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CHUMASH
Parshas Chukas-Balak - Rishon with Rashi
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Today we start to learn about the mitzvah of Parah Adumah! Then we learn about when Miriam passed away.
Hashem tells Moshe and Aharon to teach the Yidden about a new mitzvah: The Parah Adumah. This mitzvah is a chok, a mitzvah that we can’t understand.
A person who has Tumas Meis is not allowed to go into the Beis Hamikdash. Tumas Meis can come from touching or being in the same house as a person who passed away. It is the strongest kind of tumah! A person with Tumas Meis can’t become tahor just by going to the mikvah, like with other kinds of tumah. The person needs to be sprinkled with water mixed with ashes from the Parah Adumah!
There are many details about how to prepare the ashes of the Parah Adumah:
“Parah Adumah” means “red cow.” It is a cow that is ALL red, that has no mum, and that never was used for work. The Parah Adumah is shechted, and some of its blood is sprinkled in the direction of the Mishkan seven times. Then the cow is burned. The kohen takes a piece of wood, a kind of plant, and some red wool, and throws them into the burning cow. Someone who is tahor takes the ashes from the burned cow, and puts them in a container. These ashes are mixed with a special kind of water called Mayim Chayim.
(The Parah Adumah makes people tahor, but all of the kohanim who work on preparing the Parah Adumah’s ashes become tamei!)
Here’s how to use the ashes of the Parah Adumah:
The person who is tamei needs to count seven days after he stays away from things that give a person Tumas Meis. On the 3rd day and on the 7th day of his counting, he gets sprinkled with the water that was mixed with the ashes of the Parah Adumah.
A person who is tahor takes a branch called an Eizov, and dips it into the water mixed with the ashes. He sprinkles this water on the people who are tomei — and also on anything else that became tomei from a person who passed away.
Then the person who is tomei goes to the Mikvah, and he becomes tahor at night!
But if anyone who is NOT tomei touches this water, he BECOMES tomei — but only for that day, until he goes to the mikvah and waits until nighttime. If he carries enough of this water to sprinkle on someone else, his clothes ALSO become tomei until they are dipped in the mikvah and he waits until night!
This is part of why the mitzvah of Parah Adumah is a chok, a type of mitzvah that we can’t understand: It can make people tahor from the strongest type of tumah, Tumas Meis, but it makes a person tomei when they help with it!
We also learn that if someone touches someone else who has Tumas Meis, he becomes tomei too — but not Tumas Meis. He doesn’t need the ashes of the Parah Adumah sprinkled on him — he only needs to go to the mikvah and wait until nighttime.
Rashi explains that the Parah Adumah helps the Yidden also do Teshuvah for the Cheit HaEgel. He explains how different details of this mitzvah are related to the aveira of the Egel and are a kaparah for what happened.
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Now the Torah tells us that Miriam passed away, on Yud Nissan, the year before the Yidden went into Eretz Yisroel.
Once Miriam passed away, the well that used to stay with the Yidden in her zechus went away too, and the Yidden complained. Moshe and Aharon davened to Hashem to give the Yidden water.
We see from here how Moshe Rabbeinu took care of everything the Yidden needed. As long as the water was there in the zechus of Miriam, Moshe didn’t need to do anything about it. But once it went away, Moshe Rabbeinu made sure that it came back for the Yidden. We will see later in the Chumash that the same thing happened with the clouds that were in the zechus of Aharon — after Aharon was nistalek, the clouds went away. But Moshe Rabbeinu brought them back to make sure that the Yidden were taken care of.
The same is true of the Moshe Rabbeinu and the Rebbe of every dor: The Rebbe makes sure that everything that the Yidden need is taken care of.
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Today’s kapitelach are Lamed-Hey to Lamed-Ches.
In Kapitel Lamed-Zayin, Dovid Hamelech tells people not to be jealous of the hatzlacha of Resha’im, so that they won’t try to copy them.
