In recent years, it has become the widespread custom to study a portion of Mishneh Torah daily, completing it each year in a manner similar to our annual completion of the Written Torah, that of Moshe ben Amram. This is accomplished by studying three chapters each day, despite there being too many laws, apparently, for full, in-depth study… Rambam personally emphasized in his introduction to Mishneh Torah that his compendium was being penned “for those of greater and lesser stature,” meaning that it can be studied on a wide scale of scholarship. One of “lesser stature” in scholarship is also able to study three chapters of Mishneh Torah daily, by doing so on his own level. A greater scholar, on the other hand, will find it possible to study the same three chapters a day in-depth, along with the many topics that arise from his examination of each chapter…
Live with the times. As is the case with all Torah topics encountered in our studies, we should “live” with the daily chapters of Mishneh Torah. For G-d “gazed into the Torah and then created the universe accordingly,” a reality that is relevant foremost to the “universe in microcosm” that is the human being. “Living” with our current Torah themes causes these matters to be projected into the world at large.
It is customary to seek moral lessons and the like from the daily chapters of Mishneh Torah and other regular Torah studies. Needless to say, this is not a matter of showcasing one’s sharp mind by cleverly associating the chapter’s contents with timely concerns. Rather, it is the truth of the matter and the Torah expects us to derive from our studies instruction relevant to the day on which we study any given topic. We should actively seek to uncover such instruction and then improve our conduct accordingly.
The shiur of the generation. It was the Alter Rebbe who directed us to “live with the times,” meaning to live with the particular topics of Torah study—for the Torah “is our lives and the length of our days”—that we are currently studying. First and foremost, the Alter Rebbe’s directive applies to our examination of the weekly parshah. But it also extends to all other subjects that divine providence has arranged for us to study at present. This directive applies to each individual in their private study, and certainly to topics studied by the general public that follows cycles established by the leader of our generation—a practice that has become commonplace throughout the Jewish scene and that has become a fixed daily study for each and every Jew.
Obvious material for an address. From the above it is clear that when a community Rav or lecturer is to speak before the congregation or at a farbrengen and the like, and is searching for appropriate lecture material, then in addition to addressing the topics at hand, he should find something from the daily study cycles; they contain special instructions and lessons for that day.
