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CHUMASH
Parshas Ki Seitzei - Rishon with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, we learn about three dinim: The Aishes Yefas Toar, the Bechor Ben Hasnuah, and the Ben Sorer Umoreh.
Aishes Yefas Toar: When the Yidden went to fight against the Goyim, the Goyim would sometimes try to stop the Yidden from fighting, by getting them to think about what their Yetzer Hara wanted instead of about the job they needed to do!
One of the tricks they would use is to have beautiful women nearby, so the Yidden would want to get married instead of fighting.
Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden what to do if this happens — and it is a trick that can work when our Yetzer Haras try to trick us too!
Instead of doing anything right away, the soldier needs to bring the woman home, and not give her anything to make her look beautiful — he needs to do things to make her look ugly! If he still wants to marry her after a month, he is allowed to. And if he changes his mind later, he can’t keep her as a maidservant — he needs to send her away to wherever she wants to go.
That’s a good trick for us too: We can have ISKAFYA — telling our Yetzer Hara to just wait a little bit! Sometimes that’s enough for us to realize that we don’t want that thing SO much. We can also remind ourselves that the things the Yetzer Hara wants aren’t really so special or beautiful!
Bechor Ben Hasnuah: When a person passes away, the din is that the oldest son (the bechor) gets double the amount of his father’s property. Even if the father had two wives, he can’t choose the one he likes better to be the bechor.
Rashi says that this should be a warning to a soldier: If he takes an Aishes Yefas To’ar home with him, he will start to hate her. His oldest child — even if he is the son of the Yefas Toar — will be his bechor according to Torah. He will need to give the bechor more money after he passes away, even if he doesn’t want to.
Ben Sorer Umoreh: Then we learn about the Ben Sorer Umoreh, a boy who does certain things like a Rasha. He steals money from his parents, and eats a lot of food in a grubbe (crass) way. His parents need to bring him to the Beis Din and the Beis Din will need to kill him, since if he acts this way now, he will be a big Rasha when he grows up.
It is possible that there never WAS a Ben Sorer Umoreh — since there are so many details for a person to become a Ben Sorer Umoreh. But this is still a part of Torah! First of all, it is to warn the soldiers that if they marry a Yefas To’ar, they might end up having a child that is like the Ben Sorer Umoreh, since they didn’t marry her for the right reasons.
It is also a part of Torah that is very special — we don’t learn Torah only because we need to USE what we learn, but also just because it is Hashem’s holy Torah.
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Today’s kapitelach are Yud-Ches to Chof-Beis. For Chodesh Elul we also say kapitelach Zayin, Ches, and Tes.
In today’s Tehillim (in Kapitel Yud-Tes) we have a posuk that says “Hashomayim Mesaprim Kevod Keil.” (“The sky tells about Hashem’s kavod.”)
Dovid Hamelech tells us that when we look at things in the world, we will want to praise Hashem!
This is one of the things we learned in Tanya — that when we look around at the world, it can help us have Yiras Shomayim if we remember that Hashem is the chayus which is creating it all!
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Yud
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Hashem gives chayus to the WHOLE WORLD because of the mitzvos Yidden do! Since mitzvos are Gashmius, they have to be a certain size, a certain amount, or a certain time — otherwise they won’t be able to bring the chayus. Tzedakah also has a certain amount: The Gemara says that even if you give a lot of tzedakah, you shouldn’t give more than a fifth ($1 out of every $5 you have).
If a person missed a chance to do a mitzvah, or chas veshalom did an aveira, he missed a chance to bring Hashem’s chayus into the world! He lost a chance to have that chayus for himself, and for the world — to bring Moshiach closer.
But wait! Nito Kein Farfallen — it is never too late to fix something! Hashem gave us the koach to do Teshuvah.
Since Teshuvah makes us think about and connect to a part of our neshama that DOESN’T have an amount, it also brings a chayus from Hashem that doesn’t have an amount! That way, it can even fix up chayus that was missing from before!
In fact, the chayus we bring from Teshuvah is even stronger than the chayus a Tzaddik brings — someone who used ALL of his chances, ALL the time to bring Hashem’s chayus into the world!
Tomorrow, IY”H, we will see that we need a special kind of Tzedakah to make us feel this strong chayus of Teshuvah in the world.
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In today’s Hayom Yom, we learn about Hashgacha Protis.
We all believe in Hashgacha Protis. Hashem knows EVERYTHING and makes everything in the world happen EXACTLY the way it does!
The same is true also with the shlichus our neshama has to do in the place that it is!
The place where we do our shlichus has been waiting there since Hashem made the world, for US to do our Shlichus there! And the neshama has been waiting since Hashem made it, for the time it will be able to come to this place to do that special Shlichus that Hashem wants it to do.
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In Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn the mitzvah of Kilai HaKerem — not planting vegetables or grain in a vineyard, where grapes grow. Outside of Eretz Yisroel, it is asur from a gezeirah of the Chachomim — Miderabanan.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Ki Seitzei: לֹא תִזְרַע כַּרְמְךָ כִּלְאָיִם
The details are explained in Mesechta Kilayim. We start learning the halachos in Perek Hey of today’s Rambam!
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In Rambam, we learn more about Kilayim.
Perek Gimmel: We aren’t allowed to plant different kinds of plants together. Does that mean we can’t plant purple carrots next to orange carrots? No! That’s okay because they are both carrots. In this perek, we learn what “different kinds” means. We also learn how close to each other they need to be in order to be called growing “together.” If it’s easy to see that they aren’t being planted together, like if there is a mechitzah, or they are in different fields, that’s not called kilayim.
Perek Daled: What do we need to do if we want to plant two kinds together in the same field? Sometimes they need to be far enough apart that they can’t join into one plant, and sometimes they need to LOOK like they are separate.
