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CHUMASH
Parshas Bamidbar - Shvi'i with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, Hashem tells Moshe and Aharon to count the Leviim from the family of Kehos who are the right age to work. Like we learned, this family is in charge of the keilim of the Mishkan, like the Shulchan and the Menorah. The Torah tells us that someone who is older than 30 and younger than 50 is strong enough to carry these special parts of the Mishkan.
Here’s how they do this job:
When Hashem lets the Yidden know it’s time to travel by making the cloud go up, the Kohanim get the parts of the Mishkan ready to carry. They have special covers for each part of the Mishkan, and do it in this order:
- First, they take down the Paroches and cover the Aron with it. Then they put on another 2 covers on top of the Paroches, and put the poles of the Aron (which stay in the Aron) on their shoulders.
- They cover the Shulchan and put its tools and the Lechem Hapanim on top. They cover the tools and Lechem Hapanim with another cover, and then put a third cover over it all. Then they put the poles inside inside of the Shulchan to carry it with.
- They cover the Menorah and all of its tools, put them in a special bag, and hang the bag on a pole. (The Menorah doesn’t have any poles to be carried with.)
- They cover the Mizbeiach Haketores, and put its poles inside.
- They take all of the tools for the Ketores and put them in a bag, cover the bag, and then hang it on a pole.
- They empty out the ashes from the big copper Mizbeiach. They cover the Aish Tomid fire with a copper pot, so that the fire from Shomayim won’t burn the cover, and then cover the Mizbeiach with a special purple cover. They put the tools on top, and then put a second cover and put in the poles to carry it.
The family of Kehos had both Kohanim and Leviim. Covering the keilim was the job of the kohanim. Only after they finish covering them all, do the Leviim from Kehos come to carry them. Leviim aren’t allowed to touch these holy pieces of the Mishkan, they can only touch their poles and their covers when they carry them.
Elazar (Aharon’s son) has his own special job:
- He has to carry the oil for the Menorah
- He has to carry the Ketores
- He makes sure the Korban Mincha is brought every day
- He has to carry the Shemen Hamishcha (oil we use to make something ready for a job in the Mishkan)
- He also makes sure that the family of Kehos does their job carrying these pieces of the Mishkan in the right way.
Hashem tells Moshe to make sure that the kohanim are very careful that no Leviim touch parts of the Mishkan they aren’t allowed to! They should only let the Leviim come in when these things are all wrapped up so that they do not touch them by mistake.
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In Kapitel Chof-Hey (25) it says “Zechor Rachamecha Hashem Vachasadech Ki Me’olam Heimah” — “Hashem, remember Your rachmonus and Your chesed, because they are forever.”
Chassidus explains that the word “meiolam” (forever) can also be translated as, “from the world.”
What does that mean? That the rachmonus and chesed of Hashem is something that is connected to the world.
The Rebbe Rashab teaches (in the Bar Mitzvah maamar) that we can understand this with a mashal:
If a person wants to be kind, he needs to have someone to be kind to! That’s why Avraham Avinu, whose life was full of kindness, was upset when he had no guests. He wasn’t able to do chesed! A person can’t be kind when he is by himself.
The same thing is true with Hashem: For Hashem to show His chesed, there has to be a world, which looks like it is separate from Hashem. This way, Hashem can show His kindness to the world.
We ask Hashem to remember His kindness to us, because that’s one of the reasons why Hashem made the world — to show us chesed!
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TANYA
Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah Hakdama
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Before a person writes a sefer, many times they write a Hakdama, an introduction. This usually says what the sefer is about, and why the sefer is so important.
For example, in the beginning of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe wrote a Hakdama too. He told us that he is writing a Sefer with eitzos for Chassidim. Then he said why it is so important and why he needed to make it into a sefer.
In this section in Tanya, the Alter Rebbe has a separate Hakdama. The Alter Rebbe tells us that this part of Tanya is how to take the first steps in serving Hashem with our neshamos.
