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Yaakov is giving brachos to the Shevatim before he passes away. In today’s Chumash, Gad, Asher, Naftali, and Yosef get brachos. Yaakov gives Gad his bracha. His Shevet will be very strong — they will go fight and win, and none of them will get hurt! (That’s exactly what happened when the Yidden came into Eretz Yisroel!) Asher’s bracha is that the place he gets in Eretz Yisroel will grow a lot of olives, and the olive oil will be used to make food for kings! Naftali gets a special bracha, that he will be like a deer. The fruit that grows in his part of Eretz Yisroel will grow as fast as a deer can run, and the soldiers from his Shevet will run to fight as quickly as a deer! The people of Naftoli will thank Hashem for their bracha. Yaakov tells Yosef that he is very handsome. Since he made sure to block Esav from seeing his mother Rochel, he became a very important person in Mitzrayim — second to the king! Yosef gets a bracha, that his family will have many children, like a grapevine is full of grapes. Each of his sons (Menashe and Efrayim) will grow to be a shevet as big as the other Shevatim, and they won’t get an Ayin Hara! Yaakov reminds Yosef that his brothers weren’t nice to him, and neither was Potifera and his wife. But still, his dreams came true, because he trusted in Hashem. He became second to the king, and took care of the whole family in Mitzrayim. Yaakov said to Yosef, “Since — with Hashem’s help — you didn’t listen to Potifera’s wife and do an aveira, Hashem will help you and make sure there is water for your fields, and that you give birth to healthy children. “Hashem gave me (Yaakov) even more brachos than the other Avos! Avraham and Yitzchak got a bracha only for Eretz Yisroel, but like my mother wanted, I got a bracha to spread out all over. These brachos should go to Yosef.” |
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Today’s shiur Tehillim is kapitelach Samach-Vov, Samach-Zayin, and Samach-Ches. In Kapitel Samach-Ches, Dovid Hamelech speaks about an amazing neis that would happen in the future. Just two days ago, we had the fast of Asara B’Teves, remembering how Nevuchadnetzar and his army closed off Yerushalayim. But that wasn’t the only time Yerushalayim was closed off! The first time, Hashem made tremendous nisim! This shows us that if we are zoche, the siege of Yerushalayim, which we fasted for, does not have to be a sad thing — through our Teshuvah it can become a great Yom Tov. Here’s what happened: King Chizkiyahu was the 12th king from Malchei Yehudah. He was the son of the wicked King Achaz, but he didn’t copy his father at all! He had real Yiras Shomayim, and tried to make the Yidden into a holy nation again. He broke all of the Avodah Zara, fixed up the Beis Hamikdash, and asked all of the Yidden to come and celebrate there on the Yomim Tovim. Once he took care of the Ruchnius of the Yidden, King Chizkiyahu also tried to take care of the Gashmius of the Yidden. He made the Yiddishe army strong, and they captured back many cities that had been taken away from Eretz Yisroel. They also scared the smaller nations that kept trying to bother the Yidden. But they still had to pay money to Ashur, the strongest country at that time, so that Ashur would leave the Yidden alone. While the Yidden in Malchei Yehudah were doing much better now, the Yidden from Malchei Yisrael were taken away into Golus. The Yidden who lived under the Malchei Yehudah tried even harder to serve Hashem properly, realizing that this was the only thing that could keep them safe. The Navi Yeshayahu told King Chizkiyahu that as long as the Yidden continued serving Hashem, nobody would be able to hurt them! He even told King Chizkiyahu that soon they would even be able to stop paying taxes to Ashur! Even though that sounded impossible, King Chizkiyahu trusted in Hashem and got ready to fight with Ashur. Sancheriv, the king of Ashur, was very strong. He captured many many countries, and mixed up all the people so it would be harder for them to join together and fight. Finally, he brought his army, with three generals, to fight against Yerushalayim. They surrounded Yerushalayim and closed it off, so that nobody could go out or come in. One of the generals, Ravshakeh (who was a Yid that went away from Yiddishkeit) first yelled at the Yidden in Lashon Kodesh, trying to scare them so that they wouldn’t fight. He said that it didn’t make sense to trust in Hashem, because Sancheriv’s army was so strong and had captured all the other nations! He also did the opposite of blessing Hashem. When King Chizkiyahu heard this, he tore his clothes to hear someone speaking so terribly about Hashem! He went to daven to Hashem in the Beis Hamikdash, asking Hashem to show Sancheriv that Hashem controls the world! The Navi Yeshayahu told King Chizkiyahu not to worry. He wouldn’t even need to shoot one arrow at Sancheriv’s army! Hashem had given him a beautiful nevuah about winning over Ashur, and about the times of Moshiach! Sure enough, that night a malach came and killed every single soldier in Sancheriv’s army. When Sancheriv woke up in the morning and saw that he had no soldiers left, he turned around and went back to Ashur, leaving the Yidden alone. |
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Today’s Tanya teaches us that there are many levels of a Tzadik She’aino Gamur, and we learn about the avodah of a Tzadik Gamur! A Tzadik She’aino Gamur is a tzadik who doesn’t love Hashem completely, so he still has some Yetzer Hara left, even though it doesn’t really have a say. There are many levels for this kind of tzadik. The Gemara says that 18,000 tzadikim come before Hashem every day! But the Gemara tells us that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said, “I saw the Bnei Aliyah, and they are very few.” The Bnei Aliyah are those who are a Tzadik Gamur, which is something very rare! A Tzadik Gamur has the strongest love for Hashem possible, and not only does his Yetzer Hara not have a say, his Yetzer Hara is changed into kedushah! A Tzadik Gamur also doesn’t learn Torah or do a mitzvah only because he wants to be connected to Hashem. He learns Torah and does mitzvos for Hashem’s sake, because this will make a Dira Betachtonim, it will make Hashem comfortable! Even though this is something which is the level of a Tzadik Gamur, every Yid has a koach hidden in his neshama to serve Hashem in this way, at least a little bit. We should also try to do our mitzvos for Hashem’s sake! The Rebbe teaches us to do mitzvos with the kavana to bring Moshiach now — not just for the Ruchnius or Gashmius rewards we will get. We should do the mitzvos to bring Moshiach, to make Hashem a Dira Betachtonim! |
