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CHUMASH
Parshas Va'eschanan - Rishon with Rashi
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Moshe tells the Yidden how he wished he could go into Eretz Yisroel.
Va’eschanan — Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden how he begged Hashem to be able to go into Eretz Yisroel. He knew that Hashem already told him no, but he hoped that gezeira would be taken away! After capturing the land of Sichon and Og, which would later become part of Eretz Yisroel, he davened to Hashem to let him go across the Yarden into Eretz Yisroel too.
But Hashem still said no. Moshe Rabbeinu was able to look at Eretz Yisroel, but only Yehoshua would lead them there.
Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden that they should realize how kind Hashem was to them! Even though they did aveiros, they would be able to go into Eretz Yisroel.
The Yidden should be very careful not to take away anything from Hashem’s mitzvos, or add to Hashem’s mitzvos. By staying close to Hashem, that is how they are alive and ready to go into Eretz Yisroel!
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Today’s shiur Tehillim is kapitelach Chof-Tes through Lamed-Daled.
In today’s Hayom Yom, we have an explanation from the Baal Shem Tov on a posuk in today’s Tehillim, “Sur MeRa Ve’asei Tov!”
Once at a farbrengen, the Rebbe taught another explanation from the Baal Shem Tov on the same posuk:
Sur Me’Ra — turn away from bad: When a person wants to do something not good so other people will respect him or because he wants it for selfish reasons, he should stop himself from doing it.
Ve’Asei Tov — and do good: Then he should use that same energy to do something good!
For example, let’s say that Shmerel is angry at Berel for not picking him as team captain. He wants to jump up and tell his whole bunk how awful Berel is! First, he should do Sur Me’Ra and stop himself from saying something not nice about Berel. Then he should do Asei Tov, and use the excitement he had to be a captain to tell the bunk a Torah story that he learned instead!
See farbrengen Yud-Beis Tammuz 5743, second sicha
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Alef
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We learned yesterday that there is a special time to strengthen our love and fear of Hashem — the time of davening — especially during Shacharis! Today the Alter Rebbe makes a takanah to make sure the time of davening Shacharis is used the way it should be used!
One of the things that makes it very hard to daven the way we should is when the Chazan in shul is in a rush to go to work. He will daven very quickly and not take the time to have kavana. So the Alter Rebbe makes a takanah in today’s Tanya that the Chazan in shul for Shacharis during the week should only be someone who DOESN’T have to go to work early, like someone learning in Yeshivah or a Melamed who has more time to daven.
On Shabbos, this won’t be a problem, because EVERYONE has time to daven, and also in Shulchan Aruch it says that on Shabbos everyone NEEDS to take more time to daven! So no matter who the chazan is on Shabbos, everyone should have time to have kavanah and daven properly.
The Alter Rebbe is very strict about this takanah. He says that he will send chassidim to secretly go make sure that everyone is davening for as long as they should be — otherwise they won’t be allowed to hear the Alter Rebbe’s maamorim when they come to see him.
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Today we learn an explanation of the Baal Shem Tov on a posuk from today’s Tehillim.
Dovid Hamelech tells us “Sur Me’Ra, Va’asei Tov, Bakeish Shalom Verodfeihu” — “stay away from bad, and do good, and try to make shalom.” (This is in the last kapitel of today’s Tehillim!)
The Baal Shem Tov explains that in every gashmius thing in this world, there’s a part which is good and a part which is bad. The part that’s bad is the selfish feelings (taavah) that a person has for the thing. The good part is the chayus of Hashem that we get from the Gashmius!
This is what the Tehillim is saying: Stay away from the selfish part, and look for the GOOD part, the chayus from Hashem that is in it!
Then, we have to make shalom between the Gashmius thing itself and the Ruchnius (the chayus of Hashem that is in it). When we make shalom, both things stay — the chayus of Hashem which is the good in it, and the Gashmius thing itself. That means that we use the Gashmius thing the way that Hashem wants it to be used, that it should help us serve Hashem!
