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CHUMASH
Parshas Bo - Rishon with Rashi
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Moshe and Aharon are in the middle of the shlichus Hashem gave them, to take the Yidden out of Mitzrayim. They had to bring makos onto the Mitzriyim to punish them for the way they mistreated the Yidden, to show them Hashem’s nisim, and to make them let the Yidden go. Moshe warns Paraoh about the next makah, the locusts, and the Mitzriyim are scared. Paraoh considers letting the Yidden go, but when he hears that they ALL will be going, he says NO!
8: Makas Arbeh (locusts)
Hashem told Moshe and Aharon to warn Paraoh to let the Yidden go. Even though it is hard for him to do teshuvah without Hashem helping him, Paraoh still can do teshuvah if he really wants!
So Moshe and Aharon told Paraoh that if he doesn’t let the Yidden go, Hashem will send a makah of locusts, a kind of grasshopper that will eat up all of the things that grow, all over Mitzrayim! Whatever wasn’t destroyed by the hail will be eaten by the locusts.
The Mitzriyim were afraid of the makah, and told Paraoh to just let the Yidden go already!
So Paraoh called Moshe and Aharon back, and asked them, “Who will be going?”
Moshe answered, “Everyone will go serve Hashem! Young people and old people, our sons and our daughters, our sheep and our cattle. Everyone!”
Paraoh said, “Kids don’t bring korbanos! Why do you want to bring them? You don’t want to go serve Hashem for a few days, you want to run away! I’m not going to let ANY of you go!”
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Today’s Shiur Tehillim is kapitelach Chof-Gimmel through Chof-Ches.
In today’s Tehillim, there are two pesukim (Kapitel Chof-Hey, pesukim ches and tes) that talk about how Hashem shows us the right way to live. The last words of these pesukim are “VeYelamed Anavim Darko” — “Hashem teaches humble people His path.”
The Rambam says that this is talking about two things that Hashem gives to Yidden to help them do teshuvah and do the right things! Here they are:
1) He sends them Neviim (and Rebbeim) who teach them the ways of Hashem and how to do teshuvah.
2) Hashem makes a person to WANT to do the right thing when they learn about it.
These two things together make it much easier for us to do JUST what Hashem wants!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Yud-Zayin
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On the Shaar Blatt of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe told us that the Tanya is based on the posuk (which is one of the Yud-Beis Pesukim!) “Ki Karov Eilecha Hadavar Meod, Beficha Uvilvavcha Laasoso — It is very close to you (possible), in your mouth and your heart to do it.”
How can we say that it’s very close IN OUR HEARTS? We can understand that it is very possible to DO what Hashem wants. We can speak words of Torah, we can even be careful what we think about in our minds. But how can we control what goes on in our hearts, to control how we FEEL?
Do you know how you love your mother and father, your brothers and sisters, or your best friend? You might love them because they’re your family, but to feel it more, you can think about how special they are, how much they do for you, and how much you like being around them. And even if they’re not there, you can really feel how you love them.
Tzadikim can love Hashem as much as we love our parents, but not every beinoni can. A Beinoni knows he SHOULD love Hashem, but he can’t feel it the same way a Tzadik can. (Every Yid has a natural love for Hashem — just because he’s a Yid. But it’s hidden.) So how can a beinoni serve Hashem “bilvavcha,” with his heart? It doesn’t seem practical for every Yid!
The Alter Rebbe explains that for a beinoni, you don’t have to FEEL that kind of love. You just need to be mature enough in your Yiddishkeit to appreciate your connection with Hashem and be motivated to do what Hashem wants you to do. In Tanya that’s called the Ahava of Laasoso — it’s just enough motivation to get you to act like the Yid you’re supposed to be.
The Alter Rebbe gives a mashal to explain this inyan from Tanya in a different maamar:
Some adults LOVE their jobs. They are so excited to go work every morning! But most people don’t love what they do. They don’t hate it, but it doesn’t get them excited. So why do they do it? They know that it’s important, they know that they need to get paid for their job, and they also know that people are depending on them. In their mind they appreciate it, so even if they are feeling lazy or not in the mood, they show maturity. They may not be excited, but what they know motivates them to do the right thing.
The same thing is with Yiddishkeit for a beinoni! Even if the beinoni is feeling lazy or not in the mood, he can still serve Hashem “bilvavecha.” If he learned in Chassidus that it’s important for his neshama to be connected to Hashem through davening, learning, or doing mitzvos, that will motivate him later, even when he’s not in the mood. For a beinoni, acting the way Hashem wants because of this Ruchnius maturity which he gets from learning Chassidus or going to a farbrengen or davening, is counted as serving Hashem with his heart.
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In today’s Hayom Yom, we learn the inyan of Golus Mitzrayim and Yetziyas Mitzrayim in Ruchnius!
In the last few parshios in Chumash, we learned how hard it was for the Yidden in Mitzrayim. They were slaves who had to work very hard, and couldn’t behave the way they wanted to.
Finally, Hashem made big nissim with the Makos, and in Parshas Bo, the Yidden come out of Mitzrayim!
In each one of us today, we also have “Yidden” suffering in “Mitzrayim,” and “Yetziyas Mitzrayim.” Our neshamos are like the Yidden. The neshama wants to act in a certain way, to always be connected to Hashem and do what He wants (like we are learning in Tanya).
