Daily Chitas - Tuesday Parshas Chukas-Balak

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CHUMASH

Parshas Chukas-Balak - Shlishi with Rashi

Today we learn about five important things that happened to the Yidden in the Midbar: Aharon passes away, Amalek attacks the Yidden, the Yidden complain about the mohn and Hashem sends poisonous snakes, and Hashem tells Moshe to put up a snake on a pole to help the Yidden to do teshuvah and be saved. Then we learn about a special neis, and the shira the Yidden sing to thank Hashem!

Aharon passes away: The Yidden continued going through the Midbar. They came to a mountain called Hor HaHar (that means “The Mountain of the Mountain” — because it looked like a small mountain on top of a big mountain).

Now Aharon will pass away.

Hashem told Moshe that he should speak to Aharon to make him feel better, reminding him that he will see his son Elazar take over as Kohen Gadol before he passes away. This is something that even Moshe Rabbeinu himself did not have with his son.

Hashem told Moshe to bring Aharon and Elazar into a cave in the mountain. There will be a bed with a candle inside. Moshe should help Aharon take off the special clothes of the Kohen Gadol and dress Elazar in them. Then Aharon will lay down on the bed, and close his eyes, and Hashem will take back his neshama with a “kiss.” (Misas Neshikin — only certain tzadikim pass away like this.)

Even though it was hard for him, Moshe did what Hashem said, and Aharon passed away. Then Moshe and Elazar came down from the mountain. The Yidden were very sad, and cried for a whole month. They missed Aharon, who used to make shalom between people, especially bringing Shalom Bayis.

Amalek decides to attack: The clouds that were around the Yidden were in Aharon’s zechus, and Hashem took some of them, the Ananei HaKavod, away when Aharon passed away. The clouds that Hashem took away weren’t the ones that protected the Yidden, but they were there for kavod for the Yidden.

When Amalek saw that the clouds went away, they thought that Hashem would let them fight against the Yidden. They decided to pretend they were from Canaan, so the Yidden wouldn’t be able to daven to Hashem against them — they would be davening for the wrong thing.

Amalek attacked the Yidden, and captured one person (who was really only an Amaleki the Yidden had captured last time).

The Yidden davened to Hashem to save them. They didn’t ask Hashem to save them from the Canaanim, so Amalek’s trick didn’t work! Hashem helped, and the Yidden won. They gave all of the money they got to Hashem.

The Yidden complain about the Mohn: The Yidden were so scared from the war with Amalek, and that Aharon passed away, that they tried to run back to Mitzrayim.

The Leviim chased them and fought with them until they agreed to go back to Eretz Yisroel. But they complained about Hashem and about Moshe. They said that they didn’t like the mohn.

The copper snake of teshuvah: Hashem punished the Yidden for their Lashon Hara about the mohn by sending poisonous snakes. (The reason why Hashem sent snakes was because the snake by the Cheit Eitz HaDaas said Lashon Hara.) The Yidden realized they needed to do teshuvah, and asked Moshe to ask Hashem to stop the snakes.

Hashem told Moshe to make a fake snake and put it on a pole. When the Yidden look at it, they won’t die from the snakebites. When they look up they will think about Hashem, and also they will remember why Hashem was punishing them.

Moshe made this snake out of copper, because the word copper (nechoshes) is like the word snake (nachash)! And just like Hashem promised, if a Yid was bitten by a snake, he looked at the copper snake and Hashem forgave him and didn’t let him die.

A special neis: The Yidden continued traveling and came closer to where the Emori people lived.

To go there, they had to go in a valley with high cliffs on both sides. The Arnon River goes through this valley, and the Emorim knew that the Yidden were coming that way. They had a mean idea, to hide in the caves in the cliffs and then throw arrows and rocks down on the Yidden when they came through!

But Hashem saved the Yidden! He moved the cliffs together, and both cliffs fit together like puzzle pieces — wherever there was a cave on one side, there was a rock sticking out on the other. All of the Emorim that wanted to hurt the Yidden were killed.

The Yidden were able to see the blood in the Arnon River, and they realized that Hashem had saved them! Some of the blood went into the Yidden’s well of water to make sure all of the Yidden got to see that Hashem did a great neis for them. The Yidden sang a song to Hashem, called “Ali Be’er,” “come up well,” which showed them the neis Hashem made!

TEHILLIM

44 - 48

Today’s shiur Tehillim is kapitelach Mem-Daled to Mem-Ches.

