The three hundred fifty-first "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Shabbos, 15 Marcheshvan 5704.
The first thing the Rebbe refers to is the haftorah read according to our custom on this Shabbos, Shabbos parshas Vayeira. The maftir of this haftorah is in Melachim II chapter 4, but there is a difference here between the Sephardic custom and our custom: according to the Sephardic custom the haftorah concludes with verse 23. Although generally the Chabad custom regarding haftoros follows the Sephardic custom, on this Shabbos we continue and conclude the haftorah with verse 37. This is what the Rebbe notes here, that the "haftorah" begins from "v'ishah" at the beginning of chapter 4, until the words "b'nah vateitzei", which is the end of verse 37.
Shiurim: Chumash, Vayeira, sh'vi'i, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 15th of the month, chapter 77 and chapter 78.
Tanya, on this day we conclude Iggeres 27. The shiur begins on page 147 with the words "v'hinei yeish", and ends at the conclusion of the iggeres, page 294, with the word "kochavim".
The saying itself is a summary that the Rebbe writes of a sichah that the Rebbe Rayatz said on Shabbos Chol HaMoed Pesach in the year 5700. The Rebbe Rayatz, as is known, arrived in the United States in the month of Adar 5700, and the sichah was said about a month later, in the month of Nissan. In this sichah the Rebbe Rayatz speaks about the task of the neshamah that descended into a body: there is a very great advantage in this descent, since it is meant to bring about a very great ascent, and therefore a Jew, a chassid, must pay attention to his task and his mission and carry them out without delay.
I will read the wording (in Yiddish) and its translation. It says as follows: "The neshamah waits Above for the time when it will merit to descend into a body". And why does the neshamah wait? "Because the neshamah senses how much it can accomplish while it is here below" - because it senses the greatness of its advantage below, it feels what it is capable of accomplishing specifically when it will be here below within a body. "It is able to reach "l'hisaneg al Havayah"" - when the neshamah is here within the body and fulfills Torah and mitzvos below, it can reach what is stated, "to delight in Havayah", to delight in Elokus; for the neshamah Above can connect only to the Divine ziv, but the true delight from closeness to the Atzmus of the Holy One, blessed be He, is specifically here, in this world.
And the Rebbe Rayatz concludes: "If so, until when are you putting it off?" It must be fulfilled immediately, without delay. Later in the sichah there is an interesting expression: the Rebbe Rayatz says that there is a "foolish chassid" who pushes off this advantage of "l'hisaneg al Havayah" until after a hundred and twenty years. A chassid together with a fool - this is not a fitting match, for a fool cannot be a chassid, and a chassid certainly and most certainly cannot be a fool.
So what is the correct path? What is the Rebbe coming to arouse here? The attentiveness to make use of every moment of life, here in the body, in order to carry out the mission for which the neshamah descended below.