שמיני תשפ״ב

00:00 Speaker 1 A good to everyone here. I see we have also, uh, a, uh, participant from Natanya, from Eretz HaKodesh. So welcome for tonight's shiur. So we'll start off with a question which someone asked me. To-- Uh, hem shift, last week, we were talking about Nusach HaTefila. So he was stimulated to ask about another Nusach. So here we have every Shabbos, at Mincha, to, um, whether we say-- In our Nusach, we say, "Umikah Amcha Ki Yisroel," and in the world, they say, "Umikah Amcha Yisroel." Now, this is a quote from a pasuk, and it's a very similar pasuk. One is a pasuk in Sefer Shemuel. That's the Nusach we have in our Siddur, "Umikah Amcha Ki Yisroel," and a, a almost identical pasuk in Divrei Hayamim, which says, um, "Umikah Amcha Yisroel." So what's the reason for choosing, um, the, the pasuk, "Ki Yisroel" rather than Yisroel-- Am-amcha Yisroel, which in effect is the similar, almost identical meaning. So what you have at the bottom of the screen is from the Sefer Prie Etz Chaim. As you can see, it's identified as such. And the Prie Etz Chaim was written by Rabbeinu Chaim Vital, a Talmud of the Arizal, and he has a Talmud called Rabbi Yaakov Tzemach. Perhaps he had another name, uh, like Chaim Tzemach, who, um, wrote comments, and that's where he, uh, prefaces with his name, Tzemach. What's the choice? It says, Prie Etz Chaim, to say, "Amcha Yisroel," and not-- Uh, sorry, "Amcha Ki Yisroel" rather than, "Amcha Yisroel." So he says,

01:58 Speaker 1 ac-according to what the, the Rav, which means Rabbeinu, means the Arizal. On the pasuk, So on the word Me'itkha, so the Arizal says, "Me'ez Chof." And Chof stands for Kis-- Uh, is the Remez on the level of Keser. This is in the Kabbalah language. When the Yidden by, by, in, in the Midbar, when they were c-complaining, as before, they with Amaleik, they said, "Is g-a godly presence within us or not?" And so, that the, there is a presence not only from the level of Zohar, but from the level of Ari, which is a level of Keser . So the Arizal had said that Me'itkh-- Is, uh, May-Me-Me'itkha is Me'ez Keser. So on this basis, the Rabbi Yaakov Tzemach says, this is also the choice between the two pesukim. Ki Amcha Yisroel, Ki Amcha Ki Yisroel, is that's why the, the, the choice of Ki Amcha Ki Yisroel, , that the, um, the beracha comes from the level of Keser, um, and that's why there's the Ki Yisroel. Chof Yisroel, Keser, is a Remez that the Hashgachah to Yidden is from a higher level, um, to dispel the doubts which the Yidden had when they were in the desert, whether they are receiving only from a lower level or from a higher level. So this is, the Chof is a Remez that they're receiving from the level of Keser. That is, um, I know it's Kabbalah, but that's, it's the question why Nusach Arizal is this, this choice over that. So that's the, the reason I'll,

03:46 Speaker 1 I'll pick Kabbalah, and on the level of chat, they are probably pretty much identical. Let's go on to the next question. So I've got two related shailas, um, both about Lo Yilbash. There is an idea that a man, as you see the quote in the Shulchan Aruch, a man mustn't preen himself in a feminine way. And one of the, uh, details on that is that a man should not remove the hair where, uh, on the body, where there's naturally an accumulation of hair. He shouldn't be removing it even with the scissors, et cetera. It says, If a man would do so, he would be indulging in a feminine type of, um, call it cosmetics, if you wish. Then it goes further. If it's normal for men to remove it also, he wouldn't get Malkis. And then he goes on, Other than those two mentioned places, under the arms and lower down, where there's a natural large presence of hair, other parts of the body, one would be allowed to remove them with a Misparayim, with the scissors, Bechol Makom. So as you read this, it looks like, um, removal of hair of other parts of the body m-would be permitted with a scissors, with a, a c-a close cut. However, Meforashim address this, and they say that this is only talking about the body, but not about the face. But there's something called a unibrow or monobrow, where sometimes a, a person has-- their eyebrows kind of are th- are thick in the middle over

05:43 Speaker 1 the, above the nose. There's also, um, eyebrow, and it's the ones that, uh, people feel perhaps uncomfortable about it, whether, whether that could be removed. So this is part of this discussion here. When it says you are allowed to remove, uh, hair Bechol Makom, other than those two, uh, accumulations of hair Is that, does that include the face? The Rabbis say it does not include the face. And certainly, the Halakha of the Gemara, as we are all familiar, that, um, for a man to remove his beard, he says it goes into Lo Yilbash. Now, the Ragachover here was asked this. He addresses this question, and he has a fascinating, uh, proof. It says in G-- in, in Torah about the various, uh, blemishes which would disqualify a Kohen. So one of them is Gibeh or Gibeh Oyda. So the word Gibeh has got two or three, uh, translations. One of these, Gibeh means a hunchback. That a hunchback Kohen wouldn't be able to do the Avoda. Another one is the Gevino, the G- the, for some reason, the eyebrows are called, uh, the, the Gevinim. The Gevini is Sheyachmin. If his eyebrows are, are long, that they are like dangling down, so there's-- it's a Bal-- he becomes, uh, a Balm. So the Ragachover says, "I don't understand." I have a simple solution. Take a scissors and trim it off. For example, if a Kohen has got a problem with bad breath. So it says in the Gemara that he-- that's, that's not a-- doesn't

