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CHUMASH
Parshas Kedoshim - Shlishi with Rashi
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Today we learn more mitzvos:
- Orlah — we don’t eat fruit from a tree before it grew for 3 years
- Neta Reva’i — the fourth year, the fruit is for Hashem and needs to be eaten in Yerushalayim like Maaser Sheini. Then Hashem promises that in the fifth year, much more fruit will grow, to make up for the years when we kept the mitzvah and didn’t eat the fruit!
- We are not allowed to eat from a Korban before the blood was sprinkled on the Mizbeiach.
- We need to soak and salt meat before eating it (so there is no blood).
- Goyim will sometimes decide to do things or not do things because something “lucky” or “unlucky” happens. Yidden are not allowed to do this — we don’t believe in “luck,” everything is from Hashem!
- We are not allowed to cut the peyos of a boy or a man.
- A man can’t cut his beard.
- A yid can’t hurt himself when someone passes away, the way some goyim do.
- We can’t get a tattoo.
- A girl shouldn’t behave like she’s married before she gets married. If this happens, Eretz Yisroel will stop giving its fruits.
- Keep Shabbos!
- Treat the Beis Hamikdash with kavod.
- Don’t go to sorcery (people who know about the future from the koach of Tumah).
- Stand up in front of an old person (to show kavod) and show kavod by not sitting in his set place or contradicting what he says.
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In one of today’s kapitelach, the posuk says: “Hashem Tzadik Yivchan.” Hashem tests a tzadik.
This means that Hashem only tests a person if he’s like a tzadik — if he has the kochos to do the right thing and pass the test!
So why does Hashem test us if He already KNOWS we can pass the test?
Imagine there is a little boy who is really a very good writer, but he doesn’t know it. He is good at finding the right words to express his thoughts in a way that is easy for others to understand. But this little boy has no idea what a special koach he has — because he never needed to write anything except for the one word answers on his quizzes!
Now imagine that one day his teacher says that all of the boys in class need to write a two-page report on something from Tanya that helps them do mitzvos better each day. At first this boy kvetches like everyone else that his hand will hurt from writing such a long report! But once he starts writing the report, he sees that he actually LIKES thinking of the right words to use. He sees that his report is easy to understand. His teacher is impressed too, and gives him a special bonus prize for his beautiful report!
We are ALL like that little boy. We have special kochos too, that nobody knows about — not even us! Hashem sets up special tests that might look and feel very hard… but really they are to help us start using our special hidden kochos.
For example, Hashem might test us by giving us an annoying little sister — to show us how much patience we really have. Or by making our mommy forget to wash our favorite shirt — because we have a very strong koach for Kibbud Av Va’em and won’t talk in a chutzpadik way. Or one day it might be very hard for us to find where we put the Chitas — so we can realize how much we really love learning Chitas!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Mem-Daled
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Our mitzvos can become more aidel and Ruchnius’dik by bringing out an Ahava for Hashem. The Alter Rebbe taught us two kinds of ahava that every kind of person can have, because they are part of our neshama! We can feel the ahava of “Nafshi Ivisicha” (נַפְשִׁי אִוִּיתִיךָ), that Hashem is our chayus, and the ahava of “Kivra D’ishtadel” (כִּבְרָא דְּאִשְׁתַּדֵּל), like a son who serves his father. Both of them are a very high level in Ruchnius.
The Alter Rebbe even taught us ways to wake up these kinds of ahava easily, without needing to work very hard!
But today the Alter Rebbe tells us that we need something more.
We need to try to make our Ahava for Hashem in a way of Ahavas Olam, meaning that we feel it because of our hisbonenus. We make our ahava strong by learning and thinking a lot of Chassidus, which teaches us about the greatness of Hashem. We also daven with avodah, so that we will feel it!
An Ahava that we learn how to feel OURSELVES is better than one that we just get by waking up what is already inside of us!
Also, the Zohar says that the world was created so we can know Hashem (בְּגִין דְּיִשְׁתְּמוֹדְעוּן לֵיהּ). By learning Chassidus, where we learn about the greatness of Hashem, we are fulfilling the reason for the creation of the world!
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Today is seventeen days of the Omer!
Today is the birthday of the Rebbe Maharash!
When the Rebbe Maharash was seven, his father, the Tzemach Tzedek, once tested him on what he was learning.
The Rebbe Maharash did so well, his melamed was very impressed! He said to the Tzemach Tzedek, “Wow, look how well he did!”
The Tzemach Tzedek told the Melamed that the Rebbe Maharash was born on a very special day in Sefiras Haomer, Tiferes SheBeTiferes. Tiferes is a beautiful midah, and Tiferes SheBeTiferes is this special midah in a beautiful way that people can see!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #288) is that ONE eid (witness) is not enough — the Beis Din needs to have TWO eidim in order to punish someone. (One eid is enough for the Beis Din to have someone make a shevuah (a strong and special kind of Torah promise), but is not enough of a proof for someone to be punished).
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Shoftim: לֹא יָקוּם עֵד אֶחָד בְּאִישׁ לְכָל עָוֹן וּלְכָל חַטָּאת
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One of the things we learn in Perek Ches is that an eid has to actually REMEMBER what he saw. It is not enough for him to say something he saw in his diary, unless it reminded him and now he does remember. Otherwise, it is like him being an eid based on something his friend told him, which is not true eidus.
