|
|
CHUMASH
Parshas Va'eschanan - Shlishi with Rashi
|
|
Moshe Rabbeinu separates the cities for the Ir Miklat on the other side of the Yarden, so he could be part of the mitzvah!
Moshe decided to separate the cities for the Ir Miklat on the other side of the Yarden now, even though they won’t be used until the Yidden are living in Eretz Yisroel. Even though Moshe Rabbeinu wouldn’t be allowed to enter Eretz Yisroel, he wanted to be as much a part of it as he could.
One Ir Miklat was in Reuven’s part (Betzer), one in Gad’s (Ramos), and one in Menashe’s (Golan).
Then Moshe got ready to review some of the mitzvos!
|
|
|
|
Today we say Tehillim for Yom Zayin, which is kapitelach Lamed-Tes to Mem-Gimmel.
In the end of Kapitel Mem-Alef, it says “Baruch Hashem Elokei Yisroel, Me’Haolam Ve’ad Ha’olom, Amen VeAmen!” “Blessed is Hashem, the Hashem of the Yidden, from one world to the other world — Amen and Amen!”
Chassidus explains what two worlds we are talking about!
There are two kinds of worlds that Hashem created: Hidden worlds, and worlds we can see. For example, there are some things that are easy for us to understand, and there are other things that are very hard for us to understand! (Like some parts of Torah.)
Baruch Hashem — to bentch Hashem! That means in this posuk to bring Hashem from a hidden world to a world we can see. One way we can do this is by helping someone understand a part of Torah or Yiddishkeit that is “hidden” for them, that they don’t know it yet! By teaching other Yidden about Torah and mitzvos, it brings Hashem from the hidden world to the world we CAN see!
|
|
|
TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Gimmel
|
|
In Igeres Hakodesh, there are many letters where the Alter Rebbe encourages Chassidim to give a lot of tzedakah! In this letter, the Alter Rebbe explains how special tzedakah is and what happens when we give it!
The most important thing that happens we can’t see at all. Hashem “hides it away in a box” close to Him, and keeps that box closed until Moshiach comes.
There is something else that happens when we do this mitzvah, which is that after the neshama finishes its shlichus in this world, it gives the neshama the tools it needs to feel close to Hashem in Gan Eden.
Finally, there is a teeny bit of light that shines from the mitzvah in this world. That shine of Hashem’s chayus helps keep a Yid safe in the world, that nothing bad should happen in Gashmius OR Ruchnius.
When we understand this, we will never want to miss a chance to give Tzedakah!
|
|
|
|
Today’s Hayom Yom tells us something about the Tanya that we are learning now, the beginning of Igeres Hakodesh:
The first two letters in Igeres Hakodesh were written ten years apart from each other!
There is a sicha from the Frierdiker Rebbe that tells us the history of the letters we are learning now in Igeres Hakodesh. It shows us that the first letter is from when Chassidus Chabad just started, and the second letter is from a later time, when Chassidus Chabad had a big challenge and came out with hatzlacha!
The first letter was written in three sections: The first section was written by the Alter Rebbe when he already had Talmidim, but before he went to Mezritch to learn from the Maggid. There, he wrote about how important it is to learn Shas, in order to strengthen Emunah.
The second section of the letter was written after he came back from Mezritch, when he already knew the purpose of his neshama, which was to start Chassidus Chabad. Here already, the Alter Rebbe speaks about how important it is to work on Avodas HaTefillah.
The third section was written years later, when he already had Talmidim living in different places, and this letter was to make sure that the talmidim were davening properly, according to Chassidus Chabad.
The second letter in Igeres Hakodesh was written after Chassidus Chabad had a big challenge against it, and had hatzlacha! This letter was written after the Alter Rebbe came out of prison on Yud-Tes Kislev, which was when Chassidus Chabad proved that it would last!
|
|
|
|
Today we learn one last mitzvah about keeping marriage holy, and then we learn a mitzvah from the next part of Rambam — keeping kosher!
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #353) A person should be careful not to do things that might make him want to marry someone he’s not allowed to get married to.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Acharei: אִישׁ אִישׁ אֶל כָּל שְׁאֵר בְּשָׂרוֹ לֹא תִקְרְבוּ לְגַלּוֹת עֶרְוָה
The details are explained in Mesechta Yevamos perek Daled.
