מקץ תשפ״ב

00:00 A gutten roch and a feilichn, a kun koidesh and a feiliche Chanukah. We'll start, go, go straight to our questions. So the first question which we have, there's a couple of, uh... This is the, uh, hang anchor if anyone wants for the recordings. Baruch Hashem, it's available. Um, so this is a question which a couple of people asked me, and that is, "Why is there no mention of Chanukah, or Purim for that matter, in Al Hamichya?" So this question has been addressed by actually Rab Chaim Brisker, I heard it years ago, and you can see here, here's a quote from a Haggadah called, Mi Beis Halevi, where it has this whole Bier of Rab Chaim. And, uh, the way he explains it, if let's go back to the berakhah. The technical name or the Halakhic term for this berakhah is berakhah me'ein sholosh. It's a condensed form of three berakhahs. It's, the bentching consists of hazon es hakol. Second berakhah is al ha'aretz va'hamazon, and the third berakhah starts with the rahem, mentions about Yerushalayim, ends off u'vnei Yerushalayim. So there you see on the board highlighted, al hamichya ve'alkol kolo, that's re-referring to the first berakhah. Al eretz chemdah tovah, that's the condensed form of the second berakhah. Rahem no Hashem Eloheinu, through to u'vnei Yerushalayim ir hakodesh, that corresponds to the third berakhah of bentching, and hence the term me'ein sholosh. Towards the end, we have then ki ata Hashem tov meitiv. That is already, uh, the fourth berakhah of, of, uh, the

01:54 bentching. Al ki levana mal :). That's the berakhah tov meitiv. So the original form of this berakhah was only me'ein sholosh. The last piece, ki ata Hashem tov meitiv, you look in the Rambam, it seems to have been added at a later stage, and it's not so rigid. And certainly, the Rambam holds, Rambam writes, that the mention of the yamim tovim, the, uh, letzeach litzenu, this is also a later innovation. And this is important to know that if you said Al Hamichya on Shabbos and you forgot to say letzeach litzenu, you do not have to repeat because it's not imperative, uh, to have to make, to be, to be mentioned at all together. That's, that's the way it appears from the Rambam. But meanwhile, Rab Chaim asks a, a question. Why in bentching letzeach comes before u'vnei Yerushalayim? Why in the condensed form, in the ein sholosh, does letzeach or the, uh, mention of Yerushalayim, why does it come after u'vnei Yerushalayim? So that's the question. One question. Second question he asks, there's a Gemara in Berakhot, daf chaf tes alef, and it talks about a condensed form of Shemoneh Esreh. It's not the whole Shemoneh Esreh, it's from, it's the middle twelve, thirteen berakhahs, and it starts off with the words havaynenu. And it's, it's a condensed form where it will give three, four words for each of the twelve berakhahs. So if a person's in extreme rush, et cetera, under pressure, they could shorten the davening and just say first three

03:47 berakhahs, havaynenu, and the last three berakhahs. Save, save a, a couple of minutes. Fine. Says the Gemara that a person could say havaynenu throughout the year, under pressure obviously, but not Motza'i Shabbos nor Motza'i Yom Tov, because you have to include in havd-- in the berakhah of ata khonen, you have to include havdalah. Now, in the condensed form, you're not gonna be able to squeeze in into the con- the condensed form, you won't be able to squeeze in, um, a mention of, of havdalah at its Motza'i Shabbos. Later on, Rabbeinu Chayim Bar Be'er says, "You can't do this on, uh, in the winter when you need to ask for vesain tal umatar." You have a berakhah, mevorakh shoni, which is a general berakhah of, of, uh, request for parnassa, for pro-provision, uh, of sustenance. But there's a specific, uh, addition which we add in the winter where we ask for rain. Now, again, you wouldn't be able to squeeze that in in the condensed form. So let's, let's refr- ex-explain that again. In a regular, full version, you can afford to squeeze in another couple of words about an additional request. But if the whole mention of this inyan is in a condensed form, see if you squeeze in a request, that request will be as long as the berakhah itself. So if you have three words, havaynenu, Hashem, asir, eladaz, reheheh, four words, and you're gonna put in there a couple of words about, um, Motza'i Shabbos, well then that's gonna have, in the

05:22 condensed form, Motza'i Shabbos features as an another berakhah. So in the condensed form, you can't really squeeze in extra mentions. That's the, that's the Halakha in the Gemara. Fine. So reflects Rab Chaim. So how can you say berakhah me'ein sholosh on Shabbos? Well, the kashya's not a big kashya because I mentioned before that it's not imperative to say letzeach litzenu, it's a later addition. But all right, the kashya's, it's nice. Why, why do you need to have men-mention... W-how could you say a condensed form on Shabbos when you cannot, in a condensed form, you can't really include, uh, about the mention of Shabbos? So here, here's the geschmackachap. What happens when you just said a V'ne'echal and you realize, oops, I didn't say Retzeh or I didn't say Al Havayah. So you've got a whole list of berachos in the benching. Now, typically, in the, the, the benches which you have, uh, they cut out all the extras, so to speak. And, you know, Murphy's Law is when you forget, you're gonna be using one of those shortened benches. But in the Siddur, we have this. If you are, uh, if you forgot to say Retzeh, and you haven't started the fourth beracha, it's just right at this point, Shenosen shaboses limnucha, you'll say an extra beracha. Baruch atah Hashem shenosan limnucha, ve'am yisrael la'av od lo iseh bris, baruch atah Hashem mekadesh haShabbes. And the same thing if, if it was Yom Tov, you'll have a... You'll add a different beracha. Nosen Yom Tov

