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Hashem tells Avram “Lech Lecha” — to go to Eretz Yisroel and get many brachos there, and he goes. There is a famine there and he needs to leave Eretz Yisroel and go down to Mitzrayim. He tells Sarai to hide.
Hashem spoke to Avram for the first time when he was 75 years old. He told him “Lech Lecha! You already went with your father away from where you were born, to Charan (as we learned in the end of last week’s parsha). Now, go even further away, and leave your father, Terach. Go to the land that I will show you, even though I won’t tell you where right now.” (Hashem gives the name Avraham later, but now the Torah calls him by his original name, Avram.)
(Even though Terach believed in Hashem, he pretended to do Avodah Zarah because he didn’t want other people to know. Hashem wanted Avraham to go away from that.)
Hashem didn’t tell Avram where to go, because this would help him love Eretz Yisroel even more. Hashem also gave him an extra reward for listening to Hashem even though he didn’t know where he was going. Hashem promised Avram many brachos for going there, and said he would be happy and understand that it is good. This is what Lech Lecha means, “go for yourself” — it will be good for you too!
Here are some of the brachos Avram would get:
- He would go away from the Avodah Zarah in Charan
- He would have children, even though where he is now, he can’t have children
- A big nation would come from him
- He would become rich
- Even though he is going to a new place, he would become famous, so he can teach more people about Hashem
- He would have the koach to give other people brachos
- He would become one of the Avos that would be mentioned in Shemoneh Esrei, and the bracha would even be ended with his name (“Baruch Ata Hashem, Mogein Avraham”)
- Everyone who gives him a bracha will get a bracha — and the opposite too
- People will give brachos by saying “You should be like Avraham!”
Avram went, like Hashem told him. He took his wife, Sarai (later her name would become Sarah), and his nephew Lot came too. Avram followed Hashem’s directions, and they came to Eretz Yisroel (which was called Canaan at that time).
Avram stopped in Shechem (which is also called Elon Moreh). There, he davened for Shimon and Levi who would later fight with Shechem, and Hashem also showed him Har Grizim and Har Eival there, where the Yidden would promise to follow the Torah when they came to Eretz Yisrael.
Avram saw that the Canaanim were capturing Eretz Yisroel then, from the children of Shem. Hashem appeared to Avram in a nevuah and promised that He would give Eretz Yisroel back to his children, the Yidden, who are from Shem!
Avram built a Mizbeiach to thank Hashem for the two promises he just got — that he would have children, and that they would get Eretz Yisroel!
Then they went further, and traveled to Beis-Keil. When they got there, Avram set up the tents. First he set up his wife’s tent, out of kavod for her, and then set up his own tent. Then he built another Mizbeiach. Avram had a nevuah that someone would do an aveira here and the Yidden would be in danger, so he davened for them. (The danger happened in the time of Yehoshua, with a man named Achan).
Avram kept going closer and closer to the place where the Beis Hamikdash would be built!
That year, there was a famine in Eretz Yisroel (food didn’t grow, so there was nothing to eat). Hashem made this famine only in Eretz Yisroel, to test Avram. Would he doubt Hashem’s words, that Hashem told him to come to Eretz Canaan and now he is already forced to leave?
He decided to go to Mitzrayim in the meantime, since there was no famine there.
On the way, Avram saw Sarai in the water, like a mirror. Usually, he didn’t think so much about how pretty she was, but now he realized that people would think she was VERY beautiful! He was afraid that the Egyptians would want to kill him and take her away to get married to her. So he told Sarai to hide in a box, and that if they find her, she should say that she is Avram’s sister, so they won’t kill him. They will instead try to be nice to Avram, and give presents so they can take her. This would be a keili for Hashem’s bracha that he would become rich.
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Today’s Tehillim is kapitelach Chof-Tes to Lamed-Daled.
The Frierdiker Rebbe once told this story:
Once when the Mitteler Rebbe was 7 or 8, he davened for a longer time than usual — he davened “BaArichus.” After he finished davening, someone asked him what took him so long! The Mitteler Rebbe answered that he stopped to think about something that is says in davening, and that made it take a long time.
Which part? It was a posuk from today’s Tehillim — Kapitel Lamed (posuk gimmel)! We say this kapitel every day before Boruch She’amar.
