The twelfth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 1 Teves, Rosh Chodesh, sixth day of Chanukah, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Mikeitz, Revi'i, with the commentary of Rashi.
Tehillim, since this is Rosh Chodesh, we begin from the very start, from chapter 1 through and including chapter 9.
Tanya, we are in the middle of chapter 4, from the words "v'hinei shelosha" until "levushim eilu".
In the following passage the Rebbe notes customs, and indicates that they were taken from his reshimos, the notes that the Rebbe wrote in his diary. In this passage there are three matters connected to Hallel on Rosh Chodesh. The first of them deals with the situation of saying half Hallel, a Hallel that is not complete.
On that very Rosh Chodesh, 1 Teves 5703, it was Chanukah, and on Chanukah one says the complete Hallel in any case. But since this was the first Rosh Chodesh in the Hayom Yom calendar, the Rebbe notes the customs of Rosh Chodesh in general, and not specifically regarding that Rosh Chodesh that fell on 1 Teves 5703.
What is the first custom that the Rebbe relates to on Rosh Chodesh? The Rebbe writes: "It is our custom that an individual recites the blessings of Hallel at the beginning and at the end even on days when the complete Hallel is not said". Let me explain the matter: in the recitation of Hallel, generally speaking, there are two situations. There is the recitation of the complete Hallel, on the first day of Pesach (and outside of Eretz Yisrael the first two days), on Shavuos (and outside of Eretz Yisrael two days), throughout all of Sukkos, and on Chanukah; whereas on Chol HaMoed Pesach (until its end) and on Rosh Chodesh we say half Hallel.
Besides the two modes of reciting Hallel itself, there are two further modes: is the Hallel said with a minyan, or by an individual? When one says the complete Hallel, one always recites the blessing. Both when one says the complete Hallel alone, where certainly he makes the blessing, since there is no one to fulfill the obligation on your behalf. And also when one davens with a minyan and says the complete Hallel and must make the blessing, one does not fulfill the obligation with the blessing of the chazzan, but rather each one makes the blessing himself.
What is the reason for this? The Alter Rebbe brings in the laws of Yom Kippur, that on the night of Yom Kippur one says "Shehecheyanu" as on every festival, and the chazzan says "Shehecheyanu" slowly, and the entire congregation says the blessing of "Shehecheyanu" quietly, as is indicated in all the machzorim. The Alter Rebbe brings a complete halachah and explains that by strict law it would have been proper for the entire congregation to fulfill its obligation with the blessing of the chazzan, and not that each one make the blessing himself, because of the principle "b'rov am hadras melech" (in a multitude of people is the King's glory); that the chazzan should recite the blessing of "Shehecheyanu" before a multitude, and everyone would listen and fulfill their obligation.
And why in practice does each one make the blessing himself? Because for the most part the chazzan does not have in mind to fulfill everyone's obligation; and in order not to enter into a situation in which it is possible that the chazzan did not intend at all to fulfill your obligation, therefore each one should make the blessing quietly for himself. So rules the Alter Rebbe, and at the conclusion of the halachah he says: "and so is the law regarding the blessing of Hallel". That is, also with the blessing of Hallel, when one davens with a minyan and says the complete Hallel and must make the blessing, even though by strict law it would have been fitting to fulfill the obligation through the chazzan, on account of "b'rov am hadras melech", since it is not necessarily so that the chazzan will have you in mind, you should make the blessing yourself. And this is said regarding the complete Hallel.
And what happens when half Hallel is said with a minyan? When one looks in the Alter Rebbe's siddur, there are a few lines before Hallel that the Alter Rebbe wrote, in which it says explicitly: "On days when the complete Hallel is not said and one davens with a minyan, one should conduct oneself so that the chazzan alone recites the blessing at the beginning and at the end, and the congregation answers amen and fulfills its obligation with his blessing". The Alter Rebbe is speaking of a situation where there is a minyan and the Hallel is not complete, and since in that case there is a doubt in halachah whether one makes the blessing or not, since it is not the complete Hallel, therefore in such a case one should conduct oneself so that the chazzan makes the blessing and the congregation fulfills its obligation with his blessing.
But what happens when one davens alone with half Hallel? On this there is no explicit reference. And regarding this the Rebbe says here, that an individual who davens alone says half Hallel and makes the blessing at the beginning and at the end. That also on days of half Hallel, when one davens alone, one should recite the first and the last blessing. This is the first custom.
