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CHUMASH
Parshas Noach - Revi'i with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, we start to learn about what happened right after the Mabul.
Hashem told Noach that his family and all of the animals should go out of the Teivah now. On the Teivah, they weren’t allowed to have children, but now all of them will be allowed to again.
So Noach and his family, and all of the animals and birds left the Teivah. From now on, the animals would only marry the same kind.
Since Hashem asked Noach to bring 7 pairs of the kosher animals, Noach realized that Hashem wanted him to bring korbanos. Noach brought from each kind of kosher animal and bird as a Korban Olah — a korban that is all burned on the Mizbeiach.
When Hashem smelled these special korbanos, it brought Hashem a Nachas Ruach. Hashem now promised never to destroy the world again, “Ki Yetzer Leiv Ha’adam Ra MeiNe’urav” — because people are not perfect, they are born with a Yetzer Hara, and they deserve Rachmanus.
During the Mabul, aside for everything in the world being destroyed, the Mazalos in Shomayim stopped moving. The sun didn’t move, the moon didn’t move, the stars didn’t move. There was no day and night, and of course there could be no seasons!
Now Hashem said that from now on, the world will have seder. The Mazalos would start to move again, and continue forever! Every day would have a day and a night, and the seasons of the year would never stop — “Lo Yishbosu.”
Hashem tells Noach about SIX seasons! You probably only know four. The seasons Hashem says are (in order of how they happen, starting in the middle of Tishrei): Planting time (Zera), cold (Kor), winter (Choref), harvest (Kotzir), summer (Kayitz), and hot (Chom).
Hashem gave a bracha to Noach and his family, and told them, “Pru Urevu” — to have many children and fill up the earth again! They don’t need to worry that Hashem will destroy the world, because Hashem promised not to. They also don’t have to worry about the animals. During the time when people started acting in a not nice way before the Mabul, the animals stopped being afraid of people. But now they don’t have to worry about it being dangerous to live in the world, because the animals will be afraid of them again.
Before the Mabul, people weren’t allowed to eat meat. Now Hashem is allowing them to eat meat, but with certain rules:
- A person isn’t allowed to eat Eiver Min Hachai, a part of an animal or its blood before it is killed.
- A person is only allowed to kill animals, not people. A person isn’t even allowed to make himself bleed for no reason! So if an animal kills a person, it will get punished, and if a person kills another person, Hashem will make sure he is punished. A person is made Betzelem Elokim, to look like Hashem. If a person is killed, it takes away part of the Tzelem Elokim from the world, and the world looks less like Hashem. Someone who does this doesn’t deserve to live.
Hashem now gave Noach and his sons a mitzvah — “Pru Urevu!” Go have children!
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A gutten Chodesh! Today we are saying the last six kapitelach in the entire Tehillim!
These kapitelach are all part of Davening! They are the main part of Pesukei DeZimra, which the Chachomim set up to praise Hashem.
(If you look in the beginning of the kapitel, though, you won’t see the word Ashrei! The kapitel starts with the words Tehillah Ledovid, which is the THIRD posuk in our siddur. The pesukim that start with the word Ashrei are from other kapitelach — the first one is from Kapitel Pey-Daled, and the second one is at the end of yesterday’s Tehillim, in Kapitel Kuf-Mem-Daled.)
The most important posuk in Ashrei is “Poseiach Es Yodecha Umasbia Lechol Chai Ratzon” — we say that Hashem opens His Hand and gives everyone what they need. If you don’t have kavana in this posuk during davening, you need to go back and say it again! So when you say this part of Ashrei, remember to think about how Hashem gives every living thing whatever it needs.
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Chof-Hey
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We are now learning how the Alter Rebbe explains a vort from the Baal Shem Tov.
The vort is that if a person is in the middle of davening, and someone comes and starts to talk to him and mix him up, he should realize that Hashem is giving him a message. He should think about how the Shechinah is in Golus inside of the words of the person who is bothering him, so that he will need to use MORE koach to have Kavana in davening!
