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Moshe and Aharon are in the middle of the shlichus Hashem gave them, to take the Yidden out of Mitzrayim. They had to bring makos onto the Mitzriyim to punish them for the way they mistreated the Yidden, to show them Hashem’s nisim, and to make them let the Yidden go. Moshe warns Paraoh about the next makah, the locusts, and the Mitzriyim are scared. Paraoh considers letting the Yidden go, but when he hears that they ALL will be going, he says NO!
8: Makas Arbeh (locusts)
Hashem told Moshe and Aharon to warn Paraoh to let the Yidden go. Even though it is hard for him to do teshuvah without Hashem helping him, Paraoh still can do teshuvah if he really wants!
So Moshe and Aharon told Paraoh that if he doesn’t let the Yidden go, Hashem will send a makah of locusts, a kind of grasshopper that will eat up all of the things that grow, all over Mitzrayim! Whatever wasn’t destroyed by the hail will be eaten by the locusts.
The Mitzriyim were afraid of the makah, and told Paraoh to just let the Yidden go already!
So Paraoh called Moshe and Aharon back, and asked them, “Who will be going?”
Moshe answered, “Everyone will go serve Hashem! Young people and old people, our sons and our daughters, our sheep and our cattle. Everyone!”
Paraoh said, “Kids don’t bring korbanos! Why do you want to bring them? You don’t want to go serve Hashem for a few days, you want to run away! I’m not going to let ANY of you go!”
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Today we are going to finish the whole Tehillim, from kapitel Kuf-Mem to Kuf-Nun! Since there are only 29 days in Teves, we say the tehillim for Yom Chof-Tes AND Yom Lamed.
There are five very special kapitelach at the end of Tehillim, where Dovid Hamelech says special things about Hashem! The Chachomim who put together the davening made these kapitelach the main part of Pesukei Dezimra, the part of davening where we praise Hashem. In fact, in certain cases, if someone doesn’t have enough time for the whole davening, the halacha is that these kapitelach are more important than saying some of the other parts.
The first kapitel begins with the words “Tehillah LeDovid,” “a song by Dovid,” and ends with Hallelukah, and then each kapitel starts and ends with this word.
The very last posuk in Tehillim is “Kol Haneshama Tehalel Kah, Halelukah!” “Every neshama praises Hashem — praised is Hashem!” The Gemara says that the word neshama can also mean “neshima,” breath. We learn from here that we should thank Hashem for every breath! Even though we only say thank you to Hashem at certain times, we need to remember it in our mind always.
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Tes-Vov
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The Alter Rebbe started the Tanya with the words of the Gemara that tell us about the promise a neshama makes before it is born into a body: “Tehi Tzadik, Ve’Al Tehi Rasha” — that the person promises to be a tzadik and not a rasha.
Over the last 14 perakim, the Alter Rebbe explained what this promise means. First we needed to understand the different levels of tzadik, beinoni, and rasha. We learned that every Yid can be, and should try to be, a beinoni, and in certain ways should even act like a tzadik, which is what the promise we made means.
In this next perek, the Alter Rebbe will tell us that there are even different kinds of beinoni — a regular beinoni and an oved. We will learn that a person should not only try to be a beinoni, but the type of beinoni that is an oved.
First, the Alter Rebbe explains why only a beinoni can be called an oved, and not a tzadik.
An oved means someone who IS working, someone who is in the middle of doing the job of fighting with the Yetzer Hara to not let it do anything in the body.
A servant of Hashem (an eved) is a tzadik. Just like calling someone “a king” means he’s already the king, calling someone a servant means he’s already done his job of working on fighting the Yetzer Hara until it is gone.
IY”H in tomorrow’s Tanya we will learn about how it is possible to have a beinoni who is not an oved, and then we will see what we need to do to be the kind of beinoni that IS called an oved.
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“Anan Poalei Deyemama Anan!” The avodah of a chossid is to bring the light of Torah into the world.
How do we do this?
Certainly, we need to make sure that we act properly like Chassidim ourselves. But that’s not enough! We need to teach other Yidden to act like Chassidim and bring lichtigkeit to them as well! We need to help people understand that learning Torah and doing mitzvos itself is not enough, it needs to be done with a chayus! This chayus we get through davening the way Chassidus teaches us.
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Today we learn two mitzvos about who is not allowed to eat Terumah, which is holy!
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #133) Anyone who isn’t a kohen is NOT allowed to eat Terumah.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #134) Even someone who works for a kohen is still not allowed to eat Terumah.
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In today’s Rambam, we continue learning the halachos about who can’t eat Terumah.
