Shoftim Sunday Parshas Shoftim - Rosh Chodesh Elul

ב"ה Chitas for Sunday, Parshas Shoftim Rosh Chodesh Elul Lamed Menachem Av, 5781

לעילוי נשמת ר׳ יוסף בנימין בן ר׳ מנשה קאלטמאנן ~ by Rabbi Aryeh & Esther Kaltmann ~ לזכות רחל בת ראשא ראזע לרפואה שלימה וקרובה ~ by the Duchman Family ~ מוקדש לחיזוק ההתקשרות לכ״ק נשיא דורנו ע״י ולזכות הרה״ת ר׳ לייביש משה וזוגתו מרת רינה ילדיהם קיילא באשא, בנציון דוד, אליהו איסר, רבקה שיינדל אלטא שיחיו גולדהירש

Chitas for the month of Menachem Av is made possible in part לע״נ הרה״ח הרה״ת הר׳ משה פינחס בן הר׳ אברהם מרדכי הכהן כ״ץ • לע״נ הרה״ח הרה״ת הר׳ מרדכי בן הר׳ פינחס מענטליק • לזכות הרה״ח זאב יחזקאל הכהן בן מינדל שי׳ לבריאות הנכונה

Chitas for the month of Menachem Av is made possible in part by the Kirstein Family ~ for a Refuah Shleimah for Chaim ben Baila

In honor of the birthday of Rebbetzin Nechama Dina Hecht ~ from Ma and Ta Hecht and the entire Hecht family ~

CHUMASH :: Parshas Shoftim - Rishon with Moshe Rabbeinu continues to farbreng with the Yiddden, preparing them to go into Eretz Yisroel. In today’s , Moshe tells them more about the mitzvos that they will need to keep in Eretz Yisroel. In Eretz Yisroel, the judges will be different than in the Midbar: Now there are judges based on how many people there are (judges for every 10 people, for every 50 people), but in Eretz Yisroel there will be a Beis Din for each city. You need to make Shoftim and Shotrim — judges and policemen for every city. The judges will pasken what needs to be done, and the policemen will make sure that people follow what the judges say! Make sure the judges know that it is very important to be fair! They can’t be nice to one person and not the other, and they can’t take any presents from people they are judging, because this will make it too hard for them to be fair. If you have good judges, you will deserve to be able to stay in Eretz Yisroel! Now Moshe tells the Yidden some more mitzvos to be careful to do: - Don’t plant any trees near the Beis Hamikdash! - Don’t make a Mizbeiach outside of the Beis Hamikdash! - Don’t shecht a Korban if you were planning on not following the dinim of eating it at the right time (pigul)! - If someone worships Avodah Zarah, and there are witnesses, he is punished with Misas Beis Din. Then Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Yidden some more dinim about judges:

Chitas for Kids / Sunday, Lamed Menachem Av, 5781 1 If the judges aren’t sure what the answer is to a question, they need to go ask the Sanhedrin in the Beis Hamikdash! Everyone needs to listen to the Sanhedrin, even a person who is a judge himself and a Talmid Chochom. If he doesn’t listen, he is called a Zakein Mamrei and is chayav misa.

TEHILLIM :: 145 - 150 Today we are finishing the entire Sefer Tehillim, kapitelach Kuf-Mem-Hey to Kuf-Nun! The first kapitel of today’s Tehillim is very special! It starts with the words “Tehillah LeDovid,” which is the third posuk of Ashrei. We say Ashrei three times every day in davening! (Twice in Shacharis and once in Mincha.) Ashrei goes in the order of the Alef-Beis — one posuk for each letter (except for Nun). The posuk that starts with Zayin is “Zecher Rav Tuvcha Yabiu.” There is a long maamar of the Alter in his “ Im Dach” (Siddur with maamorim of Chassidus) that explains this posuk. (The Rebbe tells us about this maamar in today’s !)

TANYA :: Igeres Hakodesh Siman Tes The Alter Rebbe tells us today how important the mitzvah of tzedakah is for us, especially now, before the Geulah! In Eilu Devarim (at the end of morning Brachos) we talk about some of the mitzvos and the reward we get for them. One of these mitzvos is Gemilus Chasadim, which is tzedakah. The last thing it says is VeSalmud“ Keneged Kulam” — learning Torah is worth as much as ALL of them together! So we see that Torah learning is greater than tzedakah. The Alter Rebbe says that this was only in the time of the Gemara, when the main mitzvah was learning Torah, and there were many great Chachomim, Tannaim and Amoraim. But nowadays, in order to bring Moshiach, TZEDAKAH is the most important! The Rebbe explains that what the Torah says, “Vesalmud Torah Keneged Kulam,” doesn’t ever chas veshalom change. It is just that the situation can change! For example, in halacha, it says that if there is a mitzvah that nobody else can do, we need to stop learning Torah in order to do it. The Alter Rebbe is saying here that according to the Torah, because of the situation in Ruchnius and Gashmius in the time right before Moshiach comes, the most important mitzvah to do is the mitzvah of tzedakah! This letter is another one of the letters the Alter Rebbe sent with the shluchim who would go around each year collecting money for the Yidden in Eretz Yisroel, to inspire the Chassidim to give more.

