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CHUMASH
Parshas Bo - Chamishi with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, Moshe and Aharon tell the Yidden about the mitzvah of the Korban Pesach.
Moshe and Aharon told the Yidden about the mitzvah Hashem had given them:
The Yidden should take one of their lambs or baby goats, or buy one just for the Korban Pesach. After shechting it before the night of Pesach, they should smear some of the blood on the top and sides of the door frame. The Yidden shouldn’t go outside that night until the morning.
The Yidden will start to keep the Yom Tov of Pesach when they come to Eretz Yisroel! When they will have children who will ask them why they are bringing the Korban Pesach, they should tell them that it is because of the miracle of Hashem skipping over (Pasach) the Jewish homes to save the Yidden during Makas Bechoros.
When the Yidden heard Moshe Rabbeinu tell them about this mitzvah, they bowed to Hashem! They just heard many pieces of good news: They heard that the Geulah is about to happen, that they will go into Eretz Yisroel, and they will have children! They wanted to show their appreciation to Hashem, so they bowed.
The posuk tells us that the Yidden did what Hashem said. Even though they didn’t actually do it yet, since they decided to do it, the Torah considers it as if it was already done.
From this we see the power of a hachlata! Once we decide to do something good, even before we do it, Hashem already considers it like we did it, and rewards us for it!
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Today’s Shiur Tehillim is kapitelach Chof-Gimmel through Chof-Ches.
In today’s Tehillim, there are two pesukim (Kapitel Chof-Hey, pesukim ches and tes) that talk about how Hashem shows us the right way to live. The last words of these pesukim are “VeYelamed Anavim Darko” — “Hashem teaches humble people His path.”
The Rambam says that this is talking about two things that Hashem gives to Yidden to help them do teshuvah and do the right things! Here they are:
1) He sends them Neviim (and Rebbeim) who teach them the ways of Hashem and how to do teshuvah.
2) Hashem makes a person to WANT to do the right thing when they learn about it.
These two things together make it much easier for us to do JUST what Hashem wants!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Yud-Tes
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In today’s Tanya, we learn that even though the chochmah of the neshama could be in Golus by the Yetzer Hara, it can’t be completely in Golus. There’s something that can happen which will wake it up!
As we learned yesterday in Tanya, the chochma of the neshama which only wants to be connected to Hashem can sometimes be sleeping in a Yid — which can Chas Veshalom let him do an Aveira!
We also learned before that even poshute Yidden will overcome a test in their Yiddishkeit that is about if they believe in Hashem. How can they do that if the chochma is sometimes asleep?
The reason why a person can ever do an aveira is because the chochma is asleep, and not reminding the person that aveiros are narishkeit!
But when it comes to a nisayon in Emunah, it’s like poking the Emunah! And where does the Emunah come from? The Chochma of the Neshama! What happens when you poke something? It wakes up! So a nisayon in emunah wakes up the chochma of the neshama. With that koach, a person is only ready to do what Hashem wants.
The Chochma of the Neshama is so strong that when it’s awake, the person can’t even say or do something that doesn’t show Emunah — like to bow to an idol even if he doesn’t believe in it, or say something that sounds like he doesn’t believe in Hashem, even if he doesn’t mean it.
So the chochmah of the Neshama can be in Golus, which will allow a Yid to do an aveira. But when it comes to a nisayon in emunah, the chochmah of the neshama wakes up and becomes active, ready to act with Mesiras Nefesh for Hashem!
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In today’s Hayom Yom, we learn the inyan of Golus Mitzrayim and Yetziyas Mitzrayim in Ruchnius!
In the last few parshios in Chumash, we learned how hard it was for the Yidden in Mitzrayim. They were slaves who had to work very hard, and couldn’t behave the way they wanted to.
Finally, Hashem made big nissim with the Makos, and in Parshas Bo, the Yidden come out of Mitzrayim!
In each one of us today, we also have “Yidden” suffering in “Mitzrayim,” and “Yetziyas Mitzrayim.” Our neshamos are like the Yidden. The neshama wants to act in a certain way, to always be connected to Hashem and do what He wants (like we are learning in Tanya).
But the Nefesh Habehamis doesn’t want the neshama to be that way — it wants to live like “Mitzrayim,” to do things that are fun and make it happy, even if it’s not what Hashem wants. That makes the neshama feel like it’s still in Mitzrayim!
So how does it get out? Like we learned in Tanya, a beinoni has a special koach to use his mind, the place of the neshama, to tell the heart how to feel and the body how to act — Moach Shalit Al Halev. When a Yid does that, he gets out of Mitzrayim!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #266) is that we aren’t allowed to even think about how much we like something that belongs to another person, and to let ourselves feel jealous of it.
