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CHUMASH
Parshas Vayeitzei - Chamishi with Rashi
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Yaakov becomes rich from the sheep and goats that are born even though Lavan tries to trick him, and Hashem tells him to go back to Eretz Yisroel.
Lavan wanted Yaakov to stay so he could get more brachos in Yaakov’s zechus, but Yaakov didn’t want to.
So Yaakov said, “I worked very hard for you! You gave me just a few animals to watch. Now there are so many animals, because Hashem gave you brachos in my zechus.
“Until now, I worked only for you, and left my children to work THEMSELVES to have parnasa. But I want to make sure my children will be able to save money for later, so I can’t work anymore for free.”
Lavan asked what he should give Yaakov.
Yaakov said, “You don’t need to pay me anything! Let’s just make a deal that I can keep some of the sheep and goats. I will take the sheep and goats that are different colors than usual: Usually goats are black or brown, I’ll take the ones that have big or small spots. Usually sheep are plain white, so I’ll take the ones that are brown or black.
“If sheep look at black sheep, their baby sheep will a lot of times be black too. So take away all of the animals that are the kind that I will be keeping so the animals can’t look at them. Your sons will watch them.”
Yaakov made sticks with stripes or spots, and put them near the water. When the animals looked at the sticks, many of their babies were born with stripes and spots. (The Zohar teaches us that this is how Yaakov did the mitzvah of Tefillin b’ruchnius!)
When Lavan saw that many of the sheep and goats that were born would belong to Yaakov, he changed the rules so more of them would belong to him. But Yaakov just set things up differently, so with Hashem’s help, the right kinds of animals were born.
Yaakov became very rich from all of his sheep and goats, and sold some to buy maids, servants, camels, and donkeys. Lavan’s sons were jealous, and said that Yaakov was stealing from Lavan. Yaakov could see that Lavan wasn’t so happy with him.
Hashem told Yaakov to go back to Eretz Yisroel. So Yaakov called Rochel and Leah and told them: “I see that your father is not happy with me, that he thinks I stole from him. You know that Hashem helped me, and I worked very hard. Even though he changed his mind 100 times about what I should get paid, Hashem helped and the right kinds of animals were born.
“Hashem reminded me that I built a mizbeiach and promised to bring korbanos on it. Hashem told me that it’s time to go back to Eretz Yisroel.”
Rochel and Leah said, “Of course! After all, Lavan doesn’t really care about us, now that he has sons. Instead of giving you money when we got married, he made you work to get married to us! And then instead of paying you for your work, he only let you have the animals you worked for! The only thing that belongs to us and our children is the money Hashem earned for you. So do whatever Hashem wants you to.”
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Today’s kapitelach of Tehillim are Nun-Hey through Nun-Tes.
There are many ways to split up the Tehillim. It is split up into five seforim, like the five Chumashim. It is also divided up into seven parts, for each day of the week. When we say Chitas every day, we say it the way it is split up for each day of the month.
In times of trouble, the Rebbeim would say MORE Tehillim than usual. They would also say the Tehillim the way it is split up for the days of the week.
The Alter Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe were both freed from jail on a Tuesday. Because they were in jail, they were saying the Tehillim for Tuesday the way it is split up for the week. In that section, there is Kapitel Nun-Hey, that has Padah Beshalom Nafshi (Hashem set my neshama free in peace). At the time they were let out of jail, they were saying this posuk!
The Mitteler Rebbe, whose Chag Hageulah is today, ALSO said this posuk when he was coming out of jail, even though he wasn’t set free on Tuesday. His Geulah was on Yud Kislev, and the first kapitel for Yom Yud (today) has the words Padah Beshalom Nafshi!
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TANYA
Kuntres Acharon Siman Daled
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We’ve been learning in Tanya about how important and special it is to DO a Mitzvah. The kavana and love we feel for Hashem is also important, but there is much more that happens by DOING the mitzvah. This is both when we DO a mitzvah or even just LEARN HOW to do the mitzvah!
But what about learning halachos about things that don’t ever really happen? Is that also like doing a mitzvah?
Today the Alter Rebbe tells us that halachos are the chochma of Hashem. It doesn’t matter if the halacha is about something that will happen or not — it is still Hashem’s chochma!
But we can’t get these special kochos just from having kavana and feeling close to Hashem — we need to actually do them.
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Today is a very special Chassidishe Yom Tov! It is the Chag Hageulah of the Mitteler Rebbe!
On Chol Hamoed Sukkos in the year Tof-Kuf-Pey-Zayin, the Rebbe and the Chassidim found out that someone told not good things about the Mitteler Rebbe to the government. A few days after Simchas Torah, (the day after Shabbos Bereishis, Sunday 28 Tishrei) the police came to Lubavitch to take the Rebbe to jail.
On the way, they stopped in Dobromysl and Lyozna, where the Mitteler Rebbe said maamorim! Then they took the Mitteler Rebbe to Vitebsk, where they kept him in jail. He stayed in jail until Sunday, Parshas Vayishlach — Yud Kislev (today)!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #106) is about a Zavah — a woman who has a specific tumah that comes from her body. This mitzvah is that we need to follow the halachos of when she becomes Tomei, and what else she makes Tomei. These halachos are very important when we have a Beis Hamikdash, because someone tomei is not allowed to go into the Beis Hamikdash or eat from the korbanos!
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Metamei Mishkav U'Moshav
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more about the kinds of Tumah where a PERSON makes other things Tomei!