HAYOM YOM :: Lamed Menachem Av We start saying Ledovid Hashem Ori today in davening! It is the minhag of the Rebbeim to practice blowing the Shofar — just one time — during the day. Tomorrow we will start blowing the shofar after davening. We learned earlier in the Hayom Yom about how the Alter Rebbe’s maamorim started off as short pieces, called “verter,” and later became longer and longer until the Alter Rebbe was saying long maamorim. The Mitteler Rebbe was the next generation of Chassidus after the Alter Rebbe — and the Chassidus was on a whole new level! The Mitteler Rebbe’s Chassidus is called “Rechovas Hanahar” — the wideness of the river. His maamorim took the inyonim that the Alter Rebbe first taught, and explained them very well, with lots of long mashalim.

Chitas for Kids / Sunday, Lamed Menachem Av, 5781 2 The Mitteler Rebbe’s maamorim are explaining the Alter Rebbe’s — but they are much longer! You can find maamorim in the Alter Rebbe’s Torah Ohr and Likutei Torah that are just a few pages long. When the Mitteler Rebbe explained these maamorim, they were TENS of pages long! Today the Rebbe tells us that even the Mitteler Rebbe’s maamorim didn’t start off so long in the beginning. It took time! In the beginning, the Mitteler Rebbe said short maamorim. For example, he chazered a maamar of the Alter Rebbe that is printed in the “,” on the posuk “Zecher Rav Tuvcha” (which is in today’s Tehillim). When he chazered it, it was in six parts, with some explanation, but only a little bit more than is printed in the siddur. (If you look in the maamarim of the Mitteler Rebbe, you can see that in the first year he was Rebbe, there was a maamar “Zecher Rav Tuvcha,” which maybe is the maamar today’s Hayom Yom is speaking about!) One of the things we can learn from this helps us in our avodah in Chodesh Elul. We can remember that we have a month to prepare, and we don’t have to do it all at once! It will take us time! At the beginning, our teshuvah might start out small, but it can get bigger and bigger and more and more until we are SURE we fixed up the past year and we’re ready for a Shana Tova Umesuka! We also see this in the minhag of blowing the Shofar. We don’t start off right away tomorrow blowing the shofar perfectly, on the first day of Rosh Chodesh we practice. On the second day we will already be able to blow the shofar properly!

SEFER HAMITZVOS :: Shiur #56 - Mitzvas Asei #157, Nusach HaHagadah, Mitzvas Asei #170 In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn one last mitzvah about Pesach, say the Rambam’s nusach of the Haggadah, and then learn one of the mitzvos of Rosh Hashana: 1) (Mitzvas Asei #157) We need to tell over the story of Yetziyas Mitzrayim. The Rambam tells us the words we need to say to fulfill this mitzvah, and as part of the mitzvah, we also say the Nusach of the Haggadah, the way the Rambam writes it in the Mishnah Torah. וְהִּגַדְּתָ לְבִנְךָ ּבַּיֹום הַהּוא :We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Bo The details are explained in the end of Mesechta Pesachim. 2) (Mitzvas Asei #170) We need to hear the Shofar on Rosh Hashana. יֹום ּתְרּועָה יִהְיֶה לָכֶם :We learn this mitzvah from a posuk in Parshas Pinchas The details are explained in Mesechta Rosh Hashana.

RAMBAM :: Hilchos Chomeitz U'Matzah - Nusach HaHagadah - Hilchos Shofar V'Sukah V'Lulav In today’s Rambam, we learn how to run a Seder properly. We learn about all the steps of the Seder, and the Mah Nishtana, and the whole Haggadah! We also learn about the mitzvah of blowing the shofar. The Rambam tells us that we don’t blow the Shofar on Shabbos, so that nobody will carry it outside on Shabbos by mistake. Chassidus tells us that the REAL reason why we don’t blow the Shofar on Shabbos is that when Rosh Hashana is on Shabbos, the koach of Shabbos is so strong that we don’t NEED to hear the Shofar to get the koach we usually get from

Chitas for Kids / Sunday, Lamed Menachem Av, 5781 3 hearing the Shofar. The day of Shabbos itself does what the shofar usually does!

