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CHUMASH
Parshas Korach - Rishon with Rashi
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Korach was jealous that Moshe Rabbeinu chose someone else to be the Nasi of his Shevet. He started convincing Yidden that there should be no leader — everyone should be special! Moshe tried to stop the machlokes.
Moshe’s cousin, Korach ben Yitzhar, was very upset. Moshe Rabbeinu chose a different cousin, Elitzafan ben Uziel, as the Nasi of his Shevet, as Hashem told him to. Korach thought that HE deserved to be the Nasi!
(Korach and Elitzafan were cousins of Moshe Rabbeinu, but Korach’s father was older. Korach thought that should have made HIM the next choice for a leader.)
Now Korach decided it wasn’t fair that Moshe and Aharon should be in charge of the Yidden at all. ALL of the Yidden are special, so nobody should be in charge!
Korach convinced his sons, his neighbors Dasan and Aviram, and his neighbors from Shevet Reuven — the sons of Eliav, and On ben Peles — to join him.
They gathered together 250 Yidden, including many important people (like the Nesiim and the judges) to go against Moshe.
Korach had his group wear robes made entirely of Techeiles. They came to Moshe and asked, “If we wear a robe made ALL out of Techeiles, do we need to put Tzitzis (with a techeiles string) on it?” They were trying to prove their point, that nobody should be more special.
When Moshe answered yes, they laughed at him and said that it doesn’t make sense! If the WHOLE robe is made of Techeiles, why does it need one more techeiles string?
They were trying to tell Moshe that ALL of the Yidden are special (like techeiles) and they don’t need one string to be separate (like Moshe and Aharon) to be in charge of them! They said, “ALL of the Yidden are holy! Why do you try to be more important than everyone else?”
Moshe was afraid that all of the Yidden would join them, and that Hashem would punish ALL of the Yidden! But Hashem told Moshe that only Korach and the people that join him would be punished.
Moshe told Korach to wait until the next day, so he would have a chance to do Teshuvah.
Then, the next day, Korach should bring Ketores. The ketores is more special than the other korbanos but could also be dangerous if it is brought by someone who shouldn’t bring it, like what happened with Nadav and Avihu. If Hashem accepts their Ketores and they are not hurt, even though they are not kohanim, it will be a sign that they are right.
Moshe tried to make Korach feel better, by telling him how special it is to be a Levi and sing in the Mishkan. He reminded Korach that it was HASHEM Who decided who should get the different jobs! So they aren’t going against Moshe — they are going against HASHEM!
Moshe wanted to make Dasan and Aviram feel better too, but they didn’t want to talk to Moshe.
Instead, they said, “You were supposed to bring us into Eretz Yisroel, and instead you want to kill us in the desert — you just want to be in charge of us!”
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Today’s kapitelach are Kuf-Mem to Kuf-Mem-Daled.
In today’s Tehillim, there is a posuk, “Tikon Tefilasi Ketores Lefanecha” — “I bring my Davening before Hashem like Ketores!”
The Rambam chooses this posuk to put at the beginning of his Sefer about Korbanos.
The Rebbe explains that davening is like ketores! When the Kohen brings the Ketores, nobody else is allowed to be there — it’s just the Kohen bringing the Ketores to Hashem. The same thing is when we daven — it’s private, between us and Hashem!
Also, the word Ketores is like the word “Kesher” (in Aramaic, “Ketar”) — a connection. Davening is one of the ways we make a special connection with Hashem.
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TANYA
Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah Perek Tes
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The Alter Rebbe is explaining to us in Shaar Hayichud Veha’emunah how a Yid is able to fulfill the mitzvah of knowing Hashem, by being able to see that the world’s existence is only the chayus of Hashem in it. Even though the truth is that everything is one with Hashem, we are not able to understand things this way. By realizing the differences between the way we are able to know something and the way things really are as Hashem knows them, it helps us come closer to picturing it the way it really is.
That is what the Alter Rebbe is telling us now in Tanya, how the way things really are (the way Hashem knows them) is so much different than the way a person knows things.
Before, we said that there are 5 steps from a person’s Sechel/Chochmah (understanding) until Maaseh (doing).