It is worth adding something interesting in practice: it is told of the Rebbe Rashab, that even when he davened with a minyan and it was half Hallel, he would make the blessing to himself quietly, in an undertone; and the Rebbe Rayatz said with the expression "in our family it is different", and without publicizing it, that one should not make a public matter of it, meaning, he would always make the blessing to himself. And the Rebbe, on Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av 5741 which fell on Shabbos, at the conclusion of the farbrengen, said that the custom among chassidim is to seize the opportunity and make the blessing quietly, even when davening with a minyan and with half Hallel.
In conclusion, there is a discussion about this, which I will not enter into now, at exactly which stage one should make the blessing: whether to make the blessing along with the chazzan slowly, in which case there is no need to answer amen, or to wait until the chazzan finishes and then make the blessing. But the conclusion that emerges from all this is that always, no matter what situation you are in, whether with a minyan or alone, whether with the complete Hallel or half Hallel, you always make the blessing at the beginning and at the end. This is the first custom that the Rebbe relates to.
The second custom relates to the conclusion of Hallel. Regarding the blessing at its end the Rebbe says: "The text that is said is Yehalelucha Hashem Elokeinu kol maasecha, omitting the word "al"", in this siddur it appears with the word "al" in parentheses. There are two ways of saying it that change the meaning entirely: whether one says "Yehalelucha Hashem Elokeinu al kol maasecha", without parentheses, or one says "Yehalelucha Hashem Elokeinu kol maasecha", omitting the word "al".
Why? Because the question is who is praising: are we praising the Holy One Blessed be He for the works that He created, or are the works that You created the ones who praise You? This is a change of meaning. The Alter Rebbe in his siddur placed the word "al" in parentheses, meaning that it should not be said, but rather one should say "Yehalelucha Hashem Elokeinu kol maasecha", and this is the wording of the verse "Yoducha Hashem kol maasecha", according to which too the works themselves thank the Holy One Blessed be He. And the Rebbe entered here in Hayom Yom that indeed this is how it should be said, without the word "al".
And it is interesting that there is a letter of the Rebbe in Igros Kodesh, in which the chief rabbi of Bnei Brak, Rav Yaakov Landa, wrote to the Rebbe after he published the Hayom Yom, and remarked that he remembers hearing from the Rebbe Rashab, at the time that he davened and said Hallel, that he did say the word "al", as a sort of comment to the Rebbe on the matter. The Rebbe answers him that all the practices that he entered into the Hayom Yom are according to the instruction of the Rebbe Rayatz, and before the printing everything was before the eyes of the Rebbe Rayatz; and therefore several things that were not an instruction for the many he directed to be omitted, and what he left in, it is understood that he wanted it to remain. And accordingly, this is why the Rebbe entered this matter, and this is why it remains here.
The Rebbe adds one more word to him, from which it is understood that his memory is not necessarily precise: when a person knows that he must weigh how it is said, and directs himself to listen, there is room to say that he remembers exactly; but when he does not yet know at all that there are differences in customs, and remembers that this is what he heard, it is possible that the memory becomes mixed up with habit. But it is clear that the Rebbe Rayatz wanted it to be this way here.
The third custom that the Rebbe brings in Hayom Yom: "All the tefillin are put on before Musaf". This is something that is ruled in Shulchan Aruch: since in Musaf we say "Keser", and not "Nakdishach" as in the regular prayer, it is written in Shulchan Aruch that it is not proper that at the time we say "Keser" the "keser" of the tefillin should be upon us, and therefore we remove the tefillin before Musaf.
Apparently the Rebbe means that those who put on more than one pair of tefillin, whether one who puts on Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, or as is noted in the Hayom Yom of 19 Menachem Av that there are those who put on four pairs of tefillin, "all the tefillin are put on before Musaf"; meaning, by the time you reach Musaf you have already put on all the tefillin, and Musaf is davened without tefillin.
The Rebbe concludes and says: "But the shiurim are learned after the conclusion of the entire prayer". What are "the shiurim"? There, in the Hayom Yom of 19 Menachem Av, when the Rebbe speaks about the four pairs of tefillin that are put on, he notes that with each of the four pairs there are shiurim that are learned, the daily Tehillim shiur or the daily Chumash shiur and the like. And the Rebbe says that in the case of Rosh Chodesh, when one puts on all four pairs, the shiurim are learned after davening, and there is no need to learn all the shiurim before Musaf. The main point: when you reach the Musaf prayer you should already be past all the putting on of tefillin. This is the conclusion of the daily cheder and of the matter.