כי תשא תשפ״ב

00:00 A good to book, and welcome to this, uh, sheer Motzei Shabbos Kislev. I want to dedicate this sheer today, tonight, discuss Refoel Levi, and Hassid, Rabbi Paris, should have Refoel Shlomo. Let's go straight into our sheer list. So someone asked me at the beginning of the week about wearing a gartel for benching. Now, the, the bottom quote, which you have here, is han-- from this, from Sefer Minhagim Chabad, Once we're married, so it is customary to daven, I guess, Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv, I guess also wearing a gartel. Similarly, when performing various mitzvahs, but not all mitzvahs. And the Rebbe leaves it as an open question, what's the criterion why some mitzvahs we do wear a gartel, for example, when we bench Hanukkiet, we would wear a gartel, um, some others not. Okay. Particularly now going to the union of, uh, gartel for benching. So we do have the idea that in brought in Chazal of when sitting down to eat, actually to undo your belt, to loosen your belt. And here, from this Sefer, which you have on the screen, it's a Bach, um, quoted in, in a, um, a Sefer, which... The Sefer which you see on the note, in note one, is a Sefer Tehillat HaChayim, is talking about the Tzanzer Rav, the Derech, Derech HaChayim. But, uh, so there he refers to a Bach somewhere in Hilchot Birchat Hamotzi, somewhere around in Sefer Hasidut. So he has the po-the pasuk, . That, that pasuk is when Avraham Avinu says, "I'm going to

02:06 bring bread to serve the visitors," Malachim who looked like, uh, travelers. So the word , so he takes the word , and he says, "Read the letters, hey, Chet, Kuf, Alef." Take it back to front, , loosen your belt before eating. is a Rosh Yeteiz, , lest you will come to have a stomach ache. Okay, so we have here a remez to the idea that before you start eating, you loosen your belt. And also, uh, if it's learned, Gemara Shabbos talks about Misheyascher, when, when beginning of a sudar-- One is, when is the beginning of a sudar, uh, in reference to, um, when you have to be mafsik or not. What's the beginning of a sudar? So it says that, . So the norm, uh, normal behavior would be to loosen your belt when you sit, eat, uh, sit down to eat. But when it comes to benching, I couldn't find very much evidence one way or the other. I have seen people putting on a gartel for benching, but I don't know whether they have a Kabbalah, a Mesorah from previous Hasidim. What we have here is reference to the Kolozsvir Rebbe and the Shiniver Rebbe. They were both sons, if I'm not mistaken, of the Divrei Chaim, that they would m-make a point of putting on their gartel for benching. So that's Yichides Rula, that doesn't make it something which applies to everyone. So I don't have any mokom to put on a gartel for benching. And the story is, since you are--

03:47 you've loosened your belt for a particular reason, you're still sitting, it would make sense just to continue the way you are. I would like to add, though, um, I did see there's a beautiful Sefer, um, Sipurei HaZera Duiois or something like that, of Rabbi Greenglass. And there, Rabbi Greenglass, Rabbi Greenglass, he didn't mince his words. When he, uh, needed to say something, he would say. And he would say to the Talmidim that when they're eating, they should be wearing their jacket. Sh-ha-perhaps hat and jacket, I don't remember. Again, it's something which, uh, I haven't seen many people particular about this. Um, Shabbos meal is an Andazach. Shabbos meal is, uh, out of covet for the Shabbos meal, so that's when many people would wear, uh, they're not wearing their kapote, they would wear a special Tishbekesher to, uh, out of covet for the Shabbos meal. Let's move on. Interesting question. Does a keili, which hasn't been toivled, does it have a din of muktzeh? So you got a gift of a set of cutlery. They're somewhere, and you want to put them somewhere else. Not, uh, not necessarily good for you. It is, whatever. I-Is, is there a muktzeh about cutlery? Or, or which, which is, I'm s-specially mentioning cutlery because metalways for sure, Chayav Tvillah. A glass is also Chayav Midrabbonon, whereas crockery, uh, is lav davka, so that's why I'm focusing. Some is for sure, Chayav Tvillah. Does the fact that it's not been toivled, therefore you can't use it, does it make

05:17 it muktzeh? So I was intrigued with the question, and the closest parallel we have is about a garment which is shatnez. And this Alter Rebbe does talk about in the Dinim of Muktzeh, in the Siman Shin Het, towards the end of the Siman, very long Siman, and he talks about muktzeh-- Uh, sorry, about shatnez. The first opinion says that shatnez is muktzeh because it's not fit for any use. Others say it's, it's a keili, it's, um, and it's just that you can't use it, but it's a keili. And then he concludes, though, um, that the shatnez, the garment of shatnez is muktzeh. The fact that can u-you can use a shatnez jacket to cover over, uh, a, a piece of, uh, equipment, that doesn't make it- That's not what it's made for. So therefore, um, the, the, the main, the main... Because it's not usable for its main purpose, therefore, the Shabbos jacket is muktzeh. So despite that, in the Piske Teshuvas, in the same area. So he addresses this question about, um, um, untovled keilim, and he says, "Since you could give it away," you know, what's, what's the solution when many times people get stuck. They have a new keilim, and for... Whether because it's electrical, electronic, or because there's no mikvah available. So the short-term solution, at least for an untovled keilim, is to give it to a goy and to borrow it back. So he says, "Since you could give this cutlery to a goy and borrow it back," as mentioned,

