"Room" one hundred and fifty-one in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 22 Nissan, Acharon Shel Pesach, seven days of the Omer, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Acharei Mot, Shlishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 22nd of the month, the two chapters - chapter 106 and chapter 107.
Tanya, we are in chapter 42. The daily shiur begins on page 60 with the word "vegam", and ends on page 120 with the words "kanil perek bet".
First of all, there is a practice for Acharon Shel Pesach here, and a teaching related to the special meal of Acharon Shel Pesach. Regarding the practice he says: "By day it is an enhancement to make kiddush, pray Minchah, and after this the Yom Tov meal". Here the Rebbe notes a special custom that in actual practice we do not follow: at the daytime meal, one makes kiddush, eats a little - what is called "kiddush bimkom seudah" - immediately prays Minchah, and only afterwards the Yom Tov meal takes place. In actual practice, we do not follow this custom.
Afterwards, there is a reference to the special meal of Acharon Shel Pesach, known to us as "Seudat Mashiach". He says: "The Baal Shem Tov used to eat three meals on Acharon Shel Pesach". Just as on Shabbat there are three meals, so the Baal Shem Tov would eat three meals on Acharon Shel Pesach, which is a Yom Tov, and the emphasis is that "the meal of Acharon Shel Pesach was called - by the Baal Shem Tov - 'Seudat Mashiach'".
Why is it specifically the Baal Shem Tov who revealed this matter? As is known, the matter of the Baal Shem Tov was to reveal Elokus in the world, and he revealed the uniqueness of the connection of Acharon Shel Pesach to Seudat Mashiach. It is also known that the revelation of Mashiach is particularly connected to the Baal Shem Tov, as Melech HaMashiach said to the Baal Shem Tov during his famous aliyat haneshamah, when he asked him "When will the master come?", and he answered him: "When your wellsprings spread outward" - when I will go outward, then "the master will come". Meaning, that the coming of Mashiach is uniquely connected with the Baal Shem Tov, and he is the one who revealed the matter of Seudat Mashiach.
The meal of Acharon Shel Pesach was called Seudat Mashiach by the Baal Shem Tov, because "on Acharon Shel Pesach shines the revelation of the illumination of Mashiach". Since on this day the revelation of the illumination of Mashiach shines, the matter is also expressed in the actual, physical meal that is eaten on it.
In addition to the meal, there is another practice instituted by the Rebbe Rashab, as he says in the following section: "In the year 5666". 5666 was a special year; the Rebbe Rashab brings, and it is also brought in several seforim, that 5666 was a "year of the Ketz" (the End), a special year that involved an important stage in the coming of Mashiach. Therefore, in this year - as it is known that chassidus is a vessel and preparation for the coming of Mashiach - the main revelation of chassidus in a manner of understanding and explanation was in 5666, when the Rebbe Rashab revealed even things about which the Rambam writes that they are sealed matters, which will not be known until they happen; even these sealed matters the Rebbe Rashab elucidated and explained in 5666 with great elaboration, because it was a very special year, which contained the Ketz for the coming of Mashiach.
And therefore there was also the practice, as he says: "The order began that the students of Tomchei Temimim would eat together on the holiday of Pesach in the study hall". Until then, the order was that the students would eat in the lodgings of the householders in Lubavitch, but in that year the order began that the temimim would not eat scattered in the lodgings of the place, but all together in the study hall. "And there were then shin yud [310] students and chet yud [18] tables" - many students were present at the special meal that year on the holiday of Pesach in Lubavitch.
"The meal of Acharon Shel Pesach my father and master [the Rebbe Rashab] ate together with the students". Earlier he mentioned that on the holiday of Pesach in general the students ate all together, and when Acharon Shel Pesach arrived the Rebbe Rashab himself participated with the students in the special meal, "and he commanded to give each student four cups" - that every student should receive four cups of wine at this meal of Acharon Shel Pesach, "and he said then: 'This is Seudat Mashiach'" - regarding the matter of the four cups that he added.
The Rebbe Rashab also said that the difference between the first days of Pesach and Acharon Shel Pesach - both of which have the matter of four cups - is that on the first days the four cups correspond to the matter of Moshe Rabbeinu, who is the one who redeemed the Jewish people, whereas on Acharon Shel Pesach the four cups correspond to Mashiach. And the main difference between Moshe Rabbeinu and Mashiach is that the main matter of Moshe Rabbeinu is the revelation of the Torah, and the main matter of Mashiach is the revelation of pnimiyus haTorah.
And this is the emphasis on "wine", that we drink four cups of wine. Wine is something that has taste, just as in physicality wine has taste; and the emphasis that there are four cups means that the learning revealed by Moshe Rabbeinu and the learning that Mashiach will reveal is learning with understanding and explanation, learning in a bright and clear manner. Therefore, this is expressed at Seudat Mashiach through the matter of the four cups, which indicates a very important stage in the revelation of Mashiach.
And it is known that although at the time this applied to the temimim as temimim, over the years, and especially with the Rebbe, the Rebbe requested that this be spread throughout all the diaspora of Israel, that the matter of four cups of wine at the meal of Acharon Shel Pesach, which is Seudat Mashiach, should be relevant to every single Jew - men, women, and children - because the matter of Mashiach is connected to each and every one. And now the time is certainly truly ready for this matter.