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CHUMASH
Parshas Eikev - Revi'i with Rashi
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Moshe is farbrenging with the Yidden about more things that happened in the Midbar, so they will be ready to go into Eretz Yisroel:
“Hashem told me to make a new set of Luchos, since the first ones were broken. He also told me to make an Aron to hold it in.” (This was a different Aron than the one in the Mishkan — the Yidden didn’t build the Mishkan until later.)
“I made the Luchos like Hashem told me, and went up onto Har Sinai again for another 40 days.”
Moshe now reminds the Yidden about something else that they did — when Aharon passed away, and some of Hashem’s clouds went away, they were scared to fight with the Goyim. They turned around and tried to run back to Mitzrayim, but the Leviim chased after them and fought with them until they agreed to come back!
(Even though this happened 39 years after the Luchos, toward the end of their stay in the Midbar, Moshe tells the Yidden about this now.
Why?
To tell us that when a Tzadik passes away, it’s as sad as when the Luchos were broken, and to teach us that when the Yidden tried to run back to Mitzrayim, it was as sad for Moshe as the Cheit HaEigel.)
“After the Cheit HaEigel, Hashem said that only Shevet Levi should be the kohanim, and not the firstborn of all the Yidden. (That’s why Shevet Levi doesn’t get a part of Eretz Yisroel — they are working for Hashem and don’t have time to work in their fields. Hashem pays them with the special presents we give to the kohanim.)
“And even though you did such a big aveira, Hashem still told me to lead you towards Eretz Yisroel!”
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Today’s kapitelach of Tehillim are Tzadik-Zayin to Kuf-Gimmel.
In one of today’s kapitelach, we have a posuk that says “Horiu LaHashem Kol Ha’aretz” — “everyone in the world should sing to Hashem!”
It is brought in Chassidus that the words “Horiu LaHashem Kol Ha’aretz” are the Roshei Teivos of (the first letters spell the word) Halacha!
When we follow Halacha, the way the Aibershter wants things to be, that’s like the world is singing together to Hashem!
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Hey
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We need to do something special so that Hashem will give chayus to Olam Hazeh. When we give chayus to another Yid by giving tzedakah, Hashem gives chayus to the world!
Giving tzedakah causes Hashem to give chayus to the gashmius’dike world, which is created with the letter Hey of Hashem’s name, as the Alter Rebbe explained before. Learning Torah is what makes Hashem give chayus to the Ruchniyus’dike world, Olam Haba, which is created with the letter Yud of Hashem’s name.
Now we understand what it means, that someone who gives tzedakah “makes” Hashem’s name. Because when we give Tzedakah, it makes Hashem give chayus to Olam Hazeh which is made with the Hey of Hashem’s name, and not only to Olam Haba which is made with the letter Yud!
That’s why it’s not enough to just learn Torah, we also need to give tzedakah. This way we will have Hashem’s complete name — giving chayus not just to the Ruchnius (created with the Yud of Hashem’s name), which we do by learning Torah, but also to the Gashmius (created with the Hey of Hashem’s name), which we do by giving tzedakah.
This is another letter where the Alter Rebbe encourages Chassidim to give more tzedakah, by explaining the special things that happen when we do this mitzvah.
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Today we will learn that the mitzvah of Ahavas Hashem and Yiras Hashem is something that we need to feel in Gashmius!
There are lots of mitzvos we can FEEL: Like when we put on Tefillin, we can feel how the Tefillin are heavy on our head, and the straps are tight around our arm.
Did you know that we need to FEEL Ahavas Hashem and Yiras Hashem too? They are also mitzvos that should be felt in our heart!
What does it feel like to have Ahavas Hashem, to love Hashem?
Imagine that we have a close friend who moved to a different country. We write each other letters, and even sometimes call, but it’s not the same. Then, one day, our friend comes to visit! Even though we might have a lot of things that usually bother us, we are so excited and happy to see our friend that we forget about them! We feel much happier about everything, and are sure that it will all be good.
