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CHUMASH
Parshas Shemos - Shlishi with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, we will learn how Moshe Rabbeinu starts to get involved with the Yidden, but is forced to escape to Midyan. There, he gets married to Tziporah. We will also see how the Yidden cry out to Hashem when the tzaros in Mitzrayim become very hard, and then Hashem is ready to start the process of the Geulah.
Before we learn the details of today’s Chumash, let’s first review: In the beginning of the parsha we learn how the Yidden were tricked into slavery, and the Golus of Mitzrayim began. There was a gezeira against the Jewish boys, that they should be thrown into the water. So when Moshe, from the family of Levi, was born, he had to be hidden in the water in a basket. Basya, Paraoh’s daughter, found him there. Since he wouldn’t nurse from a non-Jewish woman, Basya had Moshe nursed by a Jewish woman, who was his real mother Yocheved, until he was old enough to live in the palace with Basya.
Now let’s see the details of today’s Chumash:
Moshe came to live in the palace with Basya, who treated him like a son. Basya asked her father Paraoh to put Moshe in charge of the palace, and he did.
At that time, Moshe went out of the palace to see what was happening with the Yidden. He realized how terribly his fellow Yidden were being treated, and he was very hurt by it.
Moshe saw that one of the Mitzriyim was hitting a Yid very hard! Through Ruach Hakodesh, he saw why the Mitzri was hitting this man. What happened was that this wicked Mitzri, who was an officer in charge of the Yiddishe builders, woke up the Yid to go to work. Then he snuck into the Yid’s house and took his wife. After the Yid came back from work, he found out what happened, and the Mitzri starting beating the Yid.
Moshe also saw through Ruach Hakodesh that none of the people from this Mitzri’s family would become Yidden. He made sure nobody was looking, and said a certain name of Hashem so the Mitzri would die. Then he buried the Mitzri in the sand.
The next day, Moshe saw two Yidden, Dasan and Aviram, arguing with each other. One of them picked up his hand to hit the other one! Moshe asked, “Why are you going to hit him?!” (The Torah calls this person a rasha. From here we learn that if someone even just picks up his hand to hit another person, he is called a rasha.)
These two Yidden had seen what Moshe did the day before. The one who picked up his hand asked, “Who made you in charge of us? Are you going to kill me like you killed the Mitzri?”
When Moshe heard this he was afraid for a few reasons. He was afraid that Paraoh would hear what he did and punish him. He was also afraid that since there were Yidden that were speaking Lashon Hara and Rechilus, maybe they didn’t DESERVE for Hashem to take them out of Mitzrayim.
Dasan and Aviram did tell Paraoh, and Paraoh did want to kill Moshe. But Hashem saved him, and he was able to escape.
Moshe escaped to Midyan. While he was living there, he sat by the well. He said to himself, if Yaakov Avinu found his shidduch by the well, maybe I will find my shidduch there too.
Now the Torah tells us about Moshe Rabbeinu’s Shidduch. First we learn about his future father-in-law, Yisro:
Yisro was an important person in Midyan. At first, he used to serve Avodah Zarah, but he decided to stop. Because of this, people stopped treating him like part of the community.
Yisro had seven daughters. They used to come to the well and fill up the troughs for the sheep to drink. But the shepherds would chase them away, because their father wasn’t serving Avodah Zarah like them anymore.
When Moshe saw what was happening to Yisro’s daughters, and that they were being chased away by the shepherds, he saved them and helped them give water to the sheep.
When the girls came home, their father Yisro asked why they came back so early that day. They explained that someone from Mitzrayim saved them from the shepherds and helped them give water to the sheep. They also told him that the water came up towards Moshe.
Yisro knew that this was something that happened to the children of Yaakov. He realized that this must be a Yid, and asked, “So where is this man? Why did you leave him there? He might be a good husband for one of you!”
Moshe was invited to meet with Yisro and agreed to stay and live with him. He promised that he wouldn’t leave Midyan unless Yisro gave him permission. Yisro then gave his daughter Tziporah as a wife for Moshe.
The Torah tells us that Tziporah had a baby boy. Moshe called the baby Gershom, which means “a stranger there,” since Moshe felt like he was a stranger in Midyan.
During the time when Moshe was in Midyan, Paraoh made a terrible decree. Paraoh had a rash on his skin (like tzoraas), and heard that taking a bath in blood would help his rash. He ordered that Jewish children should be killed so he could take a bath in their blood.
This decree made the Yidden all cry out to Hashem to save them. Their cries went up to Hashem, and Hashem remembered the promise he made to the Avos, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, that He would take the Yidden out of Mitzrayim. Hashem saw how the Yidden were suffering, and He felt their pain.
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Today’s kapitelach are Kuf-Daled and Kuf-Hey.
In today’s Tehillim we have a very interesting posuk: “Al Tig’u Bimeshichoi” — “Do not touch My anointed ones.”
The Chachomim tell us that one of the things “Meshichoi” (My anointed ones) means is Yiddishe children.
The Rebbe tells us that especially children who are educated by Chassidus in our time are called Meshichoi — when you look at them, the first thing you are reminded of is Moshiach!