“Hashem Elokai, Shivati Eilecha Vatirpa’eini” — “I cried out to You, Hashem, and You made me feel better!”
The Mitteler Rebbe was thinking about the word “Vatirpa’eini” (“and You healed me”). He was thinking how that word is like the word “rifyon” — making something weaker; so the posuk could mean “I cried out to You, Hashem, and You made my Yetzer Hara not as strong!” He was thinking about how Hashem helps us win over our Yetzer Hara!
Very soon, when Moshiach comes, Hashem will take away our Yetzer Hara completely! We will have won the fight with the Yetzer Hara!
Until then, Hashem helps us make it weaker so we will act the way Hashem wants us to.
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Chof-Vov
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In this Igeres Hakodesh, the Alter Rebbe is explaining a Raya Mehemna (a part of the Zohar) in Parshas Naso, which tells us what is special about learning Pnimius HaTorah, and the difference between our learning in the time of Golus and the time of Geulah.
A person who learns this Zohar might at first think that the Zohar is saying that when Moshiach will come, we will not learn Niglah anymore — we will only learn Pnimius HaTorah.
The Alter Rebbe shows us that this is not at all what the Zohar means! Here are two reasons why:
1) In the Gemara, many times it says “Teiku” — that we don’t understand certain halachos, but Eliyahu Hanavi will explain them when Moshiach comes! If Eliyahu Hanavi is explaining them, of course we will learn them!
2) The things we learn about in these halachos are things we will still be doing when Moshiach comes! We will still be eating fleishigs, and will need to know all of the halachos about shechting meat.
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Way back in the olden days, there was no such thing as street signs or GPS. If someone didn’t know the way, they would have to ask other people or use the sun to know which direction they were going in. But what did they do at night?
The stars in the sky might look like one big pile of dots, but really if you look carefully, you can see that they are constellations — patterns or groups of stars that you can find in the sky every night! People used to use the constellations like a compass to figure out which way they were going. So even on a very dark night, with no street signs, a person could look up at the sky and see which direction they should go and wouldn’t get lost.
The world can sometimes be a very dark and confusing place. People get busy with things that aren’t important and don’t realize what they should be doing.
Yidden are compared to stars! Each one of us has the koach to shine as a Dugma Chaya. Our good example shows other people the way they should act and how to follow the path of Torah and mitzvos.
Yidden are like stars that help others not get lost in the darkness of Golus.
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #321) is the same as yesterday’s — not to go out of the Techum Shabbos. The Techum Shabbos is an area of 2,000 amos (about 1 kilometer, or over a half mile) surrounding the city. We aren’t allowed to travel past that point on Shabbos.
We learn this from the posuk “No person should leave his place on the seventh day.” The Gemara says that this means not to go more than 2,000 amos outside of the city. The Mechilta (a midrash on the Chumash) also teaches that this posuk is talking about not going out of the Techum Shabbos.
The Gemara in Mesechta Eiruvin teaches us the halachos about this mitzvah, and tells us that if someone does go outside of the Techum Shabbos, they get Malkos.
We will IY”H learn the halachos and details of this mitzvah in Rambam in two days!
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about not doing a sh’vus. A sh’vus is something which the Chachomim said is asur either because it is LIKE the way we do a melacha, or because it is something that might make someone forget and actually DO the melacha. Many of the things we don’t do on Shabbos are because of sh’vus.
All three perakim today (Chof-Alef, Chof-Beis, and Chof-Gimmel) teach us about different kinds of sh’vus. The Rambam organizes them according to which melacha they are based on.
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The daughter of a kohen is allowed to eat terumah... unless she gets married to someone who is not a kohen! If a girl from a non-kohen family gets married to a kohen, she is allowed to start eating terumah because of her husband. We learn more halachos about this.
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The name of this week’s parsha is Lech Lecha. “Lech” means to go!
In the parsha we see how Avraham goes and does what Hashem is asking him to, coming closer B’Gashmius to where Hashem wanted him to go, and B’Ruchnius coming closer to Hashem.
But some parts of the parsha don’t exactly seem like Avraham is moving forward! Right when Avraham comes to Eretz Yisroel, there is a hunger and he needs to leave Eretz Yisroel and go down to Mitzrayim. There, Sarah is captured and taken to Paraoh’s palace. Does that sound like going UP in kedusha or going DOWN?
