אַאַזְמוּ"ר כּוֹתֵב בְּאֶחָד מִמַּאֲמָרָיו: צְרִיכִים לִלְמוֹד בְּכָל יוֹם תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִּכְתָב עִם פֵּרוּשׁ רַשִׁ"י שֶׁזֶּהוּ תְּרוּמוֹת מִדְרְשֵׁי רַזַ"ל ... וּלְכָל הַפָּחוֹת צָרִיךְ כָּל אֶחָד לִלְמוֹד מַסֶּכֶת גְּמָרָא בְּשָׁנָה.

My revered grandfather, the Rebbe [Maharash], writes in one of his maamarim:1 Every day, one should study the Written Law with the commentary of Rashi, because it contains the choicest parts of our Sages’ exegesis [on the Torah]…. Everyone should also study at least one Talmudic tractate every year.

Living as a Chassid

The Rebbeim constantly urged their chassidim to study, in the spirit of the teaching of the Sages2 that “an unlearned person cannot be a chassid.” Chassidim have added that if one wants to be a chassid of the Rebbe, it is not enough to be learned; one must study Torah continuously.

The ability to follow this charge depends largely on one’s sense of identity. A person who considers himself a chassid of the Rebbe realizes that he must use his free time to study Torah. In other words, if he picks up a newspaper because he has nothing to do at a particular moment, he is indicating that he considers himself a free man, without a yoke of service. When instead he picks up a Chumash or a Gemara, he is saying: “I am G‑d’s servant; my time is not my own.”