Perek Hey: In this perek and the next four perakim, we will learn about Kilei HaKerem. The Torah is very strict about not planting other things together with grapes! Even outside of Eretz Yisroel we need to be careful with this mitzvah. We learn about how long the plant needs to be there, and how much it needs to grow, for it to be asur.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about three of the melachos: Not to light a fire, not to put out a fire, and not to carry on Shabbos.
If a fire starts on Shabbos, we are not allowed to put it out ourselves unless it will be dangerous. For a small fire that isn’t dangerous, we are allowed to do something so the fire will burn out by itself, like by pouring water or juice AROUND the fire or putting plastic cups of water right next to the fire so it will put itself out.
Of course, for even a medium sized fire, or one that we think MIGHT be dangerous, we need to call the fire department RIGHT AWAY, even on Shabbos, because Hashem says that saving a person’s life is even more important than not doing a melacha!
We also start learning about hotza’ah. The melacha of hotza’ah is what we usually call “carrying.” It means to take something from one type of place (called a Reshus) to another. For example, taking something from a private house to a public street is this melacha.
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In this week’s parsha we learn mitzvos that we keep when Yidden have to fight in a war. The posuk starts with the words “Ki Seitzei Lamilchama Al Oivecha” — “When you go out to war ON your enemy.” It doesn’t say to fight WITH the enemy, but to go ON TOP OF the enemy! When a Yid goes to war the way Hashem wants, he is already on top — he is for sure going to win!
How can we be so sure we will win?
The Alter Rebbe tells us the answer by explaining something in the Megillah!
Esther Hamalka told Mordechai that it was very dangerous for her to go into the King’s inside room, because he hadn’t called her for 30 days. She asked Mordechai that everyone should daven and fast, and said that she would go ask the King to save the Yidden — even though it was Mesiras Nefesh for her.
But why didn’t she do what Haman did, when he made the decree? He went to the outside room, and asked the servants to tell Achashveirosh that he was there!
Esther Hamalka knew that this was something important in Ruchnius too. The palace of the king is like where Hashem, the King of the whole world, is hiding. The outside room is like the chayus that Hashem gives to the WHOLE world — Goyim AND Yidden. That’s why a Goy could make a decree on the Yidden there!
The INSIDE room is like the Chayus of Hashem that is special for Torah and mitzvos. There, nobody can have any way to hurt a Yid! Esther knew that to take away the decree, she would have to go to the inside room — even if it meant Mesiras Nefesh!
The same is true when Yidden go to war. We need to go ON TOP of the enemy. We need to be connected to Hashem’s inside room — the chayus Hashem gives in Torah and mitzvos. Then, when we go to war with Mesiras Nefesh to fight for what Hashem wants, to fight our Yetzer Hara and the Goyishkeit in the world, and to bring Moshiach now, we are sure to win!
See Likutei Torah Parshas Ki Seitzei, p. 37a — Biur Ki Seitzei
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We learned that the four brachos of Birchas Hamazon were made by:
1) Moshe Rabbeinu, in connection with the Mohn
2) Yehoshua, in connection with coming into Eretz Yisroel
3) Dovid Hamelech and Shlomo Hamelech, in connection with Yerushalayim and the Beis Hamikdash
4) The Chachomim, in connection with the neis of Beitar
The Rebbe’s grandfather, R’ Avraham Lavut, wrote a sefer called Shaar Hakollel. This sefer explains the Alter Rebbe’s nusach of davening.
In it, he brings from the words of the Tashbeitz, that when the Gemara says that, it doesn’t mean that Moshe Rabbeinu or Yehoshua WROTE those parts of Birchas Hamazon. It means that they set up these brachos with a certain inyan, but the specific nusach we use was written later.
In the times of Shlomo Hamelech, they said a bracha about the Beis Hamikdash, but of course they didn’t use the words we do, asking Hashem to rebuild it! That nusach was written in later times, after the Churban.
See Shaar Hakollel
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When we are going to eat foods that have different brachos, the order we say the bracha in counts!
Some foods are more important, and we say the bracha on them first. We also try to say more specific brachos first.
But we only need to think about the food we are planning on eating. Even if we have a food that has a more important bracha in front of us, we only make a bracha on it if we wanted to eat it.
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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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The Navi Micha lived at the same time as the Neviim Hoshea, Amos, and Yeshaya. He warned the leaders of the Yidden that the way they were treating the poor was not making Hashem happy!
But Micha also said many nevuos about the Geulah, including some of the most famous ones! Here is one nevuah about Kibutz Galuyos:
אָסֹף אֶאֱסֹף יַעֲקֹב כֻּלָּךְ קַבֵּץ אֲקַבֵּץ שְׁאֵרִית יִשְׂרָאֵל יַחַד אֲשִׂימֶנּוּ כְּצֹאן בָּצְרָה כְּעֵדֶר בְּתוֹךְ הַדָּבְרוֹ תְּהִימֶנָה מֵאָדָם
Asof E’esof Yaakov Kulach — Hashem says to the Yidden, “I will surely gather together all of you!
Kabeitz Akabeitz She’eiris Yisrael — “I will surely gather the remaining Yidden.
Yachad Asimenu Ketzon Batzra — “I will make them like sheep surrounded by a fence.
K’eder Besoch Hadavro Tehimena Mei’adam — “The place I will bring them to (Eretz Yisrael) will be as noisy as a stall of sheep!”
Hashem tells Yidden through the Navi that even though we will have gone through a hard Golus, in the end Hashem will bring us all back to Eretz Yisrael, and we will be protected and happy!
See Micha perek Beis posuk Yud-Beis
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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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