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CHUMASH
Parshas Shoftim - Shevi'i with Rashi
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Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden two things: To try to make peace with the Goyim before attacking them, and about the mitzvah of Eglah Arufah.
Hashem promised the Yidden the cities in Eretz Yisroel. So the Yidden need to make sure that the people living there all leave! But if the Yidden are fighting a war with a different city, they have to first ask the people living there if they want to make Shalom (peace) first.
Moshe Rabbeinu tells them what to do if the people DO want to make shalom (they should pay taxes and can continue to live there), and what to do if they DON’T want to make shalom (that the Yidden should then make a war with them).
Still, when they are fighting, they shouldn’t cut down a fruit tree — “Ki HaAdam Eitz HaSadeh?” “Is a tree a person?” Why should you cut down the tree? You are just fighting with the people! Don’t cut down the tree because of Bal Tashchis.
Now Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden about the Eglah Arufah:
If someone finds a person who passed away, lying in a field, and nobody knows who killed him, the Beis Din needs to come and see where it is. They measure to see which city is closest.
The Zekeinim of the closest city take a young cow (eglah) and kill it in a valley where nothing grows, to be a kaparah for the person who was killed. It’s a cow that is young so it never had any children, in a place that doesn’t grow anything — to make up for someone killing a Yid who now can’t “grow” any mitzvos.
The Zekeinim say, “It wasn’t our fault that the person was killed!” And the kohanim say, “Hashem, please forgive the Yidden.” And Hashem forgives them. (Still, if they find the person who did it later, they need to punish him.)
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Today’s kapitelach Tehillim are Yud through Yud-Zayin. (Don’t forget to also say Daled, Hey, and Vov for Chodesh Elul!)
Kapitel Yud-Alef in Tehillim talks about how Hashem brings tzaros to a Tzadik, but really it’s all for his good.
The last posuk says, “Tzadik Hashem Tzedakos Ahev” — Hashem loves giving tzedakah.
When Hashem gave us the Torah, we were able to feel Hashem in the world and help the whole world to know Hashem. That’s the best kind of tzedakah there could be!
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TANYA
Igeres Hakodesh Siman Yud
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With all Gashmius things, we need to have the right amount! Too much food is no good, and too little food isn’t good either!
Since mitzvos are in Gashmius, they need to be done just right so we can get chayus from them. That’s why the Shofar has to be made a certain way, and a Lulav has to be a certain size. A Sukkah can’t be too small, and it can’t be too tall!
Tzedakah is also a mitzvah that has a “size!” Tzedakah is a very important mitzvah that brings Chayus to the whole world — it’s one of the mitzvos that the whole world exists because of! (“Al Shlosha Devarim Ha’olam Omeid”) We give a “chomeish” (1/5th of our money) to Tzedakah if we want to do the mitzvah in the best way, or maaser (1/10th of our money) for the basic mitzvah. That is the “size” of the mitzvah of Tzedakah.
Doing the mitzvah with the proper size brings the right amount of chayus of Hashem into the world!
IY”H tomorrow we will see ANOTHER kind of tzedakah that brings a different and stronger chayus of Hashem into the world!
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Every Yid has a treasure of good midos hiding inside. Our job is to inspire ourselves and others to want these kochos to shine!
Imagine that someone you respect tells you that there is a treasure buried in your backyard. He is SURE that it is there, he’s just not sure how deep it is buried. Maybe it is right near the top, or maybe it is very deep down.
Would you go out and start digging?
Every Yid is called an Eretz Cheifetz, a land with treasures buried inside! The treasures in each Yid are the Yiras Shomayim, Ahavas Hashem, and good midos. In some Yidden, they are right there! In other Yidden, they might be harder to find — but they are there FOR SURE.
In the mashal of a buried treasure, we see that some people will go and dig for a few minutes, and then give up and go back inside, while another person will keep on digging until he finds the treasure!
Why? Because that person has patience and is willing to keep trying!
This is true also with the nimshal of a Yid:
If we have patience and keep trying, we will find the first treasure inside of ourselves and other Yidden — the Ratzon that we WANT to be a better Yid. Once we have that first treasure, all of the other treasures will come too, because NOTHING stands in the way of Ratzon! Once someone WANTS to become better, NOTHING can stand in his way!
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1) (Mitzvas Lo Saasei #107) If we decided that a certain animal will be for a Korban Asham, we can’t change it afterwards and bring it as a Korban Chatas! It has to be the SAME animal for the SAME Korban.
We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Bechukosai: לֹא יַקְדִּישׁ אִישׁ אֹתוֹ
The details of this mitzvah are explained in Perek Hey of Mesechta Temurah.
Now we start a new Sefer of Rambam, and a new set of halachos, about Tumah and Tahara!
2) (Mitzvas Asei #107) The first mitzvah of this Sefer is that if someone gets Tomei with Tumas Meis (the tumah from a body after the neshama leaves it), he needs to follow the halachos about how he becomes tomei and how the tumah gets passed on.
