Room two hundred and forty-four in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 26 Tammuz 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Mattos-Massei [combined parshiyos], fifth aliyah, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 26th of the month, one says the second half of chapter 119 — from the letter mem, which begins with the word "mah," until the end of the chapter with the words "lo shachachti."
Tanya, on this day we study chapter 7 in Iggeret HaTeshuvah; the lesson begins on page 94 with the word "vehaynu," and concludes with the words "biteshuvah kanoda."
The daily saying is taken from a Chassidic discourse — the dibbur-hamaschil "Rava chazyei l'Rav Hamnuna" — which the Rebbe Rayatz delivered on the night of 12 Adar 5690, during his first visit to the United States. The maamar was printed in the sefer hamaamarim "Kuntreisim," in Yiddish.
Generally, although the maamarim were delivered in Yiddish, they were written and printed in Lashon HaKodesh. But there are maamarim that the Rebbe wanted to be understood, at the time of their study, even by one whose only language is Yiddish, and therefore they were written in Yiddish — and this is one of them.
In the maamar, the Rebbe elaborates on the difference between prayer and Torah. Regarding prayer it is said that it is "chayei sha'ah" (temporal life), whereas in contrast Torah is called "chayei olam" (eternal life), and the Rebbe explains an inner meaning in this. What is "chayei sha'ah"? "Sha'ah" is not only in the sense of time, but also in the sense of turning toward — as in the wording of the verse "lo sha'ah" (He did not turn) concerning Kayin and Hevel in the matter of the offerings. "Sha'ah" means turning toward.
Why, then, is prayer called "chayei sha'ah" (the life of the hour)? Because prayer brings the one who prays to turn toward the Holy One, blessed be He, and to devote himself inwardly and spiritually to that which is above his own reality. This is the essence of prayer. Torah, by contrast, is the opposite movement: in it a person seeks to draw inward — to understand and to learn. He remains with himself, with his own reality, and seeks to comprehend that which he studies.
Following this introduction comes the quotation which is the daily saying. The source, as mentioned, is in Yiddish: "In study — a person's devotion is to the matter he wishes to understand and does understand; in prayer — the devotion is to that which is above intellect and comprehension". In prayer there is nullification to a G-dly matter, unlike in Torah, in which a person seeks to understand precisely that which he is learning.
The following brings an additional distinction between Torah and prayer: "In the study of Torah, a person feels like a student before his teacher; in prayer - like a son by his father." These are two different things.
Later in the letter, the Rebbe Rayatz continues to explain the virtue of prayer. For example, it is stated there that one who prays becomes alive — as if an actual spirit of life were infused into him. Prayer strengthens a person's hope, and he feels stronger afterward; from within it he resolves firmly that from now on he will change in all matters of his negative traits — he will abandon them and begin to engage in good traits. It emerges that prayer elevates a person to an entirely different level — a special virtue that has no equal in Torah.