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CHUMASH
Parshas Ki Savo - Shlishi with Rashi
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In today’s Chumash, Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden how they should keep their connection to Hashem new and full of chayus!
Even though you are being given the mitzvos now, you shouldn’t ever get bored of them. You should feel excited, as if Hashem is giving you the mitzvah TODAY for the first time!
Hashem will reward you by giving you more and more chances to do mitzvos. For example, when a Yid will bring bikurim, Hashem will give him a bracha that he should have fruits growing again next year, so he will be able to do the mitzvah of bikurim again!
Moshe Rabbeinu also reminds the Yidden to serve Hashem and ONLY Hashem.
Hashem will reward the Yidden by choosing ONLY them to be His special nation!
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Today’s kapitelach are Samach-Vov, Samach-Zayin, and Samach-Ches. We also say three kapitelach for Elul: Lamed-Daled, Lamed-Hey, and Lamed-Vov.
In Kapitel Samech-Vov, Dovid Hamelech says with Ruach Hakodesh words we will say to Hashem when Moshiach comes!
In pesukim Yud, Yud-Alef, and Yud-Beis, Dovid Hamelech tells us how we will thank Hashem for saving us from the tzaros of Golus. We will say that even though Hashem tested us with many tzaros, and that sometimes the troubles even got worse, in the end, Hashem saved us! Vatotzienu Larevaya, we will thank Hashem for bringing us out of Golus to the time of Geulah!
See the Metzudos on this kapitel, and the introduction in Tehillim Ohel Yosef Yitzchok
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Yud-Gimmel
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This Igeres is a letter the Alter Rebbe sent with a shliach (Shadar) who was collecting tzedakah in the communities of Chassidim, to inspire them to give tzedakah.
In this letter, the Alter Rebbe explains that even people who usually do mitzvos with a cheshbon, doing them exactly the way they need to be done, have the koach to give tzedakah without a cheshbon. The Alter Rebbe is waking up this koach of their neshama to give tzedakah without a cheshbon, much more than they would plan to give! One of the rewards for doing this is that Hashem will also give brachos without a cheshbon, even more than the person deserves!
First let’s learn about two different ways Yidden can serve Hashem:
A Yid can do mitzvos and learn Torah EXACTLY the way the Torah says. He can work hard to everything just right. All of his Avodas Hashem is just between him and Hashem, and nobody else needs to know! (This is like the derech of Beis Shamai, who were very strict in everything they did.)
Or there is another way — a person could feel so excited about their Yiddishkeit, that they want other people to enjoy it too! They don’t spend so much time trying to make sure everything is perfect, they just are busy doing LOTS of mitzvos, showing everyone how much they love being a Yid! (This is like the derech of Beis Hillel, who were more kind and giving to others.)
A person will have one of these different ways of serving Hashem based on where their neshama comes from — Chesed or Gevurah.
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The Rebbe Rashab said a very long Hemshech called “Besha’ah Shehikdimu, Te’erav.”
What is a Hemshech? It is many maamarim that need to be learned in order — like one very long maamar!
The Hemshech took more than THREE YEARS to say to the Chassidim — from Shavuos in 5672 (when the Rebbe Rashab was in Lubavitch) to Parshas Vayeira in 5676 (when the Rebbe Rashab was in Rostov)! This last maamar starts with the words “VaHashem Amar.”
There are 144 Maamorim in this Hemshech. (It is the LONGEST hemshech of maamarim in Chassidus!)
In fact, the Rebbe Rashab even had a SECOND part that he didn’t say it to the Chassidim — he just wrote it down.
For many years, Chassidim only had parts of this Hemshech as copies, but not as a printed sefer. In the year Tof-Shin-Lamed-Zayin, the Rebbe asked for it to be printed! The Rebbe gave special instructions how this should be done, and asked everyone to be a part of it! (See Derher magazine, Kislev 5777, for the whole story of when this happened!)
One of the things we can learn from this is about the Avodah we do in Chodesh Elul, where we make hachlatos for the coming year. We can learn from this that it is possible to make a hachlata that will take a long time to finish — even a few years!
Did you ever think about making a hachlata that will take you a long time to finish?
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Today we learn two more mitzvos — that two more kinds of people are not allowed to eat from the holy Terumah:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #135) A man who didn’t have a bris is not allowed to eat Terumah. (Even though it doesn’t say this mitzvah clearly in the Torah, we understand it because the Torah uses the same kinds of words when it talks about the Korban Pesach, where it DOES say clearly that a person without a bris can’t eat it.)
2) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #136) A kohen who is tamei (like if he has Tzoraas) is not allowed to eat Terumah.
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Perek Yud: What happens if a person ate Terumah by mistake when he wasn’t allowed to? Usually the halacha is that he has to pay back for what he ate, PLUS an extra fifth. We also learn about the halachos of what happens if someone stole Terumah.
Perek Yud-Alef: Terumah is holy, so we can’t just do whatever we want with it. We need to eat it or use it in a kavodike way. For example, we shouldn’t make a food into a drink.
Perek Yud-Beis: We are careful not to make the Terumah tamei. If it did become tomei, it has to be burned. If we’re not sure if it’s tomei or not, we have a problem! We can’t eat it in case it is tomei, but we can’t burn it because it wouldn’t be kavodik, in case it really isn’t tomei. So what do we do? We leave it alone until it becomes FOR SURE tomei, and then we burn it.
