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CHUMASH

Rishon with Rashi

This week is one of the shortest parshios of the year — just the parsha of Netzavim! When the first day of Rosh Hashana falls out on Monday or Tuesday, Parshas Netzavim and Vayeilech are read separately instead of together.

Now, it is Zayin Adar, the day Moshe will pass away.

Moshe Rabbeinu is talking to the Yidden about making a promise with Hashem, to keep the mitzvos.

He tells the Yidden that EVERYONE is ready to make the promise, from the Nesiim to every Yid — men, women and children, and even the slaves (the woodchoppers and the water carriers) of the Yidden. They are all ready to make the promise with Hashem to keep all the mitzvos.

 
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TEHILLIM

106 - 107

Today’s kapitelach of Tehillim are Kuf-Vov and Kuf-Zayin. We also say the kapitelach for Chodesh Elul: Samach-Daled, Samach-Hey, and Samach-Vov.

In the second posuk of today’s Tehillim, Dovid Hamelech says “Mi Yemalel Gevuros Hashem, Yashmia Kol Tehilaso?” “Who is able to say the greatness of Hashem, to say all the special things about Hashem?”

In a maamar, the Alter Rebbe tells over a vort from the Baal Shem Tov:

The word Yemalel (to say) can also mean “to break,” and Gevuros (the greatness) can also mean “the strictness”. So the posuk is asking, “Who can break the strictness of Hashem” — so Hashem doesn’t have to be strict with us? The answer is, “Yashmia Kol Tehilaso” — the one who makes us hear the special things about Hashem. The word Tehilaso (the special things about Him) can also mean Tehillim, so the answer is “Someone who says the whole Tehillim.”

So besides for all of the other good things about saying Tehillim, it also has a special koach to help that Hashem shouldn’t have to be strict with us, and will treat us with chesed!

 
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TANYA

Igeres Hakodesh Siman Tes-Zayin

As we have seen, many of the letters in Igeres Hakodesh are about Tzedakah — and this one is too! This letter is written to a certain town where the Chassidim were having a harder time with parnasa, and so they weren’t giving as much Tzedakah. The Alter Rebbe is telling them that they are making a mistake!

The Alter Rebbe tells this town that he knows how hard it is for them to get enough money for their families. He gives them a bracha that Hashem should help!

Still, it’s not right that they stopped giving tzedakah to the poor people in Eretz Yisroel (Colel Chabad) because they have nobody else to help them!

But don’t our Chachomim say “Chayecha Kodmin,” that your own life comes first? So if you don’t have enough money for what your OWN family needs, how can you give to a poor person in Eretz Yisroel?

The Alter Rebbe explains that this is only talking about when both people need the same thing, like two people in a desert with only one bottle of water. There, the halacha is that you take care of yourself first.

But if both people DON’T need the same thing, like if the poor person in Eretz Yisroel needs bread for his kids and wood so his house won’t freeze, and the poor person here wants fancy clothes and family parties, then the poor person in Eretz Yisroel comes first! Because he needs these things to save his life, and the poor person here wants those things to be comfortable.

So even if there’s not enough money to be comfortable, the Chassidim should still give the same amount to Tzedakah to the poor Chassidim in Eretz Yisroel who have no one else to rely on.

 
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HAYOM YOM

Chof-Beis Elul

In today’s Hayom Yom we learn that when we do the mitzvah of Hocheiach Tochiach, we need to be careful not to hurt or embarrass the other Yid.

Did you ever poke yourself with your fingernail by mistake? Ouch!

Did you know that saying something mean to another person can hurt like that too? Maybe it is saying something that will make them feel like they aren’t as good as you.

Chassidus teaches us that if you need to show someone they are doing something wrong (it’s a mitzvah to help another Yid do the right thing — Hocheiach Tochiach!), we need to first make sure that we aren’t going to hurt them.

 
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SEFER HAMITZVOS

Hakdama

We just started Rambam again from the very beginning! Today’s Sefer Hamitzvos gives us the rules the Rambam used to decide which mitzvos are counted in the 613 mitzvos. (Besides for the Rambam, there are other Chachomim who count the mitzvos differently. Here the Rambam shows us why he counts the mitzvos specifically this way.)

In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos we learn the first 3 rules of how to decide if something is counted as a mitzvah:

1) It has to be from the Torah. The mitzvos D’Rabbonon aren’t counted in the 613 mitzvos.

2) It has to be SAID in the Torah, not something we learn from a hint.

3) It has to be a mitzvah that is ALWAYS a mitzvah (so a mitzvah about the Mishkan that we don’t keep in the Beis Hamikdash isn’t counted)

The details of the 14 rules the Rambam uses to count the mitzvos are very long. In the Moreh Shiur, it says that they can be learned over time, even after we already start learning the actual mitzvos.

