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CHUMASH
Parshas Beshalach - Chamishi with Rashi
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After Kriyas Yam Suf, the Yidden started to travel in the Midbar.
The Yidden came to a place called Eilim. There they found twelve springs of water, and 70 date trees. They camped there near the water. Rashi tells us that Hashem put the springs of water there to hint to the twelve Shevatim, and the 70 date trees were there in connection with the 70 Zekeinim.
One month after they got out of Mitzrayim, the Yidden ran out of matzah. Instead of trusting in Hashem or asking nicely, they complained to Moshe and Aharon that they had no food. They wanted to have bread and meat!
Even though Hashem wasn’t happy with how the Yidden asked, He told Moshe that He will send mahn for the Yidden to eat! It will fall down from Shomayim every day in the morning, except on Shabbos. On Friday they will have to take a DOUBLE portion of mahn, so they will have enough for Friday AND Shabbos.
Moshe also told the Yidden that Hashem didn’t like the Yidden’s complaining. Hashem would give them bread in the morning, and today they will also get Slav bird meat in the afternoon. Since bread is something that is a real need, Hashem will give it in the morning which is a better time to get it, and in a more respectful way. The meat they will get in the afternoon, and not in as a respectful way.
He told them that soon Hashem wants to talk to them about this! All of the Yidden gathered together, and they saw how Hashem was ready to speak to Moshe from inside a cloud.
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Today’s Tehillim is Samach through Samach-Hey.
In Kapitel Samech-Alef, Dovid Hamelech asks Hashem for something very special: “Yomim Al Yemei Melech Tosif” — “Hashem should add days to the days of the king.” Dovid Hamelech was asking Hashem that he should live for a long time.
The Zohar says that when a person is born, Hashem decides how long they will live. If they have a special zechus, Hashem will make them live even longer! This is what Dovid Hamelech was asking from Hashem — that he should have the zechus to live extra-long.
Since EVERY Yid is like a king (“Kol Yisroel Bnei Melochim Heim”), Dovid Hamelech was also asking for ALL Yidden to live a long time!
See Tehillim with Pirush Tehilas Menachem, kapitel Samach-Alef
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Gimmel
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The Alter Rebbe told us before that every Yid gets a hidden koach from the Avos called Ahava Mesuteres. When this hidden love for Hashem comes out, a Yid is not able to do anything that is against Ratzon Hashem. The Alter Rebbe is now explaining to us how we can wake up this Ahava Mesuteres to help us do Torah and mitzvos even when it may be very difficult.
To understand this well, we had to first learn about Achdus Hashem. What is Achdus Hashem? The way Hashem sees the world — that it is really ONE with Hashem, and it is not separate at all! We used the mashal of the way our words, before we say them, are just part of our mind. The same way, the words Hashem used to create the world are one with Hashem.
But the world we see is a place where Hashem is hidden. So the way the world is set up, it makes it LOOK like it is separate from Hashem!
There is something in this world, though, that connects us with Hashem and with the way the world is really one with Hashem, the way Hashem sees it!
That is Torah and mitzvos, which are Hashem’s Ratzon, what Hashem wants. The whole world was created for Yidden to be able to learn Torah and do mitzvos in it! The way Hashem sees the world is as a tool for Torah and mitzvos!
So when we learn Torah and do the mitzvos, we are showing that we see the world the way Hashem does. We are connecting with Achdus Hashem, and are connected with the world the way Hashem sees it — that it is not separate from Hashem at all!
The Avos lived their WHOLE lives this way! They didn’t do ANYTHING except for the Ratzon of Hashem! They were ALWAYS connected to Achdus Hashem. We also need to try to be like the Avos, and connect to Hashem by doing Hashem’s Ratzon every time we can!
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Every day, we start our day with Modeh Ani. We say this even before washing our hands — when they are still tomei!
Nothing in the world can make the Modeh Ani of a Yid tomei — there is a part of our neshama that is connected to Hashem no matter what we do.
There is a famous sicha which was edited by the Rebbe and printed with the name Kuntres Inyana Shel Toras Hachassidus. In this sicha, the Rebbe explains how Chassidus reveals the pnimius of every part of Torah, and what it accomplishes in a Yid and in the world. In this sicha, the Rebbe uses this Hayom Yom as an example to show what Chassidus is!
