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CHUMASH
Parshas Behar-Bechukosai - Chamishi with Rashi
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Hashem is telling us even more brachos we will get by learning Torah and following the mitzvos it teaches us:
Hashem will make our food last so long that we won’t even have enough room to store it! We will have to take out the old food to make room for the new food that grew.
Hashem will give us the Beis Hamikdash, and live there, among the Yidden.
We will be able to feel close to Hashem and have a real Yiras Shomayim.
We don’t have to worry that these are too many nissim — Hashem, Who took us out of Mitzrayim, can certainly do all of these things!
The next part of the parsha is called the Tochacha, where Hashem warns the Yidden that if they DON’T learn Torah on purpose, and DON’T do the mitzvos, Hashem will send them very sad, very scary punishments.
Because it is so sad to think about the things that could happen to the Yidden if they don’t do mitzvos, we don’t give anyone an aliyah for this part of the parsha. Instead, the Baal Korei just says the brachos himself, like we learn in Hayom Yom.
We need to remember, though, that nothing BAD comes from Hashem! Sometimes we can see how it’s good, and other times we can’t...
At the end of the Tochacha, Hashem tells us that after all these hard things happen, the Yidden will do teshuvah. Then Hashem will remember the zechus that we have from the Avos, and bring us back to Eretz Yisroel. And even when the Yidden are in Golus because of their aveiros, Hashem will never destroy them — He promised us that we are His people.
The last posuk of today’s Chumash tells us something about all of the pesukim from Chumash Vayikra that we have learned until now: All of these things are the mitzvos and the Torahs that Hashem gave to us on Har Sinai. Rashi tells us that it says “Torahs” to teach us that Moshe Rabbeinu got the Torah Shebichsav (the Chumash) AND the Torah Shebaal Peh on Har Sinai.
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In today’s Tehillim, we say the kapitelach of Hallel!
In the second Kapitel, we talk about how the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim and crossed the Yam Suf. The posuk says “Hoysa Yehudah LeKodsho, Yisroel Mamshelosav. HaYam Ra’ah Vayanos.” The translation is, “Yehuda (the Yidden) became Hashem’s holy nation, Yisroel (another name for the Yidden) became His kingdom. The sea saw and ran away!”
The Gemara in Sotah (which we’re learning during Sefiras Haomer) explains this posuk:
When the Yidden were standing by the Yam Suf, they didn’t know what to do. The Mitzriyim were running after them, and they couldn’t go anywhere because they were stuck by the water! Moshe Rabbeinu was davening to Hashem. Nachshon ben Aminadav, from Shevet Yehudah, decided to just keep doing what Hashem told them before, and keep going. He jumped into the water and kept going! Hashem made the neis of Kriyas Yam Suf and the sea split.
Hashem gave Nachshon a reward for what he did, that the Yiddishe kings will later come from Shevet Yehudah.
So the Gemara explains the posuk: “Hashem made the Shevet of Yehudah holy, that he will rule Yisroel (the Yidden). Why? Because ‘Hayam Ra’ah Vayanos’ — ‘the sea saw that he was making a Kiddush Hashem’ and ran away (split).”
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Nun-Alef
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In today’s Tanya we learn part of a mashal that will help us understand how although Hashem is everywhere, the Shechinah is revealed in certain places.
Hashem gave every one of us a Neshama, which is what gives us chayus and makes us alive.
But there are TWO kinds of chayus that we get from the neshama — one kind of chayus that is the same for every part of us, that just makes us alive, and a second kind of chayus that gives each part of us exactly the kochos it needs (like the koach to see for our eyes, or to hear for our ears).
The main place where this second kind of chayus is the head. All of the kochos are there, hiding. They spread out to the right parts of the body so it will work the way Hashem made it. Even the heart, which is so important, gets its chayus from the head! (This is what we learned before in Tanya, that the mind has a koach to rule over the heart.)
We will soon see that the Beis Hamikdash is like the “head” of the world!
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On Chof-Daled Iyar we count thirty-nine days of the Omer!