07:20 Speaker 1 make him disqualified because there's a simple solution. He can put something, some pepper in his mouth. But nowadays, talk about mint or something. It's a problem which can be solved. So if so, why does the Kohen have a problem? Because he's got long eyebrows if you can trim them. Is there a year that you, uh, that even in the Torah, you're not allowed to trim them? And I-- it says in Shechem, you are allowed to trim the hair or other parts of the body. That's the Mokim Mutzner. That's in the, uh, parts of the body which are normally covered. But on the face, which is normally, um, exposed, then one wouldn't be allowed to. So this is Ragachover, and I've seen in other, uh, Sephorim also discussing that, that trimming eyebrows for a man would not be okay. Of course, those Poskim who allow shaving their beard would, uh, I don't see how they could not allow, um, uh, trimming the eyebrows. It's a bit complicated. But, um, uh, but according to, as you see, the Ragachover, et cetera, they're taking the view that you, you wouldn't, uh, you wouldn't be allowed to remove the eyebrows. By contrast, though, what would happen if a person has, uh, a presence of hair in an unusual place? So in the case of the monobrow, there are Poskim who say that not called, uh, the whole he- here, issue here is not to preen yourself in a feminine way. But to remove hair which is, um, uh, which

08:53 Speaker 1 is not no- a, a normal presence, then it's just trying to, trying to be like, like a n- regular person. It's not as if he's trying to pretend, you know, it's like indulging the feminine kind of, uh, cosmetics. He's just trying to be like, uh, the regular, uh, regular people, regular men. Therefore, the hair, if it's growing in a not normal place, then there are those who would allow. Um, similarly, which is coming to the next question about, uh, dyeing hair. Um, well, let's walk into the dyeing in a moment. But here is just some... I, I, uh, did a bit of a search, and I found on the Yochai Hochman Sefer, which specializes on the issue of Lo Yilbash. Sefer is called Snif Malucha, as you see here. So he says a person's got, let's excess hair on his hands, and he's embarrassed about it. So he would be allowed to remove that hair. Similarly, if he got on his nose and on his ears, he's got excess hair, so he would be allowed to remove it. That doesn't go into the issue of Lo Yilbash. As I said, it's, uh, only the hair which is in a normal place for a, for a, for a regular man has hair. To remove that would be an issue, but if it's an abnormal growth, uh, of hair, then he would be allowed to remove it. Okay. So then, as I said, it's not just Hochman practice. Someone asked me about the eyebrows, and someone asked

10:14 Speaker 1 me about dyeing the hair. He said this man is, I guess, in about forty, in his, yeah, probably mid-forties and is getting a little bit gray. And, um, his wife is, is, his wife says you've had too much stress. Um, and now, Baruch Hashem, the, the cause of the stress has subsided, but meanwhile, the hair is white. Well, some of it. So he's asking, um, and his wife is asking me if there's something he can do. So really, you read in Shechem, again, it's the same Siman about, uh, Kuf Pei Bes. It's, it's very interesting. Where would you find the Dinim in Rambam about, uh, a man not, um, wearing fe- feminine, uh, attire, et cetera? It's actually in Hilchas Avoda Zara, um, because it looks like it was a pagan kind of, um, belief and behavior that by dressing like the other gender, they would be able to draw energies, whatever it may be. And so it comes into Hilchas Avoda Zara. So at the end of Hilchas... This is how it's interesting how it's Shechem. You have the first part of Yodea talks about Basar Cholov, Taruvus, et cetera, Shechita. But then, then it goes to second part, talks about, um, Pas Akum, Bishul Akum, uh, Cholov Akum. Then you got the Dinim Avoda Za-- Yayin Nesech, Dinim Avoda Zara. Then you got Ribbis. And then we've got, uh, a couple of Simonim, Kuf Pei Bes. Um, so it talks about, uh, Lo Yilbash, a man not dressing like a woman, et cetera.

11:45 Speaker 1 But anyway, it says there the following, that a man to move, to remove a white hair from amongst the black hairs is incl-- is, is, is, he would be, um, in violation of, of Lo Yilbash. And V'chen Osor Le'ish L'tzeboya. Saris Levonos Yuush Chaires. A man would not be allowed to dye white hair that they should look

12:09 Speaker 2 Black.

12:11 Speaker 1 So just to come back to the point which I was raising before, if it's just to look more handsome, et cetera, then that is clearly what the Shulchan Aruch is talking about. There may be something quite, it's quite common, people have a, um, a shock of white hair in middle of the black hair, and it's, it can be very embarrassing. A person, "What's happened to you? Why do you have this?" And people, you know, not everyone is tactful when they, uh, meet someone, you know. And so, uh, it's, it's an awkward situation. And so he wants to... Not because he wants to become more handsome, he just wants to get, you know, this nuisance out of the way. So there are Poskim who do allow it. So again, to, to, m- the Shulchan Aruch is clearly talking about a person who wants to look younger, more handsome. If it's for other motives, there is, there is, uh, room to be make-up. Um, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein was asked about a person who wants to dye his hair because he looks, um, older than he is, and he wants to be able to get a job, and this is... His, his white hair is obstructive. So he says, "Listen, if you're old and you want to de-de-deceive a, a employer, that's deception. But if you're young, it's just that you have, uh, unusually, uh... And you're not doing it to become more attractive, you just want to be able to get a job." So Rabbi Moshe is,

