Laws of Prayer, Part 1 - Rabbi Yehoshua Lipsh shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast of the Chabad Institute of Halacha.

00:09 Speaker 2 The halachos of prayer times and the things one may not do before davening. Right now we’re talking about Shacharis. As is well known, the Gemara in Berachos gives two explanations for the institution of prayer: the Patriarchs instituted the prayers, and the prayers were instituted corresponding to the daily offerings. Since prayer was also instituted corresponding to the daily offering, Shacharis corresponds to the morning daily offering, and Mincha corresponds to the afternoon daily offering. So the prayer times, too, were established in relation to the times those offerings were brought. Now, when we speak of prayer, we mean primarily Shemoneh Esrei, the blessings instituted by the Men of the Great Assembly. Later, as it says, when heretics multiplied among the Jewish people and caused them distress, Rabban Gamliel and his court instituted the nineteenth blessing as well. But this set of nineteen blessings is what halacha calls “prayer.” The other parts, which we’ll discuss later, with Hashem’s help—Pesukei Dezimra, the blessings of Shema, and so on—all serve as preparation for prayer. So the prayer time established by the Sages refers primarily to the time for Shemoneh Esrei. We’ll see later that some laws concerning the time apply specifically to Shemoneh Esrei. Now, the time for bringing the daily offering began at dawn, when the first light of dawn appeared. So, in principle, the time for prayer also begins at dawn. To understand prayer time a little better, perhaps we should first spend a few minutes on some familiar terms. We see them all the time on calendars, but let’s briefly put them in order: What are alos hashachar, misheyakir, the point when one can distinguish between blue and white, the time for tallis and tefillin, and the time called netz

02:23 Speaker 2 hachamah, sunrise? As we said, the time for bringing the morning daily offering began at dawn. According to halacha, anything that must be done by day—such as blowing the shofar or putting on tefillin—can, strictly speaking, be done from dawn. What is dawn? For things whose mitzvah is by day, their time begins at dawn. But what is dawn? Well before the sun rises, the dawn begins to brighten and the sky begins to grow light. There is a major disagreement about the precise time of dawn. Generally speaking, the three better-known opinions place it 72 minutes, 90 minutes, or 120 minutes before sunrise. The 120-minute opinion is that of Rabbi Chaim Naeh, and some Chabad rabbis rule that way in practice as well. For accuracy, we should say that it isn’t exactly 120 minutes; it varies with the seasons. We won’t go into that now—it’s a complex calculation in its own right. In any case, strictly speaking, the time for prayer begins at dawn, like the time for all daytime mitzvos whose time, by Torah law, begins at dawn. But, as we’ve said, that can be anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half, two hours, and sometimes much more before sunrise, depending on the different opinions and times of year. Now, the Mishnah relates that once, when they wanted to bring the morning daily offering, they thought dawn had arrived. After they brought it, they discovered they had been mistaken: it was moonlight. From then on, they instituted the practice of waiting until the entire eastern sky was lit. The wording in the Gemara mentions “as far as Hebron,” to invoke the merit of those resting in Hebron. In any case, the time they actually waited for, with regard

04:27 Speaker 2 to prayer, was for it to grow light. When does the sun appear? That time is called netz hachamah, sunrise. There is less disagreement about sunrise; more or less everyone accepts that it is when the sun is first seen. Different methods vary by a few minutes either way, but in any event, the time when a person can see the sun rising is called netz hachamah. It was instituted that prayer—and here, of course, we mean Shemoneh Esrei—should be at sunrise or later. This was derived from the verse, “They will fear You with the sun.” That is, they pray to Hakadosh Boruch Hu when the sun arrives; that is when the time for prayer begins. So let’s briefly recap: Strictly speaking, the time for prayer begins at dawn, but the Sages instituted that one should wait until sunrise to pray Shemoneh Esrei. Why? Because that was how it was with the daily offering: strictly speaking, its time began at dawn, but in practice they would wait until sunrise. Until when does the time for prayer continue? That’s the time listed on calendars as the latest time for prayer. It continues until a third of the day has passed, meaning the end of the fourth hour. What does “the fourth hour” mean? If we divide the time from sunrise to sunset into twelve parts, we get twelve seasonal hours. Their length, of course, changes between winter and summer. In winter, when sunset is very early and sunrise can be late, suppose there are ten hours of daylight. If we divide that by twelve, each hour will obviously be less than—if we divide twelve by ten, each hour will be more than sixty minutes. In summer, by contrast, when sunrise is early and sunset is very late, each hour is longer than sixty minutes. In winter it’s the opposite: less than sixty minutes. In any case, the time the Sages established for prayer lasts until the end of the fourth hour.

06:20 Speaker 2 That is the latest time for prayer shown on calendars. According to the Alter Rebbe, we begin counting those hours from sunrise. When we discuss times, this is also relevant to several other areas of halacha, of course, such as the latest time for reciting Shema and the times for searching for and burning chametz. So we begin counting the hours from sunrise onward. There are other opinions, though. In one place in Shulchan Aruch, the Alter Rebbe also rules according to the opinions that begin counting these hours from dawn. But in his Siddur, the Alter Rebbe rules—or so his words imply—that we begin counting them from sunrise. So, ideally, the latest time for Shacharis is the end of the fourth hour, which is one seasonal hour after the latest time for reciting Shema. After the fact, however, the time for Shacharis continues until midday. Why midday? As we’ve said, it follows the morning daily offering, which could be brought, after the fact, until midday. Until midday, it is still considered morning. After midday, the daily offering can no longer be brought, and so even after the fact, Shacharis must be prayed by midday. If someone has not davened by midday, even though it is not yet time to begin Mincha—one must wait half an hour after midday, which is a subject of its own—the time for Shacharis has already passed.

08:12 Speaker 2 In practice, the Rebbe discusses this in many letters, and the idea already appears in the teachings of our Rebbeim: chassidim held that if they were engaged in contemplation and in developing concentration for davening, they could daven even as late as midday. Chassidim would even deliberately delay davening when they were busy preparing for it, whether with preparations such as going to the mikveh or with spiritual preparations such as studying Chassidus. As is well known, the Alter Rebbe already mentions in Likkutei Torah three preparations before davening: studying Chassidus, giving tzedakah, and going to the mikveh. In any case, when chassidim studied Chassidus, their davening would be delayed, and there are letters from the Rebbe on this subject too. Of course, this does not refer to the time for reciting Shema. Chassidim were very careful to recite Shema on time; reciting it on time is a Torah obligation. But regarding the time for davening, the Rebbe explains that concentration in davening is essential. As the halachic authorities put it, the Rambam says that prayer without concentration is not prayer, and we know what is written about prayer without concentration: it is like a body without a soul. There are several things that can prevent a prayer from being valid, and one of them is concentration. Strictly speaking, a person who is preoccupied and cannot concentrate has a problem davening. In any case, since concentration is so central to davening, it is better to daven properly and fulfill the essential obligation of prayer, even if that means davening later, than to daven early without concentration. But of course, the reason chassidim allowed themselves to study Chassidus and so on was that they wanted to daven with concentration. And of course, as we will learn later, this does not mean, G-d forbid, that one may engage in idle talk or occupy oneself with other things before davening. Those things are forbidden according to the basic halachah. Particularly since the entire allowance to delay davening applies only when one is genuinely occupied with developing concentration and preparing to concentrate in davening, so that

10:13 Speaker 2 the davening will be said with greater concentration. Even when it comes to davening at length and going past the time for davening, we see from the Rebbe’s letters that the intention is not to daven after midday. The Rebbe writes explicitly, “I do not at all approve of an order of things in which one begins davening after midday,” and in several letters the Rebbe uses even stronger language about davening after midday. According to halachah, davening must take place before midday. And it is not only a matter of halachah; the Rebbe gives this instruction in his letters as well. The Rebbe says that if someone began davening at length and midday arrived after he had already begun, that is one thing. But the intention is not that he should begin davening after midday. In several letters, the Rebbe instructs people who daven at length to at least begin Baruch She’amar before midday. The truth is that when we speak about the time for davening, the Alter Rebbe’s wording indicates that one must finish davening within that time. In practice, though, there are halachic authorities—on whom the Rebbe apparently relies in his letters—who rule that it is enough for a person to begin davening within that time. Usually, “prayer” means Shemoneh Esrei, but in certain letters the Rebbe seems to speak even about Baruch She’amar. In any case, once a person has begun davening, since Pesukei Dezimrah is also part of the beginning of davening, he is considered to have begun within the time for davening. One of the halachic authorities brings a proof for this, though it is somewhat in the manner of derush. The responsa Har Tzvi quotes the holy rabbi of Peshischa. He says that we find, concerning Bilaam, that he wanted to time his words: “How can I curse one whom G-d has not cursed, and how can I denounce one whom Hashem has not denounced?” He wanted to target the moments when Hakadosh Boruch Hu is angry. The Gemara says that throughout all the days when Bilaam wanted to curse the Jewish people, Hakadosh Boruch Hu was not angry for even a single moment during that time