06:57 Mishnah Berura Shin Chaf Gimel. Therefore, it's usable on Shabbos. There is a way to use it, and therefore, he says it's not muktzeh. It's interesting. I'm not totally convinced, but fine. Okay. We have a, a, a sevara to say that untovled keilim are more usable than Shabbos, because Shabbos, there's nothing you can do with it, uh, for its main purpose. You can't wear it. Even if you give it to a goy, you still can't wear it. Whereas if, uh, whereas the cutlery, which is untovled, you could, even on, on Shabbos, if you needed it for Shabbos, you could give it to a goy. Someone's asking, you can't give gifts on Shabbos, so that's why I just mentioned, if you need it, if it's, uh, for, for achila on Shabbos, you can give a, a gift which is needed for eating on Shabbos. Let's move on. Another cute question. Someone asked me at the beginning of the week that their kids brought home from New York a set of glasses, and when you pour in cold liquid, very cold liquid, it'll turn from blue to purple. And then to add to the mix, we have here a kind of spoon which is used for feeding children, and when you put it in hot food, it will turn white, and so you'll know that the food is too hot to feed to the, to the, to the baby. So again, you can use those for Shabbos. Then one time, my, my children bought me a mug, and

08:27 it was one of those which is black on the outside, and when you pour in a cup of coffee, um, when you pour in hot water, so then the, then that picture comes up or writing comes up. By the way, if you get a black mug for Schlach Manos, before you give it on to the next person, check it out, because it might be a personal, personalized, uh, gift for you with some message hiding behind a black, um, surface. Okay. So now let's come back to the, um... Let's come back to the, to the, uh, halakha here. So this is again from the Sefer Piske Teshuvas. And he has a whole discussion also got to do with, um, photo gray lenses. He says, "If it's bederech gurama, if it's not direct." So he gives the example of mishkafayim, of the glasses, then that's okay to wear your photo gray lenses, and they change color when you walk in the sunlight. But if you are doing it, uh, more directly, so you put it... You remember, uh, I was speaking to the class the other day about these, um, celluloid s- um, um, strips. If you remember, about twenty-five years ago, they had this kind of thermometer, which was a, a plastic strip, and you put it on your forehead, and then it would change color, and it'd tell you whether you've got temperature or not. So to use those kind of things and so, this kind of idea that as soon as you touch it,

09:50 it changes color. So he's more concerned about that. He says you shouldn't do. And this I was... This is new for me. That it looks like there's some kind of baby's nappies, which when, uh, they get wet, they change color. Brilliant idea. Um, so again, I don't know who, who's the question for, though. Is the question for the child? I don't really understand who is the mechallel Shabbos. The baby who's making we- I don't, I don't understand the question, but never mind. Um, but to, to, to make something by immediate reaction change, changes color, he's, he is concerned. More important is if the heat will bring out letters or pictures. So that is more of a problem, and one should avoid using such a thing. Um, back in the day, we used to do invisible writing, writing with lemon, um, juice on paper, and then you put the lemon, you put the paper near the radiator, and then it turn, turned to, and the letters would turn brown. So to do that on Shabbos would not be allowed because you are bringing out letters. And similarly, the mug, which I just described before, to pour in hot water, and that's gonna bring out a picture, or that's going to bring out a, uh, certainly if it could bring out writing, that would be also because of, uh, t- at, creating a temporary writing. He goes further. If you are not interested about the change of color, then that's not a problem. So coming back to

11:11 our examples. The, the L'Chaim glasses, uh, I don't think there's any interest, afka, in the change of color. It's cute, but that's about it. Uh, and therefore, it's not a problem to use them on Shabbos. I think with these spoons, which they are designed to be able to tell you the temperature of the food, it's something I think which you should be avoiding to use on Shabbos. And as he, as he says, um, unless, "b'makim choile otzo yarkel." But normally, I think that's something which should be avoided because there is an in- an interest in the change of color, and it happens immediately. Uh, as I said before already, the mugs which can come up and, uh, a message comes up, uh, um, because it's filled with hot, hot liquid, that kind of mug shouldn't be used on Shabbos. Let's move on. Um, right. So one of our, an asher asked me a question. There is a thing about if you touch shoes, it says in Shulchan Aruch in Siman Dalet In the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, we have the first four simanim are in-- There's two, there's two versions because at a later state, uh, the Alter Rebbe started revising the Shulchan Aruch, and we have-- Of that second edition, we have three and a half simanim. So siman dalet is not complete in the second version, Maadur Basra, but this is from Maadur Kamah from the first version. It says the following: He has a list of activities which will warrant that you

12:44 wash your hands with water. It's not enough just to rub it on a stiff surface which would wi-wipe away the soil. You only need to wash netilat yadayim three times, but, um, actually some of them we are generally particular. So for example, it says, when you get out of bed. So then we are generally not to do wash netilat yadayim, um, coming out from , to cutting nails. We're not allowed to wash netilat yadayim after cutting nails. Um, and one who removes his shoes, um, with his hands. So the question here is, what is, what is the, uh, is this davka leather shoes or is it non-leather shoes also? Before I forget, I want to tell you a story which I heard from, I think, from Rabbi Berel Heikins, alzei gezunt. It's The Alter Rebbe, um, the Alter Rebbe would say Torah for his talmidim. So he had the talmidim of Chadorim were great . And then he had posher to them. And there was a session where he would say the deep, deep Torah, and then he had separate sessions where he would say posher to Torah. And to the deep Torah, the posher people weren't allowed, and to the posher Torah, the, the, the grosser Hasidim weren't allowed. One of the Hasidim, from Kletsk, one of the Alter Rebbe's Hasidim, he was curious. He wanted to hear the posher Torah. And so he agreed with the Gabay, and you know, the Alter Rebbe not always would give three weeks notice. It was sometimes

