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CHUMASH
Parshas Behaalosecha - Shishi with Rashi
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The Yidden start to travel, and the Erev Rav complain about the traveling and about the Mahn! Moshe Rabbeinu chooses 70 new Zekeinim to help lead the Yidden.
When the Yidden were about to travel, and the Kohanim who carried the Aron started to go, Moshe would ask Hashem to keep the Yidden safe. (We know this posuk, because we say it before we open the Aron Kodesh in Shul!) “Vayehi Binsoa HaAron...” And when the Kohanim put the Aron down where they were staying, Moshe would ask Hashem to rest among the Yidden.
Like we said yesterday, the Yidden went in one day what usually takes THREE days to go! The Yidden should have been very happy! But the Erev Rav weren’t happy about all of the mitzvos they had to do, and they were looking for a reason to kvetch so they could have an excuse not to do mitzvos. They said they were too tired from going so far.
Hashem was not happy about their complaining, and a fire came from Hashem to punish them. (The Shivim Zekeinim (70 older chachomim) also passed away then, for a different reason — because of something that happened at the time of Matan Torah.) Some of the Erev Rav asked Moshe to daven for them, and the fire stopped. Moshe called that place Taveira, which means a fire.
The rest of the Erev Rav didn’t learn their lesson, though — they also started complaining, and other Yidden complained with them too. They said they wanted meat (even though they had plenty of animals with them that they could have shechted). They complained that they miss eating fish in Mitzrayim without having any mitzvos to keep. They complained about the Mahn which tasted like almost every food, except foods that weren’t healthy for babies. They said that they wanted THOSE foods, and that they were bored of mahn!
Even though THEY complained about the mahn, the Torah tells us about how the mahn was really very special! What was the mahn like? It was like a round white ball, so it was easy to hold and easy to find. It tasted like a kind of danish, but if they wanted it could taste like (and feel like) any other kind of food! Hashem would make the man fall on the dew (like a very light rain that falls in the morning) so it would be clean.
Hashem heard the Yidden complaining about the mahn, and also complaining that Hashem didn’t let them marry whoever they wanted. Hashem was not happy about this complaining either!
Moshe was also upset. He said, “How can I take care of all of the Yidden by myself, without the Shivim Zekeinim (who passed away from the fire)? How am I supposed to give the Yidden meat?”
Hashem told Moshe that He would send the Yidden meat, but they would die if they ate it. Hashem also told Moshe to pick 70 new Zekeinim to help lead the Yidden.
So Moshe picked 70 new Zekeinim: He picked 6 people from each Shevet, and then did a goral to see which ones would be the Zekeinim. Hashem gave the Zekeinim the koach to say Nevuah!
Two of these Zekeinim, Eldad and Meidad, didn’t feel like they deserve the job, but Hashem gave them the Koach of Nevuah anyway. They said a nevuah that Moshe wouldn’t go into Eretz Yisroel, but that Yehoshua would do it instead.
Yehoshua was very upset when he heard this, but Moshe said that he wishes ALL the Yidden would be Neviim!
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In today’s Tehillim, in Kapitel Pey-Daled, we have a posuk which we learn about in Tanya! “Ki Shemesh UMagen Hashem Elokim!” “Because the name of Hashem and Elokim is like a sun and its cover.”
A mashal for the chayus of Hashem in the world is the sun, which shines very strong. If the sun shines on us with all of its might, it would make the world too hot! The world can only be a place for us to live because there is a cover on the sun, so we can enjoy its light.
The same is with the chayus of Hashem: The chayus from the name Havaya is so strong that we wouldn’t be able to live in the world like regular people — we would just feel like we are part of the chayus of Hashem. But the name Elokim covers up the name Havaya so we are able to live in the world and keep Torah and mitzvos like Hashem wants.
The main name of Hashem that the world sees is Elokim, the hidden chayus of Hashem. But the Avodah of a Yid is to remember that inside of this chayus is the chayus of the name Yud-Kay-Vov-Kay that is higher than nature, and that the chayus of the name Yud-Kay-Vov-Kay and the name Elokim is the same Hashem!
We remind ourselves of this in our tefillos and brachos, when we say “Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu,” and when we say “Baruch Ata Hashem Elokeinu” — that there is a chayus of Hashem that a Yid is connected to that doesn’t have to follow the rules of nature!
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TANYA
Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah Perek Vov
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The two names of Hashem, Havaya and Elokim, work together: Hashem creates the world and gives us chayus with Sheim Havaya, and then hides the chayus using Sheim Elokim, so we can live in the world and choose to serve Hashem! These names of Hashem are describing two different midos of Hashem, but they are of course part of only ONE Hashem. Even though they might look different to us, we understand that by Hashem they are really one.
