Shvat

Rosh Chodesh Shvat

If you knew about a special vitamin that would help people live longer, healthier lives, wouldn’t you tell all of your friends about it? Saying a portion of Tehillim every day is like taking a spiritual vitamin pill. It would be the greatest ahavas Yisroel to let every Jew know about the benefits of saying the daily portion of Tehillim.

The custom of saying the daily portion of Tehillim (every day after davening) applies to Chabad shuls as well as to shuls which daven the Ashkenazic or Polish nusach – may Hashem be with them. Saying Tehillim with a minyan is a very great thing, which literally affects all the Jewish people physically, in the blessings of “children, health and livelihood.” Therefore, out of ahavas Yisroel we should do all we can to make sure that this custom is accepted in every shul of every Nusach.

Bais Shvat

“Once the Baal Shem Tov was traveling with his students.…” – Rabbi Roth began relating to his class.

“We’ve heard that story already!” the class interrupted.

“Even if you’ve heard this story before,” Rabbi Roth reminded them, “each time you hear it you learn a new thing.”

The Rebbe Rashab told: The maamar “Va’eira.. ushmi Hashem,” which discusses the idea that no Jew will be turned away (not the same as the maamar with the same name which was printed in Likutei Torah) was given the name “the frum Va’eira .” The Alter Rebbe would repeat it once every three years, each time using almost the same words. The Tzemach Tzedek said: “Each time there was a new light.” The Rebbe Rashab said: “Light is always the same. But ma’or, the source of light, is always like something new.”

Gimmel Shvat

The Torah Ohr was first printed in 5597 (1837) in Kopust (without additions). The Tzemach Tzedek wrote in a letter of 3 Shvat of that year:

The sefer which is now being printed contains maamorim, most from the year 5556 (1796) until 5572 (1812). Our Rebbe, Z”L, looked over many of these himself and edited them, and agreed to have them printed. The sefer has two parts: the first is on two of the five books of the Torah [Bereishis and Shemos] as well as on Chanukah and Purim, a few talks on Shavuos, time of giving of the Torah, in Parshas Yisro, and a few on Pesach in Parshas Vayakhel. The second part, with Hashem’s help, will be on the last three Chumashim [Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim], Shir Hashirim, the Holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The name of the author fits: Shneur (two lights), just like the word “v’ahavta,” which has the numerical value of twice the word “ohr,” light.

Before the second part could be printed, informers had the government close down a number of Hebrew print shops in Russia, including the one in Kopust where the Torah Ohr was printed. In 5608 (1848) the second part was printed in Zhitomir with a different title, Likutei Torah.

Daled Shvat

The neshamah wants to learn Torah and serve Hashem, and the nefesh habahamis, the animal soul, keeps “drowning out” the desires of the neshamah with its demands for pleasure and physical comfort. The neshamah literally feels squeezed inside the body because it can’t express itself the way it would like. This is what it means to be in a spiritual “Mitzrayim.”              

In order to help our neshamah “go out of Mitzrayim,” we need to take away the limitations of the animal soul. How do we free the neshamah from this limitation? When we learn Torah, our minds become full with its light. The light shines in our hearts, and brings out our good Middos. This leads to good actions.

5 Shvat

A person must constantly speak words of Torah (saying Tehillim, reviewing Mishnayos) whenever and wherever he can. In this way he will strengthen the existence of the world, be saved from chibut hakever and kaf hakela, and merit to have the highest things revealed to him.

6 Shvat

The Rebbe Rashab writes that he heard from the Alter Rebbe, that all those who wrote seforim, up until and including the Taz and the Shach, wrote with ruach hakodesh. It is explained in Korban Ho’eidah, tractate Shkalim, end of chapter 3, that ruach hakodesh means that secrets of Torah are revealed to him. This comes from a very high level of chochmah.

