וארא תשפ״ב

00:13 It's, uh, very touched everyone's joined, Baruch Hashem, and got quite a few things on, on the, uh, agenda for today. Let's start right away. I've asked by someone about-- It says in-- apparently in some siddurim, it says that the-- that you should rise when you say these words, "Tehillos L'Cha El Elyon." You should rise, um, and towards the beginning of Shemoneh Esreh. So what's the background to this? So the earliest source I could find for this is in the, what's called Minhagim Mahari'el. So you have, ra- I think his name is Rav Yitzchak Sarago, who lived about perhaps five hundred and fifty years ago. One of the, the, the, uh, the fathers, should we say, of Minhag Ashkenaz, codifying, uh, Minhag Ashkenaz. So he writes the following, "BaShachar Omar L'tefillas Yud Ches Mos Haze SheHiskil Shaz T'hillos L'cha El Elyon." In the morning, he would rise for Shemoneh Esreh when the chazan would say aloud, "Tehillos L'cha El Elyon." "B'mincha Ki SheYad Shaz Lifnei HaTevah." Mincha, he would rise when the chazan would go to the omit. And, "B'ma'ariv Ki SheHiskil HaSha-Shaz Kadesh." Okay. So coming back then to our question, what is the... When it says instruction in the siddur that, "By Tehillos L'cha El Elyon, you should rise." So then that is because at that point, the chazan would raise his voice to kind of prompt the congregation to, um, to, to, the, the last part of the brocha, "G'al Yisroel." Where he wants-- He's gonna prompt them to say, "Mi Chamocha," which

02:09 we discussed a few weeks ago, where when the Yidden crossed the Yam Suf and they sang the Shira, "V'omru Chulam," all of them said together the posek, "Mi Chamocha." So we, uh, reenact that. So the chazan prompts everyone. So the last sentence before, "Mi Chamocha," is, "Tehillos L'cha El Elyon." And therefore, the chazan starts-- at that point starts saying aloud. And corresponding to this, the, uh, the Mahari'el had this minhag of rising at that point. I want to, though, since it's already been brought up, a couple of interesting points. In the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, he adds another detail. The first part here, we have the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. This is from Siman Yud Ches. And he says that when it comes to the words, "Tehillos L'cha El Elyon," you should stand and prepare yourself for Shemoneh Esreh. "V'yosa Keichah V'neior," you should remove any phlegm which you have, which may or other things. Well, that's physically disturbing your davening and other things which may be disturbing your davening. But then he adds these three words-- four words. "V'ya-v'yeileich Gimel Psios La'achorav." You should then step back three steps. "V'yomar Tehillos L'cha El Elyon." So the-- This apparently, the earliest source for this, of stepping back three steps at this point, is from the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. The fact is that the other, um, Halakhah, they referred to the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch as being the source. Now, let me clarify something. Everyone is familiar that we start Shemoneh Esreh three steps back, three steps forward. Actually,

04:01 in Shulchan Aruch, it doesn't really spell out the need to take three steps back. Only talks about three steps forward. In a way of respect, you go, to, to go closer to-- as if you want to address the, the melekh, the king. You're addressing Hashem, so you walk three steps forward. Obviously, in order to take three steps forward, so usually you need to take three steps back. But the three steps back are not as well-founded in, in, uh, in Jewish, um, uh, literature as the three steps forward. Fine. But now the Kitzur has now given us a placement when to have these three steps ba-backwards at, "Tehillos L'cha El Elyon." And then he says, "Til G'al Yisroel." And then, "V'oz Yachzu L'fon Av Gimel Psios." And then once you've said, "G'al Yisroel", you'll do three steps forward. I want to-- I mean, it's important I'm addressing this because I've even heard people saying that, "Ad Mos Vos Ha'tiv Tochah V'yagid Tilosecha," three steps-- six words for three steps back. "Ad Mos Vos Ha'tiv Tochah," three steps back. "V'yagid Tilosecha," three steps forward, which is not-- There's no source for that. It's not, it's not correct. Y-yeah. But what we're seeing here is that you take the three steps back by, "Tilla L'cha-- Tehillos L'cha El Elyon." Um, let me just point this out. If you notice, he says, "Tehillos L'cha El Elyon," we have, "Tehillos L'cha El Elyon." These are two, two neschois. It's not a mistake. It's just a different neschois. Okay. Um, this--

