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CHUMASH
Parshas Behaalosecha - Shvi'i with Rashi
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Hashem punishes the Yidden with the Slav birds. In the next place the Yidden go to, Chatzeiros, Miriam says Lashon Hara about Moshe and she gets Tzoraas. Moshe davens for her to have a Refuah Sheleimah, and after a week she can come back into the place where the Yidden are camped.
The very next day after the Yidden started to travel, on Chof-Alef Iyar, the Yidden who complained about the mahn were punished. Hashem sent tons and tons of a bird called Slav to fly right near them. Moshe Rabbeinu had warned the Yidden that they would die if they ate from this meat, so most Yidden didn’t take any of the birds. But the people that complained about the mahn took HUNDREDS of slav and shechted them!
Some people died right away, and others got sick — but they all kept eating it anyway! They didn’t do teshuvah, and after a month everyone who was eating the slav died. The Yidden called that place “Kivros HaTaavah,” because they buried (Kivros, like Kever) all the people who had the Taavah to eat meat. After this, the Yidden traveled to the next place, Chatzeros.
Moshe always had to be ready to talk to Hashem, so he didn’t stay married to Tziporah.
When his sister Miriam found out, she thought that Moshe decided to do it without asking Hashem, and thought he didn’t make a good decision. But instead of talking to Moshe about it, she told Aharon, and they both talked about how they thought Moshe was not doing the right thing.
The Torah tells us that Moshe was a very humble person, more humble than anyone else! Even Miriam and Aharon didn’t know how special he was. That’s why they thought he did something wrong, but really, HASHEM told him not to stay married.
Hashem told Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam to come to the Mishkan. Hashem told Aharon and Miriam (where Moshe couldn’t hear) that Moshe did do the right thing! Hashem speaks to Moshe “Peh El Peh” — “mouth to mouth” — not only in a dream like most neviim. They shouldn’t have said something not nice about Moshe!
Hashem stopped talking to Aharon and Miriam, and had the cloud give Miriam tzoraas because she said Lashon Hara about Moshe.
Aharon asked Moshe to please daven to Hashem to give Miriam a Refuah Sheleimah. Moshe davened only a few short words, “Keil Nah Refa Nah Lah.” “Hashem, please make her feel better.” He didn’t daven a long time for her, so the Yidden wouldn’t think he only davens a lot for his sister and not the rest of the Yidden.
Hashem told Moshe that Miriam would have to stay outside of the camp of the Yidden for a week. All of the Yidden waited in Chatzeros until the end of the week, when Miriam was better. Then the Yidden traveled to Rismah.
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Many of the Kapitelach in today’s Tehillim are about when Moshiach comes!
Kapitel Tzadik-Hey and Tzadik-Vov are about how we will tell each other to come sing to Hashem and thank Him for His nissim.
In the third posuk of Kapitel Tzadik-Hey, it says that we will thank Hashem because He is a Melech Gadol, a big King. Hashem will be King over the WHOLE world when Moshiach comes — EVERYONE will follow Hashem’s rules!
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TANYA
Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah Perek Vov
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Today we are going to answer a question the Alter Rebbe asked at the beginning of Shaar Hayichud Veha’Emunah: Moshe says a posuk “Veyadaata Hayom,” reminding Yidden that Hashem is the same Hashem — in Shomayim and underground — there is nothing else.
The Alter Rebbe asked, who would think anything else? Would we think that there is another Hashem hiding under the ocean!? What is Moshe Rabbeinu trying to teach us?
Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t want us to make a mistake: A person might think that the chayus Hashem gives the world, is like the chayus our body gets from the neshama: That the body is already there, and the chayus of the neshama makes it ALIVE. So we might think that the world is there already, and the chayus of Hashem makes things in the world grow and live.
That’s like a car — if the car is parked, it doesn’t go anywhere, but it’s still a car! When a person turns on the engine, he makes it go and move, but the car was still a car before that!
But with the world, it’s NOT that way! Hashem makes the neshama AND the guf! Hashem makes the world AND gives chayus to it! There is nothing else except for Hashem.
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When the Rebbe Maharash was 18 years old, the Tzemach Tzedek started to learn an extra shiur with him:
They learned for 2 and a half hours every day, starting at 10:00 at night in the winter, and at 4:00 in the morning in the summer.
For two years, they studied Kabbalah with how Chassidus explains it, and then for the next almost 2 years, they learned seforim of Chakirah (philosophy) — like Moreh Nevuchim and Kuzari, according to Chassidus.
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In Sefer Hamitzvos today, we learn the mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #19) to thank Hashem after we eat. This is the mitzvah of saying Birchas Hamazon (bentching).
We learn this from a very famous posuk in Parshas Eikev: וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ וּבֵרַכְתָּ אֶת ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ
The details are explained in Mesechta Brachos.
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Perek Alef: The Rambam explains what brachos are, and who made the nusach of the brachos we say. Then the Rambam teaches some general rules about brachos. For example, we learn that lechat’chilah, we should make a bracha in a loud enough voice to hear. We also learn that when we hear a bracha we need to answer Amen!
Perek Beis: In this perek, we learn about Birchas Hamazon, which is the only bracha that is from the Torah. (All other brachos are Miderabanan.) We learn how it is said differently on Shabbos, Yom Tov, and by a chasuna.
