On behalf of those who learn from Chitas for Kids, thank you to our sponsors!

 
 

Those who make this year of learning possible:

 
 

לעילוי נשמת ר׳ יוסף בנימין בן ר׳ מנשה קאלטמאנן
~ by Rabbi Aryeh & Esther Kaltmann ~

a7691251-7218-4c6b-b94e-833d5d6032b4.png

מוקדש לחיזוק ההתקשרות לכ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע נשיא דורנו ~ ע״י ברוך בן רחל ומשפחתו
ולעילוי נשמת אמו מרת רחל בת ר׳ שניאור זלמן יששכר געצל הלוי

a7691251-7218-4c6b-b94e-833d5d6032b4.png

לחיזוק ההתקשרות לכ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע נשיא דורנו
~ by Anonymous ~

 
 
 

Those who make Chitas for the month of Nisan possible:

 
 

לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח הרה״ת הר׳ משה פינחס בן הר׳ אברהם מרדכי הכהן כ״ץ
לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח הרה״ת הר׳ מרדכי בן הר׳ פינחס מענטליק
ולזכות הרה״ח זאב יחזקאל הכהן בן מינדל שי׳ לבריאות הנכונה

לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח אברהם אהרן הלוי בן הוו״ח שניאור זלמן יששכר געציל רובאשקין
ליום היארצייט שלו ט׳ ניסן

The Sachs Family
May they have tremendous bracha and hatzlacha in all they do!

The Kirstein Family
In memory of Avraham HaKohen Kirstein ob”M and Beilah Botwick Kirstein ob”M
May all the righteous return imminently with the arrival of our Moshiach!

The Gaerman Family
L’ilui Nishmas Miriam Necha A”H bas R’ Moshe Sheyichyeh
yartzeit Yud-Daled Nissan

 
 

Click here to sponsor a day of Chitas!

70dad1ac-d962-49b2-ac0e-d0bafaebb537.png

CHUMASH

Parshas Shemini - Shishi with Rashi

In today’s Chumash, we learn which kinds of animals are kosher! An animal that chews its food over and over again (Maaleh Gera, “chews its cud”) and has hooves that are split in half (Mafreses Parsa, “split feet”) is a kosher animal.

There are a few animals that have only ONE of these signs, and they are NOT kosher. One of them is the camel, which chews its cud but doesn’t have split feet. Another is the chazir, which has split feet but does not chew its cud.

We also learn about kosher fish. If a fish has “wings” that it uses to swim with (Snapir, fins) and hard circles over parts of the fish to keep it from getting hurt (Kaskeses, scales), then it is a kosher fish.

When the Torah teaches us about kosher birds, it only tells us which birds are NOT kosher! This is because most birds are kosher, and the Torah only needs to tell us which ones aren’t!

Since nowadays we don’t know the Torah names of all of the birds we see, we can’t be sure that they aren’t the ones that the Torah says not to eat. Because of this, we only eat birds we KNOW are kosher, either because we do know their proper Torah names, or because we know that our Bubbies and Zaidies ate them! (This is called a Mesorah, passed down from generation to generation. For example, one of the birds we don’t know the Torah name of, but we have a Mesorah for, is chicken. Many people also have a Mesorah for turkey.)

There is also a kind of kosher grasshopper (nowadays, only Sefardim eat these).

Touching a dead non-kosher animal makes a person tomei, and it can also make things tomei. They will need to be toiveled in a mikvah to become tahor again.

5bafef1b-215f-4cfc-8300-88a68421ae5e.png

TEHILLIM

79 - 82

In today’s first kapitel, we have a posuk that we say out loud by our Seder! “Shfoch Chamos’cha El Hagoyim Asher Lo Yeda’ucha…” “Hashem, pour out Your anger on the goyim that don’t believe in You!”

It is our minhag to say this paragraph when we are sitting down.

Someone is sent with a candle to open the door, and then says this paragraph there. Everyone else waits for them before continuing the seder.

When the Frierdiker Rebbe was a young boy, his father the Rebbe Rashab told him that the seder is a special time to ask Hashem for good things. He should use this time to ask for Ruchnius, not for Gashmius! He should ask specifically to be a mentch, and especially at the time of Shefoch Chamos’cha.

037aa44b-1c33-419d-a277-d7c77f06ce9a.png

TANYA

Likutei Amarim Perek Mem

The Alter Rebbe is telling us that learning and davening and doing mitzvos by themselves, even though they are what Hashem wants and they are holy, but since we are doing them WITH gashmius, we need to fill it up with Ruchnius so it will go up closer to Hashem.

