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CHUMASH
Parshas Devarim - Shlishi with Rashi
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Moshe Rabbeinu reminds the Yidden about more of the things they did wrong during their years in the Midbar. He reminds them about the story with the Meraglim.
The Meraglim: When the Yidden first had the idea to send Meraglim to go look at Eretz Yisroel, to see if it was as special as Moshe Rabbeinu kept telling them, Moshe was happy to say yes. He hoped that when the Yidden saw how he was excited to let them see Eretz Yisroel, they would understand that it is VERY good!
But it didn’t help — they didn’t believe that Moshe was telling the truth about how wonderful Eretz Yisroel is. They wanted the spies to go make sure before they went. So the Meraglim went — but they were just looking for things to complain about. They tried to convince the Yidden that it would be too hard to go into Eretz Yisroel! Yehoshua and Kalev told the Yidden not to worry, that Eretz Yisroel is good, but they decided to believe the Meraglim anyway. They thought that Eretz Yisroel couldn’t be so amazing, Mitzrayim was better! They cried that Hashem hated them and was trying to take them to a bad place where their children would be killed fighting!
Moshe told the Yidden to trust in Hashem — but they still didn’t want to go. Hashem was upset, and NONE of those Yidden, only their children, would be allowed to go into Eretz Yisroel!
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Today’s shiur Tehillim is kapitelach Chof-Tes through Lamed-Daled.
In today’s Hayom Yom, we have an explanation from the Baal Shem Tov on a posuk in today’s Tehillim, “Sur MeRa Ve’asei Tov!”
Once at a farbrengen, the Rebbe taught another explanation from the Baal Shem Tov on the same posuk:
Sur Me’Ra: When a person has the Yetzer Hara to do something not good because he wants kavod or he has a taavah, he has to turn away from the thing that he shouldn’t be doing.
Ve’Asei Tov: Then he should use that energy to do something good!
For example, let’s say that Shmerel is angry at Berel. He wants to jump up and tell his whole bunk how awful Berel is! First, he should do Sur Me’Ra and stop himself from saying something not nice. Then he should do Asei Tov, and use that koach to tell the bunk a story about the Rebbe instead!
See farbrengen Yud-Beis Tammuz 5743, second sicha
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TANYA
Igeres Hateshuvah Perek Yud-Alef
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A Yid always needs to be besimcha! Even if he did an aveira, he STILL needs to always be besimcha!
If he’s thinking about the aveira he did (Teshuva Tata’ah), he should be happy since he knows that Hashem for sure forgives him!
And of course, when he is learning Torah and doing mitzvos with an extra chayus (Teshuvah Ila’ah), then he is FOR SURE besimcha!
Now the Alter Rebbe tells us one more thing where a Yid might think that he should be sad — but even then, he needs to be besimcha! What is that?
Dovid Hamelech says in Tehillim that we should always remember our aveiros (Vechatasi Negdi Somid). If a person is always remembering his aveiros, won’t he get sad?
The Alter Rebbe says no! Really, it’s just the opposite! That’s a GREAT reason to be besimcha!
Why?
Dovid Hamelech isn’t saying that you need to THINK about your aveiros all the time, just that you should remember that they exist.
Instead, any time when someone does something you don’t like, or something happens from Hashem that you don’t like, you can remember your aveiros and say “Zol Zain A Kaparah!” Any time something happens that doesn’t seem so good, you can think about that aveira for a second and say, “OK Hashem, now You gave me a kapara for the aveira!”
So when Dovid Hamelech says to remember our aveiros, it doesn’t mean to be always thinking about them to make us sad, just that we should always remember that they exist. This will help us accept uncomfortable things in life happily!
We’ll see more about this IY”H tomorrow!
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Today we learn an explanation of the Baal Shem Tov on a posuk from today’s Tehillim.
Dovid Hamelech tells us “Sur Me’Ra, Va’asei Tov, Bakeish Shalom Verodfeihu” — “stay away from bad, and do good, and try to make shalom.” (This is in the last kapitel of today’s Tehillim!)
The Baal Shem Tov explains that in every gashmius’dike thing in this world, there’s a part which is good and a part which is bad. The part that’s bad is the selfish feelings (taava) that a person has for the thing. The good part is the chayus of Hashem that we get from the Gashmius.
This is what the Tehillim is saying: Stay away from the selfish part, and look for the GOOD part, the chayus from Hashem!
Then, we have to make shalom between the Gashmius and the Ruchnius (the chayus of Hashem). This way, you’ll feel Hashem’s chayus even when you’re using the Gashmius.
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WOW! We are starting to learn the Rambam again, from the beginning — for the 39th time!
Today in Sefer Hamitzvos, we don’t learn about any mitzvah yet! First we learn about WHY the Rambam wrote the Sefer Hamitzvos. The Rambam explains that this sefer shows us what the 613 mitzvos are.
Did you know that there are other Chachomim who count the 613 mitzvos in a different way than the Rambam?
In Sefer Hamitzvos, the Rambam first teaches us how the 613 mitzvos should be counted, so that later on in the sefer Mishnah Torah, where he explains all of the mitzvos, it will be clear what the mitzvos are.
The Rambam will show us 14 rules to figure out why something is counted as a mitzvah from the Torah. We will IY”H learn them over the next few days!
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In today’s Rambam, the Rambam explains why he made the sefer called Mishnah Torah.
