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CHUMASH
Parshas Chukas-Balak - Sheini with Rashi
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Moshe and Aharon hit the rock to give water to the Yidden. Hashem told them that because of this, they will need to stay in the Midbar and not go into Eretz Yisroel. The Yidden ask Edom if they can travel through their land on the way to Eretz Yisroel, but Edom says no.
Even though the Yidden didn’t ask nicely for water after Miriam passed away, Hashem still wanted to give them water.
Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu to take his stick and bring all of the Yidden to see. He should talk to the rock where Miriam’s well used to come from. Then it will give water again, in MOSHE’S zechus.
Moshe and Aharon got all of the Yidden together. It was a neis that everyone was able to see!
But they had a problem — they couldn’t find the rock where Miriam’s well used to be from! It had gotten mixed up with other rocks. The Yidden said, “We don’t care which rock you get water from!” But Moshe was upset at them — “Do you think we can get water from a rock that Hashem didn’t ask us to get water from?”
To show them, he spoke to one of the rocks like Hashem said — and it didn’t give any water, because it wasn’t the right one. Moshe and Aharon thought that maybe they need to hit it — since the first well the Yidden had in the Midbar came from a rock that Moshe hit.
By Hashgacha Protis, Moshe hit the RIGHT rock, instead of the one he spoke to before! But since he was supposed to TALK to the rock, it only gave out a little bit of water. So Moshe hit it again, and the water came out. Now the Yidden had water to drink for themselves and for their animals. This well stayed with the Yidden until Moshe passed away.
Hashem was upset with Moshe and Aharon, because they could have made a big Kiddush Hashem! All of the Yidden would see how even a ROCK listens to Hashem. But since Moshe and Aharon didn’t talk to the rock, Hashem will need to punish them. Now they won’t be allowed to go into Eretz Yisroel.
This water got a name “Mei Merivah” (the water of argument), since the Yidden had argued with Hashem. Hashem punished the Yidden for this by not giving them the lands of Amon, Moav, and Edom now — they will have to wait until Moshiach comes.
Chassidus explains that hitting the rock was not the MAIN REASON why Moshe shouldn’t go into Eretz Yisroel — it was like an excuse. Really, the main reason is because Moshe Rabbeinu was the Rebbe of the Yidden in the Midbar. Even though Moshe Rabbeinu was ready to go into Eretz Yisroel, since his nation had to stay in the Midbar, Hashem wanted him to stay with them — until the time of the Geulah, when Moshe Rabbeinu will bring these Yidden with him into Eretz Yisroel!
Now the Yidden tried to go further on their way to Eretz Yisroel.
Since Hashem said that now the Yidden aren’t allowed to fight with Edom, they had to either ask Edom for permission to go through their land, or else they had to go around it.
Moshe sent messengers to ask them for permission. They told Edom how Hashem had saved the Yidden from Mitzrayim, so that Edom would be scared to say no. They said that the Yidden only want to go through on the roads, and will be very careful not to ruin any fields or eat from anything that is not theirs. Even though they have water and food, they will buy from Edom, so Edom will get a lot of money!
But the king of Edom said NO! He was proud to come from Esav, and liked to fight.
The Yidden tried asking again, but Edom said no again, and got an army ready to stop the Yidden in case they would try coming without permission.
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Today’s kapitelach are Lamed-Tes to Mem-Gimmel.
In one of today’s Kapitelach Tehillim, there is a posuk that says “Ach Betzelem Yis’halech Ish.” It means that people don’t understand what to do in the world, it’s like they’re walking in the dark.
The word “tzelem” (darkness) also means image (picture)! So we can translate the posuk as “Only with the picture can a person go.” What picture? A picture of the Rebbe!
We should think about how the Rebbe is our Nasi and picture the Rebbe in our mind. We should know that the Rebbe is watching what we do and has nachas when we make good decisions!
Thinking about the Rebbe will help us do the right thing, and do it with simcha and chayus!
A girl once wrote a letter to the Rebbe, saying that she sometimes feels like she is not interested in doing what she is supposed to do. The Rebbe answered her with a Ksav Yad Kodesh, a handwritten note. The Rebbe told her that when she feels that way, she should look at a picture of the Rebbe. She should remember that since the Rebbe is a true Ro’eh (like a shepherd) that Hashem sends to take care of the needs of the Yidden, when she is looking at the Rebbe’s picture, the Rebbe is looking at her too! This will help her to do what is right.