This mitzvah includes all of the halachos of Tumas Meis which are written in Parshas Chukas.
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RAMBAM
Hilchos Temurah - Tumas Meis
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In today’s Rambam, we finish learning the halachos of Temurah.
Perek Daled: In this perek, the Rambam teaches us what happens if an animal that is supposed to be a Korban or a Temurah has a baby! The Rambam finishes this sefer with a lesson from the halachos of Temurah that will help us in our Avodas Hashem!
Now we have finished Sefer Korbanos! Then we start learning a NEW sefer of Rambam, the 10th sefer, Sefer Tahara! The first set of halachos is Hilchos Tumas Meis, about the kind of tumah that comes from the body of a person who passed away.
Perek Alef: The Rambam explains how a person can get Tumah.
Perek Beis: This perek teaches us what can give Tumas Meis.
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Today the Rambam shows us the steps to take so we can calculate which way the moon will be tipping on any night in Yerushalayim!
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Elul is the most important month of the whole year. Because during Elul, we think about what we did the whole year: We fix what needs to be fixed, we decide to do even more the things that were good. We have a whole month to do this, so when Rosh Hashana comes, Hashem will see that we are the way we should be and give us a good year!
The truth is, though, that this isn’t the only Cheshbon.
Every month, the day before Rosh Chodesh is called “Yom Kippur Katan,” when we make a cheshbon of what happened that whole month, so we’ll be ready for the new chayus of Hashem that comes with the new month.
Every week, before Shabbos (Thursday night), we make a Cheshbon to finish off the week and get ready for a new parsha in the Torah.
And every day, by Kriyas Shema She’Al Hamitah, we make a cheshbon of what happened that day, so we can finish off the Avodah of the day and get ready for the new Avodah of the next day.
Of course we don’t take SO much time during the year with the Cheshbon — we need to get things done! But in Elul we spend more time so we’ll be ready for a WHOLE NEW special chayus that will come in the new year!
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When someone is going through a very hard time, the natural bitachon inside wakes up. It makes the person call out to Hashem to help him, because he knows that Hashem can help!
This is the first level of bitachon, which we see in the posuk of Al Tira. Even though something scary is going on, he knows he doesn’t need to be afraid, because Hashem will help him!
The second, higher, level of bitachon is to have bitachon even when it’s not automatic. When a person is worried about something that might happen, he might not feel the bitachon inside of him the same way he does when he is already in trouble. But there is a higher level of bitachon, to trust that it will be good, even though it is just a worry. We can feel this when we know and understand — “Ki Imanu Keil,” because Hashem is with us!
This is the meaning of the second posuk of Al Tira, “Utzu Eitza:”
Utzu Eitza Vesufar — They come up with a plan, but it won’t work.
Dabru Davar Velo Yakum — They speak words, but they won’t happen.
Ki Imanu Keil — Because Hashem is with us!
See Likutei Sichos chelek Chof-Alef p. 210
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After we eat, it is a mitzvah from the Torah to say a bracha thanking Hashem!
But this is only a mitzvah if we ate enough that the Torah counts it like eating. So only if we ate at least a kezayis worth of food do we need to make a Bracha Acharonah.
How much is a kezayis?
A kezayis is the amount of space a medium sized olive takes up. (The regular olives we buy nowadays are much smaller than the olives the Chachomim were talking about.)
Measuring how much space something takes up is much more complicated than just weighing it on a scale. So the halacha is that we can use an amount of food that weighs enough that it will for sure take up the space of a kezayis. Some say that this amount is 30 grams.
Some examples of this amount are three sandwich cookies, or a quarter of a regular banana. If we eat less than this amount, we would not make a Bracha Acharonah.
See Kitzur Shulchan Aruch siman Nun-Alef
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לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק בן ר׳ אפרים ע״ה מאסקאוויץ
שליח כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו למדינת אילינוי
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Ovadiah was a ger from the nation of Edom, the nation of Eisav. Even though he was an officer in the palace of the wicked Achav and Izevel, he saved 100 neviim from being killed. Hashem rewarded him by making him a Navi!
Since Ovadiah was from Edom, Hashem gave Ovadiah the zechus of saying the nevuos about the end of the nation of Edom, in the times of the Geulah.
This posuk might sound familiar, because we say it every day at the end of Az Yashir!
וְעָלוּ מוֹשִׁעִים בְּהַר צִיּוֹן לִשְׁפֹּט אֶת הַר עֵשָׂו וְהָיְתָה לַה׳ הַמְּלוּכָה
Ve’alu Moshi’im Behar Tzion — Moshiach, who saves the Yidden, will go up together with his officers from the mountain of Yerushalayim
Lishpot Es Har Eisav — They will go to Har Se’ir, the mountain of Eisav, to punish them for the terrible things they did to the Yidden
Vehaysa LaHashem Hamelucha — And then Hashem’s melucha will be complete, since everyone will agree that Hashem is the King of the entire world!
See Ovadiah perek Alef posuk Chof-Alef
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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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