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CHUMASH
Parshas Shemini - Sheini with Rashi
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We learn about the Avodah done in the Mishkan on the eighth day of the Miluim, to prepare it for Hashem’s Shechinah to rest there.
The Yidden were sad that even though Moshe Rabbeinu had brought korbanos for seven days, the Shivas Yemei Hamiluim, Hashem’s Shechinah wasn’t resting yet in the Mishkan.
Moshe brought the Korban Tomid of the morning, like Hashem told him to.
Then after Aharon brought the rest of the korbanos of the day, he gave a bracha to the Yidden. Using the words of Birkas Kohanim, he asked Hashem to forgive him and all of the Yidden for the Cheit Ha’egel, so that Hashem would be able to rest in the Mishkan.
Then Aharon Hakohen came down from the Mizbeiach — but Hashem still didn’t send a fire down from Shomayim onto the korbanos! Aharon felt that it was his fault, because of the Cheit Ha’egel. He told Moshe that he shouldn’t have had him bring the korbanos, because now he is embarrassed.
Moshe and Aharon went together into the Mishkan, so that Moshe could show Aharon how to bring the ketores, and also so they could daven together that Hashem should rest in the Mishkan.
Then they came out and bentched the Yidden, using the posuk from Tehillim (Kapitel Tzadik): “Vihi Noam Hashem Elokeinu Aleinu.” “Yehi Ratzon Shetishreh Shechinah Bemaasei Yedeichem” — Hashem’s Shechinah should rest in the Mishkan you built!
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We say the second kapitel of today’s Tehillim as part of Mincha on Erev Shabbos. This kapitel talks about the four groups of people who thank Hashem for miracles that happen to them.
During the week, we end up needing Hashem’s miracles too, for the hardships of our work during the week. These things could be dangerous for our body or our neshama, but Hashem saves us from them! Once we finish our weekday work, at Mincha time on Friday, we praise Hashem for making nisim and saving us.
Here are the four kinds of dangers we speak about:
1) To’u Bamidbar — A person who crosses the desert needs to thank Hashem.
2) Yoshvei Choshech Vetzalmaves — A person who was in jail thanks Hashem for freeing him.
3) Yordei Hayam Be’anios — A person who crosses the ocean thanks Hashem that he crossed safely.
4) Evilim Miderech Pisham — A person who was sick and has a Refuah Sheleimah needs to thank Hashem for the nisim.
See Shaar Hakolel p. 52
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Lamed-Ches
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The Alter Rebbe told us that the main reason a neshama comes into the body is to make the body holy and to make the world holy. That’s why it’s so important to SAY the words of davening and to DO mitzvos, and it’s not enough to just think about them and have kavana.
Still, it IS important to have kavana, because kavana is like the “neshama” of the mitzvah.
The Chachomim say that a mitzvah without kavana is like a guf without a neshama.
IY”H later we will learn more about kavana. We will see that there are different levels of kavana, like there are different levels of a neshama!
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In this week’s parsha, Parshas Shemini, we learn how Aharon bentched the Yidden with Birchas Kohanim. In today’s Hayom Yom, we learn what Chassidus explains about the Ruchnius meaning of Birchas Kohanim.
Were you ever in Shul during Birchas Kohanim? All of the children go under their father’s tallis, because we aren’t allowed to look at the Kohanim during the bracha. The kohanim already washed their hands and took off their shoes. They go to the front of the shul, turn around to face everyone, and pick up their hands, holding their fingers in a special way. They say a bracha saying that Hashem gave them a special mitzvah to give brachos to the Yidden. Then they bentch the Yidden with the words of Yevarechecha.
Without Chassidus, we might think that there are a bunch of different things happening. There are people listening, Kohanim giving a bracha, and a special tune!
But Chassidus tells us that it’s really all one thing! When the Kohanim give a bracha to the Yidden, we all come together.
We learn in Chassidus that for something to be whole, it has to have all ten Sefiros — the 10 different ways of connecting to Hashem. The Rebbe explains how each part of Birchas Kohanim are like certain Sefiros. When we have all of these together, we are all one whole group, connected to Hashem!
The Sefiros can be split into 3 groups: Mochin, Midos, and Malchus. (We learned about them in Tanya in the beginning of the year.) The bracha is Mochin, the kohanim picking up their hands is Midos, and the Yidden (who are called “Bnei Melachim — princes”) are Malchus. With all of them together, we have all 10 Sefiros — shleimus!
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In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos we learn 3 more very important mitzvos to do all the time:
1) (Mitzvas Asei #3) We need to love Hashem! How do we love Hashem? By learning about Hashem’s creations and His mitzvos, which will automatically make us love Hashem!
Part of this mitzvah is also to share what we learned with other people, like Avraham Avinu, who brought others to love Hashem too.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Vaeschanan: וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ
2) (Mitzvas Asei #4) We need to have Yiras Shomayim (to be afraid to do something Hashem doesn’t want us to do).
We shouldn’t feel comfortable and not worried, thinking that we can do whatever we want and nothing will happen to us.
Rather, we should know that Hashem can punish us if we don’t act properly.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Vaeschanan: אֶת ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ תִּירָא
3) (Mitzvas Asei #9) This is the mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem.
