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CHUMASH
Parshas Bechukosai - Rishon with Rashi
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Hashem promises that if we learn Torah and then follow the mitzvos it teaches us, He will give us many brachos!
Hashem will make rain fall for our fields during times when the rain won’t bother anyone, at night when people don’t usually need to be outside. Hashem will even make the rain fall just on days when everyone is home, like late Friday night!
Even though this isn’t a lot of rain, Hashem will make the fields grow plenty of food! We will feel satisfied from even eating a little bit, so we can store away a lot of food and not be worried in case next season is not as good for growing things.
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In kapitel Kuf-Daled (104), there is a posuk “Moh Rabu Maasecha Hashem!” How great are the works of Hashem!
There are many maamorim in Chassidus that explain this posuk. There is a maamar from the Rebbe Rashab that starts with this posuk and explains it — and there is a story behind it!
Once the Rebbe Rashab was learning with the Poltaver Rav, R’ Yaakov Mordechai Bezpalov. The Friediker Rebbe was 3 or 4 years old, and his bed was in the room where they were learning.
R’ Yaakov Mordechai looked over at the sleeping boy, and said that his shining face showed the kedusha that he had!
When the Rebbe Rashab heard that comment, he felt that he wanted to kiss his son. But he stopped himself, and instead wrote a maamar called Moh Rabu Maasecha Hashem. When the Friediker Rebbe got older, the Rebbe Rashab gave him the maamar, and told him, “this is a Chassidishe kush!” Years later, he told him the story.
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Mem-Tes
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When we say the brachos before Shema, we are talking about how much Hashem loves us. Thinking about that will make us want to love Hashem back! Then we will want to SHOW our love by connecting to Hashem by learning His Torah.
Today the Alter Rebbe reminds us that this isn’t enough to show how we love Hashem back.
We need to SAY the words of Torah and davening, and DO the mitzvos, because Hashem wants us to do mitzvos in this world, using the Gashmius of the world for kedusha.
Because why did Hashem do all of the Tzimtzum? So that we will be able to see Hashem in this world! This will make it light instead of dark, and “sweet” with Kedusha instead of “bitter” from Kelipah!
And that’s our job! To bring down Hashem’s light into the world through our Torah and mitzvos. We can only do this right if we love Hashem so much we’re ready to do ANYTHING for Him.
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Today is thirty-six days of the Omer!
Where are you?
You may be at home, in the car, in school, or at the playground.
Why are you there?
Because Hashem sent you there with His Hashgacha Protis, to accomplish something there!
Today’s Hayom Yom teaches us something that we need to remember, wherever we are:
If Hashem sent us there, it means we CAN do the job He gave us to do there. But it’s up to us! We need to do our avodah, and then we will make it happen.
The Rebbe once said this to the Shluchim: Before a shliach goes to a place, Hashem sets up that all of the things he will need to have hatzlacha will all be there. All the shliach needs to do is go there, and the people to help him and give money for his programs will all be there — the shliach just needs to do his job to make it happen, and he will see all of the brachos!
The same is true for the shlichus we ALL have: The brachos are all there to make us have hatzlacha, we just need to use the kochos Hashem gives us and we will see that it will happen!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #251) is the same one as yesterday’s! This mitzvah is that we are not allowed to hurt other people with our words (ona’as devarim). We aren’t allowed to say mean things, or things that will make someone embarrassed or feel bad.
For example, we aren’t allowed to remind a Baal Teshuvah about the aveiros he did, or tell someone who is sick that it must be a punishment for something he did. We also can’t ask questions to a storekeeper to make him think that we are going to buy something if we aren’t really planning on buying it.
We learn this from a posuk in Parshas Behar: וְלֹא תוֹנוּ אִישׁ אֶת עֲמִיתוֹ וְיָרֵאתָ מֵאֱלֹקֶיךָ
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Perek Daled of Bava Metzia.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more about how to do business the Torah way!
Perek Tes-Zayin teaches us about when we can return something and get our money back! One halacha is that if we buy a cow and the person who sold it didn’t tell us that it had no teeth, so it dies from not eating anything, we can give back the dead cow and get all of our money back.
Perek Yud-Zayin explains when the Torah says a sale wasn’t fair, and we can give back what we bought and get our money back. When we sell something, we need to make sure to tell the truth about what it is and how good it is!
In Perek Yud-Ches the Rambam teaches us about not tricking people when we sell something. We can’t paint an old car to make it look new, or put fancy apples on the top of a bag of rotten ones so someone will buy it. But we ARE allowed to give out balloons or candies to kids who come to our store so they will want to come back!
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The Rambam explains how careful we are to make sure that everything used for the Parah Adumah has no chance of becoming Tomei.
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This week in Sefiras Haomer, we are working on our midah of Yesod. Chassidus teaches that Yesod is Hiskashrus.
