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CHUMASH
Parshas Beshalach - Rishon with Rashi
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The Yidden travel towards the Yam Suf... and the Mitzriyim start to chase them!
The Yidden are leaving Mitzrayim! Hashem had the Yidden go a longer way, in case some Yidden would become scared of going into the big empty Midbar, and because of that would later want to run back to Mitzrayim.
When the Yidden traveled, Hashem went in front of them! During the daytime, Hashem went in a big cloud, so they could see where to go. This cloud also made the road easier for them to go on, kept them safe, and cleaned their clothes. At night, Hashem went in a pillar of fire, which also let them see at night.
On the third day of traveling, Hashem told Moshe that they should go back towards the Yam Suf. Paraoh will see the Yidden going backwards, and will think that they are stuck. He will chase after them, and then Hashem will punish him and the Mitzriyim. Now Paraoh will need to realize that Hashem is in charge!
Even though the Yidden might have been afraid to go closer to the Mitzriyim who made them suffer so much, they trusted in Moshe that he was doing what Hashem wanted him to do.
In the meantime, Paraoh changed his mind about letting the Yidden go! He convinced a bunch of Mitzriyim to come with him and make a war with the Yidden, and take back all of the gold and silver they gave them before. Paraoh took all of the horses and wagons that survived the makos, with more than 600 special small and fast wagons. They were so excited, the Mitzriyim decorated these wagons with expensive decorations!
At first, Paraoh wasn’t sure if he should go, but Hashem made him feel stubborn, and he decided to go run after the Yidden.
Meanwhile the Yidden continued going, proud and strong!
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Today’s Tehillim is Samach through Samach-Hey.
In Kapitel Samech-Alef, Dovid Hamelech asks Hashem for something very special: “Yomim Al Yemei Melech Tosif” — “Hashem should add days to the days of the king.” Dovid Hamelech was asking Hashem that he should live for a long time.
The Zohar says that when a person is born, Hashem decides how long they will live. If they have a special zechus, Hashem will make them live even longer! This is what Dovid Hamelech was asking from Hashem — that he should have the zechus to live extra-long.
Since EVERY Yid is like a king (“Kol Yisroel Bnei Melochim Heim”), Dovid Hamelech was also asking for ALL Yidden to live a long time!
See Tehillim with Pirush Tehilas Menachem, kapitel Samach-Alef
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof
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We learned how the strong love in all of us, the Ahava Mesuteres, wakes up. It gets scared when it feels like it may become separated from Hashem! Usually this happens for something very big, like someone threatening a Yid to stop being Jewish.
The Alter Rebbe will show us now how we can wake up the Ahava Mesuteres to get us to do ANY mitzvah, no matter how hard, and stop us from doing ANY aveira, no matter how “small!”
First, the Alter Rebbe helps us understand that missing a chance to do a mitzvah, or doing even a small aveira, is also denying our Yiddishkeit. It’s the Yetzer Hara that convinces us that there is a difference between something big and something small, when really EVERY aveira separates a Yid from Hashem.
Every mitzvah is included in the first two of the Aseres Hadibros, the “big” mitzvos of believing in Hashem.
(The first of the Aseres Hadibros is “Anochi Hashem Elokecha!” “I am Hashem!” The meforshim teach us that all of the mitzvos ASEI (the ones we DO) come from this mitzvah.
The second of the Aseres Hadibros is “Lo Yihiyeh Lecha Elokim Acheirim” “You shouldn’t have any other ‘G-d’s’.” All of the mitzvos LO SASEI (the mitzvos we keep by NOT doing something) come from this mitzvah. (This is why we heard only the first two of the Aseres Hadibros from Hashem — because really it’s like hearing all of them!)
Both of these mitzvos are talking about believing in Hashem and nothing else. How does that include every mitzvah? The Alter Rebbe will show us!)
To understand this properly, we need an introduction. First we need to understand in short what “Achdus Hashem” means — how Hashem is everything.
The first thing we need to know is what we say in davening every morning, “Ata Hu Ad Shelo Nivra Ha’olam, Ata Hu Mishenivra Ha’olam.” Hashem is the same, there is no change in Hashem, before or after the world was created. We will IY”H see more about this later.
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Every day, we start our day with Modeh Ani. We say this even before washing our hands — when they are still tomei!
Nothing in the world can make the Modeh Ani of a Yid tomei — there is a part of our neshama that is connected to Hashem no matter what we do.
There is a famous sicha which was edited by the Rebbe and printed with the name Kuntres Inyana Shel Toras Hachassidus. In this sicha, the Rebbe explains how Chassidus reveals the pnimius of every part of Torah, and what it accomplishes in a Yid and in the world. In this sicha, the Rebbe uses this Hayom Yom as an example to show what Chassidus is!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #245) is the same one again — that buying and selling the way the Torah teaches is a mitzvah!
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Zechiya U'Matana
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In today’s Rambam, we are learning about giving and getting presents according to halacha!
In Perek Daled the Rambam teaches us that usually you have to agree to take a present, or else it’s not yours. But sometimes another person can agree FOR you.
