אמור תשפ״ב

00:07 Good evening. Baruch haba. Bruchim haboim. Shear. Before actually, uh, starting the Shear, when it's still light, and Haparayim started a half a minute early. We'll say a couple Tehillim, couple Hof for a full Shlema, for Boruch, Rachel, uh, Tzipora bas Malka. Lam natzach mitzrayil David. Yeha'an cho Adonai b'yom tzar. Yeysagev cho Hashem elei ya'akow. Yishlach ezricho mikeydesh. U'veTzion yisadeycho. Yizkor kol mend chayssecha. V'yeilochecho yerach nasero. Yiten l'cho chil levelchecha. V'chol atzascha yemale. Zeranan b'yeshuascha. Hashem eleinu nidgel. Yimale Adonai kol neshalaysecha. Atah yodati ki yayishia Adonai meshicho. Ya'anehu b'ishmei kodeshoi. B'g'vuras yesh-- yeminoy. Eila v'recha v'eila basasin. Anachnu Hashem adonai eloheinu nazkir. Heim hakoru uvenafalu. V'anachnu kamnu vanis v'yadod. Adonai yishia. Hamelech ya'anenu yom korinut. We'll sing some songs then and start the Shear. Okay, so let's go. The first question which we have literally is, um, question of Shabbos, Eruvin. So here we have a porch, which is the, I know it's the back of the house probably. It opens on-- opens up to a, um, a communal garden which doesn't have an Eruv, and he wants to be able to carry out from this door into the little porch, where you can see the bench, uh, there, to be able to carry there. So to put up a pole and wires, that kind of surah sepesach, that kind of Eruv arrangement, was not gonna be so, uh, convenient. So I th-- I wanted to look into the possibility of a halacha of pitikra yored v'soisim, which means that the edge of the halacha lamoshu

02:12 m'siyanai, that when we have a, a, uh, a, a roof and the edge of the roof is considered as if it is now becomes a wall. So that's the pitikra yored v'soisim idea. We'll read about this in, in the next slide. Here we have from Timchei Tzemach Aleph, from the dinim of Eruvin. So we have this idea, um, of saying pitikra yored v'soisim. Imagine you had a s-- a house, and some of the walls have come down, and there's a big gap, a big opening. So there is idea that that open gap could be, uh, considered closed by virtue of pitikra yored v'soisim. Then there is this idea that in Hilchos Eruvin, that you want dis-- it's not normal to have an, a doorway at a corner. So imagine if the corner of the house was destroyed. So although you'd have also the remains of the ceiling, but you wouldn't be able to use the concept of pi-pitikra yored v'soisim because it's at a corner, which is gonna be relevant to our discussion because here we're looking at trying to create a mechitza on the front, but also to the side of the, uh, of the expe-- balca, whatever this porch. So now let's go further. Ahal pesach she'eino b'kereen zos, an, an opening which is not at a corner, then you could say pitikra yored v'soisim. Then you can take the edge of the roof and see it coming down as a wall. Afilu hi hu serer me'essah, even if it's more than a

03:54 width of ten amas. Rak she'eino b'miluah, but it mustn't be the full width. Now, coming back again. So we've got here two, uh, arguments against using, uh, pitikra yored v'soisim over here. One is because of the-- its, uh, two sides, as there's a corner here. And the other point is that it's the full width. It's not as if there's a, a remnant of wall on either side, and then you want to fill in the rest with a pitikra. It's the full width. So that seems to be a problem. However, b'yesh o'im, there is a second opinion which says, afilu hi b'miluah. Even if it's the full width, you can still say pitik-pitikra yored v'soisim. And even if you've got two walls which are next to one another, which are d-- have fallen down, b'miluah, all the way, and but the, the wall, the roof has remained, one can still do a pitikra yored v'soisim. Im nisharu shom shnei mechitzos, sh-shnei mechitzos, l'vucha zeh v'zah. So you've got-- Th-there was, there were four walls. Two walls which are connected to one another, imagine of an L shape, are intact, are still there. The other two walls are missing. And still, the second opinion said, "We'll be able to do yored v'soisim, pitikra yored v'soisim, on the two missing walls." If the two walls which are standing are parallel to one another and the two walls which are missing are at either end, where, as a result, you've got like a corridor in between the two, that's

