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CHUMASH
Parshas Netzavim - Rishon with Rashi
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This week is one of the shortest parshios of the year — just the parsha of Netzavim! When the first day of Rosh Hashana falls out on Monday or Tuesday, Parshas Netzavim and Vayeilech are read separately instead of together.
Now, it is Zayin Adar, the day Moshe Rabbeinu will pass away.
Moshe Rabbeinu is talking to the Yidden about making a promise with Hashem, to keep the mitzvos.
He tells the Yidden that EVERYONE is ready to make the promise, from the Nesiim to every Yid — men, women and children, and even the slaves (the woodchoppers and the water carriers) of the Yidden. They are all ready to make the promise with Hashem to keep all the mitzvos.
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Today’s kapitelach of Tehillim are Kuf-Vov and Kuf-Zayin. We also say the kapitelach for Chodesh Elul: Samach-Daled, Samach-Hey, and Samach-Vov.
In the second posuk of today’s Tehillim, Dovid Hamelech says “Mi Yemalel Gevuros Hashem, Yashmia Kol Tehilaso?” “Who is able to say the greatness of Hashem, to say all the special things about Hashem?”
In a maamar, the Alter Rebbe tells over a vort from the Baal Shem Tov:
The word Yemalel (to say) can also mean “to break,” and Gevuros (the greatness) can also mean “the strictness”. So the posuk is asking, “Who can break the strictness of Hashem” — so Hashem doesn’t have to be strict with us? The answer is, “Yashmia Kol Tehilaso” — the one who makes us hear the special things about Hashem. The word Tehilaso (the special things about Him) can also mean Tehillim, so the answer is “Someone who says the whole Tehillim.”
So besides for all of the other good things about saying Tehillim, it also has a special koach to help that Hashem shouldn’t have to be strict with us, and will treat us with chesed!
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Yud-Zayin
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In this letter, the Alter Rebbe is teaching us that even though there are great Ruchnius’dike rewards for the neshama in Gan Eden, the greatest reward will be at the time of Techiyas Hameisim. Tzedakah is a special mitzvah which gives us the koach to get that reward then!
We learned yesterday that we will get to see the higher kind of chayus from Hashem, called Sovev Kol Almin, as a reward for doing mitzvos, especially Tzedakah!
When will we get to see it? After Techiyas Hameisim!
There are some rewards a person gets in Gan Eden, but this reward will be only when Moshiach comes — when every Neshama will be in a body. Why only then?
Because “Sof Maaseh BeMachshava Techila” — the last thing was thought of first.
Did you ever build a Lego set? First you look at the box, and see an amazing picture of a really neat building, or car, or boat. Then you open the instruction book and start to build, one piece at a time. Your model starts looking more and more like the picture! Finally, you finish — you built it just like the box shows!
What did you think of FIRST? The finished building. And when did you get it? Last! That’s “Sof Maaseh BeMachshava Techila.” You thought of it first, so that’s what you got in the end.
The same thing is what happened when Hashem made the world — first He thought of something that He wanted, and then He made the world. What did Hashem want? A neshama inside of a guf in this world! That’s why people were made last!
That’s also why we’ll be able to see the special chayus of Sovev Kol Almin only at the time of Techiyas Hameisim. Even though neshamos will first have been in Gan Eden, this highest chayus of Hashem will not shine until the neshama comes back into a Guf, at the time of Techiyas Hameisim. Only then is the time of the Sof Maaseh, the way Hashem wanted things to be from the beginning!
The letter started off with a posuk from Tehillim, and now we finish learning what it means according to Chassidus:
“Lechol Tichla Ra’isi Keitz, Rechava Mitzvascha Me’od” — “for everything we do there is an end, but Your mitzvah is very big (and doesn’t have an end)!”
Chassidus explains that the word “Tichla” (goal) can also mean “Klos,” wanting — that the Neshama wants to be together with Hashem, like it feels in Gan Eden. Still, all of these feelings have an end!