14:35 it would be rather impromptu. He's gonna-- So he asked the Gabay, "Next time the Rebbe's gonna say posher Torah, let me know." So it was one afternoon, and Reb Binyamin had been-- had a little nap, and knock on the door, "The Rebbe gives on posher Torah." So he rushes out, jumps out, runs along to the Bes Medrash, hides under a bench. And then the posher didn't come in, then the Alter Rebbe eventually comes in, and they start-- the Alter Rebbe starts saying, "You have the seven nations of Canaan. You have a Hittite, Bohemothite. What's a Hittite? Hittite is being frightened. Sometimes people are frightened of things they shouldn't be frightened of. Bohemothite has got to do with saying. Sometimes you care-- you have to be careful of what you say. Sometimes people say things which, which you shouldn't be saying." And then the Alter Rebbe stopped, and he says, "I c-I can sense an impure, uh, smell in the room." And, uh, Reb Binyamin was sussed out, and he was, uh, asked to leave. So we don't know the rest of the, uh, the rest of that posher Torah. But meanwhile, the story is that he had been-- if you notice, he had been napping, and he hadn't washed netilat yadayim when he, when he got up from his nap because he was rushing, didn't he? You know that. So, um, so that's, that's a story about washing netilat yadayim. Even if you have a nap during the day, you don't have to wash

15:53 next to your bed, but you, you should wash at netilat yadayim. Okay. Now, so c-coming back to our point here, our question is: Is touching non-leather shoes the same as leather shoes? It seems to be a little bit of a ruch-- a ruchniyusdike thing. But the, the, the fact is, the poskim who understood this halakhah, they understood, they said it doesn't apply to socks. Um, but he says, "." Um, he says, "If, if you have shoes or slippers, if they do get dirty, so then if you touch them, you should be washing y-your hands." Very, very interesting. Tonight, after Shabbos, we were watching the, um, the, the, uh, the living Torah, sorry, and the Rebbe was talking about the kohen. And he says how the kohen is, before you do the avoda, you have to-- the kohen has to wash his hands and feet. Why davka those organs have to be washed? And he says because those are the organs where you engage with the world, where you are-- have to do your touching, your hands obviously touching. And he says, even accused, uh, in Loshon, he says, um, "Really, it should have been in the makom ha-kedosh." The legs took him out of the makom ha-kedosh. Therefore, the legs are showing contact with, with, uh, impurity, therefore his feet have to be washed with, um, with, uh, um, by the kohen. So coming back, so the shoes which are used for wearing outside and they pick up dirt, they would-- if you touch

17:30 those shoes, so then you should be washing your hands. And although the Alter Rebbe uses the Loshon ha-choletz min olam, so, and w-when you remove the shoes, poskim say it's touching. It doesn't matter whether you're removing them, just touching is, uh, also requires netilat, netilat yadayim. And, um, and for on, on the other hand, if you just slip off your shoes without touching them, then you would not need to do netilat yadayim. And the Kohanim, particularly, this is important for them, about when they, um, when they wash their hands for the Duchenin, about just slipping off their shoes without touching. So it says that's not a problem, doesn't need netilat yadayim. Um, very interesting. I was with a protest just this evening. Someone asked me about if he, uh, is walking on Shabbos and a stone gets into his shoe. Does he-- is he allowed to continue walking? Should he stop and take it out? I said, "Listen, you're not... There's no issur. If you want to dafka continue walking with a stone in your foot-- in your shoe, that's up to you. You don't-- But you're not mechuyav to torture yourself, and you'll stop and, uh, take it out, and, and, uh... Yeah, so you touch your shoelaces. Yes, you will have to wash netilat yadayim before saying divrei Torah, et cetera, but fine. Um, okay. Someone's asking, "Isn't the point of the glasses to be used as sunglasses?" It-- All right. You wear it-- I don't think that is totally true. I'll give

18:52 you a parallel. Um, there's a difference in, like, putting on perfume on Shabbos, that you shouldn't if you... But that is a question of moed. But a deodorant, even though it's a perfume deodorant, is not a problem of moed because your main purpose is the deodorant. The fact that it also adds a new fragrance, that is, uh, not a problem. So I'm saying it's the same thing. You wear glasses. If it's photogray lenses, you wear glasses because the, the optician prescribed you glasses. The fact that it's photogray and it's going to change, that's all very, very convenient, but that's not why you're wearing the glasses. And therefore, I think it is deraggah rather than, than intended. It's not like that spoon, which you're dafka using this spoon to be able to test the temperature before you feed the child. Just to finish off, I have in front of me, I'm just showing you, a Sefer Lecha Lekemocha Chadash, which is a contemporary, re-relative contemporary halakha. He talks about slippers, and he says if, if you, you're only wearing the slippers inside the house, then he says, uh, he thinks that you don't need to, uh, wash negel vasser when you touch them because they're not... The whole thing has got to do with lichloch, has got to do with, um, the dirt which is picked up when you walk in the street. But if you walk in the house, carpeted, uh, uh, floors, et cetera, then you don't have to worry about, uh, lichloch. Right.

