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CHUMASH
Parshas Tetzaveh - Sheini with Rashi
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In this week’s parsha, we are learning all about the clothing of the Kohanim. Today Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu about the Choshen Mishpat.
Yesterday we learned about two stones with the names of the shevatim. These two stones should be put into gold settings, and attached to the two top straps of the Efod. Two golden chains should be attached to the bottom of the gold settings, and the Choshen Mishpat will hang from these chains.
The Choshen Mishpat should be made of the same material as the Efod. It will be a long piece of material that is square when it is folded in half. There should be 12 precious stones attached to it, in gold settings — one specific stone for each Shevet. They will have the names of the Shevatim written on them, and on the first stone it will also say “Avraham Yitzchak Yaakov”, and on the last one it will say “Shivtei Yeshurun.” This way every letter of the Alef-Beis will be on the Choshen.
Inside the fold of the Choshen will be a special piece of parchment with Hashem’s name: This is called the Urim VeTumim. With the Urim VeTumim, Hashem will answer important questions of the Kohen Gadol by making the letters on the stones of the Choshen light up.
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In the end of today’s first Kapitel is the very special niggun Padah Veshalom, which we sing on the Geulah of the Rebbeim. Because we are almost at the time of the Geulah of Purim, it is a very good time to sing this Niggun again!
On this posuk, the Gemara learns that someone who learns Torah, and helps others, and davens with a minyan is like he was “Padah” Hashem and the Yidden, like he took them out of Golus!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Tes
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Sometimes the Yetzer Hara can get very chutzpadik and not let the Yetzer Tov shine.
In yesterday’s Tanya, the Alter Rebbe told us a mashal from the Zohar to help us understand what it is, and what to do about it:
Were you ever at a bonfire? There are many pieces of wood, and they all burn, making a huge fire!
Why are there so many pieces? Why don’t we just light one big tree? If you tried it, you would see very quickly that it won’t light!
Even with a bonfire, if there is a piece of wood that it is too big, it just won’t burn. You first need to chop it into smaller pieces.
We are like a piece of wood. We are trying to light ourselves with the light of the neshama! When the Elokus that the neshama knows about shines in our heart, we feel excited, and we “burn” with the light of the neshama!
But if we get too big and chutzpadik, and the things we know don’t make us excited anymore, we have timtum. We won’t be able to “burn!”
So what do we need to do? Break ourselves into smaller pieces, by thinking about how low the guf is. Then we will be humble and have bittul, and the light of the neshama will be able to come back into our heart.
First of all, we need to realize that the guf is low. Even though we have a neshama, we aren’t like tzadikim who changed the guf into Ruchniyus, so it never wants to do anything against what Hashem wants. Our guf is Gashmiyus, and it likes to do things even if Hashem doesn’t let!
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The Rebbe reminds us of the order of the paragraphs before bentching:
On a day when we say Tachanun we say Al Naharos Bavel, Lamnatzeiach Binginos and Avarcha.
On a day we don’t say Tachanun, we say Shir Hamaalos, Livnei Korach, and Avarcha.
Then we say “Zeh Cheilek” and do Mayim Achronim. After washing our fingers, we say Vayedabeir Eilai.
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Even though it’s a mitzvah to lend a Yid money without Ribbis, it is a mitzvah to charge interest to a goy. (Since goyim do this to each other, they expect us to do the same. If we don’t, it would be a loss for a Yid’s money.) That is today’s mitzvah in Sefer Hamitzvos (Mitzvas Asei #198).
Even though usually we should keep this mitzvah the way it is written, the Chachomim give some conditions for when we should NOT lend to a goy with interest.
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Gemara Bava Metziah.
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In today’s Rambam, we are finishing this set of halachos!
Perek Chof-Hey talks about a guarantor. A guarantor is someone who promises to pay back the money if the borrower can’t pay it back on time. One halacha is that if a person says he will be a guarantor AFTER the loan was already given (like if the lender is screaming at the borrower, and a person who hears says to stop screaming because he is ready to be a guarantor), he doesn’t really become a guarantor — he would first need to make a kinyan. (If he says he will guarantee the loan BEFORE the loan was given, he doesn’t need to make a kinyan.)