2) (Mitzvas Asei #149) It is a mitzvah to check animals before we eat them, to make sure they are kosher kinds of animals.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Shemini: זֹאת הַחַיָּה אֲשֶׁר תֹּאכְלוּ וְגוֹ׳
The details are explained in Mesechta Bechoros and Mesechta Chulin.
|
|
|
RAMBAM
Hilchos Isurei Biah - Maachalos Asuros
|
|
Today’s Rambam are the last two perakim of Isurei Biah, Perek Chof-Alef and Chof-Beis, and the first perek of Maachalos Asuros.
In today’s first two perakim, we finish the halachos about keeping marriages holy.
In Yiddishkeit, getting married and having children is a very holy, very special thing. Chassidus teaches that a married man and woman are a reflection of two special kinds of chayus of Hashem in this Gashmius world!
Since it is so HOLY, the Yetzer Hara tries very hard to stop us from getting married in a way of Kedusha. All of the mitzvos and halachos we are learning aren’t always easy to keep, but they make sure that our marriage is only in the way Hashem wants.
If you’re young, you might not understand why it’s so hard to keep these mitzvos. That’s because Hashem doesn’t give a person this Yetzer Hara until the body is more mature — usually at least 8 or 9, and often only around Bar or Bas Mitzvah.
One of the things the Rambam teaches us is that when a person reaches marriageable age, parents have a responsibility to help their children get married right away. This way, the Yetzer Hara won’t bother them so much.
In Perek Chof-Beis, the Rambam speaks about the halachos of Yichud, which are important for everyone to know. Yichud means that a man and woman who are not married should not be alone together in a private place. The Chachomim made these halachos to keep aveiros from happening.
We also start to learn a new set of halachos — about keeping ourselves holy, through only eating kosher! The food that we eat is very important, because it becomes part of us.
In today’s Rambam we learn about kosher and non-kosher animals and birds. Do you know what signs a kosher animal has to have?
- it chews its cud (swallows its food, but then goes back and chews it again and again)
- it has split hooves (hard feet that are split in half)
The Torah tells us the names of 24 birds that are not kosher, all other kinds of birds are kosher. But if you don’t know all of these birds and what they look like, you can only eat a kind of bird that you KNOW is kosher.
The Rambam also gives us signs to know what’s a kosher or a non-kosher bird. One way to know that a bird is NOT kosher is if it attacks other birds or animals with its claws and eats them. Can you think why that kind of bird is not kosher?
We also learn the signs of kosher locusts, and kosher fish. (Do you know what signs a kosher fish has?)
|
|
|
|
We learn when a person might need to make a bracha again. For example, if you decided to bentch, and then changed your mind and wanted to eat again, you would need to make another bracha — even if you hadn’t bentched yet.
Another halacha we learn is that if you made a bracha and the food got ruined before you could eat it, you should say “Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuso Le’olam Va’ed” right away. By speaking about the kavod of Hashem right after saying the bracha, the bracha is not counted as being said for no reason.
|
|
|
|
The Rebbe teaches us that Zayin Av is a day when we need to work even harder to bring the Geulah.
The Gemara tells us that on Zayin Av, the Goyim came into the Beis Hamikdash to make the Churban.
Why does the Gemara tell us this?
It isn’t just to tell us a story, or to help write a history book. It definitely isn’t written to make us feel bad by telling us sad things!
The Gemara is a part of Torah, and the purpose of Torah is to teach us how we should act. So if the Gemara tells us about Zayin Av, it must be because we need to know it in order to do something because of it!
We learned before that especially during the Three Weeks, we need to learn extra Torah and give more tzedakah in order to bring the Geulah. When the Nine Days start, we work even harder, making siyumim and being even more careful with Ahavas Yisroel. On Zayin Av, the Gemara says, the Churban was already starting. This is a message to us that today, we need to put in even MORE effort to bring the Geulah! We should take on new hachlatos and do something MORE to change the Golus into Geulah!
