לך לך תשפ״ב

00:00 A good to watch and welcome to Chadashim Gam Yashanim. Um, start off right away with the-- we have a h- a lot, a lot of interesting shailas this week. We start off with someone asked me, uh, about the minhag about n- um, saying Modeh Ani. The position of holding the hands by Modeh Ani. So this is something which is in the sichas of the Friediker Rebbe. It's a sicha from Tov Shin Tes. It was published by the Rebbe in s- in the Mamorim from Tov Shin Yud. So after the Rebbe became Rebbe, he th- he published historic Mamori, um, a previous Mamorim, contrasium for the f- first few years, the Rebbe's first years, where he was publishing some of Mamorim of the Friediker Rebbe, and there would be bits added to it. So, uh, some to sichas. So this is a sicha of Tov Shin Tes, which as I said, published in Tov Shin Yud, Yud Aleph, whatever. It's in Klipa Moment Tov Shin Yud. And now it's also in Sefer Sichas Tov Shin, uh, Tes. All right, so let's read. And it's on the right of our, uh, sh- screen. And so it w- it, it's a little bit of a whole long story, and he just says the following. "When m- when me hot mir mechanich given zogen Modeh Ani." When I was taught to say Modeh Ani. "Hat mir gehisn tsu leggen ein hantz tsu dit zwete." I was told to place one hand to n- next to the other. "Un eynbeigen

01:36 di kop," and incline the head. "Un azoy zogen Modeh Ani." So to have your hands together somehow, we'll discuss in a moment. And, um, incline the head. Now, this is a sicha which is said, um, by, by rabbin. But, uh, most, most of Anash weren't there, and it was very confusing for people what exactly does it mean legging a hand to a hand. Which is interesting because in the, in the sicha, the, the whole story, they call over Ben Zion. Ben Zion the Meshules. And they ask him, "How do you say Modeh Ani?" And he says the same thing. It wasn't a, a Rebbish thing. It was the standard thing, at least in that part of the world. This is the position, the, the posture for saying Modeh Ani. So there was a discussion. And this girl sent me, the-- who asked me the question this week. So she uses emojis, and she puts the, "Is it like this?" The emoji or like that emoji. So you got an emoji which is, uh- When you have a share emoji ... with two hands like this. This is one emoji. And another emoji which is like this. Clasped-- two clasped hands. And the Yiddish words leggen, tsu leggen a hand tsu a hand is a bit ambiguous. And so there has been discussion amongst Anash over the years what exactly does it mean tsu leggen a hand tsu a hand. And the concern was that this, uh, putting the hands like this would be, uh, uh,

03:04 like a Christian type of, um, posture. And so that was the an- anxiety. And kol ponim, having said that, the late, uh, Rebbe Yosef Goldstein, who you see in the picture, otherwise known as Uncle Yossi. So he was there. He was there at the, at the shvuas fabrengen in the Friediker Rebbe's, uh, you know, in, in the apartment. Wherever it was exactly, I'm not sure. But he was there and he, uh, s- perhaps ten years ago, he, uh, he demonstrated exactly what you saw. Now, he holds the two hands together, and that's the position. Slightly, the head slightly astute. But that's the position of saying Modeh Ani. And now, uh, I have-- it's not very common, not very often that you'll see a-- How often do you see an Alter Rechasid saying Modeh Ani? It's-- But I had once my zayde, alav hashalom, he was staying in my, in, in New York by my brother. And it was on the, in the-- He was sleeping on the, on the couch or something. And he got up and I saw him say Modeh Ani. It was a similar posture. So, uh, kol ponim. This you have a eides. Uh, um, someone who was there and saw how the Friediker Rebbe showed. He would put his hands together. Now, in the conversation, Reb Leibel Groner was asked about this. And so at the bottom of the page, you have from Reb Leibel what he answered. The concern about sim- resembling, uh, the Christian behavior, which they do

04:38 when they say a prayer before going to sleep, was asked to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe answered that Rabbeim also knew about this, and they still had this minhag. Number two, the Christians, when they do this, they, they before going to sleep, they kneel. They say, "Get down on their knees." Whereas we, we, we're not talking about kneeling. So it's, it is that. It's a similar posture, that's true, but it's not kneeling, therefore it doesn't resemble what the, uh, Christians are doing. Kol ponim. Just to clarify, we have Baruch Hashem a mesorah, um, from someone who was there. He's now in Eilu Mamais, but he managed to show us exactly what he saw. Yeah, it's, it's true that they go ahead and do that also. They do, they do it at other po- positions and the, um, certainly the emoji is, um, perhaps reflecting a mode of prayer. It's also, by the way, the Japanese do that as in, as in saying, "I, uh, I appreciate what you're doing." It's a-- With them, it's the same posture, means something else. Kol ponim. This is our mesorah. And so, fine. Let's move on. Very well, Trevor. Is that- Okay. That's, uh, wonderful. Now, someone asked me the significance about various points in davening that the chazan kind of prompts. As we have, "Mayom ruch l'olam," and everyone says, "Michah malecha." So- What you have at the bottom is from a Siddur Torah Ur. And about five years ago, four years ago, Kahos published a new edition

06:22 of the Siddur Torah Ur. This is very interesting, that they found a copy of the Rebbe's own siddur, where he had made stars at various points and a couple of little notes, very short notes. And it looks like the Rebbe had made notes of what the Friediker Rebbe was doing as when he davened at the Amidah, which is interesting because this is from Tof Shin Beis. In the early years, the Rebbe-- they, I'm sorry, in the later years, the Friediker Rebbe didn't daven at the Amidah. He wasn't in the position to. And say, R-- Shmol Levitan would daven when the Rebbe had yahrzeit. Shmol Levitan would daven. But it looks like in the early years, even in America, there was a time the Rebbe did daven, the Friediker Rebbe. But the Rebbe made-- makes notes. And so you have here, if you can look on the screen, by Ve'omru Chulam, there's a circle over here. This is by Shacharis. And here you have, by Ma'ariv, you have here this asterisk. They're both, um, indicating the parts which the chazan says out loud. So this seems to be a, a standard minhag Israel. And also you see the graphics of the Siddurim where they have Ve'omru Chulam is the end of a paragraph and Michamoicho, that's at least by Ma'ariv, starts a new paragraph, and something similar by Shacharis. So let's go into Poskim. This is a Sefer called Mocheir Chaim. This is written by Rabbi Chaim Yosef Bachrach, otherwise known by his Sefer, the Chavas