In the farbrengen of Simchas Torah, Tof-Shin-Nun-Beis, the Rebbe farbrenged very strongly about how children are called Meshichoi, and the pure and strong Emunah they have in the Geulah.
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Yud-Beis
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In today’s Tanya, we learn the secret power that the beinoni has which gives him the koach to ALWAYS win in the war against the Yetzer Hara!
A beinoni is someone who is like a rasha in the way he feels, but like a tzadik in the way he acts. Only during special times, like davening, he is able to feel like a tzadik! Through proper davening, his neshama becomes stronger and puts the Nefesh Habehamis to sleep, so it can’t bother him with rasha-like feelings. After davening, though, the Nefesh Habehamis wakes up again and makes the beinoni have feelings like a rasha again.
In the beinoni, both nefashos are equally as strong, and they are both fighting all the time. So how does the beinoni ALWAYS make the Nefesh Elokis win?
The answer is that Hashem made people with a special koach built in. The Zohar calls this koach “Moach Shalit Al Halev,” that Hashem gives the koach for the mind to be in control. Even when a person has a taava, he is able to choose not to think about it. The mind is stronger, so the person can decide to do something else and not pay attention to the taava. (If a person gets too used to doing the taava, they can lose this koach until they do a proper teshuvah, like we’ll learn later.)
This koach works even if the reason a person decides not to listen to a taava is because it isn’t healthy or good for him.
The koach of Moach Shalit Al Halev is even stronger if a person chooses not to listen to a taava because they don’t want to do an aveira. Why is it stronger if a person chooses to be in control for kedusha reasons, because he wants his neshama to be in charge?
We can understand this from what Shlomo Hamelech says in Koheles, “Vera’isi Sheyesh Yisron Lachochmah Min Hasichlus, Keyisron Ha’or Min Hachoshech.” “I’ve seen that chochmah (the Nefesh Elokis, which is called a chochom) has a maalah over foolishness (the Nefesh Habehamis, which is called a foolish king), like the maalah that light has over darkness.”
What is the maalah of light over darkness? It is so much stronger that it doesn’t even need to fight! You only need a little bit of light to push away A LOT of darkness, and it happens automatically! If you put even a tiny candle in a big dark room, the whole room isn’t dark anymore!
The same is true with the Nefesh Elokis and the Nefesh Habehamis: If a person wants to be in control of the taava of the Nefesh Habehamis because that’s what Hashem wants, then this koach of Moach Shalit Al Halev has a much stronger impact than it would if he was doing it for other reasons.
So how does the beinoni do it? He uses his Moach Shalit Al Halev for kedusha reasons, and that has such a tremendous koach, that his every Machshava, Dibur, and Maaseh are the way Hashem wants!
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This story happened when the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe were walking together. It was Erev Shavuos, and the family was in the city of Landerov for the chasunah of Rebbetzin Shaina on Yud Sivan.
The Frierdiker Rebbe met a water carrier with full buckets of water. He said, “When a person meets up with water, they should say: ‘The Baal Shem Tov says that water is a siman bracha.’”
In a sicha, the Rebbe explains why it’s not enough to just say “Water is a siman bracha,” but we have to say that the Baal Shem Tov says so:
A bracha can be in many different kinds of ways. It can be a bracha in Ruchnius, or in Gashmius, or in Gashmius in a way that we can see the bracha, or many other ways. The Baal Shem Tov was known for brachos from a very high level in Ruchnius, that were able to be seen clearly in Gashmius.
That’s why we say that the Baal Shem Tov said that water is a siman bracha — it is a siman bracha the way the Baal Shem Tov gave brachos, that the bracha will be the highest bracha in a way that’s clear to see!
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Today we learn TWO mitzvos about Hashovas Aveidah, the matching Mitzvas Asei and Lo Saasei:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #269) is that we can’t ignore something that we find, and just pretend we didn’t see it. If we see something lost, and we do ignore it, we are doing this aveira — the Lo Saasei of Hashovas Aveidah.
We learn this from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei, when Moshe Rabbeinu reviews the mitzvos with the Yidden before they go into Eretz Yisroel: לֹא תוּכַל לְהִתְעַלֵּם
The details of this mitzvah are explained in the second perek of Mesechta Bava Metziah, Perek Eilu Metzios (one of the first pieces of Gemara learned in many Chadorim).
2) (Mitzvas Asei #204) is that we need to bring back something we find to the person who lost it. That’s the Mitzvas Asei of Hashovas Aveidah!
The Torah tells us about this twice. Once is in Parshas Mishpatim, right after Matan Torah: הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֶנּוּ לוֹ
Then we learn about it again, in Parshas Ki Seitzei, in Moshe’s review of the mitzvos: הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֵם לְאָחִיךָ
The details of this mitzvah are also explained in the second perek of Mesechta Bava Metziah, Perek Eilu Metzios.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Gezeilah VaAveidah
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more halachos about returning things that we find — Hashovas Aveidah.
Perek Tes-Zayin explains when you need to return money or a treasure that you find. Usually, you are allowed to keep money that you find in the street, unless it has a siman (a sign), like it is arranged in a pile. Money that you find on the counter in a store needs to be returned, but money found on the floor in a store does not need to be.