06:55 ve'am Yisrael nisos and simchas yom, chag haPesach hazeh, for example, chag haMatzah, sorry. Baruch atah Hashem mekadesh Yisrael bazmanim. Here there's a difference between if it's, uh, Shabbos and Yom Tov, where it starts and ends with Baruch. If it's Rosh Chodesh, so then it starts with Baruch and doesn't end with Baruch. So if it's on Rosh Chodesh, you forgot the Al Havayah, and you remember before you started the fourth beracha, so then you'd say, Shenosen, baruch atah Hashem elkanaim haChodesh, shenosen rosh chodashim le'am yisrael lizikaram. Okay. So now let's come back. Says Rabbi Chaim of Reish Mak, when it comes on Shabbos, you cannot include Shabbos inside the third beracha. So Shabbos comes after the third beracha. Before HaTevah veha'Ma'aseh, so on Sha- the Retzeh v'achletzeinu which we say on Shabbos is not in place of the Retzeh v'achletzeinu which we say within the third beracha of benching. Rather, the Retzeh v'achletzeinu which we say on, on, on Shabbos, in Me'ain Shelishit is, is substituting for this beracha in the event that you didn't say Retzeh. And the same thing in Al Havayah, et cetera. So in a sense, Rabbe Chaim is suggesting that on a, on Shabbos, we shouldn't really call it Me'ain Shelishit, we should call it Me'ain Chamish. I'm just-- He doesn't say that. I'm just, um, throwing it in. In a sense that the... And that's why the Retzeh or the, uh, mention of Rosh Chodesh, et cetera, comes after of V'ne'echal. You finish the three condensed four berachos, then you

08:33 mention the Rom- Yom Tov, which you, you want to mention, and then you go on to our Shehecheyanu, HaTov veha'Meitiv, uh, which is the fifth beracha in, in this context. And this, therefore, answers the question about, uh, Al Hanissim. Well, because Al Hanissim would belong in the second beracha, and you cannot park a, a, a mention of, of Chanukah and Purim within a condensed form. Therefore, unfortunately, you cannot have a, a, a mention of Chanukah and Purim in Me'ain Shelishit with Al Havayah or Retzeh. You can do it after of V'ne'echal before HaTov veha'Meitiv. So that's the answer to that. That because-- Very, very... In simple words, because it's a condensed form, you cannot inc-include, um, Al, Al Hanissim, whereas the beracha for a Sha- for a Shabbos or for a Yom Tov, there's a... That it can be included as a, almost like a standalone within the condensed form. Okay. That's that stickum. Okay. Let's move on. So here I have a question. Um, actually, again, interesting. So two different people asked me this question about a blind person lighting the Menorah. So this is, you have in front of you, you have a Magen Avraham. In the Magen Avraham is in Taf Resh, Ayn Hey. A blind person, he says, if the person could join in with someone else at the same residence, paying, paying a few pence to join in, fine. If it's a blind person who has a wife who is able to see, so she should be lighting. If, however,

10:23 he is not, he's alone, and he lives on his own, so he should light with assistance with someone else because a blind person in Halakha is bound to do all the mitzvahs. There's a whole discussion in Gemara whether a blind person is Chayav Mitzvahs, not Chayav Mitzvahs. The bottom line Halakha is that a blind person is Chayav Mitzvahs. Now, what about when it comes to the Havdalah? There, we say that a blind person does not make a beracha v'yima'eryev ha'esh. So there, the Gemara says clearly, Ein mevarkin halaneh ad sheye'eysu la'eira. You have to have benefit from the light. That's why, the reason why we lift our fingers, uh, to, to, as if to say we are, we are, uh, benefiting from the light. But here, it's Pesumanisa. This idea to project the, the, uh, the message to the outside to remind people of the miracles of Chanukah. So it's, it's not, it's not Negiah whether you see or not. That is how, um, the... And he quotes here the Maharshal. Shulchan Aruch Maharshal, I think it's in my involved with it. Okay. That would have been fine. But then the Rabbi Akiv Emden. Rabbi Akiv Emden has got a Sefer called Moreh Uktsia, and this is his commentary on the Shulchan Aruch. And he raises some objections to it. And he says, "A blind person, not really a proper Mechuyav." And, uh, some, some, somehow he has, he raises some kind of prob-problems. Since he can't see it. And so, yeah, seriously speaking, if

11:59 a, a, a Moshel, a person who is unable to hear, who's got no sense of hearing, will not be able to be a Baltagiah. Even if they blow very well. Because they are unfortunately, uh, disqualified from this mitzvah, so they can't be motzi anyone. So here, you... He's, he's arguing if you can't see, he doesn't have the mitzvah of Ner Chanukah. Uh, I felt it. I found it a, a, a very... And, and this moloch sia, this Rabbi Akiva Emden is quoted in Shacharit Shiva. He's quoted by, by, by, um... He's quoted by the, um, Mishnah Brurah as if it's Halakha. I have a very simple question to him. Why, according to you, Rabbi Akiva Emden, a blind person should be exempt from tzitzit? Because the whole mitzvah of tzitzit is, as our Isim Oysah, that you should see them. And I just see here you have from Shulchan Aruch in Yutres that it says, "Exus Summa," the bla- garment of a blind person is bound to have tzitzit. Because even he, he can't do Ori Isim Oysah, he can't see the tzitzit, but others can see it. Well, again, even if a blind person wears this garment, he'd have to have, as for four-cornered garment, he has to wear, put in tzitzit. So, I mean, if you're, if you're saying that because you can't see, therefore, you don't have to do the mitzvah. So I, I felt that, uh, I, I'm, I'm happy to go according to the Magen Avram, who goes according to

13:36 Rabbi, the, the Maharshal, and doesn't make any business about not making a bracha or anything. He just seems to be saying that Halakha is a blind person can make a bracha. And, and then someone actually, uh, showed me that Rav Vosner, uh, Shevet HaLevi, Zecher Avraham, uh, see, he also, he has a tshuva where he says he doesn't really understand the Rabbi Akiva Emden, and he doesn't understand why the Mishnah Brurah took him so carte blanche, um, because it doesn't really, doesn't really add up. So bottom line is, I'm happy to, uh, to remain that a blind person should be able to light the menorah with a bracha, um, because it's pesukim nisa for other people. I, I recall, I didn't look this up now, but I just recall that when it came out with the, uh, Birkat Hachamah, there was an interesting thing, whether a blind person wi- is able to do Birkat Hachamah or not. At the time, uh, Rav Chaim Rapaport had published a Sefer through Kahotz about this. And following on after that, there was a whole discussion whether a blind person can do Kidush Levana, whether a blind person can, uh, m-make a bracha. Let's say there's a, a story in the Gemara about, um, one of the Am Yisrael, a king, uh, arrived in town, and he did say the, the Atah. The Am Yisrael did say the bracha because he was aware of the prestige of the Melech. Okay, that's another discussion. But meanwhile, let's remain with this

