שבת קדש

[ORDERS FOR THE SOLDIERS OF HASHEM’S ARMY]

Issue 121פרשת כי תבא

בס״ד

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W hen my zeidy, Rabbi Yaakov Shlomo Goldberg, was a young bochur, he went

into yechidus with the Rebbe for the first time in honor of his birthday. Among other things, the Rebbe told my zeidy to give tzedaka every day before davening Shacharis and Mincha.

As the Rebbe spoke, my zeidy thought, I don’t have a penny to my name! I was sent away from home at a

young age to study with the Rebbe. How am I supposed to give all this

tzedaka? The Rebbe smiled at him and said, מצוי’ה?“ הפרוטה אין וואס, —what, you don’t have any money? The yeshiva gives its bochurim a small allowance every so often, so you can give something every day!”

My zeidy realized that the Rebbe was right, and to this day he still gives tzedaka before he davening.

Niggun of the week

The Very Best Place for a Penny

Submitted by:

Menucha Goldberg

Bais Chaya Mushka, Toronto

“It doesn’t matter how much tzedaka you give, as long as you give!”

…and its lesson to me!

In describing the joy of Simchas Beis Hashoeva in the Beis Hamikdash, the Gemora relates that Chassidim and

anshei maaseh (men of good deeds) danced joyfully together while singing these words. This moving niggun,

composed by early Chassidim, reminds us to think about

teshuva even during moments of greatest joy.

אלו ואלו אומרים אשרי מי שלא

חטא, ומי שחטא ישוב וימחול לו:

Subscriptions: Hachayol Weekly is published 40 times a year and can be subscribed to for $50 by e-mailing hachayol@tzivoshashem.org.

In loving memory of Mrs. Sarah (Charlotte) Rohr

Light candles before:Buffalo, NY 7:14pm

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Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky; Tzivos Hashem Rabbi Sholom Ber Baumgarten, Rabbi Yerachmiel Benjaminson, Rabbi Gershon Eichorn, Rabbi Zalman Glick, Rabbi Shimmy Weinbaum; MyShliach Rabbi Mendy Shanowitz, Mrs. Blumie Rosenfeld; Senior Editor Chava Leiba Sneiderman; Managing Editor Rivky Franklin; Feature Writers Chanie Brod, Chayie Groner, Devora Hirsch, Sheina Brocha Shaw; Feature Editors Esther Gopin, Talia Weisberg, Dalia Wolfson; Copy Editors Shaindle Fogelman, Dina Franklin, Malky Goldstein, Miriam Hertzl; Research Scholars Boruch Altein, Rabbi Rabin, Rabbi Shmuel Vaisfiche; Rabbinic Advisors Rabbi Sholom Heidingsfeld, Rabbi Mendy Shanowitz; Senior Designer Chana Cohen; Artists J. Blakeley, J. Gimenezratti This magazine includes words from the Torah. Please treat it with respect.

I shared a story of the Rebbe at my Shabbos table

I sang this week’s niggun at my Shabbos table

[The Chassidim and anshei maaseh] would say: “Fortunate is the one who has not sinned; and let the one who has sinned repent, and they will be forgiven.”

MY special moment with the r e b b e

the weiss family

Starring Deep in the basement of the Tzivos Hashem Headquarters, four siblings use a high-tech machine to discover the Rebbe’s message about the parsha.

Now it’s your turn!Read this at your Shabbos table, acting out different characters with your family. Then discuss the question of the week and apply the Parshafier’s lesson to your lives.

משיחת ב’ ראש חדש אלול תקיעות שופרשבת קדש theתשמ"ג; יז’ אלול תש”מ

Parshafier Squad

ovadiaGuest Starring

Yitzi: Remember that last week I decided to ask Hashem for help on my kavana during davening? Guess what? It’s working!

Rivky: That’s great! What happened?

Yitzi: Well, my mashpia suggested that I choose to focus on one tiny part of davening at a time. Then I could add another part, and another one. Working with one small paragraph sounds much less scary than improving my concentration on the entire davening.

Sruly: So which part of davening are you focusing on now?

Yitzi: Because it’s Elul and we’re blowing the shofar every day, I’m focusing on a brocha called Teka B’shofar from Shmone Esrei. It’s talking about when Moshiach comes, and all the Yidden will be gathered from the four corners of the world to travel to the Beis Hamikdosh! Did you know that the shofar will be blown to announce Moshiach’s arrival? I can’t wait!

Chani: Me neither! Do you think the Parshafier will teleport us to the times of Moshiach?

Yitzi: Let me check…No, It looks like we’re heading back to Feyold this week. Our guest is Ovadia, royal guard to King Souvrain!

blipblipblipblipshhhhh... tootutootutoooooooot!

