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CHUMASH
Parshas Vayeira - Revi'i with Rashi
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A lot of things happen in today’s Chumash! First we learn how Sedom is destroyed and what happens to Lot after he is saved. Avraham needs to move again, and again Sarah is captured. At the end of today’s Chumash, Sarah and Avraham finally have a baby, Yitzchak, the second of our Avos!
Lot was running away from Sedom, which was going to be destroyed! The malach agreed that Lot could run to Bela, the fifth, smaller city. Since it was a newer city, only 50 years old, not as many aveiros had been done there. The malach said Hashem wouldn’t destroy the city as a favor to Lot. “But hurry!”
Lot ran to Bela, which would be called Tzo’ar, small, from now on. It got this new name because it was saved because it had a smaller amount of aveiros. Lot arrived in Tzo’ar in the morning.
Hashem made rain pour down on Sedom and Amorah. At first it was regular rain, in case the people living there would still do teshuvah. When they didn’t, Hashem poured down fiery rain. Then Hashem picked up the whole ground and turned the cities upside down!
Lot’s wife wanted to see what was happening, and she looked back. She was punished for looking when she was told not to, by becoming a pillar of salt. This specific punishment was Midah Keneged Mida — the TYPE of punishment matched her aveira — because she didn’t want to give salt to her guests.
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The Torah tells us what Avraham was doing at this time:
Avraham woke up in the morning to daven Shacharis. (Avraham Avinu was the one who started the idea of davening Shacharis, and we still daven his tefillah until today!) When he woke up, he saw smoke coming from the place where Sedom and Amorah used to be.
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Now we go back to Lot:
Even though Lot had permission to live in Tzo’ar, he was afraid because it was so close to Sedom. So he ran away to a cave. Hashem made that there was wine in the cave. Lot’s daughters were afraid that not just Sedom was destroyed, but the whole world was destroyed, like at the time of the Mabul! They realized that if they didn’t have children, then the world would be left without any people. So they decided to fool their father into getting married to them so they could have children. They got him drunk, and when he was drunk they acted as if they were married to him.
They both had babies, Moav and Ben-Ami. (The nation of Ammon came from Ben-Ami.)
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After the cities were destroyed, there weren’t a lot of guests coming to Chevron anymore. Avraham decided to move closer to people, and he traveled until he was near the city of Gerar.
Just like in Mitzrayim, the people of Gerar asked about Sarah. Avraham said (like last time) that she was his sister. The king of Gerar, Avimelech, sent messengers to bring Sarah to him. But when he came close to Sarah, a malach wouldn’t let him touch her, and made Avimelech very sick.
Hashem came to Avimelech in a dream and told him that he would die because he tried to take Sarah. Avimelech said “It’s not my fault! I thought she was Avraham’s sister!” Hashem told him to give Sarah back, and Avraham would daven for him.
So Avimelech gave Sarah back, but was very upset at Avraham for saying that she was his sister, instead of telling the truth that she was his wife. Avraham explained that by asking if Sarah is his wife or his sister he right away knew that they have no Yiras Shomayim. That kind of question SHOWS that the people here would not act properly, and would have taken Sarah anyhow! The only difference would be that they would get rid of a husband, and not a brother. So to save his own life, he had to say Sarah was his sister.
Avimelech realized that Avraham was right, and gave him a lot of presents because he was sorry. Avraham davened for Avimelech, and he was cured of his sickness.
But before listening to Avraham’s tefilos and making AVIMELECH feel better, Hashem had already remembered what AVRAHAM needed for himself — a baby! So Hashem made Sarah become pregnant. (From here we learn that if we daven for another person, Hashem will answer us first!)
On Pesach, the next year, Sarah had a baby boy! Hashem made Yitzchak look EXACTLY like Avraham, so that everybody would know that Avraham was really his father.
Avraham named him Yitzchak, and gave him a bris when he was 8 days old, as Hashem told him to.
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Today’s kapitelach are Pey-Gimmel to Pey-Zayin.
In today’s Tehillim, in Kapitel Pey-Daled, we have a very special posuk which we learned about in Tanya! “Ki Shemesh UMagen Hashem Elokim!” “Because the name of Hashem and Elokim is like a sun and a cover.”
