"Room" three hundred eighty-three in the palace of the everyday.
Wednesday, the 18th of Kislev, 5704 (1943).
Lessons: Chumash, Vayeishev, fourth aliyah, with the commentary of Rashi.
Psalms, on the 18th of the month, we say the two chapters 88 and 89.
Tanya, on this day we conclude the Book of Tanya, in the Kuntres Acharon, in the ninth and final section. On this day we study the entire ninth section to its end. It begins on page 324 with the word "lehochiach" (to prove), and the conclusion of Tanya is on folio 103 with the words "le'umas zeh ku'" (correspondingly, etc.).
The daily saying contains three parts. In the first part the Rebbe writes what is customary on this day, the 18th of Kislev: "At Mincha we do not say Tachanun." Today we are on the eve of the 19th of Kislev; on the 19th of Kislev we do not say Tachanun, and on the 20th as well we do not say it. Therefore already on the eve of the 19th of Kislev, which is the 18th, we do not say Tachanun at Mincha, for we are approaching the great festival, the festival of redemption, the 19th of Kislev.
Afterward comes the aphorism. It is exceptional in the book, for it is not taken from a letter, a talk, or a discourse of the Rebbe Rayatz, but rather it is a quotation from the book "Derech Mitzvosecha" by the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, from the root of the mitzvah of prayer, in chapter 40, where the passage appears.
"The Tzemach Tzedek writes: "Love of the level of 'and beside You I desire nothing'" — there is a love of G-d that King David speaks about in Tehillim, when he says "Whom have I in heaven, and beside You I desire nothing on earth." In this verse King David expresses a special level in the love of G-d. What is it? "(Namely,) not to desire anything other than Him, blessed be He" — that a person has no desire or yearning for anything and for any level, but only to unite with the very Essence of the Creator.
What does the verse negate? "Whom have I in heaven, and beside You I desire nothing on earth" — the two aspects mentioned here, heaven and earth, do not satisfy him, and in his words "and not even heaven and earth." What is meant by this? "That they are the upper and lower Garden of Eden," which are called heaven and earth — the upper Garden of Eden is called in the verse "heaven," and the lower Garden of Eden is called "earth." King David says that he does not long either for the upper Garden of Eden, and certainly not for the lower Garden of Eden, but rather he desires You Yourself.
And why are the upper and lower Gan Eden not lofty enough levels? "Because it was created only with a yud" — as the Gemara states that the World to Come was created with the letter yud and This World was created with the letter hei; meaning that these are constricted revelations from the Holy One, blessed be He, the letters yud and hei. The Jew says: I am not content with something small and external, rather I want You Yourself — "rather the love should be to Him alone, blessed be He - to His very essence and being, literally." A Jew's love is only for the essence of the Creator, and not for any other aspect.
This is what the Tzemach Tzedek writes in "Derech Mitzvosecha" in his explanation of the verse, and he concludes: "and thus the expression was heard from my teacher and master, may his soul rest in Eden." Who is "my teacher and master"? "(the Alter Rebbe)," who was accustomed to say this — not a one-time statement, but something that was habitual on his lips. What would he say "in his dveykus," while in a lofty state of divine attachment? "That he would say in these words" — the words were in Yiddish, and in translation: "I desire nothing; I do not want Your Garden of Eden, I do not want Your World to Come — only You alone" ["I do not want" — not merely "I do not want"; the word "vil" means to want, but here a suffix was added in Yiddish: "ich vil ze." I do not yearn for Your World to Come nor for the other levels, as we saw in the verse — even the lower Garden of Eden and all the aspects; the only thing I want — You Yourself alone].
In the famous discourse "V'ata Tetzaveh" (5741), the last discourse that the Rebbe distributed, the Rebbe emphasizes regarding this saying: since it was stated by the Alter Rebbe, publicized by the Tzemach Tzedek, and the Rebbe himself publicized it in "Hayom Yom" and made it into a saying for Yud-Tes Kislev — from this is given the power to each and every one of Israel that his essential desire should be the revelation of the Atzmus (Essence). Everyone can grasp onto some point of that very call and yearning of the Alter Rebbe.
This idea connects strongly also to the conclusion of the Rambam's work, in the final law, where the Rambam writes: "The sages and prophets did not yearn for the days of Mashiach," but rather the only thing they desired — "that they be free to engage in Torah and its wisdom, so that they may merit the life of the World to Come," and they wish to unite with Him Himself. This is the very same idea, and we see that the sayings correspond to the Rambam.
