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Moshe Rabbeinu is continuing to speak to the heavens and the earth. He wants them to remind the Yidden in the future about how Hashem has always taken care of the Yidden, so they will realize how foolish it is to not behave properly.
Yidden, remember this, it’s important for you:
When people made Hashem angry, what did He do?
Those people were punished, I’m sure you know
Since they didn’t follow the path they should go.
(Of course, very soon, when Moshiach will be
He’ll reward us with so much GOOD — just wait and see!)
When the world was full of Resha’im, from far and wide
Hashem made a Mabul, and all of them died.
But when people worked together, all of them
To build a tall tower to fight with Hashem —
They were all Resha’im, they also deserved to die!
But Hashem didn’t do it — do you know why?
He let them live, because later WE came
All of the Yidden, from the family of Sheim.
Instead Hashem sent them to many destinations
Each with a new language, to be 70 nations!
(Like the 70 Yidden who later went down, you see
To Mitzrayim, until Hashem set us free.)
Just because Hashem loves us, he let them live
So later to us the Torah He’d give!
We come from Yaakov, from the Avos number three
Like a rope made of THREE strings, as strong as can be!
No other nations wanted the Torah, they were glad to forsake it
But even in a huge Midbar, we were happy to take it!
And there in the Midbar, we were safe indeed
Hashem took care of us and gave us all we need.
It was like a big eagle who flies through the sky
And keeps its family safe from everyone nearby.
It doesn’t scare its family, it warns them when it’s near
And carries them high on its back — they have nothing to fear.
Of course Hashem takes even BETTER care than them!
How lucky we are to be the nation of Hashem.
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The Tehillim for today is kapitelach Mem-Daled to Mem-Ches. We also say Kuf-Tes, Kuf-Yud, and Kuf-Yud-Alef for the three kapitelach we add each day until Yom Kippur.
In today’s Tehillim, there is a very special posuk — “Kol Kvuda Bas Melech Penima” — “The kavod of a princess is inside.” This means that a woman, because of tznius, shows her kavod inside her house, not outside in front of everyone.
(Hashem set up the world in a way that a man goes out into the world and gets parnasa, and the woman is the Akeres Habayis — making the home a place where Hashem can feel comfortable.)
But in the Navi, it says that when Moshiach comes, the women will be outside too, and even showing their kavod outside!
Since now we are so close to Moshiach, we need to start acting in a way of Geulah. So today, women and girls need to go outside too, and do mivtzoyim — but we still need to be careful to have proper tznius, because we are still in Golus!
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Chof
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In this letter, the Alter Rebbe teaches us how we can see the STRONGEST koach of Hashem especially in Gashmius. Because of this, we will feel how special it is to do a mitzvah with Gashmius!
Today, the Alter Rebbe explains how this greatest koach of Hashem, called Ein Sof, makes Gashmius from nothing!
The koach of Ein Sof uses the letters of the Asara Maamaros (the letters and words we see in Parshas Bereishis) to make the Gashmius. (We learned a bit of how this works in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah!) In Kabbalah, the Asara Maamaros are called the Koach of Sefiras Hamalchus.
That means that when we start learning Parshas Bereishis again on Simchas Torah, we will understand what we are learning! When Hashem made the world, and said “Yehi Ohr” (there should be light), and made light, all the way until Hashem said “Naaseh Adam” (we should make man) — these “words” of Hashem that made the world had the STRONGEST koach of Hashem in them, the koach of Ein Sof!
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We are learning the system R’ Zushe of Anipoli made for teshuvah, based on the letters of the word Teshuvah. There are five pesukim teaching us about teshuvah, that start with these five letters.
We learned the first four steps so far:
1) TOF — Tomim Tihiyeh: We need to be serious about acting the way Hashem wants! It should be the only thing that is important to us.
2) SHIN — Shivisi Hashem Lenegdi: We need to always think about how Hashem is right there in everything, giving it new chayus every second. When Hashem is with us always, we will NEED to act only the way He wants!
3) VOV — Ve’ohavta Lereiacha Kamocha: Loving another Yid is loving the part of Hashem that is inside of him, and will always remind us of Hashem Who is watching everything we do.
4) BEIS — Bechol Derochecha Do’eihu: Look around and see how everything happens with Hashgacha Protis! It reminds us that everything that happens to us is only because Hashem made it that way, and we need to use every chance to do more mitzvos.
Finally, today we will learn the last letter of the word Teshuvah, which is Hey.
Hey stands for “Hatzneia Leches Im Hashem Elokecha” — “Go in a way of Tznius with Hashem.”
There were big Tzaddikim who used to do mitzvos, in a very careful way. They would act in a way that other people didn’t realize that they were doing so many mitzvos! If people DID find out, it would make them feel very bad. They didn’t want other people to see their mitzvos, their mitzvos were just for Hashem! They didn’t want other people to look at them and think they are so special.
