Month of Torah
Introduction
A year may be divided into two general stages: spring/summer and fall/winter. Kislev, the third of the “winter” months, parallels Sivan, the third of the “summer” months.
Sivan is synonymous with the festival of Shavuos, and is known as “the month in which the Torah was given”; Kislev, by extension, must also express the theme of Torah.
In this regard, however, the two months are not identical; each represents a different approach to Torah: Just as the summer sun is a physical reflection of the Divine radiance that is then apparent, Sivan is when we are given the Torah from Above. Conversely, the reduced radiance of winter allows our own efforts to rise to the fore – during Kislev, then, we receive the Torah through our own exertion.
Like the Alter Rebbe, the Previous Rebbe was released from his imprisonment on a Tuesday - and (being a time of need) he would recite Tehillim as it is divided according to the days of the week, so that on the day of his release, he too recited the abovementioned passage.]
Month-long festival
Parshas Toldos 5752 (Sichos Kodesh, p. 374). [See there, where the Rebbe refers to Kislev as "A Month of Joy."]
[In Parshas Toldos 5752 (Sichos Kodesh, p. 374), the Rebbe refers to Kislev as “A Month of Joy.”]
Kislev is rich in festivals, more than any month (except Tishrei, for the letters of “Tishrei” can be rearranged to spell “reishit,” “beginning”; Tishrei constitutes the “head” of all the months of the year).
Due to the profusion of festivals in Kislev, the entire month assumes a Yom Tov-like state – so that the previous month of Cheshvan (which boasts not a single festival) is considered “erev Yom Tov”. (Parshas Toldos, 5749; Hisvaaduyos, p. 377, fn. 1)
