בְּמִנְחָה אֵין אוֹמְרִים תַּחֲנוּן.

Tachanun is omitted from the Minchah service.1

יד מְנַחֵם אָב תשׁ"א — נִמְלְאוּ חֲמִשִׁים שָׁנָה מִיּוֹם שֶׁאָמַר לִי אַאַמוּ"ר שֶׁאַתְחִיל לִרְשׁוֹם הַסִּפּוּרִים שֶׁמְּסַפֵּר לִי.

כַּאֲשֶׁר הִתְחִיל הַצֶּמַח צֶדֶק לִכְתּוֹב בְּעִנְיָנֵי נִגְלָה וַחֲסִידוּת, אָמַר לוֹ אַדְמוּ"ר הַזָּקֵן: וְקָנֶה לְךָ חָבֵר, וּקָנֶה (קוּף בְּקָמַץ, נוּן בְּסֶגֹּל) — לְשׁוֹן קוּלְמוּס — לְךָ חָבֵר. פַּעַם אָמַר אַאַמוּ"ר בְּשֵׁם אַדְמוּ"ר הַזָּקֵן וְקָנֶה — לָשׁוֹן קוּלְמוּס — לְךָ חָבֵר, וּפִּרֵשׁ אַאַמוּ"ר קוּלְמוּס הַלֵּב, אַז יעֶדעֶר זאַךְ וואָס מְ'לעֶרעֶנט זאָל מעֶן אִיבּעֶרלעֶבּעֶן.

Today, 14 Menachem Av, 5701 (1941),2 marks fifty years since my revered father, the Rebbe [Rashab], told me to begin writing down the traditions and anecdotes that he used to relay to me. When the Tzemach Tzedek began writing on subjects in nigleh and Chassidus,3 the Alter Rebbe told him: Kaneh lecha chaver4 – “Let a pen be your companion.”

[On another occasion, when] my revered father, the Rebbe [Rashab], quoted [the Alter Rebbe’s directive] to me, he added his own interpretation — that this directive related to “the quill of the heart.” That is, [our hearts] must be alive and aroused by whatever we learn.5

To Fill In the Background

The Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, and the Rebbe Rayatz were voluminous writers, though many of their works remained unpublished until very recently. With only a quill or fountain pen as their word processor, they produced an awesome quantity of written material. Indeed, the Tzemach Tzedek said that the MittelerRebbe would write with his mind directly connected to his pen.6

While the writings of the Mitteler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek were mostly scholarly, the Rebbe Rayatz — in addition to his numerous maamarim — truly wielded “a quill of the heart.” When he received the above directive from his father, he had just turned eleven, and from that time on, throughout a life checkered by ailments and tribulations, he honored that directive with gusto.

He frequently recalled7 how from early childhood in the village of Lubavitch he would often visit his saintly grandmother — Rebbitzin Rivkah, widow of the Rebbe Maharash — and would write down all the family traditions and teachings that he had heard from her. He later made use of his decades of such notes, together with the records of his own experiences, vignettes of aged chassidim whom he had encountered, and teachings with which he alone had been entrusted, in his numerous talks and writings. The style of his expressive pen, with its characteristic vitality and emotion, demonstrates how fully he realized his father’s directive — that our hearts must be alive and aroused by whatever we learn. Moreover, through his writings he gives us the opportunity to share a taste of that vitality.