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CHUMASH
Parshas Vayigash - Shvi'i with Rashi
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Yosef’s whole family goes to live in Goshen, and he gives them plenty of food. We find out how Yosef got all of the money, land, animals, and people of Mitzrayim for Paraoh! Yaakov’s family grows as they have many children.
Yosef had his family go to live in the Raamses part of Goshen, like Paraoh said. He gave them plenty of food, just as if they were little kids who make a mess with their food and waste a lot of it!
Now the Torah will go back to telling us how Yosef took care of Mitzrayim during the hunger:
In the first year of the hunger, there was no bread in the entire country. All of the food people had got rotten, so everyone was very hungry. But the food Yosef put away didn’t get rotten, so everyone came to buy from him. Yosef gave all of the money to Paraoh.
When the people didn’t have any money left, they begged to have food anyway. Yosef told them to bring their animals and he would give them food. The people traded their animals for food, and had enough to eat that whole year.
The next year, they begged for food again. Now they didn’t have any animals left to trade for food either. “All we have left is ourselves and our land! Please buy us and our land, and give us food. We will work on this land for Paraoh. And now that the Nilus started to overflow because of Yaakov’s bracha, please give us seeds to plant so we can also have food for next year.”
This way, Yosef got the WHOLE Mitzrayim, and all of the people, to belong to Paraoh!
Yosef moved the people to different parts of Mitzrayim, so they’ll remember that they are Paraoh’s servants. He also did this so EVERYONE was new to where they lived, and his brothers won’t feel uncomfortable. He told everyone that they would have to give a fifth (meaning 1 out of every 5 bundles of grain) to Paraoh, and the rest they could use for themselves.
The Mitzriyim didn’t mind paying this tax, because Yosef saved their lives. Only the land of the priests of Avodah Zara didn’t belong to Paraoh, because that was the law in Mitzrayim.
Yaakov’s family settled in Mitzrayim. They were in the nicest part of Mitzrayim, but it wasn’t Eretz Yisroel. So even though it wasn’t very uncomfortable, it was still part of the Golus that Hashem told Avraham his children would have.
They had many children, and the family got to be very very big.
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Today’s Tehillim is kapitelach Samach through Samach-Hey.
In Kapitel Samach-Daled, Dovid Hamelech davens for Daniel to be saved when he is thrown into the lions’ den. Of course, Daniel (who came from the family of Dovid) wasn’t even born yet, but Dovid Hamelech saw with Ruach Hakodesh that Daniel would need these tefillos!
The story happened after the Churban of the first Beis Hamikdash, in the times of King Daryavesh of Persia, soon after he took over Bavel. Since King Daryavesh knew that Daniel was very smart, he wanted to make him in charge of the whole kingdom of Bavel! When the other officers found out about this, they got very jealous. They decided to make a plan that would force the king to kill Daniel.
So they told King Daryavesh to make a new decree: Nobody would be allowed to daven or ask for anything, except from the king, for one month. Anyone who was caught davening, to Hashem or to an Avodah Zarah, would be thrown into a cage with hungry lions! They knew that Daniel would never listen to such a decree.
Of course, Daniel ignored this new decree. He went to daven, three times a day, like he always did.
The officers were very excited when they caught him, and told King Daryavesh that Daniel had to be punished. The king was not very happy about this, but he was forced to follow the decree that he had made. He told Daniel, “May Hashem, Who you always daven to, save you!”
And Hashem did! Even though the lions were very hungry, they didn’t touch Daniel all night. In the morning, King Daryavesh came to the lions’ den. He called out to Daniel, asking if Hashem had been able to save him. Daniel told the king that Hashem had sent malochim to keep the lions’ mouths closed, and he wasn’t hurt at all!
When the king saw this neis, he decided to instead throw those officers into the lions’ den, and Daniel was saved.
