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CHUMASH
Parshas Tzav - Shishi with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, we learn about another korban brought during these 7 days of preparation: The ram for the special Miluim korban!
Moshe brought this korban, and put some of the blood on the ears, thumbs, and big toes of the kohanim.
Moshe had the kohanim wave parts of the korban together with the matzos, and then burned them on the Mizbeiach.
Moshe got to keep part of this korban to eat himself, too.
These days of preparing the Mishkan are called the Shivas Yemei Hamiluim. The word “miluim” also means to fill up. Chassidus explains that during these days, the Shechinah came down and filled up everything that was missing in the world before, from the time of the Cheit Eitz Hadaas!
This was a taste of the way Hashem will fill up all of the things we are missing because of the pain and suffering of Golus, when Moshiach comes!
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In today’s Tehillim, we have one of the niggunim made for the Rebbe’s Yom Huledes, for Kapitel Tzadik — the niggun “Shuva Hashem Ad Mosai.”
We also have Kapitel Tzadik-Beis, the kapitel that the Leviim would sing in the Beis Hamikdash on Shabbos — the Shir Shel Yom for Shabbos.
One of the pesukim in this kapitel speaks about how everybody thanks Hashem on Shabbos. Chassidus explains on the words “Tov Lehodos LaHashem” (it is good to praise Hashem) that it’s the goodness of Hashem that makes people praise him. Of course Hashem is always good, but on Shabbos we can FEEL it, so that’s why especially on Shabbos His goodness makes us want to thank and praise Hashem!
The bracha of the previous Shabbos lasts until Yom Shlishi, and from Yom Revi’i we start preparing for the next Shabbos!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Lamed-Zayin
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All of the neshamos of Yidden work together to make the word into a Dira Betachtonim, a place for Hashem. They do this by being careful not to do any aveiros, so that the kelipah won’t get any chayus, and by doing mitzvos which brings Hashem’s light into the world!
This is the only reason why a neshama is born in a body in the world, so it can make the world a comfortable place for Hashem.
A neshama doesn’t need anything to make ITSELF better — for the neshama it’s better to be in Shomayim, closer to Hashem! The reason why the neshama comes into the world is to work with the guf and Nefesh Habehamis, and use them to make the world into a Dira Betachtonim!
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One of the Alter Rebbe’s Chassidim was called R’ Moshe Meisels.
R’ Moshe Meisels told us something that the Alter Rebbe taught:
The “Alef of Chassidus” (the first thing we need to know, just like we need to know the letter “alef” first!) is to use the special kochos Hashem gave us to do our Avodas Hashem. One of the kochos Hashem gave all of us is “Moach Shalit Al Halev.” This means that our mind can control our feelings.
This koach needs to be used for serving Hashem! In Tanya, we learned two ways how we can use this:
1) We can do what we KNOW is the right thing, even if we FEEL like doing something else. Sometimes a person feels like doing something that they know is not what Hashem wants us to do. But their mind is able to decide to behave in the right way, no matter how they feel!
2) We can use our mind to think about the greatness of Hashem, how special a Yid’s neshama is, and how special Torah and mitzvos are. This will get our feelings excited too, so we will WANT to serve Hashem through Torah and mitzvos and Ahavas Yisroel!
There is a famous story of how the chossid R’ Moshe Meisels used his koach of Moach Shalit Al Halev when he was doing the Alter Rebbe’s shlichus, and it saved his life! See today’s Inyana D’Yoma.
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We just started Rambam again from the very beginning! We are continuing the Hakdama, which has the rules the Rambam used to decide which mitzvos are counted in the 613 mitzvos. The Rambam gives many details and examples for each of the rules, so they can take a long time to learn. We learn the Hakdama over four days, but even that might not be enough time! In the Moreh Shiur it says that we can continue learning these rules later also, even when we start learning the actual mitzvos. Here, since we are just learning them in short, we will finish learning them in these four days.
Today we will learn the next five rules of how to decide if something is counted as a mitzvah:
5) Sometimes there is a reason the Torah tells us to do a mitzvah — even if it sounds like it might be its own mitzvah, we don’t count the reason as a mitzvah for itself.
6) If a mitzvah says BOTH that we should and we shouldn’t do a certain thing (like “rest on Shabbos” and “don’t work on Shabbos”) those are counted as two mitzvos, a Mitzvas Asei and a Mitzvas Lo Saasei.
7) The different ways we sometimes have to do a mitzvah aren’t counted as separate mitzvos (like the different ways to bring a Korban Chatas, which are all part of one mitzvah of bringing the Korban Chatas).
8) Not every time that the Torah says “Lo” (no) does it mean it’s a mitzvah not to do a certain thing, a Mitzvas Lo Saasei! Sometimes the Torah is just giving a warning and it’s not a mitzvah.
9) Even if a mitzvah is said a bunch of times in the Torah, it’s still just one mitzvah. We only count the THINGS the Torah tells us about, not the amount of times the Torah tells us about them.
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In today’s Rambam, we are counting the mitzvos! Today we go through a list of all 365 Mitzvos Lo Saasei (the mitzvos that are about the things Hashem tells us NOT to do).
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In this perek we learn about the three things that are Asur for a Nazir:
1) He may not eat anything that comes from grapes
2) He may not cut his hair
3) He may not make himself Tamei with Tumas Meis.
