The fifteenth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Shabbat, 4 Shevat 5703.
Lessons: Chumash, Miketz, Shevi'i, with Rashi's commentary - since this is Shabbat.
Tehillim, according to the day of the month, from chapter 23 through and including chapter 28.
Tanya, all of chapter 5, from "uv'tosefes" until "b'pri eitz chaim" - which is the whole of chapter 5.
By the way, it is worth noting that this Shabbat is the third Shabbat of the calendar year, and one can observe this throughout the entire year: in the Tanya lessons divided up day by day, the Rebbe Rayatz arranged that on Shabbatot the Tanya lesson would be much longer than the weekday lessons - many times even an entire chapter, as here on Shabbat 4 Shevat, when the whole of chapter 5 is studied. On Shabbatot there is always much more chassidus.
Let us look at the content of the daily saying. The saying opens with a custom practiced by the Chabad Rebbeim. But before we read the wording of the custom, in order to complete the matter let us begin with a letter that the Rebbe wrote, printed in Igros Kodesh volume 18, page 160. There is a letter there to a Jew who asked the Rebbe what the order is for saying "shnayim mikra v'echad targum". And what was the intent of his question?
The Rebbe tells him as follows: in the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, in the laws of Shabbat, siman 285, se'if 6, the Alter Rebbe brings two approaches - two opinions - as to how and when one must say shnayim mikra v'echad targum. The first opinion in the Shulchan Aruch says that one must finish the entire parsha on Friday after midday; the second opinion says that one must finish the entire parsha on Friday after the Shacharis prayer. And that Jew asked the Rebbe what our custom is and how we conduct ourselves.
Before the Rebbe answers him, he says that when one examines the rules of the poskim there is a discussion about this: many times several opinions are brought in the Shulchan Aruch, and a person wonders according to which opinion he should conduct himself - the first opinion, the second or the third. When one examines the rules of the poskim, as they were gathered in the sefer "Sdei Chemed", one sees that there are various opinions on this: there are poskim who always follow the first opinion in the Shulchan Aruch, there are those who follow the middle opinion, and there are those who say specifically like the third opinion. And to complete the matter, we see that the Rebbe Rashab held that when there are two opinions one follows the second opinion.
All of this is a general statement regarding the question of what one does when one sees various opinions in the Shulchan Aruch. But regarding the specific question of that Jew - what one does regarding shnayim mikra v'echad targum - the Rebbe tells him, as to practice: see "Hayom Yom" 4 Shevat. The Rebbe sends him to the "Hayom Yom" of 4 Shevat, where he will see what is done in practice. From here we also understand that although it is written in the heading that this is the practice of the Chabad Rebbeim - and at times there are practices of the Chabad Rebbeim that are their own practices alone and not necessarily a directive for everyone - here we see from the letter that the Rebbe sends every person to see there the order of how one conducts oneself.
Let us look at the custom of the Chabad Rebbeim. The matter appears in a sicha of the Rebbe Rayatz on Shabbat parshas Shemos 5702, in which he spoke about this, and the Rebbe brings from it the relevant passage. And this is how they would conduct themselves: "The Chabad Rebbeim had the practice of 'going through'" the shnayim mikra v'echad targum "a parsha or two". For although one speaks of "the weekly parsha" in a general way, the parsha itself is divided into parshiyos - open and closed ones. They had the practice, "on Thursday evening, the night leading into Friday", of going through one or two parshiyos from the beginning of the parsha, and that is all.
"On Friday after midday they would again begin to go through the entire sidra from its beginning together with the haftorah" - all of it on Friday after midday.
And it did not end there. The continuation: "Shabbat morning before the prayers they would again go through from shevi'i" - they would not begin from the beginning of the parsha, but would say again, Shabbat morning before the prayers, from shevi'i until the end.
And the Rebbe concludes the saying: "When there were two haftoros" - such as Shabbat Rosh Chodesh, Shabbat erev Rosh Chodesh and the like, on which there is the regular haftorah of the weekly parsha and there is an additional haftorah that must be said. What does one say in shnayim mikra v'echad targum? Our Rebbeim had the practice that "the haftorah of the sidra they would say on Friday", when they would say the entire parsha after midday. "And the other one", the additional haftorah, such as "that of Shabbat Rosh Chodesh, "Machar Chodesh" etc." and the like - they would say "on Shabbat" morning before the Shacharis prayer, from shevi'i until the end. This is the practice of saying shnayim mikra v'echad targum.
This passage is connected specifically to this day. First of all, it is Shabbat, and a practice that our Rebbeim followed on Shabbat is brought here. And in a specific way the matter is also connected to parshas Miketz - and I say this as an introduction to the next passage - for we have just now stated the custom of how they would say the haftoros. And what is the haftorah of Shabbat Miketz? The haftorah opens with the words "Vayikatz Shlomo v'hinei chalom", and parshas Miketz itself also speaks about dreams.
After the Rebbe spoke about the haftorah and when it is said, and taking into account the specific haftorah of this parsha as well as the parsha itself, another passage is brought in Hayom Yom - something not routine, that there are two different sayings in "Hayom Yom" - another passage on a different matter, which is also connected, indirectly or directly, to the way one looks at the parsha and at the haftorah.
