|
|
CHUMASH
Parshas Shelach - Shvi'i with Rashi
|
|
We learn about bringing a korban if we do an aveira by mistake, and how it is different if the aveira was Avodah Zarah. We learn what happened to a Yid in the Midbar who gathered wood on Shabbos. We also learn about the mitzvah of tzitzis!
Usually, if a Yid makes a mistake and does an aveira, he needs to bring a goat OR a lamb as a Korban Chatas. But if a Yid does an aveira with AVODAH ZARAH by mistake, he doesn’t have a choice — he needs to bring a goat.
But if a Yid does Avodah Zarah on PURPOSE chas veshalom, Hashem punishes him with Kareis, that his neshama can’t get chayus straight from Hashem anymore.
Now we learn about something that happened a year before the story of the Meraglim, about how important it is to keep Shabbos. The Torah wants us to know that breaking Shabbos is like serving Avodah Zarah — and someone who keeps Shabbos is like keeping the whole Torah! That’s why we learn about keeping Shabbos here, right after learning about Avodah Zarah.
On the second Shabbos the Yidden were keeping, they saw one Jew gathering wood on Shabbos! They warned him to stop, but he didn’t listen! The Yidden brought him to Moshe and Aharon, because they didn’t know yet how to punish him.
Hashem told Moshe that he needs to be punished with Sekilah, stoning, and that’s what they did.
We also learn another very important mitzvah, one we read about every day in Shema! In the paragraph Vayomer, we talk all about...
Tzitzis! This mitzvah is ALSO like keeping the whole Torah! By wearing tzitzis, we remember to do Hashem’s mitzvos.
This mitzvah also reminds us of Yetziyas Mitzrayim! One reason is because tzitzis are on clothes with FOUR corners, like the FOUR words Hashem said about the Geulah from Mitzrayim!
|
|
|
|
Today’s kapitelach of Tehillim are Kuf-Lamed-Hey to Kuf-Lamed-Tes.
In Kapitel Kuf-Lamed-Ches, Dovid Hamelech thanks Hashem for the chesed He did, keeping His promise and giving him the melucha.
At the end of the kapitel, Dovid Hamelech talks about how Hashem saves him from danger, and in the last posuk, asks that Hashem’s chesed should be with him forever. The posuk starts with a Yud, and ends with a Lange Fey.
The Frierdiker Rebbe once told the Rebbe that when he started to daven, his father (the Rebbe Rashab) told him which pesukim to use for his name at the end of Shemoneh Esrei. For the name Yosef, he was told to use this posuk, and for Yitzchok he should use the posuk “Yotziem Mechoshech Vetzalmaves…” from kapitel Kuf-Zayin.
|
|
|
TANYA
Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah Perek Tes
|
|
We started off Shaar Hayichud Veha’emunah by learning about things that a Yid should understand.
We should understand that everything we see is the same Hashem (Hashem Hu Ha’Elokim) — that Hashem Who sometimes shows Himself through tzadikim and through nisim is the very same Hashem Who is hidden in the world around us.
We should understand that the world isn’t separate from Hashem, that Hashem is constantly creating the world and giving it chayus and making everything in it happen with Hashgacha Protis.
These are all things we can learn about and understand in our sechel and our daas, like Moshe Rabbeinu told the Yidden, “Veyadaata” — you should KNOW these things!
Now the Alter Rebbe is telling us about things we CAN’T understand. These are things we need to use our Emunah for!
All of the things we can understand about Hashem and have a mitzvah to think about are only because Hashem made the world in a way that matches the way things are in Ruchnius. We can use what we know about the world around us and from ourselves as mashalim to help us understand the way things are in Shomayim.
Even the highest mashal that we have from ourselves, the level of Chochmah, cannot work as a mashal to understand Hashem. This is because Hashem is so much higher than Chochma! For this and the other inyonim that are higher than sechel, we need to use the Emunah in our neshama.
|
|
|
|
Today we learn about the amazing power of Ahavas Yisroel — helping others with something they need!
The Tzemach Tzedek once told the Rebbe Maharash a story that happened to him:
The Tzemach Tzedek was on his way to shul. Somebody stopped him on the way, and asked if he could borrow some money to buy and sell things in the market. The Tzemach Tzedek asked him to come back after davening.
When he got to shul, the Tzemach Tzedek realized that the man probably needs the money right away! It was a market day, and he needed the money as soon as the market opened. So he went home to get some money, looked around until he found the man, and gave him the loan. Then he went back to shul to daven.
It was after the Alter Rebbe’s histalkus, but the Alter Rebbe appeared to the Tzemach Tzedek, and was very happy! This was the first time the Alter Rebbe had come to the Tzemach Tzedek for a long time!
After the Tzemach Tzedek told this story, he said that just helping a Yid to earn a small amount of money buying and selling things opens up all of the “gates” in Shomayim!
Years later, the Rebbe Maharash told HIS son, the Rebbe Rashab, the story. He said that even though it is good to know how to get into the “gates” in Shomayim, the main thing is to help another Yid with your whole heart — to ENJOY helping another Yid. “Hobn a geshmak in a Yidden tohn a tova.”
|
|
|
SEFER HAMITZVOS
Shiur #56 - Mitzvas Asei #157, Nusach HaHagadah, Mitzvas Asei #170
|
|
In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn one last mitzvah about Pesach, say the Rambam’s nusach of the Haggadah, and then learn one of the mitzvos of Rosh Hashana:
1) (Mitzvas Asei #157) We need to tell over the story of Yetziyas Mitzrayim. The Rambam tells us the words we need to say to fulfill this mitzvah, and as part of the mitzvah, we also say the Nusach of the Haggadah, the way the Rambam writes it in the Mishnah Torah.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Bo: וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא
The details are explained in the end of Mesechta Pesachim.
