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Moshe Rabbeinu continues telling the Yidden what will happen when they do teshuvah.
When the Yidden do Teshuvah and keep all of the mitzvos, Hashem will take away all of the scary things from the Tochacha, and use them to punish the Goyim who try to hurt the Yidden.
Hashem will give lots of brachos to the Yidden, because He will be so happy with us!
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Today’s Tehillim is the second half of the longest kapitel in the whole Tehillim! In Aramaic, this kapitel is called Tamnya Anpi — the eight faces, because there are 8 pesukim that start with each letter of the Alef-Beis! Today we are saying the pesukim starting with Mem, all the way until Sof. We also say three kapitelach for Chodesh Elul: Ayin-Vov, Ayin-Zayin, and Ayin-Ches.
There is a minhag to say a posuk starting with the first letter of your name, and ending with the last letter of your name, before the end of Shmoneh Esrei. Many good pesukim for this are in Kapitel Kuf-Yud-Tes!
One example is the first posuk of today’s Tehillim, “Ma Ahavti Sorasecha, Kol Hayom Hi Sichasi” — “I love Your Torah so much, I talk about it all day!” (This posuk is good for someone whose name is Mordechai.)
Do you know which pesukim are for YOUR name?
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Yud-Zayin
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Today the Alter Rebbe finishes this letter that tells us what amazing things Tzedakah does.
The letter started off with a posuk from Tehillim, and today we finish learning what it means according to Chassidus:
“Lechol Tichla Ra’isi Keitz, Rechava Mitzvascha Me’od” — “for everything we do there is an end, but Your mitzvah is very big (and doesn’t have an end)!”
Chassidus explains that the word “Tichla” (goal) can also mean “Klos,” wanting — that the Neshama wants to be together with Hashem, like it feels in Gan Eden. Still, all of these feelings have an end!
But, “Rechava Mitzvascha Me’od,” the mitzvah of Tzedakah is so great that it will make us able to feel even the chayus of Hashem that is so strong (Sovev Kol Almin) after Techiyas Hameisim — even the neshamos in the highest parts of Gan Eden can’t feel that!
Pretty amazing! Make sure to give lots of tzedaka, especially now before Yom Tov. The Rebbe tells us that we need to make sure that everyone has enough money to buy all the things that they need for Yom Tov!
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In Chassidus, we very often compare our body (the nefesh habehamis) to an animal. We learn many things in Avodah about how to deal with our body from how we deal with an actual animal.
In today’s Hayom Yom, we learn something in our Avodas Hashem from a beheima:
Even a Kosher animal has non-kosher blood inside that needs to be taken out before it can be eaten and used for Kedusha. We remove the blood through Melicha, salting.
The same is with our Nefesh Habehamis — even though it is Kosher (it is in a Jewish body), it has non-kosher “blood” — chayus in things it shouldn’t be excited about.
Just like taking out the blood has three steps in halacha, taking out the “blood” (not-kosher chayus) from our Nefesh Habehamis also has three steps — in Avodah:
1) Soaking — “soaking” our Nefesh Habehamis in Chassidus, learning a lot of Chassidus, enough that it makes a person really want to have…
2) Salting — Yechidus. Like we learned in a different Hayom Yom, that’s where a Chossid finds out just how he is supposed to connect to Hashem. Then he does…
3) Rinsing — Niggun — he sings a niggun. This is the last step that makes the body a place where the neshama can shine!
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In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos we learn 3 more very important mitzvos to do all the time:
1) (Mitzvas Asei #3) We need to love Hashem! How do we love Hashem? By learning about Hashem’s creations and His mitzvos, which will automatically make us love Hashem!
Part of this mitzvah is also to share what we learned with other people, so they will love Hashem too!
2) (Mitzvas Asei #4) We need to have Yiras Shomayim (awe of Hashem, being afraid to do something Hashem doesn’t want us to do).
3) (Mitzvas Asei #9) A person has to be ready to give up his life Al Kiddush Hashem for one of the 3 aveiros Hashem doesn’t want us EVER to do (They are: Avodah Zarah, behaving like someone is married to a person they can’t marry, and killing a person chas veshalom).
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah
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In Perek Daled, we learn more about the world, because the Rambam tells us that by understanding the world, it will help us love Hashem and have Yiras Shomayim!
Perek Hey teaches us about the mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem, that a person has to be ready to even give up his life for Hashem instead of doing certain aveiros. We learn this from Shema — that we need to love Hashem “bechol nafshecha,” with your whole neshama — even if we have to give up our neshama!
In Perek Vov, the Rambam talks about the kedusha in Hashem’s name when it is written — that’s why we put papers with Torah or Hashem’s name into shaimos and bury them!
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We learn about the things the Nazir does to finish off his time of being a Nazir, like shaving and bringing certain korbanos.
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In the month of Elul, we look at each of our mitzvos and figure out how we’re doing — to make sure we will do even better in the coming year! Now we’re going to look at a very big and important mitzvah — the mitzvah of Kibud Av Va’eim.
