English translation — י"ט כסלו ב

A.

The redemption of the old Rebbe on Yud-Tes Kislev was on the third day of the week,

as he writes in his well-known letter¹,

that on "the day on which 'ki tov' was doubled, Yud-Tes Kislev...

And when I read²

in the book of Tehillim, in the verse "He redeemed my soul in peace"...

I came out in peace"³.

Since the old Rebbe himself emphasizes that his redemption was on the third day on which 'ki tov' was doubled — it is understood simply,

that the <b>content</b> of the redemption of Yud-Tes Kislev has a connection to the <b>content</b> of the third day⁴

of the week.

2.

And one could say the point of the explanation in this:

It is known⁵,

that "your wellsprings will spread forth outward" — the dissemination of the teachings of Chassidus — began mainly "after Petersburg",

i.e.

that is

— after the redemption of the 19th of Kislev.

And therefore,

just as one finds at the giving of the Torah in general,

that it is connected with the number three — and particularly regarding time: the giving of the Torah was "on the third day, in the third month"⁶

— so too was it at the revelation of the inner dimension of the Torah on 19 Kislev⁷,

that it was:

(a)

in the month of Kislev,

which is the third month from the beginning of the year⁸,

(b)

on the third day — on the third day of the week.

The explanation of this — it can be said⁹

The effect of the Giving of the Torah is,

that then was nullified the decree of "the upper ones shall not descend to the lower ones and the lower ones shall not ascend to the upper ones"¹⁰,

there was opened the connection of "upper" with "lower"; and this is hinted in the matter of "third": "first" indicates that there is

(from the outset existing)

only <b>one </b>thing; "second" indicates separation¹¹

— two separate things

(as before the Giving of the Torah,

that "upper" and "lower" were two <b>separate </b>things)

; and "third" indicates the connection of both together.

What therefore the Torah its subject is "peace",

as the Rambam writes¹²

that "the entire Torah was given to make peace in the world" — and Torah is called "peace"¹³

because the subject of "peace" is <b>connection</b> of two

(opposites).

So too it is also regarding the revelation and dissemination of the teachings of Chassidus:

Before the redemption of 19 Kislev there was not the &lt;b&gt;dissemination outward &lt;/b&gt;of the &lt;b&gt;wellsprings &lt;/b&gt;of the Torah — both the "outward" within the person himself,

which is — beginning from his intellect&lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;,

and also "outward" literally,

teaching the inner dimension of the Torah publicly,

and spreading it in every place until the farthest places —

And the redemption of 19 Kislev opened up the "your wellsprings shall spread forth outward" — analogous to the union of "upper" and "lower" of the giving of the Torah.

And as mentioned, it is said that this is the reason — at least one of the reasons that the Alter Rebbe connects his redemption with the recitation of the verse "He redeemed &lt;b&gt;in peace &lt;/b&gt;my soul" — because this is the content of the matter of "peace".

3.

With this one will also understand the connection of Yud-Tes Kislev to the matter of "it was doubled in it that it was good" — which the Alter Rebbe emphasizes in his letter,

that his redemption was

(not simply¹⁵

on the third day of the week,

but)

on the day that "it was doubled in it that it was good":

The doubling of "ki tov" on the third day shows,

as known¹⁶,

on the double good — "good

to heaven and good to creatures"; that the double good is a matter of connection "upper" and "lower" — the good is in connection and together to heaven and to creatures.

And the double good is emphasized especially in Toras HaChassidus,

which demands from a Jew both extremes: on one side Chassidus — the inner dimension of the Torah — opens that the service between man and G-d should be in the ultimate height — “Shomayim”

(gone through with the &lt;b&gt;wellsprings &lt;/b&gt;of the Torah)

; on the other hand,

Chassidus demands the matter of Ahavas Yisrael until “&lt;b&gt;ordinary creatures&lt;/b&gt;”,

as the Alter Rebbe explains at length in Tanya chapter 32.

D.

Another matter in this:

The avodah of Chassidus is such that it pertains,

and moreover encompasses <b>all</b> Jews — both those who are in the category of "shamayim" and those who are in the category of "beriyos":

The Alter Rebbe emphasizes,

right in the "title page" of the book Tanya,

that "For this matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it" — that <b>every</b> Jew must know,

that "to <b>you</b>" it is "<b>very near</b>" the matter of avodas Hashem,

and as the Alter Rebbe continues right in the introduction and elaborates in the explanation in his book — the book Tanya — how one can carry this out "in a long and short way";

And on the other hand,

the Alter Rebbe emphasizes¹⁷

— that even one who already holds at the level of "heavens",

when the service is already for him a matter of "habit" and "nature" and he does not ascend higher, he becomes

17)

Tanya ch. 15.

Called "&lt;b&gt;not &lt;/b&gt;serve them",

and a Jew must always be a "&lt;b&gt;servant &lt;/b&gt;of God" — more than his usual level;

And thereby one guards,

that also &lt;b&gt;this &lt;/b&gt;matter is "very close to you in the word": a Jew can indeed think,

since he already finds himself in the level of "heavens" — how then does one demand of him that he should reach even higher?

Says the Alter Rebbe,

that also for &lt;b&gt;this &lt;/b&gt;service were given powers,

until that it is "very close" for every Jew.