05:33 Fine. This lower quote is from the Sefer called Tehillat L'David, which I might mentioned before. Rav David Ortenberg, who was a Rav in Bardichev, um, probably about a hundred and fifty years ago. And he points out that the three steps are not a concern of hefsek, of interruption. But there is a concept not to interrupt, but not to have a pause between geulah and tefillah, between G'al Yisroel and Shemoneh Esreh. We learn it from Pesukim. So he says the three steps are not a concern because it's solech hatfillah. All right, he discusses this. I wanna point out there's something very interesting. What we saw the way the Rebbe was noheg, that when the Rebbe was not the chazan, so when the chazan would say, say Tehillos L'Chaiel Elyon, he would also... The Rebbe would rise, and he'd take the three steps back. And then, but when he was chazan, he remained at his place in front of the amud until he said Gual Yisroel, then he did the three steps back and three steps forward. So that was the thing which we saw quite clearly. As a, uh, uh, as, as a member of the congregation, he would do similar to what the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch is saying, to step back by Tehillos L'Chaiel Elyon. But when he was, uh, when he was chazan, when he was chazan, so then he would just step back just before, just after Gual Yisroel. I wanna point out another very interesting thing. When we talk about three steps,

07:15 is it, you know, do, do, is it three full steps or two and a half steps or three and a half steps? So I don't know how to show this on the, uh, my camera doesn't show my feet on the, uh, on the Zoom. But the Rebbe would step back with the third step with his right foot, like half suspended in the... Not, not down or flat on the, uh, just like the toes on the floor and, uh, like one behind. It was, the, the, the right foot was behind the left foot and slightly, uh, raised. And so he did three full steps, um, without... So when he stepped back and waited for the chazan, it would take like three steps and three and a half steps, I think, and put his feet together. But when he was just stepping back and walking straight forward, so the third step was like the, the foot was re-- uh, le- semi-raised in the air before he went back to his place. Um, I know it sounds a little bit complicated. Um, I have written this up in an article. If someone wants to have a copy of it, they're welcome to ask me afterwards, and I can send them. It's, it's written in Lo-in Lashon Hakodesh, but, you know, Be'ezras Hashem will be published in due course. Okay. I'm being asked this question more than once about Ezekiel bread, and it's some kind of, people are going to natural foods of some sort. There's a story in

08:36 Sefer Yefas Koin Perek Daled, as you can see, where he was told to have a very crude type of bread, and it's made up of, uh... It's made up of, um, what's called sprouted, as you can see the ingredients here. Sprouted wheat, sprouted barley. Now, if I un-understand correctly, th-this means that the, the, the, um, the seed starts sprouting, and they don't let it grow into, uh, all the way. And they take that, uh, at that early stage of the grain, and they grind it into a flour and becomes a bread. So it's, the, the poel, I didn't rely on myself. I looked around. I saw, I think, in one of the websites, I think it was from, um, Star-K have a very good website for, for, um, ca-kashrus, et cetera. And they say it's hamotzi. Uh, the bottom line is, it is wheat, and wheat and barley, and it looks like a regular bread, so it becomes hamotzi. There's a about having wheat germ on its own. What brachas, the bracha for wheat germ. But that's on its own. But when you're having it made into a bread, so then the bracha is hamotzi. Let's go on to the next question. Oh. So you have here a picture of a, a, uh, patio door or patio doors going to a garden. So you've got here, if you can see, you've got two side doors, and then you've got the two middle doors. The two middle doors obviously open to probably about five feet wide.

10:21 The two side doors are, have got separate openings. So here's a question. Do you need to have a mezuzah for each of these, or is one mezuzah enough for the whole doorway? So it's a doorway with, with three... It's, uh, three doorways, effectively. So do you need to have separate mezuzahs for each one? So that's our question. All right, so let's go on. So let's go on here. So we have here a Shulchan, Shulchan Aruch in Siman, um, Heich Pei Vav. He says, . If you have a doorway which has been divided with a po- with a post, Imagine if the two doors were hinged to the middle post and each one hin-hinge swings from the po- from that post. Well, that makes the two door, the two s- two, that makes two separate entrances, and you need to have tzorech mezuzah l'chol pesach. You would need to have a mezuzah for each one. If there's no hinges towards the amud, towards the post, then there would no, be no need for separate mezuzahs. Now, looking at the picture, had there been a post down the middle here, down the very middle, so then that's what the Shulchan Aruch is saying, you can ignore it. What we in ha- what we have in our situation, we have the two side doors. Well, the post between the side doors and the middle one, well, that's where the middle doors are hinged So there is not two hinges to the middle one, but there's one hinge to

