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CHUMASH
Parshas Bo - Shlishi with Rashi
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As part of their shlichus to take the Yidden out of Mitzrayim, Moshe and Aharon have already brought many of the makos.
Now Paraoh called for Moshe Rabbeinu and said, “Okay, you can go serve Hashem, and even bring your children. Just leave your animals here to prove you’re coming back.”
Moshe said, “We need all of our animals for korbanos. We’ll even need some of YOUR animals! Since we won’t know what Hashem will want us to bring for korbanos, maybe our own won’t be enough.”
Hashem made it hard for Paraoh to do teshuvah again, and Paraoh said, “No way! Go away from here! I don’t want to see you ever again!”
Moshe answered, “Yes indeed — I will not again come to see your face.”
10: Makas Bechoros (death of the firstborn)
While they were still in front of Paraoh, Hashem told Moshe a nevuah about the last makah which would be sent: Every firstborn would be killed. Then Paraoh will finally send the Yidden out of Mitzrayim!
The Yidden should ask the Mitzriyim to give them gold and silver, so they will go out rich, like Hashem promised Avraham.
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Today’s Tehillim is kapitelach Lamed-Hey through Lamed-Ches.
In Kapitel Lamed-Zayin (37), Dovid Hamelech says, “MeiHashem Mitzadei Gever Konanu” — “Hashem decides where each person goes,” “Vedarko Yechpatz” — “and He wants His way.”
Chassidus teaches that these two things are connected: BECAUSE Hashem wants His way, THAT’S why He decides where each person goes. Hashem puts us into each place to do His special shlichus there.
So when we end up somewhere with Hashgacha Protis, we need to remember that we’re there because Hashem has a job for us to do there — and we’d better make sure to do it right!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof
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The Alter Rebbe is telling us in short what Achdus Hashem (the oneness of Hashem) means.
Understanding Achdus Hashem will help us understand how every MITZVAH is a CONNECTION with Achdus Hashem, and every AVEIRA is chas veshalom a SEPARATION from it. Then we will not let the Ruach Shtus from our Nefesh Habehamis convince us that there is anything too small or not worth it when it comes to doing what Hashem wants!
We say in davening, “Ata Hu Ad Shelo Nivra Ha’olam, Ata Hu Mishenivra Ha’olam” — Hashem is the same now that He created the world, just as He was before He created it. That is part of the Emunah Peshutah (simple Emunah) that every Yid has.
The Alter Rebbe will explain this emunah and make it part of our Chabad, part of our understanding. When it’s not just emunah, but we understand it also, it will change the way we feel and behave, and the Ruach Shtus won’t be able to trick us!
We could ask, how is it possible that Hashem is the same as He was before He created the world? The world is so big, so important and complicated — how can you say that Hashem didn’t change at all from it?
We learned before that “Bidvar Hashem Shomayim Naasu” (the Shomayim was made through the word of Hashem). This mashal of a word will help us understand! Because just like one word that a person says makes absolutely no difference to who he is, the world, which is just the “word of Hashem,” doesn’t make any change to Hashem! The world isn’t so big after all — it’s like nothing next to Hashem.
Now let’s take a closer look at this mashal to understand it better, how one word of a person makes no change to who the person is.
Hashem made a person with an unlimited koach to speak. If a person wanted to, he could talk all day without stopping, from morning to night! So a single word that a person says is like nothing compared to what he is able to say.
But don’t think that the koach of SPEAKING is so powerful and important either! Remember that a person can only say something he thought of first, and a person thinks a lot more than he speaks! Even if someone is talking all day long, he is still thinking way more than that, because thought is much faster and more powerful.
And don’t think that the koach of THINKING is so special and powerful either! Before a person is even able to think about something, he first has to WANT it with his midos, and even before that, he needs to KNOW about it (sechel)! That knowing and wanting doesn’t even have words, and the amount of things you can know about and want are unlimited!