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We learned in today’s Hayom Yom what R’ Moshe Meizlish said, that the “Alef” of Chassidus is to use our kochos to serve Hashem, for example the koach of Moach Shalit Al Halev, that the mind is naturally able to control a person’s feelings. Here is a story of how R’ Moshe used the Alef of Chassidus, and it actually saved his life!
R’ Moshe Meizlish was a chossid of the Alter Rebbe. He was very smart, and knew how to speak many languages.
At that time, a French general, Napoleon, wanted to capture Russia and become the ruler. He promised to make Russia a better place for all of the people who lived there.
The Alter Rebbe knew that Napoleon might make things better in Gashmius, but he would make things worse in Ruchnius! So the Alter Rebbe wanted the Russians to win the war. The Alter Rebbe sent his chossid, R’ Moshe Meizlish, to be a spy for Russia and help them win.
R’ Moshe Meizlish did what the Alter Rebbe told him to. He spent time with the French officers, and they hired him to translate things from one language to another. This way, he learned all about their army’s plans. R’ Moshe later secretly told all of these things to the Russian officers.
Once, many of the highest officers in the French army were having a very important meeting. They were looking at maps and trying to figure out the best way to attack the city of Vilna, since they would need to do it very soon.
Suddenly, Napoleon burst into the room. He looked very angry. “Have you finished planning the battle yet? Did you tell the soldiers what to do?”
Before the officers could answer, Napoleon saw R’ Moshe, who was standing by the side waiting to help translate anything the officers would need.
“And who is this stranger?” Napoleon roared in a loud voice. Coming up to R’ Moshe, he screamed at him, “You are a spy for Russia!” Then Napoleon immediately put his hand over R’ Moshe’s heart. He knew that when a person is scared, his heart will pound very quickly! If he felt that R’ Moshe’s heartbeat was very fast, he would know that R’ Moshe was really a spy.
But R’ Moshe Meizlish at that moment remembered the “alef of Chassidus” — that Moach Shalit Al Halev, the mind rules over the heart! His mind was able to control his feelings, so his heart would not beat fast. In a calm voice, he answered Napoleon: “The generals and officers have hired me to translate for them, since I know all of the languages they need.”
Napoleon nodded and left the room.
R’ Moshe Meizlish continued to spy for the Russian army, and they won the war in the end, as the Alter Rebbe wanted.
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In Gemara Brachos, R’ Chanina explains how Shemoneh Esrei is set up.
In the first three brachos of Shemoneh Esrei, a person is like a servant who praises his master before he speaks to him. (In the first three brachos, we praise Hashem.)
The middle brachos of Shemoneh Esrei are like the words of a servant who is asking his master for a reward. (The middle brachos deal with our needs.)
The last three brachos of Shemoneh Esrei are compared to a servant who has received the reward from his master, and is asking for permission to go. (The last brachos are the praise of Hashem because He does chesed for us.)
See Gemara Brachos 34a (and Rashi)
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According to halacha, really, cleaning for Pesach doesn’t need to be so hard. We need to make sure the kitchen is kashered, clean up the big pieces of chometz all around the house that a person might eat by mistake, and clean very well where we eat so not even a drop of chometz will end up in our food. (On Pesach it is asur to eat even a little bit of chometz, and it doesn’t become botul like other kinds of food we don’t eat. This is a very serious isur, an Isur Kareis, which is why we are so careful.)
The Shulchan Aruch tells us that because Yidden are holy, they are extra careful to clean much more than they NEED to. This is one way they show their love for Hashem’s special Yom Tov of Pesach.
This hard work is very much appreciated by Hashem, and it has an amazing koach to help all Yidden!
The Rebbe Maharash once told this story, about R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev:
Every sound of the shofar — TeKiyah, SHevarim, TeRuah, TeKiyah; “KaShRaK” for short — creates a malach that will beg Hashem to help the Yidden. On Rosh Hashana, after we blow the shofar, we say a “Yehi Ratzon,” asking Hashem that the malochim that come from each sound of the shofar should ask Hashem to give Yidden a good year.
One year, after saying this Yehi Ratzon, R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev added: “Zeese Tatte! Av Rachum! Hashem, I speak to You with Your love for the Yidden as a father to his son. If the malochim that came out of the shofar that Levi Yitzchak ben Sarah blew were too weak, listen to a different set of “KaShRaK” malochim! Listen to the malochim created by the Kratzen (scraping), SHoiben (sanding), Reiben (scrubbing), and Kasheren (kashering the keilim) that were done by the Yidden in honor of Pesach! Let these strong and healthy malochim be the ones to come ask You for a good and sweet year for all of the Yidden!”
See Shevach Hamoadim, introduction to Hilchos Pesach
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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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This week we read an extra part of the Torah — Parshas Parah. This is one of the four extra parshios we lein around Chodesh Adar.
This section is from Parshas Chukas, and it teaches us about the Parah Adumah, that we use to make Yidden tahor. Since it will soon be Pesach, and we can’t bring the Korban Pesach when we are tomei, we need to learn how to become tahor again!
One of the things we learn from this is how important it is to prepare for Geulah! Before the Geulah of Pesach, we make sure we are ready, by reading the section in Torah about becoming tahor.
There is also another Geulah coming up soon — the Geulah Sheleimah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, and we also need to prepare for that!
How do we get ready for this Geulah? We start making ourselves more tahor, by getting in control of our Yetzer Hara. When Moshiach comes, all of the tumah will go away completely and there will not be a Yetzer Hara at all, but for now we do the best we can! This way we will be READY when Moshiach comes!
See Likutei Sichos chelek alef, p. 222
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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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