Perek Zayin: This perek teaches us about “Midras” — that anywhere where someone with one of the kinds of “body” Tumah leans, sits, or rides, becomes an “Av Hatumah” (“very” tomei, so it can make many other things Tomei as well).
Perek Ches: The Rambam explains what happens if one of these people move something, in lots of different ways. For example, do the things become Tomei if he moved it with a stick he is holding under his chin?
Perek Tes: We learn what happens if one of these Tomei people bangs into something and makes it fall. We also learn about times when things get Tumas Midras because they MIGHT have become Tomei.
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Today we learn about many cases where Kiddushin is not so clear. For example, if a man is mekadesh a mother and a daughter at the same time, who is he married to? It is asur to be married to both of them! The halacha is that he isn’t married to either.
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After the histalkus of the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe was in Krementchug. After he became Rebbe, he decided to move to Lubavitch. It is a minhag that Chassidim give the Rebbe money, called maamad. Before the move to Lubavitch, the Chassidim gave an extra-large amount of maamad.
Instead of using it for himself, when he got to Lubavitch, the Mitteler Rebbe decided to give this money to tzedakah. He set up a group of three people to give it out to the poor. He wrote a letter to a relative to tell him how he was able to give so much money (3,000 or 4,000 rubles) to Yidden in Eretz Yisroel!
Many years later, this man’s son found the letter. He was very upset at the Mitteler Rebbe because he felt insulted about something that happened. He very carefully changed the numbers in the letter to say 103,000 or 104,000 rubles! Then he showed the letter to the government. He explained to them that the Mitteler Rebbe must be planning to rebel against the government! That must be why he collected so much money. He was sending money to the Turkish government (who ruled Eretz Yisroel then). He also said that the size of the Mitteler Rebbe’s shul was like the size of the Beis Hamikdash, so it must be that he wanted to be king!
Even when they took him to jail, they treated the Mitteler Rebbe with kavod. They let him say maamorim on his way to jail. A few weeks later, they told the Mitteler Rebbe that they decided he didn’t do anything wrong, and were letting him go free — on Yud Kislev.
Similar to what we know about Yud-Tes Kislev, when the Mitteler Rebbe was in jail, it was because there was a kitrug in Shomayim against the Mitteler Rebbe’s Chassidus. When he was freed from jail, it was because in Shomayim too, it was decided that the Mitteler Rebbe’s Chassidus should be spread! That is why the day of Yud Kislev is the Mitteler Rebbe’s Chag Hageulah.
The Mitteler Rebbe lived one more year after that, and was nistalek the next year on Tes Kislev, when he was 54.
At first, the Chag Hageulah was not celebrated so much because the histalkus of the Mitteler Rebbe happened the next year. But now, we celebrate it as a big Yom Tov!
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Davening is called “Avodah Shebelev,” work of the heart (feelings). Of course we need to use our mouth to say the words of davening, and our eyes to look at the words in the siddur. But it’s called specifically Avodah Shebelev.
Chassidus teaches that we need to think about certain things in our mind which will help us feel the right things in our heart when we daven.
For example, let’s look at Shema:
Before we say Shema, we talk about how Hashem has so many malochim who all sing praise to Hashem and have complete bittul to Him! Even though He could have chosen any of these powerful and perfect malochim, Hashem chose specifically a Yid — ME! — to be His shliach in the world. He chose ME to learn Torah, do mitzvos, and bring Elokus into the world.
We close our eyes and cover them, and say the words of Shema. We think about how Hashem is One, and how the whole world is Hashem.
Then we open our eyes... and the world DOESN’T look like Hashem! Still, we know that what we said in Shema is true, and that Hashem wants us to act in a certain way. We decide that we are going to love Hashem and do what He wants. We say “Ve’ahavta,” we feel a love for Hashem and want to do all of His mitzvos.
Then we stand before Hashem privately in Shmoneh Esrei. We ask Him to give us all of our needs so we can do our shlichus properly. This way, our work will bring Hashem nachas and make a Dira Betachtonim in the world.
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When we say Shema, we pause between each two words, so that the meaning of the posuk won’t get mixed up! It should sound like:
Shema Yisroel — Listen Yisroel!
Hashem Elokeinu — Hashem is our Aibershter,
Hashem Echod — Hashem is One.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman 61, se’if 14
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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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There is a famous maamar that the Mitteler Rebbe wrote that starts with the words Padah Beshalom Nafshi. The Rebbe asked that chassidim learn this maamar on these special days of the Mitteler Rebbe. Here is something from that maamar:
When two people are fighting, each one wants the other person to do what he wants. That’s what happens when the Yetzer Tov and Yetzer Hara fight too. When the Yetzer Tov wins, it is like setting a person free from jail! But what is “Pada Beshalom,” to be redeemed with shalom?
Shalom means that there is peace, that they are finished fighting and won’t fight again later. This is a special kind of way that the Yetzer Tov can win! The Yetzer Hara will act the way the Yetzer Tov wants and stop fighting!
When does that happen? When a Yid uses the koach of the Yechidah of his neshama. The Yechidah is a part of the neshama that Hashem puts especially into the Moshe Rabbeinu of every generation! (Every Yid has this koach when we have hiskashrus to the Rebbe — the Moshe Rabbeinu of our generation!)
When we do our Avodas Hashem with this koach, we will win the war over the Yetzer Hara. That will bring Moshiach, when there will be no need for a war with the Yetzer Hara anymore!
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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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