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CHUMASH
Parshas Yisro - Rishon with Rashi
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Yisro comes to join the Yidden!
When Yisro, Moshe’s father-in-law, heard about Kriyas Yam Suf and the war with Amalek, he came to meet the Yidden near Har Sinai.
Yisro brought his daughter Tziporah (Moshe’s wife) and her sons Gershom and Eliezer. Moshe had left them in Midyan when he went to Mitzrayim to take the Yidden out, so they wouldn’t have to suffer in Mitzrayim.
When Moshe heard they were coming, he went out to meet them — and of course, the rest of the Yidden came too! Moshe bowed and kissed his father-in-law, and asked how he was doing. Then they went inside a tent.
Moshe wanted to bring Yisro closer to Torah, so even though Yisro had already heard a little bit about Kriyas Yam Suf and the war with Amalek, Moshe told him about all of the nissim that Hashem did, with all of the details. Yisro said that he was very happy that Hashem had helped the Yidden.
Even though Yisro already knew about Hashem beforehand, now he recognized the true greatness of Hashem, and how Hashem runs everything in the world with Hashgacha Protis.
Yisro brought korbanos to Hashem, and there was a special seudah with Aharon and the zekeinim.
We learn about Yisro in the first three aliyos of this week. As we will see in the Rashi at the beginning of tomorrow’s Chumash, many of the details written here happened after Matan Torah, which we didn’t learn about yet. Still, the Torah tells us about them now, even before telling us about Matan Torah. There is an important reason for this: The Zohar says that Hashem could only give the Torah after Yisro, who knew about all the Avodah Zarah in the world, came to recognize Hashem and wanted to get the Torah with all of the Yidden.
This is a lesson for us too, that even the part of us that knows about all of the Gashmius and taavos of the world, our guf and Nefesh Habehamis, ALSO has to want to get the Torah! Only when we are able to do that, will we be able to understand and have hatzlacha in Torah. (See Likutei Sichos chelek Daled, p. 1271)
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Kapitel Pey-Tes starts with the posuk “Maskil LeEisan HoEzrachi,” telling us which person this kapitel comes from — it was written by a person named Eisan.
Chassidus explains that this name, “Eisan,” also has a very deep meaning which we need to learn from!
The word Eisan means strong. There are different kinds of strong — strong that it’s hard to fight with, or strong that it is hard to push. Then there is a kind of strong that NOTHING can break it or move it! That’s what Eisan is.
Every neshama has Eisan! It’s the part of the neshama that has the koach never to budge, no matter what anyone tries to do to it, and won’t do anything against what Hashem wants. That part is also called the Yechidah of the neshama, which is ready to have Mesiras Nefesh for Hashem!
In fact, the word Eisan has the same letters as the word “Tanya!” That’s one of the reasons given for why the Alter Rebbe started the sefer with this word, since it is the deepest part of the neshama that the Tanya teaches us how to wake up!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Gimmel
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Hashem wanted every single Yid to be able to be a beinoni! That’s why inside each of us, we have a special koach called the Ahava Mesuteres, that makes us ready to have Mesiras Nefesh for Hashem. The Alter Rebbe is going to teach us how to use this koach to be able to stay away from ANY aveira!
In order to wake up our koach of Mesiras Nefesh, the Alter Rebbe told us that there are a few things we need to know:
1) This koach in our neshama ALWAYS wants to be with Hashem, and wants that even more than it wants to be alive! That feeling is usually fast asleep, but it will wake up automatically if a person sees that something is trying to separate him from Hashem chas veshalom.
2) Achdus Hashem: Hashem’s hiding (tzimtzum) makes the world feel that it is something important on its own, but really it is botul to Hashem.
In this perek, the Alter Rebbe is going to tell us how when we do a mitzvah or learn Torah, we FEEL Achdus Hashem! In the next perek, we will see that when a Yid does an aveira, chas veshalom, his neshama feels separate from Hashem.
In today’s Tanya, we learn that the reason Hashem made the world is so that Yidden will keep the Torah and mitzvos.
When we do mitzvos, we can FEEL Achdus Hashem, that there is one Hashem and everything is part of Hashem!
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Today the Rebbe tells us about another maamar in Torah Ohr!
The Alter Rebbe’s maamar called “Umareihem Umaaseihem” is based on the first maamar the Maggid ever said when he became Rebbe (Shavuos 5521/1761)!
So for the Chassidim of the Maggid (like the Alter Rebbe!) that maamar was like Bosi Legani is to us!
The Alter Rebbe wasn’t there when the Maggid said it, but he heard it from R’ Mendel Horodoker, who was there! The Alter Rebbe later said this maamar also, and explained it in his own way.
Are you confused why yesterday we talked about a Beshalach maamar from Likutei Torah, and today we are talking about a Yisro maamar in Torah Ohr? Or wondering why the Maggid said a maamar from Parshas Yisro on Shavuos? It’s very simple! There are a few maamarim printed in Likutei Torah for parshios before Vayikra, and one of them was the maamar we learned about yesterday! And what does Parshas Yisro talk about? Matan Torah, which happened on Shavuos!
All of these Hayom Yoms about Torah Ohr and Likutei Torah show us how important it is for a chossid to learn the “Chassidishe Parsha!”
