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CHUMASH
Parshas Terumah - Revi'i with Rashi
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In Parshas Terumah, Hashem is telling Moshe Rabbeinu how to build the home for Hashem’s Shechinah to rest, the Mishkan. We learned already about the Aron, Shulchan, Menorah, and Yerios.
Today we will learn about the Kerashim, the boards for the walls of the Mishkan, and how they should be put together.
The Kerashim should be made from tall, narrow pieces of wood covered with gold. They should be attached to each other at the top with square silver pieces. At the bottom, the pieces of the wood should have two pieces sticking out, like a plug, and over those parts there should be silver boxes, adanim, covering them.
Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu exactly how many Kerashim to make to build the walls of the Mishkan.
On the outside of the Kerashim there should be rings. Long bars, called Berichim, should be put through the rings to attach the Kerashim of each wall together.
Another long bar, called the Briach Hatichon, should be put through a hole inside of the Kerashim. This bar would need to be put through the WHOLE wall of the Mishkan — even around the corners! This was actually a big neis!
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Today we start the Tehillim again from the beginning! Today’s kapitelach are Alef through Tes.
In one of today’s Kapitelach there is a posuk which the Rebbe said many times in sichos. This posuk speaks about how important chinuch is, and the koach of Torah and mitzvos of children: “Mipi Olelim Veyonkim Yisadeta Oz” — “from the mouths of children and babies You get koach to destroy the enemies.”
When Yiddishe kinder learn Torah and do mitzvos, they have the koach to destroy all of our enemies — especially those who want to hurt Yidden in Eretz Yisroel, or anywhere else!
You shouldn’t think it’s just older kids — but the words of the posuk mean especially little kids and even babies!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Chof-Tes
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The Alter Rebbe is giving an eitzah for a beinoni, who is on a high level of Avodas Hashem, but can still have something called Timtum Halev.
When a beinoni isn’t inspired to daven and to be connected to Hashem, his Yetzer Hara has become too proud. We learned things he can think about to make himself feel more humble.
Today the Alter Rebbe tells us that there also other things brought in seforim which a beinoni can think about to make himself feel humble. All of these thoughts are important to think about at certain times, especially when the Yetzer Hara makes him feel too proud to have an open heart in Avodas HaTefillah.
The Alter Rebbe also teaches one more thing he should think about which will help the light of the neshama shine in the body:
Even though usually getting angry is a not-good midah, the Chachomim tell us that there is one place we should use our anger. We should get our Yetzer Tov angry with our Yetzer Hara!
The Yetzer Tov should think about how terrible the Yetzer Hara is, which will make it feel angry at the Yetzer Hara! It should use the names that the Chachomim call the Yetzer Hara, so it will be quiet and stop putting foolish thoughts into the mind! The beinoni can tell the Yetzer Hara that it is a Rasha for ignoring that Hashem is right here watching everything we do.
In the Rebbe’s sichos during children’s rallies, the Rebbe teaches us how to fight against the Yetzer Hara. In many of these sichos, you will see that the Rebbe also uses strong language against the Yetzer Hara.
This is another thing that helps us make our neshama stronger!
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Since the Hayom Yom was written in a year where there were TWO Adars (a Shana Me’uberes), and this year there is only one Adar (a Shana Peshutah), we learn TWO Hayom Yoms every day!
Alef Adar Alef
First the Rebbe shows us something about Torah Ohr so we will learn it right: In seforim, there are certain words that are written as Roshei Teivos — like Beis Hey for Boruch Hashem. So there is a Roshei Teivos which usually means one thing, but in today’s Hayom Yom, the Rebbe tells us about one time in Torah Ohr where the same Roshei Teivos stands for different words: (Usually beis-pey-ayin is “Bifnei Atzmo”, but here, where it’s talking about Mesiras Nefesh it stands for “Bepnimius Atzmuso”.)
On Rosh Chodesh, after Shir Shel Yom in davening, we say a kapitel that begins with the words Borchi Nafshi. We bentch Hashem for all of the things He created and the things that happen every day. One of the things we say is that when the sun shines in the morning, the animals that run around all night go to sleep, and that’s when people go out to do their work, until nighttime: “Yeitzei Adam Lefa’alo, V’La’avodaso Adei Arev.”
“Going out to work” doesn’t just mean to do our jobs to make money to be able to live. It also has a meaning in Ruchnius! It is speaking about how the neshama comes down from the place of neshamos in Shomayim, and it comes into this world to do its work. Every neshama has a job to make the world brighter with the light of Torah and mitzvos, and each neshama also has its own specific avodah to do based on its own kochos.
The posuk also tells us that a person has only until nighttime to work, which can mean only while we are alive. Now is the time to do the avodah we were sent to do!
On a deeper level, the posuk is telling us what happens to the neshama BECAUSE of the job it does in the world: When the neshama goes into Gan Eden, it gets a reward based on the work it did in this world. If it set times to learn Torah in this world, it gets to learn Torah in Gan Eden too. If the neshama did its avodah in the world properly, the neshama is rewarded and goes up to a very high level.
Alef Adar Sheini
In Yaaleh Veyavo, which we say on Rosh Chodesh, we say “Zochreinu Hashem Elokeinu BO letovah, ufakdeinu VO livracha.” They have the same letters, but the first time it is said with a Beis and the second time with a Veis.
Something we can learn from this Hayom Yom is to make sure we look inside when we daven so we say all of the nekudos right.
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #236) is the same mitzvah as we learned for the last few days, called Chovel Bachaveiro. If someone hurts another person, the Beis Din makes the person pay a fine (knas) for the damage that they did.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn more halachos about being neighbors.
