Laws of Prayer, Part 2 - Rabbi Yehoshua Lipsh shlita

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

00:09 Speaker 2 We come to the recitation of “Give thanks to Hashem, call upon His name.” The chazzan takes his place before this, as is customary. Strictly speaking, the chazzan can come forward from “Yishtabach” onward, but in practice, the custom is for him to come forward already at “Give thanks to Hashem, call upon His name.” As stated in Sefer Haminhagim, there are several verses that the chazzan customarily concludes aloud: “For Hashem is great and exceedingly praised, and He is awesome above all powers. For all the powers of the nations are idols, but Hashem made the heavens.” Then, at “Exalt Hashem... for He is holy”—“For Hashem our G-d is holy. Hashem, save us; may the King answer us on the day we call. And I have trusted in Your kindness.” The end of “Hodu” is also said aloud, through “I will sing to Hashem, for He has dealt kindly with me.” After that we say “Mizmor Shir,” and then “Hashem reigns, Hashem has reigned.” Sefer Haminhagim states that the custom is to say “Hashem reigns, Hashem has reigned” while standing, and the entire congregation also stands for it. That is, even someone who is not up to “Hashem reigns, Hashem has reigned” with the congregation must stand when the congregation says it. Even if he is at a point where he may interrupt—say, he is at “Hodu,” where halacha permits him to answer amen and so on—he does not interrupt to say “Hashem reigns” with the congregation, but he does stand with them. The whole congregation stands and says “Hashem reigns,” and someone who is not up to that point also stands, even though he is saying something else rather than those verses with them. The reason we begin with “Give thanks to Hashem” every day is that it says David instituted its recitation

01:53 Speaker 2 every day before the Ark, before the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem. That is why we begin with “Hodu” every day before davening. In fact, “Hodu” also belongs, to some extent, to Pesukei Dezimra. In what is called Nusach Ashkenaz, “Hodu” appears after “Baruch She’amar”: they begin with “Baruch She’amar” and then say “Hodu.” The Alter Rebbe writes this in the Shulchan Aruch as well. But as we know, the version of the siddur in which we daven is Nusach Sefard, and there “Hodu” appears as an introduction and preparation before Pesukei Dezimra. Then Pesukei Dezimra begins with “Blessed is He Who spoke, and the world came into being.” It is important to remember that Pesukei Dezimra is really one unit. From “Blessed is He Who spoke, and the world came into being” through “May Your name be praised forever, our King,” it forms one unit. What does that mean? We praise and extol Hakadosh Boruch Hu, beginning with one blessing and ending with another. Since there is a blessing at the beginning and a blessing at the end, and it is all one matter, we must be very careful not to interrupt with speech from the beginning of “Baruch She’amar” until “Yishtabach.” Of course, afterward as well, one may not interrupt between “Yishtabach” and “Yotzer,” or between that and Shemoneh Esrei. The matter is so serious that the Gemara discusses the verse concerning war: “The man who is fearful and fainthearted—let him go and return to his home.” What does “fearful and fainthearted” mean? One opinion is that he fears the sins he has committed. What sort of sins would make a person afraid and require him to return from battle? One of them is that he spoke between “Baruch She’amar” and “Yishtabach.” So speaking between “Baruch She’amar” and “Yishtabach” is a very serious matter. It is all, in essence, one blessing, and one may not

03:56 Speaker 2 even interrupt for the sake of a mitzvah, unless it is for something regarding which the law explicitly permits an interruption. There are things for which one may interrupt. Some are permitted because they, too, are part of praising Hakadosh Boruch Hu, such as answering amen. The Sages permitted interruptions for certain other things as well. But for anything else, one may not interrupt; speaking between “Baruch She’amar” and “May Your name be praised forever, our King” is a serious prohibition. Regarding “Baruch She’amar,” the halachic authorities write that it should be said melodiously. Why? Because it is a special song instituted by the Men of the Great Assembly through a letter that fell from heaven. It contains 87 words, and we have the verse “His head is fine gold”—paz, “fine gold,” alluding to the 87 words of “Baruch She’amar.” It should be said standing: because it is an important hymn, the custom is to say it while standing. Afterward we say “Mizmor Lesodah.” “Mizmor Lesodah” corresponds to the thanksgiving offering, and it is written that all songs will eventually cease except for “Mizmor Lesodah.” So in practice, we customarily say it every day after “Baruch She’amar.” We do not say it on Shabbos or Yom Tov, nor on Erev Pesach or during Pesach. Why? Because the thanksgiving offering was not brought on Shabbos or Yom Tov, and it was not brought on Pesach or Erev Pesach either. The reason it was not brought on Pesach or Erev Pesach is that a person bringing a thanksgiving offering was required to bring thanksgiving loaves with it. Those loaves were chametz, so they were not brought on Pesach. They were not brought on Erev Pesach either, because the thanksgiving offering is

05:50 Speaker 2 eaten not only on that day; it can also be finished the next day—over two days and one night. So since it could be eaten beyond that day, it could not be brought on Erev Pesach, so as not to shorten the time available to eat it and require it to be destroyed when Pesach arrived. In practice, apart from Shabbos, Yom Tov, Pesach, Erev Pesach, and likewise Yom Kippur, the custom is to say “Mizmor Lesodah” on all other days. After that come the rest of Pesukei Dezimra, beginning with “A praise of David,” “Fortunate are those who dwell in Your house”—Psalm 145 in Tehillim. It says in the parsha, Parshas Vaeschanan, that Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, said: “You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand,” and afterward he said, “Please let me cross over and see the good land.” From this the Sages learned that a person should always set out the praises of Hashem and then pray. That is the general reason for all of Pesukei Dezimra. Pesukei Dezimra consists of praises with which we praise Hakadosh Boruch Hu so that afterward we can make requests and pray. Shemoneh Esrei is primarily a request for a person’s needs. Of course, as explained in Chassidus, even a person’s requests for his needs are connected to his desire to fulfill the role and purpose for which Hakadosh Boruch Hu created him here. So that, too, is a holy matter. But ultimately, these requests concern his material needs in the plain sense. That is why the Sages instituted that a person should first set out the praises of Hashem and then pray, and also so that he should approach prayer with the joy of a mitzvah. But why is this a general principle? Why do we begin with praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in Pesukei Dezimra? Why do we recite “A praise of David,” the psalm

07:40 Speaker 2 This? Because it says that anyone who says Tehillah LeDavid three times every day is assured a place in the World to Come. So we do, in fact, say it three times: once in Shacharis, a second time in Shacharis before U’va Letziyon, and a third time in Minchah. And since we’re already saying the psalm Tehillah LeDavid—that’s chapter 145 of Tehillim—it was instituted that we continue with the concluding chapters of Tehillim. The word “Hallelujah” appears ten times at the end of Tehillim, corresponding to ten forms of praise and song found in Tehillim. That is essentially the structure of Pesukei Dezimra. So it was instituted to say Tehillah LeDavid and the other psalms after Baruch She’amar and before Yishtabach. In fact, it says that because Pesukei Dezimra is praise of Hashem, a person should say it pleasantly and unhurriedly, so that it doesn’t appear as though he rushes through his praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but lingers and prays at length when asking for his own needs. So clearly—and certainly for someone who, in the Chassidus approach, reflects on the meaning of serving Hashem—Pesukei Dezimra is a very central part of davening. After Yishtabach, the order of davening calls for Kaddish and Barchu. Let’s discuss some of the laws of Kaddish. These laws apply to every Kaddish, but the first Kaddish required in the order of davening is the one after Yishtabach. Although our custom is to say Kaddish earlier as well, before Hodu, that Kaddish is a matter of custom. The first Kaddish instituted by the Sages as part of the order of davening is the Kaddish after Yishtabach. In fact, the Sages instituted saying Kaddish seven times each day, based on the verse, “Seven times a day I praise You.” So we have

09:46 Speaker 2 seven times during the day when Kaddish is required. The first is after Yishtabach, before Barchu. The next is after Shemoneh Esrei, when we say Tiskabel. The Sages instituted that Kaddish be said after Shemoneh Esrei, after every prayer. That’s the second time. The third time, in addition to the second time after Shemoneh Esrei, is after Tachanun and U’va Letziyon. That’s the third time. We say Tiskabel, as we do after every prayer. The fourth time is at Minchah, after Ashrei. There is a mitzvah to say Ashrei every day. It says that anyone who says Tehillah LeDavid three times every day is assured a place in the World to Come. The sixth time is after Shemoneh Esrei of Minchah. The—fifth time is after Shemoneh Esrei of Minchah. The sixth is after the blessings of Shema at Maariv, and the last, the seventh, is after Shemoneh Esrei of Maariv. So there are seven times a day when Kaddish is required. Nevertheless, it says in Kabbalah that everyone should take care to answer at least ten Kaddishes each day. So there is significance both to saying Kaddish and to answering it. Answering it every day is a great privilege and a great obligation. In fact, Kaddish, like anything that is a davar shebikdushah, is not said with fewer than ten people. Ten people must be present in the shul when Kaddish is said. In fact, the halachic authorities wrote that there must already be ten when Yishtabach is said. So if a minyan is short and they’re waiting for a tenth person, they may begin davening—Pesukei Dezimra—without a minyan and wait for the tenth person to arrive. But they must wait for him before Yishtabach, because Yishtabach and the Kaddish that follows it must both be said with ten. So already when saying

11:52 Speaker 2 Yishtabach, there must be ten people in the shul. You can’t say Yishtabach through “chei ha’olamim,” wait for the tenth person to arrive, and then begin Kaddish. The ten must already be there for Yishtabach. That is why, in many places, when the chazzan is waiting for ten people, he stops before saying “On that day Hashem will be One and His name One,” and waits there until there are ten. Incidentally, an individual does not necessarily have to wait there. He can finish saying Yishtabach and then wait until the chazzan begins and finishes Yishtabach. So there must be ten. Where do we learn that every davar shebikdushah requires ten? The verse says, “I shall be sanctified among the Children of Israel.” There is another verse with the word “among”; this is what’s called a gezeirah shavah. It says, “Separate yourselves from among this evil congregation.” Where is the verse “Separate yourselves from among this congregation” written? It is written regarding the spies. Hakadosh Boruch Hu said, “Separate yourselves from among the congregation, and I will consume them in an instant.” There were ten spies, since Yehoshua and Calev did not take part in the sin of the spies. So just as there were ten spies, we learn from there that every davar shebikdushah requires a minimum of ten. It’s interesting that the Rebbe points out in one place how remarkable it is that the entire law requiring ten for Kaddish, Kedushah, and so on is learned from the spies. On the face of it, the spies were completely wicked, and yet the whole concept of a minyan is learned specifically from them. This teaches us that a congregation—as the books already say, the Hebrew word for “congregation,” tzibbur, is an acronym for tzaddikim, beinonim, and resha’im—means joining together even with Jews who, on the face of it, are lacking in certain respects. In any case, Kaddish must be said with ten males over the age of

