|
|
CHUMASH
Parshas Mishpatim - Shvi'i with Rashi
|
|
Hashem tells the Yidden about all the ways He will make it easier for them to live in Eretz Yisroel.
If the Yidden keep the mitzvos, Hashem will give them so many special rewards!
In Eretz Yisroel, all of the mothers will have kinderlach, and everyone will live a good long life.
Hashem will scare away everyone who is not supposed to live in Eretz Yisroel with a kind of wasp, so the Yidden won’t even have to make a war.
But if everyone leaves Eretz Yisroel right away, who will take care of the fields and make sure that there are not too many wild animals? Because of that, Hashem will only send out the goyim little by little, until the Yidden are able to take care of the whole land.
Hashem will do His part to give the Yidden Eretz Yisroel, but the Yidden need to do THEIR part and make sure that they don’t learn from the goyim to serve Avodah Zarah.
Now that Hashem finished telling the Yidden the way the deal will work, the Torah goes back and tells us more about Matan Torah (which we learned about in Parshas Yisro).
Hashem had told Moshe that some of the Zekeinim could go partway up Har Sinai, but only Moshe can come all the way up to the top. Moshe reviewed these rules and the halachos of the mitzvos they were told about before Matan Torah. The Yidden all said, “We will do whatever Hashem said to do!”
Then Moshe wrote down all the parts of the Torah that already happened, from Bereishis until Matan Torah! The next morning, he made a Mizbeiach and brought korbanos, as a promise to Hashem that the Yidden agree to keep the Torah.
Moshe went up on Har Sinai, and the Zekeinim didn’t follow him — but they looked. They saw how Hashem had been with them in Mitzrayim, and how happy Hashem was that they were free.
After Matan Torah, Hashem told Moshe to come back up on Har Sinai for 40 days and nights, to get the Luchos. Moshe told the Yidden he would be back in 40 days, and left the Zekeinim in charge.
While he was on Har Sinai, Moshe didn’t need to eat or drink anything, and Hashem taught him all of the mitzvos of the Torah!
|
|
|
|
Today we start the Tehillim again from the beginning!
In one of today’s kapitelach there is a posuk that the Rebbe said many times in sichos about how important chinuch is, and the koach of Torah and mitzvos of children: “Mipi Olelim Veyonkim Yisadeta Oz” — “from the mouths of children and babies You get koach to destroy the enemies.”
When Yiddishe kinderlach learn Torah and do mitzvos, they have the koach to destroy all of our enemies — especially those who want to hurt Yidden in Eretz Yisroel, or anywhere else!
You shouldn’t think it’s just older kids — the words of the posuk are talking especially about little kids and even babies!
|
|
|
TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Vov
|
|
Today, the first day of Chodesh Adar, the month of simcha, we start to learn about the importance of simcha and how we can feel it! The Alter Rebbe will show us how to always be besimcha in the way of Chabad, to think and have hisbonenus about things that help us have true joy.
Each of us have a Yetzer Tov and a Yetzer Hara who are constantly fighting inside of us. We know that if two people are wrestling with each other, even if one is much stronger, if he takes a nap in the middle, the other person will for sure win, even though he is weaker!
The same thing is with the fight with the Yetzer Tov and the Yetzer Hara. Even though the Yetzer Tov is really stronger, because it has extra help from Hashem; still, if the person is sad or lazy or slow, the Yetzer Hara could (chas veshalom) win!
That’s why it is very important for a Yid to ALWAYS be besimcha! Because when a Yid is happy, he has plenty of strength to win over the Yetzer Hara!
But it’s not always so easy to be happy! What if a person is suffering with something and is in pain, like if they aren’t feeling well, or something happened to someone in his family? There could be important things that a person needs but doesn’t have. When these kinds of things happen, a person might feel sad or slow. So how can we ALWAYS be besimcha?
The answer is that a Yid is able to think. A person can think about things that he can’t see in front of him. For example, we can think about the neshama, even though all we see is the guf (body).
The same way, even though we can only see the things that bother us, we can think about the “neshama” (the pnimius) that’s inside of these things, which can help us be besimcha.
What’s the “neshama” in things that happen that don’t look so good?
Everything comes from Hashem. But some things come from a deeper part of Hashem, and in the time of Golus, this part of Hashem is hidden. The things that happen to us that seem not good come from the deepest part of Hashem that we can’t see. That’s why now we can’t see that it’s good. However, we can think “Gam Zu L’Tova,” that this also comes from Hashem, and is also good. In fact, Hashem is CLOSER to us in a certain way during hard times! This can help us feel better even though there are Gashmius things we are suffering from.