20:08 Let's move on. Someone asked me earlier in the week... Just before I start the next point, someone's asking, "After removing shoes, does..." Penetrate, probably made a typo. "Have to... Does one need to put-- wash two, three times alternating or just a bit of water?" So what we've seen here in the Shechinah, he says clearly, you don't, you don't have to wash three times. Um, so that's your answer. You don't need to wash three times. If, if it's convenient and you want to, you know, you wash three times, that's a hiddur beyond, it's a lifnim meshuras hadin. But again, you don't need to wash three. Let's move on. Next. So we've discussed this a few times about davening Shemoneh Esreh, and you are in tandem with the chazan. And then if you do that, you are able to answer Kedusha together with the chazan. So now, the question was, if the chazan is saying Mussaf and you're on Shacharis, does-- are you able to say Kedusha together with the chazan? So let's read. It's actually a machloket haMaharram. Um, so let's read that inside. This is in Siman Kuf Tes in Oruch Hom. Yochid Omed B'Tefillah. A person who's davening, ot shagi'a lemkom kedushah, ho yu hatsibar omim kedushat hasidrah. If you're, say, you're davening Shemoneh Esreh and they are on for Avodah Zarah, ein ho im haKodesh im hom. You don't. You, you doesn't-- That you cannot interrupt your Shemoneh Esreh to say Kedusha with the tsibura on for Avodat Tzion. She'ein haKedushot shavot. Because

21:57 the Kedusha of Avodat Tzion is not the same as the Kedusha in Shemoneh Esreh. It doesn't spell out the difference. Um, we've discussed this a while ago. One is Kedusha of the-- with the Malachim, one is just without the Malachim. It doesn't go into that. Venire dahu haddin. Now, this is written in earlier source. Says Rabbeinu Yoel of Kara, dahu haddin ho yu hatsibar omim kesar she-ein ho im hom Kodesh. If the tsibura... If you are on for Shacharit, and the tsibura saying Mussar, the chazan is saying, uh, Mussar, and therefore, they got to say Keser. The, uh, Maharram was a Sephardi. The Ashkenazim would say, Naritzko. Uh, so he says, "No, you cannot say Kedusha in Shacharit when they are saying Kedusha of Mussar because it's a different Kedusha." Ela yishtok v'yichavan lamashiv omrim. Just fall silent, and you'll answer in Machshava, the Shemeya Kohen. So this is the Maharram that's the larger block writing. V'yesh omrim. Hagav, yesh omrim. Then the Ramoh, who is the... codifies the minhag Ashkenaz. He says, "The Kedushot Keser, the haina Kedushot Mussar. V'hayochid mispal Shacharit." Others disagree, and they say that even though the chazan is saying, uh, Kedushot Mussar and you are davening Shacharit, yu cha lo im ei mohem. You are able to join with them. The shneihem Kedushot Shemoneh Esreh, uKedushot Shavot. So what the Ramoh is saying... No, I'm sorry. He's saying that Shacharit and Mussar, the Kedusha is the same Kedusha. V'chein niro li ikar. And then the Ramoh concludes that, "That's

23:35 my opinion." The main thing, halakha, is that, uh, you can answer Kedusha in your Shacharit, and they are on for Mussar. So now, that's-- And indeed, the Alter Rebbe passes this way in Siman Kuf Tes. So then the question is: What do you say? Do you say Keser or Nadreycha? You are in the middle of Shacharit, so are you gonna say Keser or Nadreycha? So the Alter Rebbe doesn't, um, spell out this point, but the Mishnah Brurah does. Lo yimar im mohem. So Mishnah Brurah adds, "V'yoimar kol hanusach shel Keser oy naritzko." You know, Ashkenazi or Sephardi respectively. She'oimar sheyach tzivera Mussar. Ve'zeh mikri inyan echad. Having laid down that the Kedusha of Shacharit and Mussar is inyan echad, so then it doesn't matter whether you're saying Keser or Nadreycha, it's all the same. Ke'ikar b'kedusho hu kodesh, kodesh, kodesh v'chein shavin le'olam. The main thing is the, is the, is the, uh, Kodesh and Baruch, et cetera, and that's identical. So he's, he's saying that you'd, you'd say, uh, you'd say whatever the chazan is saying, which is very interesting. And this especially becomes interesting on Shabbos. Well, obviously, Mussar is done usually on Shabbos, that, um, this... All the extra pieces which are we say-- which are said, you know, Makom Chamelkainu or Yilem Rachamim. And he seems to be saying, you just do whatever the tsibura is saying, although you are, uh, currently in Shacharit. But the main part is, is identical, and that's, that's the main thing. Okay. Let's move on.

