The thirty-fourth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 23 Teves 5703.
Lessons: Chumash, Shemos, Chamishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, the 23rd of the month, from chapter 108 through chapter 110 inclusive.
Tanya, on this day we conclude chapter 12, from the words "rak shelazeh" until the end of the chapter, which concludes with the words "im achas."
The daily saying is divided into two. The first part presents a hagahah (a gloss) that the Rebbe Rashab wrote on Torah Or. The Rebbe would bring each week the Rebbe Rashab's hagahah on the maamarim of that week, and this came as encouragement and strengthening for those learning the daily lesson, that they should also learn the daily lessons in the chassidic parashah - the maamarim of Torah Or.
In Torah Or on parashas Shemos there is a maamar. We will first quote the wording and afterwards explain. The Rebbe says: "Torah Or, d"h [dibbur hamaschil] Mi sam peh" - this is the opening of the maamar - "the section beginning V'hanimshal yuvan." As has been mentioned several times, in Torah Or the division into sections is not marked with the letters alef, beis, gimmel, as in Likkutei Torah where every chapter has its own letter; rather the sections are divided without any letter markings. Therefore it only notes "the section beginning with the words v'hanimshal yuvan." And there is a correction there: in place of the words "ki yesh bechinas maalah" that are printed in Torah Or, the Rebbe Rashab corrected that it should read "v'chein yesh maalah."
What is the essence of the correction? Let us give a bit of background. In that maamar the Alter Rebbe speaks about the superiority found in practical mitzvos; for a practical mitzvah has a very great superiority, and in a certain measure even more than Torah study. And the Alter Rebbe brings several examples in which one sees the superiority of the deed.
One example: at a funeral one interrupts Torah study in order to fulfill the mitzvah of escorting the deceased - so there is a superiority in a practical mitzvah. A second example: there is a story in the Zohar that because of the mitzvah of hachnasas kallah they interrupted the recitation of Shema; even though the recitation of Shema has a very great quality and contains lofty unifications, nevertheless the practical mitzvah of hachnasas kallah takes precedence. A third example: the halachah says that a positive commandment overrides a negative commandment - again the same idea, that a mitzvas "aseh," which is something active, has an added superiority over a mitzvas "lo saaseh," even though the quality of a "lo saaseh" is very lofty.
These three examples the Alter Rebbe brings, and he concludes that this is because of the superiority of the deed. And then he adds another sentence: that even a very simple Jew of Israel who fulfills a practical mitzvah without kavanos and without secrets, but simply because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded so - it is possible that this fulfillment is precious in Hashem's eyes, in a certain measure, more than the great kavanos and comprehensions of tzaddikim. That is the quotation from this portion of the maamar.
The printed wording is: "ki yesh bechinas maalah yeseirah mibechinas tomchin d'oraisa yoser me'einei ha'eidah." When one reads it this way, one could understand that the concluding phrase comes to explain the preceding examples - that in all of them we saw a superiority in the deed - and therefore he concludes "ki yesh maalah b'tomchin d'oraisa," that even those who do not learn Torah but merely support it have a superiority over the learners of Torah, "einei ha'eidah."
But the Rebbe Rashab changed the wording, and this is the correction: not to write "ki yesh bechinas maalah" - for this passage does not come to explain what preceded - but rather "v'chein yesh maalah yeseirah." That is, the Alter Rebbe now comes to say an additional matter: besides what was said earlier about the superiority of the deed and the examples, there is a further point - "v'chein yesh maalah b'tomchin d'oraisa yoser me'inyan ha'eidah." Here it is not speaking about the matter of the deed, but about the idea that tomchin d'oraisa have a great superiority. This is the content of the correction that the Rebbe brings in the daily saying. That is the first part.
The second part of the saying, which is its continuation, is a quotation from a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz. I will give a bit of background. It is known that after the Rebbe Rayatz left Russia, he visited Eretz HaKodesh, afterwards he visited the United States, then he returned to Poland and stayed there for about ten years, and then he settled in the United States for ten years.
