The thirty-fourth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 23 Teves 5703.
Lessons: Chumash, Shmos, Chamishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, for the 23rd of the month, from chapter 108 through chapter 110 inclusive.
Tanya: On this day one concludes chapter 12, from the words "rak shele-zeh" until the end of the chapter, which concludes with the words "im achas."
The daily teaching is divided into two parts. The first part presents a gloss that the Rebbe Rashab made on "Torah Or". The Rebbe would bring each week the gloss of the Rebbe Rashab on the maamarim of that week, and this came as encouragement and strengthening for those studying the daily lesson, that they should also study the daily lessons in the chassidic portion — the maamarim of "Torah Or".
In "Torah Or" for parashat Shemot there is a maamar. Let us first quote the text and then explain. The Rebbe says: "Torah Or, d"h [dibbur hamaschil] misham po" — this is the opening of the maamar — "in the passage beginning vehanimshal yuvan". As has been mentioned several times, in "Torah Or" the division of the passages is not marked by the letters alef, beit, gimmel, as in Likkutei Torah, where each chapter has its own letter, but rather the passages are divided without letter markings; therefore only "the passage beginning with the words vehanimshal yuvan" is indicated. And there is a correction there: in place of the words "ki yesh bechinat maalah" printed in "Torah Or", the Rebbe Rashab corrected that it should read "vechen yesh maalah".
What is the essence of the tikkun? Let us provide a bit of background. In that same maamar, the Alter Rebbe speaks of the superiority found in the practical mitzvot; for a practical mitzvah possesses a very great superiority, and in a certain sense even more so than Torah study. And the Alter Rebbe brings several examples in which one sees the superiority of the deed.
One example: at a funeral, one interrupts Torah study in order to fulfill the mitzvah of accompanying the deceased — this shows that there is a special quality in a practical mitzvah. A second example: there is a story in the Zohar that on account of the mitzvah of hachnasat kallah, the recitation of Shema was interrupted; even though the recitation of Shema is of very great importance and contains lofty unifications, nevertheless the practical mitzvah of hachnasat kallah takes precedence. A third example: the halachah states that a positive commandment overrides a negative commandment — again the same idea, that a mitzvat "aseh," which is something active, has an added quality over a mitzvat "lo taaseh," even though the level of a "lo taaseh" is very lofty.
These three examples are brought by the Alter Rebbe, and he concludes that this is due to the superiority of the deed. He then adds another statement: that even a very simple Jew of Israel, who fulfills a practical mitzvah without kavanot and without hidden mysteries, but merely because the Holy One, blessed be He, so commanded — it is possible that this fulfillment is dear in G-d's eyes, in a certain measure, more than the great intentions and comprehensions of tzaddikim. Thus ends the quotation from this portion of the maamar.
The printed wording is: "for there is an aspect of superior quality in the aspect of tomchin d'oraisa greater than the matter of the eidah". When one reads it this way, one might understand that the concluding phrase comes to explain the preceding examples — in all of which we saw a superiority in action — and therefore it concludes "for there is a superiority in tomchin d'oraisa," that even those who do not study Torah but merely support it possess a superiority greater than "the matter of the eidah."
However, the Rebbe Rashab altered the wording, and this is the correction: not to write "for there is an aspect of superiority" — since this passage does not come to explain what preceded it — but rather "and likewise there is an additional superiority." That is, the Alter Rebbe now comes to say something further: aside from what was said earlier regarding the superiority of the deed and the examples, there is an additional matter — "and likewise there is a superiority in the tomchin d'oraita greater than the matter of the community." Here the discussion is not about the matter of the deed, but about the idea that the tomchin d'oraita possess a great superiority. This is the content of the correction that the Rebbe brings in the daily teaching. This concludes the first passage.
The second passage of the teaching, which is its continuation, is a quotation from a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz. Let me give a little background. It is known that after the Rebbe Rayatz left Russia, he visited the Holy Land, then he visited the United States, after which he returned to Poland and stayed there for about ten years, and then he settled in the United States for ten years.