But, “Rechava Mitzvascha Me’od,” the mitzvah of Tzedakah is so great that it will make us able to feel even the chayus of Hashem that is so strong (Sovev Kol Almin) after Techiyas Hameisim — even the neshamos in the highest parts of Gan Eden can’t feel that!
Pretty amazing! Make sure to give lots of tzedakah, especially now before Yom Tov. The Rebbe tells us that we need to make sure that everyone has enough money to buy all the things that they need for Yom Tov!
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In today’s Hayom Yom we learn that when we do the mitzvah of Hocheiach Tochiach, we need to be careful not to hurt or embarrass the other Yid.
Did you ever poke yourself with your fingernail by mistake? Ouch!
Did you know that saying something mean to another person can hurt like that too? Maybe it is saying something that will make them feel like they aren’t as good as you.
Chassidus teaches us that if we need to show someone they are doing something wrong (it’s a mitzvah to help another Yid do the right thing — Hocheiach Tochiach!), we need to first make sure that we aren’t going to hurt them.
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Today’s mitzvos are about leaving parts of our fields for the poor.
Leket:
1) (Mitzvas Asei #121) If stalks of wheat fall on the ground when we are gathering the wheat, we need to leave them for the poor.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Emor: וְלֶקֶט קְצִירְךָ לֹא תְלַקֵּט לֶעָנִי וְלַגֵּר תַּעֲזֹב אֹתָם
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #211) It is asur for the owner of the field to take the leket!
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Emor: וְלֶקֶט קְצִירְךָ לֹא תְלַקֵּט
Olelos:
3) (Mitzvas Asei #123) If we find some clusters of grapes that aren’t as good (like if they don’t have as many grapes as usual), we need to leave them for the poor.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Kedoshim: לֶעָנִי וְלַגֵּר תַּעֲזֹב אֹתָם
4) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #212) The owner of the vineyard is not allowed to take these olelos.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Kedoshim: וְכַרְמְךָ לֹא תְעוֹלֵל
The details of all of these mitzvos are explained in Mesechta Pe’ah.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about Pe’ah, and also the mitzvos of today’s Sefer Hamitzvos (plus one more mitzvah)! The first two perakim today are about Pe’ah, then we learn about Leket, Peret, and Olelos in the last perek.
Perek Beis: Pe’ah means leaving the corner of our fields for the poor. There are five conditions a field needs to have to be chayav in the mitzvah of Pe’ah:
1) It has to be a field of food (not like flax or cotton)
2) It has to grow from the ground (not like mushrooms)
3) It has to be guarded (to show that it belongs to someone) — not hefker
4) It has to all become ripe at the same time (not like figs, that all get ripe at different times)
5) It has to be something that can be stored for a long time, or dried and then stored (not like most vegetables)
Perek Gimmel: We learn how to do the mitzvah of Pe’ah in more than one field, or a field that is split up in a way that makes it become like two fields.
Perek Daled: When one or two stalks fall down when we are harvesting, they belong to the poor people — that’s Leket. But if they fell down because a person who was harvesting hurt himself, they don’t belong to the poor. We learn what happens if leket gets mixed up with the rest of that person’s grain.
Peret means one or two grapes that fall off the clusters when we are harvesting the grapes. They belong to the poor people. We are not allowed to put a basket under the vine to catch any grapes that fall, because that is stealing from the poor!
Finally we learn about Olelos. The Rambam says that they are called Olelos because an olel means a baby — and these grape clusters are still like babies, since they never grew up properly into big clusters of grapes. They need to be left for the poor — even if the WHOLE vineyard is full of them!
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Now the Rambam teaches us about “Mekach To’us” — when someone can say “I wouldn’t have bought this if I knew about this problem!”
For example, if you knew that the bike seat is wobbly and sometimes falls off, you would have bought a different bike instead. You can go and get your money back from the person who sold it to you!
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During the month of Elul, we are looking at our behavior, to make sure that it is the way the Torah teaches us. The Rambam tells us that it’s not enough to do teshuvah for our mitzvos, to make sure we are doing our mitzvos right, but we also have to do teshuvah for our midos, to make sure that our midos are the way they should be!