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #245) is about how a person can sell something or give something to someone else. The Torah teaches us that we need to be koneh things, SHOWING that it belongs to us. One way to show you were koneh something is by picking it up.
(We learned this mitzvah many times before, but since there is no special mitzvah for this set of halachos in Rambam, we review it again.)
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Shecheinim - Shluchim VeShutfim
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In today’s Rambam, we finish the halachos of neighbors and begin the halachos of making someone a shliach and about partners.
In Perek Yud-Gimmel we learn more about the Bar Metzra — the neighbor, who gets the first chance to buy a field next door. We learn that a person can give a PRESENT, he doesn’t have to give it to the neighbor — he can give it to whoever he wants. But if he is only giving it as a present to trick the neighbor so he doesn’t have to sell it to him, the neighbor still has the right to buy it!
Perek Yud-Daled finishes the halachos about neighbors. We learn that the Ben Hametzer is only for the NEXT-door neighbor. We also learn about the reason for the halacha, that a person should act like a mentch (“Ve’asisa Hayashar Vehatov”) and give the opportunity to buy to the one who could use it in the best way.
Now we start Hilchos Shluchim VeShutfin, about partners and messengers:
In Perek Alef we learn about a shliach. When someone sends a messenger (shliach) to do something, it’s like the one who sent him did it himself — if the messenger followed the instructions! So if someone sends a messenger to buy a field, when the messenger buys it, it belongs to the one who sent him.
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In this perek, the Rambam speaks about the halachos of Yichud, which are important for everyone to know. Yichud means that a man and woman who are not married should not be alone together in a private place. The Chachomim made these halachos to keep aveiros from happening.
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The Rebbe told this story:
The Tzemach Tzedek once had to go to Petersburg (the capital) for many meetings. The government wanted to make rules about the kind of Chinuch the Yidden can have!
The Tzemach Tzedek wouldn’t say yes EVER to making any change in pure Yiddishe chinuch, and they were very mad at him! It was very dangerous for the Tzemach Tzedek to act this way.
One of the Rabbonim who was there asked the Tzemach Tzedek how he could do this! There are so many Yidden who NEED the Tzemach Tzedek, so how can he do something dangerous? Without him, many Yidden won’t know how to live the way a Yid should!
The Tzemach Tzedek said he needs to do what he is doing, and if something would happen to him chas veshalom, there are two other ways to help all of these Yidden know how to act:
1) The Tzemach Tzedek’s children can take over and teach and guide the chassidim.
2) The achdus of Chassidim will carry them until Moshiach.
The Rebbe said this story 100 years after the histalkus of the Tzemach Tzedek. The Rebbe said, “Now the first reason isn’t there anymore — only the second. We need to know that when Chassidim work together, we have the koach to bring Moshiach!”
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TEFILLAH
It's All One Thing - Pesukei Dezimra
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One of the reasons we say Pesukei Dezimra is (as we learned before) because the Chachomim teach us that “Yesader Adam Shivcho Shel Makom Ve’achar Kach Yispalel,” a person should first organize the praises of Hashem and then daven.
Because of this, we shouldn’t have any interruptions between Pesukei Dezimra and Shemoneh Esrei. The Chachomim taught us to say Shema and its brachos also as a preparation for Shemoneh Esrei, but we still do not talk between praising Hashem and asking for our needs.
This is actually an important mitzvah!
Before the Yidden would go to war, a kohen (the Mashuach Milchamah) would speak to the Yidden. He would announce that anyone who is afraid of the war because he might have aveiros should go home. A person who has done aveiros might not have the zechus that Hashem will protect him in the war, and he may be afraid to fight!
The Gemara gives an example of an aveira that this includes — someone who speaks between Pesukei Dezimra and the brachos of Shema.
This shows us how important it is not to talk, and that this mitzvah gives us protection from Hashem!
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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.
If there are two kinds of things that are mixed together, we are allowed to separate them on Shabbos only in a way of eating, “Derech Achilah.”
There are three things that need to be done to make it in a way of eating:
1) Ochel Mitoch Pesoles — we take the part that we want to use (not the part we DON’T want)
2) Beyad — with our hand or a regular keili used for eating (not a keili used especially for separating things, like a strainer)
3) Miyad — to use right away (and not to prepare for later)
This way we are not doing the melacha of borer.
But what do we do if we have a food with a peel, like an orange or an egg? There is no way to take what we want (the ochel) without taking off the part we don’t want (pesoles) first!
The halacha is that peeling a food is still the normal way of eating, Derech Achilah. We are allowed to take off the peels before eating.
Still, we need to follow the other two conditions so that it won’t be the melacha of borer. We can use a regular keili like a knife to peel the fruit, but not a keili that is special for borer like a peeler. We also can only peel it to use right away.
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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The Tzemach Tzedek once spoke about Moshiach coming at a certain time.
Someone that was there asked the Tzemach Tzedek how he could say that. It said in seforim that Moshiach COULDN’T come at that time!
The Tzemach Tzedek answered the person: “When Moshiach comes, all questions will be answered, as the Gemara says many times, ‘Teiku’ — hinting that Eliyahu Hanavi will answer our questions. So let this question, of how Moshiach could come at a time when it says he can’t, be answered then too…”
See Likutei Sichos chelek Alef p. 272
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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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