Q&A on Rosh Hashanah - Rabbi Michael Shlomo Avishid shlita

00:09 Shalom and blessings to everyone. With Hashem’s help, may you be inscribed and sealed for a good, sweet year. Today’s class focuses on the laws of Rosh Hashanah. Questions have come in about Rosh Hashanah candles, Shehecheyanu, and other matters. First, it’s important to know the Chabad wording of the candle-lighting blessing. If you don’t remember it, take a siddur. We generally know the wording for Yom Tov or Shabbos by heart, but Rosh Hashanah has the wording “Yom Hazikaron,” and this year the first day is also Shabbos. Don’t be embarrassed to use a siddur. Otherwise, people come afterward with questions: “Rabbi, I said a different blessing,” or “I mentioned only Shabbos,” or “I mentioned only Yom Hazikaron.” So look carefully at the blessing in the siddur and remember that it is both Shabbos and Yom Hazikaron. As for candle-lighting time, on Friday evening—even when it is the first day of Rosh Hashanah—we light at the regular candle-lighting time. By doing so, we accept Shabbos, and here we accept both Shabbos and Rosh Hashanah. A woman accepts Shabbos and Yom Tov with candle lighting [unclear]. Therefore, as the Magen Avraham writes, she should daven Mincha first. A woman needs to daven Mincha. As the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch says in section 106, a woman is obligated in Shacharis and Mincha. Shacharis can, of course, be shortened to the minimum required by halachah, but she should at least say the Amidah prayers. It is also stressed in Chabad Chassidus and Chabad customs, as well as in the halachic authorities, how important the final Mincha is, and that it should be davened

02:22 with tremendous concentration. So it is important for a woman to daven Mincha as she does every day, and here to daven it before candle lighting, since lighting the candles constitutes acceptance of Shabbos. Regarding Shehecheyanu, a woman says it when lighting candles on both the first and second days of Yom Tov. We’ll discuss details concerning the second day later. Sometimes a woman’s husband is away—perhaps he traveled to the Rebbe, though now, during the coronavirus period, that isn’t so simple, or perhaps he is away on shlichus or somewhere else. If she lights the candles, has no older sons at home, and needs to make Kiddush herself, there is a disagreement among halachic authorities, including Chabad rabbis: should she say Shehecheyanu at candle lighting as usual? After all, we do not find an explicit instruction in the early authorities and poskim to say Shehecheyanu at candle lighting. The Mateh Ephraim brings opinions on this. Similarly, sometimes a husband lights the Rosh Hashanah candles because his wife is not home. Should he say Shehecheyanu over the candles or at Kiddush? In both these cases, the answer is to say Shehecheyanu at Kiddush, its established place in the Talmud and the poskim, rather than at candle lighting. Some disagree, so everyone should ask their own rabbi. That is my opinion. I know what it says in Sefer Haminhagim and the inferences people wish to draw from it, but so as not to spend too much time on each question, this is the guidance—at least for a husband who both lights the candles and makes Kiddush. It is fairly accepted that he

04:29 should say Shehecheyanu at Kiddush. There is more disagreement regarding a woman, as I mentioned. As for the pomegranate on the first day, anyone who thought of saving it for the second day for Shehecheyanu should not do that. Eating pomegranate is one of the Rosh Hashanah customs, along with eating apple dipped in honey, the head of a ram or a fish, and so on. These are things we eat on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, so there is no question that the pomegranate belongs on the first day’s table. If it was already on the table during Kiddush, the husband can—and it is good to—have the pomegranate in mind when he says Shehecheyanu at Kiddush on the first day. Then, when he eats it after Hamotzi and after the apple dipped in honey, he will not need to say Borei Pri Ha’eitz, because he already said it over the apple, nor will he need to say Shehecheyanu, because he had the pomegranate in mind at Kiddush. A woman present at Kiddush has already said Shehecheyanu at candle lighting, but she can fulfill her obligation through the person making Kiddush: she can have in mind the pomegranate and answer amen to his Shehecheyanu. If she didn’t, and nobody had the pomegranate in mind—even if it was on the table—then, of course, Shehecheyanu must be said again over it, provided nobody has tasted pomegranate recently. This is an important detail people asked about. As for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, this year it begins on Motzaei Shabbos, so candles are lit on Motzaei Shabbos. When exactly should they be lit?

