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CHUMASH
Parshas Terumah - Shlishi with Rashi
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Today we learn about the Menorah, and the Yerios (the curtains that cover the Mishkan).
Hashem tells Moshe on Har Sinai to later make a Menorah. Instead of making all of the different parts of the menorah separately, he should make the whole thing out of one piece of gold!
The Menorah for the Mishkan should have seven branches, with decorations — upside down cups, balls, and flowers. On the top of each branch, there should be cups to hold the oil. They are attached in a way that the flames all shine towards the middle branch of the menorah!
The tools for the menorah should also be made of gold — tongs to put the wicks in the right place and take them out when the menorah stops burning, and scoops to take out the ashes when the fire is out.
Now Hashem tells Moshe about how to make the Yerios:
There should be three coverings on the Mishkan. These coverings act as a roof, and hang over the walls.
First cover: The first cover should be made of colorful material, with pictures of Keruvim that look like lions on one side, and a kind of bird on the other side. The parts of this cover should be attached with gold loops and clips.
Second cover: The second cover should be made of goat hair. It should also have both sides of it attached with loops and clips.
This cover will be bigger than the Mishkan, and the extra will hang down in front.
Third cover: The third cover should be only on the roof. It should be made of ram skin dyed red, with tachash skin on top.
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In today’s first kapitel, we say “Hashem Ro’i Lo Echsar.” — “Hashem is my Shepherd, I am not missing anything.”
We know the story of Dovid Hamelech, who was so careful to make sure all of the sheep had plenty to eat. We also know how Moshe Rabbeinu took such good care of even a sheep who ran away.
Hashem is like our Shepherd — He takes care of each of us, making sure every single person has what he or she needs. Because of that, “Lo Ech’sar” — we aren’t missing anything! Hashem gives us every single thing we need.
This will also help us have bitachon — since we know Hashem is taking such good care of us, we will always trust Him. We will know that there is nothing else that can Chas Veshalom hurt us, and that we shouldn’t rely on anyone else to help us. We will remember that everything is just a tool in the hands of Hashem and that He is making sure that everything will be for the best.
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Zayin
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Every time a Yid pushes away a not-good or non-kosher thought, something amazing happens!
Hashem made the world in a very interesting way: Things that happen in the world also make things happen in Shomayim. When we push away bad thoughts and think about something else instead, Hashem pushes away the kelipah, where not good things come from. This brings Hashem a great nachas ruach!
So a Yid shouldn’t feel UPSET that he needs to deal with bad thoughts that come into his mind. Instead, he should be happy to be able to do something so special for Hashem!
That’s why in Nach, in one place it says that Hashem “created” resha’im. At first, that sounds confusing! Don’t we have a choice of how to act? If Hashem MAKES someone be a rasha, how can he be punished for it?
The Alter Rebbe explains that the posuk isn’t saying that Hashem actually makes a person be a Rasha — a person has a choice to do the right thing or the opposite. Hashem is only giving him thoughts of a rasha, that not-good thoughts come into his head. But the person has the choice to push them out of his mind by thinking about other things. This brings Hashem a big nachas from the iskafya that he does!
So when not-good thoughts come into our head, we shouldn’t feel bad. We should feel happy that we can give Hashem this nachas ruach so often!
Right now we are learning about iskafya for bad thoughts. Later we will learn even more ways to have iskafya and bring Hashem this nachas ruach! We will also learn how iskafya helps us in our Avodas Hashem!
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The Alter Rebbe taught Chassidus Chabad, how to serve Hashem by using our minds.
For Chassidus Chabad to work best, we need to be interested and excited enough to learn the Chassidus about the things that will help us serve Hashem!
So in today’s Hayom Yom, we learn how to prepare our sechel so it should be ready to learn Chassidus.
To be ready to learn Chassidus, we need to do two things:
1) Teach ourselves that the body shouldn’t have so much of a geshmak in Gashmius things.
2) Get ourselves used to enjoying and feeling a geshmak about Ruchnius things and about Elokus.
There was once a boy who came with his father for dollars in the Rebbe’s home. The father said that this boy doesn’t want to learn! The Rebbe said, “But learning Torah is a SWEET thing!”
We also know how the Rebbe said that it’s a beautiful thing when parents put their kids to sleep by telling them “Torah is the best sechora” — and this gets us excited about Ruchnius!
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In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #239) that we can’t take a mashkon by ourselves, we have to let the Beis Din do it.
What is this talking about?
Let’s say that I borrow $5 from my friend, and I didn’t pay back on time. My friend might want to take my markers as a mashkon, to keep them until I pay back the money.
This mitzvah is that my friend is not allowed to take the Mashkon herself, she needs to ask the Beis Din to get the mashkon for her.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: לֹא תָבֹא אֶל בֵּיתוֹ לַעֲבֹט עֲבֹטוֹ
The details are explained in Perek Tes of Mesechta Bava Metziah.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more halachos about ribbis, interest.
In Perek Zayin we learn to be careful when paying a worker, so we don’t pay him with interest.
Perek Ches teaches us about not paying extra so we can pay later. That’s also called interest! For example, sometimes when you owe someone money, they will ask for a “late fee” — extra money if you don’t pay on time. A Yid can’t charge another Yid a late fee, because it is like ribbis!