Chani: Well, I never heard that sound from the Parshafier before!

Ovadia: That, ma’am, was my trumpet! Instruments don’t play themselves, you know. King Souvrain’s coronation is tomorrow, so I’ve been awfully busy practicing!

Rivky: Wow, what’s the coronation ceremony like? It’s probably really fancy, right?

Ovadia: Oh, the coronation shall be the most wonderful celebration! King Souvrain will be heralded with great fanfare and joy, as is befitting for such a wonderful king. Dressed in our finest uniforms, we shall blow our trumpets and proclaim him as our king…oh, what glory.

Sruly: You know, one of the reasons that we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashona is because we are crowning Hashem as our king! Blowing the shofar is our way of proclaiming Hashem as master of the universe.

Ovadia: Well, you certainly are a bright young man!

Chani: But then why do we blow the shofar

throughout Elul?

Ovadia: And you are one bright young woman! The truth is, we don’t only accept Hashem as our king on Rosh Hashona itself. Blowing the shofar throughout Elul reminds us of the fact that we accept Hashem as our king every day of the year!

Rivky: Wow, I never knew that before. Ooh, look at that umbrella! It’s so pretty! Are those real diamonds all around it?

Ovadia: This umbrella is spun from the silk of 912 silkworms fed on a diet of pure rose leaves. The handle is encrusted with 26.8 carats of rare purple diamonds. Young lady, the umbrella is a gift from the Duke of Richton to King Souvrain in honor of his coronation! Of course they are real.

Rivky: Wow, that is really something! Although

I’m not sure how good a job it will do protecting the king from the rain…are those wrapped boxes on that table more presents for the king?

Ovadia: Yes they are! And, of course, the king will give plenty of gifts in return.

Sruly: So, if we are crowning Hashem as king every day, what gifts can we give Him for His coronation ceremonies?

Ovadia: Oh, there are some very special things that you soldiers in Tzivos Hashem do that He really appreciates. In fact, they are the very reason that He created the world!

Chani: Oh, do you mean that our presents are Torah and

Mitzvos?

Ovadia: Indeed they are, my young soldiers. And in return, Hashem shall bestow upon you the ultimate gift—the greatest shofar blast announcing that Moshiach’s coming!

orders from our general

What kind of presents can we give Hashem for his coronation?

I shared a sicha of the Rebbe at my Shabbos table

chani rivky sruly yitzi

פרשת כי תבא 2 3 פרשת כי תבא

בס”ד

z The most powerful armyz

צבאות ה’ ה’תשע”ה

Photo: JEM / The Living Archive

CHANGING THE W RLD FOR GOOD

Soldiers on the front lines, bringing Moshiach now!

I shared a sicha of the Rebbe

My Rosh Hashona Adventures

כ"ג אלול Today I got home from school three and a half minutes early, because the Kirshbaum

kids weren’t there today, so the bus driver skipped their stop. I was the first kid home from school in my entire family.

Which was a problem, because I had to find something to do all by myself, you know.

So after Mommy gave me some apple slices and asked me about school and everything, I looked around for

something to do. I was so bored. Then I found my favorite food—a big tub of marshmallow f luff! Pretty

soon, the lid was off, there was a spoon in my hand, and I had my mouth wide open.

Just then, I remembered my Rosh Hashona project. Mrs. Ellenbogen, my new fourth grade teacher,

had just taught us about the Yom Tov. She said it’s the day when Hashem made the world and all the

stuff inside it. He is so nice to give us everything we need! Like a Mommy and a Tatty, and toilet paper, and

a f ive-speed bike, and…marshmallow f luff!

So our school project is to remember our brochos before and after we eat, and to say them nice and loud. This way,

we remind ourselves that Hashem’s the One who gives us our food.

So I put my spoon into the marshmallow f luff and yelled at it, “Don’t you know that Hashem is the One Who made

the whole world, and all the stuff in it? He even made you! And He wants me to say a brocha before I eat!”

At that moment, Sholom walked in through the front door and saw me yelling at the

marshmallow f luff. So he asked, “What did that marshmallow f luff do wrong?”

“The f luff didn’t do anything wrong,” I told him, “but my Yetzer Hara did! He almost got me to

eat the f luff without a brocha!”

That silly old Yetzer Hara—doesn’t he know that Hashem is the one in charge?

כ"ה אלול Today I felt like so many things were going wrong. First, I forgot my lunch bag at home,

and Mommy had to bring it to school during recess. Then, on the way home from the bus stop, I tripped over a crack in

the sidewalk, and all my papers went f lying—I had to run down the block to catch them all. That was the scariest thing

ever, because I almost got a scratch on my knee, and I almost lost the building plans for a mega-sized fort which I’m going

to construct today in my bedroom.

