The Prayers of Shabbos - Rabbi Yehoshua Lipsh shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to the “Lemaan Yishme’u” podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 Shabbos prayers. Before the Shabbos prayers, of course, the first prayer connected with the Shabbos liturgy is Mincha on Erev Shabbos. Already for Erev Shabbos, the Alter Rebbe included in the siddur the custom of saying “Hodu LaHashem” and “Patach Eliyahu” as an introduction. Part of this introduction is based on the Zohar; it is the chassidim’s custom to say it as an introduction to the arrival of Shabbos. Halacha, too, says that Mincha on Erev Shabbos already has a connection to Shabbos, and therefore the custom is not to say Tachanun at this Mincha. According to Kabbalah, the light of the holiness of Shabbos begins to shine and glimmer from midday on Friday. In Kabbalah, the Arizal says it begins even earlier, from the fifth hour. But at any rate, from the sixth hour, and certainly by Mincha, the light of the holiness of Shabbos begins to shine, and we do not say Tachanun. So even if a person davens early—at a time when Mincha may be davened, beginning from Mincha Gedolah, which is half an hour after midday—Tachanun is not said at that Mincha. We begin with the usual order, “Hodu,” “Patach Eliyahu,” then “Vayedaber” and so on, followed by Mincha. After Mincha comes Kabbalas Shabbos. As for the time of Kabbalas Shabbos, our custom is to daven after nightfall, on Friday night as well. We should mention that many communities have the custom of davening Maariv a little earlier on Friday night. In fact, there is already a dispute in the Gemara between Rabbi Yehudah and the Sages about when Maariv may be davened. One opinion holds that it may be davened after plag hamincha. In practice, during the week, the custom in all communities, or most communities, is generally to daven after nightfall. But on Friday night, the custom in many

02:11 Speaker 2 communities is to daven earlier. One must remember, though, that even someone who follows the custom of davening early may not daven Mincha after plag hamincha and then Maariv, as stated in halacha, because the two positions contradict each other. In other words, if we treat the time from plag hamincha as nighttime, we cannot daven Mincha then. If you davened Mincha late, you cannot daven Maariv immediately afterward. Indeed, in many places people do daven Mincha and then Maariv right away, perhaps in some cases because they are unaware of this rule. But you cannot daven Mincha and Maariv back to back: if you davened Mincha after plag hamincha, you must wait before davening Maariv. You cannot then rely on that same time as already being nighttime. In any event, our custom is to wait until after nightfall to daven, even on Friday night. Moreover, that is also what seems to follow from the Tzemach Tzedek. It often happens that someone—many young married men, for example, and not necessarily people on shlichus—finds himself with family or in a community where the minyan davens earlier. In that case, it is preferable for him to wait. If he always takes care to daven after nightfall—not just during the week, but throughout the year—then of course he should listen to the Kaddish and the “Baruch Hu” and so on, but daven the rest afterward, after nightfall, if that is possible. Still, one must remember that strictly speaking, Maariv may be davened before nightfall, from plag hamincha onward. There are countries where nightfall is so late that waiting is not practical. In some places nightfall is at ten or eleven at night. A person may have a Chabad House—or even if he doesn’t, he may have a family—and he cannot begin the Shabbos meal at ten

03:56 Speaker 2 thirty or eleven. Everyone is already asleep, all the children and all the guests. So one must know that strictly speaking, as the Alter Rebbe rules in Shulchan Aruch, Maariv in general, and especially Maariv on Friday night, may be davened early, from plag hamincha. In many communities, the custom is for the chazzan to wear a tallis for Mincha and Maariv, particularly on Shabbos and Yom Tov. Our custom, however, as stated at the beginning of Hayom Yom in an instruction from the Frierdiker Rebbe, is that the shliach tzibbur does not wrap himself in a tallis for Mincha or Maariv—not on Shabbos or Yom Tov, and certainly not on weekdays. Our custom is not to wear a tallis for Mincha or Maariv on Shabbos and Yom Tov. Now, the custom of Kabbalas Shabbos. There are many psalms customarily said throughout the Jewish people at Kabbalas Shabbos. And when I say Kabbalas Shabbos, I mean the psalms before Maariv. In fact, the Friday-night prayers can be divided into two parts: the psalms beginning with “Lechu Neranena,” “Lecha Dodi,” and so on, followed by the blessing of “Maariv Aravim,” which is Maariv as on any weekday. This Kabbalas Shabbos service does not appear in this form in the time of the Gemara; much of it was introduced by the Arizal and his disciples. But the basic practice of going out to welcome Shabbos, with the Amoraim saying, “Come, bride, come, bride,” already appears in the Gemara: on Erev Shabbos, the Amoraim would go out to welcome Shabbos. In many communities where the custom was to daven Maariv early, Kabbalas Shabbos meant that one was now accepting Shabbos upon oneself. For us, when we say Kabbalas Shabbos at night, of course that is not when we accept Shabbos upon ourselves, because