There is a story that the Frierdiker Rebbe tells us in a letter, which was an introduction to the vort that was used in today’s Hayom Yom:
One of the Chassidim of the Rebbe Rashab used to learn a lot of Chassidus, and even used to sometimes daven b’arichus (with lots of kavana, which takes a long time).
But he wasn’t very careful about other people’s feelings. So at farbrengens, he would tell everyone else what they need to fix, but not in a nice way! Sometimes it would make people feel bad or embarrassed.
When the Rebbe Rashab heard this, he told the Chossid that he was acting “like a head without a body!” Yes, there is a head full of Torah, but there is no “body” — no Yid acting with good midos.
Today’s Hayom Yom is a reminder to work on our midos and be sensitive to other people’s feelings.
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In the tefillos of the Yomim Noraim, we find many piyutim. Piyutim are poems that speak about the inyan of the day and ask Hashem to bring us the special brachos that come with the Yom Tov.
The beautiful words of the piyutim are written using many expressions and hints, so it’s hard to understand the meaning of them if you just think about the exact translation of each of the words. At least the Chazan who is davening should make sure he understands what the piyutim are saying! (Most translated Machzorim write the meaning of the piyutim in a way that you can understand.)
In some Machzorim, there are many piyutim added to davening, starting in the brachos of Shema. In our Machzor, there are much fewer piyutim, and we only add them in the Chazaras HaShatz of Shacharis and Musaf. Even though they are in the Chazan’s repetition of Shemoneh Esrei, most of them are written in a way that the whole shul says parts of it together before the Chazan, or repeating after the Chazan.
The Maggid of Mezritch explains why our Machzor doesn’t have as many piyutim as in other nus’chaos. The Maggid tells us that when we daven, we only say things that the Anshei Kneses Hagedolah put into the siddur, and the piyutim of R’ Elazar Kaliri. These are not just meaningful tefillos, but they are emes and they fit also according to Kabbalah.
The Maggid teaches that the words of our tefillos on Yom Tov bring down the chayus of Hashem for this Yom Tov. We are careful to say just these words, which each bring down the special kedusha of Rosh Hashana. We don’t say less than we need to bring down the full chayus of the day, and we don’t say anything extra.
See Otzar Minhagei Chabad, p. 97
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Rosh Hashana is not like every other day of the year. It is like the head of the year!
Our body is made of lots of different parts. Our stomach, toes, fingers, nose, and more! But one of those parts is different. It has the chayus of the whole body, and sends it to the rest of the body. This is the head, of course!
The days, hours and minutes of Rosh Hashana are the head of the year. They hold the chayus for every other day!
So we are extra-careful with how we behave on Rosh Hashana. We know that this time will make a difference for our whole year!
We have extra chayus in our Kabolas Ol, so that the whole year will have more Kabolas Ol. How do we have more Kabolas Ol? By saying a lot of Tehillim, which we say even if we don’t understand it.
We also make sure not to waste any time, by using every free moment not to talk about narishkeit, but to say more Tehillim!
This way, our Rosh Hashana will be a good and healthy head that will help our whole year be a time of Kabolas Ol and Simcha!
Igros Kodesh vol. 3, p. 468, and see Otzar Minhagei Chabad Elul-Tishrei p. 68 for additional reasons
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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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When the Rambam teaches (in the last two perakim of the whole Mishnah Torah) about Moshiach, he brings sources from the Torah that teach us about the Geulah.
The first place in Torah where the Geulah is talked about clearly is in this week’s parsha, Parshas Netzavim!
וְשָׁב ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ אֶת שְׁבוּתְךָ וְרִחֲמֶךָ וְשָׁב וְקִבֶּצְךָ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים ... אִם יִהְיֶה נִדַּחֲךָ בִּקְצֵה הַשָּׁמָיִם מִשָּׁם יְקַבֶּצְךָ ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ ... וֶהֱבִיאֲךָ ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ
Hashem promises that He will take all of the Yidden out of Golus, and bring them back to Eretz Yisroel!
The Rambam tells us that these words, which are written clearly in the Torah, include in them all of the things about the Geulah which were said by the Neviim later on.
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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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