In Perek Tes we learn when someone is allowed to buy something in advance. Many times it is asur to sell something that didn’t grow yet, because we might end up charging more than it’s really worth, and we don’t know how much it will be worth yet, until we see how much people are paying in the marketplace. The Rambam tells us the halachos about when we can buy something in advance without being a problem of ribbis.
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We started to learn about bittul, when a non-kosher food gets mixed in to kosher food. If the food is botul, we are still allowed to eat it. There are many halachos about bittul. Some kinds of food can NEVER become botul, and sometimes you need as much as 200 times more of the kosher food than the non-kosher food!
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Today in Tanya we learned about the special nachas ruach that Hashem gets when a Yid has not-good thoughts coming into his mind, and he is able to push them away.
To stop ourselves from saying something not good isn’t that hard — just close our mouths! To stop ourselves from doing something not good, we can just sit down and not do it! But it’s harder to stop thinking something.
The only way to turn off a thought is to switch it for a different thought. Since we are always thinking things, we need to have a collection of good thoughts to use whenever a not good thought comes into our mind.
That’s why, in many letters from the Rebbe, the Rebbe suggests to learn at least a few perakim of Mishnayos and at least one perek of Tanya by heart. That way we will always have them ready to use if a not good thought comes up!
At the very least, each of us have the twelve pesukim that we can use whenever we need to fill our mind up with good thoughts.
See, for example, Igros Kodesh chelek Vov letter #1724
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The main part of Pesukei Dezimra that the Chachomim originally established starts with Ashrei.
Before going to the main part of Pesukei Dezimra, we say a few other things.
First we say Mizmor Lesodah. This is kapitel Kuf of Tehillim, and is the song that was sung when bringing a Korban Todah in the Beis Hamikdash.
This kapitel even hints to the way the korban was brought: There are 40 words, like the 40 loaves that were brought together with the Korban Todah, and it has Hashem’s name in it 4 times, hinting to the 4 kinds of people who bring the Korban Todah to thank Hashem for nissim that happen to them.
The Chachomim tell us that there are really nissim happening to us every day! We don’t see them because many times, Hashem hides them from us. We thank Hashem for these hidden nissim every day by saying Mizmor Lesodah at the beginning of Pesukei Dezimra.
We don’t say Mizmor Lesodah on Shabbos or Yom Tov, Erev Pesach or Erev Yom Kippur, or Chol Hamoed Pesach. That is because these are all days when a person was not allowed to bring the Korban Todah in the Beis Hamikdash.
In the Midrash it says that when Moshiach comes, all songs will become unimportant — except for Mizmor Lesodah, this song of thanks to Hashem!
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When the Megillah tells us about how Mordechai established the mitzvos of Purim for future generations, it also says that the whole month of Adar was transformed from sadness to joy. (“Vehachodesh Asher Nehepach Lahem Miyagon Lesimcha, Ume’eivel Leyom Tov.”) This means that the whole month became a month of simcha — and Adar Alef, too!
The Chachomim say that when the month of Adar comes, we have to add in simcha!
How do we do this?
Firstly, we add in learning Torah, because Torah makes our neshama happy! When we learn Torah, it will make us do mitzvos behidur, and that also brings us simcha, like it says in Tehillim, “Pekudei Hashem Yesharim Mesamchei Leiv” — “The mitzvos of Hashem are upright, making the heart happy.”
Secondly, we learn from the halachos about Yom Tov, when we also have a mitzvah to be happy, about how the Torah teaches us to have simcha. The halacha there is that each person gets Gashmius’dike things that bring them joy: Men get good food (meat and wine), women get clothes and jewelry, and children get nosh! It is also a special opportunity for parents who are often strict with their children to show them how much they love them, by giving them things that bring them simcha.
See Sefer Hasichos 5752, vol. 2, page 391; Halachos Uminhagei Chabad p. 145
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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 we learn the parshios in the Torah about the Mishkan, we also add in learning from Torah Shebaal Peh where the Chachomim explain more about what we are learning in Chumash. The Rebbe teaches us that this helps bring Moshiach faster!
Today we are learning about the Menorah. The Gemara discusses, what was the purpose of the menorah?
Was it needed for its light? The Yidden had a pillar of fire that guided them through the Midbar! They didn’t need any other light.
The Gemara says that it was for a different reason: It was a sign for the world that Hashem was together with the Yidden. One of the flames of the menorah, the Ner Maaravi, stayed burning for much longer than it should — every day! (This happened until after Shimon Hatzadik passed away and was a sign that Hashem’s Shechinah was together with the Yidden.)
Another reason for the light of menorah is so it can shine to the rest of the world. We see this from the way the windows in the Beis Hamikdash were made. They were smaller inside, but wider outside — “Shkufim Atumim.” The windows didn’t bring light into the Beis Hamikdash, like most windows, but they shined the light of the Beis Hamikdash to the whole world!
That is also the reason why the geviim, the cups which were decorations on the menorah, were upside down, like a cup pouring out! They were not needed to HOLD the light of the menorah, but to pour out the light to the rest of the world!
See Gemara Shabbos 22b, Likuei Sichos chelek Chof-Alef sicha Gimmel
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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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