אַאַמוּ"ר סִפֵּר: הַדְּרוּשׁ וָאֵרָא גו' וּשְׁמִי ד' גו', הַמְדַבֵּר בְּעִנְיַן כִּי לֹא יִדַּח מִמֶּנּוּ נִדָּח (אֵינוֹ הַנִּדְפָּס בְּתּוֹרָה אוֹר), קָנָה לוֹ שֵׁם "דעֶר פרוּמעֶר וָאֵרָא", וְהָיָה רָגִיל רַבֵּנוּ הַזָּקֵן לַחֲזוֹר אוֹתוֹ אַחַת לְשָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים, וּבְכָל פַּעַם וּפַעַם כִּמְעַט שֶׁהָיָה אוֹמֵר אוֹתוֹ כִּלְשׁוֹנוֹ. וְאָמַר הַצֶּמַח צֶדֶק: יעֶדעֶר מאָל אִיז געֶוועֶן אַ אוֹר חָדָשׁ. האָט דעֶר טאַטעֶ געֶזאָגט: אַ אוֹר אִיז אַלעֶ מאָל גלַייך, אָבּעֶר מָאוֹר אִיז אַלעֶמאָל וִוי אַ דָבָר חָדָשׁ.

My revered father, the Rebbe [Rashab], once related: “The maamar beginning Vaeira… U’Shmi A-donai (not the one that appears in Torah Or),which explains that no [Jew] ultimately will remain estranged from G‑d,1 came to be known as der frumer Vaeira.2 The Alter Rebbe would deliver it publicly every three years,3 repeating it each time almost verbatim. [Nevertheless,] the Tzemach Tzedek said: ‘Every time, there was a new light.’” On this my father commented: “Light (or) is always the same; a luminary (maor) is always like something new.”4

Probing Beneath the Surface

When the Rebbe delivered a maamar or a sichah, he was not merely communicating abstract, intellectual concepts: he was conveying G‑dliness — timeless and always new. That explains why the Rebbe would deliver the maamar and the chassidim would listen to it with ever-fresh zeal, time after time, even when he spoke of concepts that he had discussed on earlier occasions.