The twenty-first "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 19 Tevet 5703.
In the heading above, before the lessons, the Rebbe notes "Fast day" - this refers to 10 Tevet, a fast day. The Rebbe adds "Selichos. Avinu Malkeinu". These two points contain a novelty. What is the novelty? For us the matter is simple: a fast day arrives, one says Selichos and Avinu Malkeinu. But the practice of our Rebbeim, beginning with the Alter Rebbe and also with the Rebbe Rashab, was not to say Selichos and not Avinu Malkeinu on a public fast day.
In the Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rashab it is noted in a letter that he heard reliable testimony from someone who had heard that in the beis medrash of the Alter Rebbe they did not say Selichos. There is also a story that Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik relates in "Reshimos Devarim", about a chassid who came to serve as chazzan - not in Lubavitch, apparently in Rostov, with the Rebbe Rashab - and it was a fast day, and the chassid began to say Selichos; the Rebbe Rashab looked at him and stopped him, and told him that among us we do not say Selichos. If so, the novelty is that the Rebbe emphasizes that in practice we do say Selichos and Avinu Malkeinu.
Lessons: Chumash, Vayigash, sixth aliyah, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 10th of the month, from chapter 55 through chapter 59 inclusive.
Tanya, at the conclusion of chapter 7, from the words "ach v'achos" until the end of the chapter, "basar vadam".
The passage we will examine in the saying is a quotation from a maamar of the Rebbe Rayatz, the maamar beginning "V'chol banayich", which he said in the year 5689. Let us first present what appears there in the maamar before the passage quoted here, and let us first mention another interesting point.
The Rebbe Rayatz said this maamar, the one beginning "V'chol banayich", twice in the same week. The first time he said it was on Shabbos Parshas Vayeitzei in Riga - this was the Shabbos of the "oifruf", the Shabbos of the aliyah to the Torah in honor of the Rebbe's wedding. Afterwards, some days later, on 13 Kislev - the day before the wedding - he spoke with the chassidim at a farbrengen and told them that he had said the maamar twice, and that the second time he added something in accordance with the instruction of his father, the Rebbe Rashab, who told him what to add.
And what did he add? A story. A Jew came in to yechidus with the Tzemach Tzedek, and his complaint and request were that in every beis medrash he comes to, everyone "tramples" on him - whatever he says does not find favor in anyone's eyes, he is not treated properly, and they do the opposite of his wishes. These were his complaints.
The Tzemach Tzedek answered him: "You spread yourself out over the entire beis medrash, and consequently whoever steps anywhere - steps on you. You must take your own personal opinion and set it aside, and elevate your service of Hashem above your intellectual grasp." That is to say, you learn a great deal and you know a great deal, but the avodah must be above the intellectual grasp. This is the first part of the story, and then comes the saying that the Rebbe continued with - an additional sentence that he said to him, which we will see here.
In Hayom Yom the Rebbe does not bring the story and the chassid's problem, but only the conclusion - what the Tzemach Tzedek said. "The reply of the Tzemach Tzedek at a yechidus" - it is important to emphasize, and we will soon see why, that this was a reply at a yechidus; although one could have said that the Rebbe himself said such and such, the Rebbe emphasizes that this took place at a yechidus.
What did he say? "It is written, 'Let the wicked one abandon his way, and the man of ohn his thoughts'" - a verse which, incidentally, is said in the haftorah of the fast day, the haftorah of "Dirshu Hashem b'himatzo". "Let the wicked one abandon his way" - a wicked person should abandon his not-good way; "and the man of ohn his thoughts" - "ish avon" simply means a person who conducts himself improperly.
"'Ohn' is from the term ohn with a cholam, which means strength and might" - the Tzemach Tzedek says that the word can be read with slightly different vowelization - "ohn" (with a cholam) - and not "avon". And when one reads "ohn", the word has a different meaning, from the term strength. There are quite a few verses for this: for example in Yeshayahu, "merov onim" - out of great strength, said regarding the Holy One, blessed be He; and in Hoshea, "matzati ohn li"; and likewise here, "ish ohn" - a man of strength.