There is a posuk that says, “Chanoch Lenaar Al Pi Darko — Gam Ki Yazkin Lo Yasur Mimena.” “Give a chinuch to a child the way that works for him, and even when he gets older, he won’t act differently than that chinuch that he was given when he was young.”
The Alter Rebbe asks, “If a child gets the kind of chinuch that works for him when he is young, won’t he get older and smarter and then need a different kind of chinuch later? Why do we say he won’t act differently when he is older than the chinuch he got when he was young?”
(IY”H we will see the answer to this at the end of the Hakdama.)
The Alter Rebbe tells us that we are talking about the chinuch to help someone do the “neshama mitzvos” like loving Hashem.
How do we teach someone to do the mitzvah of loving Hashem? We can’t make a person feel a certain way! The Alter Rebbe tells us that we can help other people to start loving Hashem by themselves. We can tell them things to think about that will make them feel in a certain way.
If we think about how Hashem gives us chayus, and cares for us even though we’re just regular people, knowing those things will help us come to love Hashem.
When the Alter Rebbe tells us about the things we can do to help us love Hashem, he says “like I will explain later.” But didn’t we learn about this before, in the first section of Tanya? Chassidim say that really the Alter Rebbe originally wanted Shaar Hayichud to be the FIRST section of Tanya, before Likutei Amarim, because this is the basic chinuch that we all need. Only after we have proper emunah in Hashem (as explained in Shaar Hayichud Veha’emunah) are we capable of using the tools of Ahavas Hashem and Yiras Hashem to win over the Yetzer Hara and serve Hashem with kavana (as explained in Chelek Alef of Tanya). In fact, the Rebbe sometimes told people that the first time they learn Tanya, they should start with Shaar Hayichud, and only then learn the parts of Tanya in order.
That’s why the Alter Rebbe says, “like I will explain later,” because really the Alter Rebbe planned that Shaar Hayichud Veha’emunah would be first. Even though it wasn’t actually printed in that order, the idea of the Alter Rebbe remains in a certain way.
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Today is forty-eight days of the Omer!
We learned yesterday in Hayom Yom that on Shavuos the Satan is confused like during the time of blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Therefore, Shavuos is a very good time to work on doing better in learning Torah and serving Hashem with Yiras Shomayim!
Usually, the Satan tries to make things harder for us to do the right thing. On Shavuos (and in these days of preparing for Shavuos), he can’t make any trouble, so it’s the best time to make good hachlatos, especially in setting times to learn Torah.
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Today we learn the mitzvah again (Mitzvas Asei #248) that we need to follow the halachos about yerusha: When someone passes away, we learn who gets the things they owned. This also includes that a firstborn gets a double portion of the yerusha.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn many halachos about firstborns, and what they get.
In Perek Gimmel, we learn about which things the bechor (firstborn) gets double of, and which things not. If a father had a lottery ticket, and he won after he passed away, the firstborn doesn’t get a double portion of that. He only gets double from what the father had before he passed away.
Perek Daled teaches us about how we know that someone is actually a relative, who should get the yerusha. The halacha is not usually very strict about proving that someone is related for yerusha — if the person who passed away called someone his son or his brother, we believe him, even if nobody else thought they were related.
Perek Hey teaches us about how to divide a yerusha when there is a sofek (doubt) if a certain person should get part of the yerusha. The halacha is usually that if one person gets the yerusha for sure, and the other person is a sofek, we give all of it to the one we are sure about. If there is more than one person who is a sofek, we divide it between them.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn the halachos of the mitzvah to shecht a mother animal and her baby on the same day. This mitzvah is called “Oso Ve’es Bno.”
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We learned in today’s Hayom Yom that Shavuos is a good time to do work on learning Torah better and making up for anything we missed in Torah learning during the year.
The Rebbe tells us that Shavuos is a good time to remind ourselves and other people how important it is to learn Chitas and make good hachlatos so it will happen.
The parts of Chitas are especially connected to Shavuos!