We also learn how the kohanim get their presents. They should go to the place where the produce is stored to get the terumah, but they don’t help pick it or gather it. Terumah should be given with kavod.
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In today’s Rambam, we learn about not doing a sh’vus. A sh’vus is something which the Chachomim said is asur either because it is LIKE the way we do a melacha, or because it is something that might make someone forget and actually DO the melacha. Many of the things we don’t do on Shabbos are because of sh’vus.
For example, we are not allowed to play marbles on a dirt floor because we might forget and smooth out the ground (the melacha of plowing) to make the marbles roll better.
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In Elul, we make a Cheshbon Hanefesh — seeing how we did this past year, to prepare for the coming year, so it will be much better. Did we do a good job with our mitzvos? Did we start figuring out some of the tricks our Yetzer Hara tries to use on us? Are we doing better in our Avodas Hashem than last year? Are we really using ALL of our kochos to bring the geulah closer?
How do we make this Cheshbon Hanefesh?
The Rebbe’s father, Harav Hakodosh Harav Levi Yitzchak N”E, explained that the word “Elul” teaches us how! If you make the letters “Elul” into numbers, you will get 67. Another word with the same Gematria (making letters into numbers) is Bina, understanding!
There are two ways of understanding something — we can understand something in general, or we can understand it completely with all of the details. When we understand something completely, that is using our koach of Bina.
For our Cheshbon Hanefesh in Elul, we need to have Bina! We can’t JUST think about “Did I have a lot of Kibbud Av Va’em? Maybe I need to do better.” We need to think, “I need to have more Kibbud Av Va’em by doing what Mommy and Tatty tell me RIGHT AWAY, instead of waiting until I’m in the mood.”
When we think about how we acted with Bina, we can figure out how to make every little part better and be sure that we are doing our shlichus in the coming year in the best possible way!
See Toras Menachem Tof-Shin-Mem-Daled, vol. 4, p. 2504
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TEFILLAH
Shemoneh Esrei on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur
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The way Shemoneh Esrei is set up is that there are 3 brachos at the beginning praising Hashem, brachos in the middle asking Hashem for our needs, and 3 brachos at the end praising Hashem again.
The Chachomim teach us that these three brachos at the beginning of Shemoneh Esrei are very special. We ONLY praise Hashem and mention the zechus of the Avos. We are careful not to add anything or to ask for anything during this time when we speak about the greatness of Hashem.
But on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we do add something!
On these holiest days of the year, we add FIVE paragraphs in the first brachos of Shemoneh Esrei! In these paragraphs, we are not speaking more about Hashem’s praises. We are asking Hashem for something very important. In each of these five paragraphs, we are asking Hashem to bring the Geulah!
Because this is such a special time, the Chachomim added these paragraphs in the middle of Hashem’s praises. This helps us realize how important it is to ask Hashem to bring Moshiach now!
Sicha of Rosh Hashana, Hisvaaduyos 5744, vol. 1, p. 27
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After Hamotzi on the first night of Rosh Hashana, we have a very special minhag of eating an apple dipped in honey.
Here’s how to do it:
1) Dip your apple into the honey (the Rebbe would dip three times!)
2) Make the bracha “Borei Peri Ha’eitz” (have kavana also for other fruits you will eat during the meal or for dessert)
3) Say “Yehi Ratzon Milfanecha Shetechadesh Aleinu Shana Tova Umesuka!” “May it be Your will that this new year should be a good and sweet year!” We say it right after the bracha, even before taking a bite. This way, the Yehi Ratzon has the koach of a bracha, so that Hashem will surely send us a sweet new year!
4) Eat and enjoy!
See Halachos Uminhagei Chabad p. 13
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It is also a minhag to have pomegranates on Rosh Hashana, asking that we should be packed full of mitzvos like a pomegranate is full of seeds. A pomegranate is an important fruit, because it is one of the Shiva Minim. We learned in the halachos of the order of brachos that we should make the bracha Ha’eitz on the most important fruit! So how can we make a bracha on the apple, instead of the pomegranate?
We also learned that if we WANT to eat a certain fruit first, if we like it more or are more excited about it, that fruit is called “choviv.” Since the “choviv” fruit is more important TO US, we can say the bracha on it, even if the Shiva Minim fruit is right there.
Since this minhag of apple and honey is so special, and we say the Yehi Ratzon specifically for it, the apple is VERY choviv to us! So we say the bracha on the apple, and not the pomegranate.
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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 Zechariah lived at the same time as the Navi Chagai. During those days, the Yidden had returned to Eretz Yisroel and were trying to build the second Beis Hamikdash.
Zechariah started saying nevuos when he was still young, and he says some of the most famous nevuos about the Geulah!
Many of Zechariah’s nevuos are very mysterious. The Navi tells us what he saw, and they are like dreams that we can’t understand. Rashi tells us (in the first posuk of Zechariah) that we will not understand all of Zechariah’s nevuos until Moshiach himself comes to explain them!
IY”H over the next few days we will learn some of Zechariah’s famous nevuos about the Geulah.
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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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