A mashal for Hashem is the sun, which shines very strong. If the sun would shine on us with all of its might, it would make the word too hot! So Hashem put a cover on the sun, so that not ALL of its light shines on the world. Because of that, we are able to live in the world comfortably and enjoy the sun’s light.
The same is with Hashem: The chayus from the name Havaya is so strong that we wouldn’t be able to feel like people — we would all just be part of Hashem. But the name Elokim covers up the name Havaya so the world can keep on being a world, and appreciate the chayus of Hashem.
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Chof-Ches
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This new letter was written to comfort R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, after his son, R’ Meir passed away. The Alter Rebbe writes “Mechutoni,” because they were mechutonim — R’ Levi Yitzchak’s grandson married the Alter Rebbe’s granddaughter.
When the Torah tells us about how Miriam passed away, it says it in the Torah right near the part where we learn about the Parah Adumah. The Chachomim explain that just like a Parah Adumah can make someone tahor from even the greatest tumah, so too when a tzadik passes away, it brings a kapara for even the greatest aveiros Yidden have done.
First, the Alter Rebbe tells us what happens in Ruchnius when the Parah Adumah is brought:
The mitzvah of Parah Adumah has many many details! When we do the mitzvah with all of the details like it says in the Torah, it brings a very great chayus of Hashem into the world. That chayus of Hashem is able to bring tahara even to the strongest tumah! This is much greater than what happens with regular korbanos.
Tomorrow IY”H we will learn what happens when a Tzadik passes away, and why these two things are similar.
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A person might think, “What’s the big deal if I miss learning Torah today or doing my shlichus — tomorrow is another day! IY”H, Hashem will let me live a long life, with many many years! There will always be more chances.”
This is not how a Yid should think! We need to be very careful not to waste time! We need to use every chance we have for Torah and mitzvos.
Why is this so important?
Because every second in time is ONLY there right then. There is only ONE time when we can have this part of life! Our life will be complete only if we use that time for the right things!
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Today we start a new set of halachos in Rambam, called Hilchos Temurah. Today we learn two mitzvos about Temurah, which means “switching.”
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #106) Let’s say that a person chose one of his sheep to be a korban. Then he changes his mind — he wants to keep that sheep at home, and bring a DIFFERENT one for a korban. This mitzvah tells us NO! We can’t do that. Once you decide that an animal will be a korban, it becomes holy, and you are not allowed to switch it for a different one!
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Bechukosai: לֹא יַחֲלִיפֶנּוּ וְלֹא יָמִיר אֹתוֹ
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Mesechta Temurah.
2) (Mitzvas Asei #87) If someone DOES try to change which animal he is bringing for a korban, BOTH of them become holy and BOTH of them need to be brought as korbanos!
We learn this mitzvah from another part of the same posuk: וְהָיָה הוּא וּתְמוּרָתוֹ יִהְיֶה קֹּדֶשׁ
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about Temurah, switching.
Perek Alef: The Rambam tells us that we are not allowed to switch one animal for another once it was already set aside as a korban. If somebody does this, he gets punished with malkos. Still the animal he switched it for becomes holy (so now he has TWO holy animals!). The Rambam tells us what kind of people this applies to, and for which korbanos.
Perek Beis: The Rambam explains what kind of words a person might use to make a Temurah, and when it is counted that the aveira was done.
Perek Gimmel: Once someone made a Temurah, what is done with this animal? In this perek, the Rambam teaches what to do with this animal depending on what it was switched for.
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Today the Rambam teaches us how to put the calculations we learned together, to figure out where the moon will be on any day of the year! It may be hard to understand the reasons for the numbers, but you don’t even need to! Just follow the steps and you can also do it!
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In the end of today’s Chumash, Yitzchok is born.
The way Yitzchok was born is very different than the way Yishmael was born.
Yishmael was born naturally. Hagar was not very old, and it made sense that she would have a baby. Later, Yishmael had a bris when he was 13 years old, when he was old enough to understand that he was doing this mitzvah to connect him with Hashem.
