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CHUMASH
Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei - Chamishi with Rashi
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Today Betzalel and Oholiav make the Efod and the Choshen Mishpat — exactly the way Hashem told Moshe to!
We learned how these things are made in Parshas Tetzaveh, when Hashem gave the instructions to Moshe Rabbeinu. In today’s Chumash we learn how the Yidden actually make them.
There is a very important lesson we can learn from today’s Chumash, that when we have a feeling of inspiration and excitement in kedusha, we need to connect it right away with maaseh, with something practical!
We learn this from the two begadim of the Kohen Gadol that we learn about in today’s Chumash:
The Choshen was worn over the heart of the Kohen Gadol. The inyan of the Choshen is feelings of the heart.
The Efod was an apron, which covered the Kohen Gadol’s back and hung down over his legs. The back and the legs are what make us move and get things done, which is the inyan of maaseh.
The Torah tells us that the Choshen and the Efod need to always be connected!
In our Avodas Hashem too, our “Choshen,” our feelings of inspiration and excitement need to always be connected to our “Efod,” our maaseh. Whenever we have a feeling that we want to feel closer to Hashem, or we feel excited about a mitzvah, we need to right away make a practical hachlata and start doing it as best as we can!
That way our feelings won’t just stay as feelings, or disappear, they will really help us accomplish the shlichus each of us have. (See sicha Chof-Alef Adar 5748 and Chof-Hey Nisan 5751)
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Today’s kapitelach are Kuf-Ches through Kuf-Yud-Beis.
In Kapitel Kuf-Tes, Dovid Hamelech says “Ki Oni Ve’evyon Anochi, VeLibi Cholal BeKirbi.” “I am like a poor person, and my heart is empty inside of me.”
What does Dovid Hamelech mean?
The Gemara explains that Dovid Hamelech was saying that HALF of his heart is empty — the part where the Yetzer Hara usually is!
In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe teaches that that’s what a Tzadik means — someone who doesn’t have a Yetzer Hara.
Most of us DO have a Yetzer Tov AND a Yetzer Hara, and we have to fight all the time for the Yetzer Tov to win.
Now we are learning in Tanya that even though a beinoni always has a Yetzer Hara that he needs to deal with, he shouldn’t be upset because his avodah is really doing the same thing as a tzadik’s avodah — making a place for the Shechinah to shine and bringing Moshiach!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Lamed-Zayin
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We learned in the last perek that when Moshiach comes, Elokus will be revealed in the world, just like at the time of Matan Torah. In this perek, the Alter Rebbe will show us that the mitzvos we do in the time of Golus is what makes this happen!
If you look around the room, you will see lots of kinds of things. Chairs, or couches, tables, toys, food, papers… These kinds of things get their chayus from Kelipas Noga, like a kind of “peel” that blocks it from kedusha. This is what makes it possible for there to be Golus, where kedusha is hidden.
When we do a mitzvah, it makes some of the light of Hashem come into the world — into the things we used to do the mitzvah! Now instead of getting chayus from kelipah, they get chayus from kedusha! Now these Gashmius things in the world become part of kedusha and are able to shine with Hashem’s light!
Even though we will be able to SEE this only when Moshiach comes, it is already shining now with the mitzvah that we did!
This helps us understand what the Chachomim say, “Sechar Mitzvah Mitzvah” — the reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah. The Alter Rebbe tells us that the reward is the mitzvah itself! The reward is the Geulah, when the light of Hashem will shine in this world! The mitzvah that we did is making the reward of the Geulah happen — the light of Hashem that shines in the world, in a place that used to be kelipah!
In fact, this doesn’t only happen with Gashmius’dike things that we use for a mitzvah. It also happens with our own Nefesh Habehamis! When we use the koach of our body to do a mitzvah, our Nefesh Habehamis is helping us. Since we used it to do a mitzvah, the light of Hashem also shines in it! This way, even our Nefesh Habehamis becomes part of Kedusha!
This helps us understand something that it says in the Gemara:
The Gemara says that if a person uses all of his energy to say words of Torah, he won’t forget it. If not, he will forget it.