13:31 Speaker 1 uh, he, he does allow him to, um, to color, uh, his hair to, to, to look his age. But coming back to this fellow, as I say, he's in his forties. It's not so unusual to have a few white hairs when you're 40. Um, I've got news for him, the next one is gonna come not too long after, so don't work too hard. So now... But he, he asked me the following. Is he able to use a kind of, um, a kind of shampoo which is gonna stimulate that the body will produce color? So what happens as a person ages, I guess, so there's, the body does not produce so much color for the hair, and therefore the hairs grow white. So there apparently are, are, there are some kind of medicines of, of sorts. So Rabbi Moshe Feinstein was asked about using a medicine to color the hair, and he says, "I don't see any difference whether you're using dye or you're using a medicine. They, it's the end product. Is it gonna be... You're doing efforts to look, you know, to, to look young, et cetera." I, having said that, I still think there's a difference. And I said, "Listen, you're telling me you want to use this shampoo. Does a blonde-- Do you need to have a blonde shampoo for a blonde beard and a black shampoo for a black beard? Or is it just a simple chemical and whatever color you naturally are or, or were, it's gonna come out that

14:55 Speaker 1 color?" So I felt if it's just a chemical to stimulate a natural, uh, production of color, I don't see that going into the issue of the Shulchan Aruch of coloring. You're stimulating his body to, to produce a, to produce a natural color. Whereas if you have to have a black shampoo for a black beard and, and a blonde shampoo for a bl- or brown shampoo for a, a brown beard, then that clearly is a form of color and that wouldn't be okay. Yes. So there, they mentioned here about Shidduchim also. Yes. So, so again, um, to, to, to deceive that you're younger than you are, that would not be okay. That's deception. But if a person for Shidduchim, he looks older than he is, then there are, there is room to be make-up if it's necessary in the . Okay. A very practical as we're going close to Pesach. And people are, uh, some people are c- are, are conscious of how much matzah they can eat and they can handle. And, um, yes, you know, if you ate matzah, and then thanks to the moror and the strong wine and the hard egg, um, you threw up afterwards, you are yoetz. You, you don't... By having thrown up, the whole... You're, you're still yoetz of the mitzvah even though you threw up. But it's obviously not so comfortable. Um, so now the question is, what are the quantities which are necessary? So here we have from the Alter Rebe Shulchan Aruch in and that's

16:28 Speaker 1 in Siman Tes Vav. Uh, sorry, Taf Vav. Siman Taf Vav. And he discusses the concept of kazais. And there are two opinions, whether kazais is a half an egg or a bit less than a third of an egg. And that comes up in the dinim of aiduf. What is the quantity for an aiduf? So it comes up, there's two very in-interesting, very, uh, they're quite distant, these two opinions. Whether kazais is a half an egg or is, uh, which is American measurement, about one fluid ounce, or it's two thirds of that. It's, it's, it's just under a third of an egg. And the conclusion here, l'maase, is if it's a mitzvah shel Torah, we're going to take the stricter view and have a kazais the size of a half an egg. Uh, if it's a mitzvah d'Rabbanan, if it's a mitzvah d'Rabbanan, then you can go down to a third of an egg. And so that's gonna be very useful because at Seder night, we have the first kazais is a mitzvah m'deoraita. The second kazais, which is with korech, is m'dRabbanan, and so too is afikoman is d'Rabbanan. Certainly, with a... If you are, if you have your own korech, you're going to have a kazais from the top matzah and a kazais from the middle matzah. Certainly, m'deoraita, it doesn't matter whether you have from the top matzah or the middle matzah. So therefore, you can go down to have a kazais d'Rabbanan- From the small-- for the top matzah and the kazais

18:12 Speaker 1 Rabban from the middle matzah, and between the two together, you've certainly exceeded the sheer of a kazais min hatoire. So here, we're looking at the, uh, sheer for ca- for kazais. I've taken this, uh, one, one very important point. Are the shiurim in weight, or are the shiurim in, in volume? And it's very clear that the shiurim are actually shiurim of volume. It's just, it's very difficult to establish the volume of something as porous as a matzah. So there's, um, you know, we have a couple of mechabrim of, who, who en-indulged in this and, and, and make a, make a chlorokite. And so here, I'm, I'm using the Sefer here called, um, Shiur for Kazais. It's an English volume by Feldheim called Kazais by someone called, probably, I think it's Pinchas Bodner. And so he has a study of all different foods. But what's relevant for us is, um, what is the kazais of matzah. So on the right side on the screen, we've got here for a kazais deiraiso, for achilas matzah. On the left side of the screen, we've got kazais for m'choirech, which is, um, um, achilas Rabbana. Um, and so what he's, he's recommending for achilas matzah, he, he talked about two-fifths of a matzah. I mean, let's look at the medium matzah. So you got some very thin matzah, and the thinner the matzah is, the more of a matzah you'd need to get your kazais, obviously. But a, a medium matzah, so then he has here, like, forty-one percent,

19:56 Speaker 1 in other words, two-fifths approximately of the matzah. Now, this is... So if you have your own kaire, you're going to have more than that, in any case, between the two kazais from the top of the middle matzah. Uh, for the other people at the table who don't have, uh, their own kaze- kaire, so then this is the sheer you should be looking at, less than half a matzah. That's for the first kazais. For the second, for the kazais of, of koreich, so here we have about a quarter of a matzah is enough. And similarly, for afikomen, you can also manage with a quarter of a matzah. So I hope you can, uh, um, this will be helpful for some people who find the mitzvah of matzah difficult to handle, to, to ingest so much matzah. So bringing it down to... Practically, if you are running, you have your own Seder, Seder plate, it's gonna be for mitzvah. The first, um, eating matzah will be about half a matzah because of kazais from the top, kazais from the middle, then a quarter, um, and then a quarter for afikomen. Of course, l'chatchilah, you should have two kazais of afikomen, but that you can see whether you can handle or not. So really, in, in total, it's one total matzah for the whole, for the whole Seder. Yeah. Because if you had, for the first part, you had two kaz-- two half, two quarters, and then for koreich, a quarter, and then for, um, for afikomen, a

