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CHUMASH
Parshas Pekudei - Shvi'i with Rashi
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Today we are finishing not only this parsha, but the entire Chumash Shemos!
Moshe Rabbeinu finished putting up the Mishkan. He set up the curtain (Masach) for the front “door,” and set up the Mizbeiach Hanechoshes. He brought the daily korbanos, like Hashem told him to. Then he set up the Kiyor and filled it up with water. Finally, he set up the chatzer around the Mishkan.
Now Moshe Rabbeinu was finished his work!
Then Hashem made His Shechinah rest in the Mishkan! A special cloud stayed over the Mishkan (and a fire at night). Sometimes there was a cloud inside of the Mishkan as well. When it was inside the Mishkan, and not just on top, Moshe was not able to go inside.
When the cloud or fire moved away from the top of the Mishkan, the Yidden would know that it was time to travel.
Chazak, Chazak, Venis’chazeik!
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In Kapitel Lamed-Zayin, there is a posuk that says “MeiHashem Mitzdei Gever Konanu,” “Hashem sets up the footsteps of a person.”
The Alter Rebbe, in the first years of his nesius, said a Torah on this posuk:
When a person comes to a place, it’s so he can do a mitzvah there — either a mitzvah that is just for Hashem, or a mitzvah that also helps another Yid. We are shluchim of Hashem to do this mitzvah, and a shliach has the koach of the one who sent him — he has the koach of Hashem inside of him to be able to do his shlichus in that place!
Malochim are also sent to do things for Hashem, but their shlichus is different. Malochim don’t need to keep the Torah, only Yidden do. So when a Yid does a shlichus for Hashem by doing a mitzvah, it is a shlichus that is connected to Torah, which is very special!
(We learn this in Hayom Yom — can you find which day?)
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Lamed-Hey
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Yesterday we learned that a Yid is like an oil candle: The fire is the Shechinah, the wick is the body of a Yid, and the oil (that the fire needs to shine) is the mitzvos.
Today the Alter Rebbe explains why only MITZVOS work as the oil to keep the Shechinah shining on us.
Really, we would think that the holy neshama should be enough to keep the Shechinah shining! Why do we need the mitzvos as oil?
Of course the neshama is very holy and a part of Hashem, but it can’t make the Shechinah SHINE. When we say that the Shechinah is shining, it means that you can’t see anything except for the Shechinah of Hashem!
That doesn’t work with just a neshama, because once a neshama comes into the guf of a person, it knows that it’s a neshama. That makes it feel a little bit separate from Hashem.
But mitzvos are what Hashem WANTS, the Ratzon Hashem, not something separate from Hashem at all! So when a Yid does a mitzvah, the only thing that’s important is Hashem Himself and that this mitzvah is what Hashem wants us to do!
That’s why it takes mitzvah oil to make Hashem’s Shechinah shine in a Yid, because there is nothing from the person in the way.
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So now we know that for Hashem to shine through us, we need to have the mitzvos.
But did you know that there are TWO kinds of mitzvos?
1) The mitzvah of learning Torah — this makes the light of the Shechinah shine in our Neshama!
2) Mitzvos we do with Gashmiyus things — these make the light of the Shechinah shine in our Guf too!
Here’s how it works:
Let’s say you stretch out your hand to light the Shabbos candles. Now your hand makes Hashem’s Shechinah shine not just on your hand, but on your whole body, because your whole body is connected!
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Even though we said that Hashem’s Shechinah shines in different ways and in different places, we shouldn’t think that there is more than one Hashem chas veshalom. It’s the same Aibershter!
A good mashal for this is the sun: Just like one sun can shine through a lot of windows, Hashem can shine in a lot of different ways at the same time!
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There are two nuscha’os explaining how the Tanya was made:
1) The Alter Rebbe gave eitzos to Chassidim in Yechidus for 10 years, and then he wrote the Tanya. People made copies, but they made mistakes, so the Alter Rebbe had the Tanya printed.
2) The Alter Rebbe spent 20 years writing the Tanya, making sure every word was perfect, and only then he let it be copied so people could learn it. When he saw that the people copying it made mistakes, the Alter Rebbe sent the Tanya to be printed.
The Tzemach Tzedek said that the first Rosh Hashana of his life, the Alter Rebbe said a maamar which is about what we learn in the first 3 perakim of Tanya!
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Today we start a new section in Rambam, about people who don’t listen to what the Torah teaches.
In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn four mitzvos:
1) (Mitzvas Asei #174) We need to listen to whatever the Sanhedrin paskens.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Shoftim: עַל פִּי הַתּוֹרָה אֲשֶׁר יוֹרוּךָ וְגוֹ׳
The details are explained in the end of Mesechta Sanhedrin.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #312) We are not allowed to NOT listen to what the Chachomim teach us.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Shoftim: לֹא תָסוּר מִן הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר יַגִּידוּ לְךָ
The details are explained in the end of Mesechta Sanhedrin.
3) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #313) We can’t add anything to the Torah.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Re’eh: לֹא תֹסֵף עָלָיו
4) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #314) We can’t take anything away from the Torah.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Re’eh: וְלֹא תִגְרַע מִמֶּנּוּ
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We learn in today’s Rambam that even someone who is very smart, and knows so much Torah, still needs to follow what the Beis Din says, because Hashem wants only one place to be in charge and lead the Yidden.
In Perek Alef, we learn that we rely on the Sanhedrin to understand the Torah Shebaal Peh. We need to listen to what they tell us, because it is just as important as keeping the rest of the Torah!
In Perek Beis, we learn about making rules so that Yidden will keep the Torah better. A Beis Din should only make these kinds of rules if they are sure that most of the Yidden can keep them.
Perek Gimmel talks about people who don’t follow what the Sanhedrin says:
- If a person decides he doesn’t believe in the Torah Shebaal Peh, he isn’t just rebelling against the Chachomim, he is going against the whole Torah!
And now the Rambam talks about shlichus!
- If a person doesn’t believe in the Torah Shebaal Peh because that’s what his parents taught him, he shouldn’t be punished — it’s not his fault that he doesn’t know better! He’s like a little baby who was captured and grew up in a non-Jewish home, and didn’t learn the Torah. Instead of punishing him, we should try to teach him Torah in a loving way, so that he will learn the right way to act.
- A Zaken Mamrei — a Talmid Chochom who paskens differently than the Sanhedrin — is chayav misa, because he is making the Yidden not have achdus, he is making them act differently than everyone else!
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Today we learn halachos about how the words someone uses to make a promise are very important. If someone says you may not use THIS loaf of bread, it is very different than if he said MY loaf of bread.
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In this week’s Likutei Torah, the Alter Rebbe teaches us how Yidden are a Ruchnius Mishkan for Hashem. In Nach, the posuk says “Heichal Hashem Heimah” — Yidden are called the Heichal (Mishkan) for Hashem!
How do we become a Mishkan for Hashem?
We do this by doing the things the Torah tells us, staying away from things we shouldn’t be doing (the Mitzvos Lo Saasei), and doing the things we should (the Mitzvos Asei).
The Alter Rebbe explains how our mitzvos bring Hashem to rest among the Yidden. Through a Mitzvas Asei we bring kedusha into the world. But there is a higher level of Hashem that we can’t bring down by ourselves. Hashem will help us do it, when we have iskafya! Any time that we stop ourselves from using our senses for something we shouldn’t do — like not looking or listening to things that aren’t good for our neshama — this brings a much HIGHER level of Hashem into ourselves and all Yidden!
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Davening is called “Avodah Shebelev,” work of the heart (feelings). Of course we need to use our mouth to say the words of davening, and our eyes to look at the words in the siddur. But it’s called specifically Avodah Shebelev.
Chassidus teaches that we need to think about certain things in our mind which will help us feel the right things in our heart when we daven.
For example, let’s look at Shema:
Before we say Shema, we talk about how Hashem has so many malochim who all sing praise to Hashem and have complete bittul to Him! Even though He could have chosen any of these powerful and perfect malochim, Hashem chose specifically a Yid — ME! — to be His shliach in the world. He chose ME to learn Torah, do mitzvos, and bring Elokus into the world.
We close our eyes and cover them, and say the words of Shema. We think about how Hashem is One, and how the whole world is Hashem.
Then we open our eyes... and the world DOESN’T look like Hashem! Still, we know that what we said in Shema is true, and that Hashem wants us to act in a certain way. We decide that we are going to love Hashem and do what He wants. We say “Ve’ahavta,” we feel a love for Hashem and want to do all of His mitzvos.
Then we stand before Hashem privately in Shmoneh Esrei. We ask Him to give us all of our needs so we can do our shlichus properly. This way, our work will bring Hashem nachas and make a Dira Betachtonim in the world.
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Purim is so close! We might want to talk about and plan our Purim Mivtzoyim.
Are we allowed to? On Shabbos, we aren’t allowed to plan for things that will be after Shabbos, or to talk about how we will do melacha after Shabbos! This is called “Vedaber Davar,” that even our talking on Shabbos should be in a Shabbos’dike way.
But when it is something that is a mitzvah, we ARE allowed to talk about it on Shabbos. And something that will help many Yidden is ALWAYS a mitzvah! So on Shabbos, we are allowed to talk about giving tzedakah, and of course we can talk about doing Mivtzoyim!
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Shin-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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In Avos D’R’ Nosson, it says that kids also gave donations to build the Mishkan (which we just learned about)! The Rebbe says that we can learn from here that kids will give from their own money to help build the Beis Hamikdash Hashlishi as well!
The Rebbe tells us that it’s a good idea to give kids money, so they can give their own money to tzedakah, and they’ll have what to give for the Beis Hamikdash Hashlishi!
See Sicha of Parshas Terumah, 5752
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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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