This approach to Gashmius is a chiddush of the Baal Shem Tov. Until then, people thought that they should go away from Gashmius completely. Here the Baal Shem Tov shows us that we don’t need to go away from the Gashmius entirely, just away from the BAD part of the Gashmius. Then we can use the Gashmius in a way of shalom with the Ruchnius!
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SEFER HAMITZVOS
Shiur #92 - Mitzvas Lo Saasei #52, #32, #55, #54, #354, #360, #361
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A Jewish marriage needs to be holy, the way Hashem wants! Today we learn more mitzvos about this:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #52) It is asur for a Jew to get married to a non-Jew.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Vaeschanan: וְלֹא תִתְחַתֵּן בָּם
The details are explained in Mesechta Avodah Zarah and Mesechta Sanhedrin.
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #32) It is asur for a Jewish woman to marry a man from Amon or Moav, even if he becomes a Ger.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: לֹא יָבֹא עַמּוֹנִי וּמוֹאָבִי בִּקְהַל ה׳
The details are explained in Mesechta Yevamos perek Ches and the end of Mesechta Kiddushin.
3) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #55) We are not allowed to push away a Ger from Mitzrayim forever. A Yid can marry the grandchild of a Ger from Mitzrayim.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: לֹא תְתַעֵב מִצְרִי
The details are explained in Mesechta Yevamos perek Ches and the end of Mesechta Kiddushin.
4) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #54) The same thing is for a Ger from Edom: A Yid can marry the grandchild of a Ger from Edom.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: לֹא תְתַעֵב אֲדֹמִי כִּי אָחִיךָ הוּא
These above three mitzvos cannot be fulfilled nowadays, because Nevuchadnetzar mixed up all the nations, and we don’t know who really belongs to each one of these nations.
5) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #354) A mamzer can’t get married to a Yid. (Someone who is born from two people who aren’t allowed to get married to each other)
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: לֹא יָבֹא מַמְזֵר בִּקְהַל ה׳
The details are explained in Mesechta Yevamos perek Ches and the end of Mesechta Kiddushin.
6) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #360) A man who got hurt and now can’t have children is not allowed to get married to a Jewish woman.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: לֹא יָבֹא פְצוּעַ דַּכָּא וּכְרוּת שָׁפְכָה בִּקְהַל ה׳
The details are explained in Mesechta Yevamos perek Tes.
7) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #361) We are not allowed to hurt a man or an animal so that he can’t have children.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Emor: וּבְאַרְצְכֶם לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ
The details are explained in many places in Mesechta Shabbos and Mesechta Yevamos.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about what kinds of people are called a mamzer.
We also learn about women that a kohen is not allowed to get married to.
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In this perek, we learn about Birchas Hamazon, which is the only bracha that is from the Torah. (All other brachos are Miderabanan.) We learn how it is said differently on Shabbos, Yom Tov, and by a chasuna.
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Today is the Yartzeit of a very special Tzadik, the Arizal. There are many things we need to learn from the life of the Arizal.
The Arizal didn’t live for a long time, only for 38 years! But he taught SO MANY secrets of the Torah, that much of the Chassidus we learn today is based on it!
Until the time of the Arizal, only very special people could learn Kabbalah, the secrets of the Torah. The Arizal said that now we are very close to Moshiach! Now it is okay, and even a MITZVAH to teach EVERYONE the secrets of Torah.
The Rebbe tells us that there are a few things that all of us should learn from the Arizal and make hachlatos about today:
1) The Arizal used to sweat when he learned because he put in so much energy and effort in his learning. We should learn from the Arizal and put in a lot of effort when we learn Torah!
2) The Arizal would give a lot of money to tzedakah. We should also learn from the Arizal, and make hachlatos on his yartzeit to give a lot of Tzedakah too!
3) The Arizal said that all he had in Ruchnius was because of the simcha he had from doing a mitzvah. We should learn from this to also serve Hashem with simcha!
4) The Arizal said that every Yid’s neshama needs to fulfill all of the mitzvos, and until then it is missing something. We should take on a hachlata to keep all of the mitzvos of the Torah!
The Rebbe also reminds us that when we LEARN all of the mitzvos — like when we learn Rambam — it’s like we are doing them all!
