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CHUMASH
Parshas Bo - Sheini with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, Hashem sends the Arbeh, the locusts, who eat up everything in Mitzrayim. Paraoh says he will let the Yidden go — but then changes his mind when the locusts are gone. Hashem has to send the next makah, Choshech. The whole Mitzrayim is darker than night — but the Yidden can see.
8: Makas Arbeh (locusts), continued
Moshe had warned Paraoh, but Paraoh didn’t want to let all the Yidden go.
So Hashem told Moshe to pick up his arm, and the locusts would come. Hashem made a wind blow all day and night, and the next morning, millions of locusts came and ate all of the grass, the trees, and all of the plants.
Paraoh quickly called Moshe and Aharon and said “I’m sorry! I did the wrong thing! Please forgive me and get rid of these locusts!”
Moshe davened to Hashem and a wind blew all the locusts into the water.
But again Paraoh got stubborn and wouldn’t let the Yidden go.
9: Makas Choshech (darkness)
Moshe warned Paraoh about the next makah, darkness, but Paraoh didn’t listen. When Moshe picked up his arm like Hashem said, Mitzrayim got very dark. It was a kind of dark that it didn’t help to light a candle or a fire!
During this time, Hashem made that all of the Yidden who didn’t want the Geulah would pass away. Hashem didn’t want the Mitzriyim to see that there were Yidden dying, so He did it during the makah of Choshech. (This Geulah will be different — when Moshiach comes, EVERY Yid will come out!)
Then, the darkness got very thick — so dark you could FEEL it! The Mitzriyim couldn’t even move. But for the Yidden, it was light!
The Yidden knew that they were supposed to leave Mitzrayim with a lot of riches. So now, when the Mitzriyim couldn’t stop them, they looked around in the Mitzriyim’s houses to see where they kept all of their gold and jewelry — but they didn’t take any.
The last Golus and Geulah are the same in many ways as the first Geulah from Mitzrayim. The Rebbe would say that just like at the end of the Golus in Mitzrayim, when it was dark around but it was light for the Yidden, the same is true today! Even though the Yidden were still in Golus, and the darkness of the Golus was very strong, there was “Ohr Bemoshvosam,” it was light for the Yidden. The same can be for us: Even though the darkness of the Golus is so great, by us staying strong in the path of Torah and Yiddishkeit, we can also have “Ohr Bemoshvosam,” even in Golus we can live with the light of Torah!
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Today, we are starting Sefer Tehillim again from the very beginning! We say kapitelach Alef through Tes. IY”H we will finish the whole thing before Rosh Chodesh Adar!
The first kapitel of Tehillim is a very special kapitel. In it, Dovid Hamelech inspires Yidden to learn Torah and stay away from aveiros. He tells us that someone who follows this path will have hatzlacha in all he does, but people who do the opposite will have the opposite of hatzlacha, chas veshalom.
In the first posuk, Dovid Hamelech tells us how fortunate a person is if he doesn’t spend time with resha’im! Instead, he does what it says in posuk beis: “Ki Im BeSoras Hashem Cheftzo, UveSoraso Yehege Yomam VaLayla.” “Hashem’s Torah is all he wants, and he is busy with his Torah all day and night.”
Chassidus explains why the first part of the posuk says HASHEM’S Torah, and the second part says HIS Torah (that it belongs to the person learning it):
The reason for this is that when a person first starts learning Torah, he knows that he is coming to learn the Torah of Hashem, but what he learns might feel strange to his way of thinking. But after he learns Torah and understands it well, he and the Torah become one! The Torah he learned becomes his way of thinking, his path in life.
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Tes-Vov
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The Alter Rebbe brings a posuk that speaks about three kinds of Yidden: An Eved Hashem (a tzadik, who already finished his work with the Yetzer Hara), an Oved Hashem (someone who is in the middle of fighting with his Yetzer Hara — a beinoni), and a “Lo Avado” — someone who doesn’t serve Hashem.
“Someone who doesn’t serve Hashem” can also be a kind of beinoni, just that he’s not WORKING on serving Hashem!
That’s because as long as someone isn’t doing any aveiros, he can be a beinoni. But for some people, that’s easy! They don’t LIKE non-kosher food! They don’t LIKE saying mean things to other people! They don’t get excited when they see a computer game and waste a few hours instead of learning Torah! They LOVE learning Torah!
As long as a person isn’t fighting his Yetzer Hara, he’s called someone who “doesn’t serve Hashem.” Every Yid loves Hashem a little bit, just because he’s a Yid. Since he loves Hashem at least a little, he doesn’t need to try very hard. So he’s not trying to love Hashem more, or have more Yiras Shomayim.
He will only be called an “Oved Hashem,” someone who is serving Hashem, if he wants to do MORE than what he usually does. He needs to put in special effort to make that happen.
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The year that the Frierdiker Rebbe was put in jail for spreading Yiddishkeit (in Tof-Reish-Pey-Zayin — 5687), he asked that every Yid should say Tehillim after davening. This is the daily shiur of Tehillim that’s set up so we say the whole sefer every month, which is the Tehillim part of Chitas! Since now we are starting again the Tehillim on Rosh Chodesh, the Rebbe is telling us something very special about this takana:
The Frierdiker Rebbe said that this Tehillim helps ALL the Yidden, and gives them many brachos! So for Ahavas Yisroel, we should try to make sure that everyone does it. In every Shul, they should say the Tehillim after davening — even shuls that are not Chabad.