Our love for Hashem should make us feel that way inside too! We should feel so good that we aren’t worried about things anymore. We are so glad to feel close to Hashem that we are sure everything will be wonderful.
What does it feel like to have YIRAS Hashem, to fear Hashem?
Imagine that we are working on a big project for a big group of important people. All of the sudden, the head of those people comes in to check on how we are doing! We get a shaky feeling inside — are we doing what we should be doing? Will he be happy with what we’ve done?
We can feel our Yiras Hashem in three ways:
1) If we realize that we were doing something wrong, that is called “Yiras HaOnesh,” we are afraid we might be punished from Shomayim.
2) If we feel embarrassed of ourselves and the way we act, that’s called “Yirah Boshes.”
3) Sometimes a person will feel amazed, like the way we feel when we see a huge mountain or waterfall or a sunrise. That’s Yiras HaRomemus — realizing how great and special Hashem is!
When we have Yiras Hashem, it needs to make us feel one of these ways — afraid, ashamed, or awed, knowing that Hashem sees and knows about everything we do.
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There are a lot of mitzvos about making sure that a Yiddishe marriage is holy! Today we learn 3 more mitzvos about it:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #352) A man can’t get married to his uncle (his father’s brother).
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Acharei: עֶרְוַת אֲחִי אָבִיךָ לֹא תְגַלֵּה
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #347) A man can’t get married to a woman who is married to someone else.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Acharei: וְאֶל אֵשֶׁת עֲמִיתְךָ לֹא תִתֵּן שְׁכָבְתְּךָ לְזָרַע
3) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #346) When a woman has a certain kind of tumah, called Nidah, she and her husband have to follow certain halachos.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Acharei: וְאֶל אִשָּׁה בְּנִדַּת טֻמְאָתָהּ לֹא תִקְרַב
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In today’s Rambam, Perakim Yud-Beis, Yud-Gimmel, and Yud-Daled, we are learning all about how it’s asur to get married to a non-Jew. We learn how someone not Jewish can do Giyur to become a Yid.
One halacha tells us how Yidden became Yidden when they left Mitzrayim — through bris milah, going to the mikvah, and bringing a korban.
That’s the same way a goy can become a Yid — he has to do these three things before he can become a Ger Tzedek. (Nowadays, a person can become a complete Ger even without bringing a korban.)
We learn many halachos about how the Beis Din tries to make sure that the person wants to be a Yid because he wants to do Hashem’s mitzvos, and not for other reasons (like wanting to marry a Jew).
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This perek talks about kinds of people that have different halachos if they got hurt — like a mother who had a baby inside, or if someone hurts their parents, or if a servant was hurt. The halachos of what needs to be paid can be different for each kind of person.
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Today is a special day on the Chassidishe calendar — it is the yartzeit of the Rebbe’s father, R’ Levi Yitzchak.
The Rebbe’s father was the Rav in Yekatrinoslav. Because he didn’t stop teaching Torah and mitzvos to the Yidden, the government punished him by sending him far away to a small town called Chi’ili.
Even while in Golus, R’ Levik continued to write down words of Torah, like explanations to the Zohar. There was no way to buy paper in Ch’ili, so R’ Levik wrote in the white spaces around the words of the few seforim that the government allowed him to take with him. There was no ink in Ch’ili either, so the Rebbe’s mother, Rebbetzin Chana, boiled different grasses and flowers to make ink for him to use. Since each batch of ink had different grasses, you can see that the words in R’ Levik’s seforim are written with many different colors!
Some Chassidim paid a lot of money for R’ Levik to be able to go to a bigger city where he could be warmer, but he was very sick and passed away there, in Alma Ata.
R’ Levi Yitzchak had Mesiras Nefesh in Russia to spread Yiddishkeit. Because of this, he passed away at a young age.
We can learn from the Rebbe’s father to have Mesiras Nefesh also, making sure that we help all of the Yidden who don’t know about Torah and mitzvos yet — with all of our chayus!