21:28 Speaker 1 quarter. It's one whole matzah, uh, which you'd need, um, for the whole Seder. So someone's asking, what's considered thick, fair, medium, or thin? So there are very thin matzahs. There's a company called, uh, a, a, a kehilla called Papa, Papa Salem. They produce matzahs which are so thin, they're mamish, uh, very easy to, to bite into. Very, very thin. Then you've got the matzahs which are made for export, so they make them l'chatchilah thicker so that they should be able to withstand the shipping, et cetera. And then you've got... So you can see they're thicker. They're about, uh, certainly more than, more than two millimeters thick. And then you've got the regular matzah. I think that the regular matzah is, is what we'd call medium. Um, the fact that you got a lot of broken matzahs in your packet is probably because you got medium and not thick. If they were thick, they would, they would endure the, uh, the journey. Okay, let's move on. Um, so here, one of our listeners on the, uh, refudding, lives in, in Canada, and, uh, where he lives, it's quite north. Shlia. So the first night, they make a Seder, and they, they are, they, they, they have, uh, a, a public Seder. And, um, of course, they will have the kazais before, before chatzos, et cetera. The second night, they like to keep it more for family, so the children should have the feeling that they have their own Seder. They have a few guests also, but

23:12 Speaker 1 they want to be able to take time. Now, because it's, uh, so north, so far north, so from, from down, from nacht until chatzos is not such, is, let's say, two hours. And then on top of it, we are now in Alipia. So it's gonna be, it's, the, the window for the Seder till chatzos is quite short. And so, um, so we're not talking about the kazais of, of, of afikomen. I'm talking about the first kazais. I remember once a, a, a shlia told me that they're used to making a public Seder, and then they start their own Seder afterwards, and they start, then they have their, their kazais matzah. It can be two, two o'clock in the morning, which I was a little bit shocked because... So, all right, let's explain something. There are poskim who hold, there are tannaim who hold that the mitzvah's matzah is only until chatzos. We all know that we say every morning and evening, "HaPesach, hendechel el ha'layla, ve'hindechel el at chatzos." The Korban Pesach is only until chatzos. We all know the Mishnah in, in Brachos, which says, "Kol ma she'omeru at chatzos, mitzvas seuda shiya alav mada shachar." And if it says chatzos, really, min hatoire is alav mada. But the tannaim will say that Korban Pesach is min hatoire until chatzos. So we have here, um, two opinions. How important is it to have the kazais matzah before chatzos? The Dogon Reuvas, you have them quoted here on the screen. The, the upper quote is

24:49 Speaker 1 from my Sefer, Meshech Achlichas, Chelek Beis. So, um, the Noi de Bihuda has his comments on the margin of the Shulchan Aruch, known as Dogon Reuvas. And he says, if a person for some, uh, was, for pressure, did not manage to eat the kazais until chatzos, he shouldn't make a bracha al achilas matzah because it, there could be the halakha is that after ch-chatzos, you're not mekayen the mitzvah. So you shouldn't make a bracha al achilas matzah after chatzos. So that becomes quite a serious thing that, um, to say that you-- that, that, that if you delay starting the Seder till after chatzos, you, you possibly missed out on the Mitzvah matzah. So the first night, for sure, one should make every effort to have the first kazais. I mean, we start with have a, have a afikoman, but the first kazais, for sure, one shouldn't miss, uh, chatzos for the first kazais. So as I was saying, this, um, gemara was saying that they would make a public Seder, and then esh start their own Seder and have the first kazais at two o'clock in the morning, they're missing out possibly in a mitzvah min HaTorah, which is, uh, not, not, not recommended. Find a way of, of making sure that the first kazais is before chatzos. Afikoman is also good, but at least the first kazais. But then I'm looking at the Hayom Yom. Hayom Yom for Tes Vov Nissan. It says the following: "The first Seder, the Rebbe Rashab used to make

26:14 Speaker 1 it short in order to be able to eat the afikoman before chatzos. The second Seder, Hoyomar Ich, he took his time. Matzchi lifnei shor tes, started before nine PM, and we finish gimel-- gimel dalet achi chatzos. So he finished about three or four AM. Hoyomar Ich bebir haGadd. And he took time, expanded on the Haggadah." So I'm asking you practically, when it says, "Hoyomar Ich bebir haGadd," when did they have the first kazais? They started at, like, nine o'clock. Does it mean that they had the kazais before chatzos and then bemarich bebir haGaddah, and that t-took so long they made the Seder last till four o'clock in the morning? Or does it mean Hoyomar bebir haGaddah, and by the time they got to Shulchan Arukh, it was well after chatzos, and then they had the meal, and afterwards they, uh, they had the end of the Seder. How long does it take? Uh, the Hallel, whatever. All right. Give it an hour, to be very generous. But, uh, what took them till three o'clock in the morning? So bepashtes, it means that the kazais matzah was also ta-- They, they, they took a long time over the actual Haggadah, and, and they started, um, mechayei matzah even a-a-after chatzos. Well, after chatzos. That's my impression. And there, there is room. Other poskim also say about this. Although the Neu de Bihudai said that you cannot make the berakhah al achilat matzah after chatzos, it looks like other poskim are not so, uh, so rigid about