12:13 the middle one. So that does still... It's not so clearly addressed in Shechinach. So then here we have from the Aruch HaShulchan, um, same place, and he says the following. He says, "If the post dividing the two doorways is less than a tefach. So even if there is a heker tzir, even if there are hinges, that's also not significant enough to divide them into two doorways." So coming back. So if the doorway, sorry, the door post between the two side doors and the double middle doors, if those two posts are less than a tefach, which is about eight and a half centimeters, if it's less than a tefach thick, so then it doesn't qualify as a separate doorway, and they therefore... What I'm looking here, I would imagine that you only need to have... There's only need for one mezuzah for the, all the three doors because the door posts between them are so, um, so thin. Let's go on. Since we're talking about mezuzahs, another shailah which came up during the week was about, um, do mezuzah cases need to be put in Shemos? So this is a mefurushadin. Uh, the interesting thing is about where do you find hilchas Shemos? So it's a little bit, one of those things which are a little bit all over. So this is in the dinim of Beis Haknesses. After hilchas shach-- dinim of Shacharis, then you've got dinim of Krias HaTorah, and then you've got dinim of Beis Haknesses. So let's take a look in Seif

14:03 Gimmel. Yeah. Tashmishei kedushah. The, the, uh, what wo- how would you say? The, the things which are serving, the appurtenances of so- of something which is sacred. Like the cover for Seforim and of mezuzahs. So tefillin, the ra- the, the straps of the tefillin, they all have got the, uh... He says they all have kedushah. And when they are, uh, no longer in use, well, then one would need to put them in genizah, in, in, in Shemos, what we call in Yiddish, Shemos. So the, the to ex-explain this term, you've got what's called Tashmishei mitzvah and what's called Tashmishei kedushah. When it's got Hashem's name, that's called kedushah, and when you've got the, the box containing the scroll with Hashem's name, that's called Tashmishei kedushah. That's what he's referring to, the tishas forim, the retzuos, the straps of the tefillin. It's not the tefillin themselves, it's the straps which are serving the tefillin. So those are called Tashmishei kedushah. So although they don't have Hashem's name on them itself, but they s- because they're serving something which has got kedushah, therefore they also acquire a level of kedushah, and therefore that remains the halacha. That a mezuzah case, if it's no longer y- being in, uh, used, it needs to be put in Shemos. So interesting how during the week, another shailah comes in. Someone who is a shliach in a small place, they have their own burial, um, grounds, and they want to b-bury Shemos. So he was discussing, he was asking are there

16:01 guidelines about the burial of Shemos? And I suspect I'm discussing this because my impression is that this is a widespread misconception. By a burial of a bar minon, of a person who passed away, um, so then there is davka a sayer that should be, ki ofer atov el ofer toshuva. There should be allowance for the decomposing of the body. That's the okay. Um, that's the sayer which the put in. You have tzadikim mitzar chodsh v'acharam only just before Ches Edom. Whatever, that's the, that's the sayer over there. With, with kisrei kodesh, with sc- sacred writings, actually, you're not allowed to expose them to something which is gonna destroy them. Imagine if I have a mezuzah, and I dip it into a cup of water. So with this, I've de- I've dest- I have, I've caused Hashem's name to be faded. So that's for sure for... That's a oser. That's like it's, like, like you take a eraser, like, uh, to, to or, or so, to, to blot it out. That's losason kein Hashem elokeichem. It's sacred. You're not allowed to de-deface it. So to take a mezuzah and to put it in the ground, so you're causing, in, well, not directly, but indirectly, you're causing it to, to, to decompose. Therefore, the sayer is that s- especially is, what, what, how much the... This is, this is from a Sefer specializing about Shemos where it's called Sefer Genzi Hakodesh, I think it's called. And he says that if you have a Sefer Torah and a

17:39 Vim Ksurim written on parchment and the scrolls of the tefillin and mezuzahs, they have to be put into... If they have to be buried, they have to be put into a kli charas, an earthen contain- earthenware container. Seif Beis says that now- Okay, so what we're seeing here is that for, for Shemos, for regular, not for mezuzahs and tefillin, to use regular plastic bag, that's fine. Okay. Let's move on. Someone now went away for a few days, and they're, they're, uh, wanted to toivel some keilim in a stream. So can you toivel keilim in a stream? So now somewhere in the country. So basically, the, uh, the, the position is like this. Someone who's, uh, needs to mute themselves. Okay. So there we are. A stream, um, you can u- you can toivel keilim in a river which is from a spring. If the river is from, from rain, if it's just from rain or from melted snow, that would not be kosher for tevilah. So it's important to know this. If you go, let's say, in the holidays in s-- in the summer, where... and, again, some of the mountain region where the s- s- the rivers are there only from melting snow, you wouldn't be allowed to toivel keilim over there. But let's now read quickly this halacha in Shulchan Aruch. This is in the dinim of tevilas keilim in Yoreh De'ah siman kuf kuf. Um, uh, no. Yeah. Yesh, yesh matirin litboiv be-naharis kol hashanah. I think I made a mistake. I

