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CHUMASH
Parshas Netzavim - Sheini with Rashi
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Moshe Rabbeinu is telling the Yidden on the day of Zayin Adar that they will make a promise to Hashem that they will keep the mitzvos.
But why do they need to promise that they will keep the mitzvos? Didn’t the Yidden already promise Hashem BEFORE that they will keep the Torah, by Har Sinai?
Even though EVERY Yid got the Torah, only the Yidden that actually were alive by Matan Torah made the promise. And even that promise was able to be broken, when the Yidden did aveiros, like when they did the Cheit Ha’egel right after Matan Torah.
This new promise is such a strong promise, it stays no matter WHAT the Yidden do! And, it’s not just for the Yidden standing here, it’s for their children and grandchildren for all times! All of the Yidden that will ever live are being directly connected to Hashem with this bris that is being made now with Moshe Rabbeinu on Zayin Adar.
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Today’s Tehillim is kapitelach Kuf-Ches through Kuf-Yud-Beis. We also say three kapitelach for Chodesh Elul: Samach-Zayin, Samach-Ches, and Samach-Tes.
In today’s Tehillim, we have a posuk that says “Reishis Chochma Yiras Hashem” — the beginning of Chochma (the first thing before we get the chochma of Torah) is to have Yiras Hashem.
A person could go to Yeshiva and learn a lot of Torah! Sometimes a person might think he is so smart, he is smarter than his teachers! He thinks he doesn’t need to listen to his parents or give them respect, because he knows so much!
That’s why we need to have Yiras Shomayim first, because this way, we can make sure that our learning Torah will only bring to GOOD things!
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Yud-Ches
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In the first chelek of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explained to us how we can have Ahavas Hashem. In the letter which we are learning today and tomorrow, the Alter Rebbe tells us how we can “earn” a feeling of love for Hashem through our hisbonenus, davening, and giving tzedakah. We can also get a higher kind of Ahavas Hashem, even more than we deserve!
There are things we get because we work hard to get it — like we get a good grade on a test if we learned and did chazara well. But sometimes we get a surprise: Our teacher or parents will give us a present that we don’t really deserve!
The same thing is with chayus we have in living the way a Yid should.
There is chayus which we have because we deserve it. We learn and daven and do mitzvos the best way we can, and we have chayus in what we do! That is very special and we deserve it.
But sometimes we just feel a special chayus that just comes like a surprise. We didn’t do anything so special to deserve to feel SO much chayus. It’s a present from Hashem!
Even though it’s a present, we only get it if we first did our best. Then Hashem gives us even more than we really deserve! First we need to make sure to live just the way Hashem wants from us, and only listen to our Yetzer Tov. Then we can get a chayus in Yiddishkeit from Hashem that is much stronger than the chayus we deserve from what we did!
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In today’s Hayom Yom, we see that learning Torah needs to come along with having good midos!
When the Alter Rebbe’s son Moshe was a boy, he was learning a Gemara where it was saying special things about the different Chachomim.
R’ Shimon ben Yochai said something special about his teacher R’ Akiva: “Learn from my midos, because they are only a tiny part of the midos of my teacher!”
When R’ Moshe was learning this, he was not sure about something: Rashi explains that “midos” means the Torah he learned from his teacher, but R’ Moshe also knew that “midos” means “midos” — how we act and feel!
The Alter Rebbe came in and said with a niggun, “The whole Torah is all Midos Tovos. Even though there are some things that seem like Hashem is being strict with us, really that’s also good midos, to make us better. So BOTH things are right — the word “Midos” means Torah and also midos! You can’t have good midos without Torah, and you can’t have Torah unless you have good midos.”
The same thing happened with the Tzemach Tzedek too, when he was a boy! He was also learning Gemara and had this question, and the Alter Rebbe said the same thing.
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Today we learn the last mitzvos about what we leave in our fields for the poor people.