The first posuk starts “L’Dovid Al Tis’char Bamereiim Al Tekanei Be’osei Avla” — “A kapitel by Dovid: Do not make competitions with people who do bad things, do not be jealous of those who do aveiros.”
The Medrash Yalkut Shimoni teaches that there is a similar posuk in Mishlei, written by Shlomo Hamelech. That posuk also tells us when we SHOULD be jealous — we should be jealous of people who have Yiras Shomayim!
The Medrash explains that the world couldn’t last without this good kind of jealousy! If people weren’t jealous of other people for the good things they do, people would never plant a field, get married, or build a house. In fact, without jealousy, Avraham Avinu could not have become the first of the Avos, and could not have begun the entire Yiddishe nation!
When did that happen?
Avraham Avinu was once speaking to Malki-Tzedek (another name for Sheim, one of Noach’s sons). Avraham asked him: “What zechus did you have to be able to come off the teivah alive and well?”
Malki-Tzedek said, “It was because of the tzedakah that we gave on the teivah.”
Avraham Avinu wondered, “What tzedakah? Were there any poor people on the teivah? Only Noach and his sons were there!”
Malki-Tzedek explained, “We gave tzedakah to all of the animals and birds! We never went to sleep until we made sure that every single animal and bird had the food it needed.”
When Avraham Avinu heard this, he said: “If doing this kind of chesed to animals and birds was enough of a zechus to leave the teivah, imagine how special it will be if I do chesed for PEOPLE, who are created B’Tzelem Elokim, to look like Hashem!”
He then decided to set up an “Eishel.” The word Eishel stands for Achilah (food), Shesiyah (drink), and Leviyah (bringing them on their way). Avraham Avinu set up his tent in the middle of the desert to give people food and drink, and bring them on their way!
If not for the good kind of jealousy that Avraham Avinu had, he would not have begun his special shlichus of Hachnosas Orchim to bring people closer to Hashem.
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TANYA
Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah Perek Yud-Beis
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Today we are finishing the second chelek of Tanya — Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah!
The Alter Rebbe called it this because it speaks about Yichud Hashem — how Hashem is one. Even though we see so many different things in the world, EVERYTHING is all really part of ONE HASHEM!
Goyim might believe in Avodah Zarah. They think very foolish things, that different things had to be made by different creators. But we Yidden have a MITZVAH to know all the time that Hashem is one. To do this mitzvah, we need to learn about it — and that’s what the Alter Rebbe is helping us do in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah.
The Alter Rebbe explained to us that even though Hashem has Ratzon, Sechel, Midos and Malchus (the Eser Sefiros), they are all one with Hashem.
We learned a moshol of light inside the sun — how all of these things together are ONE with Hashem. We can see that Hashem is one because Hashem’s midos work TOGETHER with each other when they create the world.
We also learned what the Rambam said, that this is something we can not properly understand. We need to use our Koach of Emunah for this, because it’s not something that can really be explained.
We also saw how the whole world is botul to Hashem, and in two ways: Yichuda Ila’ah and Yichuda Tata’ah.
Now we can use our minds to think about the Yichud of Hashem, and use our Emunah for the things our mind can’t understand!
Finally, the Alter Rebbe finishes today, telling us that the Asara Maamaros Hashem used to create the world have the parts of the world that need a lot of chayus — like people, animals, plants, and the sun and moon. We can see these things written clearly in the Torah (in Parshas Bereishis). Other things though, like rocks and sand, don’t have as much chayus. Hashem makes these things too with the osiyos in the Asara Maamaros, but they are not written there clearly, rather Hashem puts these letters together in different ways. This way, they don’t get as much chayus.
Do you understand? In case you don’t, the Alter Rebbe gives us a mashal so we understand how the chayus is less:
It’s like the light we have in the world. During the day, we have a lot of light! We get it straight from the sun that shines on us. At night we get much less light because we don’t get the light straight from the sun — it is reflected off the moon.