Before Kapitel Mem-Ches (like for most kapitelach) there are a few words that tell us what the kapitel is about. The introduction to this kapitel tells us that the kapitel is about when Moshiach will come! It is about how beautiful Yerushalayim will be, and how we will bring the korbanos and see all of the things the Neviim told us will happen when Moshiach comes.

TANYA

Igeres Hateshuvah Perek Alef

Yesterday, we learned about the three kinds of aveiros a person needs to do teshuvah for. Today, the Alter Rebbe teaches us HOW to do teshuvah:

The mitzvah of teshuvah is not very complicated. A person just needs to make a strong HACHLATA that he won’t act that way again.

This hachlata is not only about the specific aveira he did. Since when a person does an aveira, he becomes separated from Hashem, it’s not enough to just say that he won’t do THIS aveira again, his hachlata needs to be that he will do EVERYTHING that Hashem wants — all of the mitzvos! This way he will become reconnected to Hashem and his teshuva will be complete.

There are also extra things like giving tzedakah or fasting which can help, but they are not part of the MITZVAH of doing teshuvah — as we will IY”H see later.

HAYOM YOM

Ches Tammuz

The main love Hashem had for Avraham Avinu was because he brought Yidden closer to Hashem!

Avraham Avinu, the first of the Avos, was very special to Hashem. Hashem made all of the Yidden come from him!

Hashem gave Avraham ten very hard tests to show how much he is connected to Hashem.

Some of these tests were being thrown into the fiery pit of Nimrod for breaking his father’s Avodah Zarah, traveling far away without even knowing where he was going because Hashem said so, and finally the biggest test — to bring Yitzchak as a korban by the Akeidah. Avraham passed them all!

But guess what? That WASN’T the main reason Hashem loved him so much!

So why DID Hashem love Avraham so much?

Because he taught his children and other people around him to come close to Hashem and do what Hashem wants. Teaching and helping other people is the MOST special thing for Hashem!

SEFER HAMITZVOS

Shiur #66 - Mitzvas Asei #153, #59

Today in Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn the same mitzvah (Mitzvas Asei #153) for the last time: 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.

Today we also learn a new mitzvah, (Mitzvas Asei #59) to blow trumpets at certain times. We blow them when we bring the special korbanos of Yom Tov, a happy time. We also blow them in a sad time — when we are davening to Hashem because hard things are happening. They can remind us that it’s from Hashem, and we have to do teshuvah.

We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Behaalosecha: וּבְיוֹם שִׂמְחַתְכֶם וּבְמוֹעֲדֵיכֶם וּבְרָאשֵׁי חָדְשֵׁיכֶם וּתְקַעְתֶּם בַּחֲצֹצְרֹת

The details are explained in Sifri, Mesechta Rosh Hashana, and Mesechta Taanis.

RAMBAM

Hilchos Kiddush HaChodesh - Taaniyos

In today’s Rambam, we are finishing the halachos of Kiddush Hachodesh! In perek Yud-Ches and Yud-Tes, we learn more about how the Beis Din knows if the witnesses are telling the truth that they saw the moon. They make calculations to figure out if it is possible to see the moon on a certain night.

But just because there IS a new moon doesn’t mean that anyone can see it! Sometimes the moon is very low in the sky and someone needs to be on top of a mountain to see it, or it might be hidden behind clouds.

The Rambam explains what the Beis Din does if nobody sees the moon for many months — they can’t just make every month be 30 days long, because that will mess up the calendar! The Beis Din follows a pattern, like we do nowadays: one long month, and then one short month. That way, even if there are no witnesses, the Yidden will all be keeping a proper calendar.

One of the questions the Beis Din asks people is, “Which way was the moon pointing when you saw it?” The Rambam explains how the Beis Din knows if their answer makes sense: It depends on where the sun is! The part that we can see of the moon is because the sun is shining on it and making it lit up. (You can try this yourself using a ball and a flashlight in a dark room!)

The sun’s “path” (orbit) around the earth and the moon’s orbit aren’t like two circles on a flat piece of paper. They are both tilted in different directions, so sometimes the sun is a little bit higher or lower in the sky than the moon is. Since it is shining down at the moon, or up at the moon, it makes the moon look like it’s pointing in a different direction! (You can try this with your flashlight too!)

The Rambam tells us how to calculate this ourselves, so we can know which way the moon should be pointing on Rosh Chodesh.

We also learn the first perek of a new set of halachos about fasts that the Chachomim make for the whole town. If something scary happens, we need to daven to Hashem of course, and also fast to ask for Hashem to help us. The Rambam talks about WHO needs to fast, and WHEN we’re not supposed to make this kind of fast.