7 Shvat

When the Alter Rebbe was seven years old, he learned geometry and astronomy. At age ten, he composed a fifteen year calendar. When he was twelve, it happened that he taught publicly on Rambam’s laws of Kiddush Hachodesh. (This is a very complicated subject involving the appearance of the new moon.) The great Torah-scholars who were in the beis midrash were completely amazed.

8 Shvat

When Moshiach will come, immediately in our time, all those difficulties that hold us back now from doing mitzvos will be removed. We will have an abundance of good things that will enable us to do mitzvos in a beautiful way. The best way to prepare for Moshiach’s coming is to try to do mitzvos now just as if Moshiach was already here – in the nicest and most careful way possible.

In these days especially, when thanks to the kindness of Hashem, we are standing at the threshold of geulah, we must make every effort we can to strengthen Yiddishkeit. We must observe mitzvos in a beautiful way, and keep all the minhagim without compromising on anything. It is a mitzva and a duty of every Rav in Israel to inform his community that the suffering and pain we are going through are birth pangs of Moshiach. Hashem is demanding of us that we return to Torah and mitzvos, so that we do not hold up the coming of Moshiach, which is very close.

9 Shvat

When the Rebbe Rashab completed Shas for the third time, he said a maamar on the subject of the meaning of a hadran. [A hadran is a lecture given after completing a mesechta or the whole Shas.]

During the year of aveilus for his mother, the Rebbe Rashab completed the entire Mishnah at the end of eleven months, and the whole Shas by the day of the yahrtzeit.

10 Shvat

The Frierdiker Rebbe tells this story:

When my grandmother (Rebbetzin Rivka) was eighteen (in 5611/1851) she became ill. The doctor told her that she must eat immediately upon awakening in the morning. But she did not wish to eat before davening. So she would daven very early, and then eat breakfast. When her father-in-law, the Tzemach Tzedek found out about this he said to her: “A Yid must be healthy and have strength. The Torah says about the mitzvos, ‘Live in them,’ meaning to bring life into the mitzvos. In order to be able to bring life into the mitzvos, we must be strong and happy.” Then he finished off: “You must not go hungry. Better to eat for the sake of davening, rather than to daven for the sake of eating.” He then blessed her with long life. [She was born in 5593 (1833) and passed away on 10 Shvat, 5674 (1914).]

My father (the Rebbe Rashab) told this teaching to someone at yechidus, and added: “and this must be done with joy.”

11 Shvat

“Good morning, Chaim,” said his mother, entering his bedroom. “Time to say Modeh Ani.”

“But Mommy,” asked Chaim, “I have not yet washed my hands for negel vasser. How am I allowed to say a prayer before washing my hands?”

“Your Modeh Ani is so holy,” answered his mother, “that there is no impurity in the world that can have an effect on it.”

We begin the routine with Modeh Ani, which is said before washing negel vasser, even with impure hands. This is because all the impurities in the world cannot make impure the Modeh Ani of a Jew. A person can be lacking in one thing or another, but his Modeh Ani remains whole.

12 Shvat

Imagine that you are about to go on a very fun trip. You feel thrilled, and might even be jumping up and down in excitement. Now picture yourself doing a very challenging homework assignment. You are probably serious and quiet, concentrating very intently on the work in front of you. Is it possible to be very excited about something and concentrate deeply at the same time? Chassidus teaches us that it is an avodah to combine serious thinking with excitement. How can we do both together? Learning Chassidus demands a lot of deep thinking and focusing, but it brings you to feel a real sense of excitement and attachment to Hashem, and shows you the way to serve Hashem better.

Intelligence and excitement are two different worlds. One is cool and stable, the other is heated and confusing. The avodah of a person is to combine them, to make them one. Then the confusion becomes transformed into striving, and intelligence becomes a guide in a life of actual avodah.

13 Shvat

Yahrtzeit is observed on the anniversary of the day that a person passed away, even in the first year, and even when the day the person was buried was much later than the day of death.

