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CHUMASH
Parshas Shemos - Shishi with Rashi
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Hashem decided that it was time for the suffering of the Yidden to end! He chose Moshe Rabbeinu to do the important shlichus of taking the Yidden out of Mitzrayim. Hashem spoke to Moshe from a burning bush, convincing him to take on this achrayus.
Moshe finally accepted Hashem’s shlichus!
Moshe had promised Yisro not to leave without permission, so before he went to Mitzrayim, he asked Yisro’s permission to go to Mitzrayim. Yisro agreed.
Moshe was afraid that Dasan and Aviram (who had told on him to Paraoh, making him run away to Midyan) might try to get him killed, but Hashem told him that they were now poor and they wouldn’t be dangerous to him.
Moshe put his family onto a special donkey. This donkey was used by Avraham to go to the Akeida. This same donkey will be used again when Moshiach will be revealed!
Hashem told Moshe that he will have special signs to use in front of Paraoh, but he should know that Paraoh won’t listen. Moshe should tell Paraoh that he needs to listen or else he will be punished!
Moshe and Tziporah had a baby boy, Eliezer, right before going. Moshe knew that he couldn’t give him a bris right away, because it’s not safe to go on a big trip right after a bris. But when they were close to Mitzrayim, instead of giving a bris right away, Moshe first set up a place to sleep. Hashem was not happy! He sent a malach that looked like a snake to swallow up Moshe! Tziporah understood that this was because of the bris, and so she took a sharp stone and made a bris on Eliezer right away, and Hashem sent the malach away.
Hashem told Aharon to go meet Moshe in the desert, and he met him at Har Sinai. Moshe told Aharon why he was coming to Mitzrayim, and they went together. Aharon didn’t think Tziporah and the children should come to Mitzrayim, so Moshe sent them back to Midyan.
Moshe and Aharon gathered the leaders of the Yidden. Aharon told over what Moshe said, and they did the special signs before the Yidden. Even though the Golus was so hard, the Yidden believed right away that Hashem was going to take them out of Golus, and they bowed down to thank Hashem!
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Today’s Shiur Tehillim is kapitelach Kuf-Yud-Gimmel through Kuf-Yud-Ches.
Today’s Tehillim is all parts of Hallel! Hallel is the special tefillah we say to Hashem to thank Him for all of His nissim. We say Hallel on Yom Tov, and on Rosh Chodesh.
One of the pesukim in Hallel is “Zeh Hashaar LaHashem, Tzadikim Yavo’u Vo.” “This is the gate to Hashem, Tzadikim go in this way.”
Chassidus teaches that the gate we are talking about is Yiras Shomayim — being afraid to Chas Veshalom do something that won’t make Hashem happy. We make sure to act the way Hashem expects us to!
We learn about Yiras Shomayim in one of the 12 Pesukim. Do you know which one?
You guessed it! Vehinei Hashem Nitzav Alav (which is from Tanya!). It means that a Yid should think how Hashem is watching over him. Even though Hashem is everywhere, he should think about how Hashem is looking at HIM, and making sure he is serving Hashem properly the way he should, and as good as he can!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Yud-Gimmel
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In today’s Tanya, we learn that Hashem gives a special koach to the Yetzer Tov to win, even when the Yetzer Hara seems very strong!
In Perek Alef of Tanya, we say that for the Beinoni, “Zeh VeZeh Shoftan” — “this one and this one judge him.” What does that mean?
The Alter Rebbe explains that inside of us, we have a kind of court! In court, there are two judges, who are supposed to decide the way things should be. Each judge is allowed to say what they think, but they can’t decide on their own.
What if the two judges DON’T agree? They need a third party, who will decide which judge is right.
That’s what goes on inside of us! The Yetzer Hara says “I think I want to say something not nice to someone!” The Yetzer Tov says, “I don’t agree.” So who will decide?
There is a posuk in Tehillim that tells us who decides — “Ki Yaamod Limin Evyon, Lehoshia Mishoftei Nafshoi” — “Hashem stands at the right side (the Nefesh Elokis side!) of the poor man, to save him from those that judge his neshama.”
HASHEM decides who is right! And who do you think Hashem says we should listen to? The Yetzer Tov, of course!
