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CHUMASH
Parshas Haazinu - Revi'i with Rashi
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Today we are continuing to learn Shiras Haazinu, the song Moshe Rabbeinu told Yidden on the day he passed away. In this song, he tells the Yidden that Hashem loves and takes care of them. He tells them about the Golus that will come from the things they do, but that in the end they will do teshuvah and come back to Eretz Yisroel. Moshe uses the sky and the earth as witnesses, because the very same sky that Moshe stood beneath on that day, and the very same earth he stood on, are here today as well to remind us that what he said was true!
In today’s Chumash, Moshe Rabbeinu is speaking about what will happen when the Yidden come into Eretz Yisroel. Hashem will give them many brachos there!
Unfortunately, they won’t use these brachos in the right way, and it will look like Hashem is hiding from the Yidden. They will end up going into Golus, away from Eretz Yisroel and the brachos there.
The Maharal writes that we should say this song, Shiras Haazinu, all the time! It reminds us how to use the brachos Hashem gives us in the right way, so that Hashem will accept our teshuvah and bring the Geulah.
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Today’s Tehillim is the 15 “Shir Hamaalos,” kapitelach Kuf-Chof through Kuf-Lamed-Daled. All of these kapitelach start with the words “Shir Hamaalos” or “Shir Lamaalos.” We also say three kapitelach for Chodesh Elul — Ayin-Tes, Pey, and Pey-Alef.
Kapitel Kuf-Chof-Vov is the Shir Hamaalos we say before bentching on Shabbos and Yom Tov, or a day with no Tachanun. It talks about when Moshiach will come, and it says that Golus is like planting a field — a person puts seeds in the ground and cries that Hashem should make it rain. Then he is so happy when his plants grow!
Golus is like that too, we “plant” lots of mitzvos and cry to Hashem that they should “grow.” When Moshiach comes, we see all that our mitzvos did, and we are so happy!
That’s the posuk “Az Yemalei Sechok Pinu” — “then our mouths will be full of laughing” — because we will be so happy that Moshiach came!
The Rebbe tells us that we need to have lots of simcha now, to practice since Moshiach is almost here!
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Yud-Ches
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In the first chelek of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explained to us how we can have Ahavas Hashem. In the letter which we are learning today and tomorrow, the Alter Rebbe tells us how we can “earn” a feeling of love for Hashem through our hisbonenus, davening, and giving tzedakah. We can also get a higher kind of Ahavas Hashem, even more than we deserve!
There are things we get because we work hard to get it — like we get a good grade on a test if we learned and did chazara well. But sometimes we get a surprise: Our teacher or parents will give us a present that we don’t really deserve!
The same thing is with chayus we have in living the way a Yid should.
There is chayus which we have because we deserve it. We learn and daven and do mitzvos the best way we can, and we have chayus in what we do! That is very special and we deserve it.
But sometimes we just feel a special chayus that just comes like a surprise. We didn’t do anything so special to deserve to feel SO much chayus. It’s a present from Hashem!
Even though it’s a present, we only get it if we first did our best. Then Hashem gives us even more than we really deserve! First we need to make sure to live just the way Hashem wants from us, and only listen to our Yetzer Tov. Then we can get a chayus in Yiddishkeit from Hashem that is much stronger than the chayus we deserve from what we did!
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Today we learn about the partnership Yidden have with Hashem, with Gashmius and Ruchnius.
The Alter Rebbe once said something very special about Yidden:
We do something amazing! We live in a Gashmius world, but we are still able to live a Ruchnius life and stay connected to Hashem by doing what He wants!
It’s like we work together — Hashem makes Gashmius out of Ruchnius, and we take the Gashmius and make it into Ruchnius by using it the way Hashem wants us to.
This inyan is very connected with Rosh Hashana, which will be very soon! This is one of the inyonim of Rosh Hashana, that Hashem paskens to give Yidden all of the Gashmius things that we need, and we accept the Malchus of Hashem, to make the Gashmius into Ruchnius.