12:12 Speaker 2 when Bilaam wanted to curse the Jewish people. Tosafos there asks: Well, if Hakadosh Boruch Hu had been angry for one moment, would Bilaam have had time to utter all those curses? That is what the Gemara in Berachos—what Tosafos in Berachos asks. So Tosafos answers that if Bilaam had begun cursing at the moment Hakadosh Boruch Hu began to be angry, he could then have continued afterward. The holy rabbi of Peshischa drew from this, at least by way of derush, that when one begins something at the proper time for it, one can continue afterward. So if a person begins davening during the proper time for davening, even if he continues afterward, when it is no longer the proper time, the fact that he began on time counts. Again, it may be that the halachah as stated by the Alter Rebbe implies otherwise. But at any rate, from the Rebbe’s letters about chassidim who davened at length, it seems that if they actually began davening, they would rely on that. We know what Hayom Yom says about early chassidim who davened Shacharis, Minchah, and Maariv without a break between them—meaning that they davened at length. But of course, this does not mean that one should deliberately begin davening at a late hour. There is no allowance to begin at a very late hour—not according to halachah, not according to Chassidus, and not according to chassidic custom. Certainly, the proper practice is to daven within the prescribed time, and even after the fact, it must be before midday. Someone who did not daven by midday—we will discuss this shortly—needs to make up the prayer by davening Minchah twice. But in practice, one must begin—someone who davens at length is a different matter, but someone who does not daven at length and starts late certainly

13:55 Speaker 2 has no allowance or basis for doing so. If someone erred and did not daven by midday—something happened and he did not daven—then if he did so entirely deliberately, he cannot make up the prayer. But if it was unintentional, he can make it up. The details of when one can make up a prayer are explained in the Shulchan Aruch, section 108. We will not go into all the different details now of when a prayer can and cannot be made up, but we will quote the Alter Rebbe’s wording about when it cannot be made up. The Alter Rebbe says in section 108: When is a person considered to have acted deliberately? When he neglects davening with utter disregard, without being preoccupied by anything. But someone who was occupied with a financial matter to avoid a loss is not called negligent, even though he acted improperly. In other words, even if a person was not acting as he should have—he got held up, thinking he would have time to do something—the halachic authorities say that this applies even if he did things that are forbidden before davening. We will soon learn that one may not attend to one’s personal affairs before davening. A person becomes occupied with things that halachah forbids him to do, gets drawn into them, and does not notice the time. He may even have been studying, or [unclear]—or doing anything else that he was not supposed to do—and the time for davening passes; midday passes. That is considered unintentional. The exception is if a person knows that the time for davening is passing and deliberately waits. In that case he is considered negligent and cannot make up his prayer. So that is regarding the proper time to daven, and the latest time one can daven after the fact. Let us mention one more thing. We said that the proper time to daven begins at sunrise, meaning that Shemoneh Esrei should be said at sunrise. But in a case where a person is pressed

15:55 Speaker 2 Very much so. If he already davened after dawn, he has fulfilled his obligation, because dawn is already considered part of the day. So if a person davened then, he has fulfilled his obligation after the fact or in pressing circumstances. More than that: it is not only that he has fulfilled his obligation after the fact if he already davened; in pressing circumstances, he may daven then from the outset. The Alter Rebbe gives the example of someone who has to leave with a caravan, has to set out on a journey, or the like. If a person is pressed to leave, he may daven from dawn onward. Accordingly, the halachic authorities write that if there are workers or employees who need to get to work—someone whose workday, especially in winter, starts at seven or seven-thirty, as it does in many places—halachah permits him to daven earlier. People jokingly call this “Terach’s minyan”: Avraham instituted Shacharis, but some people daven even before the usual time for Shacharis. That is a joke, of course, but in truth, someone who for whatever reason cannot daven from sunrise may, from the outset, begin davening earlier, from dawn. Here we need to remember something important. The calendars list a time for tallis and tefillin. That time is, in practice, what the Mishnah and halachah call “when one can distinguish between blue and white.” The halachic authorities cite different opinions about whether these are different times, but the plain implication from the Alter Rebbe is that it is the same time as when one can recognize an acquaintance from a distance of four amos. In other words, suppose a person went out into the street and there was no artificial light—today there is usually light everywhere, so it is hard to measure. But suppose there were no light at all: if he can recognize his acquaintance

17:58 Speaker 2 from a distance of four amos, then the time has begun—the time when one can distinguish between blue and white. That is when one may begin to recite the blessings on the tallis and tefillin and say Shema. So, in practice, we need to remember that even those who daven before sunrise must say the blessings before Shema and Shema itself after the time for tallis and tefillin, the time when one can recognize an acquaintance. If someone needs to start earlier, the solution is to begin davening: he can put on his tallis and tefillin without reciting the blessings, and then say Korbanos. He can even say Pesukei Dezimra. When the time for tallis and tefillin arrives, he can recite the blessings on them at a point where he is permitted to interrupt, and then say the blessings before Shema and Shemoneh Esrei, even if sunrise has not yet arrived. The halachic authorities also discuss someone who could daven after sunrise. Many people work for a living, and a person needs to be at work by seven, but he says, “I have a break at ten. I can daven between ten and ten-thirty, or until ten forty-five.” The halachah is that it is preferable to daven before sunrise—provided, of course, that it is after the time when one can distinguish between blue and white, so that he may say the blessings before Shema—rather than go and engage in work, which is forbidden before davening. So first he should daven Shacharis, and then go. It is better for him to daven Shacharis early, before sunrise, at home or with a minyan—we will discuss that shortly—than to go to work, find a break sometime between ten and eleven, and daven there after already doing work that is forbidden before davening. The halachic authorities also discuss another situation, which is very common in many communities and places where there are not

19:48 Speaker 2 many minyanim: there is only one minyan where a person lives. Some even call it a workers’ minyan. People get up early in the morning and daven before sunrise. The question is whether he should daven then with a minyan, or daven later—he has time to get up and daven at seven or eight, but he will not have a minyan. The halachic authorities write that it is preferable to daven with a minyan before sunrise than to wait until after sunrise and daven without one. Of course, all this applies when they really daven in accordance with halachah, after the time when one can distinguish between blue and white. We said that the time for tallis and tefillin is approximately fifty minutes before sunrise, as the halachic authorities write. But in some places people daven much earlier. There are places where people are accustomed to doing so even though, according to halachah, it may not be possible to daven then—sometimes it is even before dawn. But they are used to it; there are minyanim, and they are used to davening at four. It is very hard to get them to move the time or change their minds. They regularly daven at four-thirty or five, sometimes even before dawn, when according to halachah one cannot daven at all. In such a case, he should certainly daven later, when he can daven properly, because if it is before the time when one can distinguish between blue and white, before the time for tallis and tefillin, then according to the Alter Rebbe, even in pressing circumstances one cannot say the blessings before Shema. So in that case, it is certainly preferable to wait and daven later. The same applies if a person can daven at home with concentration. Suppose a person does not have a minyan, and the question is what is better: to daven early now—he needs to travel somewhere far away; suppose he is traveling

21:36 Speaker 2 to the Rebbe, or even to a distant city, and must leave home early. He can daven at home now, before sunrise but, as we said, after the time when one can recognize an acquaintance, after the time for tallis and tefillin. Or he says that he will daven on the way, on the bus, train, or plane. It is certainly preferable for him to daven at home. We already said that concentration in davening is more important, even more important than the time of davening. So it is certainly better for a person to daven at home with concentration than to daven without concentration on the way, after sunrise. The Alter Rebbe says that people have commonly relied on a leniency allowing them to daven while traveling. True, there is a leniency. Nowadays, unfortunately, we do not concentrate properly in any case, and so many people say that they do daven on the way. The Alter Rebbe brings this up later in the same section, section 89, in connection with another matter. But from the outset, the preferable course is certainly for a person to daven at home, with a settled mind and in a place where he can concentrate, even if that is before sunrise. Let us continue with the things one is forbidden to do before davening. Section 89 of the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim. As we discussed, the time for davening begins at dawn. True, from the outset one should wait until sunrise for Shemoneh Esrei, but the time for davening begins at dawn, and someone who davened then in pressing circumstances has fulfilled his obligation. For that reason, there are several things the Sages forbade doing before davening. So from what time, generally speaking, are they forbidden? From dawn. Accordingly, it is ruled as halachah that once dawn breaks, a person may not go early to another person’s door to greet him. Someone wants to go and says, “I want to go say hello to someone first thing in the morning.” In practice, a person is forbidden to go to another person’s home to greet him. Why? Well,

23:39 Speaker 2 The verse says, “Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein, for wherein is he to be accounted of?” The Sages understood this to mean that if you honor someone else before davening, that is how you are regarding him. In other words, there is something wrong with giving honor to another person before davening. The honor belongs to Hashem in prayer, and the first thing a person should do when he gets up in the morning is daven to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and greet Him. There is another prohibition involved, because Shalom is one of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s names. True, it is not one of the sacred names themselves, but Shalom is still an appellation for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So even if a person has already said the morning blessings, he may not go early to another person’s door to greet him, or say “Shalom” to him. In fact, he may not go early to his door even if he does not say “Shalom”; but if he does say it, there is an additional prohibition, because it is Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s name. Therefore, even when a person meets someone in the street, he should preferably not say “Shalom.” The Alter Rebbe says that it is also proper not to say “Good morning” and the like in his usual way, so that he will take to heart that he still needs to daven. Instead, he should say “Tzafra d’mar tav,” meaning, “May your morning be good.” The point, says the Alter Rebbe, is to change from the wording he normally uses. It is not an outright prohibition, but the Alter Rebbe says that the custom is not to greet someone before davening, even if one meets him in the marketplace. Why? As we said, changing his wording will remind him that he has not yet davened. The halachic authorities write that if someone else greets a person, he may return the greeting.