Our parents are very special. They are Hashem’s partners in bringing our neshamos into the world! Someone who is a partner with Hashem in this important job for sure deserves a lot of respect! We also owe so much to our parents for everything they have done for us, and we have a lot of Hakoras Hatov we need to show!
The Torah gives us some rules in how to show this Derech Eretz and Hakoras Hatov to our parents, and here are some of the halachos:
1) If a Mommy or Tatty have a place that they always sit in, we shouldn’t sit there.
2) We should treat what our parents say with respect, and not say things like “I don’t think so,” or even “that’s right.” We can’t just talk to them like we would talk to our friend.
3) When a Mommy or Tatty are in a room with us, that is special! When they come in, we should stand up to show them kavod — at least one time in the morning and at night.
4) We need to give them food or drink if they want it.
Are you wondering why a lot of people don’t do these things? That’s because a Tatty and Mommy are allowed to decide they don’t need this kavod, and if they do, the kids can show kavod in different ways. Even if our parents don’t mind, though, we should still try to keep some of these halachos!
But here are some things that we always NEED to do:
1) We need to listen to what our Mommy and Tatty tell us.
2) It is a very big aveira to hit a Mommy or Tatty or curse them — even worse than the aveira of hitting or cursing any other Yid!
And the BIGGEST kavod that we should show for our parents is to make them proud of us by going in the ways of Hashem and living like a mentch — to give them Yiddishe, Chassidishe nachas!
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In Chazoras HaShatz of Musaf on Rosh Hashana, we say a very special tefillah called Unesaneh Tokef. (There is a famous story behind this tefillah, about R’ Amnon. You can read it at Chabad.org/418982)
In this tefillah, we speak about how powerful this day is. On Rosh Hashana, Hashem judges every creation and decides what will happen to them. We end off by saying, “U’Teshuvah, U’Tefillah, U’Tzedakah Maavirin Es Ro’a Hagezeira!” “Teshuva, Tefillah, and Tzedakah take away the not good part of the decree!”
In a famous sicha, the Rebbe explains that the words Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah are not what they usually translated as.
Teshuvah: Most people translate this as “repentance.” Repentance means for someone to change from being not good, to being good. But that’s not what teshuvah means! The word Teshuvah comes from the word “shuv,” to return. Every Yid already IS good, because he has a neshama, even if it is sometimes covered up! Teshuvah means to return to the REAL us, to the neshama.
Tefillah: Most people translate this as “prayer.” Prayer means asking for something. But that’s not what Tefillah is all about! Tefillah comes from the word “tofel,” to connect. Through Tefillah, we connect to Hashem. Of course, as part of our connection to Hashem, we ask for our needs, but the main part of our davening is connecting to Hashem and awakening our neshama.
Tzedakah: Most people translate tzedakah as “charity.” Charity means to take something that is yours, and be nice by giving it to someone else. But that’s not what Tzedakah really means! Tzedakah comes from the word “tzedek,” which means righteous and correct. When Hashem gives us money to spend, He also gives us some extra money (maaser or a chomesh) that belongs to poor people. When we give tzedakah, we are just passing on the money to who it really belongs to.
Through returning to our real selves, our neshama; connecting to Hashem through tefillah; and doing the right thing with the money we have, we will take away the not good parts of the gezeira and be given a good and sweet year!
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On Rosh Hashana, we eat many special foods!
On the first night of Rosh Hashana, we eat foods that are “lesiman tov,” foods that hint to brachos.
Although the Shulchan Aruch mentions many foods to be eaten for a good siman, here are the main ones we should make sure to have, according to our minhag:
We dip an apple in honey at the seudah, which is the only food we say a “Yehi Ratzon” for, asking Hashem to take the hint and give us a Shana Tova Umesukah! (Apples are not only a sweet fruit, but they hint to special inyonim in Kabbalah!)
Then we eat a Rimon, a pomegranate. We want to be packed full of mitzvos like a pomegranate is full of seeds! We don’t say a Shehecheyanu on the pomegranate, even if we are having it for the first time this year. (We rely on the Shehecheyanu of Kiddush.)
We also eat the head of a fish! We want to remember to be like a head, and not like a tail! (In the Shulchan Aruch, it actually tells us to eat the head of a ram, to remind us of Akeidas Yitzchak, but practically nowadays it would be very hard to get a head of a ram.)
On the second night of Rosh Hashana, we should have a new fruit, but this is for a different reason. It is so we will be able to make a Shehecheyanu on the second night, which we will learn about later IY”H!
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Tof-Kuf-Pey-Gimmel; Halachos U’Minhagei Chabad, p. 14
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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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A poritz once asked a chossid: “You Jews believe that Moshiach is going to come and take you all out of Golus. But what happens if your Moshiach comes and I don’t believe in him?”
The chossid answered, “Don’t worry Mr. Poritz! If you don’t believe in him, I also won’t believe in him!”
When Moshiach will come, EVERYONE will know that it is Moshiach, and be ready to live a life of Geulah!
Otzar Pisgomei Chabad vol. 1 p. 422
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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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