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CHUMASH
Parshas Shoftim - Shvi'i with Rashi
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Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden two things: To try to make peace with the Goyim before attacking them, and about the mitzvah of Eglah Arufah.
Hashem promised the Yidden the cities in Eretz Yisroel. So the Yidden need to make sure that the people living there all leave! But if the Yidden are fighting a war with a different city, they have to first ask the people living there if they want to make Shalom (peace) first.
Moshe Rabbeinu tells them what to do if the people DO want to make shalom (they should pay taxes and can continue to live there), and what to do if they DON’T want to make shalom (that the Yidden should then make a war with them).
Still, when they are fighting, they shouldn’t cut down a fruit tree — “Ki HaAdam Eitz HaSadeh?” “Is a tree a person?” Why should you cut down the tree? You are just fighting with the people! Don’t cut down the tree because of Bal Tashchis.
Now Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden about the Eglah Arufah:
If someone finds a person who passed away, lying in a field, and nobody knows who killed him, the Beis Din needs to come and see where it is. They measure to see which city is closest.
The Zekeinim of the closest city take a young cow (eglah) and kill it in a valley where nothing grows, to be a kaparah for the person who was killed. It’s a cow that is young so it never had any children, in a place that doesn’t grow anything — to make up for someone killing a Yid who now can’t “grow” any mitzvos.
The Zekeinim say, “It wasn’t our fault that the person was killed!” And the kohanim say, “Hashem, please forgive the Yidden.” And Hashem forgives them. (Still, if they find the person who did it later, they need to punish him.)
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Today’s kapitelach Tehillim are Yud through Yud-Zayin. (Don’t forget to also say Daled, Hey, and Vov for Chodesh Elul!)
Kapitel Yud-Alef in Tehillim talks about how Hashem brings tzaros to a Tzadik, but really it’s all for his good.
The last posuk says, “Tzadik Hashem Tzedakos Ahev” — Hashem loves giving tzedakah.
When Hashem gave us the Torah, we were able to feel Hashem in the world and help the whole world to know Hashem. That’s the best kind of tzedakah there could be!
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Yud
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With all Gashmius things, we need to have the right amount! Too much food is no good, and too little food isn’t good either!
Since mitzvos are in Gashmius, they need to be done just right so we can get chayus from them. That’s why the Shofar has to be made a certain way, and a Lulav has to be a certain size. A Sukkah can’t be too small, and it can’t be too tall!
Tzedakah is also a mitzvah that has a “size!” Tzedakah is a very important mitzvah that brings Chayus to the whole world — it’s one of the mitzvos that the whole world exists because of! (“Al Shlosha Devarim Ha’olam Omeid”) We give a “chomeish” (1/5th of our money) to Tzedakah if we want to do the mitzvah in the best way, or maaser (1/10th of our money) for the basic mitzvah. That is the “size” of the mitzvah of Tzedakah.
Doing the mitzvah with the proper size brings the right amount of chayus of Hashem into the world!
IY”H tomorrow we will see ANOTHER kind of tzedakah that brings a different and stronger chayus of Hashem into the world!
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Every Yid has a treasure of good midos hiding inside. Our job is to inspire ourselves and others to want these kochos to shine!
Imagine that someone you respect tells you that there is a treasure buried in your backyard. He is SURE that it is there, he’s just not sure how deep it is buried. Maybe it is right near the top, or maybe it is very deep down.
Would you go out and start digging?
Every Yid is called an Eretz Cheifetz, a land with treasures buried inside! The treasures in each Yid are the Yiras Shomayim, Ahavas Hashem, and good midos. In some Yidden, they are right there! In other Yidden, they might be harder to find — but they are there FOR SURE.
In the mashal of a buried treasure, we see that some people will go and dig for a few minutes, and then give up and go back inside, while another person will keep on digging until he finds the treasure!
Why? Because that person has patience and is willing to keep trying!
This is true also with the nimshal of a Yid:
If we have patience and keep trying, we will find the first treasure inside of ourselves and other Yidden — the Ratzon that we WANT to be a better Yid. Once we have that first treasure, all of the other treasures will come too, because NOTHING stands in the way of Ratzon! Once someone WANTS to become better, NOTHING can stand in his way!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #321) is the same as yesterday’s — not to go out of the Techum Shabbos. The Techum Shabbos is an area of 2,000 amos (about 1 kilometer, or over a half mile) surrounding the city. We aren’t allowed to travel past that point on Shabbos.