25:39 Speaker 2 We know the Gemara says, “The robbery of the poor is in your houses”—this refers to someone who was greeted but did not return the greeting. In other words, the Gemara asks: How can you rob a poor person? What does he have? What is “the robbery of the poor”? And the Gemara answers: Yes, there is something you can take from a poor person. What do you take from him? If someone greeted you and you did not return his greeting, it is as though you stole something from him. What does “stole” mean here? You were supposed to return his greeting, and you did not. That is why the halachic authorities write that if someone greets you, because returning a greeting is so important, and you should not leave the person who greeted you, so to speak, without a response, you may return the greeting even before davening. I once heard Rabbi Yekusiel Rapp, a”h, say that he saw this with his own eyes. A Jew once came to 770 and waited for the Rebbe at the entrance. The Rebbe was returning from the Ohel. The Rebbe did not wash his hands at the Ohel; the Rebbe washed his hands at 770. As the Rebbe entered 770, that Jew, who belonged to one of the Polish chassidic groups, approached the Rebbe and extended his hand to say “Shalom aleichem.” But the Rebbe indicated that he needed to wash his hands. The Rebbe went to wash his hands, and immediately afterward went in for Minchah. When davening ended, instead of following his usual practice of returning to his room, the Rebbe looked around at the crowd, searching for the Jew who had greeted him. Then the Rebbe approached him and said, “You are owed a shalom aleichem—you are owed a shalom aleichem,” and gave him a warm greeting. We need to remember how important it is to return a fellow Jew’s greeting. And for this reason, the halachic authorities say that one may return a greeting even before davening. The halachah says

27:32 Speaker 2 this about greeting another person, but of course we must remember that one should not engage in idle talk before davening. The Sefer Chassidim speaks about this very strongly: one should not talk with another person before davening. And in letters of our Rebbeim, the Rebbe writes that a cause of distracting thoughts during davening is idle talk beforehand. When a person engages in idle talk before davening, he cannot settle his mind during davening; he thinks about what he was talking about earlier. The Rebbe says this is one of the causes of distracting thoughts during davening. A person tries to concentrate but cannot, because beforehand he was occupied with something else. Someone once joked: Why are Jews so successful in business? Because three times a day they stop and think about business instead of thinking about davening. So they think about business, and they succeed in business. Of course, before davening a person needs to stop engaging in idle talk so that he can daven properly. That is the plain meaning of what is written: “The early chassidim would sit for an hour before their prayers”—they would stop occupying themselves with other matters so they could focus solely on davening. There is a book called Igros Kodesh containing letters of the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, and the Tzemach Tzedek together; that was how it was first published. It contains a letter from one of our Rebbeim. Apparently the editors did not know which one, so they left the attribution uncertain. In that letter, one of our Rebbeim writes—I’ll read the wording: “Every person should be exceedingly careful to refrain from speaking of mundane matters and worldly affairs for at least one hour before Shacharis

29:20 Speaker 2 and half an hour before Minchah.” In other words, every day before Shacharis, one should not engage in idle talk at all for at least an hour, and before Minchah, he says, for half an hour. In particular, the letter warns against forming groups in the courtyard of a shul to talk—Heaven forbid; none of it, not even a little. So idle talk before davening is entirely out of the question. According to halachah, as we saw, one may not go early to another person to greet him; and even if one simply meets him, the custom is not to say “Shalom” but to change the wording. We also see that one must be careful not to engage in actual idle talk. That is the root of all the distracting thoughts during davening. Let’s now discuss taking care of other matters before davening. Halachah says that a person may not attend to his personal needs before the morning Shemoneh Esrei, so that his heart will not turn to anything else until he davens. There are those who are lenient about this after the morning blessings, but preferably one should not do it. Likewise, one may not set out on a journey in the morning until he has davened Shemoneh Esrei, unless he is traveling with a group that will not wait for him; in that case, he may leave. If a person has a bus at a certain time and waiting would mean missing it, he may travel—provided, of course, that he will be able to daven later. But if he is not dependent on a bus and has his own car, he should preferably daven before setting out. Unless, of course, he is going somewhere else in order to daven: if someone is traveling to the mikveh or to shul, he may certainly go there. But if he is traveling for other purposes or setting out on a journey, he should preferably daven first and then leave. As for attending to his personal needs, on that point

31:09 Speaker 2 The poskim discuss at length what exactly counts as engaging in activities before davening. One chassidic posek who is cited—the Rebbe also cites him several times—is the Eshel Avraham. There is an Eshel Avraham cited in our Shulchan Aruch, which sometimes refers to the Pri Megadim, but here we mean the Eshel Avraham of Buchach. He explains that the prohibited activity is specifically something that involves a degree of occupation or effort. But there are things that do not require particular effort, trouble, exertion, or time. These are things a person does as part of the normal routine at home, and they may be done before davening. That is why the poskim write that a person may make his bed, take out the trash, and so on before davening. Some poskim also write that, if he wants, he can put his clothes in the wash and start the washing machine. These things do not require exertion, trouble, time, or sustained attention; they are sometimes done as part of one’s routine. Similarly, the poskim explain that anything involving a mitzvah is also permitted. Where do we learn this from? We see in the laws of Shabbos—the Alter Rebbe also cites this—that if a person knows that by a certain time he will no longer be able to buy what he needs at the store, or that what remains will be of lower quality... Suppose that if he goes after davening, it will be ten or eleven by the time he finishes, and he does not know whether there will still be challahs, whether the challahs he wants will be there, or whether there will be suitable vegetables. Right now it is seven and the store is opening, but davening is at eight. So the halachah says that if he knows that after davening he might not have

32:51 Speaker 2 what he needs for Shabbos, he may go and buy it now, even before davening. Why? Because a mitzvah is involved. Although engaging in activities before davening is generally prohibited, here, because it is for a mitzvah, it is permitted. So if a person has something to do that does not involve much trouble or take much time, and it needs to be done specifically before davening, halachah permits him to do it then. If he needs to visit someone who is ill, comfort mourners, or do something similar, and he will not be able to do it after davening, he may do it before davening. The same applies to other things connected with preparations. Very often, people get up in the morning and make sandwiches for their children to take along, and so on. The poskim explain that this, too, involves a mitzvah: he is helping his children prepare for Torah study. And even if it is not an actual mitzvah, these are tasks that do not require particular involvement or effort, so they may be done before davening. Similarly, if a person needs to go to the store to buy bread, challah, or other things so that he can prepare food for the children, he may do that before davening as well. Why? Because, again, these are simple things done for the sake of a mitzvah, so they are permitted. There are activities that are prohibited even before the time for Minchah. The Mishnah says that one may not enter a bathhouse or get a haircut close to Minchah—that is, even before the time for Minchah arrives, starting half an hour beforehand. But regarding Shacharis, if we are talking

34:31 Speaker 2 about dawn, then before dawn it is permitted to enter a bathhouse or get a haircut, because this is uncommon. People do not generally get up before dawn and start getting a haircut. Since it is uncommon, the Sages did not impose a restriction on it. So if someone gets a haircut very early in the morning, before dawn, there is no problem with the fact that it is being done before davening. But the Alter Rebbe explains that work—going off to work and so on—is different. The Mishnah speaks of tanning hides, one of the occupations that required sustained attention. That is prohibited even close to the time of Shacharis. Why? Because it is common for a person to rise early for work, before dawn. So here, too, the Sages ruled that from half an hour before dawn, a person should not engage in work that might cause him to forget that the time for davening has arrived and carry on working. Instead, he must first wait until the time when he can daven, daven, and only afterward go to work. The halachah states: “The Sages prohibited eating or drinking from dawn until one has davened Shemoneh Esrei.” In other words, again, the time for davening begins at dawn, and therefore, strictly speaking, eating is prohibited from dawn onward. They treated this prohibition seriously, because they found support for it in the verse, “Do not eat over the blood.” What does “Do not eat over the blood” mean? The poskim cite the Gemara, which says not to eat before praying for your blood—your life. And the Gemara says severe things about someone who eats and drinks before then. Of such a person, the verse says, “You have cast Me behind your body.” It says there that Hakadosh Boruch Hu said: After he has eaten and drunk and become proud, only then does he accept the yoke of Heaven.

