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CHUMASH
Parshas Re'eh - Chamishi with Rashi
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Moshe Rabbeinu reminds the Yidden about some of the mitzvos they will do in Eretz Yisroel!
When plants grow in your field, you need to give Maaser! There are a few kinds of Maaser — Maaser Rishon (to the Leviim), Maaser Sheini (to eat in Yerushalayim), and Maaser Oni (that needs to be given to the poor).
In today’s Chumash, Moshe Rabbeinu teaches the Yidden how to make sure that all of these Maasros are given properly.
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Today’s kapitelach are Kuf-Lamed-Hey to Kuf-Lamed-Tes.
In the brachos before Kriyas Shema, we say that Hashem is constantly creating the world with His goodness — “Hamechadesh Betuvo Bechol Yom Tamid Maaseh Bereishis.”
We prove this from a posuk in today’s Tehillim, “Le’oseh Orim Gedolim, Ki Le’olam Chasdo” — “Hashem makes the big lights — because He has so much chesed.” The posuk says that Hashem MAKES the lights in the sky, not that Hashem MADE them before!
This teaches us an important lesson in our Avodah. We need to make sure that our Yiddishkeit is ALSO always a new thing, like the way Hashem creates the world new all the time. We shouldn’t feel like our Yiddishkeit is boring, it should always be exciting like a new prize!
The Baal Shem Tov explained that we ask Hashem for this in one of the Selichos: “Al Tashlicheini Le’eis Zikna,” “don’t throw us aside in our old age.” We are also asking Hashem not to throw us into a feeling that our Yiddishkeit is old and boring. We want our Torah and mitzvos to always feel fresh and new!
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Tes
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This is another letter where the Alter Rebbe encourages Chassidim to give tzedakah to Colel Chabad, to the Tzadikim in Eretz Yisroel!
When suppertime comes, we might say, “Mommy, can I please have food?”
When everyone is playing ball, we might ask, “Can I please have a turn?”
Why do we ask for things for ourselves? We want to make sure we are taken care of and we have what we need.
Today the Alter Rebbe tells us that it’s the right thing... but sometimes it could be not for the right reason!
The main reason why a Yid should do anything is for Hashem! We have a part of Hashem inside of us, our neshama. And even when we take care of the things our body needs, we should remember that the main part is the Neshama!
Yidden are called a Goy Echad Ba’aretz, which means that we are a special nation in the world. The Alter Rebbe tells us that this also means that we are a nation (Goy) who remembers Echod (Hashem Who is Echod, One), that we remember Hashem even Ba’aaretz, in the Gashmius things we do.
Of course we need to take care of our bodies and use the Gashmius of the world to take care of ourselves. But for a Yid, the real reason we are doing this is to fulfill what Hashem wants from us in the Torah — to be able to daven, learn Torah and do mitzvos in the best possible way! When we take care of our Gashmius, we are helping our neshama do what it should!
But if we’re doing things for Hashem and for our Neshama, the part of Hashem inside of ourselves, why should we worry only about our OWN neshama? Doesn’t EVERY Yid have a Neshama?
The answer is that the Torah says that first we take care of our own neshama, and only then should we take care of someone else. But since we remember that the main thing is the neshama, we will make sure to take care of as many neshamos as we can, and not JUST ourselves!
That will help us look at the mitzvah of Tzedakah in the right way and make sure to give as much and to as many people as we can.
In tzedakah also, the Torah teaches us who to give to first. Even though we should really give to EVERYONE, first we need to give to our own family, and then we take care of other poor people. The Alter Rebbe says that taking care of the Tzadikim of the generation comes even BEFORE taking care of our own family! That’s why this letter was sent, explaining to Chassidim why it is a priority to give tzedakah to the tzadikim, R’ Menachem Mendel of Horodok and his talmidim, who lived in Eretz Yisroel.
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In today’s Hayom Yom, we learn something that will help prepare us for Chodesh Elul.