But the Nefesh Habehamis doesn’t want the neshama to be that way — it wants to live like “Mitzrayim,” to do things that are fun and make it happy, even if it’s not what Hashem wants. That makes the neshama feel like it’s still in Mitzrayim!
So how does it get out? Like we learned in Tanya, a beinoni has a special koach to use his mind, the place of the neshama, to tell the heart how to feel and the body how to act — Moach Shalit Al Halev. When a Yid does that, he gets out of Mitzrayim!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #251) is that we are not allowed to hurt other people with our words (ona’as devarim). We aren’t allowed to say mean things, or things that will make someone embarrassed or feel bad.
For example, we aren’t allowed to remind a Baal Teshuvah about the aveiros he did, or tell someone who is sick that it must be a punishment for something he did. We also can’t ask questions that make people think that we are going to buy something when we aren’t really planning on buying it.
We learn this from a posuk in Parshas Behar: וְלֹא תוֹנוּ אִישׁ אֶת עֲמִיתוֹ וְיָרֵאתָ מֵאֱלֹקֶיךָ
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Perek Daled of Bava Metziah.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more about selling and buying according to Torah.
Perek Yud-Gimmel teaches us what happens if someone trades or sells something for more than it is really worth. That is called ona’ah.
If a person is honest, and says how much each thing is really worth, then it is never called ona’ah, since both people agreed to the deal KNOWING that it might not look fair.
Perek Yud-Daled teaches us more about ona’ah. The Beis Din needs to make fair prices for things so that nobody will pay too much.
The second half of this perek teaches us the halachos of today’s mitzvah, Ona’as Devarim. We need to be careful how we talk, not telling someone to buy something in a store that doesn’t really sell it, or pretending that we want to buy something when we really don’t want to. This mitzvah is also important when we aren’t doing business, that we can’t say something that will hurt another person or end up leaving him feeling bad.
Perek Tes-Vov teaches us about “Mekach To’us” — when someone can say “I wouldn’t have bought this if I knew about this problem!” For example, if you knew that the bike seat is wobbly and sometimes falls off, you might have bought a different bike instead. You can go and get your money back from the person who sold it to you!
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This perek teaches us more halachos about Taharas Hamishpacha.
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In the end of today’s Chumash (Rishon of Parshas Bo), Paraoh says that only the men should go and serve Hashem. “Lechu Na Hagvarim Ve’ivdu Es Hashem!”
But that’s just the way Paraoh thinks. Moshe Rabbeinu said that EVERYONE needs to leave Mitzrayim. Serving Hashem isn’t only for men, and serving Hashem isn’t only bringing korbanos. Serving Hashem is for EVERYONE — men, women, and children — and is in every part of our lives! We serve Hashem through doing mitzvos and following the Torah’s instructions in everything we do!
From a letter of the Rebbe
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In Korbanos, we have the paragraph of Ana B’koach, which we say during many tefillos.
This paragraph is very special and very holy! It was written by the Tanna R’ Nechunya ben Hakana with deep meanings in Kabbalah. Ana B’koach has 42 words. The first letters of each word together spell out one of Hashem’s holy names!
When we finish reading these words, we say Baruch Sheim, blessing the name of Hashem we just read through the words of Ana B’koach.
Ana B’koach always helps us bring our tefillos up to Hashem. When we say it at the beginning of Shacharis, it helps us elevate our entire davening!
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We are learning the halachos of borer on Shabbos, separating something from a mixture, which is one of the Lamed-Tes Melachos.
For something to be considered borer, we need to be choosing from things that are mixed together, AND there needs to be more than one kind in the mixture.
If it is not considered a mixture, or it is all one kind, then it is not borer.
IY”H later we will learn what is considered a mixture. Now we are learning how to know that there are different kinds of things.
Two foods that taste different (like oranges and grapefruits), or foods that are used differently (like matzah pieces and matzah meal), are counted as two different kinds of food. Choosing just one of them can be the isur of borer.
If they are the same, just different sizes, then they are counted as just one kind and it is not borer to choose certain ones.
But what if they are the same kinds, but different colors? What if there is a pack of gumballs that are all different colors, but they all taste the same?
The halacha is that it depends! If you care a lot about the color, and you’ll only eat green gumballs, then they are counted as different kinds, and you need to be careful about borer when you choose one. If you don’t really care what color you get, then it is not borer to choose them.
See Shabbos Kehalacha perek Yud-Beis
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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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Many tzadikim chose to live in the holy land of Eretz Yisrael, where it is easiest to learn Torah and work on personal Avodas Hashem.
Other tzadikim chose to live in quiet towns and villages, away from the noisy and busy big cities, so it would be easier to learn Torah and Chassidus, and to work on avodah.
But the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe acted differently. They chose to live outside of Eretz Yisroel in big, noisy cities full of people — like New York.
Why?
The Rebbe explained that this is because we need to get ready for the Geulah!
When the Yidden were getting ready to come out of Mitzrayim, Hashem gave them a mitzvah to do, so they would deserve to come out. Before the Geulah, we want to help every Yid be ready to come out of Golus! We do this by giving them a chance to do a mitzvah.
The best place to do this is by starting in a place where there are lots of Yidden! We can help all of the Yidden in the big city to do a mitzvah through our mivtzoyim. From there, through shlichus we can spread out to all of the cities and towns in the world, so that EVERY Yid will deserve the Geulah Sheleimah!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Tes-Zayin, parshas Bo (Gimmel), end of sicha and haaros
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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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