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CHUMASH
Parshas Terumah - Shishi with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, we learn about the Mizbeiach Hanechoshes.
Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu to make the Mizbeiach Hanechoshes, the mizbeiach of copper. This mizbeiach should be made of wood and covered with copper. The smaller gold Mizbeiach will be used for Ketores, but this one will beused for the korbanos.
The mizbeiach should have four small boxes in the corners of the top of it. The open space on the top should have room for the kohanim to go and burn the korbanos.
On the outside of the Mizbeiach, there should be a copper “grate”, which will go around the middle of the Mizbeiach like a belt. This should hold the rings for the carrying poles, and mkde it easy for the kohanim to see where the middle of the mizbeiach is. The kohanim need to know this because some korbanos have blood sprinkled on the top half of the Mizbeiach, and other korbanos need their blood sprinkled on the bottom half of the Mizbeiach.
All of the tools for this Mizbeiach should be made of copper.
The Mizbeiach should be built like a hollow box, and wherever the Mishkan will be set up, the Yidden will need to fill it with dirt.
The Mizbeiach should also have a ramp to get to the top. We learned earlier in the Chumash that the kohanim are not allowed to go up to the Mizbeiach on stairs.
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In today’s Tehillim there is a posuk that says, “Ach Betzelem Yis’halech Ish. “A person walks in the dark (because only Hashem knows the way things really are).
In a maamar ,the Rebbe Rashab explains this posuk in another way! “Ach BeTzelem Yis’halech Ish” — a person goes with Tzelem, with a koach called “tzelem” that helps a Yid in his Avodas Hashem.
Every morning, when we wake up, Hashem puts a special koach in the air! It makes us excited about starting the day right and acting the way Hashem wants.
We all sometimes need a push to get us started in doing the right thing!
A thought can come into our mind and get us excited to do something good. This could be from a Bas Kol, a voice from Hashem that the neshama hears, that makes it really want to act the way Hashem wants. Even though we can’t hear it, our neshama does, and it puts thoughts into our head that can make us do Teshuvah!
All this is part of the Tzelem that the posuk is talking about, the hidden koach that goes with a Yid and inspires him to do what’s right!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Zayin
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We get so many good things from doing iskafya, that it’s worth LOOKING for times to do it more!
Lots of times, our Nefesh Habehamis says “I want that! I’m even allowed to have it! I want it right now!” With Iskafya, we can say, “Yes, it’s a good thing that you want, but we need to remember that Hashem is in charge, so we’re going to wait a minute before we have it. We can’t do what we want, when we want, and how we want. We will think about Hashem first.”
When we think about Hashem in those times, we are making ourselves holy! We are doing a mitzvah called “Vehiskadishtem” — that Yidden should be holy. And not only did YOU make yourself more holy, Hashem makes you more holy too, and takes away a little bit of your Yetzer Hara’s koach!
Even though we just wait a little bit, Hashem has so much nachas, He helps us A LOT, by making our Yetzer Hara weaker! What an AMAZING (and not too hard!) way to accomplish so much in the war with our Yetzer Hara, a little bit at a time!
One time, a Chossid came to the Rebbe Maharash. He said that he did a certain aveira, and wanted a way to do Teshuvah. The Rebbe Maharash told him he needs to fast HUNDREDS of times!
The Chossid was surprised that the Rebbe Maharash would say something like that. So the Rebbe Maharash continued right away: “Do you think that fasting means not eating from sunrise until Shkiah? That’s called going on a diet. What I meant by fasting is that you shouldn’t do the things you want to — close your eyes when you see something you shouldn’t be looking at, and close your mouth when you shouldn’t be saying something. That’s the fasting that I’m talking about, that will be a good Teshuvah and bring you closer to Hashem!”
Can you think of some ways to have Iskafya? Maybe you can say some of the pesukim before you play on the computer, or read your emails, or think about how to make someone else happy before you eat dessert.
