The twenty-ninth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Shabbos, 18 Teves 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash — this is the last day of Chumash Bereishis and the last day of Parshas Vayechi — Vayechi, shevi'i, with the commentary of Rashi.
Tehillim, on the 18th of the month, one recites two chapters — chapter 88 and chapter 89.
Tanya: on this day one begins chapter 11, from the words "vezeh le'umas," until the word "sharya."
In opening the daily teaching, the Rebbe first brings two practices that contain a novel point, and only afterward comes the daily saying itself. The first statement: "The one called up to the Torah also says 'chazak chazak venitchazek'." When one completes a book of the Torah, there is a custom that the baal korei turns to the one called up and says "chazak chazak venitchazek," and the entire congregation repeats after him. The question is what the law is for the person who himself was called up to the Torah — who recited the first blessing before the aliyah and must now recite the final blessing at the conclusion of the aliyah — does he too say the words "chazak chazak venitchazek"?
What is the problem here? The question is whether this constitutes an interruption between the conclusion of the words of the reading that he recited and the blessing he is about to say. The congregation says and strengthens him with "Chazak chazak venitchazek," but is he too permitted to say it or not?
There are halachic opinions that state explicitly — such as, for example, Rabbi Chaim Naeh in his work "Ketzot HaShulchan" and others — that the one who is called up to the Torah should not himself say this. Why? Because it constitutes an interruption (hefsek), and furthermore, it is not fitting that he should bless himself; the congregation blesses him and says to him "chazak chazak venitchazek," but what sense is there in his saying this to himself, and the matter is unrelated to him. Therefore he should not say it, since it constitutes an interruption. So rules Rabbi Chaim Naeh, along with other poskim.
However, the Rebbe brings here the custom that the one called up to the Torah should likewise say "chazak chazak venitchazek," and in several places the Rebbe explains at length why the person called up may indeed make this declaration. Seemingly, those who argue that this constitutes a kind of interruption are correct, but the Rebbe brings that one should not say that it is an interruption — since the declaration pertains to the conclusion of the reading, for at the conclusion of the reading we strengthen him for having completed the book; and there is a halachah that words connected to the matter do not constitute an interruption.
The Rebbe brings an example from the Shulchan Aruch regarding the blessings over enjoyments: a person who has washed his hands and recited "Hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz" is forbidden to interrupt with speech before he has tasted from the bread; yet if he wishes to say something connected to the meal — for example, "Bring the salt," or moreover, "Give food to the animal" (and as is known, the animal must eat before the person, as stated in the verse) — then even if he says this, it is not considered an interruption. It emerges that a statement connected to the matter does not constitute an interruption; and so too in our case, this statement does not constitute an interruption.
The Rebbe adds a further point of precision: were this blessing intended solely for the one called up to the Torah, one would have to say "chazak chazak ve'titchazek"; but since we say "chazak chazak ve'nitchazek," this implies that the one called up is directing it also toward the congregation and blessing them as well. Therefore there is no problem with his saying this wording just like the rest of the congregation. This relates to the first custom.
Following this, there is a note regarding an additional custom. Since we are in the Shabbos study, there are places where the practice is to recite the psalm "Vihi Noam" after concluding the Maariv prayer on Shabbos. The Rebbe brings here that when reciting "Vihi Noam" at the conclusion of Shabbos Kodesh — "Vihi Noam veyoshev beseter" — one completes it until the end, and upon reaching the final verse "Orech yamim etc." it is repeated: "Orech yamim asbi'ehu ve'ar'ehu bishu'asi," the last verse being said twice at the conclusion of Shabbos.
Why do we say this twice? This is written in the Shulchan Aruch, in siman 295. The Alter Rebbe explains: Why do we recite this psalm? "Because it is a psalm of blessing, in which Moshe blessed Israel at the time they completed the work of the Mishkan" — there is a special blessing here, and at the beginning of a new week we open with a blessing. It is further written in the Shulchan Aruch: "And it is customary to repeat the verse 'orech yamim'." What is the reason? The Alter Rebbe says that through this "the Name that emerges from it is completed"; there is here a Name that is made complete by the repetition of the verse, and the Alter Rebbe leaves it unexplained, not clarifying what the intent is.
However, one who examines the Magen Avraham — and this is likewise cited in the Machatzis HaShekel — finds an explanation of which Name is being referred to, and it explains two things. The first: in the word "bishuati" there are two yudin, since "yeshuati" begins with a yud and ends with a yud; and when the verse is repeated, it turns out that there are four yudin, which allude to the Name of Hashem in the filling of yudin — for there are several ways of filling out the Name of Hashem, and one of them is the filling of yudin. This is one allusion.
The second allusion is to the same matter — the Name of Hashem in its yud-filled spelling — but it is arrived at in a different way, not on account of the doubling of the word "bishu'ati": if we count the number of words in the entire mizmor, from "veyoshev beseter" until the end, including the repetition of the final verse "orech yamim," we reach one hundred and thirty words. And one hundred and thirty words are themselves the gematria of the Name of Hashem in its yud-filled spelling, in the manner in which one counts all the letters in a particular way.
