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CHUMASH
Parshas Vayikra - Shlishi with Rashi
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In Chumash today, Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu more about the Mincha korban — the korban made of flour, that poor people can give, since flour doesn’t cost as much as an animal or a bird!
In yesterday’s Chumash, Hashem told Moshe about three kinds of Korban Mincha — one that is just plain flour, one that is baked, and one that is fried. All of these kinds of Korban Mincha need to have flour, oil, spices, and salt!
Hashem taught Moshe Rabbeinu about another kind of Korban Mincha, called the Minchas Marcheshes. It should be cooked in a pot with a lot of oil, deep fried!
The fifth and last kind of Korban Mincha is called Minchas Bikurim (or “Minchas Ha’omer”). Just like Bikurim are the FIRST of the fruits that grow, Minchas Bikurim is also from the FIRST barley that grows. The flour for this Mincha should not be ground very well, it should still have big pieces of barley.
For every Korban Mincha, the kohen should take part of it to burn on the Mizbeiach, and the rest he should keep to eat himself. It still has a lot of kedusha, and that’s why it’s only for the kohen to eat!
Hashem told Moshe to be very careful not to make a Korban Mincha chometz’dik! Only the “Shtei Halechem” korban we bring on Shavuos was made of chometz.
Hashem told Moshe that the Yidden should not put anything in ANY kind of korban to make it sweet, like honey or juice. Only the Bikurim had dates with honey inside of them.
Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu that EVERY korban (not just a Korban Mincha) needs to have salt!
Rashi tells us that Hashem was keeping a promise! When Hashem made the world, He separated the water into water over the sky, and water on the earth, in the oceans and seas. The salty water that was on the earth complained to Hashem, it didn’t want to be on the bottom! Hashem promised that it would be rewarded for being the lower water: Salt from the sea would be brought with all of the Korbanos, and once a year water would be poured on the Mizbeiach! That’s why the posuk calls this “Bris Melach,” the promise of salt, because it is the promise that Hashem gave during the creation of the world, that the salt will be used for korbanos.
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In today’s Tehillim, we have a kapitel that we say every day: Kapitel Chof.
On some days we say it in davening, but on a day when we don’t say Tachanun (like during the whole Chodesh Nissan!), it’s not in davening. The Friediker Rebbe made a takana to say this kapitel every day, even on a day when we don’t say Tachanun. So on those days, we say Kapitel Chof right after davening, before the daily Tehillim.
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Lamed-Ches
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The Alter Rebbe told us that the main reason a neshama comes into the body is to make the body holy and to make the world holy. That’s why it’s so important to SAY the words of davening and to DO mitzvos, and it’s not enough to just think about them and have kavana.
Still, it IS important to have kavana, because kavanah is like the “neshama,” or the nefesh (soul), of the mitzvah.
The Chachomim say that a mitzvah without kavana is like a guf without a nefesh.
What’s the difference between a guf without a nefesh and a guf with a nefesh?
Everything in the world has a chayus from Hashem to make it exist. Hashem is hidden in this chayus by something called Kelipas Noga. Still, we are able to see a difference in the chayus that there is in something that is just a guf, or the chayus in something that has a guf AND a nefesh.
Of course a guf is worth something, even without a nefesh! For example, a cow that is shechted doesn’t have a nefesh anymore, but the guf is still there. The guf still has some chayus, and we can use it — for example, we can use its meat for cholent and its skin to make parchment for a mezuzah or a Sefer Torah!
Still, we can’t compare a piece of meat to a live cow. A live cow, which has a guf and a nefesh, has much more chayus that can be seen.
The same way, a mitzvah that we do without any kavana is still worth something, but we can’t compare it to the chayus in a mitzvah that we do WITH kavana!
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Yesterday was the Yom Hilula of the Rebbe Rashab. Today we learn some of the Rebbe Rashab’s regular shiurim:
- A parsha of Chumash with Rashi
- A perek of Torah, Neviim, and Kesuvim baal peh
- A perek of Mishnayos
- Gemara Le’iyun (learning in depth) to finish 2 blatt a week
- Gemara Le’girsa (learning not as in depth) — 3 blatt a day
- some of Talmud Yerushalmi
- Poskim (like the Shulchan Aruch, but not every day)
- Midrash Rabbah — to finish the whole thing every year (he would finish the longer weeks of Medrash in weeks when the Medrash was shorter)
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #245) is not to rob another person. What’s the difference between stealing (geneivah) and robbing (gezeilah)? Stealing is when a person takes something in a secret way, and robbing is taking something away from another person by force. Both are asur, of course, but each is a separate mitzvah.
We learn this from a posuk in Parshas Kedoshim: לֹא תִגְזֹל
The halachos of this mitzvah are explained in Perakim Tes and Yud of Mesechta Bava Kama.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Gezeilah VaAveidah
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In today’s Rambam, we start to learn the halachos about how a robber pays back what he robbed.
Perek Alef teaches us what robbery is, and the general rule of how a robber pays back. We also learn that it is asur to be jealous of something someone has and try to get the other person to sell it. The Torah tells us that if someone does that, he will eventually rob!
Perek Beis explains what happens if the thing that was stolen changed after it was stolen, like if the robber stole a cow and it got bigger and fatter, or he stole raw stones and polished them into shining gems. Sometimes we say he needs to give it back, and other times he pays the owner back instead.
Perek Gimmel teaches us what happens if a robber stole something and broke it or lost it. In this kind of case, the robber has to pay back the amount it was worth. How much does he pay back if the price for that kind of thing changed from when he stole it? This perek also includes the halachos about other things which are called gezel, like using someone else’s things without permission.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more halachos about chalitzah.
