The thirty-fifth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 24 Teves 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Shemos, Shishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 24th of the month, from chapter 113 through and including chapter 118.
Tanya, we begin chapter 13, from the word "uvazeh", until the passage that ends with the words "hachoshech kanal".
Today's saying has two parts. In the first part the Rebbe relates to the date of 24 Teves, which is a chassidic date, and conveys information about its content - and these are the first two lines. The Rebbe states what 24 Teves is: "The histalkus of the Alter Rebbe in the village of Piena, on the night following Shabbos Kodesh, parshas Shemos, 5573, and his resting place of honor is in the city of Haditch". Let us say a few words about this point.
First of all, the title "Alter Rebbe", which we already encountered on 2 Kislev. It is interesting that the three titles of the first three Rebbeim - the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek - are titles that came into being only after their histalkus, and it was only in the time of the Tzemach Tzedek, after his histalkus, that the titles "Alter Rebbe", "Mitteler Rebbe" and "Tzemach Tzedek" were established.
What is the reason for these titles? The Tzemach Tzedek is called after his sefer, which was printed for the first time after his histalkus. The Mitteler Rebbe - since the Tzemach Tzedek was the third and the Alter Rebbe the first, it turns out that he was the middle one. And the Alter Rebbe - "alter" (elder) does not refer to age, but to the fact that he served as Rebbe the most years relative to those generations: the Alter Rebbe was nasi a little more than forty years, the Mitteler Rebbe fifteen years, and the Tzemach Tzedek a little more than thirty-eight years. After the histalkus of the Tzemach Tzedek, when they summed up the three previous generations, it emerged that the first one - the Alter Rebbe - was nasi the most years, and therefore he is called "the Alter Rebbe", the Tzemach Tzedek after his sefer, and the Mitteler Rebbe as mentioned.
In any case, his histalkus was in the village of Piena. The order of events, as is known, is that the Alter Rebbe traveled because of the war that took place between the Russians and the French. On the eve of Rosh Chodesh Elul he traveled with the members of his household to a place called Krasna, and they stayed there only a week, and afterwards they fled from the French and he was tossed about on the roads, until they arrived, with Heaven's help, on the eve of Shabbos parshas Vayishlach, in the village of Piena. And from the eve of Shabbos parshas Vayishlach he stayed there until his histalkus, on the night following Shabbos parshas Shemos.
The Tzemach Tzedek describes the histalkus in a letter that appears as the first letter in his Igros Kodesh, and he describes the exact hour - on the night following Shabbos, at ten thirty, the beginning of 24 Teves. And these are his words: "For then the Holy Ark was captured, the light of Israel, the anointed of Hashem, and he was summoned to the Yeshiva on High" - thus does the Tzemach Tzedek describe the histalkus of his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe.
There is a very interesting point here that the Rebbe once wrote in a note, regarding the fact that it is noted that the Alter Rebbe passed away on the night following Shabbos Kodesh. The Rebbe asks: seemingly there is an expression in the Gemara: "One who dies on the eve of Shabbos, it is a good sign for him; one who dies at the conclusion of Shabbos, it is a bad sign for him". If so, according to the wording of the Gemara, a person who passes away at the conclusion of Shabbos, "it is a bad sign for him", so why is it noted about the Alter Rebbe that he passed away on the night following Shabbos Kodesh? Seemingly, mentioning this date does not add to his honor.
And the Rebbe explains something wonderful: if one looks at a person's personal virtue - what is good for him and what is a good sign for him - then indeed, one who dies on the eve of Shabbos, it is a good sign for him, since the reason is that he enters immediately into rest, and on the personal level it is better for him on the eve of Shabbos. But, says the Rebbe, it is known, as the Alter Rebbe himself writes in Tanya, that the day and moment of a tzaddik's histalkus is, for the chassidim and for the flock of his pasture, a time of revelation of a very great eis ratzon, and it gives tremendous strength to the flock of his pasture and to his chassidim in their avodah.
The Alter Rebbe said about himself that he would not look at his personal benefit; had he sought his own benefit, he would have brought it about that his histalkus be on the eve of Shabbos. But he thought about the flock of his pasture, and said that when one enters the weekdays at the conclusion of Shabbos, special strengths are needed. Therefore he gave up the personal virtue of a histalkus on the eve of Shabbos, and said that he wished to be with his chassidim and to give them strength as they enter the weekdays - their benefit was greater in his eyes than his own benefit. And this is the emphasis here, that it is noted that he passed away on the night following Shabbos Kodesh, which highlights the greatness of the Rebbe's ahavas Yisrael for his chassidim - that he gives up his own virtue in order to give strength to the chassidim; for precisely when one enters the weekdays, the beginning of the week, more strength is needed. Therefore this point is emphasized.
A final point: his histalkus was, as mentioned, in the village of Piena, but his resting place of honor is in the city of Haditch. Why was he not buried in the village of Piena itself, in the place of his histalkus? Because in the village of Piena there was no cemetery at all, and the nearest cemetery was in Haditch. They took him then on a sled - it was in Teves, in the winter - from the village of Piena to Haditch, a distance of three hundred kilometers. For three hundred kilometers they conveyed the holy body of the Alter Rebbe from the village of Piena to Haditch, where there was a Jewish cemetery, and there was his resting place of honor. And in the stories of chassidim, several miracles that occurred along the way of the conveyance are told, but this is not the place to elaborate; this is only to note what the Rebbe noted here in Hayom Yom.