15:05 Halakha, like the, some of the Magen Avram, that a blind person can make a bracha on the menorah. Here's an interesting question. Um, it's all Chanukah questions for the moment. Reuven, his, uh, his mother is in, in hospital in a critical state, and it's important for someone to be with her. So he's with his mother then, and he was with his mother the first night of Chanukah. And in the hospital, it wasn't possible to light the menorah, so he relied on the fact that his wife is lighting the menorah back home. For the second night of Chanukah, his wife kindly switched with him, and she stayed with her mother-in-law in the hospital, and Reuven went home. So the first night, we say three brachos. The second night, we only say two brachos. So Reuven sends me a question. Was it Monday? I'm not sure as I remember which day. He told me the situation. "Do I make a bracha tonight?" It's an interesting question. So here we have in Mishnah Brurah, in Siman Taf Resh Ayin Vav. We'll read this, uh, Chaf Zayin. It talks in, in the Mechaber, it says, "If a person did not light the menorah and there's no one home. So if he sees a menorah, he should say the Birkat Hashachar nisim, and he should also... If it's the first night, he should say Shehecheyanu. The following night, even if he is lighting, he would not say Shehecheyanu because he said Shehecheyanu," but that's not identical with our situation. There,

16:50 he said Shehecheyanu the first night, not on lighting, but on, uh, seeing. Here, the question is, is first lighting also? Now, uh, now, so here the Mishnah Brurah comes to, to the rescue. If it is in Be'esmer, if the first night he did not make a bracha at all because his wife-- he relied on his wife lighting at home, as we mentioned, is evident from the Mechaber, from the Shulchan Aruch, that if his wife lights for him at home, it's as if he himself had lit. So then it comes the second night, he would not say Shehecheyanu. So the fact is, Yoetz with his wife is not only Yoetz with the mitzvah, but it's also Yoetz with the brachos. So when she said Shehecheyanu on, um, on, at home, she was motzi him, and therefore, there's no point in him saying Shehecheyanu the follow, the following night because he already has said Shehecheyanu vicariously through his wife saying, uh, when she, the Shehecheyanu when she lit. Let's move on to something which I find, I found myself confused. Um, I usually laying in our minyan in sh- in shul, and it came the second day of Chanukah, and I was a bit confused. Do I start with Bayom Hasheni or Bayom HaRishon? The reason why I was confused is because on Sukkos, it is the last Aliyah, which ex- which, which kind of expresses the day of Sukkos. So on the third day of the Sukko- of Sukkos, it's gonna be the last Aliyah, which

18:31 will be by Vayom Hashlishi. I know it's also two, two because of Zekor Hayom. But the one who's going to express the day of the, uh, of which day of Sukkos it is, is going to be the last Aliyah. So I was in my mind confused. Perhaps it should be the, the first Aliyah should be Rishon or should be Kohen and Levi, and the Yisroel should, should say Vayom HaSheni, which is the, on the same day. So I looked around. Why-- So this is, um, so this is my cur- my quest. So I'm curious. Why is there a difference between Chanukah and Sukkos? Why is it on Chanukah that the one who reads the first Aliyah is going to be the day, the number of the day of the week, which we, which, um, the, the number of the day of which day of Chanukah it is? Whereas Sukkos, the first Aliyah will not necessarily express which day of Suhh, um, Sukkos it is. It's gonna be the last Aliyah, which will kind of be the calendar, so to speak. So the, the answer is-- Uh, uh, so they hear the Lavush. He goes, he asks another question. Well, normally, you know, we don't repeat what the previous, uh, um, Aliyah had said unless there's a need for it. On the, on the Rosh Chodesh, we have a need because of to fit in. Uh, uh, but generally, we don't repeat. Why don't we do the second day of Chanukah, we'll do Sheni and Shlishi.

20:00 The third day on Chanukah, we'll do Revii and Chamishi. And the fourth day of Chanukah, we'll do Shishi and Shvi. We can afford it because we've got enough. We've got enough material to be able to do new stuff every day. So why are we doing the, um, why are we each day repeating what was done yesterday? And he answers very, very practical. It's very confusing. Because all of these Parshas, when you see them, they are almost identical. Just the names change, but every-- and, and the num- and the number of the day, but otherwise, they, they're almost identical. So therefore, it's so much, uh, asking, you're asking for trouble by doing that, and it's better just to have each day will express that you'll start off with the day of Chanukah that it is. Uh, very practical. What about Sukkos? On Sukkos, think about this. On the sixth day of Sukkos, you need to give three Aliyas. If you're gonna start a Vayom Hashishi, and then you have Vayom Hashvi, what are you gonna do for the third, for Shlishi? You're gonna go back. In other words, the, the sixth and the seventh day of Sukkos, if you would start off with Vayom Hashishi or Vayom Hashvi, you won't be able to accommodate the, the other two Aliyas unless you'd go back. And therefore, on Sukkos, for that very reason, it's been left that the, it's the last Aliyah which is faithful to the day of Sukkos that it is, and the other Aliyas will

