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CHUMASH
Parshas Naso - Revi'i with Rashi
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Today’s Chumash is very long! We learn about the Sotah, the Nazir, and Birchas Kohanim.
SOTAH:
A husband might tell his wife not to spend time with a certain man, because he is worried that she wants to get married to him instead. If people saw her go into a room privately with him anyway, she is called a Sotah. We need to do what it says in the Torah to prove and see if she did an aveira or not.
The Sotah has to bring a korban, but only using barley flour, like we use to feed animals. We don’t put any oil or spices on it, because that would make the korban look beautiful and remind us of light (from the oil) and the Imahos (from the spices), and the way she acted isn’t beautiful and not like the Imahos at all!
Part of getting the Sotah ready to be tested is embarrassing her. We hope that she will tell the truth if she did something wrong.
The Kohen also makes her promise that she is telling the truth, and that she knows that if she isn’t, the bitter water she drinks will make her die.
The Kohen writes the promise, with Hashem’s name, on a piece of parchment and erases it in the bitter water. When the Sotah drinks it, if she wasn’t telling the truth, she will get very sick and die very quickly. The man she did the aveira with will die then too. But if she really didn’t do an aveira, then Hashem forgives her for acting in a way that didn’t look right, and she gets brachos for children.
NAZIR:
Now the Torah tells us about a Nazir. A Nazir is a person (a man or a woman) who promises Hashem not to drink any wine so they will have more Kedusha. A Nazir can’t eat any grapes or drink any kind of wine or grape juice. They are also not allowed to cut their hair. They can promise to be a Nazir for however long they want, but at least 30 days.
The whole time a person is a Nazir, they aren’t allowed to become Tamei from a person who passes away — even someone from their family. They can’t go to a cemetery or a Levayah.
What happens if they become Tamei by mistake? They need to become tahor from the Parah Adumah, and then they need to cut off all the hair from their head, bring a korban of two birds, and then start counting the days of being a Nazir again from the beginning.
At the end of their time being a Nazir, they have to bring a Korban — a boy lamb, a girl lamb, and a ram, 10 matzos mixed with oil and 10 matzos brushed with oil, and the flour and wine like we always bring with the animals.
After the korbanos are brought, the Nazir has to shave off his hair inside the Beis Hamikdash, and burn it in the fire where the Korban is being cooked.
After all of the Korbanos are brought properly, the Nazir is allowed to drink wine again.
BIRCHAS KOHANIM:
Now we go back to what was happening on the first day that the Mishkan was put up:
Hashem wanted to give the Yidden more brachos. He said that these brachos will come through the Kohanim — Birchas Kohanim. The way this bracha is said is the way we speak to one person, not to a group, because the brachos are meant for each Yid that is there.
Yevarechecha Hashem Veyishmerecha — Hashem should give you brachos with parnasa, and that the parnasa should go to good things.
Ya’er Hashem Panav Eilecha Vichuneka — Hashem should like you and have other people like you too.
Yisa Hashem Panav Eilecha Veyaseim Lecha Shalom — Hashem should not pay attention to your mistakes and give you shalom.
When the Kohanim give this bracha, they should say Hashem’s name — Yud-Kay-Vov-Kay! Hashem will give the brachos to the Yidden, and also to the Kohanim who give them the bracha.
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In today’s Tehillim there is a posuk, “Nosata LeReiacha Neis Lehisnoses Mipnei Koshet Sela” — “You give those who have Yiras Shomayim a sign to hold up for the sake of truth.”
The word Neis can mean a few different things:
Neis — a sign
Neis — a miracle
Neis can be like the word Nisayon — a test
Do you know what a nisayon is? Chassidus explains that Hashem sometimes makes a person THINK that there is something in the way, that doesn’t let him do what Hashem wants. But it could be that what is stopping us isn’t even real!
