This maamar, VeYadaata HaYom from 5657 which is know as VeYadaata, Moscow, was distributed several times in mimeograph. For the first time, it is being published in printed form. As a source, we used the manuscript of Reb Shmuel the scribe.1 Comparisons were made to a second manuscript (of unknown origin).
In regard to this maamar, the Previous Rebbe writes,2
The Rebbe’im each had certain maamarim which they used to recite once every two or three years for the purpose of purifying the air of the world. One such discourse that the Alter Rebbe used to recite was Heichaltzu (published in Likkutei Torah3); the Mitteler Rebbe the maamar beginning Yafah Shaah Achas (whose contents echo the first ten chapters of the maamar beginning Hinei Kol Echad VeEchad Omer Elokai Neshamah, which is found in Derech Chayim;4 the Tzemach Tzedek the maamar entitled Mah Tovu in Likkutei Torah;5 my grandfather [i.e., the Rebbe Maharash] the maamar entitled Mi Kamochah;6 my father [i.e., the Rebbe Rashab] the maamar entitled VeYadaata, which was first delivered in Moscow, [after Chanukah, in the winter of] 5657 [1897].7
In one of his talks,8 the Previous Rebbe said:
The maamar, VeYadaata, 5657, is based on the maamar VaYikach Korach, 5656. In the midst of the latter maamar, a passage begins: “And to understand the verse, And you shall know today.”
When the Rebbe Rashab directed me to copy the maamar, VeYadaata, 5657, he gave me the above-mentioned maamar, VaYikach Korach to copy from. There are, however, certain matters [in the maamar, VaYikach Korach] which are not included in the maamar, VeYadaata.
At the end of the booklet, we have also added one of the epistles of the Rebbe Rashab, for “it appears that [the maamar, VeYadaata] is an extensive explanation of the concepts expressed in this letter.”9