(Even though the main thing is DOING the mitzvah, we want our mitzvos to also shine and be beautiful, and for that we need to have kavana — to think about how we love Hashem and that we are ready to have Mesiras Nefesh to always be connected to Him.)

Even though love for Hashem is also a mitzvah, the whole point of this mitzvah is to give chayus into the other mitzvos. So it’s only called “wings” for other mitzvos, to make them “fly” up close to Hashem.

b42fcb5b-5fe3-4e74-ab78-350fad9544ae.png

HAYOM YOM

Tes-Zayin Nisan

On the second night of Pesach, we say Kriyas Shema She’al Hamitah like every other night. (On the first night, we skip most of it, since it is Leil Shimurim, and Hashem is watching over us even MORE than usual.)

Before we ask the Mah Nishtana, we say, “Tatteh, Ich Vil Bai Dir Fregen Fir Kashes” — “Tatteh, I am going to ask you four questions.” This is part of the nusach of the Haggadah, and we don’t change it! Just like in bentching, a person also says “Es Avi Mori… Ve’es Imi Morasi” (“Hashem should bentch my father and my mother”), even if their parents are R”L not alive anymore, a person says “Tatteh Ich Vil Bai Dir Fregen,” whether or not his parents are there.

781f9885-f711-422d-b86a-13a300028852.png

SEFER HAMITZVOS

Shiur #324 - Mitzvas Lo Saasei #288

Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #288) is that ONE eid (witness) is not enough — the Beis Din needs to have TWO eidim in order to punish someone. (One eid is enough for the Beis Din to have someone make a shevuah (a strong and special kind of Torah promise), but is not enough of a proof for someone to be punished).

We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Shoftim: לֹא יָקוּם עֵד אֶחָד בְּאִישׁ לְכָל עָו‍ֹן וּלְכָל חַטָּאת

c74a2058-ec63-4c5a-9fa6-ed357d262a3f.png

RAMBAM

Hilchos Eidus

One of the things we learn in Perek Ches is that an eid has to actually REMEMBER what he saw. It is not enough for him to say something he saw in his diary, unless it reminded him and now he does remember. Otherwise, it is like him being an eid based on something his friend told him, which is not true eidus.

In Perek Tes we learn about who is not allowed to be an eid. There are ten kinds of people that can’t be an eid, for example, someone who is related to the person who had to come to Beis Din. A rasha also can’t be an eid, as the Rambam explains in detail in the next perek.

In Perek Yud we start to learn the halachos of tomorrow’s mitzvah, that the Beis Din can’t accept the eidus of a rasha. What is a rasha? Someone who does an aveira that deserves to be given malkos for. A rasha is also a person who steals or wastes his life on games and gambling.

c74a2058-ec63-4c5a-9fa6-ed357d262a3f.png

RAMBAM PEREK ECHOD

Hilchos Aveil - Perek Yud-Alef

In today’s Rambam we learn what to do when there is a simcha at the same time as someone is in aveilus.

icon of clock

INYANA D'YOMA

Lebn Mit Di Tzeit

In Parshas Shemini we learn about the simanim of a kosher animal. The two signs are that it needs to have split hooves (that the animal’s foot has two parts) and chew its cud (that the animal re-chews its food many times).

The Rebbe teaches us that to make sure our Nefesh Habehamis is a “kosher beheimah,” it also needs to have two simanim!

1) Mafreses Parsa - Split hooves: Our Avodas Hashem should be in two ways: Chesed and Gevurah. Many times a person by nature LIKES to be kind, or LIKES to be strict. But we shouldn’t just serve Hashem the way our nature tells us to, but the way HASHEM wants us to! Since Torah sometimes wants us to have Chesed or to have Gevurah, we need to make sure that our Avodas Hashem has both.

2) Maaleh Gera - Chewing its cud: We need to “chew over” our actions, to think about them many times, to make sure we’re doing the things Hashem wants at the right time and in the right way! Even if we thought about it already, we need to be thinking about it again to make sure that we’re doing what we should be doing.

See Likutei Sichos vol. 1, Parshas Shemini

▼ Jump to Coloring Books & Downloads ▼

f95ddc3e-2307-48f8-a76f-754d141db332.png

TEFILLAH

Sefiras Haomer

Today we start a very special mitzvah that we will be doing all the way until Shavuos. This mitzvah is called Sefiras Ha’omer!