Perek Hey teaches us about what happens if two people argue over a field: One says that it was sold to him, and the other one says he got it as a present. This could happen if the person gave a present secretly. That’s one of the reasons why a person shouldn’t give presents secretly, so there won’t be arguments who it belongs to!
Perek Vov has halachos about presents to a person in the family. Some of them are halachos about the presents a Chosson sends to his Kallah!
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In today’s Rambam, we start to learn about what makes a person considered a mamzer.
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Yesterday was the very special day of Yud Shevat, which is the day of the histalkus of the Frierdiker Rebbe, and the beginning of the Rebbe’s nesius. But today is ALSO a very special day!
On Yud Shevat, Tof-Shin-Yud, the Frierdiker Rebbe was nistalek, and the Rebbe’s nesius began. So part of the day was in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s nesius, and the rest of the day was part of the Rebbe’s nesius. Yud-Alef Shevat was the first FULL day of the Rebbe’s nesius!
Every single generation has its own special avodah. For example, in the times of the Alter Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe expected Chassidim to have a lot of iskafya, to work on their midos to have a love for serving Hashem instead of a love for Gashmius. In the times of the Mitteler Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe expected Chassidim to learn a lot of deep Chassidus, so much that they should end up talking about it in even regular conversations. In the times of the Frierdiker Rebbe, Chassidim had to have Mesiras Nefesh, to even give up their lives to spread Yiddishkeit and teach children Torah! (Of course we need to do all of these things, but there is one thing that is the most important in each time, and everything else becomes a part of it.)
Today, Yud-Alef Shevat, is the first day when the WHOLE DAY is the avodah of OUR dor, the avodah the Rebbe teaches us! And what is this avodah? Each one of us has the Shlichus to spread Yiddishkeit and Chassidus to ourselves and to everyone we can possibly reach, with Ahavas Yisroel, and to get ready for the Geulah!
We need to learn the Rebbe’s sichos, maamarim, and letters, and think about what the Rebbe is teaching us in them. This way, we will be able to follow in the Rebbe’s path and do our shlichus properly!
A few months after the Rebbe accepted the Nesius, before Yud-Alef Nisan, the Rebbe said that he would go to the Ohel. Anybody that is serious about dedicating themselves to the Shlichus that the Rebbe will give them should write their names on a paper, and the Rebbe will bring it to the Ohel. They won’t have to give up their lives (chas veshalom) for it, but it is a very serious thing.
Today, on Yud-Alef Shevat, we strengthen ourselves to continue doing the Shlichus of the Rebbe, and to add in it, with all of our kochos.
See Likutei Sichos chelek Alef, Yud Shevat and other sources
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There are some Chassidim who say that davening with avodah isn’t so important nowadays. They say that the Rebbe didn’t write many letters about davening, and the Rebbe spoke about mivtzoyim at farbrengens — not about Tefillah! That proves that it isn’t something we need to do nowadays, because otherwise the Rebbe would have talked about it more!
The Rebbe says that this is a foolish thought! If you look at the Igros of the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe Rashab, and learn their sichos, you will see that they already wrote about it and farbrenged about it many times! So where is the excuse not to daven properly?!
From sicha of Parshas Ki Sisa, 5740; see se’ifim 21 and 27
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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.
Borer is not only for food. We are also not allowed to separate other types of things on Shabbos, including clothes, books, and toys.
Today we will learn some more about borer with clothes.
To be considered choosing from a mixture, there needs to be at least two kinds of things to choose from, mixed together.
What does “different kinds” mean for clothes?
Like with food, we check to see if it is used differently. Shirts and pants are not used for the same thing, so they are for sure different kinds.
But what if we have a pile of ten different Shabbos shirts? Some have a pocket, some have buttons on the collar, some have a logo near the bottom or are more shiny. Are they each counted as a different kind of shirt?
Since they are all Shabbos shirts, and you would use them all for the same reason (to wear as clothes on Shabbos), they are all counted as the same kind.
Choosing the one we want, even a while before we put it on, is not the isur of borer.
But if there were pajama shirts mixed into the pile, they would be considered two different kinds. Since pajama shirts are not used for the same reason as Shabbos shirts, it could be borer to choose one of them, and we would need to follow the halachos of how to pick one on Shabbos not in a way of melacha. We would need to take out the one we want, when we are ready to use it 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 Rebbe teaches us that we should learn Inyonei Geulah U’Moshiach as we prepare in the last moments of Golus to be Mekabel Pnei Moshiach Tzidkeinu.
This is not only true when we are learning! Sometimes, when we are doing a mitzvah, we can also be learning and thinking about the Geulah!
Here’s one way the Rebbe teaches us we can learn Inyonei Geulah, together with a mitzvah that we do all the time:
When we give tzedakah, we can think about the words of Chazal, “Gedolah Tzedakah Shemekareves Es Hageulah,” that tzedakah has the koach to bring Moshiach closer!
When we think about this, at least from time to time when we give tzedakah, we are also learning and thinking about the Geulah!
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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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