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CHUMASH

Parshas Bechukosai - Sheini with Rashi

Hashem is telling us even more brachos we will get by learning Torah and following the mitzvos it teaches us:

Hashem promises us that our fields will grow a lot of food — and He promises that we will feel safe and be able to enjoy it!

Hashem will send away the wild animals so we don’t have to worry, and make other armies stay away from us. If we go outside of Eretz Yisroel to fight, we won’t even have to kill the enemies — they will kill each other! Even the weakest of the Yidden will be stronger than five of the enemies, and the more careful Yidden are with the mitzvos, the more enemies they will be able to win over — even one Yid will be able to chase away more than a hundred enemy soldiers!

Hashem will give us many healthy children, in reward for working hard to learn and follow the Torah. In fact, Hashem will help us by making the mitzvos so much a part of us that it will even be hard to make a mistake!

 
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TEHILLIM

106 - 107

In today’s Tehillim, we thank Hashem for miracles. Kapitel Kuf-Zayin (107) talks about how we thank Hashem for the four very dangerous things that a person is saved from:

- coming out of prison

- getting better from being very sick

- crossing an ocean

- crossing a desert

The Rebbe explains that these four things also mean four hard challenges a person has to deal with during his life, but Hashem helps us every time!

One of the things we thank Hashem for is coming out of prison:

Sometimes the Yetzer Hara can be very strong. It can even be so strong that it becomes in charge of the person, and won’t let him even do things he knows are right! For the Yetzer Tov, this is like a prison. It is trapped by the Yetzer Hara and can’t do what it wants.

Of course, Hashem is everywhere, and is with us even in those times. This makes us feel hopeful, and when we do our best, Hashem will help and get us out of this prison!

This is one of the challenges we thank Hashem for helping us with in this kapitel.

 
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TANYA

Likutei Amarim Perek Nun

The Alter Rebbe has been showing us, over the last perakim, different ways to have Ahava and Yirah — how to love Hashem and do what He wants.

For example, we can think about how Hashem gives us life, and that Hashem is our father Who takes care of all of our needs. We can think about how Hashem loves the Yidden so much that He chose us to be so close to Him, and we love Hashem back.

One thing is the same in all of these ways of loving Hashem: We feel what Hashem does FOR US, what He gives TO US, and that makes us love Hashem.

Today the Alter Rebbe tells us about a different kind of love for Hashem — a kind of love that has nothing to do with us! In fact, when a Yid has this kind of love for Hashem, he doesn’t want anything for himself — he wants his neshama to become one with Hashem, even though that means he won’t have any chayus or any of the things that Hashem usually gives to people!

Once the son of the Maggid, R’ Avraham der Malach, was learning some very deep Chassidus. It made him want Hashem so much that his neshama almost left his body! The Alter Rebbe saw him, and realized what was happening. He forced R’ Avraham der Malach to eat a piece of bagel with butter to save his life!

The kind of love in this story shows this second kind of ahava. It’s not thinking about what Hashem does for us to make us special, it’s just thinking about Hashem and wanting to be together with Hashem!

(We know from Chumash that Nadav and Avihu also had this kind of love for Hashem, which caused them to become close to Hashem, and their neshamos left their bodies.)

Just like in the story of R’ Avraham der Malach, the Alter Rebbe will show us what we need to do to make sure that we have a “bagel with butter” so our neshama will stay inside of us and help us do mitzvos! It is called shuv, and we will be learning more about it tomorrow IY”H!

 
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HAYOM YOM

Chof-Beis Iyar

Today is thirty-seven days of the Omer!

One time there was a farbrengen with the Chassidim of the Alter Rebbe (not too long after the Alter Rebbe became Rebbe — sometime between 5544 and 5547), and this is what they were talking about:

The Alter Rebbe did something very special that never was before! There is a hiskashrus between Chassidim and the Rebbe that makes us never feel alone. For people without a Rebbe, even if they had a Rosh Yeshiva or a teacher, their NESHAMOS weren’t connected. But with Chassidus, a Chossid and Rebbe are connected with their neshamos, so they will never feel alone!

