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Paraoh made a decree that baby boys should be thrown into the Nilus. Miriam convinced her parents, Amram and Yocheved, to have another baby. They had a baby boy, and realized he was very special! Yocheved hid baby Moshe in a basket in the Nilus, and Paraoh’s daughter Basya found him and took him to the palace. Paraoh saw that Shifra and Puah weren’t killing the baby boys, and he asked them why they weren’t listening! Shifra and Puah explained that really the Yiddishe women didn’t need midwives, they had the babies by themselves. Because of their Mesiras Nefesh, Hashem gave them a big reward — Dovid Hamelech came from Miriam’s family, and Yocheved’s children became Kohanim and Leviim (through Moshe and Aharon). Since they weren’t doing what he wanted, Paraoh had to think of a new plan. He decided to build houses for Mitzriyim in Goshen, where the Yidden lived. These Mitzriyim would be spies and find out who had a baby boy, so they could throw them in the Nilus. Amram, who was the leader of the Yidden at that time, thought that maybe they shouldn’t have children anymore, since Paraoh was going to kill the babies anyway. He even got divorced from Yocheved, and the rest of the Yidden copied him. But Miriam told her father that our job is to have children — what happens afterwards is Hashem’s decision. Also, Paraoh was only killing baby boys, but by not having any children, there would be no baby girls either! Miriam said a nevuah, that her parents would have a baby who would take the Yidden out of Mitzrayim! Amram realized that Miriam was right, and he got married to Yocheved again. The other Yidden got married again also. On Zayin Adar, Amram and Yocheved had a baby boy! He was born early, so the Mitzriyim didn’t think to check right away to see if he was born. When Moshe was born, the house became full of light! Yocheved and Amram realized that this could be the baby who would later take the Yidden out of Mitzrayim! They were able to hide him for three months, until the Mitzri spies would come and check if a baby boy was born. Paraoh’s magicians told him that the baby who would take the Yidden out of Mitzrayim was born! They weren’t sure if the baby was a Yid or a Mitzri, but they saw in the stars that he would die because of water. So Paraoh made a new decree that ALL baby boys would have to be thrown into the Nilus, but all girls should grow up like Mitzri girls. Yocheved took a basket and made it waterproof (smelly pitch outside, but clay inside, so Moshe wouldn’t need to smell the pitch). She put the baby in the basket, and hid it in the reeds by the side of the Nilus. (She didn’t put the basket in the water, because the water was the Avodah Zarah of the Mitzriyim.) Miriam hid nearby to see what would happen. (After Paraoh’s magicians told Paraoh that the baby was in the water, Paraoh canceled the decree.) Paraoh’s daughter, Basya, didn’t want to worship Avodah Zarah anymore, so she decided to use the Nilus as a mikvah to become tahor and daven only to Hashem. Then Moshe’s basket floated into the water. Basya saw the basket and wanted to see what was inside. Her helpers told her it was probably a Jewish baby, so she shouldn’t look. Basya tried to grab the basket anyway, and Hashem made her arm long enough to reach the baby! Basya saw right away that this was a special baby. He was crying, and Basya felt bad. She saw that he had a bris and was a Jewish baby, but wanted to take care of him anyway. Basya tried to get the Mitzri women to nurse the baby, but he wouldn’t eat from a person who wasn’t Jewish. So Miriam, who was still watching, asked if she should go get a Jewish woman to feed the baby. Basya agreed, and Miriam ran home very quickly to get her mother! Basya asked Yocheved if she could pay her to nurse the baby. Of course Yocheved agreed! Yocheved gave lots of excuses why the baby needed to stay with her, and kept him home until he was about 12, teaching him about being a good Yid. Then she had to bring him to Basya, who treated him like a son. Basya called him Moshe, which means “taking out,” because she took him out of the water — Ki Min Hamayim Meshisihu. |
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Today’s Tehillim is kapitelach Ayin-Tes to Pey-Beis. In Kapitel Pey (80) Dovid Hamelech says, “Gefen Mimitzrayim Tasia, Tegaresh Goyim Vati’ta’eha” — “You took a vine out of Mitzrayim, You pushed out the goyim and planted it.” This is talking about the Yidden, who are compared to a vine. Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim and “planted” us in Eretz Yisroel. The Frierdiker Rebbe said a maamar on this posuk, which the Rebbe later explained (http://chabad.org/1878854). The Chachomim say that we only dig up a vine to plant it somewhere where it will grow even better! Similarly, Hashem only puts a Yid in a new place because there he can have even more hatzlacha. That’s how it was when Hashem took the Yidden out of Mitzrayim and brought them to Eretz Yisroel, and that’s also how it is whenever Hashem puts us with Hashgacha Protis in a new place! It is so we will have hatzlacha in bringing Yiddishkeit to our new place, like a vine that makes wine that brings happiness to everyone around! |
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In today’s Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explains how a beinoni is different than a tzadik. We learned that the beinoni doesn’t do any aveiros, and when he davens his Nefesh Habehamis can’t even come up with ideas to make him do the wrong thing! So why is he called a Beinoni, which means in between? We said that a beinoni is between a tzadik and a rasha, but it sounds like a beinoni is just like a tzadik! The Alter Rebbe explains that even though the neshama’s love for Hashem can make the Nefesh Habehamis go to sleep, it’s not pushing it away at all — it’s still there, just as strong. After davening, it wakes up and goes right back to what it was doing before. The Beinoni has a hidden love for Hashem all the time, which helps him control his behavior. However, it’s not the strong feeling he has during davening which puts his Nefesh Habehamis to sleep. The Ahavas Hashem he has all day can only stop him from doing aveiros, but it can’t stop his Nefesh Habehamis from sending not good thoughts into his mind! That’s why a beinoni is different than a tzadik. With a tzadik, the Nefesh Habehamis is pushed out of the body (or changed into a Yetzer Tov!). The beinoni, however, can only put his Nefesh Habehamis to sleep at certain times (like during davening). For the rest of the time, he needs to use the special koach Hashem gives him (Moach Shalit Al Halev) to always be in control! |