For example, imagine going into the biggest library in the world, and pulling out just one book. Open that book and look at one word. Is that word important at all compared to everything you can learn from all of the books in the library?
Or imagine asking for a treat. Is that word important compared to all of the delicious kinds of foods that there are in the world that you can find out about and want?
So to go back to our one word: It’s like nothing compared to the koach of speaking. And our koach of speaking is like nothing compared to our koach of thinking. And our koach of thinking is also like nothing compared to our koach of midos or sechel!
We understand that one word of a PERSON is like nothing compared to what the person is able to know and want, and who he is. So we can understand that since the world is like a single word of Hashem, it is like nothing compared to Who Hashem is!
This gives us words to understand our emunah that Hashem is the same as He was before the world was created.
Besides the world not being important compared to Hashem, we will see starting in tomorrow’s Tanya that the world is still a part of Hashem! The world is not able to change Hashem at all.
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Did you ever hear of Ruach Hakodesh?
In today’s Hayom Yom, the Rebbe tells us what it means to have Ruach Hakodesh. It means that the person understands deep secrets of the Torah!
The Yidden that were closer to the time of Matan Torah were more Ruchnius’dik, and the seforim that Talmidei Chachomim in those times wrote were written with Ruach Hakodesh. The Rebbe tells us that this was true until after the time of the Shach and Taz (who wrote a pirush on the big Shulchan Aruch). Nowadays, only certain seforim, written by certain Talmidei Chachomim, are written with Ruach Hakodesh.
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1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #107) If we decided that a certain animal will be for a Korban Asham, we can’t change it afterwards and bring it as a Korban Chatas! It has to be the SAME animal for the SAME Korban.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Bechukosai: לֹא יַקְדִּישׁ אִישׁ אֹתוֹ
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Perek Hey of Mesechta Temurah.
Now we start a new Sefer of Rambam, and a new set of halachos, about Tumah and Tahara!
2) (Mitzvas Asei #107) The first mitzvah of this Sefer is that if someone gets Tomei with Tumas Meis (the tumah from a body after the neshama leaves it), he needs to follow the halachos about how he becomes tomei and how the tumah gets passed on.
This mitzvah includes all of the halachos of Tumas Meis which are written in Parshas Chukas.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Temurah - Hilchos Tumas Meis
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In today’s Rambam, we finish learning the halachos of Temurah.
Perek Daled: In this perek, the Rambam teaches us what happens if an animal that is supposed to be a Korban or a Temurah has a baby! The Rambam finishes this sefer with a lesson from the halachos of Temurah that will help us in our Avodas Hashem!
Now we have finished Sefer Korbanos! Then we start learning a NEW sefer of Rambam, the 10th sefer, Sefer Tahara! The first set of halachos is Hilchos Tumas Meis, about the kind of tumah that comes from the body of a person who passed away.
Perek Alef: The Rambam explains how a person can get Tumah.
Perek Beis: This perek teaches us what can give Tumas Meis.
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In this perek, we learn about the tilt of the moon’s orbit. This shows us how to figure out which way the moon will be pointing!
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We learned in Hayom Yom that until the Shach and the Taz, seforim were written with Ruach Hakodesh. How do we know which seforim nowadays are written with Ruach Hakodesh? Here’s a story heard from Rabbi Dovid Edelman A”H, which he told in connection with the beginning of the Rebbe’s nesius on Yud Shevat:
One time, before the Rebbe’s nesius began, he walked into the Zal in 770 and saw a bochur who was learning the Pnei Yehoshua (a pirush on the Gemara that is learned in all Yeshivos).
The Rebbe said to the bochur, “Do you know that the Pnei Yehoshua (who lived after the time of the Shach and Taz) wrote other seforim as well? So why does everyone learn only this sefer?
“Because all Yidden collectively have a certain kind of Ruach Hakodesh. When Yidden see a sefer that’s written with real Ruach Hakodesh, we can ‘feel’ it! When everyone chooses to learn a certain sefer, we can know that it was written with Ruach Hakodesh.”