Perek Zayin: Now we learn about the mitzvos we’ll learn TOMORROW in Sefer Hamitzvos — that a kohen without a bris or a kohen who is tamei is not allowed to eat Terumah.
Perek Ches: 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.
Perek Tes: Someone who lives in the house of a kohen IS allowed to eat terumah. For example, a kohen’s wife or his slave (not just someone working for him) are allowed to eat terumah, even if they aren’t kohanim themselves! (In fact, we can even feed terumah to the animals that belong to a kohen!) But if they move out or the kohen passes away, they are not allowed to eat terumah anymore.
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Today we finish the halachos of Biyas Hamikdash — who is allowed to come into the Beis Hamikdash and who can do Avodah.
Of course, only kohanim are allowed to do the Avodah in the Beis Hamikdash! This perek explains the halachos of what happens if a Yisroel does avodah in the Beis Hamikdash. The Rambam also gives a summary of all the people we said in this set of halachos who are not allowed to do avodah.
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In the end of today’s Chumash (Rishon of Parshas Bo), Paraoh says that only the men should go and serve Hashem. “Lechu Na Hagvarim Ve’ivdu Es Hashem!”
But that’s just the way Paraoh thinks. Moshe Rabbeinu said that EVERYONE needs to leave Mitzrayim. Serving Hashem isn’t only for men, and serving Hashem isn’t only bringing korbanos. Serving Hashem is for EVERYONE — men, women, and children — and is in every part of our lives! We serve Hashem through doing mitzvos and following the Torah’s instructions in everything we do!
From a letter of the Rebbe
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The Chachomim gave us many brachos to say, to make it easier for us to say 100 brachos every day. In Birchos Hashachar, we say many brachos, thanking Hashem for the things we benefit from every day.
These brachos were made in the times of the Gemara, and they were set up in the order of what would happen when a person would wake up. Today we will see the rest of these brachos:
7) After feeling stronger, a person would put his feet on the floor, so this bracha thanks Hashem for making solid ground to stand on — Roka Ha’aretz Al Hamayim (“Who spread the ground over the water”)
8) He would then put on his shoes, so the next bracha thanks Hashem for having good shoes to protect our feet — She’asa Li Kol Tzorki (“Who gives me all of my needs”)
9) Then he would start to walk around. So this next bracha thanks Hashem that we can walk — Hameichin Mitz’adei Gaver (“Who prepares the footsteps of man”)
10) He would put on a gartel for kedusha and tznius, to separate the upper part of the body from the lower half of the body. In this next bracha we bless Hashem for this — Ozer Yisrael Bigevruah (“Who girds Yidden with strength”)
11) He would cover his head, also for kedusha and tznius, so we say this next bracha — Oter Yisrael Besifara (“Who crowns Yidden with beauty”)
12) We then bless Hashem for giving us mitzvos. We thank Hashem that although goyim have 7 mitzvos, we have 613 — Shelo Asani Goy (“for not making me non- Jewish”)
13) We thank Hashem for not making us a slave, who does not have the same chiyuv to do mitzvos as a free person does — Shelo Asani Aved (“for not making me a slave”)
14) Boys thank Hashem for giving them more mitzvos than a woman, who does not have a chiyuv to keep certain mitzvos that have a specific time — Shelo Asani Isha (“for not making me a woman”)
15) Finally, a person would wash his face, wiping away the sleepiness — Hamaavir Sheina Me’einai (“Who removes sleep from my eyes”).
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman mem-vov
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Is it a mitzvah for women to say or hear Havdalah?
Some seforim say that it is a mitzvah for women, the same way that Kiddush is a mitzvah for women. It is part of the mitzvah of “Zachor Es Yom Hashabbos,” remembering Shabbos, which women also need to keep.
But other seforim say that Havdalah was a separate takana added by the Chachomim, and so it’s NOT part of the mitzvah for women.
So what do we do?
Usually, women do make sure to be yotzei Havdalah. They are allowed to make Havdalah for themselves or for other women. But since they might NOT have the mitzvah, they are not allowed to make Havdalah for a man. And if a man already was yotzei Havdalah, he is not allowed to make Havdalah just for women, because it might be a Bracha Levatala.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, Siman 296
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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 Rebbe once wrote to a Chossid in a letter:
“Whether we like it or not, we are taking over for the Chassidim of the previous Rebbeim, all the way back to the Alter Rebbe, who started Chassidus Chabad!
“In every generation, the way we need to behave as Chassidim was set up for us, so we don’t have to figure everything out on our own. But WE have a very big job — to finish the work and bring Moshiach!
“If you think about this, even just a little, it will feel like a very big responsibility. We learn so many special things about Moshiach — and it’s all up to us to bring him!”
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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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