Many of his Chiddushei Torah we STILL don’t have — they are probably somewhere in Russia. The Rebbe said that if we make a hachlata to learn these Chiddushei Torah as soon as they are found, Hashem will help that we will find them faster!
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This past week was the Yom Tov of Chamisha-Asar B’Av.
We learned that the lesson the Chachomim tell us to take from this day is to add in learning Torah. But, as we asked before, how does this fit with the full moon after Tisha B’Av? The MOON only gets smaller afterwards, but WE are supposed to keep adding in our Torah learning as the nights get longer and longer!
We will understand the answer by looking at how the moon really works:
When we look at the moon at different days of the month, it can look to us that it is bigger or smaller. Sometimes it is only a thin line, but in the middle of the month, it is full and round!
Still, the moon doesn’t ACTUALLY get smaller after the middle of the month! The moon LOOKS smaller because we can only see the part of it shining on the world.
Really, the moon is always the same size, and is always shining the same amount! If we flew up to space, we could go around to the other side of the moon and see how it is full and shining!
A Yid, like the moon, also has a part of himself that is shining where other people can’t see. That is the part of us that connects to Hashem through davening and learning. When we do mitzvos and help and teach others, that is like the way we can see the moon, shining in the world. But our personal davening and learning and connecting to Hashem is the other kind of shining, that can’t be seen by other people in the world.
This is the lesson of Chamisha-Asar B’Av:
We need to be like the moon in BOTH ways! There are times when we need to make sure we are shining in the world, through helping other Yidden and making a Kiddush Hashem in the world, and there are times when we need to work on shining in ways that other people can’t see.
Starting from Chamisha-Asar B’Av, we make sure that we are adding in our learning Torah, together with davening so we will feel a bittul and strong connection to Hashem. This personal connection becomes more each day, just like the moon in the second half of the month, which shines more and more on the side that we can’t see!
This continues throughout the month, getting us ready for the new Avodah of the month of Elul which is coming very soon!
See farbrengen Parshas Va’eschanan Tof-Shin-Mem-Hey
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The paragraph of Abayei comes from the Gemara, Mesechta Yoma. It speaks about how the Amora, Abayei, would review the steps of the entire daily Avodah in the Beis Hamikdash in order, based on the teachings of Abba Shaul.
Even though the halacha (the way it will be done in the Beis Hamikdash Hashlishi) is different, we still say it the way Abba Shaul taught it.
Meforshim explain why we still choose to say it in this way, and in a sicha the Rebbe explains why it is done this way according to Chassidus — because the order of the Avodah in this paragraph fits more according to the avodah of Yidden in the time of Golus.
See Sefer Hasichos 5752, p. 419 and footnotes there
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There are many halachos that we do to show kavod and love for the Sefer Torah. One way is by kissing the Sefer Torah when it is carried past us in shul.
There is a minhag brought in Shulchan Aruch that when the Sefer Torah comes out in shul, we should especially bring children to come and kiss it. This will help in their chinuch and get them excited to do mitzvos!
See Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim siman 149
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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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Hashem gives the same message to many of the neviim, but each Navi tells it in his own way! That’s why so many nevuos say the same things about the Geulah.
Here is how the Navi Hoshea tells us about the time of the Geulah, when there will be no danger and no war:
וְכָרַתִּי לָהֶם בְּרִית בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא עִם חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה וְעִם עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וְרֶמֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָה וְקֶשֶׁת וְחֶרֶב וּמִלְחָמָה אֶשְׁבּוֹר מִן הָאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁכַּבְתִּים לָבֶטַח
Vechorati Lahem Bris Bayom Hahu — In that time, it will be as if there is a promise to have peace
Im Chayas Hasadeh — With the wild animals
Ve’im Of Hashomayim — And with the birds in the sky
Veremes Ho’adamah — And the bugs of the earth.
Vekeshes Vecherev Umilchama Eshbor Min Ha’aretz — The bow, the sword, and war I will break off from the world
Vehishkavtim Lavetach — And I will let the Yidden rest safely.
See Hoshea perek Beis posuk Chof
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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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