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CHUMASH
Parshas Mishpatim - Chamishi with Rashi
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There are many mitzvos in Parshas Mishpatim! Hashem taught these mitzvos to Moshe Rabbeinu on Har Sinai, to teach the Yidden later. Here are the ones we learn about today:
- The Beis Din is not allowed to have Rachmonus and judge differently even if the person is VERY poor. They need to judge based on who is right.
- A Beis Din has to be very careful to stay away from anything which is a lie.
- A Beis Din should try not to pasken that someone should be killed. So if they already said that a person is not guilty, and another eid comes and says that he really deserves to be killed, they shouldn’t bring him back to give a new psak. But if they already did pasken that he needs to be killed, and a new eid comes to say that he didn’t do it, we should listen to that eid. If he really did deserve to be killed, Hashem will take care of it.
- A judge should never let someone bribe him (give him a present so he will decide that that person is right) — even if he already knows that the din is that the person who is giving him the bribe is right! A bribe changes the way a person thinks, and makes a chochom forget his learning.
- Be very careful not to be mean to a Ger — we should all understand how a Ger feels, because at one point we were all geirim (strangers) in Mitzrayim!
- Shemitah: We work in our fields for six years. During the seventh year, called Shemitah, we need to leave the fields to rest.
- Even in a year when the whole year is a year of resting from our work in the fields, Shabbos is still Shabbos, and we need to rest along with all of our animals and servants.
- We need to be extra-careful about Avodah Zarah, which is equal to all of the mitzvos of the Torah! We shouldn’t even make a partnership with a goy that might make him swear in the name of his Avodah Zarah.
- Even though the Yomim Tovim of Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukkos are connected with the times when things are grown in the fields, and in Shemitah we don’t grow things in the field, still we go up to the Beis Hamikdash and bring korbanos to Hashem during the Shemitah year too.
- The Korban Pesach is shechted only after we get rid of the chometz.
- If a part of a korban was supposed to be burned on the Mizbeiach, we should not let it stay overnight without it being burned.
- We bring Bikurim even during Shemitah.
- The Torah tells us three times not to cook milk and meat together. The Chachomim teach us that these three times teach us that we are not allowed to cook it, eat it, or benefit from it. Today we learn the first posuk where it says this mitzvah.
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Today we say the first half of the LONGEST kapitel of Tehillim! It has 176 pesukim, 8 pesukim for every letter in the Alef-Beis! Most of the pesukim in this kapitel talk about how special Torah is and how much we love it!
Here’s one of the first pesukim: “Az Lo Eivosh, Behabiti El Kol Mitzvosecha” — it means “I won’t be embarrassed because I look carefully at all of your mitzvos.” The Rambam uses this posuk at the very beginning of his sefer.
When we learn Chumash, we see many mitzvos that Hashem gave the Yidden. But even though we know that they are mitzvos, we don’t really know the details of how they are kept. That might make us feel embarrassed that we don’t really know the mitzvos!
That’s why the Rambam tells us this posuk at the beginning of his sefer. When we learn the halachos of the mitzvos, like we do in Rambam, we won’t be embarrassed because we will know how to keep every single mitzvah!
See Yein Malchus (new print) siman beis
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Hey
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On the Shaar Blatt (title page) of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe told us that in Tanya we will learn what it means that “Ki Karov Eilecha HaDavar Me’od, Beficha Uvilvavcha Laasoso” — that it is really possible for every Yid not only to DO mitzvos, but to do them with CHAYUS!
Before, the Alter Rebbe taught us that if a Yid learns Chassidus and does the mitzvah of “to know Hashem,” he can think about what he learned and he will feel a chayus and love for Hashem when he does the mitzvos.
But not everyone can understand these things well enough and think about them enough to feel that way! So the Alter Rebbe gives us another way that EVERY Yid can do ALL THE TIME.