13:56 Speaker 2 bar mitzvah, and when there are ten, Kaddish may be said. In fact, there is a law that applies to everything said with a minyan. We won’t discuss other things now, such as the chazzan’s repetition; we’ll discuss what applies to Kaddish. If the shliach tzibbur began Kaddish when there were ten people in the shul—we’re speaking now about the Kaddish after Yishtabach, but the same law applies to the other Kaddishes—and then, in the middle of Kaddish, some people left, one or two went outside, the chazzan may continue saying Kaddish to the end, because there were ten there when he began. True, some of the ten are now missing, but the shliach tzibbur may continue the Kaddish to the end. That is provided that at least a majority of the minyan remains. If a majority is no longer there, if most of the minyan has left, the shliach tzibbur certainly cannot continue Kaddish. But if a majority remains, he may continue. Even so, the Alter Rebbe says that the words “Those who abandon Hashem will perish” apply to those who left. In other words, that doesn’t mean it is permitted to leave. It is forbidden to leave, but if people have already left, Kaddish may be continued. Certainly, from the outset, every effort should be made to have ten people present. So much so that some halachic authorities wrote that if the shliach tzibbur knows people will leave in the middle of Kaddish, he may not begin saying it. But as stated, if he has already begun, he may continue and finish Kaddish. If one of those present cannot answer because he is in the middle of Shemoneh Esrei, or is saying the blessings of Shema, or is at a similar point where one may not interrupt to answer Kaddish, nevertheless, if there are six who answer, if

15:49 Speaker 2 If there are six people with the shliach tzibbur, he can say Kaddish. Although for other matters we find in the Shulchan Aruch that nine are needed—according to the Alter Rebbe, we cannot have the repetition of the Amidah unless nine people answer—that is not the case with Kaddish. For Kaddish, we do not need nine people answering. It is enough to have a majority who can answer, and then the shliach tzibbur can say Kaddish. Of course, that is on condition that ten people are present. This applies to all the Kaddishes, including the one we are discussing now, after Yishtabach. Kaddish may be said provided that a majority of the ten people praying can answer amen. But what if one of them is asleep? Suppose someone has fallen asleep in shul and there are nine others there. At first glance, why shouldn’t they be able to say Kaddish? The Shulchan Aruch says that it is not respectful to Heaven to count him. In fact, the Taz is very strict about this. He says that we know a person’s soul departs from him to some extent when he sleeps, and a spirit of impurity rests upon him even during the day. So ideally, one should not count someone who is asleep toward a minyan. Wake him up, and then he can be counted. That is the ideal practice. As for the laws of saying Kaddish in general, and the care it requires and the merit of saying it, perhaps we can begin with this: there are not many stories in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. I think there may be one other complete story besides this one—at least, that is what I think. When the Alter Rebbe includes a story in the Shulchan Aruch, it shows how important the matter is and how careful we must be about it. The story the Alter Rebbe brings is that once they encountered Eliyahu Hanavi, of blessed memory, and with him were

17:55 Speaker 2 four thousand camels—four thousand laden camels. It does not say here what they were carrying, but they asked him what they were—actually, it does say what they were carrying. They asked him, since they could not see it, and he said they were laden with wrath and fury to take vengeance on someone who talks between Kaddish and Kedushah, or during Kaddish—someone who talks at certain points during Kaddish, at any rate. So we see that the Alter Rebbe goes to some length about the severity of talking, G-d forbid, during Kaddish. The Alter Rebbe also writes that someone who talks during Kaddish should be rebuked. In other words, when Kaddish is being said, one should be quiet, listen to what is being said and respond, and of course, quite simply, not talk. There is also a story in the Zohar about a man who was seen running and jumping from roof to roof to answer Kaddish. One of the holy Tannaim in the Zohar said that if a Jew runs like that to answer Kaddish, it is a sign that he is a great Torah scholar, and he gave him his daughter in marriage. Again, we see the importance of rushing to answer amen to every Kaddish one hears, and not, G-d forbid, talking during Kaddish. Regarding someone who talks during Kaddish, something said in another context applies here too: he makes it appear as though he has no share in the holiness of Hashem. When everyone is sanctifying Hakadosh Boruch Hu and he is talking, that is a very serious matter. It is also written, and it appears in halachah, that anyone who answers “Amen, yehei shmei rabba” with all his strength has a seventy-year decree torn up for him. There is a difference of opinion about what “with all his strength” means. In fact, both interpretations are brought in the Shulchan Aruch: saying it loudly and saying it with all the strength of one’s concentration. One need not shout “Amen, yehei shmei rabba.” The Shulchan Aruch explicitly says that one should not

19:46 Speaker 2 shout so loudly that others laugh and are thereby led to sin. We do not want to cause others, G-d forbid, to treat Kaddish lightly. So it does not mean shouting in a way that makes others mock him. But one should say “Amen, yehei shmei rabba,” and the other amens, loudly and with concentration. What does “yehei shmei rabba” mean? There are several interpretations. At any rate, the interpretation followed in halachah is that “yehei shmei rabba mevorach” means “May His great name be blessed forever and ever.” There are other interpretations, and the different interpretations lead to different halachic rulings. In any case, according to our custom and the ruling in the Shulchan Aruch, we say through “yehei shmei rabba mevorach le’alam ul’almei almaya yisbarach.” It is true that some customs continue through the end of the praises in Kaddish, but the Alter Rebbe says it is better to stop there and listen to the chazzan. Sometimes the chazzan moves ahead quickly and has already reached “da’amiran be’alma ve’imru amen,” while some people are still saying “yisbarach veyishtabach veyispa’er,” and so on. Then they miss that amen. Therefore, the Alter Rebbe says it is better to finish after “yehei shmei rabba mevorach le’alam ul’almei almaya yisbarach,” stop there, listen to the chazzan, the shliach tzibbur, and answer amen at the end of Kaddish. The Shulchan Aruch also says that the words of “yehei shmei rabba” must be pronounced precisely. So we take care to say “mevorach”—meaning that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is blessed, not “mevarech,” blessing. We must be careful about this, just as we are careful throughout davening to pronounce the letters as they appear in the siddur. Regarding standing for Kaddish, several opinions appear in the Shulchan Aruch. The first opinion says one must stand for every—the second opinion says one must stand for every Kaddish. The Prophets tell us about Eglon, king of Moab. When Ehud, I believe, came to him and said that he had a word from Hashem, Eglon, king of Moab, who was wicked, stood up. The Gemara says that in this merit he earned several things. So a kal vachomer was learned from Eglon, king of Moab. That is how it is presented: it was learned in the Jerusalem Talmud, though it is not found in the Gemara we have. But the halachic authorities say that a kal vachomer was learned from Eglon, king of Moab: if he, a wicked man, stood to hear the word of Hashem, then certainly everyone should stand for Kaddish. There is, however, an opinion that the custom is not to stand for Kaddish; only if someone is already standing does he remain standing. In practice, as for the Rebbe’s custom, most Kaddishes occur at points in davening when people are standing anyway. But even at a point when people were still seated, they observed that the Rebbe stood for “Amen, yehei shmei rabba” and remained standing until the end of Kaddish. The Shulchan Aruch says in several places that the chazzan should bow while saying Kaddish. In fact, what appears in Sefer Haminhagim is a little different. So let us briefly say what appears there: when the chazzan says “vikarev meshichei,” and then when he says “ve’imru amen,” “yehei shmei rabba”—that is, at every point in half-Kaddish where amen is to be said, the chazzan bows slightly. In other words, when he says “shmei rabba” in “yisgadal veyiskadash shmei rabba”; then when he says “vikarev meshichei ve’imru amen”; and then at “yehei shmei rabba,” he bends at those points several times—“yehei shmei rabba mevorach.” Anyone can see in a video how the Rebbe does it. And at “veyishtabach veyishalal barich hu,” toward the end, and then at “ve’imru amen” at the end of half-Kaddish, and also at the “ve’imru amen” of

21:39 Speaker 2 When Ehud, I believe, came to Eglon, king of Moab, and told him that he had a word from Hashem, Eglon—though he was wicked—stood up. The Gemara says that he merited several things because of this. The halachic authorities cite a kal vachomer from Eglon, king of Moab, based on the Jerusalem Talmud, though it is not found in the Gemara we have: if he stood to hear the word of Hashem, how much more so should everyone stand for Kaddish. There is also an opinion that the custom is not to stand for Kaddish; rather, if a person is already standing, he remains standing. In practice, with regard to the Rebbe’s custom, most Kaddishes come at points in davening when people are standing anyway. But even when people were still seated, they saw that the Rebbe stood for “Amen, yehei shmei rabba” and remained standing until the end of Kaddish. The Shulchan Aruch says in several places that the chazzan should bow when saying Kaddish. What appears in Sefer Haminhagim is a little different, so let us briefly state it: in half-Kaddish, the chazzan bows slightly at each point where amen is to be said. That is, at “shmei rabba” in “yisgadal veyiskadash shmei rabba,” then at “vikarev meshichei ve’imru amen,” and then at “yehei shmei rabba.” He bends several times during that section, at “yehei shmei rabba mevorach.” Anyone can see in a video how the Rebbe does it. He also bows at “veyishtabach veyis’halal, berich hu” toward the end, then at “ve’imru amen” at the end of half-Kaddish, and also at the “ve’imru amen” of

23:25 Speaker 2 In the Kaddish of Tiskabel, when he reaches “and say amen,” he also bows slightly, and... at the end, during “Oseh Shalom” in Kaddish—we are speaking now about the Kaddish after Yishtabach, but when it is the Kaddish of Tiskabel—he says that while bowing as well, and then says, “May He Who makes peace in His heavens...” This differs from Shemoneh Esrei. Let’s return to our Kaddish. Immediately after this Kaddish we say “Borchu,” and we are careful not to interrupt between them for anything. The chazzan must say it aloud so the entire congregation can hear. Some hold that if a person did not hear the chazzan say “Bless Hashem, Who is blessed,” he cannot respond “Blessed is Hashem, Who is blessed forever and ever.” So, ideally, the chazzan should say it loudly enough for everyone in the shul to hear. If, after the fact, the chazzan said it quietly but ten people around him heard, then even someone at the back of the shul may respond. This was the case in Alexandria, Egypt. It is related that there was a very large shul there, apparently with thousands of people praying, and those at the back could not hear the chazzan. So they would wave cloths there, so that those at the back of the shul would know when the chazzan said Kaddish or Borchu. From this, the Magen Avraham learned—and the Alter Rebbe writes this as well—that even if they cannot hear, they may respond. But ideally, of course, the chazzan should say it aloud so the entire congregation hears the Borchu he says. Although the chazzan says, “Bless Hashem, Who is blessed,” telling the congregation to bless Him, and everyone responds, “Blessed is Hashem, Who is blessed forever and ever,” the chazzan must not exclude himself. The custom, as recorded in Sefer Haminhagim,