36:32 Speaker 2 Therefore, strictly speaking, halachah prohibits eating before davening. What is permitted before davening is drinking water—things like that, which do not carry an element of pride. But other things, such as food, do. What does an “element of pride” mean? It does not mean that a person eats out of pride. Rather, eating itself involves a sense of self. We know what Chassidus says: eating itself makes a person more material. So eating, with the sense of self it involves, cannot come before davening. Chassidus also explains that davening is what gives a person the strength to refine the food, and therefore a person cannot eat before davening. Why not? Because when a person davens, he gains the strength to refine the food. But if he has not yet davened, how will he have the strength to refine it? In the Alter Rebbe’s words, how can he raise it above when he himself is bound below? If a person is bound to earthly, material concerns, how can he elevate physical food to spirituality, to holiness? But the halachah says that one may eat before davening for medical reasons. If a person needs to eat before davening for his health, he may do so. The halachah also says that if a person is hungry or thirsty and cannot concentrate until he eats or drinks, he may eat and drink before davening. The Alter Rebbe adds: “Even nowadays, when people do not concentrate so well during davening, nevertheless, if he wants to eat and drink in order to concentrate, he has permission to do so.” So if a person wants to eat or drink in order to have the strength to concentrate during davening, he may eat and drink before davening. In practice, this serves as a basis for the custom

38:33 Speaker 2 The Rebbe urged chassidim several times about eating before davening, about eating mezonos before davening, and it also appears in Hayom Yom. The story appears in Hayom Yom for Yud Shvat, about Rebbetzin Rivkah, of blessed memory, when she was about eighteen years old. A doctor had instructed her to eat as soon as she got up, for health reasons, but she did not want to eat before davening. She was a righteous woman; she would get up very early and daven, and immediately afterward she would go eat. Her father-in-law was the Tzemach Tzedek. Rebbetzin Rivkah was the wife of the Rebbe Maharash, and the Rebbe Maharash called her and told her that a Jew needs to be healthy and strong. Why? Because the mitzvos are described with the words “and live by them.” What does “live by them” mean? We need to bring vitality into the mitzvos, and to bring vitality into the mitzvos, we have to be strong and joyful. And the Tzemach Tzedek said that this should not be done by force, and that it is better—and this is the famous Chassidic expression—to eat in order to daven than to daven in order to eat. Then he blessed her with long life. And the Rebbe... the Rebbe concludes in Hayom Yom that this should be done joyfully. It also appears this way in letters: there were people who found this difficult, and the Rebbe told them to do it joyfully, because that way they would be able to daven properly, and that way they were doing Hashem’s will. But it should be pointed out that, of course, the whole basis for eating before davening is only so that one can concentrate. So it certainly does not mean starting full meals and... eating, washing for bread. The Rebbe also writes plainly that eating bread in the morning is not the same matter as eating mezonos before davening; it is a separate matter. So clearly, the intention is not to eat and drink in a... coarse manner, and so on. The main point is

40:34 Speaker 2 that a person should eat whatever mezonos he needs so that he will really have the strength to daven properly. But that does not mean... After all, the reason eating is forbidden is that there is an element of arrogance in it. It is just that when a person eats simply, when he eats for the sake of davening, there is no arrogance in it, because all the eating is for the sake of davening. But if the eating is not for the sake of davening—if a person sits down and starts eating... then it would seem that one really needs to be careful about that. The same applies to washing for bread. So certainly, if a person has only bread, as a matter of halachah there is no difference between bread and mezonos. The basic prohibition against eating before davening applies to mezonos as well. But plainly, the allowance the Rebbe is speaking about is to eat before davening so that you can daven. If he has only bread, and he is hungry and genuinely wants to daven with concentration, then according to halachah he can certainly eat bread too. But the main point—again, we need to remember the basis of all this—is that any eating that was permitted, or that it was customary to do before davening, was only when it was truly for the sake of davening. The Alter Rebbe brings another point: even learning—not just attending to one’s personal needs, but even learning, which would seem to be a holy activity—is also forbidden once the time for davening has arrived. The concern is that if he becomes absorbed in his learning, he will forget to daven. So the Alter Rebbe says that if he is accustomed to going to shul at a certain time—if a person has a regular minyan at nine o’clock, or at eight o’clock at shul, and he is accustomed to going to that minyan—then he may learn at home before davening as well. Why? He has a set time when he davens, so there is no concern that he will forget to daven. The Alter Rebbe also says that if he teaches Torah to a group, even

42:27 Speaker 2 if he is not accustomed to going to shul, it is still permitted. Why? Because the merit of the many is a great thing, and if he cancels the class, they will not be able to learn. So it is better for him to give the class to the group. The Alter Rebbe says that if it is a class for a group, then even if the time for davening passes, it is still better for him to give the class rather than cancel it in order to daven. Of course, this does not apply to learning Chassidus. Learning Chassidus is just the opposite: it is part of davening and an essential preparation for it. Learning Chassidus is among the preparations that the Alter Rebbe says must take place before davening. The Rebbe also mentions a good custom followed by chassidim in earlier generations: learning a chapter of Tanya before davening, and that it is worthwhile to publicize and strengthen this custom. This matter is also rooted in halachah. It says that before davening, a person needs to contemplate the greatness of Hashem and the lowliness of man. He needs to contemplate this. The subjects discussed in Chassidus, knowledge of Hashem—this is truly part of davening, and it is certainly essential for davening. It is not merely permitted; it is absolutely necessary for a person to truly daven properly, in the manner required by halachah. There is a saying from Reb Shlomo Chaim Kesselman, I believe, who once said that before the blessing of the new month, the siddur says: “It is proper to know the time of the molad.” And indeed, as we see, the custom is to knock on the bimah and announce when the time of davening is—when the molad is—and everyone rushes to hear when it is, what time it is, how many chalakim, how many hours. But, he says, it also says in Shulchan Aruch that it is an obligation to learn before davening, an obligation to contemplate the lowliness of man and the greatness of Hashem. There it says it is an absolute obligation, but he does not see people rushing to do it. Here it says it is proper

44:18 Speaker 2 to know it, and he sees everyone rushing. So, of course, learning before davening is not just a good and important custom. It is actually a matter of basic halachah: contemplating the greatness of Hashem, which is what Chassidus is all about—knowledge of Hashem, and so on. So this is not just a good custom; it is truly essential before davening, and that is how one should conduct oneself. When a person wakes up each day, the Sages instituted that he recite blessings and thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu for the way He governs the world and for what people benefit from in the things Hakadosh Boruch Hu created. Another reason they instituted these blessings was to complete the count of one hundred blessings. A person is obligated to recite one hundred blessings every day. This enactment is an ancient one, but later King David, peace be upon him, instituted it again. One hundred Jews were dying each day, and they did not know why those people were dying—why those hundred Jews were dying every day. King David investigated and understood through ruach hakodesh—that is the Alter Rebbe’s wording—and he instituted one hundred blessings each day. In other words, he enacted that every person, every Jew, should recite one hundred blessings each day. There is an allusion to this in the verse, “The utterance of the man who was raised on high”: the word “al,” “on high,” has the numerical value of one hundred. They also found a further basis for it in the Torah. The verse says, “And now, Israel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you?” So the Sages said: Do not read it as “what,” but as “And now, Israel, one hundred does Hashem your G-d ask of you.” In other words, Hakadosh Boruch Hu asks every Jew to recite one hundred blessings every day. In practice, this matter of one hundred blessings applies primarily to men and not to women, because some of the blessings that the halachic authorities

46:27 Speaker 2 The poskim give a count—and we’ll soon go through the hundred blessings that need to be recited—but some of those blessings apply only to men, such as the blessing on tzitzis, the blessing on tefillin, and so on. There is also the blessing “Who has not made me a woman.” So it is clear that the Sages’ primary obligation was placed on men. In practice, though, the Rebbe says that women certainly receive the reward as well. We see that the matter of a hundred blessings is connected with health, and there are merits associated with it that are mentioned in the sefarim. So women, too, can take part in it if they want to recite a hundred blessings and merit what comes as a result. The Rebbe likewise says that this applies to children who have reached the age of chinuch and are beginning to recite blessings. As we are careful to do, the Rebbe says to recite blessings with children even before they reach the age of chinuch: from the moment they begin to speak, it is already appropriate to begin with the hundred blessings. Now, what actually are the hundred blessings that were instituted? The Alter Rebbe lists them, and if we count the blessings we say each day, we reach a hundred—perhaps even a little more. When a person davens Shemoneh Esrei three times a day, each prayer has nineteen blessings, because Rabban Gamliel and his court added another blessing. Then there are the other blessings in davening. If we start with the evening, there are the blessings before and after Shema—five blessings in all. Then, if a person eats a meal at night, the Alter Rebbe lists another eight blessings. When he eats, he washes his hands and recites the blessing on washing the hands, and Hamotzi. After the meal, there are another four blessings. If he makes a blessing on wine, he recites Borei Pri

48:21 Speaker 2 Hagafen and afterward the concluding blessing on the wine. In any case, we won’t count every blessing now, but by this calculation, on an ordinary weekday a person has a hundred blessings. The question is what to do on Shabbos, because on Shabbos we don’t have nineteen blessings in Shemoneh Esrei; the Shabbos Shemoneh Esrei has only seven. True, there is Musaf, which we don’t have on weekdays, but many blessings are still missing on Shabbos. So the Alter Rebbe says that on Shabbos a person should remember to eat additional fruits and recite blessings over fragrances and the like, to bring the count up to a hundred. Someone who has no fruit, the Alter Rebbe says, can have in mind to answer amen when he hears the Torah reading and the maftir; there are many more blessings there. Each person called to the Torah recites a blessing before and after, and the haftorah has blessings before and after it. In practice, he can complete the count of a hundred blessings this way. On Yom Kippur too, when there is no fruit, he can complete the count this way, and likewise with the blessings of the chazzan’s repetition. But that is only, the Alter Rebbe says, for someone who has no fruit. Someone who does have fruit should preferably recite blessings over the fruit, or, on Yom Kippur, over spices. One important thing to remember is that you cannot simply recite a blessing twice. In other words, a person cannot recite Borei Minei Mezonos, then say Al Hamichyah, and then recite Borei Minei Mezonos again. That is called an unnecessary blessing, and in some cases a blessing in vain. So from the outset, one must be careful not to let the matter of a hundred blessings lead to questions about blessings over food and drink. For a blessing over a fragrance, there needs to be an interval; one must turn one’s mind away from it between one blessing and the next. That is, he takes his mind off the fragrance over which he recited Borei Minei Besamim, and only afterward recites the blessing again.

