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CHUMASH
Parshas Mishpatim - Revi'i with Rashi
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Parshas Mishpatim teaches us many mitzvos, especially those that make sure we treat each other fairly. We remember that Hashem gave us ALL of the mitzvos — even the ones that someone might think we could come up with ourselves.
Here are the mitzvos we learn about today:
- We are not allowed to curse Hashem, or any Jewish leader.
- We need to give presents to the Kohanim and Leviim (terumah and maaser), in a certain order.
- We need to do Pidyon Haben, to give the worth of a firstborn son to the kohen.
- A firstborn ox, sheep, or goat needs to be given to the Kohen.
- We are not allowed to eat meat that came off of an animal while it was still alive.
- We can’t eat meat from an animal that was attacked by another animal. (It is best to give it to dogs to eat, as a reward for not bothering the Yidden when they left Mitzrayim.)
- We shouldn’t believe not-nice things from someone who wants to hurt another person.
- We should not join someone to say a lie in court.
- For a Beis Din to pasken that someone should be killed as a punishment, it is not enough if just more than half of the judges agree — it has to be at least TWO more judges that say the person should be killed, than the amount of judges who say he should not (like 36 judges against 34 judges).
- For all other cases, if at least one more judge says they are guilty, we do follow what most judges say (like 11 against 10).
- The most important judge should talk last, so that the others can say what they really think without it being chutzpah, to disagree with a more important judge.
- We should not be extra-nice to a poor person in Beis Din even if we feel bad for him that he doesn’t have what to pay — the court case needs to be judged fairly.
- If someone’s animal gets lost, even if it belongs to someone you don’t like, you need to return it to him.
- Azov Taazov: If you see a donkey that is carrying too much, even if the donkey belongs to someone you don’t like, you need to help him take the things off the donkey and reload it.
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Today’s kapitelach of Tehillim are Kuf-Lamed-Hey through Kuf-Lamed-Tes.
One of today’s Kapitelach, Kapitel Kuf-Lamed-Vov (136), has 26 pesukim — just like the 26 generations from when Hashem created the world until when the Yidden got the Torah!
In this kapitel, we thank Hashem for all of the nissim that happened from the time Hashem made the world until Matan Torah! Every posuk finishes with the words “Ki Le’olam Chasdo” — that Hashem’s kindness is forever!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Tes
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In today’s Tanya, we start learning how to fix up the problem called Timtum Halev.
A beinoni can sometimes feel not interested in connecting his neshama with Hashem during davening. That’s called “timtum halev.” So even if he learns Chassidus and understands it well, it still doesn’t make him excited to connect with Hashem during davening.
The Alter Rebbe says that this is because the Yetzer Hara feels too big, and he gives us a special way to fix it.
We will understand how with a mashal: If there’s a piece of wood that is too big to burn in a bonfire, we can break it into smaller pieces, and then it will burn. The same thing is with the person’s Yetzer Hara. It can become very big, until it makes a person not interested in kedusha. So you have to “cut it into pieces” so that the light of the neshama will shine inside the Yid.
How do we “cut the Yetzer Hara into pieces”?
We need to think about things that will make ourselves feel humble.
One of those things is that we have a Nefesh Habehamis, which is just like a beheimah and is nothing special.
The only difference is that a beheimah thinks about hay, and we think about good food and beautiful houses…
Later in the perek, we will learn more things to think about to make ourselves feel humble, which will take away the gaavah of the Yetzer Hara. This will allow us to get excited about our connection with Hashem!
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Chassidus teaches us to serve Hashem with simcha, TOGETHER with the guf!
The Baal Shem Tov teaches us an important lesson in how to serve Hashem from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: “Ki Sireh Chamor Sona’acha Rovetz Tachas Masa’o, Vechadalta Mei’azov Lo, Azov Taazov Imo.”
In the posuk it says that if you see a donkey that belongs to someone you don’t like, and the bags it is carrying are falling, even though you might not want to help, you should help anyway.
The Baal Shem Tov explains that a person’s body is also called “chamor.” (The word “chamor”, donkey, is like the word “chomer,” gashmius, which is one way to describe the guf.)
The posuk is telling us that when we come to serve Hashem, we might look at our body, our chamor, and think that we don’t like it! This gashmius body doesn’t help our neshama, which wants to be close to Hashem!
When we see that the body is too lazy to do what Hashem wants, we might not want to help our body anymore! We might want to fast and not take care of our body, so that it won’t get in the way of doing what the neshama wants.
But, the Baal Shem Tov teaches, we shouldn’t do this to the body — we should try to make it more ruchnius’dik, but not by hurting it. Instead, we should help it understand that it good for it to serve Hashem!
Before the times of the Baal Shem Tov, one of the ways to train the body to serve Hashem was through “Sigufim,” doing things that were hard for the body. Yidden fasted, rolled in the snow, and traveled far away from home without telling anyone who they were, which were painful for the body. This way, they got used to ignoring what the body wanted, and could think only about the neshama.