If a person’s guf is R”L not feeling well, what should he do?
There are two things he should do to become healthy:
1) Take medicine to make the sick part of the body feel better.
2) Eat healthy foods, rest, drink a lot of water, and sit in the sun, so the whole body gets stronger, which will also make the sick part feel better!
If a neshama is sick R”L, we should also use the same two ways to make it feel better!
1) Do Teshuvah to take away the aveira that is making the neshama not feel good.
2) Do lots of mitzvos to make the neshama so strong that it will be easier to correct the aveiros!
That’s what we do in Elul! We make a Cheshbon Hanefesh to see the good things we did during the year and make them stronger, and do teshuvah for the things we need to fix.
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SEFER HAMITZVOS
Shiur #99 - Mitzvas Lo Saasei #187, #186, #189, #190, #191, #192
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Today we learn more mitzvos about what we are not allowed to eat:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #187) We are not allowed to eat milk and meat together (basar b’chalav).
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Ki Sisa: לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ
The details are explained in Mesechta Chulin perek Ches.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #186) We are not allowed to cook milk and meat together (even if we aren’t going to eat it).
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ
3) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #189) We are not allowed to eat bread (Lechem) from new grain of that year, until the day that the Korban Omer is brought on 16 Nissan. The new grain is called “Chodosh.”
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Emor: וְלֶחֶם וְקָלִי וְכַרְמֶל לֹא תֹאכְלוּ
The details are explained in Mesechta Menachos perek Zayin, and many places in Mesechta Shviis, Mesechta Maasros, and Mesechta Challah.
4) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #190) There is a separate mitzvah not to eat roasted grain (Koli) from chodosh.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Emor: וְלֶחֶם וְקָלִי וְכַרְמֶל לֹא תֹאכְלוּ
The details are explained in Mesechta Menachos perek Zayin, and many places in Mesechta Shviis, Mesechta Maasros, and Mesechta Challah.
5) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #191) There is a separate mitzvah not to eat fresh grain (Karmel) from chodosh.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Emor: וְלֶחֶם וְקָלִי וְכַרְמֶל לֹא תֹאכְלוּ עַד עֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה
The details are explained in Mesechta Menachos perek Zayin, and many places in Mesechta Shviis, Mesechta Maasros, and Mesechta Challah.
6) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #192) We are not allowed to eat fruit from a tree for the first three years it grows (Orlah).
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Kedoshim: שָׁלשׁ שָׁנִים יִהְיֶה לָכֶם עֲרֵלִים לֹא יֵאָכֵל
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Maachalos Asuros
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In today’s Rambam, perakim Yud-Daled, Tes-Vov, and Tes-Zayin, we learn about when a person is chayav to be punished by the Beis Din for eating asur food. Just like at the Seder we eat a certain amount of matzah in a certain amount of time, a person only gets punished if he eats a certain amount of food in a certain amount of time.
We also learn about when a food is botul and is considered as if it’s not there. Let’s say you have a big pot of chicken soup cooking on the stove, when your baby brother comes into the kitchen. He takes his bottle of milk and throws it on the floor. It opens, and the milk splashes all over the kitchen! Is it still okay to eat the chicken soup, since some milk splashed inside? The answer is yes, because it is botul. There is SO MUCH chicken soup, and SO LITTLE milk that it doesn’t make the food non-kosher.
There are many halachos about bittul. Some kinds of food can NEVER become botul, and sometimes you need as much as 200 times more of the kosher food than the non-kosher food!
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This perek teaches that only if a person MEANT to kill THAT person in THAT way, does the Beis Din punish him. We also learn how to treat a murderer that the Beis Din is not allowed to put to death, and who it is a mitzvah to put to death.
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In a sicha to children, the Rebbe explains a plan we can use to win over our Yetzer Hara.
We are soldiers in Hashem’s army! We are fighting against the Yetzer Hara by acting the way Hashem wants us to!
In every army, there are “Tachsisei Milchama” — tricks to fight better. We can learn from their ideas how to fight our own Yetzer Hara!
