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CHUMASH
Parshas Terumah - Shlishi with Rashi
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Today we learn about the Menorah, and the Yerios (the curtains that cover the Mishkan).
Hashem told Moshe to make a Menorah. Instead of making all of the different parts of the menorah separately, he should make the whole thing out of one piece of gold!
The Menorah for the Mishkan should have seven branches, with decorations — upside down cups, balls, and flowers. On the top of each branch, there should be cups to hold the oil. They are attached in a way that the flames all shine towards the middle branch of the menorah!
The tools for the menorah should also be made of gold — tongs to put the wicks in the right place and take them out when the menorah stops burning, and scoops to take out the ashes when the fire is out.
Now Hashem tells Moshe about how to make the Yerios:
There should be three coverings on the Mishkan. These coverings act as a roof, and hang over the walls.
First cover: The first cover should be made of colorful material, with pictures of Keruvim that look like lions on one side, and a kind of bird on the other side. The parts of this cover should be attached with gold loops and clips.
Second cover: The second cover should be made of goat hair. It should also have both sides of it attached with loops and clips.
This cover will be bigger than the Mishkan, and the extra will hang down in front.
Third cover: The third cover should be only on the roof. It should be made of ram skin dyed red, with tachash skin on top.
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Today’s kapitelach are Chof-Gimmel through Chof-Ches.
In today’s first Kapitel, we say “Hashem Ro’i Lo Echsar.” — “Hashem is my Shepherd, I am not missing anything.”
We know the story of Dovid Hamelech, who was so careful to make sure all of the sheep had plenty to eat. We also know how Moshe Rabbeinu took such good care of even a sheep who ran away.
“Hashem Ro’i” — Hashem is like our Shepherd. He takes care of each of us, making sure every single person has what he or she needs. Because of that, “Lo Ech’sar” — we aren’t missing anything!
This will also help us have Bitachon — since we know Hashem is taking such good care of us, we will always trust Him. We will know that there is nothing else that can Chas Veshalom hurt us, and that we shouldn’t rely on anyone else to help us. We will remember that everything is just a tool in the hands of Hashem and that He is making sure that everything will be for the best.
The Rebbe told someone to learn this kapitel of Tehillim well, and think about what the words teach us, to help have more bitachon!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Lamed
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Because every Yid is not only made up of a neshama, but also a Guf and a Yetzer Hara, we need to regularly inspire ourselves to do what we are supposed to. One way we can do this (as we learned earlier in Tanya) is by thinking about the fact that deep down in our neshama, every Yid WANTS to do the Ratzon of Hashem. Every Yid would even be ready to have Mesiras Nefesh to be a Yid!
But if the heart is stuffed up, it may not be interested in thinking about this. We can open the heart back up by thinking thoughts of teshuvah that make us feel humble.
The Alter Rebbe tells us that now is a good time to fulfill what the Chachomim teach us, to be humble from another person!
We might be very satisfied with our behavior, which makes us feel like we don’t need to fight so hard with our Yetzer Hara to do better. But there is something we should think about that will make us realize that we need to put more zerizus and effort into our shlichus:
Think about a person who we are SURE is not behaving properly, the biggest rasha we can imagine, and think about how hard HE would have to fight with HIS Yetzer Hara to change the way he is acting. We need to ask ourselves: Are WE fighting as hard with OUR Yetzer Hara?
Even though HE needs to fight with his Yetzer Hara not to do an aveira, and we might need to fight with our Yetzer Hara to do mitzvos better, that’s not an excuse! They are BOTH mitzvos of Hashem, the way Hashem wants us to act. There’s no difference if it’s stopping ourselves from an aveira, or trying to do mitzvos properly! We expect this person to work so hard on doing what Hashem wants from him — are WE working that hard on OUR Avodas Hashem?
In fact, not only are we not better than this rasha, this Kal Shebekalim, we should feel really humble, because we are WORSE!
The Chachomim say that when an Am Ha’aretz (someone who doesn’t know very much Torah) does an aveira, even on purpose, it’s counted like he made a mistake, because he didn’t understand what an aveira really means.
The Kal Shebekalim doesn’t know as much Torah as we do. The Kal Shebekalim doesn’t have the same friends as we do. He may have more challenges than we do. He doesn’t really understand the proper way to live at all!
But we DO know the right way to live, and we aren’t working as hard as we think HE is supposed to be working. So we have no reason to feel proud!
The Gemara says a story about Elisha ben Avuya (Acher), who was the teacher of R’ Meir. Something happened that made him go off the derech of Torah and mitzvos. Because of this, a Bas Kol came from Shomayim and said that it would be much harder for him to do teshuvah, because he KNEW the greatness of Hashem, and still chose to leave the path of Torah and mitzvos.
