Room two hundred and seven in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 19 Sivan 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Shlach, Shlishi, with the commentary of Rashi.
Tehillim, 19th of the month, from chapter 90 to and including chapter 96.
Tanya, today we conclude chapter 6 of Shaar Yichud Vehaemunah. The daily shiur begins with the words "V'lachen nitzrach", on page 81, until the end of the chapter with the word "Elokim".
The daily teaching is taken from a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on 6 Iyar 5699. Here he describes the study sessions that the Tzemach Tzedek had with his son, the Rebbe Maharash. The special study described here in the teaching lasted for a total of four years minus two months. As we will see shortly, it began in the month of Marchesvan 5613 and ended in the month of Elul 5616. And the study was not on the same subject for all four years; the teaching details exactly how it was - what the study schedule was, at what hours, and for how long.
Let us begin the teaching: "In the month of Marchesvan 5613 the Tzemach Tzedek established - aside from other shiurim - a study session with my master, my grandfather, my teacher and my rebbe [the Rebbe Maharash] every day for two and a half hours". That is, aside from the other shiurim that the Tzemach Tzedek had, he established with his son, the Rebbe Maharash - who is the grandfather of the Rebbe Rayatz, and therefore he calls him "my master, my grandfather, my teacher and my rebbe" - a daily shiur of two and a half hours.
At what hours was the study? "In the winter - beginning from the tenth hour of the night" - in the winter the shiur began at ten o'clock at night, and lasted two and a half hours until twelve thirty. "And in the summer from the fourth hour before dawn" - in the summer it was from four in the morning until six thirty.
What would they learn? "For two years the study was kabbalah with the explanations of chassidus" - during the first two years they learned together kabbalah with the explanations of chassidus. Afterward, from the remaining two years (out of the four years minus two months), the study continued until Elul 5616, when the shiur ceased.
What did they learn in the time after that? "After this time: seforim of chakirah", and he details: "The Rasag, Moreh Nevuchim, Ikkarim, Kuzari and others" - and all these seforim of chakirah they learned "according to the teachings of chassidus".
Let us review the seforim he mentions. "The Rasag" - Rabbi Saadia Gaon, who authored many seforim, and among them a sefer named Emunot V'Deot, which is divided into ten sections on the subjects of the principles of faith; this is a sefer of chakirah by the Rasag.
"Moreh Nevuchim" - a famous sefer written by the Rambam for his student, Rabbi Yosef ben Yehuda, and it includes proofs of the Creator's existence, explanations of pesukim and the like. "Ikkarim" - a sefer authored by Rabbi Yosef Albo, also on the subject of faith. "Kuzari" - a famous sefer written by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, which is divided into five parts and also describes the principles of the Jewish faith; and other seforim whose names he does not mention.
All of these the Tzemach Tzedek learned with him according to the teachings of chassidus. That is to say, even though the style of these seforim is a style of chakirah and philosophy and the like, he explained every point written in them according to the explanation of chassidus.
There is an interesting expression here: In one of the reshimos of the Rebbe that mentions this matter, he adds an interesting excerpt - that when the Tzemach Tzedek learned Moreh Nevuchim with the Rebbe Maharash according to chassidus, he expressed himself and said to his son: "Let us wash the Rambam". What is the meaning? In a superficial study of Moreh Nevuchim, as mentioned, it deals with philosophical understanding and matters of chakirah; but when one learns it according to chassidus, one discovers the pnimiyus - meaning, let us wash the external appearance of the sefer and reveal the inner depth within it.
In one of his sichos the Rebbe Rayatz brings this story elsewhere, and relates that the Rebbe Maharash said to the Rebbe Rashab, when he learned Moreh Nevuchim with him, that there is a tradition - rabbi from rabbi, from our Rabbeim, our leaders - that the Rambam was a great mekubal. However, at that time it was very dangerous to reveal matters of kabbalah, and therefore he did not reveal at all, even in a hint, that he was a mekubal, and everything was written in a philosophical and investigative style. But the Rabbeim, who learned Moreh Nevuchim, revealed and explained the inner kabbalistic explanations hidden in all these seforim.