25:11 Um, let's just mute this little TR. Right. So a, uh, o-a lady contacted me. She's obviously having decorators in the house. And the mezuzah, this is an interior mezuzah. As you can see, it's between two rooms. And the mezuzah had been at the extreme edge of the post, the doorpost, and aesthetically, it would be look-looking much nice if it was in the middle. So she's asking, "Is there, uh, does it have to be at the edge, or can it be in, can it be placed in the middle?" Let's see what I have. Something here. Um, right. So we have here the Halachah Gemara. The Gemara, uh, all about mezuzah is primarily in... The main suriah mezuzah is in Gemara Menachos. There's a little bit in Gemara Yoma, but yeah. So here it says, "Tefach ha-somach l'shus harabim." It says the mezuzah should be placed in the outermost tefach, close, closest to the street. "Ka'amar demarkha maali," um, "kamashma." The, the further out it is, the better. Now, so that's the Halachah of the Gemara. Tefach ha-somach l'shus harabim. No, you can argue that's, that's, uh, to the street. Here is an interior, uh, doorway. Now, but then the way it's quoted in Shulchan Aruch and Siman reish pe tes. "Eizehu makom k'viyos sebasicha? B'tefach hasomeach l'chutz." So the Shulchan Aruch has changed. Instead of tefach ha-somach l'shus harabim, it's the outermost tefach. It doesn't matter. B'yevet it's kosher, but it's, it's outermost tefach. Now, this question, though, coming back to the, uh, the story here.

26:57 This question about the mezuzah, um... Let's go back. Oh, back. There we are. Okay. So this question is dealt with at length in the Sefer Minchas Elazar. Minchas Elazar was a Munkacser rav, um, about, about, probably about, uh, 90 years ago. Mm. The Rebbe had stark-- The Rebbe says, "Ich kach zikh khin dem Munkacsher." The Rebbe had a great appreciation for the Munkacser. And, um, so the, the Munkacser addresses this question, and he says, "No, it has to be at the tefach ha-somach. He says that even in an interior door, doorway, the mezuzah should not be in the middle, l'khatchilah. It should better be at the far, at the closest edge. And let me just argue the point. If you say... I mean, we're not, we're not disputing that the mezuzah is kosher over here. All right, let, let's explain a little bit more. Why is there an emphasis the mezuzah should be somach l'shus harabim? Because we want to be able to have the protection. The mezuzah gives protection. And therefore, we want to maximize the protection of the mezuzah. So therefore, we put it sem, tefach ha-somach l'shus harabim to maximize the protection for the house, uh, and for the interior. So the argument was that an interior mezuzah... All right, so if you put the mezuzah o-in the middle of this post, but then it's still the outer part of the doorway is protected by the mezuzah from the outer room. That's, that's... I can see the logic. And the Munkacser, in

28:33 his, in his tshuva, he says, he said some tzaddik in his region had said that it's okay to put the mezuzah in the middle, and that's the argument. That the, the mezuzah from this point onwards will be protected from this mezuzah. Until that point, will be protected from the mezuzah from the previous room. I'm asking you a question. The mezuzah is kosher where it is, yeah? So this is called pesach. You have to make up your mind. If it's pesach, then it belongs to the next room. So, you know, one-once you agree that even the outermost space is te-is, is pesach, so then pesach belongs to the room where it's leading to. And therefore, that's, uh, uh, the Munkacser's argument. Uh, uh, it's, uh, has a, a few pages. That's in chelek alef. In chelek beis, again, he comes back to it in a couple of simanim, and he insists that even an interior mezuzah should be b'tefach ha-somach to the, uh, to the outer room. And, um, yeah, I mean, the aesthetics are like, uh, going to be here, a victim of that psak, but what's coming on. Okay. Let's take a look at what people have, people have in the chat here. Um, would there be a way to say kedushah when in Birkat Shma, Kadesh? Um, well, in, when you are on Birkat Shma, you should be b'mafsek to answer kedushah. I think your question is, if you are on for "Shema Kolam Elecha Kadesh," and you want to say the Kadesh

30:03 in your Shma, in your, in your, your own words, you want to use that and to, to join with the chazan. And then say, um, "Chayfani ve-chay sai kodesh," what's the chazan saying, what's the... I think that's okay. And, and, and what you're seeing here is, um, in middle of Shemoneh Esreh. In middle of Shemoneh Esreh where you're not allowed to be mafsek. He says you can't say kedushot of avodah zitza. But if you are in middle of your Birkat Shma, and you want to kind of align your kedushah of, of Birkat Shma with the kedushah of the tzibur, I don't see that as the problem. Rebbe, someone is asking, "Should the mezuzah be completely diagonal?" Yes, of course, that's the minhag Ashkenazim, to put a mezuzah diagonal. As you, you see in the picture, yes, we make a point that mezuzah should be diagonal. To be yotz-- So the two shitas, one says the mezuzah should be vertical, one says it should be horizontal. So that's why we put it diagonal. So to be yotz, to kind of make both shitas happy. And that's the same reason why we have the bimah in shul is also made diagonal, because some people say the sefer Torah- Should be held vertical, as in the case of the, um, the It's a complicated siman and, um, so I sat down to my cup of coffee, and before I could make a berakhah, I think, "Wait a minute. Which one I'm going to make a, a berakhah on?"