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Before the Frierdiker Rebbe’s histalkus, it was not said clearly to all of the Chassidim that the Rebbe should become Rebbe. So how did everyone know?
Rabbi Edelman said that he felt that it was similar to this story: All of the Chassidim had a kind of Ruach Hakodesh, and everyone was able to understand that the Rebbe should become Rebbe.
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Who made the brachos of bentching?
R’ Nachman, an Amora, tells us in Mesechta Brachos:
The first bracha, Hazan Es Ha’olam, is from Moshe Rabbeinu. This bracha speaks about how Hashem satisfies our hunger. When Hashem sent down the mohn from Shomayim, Moshe Rabbeinu set up this bracha to thank Hashem.
The second bracha is from Yehoshua. This bracha finishes, “Al Ha’aretz Ve’al Hamazon,” thanking Hashem not only for the bread, but also for the land. Yehoshua led the Yidden into Eretz Yisroel, where they had to grow their own grain and make their own bread. They now would thank Hashem not only for the food, but for the earth which made it possible to grow it!
The third bracha was set up by Dovid Hamelech and Shlomo Hamelech. There we ask Hashem for brachos for the Yidden and for Yerushalayim, where Dovid Hamelech was the king. “Al Yisroel Amecha, Ve’al Yerushalayim Irecha.” Shlomo Hamelech, who built the Beis Hamikdash, added, “Ve’al Habayis Hagadol Vehakadosh,” asking for a bracha for the Beis Hamikdash!
We will IY”H learn about the fourth bracha, which has a story behind it, in the next shiur.
See Gemara Brachos daf Mem-Ches amud beis
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The Chachomim teach us ten things we are careful to do for a Kos Shel Bracha. A Kos Shel Bracha, a kos of bracha, is a cup of wine we use for special things, like bentching, Kiddush, or Havdalah.
One of these ten things is that we are “Mekablo B’Shtei Yadav” — we take the kos with two hands. Taking something with two hands shows that we are excited to have it, and we really want it very much. We take it with two hands to show that the Kos Shel Bracha is very special to us!
But when we actually make the bracha, we hold the kos with only one hand, because if we held the kos with two hands it would look like it’s annoying to hold.
In halacha there is a discussion about how we hold the kos for the actual bracha. Do we hold it with our fingers, the way we hold a regular cup, or do we hold it in the palm of our hand, the way we would hold a handful of something? According to kabbalah, we hold it in the palm of our hand, and have our fingers around the kos.
According to the Chabad minhag, the way we do it is like this:
First we pick up the kos with our right hand, then pass it to our left hand. This way, we used both hands to take the kos!
Then, we get our right hand, which is our more important hand, ready to hold the kos for kiddush. We hold our hand out, with our fingers a little bit upward, like our hand is a little bowl (klei kibul). We lower the kos down into the palm of our hand to make Kiddush. (A lefty would do this backwards, and lower the cup into his LEFT hand, which is his more important hand, to make Kiddush with.)
See Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch siman Reish-Ayin-Alef se’if yud-ches, siman Kuf-Pey-Gimmel 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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We expect Moshiach to come any second, right?
Here’s a story about how the Rebbe would talk about Moshiach:
R’ Zalmon Jaffe, a chossid from Manchester, England, loved his trips to the Rebbe. One Motzei Shabbos, right before he left back to England, he held the door of 770 open for the Rebbe.
“Gut voch!” R’ Zalmon told the Rebbe. “Everything is perfect now — except for one thing.”
The Rebbe smiled, and was happy to hear that. “But what is that one thing that isn’t perfect?”
R’ Zalmon answered, “Tomorrow we are going home, and leaving the Rebbe!”
The Rebbe answered, “Tomorrow is still another day, and I will see you again. In any case, Moshiach may come, and everything will be changed!”
See “My Encounter With the Rebbe,” by Zalmon Jaffe, book 1, page 158
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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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