And so what is the meaning of "Let the wicked one abandon his way and the man of ohn his thoughts"? The Tzemach Tzedek says that "ohn" means strength and might, and he concludes and says to the chassid: "Just as 'let the wicked one abandon his way' is something absolutely necessary" - just as it is necessary for the wicked person to abandon his wicked way, which he cannot continue in under any circumstances, since "without teshuvah it is impossible to approach the holy"; if he will not do teshuvah and will not abandon his wicked way, he will not be able to advance spiritually - "so too must the ish ohn, meaning one who is strong in his own opinion", a person who has a strong opinion, who is strong in his own view, "abandon his thoughts", those very thoughts that give him ego and haughtiness.
Let us add a few interesting points of emphasis. The Rebbe told this story over the years several times, and in one of the years it appears in a maamar of the Rebbe, where the Rebbe brings the entire story and is precise about three things in it: a) Why is it important to tell us that the chassid told the Tzemach Tzedek that they trample on him in the beis medrash? When one speaks in a general way - "I feel that everyone tramples on me" - what difference does it make where it happened? b) What difference does it make that he told this to the Rebbe specifically at a yechidus? c) Why does the Tzemach Tzedek speak to him in the plural, "to abandon his thoughts"? Seemingly there is only one thought involved - the thought of his own self-opinion - "abandon this thought"; why the plural? [And in fact, this is also the wording of the verse - "the man of ohn his thoughts"].
The Rebbe explained that a Jew who has intellectual grasp - he learns chassidus, but he has no inner avodah of Hashem - in the beis medrash, which is called a "miniature sanctuary", a place where the light of the Shechinah rests, he ought to lose his sense of self; but if he has no inner avodah, he can be in the beis medrash and his ego remains intact. Moreover: he can be at a yechidus, entering to the Rebbe, and be seemingly in a state in which the yechidah of his soul is revealed and connects with the yechidah of the Rebbe - a very lofty level - and nevertheless enter there with his ego. Therefore both of these are felt [the beis medrash and the yechidus].
And regarding this the Rebbe tells him that he must abandon it. He says it in the plural, "to abandon his thoughts", to make a "bedek bayis", a thorough inspection, of all his thoughts - of all types of thoughts of ego, even the most subtle; therefore the plural form, to make a thorough inspection. The Rebbe brings in the maamar an example from a talmid chacham: if there is a stain on his garment he cannot purify the garment by immersion, so that there will be no barrier; and what sort of stain? Even the smallest one. The greater the talmid chacham, the more he must be completely clean. So too with a person's own self-centered thoughts - in order to reach a good, G-dly state, he must abandon all his thoughts.
And the Rebbe concludes: "And let him not say 'I say so', 'I hold so' - for every 'I' and sense of self is the source of evil and causes division of hearts". Any person who prefaces things by saying "I say so", that preface and the emphasis on the "I" are the source of evil and cause division of hearts. All division of hearts comes from a person coming with his ego, strong in his own opinion, and causing division and disruption. And then he has no grounds to complain about why others trample on him; rather, let him lower his ego a bit - and then he will see that no one is trampling on him.
And in conclusion, we have seen in the previous days how the sayings correspond very closely to the progression of the Rambam's Sefer HaMada. Today we are precisely at the conclusion of Sefer HaMada, after having had sayings throughout its entire length - Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, Hilchos Deios, Hilchos Talmud Torah, Hilchos Avodah Zarah - and today we arrive at the final halachos, Hilchos Teshuvah. And this is exactly the content of the saying here: how the avodah of teshuvah must be. This corresponds exactly to the order of the halachos; this is a saying that comes at the conclusion of Sefer HaMada in the Rambam. With Hashem's help we will succeed in the task, amen, with good tidings.