Let us bring an example from just the first letter, and from it the rest will be understood. The first letter of Hashem's Name in its spelled-out form consists of three letters: yud-vav-dalet, which totals a gematria of 46. How so? One counts the first letter alone — yud (10); the first and second letters — yud-vav (16); and all three letters together — yud-vav-dalet (20); the sum total is 10 plus 16 plus 20, yielding 46. And so we add for the heh, vav, and final heh, and together we reach 130. Thus we find that the number 130 is the gematria of the progressive summation of Hashem's Name spelled out with yuds. This is the intent of the Alter Rebbe in his brief statement that through this the Name is completed — so that even one who is not familiar with the entire kabbalistic order will know that the Name is completed.
And if there is such a great advantage here in completing the Name of Hashem, seemingly on Shabbos morning, at Shacharis, when we too recite the mizmor "Yosheiv b'seiser," we ought likewise to repeat the verse "Orech yamim" in order to attain this completeness of the Name of Hashem with the yud's filled in. Regarding this, the Rebbe brings in the custom that indeed at Motzaei Shabbos we repeat it, but not in the Shacharis prayer; on Shabbos morning, when we recite this mizmor, we do not repeat it — for the segulah, the protection and safeguarding needed at Motzaei Shabbos, do not pertain to Shabbos morning. These are the two customs with which the Rebbe opens.
Now the Rebbe brings a teaching whose source is a letter of the Rebbe Rayatz. The Rebbe writes: "When the Tzemach Tzedek was a child and studied the verse 'And Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years'". The Tzemach Tzedek learned the verse with his teacher — and although we are at the conclusion of Parshas Vayechi, this is a general statement about the parsha — "And Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years,' his teacher translated [explained] to him" according to the interpretation of the Baal HaTurim.
What does the Baal HaTurim say? He says several things about the word "vayechi," and we will bring the last two. In his final explanation he says: What is the meaning of "vayechi Yaakov b'eretz Mitzrayim" ("and Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt")? After all, these were his final seventeen years. Says the Baal HaTurim: until he went down to Egypt, Yaakov was in distress, for he said of himself "ki eireid el bni aveil she'olah" ("for I will go down to my son mourning, to the grave"), and he did not know what had become of Yosef; but once he went down to Egypt and discovered Yosef there, he became "chai" ("alive") and received new life specifically in Egypt. This is one explanation.
The earlier interpretation also alludes to this: the word "Vayechi" equals in gematria the number of good years that Yaakov had throughout his life — seventeen years from the birth of Yosef until he was sold, plus his final seventeen years in Egypt. Here too we see that the final seventeen years in Egypt were good; according to the second interpretation of the Baal HaTurim they were the very best, even better than Eretz Yisrael, and according to the additional interpretation he has seventeen and seventeen.
In any case, the teacher taught the Tzemach Tzedek as a child and told him that the last seventeen years that Yaakov was in Egypt were his very best years. And this is the wording of the maamar: "Yaakov Avinu lived his very best seventeen years in Egypt" — specifically in Egypt; this is how the teacher explained it to the child, to the Tzemach Tzedek.
When the child came home from cheder, he asked his grandfather: "How can it be that Yaakov Avinu, the choicest of the Avos, would spend the finest years of his life — the seventeen years he lived in the land of Egypt, the nakedness of the land — such a lowly, base, and coarse place," that specifically there he would live his very best, Yaakov Avinu, the choicest of the Avos?
"And the Alter Rebbe answered him" — how did he answer him? He brought him interesting allusions in the wording of the verse. It is written that before Yaakov went down to Egypt he made a preparation, as it says: "And Yehudah he sent before him to Yosef, to point the way before him to Goshen." Yaakov sent Yehudah ahead of everyone to Yosef. What is the meaning of "to point the way before him"? The Midrash, cited by Rashi, says: "Rabbi Nechemyah said — to establish for him a house of study"; "lehorot" is from the term horaah and Torah — Yehudah went down to establish a house of study in Egypt, so that Torah would be there and the tribes would be engaged in it.
Here we shall pause. What is the great virtue in learning Torah specifically in Egypt? After all, Torah was learned in the Land of Israel as well. There is a letter in which the Rebbe explains this, and adds that the emphasis is specifically on "et Yehudah." In the service of Hashem, Yehudah symbolizes a Jew who has delight in kabbalat ol — Yehudah being from the language of hoda'ah (submission) and acceptance of the yoke, except that he has delight from the acceptance of the yoke. When the Holy One, blessed be He, wants Torah specifically in Egypt — even though there could be Torah in the Land of Israel too, and that too is good — why specifically Torah in Egypt?
And so a Jew, in his personal soul-accounting, can reflect on this saying and understand that "Mitzrayim" [the straits and constraints] is not meant to diminish the intensity of his bond with the Holy One, blessed be He; on the contrary, he can transform the matter, so that specifically the "meitzarim" (constraints) become the very best of life, better than all the other aspects of the Jew's life. This is the daily teaching.