We go through some minhagim for this Shabbos:
1) This Shabbos is Shabbos Mevorchim. The Rebbe reminds us that it’s a day of Farbrengen, and that we should say Tehillim in the morning.
2) When we lein the Tochacha in Parshas Bechukosai, nobody gets the Aliyah — instead, the person who is reading the Torah says the brachos on his own without being called up to the Torah.
3) Usually on Shabbos Mevorchim we don’t say the paragraph of Av Harachamim before Musaf. In Av Harachamim, we speak about the many Yidden who gave up their lives Al Kiddush Hashem. We ask Hashem to punish those who killed Yidden. Usually, on Shabbos Mevorchim, we don’t want to speak about something so sad. But davka during this time of the year, many communities of Yidden were wiped out. To remember them, the Chachomim asked that we say Av Harachamim this week.
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In the beginning of Parshas Bechukosai, Hashem says “Im Bechukosai Teileichu” — “if you will go in the path of My mitzvos,” then Hashem will be able to give Yidden many brachos!
The Chachomim explain that the word “Im” doesn’t only mean “if”, it means “halevai” — “if only!” Hashem loves Yidden so much that he is asking us to please keep the Torah so that we can get all of the brachos the Torah promises.
Knowing that Hashem is asking us gives us the koach to choose to do the right thing!
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There are a few places in Hayom Yom with more than one part per day — all on Shabbos! Maybe the Rebbe is teaching us that on Shabbos, we should make time to learn even more! Here is the second part of today’s Hayom Yom:
When Moshiach comes, we will see how special the poshute Yidden are. These are the simple people who serve Hashem and say Tehillim with temimus, only because they want to serve Hashem with their whole heart.
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In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #236) that not only is it not allowed for someone to lend with Ribbis (interest), it’s not even allowed for someone to BORROW from a Yid with Ribbis! So even if the person we’re borrowing from doesn’t know about the mitzvah, we’re not allowed to borrow from him and pay interest.
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Perek Yud-Tes: One of the things we learn in today’s Rambam is that when the Beis Din needs to take away someone’s field to pay back a loan, they shouldn’t take the best field, and they shouldn’t take the worst field — they should take the middle kind, the “beinonis.” (Really, Torah says that the nicest way to do it is to take the worst field away, but the Chachomim were afraid nobody would want to make any more loans if they did that. That’s why they made the halacha that we should take from the beinonis.)
In Perek Chof, we learn about what the Beis Din should do if someone doesn’t have a lot of money or property, and TWO people come to the Beis Din because their loans weren’t paid back. Who gets paid back first? The halacha is that whoever’s loan was made first gets paid back first. If both were at the same time, whoever went to the Beis Din first gets paid back first!
Perek Chof-Alef: Let’s say that Reuven borrowed money from Shimon, but never paid it back. In the meantime, Reuven sold his field to Levi! Levi worked very hard on the field, and fixed it up so it is now worth more money. But since Reuven still owes him money, Shimon is allowed to take the field from Levi. This perek has the halachos about if he can take the fixed-up part of the field to pay back the loan, since it is now worth more.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about the 5 things that a shochet has to be careful NOT to do — otherwise the animal he shechted isn’t kosher:
1) Shehiyah — stopping in the middle of shechting
2) Chaladah — shechting without being able to see the knife
3) Drasah — pushing down with the knife instead of going back and forth
4) Hagrama — shechting on the wrong part of the animal’s neck
5) Ikur — if the part that he is supposed to shecht moves before he finishes
Any animal that the shochet does one of these 5 things on is called a Neveilah, and we are not allowed to eat it.
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One of the reasons why we count Sefiras Ha’omer is because just as the Yidden in the Midbar were excited and counted the days until they would receive the Torah, every year we are excited for the day that Hashem will give us the Torah, on Shavuos!
Here is a story about a yechidus that a bochur had with the Rebbe, about learning Torah:
When a chossid went into yechidus, he would usually bring a note, a tzetl. The Rebbe would take the tzetl and read through it, answering the questions inside.
But one bochur’s yechidus was a little different!
