The forty-fifth "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Monday, 5 Shevat 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Bo, sheini, with the commentary of Rashi.
Tehillim, the 5th of the month, from chapter 29 through chapter 34 inclusive.
Tanya, we began chapter 17, and today we continue from the words "vezeh kol" until "haremez".
The subject of today's saying speaks of the great virtue of reviewing the letters of Torah. In the days we have studied until now we have already had two sayings on the theme of the virtue of the letters, some of which dealt more or less with the very same points that will be mentioned today: one saying was on 7 Teves, about how studying and saying letters saves a person from chibut hakever and from kaf hakela; and another saying was on 11 Teves, whose subject was that the air requires purification, and the purification of the air comes about through saying letters - a very long saying, that wherever a person goes he can purify the air through letters.
This too is another saying on the theme, for we find much in the teachings of the Rebbe Rayatz, in many ways and in many letters, where he greatly emphasizes the matter of learning letters by heart and saying letters, whose value is great. This saying speaks of the virtue of learning the letters and saying the letters of Torah - how this acts above in the world at large, what is called "on the macro level", for the whole world, and what it accomplishes for the person individually, "on the micro level".
The saying is taken in its source from a maamar of the Rebbe Rayatz that begins with the words "Bidvar Hashem shamayim naasu", printed in Sefer Hamaamarim Yiddish. At the opening of the maamar, with the words "Bidvar Hashem shamayim naasu", he speaks of the virtue of speech and the virtue of the letters, that the world was created through letters. He elaborates there at great length, and we will note a point from which he proceeds to our subject.
He says that we see that even though a person has very lofty faculties - the faculty of intellect and of emotion - while speech is a garment, lower than they, nevertheless there is a virtue in speech, in that it intensifies the faculties higher than it. When a person speaks about a certain intellectual idea, he understands it better, or it becomes clear to him what he does not understand and what he needs to understand - speech sharpens the understanding. And so too with emotion: a person has a certain feeling, whether on the negative side, such as anger at someone, or on the positive side, such as words of love for someone, and when he speaks about it, this intensifies the feeling far more than it existed without speech, and from this it is understood that there is great power in speech.
And then he says that when a person speaks, Heaven forbid, things that are not good and negative words, this lowers his soul very low; and therefore, on the positive side, a person must increase in speaking good letters.
Let us look at the wording of the saying. The saying is in Yiddish, from a maamar in Sefer Hamaamarim Yiddish, and in the Hebrew translation: "One must increase in saying the letters of Torah", and he brings in parentheses an example: "to say Tehillim, to review Mishnayos". Let us be precise about the change of wording: regarding Tehillim he says "to say", and regarding Mishnayos "to review". The difference is simple: "to review" means by heart, and "to say" means to say what is written - and this is the general difference between Torah shebichsav and Torah shebaal peh. Tehillim is Torah shebichsav, and Mishnayos are Torah shebaal peh. With Torah shebichsav there is a difficulty in reviewing by heart, since only certain passages can be reviewed by heart, and therefore regarding Tehillim it says "to say"; whereas regarding Mishnayos, which are Torah shebaal peh, it says "to review" - to go over by heart.
He continues and concludes the sentence, "whenever and wherever he can, in order to strengthen the existence of the world", that at every time and in every place that a person is able, he should always increase in saying the letters of Torah. And what does this accomplish? He details here several things. First, through this he strengthens the existence of the world. There is a wording in the Zohar, that the Holy One, blessed be He, "istakel b'oraisa u'vara alma" - He looked into the Torah and created the world; and "bar nash", a person, "asak b'oraisa u'mekayem alma" - engages in Torah and causes the world to have existence. And this is the point he makes here: a Jew who says the letters of Torah gives power to strengthen the existence of the world. This is the salvation "on the macro level", salvation for the world at large.
Second, there is in this also a personal salvation for the individual - "in order to save himself from chibut hakever and kaf hakela". A person who says the letters of Torah saves himself from the punishment called chibut hakever, which is primarily a punishment for the body, or from the punishment called kaf hakela, which is a punishment for the soul, and the rectification is through saying letters. In one place the Rebbe Rayatz explains the matter of kaf hakela with a parable: just as one shakes out a garment to which dust has clung, so that the dust should come out, so too the soul to which letters of things that are not good and the like have clung - it must be shaken out, and the neshamah is shaken free of the not-good letters that clung to it; this is kaf hakela. And one who wants to be saved from this punishment, from that unpleasantness of the soul, must increase in the letters of Torah while he is still alive in this world, and this prevents from him the matter of kaf hakela.
Third, he says that besides the fact that the matter of saying the letters has the power to prevent undesirable things, it also has power on the positive side - "and to merit all the loftiest revelations". The loftiest revelations come about through a person saying the letters of Torah.
We will conclude with a point that we see in the sayings, the connection between the sayings and the order of the halachos in the Rambam. Right now we are in halachos connected to Sefer Zmanim, and in the sayings of the preceding days we spoke about the halachos connected to the festivals - Yom Kippur and the festivals in general. Today the hint is a little more distant, but in the sequence of the halachos of Sefer Zmanim, today alludes to hilchos shofar, lulav and sukkah. And what is the connection?
Shofar - a subject written in the Zohar, that the blowing of the shofar brings existence to the world; and as is known, when we blow the shofar we crown the Holy One, blessed be He, as King, and He decides to continue and sustain the world. This is the one theme in the saying - that which gives existence to the world - connected to the content of the shofar.
Lulav - Chazal say that we wave the lulav in all directions, and this prevents harmful dews and harmful winds through the waving. This alludes to the matter of saying Tehillim, which prevents kaf hakela and chibut hakever, which are hinted at in the harmful dews and the harmful winds.
And the third point - sukkah, corresponding to the conclusion of the saying, that the saying brings the greatest revelations. Well known are the sayings about the sukkah, how great the revelations in it are, and also the saying of the Mitteler Rebbe - why we do not sleep in the sukkah: how can one sleep in such a great place, which contains such great revelations. And likewise in the Gemara, in the discussion of avodah zarah, Chazal say that in the future to come, when the Holy One, blessed be He, brings the redemption, the nations will ask why they do not have these revelations, and the Holy One, blessed be He, says: We will test you and see whether you are fit for the revelations. And what is the test? "Give them the mitzvah of sukkah", and we will see how they cope with it - which shows that this mitzvah comes to express the great revelations. This is the hint to the three sets of halachos that come in Sefer Zmanim: shofar, lulav and sukkah.