The twenty-eighth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 17 Teves 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Vayechi, shishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 17th of the month, from chapter 83 through chapter 87 inclusive.
Tanya, we are in the final part of chapter 17, from the word "ve'od" until the end of the chapter, "kemo shekasuv bemakom acher".
In the daily teaching the Rebbe refers to a certain custom which, in that year (5703), fell on this day, 17 Teves, but it is a custom that exists every year. Essentially it depends on the secular date: on the night between the twenty-fourth and the twenty-fifth of December each year. This night is called "Nittel night", and we will explain what it is and how it concerns us.
Let us first read the opening line: "The custom of not learning on Nittel" - the custom is not to learn Torah on Nittel night. First let us briefly explain what "Nittel" is. Here it is written "Nittel" with a tav, and in some places it is written "Nittel" with a tet, and both spellings have meaning. In one of his letters the Rebbe writes that if "Nittel" is with a tet, then it is from the word "nittal", taken away, an expression of lack and absence; or that in Latin "natal" means birth, and this is the birthday of that man, may his name and memory be blotted out. And if "Nittel" is with a tav, as here, then it is from the word "nitleh", hanged: on this day he was hanged.
In any case, on this day, which in most places is set, as mentioned, on the secular date between the twenty-fourth and the twenty-fifth of December, the custom is not to learn Torah at night. Until when - we will see at the end of the teaching.
What is the reason that one does not learn Torah, and what is the connection between the Christian holiday and this? The Rebbe brings in the name of the Rebbe Rayatz: "I heard from my father [the Rebbe Rashab, may his soul rest in Eden]" - the Rebbe Rayatz says what he heard from his father, the Rebbe Rashab - "the reason". In general, in the seforim - there is a sefer called "Taamei HaMinhagim" - many reasons are given for this matter.
[The Rebbe himself brings in Likkutei Sichos, in one place, a reason for the ruling not to learn: because there were places where on this night, the Christian holiday, they would beat Jews who were seen in the street, and it was a matter of danger to life to be out and about; therefore they decreed that people should not go to the beis midrash so that they would not be harmed - a matter of pikuach nefesh, not to run into them. This is one of the reasons the Rebbe brings].
There are additional reasons, and here the Rebbe explains an inner reason, according to sod, why one should not learn Torah: "the reason is so as not to add vitality". Learning Torah draws vitality into the world, and at times - as is known, when a person learns Torah not for its own sake - the divine vitality of the Torah passes over to the places of kelipah. As the Alter Rebbe writes in his Shulchan Aruch in Hilchos Talmud Torah, that regarding "a wicked person who learns Torah" it is said, "and to the wicked, G-d said: what have you to do with recounting My statutes"; a wicked person who learns Torah, if his intention is not proper, his learning goes over to the places of kelipah. So then, when the deficiency is in the intention, the learning goes to the wrong places.
And there is also a problem in the time itself: there are times when the power of kelipah grows strong, and then - whatever the intention may be - the Torah learned at that time is liable to go to the wrong places. Therefore one does not want to add vitality to that man and to those who follow his approach. This is also the reason that Jews living in Muslim countries, where there are no Christian holidays, are not at all familiar with this custom of not learning with which the teaching opens.
And when we say "not to learn" - the intention is not only to the revealed Torah, but not to learn anything at all, not even chassidus. For example, Rabbi Weinberg, a precious Jew who had regular radio shiurim on the sefer Tanya, once had his shiur fall out exactly on this date between the twenty-fourth and the twenty-fifth of December, and he asked the Rebbe whether to teach the Tanya shiur on this day. The Rebbe told him to use the radio shiur to tell chassidic stories, since stories have a stronger power and they do not spill over to the wrong places. In any case - one does not learn, not even chassidus.
It is interesting that in the Rebbe's diary notes it is related that once the moreh tzedek of Lubavitch came in to the Tzemach Tzedek exactly on Nittel night, on the night between the twenty-fourth and the twenty-fifth of December, and he saw that the Rebbe was sitting and learning. The rav was shocked, and said naturally: "Rebbe, Nittel". The Tzemach Tzedek answered him: "Who asked you to say so?" - but he closed the sefer and stopped learning. It may be that a Rebbe's learning has a different significance, but this is the story.