We know one of the reasons why Daniel was saved: Because of the tefillos of Dovid Hamelech, which were said many many years before, in today’s Tehillim, Kapitel Samach-Daled!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Ches
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Today’s Tanya is the entire Perek Ches! In a Shana Me’uberes, a leap year, once a week we get an extra-long Tanya. Like the first year that the Tanya was set up for — Tof-Shin-Gimmel and Tof-Shin-Daled, the year the Hayom Yom was made — this long piece is for Shabbos!
The Alter Rebbe is teaching us about the things the Yetzer Hara wants to do, in Maaseh, Dibur, and Machshava. The Alter Rebbe also tells us the punishments for them, so we realize how serious they are and be very careful.
Things the Yetzer Hara likes to do (Maaseh): Sometimes the Yetzer Hara wants us to do something asur, like eating non-kosher food. “Asur” means tied, and things that are asur are tied to kelipah and can’t become part of Kedusha! Even if we didn’t know it is not kosher, or if we ate it in order to serve Hashem, it still stays kelipah.
Wanting to do something asur is called a “Goyishe Yetzer Hara.”
Other times, the Yetzer Hara wants to do something that is mutar, like eating kosher candy. This is called a “Yiddishe Yetzer Hara.”
Is it really a Yetzer Hara to eat kosher candy?
It depends! If it is to serve Hashem better, the chayus from the candy becomes kedusha. But if a person eats candy just because they like it, or for any other reason, it stays kelipah.
Still, these kinds of things are called “mutar,” which also means untied, because they can be changed to kedusha later. If a person listens to their “Yiddishe Yetzer Hara” by mistake, they can fix the mistake by using the chayus from what they ate to serve Hashem.
The Alter Rebbe mentions the story of Rabbeinu Hakadosh (R’ Yehuda HaNasi, who wrote the Mishna). Before he passed away, he picked up his hands to Shomayim and said to Hashem that he didn’t enjoy anything in this world, even from his little pinky finger! Even though he was very rich and had lots of fancy food in his house all the time, everything he did was for the sake of Hashem.
By Rabbeinu Hakadosh, this avodah was perfect! By the Alter Rebbe telling us this, it gives us koach to try to act like him as much as we can, using everything to serve Hashem, and not for any other reason.
Things the Yetzer Hara likes to talk about (Dibur): A person might want to talk about interesting things. Even though there is nothing asur about them, if there is no good reason to say them, they also can make the neshama tomei. This is called Devarim Beteilim. Or a person might want to say something that is actually wrong, like Lashon Hara. This is called Diburim Asurim. For a man who has a mitzvah to learn Torah all the time, wasting any time from learning Torah is an aveira called Bittul Torah. Each of these can hurt the neshama!
Things the Yetzer Hara likes think about (Machshava): It can feel very exciting to watch science videos (Chochmas Ha’umos). But if a person uses their mind to understand things that are NOT from Torah for no good reason, they are also making his sechel tomei!
It is even worse than saying Devarim Beteilim, because when a person says Devarim Beteilim, they are only making their MIDOS (feelings) tomei. But learning things that aren’t Torah for no good reason makes the SECHEL (the mind, which is higher than midos) tomei!
In Russia, there were times when the government tried to make decrees that the Jewish children need to learn Limudei Chol (secular studies) in the schools, and the Rebbeim fought with mesiras nefesh against it.
In America, the Rebbe also encouraged that a Cheder be opened — Oholei Torah — where ONLY Limudei Kodesh would be taught. There are also other chadorim like that in other places. In some places, they need to learn Limudei Chol for certain reasons. In those places, the Rebbe wanted it to be clear that the MAIN thing is learning Torah, and the Limudei Chol should be only as much as needed, and should be used to help us in kedusha.
It is only permitted to learn Goyishe Chochma to help us have a good parnasa or to understand the Torah better.
Some great tzadikim, like the Rambam and Ramban, are examples of Yidden who used the Goyishe Chochma in order to serve Hashem.
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In today’s Hayom Yom we learn about Taharas Ha’Avir.
Did you ever walk on the sidewalk when a bus passes by? Sometimes it leaves a big cloud of smoke and it’s hard to breathe! You might even start coughing! That’s because with all of the smoke from the bus, the air isn’t good to breathe.
