27 of Nissan - תשד"מ - Daily class in Rambam started

00:00 This is the Yemei Chabad for the twenty-seventh day of Nisan, and this is in the year Taf Shin Daled Mem. Now, usually, it's interesting, just so I'll make a note to you, that in the Hebrew calendar, you know, everything, of course, is used as the Hebrew letters. But sometimes the Hebrew letters will spell out something which is a negative meaning, so they'll swap around the letters. So for example, the word, the word normally would be that the, um, larger number, um, the Gematria of the larger number will come before the numeric-- for the single numbers. So let's say that if you wanna say six hundred and forty-four, so it would be six... I mean, seven hundred, in this case, seven hundred and forty-four. Of course, five thousand, but we're leaving out the five thousand. We don't usually write the five thousand. And that's represented by the He that would precede it. So how would you do a seven, uh, forty-four? So normally you would do Taf is four hundred, Shin is three hundred, so Taf Shin makes up seven hundred. That's why we have always Taf Shin. Now, then you would say forty-four would be Mem, Mem is forty, and then would be Daled, would be forty-four. But then that would mean Tishmad or Shumad is a very bad word. That means to change your religion. It means destruction. It also means the Jewish people, when they were, uh, annihilated, it's called a Shumad, that they were, uh, killed and things like that. So now

01:30 wanting to mention that they swap, they swap it around, and they put the Daled before the Mem. So you have Taf Shin, Daled Mem. So they have the singular before, so it shouldn't spell out. And you have it in various different, you know, sometimes you have the word Reish Ayin. Let's say Reish Ayin. They would not say Reish Ayin because Reish Ayin would spell Ra. Ra. It means bad. Bad. So then they would make Ayin Reish. So this is sometimes this is done. So anyways, this was the twenty-seventh of Nisan in the year Taf Shin Daled Mem, seven hundred and forty-four, April twenty-nine, nineteen eighty-four, thirty years ago. Now, that's interesting that you say because we-- if you remember, we just finished the, uh, a month ago or so, we just finished the thirtieth cycle, the twenty-ninth cycle of the Rambam, and we started the thirtieth cycle of the Rambam. Uh, that was the time that it started, the Shir, daily Shir in the Rambam. It was instituted by the Rebbe at that time to study the Rambam. So he quotes here several pieces from the talk of the Rebbe, and the Rebbe spoke of it first at the Achresh of Pesach. That is the day, last day of Pesach, he spoke about it. And, um, also in the Shabbos Parshas Kedoshim that followed Achresh of Pesach. In that year, in the year Taf Shin Daled Mem in seven hundred and forty-four. And, um, the Rebbe spoke over there that, um, he's spoken many times

03:03 about an effort to try to unite, uh, all the Jewish people. And, um, the importance of uniting all Jewish people together is because that's the way to bring about redemption, through unity, through Achdus, through being together. That's how we hasten, that we bring about the redemption. And the reason why, well how is, uh, togetherness, how is this, uh, connected to, uh, hastening the coming of Moshiach is because, uh, we know that the reason why we were placed into exile in the first place was for Sinas Chinam, was for hatred without even a reason. Cause. So the opposite is by Ahavas Chinam, is by extending love, and the way to do, do that is to-- by uniting people, bringing people together. So- What does Chinam mean? Chinam means for no reason. For no reason. For, for no reason, you know. I mean- Just to have love. For free, yeah. Yeah, just, just... I mean, basically would mean don't love somebody or don't care- Don't judge. Or don't love somebody just because he does something for you. Right. But just love him regardless. Because he's a person. Even without-- Yeah, because he's a person, because he's, uh, he's, he's a, he's a Jew, and he deserves his... He's your brother. I mean- Love your neighbor as yourself, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Now, what is the-- one of the ways to achieve unity, Rebbe says, is that when all Jewish people study one subject in the Torah, uh, then there is a tremendous unity because not only

04:36 is there unity, uh, between the people, but there's also unity be-between, um, the Torah. One who studies Torah, he unites with the Torah, and the Torah is, uh, a true eternal, uh, bound, bind. So if we all study the same thing, or so we're bound through the Torah, and the Torah is eternal. So say, you know, if you bind yourself, like, with rope, the rope could disintegrate eventually, but the Torah is eternal, so that's a true bind which, uh, binds you together. And that's why the Rebbe says as an idea, uh, to, um, accomplish there, is to set up a daily portion of study in the Sefer, in the book of the Mishneh Torah. Mishneh Torah, which is the second-- it goes second to the Torah, meaning after you finish the Torah, you go to the Mishneh Torah. That's the Rambam, which is also called the Yad HaChazakah, the strong arm, referencing the verse. But the word Yud Daled stands for fourteen because there are fourteen books in the Rambam's work. And, uh, this particular book, as the Rambam writes in his introduction, it collects all the oral Torah, all the, all the halachas, brings them all together, together. And there's an additional advantage, and there's something very important about studying the book of the Rambam, because the obligation to study Torah actually encompasses To study the entire Torah, the written and the oral Torah. Now- When you say Mishnah, do you mean Talmud? Yeah. Well, yeah. W- Not just Mishnah. No, when I say