05:57 Speaker 2 Shabbos has already begun. A person must add from the holy to the ordinary already at sunset—and a few minutes earlier than that. In his siddur, the Alter Rebbe says from the visible sunset, which is four minutes before the actual sunset. By then, a person must already have accepted Shabbos and ceased doing melacha. Nevertheless, the text of Kabbalas Shabbos appears in the siddur even when one davens at night. So we say the same text with which we welcome Shabbos; that is, we continue the holiness of Shabbos or honor Shabbos through the psalms beginning with “Lechu Neranena.” These psalms were introduced by the Arizal and his disciples. “Lecha Dodi” is a hymn composed by Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz. Then we say “Kegavna,” a practice introduced by the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov. Some have written that it was the Maggid of Mezritch who instituted the saying of “Kegavna,” and it subsequently spread, of course, to all chassidic communities. When saying “Lecha Dodi,” the custom is to turn toward the west for “Bo’i Veshalom.” On a straightforward reading of the Arizal’s writings, one should turn westward. Several halachic authorities have written that the reason is that, as it says, the Shechinah is in the west. Thus, at “Bo’i Veshalom,” we turn westward, where the Shechinah is. But other halachic authorities have written that the main point is not necessarily to turn west. The idea is to turn around: in the time of the Amoraim, they would actually go out into the field to welcome Shabbos. Now we are in the shul and do not go out into the field, so at least we turn toward the entrance of the shul. According to this, one would sometimes need to turn in another direction, because the entrance is not always on the western side, at the back of the shul. In fact, in many places, including the holy city of Tzfas, the longstanding custom in many

07:53 Speaker 2 In many shuls, people turn specifically toward the west, so in places where the back of the shul does not face west, they turn to face west. Still, some have written that in places where people actually daven facing west—places east of Jerusalem and the Beis Hamikdash—even there, they should turn toward the entrance of the shul to welcome Shabbos. After saying “Bo’i Veshalom,” we say “A psalm, a song for the Shabbos day” and “Hashem reigns.” As for Kegavna, it is important to remember that the custom is not to interrupt between Kegavna and Maariv on Shabbos. In Lubavitch, it was customary to say a maamar during Kabbalas Shabbos: they would say “Come, let us sing,” stop after “Hashem reigns; He has clothed Himself in majesty,” and then the Rebbe Rashab would say a maamar before Kegavna. After Kegavna, they would not interrupt for anything. The Rebbe notes that when Hashem’s Name appears in Kegavna, which comes from the Zohar, the custom is to pronounce it as written. Since we say it as part of the order of davening, rather than as part of learning—and when learning, we generally take care not to pronounce Hashem’s Name when it appears in the text—we do pronounce Hashem’s Name in Kegavna. Immediately after Kegavna, we begin “Bless Hashem, the blessed One.” The Alter Rebbe’s siddur says that when a person is not davening with the congregation, before beginning the blessings of Shema at the start of Maariv, he should say the passage that begins “Bless Him.” Many people do not notice this, but the Rebbe writes in a letter that it also applies to someone davening with the congregation who does not begin “Blessed are You, Hashem” together with them. Sometimes a person was busy with something and began davening a minute or two after the congregation. When they began Kegavna, he was still at Lecha Dodi, and when the congregation began “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who brings on evenings,” and so on, after Borchu, he was still