We learn this from a posuk in Parshas Beshalach: אַל יֵצֵא אִישׁ מִמְּקֹמוֹ בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי
It means, “No person should leave his place on the seventh day.” The Gemara says that this means not to go more than 2,000 amos outside of the city. The Mechilta (a midrash on the Chumash) also teaches that this posuk is talking about not going out of the Techum Shabbos.
The Gemara in Mesechta Eiruvin teaches us the halachos about this mitzvah, and tells us that if someone does go outside of the Techum Shabbos, they get Malkos.
We will IY”H learn the halachos and details of this mitzvah in Rambam in two days!
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about not doing a sh’vus. A sh’vus is something which the Chachomim said is asur either because it is LIKE the way we do a melacha, or because it is something that might make someone forget and actually DO the melacha. Many of the things we don’t do on Shabbos are because of sh’vus.
All three perakim today (Chof-Alef, Chof-Beis, and Chof-Gimmel) teach us about different kinds of sh’vus. The Rambam organizes them according to which melacha they are based on.
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In Perek Ches, we learn about when things change to become Avodah Zarah. If someone davened to a mountain, the mountain isn’t counted as Avodah Zarah, but if he took a rock from that mountain it could be.
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During the whole month of Elul, we blow the Shofar every day. Why? To wake us up and remind us that we need to act the way Hashem wants us to!
But we don’t just do it once — we do it EVERY day, so we will remember the whole month!
We see that hearing the Shofar more will help us remember more. So the Rebbe tells us it’s a good idea to blow it for other people too during Elul. Not only will it help other Yidden become inspired to do teshuvah, by hearing it again, it will help us also!
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Before we start Boruch She’amar, at the beginning of Pesukei Dezimra, we say the line “Lesheim Yichud.”
These words say that we are davening in order to bring Yichud, a close connection, to “Kudsha Brich Hu” and the Shechinah.
Kudsha Brich Hu is the level of Hashem that is the source of all of the Torah and mitzvos. The Shechinah is the source of the neshamos of all of the Yidden. By bringing a Yichud to Kudsha Brich Hu and the Shechinah, we are connecting not just ourselves with Hashem through our mitzvos, but all of the Yidden everywhere, through all of the mitzvos we are doing!
Some people say Lesheim Yichud before doing ANY mitzvah, but we say it just once here in davening, and have in mind that it is also for the Avodah of the entire day.
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If we have a Ha’eitz and a Ha’adamah food in front of us, it is usually better to make the bracha Ha’eitz first, since it is a more specific bracha. But if we LIKE the Ha’adamah food more, or we WANT it more (“Choviv”), we make the bracha on the Ha’adamah food before.
This is a detail in the halachos of “Kadimah Bebrachos,” which brachos are made first, which we will IY”H learn more about later.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Seder Birchos Hanehenin perek Yud
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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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Ovadiah was a ger from the nation of Edom, the nation of Eisav. Even though he was an officer in the palace of the wicked Achav and Izevel, he saved 100 neviim from being killed. Hashem rewarded him by making him a Navi!
Since Ovadiah was from Edom, Hashem gave Ovadiah the zechus of saying the nevuos about the end of the nation of Edom, in the times of the Geulah.
This posuk might sound familiar, because we say it every day at the end of Az Yashir!
וְעָלוּ מוֹשִׁעִים בְּהַר צִיּוֹן לִשְׁפֹּט אֶת הַר עֵשָׂו וְהָיְתָה לַה׳ הַמְּלוּכָה
Ve’alu Moshi’im Behar Tzion — Moshiach, who saves the Yidden, will go up together with his officers from the mountain of Yerushalayim
Lishpot Es Har Eisav — They will go to Har Se’ir, the mountain of Eisav, to punish them for the terrible things they did to the Yidden
Vehaysa LaHashem Hamelucha — And then Hashem’s melucha will be complete, since everyone will agree that Hashem is the King of the entire world!
See Ovadiah perek Alef posuk Chof-Alef
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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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