And f inally, when I got to the computer to work on my Rosh Hashona project, the machine

started acting weird, like it had a tummy ache. It made whirring noises and was working really slow…

and then everything froze. Well, I know Tatty could f ix things like that, so I asked him to help.

Tatty said we had to restart the computer. And guess what? After that it worked like it was brand-

new! Tatty said that sometimes, starting again solves whatever is wrong. Well I’m just happy it started working

again, because I got to f inish my Rosh Hashona project, and I was even able to help my friend Hindy with her homework

after that.I don’t know how we’re going to actually call all of those people. There must be seven million of them! But we

must do it—we need them to f ight my sneaky Yetzer Hara, and fast.

כ"ה אלול Hi, Diary! I know I already wrote to you today, but I am lying in bed, and that’s

when my brain starts thinking, so I grabbed this little diary from my desk because I have some

important things to say.

See, I learned a lot about Rosh Hashona today, just from all the annoying things that happened,

like when Tatty had to restart the computer. That’s just like Rosh Hashona! Rosh Hashona is Restart Day. Mrs.

Ellenbogen says it’s the birthday of the world, the day Hashem made everything. We should

make a birthday party, with presents and cake!

You know what else I f igured out? Sometimes when Hashem takes things away

from you, it’s a reminder that everything I have comes from Him. Boy, was I smiling

when Mommy brought my lunch at recess time. I’ve never been so thankful to have my

cream-cheese-and-olives sandwhich in my life. And when I managed to catch my papers, I was thankful for the quick

feet that Hashem gave me.

Now, at night, after I learned the daily Sefer Hamitzvos, said krias shema, and kissed the mezuza, I’m all

snuggled up in bed, happy about all the things I have, and the wonderful world Hashem made.

MOTZEI SHABBOS ,כ"ז אלול On Friday, I helped Mommy cook for Shabbos. It was the f irst time

I managed to make a salad all by myself, and it came out pretty good. First, I cut the tomatoes, cucumbers, and

onions. I added some pickles, mangoes and chocolate chips to make it look prettier. Then I decided to try my own recipe

for the dressing, instead of asking Mommy, like I usually do. Mommy said it was great, and told me to write the recipe

for the coming weeks. The only problem is that I don’t remember all the ingredients—I just put whatever seemed good.

After helping in the kitchen, I had to clean my room for Shabbos and take a shower, and while I was brushing my

hair, I heard Mommy call, “Time to bentch licht!”

That’s when I got stressed out. I didn’t even feel like lighting candles—I still had stuff to do! I managed to get to the

candles on time, but I really didn’t feel happy about the mitzva, because I felt like I was under a lot of pressure. That’s

when I realized that it was the Yetzer Hara telling me not to be excited about doing what Hashem wants. At that

moment I remembered that Rosh Hashona was coming up, the day that Hashem recreates the world. And the whole

point of creation is for the Yidden to do Torah and Mitzvos.

Thinking about how Hashem recreates the world on Rosh Hashona, and the whole point of the world is Torah and

Mitzvos, made me really excited to do the mitzva of Shabbos candles! After I lit those candles, Mommy said she never

heard such a beautiful brocha in her life.

This is a secret diary. Do not read it. Unless you are also

excited to do mitzvos—well, except when your Yetzer

Hara gets in the way…

Based on Der Rebbe Redt tzu Kinder, Sichas Tishrei 5745

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ח״י אלול תנ״ח & תק”ה

ה

יב

ו

יג

ז

יד

א

ח

טו

ב

ט

טז

יט

ג

י

יז

כ

ד

יא

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כדכגכבכא

כחכזכו

כה

The Baal Shem Tov’s and Alter Rebbe’s Birthdays

יום הולדת את שני מאורות הגדולים הבעש”ט ואדמו”ר הזקן

LIKE A CHAYOLLIKE A CHAYOLכט

Name CallingAddressing someone by their name can wake them up from deep slumber. Before the Baal Shem Tov was born, the Yidden were going through difficult times; it was hard for them not to despair. The Baal Shem Tov’s name, Yisroel, was a wake-up call for every Yid, each of whom has a part of the name Yisroel engraved on their neshamos.

Last WordsYoung Yisroel’s parents passed away when he was five years old. But before he went to Shomayim, Reb Eliezer gave his young son two pieces of advice: he said, “Fear no one but Hashem” and “Love every Yid with all your heart and soul.”

UnordinaryThroughout his childhood, Yisroel was cared for by the community. Even from a young age, there was something special about him. After cheder, he would often wander into the fields and forests nearby to meditate on Hashem’s incredible world.

