The fifty-fifth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 15 Shevat 5703.
Before the daily lessons the Rebbe writes as a heading: "Tachanun is not said". On this day, the New Year for Trees, tachanun is not said. It is interesting that on the previous day too, on the 14th, it was written "at Minchah tachanun is not said", and here it is written "tachanun is not said", except that there is a striking and interesting difference in the placement of the custom: on the previous day the Rebbe places it after the daily lessons, and here he places it before the daily lessons. It may be that the reason is that the daily lessons are generally said in the morning, while Minchah is prayed later. On the eve of 15 Shevat, after the order of the day, one says the daily lessons, and then one reaches the afternoon hours - and one needs to know that at Minchah tachanun is not said. However, when 15 Shevat arrives, from the very start of the day tachanun is not said, and accordingly the matter is not connected to the daily lessons, and therefore it is written as a heading for the day, and only afterwards come the daily lessons.
Lessons: Chumash, Beshalach, chamishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 15th of the month, one says two chapters - chapter 77 and chapter 78.
Tanya, we are in the middle of chapter 21, from the word "vaharei" until page 27, which ends with the word "bimetzius".
The daily teaching is a continuation of the previous teaching, which was on 3 Shevat. In that lesson we spoke at length about the entire background of the printing of the two parts of "Torah Or" - when at that time the second part was still intended to be called "Torah Or" as well - and we told what actually happened, that only the first part was printed, with the whole story of the informing and the closing of the printing house. We will not repeat here everything that was said on 3 Shevat.
Here there is a continuation to the matter: this took place after the Tzemach Tzedek had already been eighteen years in his nesius, and then the story recounted here occurred. "When they set about printing the second part of the "Torah Or"" - after the first part had been printed some years earlier, because the printing houses in Russia had been closed - this was in 5608. And "the chassidim already knew that there were hagahos and biurim from the Tzemach Tzedek on the maamarim"; for the Tzemach Tzedek, as is known, wrote many hagahos and biurim on the maamarim of the Alter Rebbe.
In the first part of "Torah Or" the Tzemach Tzedek printed almost none of his hagahos, and there one finds the maamarim alone. But when they came to print the second part, the chassidim already knew that there were many hagahos of the Tzemach Tzedek on the maamarim, "and they pleaded with the Tzemach Tzedek that he print them together with the maamarim" - they asked him that, when printing the second part, he should incorporate into it all his biurim, and they pressed him about this. "And the Tzemach Tzedek refused" - the Tzemach Tzedek did not want to, and said that he wished to print the maamarim as they are, and to leave his biurim on their own.
And what happened? "He dreamed a dream" - the Tzemach Tzedek dreamed "that his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, came to visit him and asked him to print them"; in the dream the Alter Rebbe asks him that when he prints the sefer, he should incorporate into it also the biurim of the Tzemach Tzedek.
And still the Tzemach Tzedek was not persuaded to do so. "Nevertheless he concealed the matter" - he did not tell anyone that he had dreamed this dream, and he continued to refuse to do it. What happened nonetheless? "Until three of his sons also dreamed this same dream" - three of the Tzemach Tzedek's sons, each one separately, dreamed exactly the same dream, that the grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, comes and asks that this be printed. And each of the sons who dreamed the dream came to his father and told him: "I dreamed such a dream, that grandfather came and asked in the dream such and such".
"And they told their father" - after three of the Tzemach Tzedek's sons dreamed exactly the same dream and told this to the Tzemach Tzedek, "then he agreed to print also his hagahos and biurim in the second part". And so he indeed did, and in ninety-nine percent of the cases it is incorporated in parentheses within the maamarim; wherever there are parentheses in "Likutei Torah", these are the biurim of the Tzemach Tzedek. Sometimes the biur is very long, sometimes short, and sometimes it appears even without the parentheses - something that apparently depends on the printer and how he actually did it. Also incorporated there are many biurim of the Mitteler Rebbe. And he concludes: "And they called it by the name Likutei Torah" - the second part was no longer called "Torah Or", but by a different name, "Likutei Torah", even though in fact it is the second part of the original plan of the Alter Rebbe's maamarim.
Why did the Rebbe divide the teaching - its first part on 3 Shevat and its conclusion here - after all, it is a story about one matter? Many times we find in "Hayom Yom" that one day is a continuation of the previous teaching. One can say several reasons why the matter was brought here.
First: even though "Likutei Torah", that is, the second part, is on the books of Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim, the first maamar that opens "Likutei Torah" is on parashas Beshalach - "See that Hashem has given you the Shabbos" - and we are now in parashas Beshalach. So he inserted the matter of "Likutei Torah" in parashas Beshalach, with which it opens.
And what is the reason for this? On this itself one may ask: parashas Beshalach is in the book of Shemos, while "Likutei Torah" is on Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim - why then does it open with parashas Beshalach? The Rebbe once addressed this question and explained two points. One point: the statement "See that Hashem has given you the Shabbos", which Moshe Rabbeinu said in the name of Hashem, was said in parashas Beshalach, on the first Shabbos after the descent of the manna - bread from heaven - and then he told them the mitzvos connected to Shabbos, that on Friday a double portion descends, and all the details that appear in the sixth aliyah of parashas Beshalach. This idea of bread from heaven is in the category of "Likutei Torah", for chassidus in general is bread from heaven; and therefore he opens "Likutei Torah" with that very statement said on the first Shabbos on which the manna, bread from heaven, descended into the world.
And a further point: about Shabbos in general it is said that it is connected to the Geulah - there is the expression "all the affairs of Shabbos are doubled", the doubled language of Shabbos, and the doubling is connected to the Geulah. And all of "Likutei Torah" is a new stage in the spreading of the wellsprings, even more than "Torah Or". And one of the reasons the Rebbe once gave regarding the name "Likutei Torah" is that it gathers from all of the teachings of chassidus; the name "Likutei" brings all the foundations of the teachings of chassidus, and therefore it is a very all-encompassing matter in the spreading of chassidus.
Let us add to this also the well-known matter from the Alter Rebbe, that he set a keitz for the year 5608. And when the year passed and Moshiach did not come, they asked the Tzemach Tzedek what happened with the keitz that was supposed to be - after all, grandfather said there would be a keitz, and it did not happen. The Tzemach Tzedek answered: "What do you want? The 'Likutei Torah' was printed". That is to say, "Likutei Torah" is a very strong and powerful stage in the Geulah and in the coming of Moshiach, for "your wellsprings shall spread forth outward" is a stage of the coming of Moshiach. And therefore he also opened with Shabbos, which is a time of Geulah, a day that is entirely Shabbos. For this reason the Tzemach Tzedek chose to open "Likutei Torah" with this maamar, even though it is not connected to the sequence of the parshiyos of Vayikra, but rather to this matter itself.
And another interesting hint: on this day, Thursday of parashas Beshalach, there appears in the Chumash a hint to the matter of "Likutei" - "they shall gather (lakto) each day's portion on its day" - like the name of the sefer "Likutei Torah". And therefore the Rebbe placed this on this day. This is a further hint as to why the matter is connected specifically to this day of 15 Shevat.