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CHUMASH
Parshas Vezos Habracha - Rishon with Rashi
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We are now starting to learn the last parsha of the Torah. It is the last day of Moshe Rabbeinu’s life — Zayin Adar. Now that he finished farbrenging with the Yidden about how they should act in Eretz Yisroel, he is going to ask Hashem for brachos for each of the Shevatim.
Moshe Rabbeinu first says how much the Yidden deserve brachos! Even though Hashem asked ALL of the people in the world if they wanted the Torah, only the Yidden wanted it. Hashem gave them the Torah on Har Sinai, like a Chasunah!
By Matan Torah, Hashem held Har Sinai over the Yidden like a chuppah! The Yidden all came closer under the mountain, because they wanted to have to keep the Torah.
The Yidden were ready to go wherever Hashem wanted in the Midbar.
They will also keep the Torah even when things are hard in Golus and it looks like Hashem is nicer to the Goyim! They will say, “Torah Tziva Lanu Moshe...” — “the Torah is like a present that belongs forever to the ‘family’ of Yidden, and we will keep it forever!”
Reuven: Moshe asked Hashem to forgive Reuven for moving Yaakov’s bed. He should be able to go into Olam Haba, and his Shevet should stay a Shevet.
Yehudah: Moshe asked the same bracha for Yehudah: Yehudah promised Yaakov that if he didn’t bring Benyamin back with him, he will lose his part of Olam Haba. Even though he DID bring Benyamin back, a promise of a Tzadik is still a promise!
But when Yehudah told the truth about doing something wrong with Tamar, it made Reuven realize that he should do Teshuvah too. Since Hashem will forgive Reuven, He should of course forgive Yehudah, who made Reuven do Teshuvah! (And right when Moshe Rabbeinu said this, Yehudah WAS let into Olam Haba!)
Shimon: Moshe didn’t give Shevet Shimon its own bracha, because Zimri was from Shimon, and many Yidden passed away in Shittim because of Shevet Shimon. Still, he hinted to Shimon in his bracha to Yehudah, by using the word “Shema” — like “Shimon.”
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In today’s Tehillim there is a posuk “Moshe VeAharon BeChohanov, U’Shmuel BeKorei Shemo.”
The Gemara explains from this posuk that compares Shmuel to Moshe and Aharon, that Shmuel Hanavi in his generation was as great as Moshe and Aharon in their generation!
The Rebbe teaches us that when the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, Hashem gave them TWO leaders: Moshe, who taught them the Torah that is the same for everyone, and Aharon, who helped each person do their best to connect to Torah on their own level.
Shmuel Hanavi was able to do BOTH jobs together — to teach Yidden the truth, AND to help everyone according to their own level.
The Rebbe tells us that the Chabad Rebbes were each like Shmuel, who have both kochos together — they teach us Torah and how we need to serve Hashem, and help each one of us come closer to doing our own special shlichus.
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Chof-Gimmel
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In this letter, the Alter Rebbe asks Chassidim not to waste the time in Shul between Mincha and Maariv. After we daven Mincha, there are still a few minutes before we can start Maariv.
Some people might want to use this time to talk, but they should remember that there is a Minyan in shul. Like we learned in Pirkei Avos, whenever there are ten Yidden together, the Shechina is there too! We shouldn’t waste this special time with the Shechina there! Instead of just talking, we should learn together.
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When we are shaking the Lulav, we have a minhag to touch the Lulav to the place by our heart where we bang when we say the paragraph of “Ashamnu” (the place in davening where we ask Hashem to forgive us for our Aveiros).
Once at a Farbrengen, the Rebbe Rashab explained this:
The two feelings of being serious before davening and being happy during davening are connected! By preparing for davening in a serious way, like when we decide to make our behavior the best it can be, we can be full of joy when we connect to Hashem in davening.
In Tishrei, we have two Yomim Tovim which are like the “before davening” and “during davening” that we have every day!
Yom Kippur is like before davening, when we realize that we need to be serious about how we behave. We say Ashamnu many times, thinking about the things we need to do better.
Sukkos is like during davening! It is a Yom Tov that is full of simcha, the way our davening should be full of simcha.
These two are also connected — by being serious on Yom Kippur, we are able to have simcha on Sukkos! That is why we first touch the Lulav to our heart, the place where we “klap” Ashamnu, before continuing to shake the Lulav. That reminds us about how the Yomim Tovim are connected, that being serious at the right time brings us simcha on Sukkos and then throughout the year.
