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CHUMASH
Parshas Naso - Shlishi with Rashi
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Now the Torah tells us about the day when the Mishkan was first put up — on Rosh Chodesh Nissan. On this day, the different sections of the camp of the Yidden were also set up, with different levels of kedusha. There were the Machaneh Yisroel, where most of the Yidden camped, Machaneh Leviah, where the kohanim and Leviim camped, and Machaneh Shechinah, where the Mishkan was.
Hashem told Moshe that the Yidden who are tomei with a strong source of Tumah (like Tzoraas, Zav/Zava, and Tumas Meis) need to go outside of where the Yidden are camping in the Midbar, so that the camp will be tahor.
Now Hashem tells Moshe about what happens if a Yid steals and lies to Beis Din that he did not do it. (This isn’t only talking about someone who actually took someone else’s money — it could also be someone who says that he didn’t borrow money when he really did, or is not paying someone who worked for him, or found something someone else lost and is not telling the truth about it.)
If someone did one of these things, and promised in Beis Din that he did not do it, later he might want to do Teshuvah. What does he do? He has to pay back what he stole, PLUS another 1/5. (That’s like giving maaser from that money two times.)
What happens if the person he stole from passed away? Then he should pay back the money to the person’s closest relative.
But what if the person was a Ger Tzedek, and he doesn’t have any relatives (since when someone becomes a Ger, it’s like he’s a new person, and not related to anyone)? Then to do teshuvah, the one who stole has to pay the money to a kohen. He also needs to bring a Korban as a kaparah (forgiveness) for his aveira, like we learned earlier in Chumash.
Hashem also tells Moshe about another thing that needs to go to the kohanim:
The Bikurim that the Yidden bring to the Beis Hamikdash should go to the kohanim. Even though it’s hard to give away our very first fruits to the kohanim, we will get brachos from Hashem to become rich because of this mitzvah. Hashem warns us that if we DON’T give the kohanim what we’re supposed to, then Hashem will only give us as much as we were supposed to have given to the kohanim!
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One of the kapitelach in today’s Tehillim is Kapitel Yud-Tes (19). It tells us that a person can see the greatness of Hashem by looking at the great creations of Hashem, like the Shomayim, and by learning the Torah that Hashem gives to us!
In Posuk Tes, it says “Pikudei Hashem Yesharim, Mesamchei Lev, Mitzvas Hashem Bara Me’iras Einayim,” “What Hashem tells us to do shows us the right way to live, and they make us happy; Hashem’s mitzvos are clear and make us see things clearly!”
On Motzei Shabbos, there is a minhag (which is brought in Shulchan Aruch) to dip our pinkies into the Havdalah wine on the plate, and later put it on our eyes, to show that we love the mitzvah. When the Rebbe would do this minhag, he would say this posuk, “Mitzvas Hashem Bara Me’iras Einayim,” saying how Hashem’s mitzvos make us see things clearly!
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TANYA
Likutei Amarim Perek Nun-Gimmel
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Today we are finishing Sefer Shel Beinonim, also called Likutei Amarim — the first sefer of Tanya!
Today the Alter Rebbe goes back to what we learned in Perek Lamed-Hey, when he brought a mashal from the Zohar, that a Yid is like a candle that burns with oil. We said that the Shechinah that shines on the Yid is like the flame, the oil is the mitzvos, and the body of the person is the wick.
We asked the question: Everything in the world is a mashal for something from Hashem. In Kabbalah and Chassidus, “oil” is a mashal for Hashem’s chochmah, which includes Torah AND mitzvos! So how come the Zohar says that the oil is mitzvos? Why is Torah not enough? We talked about how important mitzvos are, and how special they are. But only today are we going to answer the question!
We learned before that the Shechinah needs to have a cover to be felt in the world, and that cover is chochmah, Torah. Since a Yid wants the Shechinah to shine on his neshama it needs the Torah to make that happen. Then the person can have Hashro’as Hashechinah, that the Shechinah will shine inside of him.
So why does the Zohar say that MITZVOS are the oil?
If a Yid was just a neshama, then Torah would be all the oil we need. That’s how a neshama in Gan Eden works!
But we want the Shechinah to shine on the body of a Yid too! The body of a Yid is like the wick. The way a wick works is that part of it needs to be burned and turned into a flame! That only happens with the bittul a Yid has when he does mitzvos.
Instead of doing what WE want, we do what Hashem wants. Then it’s like we’re “burning” our Yetzer Hara, so the flame of the Shechinah can shine not only on our neshama, but on our body too! (By a tzadik, this “burning” changes the Yetzer Hara to be like a Yetzer Tov — is’hapcha, and by a Beinoni it is forcing the Yetzer Hara to do what Hashem wants in the way we behave— iskafya — this brings Hashem a special nachas, like we said earlier in Tanya!)
When we “burn” our wick by doing what Hashem wants from us even when we don’t want to, when we do mitzvos, then both the neshama AND the body can shine with the light of the Shechinah!
There is a story of a famous chossid, R’ Hillel Paritcher. He was very careful in his mitzvos. In fact, he was so careful that he wouldn’t even sit on a couch because he was worried there might be shatnez in the couch!
Someone asked R’ Hillel why he’s so careful with mitzvos, much more than other people do. R’ Hillel answered that it’s so he can feel and appreciate Hashem and Chassidus. That’s like what we see here — that to feel the Shechinah that shines on a Yid through Torah, we need to make sure that we’re doing all the mitzvos the way Hashem wants.