On a trip to the zoo, curious little Moishy’s attention was attracted to all the unusual sights and sounds around him. He kept up a constant chatter, pointing out his many questions and observations. With fascination, he watched the elephants stomping in their cages, and the lions pacing in their enclosures. Turning to his mother, Moishy asked: “Mommy, why do animals walk on four feet, and people walk on two feet?”

His mother smiled at him. “Moishy, you just asked the very same question that the Rebbe Maharash once asked his father as a little boy!”

When the Rebbe Maharash was seven years old, the Tzemach Tzedek once answered him: “The kindness and special quality in Hashem’s making people upright, to walk erectly, is that though he walks on the earth he sees the Heavens; not so with animals that go on all fours; they see only the earth.”

14 Shvat

Devorah wanted to get her sister Shani’s attention. But Shani was at the other end of a big, crowded room. So Devorah simply stared at Shani very intently for a while. Soon, Shani sensed that someone was staring at her, and noticed her sister across the room.

It is human nature to feel it when someone is staring at you, or even thinking about you very deeply.

Our holy ancestors, the Rebbeiim, used to daven to Hashem to arouse His compassion towards their chassidim who were bound to them. Not only this; the Rebbeim also had an avodah of bringing to mind their chassidim inwardly, thinking about their love and attachment to the Rebbe and reflecting it back to them, just like water reflects a person’s face. Bringing someone to mind brings out that person’s innermost powers. We see that when someone looks deeply and intensely at another person, he will turn around to look back, because the gaze awakens the core of the Nefesh. Thinking about someone has the same effect.

15 Shvat

When the second part of Torah Or was about to be printed, chassidim knew that the Tzemach Tzedek had written glosses and commentaries on the maamarim. They pleaded with him to publish these together with the maamarim, but he refused. He then dreamt that his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, visited him and asked him to publish them, but he did not reveal this to anyone. Only when three of his sons dreamt the same dream and told this to their father, did he agree to have his glosses and commentary printed with the second part of Torah Or, which they now called Likutei Torah.

16 Shvat          

Once in the winter, the Baal Shem Tov was traveling with his students. He noticed a pond that was frozen over, and in the frozen water someone had carved the shape of a cross. The Baal Shem Tov pointed out this sight to his students, and told them: “Torah is like water. Torah is meant to be learned with fire and warmth. But if, chas v’sholom, the Torah learning is cold and without feeling, it becomes frozen like ice, and then look what can be carved into it.”

The Rebbe Rashab said: There is such a slight barrier between coldness and kefirah [heresy, denying the existence of Hashem]. It says in the possuk, “Hashem Your G-d is an all-consuming fire.” G-dliness is a flame of fire. Learning Torah and davening must be with a blazing heart, that “all my bones may say” the words of Hashem in Torah and tefillah.

17 Shvat

During the reading of Az Yashir (the song of the Red Sea), we stand.

There is a minhag to eat black kasha on this Shabbos.

On Shabbos B’shalach 5621 (1861) the Tzemach Tzedek said the maamar R’u ki Hashem printed in Likutei Torah. Shortly afterward he said to his son, my grandfather [the Rebbe Maharash]:

On Shabbos B’shalach 5565 (1805) my grandfather said this maamar. Afterwards he sent for me and told me that in 5529 (1769) when he was in Mezritch the Maggid had summoned him to his room and had said:

            On Shabbos B’shalach 5516 (1756) the Baal Shem Tov said a maamar on Vayashav hayam... l’eitano, “The Red Sea returned to its strength,” quoting the Rabbinic play on the last word, l’eitano – litnao, meaning to its condition, or agreement. In 5521 (1761), a year after the Baal Shem Tov’s passing, my Rebbe (the Baal Shem Tov) came to me, said the maamar, and added an explanation of the subject “doing His will,” in contrast to “doing His word.” And today my Rebbe again came to me to repeat the maamar.

Then the Maggid repeated the maamar to the Alter Rebbe, and added an interpretation of “River Ginai, part for me,” which is similar to k’rias yam suf, the splitting of the Red Sea.

