The two hundred and twenty-first "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 3 Tammuz, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Chukas, Shlishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, day 3 of the month, from chapter 18 through chapter 22 inclusive.
Tanya: on this day one concludes chapter 9 in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah. The lesson begins on page 87 in the gloss, at the word "sod," until the conclusion of the chapter with the words "min hasechel."
The daily saying is taken from a letter written by the previous Rebbe on 4 Menachem Av 5696. The letter is addressed to one of the Jews, and within it the Rebbe mentions another letter he wrote — a very long Torah letter, whose content is a directive on the way to convey the fundamentals of Judaism to the "Jews of Ashkenaz," the Jews of Germany (who were in part assimilated Jews), to awaken them and teach them and show them the path to Judaism. This very long letter was translated into several languages and published in the press at that time, so that it would reach as many Jews as possible and awaken them.
In this letter the Rebbe mentions that same epistle, and tells about a certain doctor. During that period the Rebbe Rayatz was apparently staying in Vienna for medical reasons, and one of the doctors told him that he had read the letter — in a newspaper or by some other means — several times, and that the letter had given him a path in religious life. The doctor further told the Rebbe that there are many assimilated Jews in Paris whom the recent events aroused to return to Judaism.
It is not recorded which events are being referred to, but in 5696 the intention is apparently to the spread of the Nazi party, which caused many Jews to fear what was to come — as it indeed brought about the Holocaust and the Second World War that broke out afterward. These fears aroused in them a Jewish sigh and a broken heart. And the Rebbe Rayatz mentions in the letter the power of a "Jewish sigh" — even when a person sighs because of a physical hardship or a bodily problem, what value that sigh has in terms of the Jew's return to the Holy One, blessed be He — as is learned from what that doctor related, that this sigh aroused in many Jews their return in teshuvah.
This is the daily saying, which in its original was written in Yiddish, and in translation: "My master, my grandfather, my teacher and Rebbe said" — in writing "my master, my grandfather, my teacher and Rebbe," the Rebbe Rayatz refers to his grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash. "A Jewish sigh that comes on account of not having good materially" — when a Jew sighs because he does not have good in materiality; "is also a great teshuvah"; the very sigh arouses him to great teshuvah to the Holy One, blessed be He.
"Particularly a sigh over spiritual deficiency — this is certainly and most certainly a teshuvah mealyusa [=an exceptional teshuvah]" — it is certainly and most certainly an exceptional and lofty teshuvah. "The sigh uproots one from the depth of evil" — the sigh, in which is expressed that the matter concerns him, extricates him from the depth of evil; "and sets him in a good standing" — and places him in a different standing, a good standing. This is the power of a Jew's sigh.
On various occasions this saying was repeated — both by the Rebbe Rayatz and by the Rebbe himself at a certain farbrengen — but with an addition. Here it is not written in what context or on what date, and what exactly caused the Jewish sigh, but in several places where the saying is brought there appears an additional word: when a Jew sighs on Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is a day on which the inner dimension of the Jew's soul is more open and aroused, and therefore his sigh comes truly from the depths of the heart, and it has enormous value. If so, in a number of places the saying is linked specifically to Rosh Hashanah, even though here it is stated regarding the matter itself — that a Jew sighs, without connection to a particular situation.
It is worth noting the connection of the saying to the sequence of the "Yad HaChazakah" of the Rambam. In recent days we began the allusions in the Rambam to Sefer Nezikin, and today the saying is alluded to in Hilchos Gezeilah v'Aveidah. The connection is simple and clear: the saying speaks of a Jew who sighs because he has a lack, even in a physical matter; and generally, one from whom something was stolen or who lost something has a physical lack and sighs because of it. Here there is a reference to what happens when a person sighs even over a physical lack — what the great value in the matter is.