|
|
CHUMASH
Parshas Noach - Rishon with Rashi
|
|
Hashem tells Noach to build a Teiva, which he does. Still, none of the people learn from what he is doing to do teshuvah.
This week’s parsha starts with the words “Eileh Toldos Noach,” “Noach’s children are…”
But instead of telling us the names of Noach’s children, first the Torah tells us that Noach is a tzadik! Because really, the good things we do are also like our children. The Torah tells us about these “children” — the Maasim Tovim — first!
Then the Torah tells us about his Gashmius children:
Noach had three sons: Sheim (he was the middle, but the most important one, like we’ll see later), Cham (the youngest), and Yafes (the oldest).
The Torah tells us how the world looked at that time.
1,536 years after Hashem made the world, the whole world was full of Resha’im. They didn’t get married in a holy way, they served Avodah Zarah, and, everyone was stealing from each other. Hashem decided to bring a Mabul on the world.
Hashem told Noach to build a huge Teiva. He should build it himself, so it will take a long time! Noach will be able to talk to a lot of people who ask him what he is doing, and maybe some of them will do Teshuvah.
The Teiva should be made of Atzei Gofer, a kind of wood — warning people that the Mabul will be with water that is Gofris — polluted with sulfur! It will also need to be waterproof on the inside AND the outside since the water will be so strong.
The Teiva should be 300 Amos long, 50 Amos wide, and 30 Amos tall! Hashem asked Noach to make a Tzohar for the Teiva. Rashi says that this is either a window or a stone that will bring light. The door should be on the side of the Teiva, so water won’t rain in. The Teiva will have 3 floors — the top for Noach’s family, the middle for the animals, and the bottom floor for garbage.
Hashem warned Noach what would happen with the Mabul: “I’m going to agree with the Malachim who said not to make people! I am going to make a Mabul to destroy everything. The water will mix everything up, and everything will be underwater for a whole year and get rotten!” Hashem promised Noach that he would be okay though: The food in the Teiva won’t go bad, and nobody will kill Noach even when he says what he’s doing! His whole family will be saved — but they shouldn’t have any more children while they are on the Teiva.
Noach built the Teivah exactly the way Hashem told him to do.
|
|
|
|
A gutten Chodesh! Today we are saying the last six kapitelach in the entire Tehillim!
These kapitelach are all part of Davening! They are the main part of Pesukei DeZimra, which the Chachomim set up to praise Hashem.
(If you look in the beginning of the kapitel, though, you won’t see the word Ashrei! The kapitel starts with the words Tehillah Ledovid, which is the THIRD posuk in our siddur. The pesukim that start with the word Ashrei are from other kapitelach — the first one is from Kapitel Pey-Daled, and the second one is at the end of yesterday’s Tehillim, in Kapitel Kuf-Mem-Daled.)
The most important posuk in Ashrei is “Poseiach Es Yodecha Umasbia Lechol Chai Ratzon” — we say that Hashem opens His Hand and gives everyone what they need. If you don’t have kavana in this posuk during davening, you need to go back and say it again! So when you say this part of Ashrei, remember to think about how Hashem gives every living thing whatever it needs.
|
|
|
TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Chof-Hey
|
|
We are now learning how the Alter Rebbe explains a vort from the Baal Shem Tov.
The vort is that if a person is in the middle of davening, and someone comes and starts to talk to him and mix him up, he should realize that Hashem is giving him a message. He should think about how the Shechinah is in Golus inside of the words of the person who is bothering him, so that he will need to use MORE koach to have Kavana in davening!
It’s like Hashem is dressing up in a costume — it looks like something is RUINING his Kavana, but really Hashem is just trying to make his chayus in davening stronger!
If someone is falling asleep and they really need to be awake, one way to wake them up is by taking a puppet and saying BOO! in their face. They’ll get scared and wake up. Sometimes when we daven, we are daydreaming and not really thinking about what we are saying to Hashem. So we shouldn’t get angry at whatever is bothering us, we should realize that Hashem is trying to get us to wake up and work harder to daven with Kavanah.
