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CHUMASH
Parshas Mishpatim - Sheini with Rashi
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Today’s Chumash continues teaching us the Mishpatim, the mitzvos Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu to teach the Yidden and explain to them well, so they know exactly how to act the way Hashem wants them to. In today’s Chumash, we learn these mitzvos:
- We learn about the punishments for someone that hurts another person, and also someone who hurts his slave.
- We learn about what we do with an animal that kills a person. It depends if the animal was a tam, meaning it isn’t usually a dangerous animal, or if it is mu’ad, meaning it is an animal that has killed before.
- We also learn what we do if an animal kills another person’s animal.
- If a person has a hole in the ground that wasn’t covered, he is responsible if an animal falls in and is hurt.
- We learn the punishment for a thief.
We learned before that the Aseres Hadibros begin with very Ruchnius mitzvos, like understanding that nothing exists besides for Hashem, and finish with very simple and obvious mitzvos, like not to kill or kidnap. This shows us that even simple mitzvos have to be filled with kedusha, and we have to know that they are mitzvos of Hashem. The same way, right after Matan Torah, when we start learning the details of the mitzvos Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu to tell the Yidden, they are Mishpatim — mitzvos that anyone can figure out on their own! For example, we have to treat people properly, and figure out how to deal with arguments about property. This teaches us that doing these things, even though they make sense, needs to be done with Kabolas Ol, because they are mitzvos of Hashem. (See Likutei Sichos chelek Gimmel, Mishpatim)
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Today’s shiur in Tehillim is the second half of Kapitel Kuf-Yud-Tes.
Kapitel Kuf-Yud-Tes is a very special kapitel which speaks about the maalah of Torah and mitzvos!
One of the pesukim is “Taan Leshoni Imrasecha” — “My tongue repeats Your words.” Chassidus explains on this posuk that when a Yid learns Torah, Hashem learns Torah with him! How?
The words of the Torah we are learning were not made up by Moshe Rabbeinu, the Tannaim, Amoraim or Tzadikim. These are words of Hashem that they said! When we say these words, we are also repeating those same words, and Hashem is saying them with us!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Ches
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In today’s Tanya, we learn what to do with Machshavos Zaros, thoughts that come to bother us when we are davening or learning Torah.
Let’s say we are in the middle of davening Shacharis. We are looking inside the siddur and trying to concentrate on the words we are saying.
All of a sudden, we realize that we didn’t take care of something important, or we remember an argument we had with someone. Now we are very worried and can’t think about the davening anymore!
What should we do?
This kind of thing often happens to people specifically when they are davening or learning Torah. In this perek, the Alter Rebbe tells us what to do about it.
First, we learn what NOT to do:
There are tzadikim who are able to take these thoughts and make them become kedusha. But that’s not something that a regular person is able to do, so we shouldn’t dry to do it ourselves.
So what SHOULD we do?
The Alter Rebbe tells us that we should just ignore these thoughts or worries completely. We should daven with MORE kavana!
The Alter Rebbe explains why this is happening, and why we need to ignore it.
These thoughts are coming from the Yetzer Hara. Why does the Yetzer Hara want to bother us NOW with these thoughts?
The Yetzer Hara is annoyed that the neshama is doing so well, becoming stronger as it connects to Hashem. That’s why specifically now it tries to fight very hard to distract us by making us think about things that have nothing to do with our davening or learning.
So instead of letting these thoughts bother us, we should really be very happy! These thoughts show us that our neshama is getting stronger and that we are doing the right thing, which is why the Yetzer Hara wants to stop us! With this extra simcha, we will be able to concentrate harder on our davening and learning, and not pay attention to any of these thoughts!
The Alter Rebbe tells us this about learning and davening, and the Rebbe adds that the same is true with all parts of our Avodas Hashem and the shlichus that each of us have. When things are hard or something is trying to stop us, that shouldn’t make us upset! We should realize that what we are doing is making kedusha stronger and accomplishing something very important! That is why the opposite side of kedusha is making it hard for us. Knowing this should give us more chayus to continue doing our shlichus with an even greater simcha! (See for example Maamar Vaeira 5738)
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Today’s Hayom Yom teaches us about ahava in the Avodah of Chassidus:
The ahava, the love that Chassidim have for each other, that the Rebbe has for Chassidim, and Chassidim have for the Rebbe — is the Ruach Chayim, it’s what brings chayus into the avodah of living the way a chossid should!
This love and connection is from a deep part of our neshama which gets its chayus from Hashem, Who created time and place. So just like Hashem is higher than time or place and rules over it, this love from the neshama is also not limited by time and space, so we can feel love for each other even if we’re not in the same place, and even to someone who we can’t see begashmius at this time.
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #100) is about the kind of Tumah that a woman gets when she has a baby, called Tumas Yoledes. These are the halachos about how she can make other people or things tomei, which was kept when we had a Beis Hamikdash, since someone tomei is not allowed to go into the Beis Hamikdash or eat from the korbanos!
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Metamei Mishkav U'Moshav
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more about Tumah coming from a person with certain kinds of “body” Tumah:
Perek Daled: Sometimes a woman ISN’T counted as tomei for a day before she finds out she was tomei — we learn about when. If she is tomei, her clothes can become tomei too! We learn how to make them tahor again.
Perek Hey: A person who became tomei with a body kind of tumah STAYS tomei, and keeps making things tomei, until he goes to the mikvah. Usually a person has to wait a certain amount of days until he is allowed to go to the mikvah, and we learn what happens if he goes early.
Perek Vov: The Rambam explains how he makes other things tomei, like by sitting on them, lying down on them, or being UNDER them!
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In today’s Rambam, we are learning more about doing Kiddushin with conditions — saying “I’ll get married to you with this thing IF...”
