Hayom Yom: Elul 17

The Alter Rebbe himself was the regular Torah-reader. Once he was away from Lyozna on the Shabbat of parsha Tavo, and the Mitteler Rebbe, then not yet Bar Mitzva, heard the Torah-reading from another. His anguish at the curses in the tochacha (section of admonition) caused him so much heartache, that on Yom Kippur1 the Alter Rebbe doubted whether his son would be able to fast.

When they asked the Mitteler Rebbe - "Don't you hear this parsha every year?"2 - he replied, "When Father reads, one hears no curses."