|
|
CHUMASH
Parshas Mikeitz - Shlishi with Rashi
|
|
In today’s Chumash, Paraoh makes Yosef second to the king. He starts collecting food for the hunger, and has two sons, Menasheh and Efrayim.
Paraoh said to Yosef, “Just like you said, we need a very smart person to be in charge of the food. Since Hashem made YOU know about this and nobody else, that means that there is nobody as smart as you! I am making you in charge of saving the food. Everyone will have to listen to you, and even though I am still the king, you can do anything just like a king.” (Paraoh ignored what the butler said, that Yosef wouldn’t be a good person to have a job for the king.) He gave Yosef his ring, and fancy clothes, and a special necklace that shows he is a big officer.
Paraoh had Yosef ride through the city in one of the royal carriages, telling everyone to bend their knees in front of Yosef. He said to Yosef in front of everyone: “I am Paraoh, and I am in charge. I am making a decree that nobody can even hold weapons or ride on a horse without your permission!”
Paraoh gave Yosef the name “Tzofnas Paneiach,” which means “the one who explains hidden things” (because he explained the dream that nobody understood) and gave him Osnas, Potifera’s daughter, to marry. (Potifera is the name the Torah now uses for Potifar.) Yosef was now 30 years old, and he went all around Mitzrayim to save food for the hunger years, when nothing will grow.
During the seven years when there was a lot of food, people brought grain to the storehouses where they would keep all of it. They took some of the earth from the places where it grew, to help keep it from going bad. There was so much grain, more than could be counted!
Yosef had two sons before the hunger years started. One son was called Menasheh, which means “makes you forget.” Hashem made Yosef forget the hard years he went through, and he wanted to thank Hashem for that! He also chose this name to help him remember that he is a Yid, because being so great can chas veshalom make a person easily forget. The second son was called Efrayim, because Hashem made him grow in Mitzrayim.
|
|
|
|
Today’s Tehillim is the second half of Kapitel Kuf-Yud-Tes.
Today we are saying the second half of the longest Kapitel in the whole Tehillim! The last posuk says, “To’isi KeSeh Oved, Bakeish Avdecha, Ki Mitzvosecha Lo Shochochti.” “I got lost like a stray sheep, please Hashem, find me, because I didn’t forget Your mitzvos!”
Why did Dovid Hamelech say that Hashem should find him because he didn’t FORGET His mitzvos — why didn’t he say because he was DOING all of the mitzvos?
We can find the answer in the posuk! Dovid Hamelech is saying this posuk for all of the Yidden, how we feel during Golus. We ask Hashem to remember us. We can’t say that we are DOING all the mitzvos of Hashem, because we can’t keep so many of them without a Beis Hamikdash and without living in Eretz Yisroel. But we REMEMBER them!
Most of the day we are busy doing everyday things, and not only doing mitzvos. But even when we are doing “regular” things, we are still thinking about mitzvos, and how we are connected to Hashem. One way we do this is by learning Rambam and Sefer Hamitzvos, so every year we have remembered all of the 613 mitzvos!
When we do this, “Bakeish Avdecha” — Hashem will find us, and bring the Geulah!
|
|
|
TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Beis
|
|
Yesterday we talked about the first nefesh in a Yid. Today we are going to talk about the second nefesh. The second nefesh, the Alter Rebbe tells us, is a Chelek Elokah Mimaal Mamosh — a part of Hashem!
The first person who got this neshama was Adam Harishon, and later on it was passed on just to Yidden.
The posuk says that Hashem “blew” this neshama into Adam. This example of blowing shows that the neshama comes from a place very deep inside. You know that you can talk for a long time and not get tired, but if you try to blow for just a minute you can get all tired! That’s because blowing comes from much deeper inside.
Yidden are also called Hashem’s children, which shows that they are so close to Him.
EVERYTHING really comes from Hashem, but that chayus of Hashem is much more hidden. The way Hashem creates the world is compared to how a person talks. But Yidden have a neshama that Hashem “blows” into us from deep inside.