Why is this? Forgetting comes from the kelipah of the guf. But when we make the kelipah of the guf weaker by using all of our koach in the words of Torah and Tefillah, then the kelipah isn’t there anymore to make us forget! That kelipah has become part of kedusha too!
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The Hayom Yom was written for a year where there were TWO Adars (a Shana Me’uberes). This year there is only ONE Adar (a Shanah Peshutah), so we learn BOTH Hayom Yoms every day!
Chof-Gimmel Adar Alef
This Hayom Yom is from a letter the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote to a Rav who was feeling bad. He lived in America, and felt like he wasn’t accomplishing anything with the American Jews who he felt were not interested in Yiddishkeit. The Frierdiker Rebbe gave him an eitzah of what to do, and also this hora’ah about how he should think about himself:
The Rabbonim are the heads of the Yidden. Just like in a body, the head needs to be healthy for the rest of the body to be healthy, when the Rabbonim are strong and healthy b’Ruchnius, this will affect the rest of the Yidden as well.
Chof-Gimmel Adar Sheini
This Hayom Yom also talks about a Rav’s job:
A Rav has a very big responsibility! He can help so many people to do mitzvos… but if he tells them to do the wrong thing, he can make many people do an aveira, Chas Veshalom.
Being Mezakeh Es HoRabim, helping many people do a mitzvah, is a TREMENDOUS thing! It is a huge mitzvah!
But making many people do the wrong thing is a TERRIBLE aveira.
A Rav needs to recognize how every decision is a very big deal, and take his responsibility very seriously!
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In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn ANOTHER mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #237) about ribbis: It’s not only asur to LEND, or to BORROW with Ribbis, you can’t do ANYTHING to help a loan with ribbis! You can’t:
1) be an arev — guarantee the loan (say that you’ll pay it back if the other person doesn’t)
2) be an eid — witness the loan (watch them making the loan so it will be a real loan)
3) be a sofer — write down the loan (record it to show that it really happened).
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We are learning Sefer Mishpatim, which means arguments and judgments between people. One common reason for an argument in Beis Din is if someone borrowed money from another person, and did not pay it back. There are many perakim which explain the halachos of loans, which we are learning about now.
In Perek Chof-Beis of today’s Rambam, we learn about how the Beis Din collects money from someone who didn’t pay on time. We sometimes give the person more time to pay, but if he still doesn’t, the Beis Din writes an “adrachta.” With an adrachta, the person who lent the money is allowed to take away property from the person who borrowed the money, in order to pay back the loan.
Perek Chof-Gimmel has halachos about when we say that a shtar doesn’t count. If it is ripped or smudged, it is fine as long as we can still read it. We learn that the Beis Din tears a shtar in a certain way — ripping it into 4 pieces. If a shtar is ripped that way, the shtar doesn’t mean anything anymore!
In Perek Chof-Daled, we learn about the names on the shtar. It has to be clear who the people written on the shtar are, or else the Beis Din can’t take away the money from them.
So what happens if there are a few people with the same name in one city? How can they write a shtar that shows that they borrowed or lent money? How would we know which one the shtar is talking about?
The halacha is that they need to write their grandparents’ names, so we can tell them apart. And if their grandparents’ names are the same too, then they need to say their GREAT-grandparents’ names on the shtar!
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In this perek we learn halachos about Eidim Zomemim. Eidim Zomemim are when there are witnesses that come to prove that other witnesses are lying!
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This week we read Parshas Hachodesh. This parsha talks about the very first mitzvah the Yidden got from Hashem the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh! It also has the mitzvah of the Korban Pesach, which the Yidden should take on the 10th of the month, and bring it on the 14th. We read it every year before Pesach to remember this special mitzvah!
Nowadays, we can’t actually bring the Korban Pesach. But we still talk about it and lein about it in the Torah! We show Hashem that even though we can’t keep this mitzvah now, we WANT to! As we see from this story, even when we can’t do a mitzvah, when we show Hashem that we wish we could, it is very precious in the eyes of Hashem.
Many many years ago, the cruel Russian Czar made a terrible new decree. He kidnapped young Jewish children, some just five years old, and took them to be part of the Russian army.
The poor children were beaten and forced to listen to the army officers. They couldn’t keep kosher or Shabbos. They couldn’t wear a yarmulka or tzitzis. Many of them could hardly remember anything about Yiddishkeit, since they were taken away from their homes when they were so young.