08:04 Yosef. He was a contemporary of the Magen Avraham, and he wrote a work similar to the Magen Avraham, whereas the Magen Avraham was fortunate that it became the standard commentary. In the Shulchan Aruch, the, um, the Mocheir Chaim remained in, in manuscript until about twenty-some years ago. It was published by Mocheir-- but it's, it's a st... Kol ponim, this is over there. He says, "BeShabbat ve Yom Tov, the chazan is ma'ariv be yotzer ohr, and the yochid should also keep in track with-- on track with the chazan. Ve it's not correct to be mafsik between Beyira and Kodesh. Oim be Yira Kodesh." So he says you should try to keep the chazan's chazan tzach. So you should try to keep with the-- you should finish off the word Beyira together with the chazan, which I s- didn't realize it before even. "Gam eino chayn," you shouldn't say Kodesh on your own. "Ki na'aseh k'moi malachim kulam k'echad." What we're doing here by davening, we are simulating, we're describing what's happening in, in, in, in, uh, Mesivtet Yeruchim, et cetera, where the malachim are saying Kodesh. And we are saying, um, all together, we're saying Kodesh like the malachim. I'm just taking out the Siddur for a moment. You know, there's a difference between our, our nusach and others. Others have the nusach, "Kdusha kulam heinim ke'echad." We have, "Imma kdosha kulam ke'echad." It doesn't matter. It already goes, goes back to Rishonim, this difference, whether it's imma kdosha or kdusha kulam ke-- it doesn't matter.

09:42 But there is the idea that we are simulating what the malachim are saying. We are copying the malachim, and therefore we're saying it all together. So it's an emphasis that the chazan leads everyone till Boim be'yira. And then everyone says together Ka- Kodesh, Kodesh, like the malachim say together. "Vechein ve'noch, vechein bechol ani hasapsukim uvemakeilos. Ve'chein Michamoicho ani yom loch." And the berachah is after Kirshner. And "Kadesha volitzion lo yakdim veha dvarim moychichim sheyom yahad." So he mentions various other points where also there is this emphasis that everyone says together. Now, um, before I forget, I want to share with you a fascinating, um, thing which I didn't prepare to say, but here's the following. There's a shailer why in Chabad is it not emphasized by, by volitzion to say the, uh, kedusha aloud. In their world, the chazan says kedusha aloud. Um, it prompts, um, Korozel Zevi Omar, especially in the literature world, it's quite emphasized. Korozel Zevi Omar and everyone says Kodesh. So and then there's-- you've got the Aramaic words. So the, it, it-- this traces back to a Zohar. And the Zohar talks about, uh, the malachim and whether we want the malachim to realize what's going on, and Aramaic kind of, that, that turns the malachim off. So let's-- we'll go through this carefully. The first time we say Kodesh, we're telling a story. In Kir-- Birkat Kirshner, we are relating what's happening in Shamayim. The malachim are saying Kodesh. That's the first Kodesh. Then it comes to Shemoneh Esreh.

11:34 Then it comes to Shemoneh Esreh, and we are not just telling stories. We are mamash copying the malachim. We're doing-- it's not just we're telling a story about the malachim. We are saying Kodesh like the malachim. It comes with volitzion. It comes with volitzion, and then we're saying, "You know, we are saying Kodesh. We're not even mentioning the malachim." On the contrary, we are s-- you know, the famous, I think, um, uh, nu, uh, . Here we, we are saying that it's Idna saying Kodesh, the famous thing with the, with the Bal- Baal Shem Tov, with the, uh, with the Porush. Idna saying Kodesh. So we-- so the first time, we told a story about the Malachim. The second time, we are, we are join- we jo-joining them together. Now, we're saying Kadesh without the Malachim. And so that's, that says that Ka- the reason the, uh, and the Zohar says, you don't want the Malachim to be there to be, uh, aware that you're saying Kadesh, you're taking it away from them. And that's the reason for saying the, uh, saying the Aramaic there. Somehow to discourage the, um, the presence of the Malachim. So this-- And, and that's essentially the basis of the two Minhagim of whether to say Kadesh and Bolo Seh aloud or not. Certainly, Minhag Ashkenaz is to say it, you know, responsively between the chazan and the call. But okay. Let's come back to what, what we want to address today. We're not addre-addressing Kadesh, Kedusha so much as

12:58 Michamocha and Hashem Yimloch. And I want to share with you the following. Let's go on to the next page, next slide. Now, in the, in the Gemara Sotah. Where is it? In Daf, uh, Daf Lamed Amud Bet. It says, when the Yidden, when they crossed the, uh, when they came across the Red Sea, and then they came to say Shirah. They said, "Ashira." Says Rabbi Akiva, "So how did they say it?" "Heched omru shirah." So he says, "K'godol..." There's three opinions here. First one says-- Actually, the Mishnah, it has two opinions and Gemara and the Braisa has got three opinions. First one says the style was, "K'godol hamakris, uh, uh, hallel." That you have a leader who's saying hallel and other people are joining in. "Vein oinin acharon." How do they join in? Only Rosh Keprokim. They only say the main kind of-- the, the main chorus, so to speak. Moshe says, "Ashira lashem." They say, "Ashira lashem." Moshe says, "Kigoy go." They say, "Ashira lashem." And they went through the whole of a hallel, every posuk. Moshe says a half a posuk. They said what he-- They, they... Moshe says a, a phrase, "Ashira lashem." Another phrase. "Ashira lashem." So they didn't say the whole hallel. They just said, "Ashira lashem," because they were yotzer from what, what, what Moshe was saying. That is the opinion of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon really says, "Kekatan hamakris hallel." No. They even said, like if you'd have a child who's saying the hallel, then you

