The three hundred and seventy-second "room" in the palace of daily life.
Holy Shabbat day, the 7th of Kislev, 5704 (1943).
At the outset, the Rebbe addresses the haftarah customarily read in Chabad on this Shabbat, when the portion of "Vayeitzei" is read. Regarding the haftarah of this Shabbat there are several customs; the haftarah is read from the book of Hoshea, but there is a discussion as to precisely where one begins, where one concludes, and how far one reads.
The Sephardic custom is to begin in Hosea from "And My people are hung in suspense" (11:7), and to conclude with the words "upon the furrows of the field" (12:12); and there are some Sephardim who continue further until the verse "in a land of drought" (later, in chapter 13). The Ashkenazic custom is not to begin from the beginning at all, not from "And My people are hung in suspense," but rather from "And Jacob fled" (12:13), and to continue until the end of Hosea, until "and transgressors stumble in them." And there are yet other customs.
Here the Rebbe notes what our custom is in Chabad, and writes: "ve'ami — until talmei sadai." We begin from the start, "ve'ami teluim," until "al talmei sadai" like the Sephardim, but we add two more verses: "vayivrach Yaakov etc. uv'isha shamar" — one verse, and "uv'navi he'ela etc. uv'navi nishmar" — an additional verse. The Rebbe notes the two additional verses that we too read.
This requires examination: why does the Rebbe cite both verses in full detail, rather than writing briefly "until 'and by a prophet was he kept'"? It is possible that the reason is that the verse "And Jacob fled" is directly connected to the parsha, for it tells of Jacob fleeing from Laban, whereas the following verse, "and by a prophet did He bring up," already speaks of the Jewish people in Egypt, which is a later time; therefore the Rebbe notes that this too is read. In any case, this is the reference at the beginning of the daily saying.
Lessons: Chumash, Vayeitzei, seventh reading, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, for the 7th of the month, from chapter 39 through chapter 53 inclusive.
Tanya, we continue today in Kuntres Acharon. We are still in the fourth section of Kuntres Acharon, and the daily lesson is in the seventh part of that section. It begins on page 157 with the words "וּבַר מִן," and ends on page 314 with the word "הִלְכוֹתֵיהֶן."
The source of the daily saying is a note written by the Rebbe Rayatz in the winter of 5698 — a long and interesting note, which was later published on its own as a pamphlet titled "Kuntres Torat HaChassidut." We already had sayings from that same pamphlet on the 21st and 22nd of Marcheshvan, and now there is an additional saying from it here. The purpose of the note is to explain the special significance of Torat HaChassidut.
Here the Rebbe presents the greatness of the teachings of Chassidus. There are several types of wisdom known to the Jewish people that deal with the Jew's service in the world, and the Rebbe proceeds from the lowest to the highest among these types of wisdom — beginning with the wisdom of mussar, followed by the wisdom of philosophical inquiry, and finally the teachings of Chassidus — and explains the merit inherent in each of them, as well as the unique merit found in the teachings of Chassidus.
Let us examine the language. The opening: "There are three wisdoms" — three types of wisdom at different levels, from lower to higher. The first wisdom — what does it speak about, and what is its main concern? "The wisdom of nullifying the material." There is a wisdom that emphasizes primarily how much a person's material aspect — his body and his bad character traits — is problematic and not good; that if a person has cravings for food and drink, he is like an animal, and even worse than an animal. A wisdom whose entire concern is to understand and express the loathsomeness and repulsiveness of the material.
"Through teaching the abhorrence and disgust of all bodily and material matters" — the entire emphasis of this wisdom is on how much bodily and material things are abhorrent and disgusting. Which wisdom deals primarily with this area? "The wisdom of mussar," which speaks mainly about negation — that you should flee from involvement with the material; that is its main emphasis.
Above this there is a wisdom — what does it speak about? "the wisdom of recognizing the superiority of form and the spiritual." The higher wisdom does not speak about the negation of the material, but rather about the superiority of the soul, about the superiority of the spiritual part within a person — in his character traits and in his intellectual faculties: a person who has good character traits, how wonderful this is; a person who is capable of contemplating and comprehending lofty matters, how wonderful this is. This is the loftier wisdom, which speaks about the superiority of the spiritual. "and instructing the ways of drawing close to them" — and it also explains how a person can draw close to good character traits and lofty intellectual concepts. Which wisdom deals with this? "the wisdom of philosophical inquiry."
Until now: the ethical teaching that speaks of negating the material, and the philosophical inquiry that speaks of the virtue of the soul, the virtue of the form. And what is the third thing? The wisdom of Chassidus. What does it do? "The wisdom of the form prevailing over the material." The wisdom of Chassidus relates to the two preceding approaches, but it does not speak solely of negating the material — "cast it away" — nor solely of the virtue of the form — "elevate yourself" — but rather that the entire virtue of the form lies in its ability to overcome the material, that is, to refine the person, as he elaborates.
"An instruction concerning the virtue of refined matter" — on one hand, we speak of how lofty a person's matter is, how pure and refined his body is. And when is there virtue to form, to one's character traits and intellect? "And concerning the virtue of form that becomes established within the material" — when one's character traits and intellect engage with matter, with the body, and refine it. That is to say, the virtue lies in there being a connection and interaction between the upper part and the lower part, "and their being intertwined together" — both are included within one another: the form influences the matter, and the matter is elevated and refined.
And to what extent should they be connected? "Such that neither beginning nor end can be found" — that one should not feel at all that the form is a beginning and the matter is an end that has no significance and no importance; rather, the beginning and the end should be bound to one another and should influence one another. And why is it so important, and even possible, to join the higher (the form) with the lower (the matter)? "Because their beginning is embedded in their end and their end in their beginning" — it is known that the beginning, the very highest part, is embedded in and connected to the end, the very lowest part, and the very lowest is connected to the beginning. Therefore the matter, which is the very lowest, is embedded in and bound to the form, which is the very highest, and the higher form must be bound to the very lowest; there must be a connection between them.
"One God created them" — the Holy One, blessed be He, created both the form and the matter, and for one purpose He placed the soul within the body, with a shared goal: "and for one purpose they were created: to reveal the light of the holiness of the hidden treasure of His might, blessed be He" — everything was created in order to reveal the divine holiness, the divine power that can illuminate matter, refine it, and elevate it. "And both of them precisely as one" — davka when one joins the two together and works with them in proper cooperation — "they complete that perfection which arose in His will, blessed be He." The divine perfection that the Holy One, blessed be He, desired and planned in man's actions in the world is the union between them — the elevation of matter and the engagement of the form with the matter. And which wisdom speaks of this? "The wisdom of the teaching of Chassidus," which effects the perfect union between the two extremes we have discussed.