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CHUMASH
Parshas Ki Sisa - Chamishi with Rashi
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We learned before about the Cheit Ha’eigel, the aveira that the Yidden did with the Eigel Hazahav, and how when Moshe Rabbeinu saw what happened, he broke the Luchos that Hashem had given him. Then, Moshe asked Hashem to forgive the Yidden. He also asked that Hashem’s Shechinah should rest only among the Yidden. Hashem agreed to what Moshe asked, and said that He would tell Moshe the Yud-Gimmel Midos HoRachamim.
In today’s Chumash, we learn how Hashem told Moshe to make a new set of Luchos, and Hashem actually teaches him the Yud-Gimmel Midos.
Hashem told Moshe that he did the right thing by breaking the Luchos, but now Moshe needs to make NEW luchos himself. In the ground under Moshe’s tent was sapphire — a very special shiny kind of stone. He should use that stone to make the Luchos. Moshe should also make a box to hold the Luchos until the Aron in the Mishkan will be ready!
The next morning, Moshe should come up on Har Sinai again (for the third time!), but this time, not like by Matan Torah, nobody should be at Har Sinai — some things are better to be done quietly.
Moshe did what Hashem asked, and went up onto Har Sinai on Alef Elul, bringing the Luchos that he made along with him. Hashem appeared to Moshe like a person wearing a Tallis and Tefillin, and told Moshe the Yud-Gimmel Midos HaRachamim.
Moshe bowed down when he saw that Hashem revealed Himself to him.
Then Moshe davened to Hashem using the Yud-Gimmel Midos he just learned, asking Hashem to forgive the Yidden. He asked Hashem for all of the things he asked before: That Hashem should come with the Yidden to Eretz Yisroel (and not just a malach), “Vesolachta La’avoneinu Ulechatoseinu Unechaltanu” — to forgive the aveiros done on purpose or by mistake, that the Yidden should be special to Hashem, and Hashem should only dwell among the Yidden.
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At the end of today’s first Kapitel (which we also say in Kabolas Shabbos, and in the Machzor before Kol Nidrei), the posuk says “Ohr Zarua LaTzadik” — “Light is planted for the Tzadik.”
The Medrash teaches that when Hashem made the world, there was a very strong light, but it was too hard for the world to live in it! So Hashem hid it for the Tzadikim when Moshiach comes.
That’s what the posuk is telling us — Hashem “planted” this light of Moshiach for the Tzadikim! When you plant something, it grows — and this light will grow too. When Moshiach comes, the light of the sun will be seven times as strong as it was during Sheishes Yemei Bereishis!
But there IS one place where we can find this light in Golus — it’s in Torah!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Lamed
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If a person has a clogged heart, Timtum Halev, and is too comfortable with his Avodas Hashem, it is a good time to fulfill what the Chachomim teach us, to be humble from another person! This will stop the Yetzer Hara from clogging up his heart, and open it up to doing real Avodah!
The Alter Rebbe tells us that this doesn’t just mean to act humble or think humble thoughts, it means to TRULY be humble. But how is that possible?
It’s easy to look at someone that is a Kal Shebekalim, and think about how we are much better than he is. But is that really true? Are we working as hard on winning over our Yetzer Hara as he would need to work to win over his Yetzer Hara?
In yesterday’s Tanya, we learned examples of mitzvos that we should be doing, to show ourselves that we are not working hard enough in our Asei Tov. Today the Alter Rebbe tells us that even in Sur MeRa, staying away from not-good things, we can also find things in ourselves that we need to fix up!
Not only are we probably not working hard enough on doing our mitzvos, we are probably doing aveiros too — even if we think that they are just “small” aveiros! Maybe we didn’t think they are aveiros, or maybe we got so used to doing them, that we don’t even consider them aveiros anymore.
For example, do we sometimes say Lashon Hara about someone else, and we tell ourselves it’s okay because otherwise people might think that we were the ones who did something wrong?
And maybe we don’t have iskafya when we should — and that’s a mitzvah too!
When we think about this, we will realize that we are not better than anyone else! Even though on the outside we might look like we are better, since we do more mitzvos and less aveiros, that’s not what Avodah is all about! If we look on the inside, to see how much effort we put into our Avodas Hashem, that Kal Shebekalim might be doing much better than us, since his Yetzer Hara is much stronger! This will make us decide that we need to start doing real avodah.
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In today’s Chumash, we learn about the Yud-Gimmel Midos Horachamim that were revealed to Moshe Rabbeinu.
