The eighth "chamber" in the palace of daily life.
Holy Shabbat, the 26th of Kislev, the 2nd day of Chanukah, 5703.
In the heading, the Rebbe writes "Blessing the New Month of Teves" — that Shabbos is the Shabbos of blessing the coming month of Teves. The Rebbe also notes the custom observed on Shabbos Mevorchim, as will be elaborated further in the letter of the Rebbe Rayatz, that there is "the recitation of the entire Tehillim early in the morning" — the directive of the Rebbe Rayatz to recite the entire Tehillim early in the morning on Shabbos Mevorchim.
Lessons: Chumash, Vayeishev, seventh aliyah, with Rashi's commentary.
Psalms, the second half of chapter 119, from the verse "How I love" until the conclusion of the chapter, "I have not forgotten."
Tanya, we begin chapter 2, from "and the soul" until the word "in the beginning."
The Rebbe notes that this is a "day of farbrengen." The Rebbe Rayatz instituted (as will be brought shortly from the language of his letter) that on Shabbos Mevorchim two things should be done: to recite the entire Tehillim in the morning before davening, and to farbreng on that day after davening. What is the reason for these enactments? In the source, the Rebbe Rayatz does not give a reason, but rather says that this is how the conduct should be among chassidim. However, in one of the sichos the Rebbe said that perhaps one may say that the reason for these enactments is because on this Shabbos the month is blessed, and there is in Shabbos Mevorchim something of the nature of the sanctification of the month (kiddush hachodesh) — even though today there is no actual kiddush hachodesh, and generally Shabbos Mevorchim falls even before the molad, sometimes several days before it. But it contains something of the nature of the matter of kiddush hachodesh that existed in the past and will be again in the future, please G-d. And in order to draw down the spiritual matter that the blessing of the month is meant to effect, the Rebbe says that the vessels to draw this down are the recitation of the entire Tehillim in the morning and the farbrengen that follows it; these two things are the vessels to draw down all the influences of Shabbos Mevorchim together with kiddush hachodesh, and the idea that this should have an effect upon the person.
Afterward the Rebbe notes "tal umatar" [dew and rain]. The law of tal umatar is well known in the Shulchan Aruch in the laws of prayer, in siman 117, in the laws of the blessing of the years [birkat hashanim]. There it is explained that there is a difference between the Land of Israel and the Diaspora regarding when one requests rain in the blessing of the years, in the request "and grant dew and rain for a blessing" [veten tal umatar livracha]: in the Land of Israel the request for rain is immediately after the holidays, except that it is postponed until the 7th of Marcheshvan, as the saying goes "until the last one of Israel reaches the Euphrates River"; and in the Diaspora, in Babylonia, where less rain is needed, the request for rains begins sixty days after the tekufah [seasonal turning point]. The year is divided into four tekufot, named after the month in which they fall — the tekufah of Tishrei, the tekufah of Tevet, the tekufah of Nisan, and the tekufah of Tammuz — according to the division of the solar year into four, and sixty days after the tekufah of Tishrei is the time set in the Diaspora for the request "and grant dew and rain for a blessing." Generally this falls on a fixed date in the secular calendar, the 5th of December. In that year this day fell on the 26th of Kislev, on which the request for rains began in the Diaspora, and this is what the Rebbe notes: "today tal umatar."
The third matter he brings: "The Chanukah candle after Havdalah and before reciting 'Vayiten Lecha.' In the synagogue, the Chanukah candle before Havdalah." Since we are dealing with Shabbat, one must light Chanukah candles on Motzaei Shabbat, and the Rebbe notes that the Chanukah candle should be after Havdalah. There is a dispute regarding this in the Shulchan Aruch: in Orach Chaim, siman 681, the matter of the Chanukah candle on Motzaei Shabbat is discussed, and the Shulchan Aruch as well as the Rema write that in the synagogue the Chanukah candle precedes Havdalah, and the Rema adds that all the more so at home it should be before Havdalah. However, the commentators [nosei keilim] are divided, and regarding the recitation of "Vayiten Lecha" — since it is a custom — it is pushed off to later. In the synagogue we rule specifically in accordance with the Shulchan Aruch and the Rema, that the Chanukah candle precedes Havdalah, and as the reason brought by the Taz — in order to delay the departure of Shabbat in the synagogue as much as possible, and therefore one first lights the Chanukah candle and afterward Havdalah; whereas at home the order is reversed.
