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CHUMASH
Parshas Behaalosecha - Chamishi with Rashi
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Today we see the first time that the Yidden traveled in the Midbar!
On the twentieth day of the month of Iyar, the year after the Yidden left Mitzrayim, the cloud went up from on top of the Mishkan, and the Yidden traveled for the first time after Matan Torah, from Har Sinai to Midbar Paran. Here’s how they traveled:
First, Yehudah, Yissachar, and Zevulun GOT READY to go. While they were doing that, the kohanim covered up the keilim of the Mishkan so they would be ready for the Leviim to carry. Then the Yidden actually started to travel!
1) First Yehudah, Yissachar, and Zevulun went
2) Then Gershon and Merari (who carried the Kerashim (boards) and Yerios (curtains) of the Mishkan) went
3) Reuven, Shimon, and Gad went
4) Kehos (who carried the keilim of the Mishkan, like the Aron, the Menorah and the Shulchan) went. (They didn’t go together with Gershon and Merari, they left later. That way by the time they come with the keilim to the place where the Yidden would settle, Gershon and Merari will have had enough time to set up the Mishkan itself.)
5) Then Efrayim, Menasheh, and Benyamin went
6) Finally, Dan, Asher, and Naftali went.
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Now the Torah tells us about something that happened right before the Yidden began to travel.
Before they left Har Sinai, Moshe told Yisro that the Yidden were going to Eretz Yisrael. He asked Yisro to come, even though he was a Ger and wouldn’t get his own part of Eretz Yisroel.
Yisro said he had to go home. How would he be able to take care of his family if he comes to Eretz Yisroel and doesn’t have a place there?
Moshe convinced Yisro that he SHOULD come to Eretz Yisroel. If he leaves, Moshe told him, it will look like he only became a Ger because he thought he would get part of Eretz Yisroel! Also, Yisro can help the Yidden with good advice. Moshe promised Yisro that he would get a part of Eretz Yisroel for a while if he comes. (When the land in Eretz Yisroel was divided up many years later, part of the city of Yericho was set aside for the Shevet that would give up part of their land to build the Beis Hamikdash. Until the Beis Hamikdash was built, Yisro’s children were allowed to live there.)
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Now we continue learning about the Yidden’s first journey from Har Sinai.
Hashem made a special neis: In one day, they went very far — what usually takes THREE days to go, they went all in one day! That was because Hashem really wanted the Yidden to able to go into Eretz Yisroel right away! (As we will see in the next parsha, because of the story of the Meraglim, in the end the Yidden needed to stay in the Midbar for 40 years.)
An Aron went ahead of the Yidden, to prepare the place where the Yidden were going to camp next.
This was not the same Aron as the one that was in the Mishkan. Before Moshe Rabbeinu went up to Har Sinai to get the second Luchos, Hashem told him that he would need to keep the luchos in an Aron. There was no Mishkan yet, and Moshe himself prepared an Aron to hold the broken Luchos and the second Luchos. When the Mishkan was built, the second Luchos were kept in the Aron in the Mishkan, and the broken Luchos stayed in Moshe’s Aron and traveled in front of the Yidden, and together with them when they went to fight.
When the Yidden traveled, there were seven clouds with the Yidden: One on top, one on bottom, and four around on each side. The seventh cloud went in front of them, flattened out the mountains so the Yidden would have a smooth path, and killed the snakes and scorpions so the Yidden would feel safe.
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In today’s Tehillim, in Kapitel Pey-Daled, we have a very special posuk which we are learning about in Tanya! “Ki Shemesh UMagen Hashem Elokim!” “Because the name of Hashem and Elokim is like a sun and a 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 word too hot! The world can 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.
We will see in Tanya today that 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 Hashem and the name Elokim is the same Aibershter!
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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Before, the Alter Rebbe told us that there are two names of Hashem: Havaya and Elokim.
Havaya is the name of Hashem that gives Chayus to the world, and Elokim is the name of Hashem that HIDES the chayus.
Today the Alter Rebbe tells us that the name Elokim is the same gematria as the word “HaTeva” — nature. We see the world in a way of Elokim. It looks like the world takes care of itself, through the “laws” of nature, instead of needing Hashem’s chayus to always make it stay.
Before, we also learned that these two names of Hashem are only two different NAMES, but Hashem is ONE!
Today the Alter Rebbe explains how we can see that they are one:
Havaya is Chesed, giving.
Elokim is Gevurah — taking away.
If Havaya and Elokim were two separate things, then the name Havaya would give chayus to everything, and the name Elokim would take away the chayus from everything!
But since they are the same Hashem, they work together! They work together and they need each other! The name Havaya is Hashem’s chesed that gives us the chayus, and the name Elokim is the Gevurah that HIDES it so that the chayus doesn’t shine too strong for us to be able to live and serve Hashem.
