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CHUMASH
Parshas Acharei - Shvi'i with Rashi
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We learned yesterday that a Yid’s marriage is very holy!
The Torah says that the goyim in Eretz Yisroel were not acting in a very holy way. This bothered Hashem so much, that they were pushed out of Eretz Yisroel! Now that the Yidden are about to go into Eretz Yisroel, they need to be extra careful that they are not acting the way the goyim were. They need to act differently, since they are Hashem’s special nation!
- Two men can’t get married to each other.
- People can’t get married to animals.
If someone does these aveiros, even if the Beis Din can’t punish them, Hashem gives them a kind of kareis, cutting off their chayus from Hashem so they will pass away young, without having children.
Keeping these mitzvos shows that we understand that Hashem is in charge of the world, and knows what is good for us. We understand that He will punish us if we chas veshalom do these aveiros, and we understand that Hashem will reward us for acting the way He asks us to!
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The first kapitel in today’s Tehillim was written by Moshe Rabbeinu. Dovid Hamelech later put it in Tehillim. It starts with the words “Tefillah LeMoshe, Ish HaElokim.” “A Tefillah by Moshe Rabbeinu, a person of Hashem.”
Why is Moshe Rabbeinu called an “Ish HaElokim — a person of Hashem”?
Hashem is everything and everything is Hashem — but we can’t see Him! Hashem made the world because he wanted Yidden to act in a certain way that will make Hashem happy here.
But if we can’t see Hashem, how do we know how to act? That’s why Hashem gave Yidden a Moshe Rabbeinu, who is “a person of Hashem.” A Moshe Rabbeinu has two parts — one part of him that is “of Hashem” — very close to Hashem so he knows what Hashem wants, but he is also “a person” — so he can teach us what we need to do!
There is ALWAYS a Nasi, like Moshe Rabbeinu, who helps the Yidden do what Hashem wants at that time. Now, of course, the Rebbe is our Moshe Rabbeinu!
The Rebbe told us that we are about to see the Geulah, and we need to strengthen Yiddishkeit and learn and spread Chassidus everywhere! We need to get excited about the Geulah and ask Hashem for Moshiach NOW!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Mem-Beis
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The Yidden are like sheep, and we have shepherds. (These shepherds are also our special Ushpizin guests on Sukkos!) They each help our Avodas Hashem.
They are:
Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, Yosef, Dovid
For example, Avraham gives us Chesed, and Yitzchak gives us Gevurah.
Moshe gives the neshama of a Yid the koach to be able to REALLY FEEL Hashem! (Moshe showed us Hashem by Kriyas Yam Suf and on Har Sinai, and his Neshama gives Yidden the koach that we can feel Hashem too!)
But that’s not it! There is also a Moshe Rabbeinu in every generation — the Rebbe of that time. The Rebbe gets the strong koach of Moshe Rabbeinu so that he can teach Yidden in his time about Hashem, so that they can feel Hashem in a real way!
This way, we can really feel that “Vehinei Hashem Nitzav Alav” — that Hashem is watching us, and we’ll be able to have the Yirah that the Alter Rebbe teaches us about in Tanya.
When we look at a picture of the Rebbe, it helps us remember that Hashem is watching us!
Do you know something special? The place where the Alter Rebbe tells us about “Vehinei Hashem” is the Tanya for Yud-Alef Nissan in a leap year! Now we understand why — because the Rebbe is the one who gives us the koach to feel that posuk!
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Today is the fourth day of the Omer!
In the year Tof-Shin-Gimmel, the year the Hayom Yom was written, today was Shabbos. We learn some of the minhagim for Shabbos Chol Hamoed: In the last paragraph of Lecha Dodi, we say “Besimcha” instead of “Berina” because it’s part of Yom Tov! When we say Shalom Aleichem and the other paragraphs before Kiddush, we say them quietly.
The Rebbe Rashab once explained how Mah Nishtana is talking about the Geulah!
Mah Nishtana — How is this night (this Golus) different from every other Golus?
Each one of the four questions shows us how this last Golus is different, and prepares us for the Geulah!