14:25 can't be yotzer from listening because it can't co- is-- can't... A child cannot be motzi. So, uh, uh, so then, "Vein oinin acharon kol ma she'omar." Therefore, it has to be repeating. The child says, "Ashira lashem." You have to say, "Ashira lashem." Mo- and mo- and, uh, Moshe said, "Kigoy go." As if like a child said, "Kigoy go." So you can't be yotzer. You have to repeat what the child says. So they said everything phrase by phrase. And Nechemya omer. And Nechemya is a third opinion. "Kesover hapois hashma bebes hak nesses shehu po iseh hatchil avein oinin acharon." Imagine you've got a chazan in shul, and he says the first p-part, and then everyone from memory says the whole thing. So you've got three opinions whether the hallel was said. That they did not say everything. That's Rabbi Akiva. They didn't say everything. Only responsively. They, they are only responding like a chorus. Rabbi Elazar really said-- Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah really says they, they, they repeat it phrase by phrase. And Nechemya says they said the whole lot, and they were inspired by, uh, by Ruach Hakodesh. Okay. Fine. So these are the three opinions. So now let's come back to what we're saying in Davening. It looks like although they, they... by the Shirah, according to Rabbi Akiva, they didn't say everything. But there were certain phrases which they did say. And there are two phrases which everyone did say, and they-- What that mean, and that's referring to the two phrases, Michamocha,

15:56 which is halfway through approximately, and Hashem Yimloch, which is at the end of the Shirah. And that's what we say. "L'chah-- v'nei Yisroel l'cha onu shirah," the Simcha Raba. They responded, "Ashira lashem, Ashira lashem." "Veyomru kulam," but they all said, "Michamocha." That everyone said. So whereas everything else, it was just onu. But this was veyomru. And similarly, "Yachad kulam hoylu vimlichu veyomru Hashem Yimloch." Everyone said, "Hashem Yimloch." So these psukim were said by the Yid, not just heard and yotzer from Moshe. They were said. That was my Shacharis. Let's now go to Mincha. "The Simcha Raba veyomru kulam l'cha onu shirah. The Simcha Raba veyomru kulam Michamocha." And again, and now this is even more interesting. "Ze keili onu veyomru Hashem Yimloch lenad." Onu veyomru. Yeah. It's-- L'chora is, i-it's... There's basis for that, but I think the pshat, posht pshat is, "Ze keili onu." When Moshe says, "Ze keili va'anvehu onu," they said, "Ashira lashem." "Veyomru," and they said, "Hashem Yimloch lenad." So you got these, these psukim, which are amongst the twenty odd psukim in the Shirah. But these are the key psukim which everyone said. And that's why, that's coming back to what the, uh, Mokir Chaim says. These psukim, the chazan prompts, and everyone says them as if to replay the event of, uh, of k-saying the Shirah at, at, at Krias Yam Suf. Okay, let's move on. Yes. Um, someone points out that unlike Chazarat Hashatz, when it comes to Kedusha, we do say Veyocheil, the whole of Kedusha. Although

17:47 there's a lot of Machloket. Some Rishonim says you don't, but that's what we do l'maaseh. Um, you're asking about Malachim don't understand Aramaic. Well, we have... It's well known that the Ha- Malachim are-- they despise Aramaic. It's Achuraiim of Lashon Hakodesh. It certainly turns them off, apparently. Okay. Um, I can't tell you from experience, though. I was never an angel. Okay, let's move on. The next point which you have on our, our, our list is, uh, in German-- somewhere in, in England. And- He asks a question. „Lechatchila,“ we know that you should be davening Shacharit after sunrise. It works out that if he's going to be careful about that, and he's b- brings his children to school, as a result, when he will start Shacharit will be very late, and that will very much impact his, his, his, um, managing the day. So here's the question of how, how, how rigid do we need to be about this? Now, a lot of us don't even have the question because a lot of us have got d- a discipline to be at work at a certain time, and we davven before n-- A lot, a lot of us are davvening before netz. Most of the minyanim in London are, and probably Manchester too for sure, are davening before netz. But, uh, this person is a bit more flexible. He's asking how strict is it. So let's just go through this carefully. So we first have a quote from the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch from Siman pet

19:18 the beginning of Dinim of Shacharit. "Gam tefilat ha'shachar zmanah masich li'alot hashasah. Shelechatchilah mitzvah lehashchil im netz chadasham. Velechatchilah Shacharit should be, that means Shmoneh Esreh, should be from sunrise. D'hayeinu achari yetzi'atah. Preferably, Shacharit should be after sunrise and not earlier. V'lo k'devar cham because it says, "Yireh uchim shamsh." And then he talks about selichot where people go, davven early before netz chadasham. Oh, this part of-- my part of the world is not a problem with selichot. Um, weiter. Aval b'de'eved, im anava v'nispal v'shor shalom omer ashachar yotzer. B'afleh l'chatchilah yochal asis kein b'shaas hadchak. So we have here that b'shaas hadchak, in a moment of when you have a, a difficulty, you can take the lenient view of... Well, the lenient position of davening before netz. On the left of your screen, you have a quote from the Buchachover, the Eyl Ha'Olam. I mentioned him in a previous shiurim. He was a mekubov of the Berditchever. He, in some places, he refers to the Alter Rebbe, Chayo. He refers to him as Niri Yo. We can just, we can just, you know, the profile, like when, when he lived over two hundred years ago. So he writes the following. On-- Commenting on the Shulchan Aruch which talks about Shmoneh Esreh im honeitz ha'chamah. Ma shekosvu beshem Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov alav hashalom. Chay dos shelo lehamtin ad honeitz ha'chamah. It's quoted in the name of the Baal Shem Tov not to be so farsi about waiting for shmoneh esreh till sunrise. V'kosvu emes,

