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CHUMASH
Parshas Devarim - Shvi'i with Rashi
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Moshe Rabbeinu continues to remind the Yidden about the things that happened to them in the Midbar, so they will be ready to go into Eretz Yisroel.
Moshe Rabbeinu reviews with Shevet Reuven, Gad, and Menasheh the promise they made — that even though they will live in these parts of Eretz Yisroel on the other side of the Yarden, they will first make sure the other Yidden are settled in Eretz Yisroel before they go back to live with their families.
Moshe tells the Yidden not to worry about the war to capture Eretz Yisroel! Look how Hashem helped them before — Hashem will fight for them again!
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Today’s kapitelach are Chof-Gimmel until Chof-Ches.
In today’s Tehillim, there are two pesukim (Kapitel Chof-Hey, pesukim ches and tes) that talk about how Hashem shows us the right way to live. The last words of these pesukim are “VeYelamed Anavim Darko” — Hashem teaches humble people His path.
The Rambam says that this is talking about two things that Hashem gives to Yidden to help them do teshuvah and do the right things:
1) He sends them Neviim (and Rebbeim) who teach them the ways of Hashem and how to do teshuva, and
2) Hashem makes a person to WANT to do the right thing when they learn about it.
These two things together make it much easier for us to do JUST what Hashem wants!
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Alef
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In this letter, the first letter in Igeres Hakodesh, the Alter Rebbe is encouraging Chassidim to add extra chayus in their learning Torah, and especially their davening, so that their neshamos will be strong!
Yesterday, we learned the first part of this letter. That part was written before the Alter Rebbe left to Mezritch. This second part that we learn today was written after he left. By then, he had found out from his Rebbe (the Maggid) about his special shlichus in the world — and that it will be hard, and even dangerous for him to do it!
Yesterday we learned about the mashal of a person, who has TWO halves — a top and a bottom! The top half is very important, but we need the bottom half to help us get to where we need to be. Our top half is our mind and our heart, which we use to think about the greatness of Hashem and bring out feelings of Ahava and Yirah, to want to be and stay connected to Hashem. The lower half, starting from the waist, is in Ruchnius our Emunah in Hashem, which makes it possible to think about Hashem’s greatness and bring out these feelings during davening.
But this emunah needs a “belt”! When a person puts on a belt, he feels strong! We also need to put on a Ruchnius “belt” to feel our strong emunah. What is the belt? The halachos of Torah! They make our Emunah and Chayus in serving Hashem very strong! That is the meaning of the words of Shlomo Hamelech, “Chagra B’Oz Masneha” — the Yidden put a belt on their waist which is Oz (strength), Torah. (The Rebbe gave us the special takanah of learning Rambam, and also strengthened the takana of Chalukas Hashas. One of the things it does for us is that it gives us strength in our Emunah!)
The Alter Rebbe tells us that besides for strengthening our emunah by learning halacha and Torah Shebaal Peh, there is also a special time to make the upper part of our neshama strong — to make our Ahavas Hashem and Yiras Hashem strong. When is this? This is when we daven Shacharis! We need to use this chance and daven with all of our might!
Tomorrow, IY”H, in the last part of this letter, the Alter Rebbe will make some takanos to make sure that we use this time in the best way.
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Sometimes we think that we get parnasa based on how hard we work. But really, the main thing is the bracha from Hashem which comes from doing what Hashem wants!
Sometimes a Tatty might think that if he skips a shiur or doesn’t daven with a minyan, he will have more time to work and he will get more money! But it’s not true. No matter how hard a person works, he won’t get even one penny more than what Hashem decided he should have.
This is very important to remember!
If we realize that our parnasa comes ONLY from Hashem, we will act the way Hashem wants. A person won’t think “It’s a waste of time to daven with a minyan because it takes too long and then I don’t have as much time to work!” or thinking “If I worked on Shabbos (chas veshalom) I would get more...” And it will never feel like a waste of money to pay for kosher food or for chinuch for our children! We know that all of the money comes from Hashem, and we know where Hashem wants us to spend it!
Even though we need to do our part to earn the parnasa, we need to remember that our work is not the main thing. The main thing is the bracha from Hashem!
When we remember this, we will make sure that our work in parnasa won’t take away from our Ruchnius, and we will live the way a Yid should. Then Hashem will bentch us with everything that we need!
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There are a lot of mitzvos about making sure that a Yiddishe marriage is holy! Today we learn 3 more mitzvos about it:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #352) A man can’t get married to his uncle (his father’s brother).
