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CHUMASH
Parshas Shemini - Sheini with Rashi
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We learn about the Avodah done in the Mishkan on the eighth day of the Miluim, to prepare it for Hashem’s Shechinah to rest there.
The Yidden were sad that even though Moshe Rabbeinu had brought korbanos for seven days, the Shivas Yemei Hamiluim, Hashem’s Shechinah wasn’t resting yet in the Mishkan.
Moshe brought the Korban Tomid of the morning, like Hashem told him to.
Then after Aharon brought the rest of the korbanos of the day, he gave a bracha to the Yidden. Using the words of Birkas Kohanim, he asked Hashem to forgive him and all of the Yidden for the Cheit Ha’egel, so that Hashem would be able to rest in the Mishkan.
Then Aharon Hakohen came down from the Mizbeiach — but Hashem still didn’t send a fire down from Shomayim onto the korbanos! Aharon felt that it was his fault, because of the Cheit Ha’egel. He told Moshe that he shouldn’t have had him bring the korbanos, because now he is embarrassed.
Moshe and Aharon went together into the Mishkan, so that Moshe could show Aharon how to bring the ketores, and also so they could daven together that Hashem should rest in the Mishkan.
Then they came out and bentched the Yidden, using the posuk from Tehillim (Kapitel Tzadik): “Vihi Noam Hashem Elokeinu Aleinu.” “Yehi Ratzon Shetishreh Shechinah Bemaasei Yedeichem” — Hashem’s Shechinah should rest in the Mishkan you built!
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In today’s Tehillim, we have a posuk that says “Reishis Chochma Yiras Hashem” — the beginning of Chochma (the first thing before we get the chochma of Torah) is to have Yiras Hashem.
A person could go to Yeshiva and learn a lot of Torah! He might think he is so smart, he is smarter than his teachers! He thinks he doesn’t need to listen to his parents either…
That’s why we need to have Yiras Shomayim first, because this way (as the Gemara explains), we can make sure that our Torah will only bring to GOOD things!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Mem-Alef
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In this perek, we are learning about the kavana we need to have when we learn Torah and do mitzvos, and during davening. We learned that it is important to have the kavana that we are ready to serve Hashem like a servant stands ready to do whatever his master tells him, and to remember that Hashem is watching everything we do. This is Yirah.
We learned that it is not enough to only have Yirah, that we need Ahavas Hashem too, like a bird needs two wings to fly high. Our kavana of Ahava is that we want our neshama to be connected to Hashem!
In today’s Tanya, we learn more about the kavana of being connected to Hashem. This kavana, as we learned yesterday, is that our neshama is ready to be connected to Hashem, even if it means having Mesiras Nefesh! When we daven and learn, we actually CAN have Mesiras Nefesh, by only thinking about the words of Torah or Tefillah, and not thinking about Gashmius. This is like a neshama in Gan Eden, which also doesn’t think about Gashmius!
The Alter Rebbe teaches us about four times we should think about this kavana:
1) In Birchos Hashachar, right before davening, in the paragraph of Elokai Neshama. (We learned yesterday how we see this in the words of Elokai Neshama.)
2) After davening, a person is supposed to learn Torah. Before starting to learn, we think about this kavana.
3) Before learning Torah in a different part of the day or night, we should think about the kavana again right before we start learning.
4) If we are learning for a few hours in a row, we should remind ourselves of this kavana every hour. That’s because a new chayus of Hashem comes into the world every hour, and all the Torah we learned in the hour before goes up to Hashem. Now we need to have kavana for the Torah we will learn in the next hour.
The Alter Rebbe teaches us something more about this kavana of connecting our neshama to Hashem:
We don’t only want to be connected because WE like to be connected to Hashem, but because it will bring a Nachas Ruach to Hashem! The Alter Rebbe gives us a mashal explaining why:
A prince once traveled far from the palace, and ended up being thrown in jail, far from home. For many long years, the prince sat in the dirty and lonely prison cell. Finally, the prince was set free and allowed to return home! The prince was overjoyed to finally come back to the palace! But there was someone even happier — the king, who had been waiting and worrying all this time. The king was now full of tremendous joy that his son was finally coming home!