05:32 when you could not do the, uh, concept of a pitikra yored v'soisim. V'chein ikar. So the halacha remains like the second opinion, that pitikra yored v'soisim would be acceptable in a case of where the two mechitzas are, desired mechitzas, are connected at a corner. Says, tov l'chush l'svara achshuvina. It's preferable to, uh, be, take concern for the first opinion. Okay, we'll come to that in a moment. One last point is- That this concept of pitik ha'yerid v'sosum says here, yesh oimrim, it's only if it's a flat roof. But if it were a sloping roof, kagagin shilon, or the typical European roofs, then one would not use the concept of pitik. That's not relevant to us, just for general knowledge. So, all right. So now, the second opinion, which says, vechein ikar, says you can do pitik ha'yerid v'sosum over here with the two sides. Um, but there is an opinion which says you cannot, vechein, and he says, v'yas lo chosh. So I would suggest the following, that here, actually, in, as I said before, we've got a wall which is less than ted fachim. In front of it is a communal garden. It's not a reshus harabim, so there's more room to be lenient. Uh, and plus, the person who's asking the question lives in Northwest London, where there is already an eruv. So although it's not an eruv which we are all happy with, uh, not lechol hade'as, but certainly it's enough to mitigate that you should be allowed to rely on the

07:08 lenient opinion to do hiyah here, pitik ha'yerid v'sosum. Okay. Um, let's move on. Someone in, uh, in Europe, he's been learning about, a course about hilchos havelos, and it came up, the din of tumah. A Kohen is not allowed to expose himself to become tamei mes, not to a dead body. So we know that Kohanim are very careful about entering a cemetery, et cetera. And he, this yungerman, he asked me, how does he deal with-- He saw the letter of the Rebbe. That letter is, um, it's in Igros Kodesh. Sorry, I don't have a, a reference in front of me. But, um, it is in Igros Kodesh, where it, the Rebbe says about the Rebbe, the, the Ohel of the Friediker Rebbe, that when they built it, so they built a wall around the kever of ted fachim high. The reason for this is to enable Kohanim. So there is a whole discussion in Gemara where the kivrei tzadikim, am haKabul, are dukul tumah or not. And the Rebbe, in this letter, he doesn't want to rely on that. So a Kohen would not be allowed to go to the gravesite of a tzadik, um, stam z'e, but the, by building a, a wall around it of ted fachim, that allows the Kohanim to be near the Ohel. Plus, there is also a distance of dalet fachim from the actual grave. So there's two things. There's a, a, a vertical wall and a horizontal distance of four tefach. The wall, ten of fachim high, and

08:53 the distance of four tefach, that is acceptable. If there hadn't been the wall, then the Kohen wouldn't be allowed to be within dalet amos, which is about six feet or two meters. But when there is the wall, so then the Kohen mustn't be more, must, mustn't be within four tefach of the, of the, of a grave. Now, then the Rebbe says, the, the Ohel of the Friediker Rebbe is within a middle of a cemetery. So the Kohanim would come there in a closed auto, in a closed car, and the car has a din of Ohel. There is a discussion in, this is Ohel Zaruk. There's a discussion whether a portable Ohel has the status of Ohel. The Rebbe says that this idea, we're not talking about the Kohanim being over the graves proper. Rather, we're talking about the Kohen having to keep a distance of four t- four amos from a grave, and for this helps to have a mechitza. For this, we will rely that the Ohel Zaruk, the car, e-even though it's mobile, should be enough as a barrier to allow the Kohen to enter the cemetery. So this person who's, uh, asked me the question, he's asking, "What's this business that the Rebbe is saying that the car serves as an Ohel to protect from tumah?" Thank you. Um, correction to the previous, um, uh, um, message. Um, I'm told that the story is in Manchester, not in London. Okay. Thank you. Now, so coming back to this, to the car, there

10:45 is a concept of intervening that stop tumah spreading. So here we have a Mishnah in Ohalos prik ches. Yesh mevi'in hatumah v'chotzin. There are c- um, conditions which will bring tumah. They will also create as a barrier to block tumah. So there's, just like there's an Ohel which creates a spread of tumah, but it's equally creates a barrier that tumah shouldn't go to the upper floor. So there is a rule that something which is mekabel tumah, which is prone to tumah, cannot be a mechitza in front of tumah. So since a car is made of metal, which is eligible for tumah, so then it cannot protect to, to, to obstruct the, the spread of tumah. Just to add another detail. There is a concept of a very large container which contains more than forty sah, which is, um, imagine the size of a, a fridge, five-foot size height fridge. That probably contains about this, this, uh, equivalent of forty sah. So such a large wooden container is not mekabel tumah. So that's called kli atz ha'asu lo nachas. It's a kli atz. It's a kind of a container which would not be portable. It's so large, it's not the kind of thing you'd cart it around. Um, we're talking, it doesn't have wheels. We're talking about just a, a chest. Such a large chest would not be carried around, um, molei vereikam. That's the wash of Nachasau. That, that, uh, immunity of a large kli is only said about a wooden container, not about a

