The ninety-second "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Shabbos, 22 Adar I, 5703.
The daily lesson includes three parts: the first - the custom of the day, that the haftarah is part of today's lessons; and alongside it two more sayings.
Let us begin with the first line - the haftarah. We are on Shabbos parshas Ki Sisa, whose subject is the entire story of the sin of the golden calf. The haftarah on this day is in Melachim I chapter 18, which speaks of the story of the prophets of the Baal and Eliyahu HaNavi, to prove that "Hashem is the God." On this it says "Haftarah: Vayishlach Achav" that one begins the haftarah from "Vayishlach Achav."
There is a difference here between the Ashkenazic custom and the Sephardic custom, from which part of the chapter the haftarah begins. According to the Ashkenazic custom one begins from the first verse of the chapter, Melachim I, the beginning of chapter 18; and according to the Sephardic custom one begins from verse 20, "Vayishlach Achav." Here the Rebbe emphasizes that in this matter we follow the Sephardic custom, beginning from "Vayishlach Achav."
Afterwards comes the listing of the lessons of Shabbos parshas Ki Sisa. Chumash, Ki Sisa, shevi'i, with the commentary of Rashi.
Tehillim, the 22nd of the month, one reads two chapters - chapter 106 and chapter 107.
Tanya, on this day one begins a new chapter, chapter 31, from the beginning of the chapter with the word "v'hinei," and the lesson concludes with the words "mesamchei lev."
In the haftarah mentioned earlier, one of the verses relates that the whole story of Eliyahu HaNavi and his success was "at the time of the offering of the minchah." And it may be that this is the connection, that the two sayings studied today speak about a matter connected to this time of the minchah - both minchah in general and the minchah of Shabbos.
The first saying speaks about the matter of seudah shelishis on Shabbos. It is known that by our Rebbeim, the nesi'im, there was a custom that they would not eat an actual seudah shelishis, a full meal. However, it is related in the talks of the Rebbe Rayatz that by the Alter Rebbe the order at first was that they did eat seudah shelishis, and at a certain stage this stopped. When did it stop? Let us read the saying and see.
It is written thus: "My revered father writes in one of his maamarim: The matter of seudah shelishis - "hayom lo" etc." "Aamu"r" - the initials of "adoni avi mori v'rabi" (my master, my father, my teacher and my Rebbe), and the intention is to the Rebbe Rashab "meaning that bread is not required."
What is the meaning of this sentence? The verse from which we learn the three meals of Shabbos speaks of the descent of the manna, where Moshe Rabbeinu instructed the Jewish people regarding the double portion of manna that fell on Friday. It is written there (verse 25): "And Moshe said, eat it today, for today is a Shabbos to Hashem; today you will not find it in the field."
From the three times the word "today" is written we learn that the verse alludes to three meals on Shabbos. And it is noted precisely that there is a difference between the third time and the first two: in the first it says "eat it today," in a positive expression; in the second, "for today is a Shabbos to Hashem," also in a positive expression; whereas in the third it says "today you will not find it in the field." From here the allusion that the third meal, which corresponds to the third time, is in the category of "today - not."
This is what he says here, that what the Rashab writes in one of his maamarim, "the matter of seudah shelishis - hayom lo," means that in the third meal there is alluded "hayom lo." And from the time that the Alter Rebbe said, for the first time, a maamar of chassidus on the words "hayom lo," the order of seudah shelishis ceased by him.
But here the Rebbe emphasizes "meaning that bread is not required" - the intention is not that one need not eat at all, for it is a halachah in Shulchan Aruch that there is a seudah shelishis; rather the intention is that bread is not required, and washing the hands for bread is not required, "but one must taste something." Tasting something must indeed take place at the third meal.
"And Rabbi Yosi said: May my portion be among those who eat three meals on Shabbos," as it is written in the Gemara in tractate Shabbos. What is the meaning of Rabbi Yosi's words? Let us preface that the third meal corresponds to the era of the time to come. And of the time to come it is written that "in the world to come there is neither eating nor drinking"; if so, seudah shelishis corresponds to the loftiest time, which alludes to the time to come.
On the other hand, in the time to come too there will be a body. It is known that the ruling of the teaching of chassidus is that in the time to come the ultimate purpose will be a soul within a body - there will be a body, only that the union of soul and body will not require eating and drinking; the matter will be in a loftier manner, but there will be a body, and there will be in it some sort of Divine delight that finds expression in the body.