50:03 Speaker 2 The same applies to blessings over food and drink. We won’t go into all their laws now, with the various rules that apply to them. In any case, we’ve said that there is an obligation to recite a hundred blessings each day. That is one of the reasons for Birchos Hashachar, the morning blessings. Let’s move on to their practical laws. First, our custom is to say Birchos Hashachar at home. Although the Shulchan Aruch says that the custom is to say them in shul, nowadays there can be a delay before one gets to shul. So, as the Rebbe writes, our custom is to say them at home and then continue with the rest of davening upon arriving at shul. Another custom, mentioned in Hayom Yom, is to rinse one’s mouth before Birchos Hashachar, so that the blessing we recite to Hakadosh Boruch Hu is said with a clean mouth. The exception is fast days: an ordinary person may not rinse his mouth on a fast day. So apart from fast days, when one cannot rinse one’s mouth, we rinse it before Birchos Hashachar on weekdays and on other days as well. As for the time—if a person was awake all night, when can he say Birchos Hashachar? The question of when they may be said is a separate subject that we won’t go into now. But as to saying Birchos Hashachar at all, even if he was awake the entire night and did not sleep, the Rebbe cites the Frierdiker Rebbe. The Rebbe’s wording is that this was “an instruction given discreetly.” In other words, it was not written as a fixed custom or a fixed halachic ruling, but

51:57 Speaker 2 in practice, as is well known, the Rebbe once said about another matter that when “my father-in-law told me this, he knew I would make a stir about it and pass it on.” So the Rebbe presents this as a straightforward instruction to others: say all of Birchos Hashachar even if you were awake the entire night. Even if a person did not sleep at night, he recites all the blessings, including those about which the poskim differ as to whether they should be said—Al Netilas Yadayim, Asher Yatzar, and so on. All these blessings, including Elokai Neshamah, are said even when a person was awake all night. The Rebbe relates that the Rebbe Rashab used to say Birchos Hashachar without a gartel. I think the Rebbe also explained in sichos, several times, what this means in serving Hashem—why the Rebbe Rashab said Birchos Hashachar without a gartel. So the custom is indeed to say Birchos Hashachar without a gartel. It is worth noting, though, that among the letters from the Rebbe’s father to the Rebbe before his wedding, in which his father gives him various instructions for after the wedding, his father writes that he should wear a gartel for Birchos Hashachar. In practice, I don’t know what the Rebbe’s own custom was; the Rebbe did not say Birchos Hashachar publicly in shul. But as far as the community of chassidim is concerned, the Rebbe plainly records the custom of saying Birchos Hashachar without a gartel. Although, as we discussed regarding women, they are not obligated in a hundred blessings. Why are they not obligated? We already said that, among the blessings the poskim counted toward the hundred, there are several that do not apply to women, although

53:47 Speaker 2 These are the morning blessings, and women are also obligated to say them. The reason women are obligated in the morning blessings is straightforward: the morning blessings are also like blessings over things we enjoy. In other words, besides the reason of saying one hundred blessings every day, these blessings are also expressions of praise and thanks to Hakadosh Boruch Hu for the things we benefit from—for what He established in the natural order and in the creation of the world, the things people need. That is why women are also obligated in these blessings. Another general point about the morning blessings: the custom, which also appears in the sefarim, is to say them specifically while standing. So, uh, let’s now go through the laws and the actual order of the morning blessings. The first blessing in the siddur is Al Netilas Yadayim. In practice, a person must wash his hands every morning, and the Shulchan Aruch and the halachic authorities give several reasons for this. The Alter Rebbe gives two reasons in the Shulchan Aruch. One reason, according to both the revealed dimension of Torah and Kabbalah, is that when a person sleeps, a spirit of impurity rests upon him. When he wakes up, it departs and remains only on his hands. So when a person gets up in the morning, he washes his hands to remove that spirit of impurity. The Alter Rebbe discusses at length how the sages of the Zohar, the sages of Kabbalah, were very, very strict about not getting up, not touching food, and not touching the—this is already in the Gemara—not touching the openings of the mouth and so on, of the face, the mouth and the nose, before washing one’s hands. That is the first reason, this matter of the spirit of impurity. Another reason the Alter Rebbe brings is from the Rashba, who writes that every morning the kohanim would wash their hands as they sanctified themselves for the service. Similarly, when a Jew gets up in the morning, he begins his daily service of Hashem. And what is the preparation for that daily service of Hashem?

55:44 Speaker 2 The preparation for the daily service of Hashem is washing one’s hands. When a person washes his hands in the morning, that is how he begins his service of Hashem. That is why chassidim were, in practice, very particular about washing their hands before even getting out of bed. The Eshel Avraham brings this in the name of Reb Zusha of Anipoli. The verse says, “He takes his stand on a path that is not good; he does not reject evil.” When a person puts his feet on the floor, it should be after washing his hands, so that he takes his stand in a good way. In other words, the very first thing he does, before he actually gets up, is wash his hands. Then, naturally, when a person gets up, he goes to the bathroom. Ideally, that should be before the blessing of Asher Yatzar in the morning blessings. And after the morning blessings, chassidim have the custom of washing their hands again, using a towel as they do when washing for a meal, but alternating hands. In any case, we are not discussing handwashing now; we are discussing the blessings. So, generally, the blessing of Al Netilas Yadayim is said over the second handwashing. Perhaps we can say that the second handwashing corresponds to the washing of the kohen, who sanctified his hands and feet from the basin. That is when a Jew’s service of Hashem begins, as he starts his service at the beginning of the day, and so he says Al Netilas Yadayim immediately afterward. Then we say Asher Yatzar. As we already said, even if a person has not been to the bathroom, he may, according to halachah, say Asher Yatzar as one of the morning blessings. Ideally, though, it is said after going to the bathroom. Next in the siddur is the blessing Elokai Neshamah. The halachic authorities write that when saying it, one must pause between “My G-d” and “the soul,” so that, G-d forbid, it does not sound as though the Jew is saying that the soul is his G-d. Rather, the meaning is—

57:37 Speaker 2 Although, of course, the soul is truly a part of G-d above, the meaning here in the blessing is: “My G-d”—we are addressing Hakadosh Boruch Hu—“the soul You have given me is pure.” “The soul” refers to the—there is a comma there in the siddur as well: “My G-d, the soul You have given me is pure.” After the blessing “Who restores souls to lifeless bodies,” the series of morning blessings begins. The first blessing is “Who gives the sechvi understanding to distinguish between day and night.” Now, everyone learned in cheder that the sechvi is the rooster. But the truth is that the Tur, in section 46, the section dealing with the morning blessings, writes that sechvi refers to the human heart. There is a verse, “Who has given the sechvi understanding?”—sechvi refers to the human heart. The Tur says that since, in Arabic—this is how the Tur puts it—a rooster is also called sechvi, they instituted that this blessing, “Who gives the sechvi understanding to distinguish between day and night,” should be connected with hearing the rooster crow. In other words, as the Alter Rebbe writes, if a person was awake all night and heard a rooster crow toward morning, he may say this blessing. Then we have the other blessings: “Who opens the eyes of the blind” is about sight. Then come “Who releases the bound” and “Who straightens the bent.” In fact—and this is important in halachah—the meaning of these blessings is as follows: we say “Who releases the bound” when a person moves his limbs, which had been bound. In other words, uh, throughout the night, while a person was asleep, his limbs were as though bound. So he says “Who releases the bound” because he can move them. Then he says “Who straightens the bent,” because all night his posture was bent, and now, in the Alter Rebbe’s words, it has returned to its upright position. Why is this important here? It is always important, of course, because that is what the blessings mean. But with these two blessings—

59:41 Speaker 2 With these two blessings, there is an interesting point that the Alter Rebbe writes—the halachic authorities write, and the Alter Rebbe also brings it: if a person said, “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who straightens the bent,” accidentally skipping the blessing “Who releases the bound,” he cannot go back and say “Who releases the bound.” Why? Because “Who straightens the bent” includes “Who releases the bound.” In other words, if a person is standing upright, he certainly does not need to say a separate blessing over being able to move his limbs, because standing upright goes further than that. It is like the principle that two hundred includes one hundred. So with the morning blessings generally, if a person said one blessing and accidentally skipped another, he can go back and say the skipped blessing afterward. In other words, their order is not essential. But with these blessings, “Who releases the bound” and “Who straightens the bent,” if a person said “Who straightens the bent” first, he can no longer say “Who releases the bound” afterward. Then, of course, there is “Who clothes the naked,” a blessing over the clothes a person wears. “Who gives strength to the weary” is a later blessing. That is, it is not a blessing that appears in the Gemara. It was instituted by the Geonim after the completion of the Talmud, as is stated. Why? Because of the weakening of strength that had come into the world. And so, since a person’s strength is renewed every day, and every day a person entrusts his deposit to Hakadosh Boruch Hu—unlike a physical deposit, which, when a person entrusts it to someone else, cannot be returned in better condition than it was when he deposited it; that is, the object cannot suddenly become newer—but when a Jew entrusts his soul, his life-force, to Hakadosh Boruch Hu at night, that weary soul returns fresh and rested. For that, he blesses Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Geonim instituted a special blessing: “Who gives strength to the weary”