19:36 think it's reish alef. Um, ve'rab... If some do allow toiveling in a river, even when there's lots of rain, and there may be even more rain than there is, um, from the springs. And he says, "Ein limchzes beYado." You don't have to be mohel. And that's because there's an understanding that cha- together with the-- when there is a flow of rain towards, there's also a greater flow from the stream from beneath. And so long as the river continues to function during-- even when there's no rain, it's, it's there the whole year round. So even though during the rain the river has expanded, you can toivel in the, uh, in that river. Okay. So that's a simple answer that can you toivel keilim in a river. So if it's a small stream, you could toivel keilim there. I mentioned this before. If there has been a electric dam further upstream, that does raise a question, but on a small country stream, I, I doubt there's any dams further, further up. I wanna share with you something else which came up interesting in looking this halo-- up this halacha, and that is the following question. Can you toivel keilim in less than forty se'ah? So here's an interesting halacha that it says in Shulchan Aruch. This is talking siman kuf kuf. The other one was reish alef. But it says here, "Sor lehatbilam bemikveh o mayim shel arbayim se'ah." Now, everyone who learned a bit of chasidus knows that mayim demetar be'kol she'u. You could toivel in

21:14 a mayim even though it's only got, uh, a, a, a, a very small thing, let's say a spoon, to toivel a spoon. So you would be able to toivel in a smaller thing, a smaller body of water. That is only true for tevilah of keilim, which became tamei through contact, through sheretz, et cetera. Here, we're talking about the tevilah of keilim which were bought from a goy, and so there's a different halacha. So to, to emphasize this point, that there's a difference between tevilas k- keilim tameim and tevilas keilim which were bought from a goy. Tevilas keilim tameim, you could toivel a keilim in, even in a small body of water, whereas tevilas keilim haniklim min hanochri, that tevilas keilim has to be in arbayim se'ah. And even if it's a mayim, it has to be. So therefore, to dip a, a spoon, you bought a spoon from a goy, and you want to toivel it, and you got a puddle of rainwater, it's, it's, uh, it's not kosher for this tevilah. Whereas if it were tevilah for, from tumat ohel, it would be a kosher tevilah. All right, let's move on. Um, this, this question of, of persons making a batch of dough, and they're going to use half of it. Half of it they use-- they're go-going to use now, and half of it they want to put in the freezer. And then they'll, then they'll take it out later and defrost it, and tomorrow or whatever, next week. Do they, do they

22:43 have to take-- Can they take challah today if half of it is gonna go in the freezer? So there is a concept, and perhaps now I should have mentioned this. There's a, there's a concept called issur al ha'suyah lechalik. If someone makes a dough with the intention of dividing it, so it's patum in ha'challah. So let's read the halacha. Nach tum she'asoh iso. If a baker made a dough, and, um, la'asois esha oir. He wants to make this dough and leave it to become sour, and then that will become yeast, and he'll sell it. Lechalik. He's making a dough and for the purpose of leaving it to mature, to become yeast, and then he'll distribute it to separate-- to several people. Chayav is bechalah. He does have to take challah from this dough. She'im lo simoch ya'aseh napas. Because if he doesn't get customers for his-- for the, uh, for this yeast, he will make it into bread, and therefore it's chayav bechalah. Aval shar odom oese isur lechaliko potur be-batzel ptura pturo. If anyone else, not a professional, if he makes a dough for the intention of dividing it to sep-- to, to, to dividing it, then it's patum in ha'challah. So this became a big issue when there became the whole new... In the last few years, there's been these, these challah, challah groups, and they want to give-- make a big dough and give each woman one, one, uh, liter of dough, uh, approximately. And each one will make a doug- two