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TANYA
Igeres Hateshuvah Perek Alef
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We are now starting a new chelek of Tanya, the third one! It is called “Igeres HaTeshuvah” — the letter about Teshuvah.” Today the Alter Rebbe tells us a Gemara in Yoma which speaks about teshuvah, and explains it according to Chassidus.
For a Yid to be a beinoni (which we learned in the first chelek of Tanya), he can’t do any aveiros! If he did some before, he needs to do Teshuvah (which we will learn in this chelek).
A person can do teshuvah in two ways: Like a regular Yid, or like a Chossid — with chayus and neshama! The Alter Rebbe will show us here the “neshama” and pnimiyus of what happens when a Yid does Teshuvah.
The Gemara says that there are three kinds of Teshuvah, for three kinds of aveiros:
1) For a Mitzvas Asei: If a Yid was supposed to do a mitzvah, and didn’t do it — like if someone had a chance to learn Torah or do mivtzoyim and didn’t use it — how does he do Teshuvah? He needs ask Hashem to forgive him, and promise that he will do his best not to let it happen again. That’s it — Hashem forgives him.
But even though he doesn’t need to do anything else, it doesn’t mean that it’s not a big aveira! It is!
The reason why there is such an easy teshuvah for a Mitzvas Asei is because there isn’t anything else he CAN do about it. Every mitzvah we do brings Hashem into the world and into a person’s neshama. If he missed that chance, he missed it — and even though he will get MORE chances to do other mitzvos, he will never get THAT chance again. (This shows how serious it is to miss a chance to do a mitzvah.)
2) For a Mitzvas Lo Sa’asei: If a person did an aveira, like touching muktza on Shabbos or saying something not nice to his friend, then his neshama becomes dirty. Even when he asks Hashem to forgive him and promises to try his best not to let it happen again, that’s not enough! He needs to wait until Yom Kippur when Hashem will clean off the shmutz from his neshama.
3) For a more serious Aveira: If a person did a very serious aveira, like chas veshalom eating on Yom Kippur or getting married in a non-kosher way, then even Yom Kippur isn’t enough to finish the Teshuvah. For that, a person needs to have yisurim. When the person suffers, that finishes cleaning off his neshama.
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Today the Rebbe teaches us the importance for a chossid to keep seder.
Even though Chassidus shows that everything is important, still there needs to be seder (order). Even something very important and special needs to be done in the right time and the right way!
The Rebbeim showed us how important seder is. From the beginning, the Baal Shem Tov was a mesudar, and the Maggid was very careful with seder. The Alter Rebbe made sure that the chassidim were also mesudarim, organized. We can see this in his maamarim, in his letters, and in his niggunim!
There were even committees that the Alter Rebbe set up, to make sure there was seder for the Chassidim! Everyone had a set time when he could come to the Rebbe. A chossid wasn’t allowed to change that time without permission from the Rebbe, and he couldn’t get permission unless there was a good reason.
We also see this from the Vaad that the Alter Rebbe set up to take care of the seder by Chassidim, which was run by the Alter Rebbe’s brother the Maharil (R’ Yehuda Leib). There was also a Vaad for the newly married Chassidim, the yungerleit, which was run by the Mitteler Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe’s son.
We see from here how important it was to the Rebbeim for there to be seder, and how important it should be for us!
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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 Tes-Vov, Tes-Zayin, and Yud-Zayin, we learn how the Beis Din knows if it makes sense that someone would be able see the new moon, to know if the witnesses are telling the truth. (We aren’t talking about people seeing the moon ANYWHERE — only in Eretz Yisroel!)
It might be hard to remember all of the numbers the Rambam gives us, or to understand why we use those numbers, but it’s not too hard to actually make the calculations. Just follow the Rambam’s clear instructions step by step, and you can also figure out if a person could see the moon on any night in Yerushalayim!
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In Perek Gimmel, we learn about the right times for each tefillah. If we miss davening in these times, we are supposed to daven Shemoneh Esrei twice in the next tefillah.
