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Moshe Rabbeinu is telling the Yidden more mitzvos, teaching how to act in a caring way to other people:
- If someone does work for you, pay right away, especially if he is poor, because he might need the money you’re supposed to give him! He worked hard and may have even endangered his life for the money. If you don’t pay him right away, it is an aveira.
- Close relatives can’t be witnesses (eidim) for each other in court.
- The Beis Din has to be extra careful with the way they treat an orphan or a ger, making sure that they are treated fairly.
- An almanah (a woman whose husband R”L passed away) also needs extra sensitivity. If she borrowed money, even if she didn’t pay back, you can’t take a Mashkon from her. Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim and gave us mitzvos to keep. We need to keep them even if they are hard, like this one, where someone might lose money!
- When you are cutting your wheat from the field, or picking olives and grapes, and you forget something by mistake you need to leave it for a poor person and not take it for yourself.
- The Beis Din needs to make sure to make a proper Din Torah to say who is right and who is wrong.
- Then we learn the mitzvah of the court giving malkos to a person who deserved that punishment in court for an aveira he has done.
- You are not allowed to cover the mouth of an animal when it is working in the field! (People used to cover the mouth of an animal, called muzzling, to keep it from eating the food in the field.)
- Then we learn the mitzvah of yibum and chalitzah. If someone passed away without children, his wife needs to get married to the brother of her husband so they can name a child after him. That’s called Yibum. If that’s not possible or they don’t want to, then chalitzah is done.
- If someone does something very embarrassing to someone else when they were fighting, he must pay. A person doesn’t just have to pay for hurting someone else, but also for embarrassing him.
- When you do business it needs to be honest and then Hashem will be happy and give you long life.
- Remember, and never forget, what Amalek did to us when we left Mitzrayim. We need to wipe out their name. This mitzvah will be finished when Moshiach comes!
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Today’s kapitelach are Ayin-Beis to Ayin-Vov. We also say kapitelach Mem, Mem-Alef, and Mem-Beis for Elul.
In Kapitel Ayin-Gimmel, there is a posuk “Mi Li Bashamayim Ve’imcha Lo Chofatzti Ba’aretz.”
The Tzemach Tzedek tells us that the Alter Rebbe used to say that this posuk means, “Do I need Shomayim? And I don’t want what’s with You in the world.” The Alter Rebbe was saying that he doesn’t want what’s WITH Hashem, like Gan Eden or Olam Haba. He just wanted Hashem Himself.
What does that mean for us? When we do a mitzvah, we shouldn’t think about how we will get a reward from Hashem — even a special Ruchnius’dike reward! The only thing that should be important to us is that we become connected to Hashem and fulfilling the shlichus He gave us to make Hashem’s kedusha felt in the world.
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Yud-Gimmel
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In this letter, so far, we learned about two kinds of Yidden. One is very strict and makes sure to do everything EXACTLY right, so he always gives just the amount of Tzedakah just like the Halacha tells him to.
There is also another kind of Yid that is not always thinking about being strict — he’s thinking about how to give and do MORE, and that’s how he acts.
Because both of these midos come from Kedusha, everyone needs to have both! It just depends which one is the MAIN one, and which one is usually hiding.
Hashem shows a special Chesed to Yidden when WE act with a special Chesed! When we give tzedakah without making a cheshbon how much we should give, then Hashem will give us Chesed without making a cheshbon if we deserve it or not!
Since ALL Yidden have this koach at least hiding inside, we all need to use it when it comes to Tzedakah. Then we can ask Hashem to protect us, and give us what we need with this Chesed that has no limits!
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In today’s Hayom Yom, we learn to be careful with what we use our energy for: Helping make Yiddishkeit stronger, not wasting time proving we are right!
The Rebbe Rashab told Chassidim something very important:
There are people that laugh at Yiddishkeit sometimes. We might want to fight or argue with them, to prove that they are wrong and we are right!
This is not the right thing to do. We have too much to do — we can’t waste our time with arguing. We need to use ALL of our koach to make sure that Yiddishkeit is strong, heilig, and pure.
For this, we need to REALLY have Mesiras Nefesh! It’s not enough to just be READY to have Mesiras Nefesh. We shouldn’t think about what WE want — we just do whatever we can to help Yiddishkeit! There’s no time for anything else.
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #167) is that the Kohen Gadol has to be careful not to move or touch something that can give him Tumas Meis. (That sounds just like yesterday’s mitzvah, that a Kohen Gadol should not become Tomei, but the Rambam shows us how really they are two separate mitzvos — not to be in a place that can make him tomei, and not to touch or move something that can make him tomei!)
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Today’s Rambam (perakim Vov, Zayin, and Ches) talks about the halachos of a person who is mourning for someone who passed away.
Very soon when Moshiach will come, there will be no more reason for Hashem to take a person’s neshama away from their Guf. In fact, Hashem will return every neshama to their proper guf with Techiyas Hameisim!
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Depending on what words a person uses, a neder might mean different things. Like if a person would say that grapes are asur for him, would that also include grape juice and wine?
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We are in such a special time now! The month of Elul is a special present to Yidden from Hashem.