06:34 I’ve seen calendars that say not to light the candles until the stars have come out. This needs emphasis and care: when people look up “nightfall” in a calendar, they may find the time listed for an ordinary weekday. But on Shabbos, as explained in sections 261 and 293, we add to Shabbos both at its beginning and at its end. So we must wait until the time Shabbos ends, which is not ordinary nightfall. Strictly speaking, ordinary nightfall is when three medium-sized stars that are not close together appear. For matters of Torah law, it is three small stars that are not close together; for the end of Shabbos, it is three small stars close together, as the Alter Rebbe explains at length in section 293. A woman must certainly not light candles on Motzaei Shabbos—which is also the end of the first day of Rosh Hashanah—before the regular time Shabbos ends. Since women often do not daven Maariv, she should also say, “Boruch hamavdil bein kodesh lekodesh” before lighting or making any preparations she wants to make. She cannot begin preparing at the ordinary weekday nightfall time; she must wait until Shabbos ends. We wait as we always do at the end of Shabbos, and then move from Shabbos into Yom Tov. Now, when should a woman light the candles? In practice, her husband will not arrive home as soon as Shabbos ends. He will come at least forty minutes to an hour later, because he davens and then people share Torah thoughts after davening. On the other hand, we know there is an entire halachic discussion in section 600 about Shehecheyanu on the second day of Yom Tov. It is true that the ruling is to say Shehecheyanu even without a new fruit or a new garment, nevertheless we say Shehecheyanu

08:31 On the second day of Rosh Hashanah. It is still important to emphasize that, ideally, we take into account the second view—that Rosh Hashanah is one long day—and therefore use a new fruit or a new garment. So if a woman has a new garment, she should wear it and light the Rosh Hashanah Yom Tov candles as soon as possible. Those who are eager perform mitzvos early. She should recite Shehecheyanu and have the new garment she is wearing in mind as well. If she does not have a new garment and only has a new fruit, she cannot eat the fruit immediately after lighting candles. She has to wait for her husband to come home and make Kiddush, and then it will no longer be close in time. How can she recite Shehecheyanu now and, only forty minutes later, have in mind that the Shehecheyanu she said forty minutes earlier applied to the new fruit? In that case, they wait until her husband returns from shul after Shabbos and is ready to make Kiddush. Everyone is around the table, ready for Kiddush. Then the girls light the candles for the second day of Rosh Hashanah and recite Shehecheyanu. As soon as she has finished lighting the candles, her husband begins Kiddush and also has the new fruit in mind when he says Shehecheyanu. That way, eating the new fruit is close in time to the woman’s Shehecheyanu as well. This is essentially what is written in Mateh Ephraim, and it is very worthwhile to publicize that if there is no new garment, one should wait and make Kiddush as close as possible to the candle-lighting and Shehecheyanu. I also want to emphasize that the fruit for Shehecheyanu is different from the apple dipped in honey, which we eat only after Hamotzi. Why? One reason is to avoid an interruption between Kiddush and Hamotzi. Another reason, as the Rebbe writes in a letter, is that honey is one of the seven liquids that require washing one’s hands,