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We know that we are shluchim of Hashem. On Hey Adar, we learned part of our shlichus, which is to make the world tahor with words of Torah and Tefillah. Today we learn another part of our shlichus — to make the world bright with the light of Torah and Avodah!
Every one of us needs to know that we are shluchim of Hashem, wherever we may be!
What is our shlichus?
Our shlichus is to make the world bright with the light of Torah and Avodah. This is what Hashem created the world for!
And how do we do this shlichus?
By doing mitzvos and having good midos.
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #235) is not to lend a Yid anything with interest. “Interest” means that he has to pay back more than what you lent him. For example, you can’t give your brother a lollipop and tell him he needs to give you back TWO lollipops at the next Shabbos party.
The Torah tells us this mitzvah many times, showing how important it is! One of those pesukim is in Parshas Behar: אֶת כַּסְפְּךָ לֹא תִתֵּן לוֹ בְּנֶשֶׁךְ וּבְמַרְבִּית לֹא תִתֵּן אָכְלֶךָ
The mitzvah is explained in Perek Hey of Mesechta Bava Metziah.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more halachos about paying back loans.
Perek Tes-Zayin: When you pay back a loan, it is important to know that until the person GETS the money, it’s YOUR job to make sure nothing happens to it. For example, if Reuven borrows a pencil from Shimon, and then puts it back on Shimon’s desk when he’s done, it’s Reuven’s job to watch over the pencil until Shimon gets back to his desk. If it rolls off the desk and disappears, Reuven needs to pay him back for the pencil.
BUT, if Shimon said “Just put it on my desk when you’re finished,” then even if it disappears, it’s not Reuven’s fault.
Perek Yud-Zayin teaches us halachos about what happens if someone passes away, and his children find a note saying that someone owed him money. If the other person says he paid already, he has to take a shevuah (a very serious Torah promise) that he is telling the truth.
One interesting halacha is that if someone has a shtar written in Australia, and he brings the shtar to get paid back in America, he needs to pay back Australian dollars and not American dollars. But if it doesn’t say where it is written, and the person says it is for Australian dollars, he needs to make a shevuah that the shtar was really written there.
Perek Yud-Ches teaches us about when a person can’t pay back the loan, and there was no mashkon: We can take away his property to pay back the loan, even property that he sold already.
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Today we learn more about Shechitah. It is asur to shecht any animal except a korban in the courtyard of the Beis Hamikdash. If someone did shecht there, we are not allowed to benefit from it in any way.
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Today is Zayin Adar, the birthday and Yartzeit of Moshe Rabbeinu! (It is brought in Hayom Yom Chelek Sheini that the Rebbeim would not say Tachanun on Zayin Adar, however Chassidim do.)
There is an argument in seforim whether Zayin Adar should be marked in Adar Alef or in Adar Beis. In a sicha from Zayin Adar 5752, the Rebbe said that there’s room to use BOTH days for the inyan of Zayin Adar.
At a farbrengen in Tof-Shin-Mem-Vov, Erev Zayin Adar, the Rebbe explained why in the past Chassidim didn’t do anything special for Zayin Adar. Zayin Adar is spoken about in the end of Shulchan Aruch, where it brings the minhag that some people fast on Zayin Adar. Since the Alter Rebbe taught us not to fast unless we need to, Chassidim never really took on that minhag, and Zayin Adar wasn’t treated as a special day.
One of the shuls in Crown Heights is called “Ahavas Moshe.” That night, they were going to have a Melaveh Malka to raise money for the shul. In honor of the Melaveh Malka, they printed a booklet with sichos about how the Rebbe wants the Chassidim to support the shechunah of Crown Heights — but even though the Melaveh Malka was going to be on Zayin Adar, and the name of the shul is Ahavas Moshe, it didn’t say anything about Moshe Rabbeinu!
The Rebbe said that they should speak about how the Melaveh Malka is happening on such a special date, the birthday and yartzeit of Moshe Rabbeinu!