The Alter Rebbe taught us that every Yid is born with a teva (nature) that is part of the Yid’s neshama: That they love Hashem so much that they are even ready to give up their life to be always connected to Hashem! If a Yid feels that he is losing his connection to Hashem (like if Chas Veshalom he is being forced to become a goy) then he would do anything to stop it, even if it meant not to live in the world anymore, just so his neshama will always stay close to Hashem.
Really, EVERY mitzvah is a connection to Hashem, just like that! Doing an aveira can Chas Veshalom make a person lose his connection to Hashem at the time he is doing the aveira. So why do people ever do aveiros? That’s because of a Ruach Shtus — a narishkeit that can pop into a person’s head from the Yetzer Hara. The Yetzer Hara says that doing an aveira doesn’t matter, and that he is still connected to Hashem just like without the aveira.
A person needs to just remember that the Yetzer Hara is saying something not true! Doing a small aveira is just as bad as doing a big one. It separates a person from Hashem! We love Hashem and would never ever do anything to separate ourselves from Hashem. If we remind ourselves of this, our hidden love of Hashem will wake up. With the koach of this love, there should be nothing too hard or too painful, if it can keep us from doing an aveira Chas Veshalom!
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You might feel like it is very special to learn Chitas every day. It IS so special, but it’s more than that.
By keeping the takana to say the daily Chumash and Tehillim, and to say the whole Tehillim on Shabbos Mevorchim, it not only affects you, but also your children and your grandchildren! The zechus is passed down for many generations!
Today’s Hayom Yom comes from a sicha of the Frierdiker Rebbe on Simchas Torah in the year Tof-Reish-Tzadik-Zayin. At that time, Chumash and Tehillim were the only parts of Chitas. Now, we have more parts of Chitas. We have the takana from the Frierdiker Rebbe to say the Tanya of each day, and also the Rebbe’s takana of learning Rambam or Sefer Hamitzvos! Keeping these takanos brings much bracha to ourselves and our families!
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Today’s mitzvah is the same one again (Mitzvas Asei #98) that we need to know about how food can become tomei, so we can follow all of those halachos.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more about how food and drinks can become tomei. They can only become tomei if they got wet on purpose with one of seven liquids.
In today’s perakim, Perakim Yud-Gimmel, Yud-Daled, and Tes-Vov, we learn many different cases to see when something is considered having gotten wet on purpose, which means that the person wanted the water to fall on the food. Sometimes we know that the person wanted it if he is happy it got wet, even if he didn’t do anything to make it wet! Then the food is Muchshar Lekabel Tumah, able to become tomei.
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The aveira of coming into the Beis Hamikdash or eating korbanos when a person is Tamei has different halachos than any other aveira that we are learning in these perakim.
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The chossid R’ Binyomin Kletzker was a businessman who worked with lumber.
Once he sat down to make a cheshbon of how much money he had earned. He calculated the price of each of the forests, the workers who chopped down the trees, the cost of bringing the logs to the marketplace, and how much he earned from each log.
At the end, he added up all of the numbers and wrote down the total: Ain Od Milvado — there is nothing except for Hashem!
What is special about this is that R’ Binyomin wasn’t doing this to teach a lesson to anyone, or to make a cute comment. He was really thinking so much about Hashem all the time that he really felt that at the end, the main thing was not the amount of money, but the fact that the whole world is just a part of Hashem.
See sicha of Parshas Re’eh, 5735
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▼ Jump to Coloring Books & Downloads ▼
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Yesterday, we learned a story of the Rebbetzin, that she didn’t want to go somewhere with a person who hadn’t davened yet, because davening needs to be done the first thing in the morning. Today, let’s learn why!
When a Yid goes to sleep, the neshama goes up to Hashem to get chayus for the next day. In the morning, Hashem gives the person back his neshama.
But the neshama can’t shine in the guf until the person davens! The guf is too grob (coarse) for the neshama to be able to express itself.