It’s like Hashem is dressing up in a costume — it looks like something is RUINING our Kavana, but really Hashem is just trying to make our chayus in davening stronger!
If someone is falling asleep and they really need to be awake, one way you can wake them up is by taking a puppet and saying BOO! in their face. They’ll get scared and wake up. Sometimes when we daven, we are daydreaming and not really thinking about what we are saying to Hashem. So we shouldn’t get angry at whatever is bothering us, we should realize that Hashem is trying to get us to wake up and work harder to daven with Kavanah.
In today’s Tanya, the Alter Rebbe tells us that when a Yid says words of kedusha, like davening, then the Shechinah is in what he says!
Later we will learn about how the Shechinah is in Golus in the person who is bothering our davening.
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In today’s Hayom Yom, we learn some things which are important for us to know when we say Hallel on Rosh Chodesh:
1) When we say Hallel, there are a few pesukim that end with the words “Ki Le’olam Chasdo.” After each one of the pesukim, we say the first posuk again — “Hodu LaHashem Ki Tov, Ki Le’olam Chasdo!” We do this whether we are davening with a minyan or we are davening ourselves.
2) After Hallel on Rosh Chodesh, we say a posuk “VeAvraham Zakein,” followed by a tefillah that starts with the word “Zevadiah,” three times.
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Today we learn more mitzvos about what a Nazir is not allowed to eat:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #205) A Nazir may not eat grape seeds.
We learn this from a mitzvah in Parshas Naso: מֵחַרְצַנִּים וְעַד זָג לֹא יֹאכֵל
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #206) A Nazir isn’t allowed to eat grape peels.
We learn this mitzvah from the same posuk in Parshas Naso: וְעַד זָג לֹא יֹאכֵל
We also learn 2 mitzvos about what a Nazir is not allowed to do:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #208) He is not allowed to become tamei. He can’t go on purpose into the same house as a person who passed away (Tumas Ohel).
This mitzvah is learned from another posuk in Parshas Naso: עַל נֶפֶשׁ מֵת לֹא יָבֹא
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #207) He is not allowed to make himself tamei from a person who passed away (Tumas Meis).
We learn this mitzvah from the next posuk in Parshas Naso: לְאָבִיו וּלְאִמּוֹ וגו׳ לֹא יִטַּמָּא
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In Rambam, we learn more halachos about what happens if a Nazir does something that is asur, and how his being a Nazir ends.
Perek Vov: If a Nazir does certain things he wasn’t supposed to, he could mess up his time of Nezirus and sometimes needs to start again!
For example, If he drinks wine or cuts some of his hair, he did something wrong, but he still stays a Nazir. If he cuts most of his hair, he needs to wait for 30 days to let his hair grow back, and then he can count from where he left off. But if he becomes Tamei from Tumas Meis, many times he will need to shave his hair and bring the korbanos, and then start being a Nazir again from the beginning.
Perek Zayin: There are some times when a Nazir SHOULD do things that a Nazir usually is not allowed to do. Like if he got Tzoraas while he was a Nazir, he has a MITZVAH to cut his hair!
Perek Ches: We learn about the things the Nazir does to finish off his time of being a Nazir, like shaving his hair and bringing certain korbanos.
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Really, when someone brings a korban, he needs to be there to see it. But how can ALL the Yidden be there to see the korbanos that are brought for all the Yidden, like the Korban Tomid, which is brought every day as a Korban Tzibur for all of the Yidden?
A group of Yidden who had Yiras Shomayim were chosen as the Anshei Maamad, to watch when those korbanos were brought on behalf of the rest of the Yidden. This perek tells us how these Maamados worked.
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We will learn an important lesson about Shlichus from a sicha on Parshas Noach:
Noach got saved from the Mabul, but it wasn’t easy for him on the Teiva! Rashi brings from a Medrash that tells us that after the Mabul, Noach was groaning in pain, and spitting blood.