Chassidus taught something different: That we need to serve Hashem with simcha, and that the guf also needs to be a part of it! Chassidus teaches us how the neshama can train the body to WANT to do the Ratzon of Hashem, through learning and thinking the teachings of Chassidus, so that the body will also understand that it is good for it to serve Hashem!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #104) is that a man who has a certain kind of tumah that comes from the body which is called Zav, becomes Tomei. This mitzvah includes all of the dinim of how he becomes a Zav and also how he makes others tomei.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Metamei Mishkav U'Moshav
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more about the kind of people who have a body Tumah, how they make other things Tomei, and who is trusted to be careful with this tumah:
Perek Yud: We learn about who we say is PROBABLY tomei, and who is PROBABLY Tahor: A Yid who doesn’t know so much Torah (an Am Ha’aretz) is probably Tomei, since he probably didn’t know all of the halachos, and might not have realized that he became tomei. But if a person wants to, he can become a “Chaver” — a person who is careful about staying tahor.
Perek Yud-Alef: There are some times when we trust an Am Ha’aretz, and believe him when he says that something is Tahor.
During the Shalosh Regalim, we say that EVERY Yid is like a Chaver! Everyone becomes tahor to go to the Beis Hamikdash, so we trust them that they and the things that they touched are tahor!
Perek Yud-Beis: The Rambam tells us the halachos of what happens if an Am Ha’aretz watches something tahor for another person — do we say that those things probably became tomei?
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Today we learn about getting married with Nisuin. There are 7 brachos we say for the Nisuin — six about getting married, and Borei Peri Hagafen over a cup of wine.
We also learn about the Kesubah, the Sheva Brachos, and when we are supposed to get married — like not getting married on Shabbos or Chol Hamoed.
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The Frierdiker Rebbe told over the following story: (This story was also printed in the introduction to a sefer called Pokeiach Ivrim, a sefer written by the Mitteler Rebbe for the Baal Teshuvah we will learn about in this story.)
One of the Alter Rebbe’s chassidim, a big chossid and lamdan, came to the Alter Rebbe for Yechidus. He was shocked to hear what the Alter Rebbe told him — that for his neshama, it is better that he be a Baal Agolah, a wagon driver, than to become a Rav!
At first, he didn’t think it was the time yet to stop his learning and go do that kind of work. But when he was offered a job as a Rav, he realized that now was the time to do what the Alter Rebbe told him.
He went and learned how to take care of horses, how to feed them and brush them and harness them to the wagon. Spending his day on taking care of his horses and driving people where they wanted to go took up his whole day. He wasn’t able to spend a long time on his davening and learning anymore — he had to daven quickly in the morning, and only review his learning by heart as he drove the wagon.
After a few years of doing this, he drove a certain Yid who had stopped keeping mitzvos. That Yid ended up learning from the chossid, and became a Baal Teshuvah!
Later, the chossid was told by the Mitteler Rebbe that he could stop being a Baal Agolah, and that now he should become a mashpia of a certain town.
The Rebbe said that we see from here that all the years the chossid was a Baal Agolah was for one reason: To be able to help a Yid to do teshuvah. It was worth it for him to stop doing his own avodah of davening and learning all the time, the way he was used to, just to help another Yid to become a Baal Teshuvah!
See sicha of Purim 5722, letter of the Frierdiker Rebbe in the introduction to Pokeiach Ivrim
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Why do we need to daven every day? It makes sense that we need to connect to Hashem, but why don’t we just daven once a week, and we’ll be connected for a whole week? After all, we just have Shabbos one time a week, not every day!
The Alter Rebbe explains one of the reasons for this in Likutei Torah: The Chachomim in the Gemara say that every day, a person’s Yetzer Hara wakes up with new energy and new tricks. So every day, we also need to get a new chayus and kochos to win over the Yetzer Hara! Since the Yetzer Hara starts fresh every day, we need to do the same!
Every Yid, and especially every child, is a soldier in Tzivos Hashem to win over the Yetzer Hara. We need new kochos every day to win over the Yetzer Hara so we can be successful in our shlichus in the world!
We get these new kochos every day when we daven!
See Likutei Torah parshas Ki Seitzei
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The whole world belongs to Hashem. So we really can’t eat or drink anything without permission from Hashem! Hashem gives us permission to take it, as long as we say a bracha. Otherwise, it’s like stealing from Hashem!
Even if you just eat a little bit, you still need to say a bracha.
After we eat, we need to thank Hashem that we ate! We only make this Bracha Acharona if we ate enough to be counted as eating. How much is that? For food, it’s a kezayis (about as big as an egg), and for a drink, it has to be at least a revi’is (about a half cup).
But you need to be careful with wine or grape juice! There is a machlokes about how much you need to drink in order to make a Bracha Acharona. There is an opinion that even just drinking a little is enough to count as drinking! So the halacha is that l’chatchila, we should always try to drink at least a revi’is so we can make a Bracha Acharona according to all opinions. But bedieved, if we didn’t drink enough, the halacha is like with any other drink, and we don’t make a Bracha Acharona.
Seder Birchas Hanehenin, Perek Ches, Halacha Alef
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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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During Golus, we don’t look at our guf as something so special B’Ruchnius. We see that the guf makes all kinds of problems in our Avodas Hashem! It has taavos, it gets too tired to do mitzvos, and it distracts us in the middle of davening and learning.
But when Moshiach comes, those things won’t bother us anymore.
Then, we’ll be able to see and appreciate how special and precious a Yiddishe guf is!
See Sefer Hasichos Tof-Reish-Tzadik-Tes p. 335
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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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