27:48 Speaker 1 it, at least the second. So the first night, I wouldn't be mekiel, but the second night, I think that is what it's saying in the, in the, uh... It doesn't say so clearly, but I think that is the, the pshat. Okay, um, someone is suggesting that perhaps the Haggadah was discussed over the meal after the first kazais. I've-- I, I-- Of course, that is a possibility. Um, someone's also saying Marach doing this. I f-find it unlikely. I don't, I don't think that's-- That, I don't think-- That's not the poshtut pshat, at, at least, yeah. You read it, that's not the impression you get. Um, I wasn't there, so I can't testify. All right. Let's take a look at a couple of points here. For achilat matzah, do you need a kazais from each Kohen and Levi or a kazais from the two together? Um, so the lekhatkhila, of course, the, the mitzvahs to have from the top matzah and from the middle matzah, a kazais from each. What I was saying before is that's, uh, then that's all the Rabbonon. And the-- If you don't have a full kazais from either matzah, but together you're having a kazais, so you certainly fulfill the mitzvah min HaTorah. So therefore, I'm saying you can have a quarter of matzah from the Kohen matzah and quarter matzah from the Levi matzah, and so you're covered on both bases. You're covered mid-Rabbonon, you're covered min HaTorah. Um, you're asking how many-- Someone's asking how many, um, matzahs to a

29:13 Speaker 1 pound for medium and thick. Sorry, I didn't, I didn't, uh, uh, go through that in advance. I, I wouldn't be able to answer now. Okay, let's move on. Okay, what's the next point? So here I got a shaila this week. It's a srut afka. A baby was given haggadah. Sorry, forgot review haggadah. Baby was given a bris. Uh, he was given a bris on the seventh day. What has to be done now? Now, we know that the bris has to be done on the eighth day. So here I was about to say, you know, on, um, on s-um, to hatafas dam bris, which I'll discuss in a moment. Um, but, like, before answering, I took to our Shulchan Arukh. And so I look in the Ramah, and this is in Resh Samak Bet, I believe, Yad Eyah. And it says, "Over mol balaylo," if a bris was done at night, "sorkh lazulat min hadam bris." There needs to be what's called pricking, uh, to cause a little bit of, uh, blood from the bris area. It's a, a small prick. Um, there's details. A mohel will know exactly where to do it, or they'll ask a shaila where to do it. There's a discussion about it. Um, in Shulchan Arukh Shimin, in Kethav Zazaz, there's a, a, some discussion about it. Okay. So if a bris was done at night, so then one would have to do hatafas dam bris. Mol oiy toyyokh shmoino uva'yom. If it was done before the eighth day, but it

30:46 Speaker 1 was done during the day, yotzer. So the Ramah seems to be clearly saying that you do not do-- have to do anything, hatafas dam bris, um, if the bris was done within eight days. So I texted this fellow in Essex, and I said, "You don't have to do anything." The Rebbe should give half an, that there's something called Panorama of Halakha, and I have s-- I need to find something to talk about. So I do Hazara. So I looked into this, and I was, it, it bothered me because I didn't see the logic. What could be the difference if, um, a Bris was done at night, and that's wrong. You have to do Hatafas Dam Bris to rectify it. And if a Bris was done within eight days, before eight days, you don't have to do anything. I didn't see any logic. Well, the Ramo says so. Fine. So Rebbe should give half, and I started looking at it, and I saw that both the Shah and the Taz, they disagree with the Ramo, and they challenge the Ramo on this point. And they say, "No, there's taka no difference." And you do have to do Hatafas Dam Bris in, uh, if a premature Bris was done, then Hatafas Dam Bris is required. I looked up in Kitzer Shulchan Aruch because, you know, you have... In other words, you have the Ramo, the Shah and Taz. The Ramo says one way, Shah and Taz say, just say opposite. How do you pass them? Uh, of

32:06 Speaker 1 course, more likely pass them like that. But I was looking... So Kitzer Shulchan Aruch, Nechos Mila doesn't dis-doesn't discuss it. It's like it's not an, it's not a common situation, and so the, um, polemicans, we didn't feel the need to quote it, uh, to discuss it. But here, I've got here from... The lower quote is from the Sefer Derech HaChaim, from Yaakov Belisser, and he says, "Oval amol balaylo tzo hahatim dambris." If you do the Bris at night, you need to do, um, Hatafas Dam Bris. Second last line. "Vechein amole tzoiches beyoim." If the Bris was done within eight days, um, um, during the day. "Nami dina hochi." And he gives a reference to the, um, Yeruham, which, which I just quoted. And the Shah in Resh Samach Daled, where he disagrees with Ramo, and he says that you'd have to do Hatafas Dam Bris. So I got back to this fellow in Eretz Yisrael. I said, um, "Yeah, um, um, I'm, I'm, I have to correct what I said, and you, um, Hatafas Dam Bris will be necessary." Okay. I see here a couple of points. As, as recalled, eight, um... So, um, back to the question about how many matzahs fit into a, a... I guess you're talking about a pound. So Yehuda Ben Shimon is saying that in a medium pound, a medium thickness, you'll have eight, um, matzahs. If it's, if it's thick, there will be six matzahs, and if it's thin, you'll have ten matzahs in a pound. I think

33:43 Speaker 1 that's what he's saying. Okay. Right. For sure, I mean, I told you about the, coming back to Bris Milo. For sure, I mean, I told you about bayyom, um, whether it's, whether bayyom ashmini or bayyom ashri, it has to... Of course, there's, so there's two things. It has to be during the day, and it has to be on the eighth day or later. And what we're saying in the Mascona is, if either of those was, uh, was missed out, then the Mascona Hatafas Dam Bris would be necessary. Okay, we're going to our next point, and that is one of our listeners, again, from over the, uh, uh, recordings. So he has in his shul a f-a fine fellow who davens slower than the average person. He comes half an hour or more earl-- He starts davening about half an hour earlier. But then if the tzibbur, uh, he, if, uh, if a Shemoneh Esreh, if they're not by five, Shemoneh Esreh, he will wait for Shemoneh Esreh, and then he'll join the tzibbur with Shemoneh Esreh. But then he davens so slow that they will finish Chazarat Hashatz, and he finishes his quiet Shemoneh Esreh while, when they, um, finish Chazarat Hashatz. So as a result, he's missing out on answering Kedusha, et cetera. And so the question here is, is it, is it wi-is that a wise, um, is that wise advice that he should start Shemoneh Esreh with the minyan and miss out? Or possibly, if he starts Shemoneh Esreh five minutes earlier,