21:08 hashemesh yotzer al ha'aretz v'lo tibot tzoyarah. That it was lo-- it was waiting for the sun somehow. And he has a discussion about this. But what's fascinating is that we have here some kind of message quoting from the Baal Shem Tov that not to be so rigid about, um, about netz ha'cham, which is very interesting. Uh, the Alter Rebbe obviously doesn't bring it. Um, and there's also, I've seen later seforim who s- who grapple with what exactly is the Buchachover saying. What was it that the Baal Shem Tov wasn't so farsi about? I could just add another point that in the Tzemach Tzedek, in Chidushai HaMishnayot, he talks about the Vosikin. We've got the people who are Vosikin, who davven with the netz. And the Tzemach Tzedek in Chidushai HaMishnayot in Brachot is, is not so... He says that it could be that it's not really lahalacha. It actually might be better, uh, a little earlier, et cetera. Okay. But let's now, one, one more, uh, very helpful factor. Now, you can probably recognize this last quote is from the, um, Piskei Teshuvas. It's from the notes. Okay. So now, what's very interesting is we have-- we've got this dawn. The t- word for dawn in Hebrew is alot hashashar, which means, shachar means the blackness. Alot hashashar means the lifting of the blackness. The blackness of na- of night has begun to lift. That's alot hashashar. Uh, more than an hour later is when the sun actually appears. That's called netz ha'cham. Is there

22:46 something in between? Sometimes we have a loshon misheheer hayom. Um, in the Alter Rebbe's siddur, which our siddur, and he talks about by-- just before, uh, Birkat HaTorah. Im nehir kol halailah mevorech k'sheyeheer hayom. And I've always struggled with this. What's this loshon k'sheyeheer hayom? Is that yeheer hayom, the, the day becomes light. Is that sunrise? Is that dawn? Possibly something in between. So let's take a look at what he has over here to say. According to some poskim, misheheer, once the day is light, that's also zman tefilalechatchila. You don't have to even wait for sunrise. Leheyer is ready enough. And he quotes now the Buchachover in the name of the Baal Shem Tov. You don't have to wait till netz. You can daven earlier. And he quotes here from, uh, Rebbe Shlomo, from Rebbe Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. If you have a minyan after netz, but there are nine people who are ready to daven before netz, you can join them to make up their minyan. Although you shouldn't. Let me be clear. No, netz Israel is a different story. But kol ponim, what we're seeing is that there is a degree of flexibility that, uh, to daven, if it's a little bit light already, you can say it's already misheheer hayom. There's a-- It, it might even be a dinlechatchila. Of course, those who can, uh, afford in their schedule to daven after netz, there's no, there's no shaila. But those who are finding it difficult, so you have, you have on what to

24:17 base that, uh, that it's not such a, such a big issue. This is a, this is, uh, well, quite, quite commonly quoted. The Baal Shem Tov is quoted as being that not to be so emphatic about netz. Okay. Here's, uh, the, uh, question. Someone... I was asked this week. Someone who forgot to say Tal uMatar. Well, this is not, not yet relevant to us since we are in Eretz Israel, but the, the quest- the concept is interesting question. If you forgot Tal uMatar at Mincha. So then, if you for-- Sorry. If you forget Tal uMatar in davening, and you should have said it, then you realize afterwards, are you gonna have to daven Shmoneh Esreh again? What happens if you forgot to repair by repeating right away, so you have to daven again by the next, by the next opportunity, you have, uh, uh, like as if you haven't davened altogether. You haven't davened on the Shmoneh Esreh. So what happens if you forgot Tal uMatar at Mincha, and it's Friday? Then Friday night, you're not gonna say Tal leDor Motar in any case. A similar question is, if you forgot to say Yaaleh Veyavo at Mincha on Rosh Chodesh or on Yom Tov, well, whatever. Let's say on, yeah, on the Ki Teitzei Rosh Chodesh, yeah. If you forgot to say Yaaleh Veyavo at Mincha, so you have to repeat the Shemoneh Esreh. You didn't realize until Ma'ariv. You're gonna-- By Ma'ariv, it's already Motzaei Rosh Chodesh. There's no, you're not gonna say Yaaleh

25:36 Veyavo in any case. So here's, there's two ways of viewing it. One view is saying, um, since you missed it, it's as if you didn't daven Shemoneh Esreh. You have to now daven another Shemoneh Esreh. The other one says, "No, the only reason to rep-repeat is to repair that which you missed. But if you're not gonna repair what you missed, so what's the point of repeating?" So, so let's g-go through that again. It's a Rosh Chodesh. At Mincha, you forgot to say Yaaleh Veyavo. And now you realize at Ma'ariv. Do you have to daven Ma'ariv a second time? So the Alter Rebbe brings these two shitas. And the first opinion says you don't repeat because you're not gonna repair. And the other second opinion is that you do have to repeat. And so then he says, you should say the repeat, b'tzedes nedavah. So if you forgot Yaaleh Veyavo at Mincha, and you only realize at Ma'ariv, so you'll daven a second Shemoneh Esreh at Ma'ariv b'tzedes nedavah. That's all if it's a midweek. What happens if it's Friday night? So then, this is the second quote is from the Kitzur Shulchan. Shabbos, you can't do a tefillah zedakah. So therefore, if you forgot something at Mincha, which warrants you repeating the Shemoneh Esreh, but you only realize by Ma'ariv, and Ma'ariv is Shabbos, so then you cannot repair it. You can't do that tefillah zedakah. So this is what he says. Ein bo y- Ma'ariv, the Tal leDor, you're not gonna say at Ma'ariv