10:26 as the Alter Rebbe rules in section 158. That is how one should conduct oneself. So it is also worth publicizing that on Hoshana Rabbah, when Tehillim is recited and the gabbaim then hand out apples, which people eat a little of in the sukkah, in various places where there is a break in the proceedings, they also dip them in honey. One must wash one’s hands before dipping an apple in honey. So that applies to the fruit eaten after Hamotzi. By contrast, on the second day of Yom Tov, since Shehecheyanu also applies to the new fruit, the fruit is eaten specifically right after Kiddush. Our Rebbeim had a custom of taking a new fruit, eating a kezayis of it, and reciting the after-blessing. They would not recite the after-blessing for the wine, even if they had drunk a revi’is or more, because the Birkas Hamazon at the end of the meal covered the wine. But for the fruit, having eaten a kezayis, one recites the after-blessing. That is the custom. Sometimes it is difficult for someone to eat that much, or there is not enough fruit. That is fine; it is not an absolute requirement. But that is how our Rebbeim conducted themselves. As an aside, since we mentioned adding to Shabbos, it should be noted that the Alter Rebbe rules in section 261, paragraph 4—see there—that adding to Shabbos is a positive mitzvah from the Torah. The Alter Rebbe explicitly rules in the laws of Shema, section 60, that for a positive mitzvah from the Torah, intention is essential, and without it one has not fulfilled the obligation. A rabbinic mitzvah also requires intention, but after the fact one has fulfilled the obligation. Since there is a Torah mitzvah to add from the weekday to the holy day, both on Shabbos and on Yom Tov, both when they begin and when they end—as the Alter Rebbe discusses at length in section 608, in the laws of Yom Kippur, from which this principle is derived—it is important to know that often, particularly in the case of a man, one does not consciously intend to fulfill

12:20 the mitzvah. Take someone who arrives at shul every Friday evening. Sometimes he comes by car, takes his car keys, and puts them away in a corner of the shul, out of sight. Does that mean he has accepted Shabbos at that moment? Not necessarily. He may have put down the keys, and five minutes later the gabbai comes in and says, “Could you adjust the air conditioner? Could you cut some toilet paper?” and so on. So we see that he has not yet formally accepted Shabbos. It is not like it used to be, when people davened a little earlier, as the Alter Rebbe explains in section 267, and would say “Bo’i Kallah” or accept Shabbos early. Because when we say “Bo’i Kallah,” “Mizmor Shir Leyom Hashabbos,” or “Borchu”—whatever point at which we accept Shabbos then—it no longer counts as accepting the addition to Shabbos: we daven that at nightfall. Once twilight has begun, there is no longer any point in accepting the addition to Shabbos. The addition to Shabbos is before sunset. So when Shabbos begins, it is important to have explicit intention to accept the addition to Shabbos. And when it ends, too, we often remain in shul, listening to a maamar of Chassidus, and suddenly nightfall has arrived and there are another ten minutes until Shabbos ends. At that point, too, it is important not to miss this Torah mitzvah. True, we are not doing anything or performing any work, but if we do not intend to fulfill the Torah mitzvah of adding to Shabbos at its beginning and end, we need to do so. This year, on the evening following the first day of Rosh Hashanah, there is also an addition to Shabbos, because Shabbos has a higher level: this is a transition from one holy day to another. One may perform work needed for food preparation and for other needs shared by everyone, as the Alter Rebbe explains at length in section 495,

13:58 so the concept of adding to Shabbos also applies as Shabbos ends. And as we mentioned, no preparations or anything else may be done until Shabbos has fully ended. We received a question about shofars. People are now looking at shofars for Rosh Hashanah. It is true that blowing the shofar in Elul is only a custom, so people are less particular about which shofar they use. But for Rosh Hashanah, of course, we want a shofar that is kosher to the highest standard, in accordance with the guidelines of the Shulchan Aruch in section 586. So they asked: sometimes there are cracks near the mouthpiece, near the wide opening at the top, or in the middle. It is important to emphasize this straightforward halachah: sometimes there is a crack, but if it does not go all the way through, it is not a problem. Some people even make engraved designs on a shofar—not necessarily with paint, of course, because that could raise a question about changing the sound. But they engrave the shofar itself, and as long as it does not go all the way through, there is no question at all. It does not invalidate the shofar. When a crack runs lengthwise along the shofar, from the mouthpiece or farther up toward the wide opening, that crack is a problem. Sometimes there is something like a pattern at the top of the shofar; that is not a problem, because it is not a crack that will spread. It is simply cut that way. Sometimes, too, there is a small crack at the top, and the halachah says that a lengthwise crack invalidates the shofar. Many people have had difficulty understanding this. One of the great Rishonim, the Radbaz, asked: seemingly, we see in practice that the poskim mentioned the concern that it might spread. Since the crack runs in the direction of the shofar and there is pressure from the sound, the crack might spread; and because it might spread, the shofar is invalid already now. We can see with our own eyes how the shofar could split further,

