The thirty-second "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 21 Teves 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Shemos, Shlishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 21st of the month, from chapter 104 through chapter 108 inclusive.
Tanya, we are in the middle of chapter 12, from the words "rak mipnei" until page 17, at the words "haTorah kanal".
Here there is a short teaching that describes a certain situation, without its background, and I will give you the background being spoken about. The teaching relates that in a certain situation the Rebbe Rayatz said something. The record of this is found only in a personal diary that the Rebbe wrote, since it concerns an event that took place when the Rebbe Rayatz and the Rebbe were together.
I will read the first sentence: "(K'vod Kedushas Admur shlita [the Rayatz, nishmaso Eden] encountered someone carrying pails full of water. And he said:)". When was this? In the year 5692. In that year, on 10 Sivan, the wedding took place of the youngest daughter of the Rebbe Rayatz, Rebbetzin Sheina, with Rav Menachem Mendel HaKohen Hornstein [both of whom were later killed in the Holocaust]. Their wedding was on 10 Sivan 5692.
The wedding took place in eastern Lithuania, in a place known today as Lentvaris. On erev Shavuos, a few days before the wedding, the Rebbe traveled with his father-in-law, the Rebbe Rayatz, to the mikveh, in a city called Trakai, about ten kilometers from the place where they were staying. Along the way, while traveling, they met a man carrying pails full of water, as described here.
When they met that man carrying pails full of water, the Rebbe Rayatz said, and this is the sentence the Rebbe heard from his father-in-law: "When one sees water, about this the Baal Shem Tov says: when one sees water one should say that the Baal Shem Tov says that this is a sign of blessing". So said the Rebbe Rayatz. And this requires explanation: what is this lengthy formulation and emphasis, that one must say that the Baal Shem Tov said that this is a sign of blessing?
On the first night of Sukkos 5743 [in those years the Rebbe would often say a sicha each night explaining the meaning of that day's ushpizin; for just as there are ushpizin listed in the Zohar, beginning with Avraham Avinu, Yitzchak and so on, there are also chassidic ushpizin, from the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid and onward. On the first day of Sukkos the ushpizin are Avraham Avinu and the Baal Shem Tov] the Rebbe spoke about the ushpizin of the first day, the Baal Shem Tov, and in that sicha he told this story, that he once walked with his father-in-law and they met a man carrying pails.
And then the Rebbe asked: why must it be emphasized so much that the Baal Shem Tov says that this is a sign of blessing? What is the emphasis here? And the Rebbe said something interesting: "a sign of blessing" means a drawing down of blessing, and a blessing can be drawn down in many different ways, where will the blessing be expressed? It may be expressed in spiritual matters, and it may be expressed in physical matters; and within that itself, both in spiritual and in physical matters, the blessing can be expressed in all kinds of ways.
Therefore it is emphasized that the blessing comes because the Baal Shem Tov says so. What is the Baal Shem Tov? The Baal Shem Tov was known as a person through whom matters of wonders and miracles were always occurring, to the point that when one sees a certain wonder one naturally says that this is a "Baal Shem Tov'ish" story ("a Baal Shem'ske" one). Therefore they want to emphasize: the blessing that will be drawn down when one encounters water, in what manner will it be drawn down? In the manner of the Baal Shem Tov, meaning a blessing that is above nature, a blessing that is above measure and limitation, that will be drawn down all the way below. That is why the Baal Shem Tov is emphasized so much, in order to emphasize in what manner the blessing will be drawn down.
This teaching has an interesting connection to the day of the week, Tuesday of parshas Shemos. For on Tuesday of parshas Shemos, the day on which this teaching appears, the Torah relates about Moshe Rabbeinu that he was beside the well and drew water; this is precisely that day's Chumash shiur, and therefore the Rebbe brings here the story about water and about what one says when seeing a person carrying pails full of water.
One can also connect this idea to two other interesting sources, in which we see a drawing down of blessing in connection with water. The first source: in sefer Bereishis it relates that Yaakov Avinu came before Pharaoh, and it says "and Yaakov blessed Pharaoh". Rashi explains there, with what did he bless him and what was the special blessing? That the Nile should rise toward his feet; that each time Pharaoh would go out to the Nile, the waters would rise toward him. We see that Yaakov Avinu wanted to express a blessing, and in what form did he express it, that the waters should rise toward him. This is the same idea being said here.
And one can connect this with an additional point. There is a story in the Gemara, maseches Chullin page 95, about Rav who once went to visit his son-in-law, Rav Chanan; and in order to reach his destination he had to cross a river. When they arrived at the river, the Gemara says, the ferry came with the water straight toward him, without his needing to summon it. Rav immediately expressed himself and said that if travelers see upon the water that the ferry comes toward them, this is a good sign for travelers, a sign that on that day they will have special success. Here too we see the point: when one sees in water a special rising and the like, there is in this a sign of a special blessing. This is the content of the teaching, in which the Rebbe relates something he heard from his father-in-law on that occasion.