Room one hundred and ninety-six in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Friday 8 Sivan, Isru Chag HaShavuot, 5703.
First of all, there is an interesting reference here to the title. "Isru Chag" is the day after the festival, and it exists for Pesach, here for Shavuot, and with God's help when we reach Sukkot. However, an interesting difference is evident in the Hayom Yom calendar: for Pesach and also Sukkot, the heading for the day after the festival simply reads "Isru Chag", whereas here, only for Shavuot, it says "Isru Chag HaShavuot". The specification of "HaShavuot" for "Isru Chag" is written only for the festival of Shavuot, and not for the other two festivals - it does not say "Isru Chag HaPesach" or "Isru Chag HaSukkot".
What is the reason for this? Seemingly, it is because it is written in the Shulchan Aruch that Isru Chag of Shavuot has a greater halachic stringency than Isru Chag of Pesach or Sukkot. Why? The halachah in section 494 of the Shulchan Aruch states that among the korbanot that had to be offered during the festival when the Beit HaMikdash stood, one of them is called "Olat Re'iyah" - an olah offering that a person must bring each time he ascends for the pilgrimage three times a year, "all your males shall appear", and they bring an olah offering called "Olat Re'iyah".
Now, with a solitary olah offering, the only one that "eats" from the offering is the mizbe'ach, and there is no human consumption involved - no eating by Kohanim and no eating by the owners. If so, the question is whether it is possible to offer on the festival an offering that a person brings which has no human consumption, since on a festival the only permitted labors are for the purpose of ochel nefesh (food preparation); is it permitted to bring the Olat Re'iyah offering on the festival?
Regarding this, Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed. Beit Shammai say that it cannot be offered on the festival but only on the day following the festival, since there are days of tashlumin (makeup days), and therefore they would offer it after the festival. Beit Hillel basically hold that it is possible, but in practice, as brought in halachah, even the disciples of Beit Hillel acted in this matter according to Beit Shammai. Everyone acted not to offer the Olat Re'iyah offering on the festival of Shavuot itself, but on the following day, and therefore the day after the festival of Shavuot received a special name - "Yom Tavo'ach", the day when everyone came to slaughter and offer the olah offering that they did not offer on the festival itself.
Since it was accepted by everyone that the day after the festival is "Yom Tavo'ach", there are also special halachic prohibitions on this Isru Chag - the prohibition of fasting and the prohibition of eulogizing - which are more stringent than on Isru Chag of Pesach or Sukkot. Therefore, perhaps because of the importance of Isru Chag of Shavuot, the Rebbe notes in the heading, when the day arrives, "Isru Chag HaShavuot", which he does not note on the Isru Chag of the other festivals. This is seemingly the reason.
Shiurim: Chumash, Naso, Shishi.
Tehillim, 8th of the month, from chapter 44 to chapter 48 inclusive.
Tanya, on this day we begin chapter 2 in "Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah", from the beginning of the chapter with the word "Vehineh". The shiur ends in the middle of the chapter, on page 154, with the words "eino kein".
Here there is a short teaching, which originates from a sichah delivered by the Rebbe Rayatz on Isru Chag HaShavuot in the year 5702, a year before this calendar was published in 5703. A year prior, on Isru Chag HaShavuot, the Rebbe Rayatz said a sichah, and here a summary and points from that sichah are brought.
It is known that in Shir HaShirim there are two designations for this world. One designation - "Basi legani achosi kalah"; another designation - "El ginas egoz yaradeti". The expression "Basi legani" is exact - it is known that it does not say "lagan" but "gani", from the word "ginuni", the special meeting place of the Holy One, blessed be He, with the chosen of creations; this is "Basi legani".
And what is "El ginas egoz yaradeti"? Here too, when looking into the Midrash, simply speaking they explain it positively: just as the physical nut, when you open it, has several compartments with the fruit inside, being divided into four compartments with the fruit in the middle - so says the Midrash, that the Jewish people in the desert were surrounded by four banners with the Mishkan in the middle, and this is a positive comparison to the nut. Or, for example, the Chatam Sofer says that a nut, even when it falls into the mud, is not lost; you pick it up, and it is only the shell, while its inside remains good and fit for eating - so too the Jewish people, come what may, always remain pure. Thus "ginas egoz" is a positive expression.
But there is also a negative meaning to "ginas egoz", as we will see here in the teaching. And here he asks: How does this world look - is it "Basi legani" or "ginas egoz", positive or negative? The matter depends on you: according to how you conduct yourself and how you determine it, so it will be.
Let us look at the wording of the teaching, which is written in Yiddish, and translate it: "This physical world is a mixture of the 'ginunia' of the Holy One, blessed be He (a meeting place, where God, as it were, meets with man, the chosen of creations)". Meaning, on the one hand, this world is the most wonderful place, a Godly encounter between God and man - "Basi legani achosi kalah".
And on the other hand he continues: "and 'ginas egoz'", as it is stated "El ginas egoz yaradeti" - here "egoz" is in a negative sense, "the gematria of 'chet'". This appears in the halachot of Rosh Hashanah, that it is customary not to eat nuts on Rosh Hashanah, for which there are two reasons. The Alter Rebbe in the Shulchan Aruch brings only the second reason, and the Rema brings both reasons. The reason the Alter Rebbe brings is that eating nuts causes an increase in phlegm in the mouth, which interferes with tefillah. And an additional reason brought by the Rema: "egoz" has the gematria of "chet" - chet without an aleph, meaning the letters chet and tet, which equal the gematria of "egoz"; and on Rosh Hashanah we want to distance any connection to sin (chet), and although we mention "chet" in tefillah, we do not want there to be something connected in gematria to "chet". In any case, "egoz", says the Rema, has the gematria of "chet".
And if so, if this world is called "ginas egoz", then it is a "ginah" (garden), a place where people can transgress the will of God - the opposite of "Basi legani", which is a positive encounter between the Holy One, blessed be He, and man. It turns out that this world is a mixture of the "ginunia of the Holy One, blessed be He" and "ginas egoz". "And God grants free choice to man, thus a person can choose his path in life himself" in which world you live - the Holy One, blessed be He, grants and enables free choice for man, and a person can choose his path in life himself: whether you want to live in a world that is a constant encounter with the Holy One, blessed be He, or Heaven forbid in "ginas egoz" which symbolizes the negative aspect - the matter is given over to the free choice of man, in which world he wants to be.