For example, a person could think that if he does a mitzvah, someone will get angry at him — but it’s not even true! Hashem can make a person FEEL that way to test him, to see if the mitzvah is important enough to him that he will do it even though there is something making him scared.
Since a person needs to use a very strong part of his neshama to be able to do this mitzvah and not to be afraid, he becomes a stronger and better Yid.
In fact that is the very reason why Hashem gives a Yid a nisayon: To make the person the best Yid he can possibly be!
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TANYA
Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah Perek Gimmel
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Yesterday, the Alter Rebbe told us how everything in the world is really the chayus of Hashem, and there is nothing else — but Hashem doesn’t let us see the world that way.
Today the Alter Rebbe gives us a mashal to understand this, from the way the rays of the sun are inside of the sun:
High up in the sky, there is a huge sun. It is so fiery and bright, its rays shine all the way here on earth!
We don’t have the actual sun in the world, but the rays of the sun reach us all the way down here. They make the world bright during the day, and make the moon shine at night. They warm up the world so we can live comfortably and plants and animals can grow. For us, the rays of the sun are very important.
But inside the sun itself, the rays are not needed at all. The sun is there, shining in its full strength! The rays are still there, but they are not counted as something separate and important. There, they aren’t special at all!
The sun is a mashal for the powerful chayus of Hashem.
The rays of the sun are a mashal for all of the things that exist because of this chayus — everything in this world.
The Gashmius world that we see is like the rays of the sun when they are shining outside of the sun. The Gashmius world seems like it is something separate and important, like the rays of the sun. That’s because we can’t see the chayus that makes it all be, like the mashal of the sun itself.
If we could see the chayus of Hashem, it would be like the rays of the sun inside of the sun! There, the rays don’t count for anything at all! The same way, if we saw Hashem’s chayus, we would realize that all of these Gashmius things are nothing of their own.
There is a problem with this mashal, though.
In the mashal, the sun really is very far away from the world where the rays shine. But that is NOT true about Hashem! Hashem’s chayus is HIDDEN in the world, but really Hashem is right here, not far away like the sun from the earth!
But if Hashem is always here, why can’t we see Him?
In the next few perakim the Alter Rebbe will explain to us how Hashem hides so that even though He is RIGHT HERE we still aren’t able to see Him.
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Chassidus gives us a kind of Techiyas Hameisim in our Avodas Hashem!
Usually when we think a lot we don’t get excited, but Chassidus helps us use our minds to get EXCITED about our connection with Hashem and Yiddishkeit!
When Moshiach comes there will be Techiyas Hameisim. People who are not alive will get chayus from Hashem and become alive.
Similarly, when we learn Chassidus and get excited about Hashem, that is a little bit like Techiyas Hameisim. It makes our sechel, which usually does not have much chayus, a little bit like a meis, get chayus and become full of life!
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Today’s mitzvah (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #320) is that we are not allowed to do melacha on Shabbos.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Yisro: לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה כָל מְלָאכָה
The details are explained in Mesechta Shabbos.
This is the matching mitzvah to the one we just learned yesterday and the day before. Hashem often gives us TWO mitzvos for one thing so we get double rewards — one for the Mitzvas Asei, doing what we are supposed do, and one for the Mitzvas Lo Saasei, not doing what Hashem told us not to!
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Perek Vov: In this perek, we learn that the Chachomim made it asur to tell a goy to do something for us on Shabbos, so that we won’t treat Shabbos lightly and come to do the melacha ourselves. There are some times we are allowed to ask a goy to do something, like if someone is even a little bit sick or if it is important for another mitzvah.
We are not allowed to have any benefit from melacha that was done on Shabbos when it is asur, even if it was done by a goy.
Perek Zayin: We now start to learn the 39 melachos of Shabbos! The Rambam lists them, and teaches us the difference between an Av Melacha and a Tolda. The Av Melacha is the way the melacha was done to build the Mishkan. A tolda is something that accomplishes the same thing, but in a different way.
