מִשִּׂיחַת אַאַמוּ"ר מוֹצָאֵי שַׁבָּת קֹדֶשׁלֶךְ לְךָ תרנ"א: אִין דִי עֶרשׁטעֶ יאָהרעֶן פוּן זַיינעֶ נְשִׂיאוּת האָט דעֶר אַלטעֶר רֶבִּי געֶזאָגט בָּרַבִּים "מעֶן בּעֶדאַרף לעֶבּן מִיט דעֶר צַייט". דוּרךְ זַיין בּרוּדעֶר מַהַרִי"ל האָבּעֶן זִקְנֵי הַחֲסִידִים אוֹיסגעֶפוּנעֶן, אַז דעֶר רֶבִּי מֵיינט אַז מ'דאַרף לעֶבּעֶן מִיט דעֶר פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ אוּן פָּרָשַׁת הַיּוֹם פוּן דעֶר סִדְרָה פוּן דעֶר וואָךְ. נִיט נאָר לעֶרנעֶן דִי פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ יעֶדעֶן טאָג, נאָר לעֶבּעֶן מִיט אִיר.

In the course of a talk that my revered father, [the Rebbe Rashab,] delivered on Motzaei Shabbos [Parshas] Lech Lecha, 5651 (1890), he said: “Once, in his first years as Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe declared in public: ‘We must live with the times.’

“Through his brother, R. Yehudah Leib,1 the elders of the chassidic community discovered the Rebbe’s intent: We must live with the Torah portion of the week and, more specifically, of the current day.2 It is not enough to study [a segment of] the weekly Torah portion every day; we must live with it.”3

Living as a Chassid

In that talk, the Rebbe Rashab related that the younger chassidim asked the elder chassidim what the Alter Rebbe meant. After discussing the matter among themselves, the elder chassidim decided to ask R. Yehudah Leib to approach his brother, the Alter Rebbe, for an explanation. He received the above reply.

The Torah is G‑d’s truth, eternally and universally relevant. However, it can also provide the specific guidance that an individual needs at every moment of life. The weekly Torah reading holds the key to this guidance, for it comprises more than merely narratives or laws for specific circumstances. Its words are the living truth. By contemplating the weekly — and more precisely, the daily — Torah reading, we can learn how to live spiritually in every situation we encounter.