The Alter Rebbe shows us where Eliyahu Hanavi talks about this, in the part of the Zohar that starts Posach Eliyahu, which we say on Erev Shabbos before Mincha.
Moshe Rabbeinu told this to the Yidden before they went into Eretz Yisroel, and told them that they should remember this for always. He told them that when you think about this, you will understand that there is nothing that exists aside for Hashem!
We say this posuk every day in davening, at the end of Aleinu! “Veyadaata Hayom, Vehasheivosa El Levavecha, Ki Hashem Hu HoElokim BaShomayim Mimaal, Ve’al HaAretz Mitachas Ein Od”: “You should know today and take to heart that Hashem is Elokim (meaning that even the world where Hashem is hidden, ‘Elokim,’ is all part of Hashem) and then you’ll know that in Shomayim above and on earth below, there is nothing separate from Hashem at all!”
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Let’s say you go with Mommy and Tatty to the store, to buy a very special birthday present — a new bike! You see all the bikes in the store, but one of them makes you look twice. It is a super-fancy kind, with 25 speeds, and flashing lights on the back and on the wheels, a basket that you can put your name on, a horn AND a bell AND a built-in place for a lock, and even a place to clip a video camera to the front!
When you see that bike, something inside you doesn’t let you choose it. You feel like that’s TOO much Gashmius. You decide to get a different bike instead — one that’s nice, but not with all of those extra taavos which are exciting, but you don’t really need.
That feeling inside of us is important and special. It’s part of Avodas Hashem and what a Yid should feel. By not running after taavos which don’t help us do what Hashem wants, we are showing that what’s important to us is not the pleasures in the world, but our connection to Hashem. That brings Hashem a lot of nachas!
But it’s only a beginning. The main avodah of a Yid is not in what we DON’T do, but in what we DO. The MAIN avodah is to take the bike that we DID buy, and to use it to get exercise and to have fun so we can be healthy and happy and be able to learn better. The main avodah is using what we have to serve Hashem.
Another example of this is choosing not to read the news if it won’t help us serve Hashem. That’s iskafya and very important. But the MAIN avodah is using our time and mind instead to learn Torah!
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In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn the mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #291) that a witness can’t say if he thinks someone is wrong or right in Beis Din if the person might be chayav misa. They are only allowed to say what they heard or saw, not their opinion.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Masei: וְעֵד אֶחָד לֹא יַעֲנֶה בְנֶפֶשׁ לָמוּת
This mitzvah is repeated in Parshas Shoftim: לֹא יוּמַת עַל פִּי עֵד אֶחָד
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In today’s Rambam, we learn many more halachos about witnesses.
In Perek Hey the Rambam tells us a few more details about today’s mitzvah: If the witness starts to explain why he thinks the person is wrong or right, the Beis Din makes him be quiet! We also learn halachos about tomorrow’s mitzvah in Sefer Hamitzvos, not to listen to one witness in court.
In Perek Vov and Zayin, we learn how the Beis Din can accept information from a shtar (a document) without the eidim being there. Why are they allowed to do that? We learned the reason yesterday — the Beis Din wants to make sure that people are comfortable giving loans, so they don’t make it too hard to get money back in Beis Din.
So in a case where someone is trying to get back money that another person owes him, he can bring a proof from something the eidim wrote, even if they aren’t there! Of course there are many halachos explaining just how this is done, and we learn them in these two perakim (and also in the first perek of tomorrow’s Rambam).
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We learn the halachos of how a Shevuah is made. For a Shevuah that the Torah tells us to make, a person has to hold a Sefer Torah!
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We are a little more than two weeks from Gimmel Tammuz, which is a very important day for all Yidden, and especially for Chassidim! Just like with a Yom Tov, if we really want to appreciate it and get the brachos from it, we need to prepare before. So too, Gimmel Tammuz needs preparation.
Today, in preparation for Gimmel Tammuz, we will learn about hiskashrus to a Rebbe after he physically passes away, called histalkus.
There is a famous section in Igeres Hakodesh of Tanya, siman chof-zayin, which is the first place in Chassidus Chabad that explains the connection of a tzadik and a Rebbe with their Chassidim after histalkus.
First, the Alter Rebbe tells us (based on the words of the Zohar) that the brachos and tefillos of the tzadik for the Gashmius of the chassidim, and also what the tzadik gives in Ruchnius, still continue even after his histalkus, and even stronger than before.