Perek Ches: In this perek, we learn the first 10 melachos, from plowing the earth to kneading the dough. The Rambam tells us the halachos of each of these melachos.
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Perek Gimmel teaches us halachos about when something a person does is considered Avodah Zarah. If a person makes a statue of a person, he gets punished, but it is fine to paint a picture of someone.
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Today is the day that the Rebbe’s parents got married, in the year Tof-Reish-Samach!
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We learned in Tehillim that Hashem gives a Yid nisyonos to use the koach of the neshama.
What helps a Yid to do what Hashem wants even when it’s hard? Hashem gives us Torah, which is called “Oz” (strength).
When KIDS are strong against their Yetzer Haras because that’s what it says in the Torah, they help all the rest of the Yidden to use the koach of Torah too!
That’s what it says in Tehillim — “Mipi Olelim Veyonkim Yisadeta Oz” — “Hashem gives all of the Yidden strength through the children.”
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The main part of Pesukei Dezimra that the Chachomim originally established starts with Ashrei.
Before going to the main part of Pesukei Dezimra, we say a few other things.
First we say Mizmor Lesodah. This is kapitel Kuf of Tehillim, and is the song that was sung when bringing a Korban Todah in the Beis Hamikdash.
This kapitel even hints to the way the korban was brought: There are 40 words, like the 40 loaves that were brought together with the Korban Todah, and it has Hashem’s name in it 4 times, hinting to the 4 kinds of people who bring the Korban Todah to thank Hashem for nissim that happen to them.
The Chachomim tell us that there are really nissim happening to us every day! We don’t see them because many times, Hashem hides them from us. We thank Hashem for these hidden nissim every day by saying Mizmor Lesodah at the beginning of Pesukei Dezimra.
We don’t say Mizmor Lesodah on Shabbos or Yom Tov, Erev Pesach or Erev Yom Kippur, or Chol Hamoed Pesach. That is because these are all days when a person was not allowed to bring the Korban Todah in the Beis Hamikdash.
In the Midrash it says that when Moshiach comes, all songs will become unimportant — except for Mizmor Lesodah, this song of thanks to Hashem!
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The best way to daven Shemoneh Esrei is to say the words quietly, but in a way that we can hear it ourselves.
Still, if someone said the words of Shemoneh Esrei so quietly that only their lips were moving, and they couldn’t hear the words, they are still yotzei.
But if someone just THOUGHT the words without saying them at all, it is not counted as davening.
In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explains why saying words is so important:
The reason the neshama came into the world was not to make itself holy, but to make the body and the world holy, by using them for kedusha. Thinking does use the body, but not in a way that we can see. To do most mitzvos, we are supposed to actually say words or do things, which use Gashmius in a way that can easily be seen. That’s why even with the mitzvah of davening, where the main thing is kavana, it is very important to actually SAY the words using at least our lips. This way the neshama is able to use the guf for kedusha, which is the reason it came down into a guf.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Kuf-Alef and Tanya Perek Lamed-Ches
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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 Navi Yeshaya tells us that before Moshiach comes, Eliyahu Hanavi will let us know the good news!
מַה נָּאווּ עַל הֶהָרִים רַגְלֵי מְבַשֵּׂר מַשְׁמִיעַ שָׁלוֹם מְבַשֵּׂר טוֹב מַשְׁמִיעַ יְשׁוּעָה אֹמֵר לְצִיּוֹן מָלַךְ אֱלֹקָיִךְ
Mah Navu Al Heharim— How beautiful it is to see on the mountains
Raglei Mevaser — The feet of Eliyahu Hanavi!
Mashmia Shalom — He is announcing that we will have shalom
Mevaser Tov — He is telling us good news
Mashmia Yeshua — He is announcing that Hashem will save us!
Omer Letzion — He says to the Yidden
Malach Elokayich — We can see that Hashem rules over the world!
See Yeshaya perek Nun-Beis posuk 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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