ב"ה

Daily Study: Hayom Yom

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Wednesday Menachem Av 10 5703
Torah lessons: Chumash: Va'etchanan, Revi'i with Rashi.
Tehillim: 55-59.
Tanya: Upon his arrival (p. 395) ...the face..." (p. 397).

From what my grandfather related:

a) Originally the epistle Katonti1 ended with the words "restrained spirit etc." Later, our Great Rabbi (the Alter Rebbe) delivered the maamar "As water reflects the face etc." three times in Lyozna, following the interpretation of Rashi2 and not of Targum.3 After that he made an addition to the epistle Katonti as follows: And maybe, through all that, G‑d will give it into the heart of their brethren that "as water (reflects) the face" etc. With this he implanted fine character traits in the chassidim.

b) Had the Rebbe not inserted the three words b'midat emet leYaakov ("according to the attribute of Truth unto Yaakov")4, he would have attracted fifty thousand more chassidim. But the Rebbe demands the trait of truth.

Compiled and arranged by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, in 5703 (1943) from the talks and letters of the sixth Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory.

Footnotes
1.

"I have become small..."; second letter in Igeret Hakodesh, written by the Alter Rebbe on his return from his arrest in Petersburg (in 5559).

2.

Mishlei 27:19. As water reflects the face so one's heart reflects the feelings of the other's heart.

3.

Ibid. As waters differ so do men's hearts.

4.

Following the exhortation to the chassidim that "they are to subdue their spirit and heart before everyone."

יום רביעי י מנחם אב (תש"ג)
שיעורים: חומש: ואתחנן,רביעי עם פירש"י.
תהילים: נה-נט.
תניא: ב. קטנתי...הפנים וגו''.

מספורי אאזמו"ר [אדוני אבי זקני מורי ורבי]: א) מתחלה הי'[ה] אגה"ק [אגרת הקדש] קטנתי מסיימת "ורוח נכאה כו'", ואחרי אשר אמר רבינו הגדול שלש פעמים - בליאזנא - המאמר כמים הפנים גו' כפירש"י [כפירוש רש"י] ולא כתרגומו, אז הוסיף התיבות "וכולי האי - הפנים וגו'", ובזה נטע בהחסידים מדות טובות.

ב) ווען דער רבי וואלט ניט געשטעלט די דריי ווערטער "במדת אמת ליעקב" - באגה"ק [באגרת הקדש] קטנתי - וואלט ער געהאט נאך פופציג טויזענט חסידים, אבער דער רבי מאנט מדת אמת.