This bochur brought his tzetl with him as usual, and gave it to the Rebbe.
But even before the Rebbe opened the tzetl, he looked up at the bochur.
The Rebbe told him, whatever you become — whether you become a Rav, an Osek Betzorchei Tzibur (someone involved in helping the community), or a shliach — you need to be able to learn well, Niglah and Chassidus!
Only after telling him this did the Rebbe open the bochur’s note.
We see from here that whatever we want to become, a Rav or an Osek Betzorchei Tzibur, or a shliach, we need to be able to learn well, Niglah and Chassidus!
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The Rebbe gave us 12 pesukim to know by heart and understand well. They have important lessons for us to keep in mind, and can give us chayus in doing what we should. When we are worried or feeling frustrated or upset, the Yud-Beis Pesukim can help us too!
For eample, the posuk Yogaati can be very helpful for us when we are feeling frustrated or hopeless.
Lots of times we try to stop doing an aveira — and it doesn’t work! We mess up again and again. Maybe we should just give up, since we can tell that we’re going to keep doing the wrong thing.
Or there is something we know we are supposed to be doing, but we just can’t seem to make it happen!
When we start thinking that way, we need to remember the posuk Yogaati!
This posuk is from Torah Shebaal Peh, from the Gemara:
Yogaati Velo Motzosi, Al Taamin — If someone says, I tried hard and it didn’t work, don’t believe them!
Lo Yogaati Umotzosi, Al Taamin — If someone says, I didn’t try hard at all, and I was able to do it right away, don’t believe them either.
Yogaati Umotzosi, Taamin — If someone says, I tried hard and it worked, then believe them!
Let’s say that I have a hard time remembering to bring Negel Vasser. I make a hachlata to bring it right after supper, but I STILL keep forgetting! I might want to give up and just stop trying — maybe this is just not for me. But the Torah tells us that if we keep trying hard, then it WILL work!
Or imagine that I am trying not to bite my nails on Shabbos. But every Shabbos, I forget the halacha again! I might feel like it’s just too hard to keep this mitzvah. But this posuk reminds us that we CAN do it! Just keep trying, and we will see that we will have hatzlacha in the end.
Even adults sometimes feel this way! Let’s say I started to learn more Chassidus in honor of Yud-Tes Kislev, but I don’t feel different! I don’t feel like a better chossid! Should I just stop? The posuk Yogaati reminds us to keep trying, because in the end we will see that when we work hard, we WILL have hatzlacha — Yogaati Umotzosi!
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If you see lightning and hear thunder at the same time, you only make one bracha — either “Osei Maasei Bereshis, or “Shekocho Ugvuraso Malei Olam.” That’s because each of these brachos could be made on either thunder or lightning, so one bracha is enough for both.
But if you hear or see one and then the other afterwards, you should say two brachos. Like we said, either bracha works for either one, but the minhag is to say “Osei Maasei Bereishis” for the lightning, and then “Shekocho Ugvuraso Malei Olam” (which talks about Hashem’s gevurah) for the thunder, which reminds us about Hashem’s gevurah!
We say both brachos (instead of saying the same bracha twice) because it’s best to praise Hashem in different ways!
If the thunderstorm stopped, and a new storm started afterwards, do you make another bracha?
If you saw the clouds move away, and you could see the sky, and then new clouds came, you will need to make another bracha if you see lightning or hear thunder again!
See Seder Birkas Hanehenin, 13:15-16
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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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There are some parts of Torah that speak directly about the times of Moshiach, like the Gemara in Sanhedrin, many Midrashim, and parts of Chassidus.
Other parts of Torah don’t speak openly about the times of Moshiach, but there is a connection to Moshiach which is obvious. Yet other times, there seems to be no connection at all!
When we remember that the reason why Hashem made the world is for the Geulah, we will realize that everything must be connected to the Geulah! When we pay attention, we will be able to find the connection to the Geulah hiding inside of each inyan, waiting for us to learn it!
See Sicha Parshas Acharei-Kedoshim Tof-Shin-Nun-Alef
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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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