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CHUMASH
Parshas Mishpatim - Revi'i with Rashi
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Parshas Mishpatim teaches us many mitzvos, especially those that make sure we treat each other fairly. We remember that Hashem gave us ALL of the mitzvos — even the ones that someone might think we could come up with ourselves.
Here are the mitzvos we learn about today:
- We are not allowed to curse Hashem, or any Jewish leader.
- We need to give presents to the Kohanim and Leviim (terumah and maaser), in a certain order.
- We need to do Pidyon Haben, to give the worth of a firstborn son to the kohen.
- A firstborn ox, sheep, or goat needs to be given to the Kohen.
- We are not allowed to eat meat that came off of an animal while it was still alive.
- We can’t eat meat from an animal that was attacked by another animal. (It is best to give it to dogs to eat, as a reward for not bothering the Yidden when they left Mitzrayim.)
- We shouldn’t believe not-nice things from someone who wants to hurt another person.
- We should not join someone to say a lie in court.
- For a Beis Din to pasken that someone should be killed as a punishment, it is not enough if just more than half of the judges agree — it has to be at least TWO more judges that say the person should be killed, than the amount of judges who say he should not (like 36 judges against 34 judges).
- For all other cases, if at least one more judge says they are guilty, we do follow what most judges say (like 11 against 10).
- The most important judge should talk last, so that the others can say what they really think without it being chutzpah, to disagree with a more important judge.
- We should not be extra-nice to a poor person in Beis Din even if we feel bad for him that he doesn’t have what to pay — the court case needs to be judged fairly.
- If someone’s animal gets lost, even if it belongs to someone you don’t like, you need to return it to him.
- Azov Taazov: If you see a donkey that is carrying too much, even if the donkey belongs to someone you don’t like, you need to help him take the things off the donkey and reload it.
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Today’s kapitelach of Tehillim are Kuf-Lamed-Hey through Kuf-Lamed-Tes.
One of today’s Kapitelach, Kapitel Kuf-Lamed-Vov (136), has 26 pesukim — just like the 26 generations from when Hashem created the world until when the Yidden got the Torah!
In this kapitel, we thank Hashem for all of the nissim that happened from the time Hashem made the world until Matan Torah! Every posuk finishes with the words “Ki Le’olam Chasdo” — that Hashem’s kindness is forever!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Hey
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Today we learn the Yetzer Hara’s trick that keeps us from doing mitzvos that are hard, and how we can win over it!
The Yetzer Hara tries to keep a person from being excited to do a mitzvah. He tells the person, to go outside now in the cold to do a favor for your mother might make you sick! Or, you might end up losing money if you give a lot of tzedakah. So it’s not worth doing the mitzvah — it will make you sick and hurt your parnasa.
Even though we DO need to take care of our health and our money, this is a Yetzer Hara’s trick! Really, Hashem will help us if we’re doing what He wants. He will give us brachos, and not the opposite, if we do something hard for Hashem.
So what do we say to fight against the Yetzer Hara?
“You foolish Yetzer Hara! If I had to, I would be ready to give up my whole life for Hashem! I would do the same as many Yidden throughout the generations who gave up their lives to stay connected to Hashem! I would be HAPPY to give my life up for Hashem, with love!
“And now, I have a chance to be connected to Hashem in the same way FOREVER by doing a mitzvah!
“Even if you were right that it would hurt my health, which you’re not, I STILL am ready to pay any price to stay connected to Hashem!”
“So of course, if it’s just a little bit hard, Yetzer Hara, I won’t listen to your silly ideas, and I will do whatever Hashem wants from me!”
By remembering our hidden love for Hashem, the Ahava Mesuteres, the power of Mesiras Nefesh which is hidden in our neshama, we will use every chance we have to be connected to Hashem, even if it means to do a mitzvah outside in the cold.
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Chassidus teaches us to serve Hashem with simcha, TOGETHER with the guf!
The Baal Shem Tov teaches us an important lesson in how to serve Hashem from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: “Ki Sireh Chamor Sona’acha Rovetz Tachas Masa’o, Vechadalta Mei’azov Lo, Azov Taazov Imo.”
In the posuk it says that if you see a donkey that belongs to someone you don’t like, and the bags it is carrying are falling, even though you might not want to help, you should help anyway.
The Baal Shem Tov explains that a person’s body is also called “chamor.” (The word “chamor”, donkey, is like the word “chomer,” gashmius, which is one way to describe the guf.)
The posuk is telling us that when we come to serve Hashem, we might look at our body, our chamor, and think that we don’t like it! This gashmius body doesn’t help our neshama, which wants to be close to Hashem!
When we see that the body is too lazy to do what Hashem wants, we might not want to help our body anymore! We might want to fast and not take care of our body, so that it won’t get in the way of doing what the neshama wants.
But, the Baal Shem Tov teaches, we shouldn’t do this to the body — we should try to make it more ruchnius’dik, but not by hurting it. Instead, we should help it understand that it good for it to serve Hashem!
Before the times of the Baal Shem Tov, one of the ways to train the body to serve Hashem was through “Sigufim,” doing things that were hard for the body. Yidden fasted, rolled in the snow, and traveled far away from home without telling anyone who they were, which were painful for the body. This way, they got used to ignoring what the body wanted, and could think only about the neshama.