35:19 Speaker 1 which he can afford because he comes early in any case, and then he will finish Shemoneh Esreh. If he starts a couple of minutes earlier, he can work it out. He'll finish his Shemoneh Esreh the same time as the minyan, and then he will be able to answer Kedusha, et cetera. Okay, so the background to the question. We have here in the Shulchan Aruch. Here you have in, um, Siman Tsadik, beginning of Hilchot Tefilah, second Siman. This is a thing which is not so well known. It says in Shulchan Aruch, "Mi Shebol L'beit HaKnesses, Osro Lehilachtim Tefilaso L'tefilat HaTzibbur." If you've come to shul, you should not be davening Shemoneh Esreh before the minyan. Um, perhaps it's, uh, a question whether we should be discussing it. You have sometimes people come to shul, but they are in a rush, so they daven Shemoneh Esreh. It's very, very few, but there are occasionally people who'll daven Shemoneh Esreh before the minyan because they want to be able to finish off whatever and, and rush out. So it says in Shulchan Aruch that you shouldn't st-start your tefilah. If once you've come to shul, you shouldn't start your Shemoneh Esreh before the tzibbur. "Ve'en b'beit haKnesses," whether you're going to do so in the shul, which is gonna be more, uh, how do you say, uh, trying, arousing perhaps, uh, conflict or whatever. But "Ve'en sh'roitz l'atzet b'chutz l'beit haKnesses," even if you want to go to the next room and start your Shemoneh Esreh early, you

36:46 Speaker 1 shouldn't be doing so. "El yamtim k'dei l'hispalel im ha-tzibbur." Instead, you should w-bide your time and, uh, start, start Shemoneh Esreh with the minyan. "Sh'tefilat ha-rabim yirit tzuya lifnei haMakom." Because the idea of davening with a tzibbur is that prayer is more, um, appreciated, more accepted by Hashem. In Kenes, you see that they-- it's-- they're getting late, and the tzibbur are, are taking their time with piyutim. We don't have this question because we don't have piyutim in Yoitz-- in the Yoitzres, in Yoitzre. But in the Minag Ashkenaz, so you have in, in, uh, Birchas Keroshim, you have extra piyutim. So if he sees that they're taking their time on piyutim, as a result, there's gonna be Miss Savant filler. So that's a head for him to daven early. But meanwhile, we're seeing here that the Choireh, the person is right, that he shouldn't be starting Shemoneh Esreh before the Minyan. But then look at this reason. It really is palal im ha-tzibbur, but if he is davening slower. So on the contrary, you could say that by him starting early, he's gonna be davening with the Minyan. So there's, there's, there's a bit of, uh, room there. So what we have on the upper part of the screen. So we have here a quote from the Sefer Bisker Shovas, and he's qu-- he's, uh, Malakhet. He writes, "If he's used to davening Shemoneh Esreh, zeman memushach, he takes his time on Shemoneh Esreh. Um, and as a result, he's missing out in answering Kedusha and

38:20 Speaker 1 Omin Hazat Ashatz. So there are those who write that he is a rashai lehakdim Shemoneh Esreh lifnei ha-tzibbur. He is allowed to start Shemoneh Esreh earlier. K'dei sheyuchal ligmor beshov im ha-tzibbur. He's allowed to start a few minutes earlier, work it out, but he should compl-complete his Shemoneh Esreh at the same time as the tzibbur, and then he'll be able to answer Omin Kedusha, um, during Hazat Ashatz as everyone else does. Then he says, although if he's allowed to do so, he's not obliged to do so. If you take your time, of course, the main thing of filler is kavana, and if it takes you more time to have your kavana, that's paramount. Then there are those who say, "No, don't do this shtik, and you should actually start with the Minyan, even though as a result, you will miss out on answering everything." So there's-- so there are varying opinions either way. So, um, my-- I, I, uh, answered that I, I would advise that he should start a bit earlier. In this way, he'll be able to answer Kedusha. And by the way, I know that they struggle for a Minyan sometimes. If he starts a few minutes earlier, then he will be able to make up their Minyan for Hazat Ashatz instead of them, uh, having to wait another few minutes, which again, in a small Minyan in a small town, is actually can be a, how do you say, a dampener on people coming to Minyan if they have to start

39:45 Speaker 1 waiting around. Uh, I see a couple of points on the chat. So we've got here some, some solutions that, uh... Okay, let's move on. So the, the, the, uh, certainly the Hakdin TV law says he's talking about Shemoneh Esreh. He shouldn't start his Shemoneh Esreh before the Minyan. But in this case, where he davens so much slower, so therefore it's, it's the purpose of l'sfad l'metsibah can be achieved by actually starting a bit earlier, and in l'sfad l'metsibah will be that he'll, he'll, um, daven with them the second part of the Shemoneh Esreh, and he'll complete with the tzibbur. Okay, so you can, you can see there's, uh, different opinions here. You're mentioning about Shemay. Someone is mentioning Shemay HaKohenai. Yeah, but i-it's, it's still not the, the, it's Kohenai. And, uh, and especially if you're going to have this, um, if he's gonna be short of a Minyan, if he doesn't have Tisha Kohenai, the fellow who's davening Shemoneh Esreh with the Shemay HaKohenai is not gonna be able to make up the Tisha Kohenai. So I think for, uh, in a smaller place, he, he would actually be doing a favor for the tzibbur if he starts a bit earlier, and he's able to finish off along with them. And then we see this, uh, opinion, a poskim who say that that's okay, and I think that's-- I would go along with that. Okay, let's move on. So here in-- Sorry, I didn't put it on the screen. Pesach Ches Yodecho. In the

