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CHUMASH
Parshas Behar - Chamishi with Rashi
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In Chumash, we are learning more about Yovel:
We said yesterday that in a Yovel year, all fields go back to the person they belonged to first. When we sell a field in Eretz Yisroel, we are only selling it for the years until Yovel.
Today we learn that the halacha is different with a house that’s in a city surrounded by walls: The person who sold it only has one year to buy it back; otherwise it belongs to the person who bought it forever, even after Yovel.
Houses in cities WITHOUT walls around them are like fields, that go back to the person who they belonged to first.
Houses in the Leviim’s cities are different too: A Levi can ALWAYS buy his house back, and he gets it back in Yovel. The same is with fields in the Leviim’s cities — they can ALWAYS buy them back.
Today we also learn about taking care of poor people: If we see that someone is becoming poor, we should help him right away even if he’s not poor yet, because once he is REALLY poor it will be much harder to help him. Rashi says that this is like big heavy packages on a donkey: If you see them slipping off, even one person can keep them from falling. But once they fall on the ground, even 5 people can’t pick them all up!
But when we help, we should NEVER take interest! (Interest is making someone pay back more money than they borrowed — like if someone borrows $10 from another person, that person can’t make him pay back $11 so that he makes money.)
Even if nobody sees and nobody knows, remember that Hashem is watching!
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In Kapitel Pey-Tes, there’s a posuk, “Ki Amarti Olam Chesed Yibaneh” — Hashem said, “I will build a world of chesed.” This means that Hashem makes the world with chesed!
Chassidus explains that Hashem created the world with the midah of Chesed. Why? We see that for a person to do chesed, there needs to be someone else to give to or help!
We see this with Avraham Avinu, who was the midah of Chesed. When there were no guests, it bothered him so much! Without someone to GIVE to, you can’t use Chesed.
The same is true also with the midos of Hashem! In order for Hashem to give chesed, there needs to be a world to give it to. That’s why the posuk says “Olam Chesed Yibaneh,” that the world was created because of the midah of Chesed.
Hashem also gave each of us the midah of Chesed! We need to use it, to show Ahavas Yisroel to another Yid.
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Mem-Tes
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The Alter Rebbe is teaching us something we can think about, especially during the brachos of Shema and Shema itself, that will help us love Hashem in order to do His mitzvos.
We learned about two kinds of chayus from Hashem, Sovev Kol Almin (which makes everything in the world exist, but is too strong to feel) and Memalei Kol Almin (which Hashem needs to hide through Tzimtzum so each thing can get its proper chayus).
When we think about how HASHEM made these Tzimtzumim, to hide His light more and more instead of shining it, because of His love for a YID — that should make us want to love Hashem and also hide the things that WE want to do more and more, so we can do the shlichus that Hashem gives us the chance to be a part of!
The brachos before Shema help us feel this!
The first bracha, Yotzer Ohr, talks about how great and special Hashem is, how all of the malachim are like nothing next to Hashem, and how afraid they are. They say “Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh!” Hashem’s koach is hidden from them (Kedusha also means separate). And where CAN we find Hashem? In Yidden, when they do what Hashem wants!
Tomorrow we will see how the second bracha continues this thought and helps us feel a love for Hashem !
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Today is thirty-three days of the Omer!
Lag B’Omer was an extra-special Yom Tov by the Mitteler Rebbe!
Together with the Chassidim, they would go out to the fields on Lag B’Omer. The Mitteler Rebbe didn’t wash for a Seudah, but he did make L’chaim on mashke, even though usually he didn’t because of his health.
It was a day of lots of nissim, especially brachos for children. All year long, people would wait for Lag B’omer to get a bracha from the Mitteler Rebbe to have a baby!
There are many stories about children born because of a Lag B’omer bracha from the Rebbe. One year, a group of women came from Eretz Yisroel in honor of Lag B’omer. They waited for the Rebbe, and then asked for a bracha to have children. The Rebbe gave each one of them a coin and a bracha. That year, every single one of those women were bentched with a child.