When something is created STRAIGHT from Hashem’s words in the Asara Maamaros, it can have a lot of chayus, like light from the sun! But when it comes from the letters organized into different words, the chayus is much less, like the light from the moon.
But at the end, EVERYTHING is part of the chayus of our Aibershter, Who is only ONE!
Mazel Tov! We have finished learning the second chelek of Tanya with the help of Hashem!
One of the great talmidim of the Alter Rebbe, named R’ Aharon of Strashele, writes that the Alter Rebbe did not finish Shaar Hayichud Veha’emunah — there was more left to explain. The rest of the explanation about Achdus Hashem can be found in the maamarim of the Alter Rebbe and the later Rebbeim.
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Chassidus explains that the chayus Hashem gives to the world comes in three different levels:
1) Penimi (something we can feel inside)
2) Makif Hakarov (something surrounding us, but close to us)
3) Makif Harachok (something surrounding us, but far from us)
These three levels are also in our neshama and in our Torah and mitzvos.
What do they mean?
Chayus that comes in a way of Pnimius is a chayus we can understand and appreciate. We can feel how it makes a difference for us! For example, the mitzvos of how to do business properly — we understand why we do these mitzvos and we feel how they change things for us.
Chayus that comes in a way of Makif Hakarov is chayus we can’t understand yet. We can tell that it makes a difference, but we can’t feel it in a strong way. As our connection to Yiddishkeit becomes stronger, we can make it into Pnimius!
Chayus that comes in a way of Makif Harachok is chayus that we will never be able to understand. For example, the mitzvah of Parah Adumah — we know that it is there, but we can’t feel it or understand it. In a way, this kind of chayus is even MORE important and makes a BIGGER difference in our Yiddishkeit!
In today’s Hayom Yom, the Rebbe explains how we can start to understand and appreciate the makif part of mitzvos, the part we usually can’t understand! There are certain mitzvos that help make makif into pnimi.
One of these mitzvos is tzedakah.
Giving tzedakah is a keili to help us understand and feel other mitzvos. That is why it is good to give tzedakah before we do mitzvos, so we will be able to feel our mitzvos in a way of Pnimius!
There is also a way to connect to Makif Harachok, the chayus that is much higher than we can understand. Learning Torah connects us to Makif Harachok, which connects us to Yiddishkeit in an even higher way!
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Today in Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn the same mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #153) again: How the Beis Din needs to make a calendar and calculate the months and the years. This is the mitzvah of Kiddush Hachodesh.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Bo: הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים
The details are explained in Mesechta Sanhedrin perek Alef, Mesechta Rosh Hashana and Brachos.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Kiddush Hachodesh
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In today’s Rambam, Perakim Yud-Beis, Yud-Gimmel and Yud-Daled, we are learning more about how the Beis Din knows where the moon will be on Rosh Chodesh.
To understand these halachos, you need to know about how the sun and stars and moon move around (orbits).
These calculations help the Beis Din figure out where the moon should be, so they can make sure that what the witnesses are saying makes sense, and that they really DID see the new moon!
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We said yesterday that there are 18 brachos in Shmoneh Esrei (that’s what Shmoneh Esrei means — 18!). But if you count them, you will find NINETEEN brachos.
This is because in the time of Raban Gamliel, there were a lot of people who tried to get the Yidden to stop listening to the things the Chachomim said they should do. So Rabban Gamliel added another bracha (Velamalshinim), asking Hashem to stop those people.
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In the beginning of this week’s parsha, Parshas Chukas, we learn about the mitzvah of the Parah Adumah. The Torah calls this mitzvah a chok (“Chukas HaTorah”), a mitzvah that doesn’t have a reason we know about. Hashem did not give us the reason for this mitzvah, and some parts of it don’t even make sense to us! (For example, even though the Parah Adumah makes a person tahor from the most serious kind of tumah, anyone who helps prepare the Parah Adumah becomes tomei and needs to go to the mikvah!)