In today’s Tanya, the Alter Rebbe tells us that when a Yid says words of kedusha, like davening, then the Shechinah is in what he says!
Later we will learn about how the Shechinah is in Golus in the person who is bothering our davening.
|
|
|
|
In today’s Hayom Yom, we learn some things which are important for us to know when we say Hallel on Rosh Chodesh:
1) When we say Hallel, there are a few pesukim that end with the words “Ki Le’olam Chasdo.” After each one of the pesukim, we say the first posuk again — “Hodu LaHashem Ki Tov, Ki Le’olam Chasdo!” We do this whether we are davening with a minyan or we are davening ourselves.
2) After Hallel on Rosh Chodesh, we say a posuk “VeAvraham Zakein,” followed by a tefillah that starts with the word “Zevadiah,” three times.
|
|
|
|
Today we learn the same mitzvah as yesterday again: (Mitzvas Asei #49) This is a mitzvah with a lot of details — we need to do the WHOLE Avodah of Yom Kippur, exactly like it says in the Torah!
We also learn a new mitzvah (from the new section in Rambam, Hilchos Me’ilah):
(Mitzvas Asei #118) If someone ate from a korban or Terumah, he needs to return the amount that he ate, plus an extra fifth.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Vayikra: וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר חָטָא מִן הַקֹּדֶשׁ יְשַׁלֵּם וְאֶת חֲמִישִׁתוֹ יוֹסֵף עָלָיו
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Mesechta Me’ilah and Mesechta Terumos.
|
|
|
RAMBAM
Hilchos Avodas Yom HaKipurim - Me'ilah
|
|
In today's Rambam, we learn more about the special Avodah of Yom Kippur. Then we start a NEW section in Rambam, about Me’ilah — what to do if we use something that was set aside for Hashem, which is not allowed.
Perek Daled: Now the Rambam tells us the seder of the day of Yom Kippur.
Perek Hey: We learn what happens if the Avodah was done in the wrong order, or if something wasn’t done exactly like it says in the Torah.
Perek Alef: In the first perek of Hilchos Me’ilah, the Rambam explains what me’ilah is: using something that was set aside for Hashem, which we are not allowed to do. One of the things the Rambam talks about is using the wool of an animal that is hekdesh, and when this is considered Me’ilah.
|
|
|
|
On Rosh Chodesh Adar, they would start to remind people to give the Machatzis Hashekel. They had two of a special kind of pushka that they used for this — it was shaped like a shofar! This way you could put money in easily in the small part, but it wasn’t easy to take the money out. Every man had to give a half shekel, even if he was very very poor.
The money from the Machatzis Hashekel was used for buying Korbanos.
|
|
|
|
On Motzei Shabbos, many Yidden have the minhag to say a paragraph with the words of the posuk “Al Tira Avdi Yaakov,” “My servant Yaakov, don’t be afraid.” It is said to remind us that when we go into the week to do our work, we should not be afraid, because we know that Hashem is with us.
Even though it is not a minhag in Chabad, it is brought and explained in Chassidus.
In Likutei Torah, the Alter Rebbe teaches why a person might think to be afraid. On Shabbos, we get an extra neshama, the Neshama Yeseira, to help us feel the kedusha of the day. We get used to the way this feels and we feel strong and sure in our shlichus! But on Motzei Shabbos, the Neshama Yeseira leaves us. Now we need to go back out into the world, where Hashem is hidden, without the extra neshama to help us.
That is why many Yidden say Al Tira Avdi Yaakov. We remind ourselves that we are NOT afraid to go out into the world! We know that Hashem is always with us, in any place, at any time, and whatever we are doing. We know that Hashem gives us the koach to take the Gashmius of the world and make it into kedusha, so the Gashmius world can’t scare us.
In a maamar, the Rebbe teaches that this is especially true on Motzei Shabbos Bereishis. After Tishrei, a month of Yomim Tovim, we are headed out into the world to do our shlichus there, Veyaakov Halach Ledarko.
We need to remind ourselves, “Al Tira Avdi Yaakov!” Don’t be afraid! Hashem is coming with us and will help us have hatzlacha!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Chof, p. 264
|
|
|
|
All Jewish kids are part of Hashem’s army, Tzivos Hashem!