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It can be hard for a neshama to feel ruchnius. The world is full of so much kelipah and narishkeit! In a Yechidus, the Tzemach Tzedek told a chossid named Reb Hendel about 3 different parts of Torah that can help his neshama: 1) When the neshama wants to feel more connected to Hashem, learn Zohar, because Zohar makes the neshama feel elevated! 2) When the neshama wants to get excited about Hashem and His mitzvos, learn Midrash, because it wakes up the heart! 3) When the neshama feels like it got “dirty” from the kelipah in the world, say Tehillim with tears, and that will wash and clean the grobkeit of the guf. |
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Since we are learning a set of halachos that doesn’t have its own mitzvah, Hilchos Keilim, we are reviewing other mitzvos from Sefer Tahara, since keilim can also get these kinds of tumah! Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #104) is that a man who has a certain kind of tumah that comes from the body which is called Zav, becomes Tomei. This mitzvah includes all of the dinim of how he becomes a Zav and also how he makes others and other things tomei. |
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more about when Keilim can become Tomei. Perek Chof-Alef explains when a long string or chain or rope is counted as part of a keili and when it isn’t. Based on the halachos in today’s Rambam, if a balloon would become tomei, the string of the balloon would be tomei too. Perek Chof-Beis explains when clothes or cloth can become tomei. One of the halachos is that a bandage, even if it is made out of cloth, can’t become tomei. That’s because it’s not counted as a keili. Perek Chof-Gimmel tells us the rules of how big a piece of cloth needs to be in order to become tomei. |
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This perek tells us when we don’t need to make a shevuah according to Torah, but the Chachomim tell us that we should make another kind of shevuah, called a “Shevuas Heses.” One example for this is an argument about a field. So if one person says, “you sold me two fields!” and the other person says, “I only sold you one,” he needs to make a Shevuas Heses. Also, for servants, “IOU notes,” or hekdesh, there is no shevuah from the Torah — only a Shevuas Heses. |
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There is a story told about the Baal Shem Tov, that he used to give a lot of tzedakah — more than he could afford. In Usha (one of the places where there was a big yeshiva in the time of the Gemara), there was a takana made that you shouldn’t be mevazvez (spend freely) more than 1/5th of your wealth on tzedakah. The Baal Shem Tov was asked, how can you give more than the amount the Chachomim told you to? The Baal Shem Tov answered, “Mevazvez also comes from the word ‘biza,’ the spoils of a war. With a person who has to fight with himself to give and it’s like a war for him, he shouldn’t give more than a chomeish, 1/5th. “But if someone enjoys giving, why is tzedakah different than any other pleasure, where a person can spend as much as he wants or needs?” The Rebbe adds to this story, that this is even more true when we remember Hashem’s promise, that we can test Him with tzedakah. This will bring even more simcha and taanug into our giving, and we can give as much tzedakah as we want! See Likutei Sichos chelek Alef, p. 169 |
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In the first brachos of Shemoneh Esrei we say praises of Hashem. In the first bracha, we describe Hashem in three ways — HaKeil HaGadol, HaGibor, VehaNora — that Hashem is great, strong, and awesome. In the Gemara there is a story that explains why we say these three praises of Hashem and no other ones: Once, in the shul of Rabi Chanina, a certain person was the Chazan during davening. He added to the Shemoneh Esrei, and praised Hashem using many other words too — Adir, Izuz, Yarui, Chazak, Amitz, Vadai, Nechbad. Rabi Chanina spoke to him after he was finished. He asked him, “Did you finish praising Hashem once you used all of those words? Even if you used many more words you would never be able to praise Hashem as much as Hashem deserves! So why did you add extra words? “We only say the three words Gadol, Gibor, and Nora in Shemoneh Esrei because Moshe Rabbeinu himself said them in the Torah and the Anshei Kneses Hagedolah made them part of the davening! Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to say those praises either. “Imagine if someone was talking about a very rich king, who has thousands and thousands of gold coins. He wants to praise the king, and says that the king has many silver coins. Is that really saying something nice about the king? “All of the words of praise we could think of using about Hashem are like a few silver coins compared to thousands of gold coins! For Hashem’s kavod, we only use the praises that are already written in Shemoneh Esrei.” See Gemara Brachos daf Lamed-Gimmel amud Beis |
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Before we eat any amount of bread, even just a little bit, we need to do Netilas Yodayim, wash our hands. But we only make the bracha Al Netilas Yodayim if we plan to eat at least a kebeitzah of bread. A kebeitzah means the size of an egg, which the Chachomim teach is the size of two olives — kezayis. The way we measure nowadays, this is about two ounces, which is usually the size of one or two slices of bread. Seder Netilas Yodayim L’seudah, se’if Yud-Ches |
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לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
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Do we want Moshiach because then candy will grow on trees? Or because the weather will always be nice? Even though there will be many fun and exciting things that will happen when Moshiach comes, the Rambam tells us that the Chachomim and Neviim didn’t want Moshiach for these kinds of reasons. They didn’t want Moshiach because then the Yidden will be in charge, or so that the Goyim will respect the Yidden. They weren’t excited about Moshiach because then we can eat and drink and be happy. Why did they want Moshiach? Because then we will be able to learn Torah and its wisdom without anything bothering us! See Rambam Hilchos Melachim Perek Yud-Beis, halacha Daled |
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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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