We need Hashem’s help every time, because the Nefesh Habehamis can be very strong — and it gets stronger just by using it for the Gashmius’dike things we do on a regular basis! But Hashem can help us win over the Nefesh Habehamis in our “court” every time!
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Today is the Yartzeit of the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe passed away Motzei Shabbos Parshas Shemos, in a little village called Pyena. The Alter Rebbe’s ohel is in Haditch.
The Rebbe Maharash once asked the Tzemach Tzedek, “When the Alter Rebbe wanted Chassidim to follow the minhagim of Chassidus (Darkei HaChassidus), what did he expect to happen? And what did he want to happen from the Chassidus that he taught?”
The Tzemach Tzedek answered:
Living the way of Chassidus means that all Chassidim should be like one family! The Alter Rebbe wanted to see that all Chassidim love each other, the way the Torah teaches. We should have a set of hanhagos that will keep us together. (For example, that all chassidim learn the same shiurim of Chitas and Rambam, we farbreng together, and do mivtzoyim.)
And Chassidus is chayus! It brings light and chayus into everything, making everything clear so we can see what it really is and know what to do with it. We can even understand what our Yetzer Hara is, and the not-good midos that we have in ourselves, so we know how to fix them! The Alter Rebbe wanted the Chassidus to bring chayus and light into every part of a Chossid’s life.
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Today we learn yesterday’s mitzvah again — Mitzvas Asei #236. This mitzvah is that if a person makes someone else get hurt, he needs to pay him to make up for what he did.
We learn this from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: וְכִי יְרִיבֻן אֲנָשִׁים וְהִכָּה אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵהוּ
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Perek Ches of Mesechta Bava Kama.
We also learn two more mitzvos, from the next set of halachos:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #289) A Yid is not allowed to kill another person.
This mitzvah is one of the Aseres Hadibros, which are in Parshas Yisro: לֹא תִּרְצָח
The halachos are explained in Perek Tes of Mesechta Sanhedrin, and Perek Beis of Mesechta Makos.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #296) The Beis Din is not allowed to take money from someone who killed on purpose, in order not to punish him the way the Torah tells us to.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Masei: וְלֹא תִקְחוּ כֹפֶר לְנֶפֶשׁ רֹצֵחַ אֲשֶׁר הוּא רָשָׁע לָמוּת
The dinim of this mitzvah are explained in Mesechta Makos.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Chovel U'Mazik - Rotzeiach U'Shmiras HaNefesh
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In today’s Rambam, we learn the last two perakim about someone that damages another person’s things. We also learn the first perek of Rotzeiach, about someone who Chas Veshalom killed someone else.
In Perek Zayin, we learn about kinds of damage that you can’t see — like making something tomei, where it doesn’t look different. We also learn about doing something that makes something get damaged, like moving a pillow away when a glass is falling, and when someone isn’t sure how much damage he did.
In Perek Ches we learn the din of a moser — someone who tells on a Yid to the government so they will take him or his money. It is a VERY BIG aveira.
In the first Perek of Hilchos Rotzeiach we learn the two mitzvos in today’s Sefer Hamitzvos and the BIGGEST MITZVAH a person can do — to save the life of another Yid. The Rambam tells us that if a person saves another Yid it is like he saved the WHOLE world!
The Rebbe tells us that the same is true of helping a Yid to do a mitzvah and giving every child a good chinuch. It is also like saving their life, which the Rambam says is like saving the WHOLE world!
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The Rambam teaches us exactly how the sotah is tested to find out if she did an aveira or not. She is brought into the Beis Hamikdash and her clothes are ripped so she won’t look beautiful. Dust and bitter wood are put into a bowl of water, and a paper that has certain words (including Hashem’s name) written on it is dipped into the water and the letters are rubbed off into the water.
The woman has to drink this bitter water, and if she did the aveira, she will die. If she didn’t do the aveira, Hashem rewards her for how embarrassing the mitzvah of sotah is, and she gets brachos for health and children.
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Today is Chof-Daled Teves, the Yartzeit of the Alter Rebbe.
A yartzeit isn’t just a day to remember someone who passed away, it is a very special day in Ruchnius! When a person is in the world, he does a lot of mitzvos and makes a difference to other people. On the yartzeit, all of these special things get an extra koach from Hashem, and bring the person’s neshama and all of his mitzvos up to a higher level in Gan Eden! Since this world matches what happens in ruchnius, all of the things they did also get an extra koach right here in this Gashmius world!