The source of the second passage is a maamar of the Rebbe Rayatz, the dibbur hamaschil "Tzohar taaseh la'teivah", Shabbat Noach 5695. Within that maamar a specific passage is brought, and the Rebbe brings it here. Let us give a bit of background on the subject discussed in the maamar.
The Rebbe Rayatz speaks about foreign thoughts that fall upon a person - from where do they fall? He says that one must understand from where foreign thoughts fall upon people who are in the category of yoshvei ohel, scholars. And this is what he says: people who are tradesmen - it is understandable from where foreign thoughts about business fall upon them, even when they are not engaged in business, since they are immersed in this matter, and therefore the thoughts fall upon them at other times as well. And as an example of thoughts that fall upon a businessman even when he is not engaged in business, the Rebbe Rayatz brings from the subject of dreams.
He brings in the maamar an example from dreams, and says that most dreams come from the reflections of the day - what one thinks about during the day comes in the dream. And here comes the passage that he brings in continuation of this in the maamar: "The good dreams in matters of Torah, in which they inform a person in the dream". Seemingly it appears as if this is speaking about people on a different level, exceptional tzaddikim to whom matters of Torah are made known in a dream; but from the wording of the maamar of the Rebbe Rayatz, and as we will see immediately, this is not a rare situation, but rather an ideal situation that ought to be, and the matter depends on something that we will see immediately.
Who merits a situation in which matters of Torah are made known to him in a dream? "They come for the most part through great diligence in Torah during the day". If a person is wondrously diligent in Torah during the day, then at night too matters of Torah are made known to him in a dream. "For when one occupies himself with Torah with great diligence, or occupies himself with the service of the heart with tremendous exertion" - that is to say, if a person learns Torah with diligence, or occupies himself with the service of the heart, meaning the service of prayer and the like, and does so with tremendous exertion - "then when at night his soul ascends above".
What is "his soul ascends above"? The Rebbe Rayatz explains there in the maamar that there is a situation in which souls ascend to levels that belong to tzaddikim, but there he says that the soul ascends above during sleep - and this applies to every single soul. Every soul has a resting place in a certain chamber, a general chamber, and there it is found. And where is it found? The matter depends very much, he says in the maamar, on what one occupied himself with during the day or on what one fell asleep with.
Let us read from the maamar: "If on that day he performed some mitzvah in a beautified manner, occupied himself with Torah and prayer more than usual, and likewise fell asleep amidst speech or thought in words of Torah" - that he fell asleep while saying words of Torah and the like - then he merits that his soul ascends. He says it by way of a physical analogy: there is a courtyard, there is an antechamber, there is a reception hall, there is a chamber; every single soul ascends to a certain resting place in accordance with what it thought about during the course of the day and in accordance with its thoughts, and accordingly it ascends above.
And I will continue reading from the passage in Hayom Yom: "when at night his soul ascends above, and draws life for itself from the life Above", as is explained in the Zohar that the soul draws life from the supernal life, "then they make known to him chiddushei Torah in the revealed part of Torah or in the inner dimension of Torah". The soul ascends above, and if during the day it occupied itself with Torah with great diligence, they make known to it in a dream chiddushei Torah, "each person according to the diligence of his service in the service of the day".
The Rebbe brings this in "Likkutei Sichos" volume 4. We know that there indeed is a situation in which a person went to sleep with a question in a Torah matter, and during the night he received the answer. This is related in the Gemara: in tractate Sanhedrin it is related that Rav Kahana once asked Rav a question about a certain matter, and Rav forgot his learning and did not remember what to answer him, and Rav Kahana remained without an answer. The Gemara says that at night, in a dream, they brought Rav Kahana a verse, and that verse was the answer to the question that had not been answered by Rav.
We see, then, that there is such a concept. And the Rebbe brings that this is not only among great tzaddikim like Rav Kahana, but is relevant to each and every person, each one according to the diligence of his service in the service of the day. And in the last yechidus to date, in which the Rebbe spoke with the yeshiva students, in Tishrei 5752, the Rebbe told the bochurim that their Torah study should be such that even in a dream matters of Torah would come to them. The Rebbe demanded of young bochurim that they learn Torah with such great diligence that they would dream about it at night and complete the matter at night.
There is a letter in which the Rebbe relates that a chassid once came in to his father, the Rebbe Rashab, and wept. What did he weep about? That he had had a bad dream at night, and as if to say: where is he immersed? The Rebbe Rashab said to him: if during the day you will be immersed in chassidus and in the service of the heart, in prayer, you will not have such things, such dreams, at night. The dreams at night are an expression of what happens during the course of the day.
And this is the point that the Rebbe brings here from the maamar - which gives us strong encouragement - how great must be one's diligence during the day in Torah and the service of the heart with tremendous exertion, so that all twenty four of our hours will be as they should be.
The Rebbe once related that the Rebbe Rashab told his granddaughter, one of the daughters of the Rebbe Rayatz, that she should sleep on Shabbat in honor of Shabbat. The little girl said to him: "Fine, things that I do consciously and while awake, it is understandable that they should be done in honor of Shabbat; but when I am asleep, I am asleep - how is it relevant to say that the sleep should be in honor of Shabbat?" The Rebbe Rashab did not accept this, and said: no; it is entirely possible that during the time of sleep too the sleep will be in honor of Shabbat. Even of a little girl he demanded this. Our forefathers kindled within us powers, within every person, to reach a state in which all twenty four hours will be part of the service of Hashem.