Chumash: from Moshe Rabbeinu, who gave us the Torah on Shavuos
Tehillim: from Dovid Hamelech, whose Yartzeit is on Shavuos
Tanya: explains the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, whose yartzeit is also on Shavuos!
In the later years, after the Rebbe started the takana of learning Rambam, the Rebbe encouraged us to use Shavuos to strengthen learning Rambam and any other shiurim in Torah that we may have!
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The 12th of the Yud-Beis Pesukim and Maamorei Razal is “Yismach.” These words come from Tanya, where the Alter Rebbe teaches us the importance of simcha.
Yismach Yisroel Be’osav — “Yidden should be happy with Hashem Who created them.” (these words are from Tehillim)
Peirush — This is what it means:
Shekol Mi Shehu Mizera Yisroel — That everyone who has the neshama of a Yid
Yeish Lo Lismoach — Should be happy
Besimchas Hashem — With the joy of Hashem!
Asher Sas Vesameiach — Because Hashem is happy and joyful
Bediraso Besachtonim — That the world is being made into Hashem’s home — a Dira Betachtonim!
This teaches us that whatever we are doing, we should do it in a happy way, with simcha! When we think about how much nachas our Avodah brings Hashem, we will feel a special joy and nachas too! Not only do we have a neshama which is a part of Hashem and Hashem is always with us, but we are making the world more of a home for Hashem, a home that will be ready when Moshiach comes. We can feel Hashem’s joy in our neshama, and that should make us DOUBLY happy!
This is the twelfth and last of the Yud-Beis Pesukim, which makes sure that everything we learned about in the other pesukim will be done with simcha! Our learning Torah, doing mitzvos, and helping another Yid with Ahavas Yisroel should all be done with simcha!
When what we are doing is with a feeling of joy, it will be done in the most beautiful and best possible way, and we will also have the most hatzlacha!
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There are six constant mitzvos, mitzvos that we keep all the time.
The fifth of these mitzvos is “Leyirah Oso,” to have Yiras Shomayim.
In the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explains how to have Yiras Shomayim. The most basic way to feel yirah for Hashem is to think about how Hashem is always with us, and watching everything we do. This will keep us from doing things we know Hashem doesn’t want us to do, and make sure to use every chance we have to do what we are supposed to.
This is the meaning of the posuk “Vehinei Hashem Nitzav Alav,” that we are reminding ourselves how Hashem is carefully looking at whatever we do.
Thinking about this is fulfilling the mitzvah of Leyirah Oso every time it goes through our mind.
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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 tells us that when Moshiach comes, Hashem will gather together all of the Yidden and bring them back to Eretz Yisroel to serve Hashem in the Beis Hamikdash. The Navi tells us that this means EVERY Yid — even those who are “Ovdim Be’eretz Ashur,” lost in the land of Ashur, “Vehanidachim Be’eretz Mitzrayim,” and those who are pushed away in Mitzrayim.
The Alter Rebbe explains in Likutei Torah that this is talking about two kinds of Yidden who are very far from Yiddishkeit:
Ovdim Be’Eretz Ashur — Hashem will bring back even Yidden who are lost in the land of “Ashur,” like the word “Ashrei.” These Yidden feel happy and lucky even in Golus, since they have many taavos and Gashmius things to enjoy. Even though they don’t even realize what’s wrong with Golus, Hashem will bring them to come close to Yiddishkeit!
Nidachim Be’Eretz Mitzrayim — Hashem will bring back Yidden who are pushed away in the land of “Mitzrayim,” in a place of Meitzarim, being stuck. These are Yidden who feel too busy for Yiddishkeit! They are stuck in a place where they don’t have time or don’t want to serve Hashem. These Yidden, too, will come back when Moshiach comes.
All of us together will bow to Hashem in the Beis Hamikdash — “Veyishtachavu LaHashem BeHar Hakodesh BiYerushalayim!”
See Migolah L’Geulah p. 252; Likutei Torah Rosh Hashana 60a
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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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