The sixty-seventh "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 27 Shevat 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Mishpatim, Shlishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 27th of the month, from chapter 120 through chapter 134 inclusive.
Tanya, the study of chapter 25, from the words "v'ein bivchinas" until the passage ending with the words "avodas hatzedakah".
The source of the daily teaching is a maamar of the Rebbe Rashab from the year 5670. Let us first state the idea in the maamar, and then we will look at the specific quotation that the Rebbe brings in the daily teaching. In the maamar, the Rebbe Rashab brings something very interesting: he takes a concept from the revealed part of Torah - one of the middos through which the Torah is expounded - and explains that it contains a wonderful lesson in avodas Hashem.
Which middah is being discussed? There is a concept called "gor'in umosifin v'dorshin" (one subtracts, adds, and expounds). And he brings an example: in parshas Vayikra it speaks of the Kohen Gadol who sins unintentionally and acts according to a ruling he issued for himself, and to atone for this he must bring a bull. And the verse says (Vayikra 4:5): "And the anointed Kohen shall take from the blood of the bull and bring it to the Ohel Moed".
From the wording of the verse one might have understood that if part of the blood spilled onto the floor - there is no problem with that, and he may gather it up, since it is written that one must take "from the blood of the bull", and if the blood spilled, he should pick it up. But the Rebbe brings that the Gemara in tractate Zevachim says: no. If the blood spilled onto the floor and the Kohen gathered it from the floor - it is invalid; the Kohen must receive the blood directly from the bull. And from where is this learned? After all, the verse says "And the anointed Kohen shall take from the blood of the bull", so what difference does it make where the blood was?
Chazal say in the Gemara in tractate Zevachim: we take the word "midam", subtract the letter mem from it, and add it to the following word - "hapar" - as if it were written "And the anointed Kohen shall take blood from the bull". And then we expound the halachah that the anointed Kohen must receive blood from the bull and not from the ground. This is the language of the Gemara in tractate Zevachim.
The Rebbe Rashab connects this with a concept in Kabbalah - the concept of nesirah - in which the same idea exists, and he says that every baal teshuvah must have his avodah in this manner of "gor'in umosifin": "gor'in" (subtracting) - that he should subtract from the deeds he was accustomed to, and hold himself back from all sorts of desires and matters, and through this very subtraction he has already advanced; but this is not enough, and therefore "mosifin" (adding) - that he should add in avodas Hashem in a far more positive way.
Within this whole flow, in parentheses, appears the teaching that the Rebbe brings in the daily teaching. And this is its wording: "My revered father [the Rashab] writes in one of his maamarim: The earlier chassidim made a resolve in their souls that anything permitted, but toward which there is some desire and craving of the heart - they would not do it, and through this the breaking of desire is accomplished". That is, the Rebbe Rayatz brings in the name of his father, the Rebbe Rashab, that the earlier chassidim made among themselves a strong resolve in their souls: anything permitted according to halachah, in which there is no problem, but toward which they have a desire and craving of the heart - meaning a natural attraction - they would not do it, but rather would overcome themselves and hold back from doing it, and through this "the breaking of desire" is accomplished, which is an avodah of compulsion.
On this matter there are another quotation or two of interest. In Kuntres HaAvodah of the Rebbe Rashab, at the end of chapter 2, he brings that a Jew's avodah must begin with accepting the yoke of the kingship of Heaven and with abandoning natural things, and he brings there: "And as I have already related about one of the great chassidim, who at his first entry [when he entered to the Alter Rebbe] worked on himself that whatever he wants from the natural side, he would not do it" - whatever he is naturally drawn to, he would restrain himself and not do it. The same idea.
It is interesting that in the Rebbe's Reshimas HaYoman the same idea is brought again, with a practical example. It is brought there in the name of the earlier chassidim, that when they would come home they would not walk in and ask their wife to serve them food - they would not demand physicality; when it was served to them, they ate, but they did not come and demand, for food should not come when you want it, rather you should eat when it is given to you and not when you desire it. The same idea - that desire should be in a manner in which you break it.
And then the Rebbe brings the famous story of R' Shmuel Munkes, that when a roasted lung was brought in to a farbrengen, he took the pot and would not give it up, and finally, after several hours, he threw it away. And he explained that this is what he learned from the Alter Rebbe: that anything toward which there is too strong an attraction - he understood that it does not come from the side of holiness, and surely there is a problem with it, and therefore he threw it away. With this, the Rebbe educates us in this teaching regarding the self-mastery that a person must have - that this is not only the avodah of earlier generations, of the earlier chassidim, but an avodah for our generation as well, to bring it into the order of our lives.
We will conclude with a point in which one sees how the Rebbe arranged the teachings according to the order of progression in the Rambam's work. These days we are at the hint to Sefer Nashim; we saw the hint to Hilchos Ishus and Hilchos Gerushin, and the halachos that come next are Hilchos Yibum V'Chalitzah. What is the connection of this teaching to Hilchos Yibum V'Chalitzah? The Gemara in tractate Yevamos says: when, lehavdil, a man passes away and did not leave children, there is the concept of yibum, and there is also the situation of chalitzah when he does not wish to perform yibum.
Which mitzvah is preferable - to do yibum first, and only if there is no choice, chalitzah, or to go straight to chalitzah without yibum? The Gemara says: at first, in earlier generations, when they intended it for the sake of the mitzvah and did everything as the Holy One, blessed be He, said - the mitzvah of yibum takes precedence over the mitzvah of chalitzah. But now, when they do not intend it for the sake of the mitzvah, and he marries her not specifically out of thought for the mitzvah, and it is not a matter of purity - they said that the mitzvah of chalitzah takes precedence over the mitzvah of yibum. That is, if he has a desire for the matter - he should not do it, but rather perform chalitzah and not have that connection with the woman whom the Torah permitted to him. And this is the same idea as here: something permitted, but if you have a desire for it - do not do it. This is the connection between the teaching and Hilchos Yibum V'Chalitzah, as the Gemara explains what the order should be in this matter.