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CHUMASH
Parshas Behaalosecha - Shishi with Rashi
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The Yidden start to travel, and the Erev Rav complain about the traveling and about the Mahn! Moshe Rabbeinu chooses 70 new Zekeinim to help lead the Yidden.
When the Yidden were about to travel, and the Kohanim who carried the Aron started to go, Moshe would ask Hashem to keep the Yidden safe. (We know this posuk, because we say it before we open the Aron Kodesh in Shul!) “Vayehi Binsoa HaAron...” And when the Kohanim put the Aron down where they were staying, Moshe would ask Hashem to rest among the Yidden.
Like we said yesterday, the Yidden went in one day what usually takes THREE days to go! The Yidden should have been very happy! But the Erev Rav weren’t happy about all of the mitzvos they had to do, and they were looking for a reason to kvetch so they could have an excuse not to do mitzvos. They said they were too tired from going so far.
Hashem was not happy about their complaining, and a fire came from Hashem to punish them. (The Shivim Zekeinim (70 older chachomim) also passed away then, for a different reason — because of something that happened at the time of Matan Torah.) Some of the Erev Rav asked Moshe to daven for them, and the fire stopped. Moshe called that place Taveira, which means a fire.
The rest of the Erev Rav didn’t learn their lesson, though — they also started complaining, and other Yidden complained with them too. They said they wanted meat (even though they had plenty of animals with them that they could have shechted). They complained that they miss eating fish in Mitzrayim without having any mitzvos to keep. They complained about the Mahn which tasted like almost every food, except foods that weren’t healthy for babies. They said that they wanted THOSE foods, and that they were bored of mahn!
Even though THEY complained about the mahn, the Torah tells us about how the mahn was really very special! What was the mahn like? It was like a round white ball, so it was easy to hold and easy to find. It tasted like a kind of danish, but if they wanted it could taste like (and feel like) any other kind of food! Hashem would make the man fall on the dew (like a very light rain that falls in the morning) so it would be clean.
Hashem heard the Yidden complaining about the mahn, and also complaining that Hashem didn’t let them marry whoever they wanted. Hashem was not happy about this complaining either!
Moshe was also upset. He said, “How can I take care of all of the Yidden by myself, without the Shivim Zekeinim (who passed away from the fire)? How am I supposed to give the Yidden meat?”
Hashem told Moshe that He would send the Yidden meat, but they would die if they ate it. Hashem also told Moshe to pick 70 new Zekeinim to help lead the Yidden.
So Moshe picked 70 new Zekeinim: He picked 6 people from each Shevet, and then did a goral to see which ones would be the Zekeinim. Hashem gave the Zekeinim the koach to say Nevuah!
Two of these Zekeinim, Eldad and Meidad, didn’t feel like they deserve the job, but Hashem gave them the Koach of Nevuah anyway. They said a nevuah that Moshe wouldn’t go into Eretz Yisroel, but that Yehoshua would do it instead.
Yehoshua was very upset when he heard this, but Moshe said that he wishes ALL the Yidden would be Neviim!
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In Kapitel Kuf-Gimmel, the posuk says “Kerachem Av Al Banim, Richam Hashem Al Yereiav” — “The same way a father has Rachmanus on his children, Hashem has Rachmanus on those who have Yiras Shomayim.” Here is a story connected with these words:
Once when the Frierdiker Rebbe was a young boy, he was at a farbrengen with his father, the Rebbe Rashab. It was Sukkos, and the farbrengen was in the freezing cold Sukkah. The farbrengen went until very late, and the Frierdiker Rebbe fell asleep.
Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah (the Frierdiker Rebbe’s mother) came to take him into his warm bed, but the Rebbe Rashab said to let him stay! The Rebbetzin said, “It is cold for him! Doesn’t it say, ‘Kerachem Av Al Banim’ — ‘Hashem has Rachmanus on us like a FATHER has Rachmanus on his child’? Where is your Rachmanus for your son? It’s cold for him!”
The Rebbe Rashab answered, “Let him sleep close to Chassidim that are farbrenging, and that will keep him warm! This varemkeit (warmth) will stay with him for many generations.” (A farbrengen can make the neshama warm and full of chayus — and that feeling can last for a very long time!)
Many years later, the Frierdiker Rebbe told this story at a farbrengen with Chassidim. After the story, he said, “This is Mesirus Nefesh for Chinuch!”
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TANYA
Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah Perek Zayin
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Today we learn about Yichudah Ila’ah.
So far we learned about three midos of Hashem. Hashem is called by three names, which are connected to each of these midos.