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Today we started a new sefer — Sefer Hafla’ah — and a new set of halachos in Rambam, about Shevuos, promises. Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #61) is that we are not allowed to make a not-true promise using Hashem’s name — that’s called a Shevuas Bitui or Shevuas Sheker. (We learn what these mean in today’s Rambam!)
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Kedoshim: וְלֹא תִשָּׁבְעוּ בִשְׁמִי לַשָּׁקֶר
The details of how to keep this mitzvah are explained in the third perek of Mesechta Shevuos.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about the four different kinds of promises (Shevuos) that a person is not allowed to make. Here are two of them:
1) Shvuas Bitui — A Shvuas Bitui is a false promise. One way a person makes a Shvuas Bitui is by promising that he did not do something, but he already did that thing. Another way is if he promises not to do something in the future, and then does it.
2) Shvuas Shav — A Shvuas Shav is a meaningless promise. One type of Shvuas Shav is if someone makes a promise about something that everyone knows is not true (like if he promises that a tree is made of gold). Another kind of Shvuas Shav is a promise that everyone knows is true (like a promise that the sky is the sky).
It is also a Shvuas Shav to make a promise we can’t keep. For example, a promise not to do a mitzvah (we can’t make a promise like that!); or a promise that it’s impossible to keep (like saying we won’t sleep for 3 days).
We also learn what counts as a promise. One halacha is that if a person makes a mistake and says a promise, they are allowed to change their mind if they do it right away.
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In this perek we learn the measurements of the Heichal! When Shlomo Hamelech built the first Beis Hamikdash, he knew it would be destroyed. He had tunnels made underground to hide the Aron. Before the Churban, King Yoshiyahu had the Aron hidden underground. We will take it out again for the Beis Hamikdash Hashlishi!
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Starting from the year Tof-Shin-Mem-Alef, the Rebbe would say a sicha every night of Simchas Beis Hashoeivah, speaking about Sukkos, the Ushpizin, and the Chitas of that day. The Rebbe would encourage that there should be Simchas Beis Hashoeivah with dancing in the streets!
The last night of Chol Hamoed Sukkos is Hoshaana Rabbah. As we will learn later, there are many minhagim of Hoshaana Rabbah that keep us busy for most of the night.
The Rebbe said that even on Hoshaana Rabbah, we should still make sure to have a Simchas Beis Hashoeivah and dance for at least a little while. During the day, we should make sure to spend some time on Mivtzoyim and to learn something extra in honor of Yom Tov.
We might wonder how we can do all of those things, but if we try our best, Hashem will give us the koach to get it all done!
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Hoshaana Rabbah is when Hashem gives us the “receipt” for the Kesiva Vachasima Tova that we got on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. That is why some people wish each other “A Gutte Kvittel,” a good receipt.
(We see that sometimes the Rebbe would write Gmar Chasima Tova even after Yom Kippur, because the conclusion is not until Hoshaana Rabbah.)
There are many paragraphs we say at the end of Hoshaanos in davening on Hoshaana Rabbah, to ask Hashem to help us that everything will be good!
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Tonight and tomorrow is Hoshaana Rabah.
During the day tomorrow we will say a much longer Hoshaanos, and before that we will go around the Bimah SEVEN times instead of one! At the end of Hoshaanos we will “klap” (hit) Hoshaanos, by banging five Aravos on the floor and saying the Yehi Ratzon printed in the siddur.
Tonight, the night of Hoshaana Rabbah, we stay up the whole night! We say the whole Chumash Devarim, and after Chatzos we say the whole Tehillim in Shul. After we finish the Tehillim, the Gabbai gives out apples and honey like on Rosh Hashana! This time, though, we eat it in the Sukkah — so Hashem will give us a sweet year!
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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 Rebbe points out something amazing about nowadays:
For the first time ever in Golus, NOBODY is stopping us from being proud Jews and sharing Yiddishkeit with others. There are no laws against it and nobody threatening us to stop.
Now it is just up to us, to use this special time to do as much as we can!
This is a very important preparation for the Geulah, when Moshiach will unite the world to know Hashem!
See sicha Parshas Vayigash, Sefer Hasichos 5752 p. 224
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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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