It is interesting to note that the Rebbe spoke about Nittel in 5749, and this appears in Sefer HaSichos 5749, where there is a lengthy discussion of this topic of not learning on Nittel. The Rebbe says: the Rebbe Rashab, who is the one mentioned here and who explained "so as not to add vitality" - what would he do on Nittel night? He would play chess, or stand next to the game and direct it. And with this he wanted to convey a message, as the Rebbe says in the sichah, that this time in which one does not learn should not be spent idly, but rather used for something that will bring benefit.
The Rebbe says that there is benefit in playing chess, since there is wisdom in it, and when it is done for the sake of Heaven it is fine, as at this time when learning is forbidden. And its benefit is in several directions, says the Rebbe: first, it sharpens the mind, and consequently when one afterwards comes to learn Torah he will learn better, because he will have better comprehension. Second, there is a kiddush Hashem in it, that the gentiles see the wisdom of the Jews and their success in something that is, perhaps, harder for them. And third, there are those for whom this is their livelihood, and a person is permitted to work for his livelihood for the sake of Heaven.
In that same sichah the Rebbe relates that there was once a yeshiva student who went around with a jacket without buttons, and when they asked him why he did not fix his buttons, he answered: if he fixes the buttons now, what will he do on Nittel night? Therefore he waits until Nittel night arrives, and then he will fix his buttons.
The Rebbe further says that one can use the time to gaze at the image of the Rebbe - there are photographs and portraits of our Rebbeim, and one can gaze at them at this time. There are many ways of what to do, but Torah - it was said not to learn.
The conclusion of the teaching: "My father [the Rebbe Rashab, may his soul rest in Eden] once said to me" - the Rebbe Rashab once said, and the teaching is written in Yiddish: "Those diligent students, for whom these 'eight hours' touch them in their very soul" - those students who are diligent in learning Torah, for whom the eight hours in which one does not learn touch them in their very soul. The expression "eight hours" is a bit difficult to understand, since there are not eight hours here - after all, the teaching concludes, as we will see, at midnight, and when then does it begin? It is hard to fit exactly eight hours into it.
Therefore some wanted to explain an interesting point: according to the Rebbe Rashab's directive that one learn every day four hours of chassidus and eight hours of nigleh, it turns out that the time of Nittel in which one does not learn takes away from the eight hours of nigleh. And there are diligent students to whom this matters, who must complete the quota of eight hours within that same day, because they do not want to lose the hours that went to waste.
The Rebbe Rashab says about those diligent students, for whom completing the eight hours touches them in their very soul: "I do not care for this". Why? Because if the student learns because he is seeking the intellect in the matter, then he must complete the quota - but this is not the right direction. And if he learns because he wants to receive the holiness of the Torah, then when he knows that at this time the holiness of Your Torah is liable, G-d forbid, to go to the wrong places, he ought to be pleased that he is not learning. The eagerness to make up the hours shows somewhat that the student is not seeking the divine content in the learning, but rather the intellectual wisdom in it.
The Rebbe concludes - and some say that the conclusion is addressed to those diligent students: "and it is only until midnight" - at midnight the matter ends, and afterwards one may learn. It may be that he is telling those students: if you really want to complete the eight hours, go to sleep now and get up after midnight, and then there is nothing preventing you from learning.
In any case, this is the point one must know: the learning of Torah must be within holiness and purity, but one must know that there are times when the learning is not appropriate. As the Rebbe brings in one of his letters: someone once asked how it is possible to say about learning Torah that it is not desirable - is not the Torah a holy thing, and how can one say that it is undesirable? The Rebbe brings several examples: a person on Tisha B'Av, who is told that there are large portions of the Torah that he is forbidden to learn now, because he is limited to learning only in those matters permitted on Tisha B'Av; and likewise a person in the seven days of mourning, who is also limited in his learning of Torah.
So then, there are situations in which the Torah says that at this time you cannot learn. The difference is that there one does not learn most parts of the Torah, and there are parts that are permitted; whereas here we say that during these hours one cannot learn anything at all. This is the fulfillment of the Torah in this way, and this is the conclusion of the daily teaching of 17 Teves.