Room two hundred and ten in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 22 Sivan 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Shlach, Shishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 22nd of the month, we say two chapters - chapter 106 and chapter 107.
Tanya, we continue on this day chapter 7 in Shaar Yichud Vehaemunah. The daily shiur is on page 162 from the words "vehineh af al pi chen", and concludes on page 165 with the word "latachtonim".
The daily teaching brings several customs practiced during Shacharit prayer regarding the holding of the tzitzit and kissing them, and at what stage this is done. I will preface by saying that this subject is addressed in the Shulchan Aruch of Admur Hazaken, in Hilchot Tzitzit chapter 24 section 4, where Admur Hazaken writes: "It is a mitzvah to hold the tzitzit in one's left hand" - there is a mitzvah during the recitation of the Shema to hold the tzitzit in the left hand. Why? Opposite his heart, since in the left hand the tzitzit is opposite the heart; and he brings an allusion to this from what is stated, "And these words... shall be upon your heart", which is why it needs to be on the left side.
He adds in the Shulchan Aruch: "And there is one who says that he should hold them between the ring finger and pinky of the left hand" - when holding the tzitzit in the left hand, they are placed between the ring finger and the pinky. This is written in the Shulchan Aruch. Here in the teaching, the Rebbe adds details on exactly how to do this. Regarding this matter, there were different customs; by the Rebbe Rashab there was a different custom, and Sefer Haminhagim details how it was by the Rebbe Rashab, but here we act as the Rebbe brings in the teaching.
And so he says: In the Shulchan Aruch it is written that during the recitation of the Shema we hold the tzitzit, but it is not specified at what stage the tzitzit is taken into the hand - whether at the conclusion of "habocher be'amo Yisrael be'ahavah", taking the tzitzit before "Shema Yisrael", or at whatever time one happens to. To this he concludes and says: "For the recitation of 'vahavienu leshalom', etc." - in the second blessing of the Shema there is the phrase "vahavienu leshalom me'arba kanfot ha'aretz", and "arba kanfot ha'aretz" (the four corners of the earth) alludes to the four corners of the tzitzit. Therefore, when reaching the words "vahavienu leshalom", etc., "one first brings together the two front tzitzit" first gathering together the two tzitzit on the front part of the body, "afterwards adding the tzitzit of the back left corner the back left side "after this the tzitzit of the right corner" and thus one already has all four corners in hand, and as it is also written in the Shulchan Aruch, "and they are held between the ring finger and pinky of the left hand". And where are the four corners held together? Between the ring finger and pinky of the left hand. The tzitzit are placed there and held for the entire duration of the Shema, as written in the Shulchan Aruch that during the recitation of the Shema one must hold them.
Let us return to the Shulchan Aruch. There it is written that when reaching the third paragraph, the paragraph of tzitzit, one should take them in his right hand - the tzitzit are held in the left hand the whole time, and the strings extending downward he should take in his right hand and look at them before the paragraph of tzitzit, and they should be in his hand. They are held thus in the right hand until reaching the words "ne'emanim venechemadim la'ad" in the blessing of "Veyatziv venachon" following the Shema, and then "he should kiss the tzitzit and release them from his hand". It turns out that in the Shulchan Aruch it is written that there is one time that we kiss the tzitzit, and that is upon saying the words "ne'emanim venechemadim la'ad".
However, in practice the custom appears that we kiss the tzitzit, in addition to this time written in the Shulchan Aruch, several more times. In this matter there were several stages; we are here with the "final version", in the notes the Rebbe wrote about the customs in the Siddur. In this too there were several stages, and each time there were different variations - sometimes not all six times, and there were changes in this. We are now with what remained, in the final version.
And this is the wording: "We kiss the tzitzit six times" - the tzitzit held in the right hand must be kissed six times. When? "Namely, upon saying the words", and he details those six times: "tzitzit, tzitzit, letzitzit" - the three times "tzitzit" is mentioned in the third paragraph; afterwards "emet" - at the conclusion of "Hashem Elokeichem emet" we kiss at the word "emet"; and then twice in the next section, at the words "kayemet" and "la'ad", as written in the Shulchan Aruch at the words "ne'emanim venechemadim la'ad". These are the six times that we kiss.
And there is an addition appearing in Sefer Haminhagim, that every time before kissing we pass the tzitzit over the eyes and then kiss them. The Rebbe does not mention this here, and even in the Shulchan Aruch it is not mentioned, but the matter appears in Sefer Haminhagim.
Simply put, the connection between the teaching and this week is understood, since the Torah portion of the week is Parshat Shlach, and the entire paragraph of tzitzit appears at the end of Parshat Shlach; and therefore the connection is understood. And the connection by way of allusion to the books of Yad Hachazakah by the Rambam - after several days of not having a connection to the order in the books of the Rambam - we are currently up to Sefer Taharah according to the order, and the allusion today is to Hilchot Metamei Mishkav Umoshav. At the end of the final chapter, chapter 13, there is this halachah:
A Torah scholar who was dressed in a robe and wrapped in a tallit ["tallit" in halachah does not necessarily mean the same as the tallit we know, but this is the wording in halachah] and is walking on the way, and the Torah scholar says: "In my heart I guarded the robe", that an am ha'aretz who could defile it would not accidentally touch it - "I made sure the whole time that no one would touch the robe, but I diverted my attention from the tallit" - I did not think about the tallit as much, lest someone touch me from behind, or as I turn around in the marketplace. The halachah says that the robe is considered pure, and the tallit is considered retroactively impure, lest someone touched it.
We see from this halachah that if a person wants his tallit to remain pure, he must not divert his attention from it, but rather think about it all the time - and this is the content of the halachah. And here, the holding of the tallit and its kissing show the attention given to the tzitzit. This could be by way of allusion the connection between the teaching and the halachot in the Rambam, in Hilchot Metamei Mishkav Umoshav.