1:01:34 Speaker 2 Strength. Then comes “Who spreads the earth over the waters.” That blessing is said when a person puts his feet on the ground—there is ground beneath him. And over putting on shoes, he says, “Who has provided me with all my needs.” We’ll soon see later in the class that, in practice, even if a person has not personally become obligated in a blessing, he still says it. In other words, even if a person has no shoes, he still says, “Who has provided me with all my needs.” We’ll discuss the different opinions about this at length shortly. But on Tisha B’Av and Yom Kippur, when no one wears shoes, we do not say the blessing “Who has provided me with all my needs.” “Who girds Israel with strength” is said over the belt, and “Who crowns Israel with glory” over the hat. Unlike all the other blessings, which do not specifically mention the name Israel, these two are exceptions. They mention the name of the Jewish people: “Who girds Israel with strength,” “Who crowns Israel with glory.” Why? The halachic authorities explain that, for the Jewish people, a belt and a hat are not just for bodily comfort or appearance; they also have a spiritual purpose. The belt, it says, separates one’s heart from one’s nakedness. That is a matter of modesty. Likewise, the hat keeps a person from going bareheaded, so that he will have awe of Heaven, modesty, and holiness. That is why these blessings say, “Who girds Israel with strength” and “Who crowns Israel with glory.” Then we have three more blessings at the end: “Who has not made me a non-Jew,” “Who has not made me a slave,” and “Who has not made me a woman.” In the blessing “Who has not made me a non-Jew,” a person—we Jews—blesses Hashem for not making him a non-Jew like the other nations of the world. That is the plain meaning of “Who has not made me a non-Jew,” even though the Jewish people are also called “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” “Who has not made me a non-Jew” means that He did not

1:03:35 Speaker 2 make me like the other nations of the world. Then we say, “Who has not made me a slave,” and afterward, “Who has not made me a woman.” Regarding “Who has not made me a non-Jew,” the halachic authorities wrote about a convert as well: seemingly, how can he say “Who has not made me a non-Jew”? After all, he was a non-Jew. You are blessing Hakadosh Boruch Hu for not making you a non-Jew, but he was a non-Jew; he decided to become a Jew. Nevertheless, the Kabbalists wrote that a convert, too, can say “Who has not made me a non-Jew.” Why? Because according to Kabbalah, even a non-Jew who converted already had a soul beforehand. He blesses Hashem for the soul He gave him. That is why the halachic authorities use the expression “a convert who converted,” not “a non-Jew who converted.” What does “a convert who converted” mean? In fact, there was a soul that Hakadosh Boruch Hu had created earlier, destined to be within that convert. Moreover, the Alter Rebbe explains that the blessing “Who has not made me a non-Jew” means that when the soul departed at night, the soul of a non-Jew did not attach itself to it. That is what it says. And so, in practice, we say “Who has not made me a non-Jew.” Women, too, say “Who has not made me a non-Jew”; they do not change the wording to the feminine, even though seemingly a woman should do so. The reason is simply that the word “goy” here does not refer specifically to a non-Jewish man, but to the concept of a non-Jew. As we said earlier, “goy” can also mean “nation.” So a woman also says “Who has not made me a non-Jew.” The same applies to “Who has not made me a slave.” A woman also says that blessing without changing it to the feminine. Again, “slave” is simply the term used. Then we say, “Who has not made me a woman,” which means, plainly,

1:05:35 Speaker 2 that we have been privileged, as Jewish men, to be able to fulfill the time-bound positive mitzvos from which women are exempt. That is why we say the blessings in this order: it follows the order of obligation in mitzvos. “Who has not made me a non-Jew” means that He has privileged me with mitzvos, but there are also mitzvos that slaves and women are obligated to perform. Then there are even mitzvos from which a slave is exempt but I am obligated, and finally, mitzvos from which a woman is exempt but I am also obligated. In practice, it is not customary to say “Who has made me according to His will.” The Alter Rebbe did not include it in the Siddur, so a woman skips the blessing “Who has not made me a woman.” Next, of course, comes the wording of the blessing, “Who removes sleep from my eyes and slumber from my eyelids.” One must remember about this blessing, as stated in the Shulchan Aruch and also in the Siddur, that we do not say amen after those words. The blessing continues from “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who removes sleep” through the end of the first “May it be Your will”: “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who bestows good kindnesses upon His people Israel.” It is one blessing. So after “Who removes sleep from my eyes and slumber from my eyelids,” we begin “May it be Your will.” What is “May it be Your will”? It is all one continuation, one blessing that we say. We have a rule that a blessing can open with “Blessed” and conclude with “Blessed”; a blessing begins with “Blessed” and ends with “Blessed.” An exception is blessings that immediately follow one another, as all the morning blessings do. But this blessing, which comes at the end, does open with “Blessed” and conclude with “Blessed.” As for the laws of the morning blessings: as we said earlier, the morning blessings were instituted in keeping with the order of creation and the way the world functions—things people benefit from every day. They bless Hakadosh Boruch Hu when they first benefit from each of those things. That is, of course, in addition to the matter of saying one hundred blessings. Since the morning blessings concern

1:07:35 Speaker 2 things a person benefits from, there is a major disagreement among the Rishonim. They disagree about what happens if a person has not benefited from one of the things mentioned in the morning blessings. Suppose one of the blessings is “Who clothes the naked,” but he did not get dressed; he remained in the clothes he wore at night. Similarly, if a person does not wear a gartel or some kind of belt, what is he saying “Who girds Israel with strength” for? If he has no hat, he cannot say “Who crowns Israel with glory,” and so on. Some halachic authorities said these are like blessings over enjoyment: just as a person cannot say “By Whose word all things came to be” if he is not going to drink water, he cannot say these blessings if he has not become obligated in them. They are like blessings over enjoyment. Other halachic authorities take a middle position. They say there is a distinction: some blessings do not relate to something the person himself has just experienced. They are general blessings, such as “Who gives the rooster understanding to distinguish between day and night” or “Who spreads the earth over the waters.” He is not blessing Hakadosh Boruch Hu because he is stepping on the floor; he is blessing Hakadosh Boruch Hu in general for dry land. That differs from “Who clothes the naked,” where he blesses Hakadosh Boruch Hu for something he personally has. So according to those authorities, he can say “Who gives the rooster understanding to distinguish between day and night” even if he has not, somehow, personally become obligated in it; likewise, he can say “Who spreads the earth over the waters” even if he has not stepped down onto the floor. But “Who clothes the naked” can be said only if he got dressed, and so on. There is yet another opinion, and the Alter Rebbe rules that this is the custom: even if a person has not become obligated in a particular blessing at all, he says

1:09:14 Speaker 2 all the blessings. In other words, even someone who did not get dressed can say “Who clothes the naked.” Why? Because, in the Alter Rebbe’s words, the blessings are not about one’s own enjoyment. Rather, we bless Hashem for creating the needs of the world. Even if you do not benefit, someone else does. In other words, I am not blessing Hakadosh Boruch Hu for giving me a shirt and pants. I am blessing Hakadosh Boruch Hu in general: “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who clothes the naked”—Hakadosh Boruch Hu clothes the naked. It is not that I am now blessing Him in the same way I say “By Whose word all things came to be” over the water I am drinking. I say “Who clothes the naked” because Hakadosh Boruch Hu clothes the naked, and the same applies to the other blessings. Even according to this opinion, it is stated that a blind person cannot actually say “Who opens the eyes of the blind.” For although he is blessing Hashem in general for the benefits people receive from Him, this is something his own body lacks, so he does not say “Who opens the eyes of the blind.” But a deaf person can say “Who gives the rooster understanding to distinguish between day and night.” Although, as we have already said, in its plain meaning this blessing is connected with hearing the rooster crow, hearing is not mentioned in the blessing. So, as noted, the practical halachah regarding the morning blessings is that even someone who has not personally become obligated in them—someone who did not get dressed, who did not do one of the things for which he is saying a morning blessing—still says the blessings in order. But the Alter Rebbe states that, ideally, it is good to put oneself in a position of obligation for every

1:11:02 Speaker 2 The blessings, if he can. That is to say, the halachah follows those authorities who say that even someone who has not gotten dressed, or has not gotten out of bed, may still recite the blessings “Who releases the bound” and “Who straightens the bent.” But ideally, a person should first become obligated in all the blessings and then recite them. So besides the simple point that one should say the morning blessings seriously, and so on, wearing a hat and jacket as is customary among chassidim, according to halachah as well, one should ideally do all these things before reciting the blessings. He should get out of bed and open his eyes so that he can say “Who opens the eyes of the blind,” and get up so that he can say “Who releases the bound” and “Who straightens the bent.” We should remember that the order of the blessings was established according to the order of the things we benefit from. First comes the distinction between day and night. Then, when a person opens his eyes, “Who opens the eyes of the blind.” Then, when he gets up, “Who releases the bound” and “Who straightens the bent.” In fact, the blessings were originally instituted to be said as each obligation arose: when he opens his eyes, he says “Who opens the eyes of the blind”; when he steps onto the floor, he says “Who spreads the earth over the waters,” and so on. In practice, though, since we recite all the blessings together in an orderly way after washing our hands, we do not say each one immediately as it happens. Still, we recite all the blessings in the order of the things from which we benefit. So certainly, ideally, a person should become obligated in those blessings before reciting them. He should get dressed, become obligated in all the blessings, and then recite them. The same applies to the blessing “Who has provided me with all my needs.” A person should put on his shoes before reciting the morning blessings so that he can

