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CHUMASH
Parshas Behar - Shishi with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, we learn about what happens if someone is so poor he sells himself as a slave!
We are not allowed to treat him like a slave, and make him do things like put on our shoes for us or do things we don’t really need just so he will be busy. We have to treat a Jewish slave in a much nicer way, like a regular worker. We even need to make sure his children have food to eat. If we need someone to do work like a slave, we need to buy a non-Jewish slave.
Just like with fields and houses, in a Yovel year a Jewish slave goes free.
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The first kapitel in today’s shiur Tehillim is kapitel Tzadik (90). Dovid Hamelech wrote many kapitelach himself, but this one is different. Dovid Hamelech found this whole kapitel already written, and he was told that it was written by Moshe Rabbeinu! So he decided to include it in the Sefer Tehillim.
This kapitel speaks about how a person should be humble, not a big-shot. It also helps a person to want to do Teshuvah.
One of the pesukim says “Tosheiv Enosh Ad Daka VaTomer Shuvu Bnei Adam” — “Hashem, You make a person feel very small so that he will do Teshuva.” The word “Tasheiv” (“do Teshuvah”) is the same letters as the word Shabbos — because Shabbos is a special chance for every Yid to do teshuva — to become closer to Hashem.
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Mem-Tes
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The Chachomim instituted the brachos before Shema to help us prepare ourselves to fulfill the mitzvah of loving Hashem that we talk about in Shema.
Yesterday we learned what the first bracha should make us feel, and now we look at the second bracha:
In the second bracha, we talk about how much Hashem loves us, even more than all of these malachim. Hashem made the world for US, the Yidden!
Hashem loves us with an “Ahavas Olam” — a love that lasts forever. Olam also means the world, a place that Hashem needs Tzimtzum to be in. Hashem is ready even to hide Himself with Tzimtzum, not to let His light shine all the way, because He wants us to learn Torah and do mitzvos!
And from everyone in the world, Hashem chose us, the Yidden!
If Hashem loves us so much, then for sure when we say Shema we will love Him too!
In tomorrow’s Tanya, we’ll see more about how these brachos make us love Hashem — the mitzvah of Shema!
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Today is thirty-four days of the Omer!
Today’s Hayom Yom comes from a maamar of the Frierdiker Rebbe, which was said when he left Russia and came to Poland, in the year Tof-Reish-Tzadik. The maamar is based on a story in the Gemara, that starts with the words Rava Chazya Lerav Hamnuna. This maamar is a very basic maamar, which explains what Avodas Hashem is all about, and how we are able to make ourselves more aidel by living according to Torah and working on Avodas HaTefillah. The maamar was written in Yiddish and in a simple way, so that everyone could understand it!
At the end of the maamar, there are four paragraphs which speak about what Chassidus is, and what Chassidus does! These paragraphs seem to be based on what the maamar teaches. Today’s Hayom Yom is the second paragraph:
Chassidus is a “Getliche Farshtand,” a Ruchnius’dike way of understanding things. Chassidus teaches us about Hashem and about the kedusha in the world.
Learning about this makes a person realize how small we really are alone, but how great we can become through Avodah! By working on ourselves through following the path of Yiddishkeit, through Torah and Tefillah, a Yid can become truly great.
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Today’s Sefer Hamitzvos gives us the rules the Rambam used to decide which mitzvos are counted in the 613 mitzvos. (Besides for the Rambam, there are other Chachomim who count the mitzvos differently. Here the Rambam shows us why he counts the mitzvos specifically this way.)
In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos we will learn the first 4 rules of how to decide if something is counted as a mitzvah:
1) The mitzvos D’Rabbonon aren’t counted in the 613 mitzvos; it has to be in the pesukim of the Torah.
2) It has to be SAID in the Torah, not something we learn from a hint.
3) It has to be a mitzvah that is ALWAYS a mitzvah (so a mitzvah about the Mishkan that we don’t keep in the Beis Hamikdash isn’t counted)
4) We only count mitzvos that are said in a specific way, not things like “do everything Hashem tells you to.”
The details of the 14 rules the Rambam uses to count the mitzvos are very long. The Rambam gives many proofs and examples to explain each of the rules! In the Moreh Shiur, it says that they can be learned over time, even after we already start learning the actual mitzvos. (We divided them up by learning 4 rules today, and 5 tomorrow and the next day.)
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In Rambam, we are counting the mitzvos! Today we say a list of all 248 Mitzvos Asei (those are the mitzvos that are about something we need to DO for Hashem — the mitzvos Lo Saasei are the things Hashem asks us NOT to do).