25:00 Speaker 2 is that he says “Blessed is Hashem, Who is blessed forever and ever” together with the congregation. Our custom is that the congregation does not answer amen. In some communities, the congregation answers amen after everyone says “Blessed is Hashem, Who is blessed forever and ever.” But our custom is not to answer amen, and immediately afterward we continue with the blessings of Shema. As we said, the reason the chazzan also says “Blessed is Hashem, Who is blessed forever and ever” is so that he does not exclude himself. So he, too, says it together with the entire congregation. After Borchu, the blessings of Shema were placed in the order of davening. We need to remember that the order of davening is important; Kabbalah, too, explains that it follows the order of the spiritual worlds. So, in general, we are very careful not to skip any part of davening. Even when we arrive late at shul, we daven in order. Shema was instituted together with its blessings: the blessings before Shema and the blessings after it. At the same time, because the latest time for Shema is often earlier than the time we daven, the custom is to say Shema in the morning without its blessings, and later, when we reach it in the order of davening, to say Shema with its blessings. Some opinions hold that the blessings of Shema may be said only until the latest time for davening, which is about an hour after the latest time for Shema. In Shulchan Aruch, the Alter Rebbe brings another opinion in parentheses, that the blessings of Shema may be said together with Shema throughout the day. In any case, the mitzvah of the blessings of Shema is to say Shema together with its blessings. The mitzvah of the blessings of Shema is, in essence, an addition dependent on the mitzvah of Shema, so that the Shema

26:41 Speaker 2 we say every day should be said with its blessings. The Sages instituted that a person should thank and praise Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the blessings of Shema, before and after saying Shema. As with Kaddish, the blessings of Shema were instituted as seven blessings. In Shacharis we have two blessings before Shema: “Creator of the luminaries,” followed by “With everlasting love.” “Who chooses His people Israel with love” concludes the second blessing, and afterward comes the blessing “Who redeemed Israel.” In Maariv we have four blessings: two before Shema, “Who brings on the evenings” and “Who loves His people Israel,” and then two after Shema, “Who redeemed Israel” and “Who guards His people Israel forever.” This corresponds to the verse, “Seven times a day I praise You”—praising Hakadosh Boruch Hu. King David linked this praise to the number seven. Therefore, the Sages instituted seven blessings of Shema each day. But the blessings do not, of course, prevent a person from fulfilling the mitzvah of Shema. In other words, if someone recited Shema without its blessings, he fulfilled the obligation to recite Shema twice each day. He has fulfilled his Torah obligation even if he did not say the blessings of Shema. But as we said earlier, ideally Shema should be said with its blessings. Even if a person has already recited it—as is our custom in the morning, when we say what is called the “short Shema”—the custom is nevertheless to repeat Shema together with its blessings. The order of the blessings is not indispensable either, although ideally they should be said in the order printed in the siddur. That is, if by mistake it happened that someone, while davening,

28:27 Speaker 2 was not sufficiently focused, and he noticed that he had said the second blessing, Ahavas Olam, first. Right after “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe,” he began, “With everlasting love You have loved us.” Suddenly he realized that he had forgotten the first blessing. By the first blessing I mean the entire long blessing from “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who forms light” through “Blessed are You, Hashem, Creator of the luminaries.” So if a person mistakenly said the second blessing before the first, he has fulfilled his obligation. Why? Because the order of the blessings is not indispensable, although ideally one should say the blessings in their proper order. We know the rule: every long blessing was instituted to begin with “Blessed” and end with “Blessed,” unless it is a blessing adjacent to another. When one blessing immediately follows another, the second does not open with “Blessed,” because it relies on the preceding blessing, which did open with “Blessed.” So here, in the blessings of Shema, the first blessing begins, “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who forms light and creates darkness.” It begins with “Blessed,” and ends with “Blessed are You, Hashem, Creator of the luminaries.” The second blessing begins, “With everlasting love.” Why does it not begin with “Blessed”? Because it relies on the blessing before it. Nevertheless, if he changed the order and said the second blessing and then the first, he has fulfilled his obligation. But if someone said the blessing from Maariv—it can happen that a person says, “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe,” without looking in the siddur, and he was not sufficiently focused, and then mistakenly said the blessing we say at Maariv, “Who, by His word, brings on the evenings,” and so on—he

30:06 Speaker 2 He has not fulfilled his obligation, because the Sages instituted mentioning both light and darkness: “Who forms light and creates darkness.” Why did they institute that wording? There is an interesting explanation. As we know, among idol worshippers, some worshipped the sun and some worshipped the moon. Some said that the sun rules by day and the moon by night, and therefore claimed that whoever created the light did not create the darkness. At any rate, the reason they instituted saying “Who forms light and creates darkness” is to remind us, even during the day, that we believe Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the darkness too. No one should come along and say that we bless Him for the light because Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the light by day, while someone else, G-d forbid, created the darkness or the night. That is why we say, “Who forms light and creates darkness.” The custom, as it appears in Hayom Yom, is to kiss the arm tefillin at “Who forms light” and the head tefillin at “and creates darkness.” This custom also has its source in works of Kabbalah. We know that Chassidus explains that “creates darkness” does not mean darkness is merely the absence of light. Darkness itself has an existence, and in holiness it has an even higher existence. Similarly, the sanctity of the head tefillin is higher than that of the arm tefillin. So “creates darkness” has an advantage over “forms light.” Then we come to the blessings of Shema. In the blessings of Shema, after “Who forms light and creates darkness,” which is the beginning of the blessing, there is the passage of Kedushah: “Holy, holy,” and “Blessed is the glory of Hashem from His place,” and so on. There are shuls where the custom is to treat it just like the Kedushah of—there are communities where the custom is to treat it like the Kedushah of Shemoneh Esrei, with everyone saying “Holy, holy” and “Blessed is the glory of Hashem from His place” together. In fact, the Shulchan Aruch rules that it should be said aloud,

31:47 Speaker 2 but at the same time, our custom follows the Alter Rebbe’s ruling in accordance with the opinions that an individual may say it too. In other words, for the Kedushah in which we say, “We will sanctify You and revere You,” a congregation is required. A person cannot say “Holy, holy,” and so on, alone, because that was instituted for a congregation. But the first blessing of Shema, even though there too we say “Holy, holy,” “Blessed,” and “They proclaim Your kingship,” was instituted to be said by an individual as well. Why? Because there we are not actually saying it ourselves—we are recounting what the angels say. In the chazzan’s repetition we say, “We will sanctify You and revere You,” and so on; in the Kedushah of the blessings of Shema, we recount how the ofanim and the holy chayos, and so on, all sanctify Him and proclaim His kingship. We describe how the angels sanctify Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In fact, the whole subject of the blessings of Shema is how the angels and the ofanim, and so on, sanctify Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Frierdiker Rebbe brings the explanation in Chassidus: it is known that all physicality comes from the dregs of the ofanim, meaning the waste product of the angels. So when a Jew contemplates, during the blessings of Shema, how the entire existence of the angels is completely nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he understands that the angels’ waste product is certainly nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This prepares him for the self-nullification before Hakadosh Boruch Hu in Shemoneh Esrei. At any rate, as we said earlier, in practice this passage may be said aloud. It says that it should be said aloud, but an individual may also say the Kedushah passages of “Holy, holy” and “Blessed is the glory of Hashem from His place.” In practice, one finishes the blessing, “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who forms the luminaries,” then waits for the chazzan to finish and answers Amen. That is the first of the blessings of Shema. We begin the second blessing with Ahavas Olam, even though in the Shulchan Aruch

33:44 Speaker 2 and elsewhere—even in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch—it is ruled that we say Ahavah Rabbah. In practice, though, our custom is as the Alter Rebbe writes in the siddur, following the Kabbalists: to say Ahavas Olam, not Ahavah Rabbah. We begin, “With everlasting love You have loved us, Hashem our G-d,” and so on. Chassidus also explains the difference between Ahavas Olam and Ahavah Rabbah. At any rate, we begin, “With everlasting love You have loved us, Hashem our G-d,” and so on. There are many customs associated with saying Ahavas Olam, and perhaps not everyone knows and carefully follows the exact procedure. First, Sefer Haminhagim says that at “Bring us in peace from the four corners of the earth,” we gather the four tzitzis. Sefer Haminhagim also gives a detailed account, brought by the Frierdiker Rebbe, of exactly how the Rebbe Rashab arranged and held the tzitzis during Ahavas Olam. So let me briefly explain: when saying “Bring us in peace from the four corners of the earth,” first take hold of the two front tzitzis. It is a little hard to demonstrate with a tallis katan on video, but the idea is that you take the two front tzitzis, then the left corner behind you, and then the right corner. That is, the tallis surrounds the body, and the two back tzitzis surround the two front tzitzis. Then you place them between the little finger and the finger next to it. The wording says to bring them out between the little finger and the finger next to it, then bring them back between that finger and the middle finger, and then toward the thumb. Let me demonstrate anyway. So if these are the tzitzis, you take them and bring them out like this. The point is that we hold the four tzitzis already from Ahavas Olam. Watching the Rebbe’s practice, we see that the Rebbe began gathering the tzitzis from the very beginning of Ahavas Olam. Presumably, the idea is that by the time you reach “Bring us in peace

