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CHUMASH
Parshas Behaalosecha - Shvi'i with Rashi
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Hashem punishes the Yidden with the Slav birds. In the next place the Yidden go to, Chatzeiros, Miriam says Lashon Hara about Moshe. Hashem is upset with her, and she gets Tzoraas. Moshe davens for her to have a Refuah Sheleimah, and after a week she can come back into the place where the Yidden are camped.
The very next day after the Yidden started to travel, on Chof-Alef Iyar, Hashem punished the Yidden who complained about the mahn. He sent tons and tons of a bird called Slav to fly right near them. Moshe Rabbeinu had warned the Yidden that they would die if they ate from this meat, so most Yidden didn’t take any of the birds. But the people that complained about the mahn took HUNDREDS of slav and shechted them!
Some people died right away, and others got sick — but they all kept eating it anyway! Hashem was very upset that they didn’t do teshuvah, and after a month He killed everyone who was eating the slav. The Yidden called that place “Kivros HaTaavah,” because they buried (Kivros, like Kever) all the people who had the Taavah to eat meat. After this, the Yidden traveled to the next place, Chatzeros.
Moshe always had to be ready to talk to Hashem, so he didn’t stay married to Tziporah.
When his sister Miriam found out, she was very upset! She thought that Moshe decided to do it without asking Hashem. But instead of talking to Moshe about it, she told Aharon, and they both talked about how it looked like he was doing the wrong thing.
Moshe was a very humble person, more humble than anyone else! Even Miriam and Aharon didn’t know how special he was. That’s why they thought he did something wrong, but really, HASHEM told him not to stay married.
Hashem told Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam to come to the Mishkan. Hashem told Aharon and Miriam (where Moshe couldn’t hear) that they were wrong! Hashem talked to Moshe “Peh El Peh” — “mouth to mouth” — not only in a dream like most neviim. They shouldn’t have said something not nice about Moshe!
Hashem stopped talking to Aharon and Miriam, and had the cloud give Miriam her punishment: Miriam got Tzoraas, because she said something not nice about another person.
Aharon asked Moshe to please daven to Hashem to give Miriam a Refuah Sheleimah. Moshe davened only a few short words, “Keil Nah Refa Nah Lah.” “Hashem, please make her feel better.” He didn’t daven a long time for her, so the Yidden wouldn’t think he only davens a lot for his sister and not the rest of the Yidden.
Hashem told Moshe that Miriam would have to stay outside of the camp of the Yidden for a week. All of the Yidden waited in Chatzeros until the end of the week, when Miriam was better. Then the Yidden traveled to Ritmah.
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Many of the Kapitelach in today’s Tehillim are about when Moshiach comes!
Kapitel Tzadik-Hey and Tzadik-Vov are about how we will tell each other to come sing to Hashem and thank Him for His nissim.
In the third posuk of Kapitel Tzadik-Hey, it says that we will thank Hashem because He is a Melech Gadol, a big King. Hashem will be King over the WHOLE world when Moshiach comes — EVERYONE will follow Hashem’s rules!
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TANYA
Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah Perek Vov
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Today we are going to answer a question the Alter Rebbe asked at the beginning of Shaar Hayichud Veha’Emunah: Moshe says a posuk “Veyadaata Hayom,” reminding Yidden that Hashem is the same Hashem — in Shomayim and underground — there is nothing else.
The Alter Rebbe asked, who would think anything else? Would we think that there is another Hashem hiding under the ocean!? What is Moshe Rabbeinu trying to teach us?
Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t want us to make a mistake: A person might think that the chayus Hashem gives the world, is like the chayus our body gets from the neshama: That the body is already there, and the chayus of the neshama makes it ALIVE. So we might think that the world is there already, and the chayus of Hashem makes things in the world grow and live.
That’s like a car — if the car is parked, it doesn’t go anywhere, but it’s still a car! When a person turns on the engine, he makes it go and move, but the car was still a car before that!
But with the world, it’s NOT that way! Hashem makes the neshama AND the guf! Hashem makes the world AND gives chayus to it! There is nothing else except for Hashem.
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When the Rebbe Maharash was 18 years old, the Tzemach Tzedek started to learn an extra shiur with him:
They learned for 2 and a half hours every day, starting at 10:00 at night in the winter, and at 4:00 in the morning in the summer.
For two years, they studied Kabbalah with how Chassidus explains it, and then for the next almost 2 years, they learned seforim of Chakirah (philosophy) — like Moreh Nevuchim and Kuzari, according to Chassidus.
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In today’s Rambam, we are starting a new set of halachos: The halachos about borrowing or lending money. There are many mitzvos about this, and today we are learning two of them:
1) (Mitzvas Asei #197) To lend money to poor people, to make their life a little bit easier. The Rambam says that this is even more important than tzedakah! That’s because people don’t want to become poor and need to ask for money — it will be very embarrassing for them! When you give them a loan, you save them from needing to ask for tzedakah!
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: אִם כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה אֶת עַמִּי אֶת הֶעָנִי עִמָּךְ
The details are explained in many places in Mesechta Kesubos and Mesechta Bava Basra.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #234) Not to ask a person to pay back your loan if you know he can’t.
We learn this mitzvah from the same posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: לֹא תִהְיֶה לוֹ כְּנשֶׁה
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In Perek Alef, we learn that it’s a special mitzvah to give a loan to a poor person, or anyone who needs it. Lending money is a mitzvah — not a choice!