We learned yesterday that this week we are working on the midah of Yesod, which is Hiskashrus. Like we saw in the story of R’ Meir of Premishlan, when we are connected above, we don’t fall down. We see in today’s Hayom Yom that now, in the dark times of Golus, we have the special hiskashrus with the Rebbe that helps us overcome the Golus and prepare for the Geulah! (See sicha of Chof-Daled Iyar Tof-Shin-Yud-Alef)

 
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SEFER HAMITZVOS

Shiur #269 - Mitzvas Lo Saasei #253

Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #253) is that we’re not allowed to cheat a Ger, to sell him something for too much money or buy something from him for too little.

Of course, we can’t cheat ANYONE! But the Torah adds an extra aveira, so that we will be extra-careful with a Ger. Since the Ger had to leave behind so much of what he was used to in order to become a Yid, we need to be even more careful not to hurt him in any way.

We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: וְגֵר לֹא תוֹנֶה

 
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RAMBAM

Hilchos Mechirah

In today’s Rambam, we learn more about how to buy and sell things according to the Torah!

In Perek Yud-Tes, we learn about selling something that might get ruined. We are also not allowed to sell someone a house that is being argued about in Beis Din, because then the person who bought it will have to go to Beis Din! Another halacha is that if we sell something with a warranty, by promising to pay for anything that happens to it, we still don’t need to pay if there was an earthquake and it got ruined, because that’s something that we wouldn’t expect to happen!

Perek Chof: This perek teaches us what we do if people argue about if they sold or bought something. Who needs to prove that it belongs to them? The halacha is, “Hamotzi MeChaveiro, Alav Haraya.” The one that has it now doesn’t need to prove anything — the other person, who wants to take it away from them, needs to prove that it is theirs.

Here’s one very interesting halacha: Let’s say someone went to the marketplace, and bought oranges from one of the five orange sellers. But he realized he left his money at home, so he told the seller he’ll come back with the money. When he came back carrying his money, ALL of the orange sellers were standing there, and he couldn’t remember which one he bought from! All of the orange sellers said “Pay ME the money!”

What should he do? He should put the money down near them, and go away. The orange sellers can either tell the truth and give the money to the one who really sold the oranges, or else the money just sits there until Moshiach comes and Eilyahu Hanavi says who it really belongs to!

In Perek Chof-Alef the Rambam teaches us that we are not allowed to sell something that is a surprise. The person we are selling to needs to know exactly what he is getting! If we don’t know what we are getting, it is like gambling, because we might be getting a very good deal or wasting all of our money!

Since sometimes people mean different things with the same words, the Rambam gives rules to know exactly what a person is selling. For example, if a person sells something like “a piece of land to build a house on,” what does that mean? Does it mean a piece of land big enough to build a mansion, or a piece of land just big enough for a little sukkah? The Rambam tells us that the words “land to build a house” mean a piece of land that is a certain size. If the seller doesn’t say anything different, the person who buys it is able to use that amount of space.

 
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RAMBAM PEREK ECHOD

Hilchos Parah Adumah - Perek Gimmel

In this perek we learn how the Parah Adumah was burned.

 
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DARKEI HACHASSIDUS

Sefiras Haomer

This week in Sefiras Haomer we are working on the midah of Yesod.

We learned that yesod is hiskashrus, and we use it when we connect to Hashem. That is Bein Adam Lamakom, the way we use this midah with Hashem.

But there is also another kind of yesod, the yesod that is Bein Adam Lachaveiro, the way we use this midah with other people.

This kind of yesod is also hiskashrus, connecting with the other person to think about how he will feel.

How do we use our yesod?

Ari notices that his friend Moishy is not very organized. Moishy doesn’t always do his homework, forgets to bring his Chumash, and eats all of his snack by morning recess. Ari wants to help Moishy so that he will be more organized and happier in school. He decides that Moishy needs to learn how to write things down so he doesn’t keep forgetting. Ari thinks that maybe he should buy Moishy a notebook just for remembering things. But first he stops, and uses his midah of yesod. How will Moishy feel if he gives him a notebook and teaches him how to use it? He realizes that Moishy will probably be embarrassed to hear about it from a friend. Ari decides that Moishy will probably be happier to hear about writing things down if his teacher tells him about it instead. Ari gives the notebook to the teacher privately, and asks him to show Moishy how to use it.