The Alter Rebbe explained how Sechel is the highest level by a person, and Maaseh is the lowest. But for Hashem, Chochmah (the highest) is called Maaseh (the lowest)!
But really, the Alter Rebbe says, you can’t say that Hashem is “higher than” Chochmah. Hashem isn’t just HIGHER than Chochmah, we can’t praise Hashem with Chochmah at all!
It would be like saying, “You can’t touch what you’re thinking about because it’s too high.” Of course you can’t touch what you’re thinking about with your fingers! Thoughts aren’t things we can touch!
The only reason why we call Hashem “a Chochom” is because Chochmah COMES FROM Hashem.
Hashem’s Chochmah is what makes the world exist, and is the way the world really is, the way Hashem knows it!
Just like we know that Hashem’s Chochmah is different than our Chochmah, we can understand that the whole world is one with Hashem, even though we don’t see it that way.
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The avodah of a Yid is to get used to looking at the world the way Chassidus teaches, to see that the whole existence of the world is only the chayus of Hashem!
When we do something lots of times, it becomes like a part of us. Like if we get used to saying Modeh Ani right when we wake up, we don’t even need to think about it anymore! It becomes part of who we are.
Did you know that when we THINK about something a lot, that can become a part of us too?
It is the avodah of a Yid not just to get used to washing Negel Vasser and saying brachos, but also to get used to THINKING the way a Yid should!
People might look around the world and see trees, cars, tables, or houses. But a Yid needs to see that all of these things are being created by Hashem right now, and that all these things are really Hashem’s chayus!
That’s Hashgacha Protis — that Hashem makes each and every thing in the world Yeish Me’ayin, and gives it new chayus every moment!
We need to get used to thinking this way when we look at the world around us.
~
In the Likutei Sichos for this week’s parsha, Parshas Korach, the Rebbe explains more about Hashgacha Protis. Of course everything in the world is being made by Hashem right now to be this way, but we can’t always tell.
But there are times when we CAN see that things are happening just the right way! Like when we get a phone call at JUST the right time, or we get a gift just when we needed it. At those times we can SEE the Hashgacha Protis!
The Rebbe teaches that when we get used to thinking about how everything really is Hashgacha Protis, like we learn about in this Hayom Yom, we will start to SEE Hashgacha Protis more often! When we are thinking about how Hashem is creating everything just the way it is, Hashem shows us the Hashgacha Protis so much more.
See Likutei Sichos chelek Yud-Ches p. 200ff, and ha’arah 35
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In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn one mitzvah about Sukkos (Mitzvas Asei #168): We need to live in the Sukkah on Sukkos.
We learn this from a posuk in Parshas Emor: בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים
This posuk means, “You should live in a sukkah for seven days.” Can you guess which mesechta in Mishnayos and Gemara talk about this mitzvah? You got it, Mesechta Sukkah!
This is one of the mitzvos that women do not need to keep.
The Rambam organizes all of these halachos in Perek Daled, Hey, and Vov of the section of halachos we are learning now.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Shofar V'Sukah V'Lulav
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Perek Gimmel: In this perek we finish learning the halachos of the shofar. We learn how to blow the shofar, including about the three kinds of sounds, Tekiyah, Shevarim, and Teruah.
Perek Daled: We start learning the halachos of a sukkah. We learn the smallest and biggest size a sukkah can be, and the many different shapes it can have! Did you know that a round sukkah is kosher?
Perek Hey: This perek teaches us the halachos about sechach, the most important part of the sukkah. We learn what kosher sechach is, and what happens if non-kosher sechach got mixed into it!
One halacha in this perek is that you need to put on the sechach yourself. So if you see a haystack and you make a hole in it so you can crawl inside so that the sechach is already there, that’s not a kosher sukkah!
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If the real reward is feeling Hashem, why does the Torah promise us Gashmius rewards too? The Rambam explains that it is because the Gashmius helps us to do even MORE mitzvos! For example, if we have money, we can spend more time learning Torah, and can give more tzedakah.
The Rambam tells us that this is why we should want Moshiach — so we can learn Torah and do mitzvos without anything stopping us!