Peret:
1) (Mitzvas Asei #124) If one or two grapes fall on the ground while we are picking them, we need to leave them there for poor people to take later. (This mitzvah, and the other mitzvos of gifts to the poor from our fields, are only kept in Eretz Yisroel.)
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Kedoshim: וּפֶרֶט כַּרְמְךָ לֹא תְלַקֵּט לֶעָנִי וְלַגֵּר תַּעֲזֹב אֹתָם
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #213) It is asur to pick up the grapes that fall on the ground. We need to leave them for the poor.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Kedoshim: וּפֶרֶט כַּרְמְךָ לֹא תְלַקֵּט
Shichecha:
3) (Mitzvas Asei #122) If we forget a bundle of grain in the field when we are cutting the wheat, or forget to harvest one of our trees, we need to leave it for the poor. (This mitzvah is also only in Eretz Yisroel.)
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: וְשָׁכַחְתָּ עֹמֶר בַּשָּׂדֶה לֹא תָשׁוּב לְקַחְתּוֹ לַגֵּר לַיָּתוֹם וְלָאַלְמָנָה יִהְיֶה
4) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #214) We are not allowed to go back and get the bundle of wheat, or pick from the tree that we forgot.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: וְשָׁכַחְתָּ עֹמֶר בַּשָּׂדֶה לֹא תָשׁוּב לְקַחְתּוֹ
We learn the details of all of these mitzvos in Mesechta Pe’ah.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn the 5th and 6th presents for poor people from the fields, Shichecha and Maaser. Finally, we start learning about Tzedakah! This is what the last perakim in Hilchos Matnos Aniyim are about.
Perek Hey: We learn the halachos about Shichecha: If someone forgets a bundle of grain in the field, he has to leave it for the poor. We also learn that if someone forgets to pick the fruit off one of the trees in his orchard, that is also shichecha.
Perek Vov: Now we will learn the halachos about Maaser. First we review the halachos about the order of giving Terumah and maaser:
1) First we pick whatever grew and prepare it to be used. (For example, we separate the wheat kernels, or we squeeze the juice from the grapes.)
2) Then we take 1/50th for Terumah Gedolah, which goes to the Kohen.
3) Next we take 1/10th of what’s left for Maaser Rishon, which goes to the Levi. (He needs to take Terumas Hamaaser, 1/10th of what he got, for the Kohen.)
4) Finally, we take another 1/10th of what is left for Maaser Sheini. On the first, second, fourth, and fifth years after Shemitah, this is for the owner to eat in Yerushalayim. On the 3rd and 6th years, it is Maaser Oni — for the poor.
When a person has Maaser Oni, he needs to give any poor person that comes to his field at least enough to make him full. If he has a poor relative or friend, he can set aside up to half of the Maaser for him. If he has Maaser Ani at home, he can go give it to a certain person if he wants, or else he needs to give at least a kezayis to anyone who comes and asks.
Perek Zayin: Now we start learning the halachos of the mitzvah of giving Tzedakah! We need to give a poor person what he needs.
One halacha is that if someone says he is hungry, we give him right away. If someone says he needs clothes, we can first check if he is telling the truth. When a person goes from door to door to collect money, we give him a little bit, since he will be getting from a lot of people.
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This perek teaches us about when we can return something and get our money back! One halacha is that if we buy a cow and the person who sold it didn’t tell us that it had no teeth, so it dies from not eating anything, we can give back the dead cow and get all of our money back.
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Today is the yartzeit of the Rebbe’s grandfather, R’ Meir Shlomo Yanovsky, the father of Rebbetzin Chana, who was a Rav in Nikolayev. The Rebbe would say Kaddish on this day in 770 during all three tefilos.
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The achdus of Yidden can be in two ways:
1) We all feel like one, because we are all Yidden.
2) We all feel different, because we are different! Each of us has an important job — one Yid is a Rav, another is a melamed, another is a businessman. Some of us are parents, or children, or grandparents.