32:36 On the wafers, which are, uh, more tasty. Um, I, I beg mechilah from the, um, tea biscuits, but the, the, the chocolate wafers are more tasty. So that's scrivv. But then the biscuit is shalem because the wafers, as you see, they come in big sheets and they're cut into slices. So, uh, you have here a conflict or a question between... Did I have to decide between shalem and scrivv? So before having my coffee, I had to pull out the Shulchan Aruch, uh, the siddur and see, and so I'm gonna share that with you, yeah? So that n- you shouldn't be tortured by the same, uh, worries. Okay. So here we have, um, two halakhas which we've selected. This page here, as you can see, Yeah. My coffee did not get co-cold because I, I, Baruch Hashem, I had learned the halakha in the morning, so it was just a quick, um, refresher. Why are the wafers not shalem? They are made to be separated like a big separable challah. I don't think so. Uh, the, the challahs are made to be, um... They, they, they are made separate, and they sometimes get stuck together by accident, so to speak. Here, it's made one big sheet, and it's cut up. I don't, I don't see it as a shalem. Um, on that principle, would you be Yeah, they... Y-you're, you're pointing out about the mezuzahs. Very few people put them mamash forty-five degrees. Mostly, they're more vertical than horizontal. That is true, yeah. My coffee did

36:39 not get co-cold because I, I, Baruch Hashem, I had learned the halakha in the morning, so it was just a quick, um, refresher. Why are the wafers not shalem? They are made to be separated like a big separable challah. I don't think so. Uh, the, the challahs are made to be, um... They, they, they are made separate, and they sometimes get stuck together by accident, so to speak. Here, it's made one big sheet, and it's cut up. I don't, I don't see it as a shalem. Um, on that principle, would you be Are made as separate loaves, and there's a little, uh, incidental, unintended sticking together. Um, I don't think it's the same. Um, I wanna share with you, though. I gave the... I, I usually now, Friday night, in shul, I share the, uh, points for this year. So it's a bit of a rehearsal, and it also enriches. So making about a bracha on a shalom. So Rabbeinu Weiss is one of our, uh, neighbors, and he... one of the dayanim in the, uh, in the, uh, Kadisah, in the union, um, deals with one department. And he, um, he told over a very interesting thing. He told it in the name of a Rav Ganakhovsky, who was, I believe, from the Gera community, uh, very prominent, a Talmud Chacham. He says the following: "If you have two pieces of cake, one has got sesame, and one doesn't have sesame. So you have a chiyuv to make the bracha, to give priority to

38:13 the, uh, con- to, to the, uh, challah, the cake with the sesame, because the sesame is shalom. I, on the sesame, you're making beria pri-- beria minei mezonot. It's not beria pri ha'adama, but it still requires a bracha. You can't eat a sesame without a bracha. And therefore, since you've got... So you've got two pieces of, uh, this, uh, challah or whatever. According to him, you have two challahs, one with sesame, one not with sesame. Um, so then you have to make a priority to make the, the bracha on the, on the sesame. If you're gonna eat both challahs. You know, if you're not gonna eat both, then it doesn't apply. Um, I find it very, very interesting because, um, my impression is we're talking about chashivus. According to him, if you have the fruitcake and a regular plain, plain cake, and in the fruitcake there's a, there's a whole raisin, so you have to give priority to the one with the whole raisin because it's a shalom. I, I m- I, I don't see it that way because I think the raisin or the re- sesame is clearly not chashuv. It is here as a, uh, to enhance the challah, to enhance the cake. It's on a... It's a tofel, it's not a ikar. Here we're talking about giving priority, which is more chashuv. I don't see how something which is tofel can kind of top the, how do you say, uh, tip the wei- the weight to say therefore it becomes more chashuv.

39:30 If it is in, it is in inherent, uh, whatever the word is. It is in a tofel state, and therefore I don't see why it should dictate the bracha. Um, okay. Perhaps, perhaps we're going to leave about the sp-splitting the challahs for another time. I wanna share with you part of the conversation last night. There is a loshon, "Godel hanenem y'giyoi yosa mishere-- miYirei Shamayim." Greater is the one who benefits from the toil of his hands than the one who is God-fearing. That's a loshon Chazal. And so I've seen in, uh, uh, Meforshim, they say the following. If you don't know the halakha, so you're gonna be machmir. If you learn through the halakha properly, so then if you are able to establish the halakha, that it's okay, that's greater than being machmir in, in your ignorance not to use it. So I had a, a personal experience. You know, when challahs, sorry, matzahs, you get your matzahs, and there's a chip off the corner. Uh, the, uh, no corner, sorry, edge. Um, so it's the, um, Shmurah matzahs. But, uh, it's a little, a little chip off the edge. Is it shalom or not? In Tychon, there's a maise, one out of forty-eight, uh, uh, from, uh, Chos Evin. So I, I had seen people taking the matzahs and going over to the stove and, and they're singeing the edge of the matzah, and then it becomes black at the edge, and it becomes a shalom again. So I had, for years, I'd taken

40:57 the attitude that it, that it was a baba meisa. It wasn't a serious thing. But one year, a couple weeks before Pesach, I went through this halakha carefully, and I saw indeed that this is, actually in Yiddish, it's oysgehaltn. Um, in English, authentic. That it, it, it does work. That to, to kind of rehabilitate your chipped matzah by singeing it, it does work. But by happenstance I had it that year, the majority of my matzahs were chipped. So, uh, I was nen ham'yagiyoh, and I was able to, um, to use those matzahs as shlemis, um, having gone through the halakha more carefully. I'm just sharing it with you because it could be, you know... I'm not wishing upon anyone, but, you know, sometimes you get this frustrating pack of matzahs and Shmurah after, you know, not Shmurah, but . Okay. Let's go on to another question. Um, is cheating in exam, is it a sin? So here is a tshuva of Rav Moshe Feinstein, and it looks like someone had been, uh, may- um, come up with a story that in the Frum schools, that they were allowing the pupils to sneak the, uh, have, uh, uh, have sneak access to the answers to the regents, which is like the equivalent of O-levels or A-levels, whatever we call them over here, GCSEs, and in that way, they would get, um, higher marks, et cetera. So at the end of the tshuva, which is not on the screen, Rav Moshe says it's absolutely not, not true.

