אֵין אוֹמְרִים תַּחֲנוּן.

Tachanun is not recited.1

כְּשֶׁנִגְּשׁוּ לְהַדְפִּיס חֵלֶק שֵׁנִי שֶׁל הַ"תּוֹרָה אוֹר" — כְּבָר נוֹדַע לְהַחֲסִידִים, אֲשֶׁר יֶשְׁנָם הֲגָהוֹת וּבֵאוּרִים מֵהַצֶּמַח צֶדֶק עַל הַמַּאֲמָרִים. וַיַפְצִירוּ בְּהַצֶּמַח צֶדֶק אֲשֶׁר יַדְפִּיסֵם עִם הַמַּאֲמָרִים, וַיְמָאֵן הַצֶּמַח צֶדֶק. וַיַּחֲלוֹם חֲלוֹם אֲשֶׁר זְקֵנוֹ אַדְמוּ"ר הַזָּקֵן בָּא לְבַקְּרוֹ וּמְבַקְשׁוֹ לְהַדְפִּיסָם, מִכָּל מָקוֹם הֶעְלִים הַדָּבָר, עַד אֲשֶׁר גַּם שְׁלֹשָׁה מִבָּנָיו חָלְמוּ הַחֲלוֹם הַזֶּה וַיְסַפְּרוּ לַאֲבִיהֶם, וְאָז הִסְכִּים לְהַדְפִּיס גַּם הֲגָהוֹתָיו וּבֵאוּרָיו לַחֵלֶק הַשֵּׁנִי, וַיִּקְרְאוּ לוֹ בְּשֵׁם “לִקּוּטֵי תּוֹרָה".

By the time the task of printing the second part of Torah Or was undertaken,2 the chassidim had already found out that the Tzemach Tzedek had written glosses and explanations to the maamarim. They pleaded with him to print them together with the maamarim, but he refused. The Tzemach Tzedek then dreamt that his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, came to visit him and asked him to publish them. However, he concealed the matter, until three of his sons had the same dream and related it to their father. Only then did he agree to append his glosses and commentary to the second part [of Torah Or], which was entitled Likkutei Torah.3

Peering Over the Horizon

Likkutei Torah was first published in 5608 (1848), a year that the Tzemach Tzedek had designated as a ketz.4 At the end of that year, his 14-year-old son, the Rebbe Maharash,complained that though the year 5608 had come and gone, Mashiach had not arrived.

The Tzemach Tzedek replied: “But Likkutei Torah appeared this year!”

This answer implied that such a momentous dissemination of the wellsprings of Chassidus afforded not only a foretaste of the coming of Mashiach, but also was surely a significant catalyst toward that future era.

The Rebbe Maharash was not satisfied: “But we need Mashiach in the here and now, in this world!”5