Therefore at the third meal there is no eating in a general sense, because this is a time in which there is neither eating nor drinking; and on the other hand, since there is a body, there must be some tasting. And this is what Rabbi Yosi alluded to. For if there is a halachah that one must eat a third meal, what is novel in his saying "may my portion be among those who eat three meals"? Anyone can do that. Rather the emphasis is not in the words "may my portion be" simply, but in "my portion" - that I should have my portion, that I should have the delight in the little food that I eat at the third meal, that I should feel something of what will be in the time to come, when a bit of the delight will be felt in the physical body. And this is what Rabbi Yosi alluded to in his statement.
Now the second part - the second saying - it too speaks about the time of minchah; the first saying also deals with minchah, since seudah shelishis is at the time of the offering of the minchah. Let us give the second saying a short introduction, in order to understand the background. In its heading it is written that this is "the teaching of our Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe" - a statement that the Alter Rebbe said; and there is an interesting introduction as to when this was said, and by whom and in what context.
There is a story that appears in one of the letters of the Rebbe Rayatz, printed in the journal "HaTamim" that was published in Warsaw in those days. There it tells of a chassid by the name of Reb Yitzchak Shaul, one of the elder chassidim of the Alter Rebbe, who had even earlier been by the Maggid; a chassid on a very high level. In the letter something interesting is related about his passing.
Toward his passing, when he was apparently ill, a large crowd gathered in his room in his home, and the whole crowd was standing. Reb Yitzchak Shaul turned to the crowd and said: "My brothers, I am traveling home for Yom Tov." No one understood what he meant, except for one elderly man, Reb Shaul Leib, also a great chassid, who responded to him: "And do you think you will arrive there in time for Yom Tov?" - he was speaking of arriving in Gan Eden.
Reb Yitzchak Shaul answered him: "Certainly, only that beforehand I wish to daven minchah here in this world." And he said to Reb Shaul Leib: "Do you remember that seventy-five years ago we heard the saying of the Alter Rebbe about the special quality of minchah? I want first of all to daven minchah."
And what is the saying he heard from the Alter Rebbe? This is the daily saying. Let us read what is written: "The teaching of our Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe, at the beginning of his coming to Liozna" - something that the Alter Rebbe said many years earlier. And thus it says there: "A person should always be zahir in the minchah prayer." And the continuation is connected to the haftarah, for it says "for Eliyahu was answered only in the minchah prayer" - and that is the story of the haftarah of this Shabbos.
The Alter Rebbe explained the wording of our Sages, "a person should always be zahir in the minchah prayer," not as a single flowing phrase in its plain sense, but he divided the sentence into several stages and explained them. First - why is minchah so important, more than shacharis and maariv? "The advantage of the minchah prayer over the prayers of shacharis and maariv is in this, that it is in the middle of the day, at a time when people are busy and preoccupied with their affairs" - the shacharis prayer can be davened in the morning before going out to work, and the maariv prayer at night after returning from work; but the minchah prayer always falls in the middle of the day, at a time when people are busy and preoccupied with their affairs, and nevertheless "and they interrupt for the minchah prayer" and leave everything. This has great importance, more than shacharis and maariv.
Now, what is alluded to in the wording of our Sages, "a person should always be zahir in the minchah prayer"? "And this is "always" - a person's avodah in the world is"; what is demanded of a person while he is in the world? "that he 'be a person' (adam)" - always you must be an "adam."
What is an "adam"? This is a title of distinction for one who possesses wholeness in intellect and in emotions; and in the words of the saying, "an intellect that illuminates and acts upon the emotions" - a person who has inner wholeness, refined emotions and a good intellect, and the intellect illuminates and acts upon the emotions; this is the stage at which one can receive the title "adam." First, then, "a person should always be an adam": what you must do in the world - to be an adam.
The next word - "zahir." If you are an adam, then you are "zahir," not from the word for carefulness but from the word zohar, radiance "he will illuminate": if you are an adam, the essence and the ultimate purpose within the soul shines in you. And in the words of the Alter Rebbe, "meaning the prevailing of the form over the matter" - there is a conflict between the soul, which is called "form," and the preoccupations of the world, which are "the matter"; and since you are an adam, the form prevails in you over the matter.
And where is this evident? "And this is evident in the matter of the minchah prayer": if at the minchah prayer, in the middle of the day, a person is able to leave all his affairs and occupations and go to daven minchah - this is a sign that in him the form prevails and not the matter, and that the essential thing for him is the soul; this is one who can be called by the title "adam."
This is what the Alter Rebbe said: "A person should always be zahir" - and where is this seen? In the minchah prayer. This is the entire saying, and therefore Reb Yitzchak Shaul wanted first of all to daven minchah, and only afterwards did he depart "for Yom Tov," and traveled home to the world of the Holy One, blessed be He, willingly. May His name be praised.