The three hundred and fortieth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 4 Marcheshvan 5704.
Lessons: Chumash, Lech-Lecha, third portion, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the fourth of the month, one recites from chapter 23 through chapter 28 inclusive.
Tanya: on this day we begin a new letter, letter 26, from its beginning, with the words "b'ra'aya mehemna." The lesson concludes on page 284 with the words "ad kan b'ra'aya mehemna."
The daily saying, a short one, is taken from a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on 7 Adar 5701. We already saw the first part of this letter a few days ago, in the teaching of 28 Tishrei, where the Rebbe Rayatz writes to a Jew about the importance of studying Torah every day; and in the source of the letter he writes to him that Torah study is important both materially and spiritually, and even "affects souls."
On 28 Tishrei the portion was brought explaining why the matter has bearing on physical things — there it is stated that a person's Torah study is like the wedding ring, through which the Holy One, blessed be He, obligated Himself to bestow material abundance upon each and every one. And the continuation, concerning the fact that Torah study each day has bearing on souls, is the portion brought in the daily teaching of 4 Cheshvan.
The Rebbe Rayatz writes: "The study of Torah each and every day" — that a person should have set times to study Torah every day — "literally affects souls." This has an immediate impact on the souls of the members of his household. How so? "Not only upon the soul of the one who studies" — it is not merely the soul of the student himself that is affected by the Torah he learns, becoming refined and improved — "but also upon the souls of the members of his household."
The souls of all the members of the household — his wife, his children, the entire house — are transformed as a result of the Torah that the Jew studies each day. Why? Because "then the atmosphere of the home is an atmosphere of Torah and fear of Heaven." When a Jew learns Torah every day, the air breathed in the home is an air of Torah and of fear of Heaven, and this consequently has an influence on the souls of all the members of his household. This is the continuation and conclusion of that same letter with which we began.