- Havaya is Chesed
- Elokim is Gevura
- Ad-nay is Malchus
It is Sheim Havaya (Hashem’s Chesed) that make Hashem want to make a world for us. Sheim Elokim (Hashem’s Gevurah) is what makes Hashem hide the chayus so we can live. But Hashem actually MAKES the world (Yeish Me’Ayin) using Sheim Ad-nay, Malchus.
What is the world? The world is TIME and PLACE, that things take time, and that things take up space. This comes from the name of Hashem Ad-nay. The other names of Hashem are from a place in Kedusha where there is no such thing as “time” and “space”!
What happens when you have two names together? Both things are there! So when the name Ad-nay is together with the name Havaya, the time and place of the world is connected with what’s higher than time and place. That’s Yichuda Ila’ah!
A Yid’s neshama is able to connect to Hashem in a way of Yichuda Ila’ah, and even feel it in their avodah!
Imagine you are in your house, far away from New York, watching a video of a Farbrengen. You could feel like you are in 770, while the Farbrengen is happening — even though you are really in your house far away, and it isn’t the year when the farbrengen happened!
But really, in Ruchnius, the words said at the farbrengen are always there. So when you are watching that farbrengen and feel like you’re there — you really are! You are connecting to the Farbrengen in a way of Yichuda Ila’ah — connecting to the chayus of Hashem that is HIGHER than time and place.
The Avodah connected to Yichuda Ila’ah is when even in the world (which is created with the Sheim Ad-nay) we feel Hashem in a way of Havaya — feeling Hashem in a way that is HIGHER than time and place.
Sometimes when we daven, especially on a special day like Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Yud-Tes Kislev, Yud Shevat, or Gimmel Tammuz, we can feel connected to Hashem in a way that we forget we’re standing in shul, we forget how long we are standing for... we feel Hashem in a way that is HIGHER than time and place!
That is feeling Yichuda Ila’ah.
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Every Chossid serves Hashem in his own special way. The way he thinks, feels, and acts fits with his own special avodah.
When a Chossid goes into Yechidus for the first time, the Rebbe sees the avodah of his neshama. The words the Rebbe tells him help him understand what his avodah is supposed to be for his entire life. For the rest of his life, he tries to think, feel, and act according to the Rebbe’s words!
There is something each of us can learn from this Hayom Yom:
The truth is that the Rebbe didn’t need to have a private Yechidus with someone in order to give him horaos. The Rebbe said many times to Chassidim who had questions, that he already answered them during the farbrengen.
In the later years, the Rebbe stopped private Yechidus with Chassidim, and started Yechidus Klalis, which was like a sicha said to a group of Chassidim. (For example, the Rebbe would have a yechidus for all of the Chasanim and Kallos getting married soon, or all the boys and girls about to become Bar or Bas Mitzvah.) In this sicha, the Rebbe would give horaos and brachos for each of those Chassidim. Many times the Rebbe would speak about how being together with other Chassidim in a group brings even more bracha for each Chossid!
Today there are many sichos and videos constantly being published or shared. When we watch them or learn them, we can find the special horaos the Rebbe is giving to us, to guide us in our shlichus to bring Moshiach.
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Today we review a mitzvah we learned before (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #320): We are not allowed to do any of the kinds of work called melacha on Shabbos.
In Rambam we are learning about Eiruvin, which is Miderabanan — it doesn’t have a mitzvah from the Torah of its own. Since the time we need an eiruv is on Shabbos, during this set of halachos, we review some of the mitzvos of Shabbos.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Yisro: לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה כָל מְלָאכָה
The details are explained in Mesechta Shabbos.
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In today’s Rambam, Perakim Gimmel, Daled, and Hey, we are learning about an Eruv, but not the kind of eruv we usually think about — it’s not an Eruv around your backyard!
The kind of Eruv we’re learning about right now is called an Eruv Chatzeiros. It shows that even though there are many families in a certain place, they are joining together as one group. If a few families live in an apartment building, they might need this kind of eruv to carry in the hallways.
How do we make an Eruv Chatzeiros?
Everyone gives some food, and then one person makes a bracha “Al Mitzvas Eruv” and then says that everyone can carry things from one person’s house to another.
In today’s third perek we also learn about something called “Shitufei Mevuos.” This means a “partnership for a street.” Cities used to have many streets called a “Mavui.” Each Mavui had a few courtyards, Chatzeiros, and each Chatzer had a few houses inside. The Rambam teaches us how all of the families living on the same Mavui could make themselves partners so they could carry within their own street.
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In Perek Yud-Beis, we learn about how a Jewish man or boy can’t cut off his beard or peyos!
Mazel Tov! We have now finished learning this set of halachos.
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The Rebbe tells us that each one of the Rebbeim had a certain inyan, that was connected with the Avodah of their generation and was their Ruchnius level. They would be involved in it themselves, and expect their Chassidim to be involved in it too.