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SEFER HAMITZVOS
Shiur #260 - Mitzvas Asei #247, Lo Saasei #292, #297, Asei #182
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Today in Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn four more mitzvos about a person who kills someone else:
1) (Mitzvas Asei #247) If someone is chasing after another person to kill him (Rodef), we need to do whatever we can to stop him! If we can do it by hurting the Rodef, we should, but if not, we need to kill him instead of letting him kill the other person.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: וְקַצֹּתָה אֶת כַּפָּהּ לֹא תָחוֹס עֵינֶךָ
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Perek Ches of Mesechta Sanhedrin.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #293) We are not allowed to feel bad for the Rodef — we need to kill him to stop him from doing what he wants to do. (If he already did the aveira, we can’t kill him — the Beis Din needs to take care of it.)
We learn this from the same posuk as the mitzvah before, and the dinim are also explained in Perek Ches of Mesechta Sanhedrin.
3) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #297) “Lo Saamod Al Dam Reiacha!” We are not allowed to ignore when someone is in danger or his things are going to be ruined. We need to try to help!
For example, if someone is drowning, if we know how to swim, we have to jump in and save him! And if a person is being taken to court, if we know the truth, we need to go be a witness to save his money.
We learn this from a posuk in Parshas Kedoshim: לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל דַּם רֵעֶךָ
4) (Mitzvas Asei #182) We need to set up Arei Miklat in Eretz Yisroel, and make roads leading to them. These cities are a “safe place” for someone who killed by mistake.
The Torah tells us this mitzvah in Parshas Shoftim: תָּכִין לְךָ הַדֶּרֶךְ וְשִׁלַּשְׁתָּ אֶת גְּבוּל אַרְצְךָ
The details are explained in Mesechta Sanhedrin, Makos, Shekalim, and Sotah.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Rotzeiach U'Shmiras HaNefesh
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about a person who kills by mistake.
Perek Hey has the halachos about when a person would need to go to an Ir Miklat. For a kohen, the top of the Mizbeiach is also a safe place, just like an Ir Miklat!
Perek Vov teaches us about three kinds of “accidental killing:”
1. Someone who didn’t know that what he was doing would kill someone — a real mistake. He needs to stay in the Ir Miklat.
2. When it was a kind of thing that doesn’t usually happen — like throwing something heavy into a place where people don’t usually go. That person doesn’t need to stay in an Ir Miklat, and the Goel Hadam is not allowed to kill him.
3. Where the person was being careless, we don’t consider that an accident. It won’t help for him to be in an Ir Miklat, and he won’t be safe there.
Perek Zayin teaches us about the Ir Miklat. The Ir Miklat is a city where a person will be safe from the Goel Hadam. Two Talmidei Chachomim come run with the person to the Ir Miklat where he will be safe. The Talmidei Chachomim are there to try to convince the Goel Hadam not to kill him.
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We learn about who is allowed to be a judge. For a regular judge, there are seven qualifications which are written in the Torah. They are: Chochmah to know the halachos of the Torah well, Yiras Shomayim, to be humble, to hate money, love truth, people should like him, and he should have a good name. The Rambam explains what all of these are, and how we see them in the pesukim when Moshe Rabbeinu chose judges for the Yidden.
The judges in the big Sanhedrin need to have all of these things and many more!
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Yesterday was the very special day of Yud Shevat, which is the day of the histalkus of the Frierdiker Rebbe, and the beginning of the Rebbe’s nesius. But today is ALSO a very special day!
On Yud Shevat, Tof-Shin-Yud, the Frierdiker Rebbe was nistalek, and the Rebbe’s nesius began. So part of the day was in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s nesius, and the rest of the day was part of the Rebbe’s nesius. Yud-Alef Shevat was the first FULL day of the Rebbe’s nesius!
Every single generation has its own special avodah. For example, in the times of the Alter Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe expected Chassidim to have a lot of iskafya, to work on their midos to have a love for serving Hashem instead of a love for Gashmius. In the times of the Mitteler Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe expected Chassidim to learn a lot of deep Chassidus, so much that they should end up talking about it in even regular conversations. In the times of the Frierdiker Rebbe, Chassidim had to have Mesiras Nefesh, to even give up their lives to spread Yiddishkeit and teach children Torah! (Of course we need to do all of these things, but there is one thing that is the most important in each time, and everything else becomes a part of it.)