Perek Gimmel: We learn about the brachos on foods made from grain. There are five kinds of grain that can make food Mezonos or Hamotzi, depending on how they are prepared.
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Today we learn about what kind of keilim can get Midras. That means that if a Zav sits, stands, or leans on something, it becomes tomei with a tumah called Midras.
In this perek we learn about leather things that can get Midras. For example, a leather bib can become tomei!
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Let’s say your mother asks you, “Did you daven today?”
Right away, you think, “If I say ‘no,’ Mommy will ask me to daven now, and I don’t want to! It will be hard! Plus, she might get upset that I was playing all morning and didn’t daven first like I was supposed to.
“But I remember that I’m in Tzivos Hashem, and I need to win over my Yetzer Hara! I know it’s the right thing to tell the truth.
“But then again, what if Mommy gets angry at me?”
Really, we don’t know if Mommy will really be so upset, and we don’t know if davening will really be so hard. This is a nisayon! It’s a test from Hashem where something seems very hard, but if we decide to do the right thing, we might discover that it wasn’t so hard after all!
Mommy might be very proud that you told the truth, the davening could turn out to be fun, and you might get a prize afterwards too!
In a nisayon, Hashem is hiding Himself. Hashem is using the name of Elokim, where Hashem is hiding. That way we can be free to choose! But when we make the right decision, we can break through the hiding place and be able to see Hashem with the name Havaya, where we can feel the goodness of Hashem — feeling proud and good that we did the right thing!
(There is a very famous maamar of the Rebbe Rashab called “Veyadaata Moskva” — which is based on the posuk we’re learning about now in Tanya! In this maamar, the Rebbe Rashab explains what a nisayon is and how to overcome it.)
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We are reviewing the meaning of the last four pesukim, the last two of each set that the Rebbe taught us, which come from Chassidus. Chassidus shows us the neshama, the deeper meaning of Torah, and helps us to use our mind and heart and all of our inner kochos in serving Hashem!
Ki Karov Eilecha — Torah and mitzvos are very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to do it.
This posuk, which is the foundation of Tanya, tells us that we are able to serve Hashem with our mind and heart and all of our kochos.
In the earlier pesukim, we learned about the Avodah of a Yid, about how precious Torah and mitzvos are, and how we should learn it in a way of Yogaati! In the posuk of Ki Karov, we learn not just to learn Torah and do mitzvos, but to do it BILVAVCHA, with a feeling in our heart!
We use our mind to understand the greatness of Hashem and how important Torah and mitzvos are, making us feel that we want to be close to Hashem and do what we are supposed to with a feeling of Ahava and Yirah.
The posuk that matches this, which the Rebbe taught a few weeks later, is the posuk of Vezeh.
Vezeh Kol Ha’adam — The purpose of a person and the entire Creation, the higher Ruchnius worlds and this Gashmius world, is all that we should make it into a Dira Betachtonim, a place for Hashem!
From this posuk we see that serving Hashem with our own neshama and all of our kochos is also the “neshama” and the purpose of the whole Creation!
When we know this, it will make us feel fulfilled and happy with what we are doing! We realize this is IT! We don’t need to look anywhere else, we are fulfilling the Tachlis of Hashem’s Creation!
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In today’s Chumash, we learn about Lashon Hara.
What is Lashon Hara?
Saying something that makes a person look bad is Lashon Hara, even if it is true. For example, saying that a person did an aveira makes it sound like he is not a nice person. That is Lashon Hara, and it is asur to say it, and even asur to think about it if someone tells it to us.
Lashon Hara doesn’t even have to be saying something “bad.” For example, let’s say someone asks us where they can buy good cookies for Shabbos. We answer, “Oh, ask Ploni — he always has cookies.” If we are trying to make Ploni sound like a fresser who is always noshing, that’s Lashon Hara too!
See Kitzur Shulchan Aruch im piskei Admur Hazaken, siman Lamed, se’if Beis and Gimmel
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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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In Tanya next week we will learn that the plan for the world is for Hashem to be King. We see this in the Medrash, that Hashem wanted to be able to rest in a place that is “Tachtonim,” a place that feels lower and separate from Hashem, like a king rules over separate people.
The Medrash says:
אָמַר רַבִּי שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר נַחְמָן בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁבָּרָא הַקָדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת הָעוֹלָם נִתְאַוֶה שֶׁיְהֵא לוֹ דִירָה בְּתַּחְתּוֹנִים כְּמוֹ שֶׁיֵשׁ בָּעֶלְיוֹנִים
Amar Rabi Shmuel bar Nachman — Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman says:
Besha’ah Shebara Hakadosh Baruch Hu Es Ha’olam — At the time when Hashem created the world
Nisaveh Sheyehei Lo Dira Betachtonim — Hashem wanted to have a Dira Betachtonim, a resting place below
Kemo Sheyesh Ba’elyonim — Like there is in Shomayim above.
The Medrash explains that as soon as Hashem created a Gashmius world and gave Adam Harishon mitzvos to keep, this happened! But because of aveiros, Hashem wasn’t fully able to rest in the world anymore until the time of Matan Torah and when the Mishkan (and later the Beis Hamikdash) was built.
When Moshiach comes, Hashem will have a complete Dira Betachtonim! It will still be a Gashmius’dike world, but everyone will be able to see that it’s Hashem’s world.
See Medrash Tanchuma Naso 7:1, Maamar Basi Legani 5711
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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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