People need air to live. When the air is good, people can be healthy. Air that is dirty or polluted can chas veshalom make people sick. If we have dirty air in our house, we can open a window or turn on an air filter to clean the air.
In the world, there is also a ruchnius kind of air. When the “air” is full of Torah and mitzvos, people can be healthy, good Yidden. In a place where people don’t know about Hashem, the air is not good, and neshamos can get sick.
The first thing to do is to clean the air.
How do we clean the ruchnius air? Using words of Torah. When we walk down the street, or go shopping, or on a subway, we can say words of Torah baal peh. This will clean the air. Everyone should memorize some Torah so we can clean the air wherever we go!
What Torah do YOU know Baal Peh? Do you know the pesukim? Tanya? Mishnayos?
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #241) is that if someone sets a fire, he is responsible to pay for anything the fire burns.
This mitzvah comes from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: כִּי תֵצֵא אֵשׁ וּמָצְאָה קֹצִים
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Perek Beis and Perek Vov of Mesechta Bava Kama.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about what to do if an animal causes damage.
Perek Tes explains how much the owner needs to pay when his animal hurt an animal that had a baby inside, two separate animals, or an animal that belongs to two people!
Perek Yud teaches us that an animal who kills a person needs to be killed. If the animal was mu’ad (we could expect that it would do it) then the owner also needs to pay a fine.
Perek Yud-Alef explains how we figure out how much the fine should be. We also learn the halachos about what happens if the animal that was supposed to get killed gets mixed up with other animals, or if it has a baby inside.
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Today we start to learn the halachos of Yibum. If a husband passes away without having any children, his brother has a mitzvah to marry her. If she doesn’t want to, or he doesn’t want to, they do Chalitzah instead.
One interesting halacha is that if they do get married, they don’t need Kiddushin — it is counted like Hashem already set them aside for each other!
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In this week’s parsha, we learn about how Yehudah went to speak to Yosef. He knew what was the right thing to do, and he told it to Yosef in a very strong way.
We can learn from Yehudah what we need to do to bring the Geulah! (Dovid Hamelech and Moshiach COME from Yehudah!)
We also need to deal with the world in a strong way. We need to be proud that we are Yidden, and know that Hashem created the whole world for us to do mitzvos! When we are strong about what we know is true, it will bring the Geulah.
See Sefer Hasichos 5752, chelek alef p. 226
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The Shir Shel Yom that the Leviim would sing on Shabbos is kapitel Tzadik-Beis, “Mizmor Shir Leyom HaShabbos.” “Let us sing a song for the day of Shabbos.” That’s why this kapitel is the Shir Shel Yom for Shabbos.
The next posuk says, “Tov Lehodos LaHashem,” “It is good to praise Hashem!”
On Shabbos, it is much easier to feel the goodness of Hashem than it is during the week. So especially on Shabbos, we want to thank and praise Hashem!
The Mishna in Tomid which teaches us about the Shir Shel Yom for each day finishes by telling us that this kapitel also hints to the times of Moshiach, when it will be a Yom Shekulo Shabbos forever!
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When children are old enough to behave properly during davening, it is a wonderful thing to bring them to shul!
The father should teach his children how to answer Amen in shul. There is a special chelek in Olam Haba once a child starts to answer Amen!
The father should also teach his children how to stand with kavod and Yirah in shul, since we are standing before Hashem.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch siman 124:10
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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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The Chida brings what it says in the Medrash, Yalkut Shimoni, about hoping for Moshiach: It says that in the zechus of our hoping, we will deserve for Moshiach to come!
This helps us understand the bracha of Es Tzemach in Shemoneh Esrei: We ask Hashem to bring Moshiach, “Ki Lishuascha Kivinu Kol Hayom,” because we hope for Moshiach all day.
We aren’t just telling Hashem that we want Moshiach so much, we are asking Hashem that even if we don’t deserve Moshiach for any other reason, that it should be counted that we deserve to have Moshiach because we hope for Your yeshuah (salvation — Moshiach) all day!
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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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