21:38 read, uh, however it works out. But it, it, it's... Yeah. Um, you, you may know that in Edes Israel, they just do the same thing again and again. But, uh, yeah. Actually, the Chanukah, they also have a, uh, and that they, they do again and again, but we are in Ashkenazim, we do the way we do, and which is, uh, right. So that's, that's about the Kriyas HaTorah. Okay. So then now someone asks a question. Why is it the Chabad custom to light the Menorah in Shul before Aleinu? Now, there's, there's two issues here. Uh, I, I, I haven't been very often in other Shuls at li- lighting Menorah to know what their Minag is. I understand that many Shuls, they light Ma'ariv time rather than Mincha time. In Shulchan Aruch, it says, Madlig in the, the, the concept of lighting Menorah in Shul is mentioned in Tofresh Ayn Alef, and it says, "Madlig in bein Mincha u'Ma'ariv." And so that's what we do. But why, why, what is the reason for Madlig in bein Mincha u'Ma'ariv? So the, Mishnah Berurah says, because that's when you have, that's when you have a Olam. That's when you have the crowd there. What he seems to be suggesting is, if you light it after Ma'ariv, then everyone's rushing off to their house to light Menorah. Therefore, light it before, after Mincha, before Ma'ariv, and then at least people are there for the duration of Ma'ariv should they be, be, be able to see the Menorah. So I

23:24 was bothered by this because that's all very well for Minag, the, the old Minhag, which was to daven Mincha and Ma'ariv one after the other, which is still done in, you know, many communities today where they would otherwise, the people wouldn't come back. So in Siman Reis, Lamid Gimel, brought LaAloche, in the Mishnah Berurah, that you can, you can be Makil to have Mincha-Ma'ariv in succession. But according to, uh, the Alter Rebbe, who says that nowadays we're Noig to, um, daven Ma'ariv B'zmanam. Where does Alter Rebbe say this? Interesting. It's a, it's a one line. In the Teshuvah where the Alter Rebbe talks about the knives for Shechita. And he says, he-- And Alter Rebbe introduced a new type of, of, uh, Chalef. He introduced a type of knife which is much, um, sharper, smoother. Um, the word in, in Hara- in, in, in Hebrew is Sakin HaMilui Toshim. And he says, "Don't say, oh, if we introduce these new knives, it will be casting aspersions on the, the knives and the Shechita for generations." He says, "It's okay. We can make improvements." Uh, for example, he says, he says two other examples. He says how people have, of late, have become more careful about Chodesh, and people of late have become more careful to daven Ma'ariv B'zmanam. So, so here we have, uh... The, the, so he mentions there about davening Ma'ariv B'zmanam, and that's become now in, in more Hamisha circles, you have, uh, the davening Ma'ariv B'zmanam. So then that Mishnah Berurah,

25:11 Mishnah Berurah says, that the reason between Mincha and Ma'ariv is because, uh, because then you have the crowd, that's not really the case. Fortunately, in Chabad, we have this very long niggun. I heard that the history of the niggun in Chabad is from the times of the Rebbe Maharash. The Rebbe Maharash very rarely showed his face in public, and in-- when it was davening time, there was another room next to the shul, and he would daven in that private room. So even during davening, the, the, the Ohelum didn't see the Rebbe. The only time, one of the few times he was the, uh, in view was by Hanukiah. He, he would come out to see the menorah being lit in shul. So the Hasidim composed a very long niggun, so they should have more time to see the Rebbe. So it's a, uh, the niggun which we have, it takes at least five minutes, yeah? It's a long niggun. All right. So with this, by the way, we've also gained that we have, um, the crowd is there a little bit longer. But I saw also that the, the Mishnah, the, the Lavush, the Lavush is going back about four hundred years. So he writes that we know you're going to light the Mincha and Ma'ariv. We light after Mincha, which is the beginning of the entry of the coming day. Ma'ariv is ready, the, the following day is coming. So all right, be that as it may, our meaning is that we light after

26:45 Mincha. Um, and so now we've discussed that. Now the question is why before Aleinu. So it's not so well-documented, this. Even Chabad and Hagamit doesn't say. But you know what? I saw this by my, you know, uh, w-w-we weren't born yesterday. We've seen what's going on, the Mesorah from generation to generation. And so therefore, if we're doing it now after, before Aleinu, probably that's how it's been done for generations. So the question is why. So here there's a letter which you have on the, on the board, uh, on the screen, a letter from Rab Chaim Nora to Rabitz Hakduba of Olavashalom. So, and this, it's been published in several places. And he explains how Aleinu is always-- He uses the term, it's the makiv ha'patish. It's the last, uh, it's the last, it's a finishing touch to davening. So for example, Megillah is before Aleinu. Tfilat HaOmer is before Aleinu. Kinnes is before Aleinu. Um, in, in Rosh Hashanah, by night, we say Ledavid Mizmor is before Aleinu, uh, Ledavid, uh, the Ashamari. He says because Aleinu, in a sense, is the, the last... It's interesting, but what about the tilling which we add on, on, uh, every morning? But that's a good question. But meanwhile, this is what he's saying, that Aleinu is basically the finish of davening. I just wanna point out, if you think about those words, Aleinu, it's at the point where the person is finished davening, is about to go out to the street. And there he says these words,

28:20 Aleinu Sha'bayaach, that we thank Hashem how we're different to the Goy Ha'Aratz. It's the moment when you're gonna go out and confront the Goy Ha'Aratz that's on the street. You're gonna have to deal with them in business, et cetera. It's at that time you g- you get that, you know, that, it's extra chizzah before you leave the house, you leave the shul, you say Aleinu. So what Rab Chaim Nora is saying, that is, that Aleinu is, is, it's always, or any, any other mitzvahs, to the point that even the fact that we have a minute of saying Aleinu after a bris. Rab Chaim Yaakov Emden says w- that this, uh, or-originates from the fact that a bris would normally take place in shul right after Shacharit. And so to say Aleinu after the bris. So again, um, so Aleinu is, is the last thing, and we pra-- if there's another, you know, uh, a mitzvah to be done that morning, it's done, uh, before Aleinu, and Aleinu is, is the last thing. So that's Rab Chaim Nora's take on it. Okay, let's move on. So now, a gentleman who often writes to me various, uh, Lamdash questions, Rechulu, and he was concerned about this public menorah. Now, the, he, he, uh, uh, the, the, the menorah in Manhattan, this is the Yaakov Agam Menorah. I think Fifth Avenue or something like that. Somewhere it's in Man-Manhattan. And it's billed as the world's tallest menorah. Now, w-- uh, now it, it, it is described as being