When we have the kavana that we want to connect our neshama to Hashem, we should remember that for Hashem, it is a tremendous Nachas Ruach.
The Alter Rebbe tells us that this kavana is true for everyone, and always!
These kavanos of Ahava and Yirah are very important and special. Still, they are only our natural feelings, which we have as a yerusha from the Avos. We should make certain times to have hisbonenus which will bring us to create our own feelings of Ahava and Yirah. Even though we will only feel them for a short time, they are still precious to Hashem. And, if we do our part, Hashem might give us extra kochos to be able to feel it ALL the time!
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Today is the eighth day of the Omer!
Chassidus teaches us about many special things that happen in Ruchnius every year during the Yomim Tovim.
For example, during Yetziyas Mitzrayim, the Etzem of Hashem was revealed to the Yidden and took them out of Mitzrayim. And every year, Hashem’s Etzem shines on the first days of Pesach!
And just as Hashem protected the Yidden during Leil Shimurim, this happens again every year!
Only tzadikim are able to really feel these things the way they are in Ruchnius, but every Yid also is changed by them in a certain way.
On Acharon Shel Pesach, a ray of Moshiach shines in the world.
Even though we don’t feel it the way tzadikim do, it helps all of us!
How?
After Tishrei, we don’t go straight back into our regular Avodah. First, after Shemini Atzeres we have Simchas Torah, then we have Shabbos Bereishis, and then we continue with V’Yaakov Holach Ledarko. That slowly helps us bring the koach of the Yomim Tovim into the rest of the year.
But Pesach doesn’t work that way! We go straight from Acharon Shel Pesach into the week!
How do we jump from Pesach right into a regular weekday?
We can do it with the koach of Moshiach! When Moshiach comes, Hashem will be felt in the whole world, and even a regular day’s Avodah will feel like a Yom Tov! The taste of Moshiach that we get on Acharon Shel Pesach gives us the koach be able to do the shlichus Hashem gives us, and make the Gashmius of the world into a place where Hashem can be felt!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #253) is the same as yesterday’s: That we’re not allowed to cheat a Ger, to sell him something for more money than it is really worth, or buy something from him for too little. (Of course, we can’t cheat ANYONE! But if someone chas veshalom cheats a Ger, they did TWO aveiros, and need to do teshuvah for each one.)
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: וְגֵר לֹא תוֹנֶה
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more halachos of how a person can make something his in the Torah way. We see from these halachos how important it is to stay away from cheating by being very clear about exactly what we are selling.
In Perek Chof-Beis, we learn about selling something that isn’t there yet, like selling “whatever will grow on this tree.” A person isn’t allowed to do that, because it didn’t grow yet! But the Rambam says that if someone says that “whatever grows in this field” belongs to tzedakah, he needs to keep his promise!
Perek Chof-Gimmel teaches us more about this. We learn that it is different if a person sells someone the chance to grow things in their field, it IS fine to sell it. Because he is letting him use the field, which IS there!
In Perek Chof-Daled, the Rambam tells us that if we sell someone trees, we need to also sell him enough room in the field so he can take care of it. We also learn more halachos about what to do when it isn’t so clear what a person is selling.
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In this perek, we learn some of the ways we keep these halachos of Taharas Hamishpacha nowadays.
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This week in Sefiras Haomer, we are working on the midah of Gevurah. Gevurah means to be strong: Like when we wake up in the morning, a Yid needs to be “Gibor Ko’Ari” — strong like a lion, to win over his Yetzer Hara who wants him to go back to sleep instead of going to daven!
We also use this midah to make sure we are being nice to other people: When we get upset at someone, we are strong with our gevurah and don’t listen to our Yetzer Hara who wants us to scream at them! Instead we should think about how Hashem is watching what we are doing, and talk to them in a nice way.