41:28 Speaker 1 Altrebbes Sidder, Pesach Ches Yodecho has got upside-down seguls. On the three words, Pesach Ches Yodecho, has actually got twice upside-down segul in each word. And the, um, the last three letters, the Sofei Tavis, is Ches Tov Chov, which means chatach or a chunk. The idea they're able to give a portion of parnassa to each person. We discussed it this year, not around, around Rosh Hashanah time. And then the first three letters, Peh Alef Yud. Peh Alef Yud equals ninety-one, and that is the Gematria of Omain. It's also the Gematria, I think, of Havaya Adni, sixty-five and twenty-six. Yeah, sixty-five and twenty-six is, is ninety-one, yeah. So there are kavanahs in the Pesach Ches Yodecho, and the Gemara says, "Why do we say Ashrei every day?" So the, the main-- the m- the most, uh, important part, part of, of Ashrei is this passage of Pesach Ches Yodecho. And possibly, the fact that we touch the Tefillin at this point is also like a, a reminder to have kavana at this passage. Question is, is the kavana imperative, um, also Ashrei a second time after, b-before Valatzion and Ashrei at Mincha, or is this only once a day is the kavana, Ma'alah Ikhovah? This is the question, uh, which I was asked to address. Now, someone has written about this, um, someone picked up that in the Altrebbes Shechin Orach, in Siman Kuf Alef, in passing, talks about things about repeating, if you didn't have kavana about repeating So we don't, if we, we, we don't

43:16 Speaker 1 repeat Shemoneh Esreh for lack of kavanah because likelihood is the second time you'll, uh, also have a lapse of kavanah. But when it comes to Shema, so the main thing is the first passuk. So then you, if you, if you didn't, if you realize you didn't have a kavanah the passuk or Shema, so you say it's passuk again. Because one passuk you can handle. But then he says, "Vechehen passuk be-yesed chasidecha shebe psukim dezimra." That if you didn't have kavanah, you should repeat the passuk. So now why does the Alter Rebbe add the words shebe psukim dezimra? You could say it's because, uh, otherwise you could say it's even when you're saying Tehillim. But on the other hand, you, y-you could say that it's psukim dezimra only the, only the once a day is me'akiv, and the other times, the other two times it's not me'akiv. So there's a little bit not so clear. Uh, Rabbi Chaim Noah writes clearly that it's me'akiv the other times also. Um, and if, if my theory of the fact that we touch that tefillin is to stimulate your kavanah at this point, the fact that we do so also by Asher yovotzion is suggesting that there's a need for kavanah, uh, leikova also by Asher yovotzion. So, uh, it's not, it's not so clear. Um, I've seen also-- although it says in, uh, one here it says, "Ha'oima t'hillah l'David, um, sholosh pa'amim bechol yom," other places it says, "Bechol yom." It doesn't... They argue so, but it

44:51 Speaker 1 doesn't say yet about t'hillah l'David, which is Ashrei three times a day. Just once a day is, is, is, is the, uh, the main emphasis. If it's only once a day is the main emphasis, so then kavanah is only, um, leikova the once. Okay. So there's, there's, um, room to be make or and say that it's not necessary, uh, leikova the other times. Let's go on. Okay. As we're coming close to, um, Chodesh Nisan. No one asked me this question, but I feel I should address it. Every year you, and you open up the, uh, Hamotshi newspapers, and you have pictures of fine and good Yidden who are going out with a whole group of people out into the fields to make birkat habiryah ha'etz ha'lonot. Chabad, we never saw such a thing, but fine. Everyone's, uh, narrow, narrow path is fine. But meanwhile, we look at the loshon. This is from the Alter Rebbe's, uh, siddur, Be'er Heitev, page gimel. This is loshon HaBraisa. "Ha'yotzei b'mei Nisan." Person went out during Nisan. "Ve'ro'ah ilanos tzemach tzinperach." And he sees trees. He saw a tree, trees which are pro-producing blossoms. He says, "Yemeha brocha shelo chisa v'olam miklom," et cetera. "Ve'ein hamevorach ela be'pa'am rishon shero'eh bechol shana." And you only make a brocha the first time. So now there's two issues here which I want to raise. First of all, the Alter Rebbe says, "B'mei Nisan." And the Rebbe has a letter about this. What happens if you didn't see it in Nisan, you

46:28 Speaker 1 saw it in Iyar? Is it-- So in the... The Alter Rebbe wrote earlier a, um, a Sefer on Brochas called Luach Birkat Ha'etz. And there, the Luach Birkat Ha'etz, it's a-a-apparent that even if it's the season of Nisan, you can still say the brocha. But in the next edition, the latest edition, the Sefer Birkat Ha'etz, which we're more familiar with, he says, "B'mei Nisan." And so the Rebbe learns that it's limited to the month of Nisan. So the brocha, although it's got to do with seasons, and seasons are depend on the solar cycle, not so much on the-- That doesn't depend on which month it is in the, in the Jewish calendar. Depends on the, on the solar, when, when it is in the spring, et cetera. And yet, the Halakha is limited, perhaps for reasons of Kabbalah, it's limited to Chodesh Nisan. Now, that's very relevant this year because, because it's a leap year, so Chodesh Nisan is a week or more later, um, it's a bit later. Therefore, there could be the trees which are blossoming have already blossomed now. But now you can't make the brocha because it's not Nisan. Then we say the second Halakha. Now, this is the Alter Rebbe is, uh, not, uh, not everyone agrees with the Alter Rebbe on this. The Alter Rebbe says it's only the first time. So what happens if you were walking and you saw a tree with blossoms, you didn't have a siddur with you? You don't know the brocha, you don't