Really, this IS all part of Lech Lecha, going forward! These things that happened were part of Avraham Avinu’s tests. As Avraham passed each of these tests, he became even closer to Hashem! So even these “down” things are all part of going up!
The same thing is with Golus and Geulah. We are trying to go forward, up towards Geulah. But many of the things that happen in Golus seem to look like we are being shlepped even further away from Moshiach, chas veshalom! Instead of things getting better, they sometimes look like they are getting worse.
But just like with Parshas Lech Lecha, these “down” times are all part of going up higher! These hard “down” parts of Golus are part of getting closer to Moshiach! It doesn’t always feel that way, but the truth is that the Golus itself is what brings the Geulah!
See Likutei Sichos Chelek Hey, parshas Lech Lecha
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TEFILLAH
Building Bitachon Through Davening
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Having kavana in davening can help us have more bitachon!
When things happen to us, we can usually point to a reason why. Maybe someone wasn’t being careful, or the pencil broke, or there was a lot of traffic because of construction.
But none of those things are the REAL reason.
The true reason for EVERYTHING is because that is what Hashem decided should happen!
All those things that we think are the reasons are just the tools Hashem uses to make things work out that way.
We can understand this a little better by looking at an example:
If someone plants a tiny little apple seed, do you know what can grow? A great big apple tree with hundreds of fruit, each with many seeds of its own! Does that make sense?
No! The main thing is that Hashem wants that tree to grow. Planting the seed is just a tool Hashem gave us to get it started.
When we think about this and start to feel it, we will have more bitachon! We will understand that it is HASHEM Who will take care of us and give us what we need. We don’t need to worry about the traffic, the neighbors, or our school supplies. Those things don’t have any koach on their own. They aren’t the reasons at all! Nothing will happen unless Hashem wants it to.
One of the places we can think about this is in the tefillah of Vayevarech Dovid, in Pesukei Dezimra. We say, “Beyadcha Koach U’Gevurah, U’veyadcha Legadel Ul’chazeik Lakol.” “Koach and strength are in Your hands, and it is in Your hands to bring growth and strengthen everyone.” We say that it is Hashem Who makes everything happen!
See Chovos Halevavos, Shaar Habitachon perek Gimmel
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Hashem’s name is very holy! We are careful not to say it for no reason.
Even when Hashem’s name is just written, it has a special kedusha. If there is a paper with Hashem’s name on it, we treat it with kavod, and don’t throw it away. It becomes “Shaimos” (meaning “names”).
According to many Acharonim, this isn’t just for Hashem’s name written in Lashon Kodesh. If we write out Hashem’s name in ANY language, that also has kedusha!
Because of this, we are careful not to write Hashem’s name completely, even in English. We write “G-d” so that we don’t have Hashem’s full name written down.
See Shulchan Menachem vol. 5, p. 217
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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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We learn in Parshas Lech Lecha that Hashem promised Eretz Yisroel to Avraham’s children, the Yidden! Since then, every Yid feels connected to Eretz Yisroel and wants to be there.
A Chossid once came to the Tzemach Tzedek. He said that he very much wants to go to Eretz Yisroel.
The Tzemach Tzedek answered him, “Eretz Yisroel isn’t missing for R’ Hillel Paritcher, but it is for you!? Make this place into Eretz Yisroel — Mach Doh Eretz Yisroel!”
This chossid badly wanted to go to Eretz Yisroel. He could work on making his own place more like Eretz Yisroel, but he still won’t be getting what he wanted! So how did the Tzemach Tzedek’s answer help him?
The Rebbe explains that when Moshiach comes, the kedusha of Eretz Yisroel will spread out to the whole world! Part of our job in Golus is to get the world ready for this! When we work on making our part of the world into Eretz Yisroel by bringing in Elokus, we are getting it ready for Moshiach.
Now we can’t see that it is Eretz Yisroel, but when Moshiach comes we will see how our part of the world will change with the kedusha of Eretz Yisroel!
So by doing the avodah of “Mach Doh Eretz Yisroel,” the Tzemach Tzedek’s chossid really WAS starting to live —at least in Ruchnius — in Eretz Yisroel!
See Sicha Yud Shevat 5729
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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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