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On Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, Tof-Shin-Mem-Alef, there was a rally for children in Tzivos Hashem. At the rally, the Rebbe told a story about the Frierdiker Rebbe, whose birthday is on Yud-Beis Tammuz:
The Frierdiker Rebbe was once walking in the marketplace. Near one of the stalls, he saw a policeman hurting a Jewish man! Even though the Frierdiker Rebbe was still a boy, and wasn’t even Bar Mitzvah yet, he wasn’t afraid of the policeman. He screamed at him to stop and pushed him away from the Yid.
The policeman got very angry! He threw the Frierdiker Rebbe into a dark jail cell.
All alone in the cell, the Frierdiker Rebbe heard a strange noise. At first he was very scared! But right away he reminded himself that Hashem is always watching over every Jew and every Jewish child.
He realized that he needs to act like a Jewish child, and not waste any time, even if he is stuck in jail! The Frierdiker Rebbe started to review the Mishnayos that he knew by heart.
A short time later, when the Chassidim found out what happened, they arranged for the police to free the Frierdiker Rebbe from his jail cell.
It turned out that the strange sound was from a small calf that was tied up in the same jail cell! The policeman had stolen the calf and hidden it there. He didn’t want to get caught, so he blamed a Jewish man, and that was who he was hurting in the marketplace.
Of course, when they found this out, the policeman was punished.
When the Frierdiker Rebbe came home, he told his father the Rebbe Rashab what had happened. The Rebbe Rashab told him that he had done a very good thing! Both a little boy and a little calf were in the same jail cell, but they were not the same! Because that little boy reviewed Mishnayos by heart, he showed that he is greater than an animal, that he is a Yiddishe child that is connected to Hashem through the Torah.
The Rebbe said that the lesson from this story is that we all need to have parts of Torah that we know by heart! That way, even when we don’t have seforim with us, we can always show that we are different than all other children, that we are Jewish children connected to Hashem.
Of course, one of the parts of Torah that we all have with us are the Yud-Beis Pesukim! Wherever we go, we can have them with us and always show that we are Yidden and connected to Hashem.
See rally Lamed Sivan 5741
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By saying Yishtabach, we finish the part of davening called Pesukei Dezimra, where we praise Hashem. Now we are ready to go on to Shema. Then we will daven Shemoneh Esrei, where we will ask Hashem for all of our needs! But if we are davening with a minyan, we first say Kaddish and Barchu.
What is Barchu?
The Chazan says, “Barchu Es Hashem Hamevorach!” Let’s go bentch Hashem Who is blessed!
Everyone bows and answers, “Baruch Hashem Hamevorach Le’olam Va’ed!” Blessed is Hashem, the One Who is blessed, forever!
One of the reasons for saying Barchu now is from the Zohar. According to the Zohar, we need to make sure to bring the Shechinah into our minyan before we daven. We do this by bentching Hashem together first. Once the Shechinah is resting fully in our minyan, we can go daven together.
See Mesechta Shel Tefillah
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Imagine you are walking past your friend’s bag, and see their new game sticking out. You think it might be funny to take it out of the bag and pretend to give it to them later as a present! Is it okay to do that?
Or what if we just want to borrow their game for a little bit, but not really keep it? Can we do that?
Or what if we just want to use their markers quickly and put them right back where we found them? Are we allowed to?
No! Taking something that doesn’t belong to us is called stealing. We are not allowed to steal even if we are planning on giving it back, or even just for a joke. It’s still called stealing, and it is still asur.
If we want to use something that doesn’t belong to us, we always need to ask first.
See Shulchan Aruch, Dinei Gezeilah Ugeneivah, se’if 3
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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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Even though most of the nevuos of Yirmiyah are about the Churban, there are also some beautiful nevuos about Moshiach! In this posuk, the Navi tells us about how the goyim will all see that Hashem will gather together all of the Yidden!
שִׁמְעוּ דְבַר ה׳ גּוֹיִם וְהַגִּידוּ בָאִיִּים מִמֶּרְחָק וְאִמְרוּ מְזָרֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל יְקַבְּצֶנּוּ וּשְׁמָרוֹ כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ
Shimu Dvar Hashem Goyim — Goyim, listen to the word of Hashem!
Vehagidu Va’iyim Mi’merchak — Talk about it on the islands from far away.
Ve’imru — Say:
Mezarei Yisrael Yekabtzenu — Hashem will gather together the Yidden that He sent into Golus all over
U’Shmaro Ke’roeh Edro — And guard them like a shepherd guards his sheep.
See Yirmiyah perek Lamed-Alef posuk Yud
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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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