26:54 in any case. And you don't do a tefillah zedakah because you don't do a tefillah zedakah, you don't do a voluntary tefillah on Shabbos or Yom Tov. Let's move on. Okay, um, so this came up, this question about wearing a hat protector. Um, so, lots of people have these either plastic hats or they sometimes, uh, decide to advertise Sainsbury's and Safeway on, uh, on-- when it's raining, not to ruin their hats. Are you allowed to do that on Shabbos? So as a, as a ch- as a young boy, I remember hearing, I think possibly from Rabbi Teilsner, that this is, was a contention between the Klausenberger Rebbe and his uncle, the Satmar Rebbe. The Satmar Rebbe held that you're not allowed to, and the Klausenberger held you are allowed to. I once asked Rav Dalmar Shimin about this, and he said, summed up the Halakha, which is fairly evident in Poskim, that you're allowed to wear a garment to protect yourself. You're not allowed to wear a garment to protect a garment. So this is also relevant for ladies who wear rain hats. To wear a rain hat just to protect the sheitel is, is, is not okay. It's not okay because the sh- sheitel is a garment, so you're wearing a garment to wear a garment. That's not okay. If you wear the rain hat and it's, um, stretched a bit further back or front in a way that it's gonna protect y-your face also, your neck also, then you're protecting yourself, not just,

28:28 you know, protecting the sheitel. Now, those who allow wearing the plastic hat protectors say, one, one of their arguments is, if it's a heavy rain, so then the rain is gonna penetrate, not only to, you know, not only gonna ruin the hat, it's going to also, um, come through and ruin, and, and, uh, come onto the person. Okay. So on a-- and certainly that's the case with a sheitel. If it's, uh, heavier rain, then it's true. But the, the simplest solution is with, um, with, let's stick with the rain hats, then we'll come back to the plastic cover. With the, uh, rain hats, to wear the rain hat in a way that it's a bit, um, extending beyond just the sheitel, in that way it's legitimate. With the plastic hat covers, so, uh, generally our Mahalak is that you don't wear them. But there, there are those who do allow it when, uh, especially if it's a very heavy rain, there is room to be makil. Nowadays, you've got these new inventions, these plastic, uh, coats, which, um, which include a hood, and that's big enough to cover a shtreimel, and everyone's happy. Okay, let's move on. I-- As I was browsing, guys, I saw this, um, teshura, a, um, a, uh, a souvenir from a wedding, which just took place in New York, uh, I think. And I was, uh, I saw this very interesting thing, and that is, when you learn Mishnayos in memory, uh, the word is not, perhaps memory is not

30:00 right. It's zechus of someone who's, uh, who had passed away. Learn Mishnayos for, to, to help the neshamah. Now, is it important-- So in some of the Mishnayos I've seen, they say it's very, very important. You have to person, name, say the name of the person for whom you're learning Mishnayos before you start learning. Otherwise, it doesn't, it doesn't get connected to their neshamah. So here is a letter which Rebbe Shua Pinsan, who was a Gabai in seven, '70. So he wrote to the Rebbe, and then we have the Rebbe's answer. "Um, inyan liinyan, lilemdei rabain." It's part of a longer letter. And he says, "Rebbe, please tell me. About the Mincha to bechol mishpuchot Yisroel. It's a co- very well sp-- um, um, you know, widespread Mincha to learn Mishnayos. Is it necessary, lahitot bedibbur, is it necessary to utter verbally before you start learning that this learning is in memory, uh, of the, uh, for the elevation of this and this neshamah, of this neshamah of so and so?" And then he says also when you learn about Perakim, um, you learn ch-chapters of Mishnayot with the name of the Niftar, like in the Yahrtzeit you learn the, the, the name of the person. You learn a chapter for each letter of the alphabet of his name. Chapter of Mishnayot. «Im bechol kahai gavno amrino kamishmay gal yo.» Do you use the, the approach that heaven-- it's exposed to heaven. They know what your intention is. «Im inyan shel hascoras shemo haniftar yesh

31:34 bo zamim shumas chus.» Is there some special merit by Davka mentioning the name? Now, as the Rebbe's style was, he would often underline words or he would take the wording of the question and, and, and ma-manipulate it in a way to give his answer that way. So, um, of the words which Rabbi Pinsker had written that we can say, k-kahai gavno, uh, kamishmay gal yo, so the Rebbe adds in two words, Bnei Adam upshito. So he said, bechol kahai gavno amrino kamishmay Bnei Adam. It, it's, it, uh, if it's visible to other people that you're learning for, uh, or perhaps for yourself, I don't know. Upshito, that sh- that it's, it's visible be- to heaven. Basically, he's saying that it's, uh, that the Hebryshta knows that you are learning for so and so, and therefore it is, uh, if other people will see that you're learning for so and so, for sure you yourself, that, that the Hebryshta knows. I'm actually a little bit su- unsure which Bnei Adam he's talking about, himself or other people. So, all right. So the Rebbe seems to dismiss this emphasis of Davka saying the name for so and so. I just perhaps, if I may, suggest the following. You see a person sitting, as I say, in a, in a regular, um, um, weekday, and they're Zokter Mishnayot. You ask, "What's the Tamol?" So you'll s- you'll, you'll say, "Mistami," saying Mishnayot for a, a Yahrtzeit or something. That's all true. What happens if, if a person learns

33:10 Mishnayot every day? So then it's not so evident that he's learning Mishnayot leiluy nishmas so and so. It could be even he himself doesn't, doesn't remember, you know, doesn't necessarily register that he's learning Mishnayot for so and so. So it could be that if you're learning Mishnayot Davka, you're taking especially Mishnayot to learn for someone, it's not necessary. If you're learning Mishnayot for yourself, perhaps there, there is a bit more room for at least reminding yourself that you're learning Mishnayot in memory of so and so. But this is, uh, a new Gilui, and I, uh, I actually s- There's, there's a set of Sefarim of the Rebbe's guidance in Inyoni Halacha and Minhag called Schulchan Menachem. So I sent them a copy of this and asked them to include this in the next edition. The Rebbe's saying it's not so, not such a big deal if you don't mention it. Okay. Let's go on to the next, uh, thing on our s- on our list. Fascinating, uh, fascinating Halacha, which I, which is, uh, you'll see it's very, very interesting. Okay. There is a concept of Tchum Shabbos. Tchum Shabbos means that you're not allowed to, on Shabbos, walk more than two thousand Amas, which is about one kilometer, out of the built-up area. That's called the Issur of Tchum Shabbos. So it-- they, they would, in, in, you know, in, in Gemara, you have how they would have special specialists in measuring land, and they would have markers. Outside the town, this is the