Did you know what the Rambam says is the very first mitzvah? To know that there is a Hashem! That’s a mitzvah that you can do all the time!
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Now we learn special halachos about grapes and olives, which have different halachos, and how they become tomei.
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This week’s Pirkei Avos is Perek Daled. In the first Mishnah, it says, “Ben Zoma Omer: Eizehu Chacham? HaLomeid Mikol Adam.” “Ben Zoma says: Who is a chochom? Someone who learns from every person...”
The Mishnah also says, “Who is a strong person? Someone who wins over his Yetzer Hara... Who is a rich person? Someone who is happy with what he has... Who is a respected person (kavodik)? Someone who has kavod for everyone...”
The Rebbe once explained that this Mishnah teaches us four things that we might think are the opposite!
1) Chochom (a smart person): We would think that a smart person is someone who understands the way things really are — he’ll know who is good, and who is bad.
But no! A chochom is someone who can find something good in everyone and everything!
2) Gibor (a strong person): We would think that a strong person is someone who can pick up heavy things, or can fight with strong people.
But no! Someone who is really strong is someone who holds himself back from using his koach for not good things, and wins over his Yetzer Hara!
3) Ashir (a rich person): We would think that a rich person is someone who is always trying to get more and more money.
But no! Someone who is really rich is someone who is happy with what Hashem gives him!
4) Mechubad (an honored person): We would think that a person is kavodik if he stays separate from other people because he is special, and doesn’t waste his time thinking about other people.
But no! Someone who is really kavodik is someone who is nice to everyone and shows kavod to everyone!
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▼ Jump to Coloring Books & Downloads ▼
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Were you ever listening to a story and then started feeling scared? Or do you sometimes get nervous during a thunderstorm? Some people are worried when they see some kinds of animals. Other kids get nightmares from things.
We might sometimes feel like the world is a scary place!
It feels like we can’t stop things from happening, and we don’t want to get hurt!
The seventh posuk of the Yud-Beis Pesukim helps keep us from being afraid:
Bereishis Bara Elokim — In the beginning when Hashem created
Es Hashomayim — the heavens
V’Es Ha’aretz — and the earth.
From the very beginning, the whole world was, and ALWAYS is, created by Hashem!
Nothing in the world happens by itself, Hashem is always deciding what will happen. So we don’t have to be scared of anything!
Whenever we find ourselves feeling scared, we can think about this posuk. We can remember that this is HASHEM’s world, and Hashem is taking care of everything!
See sicha Lag B’Omer Tof-Shin-Lamed-Vov
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Every year, the Arizal used to travel to Meron for Lag B’omer, the hilula of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai. He used to stay there for three days — the day of Lag B’omer, and the two days afterwards.
In a number of sichos and letters, the Rebbe said that this shows us that the inyan of Lag B’omer lasts for three days! So if we missed anything on Lag B’omer, we can make up for it afterwards.
This also fits with the lesson we just learned from Pesach Sheini, that “S’iz Nishto Kein Farfallen,” it is never too late to make up for something good.
Here is one minhag that you might not have gotten a chance to do on Lag B’omer:
There is a minhag to eat bukser (carob) on Lag B’omer. This reminds us of the bukser that Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and his son Rabbi Elazar ate for 13 years in the cave!
The Rebbe once said at a farbrengen that he remembers eating bukser at his house as a child. It was a very rare fruit, but they had it every year on Lag B’omer.
See also Hisvaaduyos 5742, chelek gimmel, p. 1395
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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 Navi Yeshaya tells us one of the things the Yidden will say when Moshiach comes:
הִנֵּה אֵ-ל יְשׁוּעָתִי אֶבְטַח וְלֹא אֶפְחָד כִּי עָזִּי וְזִמְרָת יָ-הּ ה׳ וַיְהִי לִי לִישׁוּעָה
Hinei Keil Yeshuasi — Here is Hashem who saves me from Golus!
Evtach Velo Efchad — Now I feel safe and I am not afraid of anyone.
Ki Azi Vezimras Kah Hashem — The strength and the praise that comes from Hashem’s name becoming whole, in the times of the Geulah
Vayehi Li Liyeshua — that is what saved me.
Rashi explains that until Hashem destroys Amalek in the times of Moshiach, Hashem’s name is not complete. But after Amalek is destroyed and the Yidden are saved, we can see Hashem’s true strength and praise Him with His whole name!
We say this posuk at the beginning of Havdalah, because it is a comforting posuk. We want pesukim that bring us comfort because we are sad that Shabbos is leaving us. When we remind ourselves about the things we will say at the times of the Geulah, we feel much better!
See Yeshaya perek Yud-Beis, posuk Beis
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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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