Here’s another example of using our yesod:

Mommy sees that the kids are going to sleep too late, and then they are kvetchy the whole day! She knows that they need to start getting ready for bed earlier. Her friend shares a chart that they use in their house, to get all the kids to sleep on time. But before Mommy hangs up the chart, she uses her yesod. Will her family like the chart and start going to sleep because of it? How will it make them feel? Mommy thinks about how her kids don’t like using charts so much. She realizes that for her family, it is better to read a bedtime story at 7:00 for everyone who is in bed in time.

When we do something for another person, we first connect to them and think about how it will make them feel. This way we can make sure that what we are doing will only make good things happen!

 

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TEFILLAH

Vesechezenah (part 2)

In the maamar of Ve’ata Tetzaveh, the Rebbe explains why it is so important to say this bracha in Shemoneh Esrei.

Even though we are in Golus, there are Boruch Hashem many Yidden who are not suffering very much. A Yid might feel that he has most of what he needs in Gashmius — he has a house and a car, enough money for the things he needs, pretty good health, and some nachas too! He might also feel happy with his Ruchnius — he is able to have kavana when he davens many times, and does his best to follow Shulchan Aruch.

But deep down inside of every Yid, there is an Etzem Haneshama, the deepest part of the neshama. The Etzem Haneshama of a Yid is hurting and feels crushed that there is no Gilui Elokus (being able to see Hashem), like there was in the Beis Hamikdash.

This bothers a Yid so much that every time he stands before Hashem in Shemoneh Esrei, he asks Hashem that “Vesechezenah Eineinu,” that our eyes should be able to see Hashem again in the Beis Hamikdash. At least three times a day, he asks that there should be a Gilui Elokus.

Where do we get the koach to want this so badly? It comes from Moshe Rabbeinu, and the Moshe of every generation, the Rebbe. It is the Moshe of each generation that connects the etzem of a Yid’s neshama with Hashem, which makes us feel how much Golus hurts and how much we want Moshiach to come.

When we ask Hashem for the Geulah with our Etzem Haneshama, we can be sure that in this zechus we will deserve to have the Geulah now!

See Maamar Ve’ata Tetzaveh, Purim Katan Tof-Shin-Nun-Beis

 
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HALACHOS HATZRICHOS

Divrei Torah at Meals

We learned in Pirkei Avos perek Gimmel that it is very important to say words of Torah when we sit down to a meal. Those who do not say words of Torah at their meal, it is as if they are eating meat of Avodah Zarah (Zivchei Meisim). But those who sit at a table and DO say words of Torah, it is like they are eating at the table of Hashem (Shulchano Shel Makom)!

Based on this, the halacha is that we should say words of Torah when we are eating a meal.

According to some opinions, if someone isn’t able to say words of Torah, the words of Torah in bentching can be counted. But lechatchilah, whenever we sit down to a meal, we should really say words of Torah.

See Shulchan Aruch siman Kuf-Ayin, Mishnah Beruruah se’if katan Alef, and Piskei Teshuvos there

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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GEULAH U'MOSHIACH

Excitement About the Geulah

When Moshiach comes, we will all want to praise Hashem for the nisim of the Geulah! The Navi Yeshaya told his generation this that this is what we will say to each other:

זַמְּרוּ ה׳ כִּי גֵאוּת עָשָׂה מוּדַעַת זֹאת בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ

Zamru Hashem — Sing to Hashem

Ki Geius Asa — Because Hashem has done great things!

Mudaas Zos Bechol Ha’aretz — This is something that is known about all over!

Everyone, all over the world, will know about the tremendous nisim of the Geulah! We will all be so excited to praise Hashem.

See Yeshaya perek Yud-Beis posuk Hey

 
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