09:50 Speaker 2 not there, or was just beginning “A psalm, a song for the Shabbos day,” “Hashem reigns,” and Kegavna. In that case, he should say the passage printed in the siddur, beginning “Bless Hashem, the blessed One,” and so on. The reason is that this passage ends with “Blessed is Hashem, the blessed One, forever and ever.” On Friday night, there is even greater care about this practice than on weekdays: immediately after saying those words, we begin the blessings of Shema. So if a person is not right there with the shliach tzibbur, but is several sections behind, he should say the passage from the Zohar that begins “Bless Hashem, the blessed One,” so that he begins davening from the words “Blessed is Hashem, the blessed One, forever and ever.” Then, in the blessing of Hashkiveinu, we do not conclude as we generally do on a weekday, when we say, “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who guards His people Israel forever.” On Shabbos we say, “Spread over us Your shelter of peace,” and then conclude with words that reflect the close of the blessing: “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who spreads a shelter of peace over us, over all His people Israel, and over Jerusalem.” Halachah explains that the Jewish people do not need protection on Shabbos as they do on weekdays, because Shabbos protects us. Therefore, when we say, “Shelter us in the shadow of Your wings,” we do not say, “Guard our going out and our coming in,” because Shabbos itself protects us. We say only, “Spread over us Your shelter of peace.” There is a practice—and it is somewhat surprising—that the Alter Rebbe included the verses “And the children of Israel shall observe Shabbos” in his siddur, as well as verses relating to the festivals. This may be one of the few things the Alter Rebbe included in the siddur that we do not customarily say. The Alter Rebbe included the recitation of Veshomru in the siddur before the Friday-night

11:44 Speaker 2 davening, and the siddur says that someone whose custom is to say it, and who is not concerned about any resulting interruption, has authorities on whom to rely. In practice, though, our custom is known to be not to say it, as the Tzemach Tzedek wrote concerning Veshomru. There is a well-known story that Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev once came to the Alter Rebbe and asked him, “Why don’t you say Veshomru? When Veshomru is said, there is a tremendous commotion in heaven—a great fair in heaven!” The Alter Rebbe responded, “One does not have to attend every fair.” In other words, the Alter Rebbe did not deny that these verses are something truly wonderful and great. But for the community of chassidim, although he did include them in the siddur, the custom of Chabad chassidim is not to say Veshomru. Again, we certainly do not reject its recitation, G-d forbid; it is a very great recitation. But our custom is not to say it. The Rebbe says in a letter that even someone in a shul where Veshomru is said should not say it. Remaining silent while the congregation says it is not considered an interruption; even if he thinks about verses concerning redemption and so on, he has not interrupted with speech. There is a principle of joining redemption directly to the Amidah. “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who redeemed Israel” and Shemoneh Esrei are considered one continuous sequence, with the blessing between them, and we are careful not to interrupt it by speaking about other matters. So we do not interrupt with Veshomru. Then there is the Shemoneh Esrei, with the Shabbos blessings, of course. The custom there is to say “May they rest on it”—that is according to Kabbalah. After davening, the custom is to say Vayechulu. The reason is that it says, “Anyone who davens and says Vayechulu is regarded by Scripture as though he became a partner with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the act of creation.” Vayechulu appears in the Torah, spelled vav, yud, chaf,

13:38 Speaker 2 lamed, vav, without the heh in the middle, so it can be read as vayechal. In effect, anyone who says Vayechulu together with the congregation—and anyone who says Vayechulu at all—becomes a partner with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the act of creation. The meaning is that the Jewish people and Hakadosh Boruch Hu together bring the creation to completion—completion in the sense of enduring existence and perfection. Together, they complete the creation. So someone who says Vayechulu is a partner with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the act of creation. We do, in fact, customarily say it. Why do we say it after davening, when we already say it in Shemoneh Esrei? Because when Shabbos coincides with Yom Tov, we say the Yom Tov Amidah. If, for example, the first day of Sukkos falls on Shabbos, we say the festival Amidah and do not say Vayechulu within it. So, because of a Shabbos that coincides with Yom Tov, the custom became to say Vayechulu after davening every Shabbos, aloud and while standing. Saying Vayechulu is like testimony: we testify that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created heaven and earth. Witnesses are required to testify while standing. As is known, the Mishnah Berurah writes that if someone did not manage to say it with the congregation, he should say it with someone else. In many communities, if someone misses Vayechulu because the chazzan has already moved on, he says to someone, “Come, say it with me.” But that does not seem to be the Alter Rebbe’s view. The Alter Rebbe writes explicitly that this is not testimony in the full sense; rather, the initial custom is to say it as testimony, with a minyan, as a congregation. This suggests that the main point is indeed to say it with the congregation. But if someone did not manage to say it with the congregation, he can say

