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CHUMASH
Parshas Vayakhel - Rishon with Rashi
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When Moshe came down from Har Sinai for the third time with the second Luchos, he told the Yidden that Hashem forgives them! This was on Yom Kippur. The next day, Moshe counted the Yidden to see how many were left after the Cheit Ha’Eigel.
Moshe told the Yidden that Hashem was going to let them build the Mishkan, so He could live together with them! Even though the Yidden will be very excited to build it right away, they need to be careful not to do any work on Shabbos.
Then Moshe asked the Yidden to give the things that will be needed to build the Mishkan, like gold and silver and copper and Shitim wood. Hashem will give certain people the special koach to understand how to use these things to make the Mishkan the way Hashem commanded.
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In Kapitel Kuf-Tes, Dovid Hamelech says “Ki Oni Ve’evyon Anochi, VeLibi Cholal BeKirbi.” “I am like a poor person, and my heart is empty inside of me.”
What does Dovid Hamelech mean? What is an empty heart?
The Gemara explains that Dovid Hamelech was saying that half of his heart is empty — the part where the Yetzer Hara usually is!
Dovid Hamelech had no Yetzer Hara — he “killed” it by fasting! (Hashem made Dovid Hamelech with a Yetzer Hara that COULD be killed, but not everybody’s can be.)
In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe teaches that that’s what a tzadik means — someone who doesn’t have a Yetzer Hara.
Most of us DO have a Yetzer Tov AND a Yetzer Hara, and we have to fight all the time for the Yetzer Tov to win.
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Lamed-Beis
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When the Alter Rebbe first wrote the Tanya, it was different than the Tanya we have today! One very big difference is that this whole perek wasn’t there at all! The Alter Rebbe added it later, and chose to put it right here, so it would be the 32nd perek. “Lamed-Beis” (32) is the Gematria of “Lev,” “heart.” Just like the heart sends the blood with chayus to all the parts of the body, this perek gives chayus to everything we learn in Tanya!
There are three kinds of love: Ahavas Hashem (love for Hashem), Ahavas HaTorah (love for Torah), and Ahavas Yisroel (love for another Yid). In the Rebbe’s first farbrengen after accepting being Rebbe, the Rebbe said that we need to make sure that our love for Hashem and the Torah BRINGS us to Ahavas Yisroel! In this perek, the Alter Rebbe shows us how to do that.
In the last three perakim, we have been learning about a hisbonenus with many parts. First we think thoughts that make us feel humble. Then we realize that even though as a person we may not have what to be proud of, we have a neshama like every Yid does, and the neshama can come out of the Golus of the guf through Torah and mitzvos! Through learning halacha and doing mitzvos, we can even make the guf more aidel, which is why Hashem put the neshama in the guf in the first place! We decide to make it our life’s mission to connect our neshama with Hashem and make our guf aidel through Torah and mitzvos!
When we think about OURSELVES this way, that the neshama is the main thing, we will look at another Yid the same way too! This way we will be able to have true Ahavas Yisroel for EVERY SINGLE YID, no matter who!
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This Hayom Yom is from a letter the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote to a Rav who was feeling bad about himself. He lived in America, and felt like he wasn’t accomplishing anything with the American Jews who were not interested in Yiddishkeit. The Frierdiker Rebbe gave him an eitzah of what to do, and also this hora’ah about how he should look at himself:
The Rabbonim and the Baalei Torah (those who put all of their time and energy into studying Torah) are the heads of the Yidden. They are called Einei Ha’eida, like the eyes of the Yidden, who see the way things should be, and Roshei Alfei Yisroel, like the head that gives chayus to the rest of the body.
Just like in a body, the head needs to be healthy for the rest of the body to be healthy, when the Rabbonim are strong and healthy b’Ruchnius, this will affect the rest of the Yidden as well.
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SEFER HAMITZVOS
Shiur #316 - Mitzvas Lo Saasei #310, Asei #224, Lo Saasei #300
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1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #310) A Beis Din can’t let a witch live (a witch is someone who uses the koach of tumah to make magic).
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: מְכַשֵּׁפָה לֹא תְחַיֶּה
2) (Mitzvas Asei #224) The Beis Din needs to follow the halachos of giving malkos (lashes) — one of the punishments a Beis Din gives for certain aveiros.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: וְהִפִּילוֹ הַשֹּׁפֵט וְהִכָּהוּ לְפָנָיו
The details are explained in Mesechta Makos.
3) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #300) The Beis Din can’t hit someone during Malkos more than he’s supposed to be hit. Part of this mitzvah is never to hit another Yid, or even just pick up our hand as if we were going to hit him!
We also learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: כְּדֵי רִשְׁעָתוֹ בְּמִסְפָּר אַרְבָּעִים יַכֶּנּוּ לֹא יֹסִיף
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more about how the Sanhedrin judges.