When we do mitzvos JUST for Hashem, and not so other people will see, it will remind us to only make Hashem happy and act the way He wants — the Avodah of Teshuvah.
When we follow these five steps of Teshuvah, we will be sure to have done the Avodah of Teshuva the way a Yid should.
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B’Hashgacha Protis, starting today, two days before Yom Kippur, until Motzei Yom Kippur, we will be learning the Rambam’s halachos of Teshuvah!
Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #73) is that if someone does an aveira (Chas Veshalom!) he needs to SAY to Hashem what he did and ask Hashem to forgive him.
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Perek Alef: If a person does an aveira, he needs to admit he did to Hashem. For some aveiros, Hashem will then forgive the person right away, and sometimes will forgive the person on Yom Kippur.
Perek Beis: The Rambam teaches us that a person knows he did true teshuvah if he is in the same situation as before, and still doesn’t do the aveira again.
We also learn that if someone asks us for forgiveness for something he did to us, we should forgive him!
The Rambam tells us that even though Hashem accepts our teshuvah ALL the time, in the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, ending with Yom Kippur, Hashem accepts our teshuvah right away!
Perek Gimmel: In this perek, there is a very famous halacha! The Rambam says that Hashem judges every person and the whole world together based on the things that people do.
Since we don’t know exactly how we deserve to be judged, the Rambam tells us to always imagine that the world is on a scale that is equal, perfectly balanced. If a person does even one mitzvah, it will tip the scale to the side of good (or chas veshalom the opposite). We need to realize that every choice we make is so important, for ourselves and for the whole world!
We are judged for the year on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, based on these scales. Since we don’t know where the scale is up to, during the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah we add in extra mitzvos and Maasim Tovim to make sure we are judged for a good year!
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Now we start learning the halachos of Kilayim, in Sefer Zera’im:
We learn about two kinds of Kilayim, what we aren’t allowed to plant together. There are Kilai Zeraim, more than one kind of seeds or plants, and Kilai Ilanos, more than one kind of tree.
The isur of kilayim is mixing seeds from any of the kinds of plants we can eat: Grain, kitniyos, or vegetables. But the Rambam says that we ARE allowed to plant bitter kinds of seeds together to make medicine, since they are not from those three types.
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There is a halacha that when it is the special time for one mitzvah, it pushes away other mitzvos that can be done always. The same is with mivtzoyim: All year, we have so many mivtzoyim we need to think about — helping Yidden with Tefillin, Shabbos candles, Mezuzah, buying Yiddishe sefarim, and all of the other ones!
But now, there is a special mivtza coming up that we need to get ready for: To make sure as many Yidden as possible will make a bracha and shake Lulav and Esrog on Sukkos.
For something to work best, we need to plan before. Now we have just a week left until Sukkos, so we need to think about how we are going to make this year’s Sukkos mivtzoyim the best ever!
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When each Yom Tov comes during the year, we make a Shehecheyanu, thanking Hashem for bringing us again to this special time. Women make the bracha of Shehecheyanu when they bentch licht, and men make the bracha during Kiddush.
On Yom Kippur, women are able to make Shehecheyanu when they bentch licht, but of course, there is no Kiddush on Yom Kippur! Instead, the men make Shehecheyanu in davening. They say the bracha after Kol Nidrei, since we start this tefillah before shkiyah.
In order for all of the men to be able to say the bracha, first they all say it quietly, and afterwards the Chazan says it out loud. Of course, women who already said Shehecheyanu should NOT say it again — that would be a bracha levatala!
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, Hilchos Yom Hakipurim, siman Tof-Reish-Yud-Tes; and Shevach Hamoadim, Hilchos Leil Yom Kippur
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Kaparos is a mitzvah we do just one time every year! We usually remember most of the halachos about this special mitzvah, but there are some things we can use an extra reminder about:
1) If the chicken we are using for kaparos will not be given to poor people to eat, we should make sure to give to tzedakah as much as the chicken is worth.
2) We shouldn’t think that when we do kaparos, our aveiros are forgiven. Instead, we should think about how really, we deserve that whatever was done to the chicken should have been done to us! Thinking that will help us do teshuvah.
See Shevach Hamoadim, Kaparos
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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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The Navi teaches us about the time of the Geulah: “Vehaya BaYom Hahu, Yitaka BeShofar Gadol” — “Hashem will blow a big Shofar.” Then it says that all of the Yidden will come back from the far away places they are in Golus, and come back to Yerushalayim to serve Hashem!
The Alter Rebbe tells us that the sound of this Shofar will have a special chayus from Hashem for the Yidden to do Teshuvah!
The shofar nowadays also helps Yidden who come to Shul, that THEY should want to do Teshuvah. But the Shofar Hashem will blow when Moshiach comes will be a VERY BIG Shofar! It will help even Yidden who don’t think about Hashem (because they are busy with the taavos that are in Gashmius), and even they will want to do Teshuvah!
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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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