42:34 It's not true, and it's, that, that some... It looked like some people are just trying to disparage the, uh, the reputation of the, of, of the Frum, uh, schools. But meanwhile, addressing the actual issue of cheating. So he says, it's n-not only dinu d'malchusah is it forbidden. Where's my mouse? Okay. Not only is it dinu d'malchusah forbidden, but, and it says it's, it's also midin Torah, it's forbidden to do so. So first of all, he says a question of Geneivas Da'as, um, which is also forbidden. And we'll, we'll come, we'll come to Geneivas Da'as soon, as he re- gives us a reference to Chullin daf sadet dalet. You're not allowed to, uh, deceive people, even a, even a, ein a Yehudi- Then it's Geneivas Daas of everyone. It's Geneivas Daas of, um, Eden and Nishnaden. Then he adds, goes on, it's Geneivas Dover Mam. She says simply, "You'll go to school, and you'll then you'll come out with a, a good, a good, uh, degree from high school. As a result, you'll be able to get a better job. Now, you go and, you go and, let's say, uh, hire yourself out as a, I don't know, accountant, whatever it may be, and according to your qualifications, you're entitled to pay of fifteen thousand dollars a year." This is going back in the year, you know, 40 years ago. Uh, it was a lot of money then. Um, but really, according to your real, real qualifications, you're only entitled to ten thousand a year. So

44:00 you are deceiving your employer to give you five thousand more than you're actually, uh, that you're valued, than your, that your work is worth. So he sees that as a, as a Geneiva in addition to Geneivas Daas. That, um, the same, the same ap-approach is also written in the Sefer Mishnah Halachas from Rabben Asher Klein of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He also takes the same view that if you pretend to be more qualified than you are, then that's Geneiva more than not only Geneivas Daas. But meanwhile, let's to-- let's look at the meaning of Geneivas Daas. Um, let's go to the next slide, where he's, Rabbe Moshiach Feinstein had re-given us a reference to Gemara. The Omar Shmuel, that was calling Davsarid Dalet, also Ligunev Daas Habris, not allowed to, um, mislead people. Afilo Dreita Shelo Leveichachavim, and that's brought in Shechinorach. I think it's similarish, um, Chof Ches. In, in, well, it is, yeah. Also, the Ramaz Bnei Adam Bemecha Chomemkir, not allowed to de-deceive people in trade. A Ligunev Datom. Let's say there's something wrong with what you're selling, some blemish. You wouldn't-- You'd have to tell your, your customer that. If and, and then he goes further. Even if it's a Goy, you should not sell him meat which, from an animal which was not shechted, and he thinks that you're selling him shechted meat. For the Goy, it makes no difference, and still you're not allowed to deceive him. And then he says, um, various other examples of not, not deceiving people,

45:36 giving them a false impression. Um, and this is from the Shechinorach. As I said, I think it's Reish Chof Ches. And then we have here from the Alter Rebbe's Shechinach, Hilchot Seinor. Let's read it carefully. So yeah, um, before going further, the, the, uh, the point of Rabbe Moshiach is the exam which is, makes a difference for a job, et cetera. That would be a question of Geneiva Mamash. But if it's an exam which is just, you know, monitoring how your student is progressing, so I don't think there would be a question of Geneiva Mamash, but Geneivas Daas would still apply. So let's read this piece in Alter Rebbe's Shechinach. "Afilo Ligunev Data V'davar She'Lo Yahil Lehafseid Halachri." Even if there's no loss to the Goy. Also, Medivre Eysifri. Geneiva, the same thing, selling Psaran Nevela, and, and he thinks it's Schutter. And then he says further, um, to do various acts that they think, let's say you, a come, a customer comes in, "Oh, for you, I'm gonna open this barrel." You're gonna open a barrel in any case. So you're giving them an, uh, you know, impression that you're being very generous to them and at an unearned, um, you know, how do you say, an accolade which is unearned. That would be going into, uh, Geneivas Daas. So it-- That, that what we're seeing here is that to, to, uh, to, kind of, to acquire for yourself a prominence which is not, not, not really deserving, that would go into Geneivas Daas.

47:04 Who is the victim? Well, well, who, is there, does it need to be a victim for Geneivas Daas? Um, possibly. Geneiva means there's a victim, but you have a teacher, you have other pupils. And the case which I was, um, asked about was, uh, one gir-girl who doesn't cheat, and she says that many others in her class do cheat, and they get very high marks, and she gets a lower mark. All right. Listen, the, uh, the true, um, the true marks are given by the Rebbe Shlalom, and he knows who's, uh, who gets what. And so it's, don't worry about it. Um, right. Let's move on. Uh, so here on Tuesday night, I got a message on my, uh, email from Shliah in, in, um, Eastern Europe. And he asks, he's, he struggles for a minyan, and he happens to be in a place where lots of crews of shochtim come from Eretz Israel, and they do schritus there, and they're there for the week, and then they go back to his world. Meanwhile, they come to the Beis Chabad, and they daven there, and they make up his minyan. So there's eight shochtim, shochtim, shamrim, and there's the Shliah. And number ten is a local Jew who's married to a non-Jewish woman, has some children from her. He comes to the Beis Chabad regularly. And one of the shochtim heard, "A person's married to a non-Jewish woman. You're making him a tzadik to a minyan. How can you do that?" So he was asking