There is another interesting point here. There is a well-known principle in the sacred texts: "their end is embedded in their beginning and their beginning in their end." We have now merited to reach the saying that concludes the "HaYom Yom" book, which is the end of the book, connected to its beginning. At the beginning of the book, as an introduction to Yud-Tes Kislev, the Rebbe opens with a letter of the Rebbe Rashab, and there, in the second passage, is stated a wording that corresponds exactly to the conclusion: "and it is upon us to illuminate our hearts on this day" — how a Jew must arouse himself on this day from the aspect of inner and essential desire and will, "in the truth of the point of our heart," to arouse a deep inner will, as the Alter Rebbe said "I want [You]." What is the depth of the will? "That our soul be illuminated with the light of the innerness of His blessed Torah" — to unite with the inner light of the Torah. This is the opening of the "HaYom Yom," and here, at its conclusion, the love of "whom have I in heaven but You." This is the conclusion of the saying.
But the daily portion has not yet concluded. Now comes another segment. First the Rebbe proclaims: "Gut Yom Tov". This blessing, as the Rebbe Rayatz said at the opening of the farbrengen of Yud-Tes Kislev 5702: "Among us, Chabad chassidim, there is a custom — one of the customs of the chassidim of the Alter Rebbe — that when the eve of Yud-Tes Kislev arrives, before Maariv and after it, and when chassidim meet one another during this day, they wish each other on this day 'Gut Yom Tov'". This is the saying of this day, which the Rebbe Rayatz said at the beginning of the farbrengen of 5702.
Following the proclamation "Gut Yom Tov" comes another line and a half, an addition in the handwriting of the Rebbe Rayatz, containing the blessing hoped for on this day, in addition to "Gut Yom Tov": "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year in the study of Chassidus and the ways of Chassidus." Here there is a blessing both for the study and for the ways; and it is worthwhile to examine the saying of the twenty-fourth of Teves, the day of the yahrzeit of the Alter Rebbe, where one can understand what "the study of Chassidus" is and what "the ways of Chassidus" is. And here is the blessing for every Jew, that they bless one another in public "may you be inscribed and sealed," and also in a personal manner.
There is a letter of the Rebbe, printed in Igros Kodesh, volume 10, page 291, in which the Rebbe addresses the fact that the 19th of Kislev is called a "Rosh Hashanah." Someone asked the Rebbe about this, since there was a well-known saying that chassidim, as it were, "invented" a day. The Rebbe explains there that this definition — to call an additional day of the year a "Rosh Hashanah" and not only the first of Tishrei — is fitting also according to nigleh (the revealed part of Torah), and he demonstrates this with examples from the revealed Torah, beginning with the famous Mishnah that "there are four New Years," etc.; and the matter is fitting also according to pnimiyus (the inner dimension of Torah). He says that all the conduct of our Rebbeim, our leaders, accords with all the rules, both in nigleh and in pnimiyus, and everything is orderly. It emerges that the proclamation of this day as a "Rosh Hashanah" has a fundamental basis in all parts of the Torah.
It is worth adding an interesting point: On the 19th of Kislev 5714, the Rebbe said at a farbrengen that just as on Rosh Hashanah of the 1st of Tishrei there is judgment and adjudication, so too on the 19th of Kislev there is judgment and adjudication, and therefore we wish one another "a good year, may you be written and sealed." What is the judgment and adjudication about on the 19th of Kislev? The Rebbe alluded to the verse "for it is a statute for Israel, a judgment for the God of Jacob": What is meant by "a judgment for the God of Jacob"? "Jacob" is an appellation for the Jewish people, for a Jew; you want that Godliness should shine in your soul, that "the God of Jacob" — the Godliness within your soul — should shine. On this day it is determined how much Godliness will shine for you throughout the year; this is the statute and the judgment of this day.
The Rebbe says there that there are kelipot that hinder the revelation of Godliness. And what cuts off the kelipot? The study of the Tanya. One must study Tanya — the study prevents the kelipot from interfering, and causes the judgment and verdict of the 19th of Kislev to come in a broad drawing-down of "the God of Yaakov." And the moment one merits the broad drawing-down of the 19th of Kislev in spirituality, in "the God of Yaakov," ultimately this is expressed also in physicality — abundant material bounty, all that is needed. If so, this wish of "a good year" on this day has meaning both spiritually and physically, with God's help, for each and every one.