15:57 It is thick and strong, and a small crack will not usually open up. But even though people questioned this, and there are poskim, such as Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who said that if there is no other shofar it is kosher, we have only the words of the son of Amram: the Shulchan Aruch rules that a crack along the length of a shofar makes it invalid. Sometimes there is a small crack near the top, and then it may be possible to cut off that part of the shofar and shorten it. It has to be done professionally. As long as the shofar retains the required length—and a shofar usually has plenty of length—once I have cut off the cracked section and there is no longer a crack in the shofar, everything is fine. The shofar will be kosher, but without that repair it will be invalid. People also asked about the stickers often put on a shofar when it is sold. They may be attractive, and some people want to keep them on. The question is whether that is permissible. The Shulchan Aruch says that coating the inside of a shofar, even with gold, certainly makes it invalid, because it forms a barrier. But coating the outside does not invalidate it. That depends, though, on whether the coating has thickness, because it could sometimes change the shofar’s sound. Of course, with an ordinary sticker, you do not need to be an expert to tell. And when it says “someone familiar with the sound of a shofar,” it means any of us: we hear the shofar every year and know what it sounds like. You do not have to be some great expert. So a sticker does not change its sound. Some people nevertheless always make a point of removing anything attached to the outside, but strictly speaking there is no problem with leaving a sticker on, since it changes nothing about the shofar, as the Alter Rebbe explains in section 586. I was asked—and not just personally; the question came up on the website of

17:43 Machon Halacha—about eating before the shofar blowing, and the question was specifically about women. So first of all, yes, our general practice—let’s start with the men—is not to eat or drink anything before the blowing. One of the sources, before we get to the Rokeach, is the Tosefta in tractate Shabbos. It is cited by the poskim, including the Magen Avraham in the laws of Purim, section 692. This is one of the reasons why, immediately after finishing the fast of 13 Adar, before the reading of Megillas Esther—when everyone would love a glass of water and something to eat—we do not eat. Why not? Because of the Tosefta, says the Magen Avraham. We do not eat before mitzvos like these, and shofar blowing is mentioned there too. The Tosefta gives various examples; the Megillah is not among them. So we do not eat before these mitzvos. Generally, that means neither eating nor drinking. There is a discussion there about whether one may drink or have a small taste of something. The Rokeach states the point even more explicitly, because some understand the Tosefta differently: no actual meal, but a small taste is permitted. At least we have the Rokeach, who also recorded many Ashkenazic customs, saying that we do not eat or drink at all. You always hear about this in France. I grew up in Brunoy, where it was understood that we did not eat or drink. I have heard that the same is understood in many places in Israel. We heard several times that in the United States, at 770, the bochurim had some sort of permission to drink something before the blowing, based on a ruling they received from one of the great Chabad poskim, Rabbi Dvorkin, a"h. But ultimately, of course, the preferred practice, as stated, is not to eat or drink. Perhaps because this is

19:42 a weaker generation—especially at 770, back when we saw the Rebbe with our own eyes, and on Rosh Hashanah we would really struggle through what they called the “washing machine” of people around us to see the Rebbe’s face during and after the shofar blowing—so it took a lot of energy. Still, the ordinary custom for anyone who has the strength is to hold out. It is not so many hours to go entirely without food or drink. This year the first day of Rosh Hashanah is Shabbos, so there is no issue at all. People will also ask: perhaps because it is Rosh Hashanah, one may not eat before Musaf? No. It is an ordinary Shabbos in this respect; there is no shofar blowing, so there is no problem. Just as we in Chabad customarily have something to eat in the morning and make a point of doing so, there is no problem here either. The question is relevant on the second day of Yom Tov. The second day is a rabbinic obligation, not a Torah obligation, but even then our custom is not to eat or taste anything. As for women, section 589 states the general rule that women are exempt from positive mitzvos that are time-bound. That makes this important when we go on mivtzoim and blow shofar for women. It is especially relevant this year, because some women will not come to shul. Even if shofar is blown in shul, space will be limited, so they will want to bring in as many men as possible. Each shul will, of course, follow its own rules. Many women will therefore hear it elsewhere. So when we blow shofar for women after we have already fulfilled our own obligation, it is very important to know that we may not recite the blessing for them, even if a woman does not know how to say it herself. We can try to help her, but if she does not understand, we cannot recite the blessing once we have already fulfilled our