5.

According to the explanation mentioned in the doing

(at least — one of the main doings)

of 19 Kislev,

one will also understand the connection between the redemption of 19 Kislev with the book Tanya,

— and as is known,

that the 53 days that the Alter Rebbe was imprisoned correspond to the 53 chapters of Tanya¹⁸,

and the redemption of 19 Kislev was in the merit of the "two years of life in Torah and service that the Tanya added among Chassidim"

(for which the Alter Rebbe wanted that the Tanya be printed before 19 Kislev)¹⁹

For although the printing of this book was two years earlier

The redemption of 19 Kislev

(The Tanya was printed in the year 5557 and

the redemption was in the year 5559)

— is however the novelty of the book Tanya

(in relation to other Chassidic discourses of his)

connected with the matter of 19 Kislev.

will one understand this according to the saying of our Rabbis, our leaders,

that the Tanya is "the Written Torah of the Torah of Chassidus"²².

as understood simply,

is the title "the Written Torah of the Torah of Chassidus" upon the book Tanya not only because the Alter Rebbe himself wrote it

(and similarly the teachings of the Maggid and the Baal Shem Tov which were written only by students and not by themselves)]

but because the relationship of the book of Tanya to the rest of the teachings of Chassidus is analogous to the relationship of the Written Torah to the Oral Torah,

as follows.

6.

The difference between the Oral Torah and the Written Torah²³

And

A difference which brings a difference in practical halachah in the manner of their study — even though he does not know what he says in the Written Torah,

specifically when he understands in the Oral Torah²⁴

: In the Oral Torah it is primarily relevant the <b>understanding and comprehension</b> of it

The matter that is learned,

But it is not so relevant the precision in the letters and words; as opposed to in the Written Torah: every letter must be written precisely,

and the main thing about it is the reading of the letters;

And it can be said that therefore the matter first arose at the Giving of the Torah.

For although the matter of Torah study also existed before the Giving of the Torah, "from the days of our forefathers, a yeshivah never ceased from them"²⁵,

until that by them there was Torah also <b>written</b>,

as the Rambam²⁶

writes "and he composed with it <b>books</b> and made it known to Yitzchak his son",

But all this did not have the status of the <b>Written</b> Torah — <b>that</b> first arose through and after the Giving of the Torah.

Since before the Giving of the Torah there was the decree that "the upper ones shall not descend below and the lower ones shall not ascend above,"

so it was regarding the Torah itself — there was the upper — the spirituality of the Torah

(comprehension and grasp)²⁷

But the upper did not descend into the lower — the writing and the book that they wrote — that it should become a holy object;

Specifically after the decree was nullified,

it became revealed that "the upper ones descended to the lower ones" — Torah came down into action,

Torah

in writing; "and the writing was the writing of God"²⁸,

when he holds in his hand a Torah scroll and the like, he is <b>holding an object</b>,

and it is not a matter of descent in Torah, heaven forbid,

but rather as Torah is in action,

in "writing" — this is "the writing of God" — connection between "upper" and "lower".

And so it is in the book Tanya which the Alter Rebbe wrote in a manner that every &lt;b&gt;letter&lt;/b&gt; should be precise to the utmost,

as his holy honor, my father-in-law, the Rebbe, related&lt;sup&gt;22&lt;/sup&gt;

that the Alter Rebbe wrote the Tanya over the course of twenty years,

"And he examined and was precise with every word and word until he refined and purified it in missing and extra [letters]"

(and when he gave the Tanya to print he strongly requested of the printer that he should be very precise in the "proofreading in missing and extra [letters]")

That this clothing of the inner dimension of the Torah in the letters of the written [Torah] is one thing with the matter of the redemption of 19 Kislev,

which opened up the "Your wellsprings will spread forth to the outside,"

that the "&lt;b&gt;wellsprings&lt;/b&gt;" in the Torah should descend until the "&lt;b&gt;outside&lt;/b&gt;".

And just as this is regarding the Written Torah,

that not only is the entire Oral Torah included in it — there is nothing that is not hinted at in the Torah²⁹

— which was <b>later</b> revealed,

but also the matters in the Torah that were studied before the Giving of the Torah,

So too is it regarding the book of Tanya,

that in it are also included matters of the teachings of Chassidus,

also the matters that

The Alter Rebbe revealed before the writing of the Tanya,

And it can be said even more: since the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid did not write down their Torah — it was only in the category of the Oral Torah which was written down by the students — and with Chabad Chassidus the Alter Rebbe brought the matters of general Chassidus into understanding and comprehension,

beginning with the book of Tanya,

it turns out,

that in the book of Tanya are brought in writing also the matters of the general Torah of Chassidus³⁰.

From all the above is understood the greatness of the matter and the elevation etc. of the study of the book of Tanya — the Written Torah of the Torah of Chassidus — that through this study,

within the study of Chassidus in general,

one will merit soon to study the Torah of Moshiach — whose subject is the innermost dimension of the Torah,

and in the language of Rashi³¹

: the secret of its reasons and the hidden mystery of its secrets — from the mouth of Moshiach,

speedily in our days, literally.

(From the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Vayishlach 5742)