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SEFER HAMITZVOS
Shiur #144 - Mitzvas Lo Saasei #223, Asei #134, #141, Lo Saasei #230, #231
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Today we learn 5 more mitzvos about Shemitah:
1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #223) We are not allowed to gather grapes that grow during Shemitah. They can be picked and eaten, but not gathered like usual.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Behar: וְאֶת עִנְּבֵי נְזִירֶךָ לֹא תִבְצֹר
The details are explained in Mesechta Shevi’is.
2) (Mitzvas Asei #134) We need to make all of the fruit that grows in Shemitah “hefker,” so anyone can take it. Making something Hefker means saying that it doesn’t belong to anyone, so any person can take it without permission.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Mishpatim: וְהַשְּׁבִיעִת תִּשְׁמְטֶנָּה וּנְטַשְׁתָּהּ וְגוֹ׳
The details are explained in Mesechta Shevi’is.
3) (Mitzvas Asei #141) In a Shemitah year, we should forgive any money that a Yid owes us.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Re’eh: וַאֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֶת אָחִיךָ תַּשְׁמֵט יָדֶךָ
The details are explained in the last perek of Mesechta Shevi’is.
4) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #230) We are not allowed to ask someone to pay us back money after a Shemitah year passes.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Re’eh: שָׁמוֹט כָּל בַּעַל מַשֵּׁה יָדוֹ אֲשֶׁר יַשֶּׁה בְּרֵעֵהוּ לֹא יִגֹּשׂ אֶת רֵעֵהוּ וְאֶת אָחִיו
The details are explained in the end of Mesechta Shevi’is.
5) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #231) It is asur to not lend money to a Yid before Shemitah, even if we are afraid that we will lose money if they don’t pay us back before Shemitah.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Re’eh: הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן יִהְיֶה דָבָר וְגוֹ׳
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Shemitah VeYovel
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Perek Gimmel: We are not allowed to prepare the land before Shemitah so that it will grow better by itself. Because of this, we have to stop working in our fields for some time before Shemitah starts. This is called Tosfos Shevi’is.
Perek Daled: We are not allowed to take sefichin (vegetables and grain that grow without planting them) during Shemitah, even though they grew on their own. The Chachomim made this Gezeira so that people won’t try to plant things secretly. We are only allowed to take FRUIT that grows by itself, since everyone knows that a fruit tree had to be planted long before Shemitah for it to grow now!
Perek Hey: We treat fruit that grows during Shemitah with respect, since it is holy (Kedushas Shevi’is). One halacha is that we shouldn’t feed animals Shemitah fruit that was meant for people to eat.
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In today’s Rambam, we start to learn about an Eruv Techumin. This means that if a person puts some food in a place which is outside of the Techum Shabbos before Shabbos starts, it is counted as if he is there, and it makes his Techum Shabbos only start from 2,000 amos past that place. There are many halachos connected to this, explaining how and when a person can make such an eruv.
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One of the Rebbe’s secretaries, Rabbi Groner A”H, once told this story:
A Yid from Eretz Yisroel called to ask for a bracha for his daughter, who was very sick. Next to the name of the girl, the Rebbe wrote the words “Azkir Al Hatzion” (“I will daven by the Ohel”), by the father’s name the Rebbe wrote, “Does he go on mivtzoyim?” Rabbi Groner called and told the father the Rebbe’s answer.
The father soon called back to say that he was doing mivtzoyim at the nearest Chabad House.
A few days later, the Rebbe told Rabbi Groner to find out how the girl was doing. The man told Rabbi Groner that it was a miracle! His daughter was much better.
When Rabbi Groner told the Rebbe this, the Rebbe said, “Look what mivtzoyim can accomplish!”
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In the tefillos of the Yomim Noraim, we find many piyutim. Piyutim are poems that speak about the inyan of the day and ask Hashem to bring us the special brachos that come with the Yom Tov.