21:30 obligation. Why? Even though women have taken on the custom—and we instruct Sephardim this way too, because many Sephardic poskim, including the Kaf Hachayim, the Ben Ish Chai, and the Sdei Chemed, say that their women customarily recite blessings over time-bound positive mitzvos, just as Ashkenazic women do, and as the Alter Rebbe rules in section 17. This is also discussed in many places in section 589. So the women recite the blessing, but we cannot recite it because we have already fulfilled our obligation. Still, as I emphasized, a woman is not obligated to hear the shofar. Women have taken it to heart. We really see that they make a point of hearing the shofar, and that is the custom. But even when they are careful about it, they are still under no obligation. So there is no need for women to be stringent about eating and drinking beforehand. Many rabbis say the same. Some people relate—and I remember this from Brunoy too—that healthy young women would also, so to speak, fast until they heard the shofar. Fine; someone who wants to do that may do so. But to say that it is obligatory? This entire ruling is itself subject to discussion; nowhere does the Shulchan Aruch explicitly say that one must fast. The laws of lulav do mention eating, but a small taste is permitted, as many have understood. The Rokeach is indeed cited, but the matter is not straightforward—and a woman is exempt. Therefore, women may have a small taste before the shofar blowing on the second day of Yom Tov this year. Even in an ordinary year, when the first day of Yom Tov does not fall on Shabbos, they may have a small taste then too. As for mivtzoim, that is a subject one could spend an hour and a half on. I once actually gave an hour-and-a-half class on it. Many wanted to prove from section 585 that there is a Mateh Chayim, and there are opinions that

23:18 that they cannot hear the thirty shofar blasts. So imagine someone going out on mivtzoim who cannot gather many people together and has to go room by room through the wards. Even if he is a young man with a lot of strength and dedication, his time is still limited. There is Minchah, there are prayers, and there are other things. He goes on mivtzoim in the time he has free. If he blows thirty blasts in every ward, in every room, then, just as an example, he might manage to reach fifteen people. If he blows only Tashrat, Tashrat, Tashrat, as the late Rabbi Ashkenazi used to say, or Tashrat, Tashat, Tarat, as I say—but it really takes a ninety-minute class to substantiate all of this—then he could reach another thirty Jews, because it is much faster. So what should one actually do? This year the question is even more common and more pressing, because of the coronavirus and isolation. Instead of going on mivtzoim to people who do not usually come to shul, this time there may be many people who do come to shul but do not know how to blow shofar. We will have to help one person after another fulfill the mitzvah. Of course, anyone who can arrange a shofar for himself, or find someone to blow all thirty blasts for him, should certainly make the effort. It is a rabbinic enactment, as the Alter Rebbe calls it in section 590. That is not how the Rambam puts it. Even though, as the Gemara says in Rosh Hashanah 33–34, it is an enactment of Rabbi Abbahu in Caesarea, the Rambam normally uses the language of enactment when he records such things: “Rabbi Abbahu instituted,” or “they instituted in Yavneh.” That is his usual wording. Here he does not say “instituted”; he says that because of the doubt, we must be stringent and sound all the blasts. The understanding is that, according to the Rambam, this is a doubt concerning a Torah obligation.