Let us move on to the continuation. In this part the Rebbe cites an interesting quotation, and says: "My grandfather [my master, my father's father, my teacher and Rebbe] asked the Tzemach Tzedek". "Aazmu"r" is an acronym for "adoni avi zkeini mori verabi", and the speaker is the Rebbe Rayatz. From the Rebbe Rayatz's perspective, his father is the Rebbe Rashab and his grandfather is the Rebbe Maharash; and so the meaning is that the Rebbe Maharash asked his father, the Tzemach Tzedek. In the original source it is described in the sichah that the Tzemach Tzedek would study with his son at a set schedule from time to time, and on one of the occasions when the Rebbe Maharash sat with his father the Tzemach Tzedek, he asked him a question.
What did he ask? In translation: what did grandfather want - not only "want" in the simple sense, but what was his plan of action, what was the direction, where did he want to arrive with the ways of chassidus that he led, and what did he want with chassidus. And why did he ask specifically the Tzemach Tzedek about the Alter Rebbe? It is known that although between the Alter Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek there was another Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek received directly from the Alter Rebbe; as is known, the Alter Rebbe raised the Tzemach Tzedek from childhood, from the age of three, and he received literally directly from him. Therefore the Rebbe Maharash asked his father directly about the Alter Rebbe - what was his direction and what did he want, since you surely know and are familiar and have heard.
And the Tzemach Tzedek answered him: "The ways of chassidus". What are "the ways of chassidus"? As we shall see shortly, this is the granting of strength to succeed in chassidus, and it comes as an introduction. "The way of chassidus is that chassidim should be like one family, according to the Torah, with love". The goal is that all the chassidim be like one family, living according to the Torah with love, that all the chassidim be together. This is "the ways of chassidus", and this is the direction that assists - in addition to the very matter of ahavas Yisrael, that all the chassidim be together as one family.
And about chassidus itself he answered: "Chassidus is vitality - to bring in the vitality and to illuminate everything". With chassidus the Alter Rebbe wanted to instill vitality and to illuminate everything. As the expression is already familiar to us from the beginning of Hayom Yom, that chassidus is "the light and vitality of our soul" - chassidus is vitality and chassidus is light. The Alter Rebbe wanted, then, to instill vitality through chassidus and to illuminate everything. This is what the Tzemach Tzedek said to his son.
In the original source, in the sichah, it is written that the son asked his father: everything? Does it mean everything - even that which is not good? [Here in Hayom Yom it is not written as a question and answer but as a continuous flow, but in the original source he asked him: everything, even that which is not good?]. And the answer: "Even that which is not good" - yes, even that which is not good must be illuminated, everything. And what is meant by illuminating that which is not good, since it is not good? That is, "that one should know his evil as it is" - to illuminate that which is not good, to identify it and to recognize your own "not good" as it is. And what is the purpose? "In order to correct it" - when you identify it, you will know how to correct it and to make it as it should be.
There is a lengthy discussion here that the Rebbe once spoke about. The idea of illuminating everything is already familiar to us from the Baal Shem Tov - the well-known teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, that even the body, which is "the donkey of the one who hates you", need not be broken but rather one should serve Hashem together with it. But here there is an addition: not only with the body, but even with that which is not good, even with the evil - that also within evil there is a spark that can be extracted and transformed into good, to correct it and to do teshuvah over it.
And if we ask how we will succeed, how such a heavy and responsible mission can be given to every chassid - the answer is: if there are "the ways of chassidus", if one lives together with love. And a saying is already familiar to us that we read a few days ago in Hayom Yom, that the nasi said that when two chassidim are together, these are two G-dly souls against one animal soul; and here we are speaking not of two alone but of all the chassidim together with love, and so against every animal soul there stands an entire battalion assisting him. This is no longer his own strength, but such great strength that with it there can certainly be success - to illuminate everything, even that which is not good, and to transform everything into good.
And here we will conclude with the point we mentioned, that in the course of Hayom Yom there are, in certain periods, allusions to the sequence of the books of the Rambam. We already spoke that from 5 Teves the allusion to the first book of the Rambam, Sefer HaMada, began: from 5 Teves, over the course of six days until 10 Teves, each day contained an allusion to different halachos in Sefer HaMada in order. Afterwards there was a break, from 11 Teves until here, until 24 Teves. And now, from 24 Teves, we will speak for several days about the second book in the Rambam.
What is the second book in the Rambam? After Sefer HaMada comes Sefer Ahavah. Sefer Ahavah begins with Hilchos Krias Shema, and from there to tefillin, sefer Torah, berachos and so on, and it concludes with Hilchos Milah. The idea of Sefer Ahavah is alluded to in today's saying. Where? First of all in its very name - "Sefer Ahavah" (the Book of Love): the Alter Rebbe's saying was that he wanted, in the ways of chassidus, that the chassidim live together with love, like one family with love, and this alludes to Sefer Ahavah.
And there is an allusion here even to the conclusion. The conclusion of Sefer Ahavah is Hilchos Milah, and it is explained in the inner dimension of Torah that the matter of bris milah is a very great light that is revealed in bris milah, whose purpose is to correct also that which is not good - to remove the foreskin and to correct also that which is not good. And this is essentially what the Alter Rebbe said he wanted with chassidus: to illuminate everything, and to illuminate also that which is not good, to make the person circumcised and clean. If so, in this saying there is an allusion to Sefer Ahavah up to its conclusion, the final halachos which are Hilchos Milah. And in tomorrow's saying or the day after we will see an allusion to the halachos in the middle, from Krias Shema until the conclusion of Hilchos Milah, which are alluded to in the daily saying.