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CHUMASH
Parshas Tazria-Metzora - Shlishi with Rashi
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Today we are learning more about Tzoraas.
We learned that spots of tzoraas on a person’s head are called “Nesek.” But if a person is bald on the back of his head (Karachas) or on the front of his head (Gabachas), we follow the rules of the regular tzoraas spots (Nega) to see if the person is tomei.
Now we learn what a person does if the Kohen says that he is Tomei from Tzoraas:
The Metzora has to tear his clothes and not cut his hair, like an avel. He has to cover his face down to his mustache or top lip. He calls out “Tomei, tomei” to let everyone know to stay away from him, and not become tomei from him.
He has to go away from everyone else, outside of where the rest of the Yidden live.
Now we learn about Tzoraas on clothes:
If a person sees bright red or bright green spots on a piece of clothing, he needs to show them to the kohen. The kohen tells him to put the clothing away for a week, and then looks at it again. If the spot got bigger, it is Tzoraas and it needs to be burned!
If it didn’t get bigger, the person washes it and waits another week before the kohen checks again.
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Today, we are starting Sefer Tehillim again from the very beginning! IY”H we will finish the whole thing before Rosh Chodesh Sivan!
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In Kapitel Alef, the first Kapitel of Tehillim, we say the following posuk: “Ki Im BeSoras Hashem Cheftzo, UveSoraso Yehege Yomam VaLayla.” “Hashem’s Torah is all he wants, and he is busy with his Torah all day and night.”
How come it first says HASHEM’S Torah, and then it says HIS Torah (that it belongs to the person learning it)?
Chassidus explains that when a person first starts learning Torah, it feels like it’s something that’s not part of him.
But when he understands properly what he learned, then the Torah becomes HIS, it becomes a part of him! Naturally a person has his own way of looking at the world. But when a person learns Torah, he sees the way HASHEM wants us to look at the world. When he learns and understands enough Torah, he starts to change his way of thinking to the Torah way of thinking — and this Torah way of thinking BECOMES his own way of thinking too!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Mem-Gimmel
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In yesterday’s Tanya we learned that before a person has the highest level of Ahavas Hashem, they need to first learn Torah and do mitzvos properly with Yiras Shomayim. What about for the lower level? Do you need to be doing all of your mitzvos properly then too?
Today the Alter Rebbe says that SOMETIMES a person can have Ahavas Olam, where they love Hashem and not anything else, even if he DIDN’T have Yiras Shomayim first. Hashem will sometimes help a person to have Ahava first, if he needs to do teshuvah right away. But that is something that happens with special Hashgacha Protis from Hashem only in specific cases — its’s not the regular way things work.
We have to try to do Avodas Hashem in order — first we should work on our Yiras Shomayim, to learn Torah and mitzvos properly, and THEN we will be able to have Ahavas Hashem.
This is hinted to us in Shema! The word “Ve’ahavta” (and you should love Hashem) is the same Gematria as the word “Ohr” (light) two times! First we have Yiras Shomayim so our neshama has the light of Torah and mitzvos, and then we can have the light of loving Hashem.
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Today is sixteen days of the Omer! It is also Rosh Chodesh.
Iyar is a very special month. Each day is a mitzvah, a day to be counted in Sefiras Ha’omer! In Nissan we count Sefirah only at the end of the month, and in Sivan we only count in the beginning of the month. But in Iyar, EVERY day is a mitzvah!
In today’s Hayom Yom, Rosh Chodesh Iyar, the Rebbe teaches us the lesson we learn from counting, the special mitzvah of Chodesh Iyar.
Once, at a farbrengen during Sefiras Haomer, someone said to the Rebbe Rashab, “The Alter Rebbe’s Chassidim were always counting!” (“Dem Alten Rebben’s Chassidim flegen alemol tzeilen.”)
The Rebbe Rashab liked this vort very much!
The Rebbe Rashab explained:
This is what avodah is all about! The hours need to be counted. If we count every hour, we are making sure that we used all of our time for serving Hashem. Then, we can count our day, because we know that the whole day was used for the right things.
When a day passes, we need to know what we accomplished that day, and what we still need to accomplish tomorrow. We need to make sure that tomorrow’s day is more beautiful than today!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #236) is the same mitzvah again in Sefer Hamitzvos: If someone hurts somebody else, or does something that makes them get hurt, they need to pay them back for five things: That they’re not worth as much, for the pain that they had, for their doctor bills, for the time they couldn’t go to work, and for their being embarrassed.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn a bunch of halachos about neighbors. There are some things you CAN do even if your neighbors don’t like it, and other things that you CAN’T do because they bother someone else.
In Perek Daled we learn about upstairs and downstairs neighbors who share a house or part of a mountain garden. One halacha is that if the house falls down, the person downstairs HAS to build his part of the house so that the upstairs neighbor can build his. If he doesn’t, the upstairs neighbor can build the bottom floor and live there himself until his neighbor pays him back for all of his work.