The Tzemach Tzedek concluded: Today the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid and the Alter Rebbe came to me, each repeating the maamar in his own style.

Several hours later the Tzemach Tzedek called my grandfather [the Rebbe Maharash] again and told him an interpretation of the maamar.

 18 Shvat

The Tzemach Tzedek told his son, my grandfather [the Rebbe Maharash], that the maamar “Umareihem Uma’aseihem in Torah Or, Yisro, is the first discourse the Maggid delivered when he assumed leadership of the chassidim, on Shavuos 5521 (1761). The Alter Rebbe heard the maamar from R. Mendel Horodoker, author of Pri Haaretz, who had been there that Shavuos in 5521. However, the Alter Rebbe explained the maamar in his own style.

19 Shvat

When R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev returned home from his first visit to his Rebbe, the Maggid, his family members asked him: “What did you learn there, in Mezritch?”

R. Levi Yitzchak answered: “I learned that Hashem created the world.”

“That’s all?” his family members laughed. “Why, everyone knows that!”

They then called over the maid and asked her: “Who created the heaven and earth?” Of course, she answered “Hashem!”

“Yes,” said R. Levi Yitzchak. “She says. But I know.”

The first positive mitzvah, in the words of the Rambam, is “to know that there is a First Being, who brought all beings into existence.” Knowing this principle is a positive mitzva, as it is said, “I am Hashem your G-d.”

This is a mitzva of the mind and intellect. True, every Jew believes in Hashem with simple faith, and his heart is whole with Hashem. Still, it is not enough to simply believe in Hashem. A Jew also has a mitzvah to understand that Hashem exists. This is the meaning of “To know that there is a first being”; the person must actually understand the existence of Hashem, as is written in Torah: “Know the G-d of your father and serve Him with a whole heart”; and it is also written, “Know this day etc.”

20 Shvat

My father [the Rebbe Rashab] wrote in one of his letters: According to the glosses of Ashri, when washing the hands for a meal, pour water over each hand three times consecutively; this was the practice of my father [the Rebbe Maharash]. He would leave a little water from the third pouring cupped in the palm of his left hand, and, with this water, rub his hands together.

21 Shvat

Mrs. Klein keeps a very hectic schedule. In addition to all her hard work on behalf of her own family, she also travels at least twice a week to lecture about the Jewish home. At home she is very frequently on the telephone, counseling women on issues of childrearing and education. What gives Mrs. Klein the energy to be involved so heavily in all these activities?

It is the duty of chassidic wives and daughters (may they live and be well) to stand in the first rank of every activity dedicated to strengthening frumkeit and Yiddishkeit in general, particularly concerning taharas hamishpachah. They must organize a Society of Chassidic Daughters to reinforce all the chassidic practices concerning upbringing and education of children – the way it has been since time immemorial in chassidic homes.

22 Shvat

Mr. Stone, a prominent attorney, arrived for his weekly Torah class with Rabbi Baum. When he walked in, Rabbi Baum was in middle of reviewing Gemara with his son Shloimy. Mr. Stone seated himself and listened intently and with great interest to the learning. A few times, he interrupted with questions or comments on the Gemara, which Rabbi Baum explained to him.

Shloimy couldn’t contain his curiosity. “Mr. Stone, you are such a well-known lawyer, and you’ve even argued cases before the Supreme Court. I’m only in the fifth grade. Why are you so interested in my Gemara lessons?”

Mr. Stone answered: “I practice laws that were invented by human minds. These laws can change on a whim, and frequently they do. Only through the study of Gemara can I learn laws directly from Hashem, Who created the human mind!”

There are two types of laws: a) Laws that create life, and b) laws that were created by life. Human laws were created by life, so they are different in every country, according to the circumstances of each place. The Torah of Hashem is G-dly law that creates life. Hashem’s Torah is the Torah of truth, the same in all places and all times. The Torah is forever.

23 Shvat

When a man and woman stand under the chuppah together and get married, they become like one. Each time we do a mitzva, we unite with Hashem and become one with Him!