After that, the Alter Rebbe starts to explain how Chassidim are able to receive MORE from the tzadik after the histalkus than they were able to receive before.
How?
During the tzadik’s lifetime, we are able to SEE the Tzadik, and hear what he tells us. The talmidim are able to learn from the Rebbe’s thoughts and words that are shared with them.
After the histalkus, we might think that since we can’t see and hear the tzadik, we receive less. But that’s not true! After the histalkus, we are not only able to receive from the WORDS of the tzadik, but we are able to receive from a deeper part of the tzadik’s neshama! And since the tzadik is no longer limited by a Gashmius guf, EVERYONE who is in ANY PLACE is able to receive from this deeper part of the tzadik’s neshama.
Even though it takes more effort, and we need to really work hard to follow the instructions that the tzadik gave us, still we are able to receive more from the tzadik after the histalkus.
It is possible then to understand on a much deeper level what the Rebbe teaches, and we have extra kochos to fulfill what he teaches in the best possible way. And then we are also able to receive the brachos in Gashmius that come from living as the tzadik taught us, even more than before!
The Rebbe often quoted this Igeres Hakodesh, when speaking about the previous Rebbeim after their histalkus. From this we understand that today too, even though it is after Gimmel Tammuz and we cannot see the Rebbe, Chassidim have a tremendous koach, more than ever before, to learn the Rebbe’s Torah and fulfill the Rebbe’s shlichus. This way we will also be keilim to receive all of the Rebbe’s brachos, especially the most important bracha, the Geulah Sheleimah, when we will again be together with the Rebbe begashmius and learn the Torah of Moshiach Tzidkeinu!
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We reviewed the four pesukim from Torah Shebichsav, and the four pesukim from Torah Shebaal Peh. Now let’s review the last four pesukim, from Chassidus!
Torah Shebichsav is the WHAT of the mitzvos, what mitzvos we need to do.
Torah Shebaal Peh is the HOW of the mitzvos, how to keep them.
Chassidus is the pnimius, the NESHAMA of the mitzvos.
Chassidus also shows us how to serve Hashem with our mind and our heart!
In the next four pesukim, we will see the neshama of what we learned in the first eight pesukim! We learned about how precious Torah and mitzvos are, and how we need to put our effort into it. We learned how to deal with other Yidden in the right way.
Now, in these last four pesukim, we will see the pnimius of all of this, and how to serve Hashem when we do this, with our mind and heart.
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In Shulchan Aruch, it teaches that davening NEEDS to be with kavana. Because of this, a person is even allowed to daven in whatever language he speaks, so that he will understand what he is saying.
Practically speaking, we daven nowadays in Lashon Kodesh even if we don’t understand it. We do this because there is a special kedusha in Lashon Kodesh, and many deeper meanings and kavanos are hidden in these words.
Still, this halacha teaches us how important it is to understand the meaning of davening!
When we know what the words of davening mean, we can daven with all of the beautiful kavanos and deeper meanings hidden in the words of Lashon Kodesh, as well as the main thing — understanding the words we say to Hashem!
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Kuf-Alef
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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 is also called the “Navi HaGeulah,” because he is the Navi that speaks the MOST about Moshiach in his nevuos!
In one of Yeshaya’s nevuos about the end of Golus and the beginning of the Geulah, he tells us about how we will go out of Golus:
כִּי בְשִׂמְחָה תֵצֵאוּ וּבְשָׁלוֹם תּוּבָלוּן הֶהָרִים וְהַגְּבָעוֹת יִפְצְחוּ לִפְנֵיכֶם רִנָּה וְכָל עֲצֵי הַשָּׂדֶה יִמְחֲאוּ כָף
Ki Besimcha Seitzeiu — You will go out of Golus with joy!
U’veshalom Tuvalun — And you will be brought back to Eretz Yisrael in a way of shalom!
Heharim Vehag’vaos — The mountains and the hills
Yiftzechu Lifneichem Rina — Will burst into song before you!
Vechol Atzei Hasadeh — And all of the trees of the field
Yimcha’u Chaf — Will clap their hands!
According to one of the meforshim, this posuk is saying a mashal: When someone is happy, they feel that the whole world is happy too! Since we will be so happy when Moshiach comes, we will feel like the whole world, including the mountains and the trees, are singing and clapping together with us!
The Rebbe would usually finish off farbrengens with singing a niggun with words from this posuk!
See Yeshaya Perek Nun-Hey posuk Yud-Beis, and pirush of Metzudos
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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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