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CHUMASH
Parshas Mishpatim - Shlishi with Rashi
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Parshas Mishpatim teaches us many mitzvos, especially those that make sure we treat each other fairly. Even though these mitzvos make sense, and because of that they are called Mishpatim, we keep them because they are mitzvos of Hashem. We remember that Hashem gave us ALL of the mitzvos — even the ones that someone might think we could come up with ourselves.
Here are the mitzvos we learn about today:
First we learn about the different types of damages that a person can cause to someone else’s property.
- If someone lets their animal go into another person’s field, he needs to pay for anything that gets ruined.
- If a person starts a fire, and it spreads into another person’s field, he needs to pay them for the damages.
Then, we learn about the four Shomrim, the responsibility a person has when they have something that belongs to someone else.
- Shomer Chinam: If someone is watching something for another person without getting paid for it, and the thing gets lost or stolen, he needs to make a shevuah (a promise made in Beis Din) that it wasn’t his fault, and then he doesn’t have to pay.
- Shomer Sachar: If someone is paid to watch another person’s animal, if it is attacked or stolen, he needs to pay if it was something he should have been more careful about. If there was nothing he could do, he doesn’t have to pay, but he needs to make a shevuah first that he didn’t use it for himself.
- Shoel: If someone borrows something, he needs to pay if it breaks or dies, even if it wasn’t his fault.
- Socher: The Torah tells us about a fourth type of person who has someone else’s thing, called a socher, a renter.
The Torah does not tell us what the din is in the case of a socher, and Rashi brings a machlokes in the Gemara whether it is like a Shomer Chinam or Shomer Sachar.
- If a person acts like he is married to a girl without a proper chasunah (mefateh), he has to marry her. If her father doesn’t want her to be married to that person, the person needs to pay her a lot of money — 50 silver coins.
- A person who uses tumah magic (mechashefah) is punished with Misas Beis Din.
- If someone acts like he is married to an animal, he is also chayav Misas Beis Din.
- If someone worships Avodah Zara, he also gets this punishment by Beis Din.
- It is asur to say not nice things to a ger.
- We are not allowed to make ANY Yid feel bad, especially not an almanah or a yasom (widow or orphan). Hashem especially listens to them when they cry, and there is a serious punishment for someone who is not careful with how they are treated.
- We should lend money if we can to another Yid, especially someone poor. If we know the person cannot pay back, we should not try to force him to pay us.
- Ribbis: We are not allowed to charge interest when we lend money to a Yid.
- Mashkon: If we lend someone money, and took something to make sure that they will pay back, we need to let the person use it at the time he needs it.
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Today’s shiur Tehillim is kapitelach Kuf-Ches through Kuf-Yud-Beis.
One of the pesukim in today’s Tehillim says, “Zorach Bachoshech Ohr Layesharim, Chanun Verachum Vetzadik.” The posuk means that Hashem shines light in the darkness for Yidden who go in the straight path.
On one hand, there is definitely a lot of darkness in Golus now, but at the same time, Hashem gave us tremendous kochos so that we can spread more light! We have many more seforim, more shuls, schools, and Chabad Houses all over the world!
This posuk reminds us that we need to shine the light of Geulah which the Rebbe gives us! That will help us change the darkness of Golus into light.
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Zayin
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A person who is worried or sad will not have enough energy to fight with their Yetzer Hara and only listen to their Yetzer Tov!
That’s why the Alter Rebbe is giving us advice here what we can tell ourselves when we are worried, so we will be in a good mood to do the right thing.
We learned before what we should think about if there is something Gashmius that is bothering us or if we are bothered because we did something wrong.
Another thing that can make a person upset is that even while being busy with other things, bad thoughts and taavos can come into the person’s mind! A person might think, “I only want to be thinking about GOOD things, why do such terrible things keep coming into my head?”
The Alter Rebbe says that instead of being upset about this, we should be HAPPY! Because when a person has iskafya and doesn’t think the not-good thought, and thinks of something else instead, he is doing a mitzvah — the mitzvah of Lo Sasuru!
It is actually a mitzvah not to think about things we see or taavos which do not help us serve Hashem. Every time someone pushes away one of those thoughts, he’s doing a Mitzvas Lo Saasei, the mitzvah of Lo Sasuru, and gets a reward for it like for any other mitzvah! So instead of being sad, we should be happy that we can do a mitzvah!
If a person is Makir Mekomo, he knows who he really is, that he is not at the level of a tzadik who does not have such thoughts, he is at the level of a beinoni, he will know that it is his AVODAH not to think about these foolish thoughts that the Yetzer Hara keeps tryig to make him think about!
When someone does not allow himself to think inappropriate thoughts, and instead thinks about something else, this is called Iskafya, and it brings Hashem a great Nachas Ruach! This is a special avodah that a beinoni gets to do EVERY TIME he pushes a bad thought out of his mind!
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Once, when the Alter Rebbe came out of his room, he heard his Rebbetzin talking to other women. She said, “Meiner zogt...” — “Mine (my husband) says” — talking about something the Alter Rebbe said.
When the Alter Rebbe heard this, he said, “With one mitzvah (of getting married) I belong to you — with so many mitzvos we do, can you imagine how much we belong to Hashem?” Then the Alter Rebbe leaned on the doorpost and fell into a strong deveikus — connection to Hashem — and was deep in thought.
After the Alter Rebbe came out of his feeling of deveikus, he said a short “Torah” explaining the posuk of “Tze’ena U’re’ena Bnos Tzion.” In this Torah, he spoke about the maalah of his Rebbetzin, the source of neshamos of women which comes from the level of Malchus, and how she brought him to this feeling of deveikus. He said that Le’asid Lavo, the maalah of women will be revealed — Eishes Chayil Ateres Baalah.
