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CHUMASH
Parshas Pekudei - Sheini with Rashi
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Today Betzalel and Oholiav made the Efod and the Choshen Mishpat — exactly the way Hashem told Moshe to!
After describing exactly how they were made, the Torah tells us how they need to be attached together, and that they are not allowed to be separated.
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Today we are saying the 15 Shir Hamaalos! Every kapitel in today’s tehillim (15 kapitelach) starts with the words “Shir Hamaalos” or “Shir Lamaalos.”
Maalos means steps, going up! They bring us higher and closer to Hashem!
These fifteen kapitelach were first said by Yaakov Avinu when he was in Lavan’s house.
They were also said by Dovid Hamelech when he was digging a stream under the place of the Beis Hamikdash, and the underground water was about to make a big flood! Dovid asked a Rov if he can write Hashem’s name on a piece of clay, and when Achitofel said yes, he did it. The water went back down, but too far down! So Dovid Hamelech said the 15 Shir Hamaalos, and the water came up 15,000 amos, so the ground wouldn’t be too dry to grow things.
Do you know what else is 15 in Yiddishkeit? Here are some of them!
- There are 15 steps in the Seder on Pesach
- There are 15 things that are done every day in the Beis Hamikdash (we say them in davening, in a paragraph that starts “Abaye”)
- There are 15 steps into the Beis Hamikdash
- There were 15 years where all of the Avos were alive at the same time!
- There were 15 years where all of the Avos of Chassidus were alive at the same time — the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid, and the Alter Rebbe!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Lamed-Beis
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Today’s Tanya is all about the shlichus the Rebbe gave us all, to be mekarev Yidden to Yiddishkeit and to have Ahavas Yisroel for every Yid.
In the first half of Perek Lamed-Beis, we learned how to fulfill the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel, by realizing that the main thing is the neshama.
In the second half of the perek, we are learning about specific kinds of people we need to have Ahavas Yisroel for.
In yesterday’s Tanya, the Alter Rebbe started to teach us about how we have Ahavas Yisroel for a Yid who we are very close with, and is frum but isn’t acting the way he should, even after doing the mitzvah of Hocheiach Tochiach. In tomorrow’s Tanya, we will IY”H finish learning exactly how to have Ahavas Yisroel for this kind of person, even though the Torah says we should hate that kind of behavior.
Today, the Alter Rebbe tells us about a different type of Yid — either someone that we aren’t close enough with to do the mitzvah of Hocheiach Tochiach, or Yidden who are not frum yet.
Here there is a special mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel. Even though they may be very far away from Hashem’s Torah and serving Hashem, they have a neshama just like we do. Since the neshama is the main thing, we can love them 100% and try to bring them closer to Yiddishkeit.
Of course, it might be hard for someone who didn’t grow up with Yiddishkeit to become more frum. So the Alter Rebbe reminds us that even if they don’t come closer to Yiddishkeit, even when we try and are friendly to them, we are still doing the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel completely.
That’s what Hillel Hazakein teaches us in the Mishnah: “You should be from the talmidim of Aharon… love the creations of Hashem and bring them close to Torah.” Since these Yidden aren’t living according to Torah, they are missing what makes us special, and are called “Briyos” — “creations.” But still, they have a neshama! We need to love them and bring them closer to the Torah.
Even if we are not successful, we didn’t lose anything, because we are doing the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel! And not only that, we are having hiskashrus to the Rebbeim by fulfilling what they told us to do!
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When a person makes a Cheshbon Hanefesh, thinking about where things are holding and how to improve, he might not be doing it in an emes’dike way.
Sometimes, a person can be extra strict with himself. He tries to find problems, things that maybe were aveiros — even if that’s not true.
Other times, it is the opposite! A person ignores things that really need to be fixed, because he isn’t interested in working on them.