The beautiful words of the piyutim are written using many expressions and hints, so it’s hard to understand the meaning of them if you just think about the exact translation of each of the words. At least the Chazan who is davening should make sure he understands what the piyutim are saying! (Most translated Machzorim write the meaning of the piyutim in a way that you can understand.)
In some Machzorim, there are many piyutim added to davening, starting in the brachos of Shema. In our Machzor, there are much fewer piyutim, and we only add them in the Chazaras HaShatz of Shacharis and Musaf. Even though they are in the Chazan’s repetition of Shemoneh Esrei, most of them are written in a way that the whole shul says parts of it together before the Chazan, or repeating after the Chazan.
The Maggid of Mezritch explains why our Machzor doesn’t have as many piyutim as in other nus’chaos. The Maggid tells us that when we daven, we only say things that the Anshei Kneses Hagedolah put into the siddur, and the piyutim of R’ Elazar Kaliri. These are not just meaningful tefillos, but they are emes and they fit also according to Kabbalah.
The Maggid teaches that the words of our tefillos on Yom Tov bring down the chayus of Hashem for this Yom Tov. We are careful to say just these words, which each bring down the special kedusha of Rosh Hashana. We don’t say less than we need to bring down the full chayus of the day, and we don’t say anything extra.
See Otzar Minhagei Chabad, p. 97
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On the second night of every Yom Tov, we make a Shehecheyanu for this new day of Yom Tov. But on Rosh Hashana, there is an opinion that we don’t say Shehecheyanu on the second night!
Most Yomim Tovim are one day long in Eretz Yisroel, and two days long in other parts of the world, because of a sofeik about the day of Yom Tov (“sfeika deyoma”).
Rosh Hashana is different! Even in Eretz Yisroel, we keep two days of Rosh Hashana. There is an opinion that Rosh Hashana is considered one long day (“yoma arichta”), not two separate days. If the whole Rosh Hashana is part of one day, how could we say the bracha Shehecheyanu twice for the same day?
The final halacha is that we do say Shehecheyanu on the second night of Rosh Hashana anyway. But to follow the other opinion also, we try to wear new clothes or eat a new fruit on the second night of Rosh Hashana. We have it out and keep it in mind when we bentch licht on the second night (for women) or when we make kiddush (for men). This way our Shehecheyanu follows ALL of the opinions.
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Tof-Reish
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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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Over the past few months, we have been learning many of the nevuos about Moshiach! We finished learning the last sefer of Navi, Malachi, and the nevuos he said about the Geulah.
Malachi lived in the time of the second Beis Hamikdash. After Malachi, nevuah left the Yidden, and there were no more Neviim.
The Rambam tells us, based on the nevuah of Bilaam, that nevuah will come back to the Yidden! The Rambam explains that Bilaam’s nevuah even tells us the date that nevuah will return!
Bilaam said:
Ka’eis — Like this time,
Ye’amar L’Yaakov Ul’yisrael — It will be said to Yaakov and Yisrael:
Ma Pa’al Keil — “What has Hashem planned?”
The Rambam explains that “Ka’eis,” “like this time,” means that this will happen after the same amount of years as the year Bilaam said this. Bilaam’s nevuah was said in the year 2488, the year that the Yidden entered Eretz Yisroel!
Bilaam was saying in his nevuah that another 2488 years later, nevuah will return to the Yidden! This means the year 4976.
That is actually what happened! Around that year, there were great tzadikim who saw the future and said true nevuah! For example, R’ Shmuel Hanavi, the father of R’ Yehuda Hachassid, R’ Elazar the author of the Rokeach, the Ramban, the Raavad, R’ Ezra Hanavi, and R’ Yehuda Hachassid. They all said nevuah and did many nissim!
This also brought back nevuos about the Geulah in our time, which we will IY”H learn about tomorrow!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Beis, p. 588 and sources there
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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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