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One year, the Rebbe Rashab was elected as gabbai of the Chevra Kadisha. There was a minhag in Lubavitch that the Simchas Torah after a gabbai was elected, they would make a parade and bring the new gabbai to shul under a chuppah. Here’s what happened that Simchas Torah: The Rebbe Rashab said a maamar that starts with the words “Ein Hakadosh Baruch Hu Ba Betrunya.” At the end of the Maamar, the Rebbe Rashab said: Even someone who is a big thinker and likes everything to make sense needs to do mitzvos not because it makes sense, but because Hashem says so. That’s because some parts of Torah might not make sense to him, and then he might end up just following whatever everyone else is doing. In the time right before Moshiach comes, we need to do Torah and mitzvos because Hashem wants us to, and not only do things that make sense to us. Instead, we should do mitzvos with temimus and Emunah Peshuta! Did you notice that the Hayom Yom of Hey Teves and Yud-Beis Teves — the first and last day of Didan Notzach (see Inyana D’Yoma of today) — both talk about doing mitzvos with temimus? |
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Today’s mitzvah is a mitzvah we are reviewing. This mitzvah is about the tumah of a person who has Tzoraas. This includes all of the halachos abut this kind of tumah: What tzoraas looks like, when the Metzora needs to be put into quarantine, when the hair around the tzoraas needs to be shaved before the quarantine, and how the tumah is passed on. |
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more about what the Torah calls a Keili, so we will know if something can become Tomei. Perek Tes teaches us that if a keili doesn’t have its own name, it’s not counted as a keili by itself, because it is botul and is part of something else. Perek Yud has the halachos about parts of keilim, and tells us when they can become tomei. Perek Yud-Alef has the halachos about when a broken keili is still counted as a keili — when we can still use it. So even though it is broken, it can still become tomei (even though usually a broken keili can’t become tomei.) |
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In today’s Rambam, we learn some of the details of the halachos the Torah tells us to do if two people come to Beis Din with an argument over money or property. Very often one of them needs to make a shevuah, a special kind of promise that they are telling the truth. If two people come to Beis Din and agree about part of the money — like if Reuven says “you owe me $100!” and Shimon says, “I owe you money, but only $50” — then Shimon needs to make a shevuah that he only owes $50 and pay the money right away. |
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Tof-Shin-Mem-Zayin (5747) was the year of the geulah of Hey Teves. That year Chassidim celebrated with the Rebbe for a whole week, until today, Yud-Beis Teves. Then the Rebbe said that the dancing for Hey Teves is over, and we need to get ready for Yud Shevat! Every Chossid should get a mashpia, and for the month until Yud Shevat, they should talk to their mashpia every ten days to make sure they’re preparing properly for Yud Shevat. See Sefer Hasichos 5747, vol. 1, p. 243 |
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The Chachomim put together Shemoneh Esrei as the main part of each tefillah. In Shemoneh Esrei, we ask Hashem for all of our needs. Here is how the brachos of Shemoneh Esrei are organized: - The first three and last three brachos of Shemoneh Esrei are praise and thanks TO Hashem. - The middle 12 (and nowadays 13) brachos are what we ask FROM Hashem. These middle brachos are split up into two sections as well: - First, we ask for our personal needs. These are the first six of the middle brachos. We are asking Hashem for the things we need for ourselves, like sechel, health and parnasa, and a personal Geulah from the things that bother us from living the way a Yid should. - Then, we ask for what we need for all Yidden together, in the other six middle brachos. What do we need for all Yidden together? We ask Hashem to return the status of Yidden to the way it used to be, so that we can again fulfill all of the mitzvos properly in Eretz Yisroel. In other words, these brachos ask Hashem to bring Moshiach! |
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When we wash our hands before eating bread, it is very important to make sure that our entire hand is covered with water. So besides for using a lot of water, we hold our hands pointing upwards a little bit. This helps make sure that the water can reach our fingertips, and between all of our fingers. Seder Netilas Yodayim of the Alter Rebbe, se’if alef |
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לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
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We shouldn’t worry that Moshiach can’t come since Yidden still have so many aveiros. Hashem loves us the way we are! Hashem will first take us out of Golus, and then take away our aveiros. (The Metzudas Dovid explains that we see this in the posuk “Vehu Yifdeh Es Yisroel Mikol Avonosav,” which we say in Selichos on a fast day. The aveiros will not prevent the Geulah — Hashem will also redeem us from our aveiros!) So Moshiach can come right now, and Hashem will take us out of Golus to the Geulah just the way we are! |
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לע"נ התינוק זאב ארי' ע"ה בן יבלט"א הרה"ח ר' שניאור זלמן שי' גליק
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