The Arizal also said that every person should learn all the different parts of Torah — Pshat, Remez, Drush, and Sod. If it’s too hard to learn ourselves, we should try to get a teacher to help us.
The day of a yartzeit of a tzadik brings down a bracha from Hashem to help the Yidden in the things they need. This is especially true in the Nine Days when we need extra help! The yartzeit of the Arizal helps us overcome the hardships of the Golus and to bring the Geulah.
See Likutei Sichos chelek Tes p. 251 and Toras Menachem 5749, vol. 4, p. 117
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IY”H tomorrow we will start to learn the meaning of Vehinei, the sixth posuk of the Yud-Beis Pesukim. Today, we will hear a story about how this posuk can help us in our war against the Yetzer Hara!
A bochur once had his turn to go into Yechidus with the Rebbe. Usually, Chassidim would write down their questions, and the Rebbe would answer them during the Yechidus.
When this bochur was preparing what to write, he thought of a certain problem he was having in Avodas Hashem. He was uncomfortable writing it, and wasn’t sure what he should do. Finally, he decided that if he would remember during the Yechidus, he would ask the Rebbe. He knew that during a Yechidus, Chassidim would often forget everything else! If he remembered anyway, that would be a sign that he should ask.
When the bochur came into Yechidus, the Rebbe quickly read through what he wrote, and answered his questions. The bochur realized that the Yechidus was almost over, and remembered the problem he was having. Like he had decided, he asked the Rebbe what to do.
The Rebbe answered that he should learn the beginning of Perek Mem-Alef of Tanya Baal Peh, until after the section of Vehinei.
Then the Rebbe raised his voice and said:
“And when the Yetzer Hara will come to you, you should remind yourself.” The Rebbe said the words slowly and clearly and in a loud voice: “That Vehinei Hashem Nitzav Alav, U’mlo Chol Ha’aret Kevodo! Umabit Alav Uvochein Klayos Valeiv, Im Ovdo Kara’ui! And when you remind yourself of this, the Yetzer Hara will RUN AWAY from you!”
As we will learn, these words mean that Hashem is watching us the whole time to see if we will act the way we should! Like we see in this story, these words are very powerful! Thinking about what they mean can help us have hatzlacha in our fight against the Yetzer Hara.
As heard from Rabbi Yekusiel Farkash, audio shiur #6 of Seder Yomo Shel Yehudi, approximately 6 minutes in
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In Shulchan Aruch it teaches that before davening, a person should think about how great Hashem is, and how small a person is compared to Hashem. This will help us feel humble before Hashem.
In order to keep this halacha, some Chassidim had a minhag to learn a perek of Tanya before davening.
The Rebbe said that this is a very good minhag, and asked that all Chassidim keep it!
By first thinking about the words of Tanya, we will daven with the proper bittul (humility) we should have when we stand before Hashem in tefillah.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Tzadik Ches; and Toras Menachem Hisvaaduyos 5749, vol. 3, p. 68
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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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Yesterday we learned that the Zohar and Rashi (based on a Medrash) say that the Beis Hamikdash is already built and is just going to come down from Shomayim.
There is another opinion, though, that says that WE will have to build the Beis Hamikdash!
The Gemara in Yerushalmi says that the Yidden who leave Golus will come and build the Beis Hamikdash. There is also a Medrash that says that Moshiach will build it.
The Rambam brings this as a halacha, in Hilchos Melachim:
In the beginning of Perek Yud-Alef, the Rambam says, “Hamelech HaMoshiach Asid Laamod Ulehachzir Malchus Dovid Leyoshna … Uboneh Hamikdash!” Moshiach will get up and bring back Malchus Beis Dovid to the way it used to be … and he will build the Beis Hamikdash!
The Rambam says this again at the end of the perek. One of the signs to know that Moshiach is really Moshiach (Moshiach Vadai) is if he builds the Beis Hamikdash! So we see that it will be Moshiach’s job to get the Beis Hamikdash built.
Now we have two opinions. Which one will it be?
Over the next few days we will IY”H see how BOTH of these 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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