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CHUMASH
Parshas Ki Sisa - Shlishi with Rashi
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After Hashem told Moshe that He would send a malach with the Yidden instead of Hashem Himself, Moshe said that he doesn’t agree! He asked Hashem to please take care of the Yidden Himself.
Hashem said okay, that He would go with the Yidden Himself.
Moshe said, “Yes, that’s what we want — without Hashem coming, we don’t want to go to Eretz Yisroel at all!”
Moshe also asked for another thing: That the Yidden be different (Veniflinu) than any other nations — Hashem should only dwell among the Yidden.
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One of the things it talks about in Kapitel Pey-Tes is how Hashem gave the melucha (the special job to be the Yiddishe kings) to Dovid Hamelech and his children. “Zaro Le’olam Yihiyeh” — “his children will be forever.”
Now we don’t have any Yiddishe king, so what happens to Hashem’s promise?
Moshiach comes from Dovid Hamelech, so Hashem’s promise to Dovid Hamelech really does go forever! We will see that our king Moshiach comes from the family of Dovid!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Lamed-Hey
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In today’s Tanya, the Alter Rebbe tells us more about why we need davka a MITZVAH so Hashem’s Shechinah can rest in us, like a flame burning on a candle.
What does it mean that Hashem’s Shechinah rests somewhere (Hashro’as HaShechinah)? Isn’t Hashem everywhere?
Hashro’as HaShechinah means that Hashem is more revealed there! That can only be if there is nothing in the way of Hashem being revealed there.
That’s why only MITZVOS can bring Hashro’as HaShechinah — not even a neshama can do it! Because a neshama (even of a tzadik), once it comes into the guf of a person, knows that it’s a neshama, and feels a little bit separate from Hashem. That gets in the way of Hashem being revealed.
But mitzvos are what Hashem wants (the Ratzon Hashem)! So when a Yid does a mitzvah, the only thing that’s there is the Ratzon Hashem — that the mitzvah should be done — and there is nothing in the way!
That’s why mitzvos can make Hashem’s Shechinah shine in a Yid, because there is nothing that thinks about what it wants for itself, not even a Ruchnius wanting like Ahava and Yirah of the neshama. There is nothing that could keep Hashem from being completely revealed there, there is just the mitzvah of Hashem and nothing else.
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The Hayom Yom was written for a year where there were TWO Adars (a Shana Me’uberes). This year there is only ONE Adar (a Shanah Peshutah), so we learn BOTH Hayom Yoms every day!
Yud-Ches Adar Alef
Did you know that if you drink grape juice and eat pomegranates, you need to make a special Bracha Acharona? There are different words to say if you drink wine or grape juice, or if you eat fruit that’s part of the Shiva Minim. In today’s Hayom Yom, the Rebbe tells us the right nusach so we should this bracha the right way!
If we drink wine and eat fruit that are from the Shiva Minim, at the end of the Bracha Acharona the nusach is a bit different! We say “Baruch Ata Hashem, Al Pri Hagafen VE’hapeiros” instead of “Ve’al Hapeiros.”
Yud-Ches Adar Sheini
The Rebbe Maharash writes in a maamar that we need to learn every day some of Chumash with Rashi (we do that when we learn the Chumash part of Chitas!). Even though there are many explanations on the Chumash, Rashi has the “terumah” — the most special parts — of how our Chachomim explain the Torah.
That is in Torah Shebichsav, the written part of Torah. A person also needs to have a seder for learning part of Torah Shebaal Peh!
Everyone needs to learn AT LEAST one Mesechta of Gemara a year!
A person once wrote a letter to the Rebbe saying that he used to have a shiur in learning Gemara, but the learning was hard for him to understand, so he stopped. The Rebbe told him that it would be a good idea to restart his shiur in Gemara. It is true that it will be hard for him and it will bother him that he doesn’t understand, but if he does it anyway because it is the Torah of Hashem, then Hashem will take away some of the hard partsships and things that might bother him in other parts of life like health or parnasa! (See Igros Kodesh chelek Daled p. 234)
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Since we are learning a set of halachos that doesn’t have its own mitzvah, Hilchos Keilim, we are reviewing other mitzvos from Sefer Tahara, since keilim can also get these kinds of tumah!
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 and other things tomei.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more about when Keilim can become Tomei.
Perek Chof-Alef explains when a long string or chain or rope is counted as part of a keili and when it isn’t. Based on the halachos in today’s Rambam, if a balloon would become tomei, the string of the balloon would be tomei too.
Perek Chof-Beis explains when clothes or cloth can become tomei. One of the halachos is that a bandage, even if it is made out of cloth, can’t become tomei. That’s because it’s not counted as a keili.
Perek Chof-Gimmel tells us the rules of how big a piece of cloth needs to be in order to become tomei.
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A get has to be given to the woman. Today we learn the halachos if he throws her the get, or gives it to someone else to give to her.
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We learned before that thirty days before Pesach, we should start thinking about Pesach mivtzoyim! Besides for the main thing, that we are doing the mivtzoyim that the Rebbe teaches us to do, which is the Ratzon of Hashem, it is also a way to bring bracha in our own lives!