47:57 Speaker 1 know, don't know Galpin. Nowadays, you can tell it, you have it on your phone. Uh, you have a siddur on your phone, you can find it, yeah? Or you can text someone or whatever. But, uh, Lomezagin is on Shabbos. So you didn't, uh, you don't, you don't have your siddur with you. So y-you, next time you come back, you can't make a brocha. It's only be'pa'am rishona. It's only, well, first time you encountered it. As a result, if you see a, a-- Now, the minhag is to say a brocha only on a tree which produces fruit, edible fruit. So if you see within this week a tree with edible fruits in it, its blossoms, then that would preclude you from saying the brocha during Chodesh Nisan. So, uh, so next time you pass where you know there's a fruit tree, so put on your blinkers, and you should be able to say a brocha, um, in your Chodesh Nisan. Someone's pointing out Australia can't make the brocha on blossoms. I guess so. I guess they cannot. Um, can you say the brocha on Shabbos? Yes, there's no problem to say it on Shabbos. Uh, if you, uh, if it's within Rishon Shel Yochid and you have a siddur there, or you, uh, remember the pa-- the brocha, you can say it on Shabbos. It's not a problem. Right. All right. So we have the last point which I have, and I'll finish a couple of minutes early. I think you'll, you'll forgive me, um, I'm

49:17 Speaker 1 sure. Um, about... So we had a couple-- Last week and two week, two w-weeks ago, I spoke about using tea bags on Shabbos. And so someone is asking, persisting and asking, "What about swirling the bag inside the, uh, the glass to be able to get more essence out of the bag?" Now, if you remember, we had gone through this, that pouring, to pour water through a strainer, and it goes in clear water, it comes out brown because it's picked up flavor from the strainer. It's not a problem of boire, it's not a problem of mesanen, and that would be essentially permitted. You're not straining, uh, the, the tea leaves. They are all, uh, safely, uh, uh, sitting inside the strainer. And what's going in is gonna-- it's picking up flavor, but it's not a conc-a concept of, of boire. That's fairly clear. So now the tea bag is the same That the, the, uh-- there's no boilery or, or straining with, with the stuff in this, in the tea bag. But let's read what Rav Forcash addresses this. Uh, in-- this is, as you can see, it's So, to put in a, a, a tea bag into, into a g-hot-- a glass of hot water. So we'd have, we'd have to avoid the question of visuals. That goes into a as was discussed in an earlier chapter in his first volume. He doesn't see there's a problem of boilery. Although, obviously, the water is penetrating into the bag, and then it's going out of the

50:53 Speaker 1 bag into the rest of the cup. That's not a problem of boilery. As I said, it's all... everything is safe. There's no jumbled state. There's no problem of boilery. Then he said, to sway-- to s-to, uh, move around the gla-the tea bag as it is within the cup of water. He says there's a debate in Poskim whether it's permitted. If you're going to drink it right away, in other words, it's and you want to use it right away, so he's mater and he gives the ha'arah. I'm not gonna go into the ha'arah now, but he does-- Basically, he says it is permitted if you're going to have the, the glass of tea right away. So that's the answer, to be able to sway the cup. Sorry, to sway the tea bag back and forth within the tea-- between the cup-- within the cup of hot water would not be a problem of boilery or, or masan. So that's the end of the, uh, shiur for tonight. Uh, as far as the, uh, continuation of this shiur and, uh, thank you for all of your, uh, joining us regularly. It's a tremendous, uh, chizuk. And, um, we had the votes for Thursday or Sunday. Uh, I didn't make a mamish account, but it was pretty much, uh, even. Let's, uh... Now, so therefore, I would-- I'm, I'm going to go for Thursday, Thursday evening and, um, because, uh, when you have a Sephiric, so a, a good thing you make earlier rather than later. What I

52:34 Speaker 1 would suggest is that whoever wants to have their Mincha Karov listening to the shiur on Motzaei Shabbos, I can, uh, send them the link for the recording, and so they'll be able to listen to it. If, if the Thursday nights, by Thursday-- by Friday morning, the recording should be available. Bezrat Hashem, thank you to my son, Jacob, who, uh, trying to-- who sets it up every Motzaei Shabbos. So he'll do it on Motzaei, um, well, on Thursday night. So for Motzaei Shabbos, you'll have it there available. Um, looking at the di-at the di-at the calendar, we've got this Thursday and the next Thursday. The Thursday after that is Bedikas Chametz, and so I will, um, apologize now. I'm not gonna do a shiur in the middle of Bedikas Chametz, and I don't think you're gonna be listening either. Um, on the other hand, the next Thursday after that is the night of Shvi'i shel Pesach. Um, my phone doesn't work at that time. But I would, uh, possibly do something on Wednesday night of Chol Hamoed. And if I do have something ready to share with you, I'll, uh, share with you through... I'll tell you in advance through the, uh, same medium as till now. So yeah, what do we have here? Um, someone is suggesting palm reshuina of this tree. If he finds later another tree with a later bloom, he can, as all prunus... Uh, I don't think so. I think once he's already had the opportunity of saying the berakhah, and

54:06 Speaker 1 he didn't say the berakhah, so then I don't think he can say it later, but fine. Um, so Thursday. Thursday, someone is pointing out that Sunday's before Thursday. Thank you. Okay, I realize that. Um, what time will the shiur start? I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm thinking of doing it eight thirty. I think it's a little bit easier for myself, and I think others also. Eight thirty rather than eight o'clock. Like this, those who have little children will be able to tuck them into bed. Um, so unless people dafka want it earlier, but I, I'm, I'm at, uh, aim for eight thirty this coming Thursday, Bezrat Hashem. All right. So I wish you all a Gut Voch, and, uh, zeid ale gezunt und kol tuv.