This shows us that Hashem expects much more from someone who knows about Hashem and His Torah!
IY”H in the next perek we will finish learning about how we can use all of these thoughts, not just to take away false pride, but to bring simcha into our Avodas Hashem!
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The year the Hayom Yom was written, it was a Shana Me’uberes, with TWO Adars. This year is a Shana Peshuta, with only one Adar. We don’t want to miss any Hayom Yoms, so we learn the Hayom Yom from BOTH Adars!
Daled Adar Alef
The Alter Rebbe taught Chassidus Chabad, how to serve Hashem by using our minds.
For Chassidus Chabad to work best, we need to be interested and excited enough to learn the Chassidus about the things that will help us serve Hashem!
So in today’s Hayom Yom, we learn how to prepare our sechel so it should be ready to learn Chassidus.
To be ready to learn Chassidus, we need to do two things:
1) Teach ourselves that the body shouldn’t have so much of a geshmak in Gashmius things.
2) Get ourselves used to enjoying and feeling a geshmak about Ruchnius things and about Elokus.
There was once a boy who came with his father for dollars in the Rebbe’s home. The father said that this boy doesn’t want to learn! The Rebbe said, “But learning Torah is a SWEET thing!”
We also know how the Rebbe said that it’s a beautiful thing when parents put their kids to sleep by telling them “Torah is the best sechora” — and this gets us excited about Ruchnius!
Daled Adar Sheini
When the Mitteler Rebbe said Chassidus, it was very quiet in the Zal. But the Mitteler Rebbe would still say, “Sha, Sha!”
Why did he have to say “Sha Sha?” Nobody was making noise!
The Rebbe Rashab explained that this was because of the Mitteler Rebbe’s Nevius Hamochin. His mind would think so much and so fast, that he was saying “Sha, Sha” to his thoughts to slow them down enough to be able to explain them to the Chassidim!
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Today’s mitzvah is the same as yesterday’s. This mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #105) is about another kind of tumah, called Tumas Shichvas Zera, a kind of liquid that makes things tomei. We need to follow the halachos about how someone becomes tomei from Zera, and how they make other things tomei.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Shaar Avos HaTumos
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In today’s Rambam, Perakim Tes-Vov, Tes-Zayin, and Yud-Zayin, we learn the halachos of “sofek” — when we are not sure about something that might have become Tomei.
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In today’s Rambam, we start to learn about the Kesuba. The Kesuba promises the wife that if they can’t be married anymore or the husband passes away, the woman will have money and not be stuck without any money to live.
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On Purim, there is a special mitzvah to be happy.
In halacha, drinking wine is an important way to be besimcha. Drinking wine, however, can also make a person act in a not-so-good way, like we learned in Chumash about Noach after he came out of the teiva. That’s why during the year we aren’t supposed to drink too much. But on Purim, the simcha is SO great, the Chachomim said that a person should drink more wine than they usually do, and they weren’t worried that something bad might happen!
That’s why the Gemara says (and the Shulchan Aruch paskens) “Chayav Inish Livsumei BePuria Ad D’Lo Yada Bein Arur Haman LeBaruch Mordechai” — “a person needs to drink on Purim until he doesn’t know the difference between Arur Haman and Baruch Mordechai.”
The Rebbe made a gezeira for our generation, that during the whole year, EVEN on Purim, we don’t drink more than four lechaim cups of mashke — and even that only if we can handle the mashke properly. The Rebbe only lets someone who is over 40 years old to drink more. (See Purim 5724)
There are many explanations in halacha, but Chassidus has a beautiful explanation of what this chiyuv means:
During the times of Purim, it was a very scary time for the Yidden. Mordechai Hatzadik helped all of the Yidden to realize that this gezeira was from Hashem, because they hadn’t been acting the way they should!
The Yidden started following Torah and mitzvos in a way of Mesiras Nefesh, even though being a Yid meant that Haman’s decree would be against them.
That feeling of Mesiras Nefesh, of only thinking about what Hashem wants, is called the pnimius of the neshama, the purest part. In the pnimius of the neshama, it doesn’t matter what we understand, there is only thinking about what Hashem wants! Even if a halacha doesn’t make sense to us, or we don’t enjoy doing a certain mitzvah, we do it anyway! That’s called “Lo Yada,” not knowing.
EVERY Yid has the same pnimius of his neshama that is ready to have Mesiras Nefesh, and only do what Hashem wants! It doesn’t matter if a Yid is usually an “Arur Haman” kind of Yid, who only listens to his Yetzer Hara, or a “Baruch Mordechai” kind of Yid who only follows his Yetzer Tov.