In a few weeks, we will learn about this in Pirkei Avos: The first mishna in Perek Daled says, “Eizehu Gibor? Hakovesh Es Yitzro!” “Who is a strong person (someone with Gevurah)? Someone who wins over his Yetzer Hara!”
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▼ Jump to Coloring Books & Downloads ▼
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In the year Tof-Shin-Lamed-Vov, the Rebbe introduced something very special for children — the Twelve Pesukim. On Rosh Chodesh Iyar, the Rebbe taught the first six pesukim, and the next six pesukim were taught on Lag B’Omer, a few weeks later. The Rebbe explained that these pesukim have a very special koach to protect the Yidden!
Many people have a minhag to say the Twelve Pesukim after Shacharis, or after Kriyas Shema She’al Hamitah. This helps to learn and know these pesukim by heart!
The Rebbe said that the point is not only to know the words of the pesukim, but to know what they mean! These pesukim were chosen because they have important messages for even young children. When we know the pesukim very well, we will be able to think about them in our free time, and even to explain their messages to other children!
IY”H over the next few weeks we will review the meaning and the messages of each of these pesukim.
See Der Rebbbe Redt Tzu Kinder, vol. 5 p. 245
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The day after Yom Tov is called Isru Chag. The word “isru” means tied, connected. It is a day that connects the regular weekdays with the Yom Tov that just ended.
On Isru Chag, we bring some of the joy of Yom Tov into a regular day. We eat a little bit more than usual to show that it is special, and we don’t fast.
The Gemara says that someone who eats and drinks more on the day after Yom Tov, connecting it to the Yom Tov, it is like he built a Mizbeiach and brought a korban!
(We hint to this in Hallel: “Isru Chag Ba’avosim Ad Karnos Hamizbeiach.” If you eat “avosim” (fatty food) on Isru Chag, it is like you brought a korban to the corners of the Mizbeiach.)
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Tof-Chof-Tes se’if yud-zayin
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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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Chizkiyahu was a king over the Yidden of Yehudah in the times of the first Beis Hamikdash. He was a great tzadik, and ruled over the Yidden well.
Not far from Eretz Yisroel lived a cruel king named Sancheriv. All of the kings around him, including Chizkiyahu, gave him gifts of a lot of money so he would leave them alone. But even though Chizkiyahu gave him all of the money in his royal treasury, Sancheriv was not satisfied. He came to capture Eretz Yisroel.
Sancheriv’s army was very strong, and they were able to capture all of the cities. When they reached Yerushalayim, Sancheriv decided to rest with his army outside the gates, and capture it in the morning. Sancheriv’s general yelled at the Yidden, telling them to ignore Chizkiyahu and give up.
Chizkiyahu tore his clothes and went to daven in the Beis Hamikdash. He told all of the Yidden to fast and to daven, because we only win with Hashem’s help.
The Navi Yeshayahu came to Chizkiyahu and told him a wonderful nevuah! Hashem had promised to save Yerushalayim and make many miracles!
Chizkiyahu had a lot of bitachon in Hashem! Even though the enemy was sleeping right outside of the gates of Yerushalayim, he knew he could trust Hashem’s words. He went to sleep peacefully, not worried at all.
And the miracles started to happen! That night, the first night of Pesach, Hashem made Sancheriv’s soldiers die. When Sancheriv woke up in the morning and saw his army dead, he gave up and went back home, without even shooting one arrow at Yerushalayim, just like the Navi had said!
If you look at the words of the Navi, you will see that the nevuah was much longer than the part about saving Yerushalayim! Hashem also promised that a great leader will come and bring the Yidden back to Yerushalayim. There will be peace throughout the world, and even lions will lie down together with lambs.
These nevuos are about Moshiach! Chizkiyahu was the person in his generation who could have become Moshiach, but in the end it wasn’t the right time. So all of those nevuos are waiting to come true, very soon, when Moshiach comes!
This nevuah of Yeshayahu is the haftora of Acharon Shel Pesach. That is because Acharon Shel Pesach is when the light of Moshiach shines! And when Acharon Shel Pesach is over, it leaves us with koach to prepare the world for Moshiach!
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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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