The one hundred and ninety-ninth "room" in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Monday, 11 Sivan 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Behaalotecha, Sheni, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 11th of the month, from chapter 61 to chapter 65 inclusive.
Tanya, today we continue chapter 3 in Shaar Yichud Vehaemunah. The shiur begins with the word "Vehamashal" on page 78, and concludes on page 156 with the words "ve'efes bilado".
The daily passage is taken from a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on the exact same date, 11 Sivan, two years earlier, in 5701. In this letter, he strongly urges that a Jew must study chassidus, and states that the root and essence of everything is that a Jew must establish a daily study of chassidus, and contemplate this matter in a deep and proper manner, for this is the true good.
Then he cites the well-known verse, "And the living shall take it to heart." Some think that "And the living shall take it to heart" is a verse said only in the context of someone who has passed away, Heaven forbid. But this is not so; every person should say the verse "And the living shall take it to heart" to themselves every morning: to take to heart the thought - how is he truly living? If he wants to truly live, true life means that his mind is occupied with chassidus; this is true life.
Following this, he brings the daily teaching, in the name of the Rebbe Rashab. And so he says, "From a sicha of my father and teacher [the Rebbe Rashab]" - the words are said in Yiddish, and we will translate them: "In the avodah of Hashem according to the path of chassidus", as it is and as it should be, "all levels exist". Of course, every level that exists in worldly matters has a spiritual translation in chassidus.
One of the levels he discusses is "the level of 'dead'" - the concept of a dead person, death "does not require much explanation" regarding the meaning of the concept of death in the avodah of Hashem. But before explaining its meaning, he immediately adds: "However, there also exists - thank God - the resurrection of the dead in spiritual avodah". Just as there is a concept of death, thank God there is also the resurrection of the dead in spirituality.
What is death and what is the resurrection of the dead? He says as follows: "A dead person is cold", he is apathetic. "There is nothing quite as cold as the natural intellect and the human intellect", the human intellect, which takes everything with coldness and apathy. "And when the natural intellect comprehends a Godly comprehension", and when the natural intellect reaches a state where it understands a Godly comprehension, "and the middos within the intellect are moved and excited by the intellectual pleasure", and even the "middos within the intellect" - even before the "middos within the heart", meaning the intellectual inclination called "middos within the intellect" - are moved and stirred by the intellectual pleasure in the Godly comprehension, "this is the true resurrection of the dead", that the human intellect begins to be moved by the Godly pleasure in spirituality.
The same idea also appears in a quote from a farbrengen that took place among chassidim, at the bar mitzvah of the Mitteler Rebbe. The chassidim sat and spoke, and there is a description in one of the sichos of the Rebbe Rayatz, that one of the chassidim said about the Alter Rebbe: "The Rebbe" - who was the Rebbe at the time, the father of the bar mitzvah boy - "is a reviver of the dead." And he explained it thus: A dead person is cold and apathetic, and when there is movement, excitement, and vitality - that the mind, which is naturally cold, understands, comprehends, and is excited by a Godly comprehension - this is literally the resurrection of the dead.
The Rebbe once explained in a sicha why we merited to have this saying specifically from the Rebbe Rashab, who stated it at such length. The Rebbe Rashab, who is called the "Rambam of the Torah of chassidus", brought the understanding and intellectual comprehension of simple human intellect in matters of Godliness in the broadest way in his maamarim. Consequently, he is the one who stated this teaching of the resurrection of the dead, for the Rebbe Rashab in his teachings brought about literal resurrection of the dead - he gave the human intellect the ability to be excited by Godly matters.
On another occasion, the Rebbe said that all those who follow in the paths and ways of our Rebbeim, our Nesiim, their avodah is to perform the resurrection of the dead. Everyone has the power to do this, in the words of our Sages, "the smallest among them revived the dead" - it was said about the Amoraim and Tannaim, that the smallest among them could revive the dead. So too, a chassid of the Rebbe can revive the dead: when you take a Jew and infuse him with vitality and pleasure in Godly intellect, you are literally performing the resurrection of the dead.
Continuing what we began - two days ago we saw that we return to the Rambam, and we are in Sefer Taharah. In the teaching of 9 Sivan, we discussed the title of Sefer Taharah, regarding the verse. And here - the very first laws of Sefer Taharah are the laws of the impurity of a corpse, and this is essentially the content of the entire teaching: how to rid oneself of the concept of the dead and the impurity it causes, and to effect the opposite - that there should be the resurrection of the dead. This is the content of the daily teaching.