That’s the level we are supposed to reach on Purim! We should reach “Ad D’lo Yada” — we should feel the pnimius of our neshama, that is the same for EVERY Yid!
This is the avodah of Purim, to feel our koach of Mesiras Nefesh, just like the Yidden in the time of Purim.
This koach isn’t just for Purim! When we reach the level of Ad D’Lo Yada, it will help us all year long, to know the difference and have chayus in Arur Haman and Baruch Mordechai! It will help us all year to know when something is coming from our Yetzer Hara, or from our Yetzer Tov! Then we will be able to stay away from our Yetzer Hara’s tricks, and only do what Hashem wants.
See Purim farbrengens throughout the years
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Did you ever wonder why we shokel (sway) when we daven and learn?
It’s actually a halacha! When the Torah was given, it made the Yidden tremble, their bodies actually shook. (“Vayar Ha’am Vayanu’u.”) Those who are careful with mitzvos are careful to shokel when they learn Torah too.
There are also reasons to shokel specifically during davening: The posuk says, “Kol Atzmosai Tomarna Hashem Mi Chamocha!” “All of my bones take part in saying, ‘Who is like You, Hashem!’”
We make sure our bones can take part in the praise of Hashem, by shokeling when we daven.
There is an opinion that we should only shokel during Pesukei Dezimra, which is an actual praise to Hashem. According to this opinion, a person should stand still during Shemoneh Esrei, and only move a bit at the end of each bracha, trembling a bit from saying Hashem’s name. The Alter Rebbe says that it is not so important whether you follow this opinion or not — the main thing is to have kavana!
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman mem-ches se’if gimmel
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We learned yesterday about Seudas Purim, today we’ll learn about the mitzvah to drink wine on Purim — Ad D’lo Yada.
Part of the mitzvah of having simcha on any Yom Tov is drinking wine. But since drinking too much wine can make a person behave not properly, we are careful about how much we drink. In fact, one of the jobs of the Beis Din used to be to send officers around on Yom Tov to make sure that nobody was drinking too much! (Rambam, Shevisas Yom Tov, perek Vov, halacha 21)
But on Purim, the halacha is different. We don’t just drink enough wine to give us simcha, we drink in a way of Ad D’lo Yada! The Chachomim tell us that a person needs to drink wine on Purim until he won’t know (“Ad D’lo Yada”) the difference between Arur Haman (“cursed is Haman”) and Boruch Mordechai (“blessed is Mordechai”)!
Of course, this doesn’t mean that it is fine to act in a not proper way!
If a person is sure that he is drinking wine for the mitzvah, and he is sure it won’t stop him from doing any mitzvos properly, then it’s a mitzvah to drink enough wine to become shikker.
But if someone isn’t sure that he will behave properly even if he is shikker, then he shouldn’t drink that much. Instead, he can do the mitzvah by drinking more wine than he usually does, to show his joy at the great neis that Hashem did!
The Rebbe would say many times that the gezeira of not saying more than four lechaims, especially for younger people, should also be kept on Purim.
See Shevach Hamoadim, Halachos Uminhagei Chabad - Purim, and Halacha newsletters from Chabad communities
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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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When we learn the parshios in the Torah about the Mishkan, we also add in learning from Torah Shebaal Peh where the Chachomim explain more about what we are learning in Chumash. The Rebbe teaches us that this helps bring Moshiach faster!
Today we are learning about the Menorah. The Gemara discusses, what was the purpose of the menorah?
Was it needed for its light? The Yidden had a pillar of fire that guided them through the Midbar! They didn’t need any other light.
The Gemara says that it was for a different reason: It was a sign for the world that Hashem was together with the Yidden. One of the flames of the menorah, the Ner Maaravi, stayed burning for much longer than it should — every day! (This happened until after Shimon Hatzadik passed away and was a sign that Hashem’s Shechinah was together with the Yidden.)
Another reason for the light of menorah is so it can shine to the rest of the world. We see this from the way the windows in the Beis Hamikdash were made. They were smaller inside, but wider outside — “Shkufim Atumim.” The windows didn’t bring light into the Beis Hamikdash, like most windows, but they shined the light of the Beis Hamikdash to the whole world!
That is also the reason why the geviim, the cups which were decorations on the menorah, were upside down, like a cup pouring out! They were not needed to HOLD the light of the menorah, but to pour out the light to the rest of the world!
See Gemara Shabbos 22b, Likuei Sichos chelek Chof-Alef sicha Gimmel
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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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