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The Rebbe stayed with us here to prepare us for the Geulah! We go to the Ohel to get the kochos we need to do our shlichus properly.
Moshe Rabbeinu wanted so much that his holy Guf should be in Eretz Yisroel until Moshiach comes. But Hashem told him that He doesn’t want that — Moshe needs to stay with the Yidden in the place where he was their Rebbe.
Even though it was better for Moshe to be in Eretz Yisroel, it was more important for him to be in the same place as his nation.
The Rebbe says that the same thing is true with the Rebbeim. Really it’s better for a person to have their Guf in Eretz Yisroel until Moshiach comes. But since a Rebbe’s whole life is to help his Chassidim, his holy Guf stays together in the place where he was their Rebbe. This way, his Chassidim can come and get kochos until they all go together to Yerushalayim when Moshiach comes.
That’s why the Rebbe’s Ohel is in New York, and not in Eretz Yisroel. That’s also why it’s so important to GO to the Ohel, because that’s why the Rebbe stayed there — so that we can go to the Ohel and get kochos. With these kochos, we will be ready to go WITH the Rebbe to the Geulah Sheleimah — may this happen immediately!
See sicha Yud Shevat Tof-Shin-Yud-Daled
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The first half of Vayevarech Dovid is the words of Dovid Hamelech to the Yidden before he passed away. This was before the Beis Hamikdash was built, since it would only be built when Shlomo Hamelech was the king.
The second half of this paragraph, starting from the words “Vivarchu Sheim Kevodecha,” was written many years later. After the Churban of the first Beis Hamikdash, the Yidden were sent into Golus. Years passed, and they started to come back to Eretz Yisroel, hoping to rebuild the Beis Hamikdash.
The Navi Nechemyah ben Chachalyah gathered together the Yidden. He told them to do a full teshuvah and return to Hashem with a full heart. He asked them to stand up and bentch Hashem, the Creator of the entire world.
Vecharos — One of the great things Hashem did was to make a bris with Avraham Avinu. Hashem chose his children to be His special nation, and took them out of Mitzrayim with great miracles!
These words of Nechemyah lead us into the next part of davening, where we describe those great miracles, especially of Kriyas Yam Suf.
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If someone did something to hurt us, we might feel very upset. But we are not allowed to keep this feeling inside! If we stay upset and keep thinking about how hurt we are, that is the Mitzvas Lo Saasei of “Lo Sisna Es Achicha Bilvavecha,” “You shouldn’t hate another person in your heart.”
Instead, if someone hurts us, we should go to the other person and ask them to explain why they did it, or give them a chance to apologize to us.
But we need to be careful when we do this mitzvah! When we go to the other person, we need to find a time to talk to them privately, calmly, and gently. We need to be very careful not to embarrass them, and they should feel that what we are telling them is for their own good.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Kuf-Nun-Vov, se’if 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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Today we will learn a posuk about the Geulah that we all know — but we might not have known that it is about the Geulah!
וְעַמֵּךְ כֻּלָּם צַדִּיקִים לְעוֹלָם יִירְשׁוּ אָרֶץ נֵצֶר מַטָּעַי מַעֲשֵׂה יָדַי לְהִתְפָּאֵר
Hashem says through the Navi Yeshaya, about the time of the Geulah:
Ve’ameich Kulam Tzadikim — All of the Yidden will be tzadikim!
Le’olam Yirshu Aretz — They will inherit Eretz Yisroel forever, and never go into Golus again!
Neitzer Mata’ai — The Yidden are like a branch that grew from what I planted
Maasei Yadai — They are the work of My hands
Lehispa’er — Which I am very proud of!
There are many more explanations of this posuk. The most famous one comes from the Mishna in Sanhedrin, which we say at the beginning of each perek of Pirkei Avos. The Rebbe chose it to be one of the Twelve Pesukim and Maamarei Chazal that all of us should learn by heart!
“Kol Yisrael Yeish Lahem Chelek Le’olam Haba!” This posuk from Yeshaya teaches us that every Yid has a place in Olam Haba!
See Yeshaya perek Samach posuk Chof-Alef
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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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