We can understand from this that the Rebbe’s takanos also help EVERY Yid, whether or not they are Chassidim! For Ahavas Yisroel, we should make sure that every Yid is able to keep the Rebbe’s takanos. Can you inspire someone to learn Chitas and Rambam? There are many resources that can help, like Chabad.org/dailystudy, Dvar Malchus, Chayenu, and Chitas for Kids!
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Today’s mitzvah is the same as yesterday’s:
2) (Mitzvas Asei #113) It is a mitzvah to prepare the Parah Adumah so its ashes can be used to make Yidden Tahor from Tumas Meis.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Chukas: וְהָיְתָה לַעֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת
There is a whole mesechta of Mishnayos that deals with the dinim of Parah Adumah, called Mesechta Parah.
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In today's Rambam, we learn more about getting the Parah Adumah ready:
Perek Hey: We learn who becomes tomei from working on burning the Parah Adumah. (They don’t get Tumas Meis, but they are tomei for a day and need to go to the mikvah before they can go back into the Beis Hamikdash.)
Perek Vov: This perek explains where we can get the water to mix with the ashes of the Parah Adumah.
Perek Zayin: The Rambam teaches us things that can make the water posul while it is being filled up, like if someone is doing something else while the water is being filled.
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We eat the Korban Pesach together with matzah and maror. We are only allowed to prepare it by roasting, and we can eat it only at night.
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Today is Rosh Chodesh Shevat! The Rebbe teaches us something very beautiful about this month:
The twelve months of the year are connected with the 12 Shevatim. Shevat is connected to Yosef Hatzadik.
When Yosef was born, his mother asked for Hashem to give her another child — “Yosef Hashem Li Ben Acher.” So that’s what Yosef means: To add — to add another Yid.
On Yud Shevat is the Yom Hahilula of the Frierdiker Rebbe, whose name was Yosef. That’s what the Frierdiker Rebbe’s life is all about — bringing more Yidden into this world! Making more Yidden doesn’t just mean having more babies, it also means making sure that the Yidden in this world ACT like Yidden. When we help Yidden to do mitzvos, we are doing this too!
That’s the lesson from Shevat: We have a special job to make sure that there are more Yidden in the world who are acting the way Yidden should.
The Rebbe once said to someone in Yechidus in the early years of the Nesius that Shevat is Roshei Teivos “Shenishma Besuros Tovos,” that we should hear good news.
May Hashem help that through doing our shlichus of bringing Yidden closer to Yiddishkeit, and spreading the teachings of Chassidus everywhere, this month should be a month we should hear Besuros Tovos, especially the best news we are all waiting to hear — the Geulah Ho’amitis Vehashleimah!
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TEFILLAH
Birchos Hashachar - Hamaavir Sheinah and Vihi Ratzon
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We just said the bracha of Hamaavir Sheinah, that Hashem removed the sleep from our eyes so that we are refreshed and ready for another day.
But a day can be ANY kind of day. Some people spend their day kvetching, or looking only for fun and games, or looking for trouble. Hashem didn’t take away our sleepiness for us to do that!
In the next paragraph, Vihi Ratzon, which is part of this bracha, we ask Hashem that today be the RIGHT kind of day! We ask Hashem that our day should be the kind that brings nachas to Hashem and makes other people happy. It should be full of Torah and mitzvos, and we shouldn’t get distracted today by the tricks of the Yetzer Hara. Then we finish the bracha the way we started, by thanking Hashem for His kindness in taking away our sleepiness and giving us kochos for a GREAT day! We say, “Hagomel Chasadim Tovim Le’amo Yisrael,” that Hashem does goodness and kindness to His nation, the Yidden.
In the next paragraph, Yehi Ratzon, we also ask Hashem that our day should be protected from troubles and hardships which can keep us from acting the way a Yid should.
The words of these paragraphs come from private tefillos that Chachomim of the Gemara used to say at the end of Shemoneh Esrei.
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The paragraph of Vihi Ratzon, which ends off with a bracha, is really connected to the bracha before, “Hamaavir Sheinah.” This is called a “Bracha Arucha,” a long bracha.
Since both brachos are connected, we don’t say amen until after finishing the whole thing. So we don’t say Amen when we hear someone say Hamaavir Sheina; we only answer Amen at the end of “Hagomel Chasadim Tovim Le’amo Yisrael.”
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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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We say every day in davening, “Sheyiboneh Beis Hamikdash Bimheira Veyameinu, Vesein Chelkeinu Besorasecha!” The Beis Hamikdash should be built very soon, and Hashem should give us a chelek in His Torah!
What do those two things have to do with each other? Why don’t we say, “The Beis Hamikdash should be built, and we should bring korbanos?” Why do we say that after the Beis Hamikdash will be built, we will have a chelek in Torah?
When Moshiach comes, and the Beis Hamikdash will be rebuilt, we also have another promise from the Navi: That we will have helpers to take care of all of the Gashmius things for us. This way, we will be able to spend all of our time — learning Torah!
That’s why only when we have the Beis Hamikdash will we be able to have our proper chelek in Torah.
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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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KidsChitas.org/sponsor
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