"Cheder" three hundred twenty-three in the Hayom Yom hall.
Holy Shabbos, 17 Tishrei, Shabbos Chol HaMoed Sukkos, 5704.
First, the Rebbe notes several customs connected to this date, and afterward — following the daily lessons — comes the teaching.
The first practice the Rebbe notes: "Gam b'simchah u'v'tzoholoh." In Kabbalas Shabbos, in the "Lecha Dodi" section, the piyut "Lecha Dodi" contains the words "gam b'rinah," and in parentheses "(b'simchah)," and then it continues "u'v'tzoholoh." Here the Rebbe clarifies that the intent is not that on Yom Tov one adds the word "b'simchah" — meaning that one does not say "gam b'rinah b'simchah u'v'tzoholoh" — but rather that the word "b'simchah" comes in place of the word "b'rinah," and one says "gam b'simchah u'v'tzoholoh." And even though in the Siddur of the Alter Rebbe it is written that this is "on Yom Tov," here the emphasis is that even on Shabbos Chol HaMoed — which is not Yom Tov — one says "b'simchah" in place of "b'rinah."
The second practice the Rebbe notes: "Shalom Aleichem, Eishes Chayil, Mizmor LeDavid, Da Hi Se'udasa, VeYiten Lecha — are said quietly." "Shalom Aleichem" and "Eishes Chayil" are the passages said before Kiddush on Shabbos night, and the Rebbe adds also "VeYiten Lecha," which is said on Motzaei Shabbos — and all of these are recited quietly. This matter already appeared in "Hayom Yom" earlier, in the teaching of 19 Nissan, which was likewise Shabbos Chol HaMoed (Pesach). And what is the emphasis here? Because there are variations and differing opinions in this — whether to say it on Shabbos, and there are opinions that one does not say it at all. Interestingly, in the first edition of "Hayom Yom" itself, published in 5703, it was written that one does not say all of this, and only afterward, in the second edition of "Hayom Yom" that came out in 5717, a change was introduced and it was written "quietly." It emerges that in this very matter too there is a "first version" and a "final version."
The third practice that the Rebbe adds: "In Musaf — "uminchasam veniskeihem" after the verses of each and every day". Outside the Land of Israel, on each of the days of Sukkos, because of the doubt as to which day it is, one recites the offerings of two days, and after mentioning each day the offerings of that day — the number of bulls, rams, and lambs — one also mentions the verses that follow, of the meal-offerings and libations brought together with the sacrifice. The Rebbe emphasizes that the verses of the meal-offerings and libations must be said for each day; that is, on each day outside the Land of Israel, on which two days are mentioned, one says "uminchasam veniskeihem" twice, even though there is no difference and it repeats itself — after each passage of that day's offerings, one recites the "uminchasam veniskeihem" pertaining to that day.
The fourth practice that the Rebbe notes: "On Shabbos one does not recite Hoshaanos." Even though this is already written in the Siddur, and it is stated explicitly that all the Hoshaanos are not recited on Shabbos, nevertheless there are various customs regarding this — whether one recites them without opening the Aron, or does not recite them at all, or recites other things on Shabbos; there are various customs in various communities. The Rebbe notes here that our custom is that the Hoshaanos are not recited at all on Shabbos.
Shiurim: Chumash, Brachah, she’vi’i, with Rashi’s commentary.
Tehillim, for the 17th of the month, from chapter 83 through chapter 87 inclusive.
Tanya: On this day we begin Iggeret HaKodesh 23, from the start of the letter, from the word "b'gezeirat". The lesson concludes on page 136 with the word "klal".
The daily teaching has its source in a maamar delivered by the Rebbe Rayatz in the year 5700, the discourse beginning "Veyiten lecha," in which this passage comes to explain the portion of the "Hoshaanos" connected to the third day of Sukkos. And although it is said of this day that it is Shabbos, and on Shabbos we do not recite Hoshaanos — in the Hoshaanos of that day all the praises of the Jewish people are recited, and in the continuation of the words it is written there that the Jewish people undergo tests, and there are among them those who give up their souls and die: "and we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter, scattered among those who provoke Him."
The maamar comes to explain the three expressions: "embraced and cleaving to You," "bearing Your yoke," "yechidah to unify You." Let us examine the wording. "Through the avodah of trials" — and specifically when a person withstands trials, at times even very difficult trials — "the aspect of the yechidah of the soul is revealed." The trials precisely draw out from the soul its bond with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the most sublime manner, one that transcends every limit and is above reason and knowledge; this is called the aspect of the yechidah of the soul.
And as the saying goes, this is the first phrase: "Ke'ma'amar chavukah u'devukah bach" (as the saying, embraced and cleaving to You) — this is the first expression in the Hoshaanot, revealing that a Jew possesses the yechidah of the soul, and the yechidah of the soul is "embraced and cleaving" to the Holy One, blessed be He, as he explains — "the bonding of the neshamah with G-dliness". And what is the next expression in the Hoshaanot after "chavukah u'devukah bach" — "ve'al yedei zeh to'enet ulcha" (and through this it bears Your yoke), and what is the connection and sequence? Through the revelation of the yechidah of the soul, "it bears Your yoke": the Jew takes upon himself, loads upon himself, the yoke of fulfilling the Torah and mitzvot. He does not flee from the tests, but on the contrary — when the yechidah of the soul is revealed, "it bears Your yoke" "in the fulfillment of the Torah and mitzvot and with mesirut nefesh", and with acceptance of the yoke he does what is needed.
Then comes the third statement, with which he concludes: "behold — 'a yechidah to unite You'". What is "a yechidah to unite You"? "That the aspect of the yechidah of the soul is revealed", and what does this revelation accomplish? Since the yechidah of the soul has been revealed, and finds expression in the fact that one has taken upon himself the yoke of Torah and mitzvos — "through this revelation the yechidah of the animal soul is transformed into Godliness". This is generally an unusual expression: usually, when one mentions the yechidah of the soul, the intent is to the Godly soul alone, and here it speaks of the yechidah of the animal soul. What is "the yechidah of the animal soul"? When one wishes to speak of the faculty of pleasures — a very lofty faculty in the soul — or of materiality in very great force and intensity, one uses the borrowed term "yechidah". There is, so to speak, a "yechidah" to the animal soul: it too has a kind of "madness" and pull toward worldly matters, which is above — or below — reason and intellect.
And what happens here? The yechidah within the animal soul is now transformed into G-dliness. Instead of the pleasure and the powerful attraction he had until now toward the desires of the world, the matter is transformed into G-dliness — "which is the aspect of strength in the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos with inner vitality." He gains inner vitality; that is, the yechidah within the soul becomes active in him, "and with the sensation of great pleasure and abundant delight in the service of Hashem," for the yechidah within the soul finds expression in soulful pleasure. He thus has soulful pleasure and abundant delight.
Here the Rebbe Rayatz cites in the maamar several words from Igeret HaKodesh in the Tanya, Epistle 11. When a person reaches such a state, only Elokut interests him, while in worldly matters — whether he lacks something or possesses it — it makes no difference to him. "And in all matters of the world," which are not holiness, "yes and no are equal to him in a true equality": he has, he does not have, things are good for him, things are not good for him — from his perspective it is all one, because he lives only for Elokut. "For the pleasure and the good taste in physical matters has been taken from him"; once he has no pleasure and no good taste in physical matters, since the yechidah within the nefesh habehamit has been transformed into Elokut — consequently nothing of worldly matters holds any place with him, to the degree that "yes and no are equal to him in a true equality," which is certainly a very lofty level. And this is essentially the content of what is said in the Hoshaanot of the third day of the festival of Sukkot.