There are many different levels in neshamos, like the neshamos of the Avos and Moshe Rabbeinu, and the neshamos of our time right before Moshiach comes, which are much smaller neshamos. Still, every single neshama comes from the deepest part of Hashem! To come into a body, the neshama goes through different stops, and it can be hard to recognize where the neshama is originally from.
That’s why Hashem gives us a mitzvah called “Ledavka Bo” — to stay connected to Hashem. The Gemara explains that this means that we should be connected to the Talmidei Chachomim, and through that will be connected to Hashem. Tzadikim and leaders of the generation have neshamos that don’t go through as many stops before they come into a body, so their neshamos are closer to Hashem! So for a regular neshama to stay connected when it’s in a Gashmius’dike body, it needs to have hiskashrus to the tzadik of his generation. By following the horaos of the tzadik, every neshama is able to be connected closely to the deepest part of Hashem.
In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe is going to teach us the “long short way” of serving Hashem. To follow this way, we need to make our neshama strong so that it controls the body and can feel love and fear of Hashem. We see that the first step to make sure our neshama is strong is to know that we need to have hiskashrus to the Rebbe of our generation! That is the foundation that will make sure we are successful in the derech of Avodas Hashem that the Tanya teaches us.
The Alter Rebbe adds at the end of this perek that even though this neshama comes straight from Hashem, the kedusha that the parents have makes a difference to the “clothes” the neshama has — how aidel the neshama will feel in this world.
|
|
|
|
In the year the Hayom Yom was written, Chof-Vov Kislev was Shabbos Chanukah, Shabbos Mevorchim, and the day to start saying Vesein Tal Umatar was on Motzei Shabbos! So the beginning of today’s Hayom Yom has minhagim that were important for that year.
- It is a day to have farbrengens because of Shabbos Mevorchim.
- Remember to say Vesein Tal Umatar on Motzei Shabbos.
- We light the menorah after Havdalah on Motzei Shabbos Chanukah, before we say V’yitein Lecha.
- In Shul, first we light the menorah, and then we say Havdalah.
Since this is the first Shabbos Mevorchim from the beginning of Hayom Yom, we also learn the minhagim for Shabbos Mevorchim:
On Shabbos Mevorchim, Chassidim should come to shul early to say the whole Tehillim. Then, study a maamar for about an hour, in a way that everyone can understand, and after that daven. The time of the farbrengen is different depending on where you live — whatever is best for your place.
With a minyan, after saying each book of Tehillim on Shabbos Mevorchim, an avel (mourner) or a person who has yartzeit says Kaddish.
|
|
|
|
(Mitzvas Lo Saasei #120) Today’s mitzvah is that each Korban has a day when we shouldn’t eat it anymore! Some Korbanos can be eaten for one day, and some for two days. We are not allowed to leave any part of the korban over to be eaten after that time. This is called “Nosar.” If it is left over, we will learn in Mitzvas Asei #91 that it needs to be burned.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Emor about the Korban Todah, and from there the Chachomim teach us that the same is for other korbanos too: לֹא תוֹתִירוּ מִמֶּנּוּ עַד בֹּקֶר
|
|
|
RAMBAM
Hilchos Pesulei HaMukdashin
|
|
In today’s Rambam, we learn more about when a Korban is posul!
Perek Hey: We learn halachos about money set aside for a korban: If someone put money away to buy a Korban Chatas, but he passed away before he was able to bring the Korban, we have to throw the money into the sea so nobody can use it. If someone put away $10 for a korban, but the korban only cost $7, he uses the rest of the money to buy other korbanos.
Perek Vov: We learn what happens if a korban, or the meat of a korban, gets mixed up with other animals that CAN’T be a korban.
Perek Zayin: In this perek, the Rambam teaches us about what can make a bird posul as a korban.
|
|
|
|
Today we are learning the same thing as the people learning three perakim a day of Rambam!
