בְּמִנְחָה אֵין אוֹמְרִים תַּחֲנוּן.

In the Afternoon Service, Tachanun is not recited.1

הַצֶּמַח צֶדֶק כּוֹתֵב: אַהֲבָה דִבְחִינַת וְעִמְּךָ לֹא חָפַצְתִּי (הַיְינוּ) שֶׁלֹּא לַחְפּוֹץ שׁוּם דָּבָר זוּלָתוֹ יִתְבָּרֵךְ, וְלֹא אֲפִילוּ שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ שֶׁהֵם גַּן עֵדֶן עֶלְיוֹן וְתַחְתּוֹן, כִּי רַק בְּיוּ"ד נִבְרָא כו', אֶלָּא תִּהְיֶה הָאַהֲבָה רַק לוֹ יִתְבָּרֵךְ לְבַד, דְהַיְינוּ לִמְהוּתוֹ וְעַצְמוּתוֹ יִתְבָּרֵךְ מַמָּשׁ. וְכַךְ הָיָה נִשְׁמָע הַלָּשׁוֹן מִמּוֹרִי וְרַבִּי נִשְׁמָתוֹ עֵדֶן, רַבֵּנוּ הַזָּקֵן, בִּדְבֵקוּתוֹ, שֶׁהָיָה אוֹמֵר בְּזֶה הַלָּשׁוֹן:

אִיך וִויל זעֶ גאָר נִיסט, אִיך וִויל נִיט דַיין גַּן עֵדֶן, אִיך וִויל נִיט דַיין עוֹלָם הַבָּא כו', אִיךְ וִויל מעֶר נִיט אַז דִיךְ אַלֵיין.

The Tzemach Tzedek writes: The love [of G‑d at the level] indicated by the verse,2 “Beside You, I desire nothing,” is such that one desires nothing other than G‑d Himself. One does not even desire “heaven” or “earth,” which allude here to the Higher Gan Eden andthe Lower Gan Eden, for they were created only through the letter yud.3 Rather, one’s love is directed solely to G‑d, to His very Essence.4

And indeed, these were the words that used to be heard from our mentor and master (the Alter Rebbe),5 when he entered a state of dveikus: “I desire nothing. I don’t want Your Gan Eden.6 I don’t want Your World to Come…. I want nothing but You alone.”7

גוּט יוֹם טוֹב.

לְשָׁנָה טוֹבָה בְּלִמּוּד הַחֲסִידוּת וְדַרְכֵי הַחֲסִידוּת תִּכָּתֵבוּ וְתֵחָתֵמוּ.

Gut Yom-Tov!

May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year in the study of Chassidus and the paths of Chassidus.8

Living as a Chassid

This final teaching brings the wheel full circle.

The original edition of HaYom Yom opened with the Rebbe Rashab’s cry “from out of the depths,”9 yearning “to elicit the depths and inwardness of [G‑d’s] Torah and mitzvos from the inwardness and Essence of the [infinite] Ein-Sof Light, so that it will illumine the innermost reaches of our souls. Our entire being… will thereby be dedicated to Him alone.”

And now, HaYom Yom closes with the very same plea: “I want nothing but You alone.”

In the last of his own maamarim that the Rebbe edited for publication — and presented personally to all those present at “770” on the eve of Purim Katan, 5752 (1992) — he takes this plea further.10

The Rebbe there describes how a Jew’s avodah reveals the luminary11 within himself, namely, the essence of his soul. In certain generations, it is the oppression that a Jew undergoes in exile that makes him feel crushed — but then, like the olive that yields its “oil for the luminary” when it is crushed, he responds to oppression with self-sacrifice for his Yiddishkeit, and his luminous essence surfaces.

But beyond that, even when he lives in a state of religious tolerance and prosperity, his peace of mind is thrown out of gear by the very fact that we are all still in exile. Indeed, the fact that G‑d’s light is veiled or hidden crushes him so utterly that this awakens within him, even more intensely, the innermost reaches of his soul. His only desire is “You alone.”

After citing the above-quoted account of the Alter Rebbe’s yearning, the Rebbe adds that the fact that the Tzemach Tzedek made it public endows every Jew with the potential to experience, as his most urgent wish, a desire that G‑d’s Essence be revealed. In his thrice-daily entreaty, springing from the very depths of his being, the essence of his soul seeks to fuse with the Essence of its Source: “I want nothing but You alone.”