34:45 limits of the two thousand Amas from the town, and from all four sides, there would be markers on the roads. This is the, uh, this is the limit of the two thousand Amas. Lots of discussion in Gemara how it can be extended with the little, uh, the small houses, odd houses here and there. If there's another house within seventy Amas, which is, um, about thirty-five meters, so then like in suburban, you have maybe a bit of space between the houses, that could extend the, the, the limits of the city. But we do, do know this idea that, that you're not allowed to walk, walk a, uh, two thousand Amas outside the built-up area. So actually, in most of where we live, that does, that's not even relevant. But here we have an area in London or Greater London. This is-- You've got here on the screen, you've got Edgware and Borehamwood. And as you can see, Edgware is to the south, where you've got that red house, um, featuring. And to the north, you have Borehamwood, where you've got that blue house featuring. In between, as you can see on this, uh, Google, um, aerial map, you can see lots of fields, lots of green, and it's, it's, uh, it's more than a kilometer between one and the other. So you wouldn't be allowed to walk on Shabbos from one to the other. And now, then, then there's a solution. There's a solution which is called Eiruv Tehumim. Eiruv Tehumim is that before Shabbos, you

36:19 take a loaf of bread or a box of matzah, put it in a safe container, and you put it outside. You put it up till about, uh, a, a, up till two thousand Amas from your place, and then you're allowed to, on Shabbos, walk from your place till the loaf of bread, and then you can walk another two thousand Amas from thereafter. The point being that the-- wherever you place the bread, it's as if you're Koinesh Visas. If you have, um, you would-- dwelling, that your dwelling is not at home, but it's where you have your loaf of bread. So that's, that's the concept of the Eiruv Tehumim. So now, I had this shailah. It was a Mamash. It was a practical shailah. And- The, uh, this-- someone who lives in where, in, in Borehamwood, and he wanted to be able to walk to Edgware to visit relatives on a Shabbos afternoon. So the way we measured was you go from, you make a, a, a, f- uh, you put the eruv about a kilometer away from the edge of the south of Borehamwood, which that's where you got that yellow thing. And from there, he can go another two thousand amos, another kilometer, but he cannot go more. Now, this is a very important point. People get confused. Even with the eruv, techemin, with or without the eruv techemin, even if you come into another town, you cannot go more than two thousand amos. So let's say if I had the fortune of getting,

37:58 um, stuck in Heathrow Airport, and I get off, go, go out of Heathrow Airport on Shabbos, and I want to come into town. Perhaps I can get to Hounslow, but I can't go any further, even if I wanted to. I'm not allowed to go more than a kilometer from... Because Heathrow Airport, I'm just, I'm using that as an example. It may not be accurate. But it-- normally, airports are out of town, so there's a green belt around the airport. So then when you get from the airport into town, you're coming from a small town into a big town. You cannot go. You've got a string attached to your back. You cannot go more than two thousand amos from, from your, well, from your, uh, your beginning, from where you, where you left. So where the, where the question is: Where does the two thousand amos begin? Does it start from your house, or does it start from the edge of town? So let's explain. The general minhag, this is the way it's, uh, you know, the general psak is, that you're, that you put the eruv up till two thousand amos from the edge of town, and then you can still go from there another two thousand amos in each direction. But here's, it raises a very interesting question. What did you tell me? You told me that what? That where you put the bread, that is your, your koish vis, your dwelling there. So if I'm, my shvisa is by the loaf of bread,

39:24 is over here by this loaf of bread, how can I get there from my house? It's more than... It's, it's two kilometers. It's much, much too far. So first of all, there's a shita of Rashi. I mean, there's three opinions here. There's a shita of Rashi which says the city, the town where you spend the night, that's like dal damms. So according to Rashi, the cheshbon is like this. Borehamwood becomes dal damms. And therefore, from Borehamwood, you can, w-well, uh, you, you can, you're allowed another nine hundred and ninety-six amos till your, till your eruv. And when you, when you wanna come back, go back, you go back from your eruv, back north, you come to the edge of Borehamwood, nine hun- nine, nine ninety-six amos, and the rest of Borehamwood, you can walk the whole of Borehamwood because the town where you were for the begin- for the, for the night of Shabbos is, is like dal damms. So here's an interesting, or shall we say, even a dichotomy. You're saying that the eruv is your, your shikaish visa by the eruv. But then you're also given a privilege that the town where you're spending the night is also like dal damms. So you're living in two places. Okay. But that's shita's Rashi. And that's the minhag haolam to say that the, you can put the eruv, um, an, a, a, up till a kilometer from the edge of town, and from there you have... Okay. The Mechaber, Shulchan Aruch, the Mogen Avrohom learns

40:46 this like this. He doesn't-- this whole idea, the whole town counts like dal damms, he doesn't buy. He says, you can-- you live over here. You come to the edge of town, and you're allowed to walk a, um, two thousand amos. That's okay. You can go further. But when you go back, you cannot go more than two thousand amos from your eruv. And therefore, you're gonna go back to Borehamwood, well, you're gonna have to park yourself by the first houses. You can't get back home. That's how the Me- Mogen Avrohom is. Then there's a third opinion which says... Hang on a second. You're saying that you, you are, that your koish visa, that your Shab- your Shabbos is over here by the, by the, by the bread. And you're snuggling in bed or eating your chicken soup over here, and you're more than two thousand amos out of, out, out of tether. Now, if you are, if a person walk more than two thousand amos out of his chum, he's stuck. He's not allowed to go anywhere. He's stuck into dal damms. So the, this is the Ravon. And he says, "No, sorry. You cannot go. You, you, the, if you make an eruv more than two thousand amos from your house, so then your eruv, your eruv is valid, but you are out of the eruv, therefore you're stuck. You cannot leave your house." That's the shita of the Ravon. So now, so we've got here the minhag haolam is, as I said, to