One of the Rebbe’s secretaries, Rabbi Groner A”H, once told this story:
A Yid from Eretz Yisroel called to ask for a bracha for his daughter, who was very sick. Next to the name of the girl, the Rebbe wrote the words “Azkir Al Hatzion” (“I will daven by the Ohel”), by the father’s name the Rebbe wrote, “Does he go on mivtzoyim?” Rabbi Groner called and told the father the Rebbe’s answer.
The father soon called back to say that he was doing mivtzoyim at the nearest Chabad House.
A few days later, the Rebbe told Rabbi Groner to find out how the girl was doing. The man told Rabbi Groner that it was a miracle! His daughter was much better.
When Rabbi Groner told the Rebbe this, the Rebbe said, “Look what mivtzoyim can accomplish!”
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Many grow-ups drink a cup of coffee in the morning to help wake them up. As we will see from this maamar, davening is like a cup of coffee for the neshama!
When a Yid goes to sleep, the neshama goes up to Hashem to get chayus for the next day. In the morning, Hashem gives the person back his neshama.
But the neshama can’t shine in the guf until the person davens! The guf is too grob (coarse) for the neshama to be felt in the body.
Davening is how a neshama connects to Hashem WHILE it is in the guf. It makes the person more aidel, and able to feel the neshama.
There is a posuk in Yeshaya that says, “Chidlu Lachem Min Ha’Adam Asher Neshama Be’Apo, Ki Bameh Nechshav Hu?” “Separate yourself from a person whose neshama is in his nostrils, because what is he worth?”
The Gemara explains this posuk, saying that the word “Bameh” (what is he worth), can be read as “Bamah,” a Mizbeiach for Avodah Zarah!
Chassidus explains that before a person davens, his neshama is still “be’apo,” in his nostrils. It hasn’t spread out into the whole body, so that the person can feel it. This kind of person is like a bamah! Just like a bamah is a big Mizbeiach that sticks out, a person who hasn’t davened yet doesn’t feel Hashem, he feels like he is very important for himself!
That’s why the FIRST avodah of the day has to be for a Yid to connect to Hashem through davening. We need to right away wake up the neshama and spread it throughout the guf, so we will be able to make the right kinds of decisions all day, to use the Gashmius to serve Hashem!
Based on the maamar Lecha Dodi 5689, said at the Rebbe and Rebbetzin’s chasuna; and Lecha Dodi 5714
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According to halacha, really, cleaning for Pesach doesn’t need to be so hard. We need to make sure the kitchen is kashered, clean up the big pieces of chometz all around the house that a person might eat by mistake, and clean very well where we eat so not even a drop of chometz will end up in our food. (On Pesach it is asur to eat even a little bit of chometz, and it doesn’t become botul like other kinds of food we don’t eat. This is a very serious isur, an Isur Kareis, which is why we are so careful.)
The Shulchan Aruch tells us that because Yidden are holy, they are extra careful to clean much more than they NEED to. This is one way they show their love for Hashem’s special Yom Tov of Pesach.
This hard work is very much appreciated by Hashem, and it has an amazing koach to help all Yidden!
The Rebbe Maharash once told this story, about R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev:
Every sound of the shofar — TeKiyah, SHevarim, TeRuah, TeKiyah; “KaShRaK” for short — creates a malach that will beg Hashem to help the Yidden. On Rosh Hashana, after we blow the shofar, we say a “Yehi Ratzon,” asking Hashem that the malochim that come from each sound of the shofar should ask Hashem to give Yidden a good year.
One year, after saying this Yehi Ratzon, R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev added: “Zeese Tatte! Av Rachum! Hashem, I speak to You with Your love for the Yidden as a father to his son. If the malochim that came out of the shofar that Levi Yitzchak ben Sarah blew were too weak, listen to a different set of “KaShRaK” malochim! Listen to the malochim created by the Kratzen (scraping), SHoiben (sanding), Reiben (scrubbing), and Kasheren (kashering the keilim) that were done by the Yidden in honor of Pesach! Let these strong and healthy malochim be the ones to come ask You for a good and sweet year for all of the Yidden!”
See Shevach Hamoadim, introduction to Hilchos Pesach
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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 Rebbe teaches us that it is important for every Yid to remember the psak din of the Rambam, that every Yid has the ability, through their behavior, to bring the Geulah for the whole world. Today we will learn a letter of the Rebbe, where we see how we need to feel an achrayus to do things not just for ourselves, but for all Yidden!
Throughout the years of Jewish history, many groups of Yidden tried looking for a more comfortable life. They decided to skip certain mitzvos, or ignore whole parts of Torah. But even though there were many Yidden who joined them, none of these groups are around anymore!
The Misyavnim in the times of Chanukah, who tried to act like the Greeks — they are gone. The Kara’im, who decided it would be easier without Torah Shebaal Peh — they are gone too. The Tzedukim, who didn’t want to listen to the Chachomim — we don’t have them nowadays either! The only type of Yiddishkeit that has lasted throughout all the generations is REAL Yiddishkeit, following Torah and mitzvos.
Even when things are hard, and we might not be interested in keeping certain mitzvos, we need to remember that it’s not just about us and how we feel. Every Yid has an achrayus not just to do the right thing for themselves, but for all of the Yidden. We each have to make sure we are doing the right thing and stay connected to the golden chain of Yiddishkeit through Torah and mitzvos! This is the only true way for a Yid to go on, as it always was from the time of Matan Torah until after Moshiach comes!
See letter of the Rebbe, 5721
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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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