Neither of those are emes! A Yid needs to be truthful in his own Avodas Hashem! He shouldn’t be too machmir on himself, finding things that are not wrong, and he shouldn’t be too meikil, not paying attention to things that really need to be corrected.
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SEFER HAMITZVOS
Shiur #260 - Mitzvas Asei #247, Lo Saasei #292, #297, Asei #182
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Today in Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn four more mitzvos about a person who kills someone else:
1) (Mitzvas Asei #247) If someone is chasing after another person to kill him (Rodef), we need to do whatever we can to stop him! If we can do it by hurting the Rodef, we should, but if not, we need to kill him instead of letting him kill the other person.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: וְקַצֹּתָה אֶת כַּפָּהּ לֹא תָחוֹס עֵינֶךָ
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Perek Ches of Mesechta Sanhedrin.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #293) We are not allowed to feel bad for the Rodef — we need to kill him to stop him from doing what he wants to do. (If he already did the aveira, we can’t kill him — the Beis Din needs to take care of it.)
We learn this from the same posuk as the mitzvah before, and the dinim are also explained in Perek Ches of Mesechta Sanhedrin.
3) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #297) “Lo Saamod Al Dam Reiacha!” We are not allowed to ignore when someone is in danger or his things are going to be ruined. We need to try to help!
For example, if someone is drowning, if we know how to swim, we have to jump in and save him! And if a person is being taken to court, if we know the truth, we need to go be a witness to save his money.
We learn this from a posuk in Parshas Kedoshim: לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל דַּם רֵעֶךָ
4) (Mitzvas Asei #182) We need to set up Arei Miklat in Eretz Yisroel, and make roads leading to them. These cities are a “safe place” for someone who killed by mistake.
The Torah tells us this mitzvah in Parshas Shoftim: תָּכִין לְךָ הַדֶּרֶךְ וְשִׁלַּשְׁתָּ אֶת גְּבוּל אַרְצְךָ
The details are explained in Mesechta Sanhedrin, Makos, Shekalim, and Sotah.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Rotzeiach U'Shmiras HaNefesh
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about a person who kills by mistake.
Perek Hey has the halachos about when a person would need to go to an Ir Miklat. For a kohen, the top of the Mizbeiach is also a safe place, just like an Ir Miklat!
Perek Vov teaches us about three kinds of “accidental killing:”
1. Someone who didn’t know that what he was doing would kill someone — a real mistake. He needs to stay in the Ir Miklat.
2. When it was a kind of thing that doesn’t usually happen — like throwing something heavy into a place where people don’t usually go. That person doesn’t need to stay in an Ir Miklat, and the Goel Hadam is not allowed to kill him.
3. Where the person was being careless, we don’t consider that an accident. It won’t help for him to be in an Ir Miklat, and he won’t be safe there.
Perek Zayin teaches us about the Ir Miklat. The Ir Miklat is a city where a person will be safe from the Goel Hadam. Two Talmidei Chachomim come run with the person to the Ir Miklat where he will be safe. The Talmidei Chachomim are there to try to convince the Goel Hadam not to kill him.
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In this perek we learn halachos about an unusual shaped keili, and how and when it passes on tumah.
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On Chof-Zayin Adar Alef, in the year Tof-Shin-Nun-Beis, and then again in Tof-Shin-Nun-Daled on the same day, Hashem took away (R”L) from Yidden the chance to hear the Rebbe speak to us and farbreng with us.
When we think about this, and how long it has been since we were able to hear the Rebbe, it makes us feel terrible — tzubrochen (crushed)!
In the maamar Ve’ata Tetzaveh, which the Rebbe gave out to all of the Chassidim before Chof-Zayin Adar, the Rebbe speaks about this. The Rebbe teaches us that being tzubrochen is very important and brings to very good things!
Yidden are like olives. The best part of the olive is the oil, that can be used for light and for food. When the olive is squeezed or crushed, this oil can come out! The same way, when Yidden are crushed, our “oil” comes out. The oil of a Yid is the Etzem Haneshama, the deepest part of us that wants Moshiach so much!