25:00 The Alter Rebbe did not write that it is because of a doubt concerning a Torah obligation. Only later, when he brings the disagreement between Rashi and Tosafos, does he say that we must be stringent in a matter of Torah law. But he does not mention that here, and there are several other points in his wording. If anyone wants, I can send them privately sometime all the details that demonstrate that, when there is no alternative, it is possible to blow the ten blasts. Of course, we would not recite a bracha over that, because the enactment is indeed to blow thirty, and so on. But that is a subject in its own right. It is certainly a good thing, though, if a person has only five, six, or ten people to reach, to blow thirty blasts for each one. If there really is a large group of people, and many places to visit, and blowing thirty blasts everywhere would prevent us from helping many people fulfill the mitzvah, then there is room to blow Tashrat, Tashat, Tarat, or Tashrat, Tashrat, Tashrat, subject to various conditions whose details each person should also ask his rav about. These matters are well known. Someone asked me whether, during the shofar blasts, one can make various requests, since the blasts seemingly pierce the heavens and perhaps one can ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu for all sorts of things. Certainly not. While the shofar is actually being sounded, one should concentrate as much as possible on hearing it and fulfilling the obligation. Of course, at that moment it truly is a cry to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And with what? With the shofar, to crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King, as the Gemara says in Rosh Hashanah 16: “Crown Me as King over you. And with what? With the shofar.” The mitzvah of the day is the shofar; the most important thing on

26:42 Rosh Hashanah is hearing the shofar blasts. One should concentrate. Later, between the sets of blasts, there is sometimes a time when the baal tokeia makes a confession. That is when he has these things to think about. He does not say it aloud, but makes the confession quietly. One can do that along with him. But during the shofar blasts themselves, one should concentrate on fulfilling the great mitzvah of the day. Now, there were also questions about the challahs and dipping bread in honey. When exactly do we do it? This comes up every year. First of all, we are focusing now on Rosh Hashanah. It is very much the custom for the Rosh Hashanah challahs to be round, if possible. Of course, that is not an obligation, but it is the custom. We also dip them in honey. As for when we dip bread in honey over the festival season, there is a passage in the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim that discusses the practice of dipping bread in honey from Rosh Hashanah until Hoshana Rabbah. So, first of all, the boundaries are Rosh Hashanah and Hoshana Rabbah—not Shemini Atzeres. There is a story about the Frierdiker Rebbe: once, honey was brought out on Shemini Atzeres, but salt was not, and he commented on it emphatically. Even when we dip in honey—we will see exactly when that is—it is important to have salt on the table. That is in accordance with Kabbalah, and people are careful about it. The Alter Rebbe discusses it in section 167 of Orach Chayim: whether or not we dip the bread, it is important that there be salt on the table. Now, in several years we saw the Rebbe follow a certain practice. It is not a practical directive for all of us, not a public instruction. Some people want to do it, but

28:37 the public instruction, as written in Sefer Haminhagim, is to dip in honey. When dipping in honey, one does not dip in salt. After dipping the bread in honey three times and eating it, the Rebbe took another piece and dipped it in salt three times. But, as I mentioned, that is not a public instruction. Now, exactly when do we dip bread in honey? There is, of course, no disagreement about Rosh Hashanah. There are four meals on Rosh Hashanah—on Rosh Hashanah night and day—and each time we make hamotzi, we dip the bread in honey. There is no disagreement about Rosh Hashanah. As for the other times, let me first mention the ones that are not in question. On Erev Yom Kippur there are also at least two meals, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. As discussed in section 604—not in the Shulchan Aruch itself, but in the recorded custom—we dip in honey at the meals of Erev Yom Kippur. So we have Rosh Hashanah and Erev Yom Kippur. There is also a meal after Yom Kippur, as the Alter Rebbe mentions at the end of the laws of Yom Kippur, around sections 623–624. He cites a Midrash that says, “Go, eat your bread with joy.” I had the privilege, in 5752, when the Rebbe came out for Kiddush Levanah after Yom Kippur, to be standing near the subway entrance on Eastern Parkway, about a meter away from the Rebbe. Immediately after Kiddush Levanah, the Rebbe said just a few words. Because I was so close, I remember many people asking me, “What did the Rebbe say?” I repeated it several