35:48 Speaker 2 from the four corners of the earth,” the four tzitzis will already be at your side, in your hand. You hold all the tzitzis in your left hand, except at the points we will discuss shortly, when you kiss the tzitzis during Shema; then you hold them in your right hand as well. Starting from “Vayomer,” you kiss the tzitzis while also holding them in your right hand. There is something interesting in Ahavas Olam: it was instituted to mention there several of the things we are commanded to remember every day. Every day we recite the Six Remembrances. In fact, the Shulchan Aruch says that during the wording of Ahavas Olam, we should have in mind some of the Six Remembrances. We are commanded every day to remember the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. It says, “Remember the day you stood before Hashem your G-d at Chorev.” So we have a mitzvah to remember the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Then we have a mitzvah to remember what Amalek did: “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt.” Then there is the incident with Miriam—to remember that she spoke, what happened there with the lashon hara about Moshe Rabbeinu, and that all the Jewish people waited for her. “Remember what Hashem your G-d did to Miriam on the way, when you went out of Egypt.” There is also the remembrance of Shabbos. Some say—we do say it in the Six Remembrances—“Remember the Shabbos day to sanctify it.” And there is the incident of the Golden Calf: “Remember how you angered Hashem your G-d in the wilderness.” So all these remembrances—of course, there is also the remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, which we mention explicitly in Shema. But apart from the remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, we mention the other five remembrances in Ahavas Olam. Where do we mention them in Ahavas Olam? It says that when one says, “And You chose us from every people and language”—when did that choice take place? We know that there is a concept of choice, discussed at length in Chassidus, that Hakadosh

37:46 Speaker 2 He, blessed be He, chose not only the souls of the Jewish people but also their bodies. But when did that choice take place? When did Hakadosh Boruch Hu choose the Jewish people? In fact, it says that the choice took place at the Giving of the Torah, because that was when the Jewish people became a nation. Most aspects of the Jewish people as a nation began with the Giving of the Torah. So when we say “You chose us,” we should recall the Giving of the Torah. Then we say, “You chose us from every people and tongue and brought us close, our King.” What does “brought us close” mean? It says that He brought us close at the revelation at Mount Sinai. And “to Your great name”—what does that mean? It refers to what Amalek did. We need to remember “Remember what Amalek did to you.” What is the connection? It says that Hashem’s name is not complete until the memory of Amalek is erased. In other words, His great name is connected with erasing the memory of Amalek. So when a person says “to Your great name,” he should recall what Amalek did. Then we say “to give thanks to You.” That relates to what happened with Miriam. Why do we need to remember it? So that we aspire to give thanks, and not, Heaven forbid, speak lashon hara. And when we later say “and you shall remember all the mitzvos of Hashem”—that already appears in Shema—it alludes to Shabbos, because Shabbos is equivalent to all the mitzvos. We also recall the incident of the Golden Calf when we say “to affirm Your oneness.” We say, “And You brought us close, our King, to Your great name, to affirm Your oneness with love”—that is how the text reads, or “with love.” In any event, when saying that, one should recall the incident of the Golden Calf. When the Jewish people made the calf, that was not done with love. So when we say “with love,” we should remember the incident of the Golden Calf. Those are the practices connected with the passage of Ahavas Olam. After that, uh,

39:52 Speaker 2 At the end of Ahavas Olam we say: “Blessed are You, Hashem, who chooses His people Israel with love.” There is quite a substantial discussion about whether one may answer amen there or not. Some say that one may answer amen. It is not considered an interruption before Shema, because this is not like a blessing over a mitzvah, where one may not interrupt between the blessing and the mitzvah. If a person says, “Who has sanctified us with His mitzvos and commanded us concerning taking the lulav,” he may not interrupt; he has to take the lulav immediately. But the blessing of Ahavas Olam is not a blessing over the mitzvah. We are not making a blessing on the mitzvah. It is a separate blessing that the Sages instituted for us to say before Shema. Therefore, there is no prohibition against answering amen there, especially since he is answering amen to that very blessing. And in fact, that is the practice. Although there are other opinions, the practice is—as the Alter Rebbe writes in Shulchan Aruch—to answer amen after the blessing “who chooses His people Israel with love.” Nevertheless, because there are opinions that forbid answering amen there, our custom, as recorded in Sefer Haminhagim, is for the chazzan to say the ending quietly. That is, when he reaches “And You brought us close, our King, to Your great name, with love, to give thanks to You, to affirm Your oneness and to love Your name. Blessed are You, Hashem, who chooses...” he does not finish aloud, so that we do not face the question of whether to answer amen. But if someone is in a shul where the chazzan does not know that he should say it quietly and says it aloud, or in a place where the custom is for the chazzan to say it aloud, then strictly speaking one should answer amen there. The Alter Rebbe writes that the practice follows the opinions that answering amen there does not constitute an interruption, so one may answer amen. When we speak about

41:27 Speaker 2 the blessing of Ahavas Olam, we should also mention that some opinions say that if a person did not say the blessings over the Torah in the morning but did say Ahavas Olam, he has fulfilled his obligation to say the blessings over the Torah, because in that blessing he is, in effect, blessing the Torah. There are several expressions in it concerning the Torah, so he has fulfilled that obligation. In such a case, it would seem appropriate not to interrupt, but to say “Shema Yisroel” immediately, because in this case it is like a blessing over a mitzvah. There is a discussion about whether one may interrupt after the blessings over the Torah as well—we will not go into that now—but the practice there, too, is to say verses of Torah immediately after those blessings. The same applies here: if a person is fulfilling his obligation to say the blessings over the Torah through Ahavas Olam, he should be even more careful not to interrupt and should begin immediately, “Shema Yisroel, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad.” The mitzvah of reciting Shema. The mitzvah of reciting Shema is a Torah mitzvah to say Shema every day, once in the morning and once in the evening—“when you lie down and when you rise.” Ideally, the time for this mitzvah in the morning is before sunrise, as stated in the Mishnah. But its time extends until the end of the third hour of the day. That is, a person must manage to say Shema by the end of the third hour. According to the Alter Rebbe, this means the third hour counted from sunrise. Calendars list the time according to the Alter Rebbe. So even someone who will daven and say Shema with its blessings needs to remember to say Shema at its proper time, before davening. In other words, if he davens later, he certainly needs to say what is called the short Shema before davening. Likewise, if he eats before davening, as is the Chabad custom,

43:08 Speaker 2 having mezonos and so on, then even if he will daven before the latest time for Shema, it is appropriate for him to say Shema first, so that his eating comes after he has said Shema. In any event, someone who has already said Shema says it again when he reaches Shema in the order of davening. Reciting Shema, as we said, is a positive Torah mitzvah. There is a major discussion in halachah about whether Torah mitzvos require intention: does a person need to have the mitzvah in mind when doing it? The ruling is that for a Torah mitzvah, a person does need to have intention. What does that mean? Suppose a person walks into a sukkah without paying attention and eats something there. He has not fulfilled the mitzvah of sukkah. Or suppose he puts on tefillin without paying attention, without realizing that he is fulfilling a mitzvah by wearing them. He has not fulfilled the mitzvah of tefillin, because he did it without awareness. He needs to intend to perform a mitzvah. With Shema, there is an additional requirement: not only must he intend to perform a mitzvah, but he must also have focused intent. What does that mean? He must understand what he is saying. If a person says, “Shema Yisroel, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad,” but does not have this intention at least for the first verse, he has not fulfilled his obligation. That is because the main point of Shema, the essence of the mitzvah in its first verse, is accepting the yoke of Heaven’s kingship. Someone who does not focus is missing that acceptance of the yoke of Heaven’s kingship. Therefore, even in the rest of the Shema that we say, from “Ve’ahavta” to the end—although the halachic ruling follows the opinion that only the first verse is required by Torah law, while “Ve’ahavta” is rabbinic—one must still focus on its meaning,

44:47 Speaker 2 Because really, the main point of Ve’ahavta—the main point of the Shema, including the passage “And you shall love Hashem your G-d,” and so on—is kabbolas ol of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Alter Rebbe brings the halachic ruling that if a person did not have the proper intention while saying Ve’ahavta, he does not need to repeat it to fulfill his obligation. Why doesn’t he need to say it again? After all, if he had no intention, what was the point of saying Ve’ahavta at all? The reason, in the Alter Rebbe’s words, is: “What benefit is there in repeating words without heart?” In other words, who says he will have the proper intention the second time? That applies to the first passage. But with the first verse, if a person said the Shema without having the proper intention during that verse, he must go back and say the first verse again; otherwise he has not fulfilled his obligation. The simple meaning of “having the proper intention” is understanding the words. A person who did not understand the meaning of the words has not fulfilled his obligation. There are other interpretations, which we’ll see shortly, that the Alter Rebbe brings in Shulchan Aruch, and one should have those in mind too. But if a person did not have those interpretations in mind, he has still fulfilled his obligation. It is only if he did not have the simple meaning in mind—“Hear, O Israel”: a Jew must understand that “Hashem our G-d is one Hashem.” That is the simple meaning. If a person did not have that in mind, he has not fulfilled his obligation, because the whole matter of kabbolas ol of the Kingdom of Heaven is again missing. Since the Shema is such an exalted and wonderful thing, we find it written in the Gemara—and this was brought as halachah—that one should read it, ideally... Although we said that the first verse is indispensable even after the fact, one should read all three passages, in the words of the Gemara, “like a new royal proclamation.” What does “a new royal proclamation” mean? There was a situation where the king would send

46:31 Speaker 2 a new letter to the country, some new command. When a letter from the king arrived in all the cities—all the towns in the country—the townspeople would stand and read it, in the language of the halachah, with awe, reverence, trembling and trepidation. In other words, it stirred tremendous excitement. A letter from the king had arrived. In the same way, when a person says the Shema each day, as he reads its passages, he needs to awaken that excitement and that feeling of awe, reverence, trembling and trepidation. He should have a special feeling when saying this Shema, which Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave us to say twice every day. This is what it says in the Shema itself: “which I command you today.” Our Sages said that every single day they should be in your eyes as new, as though they were given today. That was said about words of Torah in general, but certainly about the Shema, where that verse appears. Every day, a person should feel as though he is receiving this letter from the king—the Shema—anew. Where did “Hear, O Israel, Hashem our G-d is one Hashem,” followed by “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever,” actually come from? The Gemara relates that when Yaakov Avinu was departing this world, he wanted to reveal the time of the end to his sons. They were all sitting around his bed—or standing—and he wanted to tell them the time of the end, but the Shechinah departed from him. He was concerned that perhaps someone there was unworthy. Why had the Shechinah suddenly departed from him? So they immediately said to him, “Heaven forbid! Hear, O Israel”—Israel was Yaakov Avinu; that was his name—“Hashem our G-d is one Hashem.” In other words, as it says, “Just as there is only One in your heart, so there is only One in our hearts.” When Yaakov heard this, he immediately said