In Perek Yud, one of the things we learn is how every judge has to have his OWN opinion. Because of that, we don’t ask the oldest or greatest judge to say his opinion first, because then the other judges might not want to say something different.
Perek Yud-Alef talks about the differences between judging cases about money (Dinei Mamonos), and judging cases where someone would be punished by being killed (Dinei Nefashos). In Dinei Nefashos, the Beis Din needs to try to find ways to make the person not guilty. One of the ways we see this is that even someone who is not a judge can give a reason why NOT to punish someone, but only the judges can give a reason to say why he is guilty!
Perek Yud-Beis explains how the Sanhedrin can pasken that someone is Chayav Misa. The judges first need to make sure that there were witnesses who saw it happen, and that the person was warned first that he is not allowed to do the aveira.
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This perek talks about the kind of expressions a person uses to make a shevuah, and what the halacha is in each case.
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We’re learning about the Mishkan now in Chumash, but it’s not the first time! We just learned about the Mishkan before.
If we look at both places where we talk about the Mishkan, we will see one very big difference — the order.
In Parshas Terumah and Tetzaveh, we first learn about 1. the keilim of the Mishkan building, then 2. the building of the Mishkan, and finally about 3. keeping Shabbos.
In Parshas Vayakhel, we first learn about 1. keeping Shabbos, then we learn about 2. the building of the Mishkan, and finally we learn about 3. the keilim that went inside.
But that’s exactly backwards! Why?
Chassidus teaches us that each of these three things mean something different in Ruchnius:
1. Keeping Shabbos means the extra neshama, the Neshama Yeseira (Yechidah) that we get on Shabbos — especially during the special tefillos of Shabbos!
2. The Mishkan building, the walls and curtains, are like the mitzvos that we do.
3. The keilim of the Mishkan mean the Torah that we learn.
The first time we learned about the Mishkan, we learned about it the way Hashem sees it. But in Parshas Vayakhel, we are learning about the Mishkan the way WE need to do it!
In our Avodas Hashem, we need to use the second order — first Shabbos, then the building, then the keilim.
First we need to start with the koach of Shabbos, the Neshama Yeseira. On Shabbos, we don’t need to work, so we are able to daven for a long time (b’arichus) on Shabbos. We need to use our Neshama Yeseira, and especially our tefillos, to have chayus in our Torah and mitzvos. This koach will last us all week! We can use this koach when we do mitzvos, and finally that will give us koach in our learning and understanding Torah!
See Torah Ohr, Parshas Vayakhel
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One of the reasons we say Barchu after Yishtabach is so that everyone in the minyan will bentch Hashem together before starting the main part of davening.
Another reason we say Barchu is for the same reason we say “Raboisai Mir Vellen Bentchen” before bentching with a mezuman: We tell everyone, “FOCUS! Pay attention!” Now we are reaching the ikar of davening, Shema and Shemoneh Esrei. The Chazan reminds everyone that we are coming to a very important part of davening and we all need to be thinking about what we are saying!
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We learn from the Baal Shem Tov that if we see something not good in someone else, Hashem is showing us what we need to fix up — like a mirror.
Still, if we notice that someone isn’t doing something right, we have a mitzvah to help them act the way Hashem wants them to. This is called the mitzvah of Hocheiach Tochiach Es Amisecha.
The Torah gives us many halachos about this mitzvah, to make sure we don’t do it in a way that will hurt the other person. That’s why the Torah first tells us “Lo Sisna Es Achicha Bilvavecha,” that we shouldn’t hate another Yid, and only then, once we have Ahavas Yisroel for them, can we help them become better Yidden.
We will IY”H start to learn some of the rules from Shulchan Aruch.
See Likutei Sichos chelek Yud Parshas Noach sicha Beis, the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch siman Kuf-Nun-Vav, Hayom Yom 26 Iyar
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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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We learn about Moshiach in many parts of Torah! The Gemara and other seforim tell us about all of the wonderful things that will happen when Moshiach comes, and about how special Moshiach himself is.
The Rambam, though, doesn’t talk about all of these things. The Rambam only tells us things that are halacha, a decision according to Torah that this is how it will be!
The Rambam tells us that the main point of Moshiach is to make us able to do Torah and mitzvos COMPLETELY, when we can keep every single mitzvah in the Torah. We had a taste of this when we had Malchus Beis Dovid, when all of the Yidden lived in Eretz Yisroel and had a Beis Hamikdash.
According to halacha, Moshiach will bring back all of the Yidden to Eretz Yisroel, rebuild the Beis Hamikdash, and bring back Malchus Beis Dovid! This way, we will be able to keep ALL of the mitzvos properly.
See Hilchos Melachim Perek Yud-Alef
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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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