The Rambam says that if a person says that something just happened by chance, it is cruel! Hashem wants us to do teshuvah, and by saying that it was just by nature, it will stop us from doing teshuvah properly, and we won’t be able to get all of Hashem’s special brachos.

RAMBAM PEREK ECHOD

Hilchos Tefillah - Perek Daled

There are five things that we need to take care of before davening, or else we are not allowed to daven:

1) Washing our hands

2) Making sure we are tznius’dik

3) The place has to be appropriate for davening (not in a bathroom or garbage dump)

4) Making sure there is nothing distracting us (like making sure we don’t need to go to the bathroom)

5) Making sure we can have kavana (like not to daven when we are angry)

INYANA D'YOMA

Lebn Mit Der Tzeit

In today’s Chumash, we learn about the passing of Aharon Hakohen. After Aharon Hakohen’s histalkus, the Ananei Hakavod were taken away from the Yidden.

There were three special nissim that came along with the Yidden in the Midbar, in the zechus of Moshe, Aharon and Miriam:

1) Mahn fell in the zechus of Moshe

2) The Yidden had water in the zechus of Miriam (Be’eira Shel Miriam)

3) The Ananei Hakavod were in the zechus of Aharon

The Rebbe explains why it was specifically the Ananei Hakavod that came in Aharon’s zechus:

We learned in the Chumash that all of the Yidden mourned for Aharon, because he brought Shalom and Achdus to the Yidden.

The Ananei Hakavod were clouds that surrounded the Yidden for kavod. Even though the mahn and the water came to each Yid separately, the clouds were around all of the Yidden together! This also shows the idea of Shalom and Achdus.

That’s why Hashem made the Ananei Hakavod come in Aharon’s zechus, because Aharon’s inyan was bringing Shalom and Achdus to the Yidden. These clouds also brought kavod to all of the Yidden together, uniting all of the Yidden as one.

See Hamaor ShebaTorah Bamidbar p. 330, sichos cited there

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TEFILLAH

Barchu

After we finish Pesukei Dezimra, the Chazan says Kaddish and then Barchu.

The Chazan tells everyone to bentch Hashem: “Barchu Es Hashem Hamevorach!” Everyone answers, “Baruch Hashem Hamevorach Le’olam Va’ed!” May Hashem be blessed forever!

One of the reasons we say Barchu after Yishtabach is so that everyone in the minyan will bentch Hashem together before starting the main part of davening.

Another reason we say Barchu is for the same reason we say “Raboisai Mir Vellen Bentchen” before bentching with a mezuman: We tell everyone, “FOCUS! Pay attention!”

Now we are reaching the ikar of davening, Shema and Shemoneh Esrei. The Chazan reminds everyone that we are coming to a very important part of davening and we all need to be thinking about what we are saying!

HALACHOS HATZRICHOS

Taking Things for a Good Reason

Sometimes we see something that doesn’t belong to us, and we have a very good reason why we need it! Maybe we need to write something down, and our friend’s pen is on their desk. Or we forgot to bring snack and see that someone else brought a lot of treats.

Those might sound like good reasons to take something, but it is still called stealing!

The Torah doesn’t let us steal, even for a good reason.

The only time a person is allowed to steal is to save their life, and even then they need to plan to pay it back as soon as they can. But we aren’t allowed to steal to keep us from losing money, so we won’t be sad, or even to keep us from getting hurt.

Before we take or use something that isn’t ours, we always need to ask!

See Shulchan Aruch, Dinei Gezeilah Ugeneivah, se’if 2

לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
שליח כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו למדינת אילינוי

GEULAH U'MOSHIACH

Hashem Promises to Take Us Out of Golus

The Navi Yirmiyah lived in the times of the first Beis Hamikdash. He saw that the Yidden were not behaving the way they should, and Hashem sent him many nevuos to warn the Yidden to do teshuvah. Most of these nevuos are very sad ones about the Churban.

Still, there are some very famous happy nevuos, about the time of Moshiach! Yesterday, we learned a posuk about how the Goyim will talk about Hashem gathering together the Yidden! Here is the next posuk, which explains why this will happen:

כִּי פָדָה ה׳ אֶת יַעֲקֹב וּגְאָלוֹ מִיַּד חָזָק מִמֶּנּוּ

Ki Fadah Hashem Es Yaakov — Because Hashem has freed the Yidden from Golus

U’Ge’alo Miyad Chazak Mimenu — And saved them from the hands of those who are stronger than them!

This posuk is also part of davening! Do you know where?

See Yirmiyah perek Lamed-Alef posuk Yud-Alef

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