48:24 Speaker 2 “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.” He was blessing Hakadosh Boruch Hu that all his sons had only One in their hearts. Now the Sages said: What should we do? Should we say “Blessed be the name” every day? It is not written in the Torah; Moshe did not receive “Blessed be the name” in the Torah. Should we not say it? But Yaakov Avinu said it. So they instituted that the Shema, which is written in the Torah, should be said aloud, while “Blessed be the name,” which the Gemara says Yaakov said, should be said quietly. Interestingly, we all know another reason why we say “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.” It is a reason that does not appear here, in the laws of the Shema, but in the laws of Yom Kippur, where it says that on Yom Kippur we say “Blessed be the name” aloud. Why do we say it aloud on Yom Kippur? Because on Yom Kippur we are like angels. During the rest of the year, it says there that the reason we say it quietly is that when Moshe Rabbeinu ascended on high, he heard the angels praising Hashem with these words. So when he brought them down here, we do not want the angels to hear. The parable given there is of someone who took something from the king’s house and gave it to his wife; he does not want her going around with it, lest the king or other people see it. There was once a child who was very worried: if we say it aloud in the Shema on Yom Kippur because we are like angels, what if afterward, during the year, they tell the other angels about it? What will happen? He wrote to the Rebbe, or someone in his family wrote to the Rebbe. And the Rebbe pointed to this additional reason: the fact that we say “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever” quietly all year is not connected—

50:06 Speaker 2 at any rate, it is not connected only to the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu took it from on high after hearing the angels. It is also connected to the fact that Yaakov Avinu said “Blessed be the name,” but it was not written in the Torah; that is why we customarily say it quietly. In any case, the custom when saying the Shema is to put a hand over the eyes. This shows us how important it is to have the proper intention when saying the Shema: we put a hand over our eyes. The reason is so that a person can concentrate, without seeing anything that might distract him. That is why we put a hand over our eyes for the Shema. That is the simple explanation. Then, between the Shema and “Blessed be the name,” we pause briefly: “Hear, O Israel, Hashem our G-d is one Hashem,” and then continue, “Blessed be the name.” Why? Because the main act of kabbolas ol of the Kingdom of Heaven is in the first verse, while “Blessed be the name” is a matter in its own right, so we pause briefly between “Hear, O Israel” and “Blessed be the name.” Especially as is explained many times in Chassidus, “Hear, O Israel” is the concept of higher unity, while “Blessed be the name” is the concept of lower unity. In any case, we have discussed the Shema and “Blessed be the name.” What should one have in mind? Regarding the Shema, Shulchan Aruch says that when one says “Hear, O Israel,” one should have the meaning of the whole verse in mind: “Hear, O Israel, Hashem our G-d is one Hashem.” Not just “Hashem our G-d is Hashem,” or something like that, but “Hear, O Israel, Hashem our G-d is one Hashem.” When saying “one,” it says that one should have in mind the letters: the alef—that He is the Master of the world—and the ches, representing the seven heavens and the earth. One should pay attention to that. The Alter Rebbe brings that the top of the ches, as written in a Torah scroll, tefillin or mezuzah, has a sort of raised hump. This signifies that Hakadosh Boruch Hu lives in the heights of the world, as it says,

51:48 Speaker 2 And He rules over the four directions of the world. The Gemara says that a person should draw out the daled, provided he does not rush the ches. There are lengthy explanations of this in Chassidus. In any case, with the way we pronounce “Shema,” you cannot draw out the daled of “echad” in speech. If someone draws it out and says “echad-d-d,” that is not right—the daled has a silent vowel. It is just a consonant, with no vowel sound. When a person says “echad,” he says it correctly, but if he says “echadah,” he has changed the vowel and distorted the word. Some argue that with other pronunciations it is possible to draw out the daled. We will not get into that now. But with the pronunciation customary among us and most of the Jewish people, you cannot draw out the daled. If someone does, he will distort the word. So when we are told to draw out the daled, the main thing is to prolong our contemplation of its meaning. You can simply say “echad”; you do not need to draw it out verbally. The main lengthening is really in one’s thought. Of course, that does not mean rushing through the words. You have to say them word by word. But the main point of drawing it out—and this is what we see among chassidim—is not to prolong the pronunciation of the word. It is to truly contemplate its meaning, as explained in the maamarim of Chassidus, which elaborate on the explanation given in the Shulchan Aruch. That is where the lengthening should be. Then, between saying “Baruch shem” and “Ve’ahavta,” we also pause briefly. That is because “Shema Yisroel” and “Baruch shem” are an acceptance of the yoke of Heaven, while “Ve’ahavta” already introduces the mitzvos. That is where we begin speaking about the mitzvah of tefillin and so on. The mitzvos mentioned in Shema are an acceptance of the yoke of the mitzvos. Therefore, one should pause briefly between “Baruch shem”

53:35 Speaker 2 “le’olam va’ed” and “Ve’ahavta es Hashem Elokecha.” Note that we say “Ve’ahavta es Hashem Elokecha,” with the proper pronunciation of “Ve’ahavta,” not a pronunciation that could sound like the past tense, “and you loved.” We might say that a person did something, went somewhere, and loved. Here we must say “Ve’ahavta es Hashem Elokecha”—it is a command to love Hashem. Along these lines, the Shulchan Aruch gives many cautions. Although throughout davening one must certainly say everything in order, we find that the Sages warned particularly about the proper order in Shema. One must be very careful not to mispronounce any word, and take great care with every word of Shema. So let us briefly mention some places where the Shulchan Aruch says to be careful. Sometimes, when saying Shema quickly, a person might, G-d forbid, mispronounce the words, and instead of an expression of praise, it could, G-d forbid, come out meaning the opposite. For example, it says, “which I command you today, upon your heart.” One should say, “which I command you today”—pause—“upon your heart.” If he runs it together, it sounds as though the command applies today but not tomorrow. No: “which I command you today”—“upon your heart.” It is also known that when the Alter Rebbe read from the Torah, he would emphasize the ches and the ayin so that every letter would sound as it should. In Shema, too, we are very careful that every letter be heard properly. One example also given in the Shulchan Aruch is “which Hashem swore to your ancestors to give you.” If someone mispronounces “swore,” it could, G-d forbid, sound like a word about being taken captive. We say “which Hashem swore”—it refers to Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s oath, not, G-d forbid, to captivity. The same

55:27 Speaker 2 applies to “tizkeru,” and to several other places where a zayin is followed by a chaf. If someone reads it quickly, it will not sound like “tizkeru” as it should. Similarly, one must say “vecharah af,” not “vecharef.” “Vecharef” could, G-d forbid, suggest reviling, the opposite of a blessing. One must be careful to say “vecharah af.” Likewise, whenever two words meet and the first ends in a lamed while the second begins with a lamed, one must separate them, as in “al levavchem” and “al levavecha.” Otherwise, it does not sound as though both lameds were said. The same applies when a word beginning with an alef follows a word ending with a mem, as in “ukshartem es.” If a person reads it quickly, it could, G-d forbid, sound like “mes,” meaning death. One must distinguish “ukshartem osam” properly; if he reads it quickly, it could, G-d forbid, sound like a reference to their death. The Alter Rebbe writes that we must be careful about these things throughout davening, but all the more so in Shema. Everyone is obligated to say Shema, even unlearned people who, as the Alter Rebbe writes, did not daven the entire service in those days. That is why the Sages gave even stronger warnings about Shema than about the rest of davening—especially concerning mistakes that could, G-d forbid, change the meaning. Our custom regarding tefillin and tzitzis is also mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch: when mentioning tefillin and tzitzis, one touches them and kisses them. Tefillin are mentioned twice: in the first paragraph, “You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be frontlets between your eyes,” and again in the second paragraph. Tzitzis are mentioned several times. The word “tzitzis” occurs three times at which we kiss the tzitzis. In practice,

57:21 Speaker 2 the custom, as stated in Sefer Haminhagim and also in Hayom Yom, is to kiss the tzitzis six times during Shema. There are three occurrences of the word “tzitzis”: “tzitzis,” “tzitzis,” and “letzitzis.” Then there is “Hashem Elokeichem emes.” After that, in “Emes Veyatziv,” we reach “vekayam vela’ad.” At “la’ad,” we let go of the tzitzis, but we kiss them at these six points. Shema contains 245 words. To bring the total to 248, corresponding to the 248 limbs and the 248 positive mitzvos, the chazzan repeats the words “Hashem Elokeichem emes.” Our custom, as also seems clear from the Alter Rebbe’s wording in the siddur, is that the chazzan quietly says “Ani Hashem Elokeichem emes,” then repeats aloud, “Hashem Elokeichem emes.” With those three words said aloud, he enables the whole congregation to fulfill their obligation. When they hear him say “Hashem Elokeichem emes” a second time, it counts toward their total of 248 words. At first glance, someone who does not daven with a minyan misses out on that. The Shulchan Aruch cites the verse, “What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.” In other words, a person may have missed something that cannot be made up. Someone who did not say Shema with a minyan has missed three words. Nevertheless, our custom is that even someone davening alone, upon reaching the end of Shema, repeats the three words “Ani Hashem Elokeichem.” Note that this differs from what the chazzan does. When the chazzan davens with a minyan, he says, “Ani Hashem Elokeichem emes; Hashem Elokeichem emes.” But when an individual davens, he says, “Ani Hashem Elokeichem, Ani”

59:19 Speaker 2 “Hashem your G-d is true.” Simply put, that is a complete verse, so there is less concern about saying Hashem’s name in vain; there is no concern here. So when a person praying alone repeats “I am Hashem your G-d—true,” he may do that. Again, he says, “I am Hashem your G-d, I am Hashem your G-d—true.” But if he is praying with the congregation, it can happen that he is in the middle of Shema, saying it slowly, and the chazzan has already finished. When the chazzan begins “Hashem your G-d is true,” the person praying on his own pauses. If he is in the middle of Shema, he pauses and listens to the chazzan, and then continues. That also counts as having 248 words, and he fulfills his obligation. But suppose he is praying slowly, and when the chazzan finishes Shema he is still at Ahavas Olam. He then begins Shema on his own, even though there is a congregation around him. In that case he says, “I am Hashem your G-d, I am Hashem your G-d—true.” After Shema comes the blessing Emes Veyatziv. Again, the individual says, “I am Hashem your G-d—true,” and waits for the chazzan. When the chazzan reaches that point, he says, “Veyatziv venachon vekayam.” There are fifteen words there beginning with the letter vav, if that’s what it’s called. There are also aspects of this according to Kabbalah. In any case, this blessing after Shema was instituted to speak of the kindness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It says, “To tell of Your kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness at night.” So this is when we mention Hashem’s acts of kindness during the day: the splitting of the sea, the Exodus from Egypt. The blessing mentions a number of kindnesses that Hakadosh Boruch