The Medrash tells us two reasons why Noach was in such pain.
1) Because of all of the hard work to take care of all of the animals on the Teiva.
2) Because Noach was once late in feeding a lion, and it hit him. Even though he was working so hard to feed each of the animals, Noach needed to make sure that every animal was fed on time, every time.
We can learn from this how to do better in our shlichus to help other people!
1) We need to act like Noach. We should work VERY hard to help other Yidden, even if it is uncomfortable for us, like Noach who took care of all of the animals even though it was so difficult.
2) When a person is working hard, he might feel uncomfortable. He might think that it is fine for the people he is helping to be uncomfortable too! But we learn from Noach that everyone needs to get what they need on time! We need to help other Yidden in a way that they feel happy and comfortable, and take care of the things they need right away.
See Likutei Sichos chelek Hey, p. 35, Dvar Malchus Parshas Noach, from Likras Shabbos
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All Jewish kids are part of Hashem’s army, Tzivos Hashem!
In every army, there are times that the soldiers are sent far away. They might have to march through thick forests, hot deserts, or rocky mountains. They have important missions to do, to keep everyone safe!
Each time, before the soldiers leave, they are given the supplies and equipment they will need for their next missions. Before they go out to a forest, they might get axes to help them chop down trees that are blocking them. Before they go to a desert, they might get extra water and special weapons. Before they go to the mountains, they will need to have ropes and boots that will let them climb safely.
We soldiers in Tzivos Hashem are about to be sent out on a special mission too — we need to go to the dark and cold months of the winter, and make sure they are full of the light of Torah and mitzvos!
Before we begin this important mission, we are given everything we need to have hatzlacha there! Hashem gives us the Yomim Tovim of Tishrei, especially the end of Yom Tov with Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, to give us chayus and simcha to do our mission well.
Sometimes the Rebbe would hold a special children’s rally at the end of Tishrei, helping us to make sure we have all of our new supplies ready for our winter mission!
See rally of Beis Cheshvan, Tof-Shin-Mem-Gimmel
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Today is Rosh Chodesh!
In the Beis Hamikdash, extra korbanos would be brought on Rosh Chodesh. We say an additional tefillah, Musaf, for these korbanos.
In Musaf for Rosh Chodesh, we say the pesukim from the Torah that speak about the Korban Musaf for Rosh Chodesh. We ask Hashem to rebuild the Beis Hamikdash so we can again bring these korbanos, and bentch us with a good new month!
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There is a very old Minhag to learn one posuk from our Kapitel Tehillim every Rosh Chodesh. We learn the posuk with Rashi (and other Meforshim too, if we want!) We learn the pesukim in order, and try to finish learning the whole Kapitel by the end of the year.
If there are exactly 12 pesukim in your kapitel (or 13 in a leap year), then it’s easy to know how much to learn: If you learn one posuk each month, you will finish exactly at the end of the year! But if there are more than 12 pesukim, you should learn a few at a time to be able to finish, and if there are less than 12 pesukim, learn the same posuk again another month.
(You can find Tehillim in English, with Rashi, online on Chabad.org!)
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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 Torah tells us that in the 600th year of Noach’s life, the gates of water from the sky and fountains of water from underground opened up and started to flood the world. This was the beginning of the Mabul.
The Zohar tells us that this posuk is also hinting to another 600th year — the 600th year of the 6th millennium. At this time, we will have another kind of flood — a flood of knowledge! In the year 5600, knowledge from above (meaning the secrets of Torah that are taught from Shomayim) and knowledge from underneath (meaning understanding more about the world) will start to pour out like a fountain. This knowledge will be a preparation for Moshiach!
We see that this happened — at around this time, new knowledge came into the world “from above”: This is the time when Chassidus Chabad started to spread out! We also got new knowledge “from below” — people started learning how to use machines to make things work easier and faster.
These things are part of the “flood of knowledge” that will get the world ready for Moshiach!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Tes-Vov p. 42ff.
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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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