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Today’s mitzvah is the same one as yesterday:
(Mitzvas Asei #107) When a neshama leaves a body, the body becomes tomei. Someone who touches, carries, or is in the same house as the body gets some of this Tumah too, called Tumas Meis. There are many halachos about how a person can get this tumah, and how the tumah is passed on to other people or things. Today’s mitzvah is to follow all of these halachos!
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In today’s Rambam, Perakim Tes, Yud, and Yud-Alef, we learn more about Tumas Meis. When someone gets Tumas Meis, he is tomei for a week, and he needs to have the ashes of the Parah Adumah sprinkled on him to become tahor again.
One halacha is that all of the earth outside of Eretz Yisroel is tomei with Tumas Meis. The chachomim also said that the AIR outside of Eretz Yisroel makes a person tomei! The reason for this is that outside Eretz Yisrael, people are not careful with Tumas Meis. (The earth, though, gives a person Tumas Meis, which is a tumah for 7 days, and the tumah from the air outside of Eretz Yisroel only makes someone tomei until that night.)
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We now start learning halachos about borrowing:
Perek Alef talks about your responsibilities if you borrow something. One halacha is that if you ask your friend, “Can I borrow your pencil to do my homework?” — then you can’t use the pencil for anything else.
If the pencil breaks while you’re doing your homework, you don’t need to get him a new pencil, but if it breaks while you are carrying it home, you DO need to get him a new pencil.
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The first posuk in this week’s parshah, Parshas Mishpatim, is about how Hashem told Moshe to tell the Yidden the mitzvos, the Mishpatim. “Ve’eileh Hamishpatim Asher Tasim Lifneihem…”
In the first maamar in Torah Ohr of this week, the Alter Rebbe explains something deep this posuk is teaching in Ruchnius! Like all of the maamarim of the Alter Rebbe, these inyonim were explained by the later Rebbeim in more detail, and it is one of the first maamarim the Rebbe explained after Bosi Legani.
Hashem made two main kinds of neshamos — “Zera Adam” and “Zera Beheimah.”
Neshamos that are called “Zera Adam” are neshamos that are able to feel Hashem! Neshamos called “Zera Beheimah” are neshamos that are not able to recognize and feel Hashem on their own.
Nowadays, most neshamos are “Zera Beheimah,” neshamos that can only feel Gashmius, and not Ruchnius. Of course we can still LEARN about these things, but we are not able to FEEL it on our own (daas).
Some neshamos are called Zera Adam, like the neshamos of great tzadikim! These neshamos are able to feel Hashem even in this world.
But the koach of Moshe Rabbeinu is so strong that he can help even the rest of the Yidden to FEEL Hashem too, even though they can’t on their own!
That’s what Hashem was telling Moshe: Give the mitzvos (mishpatim) that are part of Hashem, to the Yidden “Lifneihem” in a way of pnimius, that they can feel it inside. By giving them the halachos of the Torah, so that they will be able to understand them in their minds, that will make them able to also come to recognize Hashem.
That is why Moshe Rabbeinu is called the Raya Mehemna, the faithful shepherd, because he helps the Yidden not only have Emunah in Hashem, but that they can also recognize Hashem in their sechel.
In the last edited maamar of the Rebbe, the Rebbe explains to us that in our times, the Rebbeim are like Moshe Rabbeinu. Not only do they help us recognize Hashem, but they bring out within us the feeling of Mesiras Nefesh so that we are able to serve Hashem with every part of our being.
See Torah Ohr, dibur hamas’chil “Ve’eileh Hamishpatim”
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During part of the year, in the second bracha of Shemoneh Esrei, we praise Hashem for rain. We say, “Mashiv Haruach U’morid Hageshem” — Hashem makes the wind blow and makes the rain fall.
We start to say this early in the year, starting on Shemini Atzeres, even though we don’t ask for rain until later. On Sukkos, Hashem judges the world for water, deciding how much rain will fall that year. So starting Shemini Atzeres, we praise Hashem Who has the koach to make rain fall in the world, as a preparation for the time we will later ask for it.
The Gemara says that we praise Hashem for rain in the bracha of Techiyas Hameisim, this second bracha of Shemoneh Esrei which ends with the words “Mechayeh Hameisim.” That is because rain and Techiyas Hameisim are the same in a way — they both bring life to the world!
We praise Hashem for rain right before saying the words Mechalkel Chayim Bechesed, that Hashem takes care of the parnasa of the world with chesed. Rain is very connected to parnasa, because everyone who sells or buys food needs the rain to fall so the food will grow!
See Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch siman Kuf-Yud-Daled se’if Alef and Zayin
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After Havdalah on Motzei Shabbos, there is a minhag to speak about Eliyahu Hanavi, saying that he should come and tell all the Yidden about the Geulah!
Why do we do this on Motzei Shabbos?
Eliyahu Hanavi can’t come announce the Geulah anytime! Eliyahu Hanavi can’t come on Erev Shabbos, when the Yidden are busy getting ready for Shabbos, and he can’t come on Shabbos because of the halachos of the Techum Shabbos.
But now that Shabbos is over, Eliyahu Hanavi can come to tell all of us about the Geulah, which should happen right away! That’s why, as soon as Shabbos is over, we mention Eliyahu Hanavi and daven that he should come and tell us about the Geulah!
See Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, Siman Reish-Tzadik-Hey se’if Hey
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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 Tzemach Tzedek once spoke about Moshiach coming at a certain time.
Someone that was there asked the Tzemach Tzedek how he could say that. It said in seforim that Moshiach COULDN’T come at that time!
The Tzemach Tzedek answered the person: “When Moshiach comes, all questions will be answered, right? So let this question, of how Moshiach could come at a time when it says he can’t, be answered then too…
See Likutei Sichos chelek Alef p. 272
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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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