"Cheder" number three hundred eighty-two in the palace of daily life.
Tuesday, 17 Kislev 5704 (1943).
Lessons: Chumash, Vayeishev, third reading, with the commentary of Rashi.
Psalms, on the 17th of the month, we recite from chapter 83 through and including chapter 87.
Tanya, we continue with Kuntres Acharon. On this day we study the entire eighth section of Kuntres Acharon, which begins on page 322 with the words "Hineh lo tovah hashemu'ah" — where the letter begins — and concludes on page 324 with the words "vechu' vedai lameivin."
The passage we will see today is an excerpt from a treatise written by the Rebbe Rayatz in the winter of 5698. We have already mentioned this treatise several times throughout the sayings of the "Hayom Yom"; it is a special treatise containing thirty chapters that explain the matter of prayer and Chassidus, and today it is printed as a booklet in its own right, called "Kuntres Toras HaChassidus" of the Rebbe Rayatz. From this kuntres we have already had several sayings in the month of Marcheshvan and also in this month, and the present saying, too, appears in that same treatise.
In this aphorism, as we shall see shortly in detail, the Rebbe Rayatz specifies three things that the teachings of Chabad Chassidus accomplish within a person's soul, across three parameters: what it accomplishes in the mind, what it accomplishes in the heart, and what it accomplishes in one's practical conduct — in each person's practical approach to life. In the account found in the kuntres, this is written at great length, with examples and illustrations and so forth, whereas here it is written concisely and briefly, also as a preparation for Yud-Tes Kislev, the New Year of Chassidus.
Let us read the wording of the saying: "Chabad Chassidus opens the gates of the chambers of wisdom and understanding" — the study of Chabad teachings opens within a person the chamber of chochmah and binah. And what is the significance of this? "To know and recognize the One who spoke and the world came into being" — "the One who spoke and the world came into being" is an appellation for the Holy One, blessed be He — to know and recognize Him, that the entire existence of the world is because there is "One who spoke and the world came into being," and to recognize Him "through intellectual comprehension."
As he says there in the note, the examples and analogies found in Chassidus are on such a level that even people of limited comprehension, who are not so wise, are able to grasp, understand, and visualize them, until the matter becomes very clear to them. As he details there, Chassidus is literally structured in stages, and it elevates the student step by step, so that he can arrive at the first and best recognition. This is the first stage — what the teachings of Chabad do for the mind.
Afterward he moves on to the second part: "arousing the emotions of the heart to be stirred in the very measure that the heart is obligated to feel from this comprehension" — from what he contemplated and understood. There are contemplations in which the appropriate emotion to be aroused is one of being stirred, and there is an emotion of love, an emotion of fear, and an emotion of firm resolve to do what the Holy One, blessed be He, says — various emotions that may be aroused as a result of the content upon which he contemplated. The teaching of Chassidus causes a person to arouse this emotion, so that the emotion required by what he learned will indeed be aroused in the proper manner.
And now he moves to the third stage: "and shows the way" — the teaching of Chabad instructs and provides guidance, "so that each and every one according to his own measure" — every Jew, whatever his level may be, according to his personal standing — "is able to approach the holy." Everyone is able to approach; there is no one who can say "this does not pertain to me, this is too deep, this is too lofty." Chassidus brings this down even to people of limited comprehension, so that everyone will be able to approach the holy — to understand, to grasp, and to be moved — "to serve Havayah with his mind and his heart," so that both his mind and his heart will be filled in the proper way. This is the third stage: to give every Jew the ability to do this at his own level, and this is not unique specifically to people of very lofty stature.
This matter follows the saying we read on the previous day, the 16th of Kislev, which discusses what the Chabad approach is. There we learned the point that the Chabad approach is the rule of the mind over the heart, and today the Rebbe Rayatz elaborates on what the teaching of Chabad does — how it truly instills this within the mind, within the heart, and within practical guidance — and all of this together connects us in an inner way to the teaching of Chassidus, as we approach Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus.
This too continues the connection we are making between the sayings and the conclusion of the Rambam's work, the final laws in the Laws of Kings. We saw the connection in the previous saying as well, and the same connection applies today: in the Laws of Kings the Rambam speaks of how the king is "the heart of the entire congregation of Israel." This relates to the present saying — to awaken the heart of every Jew, so that he can serve God with his heart and arouse his heart. This is the same theme as in the previous saying, and the connection to that same final section in the Rambam's work.