One year, in a sicha from Zayin Menachem Av, the Rebbe said that especially today we need to beg Hashem extra hard to bring Moshiach! We should add in Achdus by learning Torah and giving Tzedakah together with other Yidden.
See sicha Zayin Menachem Av Tof-Shin-Mem-Tes
|
|
|
▼ Jump to Coloring Books & Downloads ▼
|
|
|
|
Some people think that taking a few minutes before davening to think about how great Hashem is, and how small we are next to Him, is a very special bonus avodah we can do.
But that’s not true! It IS a special avodah, but it isn’t a bonus — we need to! It is a halacha in Shulchan Aruch that before we daven, we need to think about these things. It’s PART of davening!
Here’s why: The chachomim tell us that during Shmoneh Esrei, we need to stand “like a servant before his master.” The only way a person can feel like a servant is by thinking about Hashem and realizing that He is our Master, and we are only servants! Our whole life is to serve Hashem by doing the jobs (the mitzvos) He asked us to do.
The Alter Rebbe tells us an easy way to do this (in Likutei Amarim, perek Mem-Alef): Think about all of the great things in the world Hashem made — hurricanes, thunder, huge waterfalls, tall mountains, oceans and everything inside... and about the amazing ruchnius Hashem made: Tzadikim, the secrets of Torah, Gan Eden...
Now think about how ALL of that was made so that YOU could do your job! Hashem is looking at YOU and wants you to do your best to do it!
This is the message of the posuk Vehinei of the Yud-Beis Pesukim.
(Of course this is true all the time, not just during davening! But especially when we daven, we need to make sure to think about it, because davening is the start of our day.)
Based on a sicha of Lamed Tishrei, 5742
|
|
|
|
Learning Torah makes a Yid happy! Like it says in the posuk, “Pekudei Hashem Yesharim, Mesamchei Lev” — “Hashem’s laws are upright, they make a person happy!”
Usually, that’s a wonderful thing, to be happy all of the time!
But on Tisha B’Av, we are mourning for the Beis Hamikdash. Getting involved in happy Torah learning will make us forget our sadness about the Churban.
Still, we have a mitzvah to learn Torah all the time. So what should we do?
We should learn parts of Torah that talk about the Churban, so we won’t forget about it. We learn Eicha, or Iyov, or part of the Gemara Gittin.
Reading books or newspapers just because we enjoy them is not allowed. It will also keep a person from remembering that he is sad about the Churban. We are only allowed to read and study about the Churban or other sad times for Yidden.
See also Piskei Teshuvos vol. 6, p. 106
|
|
לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
שליח כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו למדינת אילינוי
|
|
|
|
There are two opinions about who will build the third Beis Hamikdash. Will it be Moshiach who tells the Yidden to build it, or will it come down from Shomayim?
The Rebbe gives a few explanations to show us that BOTH are true! Here is another explanation:
We learn about how the third Beis Hamikdash will be built from the Navi Yechezkel. Hashem gave Yechezkel a nevuah where a malach showed him around the third Beis Hamikdash, measuring all the different parts so he would know exactly how it should look!
But some parts of this nevuah are hard for us to understand. The Rambam tells us that Yechezkel’s words are “aino mefurash umevuar,” they are not explained fully. That means that we can’t just follow Yechezkel’s instructions and build the Beis Hamikdash Hashlishi.
But there are many parts that we DO understand! Some of these parts were already built once before according to Yechezkel, in the second Beis Hamikdash. We know exactly how they should look, and we can follow the Navi’s instructions to build them just right!
The Rebbe says that these are the parts of the Beis Hamikdash that Moshiach will tell us to build. We will build whatever we can understand.
And then what about the rest, the parts that aren’t so clear?
Hashem will send down all the rest of the Beis Hamikdash from Shomayim, and we will have the complete Beis Hamikdash Hashlishi, which will last forever!
|
|
|
|
|
לע"נ התינוק זאב ארי' ע"ה בן יבלט"א הרה"ח ר' שניאור זלמן שי' גליק
נפטר ב' מנחם אב ה'תשע"ג
|
|
Give children around the world the gift of Kids Chitas!
KidsChitas.org/sponsor
|
|
|