Even though that doesn’t sound like achdus, the truth is that it is the complete achdus! Hashem gave each of us a mission, and only when we each do it right, Bnei Yisrael becomes one and complete. That’s what Moshe Rabbeinu was telling the Yidden at the beginning of this week’s parsha: When we all stand together (leaders, wood-choppers, and water-carriers, each of you with your own responsibilities) we have achdus — we are all taking care of our job for the Yiddishe nation!
The meforshim also explain that “today” (“You are all standing here today” — “Atem Netzavim Hayom”) can be talking about Rosh Hashana! On Rosh Hashana, when we stand with Achdus, we are all ready to stand together to get Hashem’s bracha for a good year!
Each of us makes sure to take care of our own important job, while remembering that we’re all part of one big job of Klal Yisroel together: to bring the Geulah!
See Likutei Torah parshas Netzavim and Likutei Sichos chelek Daled
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TEFILLAH
What We Daven for On Rosh Hashana
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In the Rosh Hashana davening, we ask Hashem, “Rule over the whole world!” We crown Hashem as our King, and say that we are ready to be His loyal subjects, ready to do whatever He asks from us with true Kabolas Ol. But also in the Rosh Hashana davening, we ask over and over that Hashem should judge us for a good year, and give us all of the Gashmius things we need.
So are we davening for Hashem to be our King, or for us to have a good year? Is this about Hashem or about us?
The Baal Shem Tov taught an explanation on the posuk from Tehillim, “Re’eivim Gam Tzemei’im, Nafsham Bahem Tis’ataf!” “When a person is hungry and thirsty, it is because their neshama wants something!” When we feel like we need something Gashmius’dik, it can be because we really want the kedusha hiding inside of it.
In order to run Hashem’s world properly, we need to use the kedusha that is hiding in the Gashmius! We won’t be able to show that the world is Hashem’s without using the world to serve Him. So on Rosh Hashana, we ask Hashem for a good year where we can SHOW that Hashem is our King!
That is also the REAL reason why we are asking for a good and sweet year — so we can truly crown Hashem as our King.
See Likutei Sichos chelek 19, sicha for Rosh Hashana - Vov Tishrei
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It is our minhag that after davening on the first night of Rosh Hashana, we wish each other personally, “Leshana Tova Tikaseiv Veseichaseim!” “You should be written and sealed for a good year!” (For a girl, we say “Leshana Tova Tikaseivi Veseichaseimi.”)
After Chatzos on the second day of Rosh Hashana, Hashem has already written each of us down for a good year. So we start wishing each other, “Chasima Ugmar Chasima Tova!” “You should be signed and sealed for good!”
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Tof-Kuf-Pey-Beis, se’if Yud-Zayin
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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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Malachi is the last sefer of the Neviim.
Who was Malachi? The Gemara says that this Navi might have been Mordechai Hatzadik, or Ezra. The Abarbanel says that he was an actual person with this name. He says that Malachi was the last of the Neviim, who lived after the second Beis Hamikdash was built.
The last perek of Sefer Malachi is a beautiful nevuah about Moshiach!
The Navi says that Hashem will give us the Beis Hamikdash and accept our korbanos with all of the nisim we had during the first Beis Hamikdash:
וְעָרְבָה לַה׳ מִנְחַת יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלִָם כִּימֵי עוֹלָם וּכְשָׁנִים קַדְמֹנִיּוֹת
Ve’arva LaHashem Minchas Yehudah VeYerushalayim — The korbanos of the Yidden will be sweet to Hashem
Kimei Olam Ucheshanim Kadmonios — Like they used to be!
This posuk is also part of davening:
In Korbanos in the morning, we say the pesukim that talk about the Korban Tomid and the Ketores, and the halachos about how the Ketores is made. When we do this, Hashem counts it as if we are actually bringing the Korban Tomid and the Ketores!
After finishing, we say this posuk. We are asking Hashem that not only should it be counted as if we are bringing the Tomid and the Ketores, but that we should actually be able to bring them for Hashem to enjoy!
See Malachi perek Gimmel posuk Daled
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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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