Now comes the actual saying that the Rebbe quotes — and as he indicates in the adjacent sayings their source — from a letter of the Rebbe Rayatz of the 15th of Menachem-Av 5697 (1937), printed in the collection at the end of the Tehillim, in which the Rebbe Rayatz sends a letter to all the Temimim and Anash. And this is the passage that the Rebbe quotes: "On the holy Shabbos when the month is blessed, early in the morning Anash should gather in the shul to recite the entire Tehillim" — the enactment of the Rebbe Rayatz to say the whole Tehillim before prayer. "After the recitation they should study for about an hour a maamar of Chassidus teaching that will be understandable to all" — a Chassidus lesson after the recitation of Tehillim, about an hour, a maamar that the entire congregation can understand. "And afterwards prayer" — the prayer begins only after these two things, Tehillim and the Chassidus lesson. "The time of the farbrengen according to the time that they set" — the time of the farbrengen depends on and varies between summer and winter, and there are places where it is fitting that the farbrengen be on Motzaei Shabbos or Shabbos afternoon, and therefore it needs to be "suited to the conditions of the place, the place of their dwelling, for success in material and spiritual matters". This too appears in that same letter of the Rebbe Rayatz of the 15th of Menachem-Av.
In connection with this point—that the farbrengen must be suited to the conditions of the place—it is worth noting, as one matter leads to another, that the Rebbe mentions in two letters he wrote, both to Kfar Chabad and to Jerusalem, concerning those who farbreng in the synagogue on Shabbos Mevorchim, that neither his wish nor the wish of our Rebbeim is fulfilled when people remain at the farbrengen in a manner that they do not come home for the Shabbos meal. The farbrengen must be conducted in such a way that everyone can come home, hold the Shabbos meal, and recount at home what was said at the farbrengen. Here we see the allusion that the farbrengen must be fitting for "the place of their dwelling" and for the conditions of the place—that is, to take into account the situation at home, so that the running of the household will be as it ought to be.
At the conclusion of the passage the Rebbe writes, "After reciting the entire Tehillim on Shabbos Mevorchim, one says Kaddish Yasom." The Rebbe adds, "And if there is a chiyuv — a yahrzeit or a mourner — one recites Kaddish Yasom after each book," meaning that if there is a chiyuv — someone who has an obligation that Shabbos in the synagogue, namely a yahrzeit (the anniversary of a passing) or a mourner within the year of mourning — there is a novel point that one recites Kaddish Yasom after each book. In principle, the effort among us — and there is a lengthy letter of the Rebbe on this, printed even at the end of the Siddur regarding the entire matter of Kaddishim — is that it is not customary to recite Kaddishim without cause. For example, during the month of Elul, when one says "L'Dovid Hashem Ori V'Yishi" each day after the Song of the Day, one does not say — as is the custom in many places — one Kaddish after the Song of the Day and an additional Kaddish after "L'Dovid Hashem Ori," but rather one combines them and says a single Kaddish after both. Therefore, in principle, reciting many Kaddishim in the middle of Tehillim is not appropriate, since this is in the middle of Tehillim and there is no point in multiplying Kaddishim. The novel point is that if there is a mourner or one who has a yahrzeit present, he does indeed recite the Kaddish between one book and the next.
However, the Rebbe notes in a letter that the person who is reciting the Kaddish — at the very least he — needs, before saying the Kaddish, after having finished the book within Tehillim, to say the "Yehi Ratzon" printed at the end of the Tehillim, which is like a conclusion of the book, and then he may say Kaddish and continue to the next book, and so on. But if not — as we saw by the Rebbe — he would not say the "Yehi Ratzon" on Shabbos Mevorchim between one book and another, but only at the end of the entire Tehillim would he say "Yehi Ratzon" over everything; for the interruption of the "Yehi Ratzon" is said mainly by the one who recites the Kaddish, who is the one who makes the interruption in this matter.
It is interesting to note that this particular Shabbat Mevarchim about which the Rebbe speaks here in 5703 (1943) is, first of all, the first Shabbat Mevarchim of the year, for the Rebbe begins the "Hayom Yom" from the 19th of Kislev, and this is the first opportunity to speak about Shabbat Mevarchim. It is also interesting that in that year the Rebbe Rayatz was in a year of mourning — since his mother passed away on the 13th of Shevat 5702 (1942) — and this Shabbat Mevarchim was the last Shabbat Mevarchim during which the Rebbe Rayatz was in the year of mourning for his mother. Therefore, what the Rebbe notes here regarding the custom of mourning on Shabbat Mevarchim, with respect to the Rebbe Rayatz this was during the last Shabbat Mevarchim of his mourning for his mother — and it is this custom of reciting Tehillim that he notes.