נשלם חלק ראשון בעזרת ה׳ יתברך ויתעלה
“We have finished the first part of Tanya, with Hashem’s help!”
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Today is forty-seven days of the Omer!
Today starts the Shloshes Yemei Hagbalah, the three days of preparation for Matan Torah. Even though there is a source in halacha for cutting hair starting today, the Rebbe Rashab didn’t like when people did it before Erev Shavuos.
One of the most famous meforshim on Gemara is called Tosfos. In one place in Gemara where it talks about Shavuos, we learn something very important from what Tosfos says!
Shavuos is a very special time. During the time of blowing Shofar on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Hashem confuses the Satan so he can’t say not nice things about the Yidden! On Shavuos also, Hashem confuses the Satan so he can’t make problems for the Yidden!
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In Sefer Hamitzvos today, we learn the mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #19) to thank Hashem after we eat. This is the mitzvah of saying Birchas Hamazon (bentching).
We learn this from a very famous posuk in Parshas Eikev: וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ וּבֵרַכְתָּ אֶת ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ
The details are explained in Mesechta Brachos.
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Perek Alef: The Rambam explains what brachos are, and who made the nusach of the brachos we say. Then the Rambam teaches some general rules about brachos. For example, we learn that lechat’chilah, we should make a bracha in a loud enough voice to hear. We also learn that when we hear a bracha we need to answer Amen!
Perek Beis: In this perek, we learn about Birchas Hamazon, which is the only bracha that is from the Torah. (All other brachos are Miderabanan.) We learn how it is said differently on Shabbos, Yom Tov, and by a chasuna.
Perek Gimmel: We learn about the brachos on foods made from grain. There are five kinds of grain that can make food Mezonos or Hamotzi, depending on how they are prepared.
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The very first halacha in today’s Rambam is that if a city doesn’t have teachers for small children to learn Torah, the city deserves to be destroyed! That’s because the Torah of small children is what makes the world exist!
We also learn rules for teachers: They can’t do other work while they’re teaching, because it distracts them from teaching. A teacher also needs to make sure that his class isn’t too big. A teacher isn’t allowed to get upset at his students if they didn’t understand something.
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In the days before Shavuos we get ready for Shavuos. The Rebbe teaches that in a certain way, GETTING READY for Shavuos have something that is even great than Shavuos itself! How is that?
We see something similar with davening. Shacharis is BEFORE we start our work for the day (learning in Cheder, or taking care of our family, or going to work or shlichus). We are getting ready for the day when we daven Shacharis.
Maariv is AFTER we finished the work of the day. It is quiet and we can think about the past day.
But Mincha is in the middle of the day — we have to stop whatever important things we are doing, and only think about davening to Hashem. When we are able to stop what we are doing and only think about our connection to Hashem, it brings Hashem a lot of nachas! That’s why when Eliyahu Hanavi needed a special bracha, he only got it during mincha time.
The same thing, the Rebbe teaches, is with the Yom Tov of Shavuos. ON Shavuos itself, we are busy with the Yom Tov and the special gift Hashem is giving to us. But the days BEFORE Shavuos are regular workdays! We’re busy with our regular work! So when we stop and think about how to get ready for Shavuos, this brings Hashem a special nachas, just like Mincha does — in some ways even more than on Shavuos, when we are thinking about the Yom Tov and the gift of the Torah that Hashem gives to us!
This teaches us how special the time of preparation for Shavuos is, and how important it is to use out this time properly!
One of the ways the Rebbe told us that children should prepare for Shavuos is to be part of a Shavuos rally!
See Farbrengen Gimmel Sivan 5737
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Really the Chachomim had many other kapitelach of praise to Hashem that they wanted to put in davening. But that would have made the davening much longer! Since working during the week is a very important part of serving Hashem, these kapitelach are not part of davening on a weekday, to give us more time to work.
But on Shabbos, when we have more time to spend on davening and learning, we add 12 kapitelach of Tehillim, along with Ho’aderes Veha’emunah, before Boruch She’amar. This way, we say the many praises of Hashem!
The meforshim explain why these kapitelach specifically were chosen. There are reasons in Niglah and in Kabbalah.
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There are six constant mitzvos, mitzvos that we keep all the time.
The fifth of these mitzvos is “Leyirah Oso,” to have Yiras Shomayim.
In the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explains how to have Yiras Shomayim. The most basic way to feel yirah for Hashem is to think about how Hashem is always with us, and watching everything we do. This will keep us from doing things we know Hashem doesn’t want us to do, and make sure to use every chance we have to do what we are supposed to.
This is the meaning of the posuk “Vehinei Hashem Nitzav Alav,” that we are reminding ourselves how Hashem is carefully looking at whatever we do.
Thinking about this is fulfilling the mitzvah of Leyirah Oso every time it goes through our mind.
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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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When we are davening, we need to think about the basic meaning of what we are saying. In Shemoneh Esrei, we say, “Vesechezenah Eineinu Beshuvcha Letzion Berachamim,” “Our eyes should see how Hashem returns to Yerushalayim with mercy.” We also say, “Es Tzemach Dovid Avdecha Meheira Satzmiach,” “The plant of Dovid Hamelech (Moshiach, who comes from Dovid) should quickly grow, that Moshiach should come very soon.”
When we think about these words, we will ask ourselves a question: “What did I do TODAY to make this happen?”
See Likutei Sichos chelek Chof, p. 384, Chassidim Ein Mishpacha, gilyon Chof-Zayin
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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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