 
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RAMBAM

Mitzvos Asei

In Rambam, we are counting the mitzvos! Today we say a list of all 248 Mitzvos Asei (those are the mitzvos that are about something we need to DO for Hashem — the mitzvos Lo Saasei are the things Hashem asks us NOT to do).

Did you know what the Rambam says is the very first mitzvah? To know that there is a Hashem! That’s a mitzvah that you can do all the time!

 
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RAMBAM PEREK ECHOD

Hilchos Nezirus - Perek Daled

At the end of being a Nazir, the Nazir needs to shave and bring certain korbanos. When does he do these things if he made a promise to be a Nazir more than one time in a row?

 
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DARKEI HACHASSIDUS

Elul

During the month of Elul, we are looking at our behavior, to make sure that it is the way the Torah teaches us. The Rambam tells us that it’s not enough to do teshuvah for our mitzvos, to make sure we are doing our mitzvos right, but we also have to do teshuvah for our midos, to make sure that our midos are the way they should be!

There is a story that the Friediker Rebbe tells us in a letter, which was an introduction to the vort that was used in today’s Hayom Yom:

One of the Chassidim of the Rebbe Rashab used to learn a lot of Chassidus, and even used to sometimes daven be’arichus (with lots of kavana, which takes a long time).

But he wasn’t very careful about other people’s feelings. So at farbrengens, he would tell everyone else what they need to fix, but not in a nice way! Sometimes it would make people feel bad or embarrassed.

When the Rebbe Rashab heard this, he told the Chossid that he was acting “like a head without a body!” Yes, there is a head full of Torah, but there is no “body” — no Yid acting with good midos.

Today’s Hayom Yom is a reminder to work on our midos and be sensitive to other people’s feelings.

 

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TEFILLAH

Piyutim

In the tefillos of the Yomim Noraim, we find many piyutim. Piyutim are poems that speak about the inyan of the day and ask Hashem to bring us the special brachos that come with the Yom Tov.

The beautiful words of the piyutim are written using many expressions and hints, so it’s hard to understand the meaning of them if you just think about the exact translation of each of the words. At least the Chazan who is davening should make sure he understands what the piyutim are saying! (Most translated Machzorim write the meaning of the piyutim in a way that you can understand.)

In some Machzorim, there are many piyutim added to davening, starting in the brachos of Shema. In our Machzor, there are much fewer piyutim, and we only add them in the Chazaras HaShatz of Shacharis and Musaf. Even though they are in the Chazan’s repetition of Shemoneh Esrei, most of them are written in a way that the whole shul says parts of it together before the Chazan, or repeating after the Chazan.

The Maggid of Mezritch explains why our Machzor doesn’t have as many piyutim as in other nus’chaos. The Maggid tells us that when we daven, we only say things that the Anshei Kneses Hagedolah put into the siddur, and the piyutim of R’ Elazar Kaliri. These are not just meaningful tefillos, but they are emes and they fit also according to Kabbalah.

The Maggid teaches that the words of our tefillos on Yom Tov bring down the chayus of Hashem for this Yom Tov. We are careful to say just these words, which each bring down the special kedusha of Rosh Hashana. We don’t say less than we need to bring down the full chayus of the day, and we don’t say anything extra.

See Otzar Minhagei Chabad, p. 97

 
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HALACHOS HATZRICHOS

Hachlatos for Rosh Hashana

On special days, like our birthday and on Chassidishe Yomim Tovim, we make a hachlata of how we will try to be better.

It is also our minhag to take a new hachlata before every Rosh Hashana, how we will be better Yidden this coming year.

In the Sefer Kaf Hachayim, we see a very special way of doing this minhag: During Elul, some people make a hachlata to be extra careful in a certain mitzvah. They write down what they decided, bli neder. Then the next year, before Rosh Hashana, they review what they wrote to see how well they kept their hachlata.

(If you need an email reminder, Chabad.org can help! http://www.chabad.org/1943153)

See Shevach Hamoadim, Kitzur Hilchos Elul, siman Gimmel

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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GEULAH U'MOSHIACH

Hashem Echad

In Golus, the world sometimes looks like it is taking care of itself. It isn’t always easy to remember that Hashem is taking care of everything.

But when Moshiach comes, that will be different! It will be clear to see that Hashem is in charge of the world. Not only the Yidden, but the goyim too will all realize that there is only ONE Hashem!

וְהָיָה ה׳ לְמֶלֶךְ עַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה ה׳ אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד

Vehaya Hashem Lemelech — Then, Hashem will be accepted as the King

Al Kol Ha’aretz — Over everyone in the world (even the goyim who used to believe in other things)

Bayom Hahu — On that day of Geulah,

Yihiyeh Hashem Echad — It will be clear to everyone that there is only one Hashem

Ushemo Echad — And Hashem’s name will be the only one they speak about!

See Zechariah perek Yud-Daled posuk Tes

 
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