But borrowing money is a very serious thing — if a person borrows money when he doesn’t need to, and then can’t pay back the loan, he is called a rasha.
Perek Beis teaches us how the Chachomim helped make it easier for us to lend money: After the time of the Gemara, there were a lot of sneaky people who said they couldn’t pay back their loans — even though they really could. The Chachomim decided to force people to make a shevuah (a very strong Torah promise in Hashem’s name) in front of the Beis Din if they didn’t have money. That stopped people from lying, and kept everyone from being afraid to lend money!
We also learn the halacha that when you give a loan, you should have witnesses, a mashkon, or a contract, to show that it is a serious thing and make sure all of the details of the loan are clear (like the exact amount you lent).
In Perek Gimmel the Rambam teaches us about a mashkon: A mashkon (a security) is when you take an object from someone you lend money to, and give it back when he pays you back. We learn the details of mitzvos we will be learning later, like not taking a mashkon from an almanah (widow), or using keilim that are used to make food for a mashkon.
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The Rambam teaches us about what kinds of houses can get Tzoraas, and what it looks like.
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Let’s say your mother asks you, “Did you daven today?”
Right away, you think, “If I say ‘no,’ Mommy will ask me to daven now, and I don’t want to! It will be hard! Plus, she might get upset that I was playing all morning and didn’t daven first like I was supposed to.
“But I remember that I’m in Tzivos Hashem, and I need to win over my Yetzer Hara! I know it’s the right thing to tell the truth.
“But then again, what if Mommy gets angry at me?”
Really, we don’t know if Mommy will really be so upset, and we don’t know if davening will really be so hard. This is a nisayon! It’s a test from Hashem where something seems very hard, but if we decide to do the right thing, we might discover that it wasn’t so hard after all!
Mommy might be very proud that you told the truth, the davening could turn out to be fun, and you might get a prize afterwards too!
In a nisayon, Hashem is hiding Himself. Hashem is using the name of Elokim, where Hashem is hiding. That way we can be free to choose! But when we make the right decision, we can break through the hiding place and be able to see Hashem with the name Havaya, where we can feel the goodness of Hashem — feeling proud and good that we did the right thing!
(There is a very famous maamar of the Rebbe Rashab called “Veyadaata Moskva” — which is based on the posuk we’re learning about now in Tanya! In this maamar, the Rebbe Rashab explains what a nisayon is and how to overcome it.)
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There are some Chassidim who say that davening with avodah isn’t so important nowadays. They say that the Rebbe didn’t write many letters about davening, and the Rebbe spoke about mivtzoyim at farbrengens, and not about Tefillah! That proves that it isn’t something we need to do nowadays, because otherwise the Rebbe would have talked about it more!
The Rebbe says that this is a foolish thought! If you look at the Igros of the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe Rashab, and learn their sichos, you will see that they already wrote about it and farbrenged about it many times! So where is the excuse not to daven properly?
From sicha of Parshas Ki Sisa, 5740; see se’ifim 21 and 27
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In today’s Chumash, we learn about Lashon Hara.
What is Lashon Hara?
Saying something that makes a person look bad is Lashon Hara, even if it is true. For example, saying that a person did an aveira makes it sound like he is not a nice person. That is Lashon Hara, and it is asur to say it, and even asur to think about it if someone tells it to us.
Lashon Hara doesn’t even have to be saying something “bad.” For example, let’s say someone asks us where they can buy good cookies for Shabbos. We answer, “Oh, ask Ploni — he always has cookies.” If we are trying to make Ploni sound like a fresser who is always noshing, that’s Lashon Hara too!
See Kitzur Shulchan Aruch im piskei Admur Hazaken, siman Lamed, se’if Beis and Gimmel
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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 learned in Tanya today that the plan for the world is for Hashem to be King. We see this in the Medrash, that Hashem wanted to be able to rest in a place that is “Tachtonim,” a place that feels lower and separate from Hashem, like a king rules over separate people.
The Medrash says:
אָמַר רַבִּי שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר נַחְמָן בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁבָּרָא הַקָדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת הָעוֹלָם נִתְאַוֶה שֶׁיְהֵא לוֹ דִירָה בְּתַּחְתּוֹנִים כְּמוֹ שֶׁיֵשׁ בָּעֶלְיוֹנִים
Amar Rabi Shmuel bar Nachman — Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman says:
Besha’ah Shebara Hakadosh Baruch Hu Es Ha’olam — At the time when Hashem created the world
Nisaveh Sheyehei Lo Dira Betachtonim — Hashem wanted to have a Dira Betachtonim, a resting place below
Kemo Sheyesh Ba’elyonim — Like there is in Shomayim above.
The Medrash explains that as soon as Hashem created a Gashmius world and gave Adam Harishon mitzvos to keep, this happened! But because of aveiros, Hashem wasn’t fully able to rest in the world anymore until the time of Matan Torah and when the Mishkan (and later the Beis Hamikdash) was built.
When Moshiach comes, Hashem will have a complete Dira Betachtonim! It will still be a Gashmius’dike world, but everyone will be able to see that it’s Hashem’s world.
See Medrash Tanchuma Naso 7:1, Maamar Basi Legani 5711
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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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