Perek Hey teaches us about people who share a courtyard. There are many halachos that teach us about privacy. For example, we can’t build a new window that faces the courtyard, because then we can look at our neighbors all the time and see what they are doing.
In Perek Vov, we learn about people who share a city or a road. We learn that if there is something that the city needs, everyone who lives there has to help pay for it.
One thing that you can do even if the other people don’t like it is to teach kinderlach Torah — even if they are noisy and the neighbors don’t like the noise!
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Today we learn the halachos about when a woman is called a Chalalah.
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The month of Iyar has many special things. Here are three of them which we find often in the sichos and letters of the Rebbe for this month:
1) Every day of the whole month there is a mitzvah (Sefiras HaOmer)
2) This month is also called Chodesh Ziv (the month of light), because the Avos, who lit up the world, were born in Nisan, so their first month of life was Iyar! The word Iyar also is the first letters of the names of the Avos — Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and Rochel!
א — אברהם
י — יצחק
י — יעקב
ר — רחל
We need to use the special kochos of Iyar to make the world even BRIGHTER!
3) The month of Iyar is the Roshei Teivos of a powerful posuk which speaks about healing! The Torah says, “Ani Hashem Rofecha,” “I am Hashem Who heals you.” This posuk speaks about the sicknesses of Mitzrayim, showing that one of the ways Hashem heals us is not to make us sick at all!
In letters, the Rebbe says that this month is a special time for health, as explained in seforim. (See for example Igros Kodesh chelek Tes-Vov, p. 100)
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The second posuk of the Twelve Pesukim starts with the words Shema Yisroel.
This is a posuk we all know, and we say it in davening and before we go to sleep!
The posuk Shema Yisroel has a very important message for us:
When the Yidden were in the Midbar, Hashem took care of everything for them. They had mahn to eat, their clothes grew with them, and the clouds washed their clothes! It was easy for them to see that Hashem is in charge!
When they came close to Eretz Yisroel, Moshe Rabbeinu spoke to the Yidden to get them ready for the new Avodah in Eretz Yisroel.
In Eretz Yisroel, there would be no more mahn. The clouds would not wash their clothes or smooth the way for them. They would see many new things — fields, wheat to grow, and animals to work with. It would be harder to remember who is in charge of the whole world!
So Moshe Rabbeinu reminded them:
Shema Yisroel! Listen, Yidden!
Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echod — Hashem, Who took care of us in the Midbar, is the same ONE Hashem Who takes care of every thing that happens in Eretz Yisroel!
We are not in the Midbar now, but the same message is still important!
Shema Yisroel — listen, Yidden!
Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echod — there is only One Hashem, and the whole world belongs to Hashem! Everything we see, and everything that happens, is all from Hashem.
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In the Midbar, a group of Yidden did a terrible aveira — the Cheit Ha’egel. Unfortunately, many of the Yidden ended up serving this Avodah Zarah.
The women in the Midbar did NOT do the Cheit Ha’egel. They didn’t want to be a part of it at all.
Because of this, Hashem rewarded them with an extra Yom Tov — Rosh Chodesh!
It is a minhag that women don’t do certain kinds of melacha on their Yom Tov, like doing laundry or sewing.
Chassidus explains how specifically the women were able to overcome this very hard nisayon because of the special koach of emunah Hashem created them with, which helped keep them from Avodah Zarah. On Rosh Chodesh, women celebrate this special neshama-koach which was given to them as a special gift from Hashem.
See here for details about the halachos
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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 Yeshaya says that when Moshiach comes, we won’t only come to see Hashem in the Beis Hamikdash three times a year, we will come to see Hashem every Shabbos, and Rosh Chodesh too!
Chassidus explains why we will come so much more often:
The reason why Yidden always went to the Beis Hamikdash on the Shalosh Regalim is because these are times of simcha. These Yomim Tovim weren’t just a time of simcha for Yidden, but a time of simcha for Hashem! When a person is happy, they don’t hide things so much, they want to share their simcha with others! The same is true with Hashem: At a time of simcha for Hashem, Hashem doesn’t hide so much in the world! Yidden would come to the Beis Hamikdash to be able to feel this simcha of Hashem, when Hashem was much more revealed.
When Moshiach comes, Hashem’s simcha will be complete! (This is even hinted to in the word Moshiach — the letters can be put in a different order to spell Yismach, that Hashem will be happy!) Hashem won’t only be revealed during the Shalosh Regalim, we will be able to feel it every Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh! That’s why we will come then to the Beis Hamikdash, to feel that special closeness to Hashem!
See Migola L’Geulah p. 254, from Sefer Hamaamarim of the Rebbe Maharash, Tof-Reish-Lamed
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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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