Yidden are not like all the nations of the world. For a Yid, Hashem wants us to deserve the brachos that we get. When we learn Torah do mitzvos and act the way Hashem wants, we are given all the wonderful things we need and want from Hashem.
On Rosh Hashana, all the things we did during the whole year get looked at. Hashem will decide what kind of year to give us, based on how we acted. We have bitachon that Hashem will give all of us a year with all of Hashem’s brachos — especially the biggest Bracha that we all daven for, the Geulah Sheleimah!
But we get a whole month to get ready for the inspection. Hashem even comes out to Yidden, Melech BaSadeh, and helps every one of us to find those things that we need to make better to be able to get the Ksiva Vachasima Tova!
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A long time ago, one of the scariest things that could happen was a hunger. If, for a long time, there was no rain, nothing would grow. The fields would all dry up, animals would become sick and weak, and there wouldn’t be enough food for everyone. There were no refrigerators to store food, no big trucks to bring food from other places, and no big pipes to bring water from faraway places to water the fields.
If there was a hunger, the Yidden would all fast and do teshuvah. They would gather in the shuls and daven to Hashem, saying special tefillos and asking Him to have rachmonus and give rain.
In the times of Rabbi Akiva, the Yidden once noticed something incredible: Rabbi Akiva came to the shul during a hunger. He came to the Amud and said a new tefillah. Rabbi Akiva said, “Avinu Malkeinu, Chatanu Lefanecha!” “Our Father, Our King — we admit that we did aveiros!” When he said these words, it started to rain.
The Yidden realized that these words had a special koach to ask Hashem for rachmonus. They added more lines starting with the words Avinu Malkeinu, and made them part of the tefillos on fast days and during the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah.
On Yom Tov, we actually don’t say the first line of Avinu Malkeinu, “Chatanu Lefanecha,” because we don’t say Vidui on Yom Tov. Instead, we start with the next line, saying “Avinu Malkeinu, Ain Lanu Melech Ela Ata!” “Our Father, our King, we don’t have a King aside for You!”
On Rosh Hashana, we ask for Hashem’s rachmonus by saying Avinu Malkeinu. But there is another way that we get Hashem’s rachmonus! In the Zohar, it writes that the neshamos in Shomayim look for ways to ask Hashem to have rachmonus on the Yidden in this world, that Hashem should bentch us all with a good year.
See Shaar Hakolel end of perek Mem-Beis
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There are certain words in davening that we are very careful to pronounce the right way, so that the meaning isn’t chas veshalom changed to a not-good meaning. In Shema there are some places like this, for example making sure that even if we say the word “Echod” (“one”) slowly in Shema, that it doesn’t sound like Acher (“another one”).
Especially during the Yomim Noraim, when we are being carefully judged, there are some parts of davening where we are very careful to pronounce the words just right.
For example, we add the line “Zochreinu Lechaim,” asking Hashem to remember us for life. We are careful to say the word LE’Chayim, with a sheva, and not to say it as “La’Chaim,” with a komatz or patach. That is because “LaChaim” could sound like two words — La Chayim — which could chas veshalom mean NOT life!
Another place we are very careful is when we say the line in Avinu Malkeinu, “Kra Ro’a Gzar Dineinu,” asking Hashem to rip up the bad parts of our decree. We are careful not to pause between the words “Ro’a” (bad) and “Gzar” (gezeira). If we pause, it might sound like we are asking Hashem, “rip up the bad thing — our gezeira!” We don’t want Hashem to rip up our whole gezeira, chas veshalom, with all of its good parts — we only want Hashem to take out the not good parts of our gezeira for this year and we should be left with only what’s good!
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Tof-Kuf-Pey-Beis and Shaar Hakolel end of perek Mem-Beis
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לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
שליח כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו למדינת אילינוי
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In the nevuos of the Navi Zechariah, we see how Hashem showed things to him, like a mashal.
In one of these nevuos, Zechariah saw a malach with a measuring stick. He asked the malach what he was doing, and the malach said he was measuring Yerushalayim.
Another malach came over to the first malach, and told him to stop measuring! Now, Yerushalayim is a city with a wall around it, so it can be measured. But when Moshiach comes, Yerushalayim will be like the cities without walls. This way it will be able to grow as more and more Yidden come to live there!
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו רֻץ דַּבֵּר אֶל הַנַּעַר הַלָּז לֵאמֹר פְּרָזוֹת תֵּשֵׁב יְרוּשָׁלִַם מֵרֹב אָדָם וּבְהֵמָה בְּתוֹכָהּ
Vayomer Eilav — The second malach said to the first malach:
Rutz Dabeir El Hanaar Halaz — “Run and speak to this young man (Zechariah)
Leimor — Saying:
Prazos Teisheiv Yerushalayim — ‘Yerushalayim will be lived in like a city without walls
Meirov Adam Uveheima Besocha — From the many people and animals that live there!’”
See Zechariah perek Beis posuk Ches
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לע"נ התינוק זאב ארי' ע"ה בן יבלט"א הרה"ח ר' שניאור זלמן שי' גליק
נפטר ב' מנחם אב ה'תשע"ג
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