The Gemara says that when Hashem said the midah of Emes from these Yud-Gimmel Midos, Moshe fell on his face!
What is Emes?
It doesn’t just mean that a Yid serves Hashem with kavana, so that what he is doing is with Emes. Emes means that there is nothing at all in his life that is not part of this Emes!
The Avodah of Emes needs to reach every part of the person, even the level of the “fingernails,” which are one of the least important parts of the body, but still part of the person! To serve Hashem with Emes, even the least important parts of a person’s life need to be part of their Avodas Hashem — living the way a Yid should.
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We have started to learn the last Sefer in Rambam! There are 3 mitzvos today, related to the halachos of courts:
1) (Mitzvas Asei #176) This mitzvah is that we need to set up a system that makes sure that Yidden follow the Torah. We need to have Shoftim (judges) and Shotrim (officers to make sure people listen).
In a big city, there should be a “small Sanhedrin,” with 23 judges by the gates of the city. In Yerushalayim, there should be the full Sanhedrin of 70 judges, with a Nasi over them, altogether 71. In a city that is too small for a small Sanhedrin, there should at least be a Beis Din of 3 judges to pasken on smaller questions, and send people to a bigger court if needed.
There should also be Shotrim to go around to the marketplace and make sure people are doing business according to Torah.
A judge can only get semicha in Eretz Yisroel, and then he can pasken outside of Eretz Yisroel too. A question about if someone is chayav misa can only be paskened when the Beis Hamikdash is standing.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Shoftim, שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים תִּתֶּן לְךָ בְּכָל שְׁעָרֶיךָ
The details are explained in Mesechta Sanhedrin.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #284) This is an aveira for the person in charge of making someone a judge:
A person is fit to be a judge if he is an expert in Torah and its halachos, and acts according to them. It is asur to choose a person to be a judge for any other reasons.
For example, we can’t choose someone as a judge because he is good looking, or because he is strong. We can’t choose someone as a judge because he knows many languages, because he is related to us, or because he did us a favor. Only a judge who is an expert in the chochmah of Torah and follows the mitzvos properly will be able to judge right!
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Devarim: לֹא תַכִּירוּ פָנִים בַּמִּשְׁפָּט
3) (Mitzvas Asei #175) This is a mitzvah about judges, but also a mitzvah about deciding halacha in general:
When Chachomim don’t agree about a halacha, we decide what to do based on what most of the Chachomim say.
When judges disagree, we pasken based on what MOST of the judges think.
This is clear from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: אַחֲרֵי רַבִּים לְהַטֹּת
We can find the details of this mitzvah in many places in Mesechta Sanhedrin.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn the first three perakim of Hilchos Sanhedrin.
In Perek Alef, the Rambam teaches about the BIG Sanhedrin with 71 judges, the SMALL Sanhedrin (which should be in most cities) with 23 judges, and in a small city there should be 3 judges. There are halachos about how the Sanhedrin should sit, and about who writes down what happens. When Moshiach comes, we will have a big Sanhedrin again, in the Beis Hamikdash!
In Perek Beis, we learn about who is allowed to be a judge. For a regular judge, there are seven qualifications which are written in the Torah. They are: Chochmah to know the halachos of the Torah well, Yiras Shomayim, to be humble, to hate money, love truth, people should like him, and he should have a good name. The Rambam explains what all of these are, and how we see them in the pesukim when Moshe Rabbeinu chose judges for the Yidden.
The judges in the big Sanhedrin need to have all of these things and many more!
Perek Gimmel talks about when the Sanhedrin should get together to judge. A small Sanhedrin or a Beis Din should start after Shacharis, and stop at chatzos. A big Sanhedrin starts in the morning and ends at Mincha time. A Sanhedrin is not supposed to start judging a case at night.
One halacha is that the big Sanhedrin with 71 judges didn’t always need all of the judges there at the same time, but there have to be at least 23 there always. So if a judge from the big Sanhedrin has to leave, he needs to make sure there will be at least 23 left — otherwise he has to stay!
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In today’s Rambam, we start to learn about the four different kinds of promises (Shevuos) that a person might make and get punished for. Here are two of them:
1) Shvuas Bitui — A Shvuas Bitui is a false promise. One way a person makes a Shvuas Bitui is by promising that he did not do some- thing, but he already did that thing. Another way is if he promises not to do something in the future, and then does it.