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Acharei: עֶרְוַת אֲחִי אָבִיךָ לֹא תְגַלֵּה
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #347) A man can’t get married to a woman who is married to someone else.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Acharei: וְאֶל אֵשֶׁת עֲמִיתְךָ לֹא תִתֵּן שְׁכָבְתְּךָ לְזָרַע
3) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #346) When a woman has a certain kind of tumah, called Nidah, she and her husband have to follow certain halachos.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Acharei: וְאֶל אִשָּׁה בְּנִדַּת טֻמְאָתָהּ לֹא תִקְרַב
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In today’s Rambam, Perakim Yud-Beis, Yud-Gimmel, and Yud-Daled, we are learning all about how it’s asur to get married to a non-Jew. We learn how someone not Jewish can do Giyur to become a Yid.
One halacha tells us how Yidden became Yidden when they left Mitzrayim — through bris milah, going to the mikvah, and bringing a korban.
That’s the same way a goy can become a Yid — he has to do these three things before he can become a Ger Tzedek. (Nowadays, a person can become a complete Ger even without bringing a korban.)
We learn many halachos about how the Beis Din tries to make sure that the person wants to be a Yid because he wants to do Hashem’s mitzvos, and not for other reasons (like wanting to marry a Jew).
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The Rambam explains what brachos are, and who made the nusach of the brachos we say. Then the Rambam teaches some general rules about brachos. For example, we learn that lechat’chilah, we should make a bracha in a loud enough voice to hear. We also learn that when we hear a bracha we need to answer Amen!
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This week is Shabbos Chazon. We read a haftorah that starts with that word. The last posuk of the haftorah says “Tzion Bemishpat Tipadeh Veshaveha BiTzedakah.” Yerushalayim will be redeemed with Torah, and the Yidden that were taken as prisoners will be redeemed when we give Tzedakah.
What does that mean for us now?
The Alter Rebbe explains that Tziyon is not just Yerushalayim, and we aren’t just talking about all of the Yidden being in Golus, we are also talking about the Golus of every Yid’s neshama in Avodas Hashem.
Golus means that things aren’t the way they should be. How should things be? Our happiness and our being upset should be in things of Avodas Hashem.
We should get excited about doing mitzvos and acting with good midos to other people! We should be upset when we are not serving Hashem the way we should.
But when things are not that way, when our excitement is just about Gashmius, like our toys and the food and drinks that we have, and we are upset when our Gashmius is not the way we want it to be — then our neshamos are in Golus.
So how do we take our neshamos out of Golus? The posuk tells us — by learning Torah, and giving tzedakah and helping others.
See Likutei Torah Parshas Devarim
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The fifth posuk of the Yud-Beis Pesukim starts with the words Ki Karov.
The Alter Rebbe uses this posuk in the Shaar Blatt of Tanya, telling us that this is what the Tanya is all about! It is Karov — close to us and doable — to do all of Hashem’s mitzvos because we love Hashem!
Ki Karov Eilecha Hadavar Me’od — This is very doable and easy for you
Beficha — in your mouth, to say words of Torah and Tefillah
Uvilvavcha Laasoso — and to do mitzvos with your heart, with Ahavas Hashem and Yiras Hashem!
We might feel that we are only interested in doing other things, like playing games or eating delicious foods. But by learning what it says in Tanya, we will know how special and precious our mitzvos are! Then it will be easy for us to do the mitzvos — and not just to DO them, but to do them with our whole heart!
Then, even if we enjoy doing other things, or if we don’t really like doing the mitzvos, we will want to do the mitzvos anyway!
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For certain aveiros, a Beis Din needs to punish someone by hitting them, called Malkos.
But there is a special mitzvah that they are not allowed to hit the person even one more time than they deserve.
If it is asur to even hit a Rasha who deserved to be hit, of course we are not allowed to hit any other person!
(If someone is hurting you or another Jew, and there is no other way to stop him, you are allowed to hit him to make him stop.)
See Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, siman Kuf-Pey-Daled
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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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How will the Third Beis Hamikdash be built?
There is a machlokes about whether it will come down from Shomayim already built or it will be built by people.
Rashi (in Gemara Sukkah) brings a Medrash saying that the Beis Hamikdash is already built! It will come down from Shomayim when Moshiach comes. We see this in the posuk, “Mikdash Hashem Konenu Yadecha,” “Hashem, Your hands built the Beis Hamikdash.”
The Zohar also says that Hashem will build the third Beis Hamikdash. The Zohar calls this Beis Hamikdash “Binyana DeKudsha Brich Hu,” Hashem’s building. It is Hashem’s building because Hashem will build it Himself!
This is the first opinion, that says it will be built from Shomayim. In the next shiur IY”H we will learn the other opinion, and then see how the Rebbe explains how they both are true!
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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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