RAMBAM— PEREK ECHAD :: Hilchos Maaser - Perek Hey When food is sold, the halacha is a little bit different. If a person buys apples that are still on the tree, he doesn’t have to take maaser before eating any of them. But if the apples are already in a bucket, even if they are still in the field, he needs to take maaser before he can eat them!

INYANA D'YOMA :: Elul — Chodesh Hacheshbon 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!

TEFILLAH :: Hashem Melech As we get ready to start the main part of Pesukei Dezimra, we say some pesukim and another kapitel of Tehillim. We say the pesukim of Hashem Melech, how Hashem is the King of the world in the past, present, and future. When Moshiach comes, we will all be able to see the Malchus of Hashem in the world! The Arizal teaches that this is a very special part of Tefillah, connected to the Ruchniyus world of Atzilus. That’s why even if you are in the middle of a different part of davening, it’s the minhag to stand with the when they are saying these lines. We finish off by asking Hashem, in Hosheinu, to take us out of Golus.

HALACHOS HATZRICHOS :: Sofeik Brachos Lehokel There is an important rule about brachos: “Sofeik Brachos Lehokel.” That means that if there is a sofeik, a doubt about a bracha, we are not strict to say another bracha. What does that mean? The halachos about brachos can sometimes be complicated. In halacha, sometimes it is not clear if a person needs to say a certain bracha or not. This is called a sofeik, a doubt. In these cases, the Chachomim say, “Sofeik Brachos Lehokel!” Since by saying a bracha that maybe we don’t need to say, we are possibly saying Hashem’s

Chitas for Kids / Sunday, Lamed Menachem Av, 5781 4 name for no reason, we DON’T say the bracha that we are not sure about. But this is only where there is a sofeik in the halacha. It doesn’t mean when WE are not sure about a bracha! If we aren’t sure what bracha to make, we need to go learn the halachos or ask someone who did! Only where the Chachomim weren’t sure about a bracha do we follow this rule. See Birchos Hanehenin, perek Alef, se’if Gimmel and Daled

GEULAH U'MOSHIACH :: The End of the Nation of Eisav After the time of Shlomo Hamelech, the Yidden split into two groups. The Yidden living near Yerushalayim followed the son of Shlomo Hamelech, the first of the Malchei Yehudah. The Yidden living in the northern parts of Eretz Yisroel followed a different king, the first of the Malchei Yisrael. The kings of the Malchei Yisrael wouldn’t even let the Yidden go to the Beis Hamikdash, since they were afraid that the Yidden would start to follow the Malchei Yehudah. Of course, this was not very good for the Ruchnius of the Yidden! One of the kings of the Malchei Yisrael was Achav. He married a non-Jewish princess, Izevel, and listened to whatever she said. She worshiped Avodah Zarah and worked hard to make the Yidden do it too. She tried to kill all of the true Neviim so that no one would stop the Yidden from worshiping her Avodah Zarah. Even though Eliyahu Hanavi tried to punish Achav by stopping rain from falling, Achav did not do teshuvah. The man in charge of running Achav’s palace was a ger from Edom, named Ovadiah. Even though he lived with these wicked people, he did not learn from them. He decided to protect Neviim, and hid 100 of them in caves. He gave them food and water and kept them safe from Achav and Izevel. Because of this, Hashem gave Ovadiah the zechus of becoming a talmid of Eliyahu Hanavi. Ovadiah even became a Navi himself! Hashem chose Ovadiah, who was from Edom, to give the nevuah about the end of the nation of Edom. Here is one of his famous nevuos about the end of Edom, the nation of Eisav: וְהָיָה בֵית יַעֲקֹב אֵׁש ּובֵית יֹוסֵף לֶהָבָה ּובֵית עֵשָׂו לְקַׁשוְדָלְקּו בָהֶם וַאֲכָלּום וְלֹא יִהְיֶה שָׂרִיד לְבֵית עֵשָׂו כִּי ה׳ דִּבֵּר

Vehaya Veis Yaakov Eish — The family of Yaakov (the Yidden) will be like a fire Uveis Yosef Lehava — And the family of Yosef will be like a flame. Uveis Eisav Lekash — The family of Eisav will be like straw (which burns very easily). Vedalku Vahem Va’achalum — The Yidden will burn the nation of Eisav completely Velo Yihiyeh Sarid Leveis Eisav — And there will be nothing left of the family of Eisav, Ki Hashem Diber — Because Hashem said so. See Ovadyah perek Alef posuk Yud-Ches

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Chitas for Kids / Sunday, Lamed Menachem Av, 5781 5