It was a very sad time for the Yidden.
The Mitteler Rebbe spoke about these young soldiers, called Cantonists. The Mitteler Rebbe said how precious each of their mitzvos are to Hashem.
The Mitteler Rebbe said that when they keep the mitzvos that they CAN do with a full heart and the best way they can, and when they feel bad about the mitzvos they CAN’T keep right now, which shows how much they want to do them, Hashem is so happy with their Avodah!
Many years later, the Rebbe spoke again about the Cantonists.
It was during a very hard time in Russia. The Russian government wanted to stop all Yidden from keeping Torah and mitzvos! They would force children to come to the public schools, where they would teach them not to believe in Hashem, chas veshalom. They did not let Yidden learn Torah or celebrate the Yomim Tovim.
Many Yidden tried to do these things secretly. They were sometimes able to learn a little bit of Torah, or to get a chance to put on Tefillin. They tried to keep their children home from school on Shabbos. But there were so many mitzvos that they couldn’t keep!
The Rebbe said that just like with the Cantonists, the Yidden in Russia should know that Hashem is so happy with their Avodah! When they keep the mitzvos that they CAN do with a full heart, and they feel bad about the mitzvos that they are NOT able to do, which shows how much they WANT to do them, then it is very precious to Hashem!
During the time of Golus, we are also not able to keep all of the mitzvos in the best way.
But we know that just like with the Cantonists, our Avodah is very special to Hashem! When we keep the mitzvos we CAN do with a full heart, and we feel bad about the mitzvos that we CAN’T do right now, which shows how much we really care about the mitzvos, we are making Hashem very happy!
See maamar Parshas Yisro Tof-Shin-Chof-Daled
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TEFILLAH
Building Bitachon Through Davening
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Bitachon is part of the way we connect to Hashem.
One of the main times we make that connection with Hashem stronger is during davening. We spend time thinking about and working on our love, fear, and trust in Hashem.
We think about things that help us realize how much it makes sense to trust in Hashem. This way, we will feel it too!
One thing we think about is to realize that nothing in the world has any koach of its own. Everything is from Hashem!
When we understand this, we won’t be scared of anything! Nothing in the world can do anything to us unless Hashem wants it to. We also don’t need to trust in anyone or anything else — they can only help us if Hashem wants them to!
One of the places we can think about this is in Pesukei Dezimra. One of the pesukim we say is, “Al Tivtechu Bindivim, Beven Adam She’ain Lo Seshuah.” “Don’t trust in donors, in a person who doesn’t really have help.” His help isn’t HIS! It is Hashem helping you, through that person! We realize that it only makes sense to trust in Hashem.
See Chovos Halevavos, Shaar Habitachon, perek Gimmel
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On Pesach, many people keep extra hiddurim because of how serious the issur of chometz is on Pesach. We are learning some of the hiddurim which are often kept in Chabad.
Of course, if someone takes on a new hiddur, they should do it Bli Neder.
It is written in Sefer Hatishbi that some people are careful not to even speak about chometz on Pesach! Once, on Pesach, someone told the Rebbe that a certain room had chometz in it. The Rebbe said that it is better not to talk about that on Pesach!
Some are careful not to use food that fell on the floor during Pesach, and some will use it only after it is peeled.
Many people don’t use keilim that fall on the floor during Pesach. They set them aside until the next year.
See Halachos Uminhagei Chabad p. 183–185
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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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The Gemara in Sanhedrin says that Moshiach will come “Behesech Hadaas,” which means when we don’t think about it or when we don’t expect it.
But we need to be thinking about Moshiach all the time! In davening, we say “Lishuascha Kivinu Kol Hayom,” “We hope that Hashem will save us all day!”
One explanation is that Moshiach will come at a time when we think it really doesn’t make sense. Like when we compare our generation to the tzadikim of many years ago, we might think that Moshiach can’t come now!
But ESPECIALLY now, when we might think that our dor really doesn’t deserve for Moshiach to come — this is the BEST time for Moshiach to come, Behesech Hadaas — when we expect it least!
See Likutei Sichos vol. 10, p. 172
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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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