Perek Chof-Vov has more halachos about a guarantor. We learn about when the guarantor has to pay the money, and about times when the borrower has to pay back the guarantor!
The last perek, Perek Chof-Zayin, talks about a shtar, a paper that is written to show that money was borrowed.
One halacha is that we need to be careful in a shtar, to make sure that we don’t write things in a way that someone else could change them. So for example, we can’t write the word “shalosh” (three) at the end of a line — because someone could add the letters yud and shlos mem, making it say “shloshim” (thirty) instead!
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We start to learn the halachos of tereifah, which we will learn the details of over the next few days.
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In Tanya, we’re learning about what to do if a person can’t seem to get excited about the Chassidus that they know. This problem is called Timtum Halev.
The Alter Rebbe explained that it happens when a person’s Yetzer Hara is getting too proud and chutzpadik. We need to show the Yetzer Hara that it isn’t special, and then it will stop blocking us from feeling excited!
The Rebbe once said a maamar about Timtum Halev, in the first few years after becoming Rebbe. In this maamar, the Rebbe gave us three ways to try to get rid of our timtum:
1) A person should think about how instead of trying to become closer to Hashem, and trying to become a beinoni, all he cares about is his food and drink or how to get the Gashmius things he wants! That’s just like an animal! The only difference is that an animal eats hay, and he eats other food… This will make him feel humble, and have an open heart to get excited again about Chassidus and Avodas Hashem.
2) Learn about deep things in Elokus, like about high levels of Hashem! These things can also break right through into the heart, and let the heart feel excited about all the Torah and Chassidus he knows.
3) Say a lot of words of Torah and Tefillah, because words of Torah have a very strong koach (of Chochma!). They can break right through into the heart, even though the Yetzer Hara is trying to block it.
And if none of these things work, and the person is still not excited about doing his Avodas Hashem, then he probably has a DIFFERENT kind of timtum — Timtum Hamoach. The way to fix Timtum Hamoach is connected to what we’ll be learning in Igeres Hateshuvah, later in Tanya — IY”H we’ll learn more about it there!
See maamar Lefichach, Shemini 5716, based on a maamar of the Alter Rebbe
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The main part of Ashrei comes from kapitel Kuf-Mem-Hey of Tehillim, which really starts with the words “Tehillah LeDovid.”
The Chachomim added the line “Ashrei Yoshvei Veisecha” (from Kapitel Pey-Daled) before “Tehillah Ledovid” to show us how important it is to praise Hashem in Pesukei Dezimra. We say, “Praiseworthy are those who sit in Your house, they will praise You forever!” Someone who spends time in Hashem’s house, speaking about how special He is before davening, is doing something very good! By spending this time in praise of Hashem, he is prepared before going to speak privately to Hashem in Shemoneh Esrei.
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When we daven, we are not supposed to even hold something except for a siddur, because it will distract us from having kavana.
There are also halachos like this with bentching!
When we bentch, we shouldn’t do any kind of work, even something easy that we don’t need to concentrate for, like clearing off our plates or sweeping off crumbs. Doing that makes it look like we don’t care so much about the bracha. Of course, we shouldn’t do something that we DO need to think about, even something holy, like listening to a shiur or a Dvar Torah! That will definitely keep us from having kavana.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman 96, and siman 183 se’if yud-daled
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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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Today we learned about the Choshen Mishpat. There were two parts of the Choshen:
1) The Choshen was one of the Bigdei Kehunah, the clothing of the Kohanim. Even though some of the special parts of the Beis Hamikdash were missing during the time of the second Beis Hamikdash, the Choshen was always there, as part of the clothing of the Kohen Gadol.
2) Inside of the Choshen there was a piece of parchment which had Hashem’s holy name written on it. It is what made the letters of the Choshen Mishpat light up with answers from Hashem, so the Yidden would know what to do. This part was missing during the second Beis Hamikdash.
When Moshiach comes, we will again have the full Choshen Mishpat, the way it is supposed to be!
See Rashi in today’s Chumash, and Likutei Sichos chelek Yud-Alef, parshas Tetzaveh
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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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