The three hundred fifty-third "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Monday, 17 Cheshvan 5704.
Shiurim: Chumash, Chayei Sarah, sheini, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 17th of the month, one says chapter 83 through chapter 87 inclusive.
Tanya, on this day we conclude Epistle 28. The shiur begins on page 148 with the words "vehinei muda'as," until the end of the epistle, on page 296, which ends with the words "chatas etc."
The saying, which is written in Yiddish, originates in a sichah that the Rebbe Rayatz said on Simchas Torah of the year 5697. The sichah was addressed to the students of Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim, and at the outset the Rebbe Rayatz tells them: You should know, you are not in an ordinary yeshiva, but in a special yeshiva - Yeshivas "Tomchei Temimim." And from now on you must place yourselves in the fitting and proper state; feel that you are the students of the Rebbeim, students of the Alter Rebbe, of the Maggid, of the Baal Shem Tov.
As he continues, the Rebbe Rayatz brings the daily saying, whose content is - how precious time is, and how much one must utilize and fill every second of life. And so he says: The first sentence - "One must guard time." If you do not guard it - it runs away. One must guard time.
The next sentence - "One must accept the yoke of Torah." The source of the words "the yoke of Torah" is in the words of Chazal about David HaMelech: the verse says "the saying of the man raised on high (hukam al)," and Chazal expound that this refers to David HaMelech who established the yoke (ulah) of Torah - "ol" in the sense of accepting a yoke. And the emphasis of "the yoke of Torah" is that even though the study of Torah is an intellectual study, with understanding, nevertheless the approach to it must be by way of accepting a yoke. In that same sichah the Rebbe Rayatz says to the Temimim: What is "the yoke of Torah" with regard to you? That every movement you make must be considered, and everything must be precise according to Torah. That is, that a person knows that a yoke is placed upon him.
The next sentence: "Every time, every day that passes, is not merely a day but a matter in life," that at each and every time a person must carry out the mission placed upon him on that particular day. If the day passed and the person did not do what was placed upon him - he lost an entire matter in life. "The days pass, as it is stated (Yerushalmi Berachos ch. 1, halachah 1): "a day enters and a day departs, a week enters etc., a month etc., a year etc."". Let us first say the plain meaning: the Gemara there brings the verses in Sefer Bereishis, that after the Torah finishes describing the creation of the world, including Shabbos - "and the heavens were completed" and everything was finished - a new verse begins: "these are the generations of the heavens and the earth," as though the description of the creation of the world begins again. What is the connection, and what is the reason?
The Gemara there says that the Torah comes to teach us: a week passed - a day enters and a day departs, a week, a month, a year - and nevertheless, know that despite this the world is as strong as at its beginning, even though so many days have passed. This is the plain meaning. But from the Gemara's wording another matter is understood: the Gemara does not simply say "the days pass," but rather specifies - a day enters, a day departs; a week enters, a week departs; a month enters, a month departs; a year enters, a year departs. That is to say, the matter is significant: the days, the weeks, the months and the years come to you, they have content and meaning and a mission; and if you do not pay attention to them, you are liable, G-d forbid, to lose an entire matter in life.
And he concludes with a final saying, which his father - the Rebbe Rashab - said in the name of the Alter Rebbe: "Father said in the name of our Rebbe the Alter Rebbe: A summer day and a winter night - that is a year." For in the summer the days are very long, and in the winter the nights are very long. A person must know that when he suddenly received a longer day - that additional hours were added to it beyond a winter day, on which he would complete his work in fewer hours - he thereby received a longer day in order to fill it with additional content, to complete within it; and likewise with the winter nights.
And so he must know that the significance of the hours he received is a complete significance - like a year, which is a complete thing with a role and a mission in the world. One winter night and one summer day - the many hours that the Holy One, blessed be He, added for you - they possess complete content and complete significance. And therefore the conclusion is as the saying opens: one must guard time, utilize every second, and know that this is an entire matter in life, and with G-d's help we will know how to do this properly.