We learn this from a posuk in Parshas Va’eschanan, from the way Moshe Rabbeinu chazered the Aseres Hadibros in Chumash: וְלֹא תִתְאַוֶּה בֵּית רֵעֶךָ
The Torah tells us that thinking about how jealous we are of someone else’s things is an aveira, and it will bring us to do other aveiros! We will start wanting it so much that we will figure out ways to get it. Either it will make us do the aveira which we learned yesterday, of convincing the other person to sell or trade it to us. Or else, if he doesn’t agree, it will make us take it from him by force, which is the aveira of robbing!
The Rambam tells us to think about an example of this from Navi, with King Achav and the field of Navos:
Achav was one of the kings of Yisrael, who lived during the times of the first Beis Hamikdash. One of the main Neviim of his time was Eliyahu Hanavi.
Next to Achav’s palace was a beautiful vineyard that belonged to a man named Navos. Achav liked this vineyard very much, and decided that it would be a perfect place for him to plant a garden, since it was so close to his palace. One day, he tried to convince Navos to sell it to him, but Navos refused. Achav tried to trade the vineyard for a better field somewhere else, but Navos didn’t want to do that either. He had gotten the vineyard as a yerusha from his father, and he didn’t want to give it up.
Achav went home in a very bad mood. His wicked wife, Izevel, saw that something was making Achav upset, and asked him what was wrong. When Izevel heard that Navos didn’t want to let Achav have his field, she got upset too! “You are the king! You can have whatever you want! Don’t be sad, because I will make sure to get the field for you.”
Izevel arranged that two false witnesses would say that Navos had said things against Hashem and against Achav. For this kind of aveira, a person deserves to be killed with Sekilah, being stoned.
Once Navos was killed, Izevel went to Achav and told him happily that now he could have the vineyard.
Eliyahu Hanavi came to Achav and told him that because of this aveira, he did not deserve to be king. He would be killed and not even get buried with kavod.
When Achav heard this, he felt very bad. He tore his clothes and did teshuvah.
Hashem then told Eliyahu Hanavi that because of his teshuvah, Achav himself would not be punished, but his melucha would not last.
From this story of Achav and Navos, we see that since Achav was busy thinking about how much he wanted the field (the aveira of Lo Sisaveh), it led him to try to get Navos to sell it to him (the aveira of Lo Sachmod), and finally, when he couldn’t get it that way, he took it by force (the aveira of Lo Sigzol) — and even worse.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Gezeilah VaAveidah
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In today’s Rambam, we will finish learning about gezeilah, and start to learn about Hashovas Aveidah!
Perek Yud: One of the things we learn is what happens if a person robbed a field and then fixed up part of it, or planted or built something there.
Perek Yud-Alef teaches us the halachos about Hashovas Aveidah, returning something that someone lost. Keeping someone from losing money or property is also part of the mitzvah of Hashovas Aveidah!
Perek Yud-Beis explains what we do if WE will lose money by keeping someone else from losing money. There are times we get paid for what we lost. We also learn that if we DON’T lose money or time, we can’t ask for money for doing the mitzvah.
Let’s say a person is walking down the street with a jar of honey, and then his jar cracks and the honey starts to spill! “Oh no! My honey is all going to spill on the ground!” he cries.
“Don’t worry,” says someone else near him. “I have empty jars! You can put your honey in my jar.”
“Oh, thank you, thank you!” says the honey person.
“But you’ll need to pay me half of your honey for using my jar!” says the empty jar person.
“Fine, just save my honey!” says the honey person.
Really the honey person DOESN’T need to pay him half of his honey. Because it is a mitzvah to help someone, and the other person’s jar was empty anyway! Even though the honey person said he will pay, the jar person only gets paid for the time he spent helping.
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In this perek, we learn that we are not allowed to change who is supposed to get the yerusha! A person can give away some of his property as a present, but he can’t say “my son ________ shouldn’t get a part of the yerusha.”
The Chachomim teach us that it is NOT a good thing to give away all of a person’s property to keep the children from getting a part of the yerusha.
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In yesterday’s Chumash, Revi’i of Parshas Bo, we learned that Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu about the mitzvah of Korban Pesach, and in today’s Chumash, Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden about it. On the tenth day of Nissan, the Yidden should take a sheep and tie it to their bed. They should keep the sheep there until Yud-Daled Nissan, when they will shecht it as the Korban Pesach. That means that the sheep would be there for four days!
Why did Hashem make them keep the sheep for four days? Why couldn’t they just get a sheep right before shechting it, or just prepare it the day before?