1:01:12 Speaker 2 Hu did for the Jewish people, and we conclude the blessing, “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who redeemed Israel,” to end with the subject of the Exodus from Egypt. That is why, at the end, we say, “And it is said: Our Redeemer, Hashem of Hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who redeemed Israel.” There is a rule that just before the close of a blessing, we say something related to its conclusion. That is how we end the blessing. Here, too, there is a question in practice: Should one answer amen or not? Does it constitute an interruption or not? In practice, although several opinions appear in the Shulchan Aruch, our custom is to finish “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who redeemed Israel” together with the chazzan, and then the question of answering amen does not arise. When the chazzan finishes “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who redeemed Israel” together with the congregation, there is no question of answering amen. This also appears in the Zohar and in the Beis Yosef’s Maggid Meisharim. That is what he instructed the Beis Yosef to do, and our custom, too, is to finish “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who redeemed Israel” together with the chazzan. The Shemoneh Esrei prayer. We are accustomed to calling the entire service “prayer”—the whole Shacharis service, from Modeh Ani through the completion of Tehillim, according to our custom. But the truth is that when we find the term “prayer” in the words of our Sages and in halachah, it refers primarily to Shemoneh Esrei. All of Pesukei Dezimra, the blessings of Shema, Shema itself, and so on are preparation for Shemoneh Esrei. And the main laws about praying with a settled mind, in a particular place and facing a particular direction, were stated primarily with regard to Shemoneh Esrei. We should bear in mind that, of course, throughout the service a person should concentrate when speaking to the King and so on. But in Shemoneh Esrei in particular, he is speaking to the King, and all the laws

1:03:04 Speaker 2 connected with prayer and concentration in prayer apply primarily to Shemoneh Esrei. Our Sages instituted it—the Men of the Great Assembly had already instituted the recitation of Shemoneh Esrei three times each day—corresponding to the daily offerings. The Gemara also says they were instituted corresponding to the Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov; or to the morning and afternoon daily offerings and the parts of the offerings that were brought to the altar and burned through the night. Corresponding to these, they instituted that a person recite the eighteen blessings each day. Later, in the time of Rabban Gamliel, several hundred years afterward, they instituted an addition. This had already begun around the time of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, and afterward they instituted the blessing “Let there be no hope for the informers,” because informers who oppressed the Jewish people had begun to appear, and heretics had multiplied, and so on. They instituted the blessing against the informers as well. So our Shemoneh Esrei now contains nineteen blessings, but all nineteen are called the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, and this part of the service is really its center. It says: “The early chassidim would wait an hour before their prayer and an hour after their prayer, and they would pray for an hour.” That is what the Gemara says about the early chassidim. It is referring, of course, to the Tannaim and Amoraim of the Gemara’s era. They spent time before prayer removing all distractions and contemplating, as the Shulchan Aruch says, the greatness of G-d and the lowliness of man. So the early chassidim, as the Gemara calls them, came prepared for prayer. Not everyone is expected to take quite that long. The Gemara itself asks: If they were occupied with prayer for nine hours a day—three hours for Shacharis, three for Minchah, and three for Maariv—what happened to their work and their Torah study? When would they earn a living? When would they study Torah? There is a long sicha of the Rebbe about the different versions of this passage in the Gemara, and the difference between the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. The Gemara asks

1:05:09 Speaker 2 what happened to their work and their Torah study: where would they earn a living, and when would they study Torah? There is a long sicha of the Rebbe about the different versions of this passage in the Gemara, and the difference between the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. In any case, for our purposes, perhaps not everyone is expected to spend that much time preparing. But what is written certainly applies to everyone: “One should stand to pray only in a serious frame of mind.” As the Shulchan Aruch states, before a person stands up and begins Shemoneh Esrei, he must put aside all his distractions. That is why it says that if someone arrives at the shul, he cannot immediately begin Shemoneh Esrei; he needs to wait. This can come up for us with Minchah: if a person said Ashrei outside, he cannot walk into the shul and immediately begin Shemoneh Esrei. He needs to wait. There are several opinions about what it means to wait—how long, and whether it means waiting for a period of time or walking into the shul. In any case, he needs to wait a little so that he can begin praying with a settled mind. After prayer, too, one should wait a little, so that, to use the wording, it does not appear to be a burden that he is rushing to leave behind. In other words, a person should not run out immediately upon finishing Shemoneh Esrei. He should pause before leaving—we are simply talking about a few seconds after prayer—so that it does not appear that prayer is a burden to him. Regarding praying from a siddur, the Shulchan Aruch says that some have the custom of praying from a book in order to direct their hearts to Hashem. The wording of the Shulchan Aruch is: “It all depends on what he feels within himself.” We know from the Rebbe’s instructions, and also from [unclear], that the Rebbe

1:06:46 Speaker 2 He himself, of course, is very careful to say every word of the prayers from the siddur. In the Rebbe’s instructions to chassidim, too, the Rebbe writes to several people that they should be careful to pray from a siddur. In any case, even if a person does not actually pray from the siddur, it should be open in front of him to the place where he is up to in the prayers. Because the letters really do help bring about concentration, enabling a person to focus more on the meaning of the words, at the very least. We already said: “One should stand up to pray only in a serious frame of mind.” What does that mean? Submission to the King, Hakadosh Boruch Hu; serving Hashem with awe. At the same time, it also says that one should not begin praying amid laughter, anger, or idle talk, but rather with the joy of a mitzvah. In other words, prayer should be approached specifically with the joy of a mitzvah, with the comforting words of Torah, and so on. In halachah it says that one should not begin praying unless one has a clear halachic ruling in mind. One must not begin while preoccupied. If a person is troubled by all sorts of things, it says he should put those concerns aside first and then stand up to pray. As for the direction of prayer, to mention it briefly, of course, it is toward Jerusalem. If a person is outside Eretz Yisroel, it says he should turn his face toward Eretz Yisroel. We have a verse: “They will pray to You in the direction of their land.” That is, a person standing outside Eretz Yisroel should pray in the direction of Eretz Yisroel, while also directing his thoughts toward Jerusalem and the site of the Beis Hamikdash. If a person is in Eretz Yisroel, he prays toward Jerusalem. If he is in Jerusalem, he prays toward the Beis Hamikdash. If he is in the area of the Beis Hamikdash, he prays toward the area of the Holy of Holies. So all of the Jewish people pray toward the Beis Hamikdash. About this, the verse says, “Your neck is like

1:08:37 Speaker 2 the Tower of David, built as Talpiyos,” and our Sages said: a hill toward which all mouths turn. What does that mean in simple terms? That all mouths, all people, turn in its direction. In other words, all prayers are directed toward the Beis Hamikdash. During prayer, during Shemoneh Esrei, it says that the person praying should also position his feet together. There are several reasons, but one reason given in the Shulchan Aruch is to resemble the angels. Of the angels it says, “Their feet were a straight foot,” so when a person brings his feet together, it looks as though his two feet are one foot. So, as we already said, concentration is fundamental to the entire prayer. That is, the whole prayer—we are speaking now about Shemoneh Esrei—should be said with concentration. But halachah says that the concentration that is absolutely essential is at least in Avos, meaning the first blessing. It goes so far as to say that a person should always assess himself: if he is able to concentrate during the first blessing, he should stand up and pray. If he is so preoccupied that he cannot concentrate even during the first blessing, he should not stand up to pray. True, with regard to other matters, it says that in their time a bridegroom was exempt from prayer. Why? Because a bridegroom is preoccupied. But nowadays, when our prayers are not all that focused anyway, even if a person is a bridegroom, he still needs to pray. After all, what difference does his preoccupation make? People generally do not pray with enough seriousness. Yesterday, too, you did not pray seriously enough, so because you are a bridegroom you will not pray? It is the same here: if a person’s prayers are like that anyway, then of course he should pray. There is no question that he should pray, not refrain from praying. But ideally, a person should assess whether he can concentrate at least during the first blessing.

1:10:29 Speaker 2 And if a person did not concentrate during the first blessing of Shemoneh Esrei, it says that he has not fulfilled his obligation. But the halachah is that even though he has not fulfilled his obligation, and strictly speaking should have prayed again, nowadays we do not repeat the prayer. In other words, even if a person did not concentrate during the first blessing of Shemoneh Esrei, he should not pray again. Why? Because, as it says, who knows? Perhaps he will not concentrate the second time either, so why should he repeat it? We spoke in previous classes about two places where one does repeat: “You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing,” and the first verse of Shema, “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One.” In those cases, the halachah is indeed that if he did not concentrate, he must go back and say those passages again. But with Shemoneh Esrei, if a person did not concentrate during the first blessing, he does not need to pray again, because in his situation he might fail to concentrate the second time as well. So it is better not to repeat it at all. In any case, we see how important concentration is, at least during the first blessing. Of course, ideally everyone is expected to say the entire prayer with an understanding of its meaning and with concentration. When we speak about concentration, we mean understanding the meaning of the words, not thinking about Chassidic interpretations and so on. Certainly, whoever adds that is deserving of blessing, but what is required by the basic halachah is that he understand the words he is saying. Prayer should be said quietly; we all know that. Regarding the prayer of Chana, it says: “Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.” Here there is a common mistake that many people make. When a person prays, he needs to articulate the words with his lips and make them audible

1:12:18 Speaker 2 to his own ears. A person praying Shemoneh Esrei needs to hear what he is saying. If, after the fact, he did not hear it, he has still fulfilled his obligation. That is, apparently, provided he actually said something. If a person only moved his lips, it is very questionable whether that is considered prayer at all. If he moved his lips without making a sound, then what is that? Apparently, it is not considered speech; it is as though he prayed in his heart. But certainly, ideally, he needs to make the words audible to his own ears, even during Shemoneh Esrei. People are used to it being a whisper, and if someone says it a little louder, they immediately call out to him: “The shul is quiet!” But the truth is that he needs to hear himself. So much so that the Alter Rebbe writes, as he notes in the Shulchan Aruch, that the main point of praying quietly is that someone standing four amos away should not hear. In other words, someone two meters away from you should not hear, but if someone right next to you hears, nothing terrible has happened. The simple reason we do not pray aloud is so as not to disturb other people praying nearby. That is one reason. Another reason is that, as it says, the Sages instituted quiet prayer so as not to embarrass sinners confessing their transgressions during prayer. But when it says to pray quietly, that does not mean a person should not hear what he is saying. It means that he should hear himself. Moreover, it says that if he is praying with concentration and finds it difficult to pray quietly, he may pray aloud—unless there are people nearby. If there are people nearby, he may not pray aloud. Why not? Because he would disturb others. But it is important to note this: ideally, when praying, the prayer should be quiet, in a way that he makes it audible