29:49 thirty-six feet high. Now, if you take thirty-six feet and translate that into meters, it's about ten and a half meters. Now, the menorah mustn't be more than twenty amahs high. How much is an amah? So according to Rab Chaim Nora, an amah is forty-eight centimeters approximately. So that means that, that twenty amahs is about nine and a half meters, I think nine sixty. So if, if it's thirty s- if it's thirty-six feet high, it's that much higher than, uh, than, than, than, uh, the sheer of, of twenty amah. But it, when it was-- I remember reading, and I couldn't find this in the discussions. There was a discussion about this. It was specifically designed that it should be within the, within the sheer. And there's another, there's two gear sources, thirty-six feet high or thirty-two feet high. It depends which newspaper you want to believe. Um, uh, now thirty-two feet is, is a bit helpful. It's still a little bit higher than thir-- than, than twenty amahs, according to Rab Chaim Nora. But I pointed out to Rabbi Ginsburg, who writes in these discussions, that when they tell you in the newspaper that it's so tall, they're talking about overall dimensions. And so the Shamash is also part of that overall dimension. So if you would take off this, the height of the Shamash, the flames are actually within the, uh, twenty amash here. That's how I worked out the last time it was, and that solves the, uh, you know, it was, it was

31:22 built with the Kabbalah now, and they, they, uh, uh, we, we know it carefully, and it's worked out. It should be within this year. And definitely these tall Menorahs are, uh, if they make a Brochan, then they definitely make poi- make a point they should be within the twenty amash. Right. Someone was asking, "In, in, in our shul, we're having... In, in our shul, we, we are knowing since there is encouragement that the Menorah should be a light for the whole twenty-four hours, if possible, if, as the other children won't tamper with it, if the Menorah could be a light." So we're using your outside candles for the, for the Menorah. So it doesn't have to be, but the Shamash is also your outside candle. Now, it's not very convenient to light a, uh, use a your outside candle to light other candles. So someone asked, "Why do we need a Shamash? If you're using another light, a lighter in any case, what do you need a Shamash for?" So it was remi-- it reminded me of a similar question someone asked the Rebbe, "Why do you need to have a Shamash in, w- for the Menorah when it's on, on-- during the daytime?" Because there is a Mincha to light the Menorah, also have the Menorah a light, uh, during Hallel, particularly. On this, because according to the Shitas Rambam, the Menorah, when it says in the morning they would doesn't just mean they would clean it out, but they actually would rekindle it

32:58 every morning. So according to Rambam, it was lit in the morning also, is that seems to be the background for the Mincha, that the Menorah in Shul, uh, which is reminiscent, obviously, of the Menorah in the Mishkan, in the Beis Hamikdash, so it's in, in the morning. So someone asked the Rebbe, "Why is there a need for, uh, Shamash, uh, in, in the morning?" To explain, one of the reasons for the Shamash is that in case someone reads near the Menorah, one should say he's enjoying benefit from the, from the Menorah itself on the regular, and you're not allowed to have benefit from them. So we say he's enjoying the benefit from the Shamash. But during the day, where there's plenty of natural light, so why do you need a Shamash? Shuls used to be built, built with tall windows, so there's a lot of natural light. And so what's the need for, uh, a Shamash during the day? So this is where the Rebbe answers. This is in back, back of the There are other reasons for the Shamash. For example, if one of the candles goes out. So if one of your candles goes out, you shouldn't take a match and put it to one candle to light the other candle. So you have the Shamash there in the-- in case you need to rekindle one of the lights, you'll take that, the flame from the Shamash rather than from of-- one of the, the lights and lights of the mitzvah. There's another

34:27 idea of the Shamash being comparable to the Kohen who is there standing and, and lighting the Neris. And this comparison to the Kohen who's serving, uh, is ex-- an explanation why typically the, the Shamash stands taller. In most Menorahs, the Shamash stands taller than the other Neris, and we have the idea, We have the Pasuk of the way it talks about the burning ga-- the fiery angels standing above the Shinah, okay, and Pasuk can bring this as a siman, that the Shamash stands higher than the other Neris. So they say, "Why does Shamash stand higher?" So it's like compared to the Kohen who's lighting the Neris. So there's other reasons for the Shamash besides just, uh, that you shouldn't, um, read by the Neris, et cetera. And so that also explains why we have a Shamash, even though we're not actually using it for lighting the other ones directly. Why, when I, when I did the Menorah, actually, I first lit that your outside candle for the Shamash and then used that to, to light the other candles. Okay, let's go on. Okay, this is not a Hanukkah Shailah. Someone's walking the street on Shabbos, and the wind blew off his scarf, and it landed on the front wall, on the wall of a front garden. So now he's asking, can he, standing in the street, take the scarf off the fence or off the wall and put it on his, uh, around his neck? And the answer is basically no. And the reason is

36:06 that the wall of the, the wall which is creating your Reshus Hayachid, um, the wall which is creating Reshus Hayachid is itself Reshus Hayachid. So the front wall of a premises is causing the inside to be Reshus Hayachid. Therefore, that wall itself is Reshus Hayachid. Because of that, um, he's not allowed to take the scarf, the scarf off that wall, that wall and while standing in the street. What he can do is go into the front garden and take it off the fence from, from the, from the inside, then it's within Reshus Hayachid, and then wears it, puts it on his neck. That's okay. Um, I m-- I mentioned last night as, uh, we had a rehearsal last night on these Shailahs. So if it falls onto a hedge- There, I don't know what the solution would be because you're not allowed to, uh, use gedule karaka. And so, for example, if someone had left a, a, a ha- a, a, uh, a hang-- a, a jacket hanging on a tree, let's say it could be a some- a bit of a branch sticking out, you have a problem on Shabbos taking it off. Or if a bull gets stuck in a tree, it's gonna be a problem the Sha- on Shabbos to remove it because resembling gedule karaka. So if your, your, uh, scarf is on a, on a hedge, uh, I have a problem of, of taking it off on Shabbos. Now, um, com- going back to the previous question. Thank you, Rabbi