The Alter Rebbe tells us that there is a big reward for someone who is able to accept with love this “hiding” kind of good from Hashem: When Moshiach comes, and this deeper part of Hashem will become revealed, the people who were connected to it in Golus will be even MORE connected to it then.
Still, even today, we ask Hashem that we should see the deeper level of Hashem in a way that it’s not hiding — that’s the bracha of “Tov Hanira Vehanigla.”
Another thing that can make a person feel sad is if he did something that he wasn’t supposed to do. (Especially knowing how bad it is to do an aveira, like we learned before in Tanya!) That could make a person feel very upset and very bad. If he is upset, he won’t have lots of energy to fight with his Yetzer Hara!
So the Alter Rebbe teaches us a way to keep this from taking away our energy:
A person should think to himself: “Hashem sent me here in this world to do a shlichus! What’s my shlichus? To act like a Yid should. And that shlichus is EVERY MOMENT of my life! Thinking about what I’ve done wrong will not let me do the shlichus I’m supposed to be doing now! So I can’t think about this now.”
But what about Teshuvah? A person needs to think about their aveiros so they can do teshuvah!
For that, the Alter Rebbe will teach us later that there is a special time to think about the not-good things we have done and do teshuvah, like Kriyas Shema She’al Hamita. But any other times during the day, thinking about aveiros is listening to the Yetzer Hara, who is trying to get us to not do the shlichus we are supposed to do now! The Yetzer Hara wants us to be in a bad mood so we won’t want to do what we are supposed to do... and go eat ice cream and watch videos instead.
|
|
|
|
First the Rebbe shows us something about Torah Ohr so we will learn it right: In seforim, there are certain words that are written as Roshei Teivos — like Beis Hey for Boruch Hashem. So there is a Roshei Teivos which usually means one thing, but in today’s Hayom Yom, the Rebbe tells us about one time in Torah Ohr where the same Roshei Teivos stands for different words: (Usually beis-pey-ayin is “Bifnei Atzmo”, but here, where it’s talking about Mesiras Nefesh it stands for “Bepnimius Atzmuso”.)
On Rosh Chodesh, after Shir Shel Yom in davening, we say a kapitel that begins with the words Borchi Nafshi. We bentch Hashem for all of the things He created and the things that happen every day. One of the things we say is that when the sun shines in the morning, the animals that run around all night go to sleep, and that’s when people go out to do their work, until nighttime: “Yeitzei Adam Lefa’alo, V’La’avodaso Adei Arev.”
“Going out to work” doesn’t just mean to do our jobs to make money to be able to live. It also has a meaning in Ruchnius! It is speaking about how the neshama comes down from the place of neshamos in Shomayim, and it comes into this world to do its work. All neshamos have a job to make the world brighter with the light of Torah and mitzvos, and each neshama also has its own specific avodah and shlichus to do based on its own kochos.
That’s what the words “Yeitzei Adam Lefa’alo” mean, that the person goes out to do his work.
The posuk also tells us that a person has only until nighttime to work, “V’la’avodaso Adei Arev,” which can mean only while we are alive. Now is the time to do the avodah we were sent to do!
On a deeper level, the posuk is telling us what happens to the neshama BECAUSE of the shlichus it does in the world: When the neshama goes into Gan Eden, it gets a reward based on the work it did in this world. If it set times to learn Torah in this world, it gets to learn Torah in Gan Eden too. And if the neshama did its avodah in the world properly, the neshama is rewarded and goes up to a very high Ruchnius level.
|
|
|
|
Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #244) is that we need to follow all of the halachos about someone who watches something for another person without getting paid for it.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: כִּי יִתֵּן אִישׁ אֶל רֵעֵהוּ כֶּסֶף אוֹ כֵלִים לִשְׁמֹר
The halachos are explained in Perek Tes of Mesechta Bava Kama, Perek Gimmel of Mesechta Bava Metziah, and Perek Ches of Mesechta Shevuos.
|
|
|
RAMBAM
Hilchos She'eilah Upikadon
|
|
In today’s Rambam, we are finishing this set of halachos, about borrowing (shoel) and watching something for someone else (Shomer Chinam).
In Perek Vov, we learn about the special shevuah that this shomer has to make if something was broken or stolen when he was watching it. He needs to make a shevuah that he took care of it properly, that what he said happened to it really did (like if he said “it fell apart by itself”), and that he didn’t use it — he was watching it, not borrowing it!
If the Shomer Chinam doesn’t want to make the promise, but he’d rather pay back the owner for what got stolen or lost, we usually let him.
But if it was a special kind of thing that got stolen or lost, and you can’t just buy a new one of, like a painting, we make him make the shevuah, because we are afraid maybe he just wanted to keep it for himself! We are afraid that he wanted to buy it, but the owner wasn’t selling — so he is using this as a trick to pay for it and keep it himself. To keep people from doing this, we make them make a shevuah in this kind of case.