24:20 challahs, let's say, which is much less than shiar challah. That raises a big problem of making a brachah because it's a issur al suyah lechalik. You make a big batch of dough with the intention that each person is gonna have less than a shiar, and that's g- that's, that's patum in ha'challah. You wouldn't be able to make a brachah on the hafrashat challah. So now let's come back to our question. We're not talking about to divide to separate people. We're talking about to divide a bit for today and a bit for tomorrow and gonna leave it in the freezer. Is that also falling into the category of issur al suyah lechalik? So let's, um... There is such a shita. The-- Perhaps somewhere I have the, a copy of it. Um, no. So also is... This is from one of the sefarim which specialized in the Chazal. He says the following: Also, is the le'atzmo. The person made a dough for personal use. The chalcol is katanos, to divide it into small portions. Does roev hapoiskim she'eino poeta. The majority of poskim say that's not called asur lechalek. Asur lechalek means it's for separate owners. But if you're doing it for yourself, to put some for now and to make some in the-- put some in the freezer for tomorrow, roev poskim say that it is chai ve'chala. There is a minority of poskim who say it's pat hamena chala, but that seems to be the po-- the psak seems to be that it is chai

25:53 vechala. So I guess you could take chala with a beracha. There is another shita. Chaznisha's got a shita where he comes up with the following chiddash. He says, "If you make a dough," and this is a common thing. People make a dough, and they don't have... Perhaps I discussed it once at the shiur this year. They don't have enough, uh, people at home to go through a shiur chala over a Shabbos. So they make the batch of dough, and they make half of it into loaves of chala, and the other half, they make into kokosh. So Chaznish says that if you're dividing into different flavors, so that's also called asur lechalek. But he, he, he raises such a sfara. Um, I, I, I strongly feel that it's not correct. I've got to rise for this. I've written about it, um, and that if you-- if someone asks me, "Can you make a beracha on hafrosh's chala?" The part is gonna go to bread, and part's gonna be kokosh. I would say the answer, that, that you should. You can make the chala with a beracha. Um, okay. Let's go on. Okay. Now, someone asks a question, um, when you have a, a switchover, one chazan takes over from the other chazan. So let's say someone is a chiyuv, and he came late to shul, and so, uh, he's missed the, uh, he can't take the amid for Shemoneh Esreh, but he can take over for, for a volitziyin. Or there can be there's two chiyuvim,

27:29 and they agree that one will do the first part of davening, one will do the second part of davening. At what point do they switch over? So this concept is already mentioned in the Rama, um, where he-- Let's say over here, um, it says, "Ovos a choil mishi y'dei l'hispalel." If a person is capable of davening at the amid, uh, we're talking about a person who's, uh, in avelus for a parent. So if he's able to, to daven for the amid, that's, that's better than Kaddish Yatom. "Mishe einu y'dei l'hispalel kol hatefillah." There can be someone who's not capable of davening at the amid. He recognizes his, his limits, his limitations, and so he's not able to do a Chazarat Hashatz. Okay, fine. So y'hispalel lam natze'ach uvolitziyin. So he's gonna take over by lam natze'ach. In other words, Asher volitziyin, I'll take over. So this, this is what the, uh, Rama in, um, in Chazal Avelus brings down about another chazan taking over by a volitziyin. So it looks like this is the, uh, the source I brought here from an earlier source of switching over. She'agir shatz levolitziyin ulegoyel. Yoishev shatz masge lo sehovol. Me'avar mei'eim volitziyin goyel. So they would be switched over by a volitziyin. Here's an interesting thing, that the, um, uh, there is a diary written by the late Rebbe Berel Rifkin of the last days, the last days of the Rebbe Rashab. He was a young man, and he was-- I'm not sure whether he was married or

29:16 a bocher, but he was looking after the Rebbe Rashab in his last days in Rostov. And he wrote, uh, a sefer. He was, he was later Rosh Yeshiva in Torah Vodaas, and he wrote a sefer called Hashkaf to the Rebbe. So he says, um, "I had, I made a note that the Rebbe Rashab, obviously in earlier times, on the yort site of the Midzlo Rebbe, he would take over the amid at Asher volitziyin." And the fellow who asked him says, "How can you do that?" Because there's a Kaddish Tiskabel, and Tiskabel, Tiskabel is relating to Chazarat Hashatz. You say Tiskabel Tzelosain. So you're-- the Kaddish Tiskabel is related to Chazarat Hashatz. So what's the shatz? The Rebbe took over, um, by Asher volitziyin. I really don't understand the question when I've just shown you it's in the Rama and earlier, uh, sources, but be that as it may. But, so this is a, a well-known minhag Yisrael that when there's a need for, uh, two chazonim, so there's a switchover not being during Tahnun. It shouldn't really be maphtir by Tahnun in any case. The whole Gemara in Berachot is about that. Whole story with, uh, uh, who is it? Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Gamaliel, et cetera. But instead, the switchover is after that Kaddish, after Chatzah Kaddish, by Asher volitziyin. But here, Rabbi Rifkin makes a very, uh, interesting point. When you finish your, your private Shemoneh Esreh, you put-- take three steps back. When you are chazan, you don't take three steps back.