Leadership BeginsOn the Baal Shem Tov’s thirty-sixth birthday, he revealed his greatness by openly beginning to spread the wellsprings of Chassidus. Reb Yisroel always encouraged people to serve Hashem with joy, and therefore became known as the Baal Shem Tov.

Happened UponMany important events in Lubavitch history took place on Chai Elul. But not all of the ones below are true. Can you figure out which doesn’t belong?

• Maharal of Prague’s yartzeit

• Day the Rebbetzin and the Rebbe met

• First day of learning in Tomchei Temimim

• Settling of the Mitteler Rebbe in town of Lubavitch

The Alter Rebbe ConnectionReb Boruch, the Alter Rebbe’s father, was a student of the Baal Shem Tov. On Chai Elul 5504, the Baal Shem Tov promised Reb Boruch that he would have a son within a year. When young Schneur Zalman was born, the Baal Shem Tov held a joyous seudas mitzva in Mezibuzh. “A new neshoma has come down into the world to spread Torah and Chassidus!” he declared with excitement.

When the Alter Rebbe was three years old, his parents took him to the Baal Shem Tov for his Upshernish and told the young Shneur Zalman that the Baal Shem Tov was his “zeidy.” This was the only time that they met, yet the Baal Shem Tov would daven for the Alter Rebbe daily, mentioning the name Shneur Zalman in Shmoneh Esrei.

Answers: Happened Upon: Day the Rebbetzin and the Rebbe met; Day Before: Visa was granted to the Frierdiker Rebbe to leave Russia

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I learned about what happened on Chai Elul

פרשת כי תבא 6

שבת קודש

Uninvited GuestOne Shabbos afternoon a stranger knocked on the door of the Baal Shem Tov’s parents’ home and asked if he could stay for Shabbos. Reb Eliezer and Sara treated him with honor and respect, even though their other guests were furious: he’s not from our village, they thought, and he must have traveled from outside the techum Shabbos (area of travel allowed on Shabbos). On Sunday afternoon, as Reb Eliezer bid him farewell, the stranger revealed his true identity: he was Eliyahu Hanavi, sent to examine the couple and see if they were worthy of having a wondrous child. He promised that despite their elderly age, they would soon be blessed with a son in the zechus (merit) of their hachnosas orchim.

ישראל

Helper and HealerOn the Baal Shem Tov’s twenty-sixth birthday, Achia Hashiloni, who had taught Eliyahu Hanavi, appeared to him and started teaching secrets of the Torah. Soon Reb Yisroel developed a reputation as a miracle worker, and people from neighboring villages traveled to his hometown in Mezibuzh to ask for blessings or seek healing.

Wandering LifeWhen he got a little older, Yisroel joined a group of hidden tzadikim who would pose as ordinary people and travel from village to village. They would befriend the simple Yidden, who were usually looked down upon by the more scholarly Jews, and teach them Torah.

Day BeforeYud Zayin Elul is also a memorable day for Chassidim. Can you figure out which of these events didn’t take place then?

• Chasuna (wedding) of the Alter Rebbe’s parents

• Famous ceremony of Hanochas even hapina (laying of the foundation stone) for enlarging 770

• Visa granted to the Frierdiker Rebbe to leave Russia

י״ז

SOURCE Sefer Hasichos 5700, pg. 170

The holy signature of the Baal Shem Tov

I went on mivtza lulov

“I was happy to

receive your letter about the yeshiva students’ visit to the health center on Rosh Hashona, where they blew shofar for the patients. Chazal have told us that one purpose of tekias shofar is to crown Hashem as King. Being that the “kingdom of Hash-em is similar to a regular kingdom,” and that a king is very forgiving on his coronation day, [Hashem’s] forgiving should affect the physical health as well as the health of the neshamos of all your patients, together with all of Klal Yisroel.

—The Rebbe, Tes Tishrei, Tof Shin Yud Tes (1959)

SHOFAR

EDITION

The Rebbe Writes

ZEVY CYPRYS • AGE 11

LUBAVITCH BOYS SCHOOL, LONDON

MUKA SANDHAUS • AGE 7 BAIS CHAYA MUSHKA, TORONTOROCHEL ROTHMAN • 7 CHEDER LUBAVITCH, CHICAGO

Send us your mivtzoim stories and pictures, and you

might just be featured in Hachayol magazine! All

submissions can be sent to hachayol@tzivoshashem.org

or given to the Base Commander at your school.

of ChayolimThe Art

WILL

YOU

GO ON MIVTZA

SHOFAR?SIMA LEAH BARBER • AGE 6KESSER TORAH COLLEGE, SYDNEY

GNESHA HURWITZ • AGE 9

BNOS MENACHEM, CROWN HEIGHTS

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