1:13:48 Speaker 2 to his ears. When we begin the prayer, there are several points at which we bow and prostrate ourselves, as the Sages instituted. We begin with “Boruch Atah”; there are four places where a person bows. In the first blessing, called the blessing of the Patriarchs, we mention “Magen Avraham” and the Patriarchs. A person must bow at the beginning and at the end of that blessing. In “Modim anachnu lach,” too, we bow at the beginning and at the end of the blessing. The custom, the Alter Rebbe says, is that when one says “Boruch Atah,” one bends down, and when one says Hashem’s Name, one straightens up. In the Alter Rebbe’s words: one bends quickly, in a single motion, and when straightening up, one raises one’s head gently, and then one’s body. We do indeed see this with the Rebbe as well: when bowing during Shemoneh Esrei, he would first raise his head a little and then his body. That is what is written. He explains that, according to Kabbalah, when one says “Boruch,” one bends at the knees, and when one says “Atah,” one bows forward. In the words of the Shulchan Aruch, it is “until all the vertebrae in his spine become prominent.” Certainly, this does not mean moving the head just a little; one actually bows. So again, when saying “Boruch,” one bends at the knees; when saying “Atah,” one bows with the whole body; and when saying Hashem’s Name, one straightens the head first and then the whole body. There are three times when we follow this sequence: at “Boruch Atah Hashem” at the beginning of Shemoneh Esrei, at “Boruch Atah Hashem Magen Avraham,” and at the end of Modim. At the beginning of Modim, there is not quite the same bending and bowing, because there is no “Boruch Atah” there, so we bow when saying “Modim anachnu lach.” That covers the bowing and bending in Shemoneh Esrei. Let’s now go through Shemoneh Esrei itself and various laws that apply during the prayer. First, the prayer begins with one blessing, and then there are more

1:15:46 Speaker 2 blessings. In practice, the halachah is that the first three blessings, through “HaKel Hakadosh,” are praise, and afterward one begins asking for one’s needs. The Sages wrote that a person first acknowledges Hakadosh Boruch Hu and praises Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and only then asks for what he needs. So the first three blessings, and likewise the last three, are blessings of praise and thanks to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The middle blessings are where we ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu for everything a person needs. In fact, it is known that asking for one’s needs when one needs something is a positive mitzvah from the Torah, the mitzvah of “to serve Him with all your heart.” A person has a mitzvah to pray. The early authorities differ over the precise definition of this mitzvah, but according to most halachic authorities and most who enumerate the mitzvos, it certainly includes asking Hakadosh Boruch Hu for one’s needs: praying to Him and asking Him for what one needs. That is what the middle blessings are for. Now, the first blessings are considered a single unit. In other words, if someone makes a mistake in one of the blessings, he can go back to the beginning of that blessing. But if someone makes a mistake in one of the first three blessings and then continues, he cannot go back just to that blessing. Suppose someone said “Refa’einu,” skipped part of the blessing, and continued to “Bareich Aleinu.” Later he realizes that he did not say “Refa’einu” properly. He goes back to “Refa’einu.” But if someone prayed “Atah kadosh v’shimcha kadosh” and did not say it properly—he did not conclude the blessing, and mistakenly continued—he cannot now go back to “Atah Kadosh.” He has to return to the beginning of Shemoneh Esrei. We know this from the law that applies during the Ten Days of Teshuvah. If someone mistakenly said “Boruch Atah Hashem, HaKel

1:17:22 Speaker 2 Hakadosh” and continued, he cannot then go back and begin “Atah Kadosh.” He starts from the beginning of Shemoneh Esrei, because the first three blessings are a single unit, and only after them do we begin the rest of the prayer. The Sages instituted mentioning rain during the rainy season in the second blessing, as praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “Mashiv haruach umorid hageshem.” Let’s briefly mention the laws connected with this. If, in winter, someone mistakenly says “Morid hatal” instead of “Mashiv haruach umorid hageshem,” that is not a problem. He does not have to go back. Why? Because he did mention a praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “Morid hatal.” In fact, those who follow Nusach Ashkenaz say “Mashiv haruach umorid hageshem” in winter and say nothing there in summer. So for someone praying according to Nusach Ashkenaz, if he mentioned nothing in winter, he has to return to the beginning of Shemoneh Esrei. But in our nusach, if someone mistakenly said “Morid hatal” instead of “Mashiv haruach,” he presumably did not say nothing. So if he said “Morid hatal” instead of “Mashiv haruach umorid hageshem,” he does not have to go back and can continue praying. Of course, if he remembers immediately, within the time it takes to say a short phrase, he corrects himself and says “Mashiv haruach umorid hageshem.” But in summer, if someone says “Mashiv haruach umorid hageshem” instead of “Morid hatal,” then because rain in summer is a sign of a curse—that is, it is not a sign of blessing; rain falling in summer is the opposite of a blessing—he must go back and pray again. The Sages then placed “Atah chonein l’adam daas” as the first of the middle blessings. Why did they begin with this blessing? Because without understanding, there is no prayer. That is to say,

1:19:10 Speaker 2 a person needs understanding in order to know what to pray for. So we ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “You graciously grant knowledge to man and teach understanding to mortals,” and so on. “Atah chonantanu” was also placed there. We are speaking mainly about the Shacharis prayer now, so we will not dwell on it, but it was placed there because understanding is what makes distinction possible. Havdalah in general—the distinction between holy and mundane, and the other distinctions—comes from understanding. It is because a person understands that he can distinguish. As we go through the prayer, we will mention a few customs. We will not go through every blessing. We have the blessing of “Selach Lanu,” and in that blessing the custom is to strike the chest when saying, “Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned; pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed.” We strike the chest, as stated in the Shulchan Aruch regarding Yom Kippur. A person strikes his chest as if to say, “You caused me to commit these sins”—meaning the yetzer hara. As stated in Sefer Haminhagim, when Tachanun is not said, the custom is also not to strike the chest. If it is a day on which Tachanun is not said—Rosh Chodesh, Chol Hamoed, or Chassidic dates on which Hayom Yom says not to say Tachanun—then we do not strike the chest during “Selach Lanu” either. Later, in the blessing of “Bareich Aleinu,” we say, “and bless all the kinds of its produce for good.” Sefer Haminhagim—and Hayom Yom as well—says that when saying those words, one should have in mind wheat, so that one will have wheat for matzos, flour for matzos, and an esrog, so that one will have a beautiful esrog for Sukkos. In several places the Rebbe also mentions wine for Kiddush. These things all grow from the ground: the flour, the wheat, the grapevine, and the esrog. So when we pray “Bareich Aleinu,” asking Hakadosh Boruch Hu to grant blessing, we have in mind

1:21:00 Speaker 2 Of course, this applies to spiritual matters as well, besides the straightforward meaning that a person prays for a livelihood. A person needs his necessities; that is the main mitzvah of prayer. But there is also an inner meaning here: we pray that this livelihood will bring about the spiritual things as they should. Then, in the blessing of Velamalshinim, there is something else mentioned in Hayom Yom. We say, “And may the kingdom of wickedness be swiftly uprooted, broken, destroyed and subdued.” Hayom Yom says that when we say “uprooted, broken and destroyed,” we should pause, and then say, “and subdued speedily in our days.” Why do we need to pause? The reason is based on Kabbalah: “uprooted, broken and destroyed” refers to the impure kelipos, while “subdued” refers to kelipas nogah. That is why we pause between “destroyed” and “subdued.” Then we continue with Shemoneh Esrei. We already spoke about... there are the bows during Modim. When we reach Yihyu Leratzon, it says—and this also appears in Sefer Haminhagim—that before the second Yihyu Leratzon, the custom is to say a verse that begins and ends with the same letters as a person’s name. For example, chassidim also have the custom of saying the verses for the Rebbe’s name. So if we take the name Menachem, we say the verse, “He grants great deliverance to His king and shows kindness to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever.” Its first letter is mem, as is the first letter of Menachem, and its last letter, in “forever,” is also mem, as is the last letter of Menachem, and so on. Every person has a verse that fits his name. There is some discussion among the later authorities: there are a few names for which there are no... no verses that fit. There are certain combinations of first and last letters for which Tanach has no verse with that beginning and

1:23:01 Speaker 2 ending. In any case, afterward we say, “He Who makes peace in His heavens, may He make peace for us.” Let’s mention the basic halachah: when a person says “He Who makes peace,” he takes three steps backward. At “in His heavens,” he bows to the left. Why? Because he is taking leave of the King, so the King’s right is the person’s left. At “may He make peace for us and for all Israel, amen,” he bows. Then he waits where he is. When he is praying with a minyan, he waits there until the shliach tzibbur reaches Nekadishach. Then he returns to his place and says “Nekadishach vena’aritzach” together with the congregation. If a person is praying alone, he only needs to wait the time it takes to walk four amos—just a few seconds—and then he can return to his place. The conclusion of the prayers: after saying Tachanun, we have the custom of saying, “Fortunate are those who dwell in Your house; they will yet praise You forever,” and so on. The reason we say Ashrei after Shemoneh Esrei is that the Gemara says, “Anyone who recites Tehillah LeDavid three times each day is assured of being a person of the World to Come.” So the custom is to say Ashrei three times during the day: once in Pesukei Dezimra, once after Shemoneh Esrei and Tachanun, and once before Minchah. After Ashrei, we say “Lamenatzeiach, a psalm of David.” As the Alter Rebbe writes in the siddur, the custom—the Sephardic custom, as the Alter Rebbe calls it—is not to say Lamenatzeiach on days when Tachanun is not said. The Alter Rebbe lists there all the days when Tachanun is not said, such as Rosh Chodesh and so on. On those days, the custom is also not to say Lamenatzeiach. Incidentally, Rabbi Chaim Neubargesh[?], a chossid, asks: On 19 Kislev, too, the custom is not to say Tachanun. Why doesn’t the Alter Rebbe include

1:24:47 Speaker 2 that date in the siddur? Because the Alter Rebbe was describing the Sephardic custom, the custom practiced more generally. But among chassidim, 19 Kislev is also one of the days when Tachanun is not said. After Lamenatzeiach, we say “Uva Letziyon Goel”—“A redeemer shall come to Zion.” Toward the end of Tractate Sotah, the Gemara says that since the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, what sustains the world? Kedushah Desidra—the Kedushah recited as part of this sequence. What does that mean? We recite Kedushah during the blessings of Shema. There we say, “And the ofanim and the holy chayos,” and so on. We say, “Blessed is the glory of Hashem from His place,” and before that, “And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is Hashem of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.’” That is the Kedushah in which the angels sanctify Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and we repeat it every day. The Kedushah of Uva Letziyon is a Kedushah in Aramaic translation. We say almost the same things, but in Aramaic. We begin there with “And they receive from one another,” which is the translation of “And one called to another and said,” and we say “Holy,” and so on. It is this Kedushah in Aramaic that sustains the world, as the Gemara says. Therefore, the Shulchan Aruch says that a person may not leave the shul before Kedushah Desidra. Even someone who is in a hurry must wait in shul until after Uva Letziyon before leaving. There are several customs concerning when to remove tefillin, but one of the customs mentioned is not to remove them before saying Uva Letziyon. Reciting Uva Letziyon is something lofty and wonderful, part of the order of prayer. Indeed, Kaddish Tiskabel—the Kaddish in which we say, “May their prayers and supplications be accepted”—was established after Uva Letziyon.