For example, the Alter Rebbe expected his Chassidim to have Avodas Halev, to serve Hashem with Ahava and Yirah, as explained in Tanya and the maamarim and Igros Kodesh of the Alter Rebbe.
The Mitteler Rebbe expected his Chassidim to have Avodas Hamoach, to understand and think about the deepest inyonim of Chassidus all the time, so that they would even come up in regular discussions.
The Mitteler Rebbe said that he hopes that when Chassidim meet each other in the street, they will talk about deep things in Chassidus, like Yichuda Ila’ah and Yichuda Tata’ah!
These are the inyonim which we are learning a little bit about in Tanya now!
In our time, the Rebbe expects from Chassidim especially to be involved in hafatzah, to bring Yiddishkeit and Chassidus to every Yid. The Rebbe said over this quote of the Mitteler Rebbe, and said in our times that the Rebbe hopes that Chassidim should always be working on spreading Yiddishkeit and Chassidus everywhere!
Based on farbrengen Yud-Tes Kislev Tof-Shin-Yud-Daled and other sources
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TEFILLAH
The Yud-Beis Pesukim - Hiskashrus
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The Rebbe wanted us to understand the meaning of the Yud-Beis Pesukim. This way, we can think about their important lessons even when we are doing other things, like walking, eating and playing. We can also share their lessons with other children!
But there is something else we should ALSO think about when we say the Yud-Beis Pesukim! We should think about the way the pesukim were said at rallies, together with the Rebbe and other Yiddishe children.
Why?
The Chachomim tell us, “Al Yipater Adam MeChaveiro, Ela Mitoch Dvar Halacha.” Before a person leaves his friend, they should share a word of Torah. This way, when they review this halacha, they will remember each other.
Since Torah is higher than time and place, when two people both review the same part of Torah, they are actually connected, even if they are very far away!
The Rebbe said that the same thing is true when we say the Yud-Beis Pesukim!
We can always connect with the Rebbe and other children, by saying the same words of Torah that were said at the rallies! Even when we are each in our own homes, and even many years later, we will be just as connected. Torah is higher than time and space, so no matter where and no matter when, by saying these Torah pesukim, we are again together with the Rebbe and with other Yiddishe children.
So when we say pesukim and think about their lessons, we are doing something very special. Of course we are keeping what the Rebbe asked us to do, which brings the Rebbe nachas. But also, we are connecting with the Rebbe, and other Jewish children, with a very strong hiskashrus!
See Der Rebbe Redt Tzu Kinder
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What bracha do you make on cholent?
Of course, we’re not talking about what you do in the middle of a seudah where you washed your hands and ate challah, because then we don’t have to make a separate bracha. But what about during a kiddush in shul?
Cholent can have potatoes and beans which are Ho’adamah, it can have meat which is Shehakol, and it might have kishke or barley which is Mezonos. So which bracha do we make?
If you can’t tell which pieces are which, we make only one bracha. If there is Mezonos in the cholent, we make a Mezonos on the whole cholent. If not, we make the bracha on whichever there is more of — Shehakol if there is more meat, and Ho’adamah if there are more vegetables.
But if you can tell the pieces of the cholent apart, then what bracha do you make?
It depends! There are two ways to understand the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch about this. So some Rabbonim pasken that you should still only make one bracha on the whole cholent, the same way as you do for cholent that has pieces you can’t tell apart, since they were cooked together. But others pasken that you should make a bracha on each kind of piece separately, since you can tell which is which.
What does your Rav say?
See Birchos Hanehenin for Children (Pansaim) chapter 8
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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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After the histalkus of the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe spoke about our emunah in Techiyas Hameisim. The Rebbe said that soon there will be “Hakitzu Veranenu Shochnei Afar,” that the Frierdiker Rebbe will have Techiyas Hameisim and take the Yidden out of Golus.
People asked the Rebbe about this. It says in seforim that first Moshiach comes, and then afterwards is Techiyas Hameisim! So why is the Rebbe saying that the Frierdiker Rebbe will take the Yidden out of Golus?
The Rebbe answered that in general that is true. Here is the order of how things happen:
1) Moshiach comes.
2) The Beis Hamikdash is built.
3) All of the Yidden are gathered back into Eretz Yisroel — Kibbutz Galuyos.
4) Techiyas Hameisim — all of the Yidden who passed away will come back to life.
But still, it is also written that certain tzadikim will have Techiyas Hameisim before. That is how a Chossid has Emunah that even after his Rebbe’s histalkus, his Rebbe can be Moshiach who will take the Yidden out of Golus!
See Likutei Sichos vol. 2 p. 517
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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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