The Medrash tells us that Hashem told Moshe that He would reveal the reason for the Parah Adumah only to him. But if Moshe Rabbeinu knew the reason for the Parah Adumah, why is it called a chok for everyone?
The Rebbe explains in a maamar that even though Moshe Rabbeinu was very great in Torah, that is not what Moshe is all about. The MAIN inyan of Moshe Rabbeinu is that he was the Nasi of the Yidden, taking care of every Jew.
If a Yid didn’t have something, Moshe Rabbeinu would feel like something was missing, even if he had it himself. This was also true with understanding: If the Yidden didn’t understand something, that was what was important to Moshe Rabbeinu. Even if he knew what it meant himself, he felt like it was not understood as long as the Yidden didn’t understand it.
That is why the Parah Adumah is called a chok for everyone, also for Moshe Rabbeinu, because the Yidden didn’t know the reason, and that meant that even Moshe Rabbeinu felt that it was not understood. Because that was the main inyan of Moshe Rabbeinu, that he was the Nasi taking care of every Jew. So if there was something missing in their understanding, it was missing for Moshe too.
See Kuntres Yud-Beis Yud-Gimmel Tammuz 5751
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At the beginning of Pesukei Dezimra, we said the bracha of Boruch She’amar. Then we say the kapitelach of Tehillim and pesukim of Pesukei Dezimra. We end off with the bracha of Yishtabach, which praises Hashem using many different expressions.
In some seforim, it says that the first part of Yishtabach was written by Shlomo Hamelech. This is hinted to in the worlds “Shimcha La’ad Malkeinu HoKeil,” which has the Roshei Teivos of Shlomo!
Some seforim also bring that the end of Yishtabach was written by Avraham Avinu. We can see this hinted in the Roshei Teivos of the last phrases of Yishtabach. Starting with the words “Keil Ha’hodaos,” the phrases spell out the name of Avraham Avinu! (Can you find it?)
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Imagine you are walking past someone’s desk. They have a big pile of jelly beans there, and they are not looking. Is it okay to sneak just one? After all, it’s so little and they probably won’t even notice!
The Torah tells us that taking even a tiny thing is still stealing. It doesn’t matter if it belongs to an adult or a kid, or if the person is Jewish or not. If it isn’t ours, we are not allowed to take it!
See Shulchan Aruch, Dinei Gezeilah Ugeneivah, se’if 1
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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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Most of Sefer Yirmiyah is the Navi warning the Yidden to do teshuvah, or else Hashem will cause the Churban of the Beis Hamikdash. So this sefer is not a very happy one.
In fact, even though the Frierdiker Rebbe learned the whole Tanach baal peh when he was a child, the sefer Yirmiyah was very hard for him to do. It was much too sad.
Still, there are some happy pesukim, where Yirmiyah gives nevuos about Moshiach!
In one of these pesukim, Hashem says through the Navi that all of the Yidden will gather together in Yerushalayim:
הִנְנִי מֵבִיא אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ צָפוֹן וְקִבַּצְתִּים מִיַּרְכְּתֵי אָרֶץ בָּם עִוֵּר וּפִסֵּחַ הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת יַחְדָּו קָהָל גָּדוֹל יָשׁוּבוּ הֵנָּה
Hineni Meivi Osam Me’Eretz Tzafon — I will bring them from the north land (where they were in Golus)
Vekibatztim MiYarkesei Aretz — And I will gather them from the furthest parts of the world (this is talking about the 10 shevatim that were scattered very far)
Bam Iver U’fiseiach — Including those who are blind and those who can’t walk
Hara Veyoledes Yachdav — Together with the mother who is pregnant and one who just had a baby.
Kahal Gadol Yashuvu Heina — A big group will come back there (to Yerushalayim)!
You may know this posuk from a song about Hakhel! This posuk talks about the big Hakhel of all of the Yidden together, which will happen when Moshiach comes!
See Yirmiyah perek Lamed-Alef 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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