Davening is how a neshama connects to Hashem WHILE it is in the guf. It makes the person more aidel, and able to feel the neshama.
There is a posuk in Yeshaya that says, “Chidlu Lachem Min Ha’Adam Asher Neshama Be’Apo, Ki Bameh Nechshav Hu?” “Separate yourself from a person whose neshama is in his nostrils, because what is he worth?”
The Gemara explains this posuk, saying that the word “Bameh” (what is he worth), can be read as “Bamah,” a Mizbeiach for Avodah Zarah!
Chassidus explains that before a person davens, his neshama is still “be’apo,” in his nostrils. It hasn’t spread out into the whole body, so that the person can feel it and express it. This kind of person is like a bamah! Just like a bamah is a big Mizbeiach that sticks out, a person who hasn’t davened yet doesn’t feel Hashem, he feels like he is very important by himself!
That’s why the FIRST avodah of the day has to be for a Yid to connect to Hashem through davening. He needs to right away wake up his neshama and spread it throughout his guf, so he will be able to make the right kinds of decisions all day, to use the Gashmius to serve Hashem!
Based on the maamar Lecha Dodi 5689, said at the Rebbe and Rebbetzin’s chasuna; and Lecha Dodi 5714
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On Motzei Shabbos, we make four brachos in Havdalah. The Roshei Teivos for these brachos, and the order they are in, is “Yavneh” — Yayin (the wine), Besamim, Ner (the candle), Havdalah (the bracha thanking Hashem for separating between Shabbos and the weekday).
Why do we use a ner at Havdalah?
On the first Motzei Shabbos, Adam Harishon took two stones and hit them together, making fire. This was the first time a person had ever discovered fire! On Shabbos, we aren’t allowed to use fire, so on Motzei Shabbos it is like it is created for us then, too! So on Motzei Shabbos, we thank Hashem for creating fire.
It is best to do this by lighting a torch — a flame with at least two wicks, because we say in the bracha Borei Me’orei Ha’Aish, that Hashem makes the LIGHTS of the fire, meaning more than one light.
It is a minhag to look at our fingernails in the light of this ner, so that we are able to use the light for something.
Another reason we look at our fingernails is because nails are a siman bracha, since they are always growing!
When we finish Havdalah, we put out the ner using the wine of Havdalah that is left in the kos. We dip our fingertips in this wine. It is a segulah for seeing well to put some of the wine on the outside of our eyes.
See Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch siman Reish-Tzadik-Ches se’if alef; Igros Kodesh chelek Yud-Beis p. 226. Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch siman Reish-Tzadik-Vov se’if Hey, and Reish-Tzadik-Ches se’if Vov
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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 learned in Hayom Yom how special a takana of a Rebbe is, and how the zechus of keeping it helps even our grandchildren! One very important takana of the Rebbe is to learn Rambam (or Sefer Hamitzvos) every day:
Many years ago, in Yerushalayim, there was a big and beautiful house for Hashem, where we were able to give Hashem presents and feel His kedushah. But goyim came and destroyed it, knocking down the walls, stealing the gold and silver, and setting everything on fire.
Why did Hashem let such a terrible thing happen?
The Gemara tells us that it was because the Yidden had Sinas Chinam, hating each other for no reason.
Now we miss the Beis Hamikdash. We suffer very much in Golus, and we want the Geulah.
When there is love and achdus between all of the Yidden, Hashem will take the Golus away, since now there is no more reason for the Golus to exist!
More than 35 years ago, the Rebbe gave us a very special way to bring more achdus and love between all the Yidden: That all of us should learn Torah together! And not just any part of Torah — the Rebbe told us to learn Rambam, which is has all of the halachos of the Torah, all in one sefer!
When we learn Torah, we become one with Hashem, and when many Yidden learn the same part of Torah, we also become connected with each other, because we are all connecting using the same channel. This achdus will soon bring us all together again to the Beis Hamikdash Hashlishi, may it be rebuilt very soon!
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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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