Yitzchok was born only with a neis, to parents who were very old — way too old to have children. Then, Yitzchok had a bris when he was only 8 days old and way too young to understand that he was doing a mitzvah!
We know that Yidden come davka from Yitzchok.
What can we learn from that?
Our Yiddishkeit is NOT a natural thing, that we need to be able to understand. Our connection to Hashem is not only when it makes sense.
If we look at the history of the Yidden, we will see that we are here today only because of many nisim that happened to us!
Even if we will need to have more nisim happen, and even we don’t understand the mitzvos, we still are connected to Hashem, and are always ready to do whatever Hashem wants!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Alef, Parshas Lech Lecha
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Some people think that taking a few minutes before davening to think about how great Hashem is, and how small we are next to Him, is a very special bonus avodah we can do.
But that’s not true! It IS a special avodah, but it isn’t a bonus — we need to! It is a halacha in Shulchan Aruch that before we daven, we need to think about these things. It’s PART of davening!
Here’s why: The chachomim tell us that during Shmoneh Esrei, we need to stand “like a servant before his master.” The only way a person can feel like a servant is by thinking about Hashem and realizing that He is our Master, and we are only servants! Our whole life is to serve Hashem by doing the jobs (the mitzvos) He asked us to do.
The Alter Rebbe tells us an easy way to do this (in Likutei Amarim, perek Mem-Alef): Think about all of the great things in the world Hashem made — hurricanes, thunder, huge waterfalls, tall mountains, oceans and everything inside... and about the amazing ruchnius Hashem made: Tzadikim, the secrets of Torah, Gan Eden...
Now think about how ALL of that was made so that YOU could do your job! Hashem is looking at YOU and wants you to do your best to do it!
This is the message of the posuk Vehinei of the Yud-Beis Pesukim.
(Of course this is true all the time, not just during davening! But especially when we daven, we need to make sure to think about it, because davening is the start of our day.)
Based on a sicha of Lamed Tishrei, 5742
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In today’s Chumash, we learned that when Avraham Avinu davened for someone else, he was answered first! Here is a halacha that also shows this:
The halacha we will learn today is about what to say when someone sneezes, but it also teaches us how special it is to bentch another Yid!
When we hear someone else sneeze, we should say “Asusa” (which means “Tzu Gezunt,” or “Labriyut”). This is a bracha that the person should be healthy.
The person who sneezed answers, “Boruch Tihiyeh,” you should be bentched.
He then says, “Lishuas’cha Kivisi Hashem,” I hope for Your yeshuah, Hashem. Since he just davened to Hashem by bentching his friend with Boruch Tihiyeh, he asks Hashem that he should be answered first. Like the Chachomim teach us, when someone davens for another person, he is answered first.
See Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 61:5
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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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What is Geulah? In Lashon Hakodesh, the name of something is what gives it chayus and tells us what it is. Geulah is the same letters of “Golah,” which means Golus, together with an alef. Really, it’s not a new world with different things than we had in Golus, it’s all of the same things we live with in Golah — only it has an alef!
So what is the alef?
We learned that the alef is “Aluf” — Hashem, that everything and everyone will recognize Hashem — so nothing bad can happen, and nothing can hide Hashem!
Another explanation for the Alef is from a posuk, “A’alefcha Chochma, A’alefcha Bina.” It means to teach Torah. That shows us that when Moshiach comes, the Alef of Torah will be in everything. All of the things in the world will live according to the Torah! The goyim will all keep the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach, the Yidden will all be acting the way the Torah teaches us, and even the Gashmiyus things in the world will help remind us to keep the mitzvos.
This is why the Rambam says that Moshiach will come from the family of “Dovid AND Shlomo.” We know that Moshiach has to come from the family of Dovid Hamelech, but why is it important that Moshiach come specifically from Shlomo Hamelech?
Shlomo Hamelech was given a special gift from Hashem — a gift of Chochmah. The posuk says that Shlomo Hamelech was the wisest person that ever lived — Vayechkam Mikol HaAdam! So Moshiach, who will bring the Geulah by bringing the Alef of the Chochmah of Torah into the world, must come from Shlomo Hamelech, who had so much Chochmah!
See Sichas Parshas Emor 5751
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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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