Once, when the Alter Rebbe stepped out of his room, he overheard his wife remarking to several women, “Mine [meaning, my husband] says…”

The Alter Rebbe said: “With one mitzvah (the mitzvah of marriage) I am yours; with how many are we Hashem’s!” With these words he fell onto the doorpost in deep thought, dveikus. On arousing from the dveikus, the Alter Rebbe said that the power to step outside of yourself and see Hashem comes from “the daughters of Zion.” Chassidus has a deep explanation for what this means. When Moshiach comes, a righteous woman will be a crown to her husband.

24 Shvat

During the reading of the Aseres HaDibros, stand facing the Sefer Torah.

“The people saw and moved.” Seeing G-dliness caused the people to move, a movement showing energy, life.

********

If you only knew – the Tzemach Tzedek said – the power of pesukim of Tehillim and their effect in the highest heavens, you would say them constantly. You should know that the chapters of Tehillim break down all barriers, and rise higher and higher with no interference. They stretch themselves out in entreaty before the Master of all worlds, and they effect and accomplish with kindness and compassion.

25 Shvat

Learning a parshah of Chumash with Rashi each day (Sunday until Sheini, Monday until Shlishi, etc.), saying Tehillim each day and completing the whole Tehillim on Shabbos Mevorchim – be careful with all of these. It is very important for you, for your children and your children’s children.

26 Shvat

A warm feeling settled over the group, seated around the farbrengen table. As they listened to their counselor tell a story of the Rebbe, the children felt enveloped in love – the love of the Rebbe for each of them, and each of them for each other.

Ahavah, love, is the breath of life in the avodah of Chassidus. It is the thread that binds chassidim to each other, that binds the Rebbe to chassidim and chassidim to the Rebbe. Ahavah works in a direct way and also in a reflective way [responding to the other person’s love]. It knows no bounds and is above the limitations of space and time.

27 Shvat

Before eating a piece of cake or candy, you probably check first to make sure it has a reliable hechsher. But older chassidim would also ask themselves something else: “Do I really need to eat this? Will this help me in my service of Hashem?”

My father [the Rebbe Rashab] writes in one of his maamarim: Early chassidim resolved in their souls to hold back from doing anything that is permissible (according to halachah) but for which they felt a desire or urge. This breaks the passion.

28 Shvat

In the times of the Baal Shem Tov, there were people who believed that the way to serve Hashem was through afflicting the body. They would do things like fast for many days, wear rough, uncomfortable clothing, and roll in the snow in the winter. They thought that through “breaking” their bodies, they would become holier. But the Baal Shem Tov taught that this is not the correct way to serve Hashem. There is a mitzva in the Torah that if you see a donkey lying down on the road because its burden is too heavy, you must help unload the donkey so it can move. The “donkey” is a mashal for our bodies. Hashem gave us our bodies as a gift, with which to serve Hashem, and we must treat our bodies with respect and care.

29 Shvat

The fourth grade class sat in happy anticipation, waiting to commence their “Rashi Party.” After many weeks of practicing the Rashi letters, they were finally ready to begin learning Rashi’s commentary on the Chumash. To their puzzlement, the teacher took out a bottle of wine and poured a few drops for each child to drink. Then he explained:

The Alter Rebbe once said:

            Rashi’s commentary on Chumash is the “wine of Torah.” It opens up the heart and uncovers a person’s essential love and fear (of Hashem).

            Rashi’s commentary on Gemara opens the mind and uncovers the essential intellect.

30 Shvat, Rosh Chodesh Adar I

Many chassidim considered the day they arrived in Lubavitch to be their birthday. My teacher, Rabbi Shmuel Betzalel, came to Lubavitch for the first time on Thursday evening, Parshas Mishpotim, 5608 [1848]. Every year after that, he stayed awake all that night and made sure to put on tefillin at the exact time that he had entered the Tzemach Tzedek’s room for yechidus the first time.