1 My father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], lit five candles that were to burn throughout the twenty-four hours, in allusion to “the five names of the soul.”2
The Rebbe Rashab used to light one yahrzeit candle that was seen, and another four that were not known of.
My father-in-law, the Rebbe, made a point of lighting the five candles himself. In addition, there were two other candles on the amud.
Maariv took about 50 minutes, and Minchah likewise. Shacharis lasted from 10:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Each of the three tefillos was followed by Mishnayos and Kaddish DeRabbanan.
“The Nasi,” the daily passage concerning the offerings of the nesi’im of the various tribes,3 was read together with its Yehi ratzon before the daily reading of Tehillim, which was followed by the Mishnayos.
While saying the words hatov shimcha ulecha na’eh lehodos in the second-last brachah of Shemoneh Esreh, my father-in-law, the Rebbe, bowed his head to the right as he said hatov shimcha, bowed his head forward as he said ulecha, to the left as he said na’eh, and forward as he said lehodos. This was the case during the silent Shemoneh Esreh of Shacharis, and during the repetition of Shemoneh Esreh at Minchah. (I don’t recall whether the same was also done at the other times.)
After concluding the last brachah [of the repetition] by saying bashalom, he no longer stood with his feet together.
In Lubavitch, the Yehi ratzon that follows each day’s reading of the Nasi was also said by kohanim and levi’im, [who descend from the Tribe of Levi, even though that prayer includes the words, “If I am of the {named} Tribe whose Nasi brought an offering this day…”]. This follows the instruction of the Rebbe Rashab to his brother-in-law, R. Moshe HaKohen Hornstein – because souls are sometimes impregnated by other souls.4
After the congregational Reading of the Torah, the haftarah beginning VeArvah which is read on Shabbos HaGadol (i.e., the Shabbos preceding Pesach) is recited only when that Shabbos coincides with erev Pesach. However, in the course of one’s private reading of Shnayim Mikra during the afternoon of erev Shabbos, one reads both that haftarah and the regular weekly haftarah of that Shabbos. The same applies on Shabbos Rosh Chodesh and in similar cases.5