42:11 put the eruv at two thousand, within two thousand amos from the edge of town. But the Ravon is saying no. And according to the Ravon, and so the Tour asks this question, the whole concept of eruv techemin only applies for people living at the edge of town. But if you live in the middle of a big town, the whole eruv techemin doesn't really work. That's the opinion of Ravon, and looks like the Shitah Srahambam, the Rosh. It looks like a number of Rishonim. So in the Shulchan Aruch, the Alter Rebbe follows the shita of the, uh, uh, of the Ramoh, who says that you can take the benefit of Ra- which Rashi says the whole town where you're spending the night is like dal damms. But, um, in the siddur, this is what was, uh, shocked me. Someone pointed out to me, "Look at those words in the siddur." He says there, it talks about putting m'zoan eshtei service, and someone asked would a jar of jam be, uh, okay instead of a loaf of bread, and the answer is yes. But I, um, I'm not going into those details. Yeah, a, a jar of jam might be safer in one way, but, uh, just- Make sure there's no, um, monkeys or whatever who, you know, to, or bears who come and eat your, your jar of jam. But let's come back. He has here his There are those who say, he says, a room which is just for the boiler, that's not used for

47:17 anything else, you shouldn't... doesn't require a mezuzah because you don't dwell there. Unless you use it also for storage for other bits and pieces, uh, on a, on a, on a domestic level, then, then, uh, then there is room for putting, putting a mezuzah. But if it's just for the boiler, then in its, in, in... that in itself is a reason that such a room is not a dwelling, and therefore it's part of the mezuzah. So we've got here two, uh, two reasons for this. I'm just gonna go to the chat and, um, there's been a few comments over here. Um, bear with me a minute. Mishnah in Yoma seems with the azozel 2,000 from outside the city. Let me make this clear. There's no question that the din of Tchum Shabbos is 2,000 amas from the city. The question here is Eruv Tchumin, not the, the din of that not going out 2,000 from the city. It's from the edge of the city. But here you want to f- have a s- facility to say, "I'm not living at home. I'm living where my loaf of bread is." Okay, so then that's where this, this, this machloket comes in. Apaskim, it has to be, uh, you have to be within 2,000 amas of your loaf of bread, otherwise it's too far. Right. Let's move on. Just, well, perhaps b- before we go further, I want to just throw in about the small rooms. Do small rooms require a mezuzah? Now, we know there's a

48:58 din of dal dal dalet of four amas square. There are two sources in Achronim which say that a small room also requires a mezuzah, and the din of dal dal dalet is talking like an independent, like a shed. A freestanding room, a freestanding house which is less than dal dal dalet, that's exempt from a mezuzah. But when it's part of a house, so you've got Rabbeinu Nissim Eiger, and you've got the Chamudai Doniel. Rabbeinu Nissim Eiger says, "It's true that the, the room doesn't require a mezuzah, but that door is also a door of the house." Between the door, that little room in the house. So he says it's, uh, the, the room for, let's say, a walk-in larder, according to Rabbeinu Nissim Eiger, requires a mezuzah because it's a door to the house. The Chamudai Doniel, which is quoted in the Piskei Teshuva in Shulchan Aruch Mezuzah, he says a different a- a- approach. He says that the din of dal dal dalet means a house which is so small, less than four, um, uh, four amas square, is not livable. It's not a normal living. But when you have a bigger house, but it has a, a, a, a, another... it's part of a living facility. So according to the Chamudai Doniel, a walk-in larder, a walk-in cupboard, would be chayav b'mezuzah because it's part of a living, uh, of a living facility. You, you, you live here, and you have a, a cupboard. So either... So there is room to be machmir,

50:24 to put up a mezuzah on a, on a, in a walk-in closet, uh, um, for, for these two separate reasons. But one wouldn't make a beracha by, by doing so. Okay, let's move on. So I got this question from a shliach somewhere in Europe. Uh, and he's asking, "Are you allowed to sit on a chair that is covered in linen?" So now, you didn't tell me that there's any wool anywhere, but is there a worry about the stuffing perhaps inside? Could be that the, the padding inside in-includes linen. Nowadays, a lot of the stuff is made with foam, but it, it could be it has some, some woo-wool inside the, the padding. So let's go. This is a Sefer, a specialist Sefer on, uh, shatnez by Reb Bianco Blue, and he has the following comment. «kisat ot hamrupodim b'shatnez». Chairs which are padded with shatnez. So they are padded chairs, you know, upholstered. Some say you're allowed to sit on them, and some say you're not. Now, if you're familiar with the Mishnah in, in, uh, in, in Kilayim, the last page, it talks about shatnez. And it talks about, uh, covers or mattresses. It, it looks like that people would... When you'd sink into it, you'd sink into a mattress, so then that would be a problem of... If it's a shatnez mattress, then you do have a problem. And generally, when I got married, there was, uh, the late, uh, Mr. Greenhouse. You could buy mattresses with a, a hechsher, um, that they're,

51:47 there's no-- they're shatnez-free. So, yeah. But the, the, the, um... what is being said here is about p-chairs, padded, um, um, upholstered chairs. Some say that's not called, um, that it, it'll wrap around your body. You'll sit on it, but it's not flexible enough to be able to wrap around your body. And therefore, then some say you are allowed to sit on them. There are those who are machmir. We know stories. There's a story, I think Reb Chuna Halperin told a story of the Rebbe. He saw the-- Well, he was told. If someone saw the Rebbe on a train, uh, going from Warsaw to Paris, he didn't want to sit down. Apparently, he didn't want to sit down because of the worries of shatnez. We've heard of various gedolei Yisroel who didn't want to sit down on the, on the chairs in the train because of the padding might be shatnez. The Olam is not so particular about this. Um, but all right. So there is a little bit room to be machmir, uh, if you know that there's shatnez in the chair. But he didn't ask me about a chair made of shatnez. He just asked about a chair covered in linen. So that's certainly, um, one can be more makeel and not to worry about it. Okay, let's go on with our last question for tonight. Um, that is... Oh. So someone asks a question that they have a friend who is struggling financially. And can, and can I use-- I want to