One thing we learn is that if a person says “I’ll get married to you with this gold coin” — and really it’s not gold, but it’s silver, they are NOT married.
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The first posuk in this week’s parshah, Parshas Mishpatim, is about how Hashem told Moshe to tell the Yidden the mitzvos, the Mishpatim. “Ve’eileh Hamishpatim Asher Tasim Lifneihem…”
In the first maamar in Torah Ohr of this week, the Alter Rebbe explains something deep this posuk is teaching in Ruchnius! Like all of the maamarim of the Alter Rebbe, these inyonim were explained by the later Rebbeim in more detail. One of the FIRST maamarim that the Rebbe said after Bosi Legani, “Ve’eileh Hamishpatim,” explains this maamar.
Hashem made two main kinds of neshamos — “Zera Adam” and “Zera Beheimah.”
Neshamos that are called “Zera Adam” are neshamos that are able to feel Hashem! Neshamos called “Zera Beheimah” are neshamos that are not able to recognize and feel Hashem on their own.
Nowadays, most neshamos are “Zera Beheimah,” neshamos that can only feel Gashmius, and not Ruchnius. Of course we can still LEARN about these things, but we are not able to FEEL it on our own (daas).
Some neshamos are called Zera Adam, like the neshamos of great tzadikim! These neshamos are able to feel Hashem even in this world.
But the koach of Moshe Rabbeinu is so strong that he can help even the rest of the Yidden to FEEL Hashem too, even though they can’t on their own!
That’s what Hashem was telling Moshe in this posuk: Give the mitzvos (mishpatim) that are part of Hashem, to the Yidden “Lifneihem” in a way of pnimius, that they can feel it inside. By giving them the halachos of the Torah, so that they will be able to understand them in their minds, that will make them able to also come to recognize Hashem.
That is why Moshe Rabbeinu is called the Raya Mehemna, the faithful shepherd, because he helps the Yidden not only have Emunah in Hashem, but that they can also recognize Hashem in their sechel.
In the LAST edited maamar of the Rebbe, “Ve’ata Tetzaveh,” the Rebbe explains to us (based on the words of the Zohar) that in our times, the Rebbeim are like Moshe Rabbeinu. The Rebbe adds there that not only do they help us recognize Hashem in our minds, but they bring out within us the feeling of Mesiras Nefesh from a very deep part of our neshama so that we are able to serve Hashem with every part of our being.
See Torah Ohr, dibur hamas’chil “Ve’eileh Hamishpatim”
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The second bracha in bentching has two names:
1) Birchas Ha’aretz — the bracha of the land. This bracha was set up by Yehoshua, who brought the Yidden into the land of Eretz Yisroel! In this bracha, we thank Hashem for the land and the food that grows from it!
2) Birchas Hoda’ah — the bracha of thanks. We begin and end this bracha by thanking Hashem! We start with the word “Nodeh,” which means to thank, and end by thanking Hashem for all of the things He gave us!
In between the two parts of the bracha (Nodeh and Ve’al Hakol), on Chanukah and Purim, we say Ve’al Hanisim.
On Shabbos and other Yomim Tovim, we also add a paragraph to bentching, but in a different place.
Why?
When we say Retzei on Shabbos, or Yaaleh Veyavo on Yom Tov or Rosh Chodesh, we don’t just thank Hashem for the special day. We also ask Hashem for brachos. So we add them in the part of bentching where we ask Hashem for things.
But Ve’al Hanisim is JUST thanking Hashem for the nisim of Chanukah or Purim! So we say them in this bracha, Birchas Hoda’ah, in the part of bentching that thanks Hashem.
(In Shemoneh Esrei, we also say Ve’al Hanisim in a different part than Yaaleh Veyavo. We say it in the bracha of Shemoneh Esrei where we thank Hashem, the bracha of Modim.)
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The Chachomim made a takanah that we should say Havdalah in Maariv and also make Havdalah over a kos of wine. At this Havdalah, we first make a bracha on wine, and then we make a bracha about Havdalah, that Hashem separates between Shabbos and the weekday.
The Chachomim also added two more brachos: A bracha on besamim, and a bracha on a ner (candle). Together there are four brachos, which are the Roshei Teivos of the word “Yavneh” — Yayin, Besamim, Ner, Havdalah.
Why do we use besamim?
On Shabbos, every Yid is given a Neshama Yeseira, an extra neshama.
According to Niglah, this extra neshama is the special peaceful way we feel on Shabbos, because of the resting and the Oneg Shabbos, enjoying Shabbos. According to Kabbalah, this is an actual extra neshama that comes into us for Shabbos.
But on Motzei Shabbos, the Neshama Yeseira goes away. We go back to the regular weekday feelings of hard work, without the special feelings we get from the Neshama Yeseira. This can make our neshama feel sad!
So the Chachomim made a minhag that if we can, we should smell something sweet to make our neshama feel better. Of all of the things our Guf enjoys, smells are the most Ruchnius’dike type of thing, so our neshama enjoys it too. When we smell the besamim, we bring a little bit of simcha to our neshama as it goes into the week, to give it the koach it needs to fulfill the shlichus it has in the world.
See Kitzur Halachos Siman Reish-Tzadik-Zayin, se’if Alef and haoros
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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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In order for the light of Geulah to come into the world, it needs a keili. That keili is Chassidus! When we learn Chassidus ourselves and share it with everyone we can, we are making keilim to hold the light of the Geulah!
As soon as the keilim are ready, Hashem will fill them up with the light of the Geulah!
This is one of the reasons why it is so important to learn Chassidus as a preparation for the Geulah — because this is the keili which will hold the light of the Geulah.
See Igros Kodesh chelek Alef, p. 216
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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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