Imagine an army trying to capture another country. One way is for the soldiers to spread out and try to capture the whole thing at once! But then it’s also easier for the enemy to fight back, and they might not be successful.
Another way to do it is that they can send all of the soldiers to capture one city. With all of them working together on a smaller piece of land, they will for sure be able to win over it! Then they can move on to the next city, and then the next, until they have captured the entire country!
We can use that same idea in our Avodas Hashem.
We might have many parts of our Avodah that need to be better. But instead of trying to fix everything all at once, we can use all of our kochos to fix up one thing at a time. If we’re using all of our kochos in one part of our Avodas Hashem, we will definitely be able to correct it! Then we can move on to another thing, and another — until everything we do is the way Hashem wants us to do it!
See Der Rebbe Redt Tzu Kinder (second edition), volume 1, p. 26
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The second half of Hodu, starting from the word “Romemu,” are 22 pesukim from Tehillim. These pesukim include praise to Hashem, and pesukim that ask Hashem to help the Yidden and bring the Geulah!
In Likutei Torah, the Alter Rebbe explains that these pesukim are connected to the Avos!
The Avos were the ones who began the Tefillos of Shacharis, Mincha and Maariv. In davening, we often ask Hashem to answer us in their zechus.
Each of the Avos had a strong koach in a certain midah. Avraham Avinu showed a tremendous level of Chesed, kindness. Yitzchak Avinu had a powerful level of Gevurah, strictness. Yaakov Avinu showed the midah of Tiferes (Rachamim), mercy, in a very great way.
These pesukim in the second half of Hodu connect to these midos. For example, “Va’ani Bechasdecha Batachti,” “I have trusted in Your Chesed,” is the midah of Chesed. “Keil Nekamos Hashem,” “Hashem punishes resha’im,” is the midah of Gevurah. “Ata Hashem Lo Sichla Rachamecha Mimeni,” “Hashem, Your Rachmonus has not left me,” is the midah of Tiferes.
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There are three “general” brachos, that we use for most foods. (Later IY”H we will see that there are exceptions for specific kinds of foods.)
All food fits into three main groups: Food that grows from the ground (like carrots), food that grows on trees (like apples), and food that we get any other way (like chicken or eggs). Depending on where our food comes from, that is the bracha we make!
For juicy peaches, which grow on trees, we make a bracha of Ha’eitz, thanking Hashem for letting us enjoy the food that grows on trees. On crunchy celery, which grows from the ground, we make a bracha of Ha’adama, thanking Hashem for letting us enjoy the food that grows from the ground. For fish, which we don’t get from the ground or from trees, we make a bracha Shehakol, thanking Hashem for letting us enjoy His world, which was all created through Hashem’s words.
See Birchos Hanehenin, perek Alef se’if Beis
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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 last two perakim of Yoel are about the Geulah, and that Hashem will punish the goyim who hurt the Yidden during the time of Golus.
At the end of the last perek, the Navi Yoel warns Edom and Mitzrayim that they will be punished for killing the Yidden from Yehudah.
The last two pesukim speak about what will happen in the end:
וִיהוּדָה לְעוֹלָם תֵּשֵׁב וִירוּשָׁלִַם לְדוֹר וָדוֹר
וְנִקֵּיתִי דָּמָם לֹא נִקֵּיתִי וַה׳ שֹׁכֵן בְּצִיּוֹן
ViYehuda Le’olam Teisheiv — Yehudah, that they tried to kill, will stay forever
VeYerushalayim Ledor Vador — And Yerushalayim, which they tried to destroy, will last for all generations.
Venikeisi Damam Lo Nikeisi — Hashem says, I may forgive them for other aveiros, but for the blood of the Yidden that they killed, I will not forgive them!
VaHashem Shochein Betzion — This will happen when Hashem rests in Tzion, the time of the Geulah.
See Yoel perek Daled pesukim Chof and Chof-Alef
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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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