We need to show everyone that Yiddishkeit is true, and not be afraid of anyone. If someone tries to force us to deny Hashem, we should not pretend to agree, we need to be ready to even give up our lives.
An example of this kind of Kiddush Hashem is what happened with Chananya, Misha’el, and Azarya, who were ready to give up their lives, when everyone else was serving Avodah Zarah.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Emor: וְנִקְדַּשְׁתִּי בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
The details are explained in Mesechta Sanhedrin perek Zayin.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah
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In Perek Daled, we learn more about the world, because the Rambam tells us that by understanding the wonders of Hashem in the creation of the world, it will help us love Hashem and have Yiras Shomayim!
Perek Hey teaches us about the mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem, that a person has to be ready to even give up his life for Hashem instead of doing certain aveiros. We learn this from Shema — that we need to love Hashem “bechol nafshecha,” with our whole neshama — even if we have to give up our lives!
In Perek Vov, the Rambam talks about the kedusha in Hashem’s name when it is written — that’s why we put papers with Torah or Hashem’s name into shaimos and bury them!
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We learn about the things the Nazir does to finish off his time of being a Nazir, like shaving his hair and bringing certain korbanos.
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After the Frierdiker Rebbe came out of jail on Yud-Beis Tammuz, he had to leave Russia. The Frierdiker Rebbe traveled to Riga, Latvia.
In Tishrei, the Frierdiker Rebbe heard the Chassidim who were kohanim in Riga using a special tune for the singing before the words of Birchas Kohanim. (“Ay ya ya ya ya yay”) The Frierdiker Rebbe was very happy with the tune, and asked them where it came from.
One of the kohanim said that his great-grandfather had been in the Mitteler Rebbe’s kapelya (choir). The Mitteler Rebbe once asked them to compose a tune to sing before the words of Birchas Kohanim. They wrote a few tunes, and the Mitteler Rebbe picked this one.
(This is the tune we use today as well!)
The Frierdiker Rebbe explained that there are three levels of niggunim:
1) Niggunim Mechuvonim: Niggunim that were composed by or chosen by a Rebbe are Niggunim Mechuvonim. That means that the niggun fits with the Ruchnius’dike meaning of what the niggun is connected to. The Frierdiker Rebbe explained how this tune for Birchas Kohanim fits with the Ruchnius’dike inyan of Birchas Kohanim, as we learned in Hayom Yom.
2) Niggunim “vos zogen epes”: Many niggunim written by Chassidim have a message, they “say something.” They might be niggunim that bring Ahavas Yisroel, Niggunei Hisvaadus that are good for farbrengens, or Niggunei Hisbonenus that help a Yid think about Hashem.
3) Niggunim Shel Shtus: They may sound good, but the niggunim have no meaning!
See Sefer Hasichos Tof-Reish-Tzadik-Tes p. 335 and sources in Ha’arah 19
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During Shemoneh Esrei, when we stand before Hashem, we keep our feet together.
One reason is so that we will stand like malochim, who have only one foot.
Another reason is taught by the Beis Yosef, which he learned from his teacher, the Mahari Abuhav:
We stand with our feet together during Shemoneh Esrei to show that we are not going anywhere! We have no plans to take care of anything else, and we aren’t interested in doing anything except for speaking to Hashem!
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Not having chometz on Pesach is a very serious thing. We are not allowed to even have it lying around the house! This is called “Bal Yeira’eh U’bal Yeimatzeh,” that it can’t be seen or found.
Because of this, we need to search around our entire house to make sure that all of the chometz is taken out. We are careful that not even a little bit of chometz should be found, and spend time before Pesach getting rid of it. We are mevatel any chometz that we don’t find, saying that it is like it is worth nothing and doesn’t count.
But what if we do have real chometz that DOES count to us, like chometz that we want to use after Pesach? We can’t say that it is botul, because it is important to us still! But we can’t keep it, because then we would be doing a very serious aveira, and this chometz would be asur FOREVER to use or eat or sell, even after Pesach!
The Chachomim tell us that this chometz can be sold to a goy. This is called Mechiras Chometz. Because the halachos of selling chometz are very complicated, we don’t do this by ourselves. Instead, we authorize the Rav to sell our chometz for us.
(Some Yidden don’t sell real chometz on Pesach, because there can be questions about if the chometz is counted as being completely sold. The Alter Rebbe taught that we should sell our chometz using an Arev Kablan, a type of guarantor, which makes sure that our chometz IS completely sold!)
Any chometz that we want to be sold should be set aside in a separate area that is closed off. We can close it off by sealing it off or covering it completely with a cover that is tied down. We are not allowed to use this area on Pesach, unless we need to go in quickly to take care of something.
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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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During Golus, we don’t look at our guf as something so special B’Ruchnius. We see that the guf makes all kinds of problems in our Avodas Hashem! It has taavos, it gets too tired to do mitzvos, and it distracts us in the middle of davening and learning.
But when Moshiach comes, those things won’t bother us anymore.
Then, we’ll be able to see and appreciate how special and precious a Yiddishe guf is!
Sefer Hasichos Tof-Reish-Tzadik-Tes p. 335
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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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