37:34 Levi. Um, pointing out the ," is a remez, because loi is thirty-six, and you got thirty-six, um, candles, so to speak, in the s- eight days of Hanukkah. So the "is the shamas standing above the thirty-six candles. Thank you. Right. Someone asked me this question during this week. Um, if a property-- a Jew owns a property, it's rented out on Airbnb, and it's mostly gonna be used by goyim, does he need to have mezuzah? So this what we see, uh, it's not so clear, but that's... Well, this is one, uh, one of the seforim on mezuzahs. It's Pisges HaShulchan by Schechter. So he has here that a ho- a room which is rented out to a goy near a department mezuzah. Um, earlier on, he's not so clear about that. So if you will have a room within your house, let's say if you had an, a au pair, uh, a caretaker who lives within your house, then the whole of that room should have to have a mezuzah because it's part of the domestic use. But when it's a, a standalone dwelling, which is not, not part of your dwelling, it's... A mezuzah is where you, where you live, uh, or you have your personal effects there. Uh, if it's, uh, nothing to do with your personal stuff, then it doesn't need to have a mezuzah. So, um, let's say a storage room, which is a, a storage room which is, even if it's not part of the house, but if it's sto-

39:17 storing domestic stuff, then it would need to have a mezuzah. If you have a, a freestanding shed and it's not used for domestic stuff, it's... So then it would, probably would be apart from a mezuzah. Okay. So that, uh, be-- And then there's another consideration, and that is that whenever there's a chashash of bizayon, where we're worried that the mezuzah might be disgraced, that's also a reason not to have a mezuzah. That's one of the reasons why if there's a, a door sha- uh, which is, uh, shared with a goy, and let's say, uh, it's a two-family house, and there's a, a shared entrance, so the halakha is it doesn't need to have a mezuzah. So one of the reasons given for this is because of the worry that the goy, um, might disgrace it. So, uh, that's one of the reasons why we don't give a goy a mezuzah. Also, even if he asks for it, we try to avoid it because of it may, may become the day bizayon. So with an Airbnb, um... Yeah. So someone's pointing out that Airbnb obviously would have your furniture. And reading that earlier comment, um, he seems to be suggesting if it's a furnished dwelling, you would, you would need to have a mezuzah. But then the bottom line of the middle, uh, quote, you know, the middle paragraph. So, "that still that you have that mezuzah out there, and a goy comes on Airbnb, nothing's stopping him from ripping that mezuzah off the, off

40:41 the door. Um, there is the idea that the goy might even be worried that this is, that the Yidden are casting some kind of fish on him. And so they may have some, um, anxiety about the mezuzah being there, and, um, and therefore it might become, come the day bizayon, and that's the reason for, uh, for not having it there. Let's move on. Okay. So then my tenth question is, it's not on the sheet and not on the screen, but Shliach asks me about, um, wine. About, about having to have a yayin mevushal in the presence of non-Shomer Shabbos. And he, he says that we have, uh, shluchim are often confronted with this problem, that they ha- invite a, uh, person in the community, and the person comes around before Shabbos, brings an expensive bottle of kosher wine, non-mevushal, and then it comes to the Shabbos meal, and you're not serving it. Why? Because the person is, is, is, is not a Shomer Shabbos at all, and it's, it's, it becomes a bit awkward. So is that, is that chumra a bit... Is that necessary to be so machmir? This is his question. Can we cut corners on that one? So we have a couple of minutes, and so I want to... I've shared a little fabreng about this, yeah. So, so first of all, like, there's a, a very beautiful story with, with Reb Itche M'Aznit and the Pshevangel Rebbe. This story was told by Reb Simcha Garadetski, and it's, I understand the story

42:27 took place in Leningrad after the Rebbe had m- moved, uh, first it was in Rostov the first couple of years, perhaps after they established, after... But, uh, in, in... I understand it was Leningrad, and Chacham Fagin was the Rebbe's gabbi. And for some reason, it was an evening that Chacham Fagin wasn't able to be on duty, and so he asked Reb Simcha to be on duty, uh, for Yechidus. No? So one of the people who went to Yechidus that night was Reb Itche M'Aznit. And Rabitch, uh, this is kind of-- so, so Rab Simcha was there in the room whilst this conversation took place. So Rabitch told the Rebbe the following. That he generally-- Rabitch had this phenomenal, um, Hiddur Mitzvah and his Zahirus, and he, he was extremely cautious about, about Mitzvahs. And let's skip to the point. So Rabitch, uh, was particular that he would only eat meat or chicken if he had seen the knife of the shochet and shechted that it's okay. Check, check the chalav. And then he would eat from it. If he was happy with it, he would eat it. So he, he was in a particular town, and he was staying by a family. And, uh, before Shabbos, the shochet came around, and he, he ch-checked the knife. He was satisfied. The shochet checked it, shechted the chicken. And the balabosta was gonna make food for Rabitch, uh, with this. Comes Shabbos afternoon. And by the time Rabitch finished davening, and there was-- I've forgotten the name

44:11 of the other Hasid. He mentioned the name of another prominent Hasid. And the balabosta served kugel. And the other Hasid had eaten from of the kugel. Rabitch, Masmid, comes, and she serves him the kugel, and he just can't eat it. It's And he, he turns to the balabosta, whatever, he says, "Is this was-- Which schmaltz did you make the kugel with? Was it from that chicken?" "Oi, uh, I'm sorry. We ran out of schmaltz. It wasn't enough schmaltz from that chicken. I took some other schmaltz." And so, all right. So she knew. Rabitch, he was sensitive that the, that the, the kugel wasn't from the schmaltz from the chicken which was, uh, which was shechted, where he had checked the knife. And he says to the Rebbe, " I'm indulging in chumras which are beyond my standard." So, hold on, yeah. The other Hasid, a Chabad Hasid, is a much bigger Hasid than me, and he was able to eat the kugel, and I wasn't able to eat the kugel. He says that I'm indulging in chumras which are beyond my level. And he asked the Rebbe for it, you know, for advice, for tikkun. So the Rebbe says to him, "Yeah, yeah, but that was a zerig hit what you asked. You have to be very careful what you eat." This was the Rebbe's, uh, response. That, uh, uh, you're talking about a person who has ruach hakodesh o-o-on to a level. And the Rebbe says, "Yeah, you have to be careful what you

