"Room" one hundred and two in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 2 Adar II 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Pekudei, Shlishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 2nd of the month, from Chapter 10 to Chapter 17 inclusive.
Tanya, we are still in Chapter 34. The daily shiur is from the words "Ve'im yarchiv", and ends on page 86 with the words "Kemo shekatuv lekaman".
The daily teaching is a very interesting teaching, which provides a fundamental principle on how to relate to and how to merit receiving a berachah from a tzaddik. As an introduction, we will first read a letter from the Rebbe on the subject, and then we will look at the source from which the daily teaching is taken.
On 7 Kislev 5712, the Rebbe writes to a Jew who evidently requested a berachah for health. The letter is in Yiddish, and in translation the Rebbe tells him: "When I will be at the tziyon of my father-in-law, I will read the pidyon nefesh for you, and I hope that he [my father-in-law] will arouse abundant mercy so that your health will be better and continue to improve constantly." This is the opening of the letter.
Afterwards the Rebbe writes to him: "Surely you know that in order to receive a berachah from the Holy One, blessed be He, one needs kelim, and therefore I would like to suggest that you begin to be especially observant of putting on tefillin every day", except for Shabbos and Yom Tov of course. And the Rebbe explains to him why specifically tefillin: "The tefillin shel yad, which are placed opposite the heart, bring health to the heart; and the tefillin shel rosh, which are placed opposite the brain - and the brain, after all, directs the entire body and all the limbs through the nerves - bring health to the whole body."
The Rebbe suggests to him first of all tefillin, and afterwards also to say a few chapters of Tehillim every day, and to give an amount to tzedakah every day bli neder until the upcoming Pesach. The letter was written in Kislev, and the Rebbe asks that until Pesach he should give tzedakah every day; and although it is good to give tzedakah even afterwards, at the very least he should maintain this until Pesach - "and I hope to receive good news from you that your health has improved and that the doctors are satisfied with your health condition." From this letter of the Rebbe we see explicitly that in order for the berachah to be received, it must have a keli.
There is a letter from the Rebbe Rayatz, written in a much sharper style, and from it the daily teaching is also taken. This letter of the Rebbe Rayatz is from 27 Adar 5698, and he writes to a Jew who apparently was not connected, was not a chassid, and requested a berachah. The Rebbe Rayatz writes to him: "If you desire to be on the list of mekusharim - and then of course the berachos will be fulfilled".
And then he gives him a "menu" of what he must do to be on the list of mekusharim: "To establish a shiur to study the words of the living G-d, the teachings of Chabad chassidus, a fixed shiur every single day, and on the holy Shabbos day a double shiur, and to conduct oneself in the ways of chassidus." And he details to him - regarding the nusach of tefillah, as well as immersion on Erev Shabbos kodesh, on Shabbos kodesh and Yom Tov morning, and in the manner of putting on tefillin - that in all of these he should conduct himself in the way of chassidus, "and to pay attention to length in tefillah at special times." And he concludes: "And if not - it is of no relevance at all" - if all this is not fulfilled, you are not connected at all.
"And one who is not a mekushar and does not desire to conduct himself in the ways of chassidim and to study the teachings of chassidus, and especially those who oppose this, it is doubtful whether the berachos they are blessed with have any benefit." The Rebbe Rayatz says: When it comes to those who do nothing, I am doubtful whether the berachah I give you will work at all. And why? Here comes the daily teaching.
The daily teaching comes as a direct continuation of this sentence in the letter: For "the berachah requires something to take hold of" - the berachah must grasp onto something. And he brings an example: "And just like rain upon a plowed and sown field, or the early and late rains upon the produce of the field and the vineyard" - like rain falling on a field that they have already plowed and sown, or the yoreh and malkosh (the early or late rain) falling on the produce of the field and the vineyard, when something has already grown; then the rain can be effective. "But in an uncultivated field, neither plowed nor sown, the rain, early or late, brings no benefit" - in a field where nothing has been done, empty, the rain brings no benefit.
In the original, the Rebbe Rayatz wrote "do not... bring any benefit", and the Rebbe omitted the word "any": "do not... bring benefit" - they simply do not bring anything. The Rebbe Rayatz concludes the letter that the Holy One, blessed be He, should illuminate the mind of this person, that he should have the awareness to understand that this is the only way in which the berachah can be drawn down.
This concept appears in another letter, with different expressions, and there is an interesting addition. The Rebbe says there that a berachah is not merely an expression of the lips, saying a few words, rather it is essentially an arousal of mercy and supplications; when the Rebbe gives a berachah, he arouses mercy and supplicates, "and they are fulfilled for the most part in a place where there are kelim to contain the matter of the berachah". If there are kelim - the berachah is fulfilled; and if there are no kelim - he brings the analogy again, that if there are thorns and thistles and the field is not sown, it brings no benefit. A berachah too brings benefit only to one who observes Torah and mitzvos, who is a keli for the berachah.
Then he concludes with an interesting point - the matter of rain. Rain is an analogy in chassidus for something that comes through an arousal from below (isarusa dilesata), since rain "rises from the earth" - it comes from below and afterwards arouses a berachah from above, and therefore it has a condition that preparations must precede it. But dew is from the outset an arousal from above (isarusa dile'eila), coming on its own and not dependent at all on man's avodah - and thereby it opens a door for a berachah. Dew is not withheld and is not dependent on anything. Therefore the Rebbe says: I bless you that the Holy One, blessed be He, should give you a good heart and a strong mind to put on tefillin, to observe Shabbos and to fulfill mitzvos; and if you will also do this, the Holy One, blessed be He, will help you that everything will work out. In other words, I am not leaving you without a berachah - I am giving you like dew, arousing you so that you will want to start doing something; but without anything, it certainly does not work.
The connection of the daily teaching to its place in Hayom Yom. One can first of all find a general connection in the parshah of the week. We are in Parshas Pekudei, and in it there is a verse where Moshe Rabbeinu saw everything that Yisroel did in building the Mishkan: "And Moshe saw all the work, and behold they had done it... and Moshe blessed them". And here is the point - when did Moshe Rabbeinu bless them? When he saw everything they had done. One can say that this is also a continuation of the teaching we read yesterday, in which the phrase "Yaaleh Veyavo... pokdenu vo liverachah" was brought; and today comes the explanation of how the berachah arrives - in this manner.
In conclusion, in the sequence of the teachings in relation to the progression of the Yad Hachazakah of the Rambam. We said that we are now beginning the allusions to Sefer Zeraim in the Rambam, and this is exactly the entire topic of today - Sefer Zeraim. You want there to be a seed and that it should grow; and the entire Sefer Zeraim deals with that which grows. If you want something to grow, and if you want there to be a berachah - there obviously must be plowing and sowing, and then the berachah will have something to grasp and something to be fulfilled upon with G-d's help.