When we feel tzubrochen, we want Gilui Elokus, when every part of the world will recognize Hashem. The Rebbe teaches that we need to make sure to use this strong feeling! We need to make sure that we use ALL of our kochos to make the Geulah happen faster!
On a day like Chof-Zayin Adar, when we feel tzubrochen that we still can’t hear and see the Rebbe, we have a very strong feeling of wanting Moshiach. That should bring us to ask Hashem to bring Moshiach, and it is also a very good time to make hachlatos to use our kochos to bring the Geulah!
There are many hachlatos we could make, because the Rebbe gave us many horaos of what to do to bring the Geulah! Each of us should think to ourselves what we can add, to make sure that what are doing is bringing Moshiach closer!
See mamar Ve’ata Tetzaveh
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The eleventh bracha of Shemoneh Esrei is “Hashiva Shofteinu.” In this bracha, we ask Hashem to bring back our judges, the Sanhedrin, to what they were before. When the Sanhedrin met, they decided exactly how the mitzvos should be kept. Everyone was able to understand clearly what Hashem wanted from them, and could do all the mitzvos properly.
We ask Hashem to bring us back to that, with the coming of Moshiach!
The Rebbe told us that we can have a taste of this by following the horaos of the Rebbeim. The Rebbeim showed us how to do the mitzvos, and how to make everything we do part of serving Hashem. They especially taught us that Moshiach is almost here, and that we should get ready now!
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There is a mitzvah that if we see someone not acting the way he should, and following a derech that is not good for him, we have a mitzvah to speak to him about it.
There are many halachos about this mitzvah of Hocheiach Tochiach, making sure that we say it in a way that will not hurt the other person.
Some of these halachos are that it needs to be a friend we are comfortable with, and we tell him privately, in a soft and gentle way, that the way he is acting is not good for him.
What if we know our friend won’t listen to us?
It doesn’t matter, we still have the mitzvah of Hocheiach Tochiach. We need to try to let him know that his behavior is hurting him.
But this is only if our friend already knows that what he is doing is asur, and it is just hard for him to overcome his Yetzer Hara. If he is doing it without realizing that there is anything wrong with it (“shogeig”), then we shouldn’t tell him if we know he won’t listen. That’s because it’s better for him to be doing it without realizing it than to have him continue doing it, but now doing it bemeizid, knowing that it is asur.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Kuf-Nun-Vov se’if Zayin
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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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R’ Yoel Kahan A”H tells a story that happened at the farbrengen of Parshas Shemini, 5712:
A certain chossid came over to the Rebbe during the farbrengen to tell a story that happened to him with the Frierdiker Rebbe. The chossid said, “This story happened with the Rebbe, Nishmaso Eden,” (whose neshama is in Gan Eden), meaning the Frierdiker Rebbe.
When the Rebbe heard these words, his face became very serious. The Rebbe stopped the chossid, and said: “Why are you sending the Rebbe to Salavki?!” (Salavki is a city in Siberia. The Rebbe meant that saying that the Frierdiker Rebbe is only in Gan Eden is like saying that he is in Golus in Siberia!)
The Rebbe cried a lot while saying these words, and finished off, “The Rebbe is here with us!”
R’ Yoel explained the hora’ah we can take from this. Even though this farbrengen was two years after the Frierdiker Rebbe’s histalkus, and the Rebbe was there with Chassidim, still the Rebbe said that the Frierdiker Rebbe was still with his chassidim, not just sitting and enjoying Gan Eden! Certainly today, this is true as well, that the Rebbe is with us.
When we learn the Rebbe’s Torah and follow the Rebbe’s horaos, we will very soon be zoche that the Rebbe will take us all out of Golus to the Geulah Sheleimah right away!
See sefer Bedarkei Hachassidim p. 121
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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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