The visit he made to the United States lasted a bit more than ten months. He visited Jewish communities, and the purpose of the visit was to strengthen the Jews of the United States, who were very distant, and only a few in each place were observant of Torah and mitzvos. In the month of Teves, from 12 Teves until 4 Shevat, the Rebbe Rayatz stayed in Baltimore in order to strengthen the place. On 23 Teves he wrote a letter to a Jew in Baltimore named Rabbi Avraham Reznik - and this is exactly the saying that the Rebbe brings on 23 Teves.
What does the Rebbe Rayatz write to him? This is a relatively long letter, in which he describes the purpose of his visit to the United States. He relates that he met with many Jews, religious and not religious, and he sees that the Jewish heart is awake and open, and that all the young people of the generation, even though they are asleep at present, their hearts are awake, and all that is needed is for a good awakener to come who can arouse them.
And then he says: we are accustomed to complain and to sigh over the situation - and here comes the saying - "with sighs alone we will not be saved." The sigh itself will not bring salvation. He is not saying that the sigh is not a good thing; in the sefer Hayom Yom there are four sayings dealing with sighing, and in one of them he explains its virtue. But in the other three sayings he says that the sigh, with all its virtue, is not enough; it is only an opening from which a continuation must come.
What is the role of the sigh? "The sigh is only the kapos hamanul (the handle of the lock)." "Kapos hamanul" is an expression whose source is in Shir HaShirim, in the language of the verse dealing with opening the door. The kapos hamanul is like the handle of the door. The Rebbe Rayatz says: the sigh is nothing more than the door handle; in order to enter the house one must grasp the handle - that is indeed an action - but if you only grasped the handle and did not enter, there is no virtue in grasping the handle and opening it; you have to go inside.
Thus, the sigh alone is nothing more than the "kapos hamanul," "to open the heart and to open the eyes." And what does it come to arouse? "Not to sit with folded hands." You sigh over the situation - but it is not enough to sigh and to receive strength from the sigh; rather, "only to organize work and action, each person according to what he can, to act and to do with publicity for the strengthening of Torah, the spreading of Torah and the observance of mitzvos." That is, you sigh over the situation, but one must see what is done with it. And what must be done? Each one in the area in which he is strong - "this one with his writing, this one with his speech, and this one with his money"; each one should give from the side in which he is strong, and with it help bring the purpose of the sigh to realization.
This point is connected, by hashgachah pratis, to the Thursday of parashas Shemos on which the Rebbe brings it. In parashas Shemos we read earlier, I believe on Tuesday, that the Jewish people sighed - "vayei'anchu bnei Yisrael"; but on Thursday of parashas Shemos we see that the Holy One, blessed be He, does something with it: He tells Moshe Rabbeinu to go and gather the elders of Israel, and to inform them that the redemption is coming, and to show them the wonders so that they will believe. One sees in Thursday's Chumash lesson that the sigh did not remain merely a sigh, but rather it also brought about "to open the heart and to open the eyes," to do something. This is the message in the saying.
I will conclude with another interesting point regarding that letter of the Rebbe Rayatz, which was written in the year 5696 during his visit to the United States. At the end of the letter there are interesting expressions, a kind of prophecy about the future of the United States. And these are his words: "My heart tells me of lofty futures in the lives of these young people. These dry bones, they can rise to life, and a new generation, with the help of Hashem, they can establish; thousands and myriads of Jewish homes, with the observance of taharas hamishpachah, kashrus, Shabbos and tefillin, they can with Hashem's help establish in the Jewish street" - he is speaking about all the young people of the United States.
That is, there is here a possibility of lifting a person up from focusing on his own poor state. And so he writes: "Instead of sighing over oneself - although that is at times necessary - it is certainly better to begin activity, to add in Torah and mitzvos over what he lacked, and one is assured of an increase in the blessings of Hashem for whoever occupies himself with this amid difficulty." That is, the sigh is good, but it is only a key; the main thing is that a practical continuation should come out of it - as in the wording that the Rebbe brings there as well, that one action is better than a thousand sighs, with all the virtue that a sigh has. This is the conclusion of the saying.