1:12:55 Speaker 2 say “Who has provided me with all my needs,” which was instituted for the benefit of wearing shoes. As mentioned, in practice, even someone who does not wear shoes may recite “Who has provided me with all my needs,” because the halachah follows the opinion that a person recites the blessings even if he has not personally benefited from those things: he is blessing Hashem for the benefit people receive from them. But ideally, a person should put on shoes before the morning blessings. Tisha B’Av and Yom Kippur are different, because then no one wears shoes. Since no one wears shoes, we do not recite the blessing “Who has provided me with all my needs.” The halachic authorities write, however, that a mourner, G-d forbid, who is not wearing shoes may recite “Who has provided me with all my needs.” Although he personally is in mourning and is not wearing shoes, everyone else around him does wear shoes, so he is in fact reciting the blessing for the benefit the rest of the world receives. The laws of the blessings over Torah study. In our prayer books, the blessings over Torah study appear together with the morning blessings, right after them, but they are actually separate blessings. The morning blessings were instituted for the benefits people receive, while the blessings over Torah study relate to the importance of Torah. First, regarding the blessings over Torah study themselves, there is a discussion among the halachic authorities. One well-known authority, the Shaagas Aryeh, holds that the obligation to recite them is from the Torah itself. According to him, if a person has not recited them, or is unsure whether he has, the rule of “when in doubt about a Torah obligation, be stringent” applies. In other words, if a person is obligated to do something and cannot remember whether he did it, then if the obligation is from the Torah, he

1:14:49 Speaker 2 must do it again. By contrast, when the doubt concerns a rabbinic obligation—as is the case with the other blessings—the rule is “when in doubt about a rabbinic obligation, be lenient,” and he need not recite the blessing again. That is the halachah regarding blessings. The one blessing we generally know to be required by the Torah is Birchas Hamazon: “You shall eat, be satisfied, and bless.” But with the other blessings, which are rabbinic, if a person is unsure whether he recited one, halachah does not require him to repeat it. Most halachic authorities, however, hold that the blessings over Torah study are rabbinic, not from the Torah. Therefore, in practice, if a person cannot remember whether he recited them, he is not obligated to recite them again. He can say them without Hashem’s name and kingship, but he cannot recite the blessings again in their full form, because that raises the serious concern of a blessing in vain. Some opinions hold that this too is prohibited by the Torah. So a person cannot recite another blessing when he is unsure whether he already recited it. Still, there are opinions that the blessings over Torah study are a Torah obligation, which makes clear how important it is to take care to recite them. Moreover, halachah says remarkable things about these blessings. This is one of the places where Chassidus brings matters from the revealed dimension of Torah as well. The Bach, here on this section, is cited several times in Chassidus. Regarding the blessings over Torah study, it says that one must be very careful about them. Why? “The Land was destroyed only because they did not first recite the blessing over the Torah.” What does that mean? Reciting the blessings shows that Torah study is important to a person, and the blessings are also connected with the Giver of the Torah. It says that many studied Torah but forgot the Giver of the Torah. The blessings remind us that Torah study is not, G-d forbid, merely an intellectual pursuit, something connected with a person’s enjoyment of

1:16:38 Speaker 2 intellectual pleasure. Rather, Torah study is something G-dly; it is Divine wisdom, something of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is why, it says, because they were not careful about the blessings over Torah study, the Torah did not protect them. Another point: people look for many segulos for children who fear Heaven, especially in this generation. This matter of blessing over the Torah is stated explicitly, and I’ll read the Alter Rebbe’s wording: “Therefore, every person should see to it that the precious treasure of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, with which He delighted every day, is important enough in his eyes to bless over it with greater joy than over any pleasure in the world. This shows that he studies it for its own sake. And what is the reward? He will merit the blessing that follows for one who studies it for its own sake: ‘It shall not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your descendants,’ and so on.” In other words, reciting the blessings over Torah study seriously and with intention is a merit and a segulah that one’s children will remain connected to Torah and mitzvos: “It shall not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your descendants.” This is also what we ask for in the blessings over Torah study: “May we, our descendants, and the descendants of all Your people, the House of Israel, all know Your name.” We pray for this every day, and we really should say these blessings prayerfully and with intention. In practice, the halachah is that one may not study before reciting the blessings over Torah study. That is, the blessings must precede Torah study. If a person studies Scripture, Mishnah, or Talmud—and a subject in Chassidus is also included under Talmud—he must first recite the blessings over Torah study. But if he is only thinking about words of Torah, it says that he need not recite the blessings beforehand, because thought is not considered speech. The Alter Rebbe also writes in the laws of Torah study that a person needs to know this. A person who studies Torah and does not

1:18:37 Speaker 2 If he does not say the words of Torah aloud, he does not fulfill the mitzvah of learning Torah. So, since the mitzvah of learning Torah is to say the words aloud, he needs to recite the blessing only when he does so. But he may think through Tanya by heart, or Chassidus, Mishnayos, Gemara, or Torah, and so on, even before reciting the blessings over Torah study. There is an interesting question about listening to Torah. When a person learns Torah with someone, even if he is only listening and does not say the words aloud himself, he fulfills the mitzvah of learning Torah. The simple reason is that, throughout Torah law, we know the principle that one who listens is considered to have recited. So with learning Torah, too, a person who listens fulfills the mitzvah of learning Torah. Therefore, if someone listens to a Torah class, even without speaking, he fulfills the mitzvah and needs to recite the blessings over Torah study beforehand. A common question nowadays is this: Say someone gets up early in the morning and wants to hurry to the mikveh so that he can say the morning blessings afterward. On the ten-minute drive there, he could listen to a Tanya class. Now, we said that one does not recite the blessings over Torah study for thinking about Torah, but that one does recite them for listening. There are, however, poskim who have written—I think Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach writes this—that the principle of “one who listens is considered to have recited” does not apply to hearing words of Torah on the radio, on a disc, or the like. He writes that if a person listens to a recording, he does not need to recite the blessings over Torah study. So in practice, if he

1:20:33 Speaker 2 can recite the blessings over Torah study beforehand, he certainly should. But if he has not recited them, and the question now is whether he should sit idle, or, heaven forbid, listen to idle talk, or listen to a Torah class, it is certainly better for him to listen to a Torah class. Regarding writing words of Torah, the Alter Rebbe also cites the words of the Taz and what the Beis Yosef quotes in the name of the Abudraham: someone who writes words of Torah must recite the blessing even if he does not read them aloud, because writing, too, is considered learning. Some, though, question whether a blessing should be recited for that. So in practice, someone writing words of Torah should also say some aloud, so that the blessing will be warranted according to everyone and he can recite it over his Torah study. Now, we have three blessings over Torah study. The first is, “Who has sanctified us with His mitzvos and commanded us concerning words of Torah,” followed by “And please make it sweet.” Some hold that these form one blessing; if so, one may not interrupt between them or answer amen in the middle. It is one long blessing that begins with “Blessed” and ends with “Blessed.” According to Kabbalah, though, they are two blessings. In other words, the first blessing stands on its own, and one may answer amen at its conclusion. Nevertheless, we say “And please make it sweet”—even though it is a separate blessing, it begins with “and.” That is how it is according to the mystical teachings. In the revealed teachings of Torah there are several opinions, but the Alter Rebbe, too, writes in the siddur that the following blessing begins “And please make it sweet.” That might seem to indicate that it is all one blessing. Nevertheless, according to the masters of the mystical teachings, these are two separate blessings, and one should therefore answer amen after the first blessing, even though the next blessing

1:22:28 Speaker 2 begins with “and.” As for all the morning blessings, of course they should be recited at their proper time—as we said earlier, immediately upon waking. With the blessings over Torah study, this is even more important. Regarding the other morning blessings, many opinions hold that even if a person did not recite them before davening, he may recite them afterward. But with the blessings over Torah study, we also say in the blessing of Ahavah Rabbah before Shema, “Place in our hearts the desire to learn and to teach, to observe and to do.” So if a person did not recite the blessings over Torah study before davening, he should not recite them afterward: during davening he already said Ahavah Rabbah and thereby fulfilled his obligation to recite the blessings over Torah study. He therefore cannot recite them again. That is why we are careful to recite them beforehand, so as not to enter into this question. Of course, we said that all the morning blessings should be recited beforehand, but this is all the more true of the blessings over Torah study: if he does not recite them before davening, he will no longer be able to recite them afterward. Another thing to remember when saying the morning blessings and the blessings over Torah study is that the blessings over Torah study are like blessings over mitzvos. When a person recites, “Who has sanctified us with His mitzvos and commanded us to put on tefillin,” he cannot then pause, go for a walk, and only afterward put on tefillin. That would be considered an interruption, and he would have to recite the blessing again. The same applies to the blessings over Torah study. In this respect, they are like blessings over mitzvos: before learning Torah, he recites the blessing over it. Therefore, immediately after finishing the blessing that ends “Who gives the Torah,” we begin learning Torah. We start with passages from the Written Torah: “Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying,” and so on, “May Hashem bless you,” and then we say, “And they shall place My name.” These are passages from the Written Torah. The halachah is that even if a person does not understand what he is saying aloud, he has fulfilled his obligation. After finishing the Written Torah passages, he begins the Mishnah: “These are the things that have no set measure.” This Mishnah is from Tractate Peah, and with it he fulfills the obligation of learning Torah.

