The three hundred thirty-first "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Sunday, 25 Tishrei, 5694.
Shiurim: Chumash, Noach, first parsha with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 25th of the month, one recites the first half of chapter 119 — from the beginning of the chapter with the word "Ashrei" until the conclusion of the verses of the letter Lamed, which ends with the words "rechavah mitzvatecha me'od".
Tanya: On this day we begin Iggeret HaKodesh 25, from the word "Lehavin." The lesson concludes on page 276 with the words "ledaber mehuma."
The source of the daily teaching is a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on this date, 25 Tishrei of the year 5696. In the subject of the letter, the Rebbe Rayatz calls for gathering all the niggunim that were sung in Lubavitch and writing them down in a book with the musical notation. In the course of the letter, he elaborates and speaks about the niggunim of the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, and the Rebbe Maharash. Here in the teaching are brought quotations that speak about the niggunim of the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe.
I will read the wording of the letter: "Ten niggunim — some of them merely melodies — attributed to our Rebbe the Elder, who himself composed them." There are ten niggunim attributed to the Alter Rebbe, some of them being only a particular melodic phrase. And what are the ten niggunim, as known to us? The first — the niggun of the Four Bavos; the second — "Keili Atah"; the third — "Kol Dodi Dofek"; the fourth — "Avinu Malkeinu"; the fifth — a wordless niggun called the "Niggun Dveikus for Rosh Hashanah"; the sixth — "Ka'ayal Ta'arog"; the seventh — the melody of "Tzeenah Ur'einah"; the eighth — the "Niggun Dveikus for Shabbos"; the ninth — the melody of "Lecha Dodi"; and the tenth — "Bnei Heichala".
We continue with the saying: "those attributed to our Middle Rebbe" — meaning those melodies attributed to the Mitteler Rebbe. As is known to us today, there is a melody famous by the name "the Choir Niggun" (in Yiddish: "kapelye," as he will mention shortly), and this is one of the well-known and famous melodies among the melodies of the Mitteler Rebbe; and there is the famous melody that is sung during the ascent of the Kohanim to the duchan on the festivals, at Musaf — which is likewise a melody of the Mitteler Rebbe.
Here, in this teaching, the Rebbe Rayatz explains what is meant by saying that this is a niggun of the Mitteler Rebbe: "that is, they were composed in his time." The intent is not that the Mitteler Rebbe himself composed these niggunim, as the Alter Rebbe composed his niggunim, but rather that the niggunim were composed in the time of the Mitteler Rebbe "and they would sing them before him"; therefore they are called niggunim attributed to the Mitteler Rebbe, but not that he composed them.
And who played these melodies? "He had with him a group of avreichim who were musicians" — avreichim from among the chassidim of the Mitteler Rebbe, who were accomplished in nigun, and they were called "der mittelen Rebbe'ns kapelye" [in translation: the choir of the Mitteler Rebbe], "and it was divided into two groups": among them were "vocalists" — those whose talent lay in singing with the voice, "and instrumentalists — on various instruments" — those who would play various instruments. This was in the time of the Mitteler Rebbe.
Later in that same letter, the Rebbe Rayatz relates that he heard from his grandmother, the Rebbetzin Rivkah, that she herself had still seen one of the musical instruments of the Mitteler Rebbe's choir, and he describes precisely how the instrument looked and what sounds it would produce. It is interesting that in one of his talks, on an occasion when he spoke about this subject, the Rebbe Rayatz mentions that he too, in his childhood, saw one of these instruments.
It is worth noting that in the Hayom Yom of 13 Sivan there is a teaching relating to the subject of niggun by the Rebbe.