This shows us that they are really one!
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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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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #17) is a special mitzvah for a Yiddishe king! He needs to write or buy a Sefer Torah to keep with him ALL THE TIME. This will remind him of his very important job!
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Shoftim: וְהָיָה כְשִׁבְתּוֹ עַל כִּסֵּא מַמְלַכְתּוֹ וְכָתַב לוֹ אֶת מִשְׁנֵה הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת
The details are explained in Mesechta Sanhedrin perek Beis.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Tefillin U'Mezuzah V'Sefer Torah
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In today’s Rambam, we will finish this set of halachos.
Perek Ches: The Rambam teaches us more about writing a Sefer Torah. We learn about how we leave a space after paragraphs in a Sefer Torah: If the space is at the end of a line, it is called a “Pesucha” (“open” — in your Chumash, you will usually see the letter “pey.”) If the space is in the middle of a line, it is called “Stumah” (“closed” — you will see a samech in your Chumash).
If a sofer leaves a space in the wrong place, or mixes up the kinds of spaces, the Torah is posul!
Perek Tes: We learn many more halachos about how the Torah is written, sewn, and attached to the Atzei Chayim (the poles).
Perek Yud: Now that we learned all of these halachos, we understand that there are 20 ways for a Sefer Torah to be posul. Here are two examples: 1) if two letters are touching, or 2) if the ink isn’t black.
We also learn how to treat a Sefer Torah: One halacha is that a Sefer Torah can only be sold if someone doesn’t have anything else to sell and wants to learn Torah or to get married.
The Rambam also tells us how we treat all kinds of kedusha things, and what needs to go into sheimos!
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Now the Rambam explains when clothes or cloth can become tomei. One of the halachos is that a bandage, even if it is made out of cloth, can’t become tomei. That’s because it’s not counted as a keili.
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What does it mean to have hiskashrus after Gimmel Tammuz?
We are about two and a half weeks from Gimmel Tammuz. Let’s learn something about hiskashrus:
There is a famous section of Igeres Hakodesh, siman chof-zayin, which is the first place in Chassidus Chabad that explains the connection of a tzadik and a Nasi with their Chassidim after histalkus. After explaining (based on the Zohar) that the brachos and tefillos of the tzadik for the Gashmius of the chassidim and the hashpa’ah in Ruchnius are stronger than before, the Alter Rebbe explains the hiskashrus that Chassidim have to their Rebbe.
The Alter Rebbe says that if the chassidim work on their hiskashrus, it can be even on a higher level than it was before!
Why?
When we can SEE a Tzadik, we can hear what he tells us and know what to do. Chassidim are able to take these words and try to understand what the Rebbe wants.
After the histalkus, we might think that we are further from the Rebbe, since we can’t hear his words anymore. But that’s not true! After the histalkus, a part of the Tzadik’s neshama can become a PART of the chossid, based on his level of hiskashrus and the effort he puts into following the Rebbe’s horaos! This helps us REALLY understand what the Rebbe wants from us, and gives us special koach to fulfill our shlichus properly.
The Rebbe often quoted this Igeres Hakodesh, when speaking about the histalkus of a Rebbe. Today, Chassidim have a koach more than ever before to fulfill the Rebbe’s shlichus in the best way and bring the Geulah, when we will again be together with the Rebbe begashmius and learn the Torah of Moshiach!
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We just finished learning the second group of pesukim, the pesukim from Torah Shebaal Peh. They teach us how we deal with other people. The posuk Kol Yisroel shows us how precious each Yid is, that every Yid is special and made by Hashem. We should treat each one in a way of Ve’ahavta, the way we would want for ourselves.
The pesukim from Torah Shebaal Peh explain to us how to fulfill what we learn in Torah Shebichsav. These two pesukim are also teaching us how to do what we learned in the second pesukim of Torah Shebichsav, Shema and Veshinantam.
In the first pesukim, we learned about the precious gift of the Torah that belongs to each of us, for us to learn and know! Afterwards, we learn about the world around us. We learn how the world is botul to Hashem, through the posuk of Shema. We also learn about our responsibility to teach Torah and mitzvos to other Yidden, in the posuk of Veshinantam.
In these two pesukim from Torah Shebaal Peh now, we learn HOW to do that!
In order for other people to be ready to learn from us, we need to treat them properly. We need to first realize how special and precious they are to Hashem, and then we need to make sure to treat them nicely, the way we would want to be treated ourselves.
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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!
(Baruch Hashem, we now have a wonderful siddur that can help kids and adults to understand the meaning of the words of davening in a simple way, the Weiss Tzivos Hashem Siddur.)
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!
Since this will be good for the people living there, they will start to sing and clap their hands!
The Rebbe would finish off farbrengens with singing this niggun!
See Yeshaya Perek Nun-Hey posuk Yud-Beis
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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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