1:24:19 Speaker 2 So if a person interrupted and spoke in the middle, there are various distinctions in halachah concerning whether he needs to recite the blessing again. There are different opinions. In practice, to avoid the question in the first place, one should certainly recite the blessing and then immediately say verses as Torah study, so that it will not be considered an interruption. There is a major question concerning sleep. The blessing we recite over Torah study covers our learning for the entire day. But how can we do that? After all, an interruption matters with other mitzvos. Say someone recited the blessing over tefillin, then took off his tefillin, spent several hours doing other things, and later wanted to put them on again. He would have to recite the blessing again, because there was an interruption between the blessing and the mitzvah. So how can someone recite the blessings over Torah study in the morning, learn something, and then learn again in the afternoon? Seemingly, he should have to recite the blessings again. But halachah says this is not considered an interruption. Why not? Because even while occupied with other things, he is obligated to return to learning and is always eager to learn—that is how the halachah puts it. According to this, if he actually slept, it would seem that he should have to recite the blessings again. In practice, though, the custom is to recite the blessings over Torah study once a day, and the morning blessings cover all the Torah study of that day. The reason is that, as we said earlier, some hold that the blessings over Torah study are like the morning blessings. And as we said

1:26:13 Speaker 2 Earlier, regarding the morning blessings, we said that it makes no difference whether a person personally benefits or not. There are blessings that our Sages instituted for the good that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has done for the world. The same applies to the blessings over the Torah. These are blessings we say for the very fact that the Torah was given, and for the great privilege a Jew has to study Torah and to do so with joy. That being the case, even if there is a period when a person is not actually studying, it is still not considered an interruption. In practice, though, he should certainly study immediately after the blessings over the Torah, so that there will be no question of an interruption. The laws of the morning prayers: the parts of the prayers that come before Hodu. At the beginning of the prayers, the siddur says: “It is proper to say before praying, ‘I hereby accept upon myself the positive commandment to love your fellow as yourself.’” The Rebbe encouraged this, as is well known, even among people who do not pray according to our text or from our siddur. Saying “I hereby accept” before praying is important. The straightforward meaning is that a person accepts upon himself the positive commandment to love his fellow before praying. I say this because someone once said that one person saw chassidim doing something, a second heard about it and thought it was already halachah, and a third thought it was an obligation. So, of course, we do not say the words “It is proper to say before praying.” What it means is not that we say we must do this, but that before praying we actually accept upon ourselves the positive commandment to love our fellow as ourselves. Next in the siddur comes “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov, your dwelling places, Yisroel,” and “As for me, through Your abundant kindness.” It says that, according to the teachings of Kabbalah, “As for me, through Your abundant kindness” should be said before entering the shul. So although, on the simple level, “I will enter Your house; I will bow toward Your holy sanctuary”

1:28:23 Speaker 2 “in awe of You” refers to entering the shul, one can and should say it before actually going in. “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov” belongs even earlier; it can be said at home, before saying “As for me, through Your abundant kindness, I will enter Your house.” Next comes “Adon Olam, who reigned.” The seforim discuss this wonderful hymn of Adon Olam. Immediately afterward comes the passage of the Akeidah. The Alter Rebbe says that it is proper for a person to recite the Akeidah every day and to consider it as though he himself were facing the test of the Akeidah. The seforim say that he should think to himself that if, G-d forbid, he faced such a test, he would be capable of meeting it; if such a test came before him, he would have to meet it. Then we say, “Hear, O Yisroel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One.” One reason for saying it at this earlier point is that if the time for reciting Shema arrives and a person has not yet recited it, he will have fulfilled his obligation through this short Shema—through saying “Hear, O Yisroel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One” in the morning prayers, before the main prayers begin. Of course, it is important to have proper intention throughout the prayers. But since we know that, under the laws of Shema, a person who did not have proper intention during its first verse has not fulfilled his obligation, we must remember to have proper intention when saying Shema and “Blessed be the name,” even in the short Shema. That shows how important intention is here. Afterward we read the passages of the offerings. All of the Jewish people adopted the practice and accepted it upon themselves as an obligation. That is the wording: all of the Jewish people accepted upon themselves the obligation to read the passage of the daily offering every day before praying. Why? Because by reading the passage of the daily offering, Scripture considers it—and Hakadosh Boruch Hu considers it—as though they had offered

1:30:28 Speaker 2 the daily offering at its appointed time. It is also customary to say the passage of the ketores after the passage of the daily offering. After that comes “Abaye would arrange the order of the service”—that is, the order followed each day in the Beis Hamikdash. Although the truth is that the halachah was not decided according to that order, because the text says, “Abaye would arrange the order of the service according to the tradition of the Gemara and in accordance with Abba Shaul.” In practice, there are other opinions, and the halachah was not decided that way. But because this is how the entire sequence is laid out in the Gemara, this passage was included in the daily prayers. It gives us a teaching that also appears in the Gemara, setting out the order of the offerings and the whole daily schedule in the Beis Hamikdash in an organized way. That is why it was established to say it every day during prayers. Although the daily offering is, of course, a communal offering, an individual can recite its passage. As for how it is recited, the Alter Rebbe says here in the laws of prayer that it is good to say the passages of the offerings while standing. But in the later edition—it is known that the Alter Rebbe wrote both an earlier and a later edition of his Shulchan Aruch—it says that one is not required to say them while standing. The offerings themselves were brought while standing, but when we recite the passage about an offering, we do not mean that we are literally offering it now. In other words, the details of the halachah that applied when the offering was brought do not have to be observed when reciting its passage. Therefore, a person does not have to stand to say it. It also says that those who are meticulous have a custom to sway when reading the Torah and when praying. Swaying during prayer is based on the verse “All my bones shall declare.” Some have the custom to sway only during Pesukei Dezimrah. In any case, there are also those whose custom is not to sway at all. The Alter Rebbe

1:32:32 Speaker 2 concludes: “In practice, whichever way a person does it is fine, provided he has proper intention.” After finishing the passage of the daily offering, we begin Eizehu Mekoman, a chapter of Mishnah from Tractate Zevachim, which we read immediately after the passage about the daily offering. Why begin specifically with this chapter? Because the Mishnah of Eizehu Mekoman relates to the verse cited in the Gemara: “In every place, offerings are burned and presented to My name.” At first glance, offerings are not burned in every place; they can be burned and offered only in the Beis Hamikdash. But when Torah scholars study the laws of the Temple service, it is considered as though they are bringing offerings. That is why the verse says, “In every place, offerings are burned and presented to My name”: wherever Torah scholars study the laws of the service, it is considered as though they are bringing an offering. So immediately after reciting the verses about bringing the offerings, we also say these Mishnayos about bringing the offerings. Another special feature of this chapter is that it contains no dispute. Throughout the entire chapter, we find no disagreement. In most chapters of the Mishnah, as we know, there are many opinions from different Tannaim, and so on. But this chapter is distinctive in having no disagreement: it does not say, “Rabbi Yehudah says this, and Rabbi Yosi says that.” The whole chapter presents one view, so it is regarded as a clear Mishnah received from Sinai. Some halachic authorities do note that certain statements in these Mishnayos are disputed. Nevertheless, even if another opinion exists, it is not mentioned in this chapter. Elsewhere in the Mishnah or Gemara, it may be implied that not all the Tannaim agree with everything here. But since the other opinions are not actually brought here, this Mishnah is regarded as a clear teaching given to Moshe at Sinai. And therefore, as a matter of halachah, our custom is

1:34:42 Speaker 2 To say this chapter immediately after reciting the verses of the daily offering. After that comes the baraisa of Rabbi Yishmael, which is the beginning of Toras Kohanim. Since it is the beginning of Toras Kohanim, and Toras Kohanim is considered Talmud, after bringing the Scripture and the Mishnah, they brought the Talmud. The Alter Rebbe says that although in a house of mourning the practice is not to—the halachah is that Torah is not studied in a house of mourning, these passages are part of the daily order, meaning they are said every day, so they may be said even in a house of mourning. After that, our custom is to begin Hodu after reciting Rabbi Yishmael. Before Hodu, the chazzan goes to the lectern to lead the prayers. It is important to remember that the Kaddish said there is actually Kaddish D’Rabbanan. “Al Yisrael v’al rabbanan v’al talmideihon” is Kaddish D’Rabbanan, and Kaddish D’Rabbanan is said after Torah study. What Torah study are we saying this Kaddish D’Rabbanan for? It is the baraisa of Rabbi Yishmael, so the baraisa of Rabbi Yishmael needs to be immediately followed by Kaddish. In fact, anyone who wants can see in videos that when the Rebbe begins the prayers while standing at the lectern, he starts from “Rabbi Yishmael says,” then says the end of the baraisa aloud and immediately says Kaddish. Therefore, ideally, the Kaddish is said for the Mishnah and the baraisa. It should not be done as in some places, where the chazzan begins “Rabbi Yishmael,” says “May it be Your will that the Beis Hamikdash be rebuilt, and grant us our portion in Your Torah,” and then they wait for a tenth person to arrive before saying Kaddish. That is not the proper order. There should already be ten people present when the baraisa is recited. That is what the halachic authorities seem to imply: ten people should be present for the recitation of the baraisa, and only then is Kaddish said, so that the Kaddish

1:36:45 Speaker 2 is said with ten people for the study of the baraisa. Wherever Kaddish D’Rabbanan—the “Al Yisrael” Kaddish—is said, it is said for the Torah study that preceded it.