In Perek Tes we learn about who is not allowed to be an eid. There are ten kinds of people that can’t be an eid, for example, someone who is related to the person who had to come to Beis Din. A rasha also can’t be an eid, as the Rambam explains in detail in the next perek.
In Perek Yud we start to learn the halachos of tomorrow’s mitzvah, that the Beis Din can’t accept the eidus of a rasha. What is a rasha? Someone who does an aveira that deserves to be given malkos for. A rasha is also a person who steals or wastes his life on games and gambling.
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Now the Rambam starts to teach us about the times when the Chachomim say that a case of a sofek (doubt) is considered tahor. Today we learn the first four of 12, and IY”H we will learn the rest in tomorrow’s Rambam.
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Today is the birthday of the Rebbe Maharash!
The Rebbe Maharash had a saying: “Di velt zogt, az men ken nit arunter, geit men ariber. Un ich zog az Lechat’chila Ariber!”
People say that if there is something in your way, first try to work around it. If that doesn’t work, just ignore the problem and keep going where you need to go!
But the Rebbe Maharash says, “go over it right away!”
The Rebbe Maharash is teaching us what to do when something is stopping us from doing what Hashem wants us to. It doesn’t matter whether this is from our own Yetzer Hara, or it is something ELSE. We might think we should try to figure out why it’s blocking us, and maybe try to find a different way to do it. NO! We should just do what we need to do, and not spend time on what’s stopping us.
Yossi was thinking of going on mivtzoyim today with his friend Moishy. But Moishy got sick, and now he can’t come. Yossi isn’t sure he will know what to say without Moishy there to help him!
But he decides to act the way the Rebbe Maharash taught us. He decides: “Lechat’chila Ariber! I’m going to go on mivtzoyim and I don’t have to worry!” He takes his younger brother with him, and just tries to say the right things. Together they find THREE Yidden to put on Tefillin!
Can you think of a time when YOU acted in a way of Lechat’chila Ariber?
When we act in a way of Lechat’chila Ariber, we will be thinking about our shlichus, not all of the problems that come up. We will be able to get much more done, and bring Moshiach now!
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We are learning the meaning of the Yud-Beis Pesukim, the 12 pesukim and maamorei Chazal that the Rebbe wanted every Jewish child to know. Many people say these pesukim every day after davening or after saying Shema at night, so that they know the words well! But it’s not enough to know the words by heart, we need to know what the pesukim mean, and what their lessons are for us!
The second posuk of the Twelve Pesukim starts with the words “Shema Yisroel.” Shema Yisroel means “Listen, Yisroel.” As we learned yesterday, this posuk comes from the Chumash.
In the Chumash, Moshe Rabbeinu is telling the Yidden to listen. “Listen Yidden! Hashem is our Aibershter, Hashem is one!”
But who are WE talking to? Who are WE telling to listen?
Chassidus teaches that we are speaking to our neshama, which is also called Yisroel. We tell it, “Shema, Yisroel!” “Neshama, you need to understand!” (Shema can also mean to understand.)
What does the neshama need to understand?
That “Hashem Elokeinu!” “Hashem is our Aibershter and our chayus!”
How does the neshama understand this? From the neshama itself — that we know that Hashem blew the neshama inside of us and gives us life!
And,”Hashem Echod!”
“Hashem is One — everything is one with Hashem, and there is nothing aside for Hashem!”
Sefer Halikutim Tzemach Tzedek os Kuf, p. 226
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It’s been a month since we said Tachanun in davening. We didn’t say any Tachanun the entire month of Nisan, and we don’t say Tachanun on Rosh Chodesh, so today is the first day we say Tachanun again.
The main part of Tachanun is the section of davening, right after Shemoneh Esrei. We tell Hashem that we are ready to do teshuvah for the things we did that we realize were not the way they should be. We ask Hashem to accept the tefillos we just said.
As part of davening on a day we say Tachanun, we klap (gently bang) our heart during Shemoneh Esrei, in the bracha of Selach Lanu, where we ask Hashem to forgive us. We klap by the words Chatanu and Fashanu, where we say we did aveiros.
We also say Kapitel Chof in davening again, before Uva Letzion and Kapitel Pey-Vov (Tefillah LeDovid) before Shir Shel Yom.
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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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On Beis Iyar, Tof-Shin-Beis, during World War II, the Frierdiker Rebbe started a special Sefer Torah called the Moshiach Sefer Torah. After the Moshiach Sefer Torah was finished, on Yud Shevat Tof-Shin-Lamed, the Rebbe explained why a Sefer Torah is especially connected with Moshiach!
Nowadays, we have many seforim. We have Medrash, Gemara, Halacha, Chassidus, and much more! These are the seforim explaining the Torah Shebaal Peh, which Moshe Rabbeinu got on Har Sinai, but were not allowed to be written down then. Moshe Rabbeinu taught them to the Yidden, and they were passed down to the next generations. Only the Sefer Torah was allowed to be written down, everything else needed to be learned by heart.
Later, the Chachomim were afraid that the Yidden would start forgetting the Torah Shebaal Peh, and it needed to be written down. All of the seforim we have are because we are in Golus, where people can forget things.
But when Moshiach comes, we won’t forget anything anymore! We won’t need to have all of these seforim, because when we learn it once, we will remember it! Torah Shebaal Peh will go back to being learned by heart, and the only part of Torah that will still need to be written down is the Sefer Torah, Torah Shebichsav!
See Farbrengen of Motzei Yud Shevat 5730 (Yiddish — hanacha and audio)
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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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KidsChitas.org/sponsor
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