53:06 help them with my maaser money. If I pay off his debts, is this considered as having given tzedakah? To make it a little bit more, uh, what happened is that that person, let's say I'm the, I'm, I'm the lender. They used my credit card. And so, uh, I want to settle the credit card bill because it's a very expensive way of borrowing money. So I want to use my maaser to pay off their, what they owe to the credit card. So, um, as I'm benefiting from this, I want to... So is that called giving tzedakah? If I use my maaser to pay off what they owe me on the credit card, uh, is that called giving tzedakah? Now, here's an interesting question. Al pi din, if, uh... Actually, I'm learning with a, a class in the high school. I'm learning, um, Hilchas Halvaah in Al Trei Rebbe Shokren Aroch. If there's a person who borrowed money in good faith, and he had a, a, a wo- he had a workable plan, and then it didn't work out. And so now he's stuck with a, a big debt. So then the halacha is he does not have to take on another job, work a th-third job to be able to pay this. He owes the money, but he doesn't have from where to pay. So oret, he owes the money, but he, he's not mechuyav. But then he says, if he has any spare valuables, those valuables have to be taken, have to be given to

54:39 pay off the debt. So, so here, here's a, here's a, here's the scenario. Someone's borrowed money, and they've got debts. Now, if they, if they have... There's no way they can pay them. They don't have, they don't have the assets, don't have even valuables, anything. Then you can say they owe the money, but who says it, it, uh, it, it doesn't mean necessarily tzedakah to pay off their debts. It's not an enforceable debt. Realistically speaking, most people do have some valuables. Let's say someone owes money to the grocery. So you paying the grocery, well, it's not that you're paying them a debt. You're, th-then you're, you're making that they should be able to go next week to the grocery. And it, whatever it may be, if it's an ongoing... It's not just a, a kind of a bad debt. So to settle a bad debt may, may not necessarily be counted as tzedakah. But when it is an ongoing situation or if they have valuables, and if they, if they don't, if they don't give the money, well, perhaps they should surrender their valuables to pay, pay the debt. Then they are mechuyav to pay that money. And by, uh, helping them out, that would be considered, um, uh, tzedakah by helping them out. That they shouldn't have to sell their, uh, their kitchen sink to be able to pay, pay what they owe. So let's just read from the Sefer on Tzedakah, Mishpat, a specialist Sefer on Hilchas Tzedakah. Even if when you lent

56:09 the money, you didn't say that you'll use your maaser to pay the debt. «הלווה לו סתם» You lent him money, and now he owes you money, and you want «יכול להפריש לו נקשה.» You can use your maaser money and to deduct, to diminish the loan by paying off from your own maaser. «ימדיע לעני יקח.» You'll tell that poor person, "All right, you owe me money. I'm using my maaser, a hundred pounds a month," whatever it may be. Um, and in this way, I'm diminishing the debts. But he says you should tell them that you're doing so. Okay. Um, we have now just a couple of minutes left, and I want to give you a bit of feedback from the previous shiurim. So, um, we had last week discussion about an opsher during Chol Hamoed Sukkot. And I mentioned... I quoted sources that do ju- uh, allow it. But, um, but then, uh, the Rabbi Lerner, who's a Rosh Kollel in Crown Heights, he himself has a child that turned three, a boy who turned three, and he was advised at the time not to do it. Um, the other thing which came up was, was about if the hot plate was left, was disconnected on Shabbos to be able to have a hot cholent in the Beis Chabad, are you allowed to have a goy to reconnect it? So somewhat, someone, someone pointed out to me there's a Sefer called Sheilas Vteshuvos Hashluchim. There's a, a man in, uh, Eretz Yisrael called Nachmanson who put

57:39 together questions which he'd received from shluchim, and he deals with this question, and he has two solutions. One is, the goy plugs it in, and then later, the goy has a piece of cholent. So he's doing it for himself. All right. I don't know how practical that is. All right? That's, that's one possibility. The other possibility, he says that it's ad d'oraisa to ask a goy to do something for you. How about if, if you ask, um, John to tell Bob? It's called amira l'amira. You tell one goy to tell another goy. So then that's... reduces it to shvus d'shvus. Now, there is such an opinion in Poskim, but I spoke with, uh, some other people who are knowledgeable in Alter Rebbe's Halacha. Alter Rebbe d-doesn't seem, doesn't mention this at all, and I, I believe it's not, not, not, not a valid approach because the Alter Rebbe takes a view that when the goy does it for you, he's like your shliach. And even if you didn't ask him to do so, you'd actually have to... He's, he's about to plug it back in. You have, you have to tell him not to because he's doing it for you. If he's doing it for himself, it's a different story. If he's doing it for you, so what's the difference whether you told him di-directly or you told one goy to tell another goy? The bottom line is that he's doing this effort for you and which, uh, doesn't look like that would be acceptable,

58:57 um, to do so on Shabbos. All right. So we'll stop with that. And, oh, I wanna finish off, and that is that next week is my father's yahrzeit. That's next Sunday. Not tomorrow, next week. And, um, we're having a, a family get-together. So we're going to have the shiur earlier. And I saw, Baruch Hashem, quite a few people logged in early, so it looks like it's, uh, «זה שעת ציבור יכולין להעמיד לו». And so therefore, BeEzrat Hashem, next week, we'll start the shiur at eight fifteen. And, uh, the days are getting shorter or earlier, so, uh, possibly we'll remain with that time for, for the foreseeable future. So I wish you all a gut Voch, and, uh, meet in good health. Kol tuv.