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CHUMASH
Parshas Ki Savo - Shlishi with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden how they should keep their connection to Hashem new and full of chayus!
Even though you are being given the mitzvos now, you shouldn’t ever get bored of them. You should feel excited, as if Hashem is giving you the mitzvah TODAY for the first time!
Hashem will reward you by giving you more and more chances to do mitzvos. For example, when a Yid will bring bikurim, Hashem will give him a bracha that he should have fruits growing again next year, so he will be able to do the mitzvah of bikurim again!
Moshe Rabbeinu also reminds the Yidden to serve Hashem and ONLY Hashem.
Hashem will reward the Yidden by choosing ONLY them to be His special nation!
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Today’s kapitelach are Samach-Vov, Samach-Zayin, and Samach-Ches. We also say three kapitelach for Elul: Lamed-Daled, Lamed-Hey, and Lamed-Vov.
In Kapitel Samech-Vov, Dovid Hamelech says with Ruach Hakodesh words we will say to Hashem when Moshiach comes!
In pesukim Yud, Yud-Alef, and Yud-Beis, Dovid Hamelech tells us how we will thank Hashem for saving us from the tzaros of Golus. We will say that even though Hashem tested us with many tzaros, and that sometimes the troubles even got worse, in the end, Hashem saved us! Vatotzienu Larevaya, we will thank Hashem for bringing us out of Golus to the time of Geulah!
See the Metzudos on this kapitel, and the introduction in Tehillim Ohel Yosef Yitzchok
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Yud-Gimmel
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This Igeres is a letter the Alter Rebbe sent with a shliach (Shadar) who was collecting tzedakah in the communities of Chassidim, to inspire them to give tzedakah.
In this letter, the Alter Rebbe explains that even people who usually do mitzvos with a cheshbon, doing them exactly the way they need to be done, have the koach to give tzedakah without a cheshbon. The Alter Rebbe is waking up this koach of their neshama to give tzedakah without a cheshbon, much more than they would plan to give! One of the rewards for doing this is that Hashem will also give brachos without a cheshbon, even more than the person deserves!
First let’s learn about two different ways Yidden can serve Hashem:
A Yid can do mitzvos and learn Torah EXACTLY the way the Torah says. He can work hard to everything just right. All of his Avodas Hashem is just between him and Hashem, and nobody else needs to know! (This is like the derech of Beis Shamai, who were very strict in everything they did.)
Or there is another way — a person could feel so excited about their Yiddishkeit, that they want other people to enjoy it too! They don’t spend so much time trying to make sure everything is perfect, they just are busy doing LOTS of mitzvos, showing everyone how much they love being a Yid! (This is like the derech of Beis Hillel, who were more kind and giving to others.)
A person will have one of these different ways of serving Hashem based on where their neshama comes from — Chesed or Gevurah.
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The Rebbe Rashab said a very long Hemshech called “Besha’ah Shehikdimu, Te’erav.”
What is a Hemshech? It is many maamarim that need to be learned in order — like one very long maamar!
The Hemshech took more than THREE YEARS to say to the Chassidim — from Shavuos in 5672 (when the Rebbe Rashab was in Lubavitch) to Parshas Vayeira in 5676 (when the Rebbe Rashab was in Rostov)! This last maamar starts with the words “VaHashem Amar.”
There are 144 Maamorim in this Hemshech. (It is the LONGEST hemshech of maamarim in Chassidus!)
In fact, the Rebbe Rashab even had a SECOND part that he didn’t say it to the Chassidim — he just wrote it down.
For many years, Chassidim only had parts of this Hemshech as copies, but not as a printed sefer. In the year Tof-Shin-Lamed-Zayin, the Rebbe asked for it to be printed! The Rebbe gave special instructions how this should be done, and asked everyone to be a part of it! (See Derher magazine, Kislev 5777, for the whole story of when this happened!)
One of the things we can learn from this is about the Avodah we do in Chodesh Elul, where we make hachlatos for the coming year. We can learn from this that it is possible to make a hachlata that will take a long time to finish — even a few years!
Did you ever think about making a hachlata that will take you a long time to finish?
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In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn 3 mitzvos about Pesach!
1) (Mitzvas Asei #156) We need to get rid of chometz from our house on Yud-Daled Nissan. The Chachomim called this Biur Chometz.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Bo: בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן תַּשְׁבִּיתוּ שְּׂאֹר מִבָּתֵּיכֶם
The details are explained in the beginning of Mesechta Pesachim.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #197) We aren’t allowed to eat chometz on Pesach.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Bo: וְלֹא יֵאָכֵל חָמֵץ
The details are explained in Mesechta Pesachim.
3) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #198) On Pesach we can’t even eat food that has any chometz mixed into it, like beer.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Bo: כָּל מַחְמֶצֶת לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Chomeitz U'Matzah
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Perek Beis: In today’s first perek we learn halachos about Bedikas Chometz.
One interesting halacha is that if a person sees a mouse go into his house with a piece of chometz, and then he sees crumbs on the floor, he needs to look through the whole house until he finds the chometz. This is because we say that the mouse probably put the piece of chometz down somewhere, and didn’t eat it, since when mice are eating they eat every crumb! So if we see crumbs, the piece of chometz must be somewhere too!