The Rambam reviews the whole history of Torah — how it came from Moshe Rabbeinu on Har Sinai, and how it was taught and learned and passed down Baal Peh for 40 generations, until the time of the Mishnah (when R’ Yehudah Hakadosh saw it needed to be written down) and the time of the Gemara (when Ravina and R’ Ashi saw it would be forgotten if it wasn’t written down, because of the tzaros of Golus).
The Rambam saw that the Golus was so strong, there was another problem: The reason for the Mishnah and Gemara is so we know the halachos, how Hashem wants us to live. And even though it’s all written down, the Gemara has all of the discussion about these halachos, and they aren’t in order. So unless someone knows the whole Shas, they might not be able to find the halachos they will need!
So the Rambam says that he took the courage to do something. He put together all of the halachos in order, written clearly, in an organized way without any questions and answers — so that EVERYONE (big Talmidei Chachomim and simple people too) can see and understand exactly what Hashem wants us to know and to do!
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We are learning more about how food and drinks can become tomei.
In this perek we learn about other kinds of liquids that make things tomei, because they are like the seven kinds of liquids we learned about before. For example, tears are like regular water. So if someone cries, their tears can make things tomei.
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Today is the Yartzeit of a very special Tzadik, the Arizal. There are many things we need to learn from the life of the Arizal.
The Arizal didn’t live for a long time, only for 38 years! But he taught SO MANY secrets of the Torah, that much of the Chassidus we learn today is based on it!
The Arizal said that now we are very close to Moshiach! Now it is time to teach EVERYONE the secrets of Torah. (Until then, only very special people could learn them!)
The Rebbe tells us that there are a few things that all of us should learn from the Arizal and make hachlatos about:
1) Work very hard to learn Torah! (The Arizal used to sweat when he learned because he put in so much koach!)
2) Give a lot of Tzedakah! (The Arizal would give lots of money to tzedakah)
3) Serve Hashem with simcha! (The Arizal said that all he had in Ruchnius was all because of the simcha he had from doing a mitzvah)
4) Keep all of the mitzvos of the Torah (The Arizal said that every Yid’s neshama needs to come back into the world after passing away, until he does all of the mitzvos. The Rebbe also reminds us that when we LEARN ABOUT mitzvos — like when we learn Rambam — it’s like we are doing them!)
The Rebbe explained how today is a wonderful day for Moshiach to come! Let’s daven that it happens NOW!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Tes p. 192 and Toras Menachem 5749, vol. 4, p. 117
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At the beginning of davening, the Chachomim gave us tefillos that help put us in the proper mood to daven.
When Hashem created the world, He gave every Gashmius’dike thing three ways to describe it (dimensions): Olam, Shana, and Nefesh.
1) Olam: Space (this means the place it fills up, the size and shape and color and feel.)
2) Shana: Time (Gashmius things don’t stay the same forever, they change based on the time they are in)
3) Nefesh: Chayus (the chayus of Hashem is what makes things the way they are!)
In Mah Tovu, we say pesukim to show how our davening is special in all of these three ways!
1) “Mah Tovu Oholecha Yaakov” — “The tents of the Yidden are so good!” We say that the Olam, the place we are davening in, is special!
2) “Va’ani Berov Chasdecha Avo Veisecha” — “I come to Your house with Your great chesed.” We say that the Nefesh who is davening, meaning ourselves, is special!
3) “Va’ani Sefilasi Lecha Hashem Eis Ratzon” — “My tefillah should come to Hashem at the right time.” We say that the Shana, the time of our davening is special!
When we stand before Hashem, we think about how our davening is special in every way — in Olam, Shana, and Nefesh.
The three pesukim are in the order we find them in Torah: The first posuk, “Mah Tovu,” is from Parshas Balak, the second posuk is from Tehillim, Kapitel Hey, and the third posuk is also from Tehillim, Kapitel Samach-Tes.
See My Prayer vol. 1
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In Shulchan Aruch it teaches that before davening, a person should think about how great Hashem is, and how small a person is compared to Hashem. This will help us feel humble before Hashem.
In order to keep this halacha, some Chassidim had a minhag to learn a perek of Tanya before davening.
The Rebbe said that this is a very good minhag, and asked that all Chassidim keep it!
By first thinking about the words of Tanya, we will daven with the proper bittul we should have when we stand before Hashem in tefillah.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Tzadik Ches; and Toras Menachem Hisvaaduyos 5749, vol. 3, p. 68
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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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Yesterday we learned that the Zohar and Rashi (based on a Medrash) say that the Beis Hamikdash is already built and is just going to come down from Shomayim.
There is another opinion, though, that says that WE will have to build the Beis Hamikdash!
The Gemara in Yerushalmi says that the Yidden who leave Golus will come and build the Beis Hamikdash. There is also a Medrash that says that Moshiach will build it.
The Rambam brings this as a halacha, in Hilchos Melachim:
In the beginning of Perek Yud-Alef, the Rambam says, “Hamelech HaMoshiach Asid Laamod Ulehachzir Malchus Dovid Leyoshna … Uboneh Hamikdash!” Moshiach will get up and bring back Malchus Beis Dovid to the way it used to be … and he will build the Beis Hamikdash!
The Rambam says this again at the end of the perek. One of the signs to know that Moshiach is really Moshiach (Moshiach Vadai) is if he builds the Beis Hamikdash! So we see that it will be Moshiach’s job to get the Beis Hamikdash built.
Now we have two opinions. Which one will it be?
The Rebbe has an answer! Over the next few days we will IY”H see that it is BOTH.
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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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