48:40 for what's my take on it. So I wrote back to him that in the Chazanish, he says that if a person who's a Michal Shabbes BaFarhesia has an accident, let's say. Well, let's learn, on Shabbos. So we have to be Michal Shabbos to save this person's life. We cannot say, uh, he's not Mi-Mishelonu. He, be-- Even though he's a, uh, Michal Shabbos BaFarhesia, and he uses the principle of Tinik Shenishbo, that he's like a child who was brought up in ignorance, and he says you're Michal Shabbos to save this person's life. So I wrote back to this Shliah, I says, "For Hil Shabbos, you're saying this fellow does count as a Jew, and for counting a minyan, you say you can't count him." I found that very difficult to accept. Now, let's go a little bit more, a little more, more discussion about this. So he actually, he sent me back, sent back to me a, a reference to the Sefer called Beis Hillel from Rabbe Hillel of Kolomaya. And this is very, very interesting. Anyone who knows about the name Rabbe Hillel of Kolomaya, he was one of the most outspoken Magidim in, um, in Hungary, going back a hundred and fifty years ago, perhaps. Very, very, very staunch type of person in, uh, Vadirashkai, et cetera. He was asked a shaila about a village where they had just ten people. It's really struggling a minyan. Two of those people... Well, one of them has his-- he sells tobacco and cigarettes on Shabbos. Can

50:24 they join him for a minyan? The other one was known to eat treif when he goes out, when he's tra-traveling, whatever, he goes, he'll, he'll eat treif. And the Hillel Kolomaya says, "The one who's selling, um, tobacco on Shabbos, that is a derabbanan. That's not enough to make him, um, considered mechalel Shabbos befarhesia ki'nochrim chalda. I did not have a chance to look this up. The discussion about this is in Yud Deiah Siman Beis, and Alter Rebe has it also in Hasagita. If I'm not mistaken, there he says, "Even if it's a mechalel Shabbos, derabbanan is also not They can-- they, they see that as, as it being a, a, a, uh, method which is k- uh, working, et cetera. Um, let's have one more, um, Kyla. Um, okay. Here I have a shtickel problem that is the following. On a pair of tefillin, we have the, the, uh, the right-hand... Well, we have, we have here the yud. We have the, the knot. This is the r- this is the right-hand person puts the tefillin on the left, and here we have the yud. And so that's the shape of the yud. That, that little s-- Well, that's the block of the yud, and that's the little spike which is the foot of the yud. The question is: How do you do the kasher for a lefty? So the rest of the kasher, you'll do a mirror image. But here's the question. The mirror image of what I've just push-- uh, pointed to you

57:06 on the left of our screen, on the right of the screen, the bottom right, we have here a mirror image. Now, that is a, a mirror image of a yud. Is that a yud? Does that count as a yud? So that's the bigger question. Now, if you're going to do a regular yud, so then you're gonna have the brown part of the tsit tsit visible to the outside, and that's also not okay because it says, the Rosh and the Gemara, "V'do yein labar," the more beautiful side should be visible to the outside. Now, here, so that, to make the kasher the way you see it, uh, with the... seeing the brown side of the tsit tsit is also not really a valid option. Uh, well, it's questionable. Um, the third option is, well, perhaps to make the yud. The yud will actually be sitting, lying on its upside down. Well, that's the picture which you have over here. Um, so there is... It's the contemporaries forum to discuss this. Seems to be that the mirror image is the more popular way, um, but there are those who say no to, to actually do a proper yud. What I have here on the screen is a answer of... There's a list of answers of Radamus Shimon Devorkin, alav ha-shalom, in relating, in relation to safros. And he writes the following. Well, this is quoted from him. "The yud of the tefillin of a lefty should be done yosher, v'loi b'tsura afucho." So the, the yud should

58:39 be a proper yud and not a back-to-front yud. I mean, that's the way I understand it. You could say it means it shouldn't be an upside-down yud. It's a little bit ambiguous, so I don't know what the full answer is. I want to just finish off with some windy shailas, and that is: Well, if the wind knocked down a fence between you and your neighbor, then you may have an issue of, uh, continuing to carry in your back garden. If the gap between the two gardens is more than ten amos, then you would not be allowed to carry in your garden unless you made an eiruv, um, before Shabbos. And just to finish off, just to finish off, I, uh, there's a, a work that Groinen was a mashpia in Lubavitch, and he used to give a mashal about, um, a bird who was very hungry, and it's sitting on top of a mountain, and it's saying, "I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty." Neighbor made a wind and picked up the bird and put it right next to the water. And the bird is still saying, "I'm hungry. I'm thirsty." So he said to him, "You know, bird brain, dip your head into the water and drink. You're now here." So he's saying you have... He used to say, "Werch a, werch a wind ad ikh gibrengt kayn Lubavitch." Which wind w- picked you up and landed you in Lubavitch? But now you're in Lubavitch, you have to dip your mouth into and drink from the, uh,

1:00:06 Limud and from this, you know, the Avoda, et cetera, and, uh, bezrat Hashem. Okay. Uh, gute vok and zeit ale gezunt, and wish your meeting good health.