One halacha is that these mitzvos only need to be done if the yavam is ALLOWED TO get married to her. For example, if the almanah’s brother-in-law is already married to her sister, he doesn’t need to do chalitzah. That’s because he wouldn’t be able to marry her even if he wanted to, since the Torah doesn’t let us marry two sisters.
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Beis Nissan was the yartzeit of the Rebbe Rashab, and the beginning of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s nesius. Here is a story that the Frierdiker Rebbe said in the first maamar he said after the histalkus of the Rebbe Rashab. This maamar starts with the same words as the Rebbe Rashab’s last maamar, Reishis Goyim Amalek.
This story happened when the Frierdiker Rebbe was a young boy, a few years after the histalkus of the Rebbe Maharash. The Frierdiker Rebbe used to go often into the Yechidus room of the Rebbe Maharash.
Once he was in the room, when he saw the door opening. He was afraid, so he hid, and peeked to see who was coming in. The Frierdiker Rebbe saw his father, the Rebbe Rashab, come into the room, wearing a gartel.
The Rebbe Rashab stood in front of the table, across from the Rebbe Maharash’s chair. The Frierdiker Rebbe saw his father’s lips moving, as if he was talking, and saw tears pouring from his father’s eyes.
In the maamar, the Frierdiker Rebbe explains that the kedusha never leaves the place where a tzadik learns Torah and davens, or all of the Gashmius things a tzadik uses to serve Hashem. Since this avodah was done by a tzadik, the kedusha stays there the same way even after the histalkus!
The Rebbe Rashab recognized that the kedusha was still in the room of the Rebbe Maharash, so he had a yechidus just as he would when the Rebbe Maharash was alive.
The Rebbe later explained this much more, in the sicha of Parshas Vayikra Tof-Shin-Mem-Zayin, how everything of a tzadik stays with the exact same kedusha even after histalkus. The Rebbe taught how using these same things can give us koach to have a stronger hiskashrus with the tzadik!
See Sefer Hasichos Tof-Shin-Mem-Zayin p. 375
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Don’t forget to say the Nasi! Today’s Nasi is from Shevet Zevulun.
If you look at the Nasi for every day, you will see that they are almost exactly the same! The only difference is the name of the Nasi and the name of the Shevet!
But if you look at the Medrash on the parsha of the Nasi, you will see that the Nasi of each shevet had a different kavana when he brought the korban. That’s because each shevet had a different way of serving Hashem, and even though they all brought the same korban, they chose this korban for different reasons, according to their way of avodah.
There is even one halacha sefer, called Makor Chaim, where it says that we should read the kavanah of each Nasi from Medrash Rabbah on the day that we say his Nasi! That’s not what we actually do, but it still shows us that the different kavanos of the Nasi are important.
As we learned yesterday, when we say the Yehi Ratzon after saying the Nasi, we are asking Hashem that no matter which shevet we are from, we should still get koach and chayus from this shevet too. We are asking that the type of Avodah of each of the Shevatim should help us have a deeper understanding of Hashem’s Torah, and help us serve Hashem with Yiras Shomayim.
See Sefer Hasichos Tof-Shin-Mem-Zayin p. 373 ha’arah 28
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Even young children come to the seder. But do they need to do the mitzvos of the seder?
The Alter Rebbe says that “Ketanim Shehigiyu L’Chinuch,” small children that reached the age of chinuch, need to be taught to drink the four kosos.
What age is that?
There are many opinions in Poskim, but the Alter Rebbe does not give a specific age. Instead, the Alter Rebbe says when a child is old enough to understand what we do with each of the Arba Kosos, they are old enough that we teach them to drink them!
1) Kiddush — they understand that we make kiddush because of the kedusha of Yom Tov
2) Yetziyas Mitzrayim — they understand the idea of telling the story of going out of Mitzrayim, which we do over the second kos
3) Bentching — they understand that we need to thank Hashem after eating, which we do over the third kos
4) Hallel — they understand that we say praises of Hashem, which we do with the fourth kos
There is no difference between boys and girls, they both have the same mitzvah!
But even though they need to drink the Arba Kosos, young children don’t need to drink the full cup. It is enough for them to do the mitzvah according to the smallest opinion. So even though on Pesach adults are careful to drink the whole cup, for a child it is enough to drink a “Melo Lugmav,” enough to fill up their cheek.
A child that is old enough to understand (Higiya L’Chinuch) also needs to do the mitzvah of eating matzah. Again, it is enough for them to do the mitzvah according to the smallest opinion. So we should teach even a child to eat a kezayis (about a fifth of a matzah, according to one opinion) in the time it takes to eat a normal piece of bread, about 7 or 8 minutes (“Kedei Achilas Pras”).
See Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, Hilchos Pesach se’if Chof-Hey; based on shiurim of Rabbi Yekusiel Farkash
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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 Navi Micha saw in his nevuos the time before Moshiach comes. Seeing all of the troubles the Yidden would go through made Micha cry out to Hashem. He asked Hashem to take care of the Yidden the way Hashem took care of the Yidden in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu!
Hashem answered Micha: “Kimei Tzeischa Me’Eretz Mitzrayim Arenu Niflaos!” “I heard what you asked, and I will do it! Just like in the time of coming out of Mitzrayim, when I made tremendous nisim, I will show you wonders in the time of the Geulah!”
This posuk is explained many times in Chassidus, especially in the Rebbe’s sichos of Yud-Alef Nissan and Pesach! The Rebbe even called the year Tof-Shin-Nun-Alef, “Shnas Arenu Niflaos,” “the year of ‘I will show you wonders,’” based on this posuk. During that year, the Rebbe explained this posuk many times.
May we be zoche to the fulfillment of this nevuah, “Kimei Tzeischa Me’Eretz Mitzrayim Arenu Niflaos,” in this Chodesh Nisan, Chodesh Hageulah, very soon!
See Micha 7:15
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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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