06:17 here Mishneh Torah, this is the name of actually the book of the... Not the regular Mishnah. Mishnayis that we say. Oh. This is Mishneh Torah. That is the book of the name of the book that the Rambam authored for his- Oh ... for his... But his book has the distinction that it includes all the laws, also those laws that not, that are not applicable today. If you look in the Shulchan Aruch, as we had spoken at other times, in the Shulchan Aruch, it only addresses the code of law that applies today, but laws that pertain to the Beis HaMikdash, to the Korbanot, to the Kohanim, which are not, uh, w- service in the temple, which don't apply today. He doesn't address, the Shulchan Aruch does not address those because it's not applicable now. But the Rambam actually, he includes all of the Torah, including those parts as well. Um, like the laws of the Korbanot, all the services in the Beis HaMikdash, the s- the laws of the Mikdash, its vessels. Everything is included in the Rambam. So in order for somebody to fulfill the, properly, the mitzvah of studying Torah, uh, completely, to learn all the laws of the Torah. So in our days, um, it's very difficult to fulfill that mitz- mitzvah unless you actually do the Mishneh Torah. To go through the entire oral Torah, not from the Rambam, just to try to cover every Talmud, every Mishnah, and every Halakha that there is, that's very difficult. And how the Rebbe suggests

07:45 to do that is, um, it's a- proper to set up three chapters per day. Uh, the experience, this was when the Rebbe first said this, but the experience has shown that three chapters a day is a lot. So the Rebbe says, gives an option, those who for some reason cannot... are not able to study three chapters per day- You do, you do one ... you do at least one chapter per day. So it turns out that you will complete it once in three years. And, uh, in order to further unite all Jewish people, and the assumption is that maybe perhaps people that don't have experience in studying, like the children or young children and, uh, uh, women who, uh, need to... don't have experience in learning the Talmud and things like that, and the Mishneh Torah. So the Rebbe suggests that they should also participate by studying the six hundred and thirteen mitzvahs, which are in the book of the Rambam, and, uh, this was the Rebbe's suggestion. And matter of fact, we used to, uh, do every time after davening, and we should probably start again. Uh, after davening, we, we used to also do the Sefer HaMitzvos- Of the Rambam ... uh, of, of the Rambam. We did them. Yeah, we used to do them every morning. We used to do them every- So, and your... the thing you send out every Thursday, you know- The Sefer HaMitzvos, yeah ... is that just one chapter? There is... Whatever the day. Well, no, that's,

09:03 it has all schedules. You can follow whichever schedule you want. Oh, so either three or- Either three, one, or Sefer HaMitzvos. Either one. Wait, what's Sefer HaMitzvos? Sefer HaMitzvos is doing the Rambam's equivalent, just the mitzvah of the day. Oh. Uh, what happens is, the Rambam basically, all of his laws are, are... There's six hundred and thirty mitzvahs in the Torah. All the laws are connected somehow to one of the mitzvahs. So there's also a mitzvah which is sort of being expounded upon from the Torah. So that mitzvah, the equivalent, whatever they're studying in the three chapters per day, you do that mitzvah. That mitzvah is in the Rambam too, but it's a very short, abridged version. Sure. It just tells you, this is the passage and this is the laws. E- every mitzvah, every l- law that the Rambam writes, and right in the beginning before he explains the law, he quotes which passage, which, which mitzvah from the Torah it's associated with. So that mitzvah association is what you study. Now, it'll turn out some days you're gonna learn the same mitzvah, um, uh, for many days, some days. Because in the chapter, there may be a lot of laws over there. Let's say the laws of Shabbos, say for example. So when you learn, there's like thirty chapters in the laws of Rambam, so that would take ten days to finish, right? Because three chapters a day, it would take ten days to finish. Uh, let's say the mitzvahs of Shabbos are

10:22 four mitzvahs in the Torah. I'm not sure exactly what the number is. So those mitzvahs will be, be repeated for all those ten days because those, this whole entire laws of Shabbos are based on these mitzvahs. Unless within those laws itself, sometimes they u- they address different verses of the passage, so then you have those particular mitzvahs associated with that day. Why, why ten days? Wouldn't it be twelve if you do four mitzvahs- If you do three per day ... and you do three per day? It's a thousand ninety- Three chapter. It's a thousand and ninety-five chapters. Is that what it is? What? Six hundred and thirteen mitzvahs? Well, no, no, the chapters. The three chapters a day- Yeah ... and if you do it in one year. But actually, but you're, but that's, that... It's, it's actually not quite a year. It's a little less than that. Oh. I think it's not, not quite. Oh, you have three sixty-five from- It's not quite. Yeah. There's also sometimes, like, it just happens to be the, the Shur that we're gonna be learning now, that we're doing now. It's not always chapter. Like, the Rambam also has, like, the Seder. Yes. The order of the prayer. The Rambam is all-encompassing. So now we're reading, like, basically reading the Seder- If you read the Rambam- The cover- ... you're pretty much, you, you can- Covers everything ... covers everything. You don't have to worry about reading anything else if you read that. That's what is... That's exactly