Since the accomplishments of a tzadik make a difference to everyone in the world, we ALL get extra kochos from the things he worked on, on the day of his yartzeit.
What is the most important thing that the Alter Rebbe did in the world? The Alter Rebbe was a special neshama, and gave us Chassidus Chabad, to prepare the world for Moshiach!
In today’s Hayom Yom, we learned what the Alter Rebbe wanted us to DO with Chassidus: To fix up all of our not good midos so we will always act the way Hashem wants us to! The Alter Rebbe also gave us Darkei Hachassidus, so that we will live together like one Torah’dike family.
The Rebbe explains in a sicha that we need Darkei Hachassidus to be able to use Chassidus properly! Like we saw in Tanya, sometimes a person’s Yetzer Hara can become so strong in a certain aveira that we don’t have the koach to fight it anymore by ourselves.
So when that happens, we need Darkei Hachassidus — we need our friends to help us fight our Yetzer Hara. With our achdus, we can help each other, so we will all be acting the way Hashem wants!
Today, on Chof-Daled Teves, we have an extra koach for this! We should make sure to get together with our friends and neighbors and farbreng, to help each other fix up the midos that aren’t the way they should be. This way we will prepare ourselves and our friends for the Geulah, which is coming very soon!
See sicha Parshas Shemos Tof-Shin-Chof
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The Navi Yechezkel was a Navi after the Churban of the first Beis Hamikdash. In his nevuos, he spoke about the way the third Beis Hamikdash should look! Hashem told Yechezkel that he should tell the Yidden to learn the measurements of the Beis Hamikdash, and then Hashem will consider it like they were actually building it! This way, even though they were in Golus, they could still have the mitzvah of building Hashem’s house.
The Medrash says that the same thing is true with the korbanos. When we say the words of the korbanos the way we are taught to bring them in Torah, and the halachos about them, it is like we are actually bringing those korbanos!
Since davening is in place of the korbanos, we first do our best to have a part of bringing the korbanos. At the beginning of davening, we say many paragraphs describing the korbanos and the daily Avodah in the Beis Hamikdash. This way, Hashem will count our tefillos as if we were actually bringing these korbanos at the proper time.
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The Rebbe tells us four ways we should celebrate Chof-Daled Teves:
1) Limud HaTorah:
- Learn extra Niglah and Chassidus.
- Learn at least one perek of Mishnayos that starts with a letter in the Alter Rebbe’s name.
- Learn a se’if of the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch.
- Learn a perek of the Alter Rebbe’s sefer of Tanya.
- Learn something from the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim, especially from the Torah Ohr of this week.
2) Tefillah:
- Daven with more avodah from the Alter Rebbe’s siddur.
- Use the maamarim of Tefillah from the Alter Rebbe’s siddur, starting with the maamar in the introduction, “Hakol Kol Yaakov.”
3) Gemilus Chassadim:
- Give extra tzedakah.
- We should especially try to give to one of the Alter Rebbe’s mosdos, or a mosad that continues the Alter Rebbe’s work.
4) Farbrengen:
- Make a freiliche Chassidishe farbrengen for Chof-Daled Teves!
- Those who are at the farbrengen should make good hachlatos in Torah and mitzvos.
If you can’t do these things today, try to make up for them in the following days.
From Halachos Uminhagei Chabad, Likutei Sichos vol. 21 p. 296
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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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When Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu to tell the Yidden that it was time for their Geulah, Moshe said he didn’t think the Yidden would believe him. Even though they knew about Hashem’s promise, they were in Golus already for so many years! Moshe Rabbeinu thought that by now, they wouldn’t be so ready to believe that the Golus was actually ending.
But Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu that he shouldn’t worry. Every morning, a Yid’s neshama comes back to him, refreshed and new. So for the neshama, they weren’t in Golus for so many years — they only went into Golus that day! Of course they would be ready to believe that the time of the Geulah was here.
The same is true with us today! Our bodies might have been in Golus for many years, but for our neshama, it’s still a new thing, and we are VERY ready to hear that the time of our Geulah is here!
See Sefer Hasichos 5751, Parshas Shemos
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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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