The two hundred and thirty-eighth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 20 Tammuz 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Pinchas, Shishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 20th of the month, from Chapter 97 through Chapter 103 inclusive.
Tanya, we continue with chapter 4 of Iggeret HaTeshuvah. The daily lesson is on page 94, from the words "kacha mamash" until the word "ha'otiyot".
The source of the daily saying is a letter that the Rebbe Rayatz wrote to Rabbi Chadakov, in the winter of 5696. In the letter itself the subject is explained at great length, and here the Rebbe briefly summarizes the essential point of the matter. There is another letter of the previous Rebbe, from 6 Adar 5704 — which was released only after the "Hayom Yom" — in which that same subject is detailed and explained well.
The topic discussed here, as stated in the title, is "there are three kinds of hisbonenus". In a person's contemplation of a matter he is studying there are three types, which depend on the occasion and context — after what he contemplates, and toward what, and what the purpose is. The three kinds of hisbonenus are like a ladder that advances step by step. We will go through the stages and explain them.
The first stage — "1. Study-based contemplation". What is study-based contemplation? "After one understands the matter thoroughly, he contemplates the depth of that matter until the intellectual concept shines forth for him". There is a contemplation during study — which is not what is intended here — in which the person is focused on understanding the particulars of the subject being studied. But here the discussion is after the study: after the person has studied a matter and understood all its particulars, and now, after he has finished it all, he is like a person who looks at a picture from afar in order to see it in its entirety — a contemplation meant to grasp the intellectual meaning of the whole picture together. This is called "study-based contemplation": after understanding the particulars, you contemplate until the intellectual idea of the matter shines forth for you. This is the first stage among the rungs of the ladder.
There is an expression once said by the Rebbe Rashab, that it is better for a person to contemplate a single subject forty-two times than to think about forty-two subjects one after another. When one studies forty-two subjects one after another, in the end it may be that you have not connected to anything at all; but if you contemplate a single matter forty-two times, it becomes part of you and influences you. So too here: after you have studied all the details, you contemplate in order to internalize the depth of the matter in its entirety. This is the first stage.
"2" — what is the next stage? The hisbonenus that is "before prayer," which is already of a different kind. The person has already studied and understood the matter, and now, when he prepares himself for prayer, there is an additional kind of hisbonenus in that very same matter. What is the hisbonenus that precedes prayer? "Its content is the feeling of the vitality of the matter that was studied, and not the intellectual perception as in the study-hisbonenus." In this hisbonenus that precedes prayer, the aim is to create within the person an emotional connection to the thing he studied. The person contemplates that very same subject he studied a full hour beforehand, but now he tries to feel it. The wording of the letters is — "to contemplate the overall pleasantness and sweetness in that topic"; that is, not comprehension alone, but rather, after the person has understood the matter, he connects to it in an emotional way. This is what the Rebbe Rayatz here calls "the feeling of the vitality of the matter." This is the second hisbonenus, that which precedes prayer.
After these two stages — the contemplation that follows the study and the contemplation that precedes the prayer — one arrives at the third stage. "3 — the one during prayer". This is contemplation at the very time of prayer, when a person praying pauses in the midst of his prayer and thinks about the matters he learned in the morning or yesterday. What kind of contemplation is this now? He already understood the intellectual concept well at the conclusion of his study, and the emotional connection to the idea — how wondrous the thing is — he already made before the prayer. If so, what is the contemplation that takes place during the prayer? "Its aspect is the feeling of the Godliness in the matter that he learned"; here the goal is to arouse the emotions that are required by the subject you learned.
For example, if a person has studied the concept that all the worlds are nullified to the Holy One, blessed be He: in the first stage he understands the idea through the examples and analogies that explain it; in the second stage he connects to it emotionally, yet it has not yet become part of him to the extent that it obligates his life; and in the third stage he must contemplate in such a way that a feeling of self-nullification to the Holy One, blessed be He, is aroused within his soul. This is the "sense of Godliness within the matter" — not merely a beautiful idea that the person has learned, and not merely an excitement over the pleasantness of the idea, but rather: "Where does this matter speak to me in my life?".
Or, for example, if a person contemplates how the Holy One, blessed be He, bestows abundant flow upon the world and grants great kindness: in the first stage he comprehends all the influences that the Holy One, blessed be He, gives; in the second stage, he becomes moved by the great thing He does; and in the third stage, during prayer, one must contemplate how much you ought to love the Holy One, blessed be He — since He bestows so much upon us, this has the power to arouse the emotions that are demanded by the subject in his life. For the person feels the Godliness within the matter, and then the matter changes his life and his emotions in an actual way.
After stating the three stages, the Rebbe Rayatz summarizes and writes: "These three are the rungs of the ladder of feeling". That is to say, a person cannot reach the third stage — to feel how much the divine matter obligates him — if he has not simply passed through the first stage, to understand the subject well, and the second stage, to connect to it emotionally, and only then to contemplate "what does this thing say to me in life". One cannot skip stages; usually the matter progresses in a graduated manner.
"and only through the kindness of Hashem yisborach with us" — only because the Holy One, blessed be He, loves us and does kindnesses with us — "we sometimes feel — "dehert men" [in Yiddish: an inner feeling]" at times we feel "Gettlichkeit" — Godliness — without any avodah at all. Sometimes it may happen that a person suddenly awakens and feels "how much I love the Holy One, blessed be He, how much I feel alive, how much I am naught and nothing." Such an arousal, without the preparation of all the preceding stages, comes only through the kindness of Hashem, that at times such a matter is illuminated for a person. And how is it possible that such a matter should be illuminated? "and this is because of the essential quality present in the neshamah" — since a Jew has a neshamah elokis that is bound up with the very Essence of the Holy One, blessed be He, it is possible that a Godly feeling should suddenly awaken in him without preparation. But this occurs only through the kindness of Hashem at times, and it is not the usual order.
"But from the perspective of the avodah that is done through one's own power, the aforementioned three are necessary" — when a person wishes to reach this goal through his own efforts — the aforementioned three stages are necessary. One cannot skip stages: if a person does not properly understand the topic and does not properly feel the vitality within the matter, there is no chance that he will feel just how much the matter speaks to him and obligates him. These are the three stages that must be present in a healthy and correct manner.
The allusion in the Rambam's Sefer Yad HaChazakah. We have now reached the conclusion of Sefer Mishpatim, in the final halachos of Hilchos Nechalos, in the very last halachah. It is possible, by way of allusion, to connect this to the content of the pisgam. At the conclusion of Hilchos Nechalos, the discussion is about a person who passed away and left behind young orphaned children who are unable to deal with the inheritance they received. There is a concept called an "apotropos" (guardian), whereby the beis din appoints a person as an apotropos, and he cares for them until they grow up, performing various actions in order to maintain the property and the like.
The halachah states that we trust the guardian and believe him, and he is not obligated to give an accounting of every single coin exactly — what he spent and where it went; he will only need, at a certain point when the orphans grow up, to take a general oath that he did everything for their sake, but he is not required to keep detailed accounts. However, the Rambam concludes the halachos and says: even though he need not give an accounting to human beings, he must reckon between himself and the Holy One, blessed be He; there is a Creator of the world, and He is the Father of orphans, and before Him you must give an accounting.
This is connected to what we said: a person can manage his affairs in a logical and intellectual manner, and everything is good and excellent; but to feel the G-dliness within the matter means to feel that there is a Master of the house. Even though, according to the ordinary order, the person did everything properly and in an orderly fashion, as long as he has not connected to the G-dly dimension within the matter — the thing is not complete. By way of allusion, one can connect the halachah here to the content of the daily saying.