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WOW! We are starting to learn the Rambam again, from the beginning — for the 42nd time!
Today in Sefer Hamitzvos, we don’t learn about any mitzvah yet! First we learn about WHY the Rambam wrote the Sefer Hamitzvos. The Rambam explains that this sefer shows us what the 613 mitzvos are.
Did you know that there are other Chachomim who count the 613 mitzvos in a different way than the Rambam?
In Sefer Hamitzvos, the Rambam first teaches us how the 613 mitzvos should be counted, so that later on in the sefer Mishnah Torah, where he explains all of the mitzvos, it will be clear what the mitzvos are.
The Rambam will show us 14 rules to figure out why something is counted as a mitzvah from the Torah. We will IY”H learn them over the next few days!
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In today’s Rambam, the Rambam explains why he made the sefer called Mishnah Torah.
The Rambam reviews the whole history of Torah — how it came from Moshe Rabbeinu on Har Sinai, and how it was taught and learned and passed down Baal Peh for 40 generations, until the time of the Mishnah (when R’ Yehudah Hakadosh saw it needed to be written down) and the time of the Gemara (when Ravina and R’ Ashi saw it would be forgotten if it wasn’t written down, because of the tzaros of Golus).
The Rambam saw that the Golus was so strong, there was another problem: The reason for the Mishnah and Gemara is so we know the halachos, how Hashem wants us to live. And even though it’s all written down, the Gemara has all of the discussion about these halachos, and they aren’t in order. So unless someone knows the whole Shas, they might not be able to find the halachos they will need to know!
So the Rambam says that he took the courage to do something important. He put together all of the halachos in order, written clearly, in an organized way without any questions and answers — so that EVERYONE (big Talmidei Chachomim and simple people too) can see and understand exactly what Hashem wants us to know and to do!
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In this perek we learn about other kinds of liquids that make things tomei, because they are like the seven kinds of liquids we learned about before. For example, tears are like regular water. So if someone tomei cries, their tears can make things tomei.
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There are two very special things that happened on Lag B’Omer:
1) The students of Rabbi Akiva had been passing away because they didn’t show the proper kavod to each other. On Lag B’Omer, they stopped passing away.
2) It is the day of the histalkus of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, which is a day of celebration for the secrets of Torah that he taught!
The Rebbe teaches us that both of these are connected:
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai was also one of the students of Rabbi Akiva. On the day of his yartzeit, we celebrate the things he accomplished in his life. One of these things was to fix what was missing by the other talmidim of Rabbi Akiva, and show an example of how to be a proper talmid of a Rebbe!
A talmid is someone who is connected to his Rebbe, and learns Torah from him. He behaves according to what he learns and sees from his Rebbe, and is a dugma chaya for others to learn from.
Based on this, we would think that if a Rebbe has a few very close talmidim, they should all behave in the same way, since they are all learning from the same Rebbe. But that’s not the way it is!
We see an example of this in Pirkei Avos, Perek Beis. R’ Yochanan ben Zakai asked his five closest talmidim what is the most important midah for a person to work on having. You might think that they would all answer the same thing, based on the Torah they learned from their Rebbe. But each of them had a different answer! Even though the talmidim all learned from the same Rebbe, they were not the same.
This is because every person has a different shlichus in the world. Based on each person’s shlichus, Hashem gives him different deios, different ways of understanding things in Torah. So each talmid learns the words of his Rebbe in a different way, according to the shlichus Hashem gave him.
The 24,000 talmidim of Rabbi Akiva were all very special talmidim. They learned from their Rebbe and made what they learned part of everything they did! They learned from his Torah, from his Mesiras Nefesh, and that Ahavas Yisroel is a most important part of Torah.
But each of them understood their Rebbe’s words according to their own shlichus, in a very strong way. Because they loved each other, they wanted their fellow talmidim to also understand things their way. They weren’t able to respect a different type of shlichus and a different way of understanding.
This was a chisaron in the first 24,000 talmidim.
But Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai fixed that!
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai was also very connected to the Torah of his Rebbe. He learned from Rabbi Akiva’s Mesiras Nefesh and spent 13 years in a cave, learning Torah, with barely any food and always in sakana. Still, when he left the cave and saw people who were not doing things in his way of serving Hashem, he was able to respect that other Yidden have a different kind of shlichus.
On Lag B’omer, we celebrate what we learn from Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai. We learn how to be a talmid of Torah and of our Rebbe in the right way! Together with being connected in a very strong way and making what we learn part of everything we do, we always need to remember that Hashem wants there to be many types of Yidden! Each of them have a different shlichus and a different way of understanding things. Hashem made them this way and wants them all to be here, so we can all work together in our own way to bring Moshiach now!
See sicha of Lag B’omer, Likutei Sichos chelek Chof-Beis and Chelek Lamed-Beis
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The first posuk of the Torah tells us that the whole world is made by Hashem.
Bereishis Bara Elokim — In the beginning when Hashem created
Es Hashomayim — the heavens
V’Es Ha’aretz — and the earth.
Of course this doesn’t mean JUST the sky and the ground. The Chachomim tell us that the word “Es” is hinting to everything inside of them! So the posuk is telling us:
Bereishis Bara Elokim — In the beginning when Hashem created
Es Hashomayim — ALL of the heavens and everything inside
V’Es Ha’aretz — and the WHOLE ENTIRE earth with everything inside.
When we realize that the whole world was created by Hashem, we will make sure to do everything the way Hashem says!
We will make sure to eat the way Hashem tells us to (only kosher food, and with a bracha), to play the way Hashem tells us to (in a nice way, and with Ahavas Yisroel), and even sleep the way Hashem tells us to (with Shema and Negel Vasser)!
We will want to do things the way Hashem wants us to, because we know that this whole wonderful world was made by Hashem!
See Der Rebbe Redt Tzu Kinder vol. 5, p 286
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- We don’t say Tachanun on Lag B’omer.
- It is a minhag to give more tzedakah than usual. One year the Rebbe said to give tzedakah in multiples of 18, especially because Lag B’omer is the 18th of Iyar.
- It is a minhag to eat eggs on Lag B’omer. It was the Rebbe’s minhag to eat an egg that was dyed brown. (One way to dye eggs brown is to boil them with onion skins.)
- It is a minhag to eat bukser (carob fruit) on Lag B’omer. This reminds us of the bukser that Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and his son Rabbi Elazar ate for 13 years in the cave!
The Rebbe once said at a farbrengen that he remembers eating bukser at his house as a child. It was a very rare fruit, but they had it every year on Lag B’omer.
- It is not our minhag to cut hair on Lag B’omer, except for an upshernish. A boy with an upshernish after Lag B’omer waits to cut his hair until Erev Shavuos.
- It is a special time to learn and spread Chassidus.
- We should try to add in Torah and Tefillah on Lag B’omer. One year the Rebbe said that we should say Kapitel Lamed-Gimmel (“Lag”) of Tehillim, and learn Chitas better than usual.
- It is an old minhag for children to go out to the fields and play with bows and arrows. Nowadays we make rallies and parades for kids in honor of Lag B’omer. Adults should also have farbrengens for Lag B’omer.
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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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It is a minhag on Lag B’omer for kids to go out to the fields and play with bows (“Keshes”) and arrows.
One of the reasons is to remind us about Moshiach! This is based on what the Zohar says about rainbows, which are also called Keshes in Lashon Kodesh.
The Zohar says that when you see a rainbow with bright colors, it is a sign for Moshiach!
Lag B’omer is the Yom Hilula of R’ Shimon ben Yochai, who taught Pnimius HaTorah. Teaching the secrets of Torah (like Chassidus) is ALSO a sign for Moshiach!
On this special day, we play with bows and arrows, to be a sign that Moshiach is coming very soon!
See Toras Menachem Hisvaaduyos vol 3 p. 77
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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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