45:38 eat." Um, wine particularly, we're, we're very, very careful about wine. Well, it says, "Nachas yayin yotzu sowd. Yayin is the Mach she�o, sowd is the Mach she�o." People taking wine, their secrets come out. There's-- Y-y-yayin, wine is very p-- very, very powerful. You know, in Torah, it's seen as a very powerful thing. Um, there's a sefer which I have from, um, Nosson Shapira called Masas Shimurim, and he has a whole, whole section on yayin, um, yayin hamashumer. We know that the Rebbe was extremely, uh, how do you say? Whatever the word is. Very, very careful. And he kept the wine in his room in seven seventy, and he would take wine home for Shabbos in a, in a bottle. He was, like, extremely pr- how do you say? Protective of the wine shouldn't be, uh, touched by someone else or something like that. Very, very interesting. So, so we, we, we have to be careful. And so that's, that's my f- my first point about this. So then the other point about this, I want to share with you a fascinating anecdote which I read this week. This is a, this is a quote from the Kvachabad Magazine. Rabbi Chaitrik of Tzfat is telling us what he heard from Rabbi Veml Shemtov, the chairman of Agudas Chabad. It was many years that the, uh, the President of the United States would sign a proclamation honoring Yud Aleph Nissan as the Day of Education, United-- uh, for U-U-USA. This would be an honor for the Rebbe.

47:21 Part of the, this, uh, um, you know, this, this honor, this pr-process is that there's a delegation of shluchim who go to Washington, and they meet with the president, and it's in their presence that the president signs the proclamation. One time, the Rebbe received a photograph of this signature, the signing event, and he saw the shluchim are all wearing jackets, but they're not wearing hats. And the Rebbe said, said we felt in geon yank. It looked-- Missing in geon yank. You're missing in, in prestige of the, uh, Yiddish, uh, prestige. Now, I mentioned this story by the Farbrengen today, and someone questioned because there's a slightly different story with almost a si-similar comment of the Rebbe, and it's unlikely the same story happened twice, the same comment. But the story was, I think it was President Carter, and there had been some, something to do with Iran. I don't remember the, all the details. Uh, and the point of President Carter hadn't come out to the public for months. And then there was the, uh, came Hanukkah, and they made a Hanukkah, um, um, celebration in the White House. And the one-- And, uh, so it was, let's say, fifth night of Hanukkah, sixth night of Hanukkah, whatever it was, it was the middle of Hanukkah. And possibly, they had discussed the idea of Hanukkah being every day to add light. And the, it was this, one of the senators, a Jewish senator. So his son, a young bar mitzvah boy, whatever, was given the,

49:05 to light the menorah. And the president, somehow he asked if they could light all the candles, not just the five candles or the six candles. And it was very awkward to de-refuse the pre- the president. And so whoever was there acquiesced and lit the full amount. And the Rebbe's comment was afterwards that he's, uh, was, where was the geon Yaakov? Where was the, the, uh, Jewish pride, so to speak? The point is, I, I, I think it doesn't really matter, this detail or that. Oh, so I mentioned this by the Farbrengen. And so then Rabbi Aaron Tifferen told me that when the late Avrom Yitzchak Glick went to visit, had an official visit with the King of Spain, Juan Carlos. Uh, this was in the eighties. It's got to do with the Meshihi Marambam, uh, because Marambam was, uh, lived in Spain. The Kitz-- Uh, the Rebbe told him to in-in-investigate, find out the protocol. there was... But the Rebbe gave him ten points of protocol. One is that he should say that, that he, he should wear his hat, and he should say that this is part of the respect of, uh, this is, uh, as, as a rabbi on the contrary, he's wearing his hat out of respect. The other one was about the fact that he won't shake hands with the queen is also out of respect. So these, these are the couple of points. The Rebbe told, you know, this is one of the protocols. The Rebbe gave him that he

50:48 should wear his hat. So let, let's just like analyze what's going on here. You're a guest in someone else's house, and their protocol, and it's in a very prestigious house, it's a White House or a palace, and they, they, they, they are saying, "This is the protocol over here." And yet, the Rebbe is expecting a Hasid to have Gaon Yaakov and to say, "This is-- I'm a Shliach. I'm a Hasid. This is, this is, this is the way I, I, I... This is who I am." Now, let's come back to the question over here. You're a Shliach, and you are a Mashpia. A guest comes along and brings you a bottle of wine, and it's going to be a compromise on your standards. So then who's the Mashpia? Who's the Mashpia? And it's, I, I, I, uh, perhaps I'm out of place of, of, of, uh, of saying to a Shliach, but a, a person has a Masiras Nefesh himself and his whole family for a whole life being out there. But, uh, for the great dominion. So you, you, you, you are the one, you are the Mashpia, and you have to be able to, um, make that decision that there are things which are not up to your standard. And what happens if they bring on Shabbos? And what happens if they bring you whiskey on Pesach? And what happens if they bring you, bring you... There can be so many different I'm sure every Shliach will tell you, uh, stories where people

52:20 have brought them things, and you have to have the, uh, wisdom and the to be able to, to handle the situation that you are the Mashpia, and therefore you're not gonna have a, a, someone come into your place and to, um, to, to bring down your standards. And if there is a Hashash, so you have to be conscientious of it. I just want to finish off on, um, mentioned by the Fabregin today, that there was, uh, Rabbi Tzinn Shem Tov. So he would take the Rebbe's letter and read it out and go to other shuls. So he went to eighty-six Casenet Road, which was a Satmar Rabbe's midrash. And this is going back about probably f-fifty years ago. And there's a multimillionaire who's the patron of the shul, et cetera. And Rabbi Tzinn starts reading the Rebbe's letter. And, uh, this millionaire there was shoving his chair or disturbing. He wasn't keen. He's, "Why should you coming in and, and, and, and, and doing your stuff?" And, uh, Rabbi Tzinn turned to him. He says, "You have got more chutzpah than money." That's, that's something. He, he, he is, he is walking into the other person's shul, and he's, he's reading the Rebbe's letter. The other guy, the host of the shul is... And he, you know, I'm not saying that everyone has to take that approach. We're talking about, about the idea of Uh, and, um, but if you make a fire outside, well, are you liable if you don't make... All right. But