Here’s an example of one interesting halacha in Perek Zayin: Let’s say that Reuven asked Shimon to watch his kiddush cup while he goes to summer camp. Shimon wasn’t planning on going to camp, so he agreed.
But then in the middle of the summer, Shimon’s Bubby invited him to come to Eretz Yisroel with her! What should Shimon do? He can’t bring the kiddush cup with — it might get lost or stolen on such a big trip! And he can’t ask someone else to watch the kiddush cup — Reuven asked HIM to watch it! Does he have to stay home now to watch the kiddush cup?
Shimon can bring the kiddush cup to the Beis Din, and they will find someone who can watch it until Reuven gets back.
Perek Ches: One halacha we learn is about if something was stolen from the shomer, and instead of making a shevuah, the shomer paid it back. If the thief is caught and needs to pay back double, who does the thief pay double to? The original owner, or the shomer? The answer is that the shomer is the one who gets to keep the double payment, since he decided to pay instead of making a shevuah, and it is counted as if it is his.
|
|
|
|
Wine that is boiled is not used for Avodah Zarah. That’s why we sometimes use mevushal wine — boiled wine — so that we don’t have to be worried that it might be used for Avodah Zarah, and we can drink it even if a goy does touch it.
|
|
|
|
There is a halacha that if a person has a court case with a goy, he should try to push it off until the month of Adar, because there is a good mazal for Yidden in Adar.
The Rebbe tells us that the same is true with the “court case” we have with the “goy” that is inside of ourselves:
What “goy” do we have inside? The Yetzer Hara, of course!
Every day we have court cases with our Yetzer Hara. For example, if Mommy asks us if we washed negel vasser this morning, the Yetzer Hara wants us to say yes even if we didn’t, and the Yetzer Tov wants us to tell the truth. We want to win every time, and during Adar we have a special koach to be successful!
See Sharei Hamoadim Chodesh Adar
|
|
|
▼ Jump to Coloring Books & Downloads ▼
|
|
|
|
In Musaf of Rosh Chodesh, we start the same as any other Shemoneh Esrei, with three brachos praising Hashem, and end off with three brachos thanking Hashem.
In the middle, we say one bracha which talks about Rosh Chodesh. In this bracha, we speak about the inyan of Rosh Chodesh, and ask Hashem to give us many brachos for the new month.
In the beginning of this bracha, we thank Hashem for giving us Rosh Chodesh, as a time of kapara. This reminds us of the special Korban Chatas that we bring on Rosh Chodesh, as a kapara for the Yidden.
|
|
|
|
“Vehaya Hashem Mivtacho. Oops!”
What happens if someone was bentching on Rosh Chodesh, and they forgot to add Yaaleh Veyavo?
If you remember right away, before starting the next part of bentching (“HaKeil Avinu”), there something you can say right after Uvnei, which is printed in the siddur.
But if you didn’t remember then, or if you only remembered afterwards, what should you do?
Nothing!
On Rosh Chodesh, we don’t go back and bentch again if we forgot Yaaleh Veyavo.
We only need to go back in bentching if there is a mitzvah to bentch with Yaaleh Veyavo on that day. On Rosh Chodesh, there is no mitzvah to wash for a seudah, so there is no chiyuv to bentch.
Only during Shemoneh Esrei of Shacharis and Mincha on Rosh Chodesh (Maariv is different), do we go back if we forgot Yaaleh Veyavo. That’s because there IS a mitzvah to daven on Rosh Chodesh, with Yaaleh Veyavo.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman 188:10
|
|
לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
שליח כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו למדינת אילינוי
|
|
|
|
Your one mitzvah can bring the Geulah! That is what the Rambam paskens.
Wait — how? How can just one little person, with their one little mitzvah, make a HUGE difference for the whole world? My one mitzvah compared to the whole world is less than one drop of water in the ocean!
The Rebbe teaches that when we do a mitzvah in order to bring Moshiach, we use the piece of Moshiach that is inside of ourselves! With the Moshiach koach, our one mitzvah isn’t so small anymore — it has a tremendous koach that can change the world and bring the Geulah!
Sefer Hasichos 5747, vol. 1, p. 240 ha’ara 123
|
|
|
|
|
לע"נ התינוק זאב ארי' ע"ה בן יבלט"א הרה"ח ר' שניאור זלמן שי' גליק
נפטר ב' מנחם אב ה'תשע"ג
|
|
Give children around the world the gift of Kids Chitas!
KidsChitas.org/sponsor
|
|
|