30:49 You finish, "Hamavdil shabbes shalom," and you just con-you continue straight into, into, uh, to Tahnun or whatever it may be. So what happens with your three steps back? The answer is, after a volitziyin- You're gonna say Kaddish, and then you're going to end of that Kaddish, you're go- after Tiskabel, you're gonna say, "Eishet Chayil," we take the three steps back. So your Mondays and Thursdays are very interesting. In between, there's been Kriyat HaTorah, and perhaps if you're also the gabba, you've, uh, made Mishabeirach, and you've, uh, perhaps given someone a mazel tov. After all of that, you go back to the omit, and then you're gonna say, "Uvetziyon," and then you're gonna say Kaddish, the three steps back or the three steps back at the end of Shemoneh Esreh. So zayin. But what he's saying here is, if there is a switchover of chazanim at Uvetziyon, then the first chazan has to do three steps back because now he's, he's, he's now a step... He was the one. He doesn't have a problem with the fact that there's a switchover, because whoever says the Kaddish Tiskabel, that's gonna be for the, for, for the Shemoneh Esreh. That's all very well, and that was a communal tefillah. So it's okay for someone else to finish off the communal, the, the K-the Kaddish for the commu- c- the communal tefillah. That's okay. But the physical person who was the one who's fat, omed leflei haMelech, who has to take three steps back, so he has to take

32:12 his three steps back. It doesn't help him that someone else is gonna take three steps back. So that's, that's a, a Chiddush, uh, which I did not find in other's Seferim. But, right, it's a deholah, a very logical thing, that he does have to take three steps back. For that matter, what is written in Seferim is, if, let's say, the chazan made m- made a mistake in his quiet Shemoneh Esreh, he forgot the Yaaleh Viyavo or some, some, something which would warrant him repeating the Shemoneh Esreh, and instead of him repeating the Shemoneh Esreh and everyone's gonna be waiting and, you know, getting, getting nervous, so et cetera. Instead, he doos, does, you know, he does the Chazarat Hashatz is his repetition. That's okay. But then if he forgot Yaaleh Viyovo, for example, so then he has to take three steps back personally and not rely on the three steps back at the end of the Kaddish. That's, that's what's written in Seferim. The reason for that, I don't remember now. Okay, let's move on. Okay. So last week and two weeks ago, we've been talking about leaving raw food. We had about putting up an urn just before Shabbos, and that being a issue of has to, has to be, um, that you-- there's no gruf for ketumah, so you'd have to sort out that it should be heated, um, well before Shabbos. There should be-- there shouldn't be a question of it boiling on Shabbos. And then came also discussion about putting raw

33:34 chicken into the oven just before Shabbos. And there is a special halacha that if you put a raw meat, and so that's kind of a statement of Hesed Chadash, which we discussed last week. Okay. So someone sent me this whole, uh, list from the US, uh, Department of Agriculture about how long does it take to cook chicken. The practicalities of this are, if you would put a chicken, let's say, half... The, the, the, let's-- the halo- let's first look at the halacha. Halacha is, if you are leaving food to cook on Shabbos, then you have to have gruf for ketumah, which is not really practical in an oven. If it's, yeah, it's, if it's, uh, marak bevandru soi, the chumrah halfway, if it's half-cooked, then you can leave it to continue cooking. So he's showing me, it's a val-valuable point, that if, let's say, it's going to take forty minutes to cook, let's say, breast, hals, bone-in. I'll leave this for the Eitz Noshim to work out the details. But if it's, if it takes forty minutes to cook, and you put it into the oven twenty minutes before Shabbos, so when Shabbos comes in, it's half-cooked. So that would be okay. So if you put the food in before Shabbos, and by the time it's gonna come Shabbos, it's gonna be half-cooked, then it can do-- then it can continue cooking into Shabbos, um, that would be okay. The separate issue is how you're gonna open the oven, and that's another whole discussion. Okay.