Chassidus taught something different: That we need to serve Hashem with simcha, and that the guf also needs to be a part of it! Chassidus teaches us how the neshama can train the body to WANT to do the Ratzon of Hashem, through learning and thinking the teachings of Chassidus, so that the body will also understand that it is good for it to serve Hashem!
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Today in Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn another two mitzvos about eating while you’re working:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #267) A worker can’t stop working to nosh on what he’s picking. Only after he finishes filling a basket and brings it to where it belongs can he take some grapes to eat on his way back to the field. This way he is not wasting time from work, and he’s only eating after his part of the work is done.
Even though we said yesterday that a worker can eat while he is working, he needs to make sure that he is eating only with these conditions!
This mitzvah comes from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: וְחֶרְמֵשׁ לֹא תָנִיף עַל קָמַת רֵעֶךָ
The halachos are explained in Perek Zayin of Mesechta Bava Metziah.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #268) A worker can eat as much as he wants, but he can’t put any away for later. The food is just meant for him while he is working.
This mitzvah also comes from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: וְאָכַלְתָּ עֲנָבִים כְּנַפְשְׁךָ שָׂבְעֶךָ וְאֶל כֶּלְיְךָ לֹא תִתֵּן
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In today’s Rambam we learn more halachos about hiring workers.
In Perek Yud of today’s Rambam, we learn about when a worker is called a shomer, guarding something! If you pay a carpenter to fix your bookshelf, he is a shomer sachar, a paid guard. If it gets broken, he has to pay for it. But if he calls you and tells you to come pick it up because it is done, he is like a shomer chinam (an unpaid guard), and doesn’t have to pay for it unless he did something not responsible.
In Perek Yud-Alef, we learn about paying workers on time. We only need to pay once the work was done and we received it. So if someone ordered a piece of furniture, it is not counted as paying late until after he picked it up.
Perek Yud-Beis is about the mitzvos we learned in Sefer Hamitzvos today! One halacha is that these mitzvos are only with things that grow. So a person working in an ice cream store doesn’t have a mitzvah to be able to eat ice cream. (The ice cream store owner could let him eat anyway, though!)
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All of the non-kosher foods we learned about before are with animals. In this perek we learn about things that grow that are not kosher. Here are some of those things that the Rambam speaks about in this perek:
- Chadash: We are not allowed to eat new grain until we bring the Korban Omer.
- Kilai Hakerem: We are not allowed to grow different plants together or too close to each other.
- Tevel: We are not allowed to eat food before we bring the Terumah and Maaser from it.
- Orlah: We are not allowed to eat from a fruit tree before it grows for at least three years.
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When Tzivos Hashem began, a special song was sung before the Rebbe, which we all know very well: “We want Moshiach now!” It became the theme song of Tzivos Hashem.
The Rebbe explained the Hashgacha Protis in the words that are used in this song:
If someone wants to have something, there are a few different ways to say it: “I wish I could have candy,” “I really would like to have cookies,” or “I could really use some donuts.”
But when we say “I WANT,” it means something more! In English, we sometimes say that something is “wanting.” That means that it is missing something that it needs.
That’s what we mean when we say that we WANT Moshiach now. We don’t mean that we wish we could have something that would be nice to have, like an extra present. Without Moshiach, we feel that we are “wanting!” We are missing something that is very important to us! We NEED Moshiach!
When it is something we need, we will do whatever it takes to make sure we get it! Since “We want Moshiach now,” we are ready to do many more mitzvos so we will actually HAVE Moshiach now!
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Before we start Boruch She’amar, at the beginning of Pesukei Dezimra, we say the line “Lesheim Yichud.”
These words say that we are davening in order to bring Yichud, a close connection, to “Kudsha Brich Hu” and the Shechinah.
Kudsha Brich Hu is the level of Hashem that is the source of all of the Torah and mitzvos. The Shechinah is the source of the neshamos of all of the Yidden. By bringing a Yichud to Kudsha Brich Hu and the Shechinah, we are connecting not just ourselves with Hashem through our mitzvos, but all of the Yidden everywhere, through all of the mitzvos we are doing!
Some people say Lesheim Yichud before doing ANY mitzvah, but we say it just once here in davening, and have in mind that it is also for the Avodah of the entire day.
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The Chachomim teach us that Ain Kiddush Ela Bemakom Seudah — Kiddush has to be connected to the seudah.
This means that in order to be yotzei Kiddush, you need to be eating right afterwards. This usually means eating the seudah of Shabbos, but what if you’re not ready to eat the meal yet? The halacha is that eating a kezayis of Mezonos (like cake or cookies), or drinking a revi’is of wine, are counted as a “seudah” for Kiddush.
So just because someone heard Kiddush doesn’t mean he is yotzei! If he didn’t eat then, he still needs to make or hear Kiddush again.
We will learn more about this IY”H tomorrow.
See Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch Siman Reish-Ayin-Gimmel, se’if Alef, Zayin and Ches
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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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One Sunday (Asara B’Teves 5750), a man came to the Rebbe to receive a dollar for tzedakah and a bracha.
While standing by the Rebbe, the man asked for many brachos. He kept asking for more and more things, until the Rebbe finally suggested, “Maybe you should ask for Moshiach to come?”
The man agreed, and answered, “Im Yirtza Hashem.” (“If Hashem wants”)
The Rebbe told him, “Hashem already wants! It’s up to the Yidden to want Moshiach as well!”
From the sefer Zoreia Tzedakos (stories about Dollars), translated in Moshiach Weekly #17
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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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