Perek Yud-Zayin: Sometimes there is a lost object that the Torah says we do not need to return. There are halachos about what we need to do to make it ours. For example, just looking at it and saying, “I found it! I’m keeping it!” is not enough. We need to actually do something, like picking it up, for it to belong to us.
Perek Yud-Ches teaches the halachos of what we do if we find a shtar (contract). One of the halachos is that we do NOT give back a contract where somebody owes money, because maybe it was already paid, and if we give it back they will have to pay again!
Now we have finished learning the section of halachos about Gezeilah V’Aveidah.
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This perek has the halachos about Motzi Shem Ra, if a man says certain kinds of not-true things about a woman. He gets punished with malkus, and needs to pay 100 sela of silver to the girl’s family.
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Today is the birthday of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s youngest sister, Rebbetzin Shaina. She married a chossid named R’ Mendel Horenstein. They were killed by the Nazis yemach shemam, Hashem Yinkom Damam. Rebbetzin Shaina’s yartzeit was set for the second day of Rosh Hashana.
The Rebbe told a certain story about her a number of times, including on her birthday and yartzeit:
When Rebbetzin Shaina was little and still lived in Lubavitch, she was nicknamed Shaindel. When she was little, her family would like to tease her, because she always had cute things to say.
One time while she was very young, her Zaidy the Rebbe Rashab told her to make sure that everything she does on Shabbos should be Lekavod Shabbos, including when she’s eating or taking a walk. She said that she’s ready to do everything Lekavod Shabbos, except for one thing — sleeping. Because when you’re sleeping, you’re asleep, so how can it be Lekavod Shabbos?
The Frierdiker Rebbe told this story to the Rebbe. The Rebbe explained what we can learn from this story, in honor of a group of Baalei Teshuvah who came for a Pegisha to 770:
Chassidus teaches us that if you put effort into davening and learning during the day, you can dream about it at night too! The same is true with thinking about Shabbos. By thinking about Shabbos during everything you do, even your sleep will be Lekavod Shabbos! This is especially true if it will bother you not to have it that way — then Hashem will help us make sure that it will be that way!
See Parshas Shemos 5725
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The Shema that we say in the beginning of davening is also known as Kriyas Shema Ketana, the “little” Kriyas Shema.
We say this Shema because of a gezeira that was once made against the Yidden.
After the second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, the Yidden were sent into Golus. For hundreds of years, the Persian kings who ruled Bavel left the Yidden alone. But at the end of the time of the Amora’im, the kings started to make cruel decrees against Yiddishkeit.
One of these decrees was that the Yidden could not say Shema in shul, so that they wouldn’t strengthen their emunah in Hashem.
When this decree was made, the Chachomim added Shema to Korbanos. This way, the Yidden would say Shema in the morning before coming to shul.
Even though there is Baruch Hashem no such decree nowadays, we still say this Shema. For many people, especially those who daven with a later minyan or daven ba’arichus, saying this Shema in Korbanos helps them make sure to say Kriyas Shema in its proper time.
In Yechidus, the Rebbe told someone that the paragraphs before this Shema (Le’olam Yehei Adam) and after (Ata Hu) are a preparation and a conclusion to this Shema, similar to the brachos before and after Shema which we say later in davening.
See Masechta Shel Tefillah and Mafteiach L’Sichos Kodesh
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We started to learn about the melacha of borer, choosing or separating things on Shabbos.
The melachos of Shabbos come from the things the Yidden did to build the Mishkan. All of the melachos that were needed to build the Mishkan are the things we are NOT allowed to do on Shabbos.
How did the Yidden use borer to build the Mishkan?
Part of building the Mishkan was making curtains and covers for the Mishkan. These curtains and covers were many different colors.
How did they get those colors?
The Yidden picked berries and plants with different colors. They cooked them or squeezed them to make dye. Then they could dye the material into the colors they wanted.
But if you ever picked berries, you know that sometimes you end up with a squashed berry, or some leaves get picked together with the fruit. You need to take out the not-good berries and pull out any leaves or other things that got mixed into them.
That is borer — separating the good plants and berries from the ones that are not good for making dye.
Any time we are separating or choosing something on Shabbos, we need to make sure that it’s not borer!
IY”H in the coming days we will learn some of the details of this melacha.
See Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Shin-Yud-Tes, se’if alef
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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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In today’s Chumash, Shlishi of Parshas Shemos, we learned about a terrible thing that happened to the Yidden in Mitzrayim. The Yidden were so upset that they all cried out to Hashem!
The posuk tells us that Hashem listened to their cry, and remembered the promise He made to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Hashem started making the Geulah happen right away, telling Moshe Rabbeinu to take the Yidden out of Golus.
The Rebbe tells us that we see from here that Yetziyas Mitzrayim only happened after the Yidden cried out to Hashem, asking for the Geulah. This teaches us that now, in this Golus too, we need to cry out to Hashem to take us out of Golus! We can be sure that Hashem will keep His promise again, and bring us the Geulah right away!
See sicha Parshas Shemos Tof-Shin-Mem-Gimmel
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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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