35:09 We have another few minutes. I wanted to a-address, um, one of, one of the, uh, unfortunately, the very, very big tumulte in the whole Jewish community, the whole story with Chaim Walder. Should we say Alav Hasalom? Guess so. But, uh, I would not say Zichron L'vracha. And, um, people are asking, "Should we take this-- Should we take the books and put them in the bin? Should we, um..." So, so what, what, how do you handle this? It's a very serious question. And to prove the point that it's serious, I give a, a, a talk to the boys in the mechinnah. I give them a weekly shiur. Actually, the same shiur I share with them, uh, sh- selective things, and we discuss it. And I also give another lesson somewhere overseas by Zoom. That's a girls class. And bo-both the girls and the boys are asking, are they, "What, what should be the attitude with the Chaim Walder books?" Someone also asked me by, by email, which I didn't answer yet. My, my... What I told the tel medium, number one, I feel that you should not use the books, um, at least out of sensitivity to the victims. Number one. Number two, I told them that as young people, what you learn from this story is if you are ever-- if someone oversteps boundaries with you, not to remain silent. That you should take from this story. The third point which I said to them is, when you are in a position of mashpia, let's

36:53 say you are a madrich, a lea- a group leader, or, uh, can be later in life, a, um, a, a teacher, Rosh Yeshiva, whoever it may be. To, to take every step to, to, uh, to take the precautions that you should never fall into this trap. And I told them that, uh, my own-- personally, when people meet with me, if a woman meets with me, uh, in my front room, I will open the curtains. The net curtains also that should be visible to the street. There shouldn't be any, any pre-- any, any any of, of any, uh, anything un-untowards. There's ain apitrupas laroys. I want to as I add, though, I think a point which hadn't come to mind before, and I, uh, I think it's a very, very important point. Unfortunately, Mr. Walder was summoned to a bet din, and instead of taking that option of explaining himself, he took another option, and he took his own life. Now, that is a very, very, um, uh, significant development in this story because we know that ma'abed atsmildas, which is suicide, is something which is totally forbidden in Torah. And it's, it's so important to discuss this because tragically, we're seeing it again and again, people in various situations, and they see that as a way out. So that's why I, I feel you never know who listens to this, and it's important to bring this out that that is not an option al pi Torah. It is an, a, a-- If you want to

38:35 look it up, there's a sefer called Gesher HaChayim, which, uh, specializes in all the yoniym of, of, um, burial, chevre kadisha stuff. It's a denial. It's a denial of zchar v'onesh. A person-- We, we, our, our faith is that we know that after mei havesrim, after, after our life here, we're going to then, we're going to go to bet din shel ma'alah, and we're going to be answerable. A person who takes his own life is saying, "I, oh, I was c-- I was summoned to, to be answerable here. I'm gonna show them that I'm not answerable." He's not answerable here, and he believes he's not gonna be answerable in Olam HaBa. And he's taken, he's taking his life to think that this is a way to be-- n-not have to answer. This is mamash just the opposite of, uh, of, of the, the yesodjes of Yiddishkeit. It's one of the Yud Gimmel Ikrim. And therefore, it's a denial in, in, it's in Ikrei Emunah. Not that I'm judging the person. Uh, but I'm just looking at it. Now, why, why, why, why, what's this so important over here? Listen, there's no question that the books which he published were, are, are, were good books, and that they gave valuable lessons to children. And when he comes to bet din shel ma'alah, that, that good work which he did will be on the weighing scales. No, no, I have no, no problem with that. My question is, if we keep those books on the shelf or

40:11 if we don't, in five years' time, if those books are not on the shelf, this saga will be forgotten. If we keep the books on the shelf, then a kid is gonna take the book, another kid's gonna say, in five years' time, it's go-- The, the, the story will be perpetuated. And I think even without the, all the other gory details which were investigated, weren't investigated, but just for the fact that the person-- You used to have a, a, an, a person who's l'chayeh, a source of inspiration, and the kid says, "You know what? This person, he, he took his own life because he didn't want to face the bet din." That is something which we should not want to, we should not be looking to perpetuate. And therefore, that's my, my, um, my-- In addition to everything else, but ju-just from, from this alone is the reason that it should be... I'm not saying we should make a whole, um, celebration of burning the books. I'm not looking at it in that direction. But I think it's, for enough reasons, I think those books should be off the shelf. They should be put away. Um, the service for Klal Yisroel, listen, the, the service has been provided. And hopefully, there will be other people who will perhaps take the same idea of, of, of, uh, writing people's stories and, and inspiration that, you know, leolam yishroel. But I think the, to perpetuate the name of such a person, I cannot use the word zichronei