54:00 on the other hand, the Gaon Yaakov that you, you're Shliach, and you are going to set the standard. Wherever you are, whether it's the hat or whether it's going to be, uh, whatever it may be, a standard, but you are Shliach, and wherever you are, you're gonna keep up that standard. So that's my little fabreg, uh, about this topic and lots of Chaim on that. Let's have one more point over here. Almost, uh, try, uh, finish our time slot. And that is one of our contacts. Oh, two things are left. One is about, um, I'd mentioned last week about a woman who's not making-- not going to daven. What does she do about Kiddush? And I'd said, if she's not going to daven, then she'd actually make Kiddush before breakfast. So there is a tshuva of-- someone, someone pointed out to me there's a tshuva of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in Igros Moshe, where he says because a woman is bound to eat the meal with her husband, therefore at nine o'clock in the morning, it's not mealtime yet, and therefore she doesn't have to make Kiddush. All right. It's an interesting svara. I don't know how convincing it is. So there are-- there is room. All right. Well, Rabbi Moshe is certainly an eminent posek. And the, if person-- There is room to be make on that, but, uh, I'm not so convinced with the svara. And so if she is not davening, I would still say that she should try to make Kiddush on

55:23 her own before she has breakfast. Okay. Let's finish off with this point. Someone, one of our regular listeners, uh, on the recording sent me the following observation. We know that there's a difference between migdol and magdil in benching. And so the earliest record of this is in the Abudraham. I'm not sure which she read. The person wrote to me which it's printed, but it's printed at least five hundred years ago. And the Abudraham, I mean, the, the difference between migdol and magdil, one is in Tehillim. In Tehillim- It's Magdil, and the same, the same song, the same shira appears in Sefer Shmuel, and there it's read Migdil. So let's read Avodah Ram. On Shabbos, one should say Migdil Yeshuas Malki with a vav. In the weekday, we should say Magdil with a yud. What's the reason for this distinction? Because Shabbos, Shabbos is like a big king in comparison to the weekday. So Migdil is the idea of, perhaps alludes the idea of Melech Gadol. Migdil, So with a vav, it's Melech Gadol. Okay. Magdil, actually the word Magdil is written without a yud. If you say, take the Sefer Tillim, uh, you'd see it's actually written. It's just a chirek is added in, but it's written without a yud. So he's saying that the week-weekday is a, is a, Melech Katon, and Shabbos is a Melech Gadol. He says another reason, Magdil is in Tillim. At that point, when Men-Men Dovin composes Tillim, he's not yet a Melech. Migdil is in Neviim, and by

57:23 then, chronologically, he's already Melech. So it's both, it's interesting point about the chro-chronology. But, so this is, this is what the, uh, Avodah Ram points out, that Magdil should be sped- spelt without a yud, just with a chirek. Migdil should be spelt with a vav. Curiously, so here we have beneath you, beneath, um, this quote. So actually, and let's go to bottom left. So this is from the Seder Torah. So it has Magdil with a yud, and it has Migdil without a vav. So it's just the opposite of the diyukim which the Bartenura put in. Bartenura had said Magdil is written, as you can see, in the Tillim is without a yud, just a chirek, and Migdil is with a vav. So that's curious that the diyukim are, are not, um, kept to in the Seder. Now, let's go to the right, or right, bottom right. This is from the Seder, um, Shklov, Saf Kuf, Samar Gimel. This is the first print which we have of the Alt Neuf Seder. So there we have Magdil there. It's spelt also with a yud. The question remains. Migdil is spelt there with a vav, okay? Now, the Tillis HaShem Seder, which we are familiar with from perhaps in our childhood, is a copy of a Seder printed in Vilna. I've mentioned this before. The Seder of Rav Oid was printed in Vilna, Tof Resh Ayin Alef. There were areas where, for some reason, when the Tillis HaShem Seder was published in Tof Shin Vav or somewhere in

58:51 the, in the '40s, some areas they did not copy from the Seder HaAvodah. Instead, they took copies from the Ti- the, um, from the Torah Orah Seder. Curiously, for th- this part was taken from the Torah Orah Seder, not from the Seder HaAvodah. I have a co- a co- copy of the Torah Orah Seder, and now take a look at that. Sorry, of the, of the Seder HaAvodah. Yeah, take a look at that. So there it has Magdil is spelt, Taker, there without a yud, and Migdil is spelt with a vav. And I've said this before, that the, the, the Seder HaAvodah, that, that the or- the original of the Tillis HaShem Seder is actually, in a way, much more, um, meduktuk. In, in, in many ways, it's, it's more accurate than the Torah Orah Seder. Not every, not, I don't mean accurate as in far as the, what the Alt Neuf instituted, but there's a certain degree of diktuk, which is, it's more accurate than what you see in the Torah Orah Seder. So just a fascinating, um, insight about this, uh, Migdil and Magdil. Let me just, um, go to the chat, and that will, will close the evening. I see here someone writes the following. "As I recall, unless it was a different incident, so it's told with, in an event of, you know, of the Tamas, by Rabbi Shemtow, Hanukkah lighting, you know, President Clinton house after, and after lighting the number of lights for the evening, he asked if he

1:00:15 could light more. Rabbi Shemtow related that when the Rebbe received a repor- a report of the event, he was not happy about it." Okay, fine. So yeah, as you're corroborating what I said, it was about that the president had asked for lighting more candles than the Halacha. And the Rebbe was saying, if you're a Shliach, so you, uh, you, you put your foot down, so to speak, even though it might be a little bit uncomfortable. All right, so that's what I want to share with you tonight, and I wish you all, as I said before, a Guten Chodesh and a Froilich Hanukkah, and Simchas and Gesundheit, Tomid Kol HaYomim.