15:24 Speaker 2 He can say that afterward on his own, too. He doesn’t need to say it with anyone else. After the recitation of Vayechulu, we have the blessing of Me’ein Sheva. What is Me’ein Sheva about? Where did this blessing come from? In simple terms, Me’ein Sheva is like the chazzan’s repetition. On Shabbos, we have seven blessings in the Amidah: the first three, the last three, and one blessing in the middle. So this is a kind of repetition. Why is Friday night different from every other evening? It says that in their time, in the days of the Gemara, the synagogue was outside the city. On other nights, people did not necessarily go to the synagogue; they were busy working, and when they finished, they davened Maariv at home. But on Friday night, the custom was for everyone to go to the synagogue. Now, if the service ended after the Amidah and everyone went home, there was a concern that someone who arrived late—because he was busy preparing for Shabbos and couldn’t get there in time—would be left alone at night in the fields. The synagogue was outside the city. So they instituted the recitation of Me’ein Sheva, a kind of repetition of the Amidah, so that the person who arrived late could finish while the congregation was still there. It’s interesting that behind this prayer is a great act of Ahavas Yisroel. They instituted this entire prayer so that no one would be left alone in the synagogue and then have to walk home alone at night, putting himself in danger. In practice, it is the congregation’s prayer in the sense that the chazzan says it on their behalf. It was instituted for the chazzan to recite, but the congregation does not recite the blessing

17:10 Speaker 2 itself. But if the congregation wishes to—and that is indeed our custom—then during Me’ein Sheva, the chazzan begins, “Blessed are You, Hashem,” and so on, and from “Magen avos bidvaro,” the whole congregation says it together through “zecher lema’aseh Bereishis.” In other words, they do not say the entire blessing: they say neither its opening nor its conclusion, but they do customarily say the prayer in the middle. Even someone davening alone cannot say this blessing, because it was instituted for a congregation. He can, however, say the middle section, from “Magen avos” through “zecher lema’aseh Bereishis.” In practice, this blessing was instituted only for a place with a permanent synagogue—that is, a place where people regularly daven. Halachah discusses the fairs held in those days. A fair might last several months, and the merchants would have a set place where they gathered to daven. Since it was a regular place of prayer—even though it was not used all year, but only for a number of weeks—the Alter Rebbe writes that some ruled that Me’ein Sheva should be recited there as well. But in other places, the straightforward halachah would appear to be that Me’ein Sheva is not recited. Nevertheless, the Alter Rebbe writes that where the custom is to recite it even at an ad hoc minyan, one should not object. There are, in fact, several sefarim that write that according to Kabbalah it should be recited whenever there is a minyan, even if it is not a regular place of prayer, though that is generally not the custom. But whenever there is some doubt as to whether a minyan might be considered regular, one can certainly recite it. As the Alter Rebbe adds in parentheses, the rule against reciting it in a place that is not regularly used for prayer is not mentioned

18:59 Speaker 2 in the Gemara or in the words of the Geonim. One can therefore rely on the opinions that allow Me’ein Sheva to be recited anywhere—meaning, of course, anywhere a congregation is davening. There is another important and interesting point. As is well known, the Alter Rebbe tells a story in his Shulchan Aruch—perhaps in only one other place besides this one. Here, in connection with the Friday-night service, he tells a story. Let’s read his words: “It happened that one chossid saw another chossid in a dream, and his face was sickly green, may we be spared. He asked him, ‘Why is your face green?’ He replied, ‘Because I spoke while the congregation was saying Vayechulu, and I did not say it together with them.’” How important it is to pay attention to this: to say Vayechulu together with the congregation, and not, G-d forbid, to talk or converse, but to say it with everyone. The Alter Rebbe continues with what that chossid told his friend: “Because I spoke while the chazzan was reciting the blessing of Me’ein Sheva, and when he said ‘Yisgadal...,’ I did not listen to him attentively. Therefore, one must be careful.” We see here the need for care with the recitation of Kaddish as well. Elsewhere, the Alter Rebbe also tells a story showing how important it is not to speak during Kaddish. The same applies to Vayechulu and the blessing of Me’ein Sheva: one must listen attentively. In the other services, the Alter Rebbe did not include Barchu at the end. Although he writes in the Shulchan Aruch that some places have the custom of saying Barchu at the end of the service—the reason being that someone who arrived late and missed Barchu would still have a chance to say it—the Alter Rebbe already writes there

20:53 Speaker 2 that where it is customary to say Barchu, the custom should not be discontinued because of the differing opinions. But in places where it is not customary to say it, it should not simply be introduced. And indeed, our custom is not to say Barchu at the end of every service. As for the Friday-night service, several explanations have been offered in sefarim of our generation for why the Alter Rebbe did include Barchu then. In any event, he included it in the service, and the custom is to say Barchu on Friday night after the service, before Aleinu.