41:35 livrach. I'm sorry. Uh, I'm, it's not, I'm not here to judge anyone. That, that, that's bet din shel ma'alah. But he asking me a question, should we keep those books? I think they should be put away. Put away and what will happen in the, uh, in the future, but I think they should definitely be put away. Um, but I don't want to finish on such a negative note. And therefore, I want to share with you something which came up this morning during, um, whilst I was saying Tehillim, and I was thinking about the fireworks last night. Now, those who are listening to me overseas, actually you don't have this minhag over there. Yeah. Put away, getting rid of the books is, as far as I'm concerned, the same thing. Um, coming back. So, uh, last night, there were fireworks. Were there fireworks in Leeds also? Rabbi Galfin, you had fireworks also? Yeah. And then it came around twelve o'clock, the fireworks stopped. By ten past, it's she'ekah v'rishon still. You can gain, you could go to sleep. And this morning, it came on my, in my what's, what, what, what do I get from this, this, uh, what, what, what's the message here? So I don't know. But what did come to mind was this, this week's Parsha about Makat Bechorot. Makat Bechorot takes place at midnight. And Chatzoas becomes, uh, Eitz Rotzon. You have Ma'aseh Metukah Chatzoas, and you have David HaMelech, uh, Chatzoas laylah okum l'hotzez lachem mishpat eitzet kecha. Chatzoas is signi-

43:10 has significance You have, uh, via this, this, um, Korban Pesach, the Ma'as Midchat Sot is all related to this. So my question is, why did Hashem choose to make Makas Bechorot at midnight? And if it was in order to show his ability and to zone in accurately, he could have did it and done it at midday. Midday is much easier to pinpoint because you have the sun at the highest point in heaven. That, that's the point of midday. Why, why did they-- why was the, the choice, k'v'yachol, the Eibishter say, "I rotten to do Makas Bechorot davka at midnight?" So my suggestion is the following. As I looked around in mefarshim, I couldn't find, and, you know, I'm always happy to hear, uh, uh, I'm always happy to hear a-another answer for the following. Makas Bechorot was a statement to differentiate between Bnei Bechorot Yisroel and the Bechorot Mitzrayim. These are... What is, what is midnight? At night is the sun sets and becomes-- it becomes dark, and it goes lower and lower and lower, and then it starts rising high. At midnight, it goes from going lower, it starts going higher. So you've got midnight is the separation between one type of dark. A dark, a dark which is going darker and a dark which is going lighter. I mentioned that in, uh, Maimer. I saw a Maimer, the difference between the Seraphim and the Eifanim. The Seraphim say, "Kodesh, kodesh, kodesh, mal'achei haElok haElokim." The Eifanim say, "Baruch kevoda Hashem b'mimkei." The Seraphim

45:08 say first kodesh, and they're reaching upwards. And then they say, "Mal'achei haElok haElokim," so they're bringing down. It's ahalo and then hamshacha. The Eifanim is baruch kevoda Hashem b'mimkei. First baruch hamshacha, and then misnasim le'umas hasseraphim, then they're grav-gravitating upwards. It's a Maimer of the Mitchell Reb. So we know the, the kodesh and baruch. Kodesh is by day, and baruch is by night. So this is two Eifanim. By day, you have, uh, going higher and higher, and then at midday, it starts getting lower. The sun starts setting. By night, it's going lower and lower, and then at midnight, it starts going higher. So this is the difference between before chatzos and after chatzos. It's the, both are dark, and the Yidden, there's an expression in, in Midrash, "Halolu evyei ve'yitzra, halolu ve'yitzra." They seem to be si-similar, and yet the Rabbeinu, Rabbeinu Yishamel is saying, "No, I'm going to s-differentiate between this one and this one. These are going to be redeemed, and these are going to be punished." So that, that subtlety is davka at chatzos halaylo, where the Eibishter says, "I'm going to differentiate in the darkness itself between one and the other, and these are going to be taken out." Um, okay. Rabbi Shmuelu is, is saying that there is a long sikha about the significance of, uh, midnight. He believes it's in Chele Gimmel. All right, so we'll leave it at, as the homework, BeEzrat Hashem. Uh, it's probably in Parshat Beshalach or, or else it's in the Pesach dikha sikhas.

46:45 Um, so venizke, venichye, venira, venishat, and wish you all a gut tavoch, and we should meet, uh, in, in good health and tamid kol hayom. Kol tuv.