The first question is about dipping. Dipping is the idea of becoming tahor, like dipping in a mikvah. It shows us that in this Golus we “dip” twice, which makes us ready for the final Geulah!
1) Ain Anu Matbilin — In every other Golus, the Golus didn’t make us Tahor because we had to go back into Golus afterwards, but (Halayla Hazeh,) after THIS Golus we will become Tahor in TWO ways! Our Guf will become Tahor, AND we’ll be able to feel the Neshama!
The second question is about matzah. Matzah is flat, like a person who has bittul, and chometz is puffed up — yeshus, like a person who has gaavah. This Golus prepares us so that we will not have any more gaavah, any more chometz!
2) Anu Ochlim Chameitz O Matza — After every other Golus, we had our Neshama, which is like matzah, and ALSO our Yetzer Hara, which is like Chometz. But after THIS Golus, we’ll only have our Neshama, our “matzah,” because Hashem will take away the Yetzer Hara!
The third question is about vegetables. Yerakos, vegetables, also means green. This is the idea of jealousy, since when someone is jealous, the Chachomim say that their face turns green. This Golus gets us ready for the time when we’ll only have a GOOD kind of jealousy!
3) Anu Ochlim She’ar Yerakos — In all other kinds of Golus, people were jealous in lots of different ways. After THIS Golus, Tzadikim will be jealous (like Maror, in the strongest way) of how close other Tzadikim are to Hashem.
The fourth question is about leaning. Chassidus says that in Ruchnius, leaning is the idea of enjoying a feeling of Taanug, a very good feeling for the neshama.
4) Bein Yoshvim Uvein Mesubin — After every Golus, we feel Taanug, a very good feeling of closeness to Hashem. There are different ways to feel Taanug, but after THIS Golus, we will all feel the HIGHEST and BEST level of Taanug!
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Today in Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn the same mitzvah again (Mitzvas Asei #19) — to thank Hashem after we eat — that’s bentching!
We learn this from a very famous posuk in Parshas Eikev, which we also say in bentching: וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ וּבֵרַכְתָּ אֶת ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ
It means, “And you will eat, and you will be full, and you will bentch Hashem.”
The halachos about this mitzvah were first written down in Gemara Brachos. The Rambam put it in order in the halachos of brachos in Sefer Ahava, which we are learning now. The practical halacha which we follow is in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim (the first section), from siman Kuf-Pey-Beis and on, and the Alter Rebbe’s final version is in Seder Birchos Hanehenin.
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Perek Daled: We learn when a person might need to make a bracha again. For example, if you decided to bentch, and then changed your mind and wanted to eat again, you would need to make another bracha — even if you hadn’t bentched yet.
Another halacha we learn is that if you made a bracha and the food got ruined before you could eat it, you should say “Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuso Le’olam Va’ed” right away. By speaking about the kavod of Hashem right after saying the bracha, the bracha is not counted as being said for no reason.
Perek Hey: In this perek, we learn who is chayav in bentching. Children need to bentch because of Chinuch.
We also learn about making a mezuman.
Perek Vov: In this perek, we learn about washing our hands for a seudah, and Mayim Acharonim. The Rambam says that Netilas Yodayim for a seudah is a mitzvah from the Chachomim, but Mayim Acharonim is for a sakana, so you need to be even MORE careful with Mayim Acharonim!
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Now we will learn the halachos about Maaser. First we review the halachos about the order of giving Terumah and maaser:
1) First we pick whatever grew and prepare it to be used. (For example, we separate the wheat kernels, or we squeeze the juice from the grapes.)
2) Then we take 1/50th for Terumah Gedolah, which goes to the Kohen.
3) Next we take 1/10th of what’s left for Maaser Rishon, which goes to the Levi. (He needs to take Terumas Hamaaser, 1/10th of what he got, for the Kohen.)
4) Finally, we take another 1/10th of what is left for Maaser Sheini. On the first, second, fourth, and fifth years after Shemitah, this is for the owner to eat in Yerushalayim. On the 3rd and 6th years, it is Maaser Oni — for the poor.