What is hiskashrus?
In the town of Premishlan, there lived a Tzadik called R’ Meir of Premishlan. Premishlan was a town that wasn’t right by the river, but up on a mountain they had a special spring that they used for a Mikvah every day.
Well, during the SUMMER the men used it for a Mikvah every day, but not in the winter! To get up the mountain, you had to climb up a lot of steps, and they were just too slippery in the snow and ice! Most of the men would walk to the next town, where they could use the river as a Mikvah before davening.
Only one person walked up the mountain to their special spring: R’ Meir of Premishlan. He never slipped and fell, no matter how windy or icy or snowy it was!
The Yidden in Premishlan were very proud of their Rebbe, and used to tell people how lucky they were to have such a special Rebbe who could do such special nissim.
One day, two young men came to Premishlan. They were a bit chutzpadik, and didn’t believe that what R’ Meir did was so special. “We can also go up to the top of the mountain, just watch!” they said.
The two young men started climbing up the icy stairs. But they didn’t get too far before they slipped and fell down all the steps! People came to help them, and they had to rest in bed for a few days because of all of their cuts and bruises.
When they felt better, they went to R’ Meir of Premishlan to say sorry for not treating him with the right kavod. They asked, though, how DID he manage to go up the mountain without falling?
R’ Meir answered: “Ven men iz tzugebunden fun oiben, falt men nisht unten. When we are connected from above — when we are connected to Hashem, we don’t fall down here.”
That’s the midah of Yesod, that we are working on this week — to learn Torah, do mitzvos, and do what is right because of our hiskashrus to Hashem!
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TEFILLAH
Retzei - Vesechezenah (part one)
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In the bracha of Retzei, we ask Hashem to accept the tefillos we just said. But these tefillos are not complete. Our tefillos are supposed to be along with the korbanos in the Beis Hamikdash! We ask that Hashem should rebuild the Beis Hamikdash and again have His Shechinah rest there, so that we can serve Hashem the way we are truly supposed to.
The Medrash Shocher Tov tells us that in the times of Dovid Hamelech, the Aron traveled to many different places. It didn’t have a proper home, and there wasn’t a place for the kohanim to do their avodah. In that time, thousands of soldiers passed away, because they didn’t demand for Hashem to build the Beis Hamikdash.
If so, it is a Kal Vachomer for us! Those Yidden didn’t know how wonderful a Beis Hamikdash was. There had never been a Beis Hamikdash, and of course, there was never a Churban. But we DID have a Beis Hamikdash, and we do know how terrible it is that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed.
So we need to REALLY cry out to Hashem in every tefillah, asking Him to bring us back to Yerushalayim and the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash. This is why the Chachomim set up this bracha of Retzei.
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One very important thing about Yiddishkeit is that Torah doesn’t only teach us about our davening and mitzvos, but about EVERY part of our lives! There are halachos that show us the Torah way to get dressed, eat, and do business.
Some of the halachos about eating are in part of Shulchan Aruch called “Hilchos Derech Eretz B’Seudah” — the halachos about how to behave when we eat.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch to see how the Alter Rebbe explained these things, but we do have the regular Shulchan Aruch. Let’s learn some of those halachos!
The Shulchan Aruch teaches that we are not allowed to watch another person eat. We shouldn’t look at him or at his plate to see what and how much he is eating.
The Aruch Hashulchan explains that this means when it might make the person embarrassed to have other people watching. For example, a guest might be embarrassed if people watch him eat, in case they think he is eating too much of their food.
So the halacha is that we shouldn’t look at anyone else’s food or at them while they are eating if they might be embarrassed.
Shulchan Aruch siman Kuf-Ayin se’if Daled
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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 tremendous nisim of the Geulah will make us want to praise Hashem! The Navi Yeshaya told his generation about this:
וַאֲמַרְתֶּם בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא הוֹדוּ לַה׳ קִרְאוּ בִשְׁמוֹ הוֹדִיעוּ בָעַמִּים עֲלִילֹתָיו הַזְכִּירוּ כִּי נִשְׂגָּב שְׁמוֹ
Va’amartem Bayom Hahu — And you will say on that day:
Hodu LaHashem — “Thank Hashem!
Kiru Vishmo — Call out Hashem’s name to praise Him!
Hodiu Vo’amim Alilosav — Let all the nations know what Hashem has done!
Hazkiru Ki Nisgav Shemo — Make sure everyone remembers to praise Hashem’s name, which is so holy!”
This posuk brings comfort to the Yidden and reminds us that the Geulah is coming! It is one of the pesukim we say in Veyitein Lecha, the bracha we give each other at the beginning of the new week, on Motzei Shabbos!
See Yeshaya perek Yud-Beis, posuk daled
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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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