2) (Mitzvas Asei #170) We need to hear the Shofar on Rosh Hashana.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Pinchas: יוֹם תְּרוּעָה יִהְיֶה לָכֶם
The details are explained in Mesechta Rosh Hashana.
|
|
|
RAMBAM
Hilchos Chomeitz U'Matzah - Nusach HaHagadah - Hilchos Shofar V'Sukah V'Lulav
|
|
In today’s Rambam, we learn how to run a Seder properly. We learn about all the steps of the Seder, and the Mah Nishtana, and the whole Haggadah!
We also learn about the mitzvah of blowing the shofar. The Rambam tells us that we don’t blow the Shofar on Shabbos, so that nobody will carry it outside on Shabbos by mistake.
Chassidus tells us that the REAL reason why we don’t blow the Shofar on Shabbos is that when Rosh Hashana is on Shabbos, the koach of Shabbos is so strong that we don’t NEED to hear the Shofar to get the koach we usually get from hearing the Shofar. The day of Shabbos itself does what the shofar usually does!
|
|
|
|
Now the Rambam teaches us about Olam Haba, the reward for a person after he passes away. We know what our bodies like — we enjoy yummy treats, fun trips, and special presents. But our neshama loves to feel Hashem! In Olam Haba, as a reward for our avodah, our neshama will be able to enjoy feeling Hashem in a very strong way.
|
|
|
|
Chof-Ches Sivan is the day that the Rebbe and Rebbetzin came safely to America.
Today is Chof-Ches Sivan — the day that the Rebbe and Rebbetzin were saved from the war in Europe and came to America. On this day, their boat, called the “Serpa-Pinto”, docked in New York.
The Frierdiker Rebbe started then three mosdos in America for spreading Yiddishkeit and Chassidus. They are called Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, Machaneh Yisrael, and Kehos. The Frierdiker Rebbe gave the Rebbe the responsibility for these mosdos. A new stage in spreading Yiddishkeit and Chassidus began then, in America and all around the world!
An older Chossid who was there said that when the Rebbe first came to farbreng, he was speaking about Lubavitch as if it was famous all around the world! The Chassidim didn’t understand, because at the time, Lubavitch was very small — there weren’t that many Chassidim in America. Today we understand that the Rebbe already saw the way things were going to be!
Chof-Ches Sivan is a day to make farbrengens to thank Hashem for saving the Rebbe and to take on good hachlatos to spread Yiddishkeit the way the Rebbe shows us, by being an example of the way a Yid should be.
|
|
|
▼ Jump to Coloring Books & Downloads ▼
|
|
|
|
Today we bentch the coming month, Chodesh Tammuz.
The minhag is that in Birchas Hachodesh, we say what month is coming up, and what day Rosh Chodesh will be.
It used to be that the Sanhedrin would decide which days Rosh Chodesh would be based on the new moon. Nowadays, though, we don’t have a Sanhedrin. A great-grandson of Hillel Hazaken, also named Hillel, set up a calendar that we use to know when Rosh Chodesh will be.
Still, even though we already know, it is important to say when Rosh Chodesh will be and bentch the Chodesh! Why?
The Zohar tells us a story of a Tanna named R’ Hamnuna Sava. He used to wash his hands and come sit down at the table to eat. The table was set, his food was on his plate, and he would daven to Hashem to give him food!
Why was he davening when the food was right in front of him?
The Rebbe explains that he was asking Hashem that the food should bring only good things! It should make him healthy and give him koach to serve Hashem, and all of the special things in Ruchnius that happen when we eat properly.
That’s also why we bentch the Chodesh.
Even though the month is already there without us doing anything, and we even know exactly when it starts, we are asking Hashem to give us a GOOD month! The month should bring only good things for us and for all the Yidden, and we should be able to use every chance we have to do good things!
This is the inyan of Shabbos Mevorchim, and also the Cheshbon Hanefesh on Erev Rosh Chodesh. We use the kochos of the month before and ask Hashem to bentch the coming month, that we should use it right!
See beginning of farbrengen Shabbos Mevorchim Tammuz, Parshas Shelach 5739
|
|
|
|
Little children are very cute, and we’re used to kissing them and hugging them all the time!
Still, we shouldn’t kiss children in shul. This way, we make it clear in our hearts that there is no love like the love for Hashem.
See Shulchan Aruch 98 se’if 1
|
|
לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
שליח כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו למדינת אילינוי
|
|
|
|
In Tanya there are two perakim that speak clearly about what Moshiach is and how we can make it happen! They are perek Lamed-Vov and perek Lamed-Zayin.
In Perek Lamed-Vov, the Alter Rebbe teaches that at Matan Torah, the Yidden were able to see Hashem clearly! The whole reason why Hashem hides in the world is because people CAN’T handle seeing Hashem. But at Matan Torah, the Yidden were able to, with the koach of Torah!
The same thing will happen when Moshiach comes. With the koach of Torah, we will be able to see Hashem without any hiding!
Through the Yidden, the rest of the world will also be able to appreciate the light of Hashem.
The Alter Rebbe brings many pesukim from Nach that show that this will happen. One of these is from the posuk we learned yesterday in Yeshaya, “Hashem Yihiyeh Lach Le’or Olam” — “Hashem will be a light for you forever.” This means that Hashem won’t be hidden anymore in the world, we will be able to see Hashem clearly!
See Yeshayahu perek Samach pesukim Yud-Tes and Chof, Tanya perek Lamed-Vov
|
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
