in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 8 Nissan 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash: Metzora, Shlishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim: 8th day of the month, from chapter 44 to chapter 48 inclusive.
Tanya: In the annual schedule, we are in chapter 40. The daily shiur begins on page 110 with the words "ki chemo", and ends on page 56, at the conclusion of the fourth gloss of the chapter, with the words "b'Pri Eitz Chaim".
The source of the daily teaching is a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on 17 Elul 5695. From that same letter we already learned a teaching on 1 Adar I. The subject of the daily teaching is that every soul has a role in life; everyone has a personal avodah that their soul must accomplish in the world - each person according to their nature, their character, and the root of their soul, has a personal mission. And here the point will be discussed: how can a person know how to find their personal avodah, and what is the main point they must focus on rather than on things that are unrelated to them.
We will preface with a story the Rebbe once told about a concept called "wandering souls" - a soul that strays from its path, doing good things, but this is not its mission. The gist of the story, without elaborating on the details, is about a great wealthy man who did not know how to do physical work, and went on Friday afternoon to help someone pull his wagon out of the mud, and emerged completely bruised and injured; in contrast to the wagon driver, whose job this is and who knows how to do it, and at that same time he arrived first at the synagogue before the wealthy man, and invited all the guests to dine with him on the meal that he barely had. Both did good things, but both did not do what was required of them - to such an extent that the Heavenly Court ruled, when they both descended again to this world, that the wagon driver would help those who needed it in his area of expertise, and the wealthy man would invite the guests. Sometimes a person does something, and perhaps it is good, but it is not their job.
If so, how can a person know exactly what they must do? Let us read the teaching. A short teaching that states: "Every soul has a particular avodah in intellect and middos" - every soul has a personal avodah, either in matters of intellect, study and contemplation, or in middos, in the rectification of attributes in a specific way - "according to its nature and character". Every soul has its nature, its character, and its mission.
How does a person truly know what their role and their avodah is? To this the Rebbe Rayatz says, as it is written in Tehillim chapter 119 with the expression "And it is written, From my enemies You make me wise" - sometimes we gain wisdom specifically from the enemies, observing their actions and from them knowing what we must do. In our case, the "enemies" are a person's own evil inclinations, and from the negative personal tendencies they learn, as he details: "from the evil inclinations that one feels in their natural middos". A person feels for themselves what attracts them, in what direction they are dragged and drawn by their animalistic desires to bad things. And why does the Holy One, blessed be He, give them this challenge, that specifically toward this they have a certain attraction? "From this one becomes wise and knows how to manage the rectification of their middos" - specifically from the thing that is difficult for them, where they have an attraction toward the negative direction, from this they know what their role is.
For the yetzer hara does not want to allow them to succeed, and therefore tries to drag them; and out of "From my enemies You make me wise", from the place where the yetzer hara places the emphasis to make them fall - they will understand that this is exactly their mission. "And the subjugation of their faculties in His avodah, may He be blessed" - how a person must subjugate themselves and do the avodah of Hashem properly, specifically out of "From my enemies You make me wise". This is the idea of the teaching.
In conclusion, let us see the connection to the order of the Rambam's Yad Hachazakah. In recent days we have been in teachings corresponding to Sefer Avodah, and this teaching is also connected to Sefer Avodah - "the subjugation of the faculties in His avodah, may He be blessed". To which halachos in Sefer Avodah does it correspond? In previous days we saw the connection to the Laws of the Chosen Temple, which are the first halachos; to the Laws of the Temple Vessels and Those Who Serve in It, which are the second halachos; and to the Laws of Entering the Temple, which we saw in the previous teaching. Now we have reached the fourth halachos in the book, called the Laws of Things Prohibited on the Altar (Hilchos Issurei Mizbe'ach).
What is discussed in the Laws of Things Prohibited on the Altar? There is a great elaboration there on which animals cannot be offered on the altar: an animal that has a permanent blemish cannot be offered, and also an animal that has a temporary blemish cannot be offered - but of course, if the blemish disappears, it can be offered. And there they discuss what is a permanent blemish and what is a temporary blemish, and what happens if a person did offer it, etc.
This is exactly the content of the daily teaching, as is known to be explained in chassidus that the content of the korban is the drawing near of the person to the Holy One, blessed be He, "When a person among you brings a korban to Hashem", the korban on the altar is the drawing near, and if there is a "blemish" as explained here regarding the "evil inclinations", one must turn it into a temporary blemish and then it can be a korban to Hashem. This is the content of the Laws of Things Prohibited on the Altar that corresponds to the daily teaching.