The visit he made to the United States lasted a bit more than ten months. He visited Jewish communities, and the purpose of the visit was to strengthen the Jews of the United States, who were very distant, with only a few observing Torah and mitzvos anywhere. In the month of Teves, from 12 Teves until 4 Shevat, the Rebbe Rayatz stayed in Baltimore in order to strengthen the place. On 23 Teves he wrote a letter to a Jew in Baltimore named Rabbi Avraham Reznik — and this is precisely the saying that the Rebbe brings on 23 Teves.
What does the Rebbe Rayatz write to him? This is a relatively long letter, in which he describes the purpose of his visit to the United States. He recounts that he met with many Jews, both religious and non-religious, and sees that the Jewish heart is awake and open, and that all the young people of the generation, though they are asleep now, their hearts are awake, and one need only that a good awakener come who can rouse them.
And then he says: We are accustomed to complaining and sighing about the situation — and here comes the teaching — but "with sighing alone we will not be redeemed". The sigh itself will not bring salvation. He does not say that sighing is a bad thing; in the Hayom Yom there are four sayings dealing with sighing, and in one of them he explains its virtue. But in the other three sayings he says that the sigh, with all its virtue, is not sufficient, but is only an opening from which a continuation must come.
What is the role of the sigh? "ההנחה איז נאר די כפות המנעול" [the sigh is only the handle of the lock]. "Kapot hamanul" is an expression originating in Shir HaShirim, in the wording of the verse dealing with the opening of the door. "Kapot hamanul" is like the door handle. The Rebbe Rayatz says: the sigh is only the door handle; in order to enter the house one must grasp the handle — this is indeed an action — but if you only grasped the handle and did not go in, there is no virtue in grasping the handle and opening it; one must go inside.
If so, the sigh alone is merely "the key to the lock," meant "to open the heart and open the eyes." And what is it meant to arouse? That one should not sit idly with folded hands. You sigh over the situation — but it is not enough to sigh and to draw strength from the sigh; rather, one must "organize work and action, each and every person according to what he is able to do, to act and to engage in efforts for the strengthening of Torah, the spreading of Torah, and the observance of the mitzvos." That is to say, you sigh over the situation, but one must see what is done with it. And what must be done? Each person in the area in which he is strong — this one with his writing, that one with his speech, and another with his money; each should contribute from the side in which he is strong, and thereby help bring the purpose of the sigh to fruition.
This point is connected, through Divine providence, to the Thursday of parashas Shemos on which the Rebbe brings it. In parashas Shemos we read earlier — I believe on Tuesday — that the Jewish people groaned, "vaye'anchu bnei Yisrael" ("the children of Israel groaned"). But on the Thursday of parashas Shemos we see that the Holy One, blessed be He, does something with this: He tells Moshe Rabbeinu to go and gather the elders of Israel, to inform them that the redemption is coming, and to show them the wonders so that they will believe. In the Thursday's Chumash portion we see that the groan did not remain merely a groan, but rather it also led to "opening the heart and opening the eyes," to doing something. This is the message of the saying.
I will conclude with another interesting point regarding that same letter of the Rebbe Rayatz, which was written in the year 5696 during his visit to the United States. At the end of the letter there are fascinating expressions, a kind of prophecy about the future of the United States. And this is his wording: "My heart tells me lofty prospects for the lives of these young people. These dry bones can rise to life, and a new generation, with the help of the Almighty, they can establish; thousands and myriads of Jewish homes, in the observance of family purity, kashrus, Shabbos and tefillin, they can, with the help of Hashem, set up in the Jewish street" — he is speaking about all the young people of the United States.
That is to say, there is here a possibility to lift a person out of his fixation on his poor state. And thus he writes: "Behold, instead of sighing over oneself — although that is at times necessary — it is certainly better to begin taking action, to add in Torah and mitzvos to compensate for what one has missed, and it is assured that they will add in the blessings of Hashem yisbarach to one who occupies himself with this in his distress." That is to say, the sigh is good, but it is only a key; the essence is that a practical continuation should emerge from it — as in the expression the Rebbe brings there as well, that a single action is better than a thousand sighs, with all the virtue that there is in a sigh. This is the conclusion of the teaching.