30:31 times. The Rebbe mentioned that very Midrash: “Go, eat your bread with joy.” So there is a practice of eating a meal after Yom Kippur, and there, too, the custom is to dip in honey. Then there is the first Yom Tov of Sukkos—or, outside Israel, both Yom Tov days of Sukkos. Those are the dates that are not in dispute. In short: Rosh Hashanah, Erev Yom Kippur, after Yom Kippur, the first Yom Tov of Sukkos—or both Yom Tov days outside Israel—and on Hoshana Rabbah there is also a reason to dip bread in honey. As for weekdays and Chol Hamoed, there is discussion about that. In a note in Likkutei Sichos, volume 14, the Rebbe says that it requires further examination whether one should dip in honey on days other than Shabbos and Yom Tov. In practice, it is often not customary to dip in honey on Chol Hamoed Sukkos, or on weekdays. As for the Shabbosos in between, we have Shabbos Teshuvah—as the Rebbe calls it in section 429, at the beginning of the laws of Pesach. There, seemingly, there is no instruction to dip in honey. But there are places that do say so; there are conflicting indications. And the Rebbe says there that it requires further examination whether this applies beyond Shabbos and Yom Tov. If that wording means that Shabbos and Yom Tov are definitely included, then we would also dip in honey on Shabbos Chol Hamoed Sukkos and Shabbos Teshuvah. Elsewhere, though, the Rebbe mentioned only the dates I listed: Rosh Hashanah, Erev Yom Kippur, after Yom Kippur, Yom Tov of Sukkos, and Hoshana Rabbah. He did not mention Shabbos Teshuvah, the Shabbosos in between, or Chol Hamoed. So there are grounds for both views. I generally

32:27 As I found in the Rebbe’s later letters, he says not to give an instruction about Shabbos Shuvah. But these are not, after all, matters of the utmost importance. If someone wants to do it—and many have written that it should be done on Shabbos Shuvah and on Shabbos Chol Hamoed as well—the Rebbe says in Likkutei Sichos that it requires further study whether it is done on days other than Shabbos and Yom Tov. So there, the Rebbe assumes that it is done on Shabbos and Yom Tov. Each community follows its own practice; whatever people do, the main thing is that they direct their hearts toward Heaven. As for which foods we eat and don’t eat on Rosh Hashanah: of course, there is an idea of eating. People eat good foods, sweet foods, as the prophet Nechemiah says—and the Rebbe cites this in section 583—“Eat rich foods and drink sweet beverages.” But here, too, customs have arisen. The Magen Avraham cites a custom in the name of Rabbi David Abudraham not to cook fish in vinegar. In other words, not to eat sour foods. Of course, if someone puts a little vinegar in a salad and it isn’t noticeable—the salad doesn’t taste sour—there’s no problem. The same goes for lemon: if you put a little lemon in a salad, not a lot of squeezed lemon, so it isn’t very sour. As long as it isn’t sour, you don’t really taste the sourness, so there’s no question. The question arises when you can taste the sourness; then there’s a problem. This is cited in the name of Rabbi David Abudraham, and the Eliyah Rabbah brings it. In addition, the Mateh Efraim and other halachic authorities mention not only sour foods but also bitter foods, like an olive, which is bitter. So bitter foods are also a problem. This is mentioned even in the responsa of the Geonim. We should therefore be careful not to eat those either: neither bitter nor sour foods. Spicy foods are not mentioned

34:22 by the halachic authorities as forbidden. On the contrary, the Aruch Hashulchan writes in section 583 that spicy foods were not forbidden. Why? Because spicy isn’t the opposite of sweet. You have sweet, and you have bitter and sour, which are contrary to sweetness. Spiciness is a different category, a different matter altogether; it isn’t necessarily the opposite. Now, some people feel they don’t want to have a “spicy year” or something like that—that’s how they feel. But there’s no problem with spicy food. Still, is there an opinion that one shouldn’t eat spicy food on Rosh Hashanah? Yes. We found it not in the Shulchan Aruch or its commentaries, but in Leket Yosher, written by a student of the Terumas Hadeshen. He records his teacher’s customs there, and says that his teacher did not eat spicy foods on Rosh Hashanah. So there are a few families for whom this is an established custom that they’ve accepted. Many families, though, took it upon themselves not to eat spicy foods because they didn’t know the halachah. For families that have no clear tradition, spicy food is actually permitted. I once heard this from Rabbi Ashkenazi, a”h, too: if a family didn’t have that custom, there’s really no reason to be particular about spicy foods on Rosh Hashanah. Often, when you say this in a class, people raise their eyebrows a little and are surprised. But that’s the fact: some things were forbidden and some weren’t. The second thing mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch is not to eat walnuts or luz nuts. Now, look: in parentheses, he explains what luz nuts are—small nuts. There’s the large nut and the small nut. Sometimes, those familiar with Likkutei Sichos know the Rebbe’s sichos for the Three Weeks about Yirmiyahu’s prophecy, “I see a rod of an almond tree.” There he mentions the various explanations of “almond,” one of which is that it is called luz. Here, though, luz refers to a nut. So what

