The two hundred thirty-first "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 13 Tammuz, the Festival of Redemption, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Balak, Shishi with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, from chapter 69 through chapter 71 inclusive.
Teachings: On this day one studies the entire chapter 2 of Iggeret HaTeshuvah, from its beginning with the words "Ach kol" until the conclusion of the chapter with the words "yom ratzon".
As we have already seen in the previous day's saying as well, there too the same wording is written as here: "Tachanun is not recited." These two days, 12 and 13 Tammuz, are both days of the festival of redemption. The day of 12 Tammuz, as we saw in the saying, is the day on which the Rebbe [the Rayatz] received the news of the redemption; whereas here, as we shall learn shortly, what occurred on 13 Tammuz.
What happened on the day of 13 Tammuz? Regarding this it says: "the day on which his honorable holiness the Rebbe shlita went out to freedom" — the previous Rebbe actually went out from the exile in which he had been in the city of Kostroma, as is detailed immediately in what follows.
Here comes a quote whose source is in the diary that the Rebbe Rayatz wrote about the entire period of the imprisonment, in which he himself summarizes the general span of time that he was imprisoned. The Rebbe cites two passages from it: "The imprisonment began a quarter after the third hour" — the imprisonment began at a quarter past two in the early morning, which is a quarter of an hour into the third hour; "the night before Wednesday, the fifteenth of Sivan 5687" — on that night, as he describes, they came to him at his home and took him to prison.
Afterward, "he remained in exile." Here there is no detailing that on the 3rd of Tammuz he was released from prison and sent into exile; rather, the summary of the second stage is already presented, when they sent him into exile. How long did he stay there? "He remained in exile in the city of Kostroma until half an hour after noon, Wednesday, the thirteenth of Tammuz 5687."
[In the diary in which the Rebbe Rayatz summarizes these dates, he even specifies exactly how long he was in prison and how long in exile: in prison he was eighteen days, eleven hours and fifteen minutes, and in exile he was nine days and seventeen hours — a truly meticulous summary.
The allusion in this is very interesting. When the Rebbe addresses this in his reshimah, printed in the Hosafos to Likkutei Sichos vol. 13 (p. 242), he makes a calculation: if we sum up all the time he was in prison and in exile, all the days together, and add one more day — for although he actually left their jurisdiction on Wednesday, meaning he was freed, in practice he did not leave the city of Kostroma until the next day, Thursday — then in total, all the time together, was twenty-nine days, four hours, and fifteen minutes. That is: twenty-nine full days and part of the thirtieth day.
And what is the hint in this? It corresponds to the thirty years of the nesius of the Rebbe Rayatz. The Rebbe Rayatz received the nesius upon the passing of his father, the Rebbe Rashab, on 2 Nissan 5680, and his own passing was on 10 Shevat 5710 — thirty years, slightly less, nearly two months less. The Rebbe makes a reckoning that corresponding to each year of the Rebbe Rayatz's nesius there was one day in prison. And although it seems that a little is lacking to complete the number exactly, the Rebbe says that if we add one more day — from the sixth imprisonment [an earlier imprisonment that had occurred], which was also after the passing of the Rebbe Rashab and was already included within part of his nesius — then, if we take all the time of imprisonment together, both in the sixth and in the seventh, it comes out exactly "a day for a year." This is the hint that the Rebbe brings].
Let us continue reading the saying: "From a letter of his honor, holiness, our Rebbe shlita for the festival of redemption". Here a quotation is brought from a letter that the Rebbe Rayatz wrote five years after the redemption, in the month of Sivan 5692. The letter is addressed "to anshei shlomeinu in every place and place" — a general letter to all the chassidim — and the Rebbe quotes from it two or three passages. "I am sending a maamar" — he sent the chassidim a maamar. In the quotation it is not specified which maamar is being discussed, but in the original letter it is written that it was the maamar with the dibbur-hamaschil "Veha'er eineinu beTorasecha" (Enlighten our eyes in Your Torah).
And what is the significance of participating in the maamar? "My participation with our dear friends, the anash, may they live, in all your places of dwelling, for success" — by sending a maamar to the chassidim, he participates with them; "and to be with you, among you, in your farbrengens, in the matter of strengthening the ways of Chassidus, in establishing and safeguarding the set times for studying the words of the living G-d, and to be aroused in fulfilling the matters of study".
The letter was written in the month of Sivan, as a preparation toward the 12th of Tammuz of that year. For on the 12th of Tammuz the chassidim sit and farbreng, and therefore the Rebbe sends them in advance a maamar of Chassidus — which is a participation together with them — in order to bring also the content of the farbrengens that ought to take place on such a day. And what is this meant to accomplish? A strengthening of the study of Chassidus. And thus, by sending the maamar of Chassidus, the Rebbe truly participates with them in the farbrengen.
There is an additional passage there which the Rebbe does not quote here, in which the Rebbe Rayatz asks the chassidim to pay attention and to devote themselves to strengthening the yeshivos under his leadership. He turns to them with an affectionate appeal — to endeavor in the study of Chassidus and to sustain the yeshivos — and says that whoever fulfills his request, he will mention for a blessing in material and spiritual matters. This is the passage that the Rebbe does not quote here.
And then comes the conclusion of the letter: "May our God and the God of our fathers bless the entire body of Anash, they, their households, their offspring and their offspring's offspring among the whole of our brethren the Children of Israel, may the Name be upon them, that they live in all manner of good, from soul to flesh" — he blesses them with all good, from soul to flesh, meaning both in physical matters and in spiritual matters.
We see here that the Rebbe magnifies and connects his redemption to the entire Jewish people, for this was essentially a general redemption, as he states elsewhere: "Not me alone did the Holy One, blessed be He, redeem, but the entire nation of Israel."
It is interesting that in one of the sichos (Shabbos Parshas Pinchas 5749, Toras Menachem 5749 vol. 4 p. 56), the Rebbe explained by way of remez — through the fact that the tidings were received on the 12th of the month and the actual redemption was on the 13th of the month — that the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged this in a manner that would hint to the connection with the entire Jewish people: 12 corresponds to the 12 tribes of the Jewish people, and the number indicates that this is something that encompasses the entire Jewish people. And it is written that in the future redemption a portion of the Jewish people will be added also to the tribe of Levi, which is the 13th. Therefore the 13th day, which indicates the actual redemption, hints also to the future redemption, which is likewise, of course, a general matter for the entire Jewish people as a whole.