But if you see a baby go into the house with chometz, and you find crumbs, you can say that the baby probably already ate the chometz, and these are the crumbs from it — because babies do leave crumbs when they eat! So then, you wouldn’t need to check the whole house again.
Perek Gimmel: In this perek, we finish learning about Bedikas Chometz. We also learn about Bittul Chometz, making our chometz counted as not worth anything, and about Biur Chometz — getting rid of the chometz.
Perek Daled: In the last perek of today’s Rambam, we learn about the mitzvah of not owning any chometz on Pesach, and how we can sell Chometz to a goy so it doesn’t belong to us on Pesach.
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In Perek Vov, the Rambam shows us how many pesukim and stories of Torah don’t contradict what we learned, that a person has free choice to act in the right way.
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In Elul, we make a Cheshbon Hanefesh — seeing how we did this past year, to prepare for the coming year, so it will be much better. Did we do a good job with our mitzvos? Did we start figuring out some of the tricks our Yetzer Hara tries to use on us? Are we doing better in our Avodas Hashem than last year? Are we really using ALL of our kochos to bring the geulah closer?
How do we make this Cheshbon Hanefesh?
The Rebbe’s father, Harav Hakodosh Harav Levi Yitzchak N”E, explained that the word “Elul” teaches us how! If you make the letters “Elul” into numbers, you will get 67. Another word with the same Gematria (making letters into numbers) is Bina, understanding!
There are two ways of understanding something — we can understand something in general, or we can understand it completely with all of the details. When we understand something completely, that is using our koach of Bina.
For our Cheshbon Hanefesh in Elul, we need to have Bina! We can’t JUST think about “Did I have a lot of Kibbud Av Va’em? Maybe I need to do better.” We need to think, “I need to have more Kibbud Av Va’em by doing what Mommy and Tatty tell me RIGHT AWAY, instead of waiting until I’m in the mood.”
When we think about how we acted with Bina, we can figure out how to make every little part better and be sure that we are doing our shlichus in the coming year in the best possible way!
See Toras Menachem Tof-Shin-Mem-Daled, vol. 4, p. 2504
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Starting from Rosh Chodesh Elul, all the way through Hoshaana Rabbah, we add a special mizmor to our davening each day, in Shacharis and Mincha. This is kapitel Chof-Zayin of Tehillim, which starts with the words Ledovid Hashem Ori.
Adding this kapitel is a minhag that goes back to the time of the Arizal! It is written that if we say this mizmor during Elul, it takes away any not good gezeiros, so that we will be judged only for good. In Ledovid Hashem Ori, there are many hints to the avodah of Elul and the Yomim Noraim:
We say, “Hashem Ori Veyishi,” “Hashem is my light and my salvation.” The Medrash explains that during Rosh Hashana, Hashem shows Himself in a way of Ori, as our light. On Yom Kippur, Hashem shows Himself in a way of Yishi, saving us.
Another hint is near the end of this kapitel, in the posuk “Lulei He’emanti,” “if only my emunah was proper.” The word Lulei is the same letters as the word Elul, only backwards! This hints to the avodah of Elul — looking back on what happened during the past year so we can work on doing better next year.
Chassidus brings that a very important posuk of this Mizmor connected to Elul is “Lecha Amar Libi, Bakshu Fanai” — “My heart says to search out the pnimius of Hashem.” When Hashem is like a king in the field, it is much easier to find the pnimius of Hashem! This is the avodah of Elul, to use the kochos of this time and connect to Hashem in this special way.
See Otzar Minhagei Chabad, Chodesh Elul and sources cited there
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There are many different minhagim about when to start and finish saying Ledovid Hashem Ori, what part of davening to say it in, and in which of the daily tefillos to say it.
Our minhag is to start early — on the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, even though it is still part of Chodesh Av. We continue saying it until Hoshaana Rabbah, the end of the time of din.
We say Ledovid Hashem Ori in Shacharis and Mincha, but not in Maariv.
In Shacharis, we say Ledovid Hashem Ori after the Shir Shel Yom, before the kaddish of the Shir Shel Yom.
In Mincha, we say it before Aleinu.
Even though this is our minhag, it is more important to follow the halacha of saying Aleinu together with the minyan. So if we are davening Mincha with a minyan that says Ledovid Hashem Ori after Aleinu, we should say Aleinu and Ledovid Hashem Ori afterwards, together with the minyan.
See Otzar Minhagei Chabad Chodesh Elul, os Hey, Igros Kodesh vol. 19 p. 30
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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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The Navi Zechariah lived at the same time as the Navi Chagai. During those days, the Yidden had returned to Eretz Yisroel and were trying to build the second Beis Hamikdash.
Zechariah started saying nevuos when he was still young, and he says some of the most famous nevuos about the Geulah!
Many of Zechariah’s nevuos are very mysterious. The Navi tells us what he saw, and they are like dreams that we can’t understand. Rashi tells us (in the first posuk of Zechariah) that we will not understand all of Zechariah’s nevuos until Moshiach himself comes to explain them!
IY”H over the next few days we will learn some of Zechariah’s famous nevuos about the Geulah.
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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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