36:12 was forbidden is walnuts and luz nuts. The reason is that they interfere with the mouth when reciting the verses: we daven for many, many hours and use our voices, so they cause coughing and throat-clearing. The Alter Rebbe does not mention the reason that the numerical value of egoz, “nut,” is that of chet, “sin,” but that is mentioned in sefarim and by halachic authorities. So generally, we certainly don’t use walnuts or luz nuts, large nuts or small nuts. Many people ask: Fine, I’m not actually eating a nut, but I want to put a little nut powder or some ground nuts in a chocolate cake. Here, too, our practice is to be very strict. I heard this from Rabbi Ashkenazi, a”h, and from Rabbi Yaroslavsky, may he live for many long years. I also heard it from another rabbi, Rabbi Chanzin, may he live for many long years. I asked them whether people are really particular about this too, and they said yes—the custom is not to use nuts. Apparently one reason is that their numerical value is chet. Even though the Alter Rebbe did not give that reason, we do take many things from additional sources. Some halachic authorities wanted to say—I think the Mahari [unclear] wanted to say—that even if its numerical value is chet, somehow, if you don’t recognize or identify the nut, there’s no problem. But in any case, our practice is not to use them at all. As for almonds, other kinds of nuts and so on, there’s no explicit source for this in the Alter Rebbe’s writings. It’s certainly true that many people avoid them. So if someone doesn’t want to give up almonds or almond powder in a cake, they should know that it isn’t mentioned as forbidden, and we haven’t received a clear instruction to be stringent about it. But do many in Chabad have the custom not to have them? Yes, many have the custom not to have almonds. Baruch Hashem, there’s no shortage of food to eat.

38:05 It isn’t Pesach. There are plenty of things one can eat on Rosh Hashanah: “Eat rich foods and drink sweet beverages,” as the prophet says. So giving these things up shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s discuss three more questions that came in about Yaaleh Veyavo in bentching: do you repeat bentching or not? I’ve received this question several times. For us, of course, the Alter Rebbe’s ruling on this is not in the Shulchan Aruch but in the siddur. The Alter Rebbe rules that since there is an opinion that one may fast during the day on Rosh Hashanah—even though, in practice, we don’t fast on Rosh Hashanah—it is still an opinion. So according to some opinions, the meal isn’t obligatory. It therefore follows from the rules in section 188 that if someone completely forgot Yaaleh Veyavo and remembered afterward, they don’t need to repeat bentching for the daytime Rosh Hashanah meal, on either day. This year, though, there is a Shabbos—the first day of Yom Tov is Shabbos—so if someone forgot Retzei, they will have to repeat bentching because of Retzei, because it’s Shabbos. But generally, for the daytime meals on Rosh Hashanah, the Alter Rebbe says not to repeat it. At night, when there is no opinion that one should fast, it is like other days of Yom Tov, and one does repeat it. As for approaches other than the Chabad practice: among Sephardim, the practice is often never to repeat bentching for a missed Yaaleh Veyavo, except on the first night of Pesach and the first night of Sukkos, which, as is known, is compared to Pesach regarding the obligation to eat bread. Ashkenazim generally repeat bentching on Rosh Hashanah as well, for everything, as the Aruch Hashulchan rules. Some don’t, but... In Chabad, as I mentioned, we repeat bentching only on the nights of Rosh

39:56 Hashanah, not during the day—except for someone who forgot Retzei this year, since that is connected to holy Shabbos.