2) Shvuas Shav — A Shvuas Shav is a meaningless promise. One type of Shvuas Shav is if someone makes a promise about something that everyone knows is not true (like if he promises that a tree is made of gold). Another kind of Shvuas Shav is a promise that everyone knows is true (like a promise that the sky is the sky).
It is also a Shvuas Shav to make a promise we can’t keep. For example, a promise not to do a mitzvah (we can’t make a promise like that!); or a promise that it’s impossible to keep (like saying we won’t sleep for 3 days).
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After the Cheit Ha’Eigel, Moshe asked Hashem to forgive the Yidden.
“Hashem, You know that the Yidden are stubborn, so You should forgive them! Ki Am Kshei Oref Hu, Vesolachta!” Moshe was saying, “Hashem, You know they have a Yetzer Hara! Just forgive them, even though they made a mistake! They are Kshei Oref, they are stubborn. They can’t always stop themselves from doing every aveira!”
Chassidus explains that Kshei Oref, also called akshanus, means that you don’t compromise or change your mind. And Moshe Rabbeinu isn’t telling Hashem to forgive the Yidden because of something not good, but because of something VERY good that Yidden have! It is a very good thing that the Yidden are an Am Kshei Oref!
We have a tricky Yetzer Hara, that always tries to convince us to do what Hashem doesn’t want. But we are stubborn! We say, “I am a Yid and I need to behave the way Hashem wants me to, no matter what!”
Since the Yidden have that big maalah, that Shtus Dikedusha of being STUBBORN, they deserve that Hashem should forgive them!
In the end, Hashem did forgive the Yidden, and to show the whole world that He forgave us, He asked the Yidden to build the Mishkan.
In a famous sicha on Chof-Ches Nissan, 5751, the Rebbe told us we should use this koach! When we are stubborn to live the way a Yid should, Hashem will bring the Geulah and give us the Beis Hamikdash Hashlishi!
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One of the parts of davening we say every day is Az Yashir, the song that Moshe and the Yidden sang at the time of Kriyas Yam Suf.
The word “Yashir,” though, doesn’t mean “he SANG.” It means that he WILL sing! If we are talking about the song that was sung by the Yam Suf, why does it say that Moshe WILL sing it? The Chachomim teach us that this is hinting to Techiyas Hameisim, that Moshe Rabbeinu and the Yidden will sing this song when Moshiach comes!
Why is Techiyas Hameisim hinted to specifically here, and not somewhere else in the Torah?
At the time of Kriyas Yam Suf, a special koach of Hashem’s name, Havaya, was shining. This name of Hashem includes the past, present, and future together! This name of Hashem includes all times together, including the time of Techiyas Hameisim. It gave the koach that this song of Az Yashir should last for all generations! That’s why Techiyas Hameisim is hinted to specifically in Az Yashir, because it is a tefillah that is relevant for all times!
This gives us the koach that every day we can relive Kriyas Yam Suf. That way we can sing with true joy, the song of Az Yashir!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Chof-Beis, p. 30
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We learned in Tanya today about the issur of saying Lashon Hara. There is also something called “Avak Lashon Hara,” the dust of Lashon Hara.
This is not saying something that hurts another person, but it can cause someone else to be hurt through the speech. Here are two examples:
If someone speaks nicely about another person in front of someone who doesn’t like him, or in front of a big group of people, where there might be someone that doesn’t like him, that’s Avak Lashon Hara. When a person hears something nice about a person he doesn’t like, he will want to say something NOT nice.
Even in front of his friends, you need to be careful, because if you speak too much about someone, eventually you will end up saying something not nice.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Kuf-Nun-Vov, se’if 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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There are many things which are true, which are the Emes, but in the times of Golus, we don’t see them.
For example, Hashem is constantly giving chayus to the world and watching over every one of us and every detail of the world with Hashgacha Protis. That is Emes! But during Golus, it is hidden.
Like we’re learning in Tanya, someone who doesn’t have a strong battle with his Yetzer Hara shouldn’t be proud of himself and think he’s better than a Kal Shebekalim. That is Emes! But in Golus, people don’t think that way.
Hashem hid the Emes in Torah. So now, if we learn Torah, especially Chassidus, which talks about these things clearly, we can think about what the Emes really is.
When Moshiach comes, the Emes in everything will be revealed. We will be able to see it naturally, without any avodah or hisbonenus!
See Sichos Kodesh 5741 parshas Vayeishev siman Chof-Zayin
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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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