Today, Yud-Alef Shevat, is the first day when the WHOLE DAY is the avodah of OUR dor, the avodah the Rebbe teaches us! And what is this avodah? Each one of us has the Shlichus to spread Yiddishkeit and Chassidus to ourselves and to everyone we can possibly reach, with Ahavas Yisroel, and to get ready for the Geulah!
We need to learn the Rebbe’s sichos, maamarim, and letters, and think about what the Rebbe is teaching us in them. This way, we will be able to follow in the Rebbe’s path and do our shlichus properly!
A few months after the Rebbe accepted the Nesius, before Yud-Alef Nisan, the Rebbe said that he would go to the Ohel. Anybody that is serious about dedicating themselves to the Shlichus that the Rebbe will give them should write their names on a paper, and the Rebbe will bring it to the Ohel. They won’t have to give up their lives (chas veshalom) for it, but it is a very serious thing.
Today, on Yud-Alef Shevat, we strengthen ourselves to continue doing the Shlichus of the Rebbe, and to add in it, with all of our kochos.
See Likutei Sichos chelek Alef, Yud Shevat and other sources
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The main thing that the Rebbe asks our generation to do is to spread Yiddishkeit. But just because that is our main Avodah, does that mean we should stop doing everything we learned from the other Rebbeim? Of course not!
There are some Chassidim who say that davening with avodah isn’t so important nowadays. They say that the Rebbe didn’t write many letters about davening, and the Rebbe spoke about mivtzoyim at farbrengens — not about Avodas HaTefillah! That proves that it isn’t something we need to do nowadays, because otherwise the Rebbe would have talked about it more!
The Rebbe says that this is a foolish thought! If you look at the Igros of the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe Rashab, and learn their sichos, you will see that they already wrote about it and farbrenged about it many times! So where is the excuse not to daven properly?!
The very first step to davening with Avodah is understanding what we are saying! When we learn Biur Tefillah, we are taking the first steps to davening like a Chossid.
From sicha of Parshas Ki Sisa, 5740; see se’ifim 21 and 27
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We are learning some of the halachos about the kos we use to make Kiddush. This kos is a Kos Shel Bracha, and the halachos are the same for any other Kos Shel Bracha, like the kos we use to make Havdalah with or bentch on.
Here are two more things we need to have for the kos of Kiddush:
1) The kos needs to be Shalem, complete. It shouldn’t be broken or cracked, even if it can still hold a revi’is of wine or grape juice inside. (If there is nothing else to make Kiddush with, we can use it as long as it holds enough.)
2) The wine shouldn’t be pogum. Wine becomes pogum if someone drinks from the container it is in. So if someone drank from the cup or straight from the wine bottle, we should add some other wine so it won’t be pogum anymore. (If we don’t have any other wine, it is okay to add a little bit of water to make it not pogum anymore. But we need to be careful not to add too much water, because then it might not be counted as wine anymore!) Only then, once the wine isn’t pogum, should we use it for Kiddush.
See Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch siman Reish-Ayin-Alef se’if Yud-Ches, siman kuf-Pey-Gimmel se’if Daled, siman Kuf-Pey-Beis se’if Daled to Vov
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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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At the end of the Rambam there is a halacha that says, “At that time all of the Yidden will be great Chachomim, and they will know hidden things, and understand the knowledge of Hashem as much as a person can.”
What are the hidden things the Rambam is talking about? This must be Pnimius HaTorah, which helps us understand Elokus, the knowledge of Hashem!
The Rambam says that when Moshiach comes, everyone will be busy with this.
That means that every Yid will be a chossid, since every Yid will be learning Pnimius HaTorah — Chassidus!
So the Rambam is saying that the knowledge of Chassidus is what everyone will be busy with when Moshiach comes!
This also helps us understand why the Rambam says that there is only ONE thing that will be completely different when Moshiach comes: That there will be no Shibud Malchios, no nations ruling over us. Even though the Rambam also says that when Moshiach comes we will all be Chachomim, the Rambam doesn’t say that will be a difference! Even though EVERYONE will do it then, it is not something different and new — learning Chassidus is something we start already now! Only Shibud Malchios, that the whole world will follow Hashem’s rules and the nations will not rule over the Yidden, will be something completely new.
See Sicha of Zos Chanukah 5746
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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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