11:28 what he said. But that, that, that, that held true in the time of the Rambam. It doesn't really hold true today. No, because it covers- Because- ... it covers things that are n- that, that are not applicable today. And not only that, and also we don't always rule in, in, in, in action like the Rambam. That's to fulfill the mitzvah. But it gives you an overview of everything. That's right. Absolutely. Absolutely. A quick overview. So you come to a passage- But don't think, but don't think that it's so easy, because the Rambam itself needs, needs, needs to, needs to be explained. Many times he quotes, like, the Mishnah the way it is, and just like you have to u- unravel the Mishnah, you gotta unravel what the Rambam says also. So you have to go back and read from the other part to, to understand what he's saying. Well, there's commentaries. There was-- It's interesting that before the Rebbe came out with the, uh- With his, his call, there was a, a Rambam which is called a Rambam L'am. Most of the time, Rambam wasn't used, like, on a daily basis to st-st-study the regular stuff. Most of the people used to use the Rambam, you know, to figure out something in the Talmud to try to use it as a support, as, uh... But people didn't learn it just very directly. They did publish a book called Rambam L'am, which made it very easy to study the Rambam with a very small commentary, very

12:41 precise, and gave you a lot of commentary, made it easy to use. But it didn't have that many takers because there weren't that many people studying at the time. But since the Rebbe came out 30 years ago, that book has been published, and it's been snatched up in various different formats, sizes, and it keeps on going. We have now an, a complete English translation of the, of the, of the, uh, new translation with elucidations, with, with footnotes on the Rambam, and there's many urim. There's recordings, audios. There's all over. I mean, it's- Do you have a copy here? Uh, of which one? Of the- Of the Rambam L'am. I don't have a co... I have at home. I have my co- my copy that I use. Um, the, um... You know, in the beginning, just to share with you, in the beginning, people felt that, "Oh, we don't need to use the Rambam L'am because- Okay ... we can study from the... Well, without the... You can delete it. Rambam L'am has the kudos, it has vowels, and it has... And it's... This is too elementary. Oh, okay. But until they see the Rebbe go around with the Rambam L'am . Then it was okay. Then it became okay. You know what I mean? It's, it's, it's really a lot to study three chapters. And people, people, uh, abide by it, you know. I, I wish I could say that I do it every day, uh, because it's a lot. It's, uh, really a lot,

13:58 and, you know, whether you're tired or not. It's three sentences. Now, you know, this, this parallels what non-Chabad do. They do the Daf Yomi. Right. Right. That parallels the Daf Yomi. But, um, the Daf Yomi has not been something that has caught on in Chabad tradition. Um, but, uh, the- But that's, that's the study of- The Talmud. Talmud. A page of Talmud every day. A page a day. Yes, a page a day. Page a day. A page a day. Now so, but that, the Talmud actually doesn't cover all the Torah Shebeal Peh, but that's something which, um, which is, uh, very popular also. It's become popular- In sixty-three ... in more recent years. Um, used to be only scholars, and now everybody. There's new commentaries, there's diagrams, there's videos, there's... It's just become the popular in thing. Seven years to complete. Uh- Do you have a complete... When you complete the Rambam, is there like a seal? Yes, yes, all the time. We just have to make a big, big to-do about it. But of course, it happens every year, so it's not as, uh, when you finish the Talmud once in seven years, so they make even a bigger thing because it's once in seven years. Right. Something that happens every year- The MetLife policy ... doesn't have... Yeah, I mean- The Daf Yomi, they took MetLife. Oh. Seventy-five, seventy-five thousand people showed. Yeah. Um- Wow. Now- And it didn't- This actually... So they started the twenty-seventh day of Nisan in five, um, in,

15:19 in, in, in 5770, um, 44. Um, so then when they started the study of the Rambam, the, the Rambam, and 10,000, tens of thousands of Jews all over the world, world round, uh, heeding the Rebbe's call, studying Rambam every single day. It's amazing what, what the Rebbe can do in getting thousands upon thousands of people to study, to become knowledgeable, and to become in learning in the — in the whole Torah. Yeah. When you were teaching us a mitzvah a day- Yeah ... was it from Rambam L'am? Yes. No. Oh. That was Seven Mitzvahs. There's different. There's no... Rambam L'am is the, is on the Aider Hazakah. There must be on the Seven Mitzvahs too, but that's, that's separate. Okay