When a person has Maaser Oni, he needs to give any poor person that comes to his field at least enough to make him full. If he has a poor relative or friend, he can set aside up to half of the Maaser for him. If he has Maaser Ani at home, he can go give it to a certain person if he wants, or else he needs to give at least a kezayis to anyone who comes and asks.
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During Sefiras Haomer, every day Chassidim learn Mesechta Sotah, which has 49 pages, like the 49 days of the Omer! (Later we will see this in Hayom Yom.)
In today’s page of Sotah, we are starting to learn about how a Yid has to be very careful not to be a Baal Gaavah. A Baal Gaavah thinks he is very important and he needs to have whatever he wants, even if it’s not exactly what Hashem wants.
That’s why the Chachomim said that if somebody is a Baal Gaavah, it’s like he is serving Avodah Zarah chas veshalom! Because he only thinks about what HE wants, and doesn’t remember that we are here in the world to do what Hashem wants. That’s like Avodah Zarah because he’s forgetting that Hashem is really the One in charge.
When we learn this, it helps us make our Midos better, which is what we are supposed to do during Sefira!
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The Alter Rebbe says in Tanya that when we daven and learn Torah, it’s really a kind of Mesiras Nefesh.
Why? It doesn’t put us in danger!
The words “Mesiras Nefesh” mean “to give up the neshama.” When a person does Mesiras Nefesh, he gives up the life of his guf and returns his neshama to Hashem. We do the same thing, in a different way, when we daven!
When we don’t pay attention to our guf like we usually do, we are having Mesiras Nefesh, giving up part of its life! We eat before davening if we need to, so that it won’t bother us in the middle of davening. We focus completely on the words of our tefillos and on our connection to Hashem. Our neshama is returned to the way it felt when it was in Gan Eden, when nothing Gashmius’dik distracted it!
That’s a kind of Mesiras Nefesh.
So when it comes time to stand before Hashem and daven, we need to do it in a way of Mesiras Nefesh. At least during Shema and Shemoneh Esrei (the most important parts of tefillah), we should forget about all of our Gashmius distractions. Only think about how the neshama is speaking directly to Hashem, asking to have hatzlacha in fulfilling the shlichus it has in the world, and about the nachas Hashem has from a Yid in this world connecting to Hashem through davening and keeping Torah and mitzvos.
See Tanya end Perek Mem-Alef
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Usually on Motzei Shabbos, we make a bracha over besamim during Havdalah. But on Motzei Shabbos Chol Hamoed Pesach, we do not use besamim.
It is asur to benefit at all from chometz on Pesach, and we are extra careful in case the besamim might have some chometz mixed in.
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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 Perek Mem-Beis in Tanya, the Alter Rebbe brings a posuk that the Navi Yirmiyah says about Le’asid Lavo (Yirmiya 31:33):
״וְלֹא יְלַמְּדוּ עוֹד אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵהוּ וְאִישׁ אֶת אָחִיו לֵאמֹר דְּעוּ אֶת ה׳ כִּי כוּלָּם יֵדְעוּ אוֹתִי לְמִקְּטַנָּם וְעַד גְּדוֹלָם נְאֻם ה׳...״
Velo Yelamdu Od Ish Es Rei’eihu — When Moshiach comes, a person won’t have to teach his friend anymore
Ve’ish Es Achiv — And a person won’t need to teach his brother anymore
Leimor De’u Es Hashem — Telling him, “Know Hashem!”
Why won’t we have to teach anyone about knowing Hashem when Moshiach comes?
Ki Kulam Yeidu Osi — Because EVERYONE will know Hashem!
Lemiktanam Ve’ad Gedolam — From young children to old people, they will ALL know Hashem!
Ne’um Hashem — So says Hashem.
The Alter Rebbe also brings this posuk in the introduction to Tanya. The Alter Rebbe asks that if someone doesn’t understand something in the Tanya, he should go to the greater Chassidim who will help him. They shouldn’t act humble, and should share what they know! The Alter Rebbe finishes off with this posuk as a bracha, that soon we should be zoche to the time when we won’t need to teach each other, because everyone will know Hashem!
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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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