Perek Yud talks about how we need to be careful about bothering other people in a city. We can’t build something very smelly too close to a city, because everyone will be able to smell it!
Perek Yud-Alef teaches us about not bothering people who live close to us with smelly or noisy things, and what happens if we already built something very smelly or noisy: Do we need to stop using it?
Perek Yud-Beis teaches us the halachos of Ben Hametzer: If someone wants to sell a field, they first need to offer it to their next-door neighbor, because it will be the easiest for them to use it.
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In this perek we learn how things are done in Beis Din. We learn that if someone knows a reason why the psak should be a certain way, he should say so, even if he is worried about what others will think — because the Torah says Midvar Sheker Tirchak! We need to stay away from letting something not true be said.
We learn that the best thing for a Beis Din to do is to try to get both sides to agree to compromise! This is the way of shalom.
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There is a halacha that if a person has a court case with a goy, he should try to push it off until the month of Adar, because there is a good mazal for Yidden in Adar.
The Rebbe tells us that the same is true with the “court case” we have with the “goy” that is inside of ourselves:
What “goy” do we have inside? The Yetzer Hara, of course!
Every day we have court cases with our Yetzer Hara. For example, if Mommy asks us if we washed negel vasser this morning, the Yetzer Hara wants us to say yes even if we didn’t, and the Yetzer Tov wants us to tell the truth. We want to win every time, and during Adar we have a special koach to be successful!
See Shaarei Hamoadim Chodesh Adar
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There are times when we need to look at all the good things we are doing, and remind ourselves that we are working hard to serve Hashem!
But there are other times when it is the right thing to remind ourselves that we are NOT so special, to think things that make us feel humble.
We are supposed to use our heart to daven, and if we are feeling too proud of ourselves, it can make it hard to feel kedusha in our heart. The Yetzer Hara fills it all up and blocks it from thoughts of kedusha.
That is why it is important to think thoughts that make us feel more humble.
For example, a person can think about what is important to him: That he should have enough money, that people should be nice to him, and that he should be healthy. But that is all about Gashmiyus! How is that different than an animal? The only difference is that animals think about hay, and he thinks about bread.
A Yid should be worried about other things that are more important: He should be trying to accomplish more in learning Torah, and to do mitzvos in a more beautiful way.
When we realize that we are not the way we should be, our heart becomes more humble. Then it is ready to feel kedusha and connect to Hashem by davening.
In our davening, there is a section that helps us think this way. Before korbanos, we say a paragraph starting “Le’olam Yehei Adam,” reminding ourselves that we aren’t coming to Hashem because of how special we are. We are coming to daven only with the zechus that we are children of the Avos, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov Avinu, and that we have a neshama like every Yid does.
When we realize that the neshama is the main thing and not the guf, we will set our goal to do things that are good for the neshama, like adding in learning Torah and doing mitzvos, both ourselves and with other Yidden, with Ahavas Yisroel and simcha!
That is what we say in the next paragraph of davening, Ashreinu — how fortunate we are that we are able to connect with Hashem through saying Shema, and through living as a Yid should throughout the day!
See Tanya Perek Chof-Tes through Lamed-Gimmel, Maamar Shemini 5716
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There are many different levels in fulfilling mitzvos. The lowest level is the way the mitzvah is kept beshaas hadchak (in hard circumstances) or bedieved (after the fact), then there is lechat’chila (the ideal way to do it), then being yotzei lechol hadeios (fulfilling the mitzvah in a lechat’chila way according to all opinions), then mehadrin, and the highest level is mehadrin min hamehadrin.
As Chassidim, we try to keep all mitzvos behidur, in the most beautiful way. Part of that hiddur is to make sure that as many Yidden as possible keep the mitzvos (even if THEY can’t do it in the best possible way), especially the mitzvos the Rebbe set up as mivtzoyim!
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For Matanos La’evyonim, we should try to give as much as we can. The minimum we need to give is at least one penny to at least two poor people.
According to halacha, the minimum needs to be at least one perutah for each, and the smallest definition of perutah is one penny. Other opinions say that we need to give at least a nickel or a dime, and there are other opinions that we need to give up to fifty cents.
Other Chachomim say that you should give the worth of a meal to the poor people. There are also opinions on how much money that would be, starting from $2.50 and going up to $7.00.
If we live in a place where we can give the money directly to the poor people, or where an organization can give the money for us on Purim, that is the best way. If we can’t, we can give the money before Purim to an organization that will give it out on Purim, or we can put it aside (like in a pushka) for when we will be able to give it to the poor.
Matanos La’evyonim is done during Purim day, after the Megillah.
From all of the mitzvos of Purim, this is the one we should increase in the most, because there is no greater simcha for Hashem than to bring joy to the people who need it most!
Shalach Manos and Matanos La’evyonim are very easy mitzvos to fulfill, so every man, woman, boy and girl should keep this mitzvah. We should help as many Yidden as possible fulfill the mitzvah on Purim! One practical idea is to bring coins and a pushka with us on mivtzoyim.
See Shevach Hamoadim p. 152, Halachos Uminhagei Chabad p.150-151, farbrengen Chai Elul 5737
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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 today’s Chumash, the posuk describes the poles for the walls of the Mishkan as “Atzei Shitim Omdim,” sticks of wood that were standing upright.
The Gemara explains that this isn’t only talking about the way these poles were set up. The posuk is saying that these poles are “Omdim,” they are standing forever. The Mishkan is not only something that stood in the times of the Midbar, but the walls of the Mishkan will still stand when Moshiach comes!
The Medrash also says that the whole Mishkan is hiding, but we will find it when Moshiach comes, and Hashem will again rest there.
See Gemara Sukkah 45b
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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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