Right after Shemoneh Esrei of Maariv, we do this mitzvah, counting the days until Matan Torah. (If we forgot to count in Maariv, we can still count with a bracha until Alos Hashachar.)

This is a mitzvah from the Torah!

Right after experiencing Yetziyas Mitzrayim, we also want to feel how the Yidden felt when they left the tumah of Mitzrayim. They didn’t just leave the tumah, they also counted the days to prepare themselves, making themselves more aidel in order to get the Torah.

We also prepare ourselves day by day during Sefiras Ha’omer to prepare for Matan Torah. We slowly teach our Yetzer Hara how to serve Hashem, through the steps of Sefiras Ha’omer. When we get to Shavuos, we will be much more aidel and ready to receive the Torah!

548e317f-62f8-4b77-a809-78f2f54a6eae.png

HALACHOS HATZRICHOS

Morid Hatal

Pesach is a Yom Tov connected to a season. Pesach always needs to be in the spring. So on the first day of Pesach, in Musaf, we start saying a piece of davening connected to the spring and summer: Morid Hatal. We stop praising Hashem for the rain and start praising Him for dew!

This looks like just two little words in Shemoneh Esrei. But in halacha, these words are very important. We are only allowed to talk about Hashem’s praise for rain in its proper time.

If someone says “Mashiv Haruach U’Morid Hageshem” by mistake, even if he realizes right away, he needs to go back to the beginning of Ata Gibor and say this bracha again.

If someone realizes that he said “Mashiv Haruach U’Morid Hageshem” instead of “Morid Hatal” after saying Hashem’s name in the bracha at the end of this paragraph (“Baruch Ata Hashem Mechayeh Hameisim”), then he has to go back to the beginning of Shemoneh Esrei and say it again.

If someone only realizes before the next tefillah (like Mincha, or Maariv, or Shacharis for the next day), he should daven Shemoneh Esrei twice to make up for his mistake.

What happens if someone wasn’t paying so much attention and can’t remember if he said Morid Hatal or Mashiv Haruach? It depends what his habit is. If it is still less than 30 days since starting to say Morid Hatal, he still has the habit of saying Mashiv Haruach U’Morid Hageshem. We say that he probably still said it, and he needs to daven Shemoneh Esrei again.

But if it is more than 30 days since starting Morid Hatal, his habit is to say Morid Hatal already. He probably said Morid Hatal if he wasn’t paying attention, and he doesn’t have to say Shemoneh Esrei again.

In the first Shemoneh Esrei of Chol Hamoed (in Maariv), we will start saying Vesein Beracha. We will IY”H learn the halachos of those words tomorrow.

See Shevach Hamoadim, dinim of Morid Hatal

לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
שליח כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו למדינת אילינוי

bb1bf02c-b765-412e-987c-1b80a6b4fabb.png

GEULAH U'MOSHIACH

Yetziyas Mitzrayim in the Days of Moshiach

There is an opinion that says that Le’asid Lavo, we will still talk about Yetziyas Mitzrayim. (We say this in the Haggadah.)

Why will we talk about Yetziyas Mitzrayim, if the Geulah from this Golus will be so much greater?

In Mitzrayim, the Yidden were stuck in a lot of tumah. It took an extra special koach from Hashem to pull them out of the tumah at the time of Yetziyas Mitzrayim!

When Moshiach comes, there won’t be any tumah anymore. We won’t need the extra-special help from Hashem to take us away from the Yetzer Hara.

But still, we will want that extra special koach of Hashem! The way we can get it when Moshiach comes is by learning about the time when Hashem used that koach, the time of Yetziyas Mitzrayim! Then we will have that koach of Hashem, in the best way possible, even Le’asid Lavo, after Moshiach comes!

See Maamar Kimei Tzeischa 5742

Coloring Pages and Text Downloads
Booklet Format
Yiddish | Hebrew (A4) | English | Français (A4)
Individual Page Format
Yiddish | Hebrew (A4) | English | Français (A4)
Printable Chitas Summary Text
English | Hebrew (A4)
Glossary
English

לע"נ התינוק זאב ארי' ע"ה בן יבלט"א הרה"ח ר' שניאור זלמן שי' גליק
נפטר ב' מנחם אב ה'תשע"ג

Give children around the world the gift of Kids Chitas!
KidsChitas.org/sponsor