The Rebbe said that even though in the past Chassidim might not have made a big deal about Zayin Adar, now we are in a very dark part of Golus. We need to use every chance we can to add a chayus in Kedusha!
This is what the Rebbe told us about Zayin Adar. But there is also another obvious lesson we can learn from this. Every generation has a Moshe Rabbeinu, a Rebbe.
Zayin Adar is also a day when we can think about the special days of the Moshe Rabbeinu of OUR time, the Rebbe. We can start to think about how we will use the special days of the Rebbe, like the Rebbe’s Yom Huledes on Yud-Alef Nissan.
How will we use these special days to be mashpia on ourselves and on others, to live according to the Rebbe’s ratzon, to increase in learning the Rebbe’s Torah and fulfill the Rebbe’s shlichus, which each of us have, to get ready for the Geulah Sheleimah which is coming very soon?
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At the beginning of Pesukei Dezimra we say a bracha, the bracha of Boruch She’amar. This way we start (and later end) Pesukei Dezimra with a bracha.
The main part of Pesukei Dezimra (as the Chachomim set it up) is the last six kapitelach of Tehillim. These kapitelach are the main praise of Hashem which prepare us for speaking to Hashem in Shemoneh Esrei!
The Chachomim also added later some other paragraphs to Pesukei Dezimra.
One of them is the paragraph after Boruch She’amar, which starts with the posuk “Yehi Chevod.”
Yehi Chevod has 18 sentences, mainly pesukim from Tehillim. In Yehi Chevod, we speak about how we should have bitachon in Hashem, who will save us from whatever is bothering us. Yehi Chevod helps put us into a good mood, so that we are happy and free of worries! This way we will be able to praise Hashem with our whole heart!
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On Motzei Shabbos, we make four brachos in Havdalah. The Roshei Teivos for these brachos, and the order they are in, is “Yavneh” — Yayin (the wine), Besamim, Ner (the candle), Havdalah (the bracha thanking Hashem for separating between Shabbos and the weekday).
Why do we use a ner at Havdalah?
On the first Motzei Shabbos, Adam Harishon took two stones and hit them together, making fire. This was the first time a person had ever discovered fire! On Shabbos, we aren’t allowed to use fire, so on Motzei Shabbos it is like it is created for us then, too! So on Motzei Shabbos, we thank Hashem for creating fire.
It is best to do this by lighting a torch — a flame with at least two wicks, because we say in the bracha Borei Me’orei Ha’Aish, that Hashem makes the LIGHTS of the fire, meaning more than one light.
It is a minhag to look at our fingernails in the light of this ner, so that we are able to use the light for something.
Another reason we look at our fingernails is because nails are a siman bracha, since they are always growing!
When we finish Havdalah, we put out the ner using the wine of Havdalah that is left in the kos. We dip our fingertips in this wine. It is a segulah for seeing well to put some of the wine on the outside of our eyes.
See Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch siman Reish-Tzadik-Ches se’if alef; Igros Kodesh chelek Yud-Beis p. 226. Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch siman Reish-Tzadik-Vov se’if Hey, and Reish-Tzadik-Ches se’if Vov
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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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According to the Hora’ah of the Rebbe, during these parshios when we learn about the Mishkan in the Torah, we learn more from Torah Shebaal Peh about the Mishkan. This helps us “live with the times,” and brings the Geulah faster!
Today in Chumash, we learned about the Mizbeiach Hanechoshes.
The Mizbeiach Hanechoshes was different than all the other keilim. All of the other keilim in the Mishkan were made out of gold, but this Mizbeiach was made out of copper! Why?
The purpose of the Mizbeiach was to be a kapara for the Yidden, through the korbanos. The copper coating itself was also a kapara. Based on a posuk in the Navi (“Itzchacha Nechusha”), copper represents a person who is acting very chutzpadik. The copper of the Mizbeiach itself is a kapara for this chutzpa.
See Rashi in today’s Chitas
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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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