"Cheder" number three hundred forty-one in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 5 Cheshvan 5704.
Lessons: Chumash, Lech Lecha, Revi'i, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim: on the fifth day of the month, recite from chapter 29 through chapter 34, inclusive.
Tanya: On this day we continue studying Iggeret 26. The daily portion begins on page 284 with the words "vehineh hamuvan," and concludes on page 143 with the word "bilvad."
The daily teaching is a continuation of a saying whose first part we already studied several days earlier. This is a letter that the Rebbe Rayatz wrote on 5 Adar 5702, during the time of the World War. The letter is addressed to a certain woman, whose talent lay in speaking and oratory as well as in writing, and who aroused and encouraged many people in matters of faith and fear of Heaven, and so on.
The Rebbe quoted the first part of the letter in the saying of 21 Elul, where the content of the teaching was that Avraham Avinu, by giving over his soul, merited that all his descendants — his offspring until the end of all generations — would inherit from him faith in the Holy One, blessed be He, and the ability to give over their souls for Torah and mitzvos. All this comes from Avraham Avinu. This is the first part of the saying, which appears on 21 Elul.
And here, on 5 Cheshvan, the Rebbe brings the continuation of that same letter, literally the very next passage. The Rebbe Rayatz writes to that woman: "Israel are compared to the stars that sparkle in the expanse of the heavens." The Jewish people are likened to the stars — just as the Holy One, blessed be He, when He told Avraham Avinu how great his children would be, said to him, "Gaze now toward the heavens and count the stars."
What is the special quality of the stars, and what is its lesson for the Jewish people? "By whose light even one who walks in the darkness of night does not go astray." A person walking at night has no light; but if the stars are shining, their light is enough to give him a general direction, so that he does not become confused and knows where he is going.
And what is the analogy? If the Jewish people are compared to stars, then "every single Jew" is a star, "whether a man or a woman" — even though the letter is addressed to a woman, its content is directed to everyone. "Each possesses sufficient moral and spiritual strength" — every Jew has spiritual and moral power "to influence and to place even those he knows and is acquainted with within a ray of light."
Every single person has this ability, and no one can say "I am too small, I have no ability, what can I possibly change in the world?"; we tell him: "You are a star, you give light, and to a person caught in a dark situation you can be the one who illuminates his path and places him in a ray of light." This is the duty and the privilege of each and every Jew, and it is expressed in the content of this teaching.