The Rebbe explains in a sicha (on a Rashi in this week’s Chumash) that this mitzvah was very important for the Yidden, so that they will be ready for the Geulah!
While the Yidden were in Mitzrayim, they were bare of mitzvos. Hashem wanted to give them mitzvos, so that they will deserve the Geulah. Hashem gave them two important mitzvos, one in Sur MeiRa, and one in Asei Tov.
1) The first mitzvah Hashem gave the Yidden was Dam Milah, the blood of the Bris Milah. This mitzvah shows the connection a Yid has to Hashem, even in his body. That is what they needed for Asei Tov.
2) The second mitzvah was the mitzvah of Dam Pesach, the blood of the Korban Pesach. This mitzvah showed that the Yidden were not serving Avodah Zarah, even though the Mitzriyim worshiped sheep. This is what the Yidden needed for Sur MeiRa, to separate themselves from the Avodah Zarah they were attached to in Mitzrayim.
But why did they have to do the mitzvah for FOUR days?
We learn from the Akeidah that four days is enough time to think something through, and make sure that we understand what we are doing. When Hashem gave Avraham Avinu the mitzvah of the Akeidah, it took three days after he got the mitzvah for him to get there, so that the mitzvah could only be done on the fourth day. This way, the Satan would not be able to argue that Avraham was just confused and didn’t have time to properly think about what he was doing.
Here too, since the Yidden would take the sheep for FOUR days, it would show that they really understood that they didn’t want to serve Avodah Zarah, and they only wanted to serve Hashem! This way they would really be ready to leave Mitzrayim.
This is also a lesson which teaches us how important it is to do mivtzoyim! Every Yid needs to come out of Golus, so we need to make sure every Yid deserves it. We see that it only took two mitzvos for the Yidden to deserve to come out of Mitzrayim! When we go on mivtzoyim, we are giving Yidden a chance to do even just one or two mitzvos, so that every Yid will deserve the Geulah!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Tes-Zayin, Parshas Bo (p. 114)
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In the middle brachos of Shemoneh Esrei, we ask Hashem for our needs.
In the first half of these brachos, we ask for things that each Yid needs personally. Then in the second half, we ask for things that Klal Yisroel needs to have.
In the bracha of Refo’einu, we ask Hashem to give us health. If someone is sick, chas veshalom, we ask that Hashem should give him a Refuah Sheleimah!
The Sefer “Reishis Chochmah” writes that when we say Refo’einu, it is not just a time to ask Hashem for health of the body. We also should ask Hashem to be healthy emotionally and B’ruchnius. Just like a person might not feel well because of a sickness in his body, a person might also have an illness in his emotions and feelings, or in his Ruchnius. We ask Hashem to be healthy in ALL of these ways, so we can serve Hashem properly!
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It is a mitzvah to make Kiddush on Friday night. But what happens if someone didn’t or can’t?
For example, let’s say someone fell asleep right after Licht Bentchen, and didn’t wake up until the next morning, or someone was in the hospital and wasn’t able to make Kiddush. Did they miss the mitzvah?
Actually, there is something they can do to make up for missing the Friday night Kiddush!
The Kiddush on Friday night has three parts: Vayechulu, Borei Pri Hagafen, and the bracha Mekadeish HaShabbos. We only say Vayechulu on Friday night, because it speaks about Friday night. But after we make Hagafen in the Kiddush of Shabbos day, we can make up for the Friday night Kiddush by saying the paragraph ending Mekadeish HaShabbos!
See Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch siman Reish-Ayin-Alef, se’if Tes-Zayin
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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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Many tzadikim chose to live in the holy land of Eretz Yisrael, where it is easiest to learn Torah and work on personal Avodas Hashem.
Other tzadikim chose to live in quiet towns and villages, away from the noisy and busy big cities, so it would be easier to learn Torah and Chassidus, and to work on avodah.
But the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe acted differently. They chose to live outside of Eretz Yisroel in big, noisy cities full of people — like New York.
Why?
The Rebbe explained that this is because we need to get ready for the Geulah!
When the Yidden were getting ready to come out of Mitzrayim, Hashem gave them a mitzvah to do, so they would deserve to come out. Before the Geulah, we want to help every Yid be ready to come out of Golus! We do this by giving them a chance to do a mitzvah.
The best place to do this is by starting in a place where there are lots of Yidden! We can help all of the Yidden in the big city to do a mitzvah through our mivtzoyim. From there, through shlichus we can spread out to all of the cities and towns in the world, so that EVERY Yid will deserve the Geulah Sheleimah!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Tes-Zayin, parshas Bo (Gimmel), end of sicha and haaros
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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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