In this perek we learn what happens if a korban, or the meat of a korban, gets mixed up with other animals that CAN’T be a korban.
|
|
|
|
At a rally for children on Chanukah, the Rebbe told the children about our special Chanukah mission!
Our big mission is getting ready for the Geulah, and the third Beis Hamikdash. One of the ways we do this is to make sure our own homes and rooms are a Beis Chabad, a little Beis Hamikdash! So every house, and every person’s room should be a place of Torah, Avodah, and Gemilus Chasadim. We should have a siddur, a Chumash, a pushka, and whatever else we need to use that room to do mitzvos!
Every community needs a Beis Chabad too, and it’s the job of everyone in the community to help make sure that there is one!
So here’s our special mission for Chanukah:
Every child needs to go to their parents and ask them, with Devarim Hayotzim Min Halev (sincerely), for Chanukah gelt for their Cheder Tzivos Hashem! We should use this Chanukah gelt to buy a siddur, a Chitas, a pushka, negel vasser, or whatever else we need to make our room a little Beis Hamikdash.
Of course, when children ask their parents for such an important thing, the parents will also want to do it! And through the children, the rest of the house will also become a Beis Chabad the way it should be!
From a sicha on the 5th night of Chanukah, 5747
|
|
|
▼ Jump to Coloring Books & Downloads ▼
|
|
|
|
Part of the mitzvah of Chanukah is to praise and thank Hashem, Hallel and Hoda’ah. We praise Hashem by saying the whole Hallel every day of Chanukah, and we thank Hashem by adding Ve’al Hanisim in Shemoneh Esrei.
In Hallel, we praise Hashem that He runs the world exactly the way He wants, even when it is “against the rules!” The world usually works with the rules of teva (nature), but Hashem doesn’t HAVE TO use them! When Hashem wants to, “Hahofchi Hatzur Agam Mayim” — He can change a rock into a fountain of water! We say, “Veilokeinu Bashamayim Kol Asher Chofeitz Asa” — Hashem runs the world however He wants to, no matter how nature says it is supposed to work.
The neis of Chanukah happened just like that! Hashem didn’t listen to any of the rules of teva. Hashem made the small Yiddishe army win over the gigantic Greek army, and made a small bottle of oil burn for 8 days!
|
|
|
|
The Meforshim in the Shulchan Aruch talk about giving tzedakah on Chanukah. They say that on Chanukah, we need to give EXTRA tzedakah. But we don’t only give extra MONEY to tzedakah, we also need to give extra tzedakah from OURSELVES, from our time and our energy!
The Rebbe tells us that a very important way to give tzedakah from ourselves is to do extra mivtzoyim. This way, we are also giving Ruchnius’dike tzedakah to others in honor of Chanukah!
See for example sources cited in Halachos Uminhagei Chabad p. 111
|
|
לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
שליח כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו למדינת אילינוי
|
|
|
|
When we are excited about something, everything we see reminds us of what we are excited about.
Yidden are all excited about Moshiach. Especially now, at the very end of Golus, we are expecting Moshiach to come any minute! So it makes sense that whatever we look at, we think about how it is also connected to Moshiach!
How does Chanukah remind you about Moshiach? How does Parshas Mikeitz remind you about Moshiach?
The name of the parsha Mikeitz already reminds of the Geulah! Keitz means “the end.” Many times, when we talk about the Geulah, we say we are waiting for the Keitz, the end of Golus!
Chanukah reminds us of how the Chashmonaim lit the menorah again in the Beis Hamikdash after a long time when they couldn’t. Very soon we will IY”H be able to light the menorah again too, in the Beis Hamikdash Hashlishi!
See Sefer Hasichos 5751, vol. 1, p. 203
|
|
|
|
|
לע"נ התינוק זאב ארי' ע"ה בן יבלט"א הרה"ח ר' שניאור זלמן שי' גליק
נפטר ב' מנחם אב ה'תשע"ג
|
|
Give children around the world the gift of Kids Chitas!
KidsChitas.org/sponsor
|
|
|