1:26:39 Speaker 2 There are differing opinions, in Kabbalah and in the revealed teachings, about whether Uva Letziyon should be said standing or sitting. In practice, the Pri Megadim writes that the custom is this: if a person said Ashrei and Lamenatzeiach while sitting, he should remain seated for Uva Letziyon. If he said Ashrei and Lamenatzeiach while standing, he should remain standing for Uva Letziyon as well. We have the custom of saying this Kedushah quietly, unlike the Kedushah in the blessings of Shema, which, according to some opinions, should specifically be said aloud. We know that many communities have a custom in which the chazzan says, “And one called to another and said,” and the whole congregation says “Holy, holy, holy” aloud together. But even those who follow that custom say the Kedushah of Uva Letziyon quietly, because something in Aramaic translation is not said publicly—that is, aloud by the congregation. When a person is alone, he says it quietly. It is written that a person who is alone, rather than with a congregation, may say it aloud; but when he is with the congregation, he should say it quietly. After Uva Letziyon, we say “Tefillah LeDavid.” The custom is also not to say Tefillah LeDavid on a day when Tachanun is not said. Tefillah LeDavid, “Beis Yaakov,” and so on—this text has appeared in siddurim for hundreds of years. In these verses, we ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu to accept all the prayers we have just said. After that comes the Shir Shel Yom, the psalm of the day. The Levi’im used to recite the Shir Shel Yom; it may be that they recited it twice a day, but our custom is to say it once a day. Interestingly, some communities had the custom of saying Aleinu before it. One person asks

1:28:27 Speaker 2 He asked the Rebbe about the custom in the shul where he davened to say Aleinu before Shir Shel Yom. So what should he do? The Rebbe wrote to him that Aleinu should be said with the congregation. When the congregation is saying the praise of Aleinu, it is not fitting for a person not to say it. We find something similar regarding Modim. The Rebbe pointed out to him that when the congregation says Modim, if someone does not join in, it looks as though, G-d forbid, he does not acknowledge what the whole congregation is acknowledging. Therefore, when the congregation says Aleinu, someone who is davening should say Aleinu. So the Rebbe instructed him in that letter to say the entire Aleinu together with the congregation, and afterward to continue with Shir Shel Yom and so on. Later, when he reaches the point where, according to our custom, the Alter Rebbe placed Aleinu in the siddur, he should say the entire prescribed prayer of Aleinu again. After Shir Shel Yom, which we say each day, the custom is to say Ein K’Elokeinu and Pitum Haketores. Pitum Haketores should be said twice each day. Since the ketores was offered twice a day in the Beis Hamikdash, we customarily say it in the morning and in the afternoon—that is, both before Minchah and after Shacharis. Actually, in our nusach the passage about the ketores appears earlier as well. But there is a basis for this: according to certain opinions, the ketores could sometimes be offered after the afternoon tamid offering. So in practice our custom remains to say the passage about the ketores after Shemoneh Esrei as well. After saying the passage about the ketores comes Aleinu Leshabeiach. Aleinu Leshabeiach is a wonderful prayer, written by Yehoshua bin Nun, that contains great praise. In other words, among the prayers in the order of davening, it is one of the most ancient. Saying Aleinu Leshabeiach expresses very great praise, and therefore

1:30:26 Speaker 2 it is customary to say it standing. Aleinu Leshabeiach should be said standing. Our custom, mentioned in Hayom Yom, is well known: when we reach the words “for they bow to vanity and emptiness,” we spit. The reason we spit, as explained in Hayom Yom on the 15th, is that we do not want to benefit from the saliva produced while saying “vanity and emptiness.” After all, when we say “vanity and emptiness,” we mean all the idols of the nations of the world. We do not want to benefit from the saliva produced while saying those words, so we spit. The Rebbe notes that this is an ancient custom. The Taz already mentions it too. Apparently, it was once a custom accepted in very many communities, not only in the Chabad community. It is important to note that one should not spit in front of another person, both as a matter of proper conduct, of course, and out of consideration for someone else. One should not spit in a way that disgusts another person. Apart from the laws of proper conduct, respect for another person calls for not spitting in front of them. We can see this in the Rebbe’s conduct when spitting during Aleinu Leshabeiach. The Rebbe generally made a point of not spitting toward the Aron Kodesh. When the Rebbe davened at the front of the shul, on the right-hand side, people saw that he would turn toward the wall and spit. Likewise, when the Rebbe davened in the small zal, where the directions are different, he spat in another direction, not toward the Aron Kodesh. At the same time, many noticed that on days when the small zal was crowded—and this never happened in the large zal, but it often happened in the small zal, where people were packed in—people would also stand on the side toward which the Rebbe turned. The Rebbe then preferred to spit toward the Aron Kodesh rather than toward the people. Of course, “My thoughts are not your thoughts,” but apparently, from our limited perspective,

1:32:23 Speaker 2 it was out of respect for people, so that they would not, G-d forbid, think he was spitting in their direction. Even though the saliva should not be noticeable—we are not talking about much; a person can swallow before saying “for they bow to vanity and emptiness.” There should be only a very small amount of saliva, produced while saying the words “vanity and emptiness.” Nevertheless, one should not spit in front of people. After that we say, “But we bend the knee and bow.” It says that one should bend the knee and bow when saying “But we bend the knee and bow”—quite literally. Bending the knee is with the legs, and bowing is with the whole body. After saying “for they bow to vanity and emptiness,” we pause briefly, then immediately continue: “But we bend the knee and bow before the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” After Aleinu, the siddur has Al Tira and Ach Tzaddikim. Actually, halachah says that when a person leaves the shul, he should say Ach Tzaddikim. But the Rebbe writes in a letter that our custom is to say it before Tehillim, while we are still in shul. On one occasion, the Rebbe addressed why we customarily say it after davening and not after Tehillim. There is a very strong insistence on not adding anything to the nusach of davening. The Rebbe therefore writes that when the Frierdiker Rebbe introduced the practice of saying Tehillim, the original custom was for the person leading Tehillim not to stand at the chazzan’s lectern. He stood at the bimah in the center of the shul, so that it would not appear as though the Frierdiker Rebbe had added Tehillim as part of davening. The Frierdiker Rebbe was very particular that we not change the nusach of davening. If his enactment added something, it was separate from davening. Of course, saying Tehillim is very important. We are not diminishing the practice or its importance. But the point is that saying Tehillim is not part of davening; it is something additional. That is why Al Tira and Ach

1:34:20 Speaker 2 Tzaddikim are said before Tehillim. After that, of course, we say Tehillim, as the Frierdiker Rebbe instituted. Continuing what we said earlier—that it is not part of the order of davening—to show just how important this practice is, perhaps we can mention a story the Rebbe told several times. A Jew came in to see him, and the Rebbe asked whether he kept up with the daily Chumash and Tehillim study schedules and so on. He told the Rebbe that he did not always say Ashrei and Uva Letziyon. “There are different customs,” the Rebbe recalled this Jew saying, so he did not say Ashrei and Uva Letziyon. “But the Tehillim of Chitas—I heard about that from the Rebbe in yechidus,” that Jew told the Rebbe, meaning the Frierdiker Rebbe. So although Tehillim is an addition to davening, for us as chassidim, saying Tehillim is something important, central and fundamental. In fact, there are several details from the Rebbe concerning the saying of Tehillim. Several times, people asked the Rebbe what to do when they were in a great hurry after davening and did not have time to say the daily portion of the monthly Tehillim cycle. The Rebbe instructed that even someone who has no time should at least begin the first chapter, starting part of that day’s portion. For some people, saying the daily portion of the monthly Tehillim cycle takes a long time. So they should at least begin the first chapter right after davening and say the rest of the Tehillim later in the day. That concerns the monthly Tehillim cycle. Besides that, we have several enactments concerning the saying of additional chapters of Tehillim. The Rebbe cited what the Alter Rebbe brought in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: that every person should say the chapter of Tehillim corresponding to their age. In other words, for someone who has just been born, the chapter corresponding to their age is chapter 1, and the same pattern continues. Someone

1:36:11 Speaker 2 For someone who is twenty, the chapter corresponding to his age is chapter 21. The letter and sicha of the Frierdiker Rebbe indicate that one says it before the monthly Tehillim. The Rebbe also once stated that the personal chapter of Tehillim is said before the monthly Tehillim. On the other hand, elsewhere the Rebbe left this question somewhat unresolved. Some have written that it depends on whether a person is saying Tehillim with a congregation: in that case, he should first say the monthly Tehillim with everyone else, and only afterward say his personal chapter. But if he is saying it alone, he should begin with his personal chapter and then say the other chapters of Tehillim. Another custom in this connection is that chassidim say the chapter corresponding to the Rebbe’s age. The Rebbe also mentioned this several times with regard to the Frierdiker Rebbe. Another custom regarding the recitation of Tehillim: on any day when we do not say Lamnatzeiach—because, as we said earlier, when Tachanun is not said, Lamnatzeiach Mizmor LeDavid is not said after Ashrei—the custom is to say chapter 20, Lamnatzeiach Mizmor LeDavid, after davening, as part of the order of reciting Tehillim. Of course, this entire practice of reciting Tehillim is in addition to the recitations of Tehillim that the Frierdiker Rebbe instituted on various occasions, such as saying Tehillim during the month of Elul and on Shabbos Mevarchim. Those are, of course, separate practices. That concludes our discussion of Shacharis.