In every army, there are times that the soldiers are sent far away. They might have to march through thick forests, hot deserts, or rocky mountains. They have important missions to do, to keep everyone safe!
Each time, before the soldiers leave, they are given the supplies and equipment they will need for their next missions. Before they go out to a forest, they might get axes to help them chop down trees that are blocking them. Before they go to a desert, they might get extra water and special weapons. Before they go to the mountains, they will need to have ropes and boots that will let them climb safely.
We soldiers in Tzivos Hashem are about to be sent out on a special mission too — we need to go to the dark and cold months of the winter, and make sure they are full of the light of Torah and mitzvos!
Before we begin this important mission, we are given everything we need to have hatzlacha there! Hashem gives us the Yomim Tovim of Tishrei to give us chayus and simcha to do our mission well.
Sometimes the Rebbe would hold a special children’s rally at the end of Tishrei, helping us to make sure we have all of our new supplies ready for our winter mission!
See rally of Beis Cheshvan, Tof-Shin-Mem-Gimmel
|
|
|
▼ Jump to Coloring Books & Downloads ▼
|
|
|
|
The Sefer Chovos Halevavos has many chapters, called “She’arim” (gates). In Shaar Habitachon, it explains what a person needs to know in order to truly trust Hashem.
The second condition to have total trust in Hashem is to know that Hashem is GOOD. Hashem’s kindness is very strong, and Hashem is good to us even if we don’t deserve it. All we need to do is be a keili to accept Hashem’s brachos, and He will help us because of His rachmanus for us. We become a keili by trying to connect to Hashem and do what He wants. But the bracha that Hashem gives us is in a way of chesed, much more than we deserve!
There are many pesukim in davening that help us feel Hashem’s goodness. For example, the posuk in Ashrei that starts with a Tes: “Tov Hashem Lakol, Verachamav Al Kol Maasav.” “Hashem is good to everyone, and His rachmonus (kindness even if we don’t deserve it) is on all of His creations.”
By thinking about this, our bitachon will be stronger!
|
|
|
|
Today is Rosh Chodesh!
There is a very old Minhag to learn one posuk from our Kapitel Tehillim every Rosh Chodesh. We learn the posuk with Rashi (and other Meforshim too, if we want!) We learn the pesukim in order, and try to finish learning the whole Kapitel by the end of the year.
If there are exactly 12 pesukim in your kapitel (or 13 in a leap year), then it’s easy to know how much to learn: If you learn one posuk each month, you will finish exactly at the end of the year! But if there are more than 12 pesukim, you should learn a few at a time to be able to finish, and if there are less than 12 pesukim, learn the same posuk again another month.
(You can find Tehillim in English, with Rashi, online on Chabad.org!)
|
|
לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
שליח כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו למדינת אילינוי
|
|
|
|
The Torah tells us that in the 600th year of Noach’s life, the gates of water from the sky and fountains of water from underground opened up and started to flood the world. This was the beginning of the Mabul.
The Zohar tells us that this posuk is also hinting to another 600th year — the 600th year of the 6th millennium. At this time, we will have another kind of flood — a flood of knowledge! In the year 5600, knowledge from above (meaning the secrets of Torah that are taught from Shomayim) and knowledge from underneath (meaning understanding more about the world) will start to pour out like a fountain. This knowledge will be a preparation for Moshiach!
We see that this happened — at around this time, new knowledge came into the world “from above”: This is the time when Chassidus Chabad started to spread out! We also got new knowledge “from below” — people started learning how to use machines to make things work easier and faster.
These things are part of the “flood of knowledge” that will get the world ready for Moshiach!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Tes-Vov p. 42ff.
|
|
|
|
|
לע"נ התינוק זאב ארי' ע"ה בן יבלט"א הרה"ח ר' שניאור זלמן שי' גליק
נפטר ב' מנחם אב ה'תשע"ג
|
|
Give children around the world the gift of Kids Chitas!
KidsChitas.org/sponsor
|
|
|