12:46 metal container, hence the question of our yungerman. How does the Rebbe take the view that the car is a protection from tumah? The car is made of metal, and therefore it should not be acting as a barrier for tumah. Before going further, I want to clarify a point here. There is a din of tumas ohel, and there's a din of the Kohen having to have a barrier between him and a grave. That's... We're talking here, um... No, he's not above the grave. It's just he has to keep a distance. And I don't have an explanation why the Rebbe is using here the term ohel, because here, in the case of driving past a grave, we're, we're passing a grave, we're looking for mechitza rather than ohel. The Rebbe seems to be, um, joining the two into the same concept, which I, I don't understand, but, um, probably if I do a bit more research, I would find about it, find it out. But never mind. Meanwhile, this is the question which he's asking. He sees this letter of Rebbe that the, the, the car does act as an ohel of protection for tumah and is asking, "Well, how does that work when the car is made of metal?" He actually sent me a clip of a, uh, of a, a magid shiur in, uh, um, somewhere in New York who's talking about this, how a car is not e-eligible to be mafsik between her tumah. So I said back to him, "Here's a quote." The

14:18 second quote here on this slide is from Reb Zalman Shimon Dworkin. There's a booklet, a small book called, a small sefer called Kovetz Rasash, which is a, a memorial volume to Reb Zalman Shimon Dworkin, who was the Rav in Seven Seventy for many years. Um, most of the sefer is actually articles contributed by others. But the first 70-odd pages are from the few writings which he actually didn't write very much. Um, before going further, I want to also show you, I have a sefer in front of, you know, of the screen called Shulchan Koinim. It's a sefer, a paperback sefer put together by Reb, um, Yosef, uh, Yisroel Yosef Hendel, a Kohen who's the Rav of Chabad community in Migdal HaEmek. Very nice sefer, and he deals with two main topics are Birchas Kohanim and Kohanim being careful about tumah. Meanwhile, let's come, let's read Reb Zalman Shimon's, uh, letter about this topic, about cars being a protection from tumas, uh, tumas meis. Now, I wrote to you, he says, that a car, well, a car w-protects, but ostensibly that should only work with a wooden car. A car which is made of mateches or, or metal is, it itself, it's prone to tumah. Even it's vol bemidar. In other words, even though it contains more than 40 seah volume, it should not be a protection from tumah. However, he says, "Avol be'eres, afilu ohel shel mateches." Even an o-- Even, uh, uh, even if it's made of metal, um, the fact it's an ohel,

16:08 it does act, uh, it does, um, protect from tumah if it's a large kli. Chotzetzin. And he gives a reference to Rash, Rav Shamshon Mishans, who has a commentary on the, uh, on the Mishnayos of, uh, Seder Taharos in Olas. I'm going... And the Pirush Harosh. We're going to look at those in a moment. We'll read them inside. They both say that although a dover haMakabol tumah does not act as a barrier, that's only if it's not in the position of ohel, but it's just a keli. But if this same article is in the position of ohel, so it is Makabol tumah, and it acts as a barrier to tumah. V'chata. Because we're going to look at this surface, and we're going to say there's an inside and the outside. We're gonna say the outside is gonna be Makabol tumah, and the inside is going to be a barrier to block the tumah coming further. It's as if you're taking that ohel and di-dividing into two slices, and the, therefore it does act as a barrier for tumah. Fascinating, uh, Chiddush, but it's actually, it's not his Chiddush at all. It's written in the references which he gives. Now, coming back to that Mishnah, perek ches of Olas. So there are things which are mevien v'chotzetzin, and it mentions there about a tevah, a large chest, mevien v'chotzetzin, if it contains 40 seah. Then it says here, "Yeria, skortio, katvalio, v'sadin." A sheet, a curtain, a, a, uh, a, a, a, a, a, a leather

17:55 sheet, a marpot, a, a mat. Marzel is another type of mat. If they are asuyin or holim, if they are spread... So we've got a sheet which is stretched out as an ohel. It is Makabol tumah, and yet it begi- it's acting as a barrier from the tumah. It, it protects the, uh, the, the oth- the other side, above it or below it, from the tumah on the other side. Let's read the, first the Rash. R' Shamshon Mishans. Um, he's, he's, uh, one of the Baalei Ha-Tosfot. When Tosfot says, "Omer HaRashbo," he does not mean the Rashbo from Spain, Rav Shlomo ben Aderet. He means Rav Shimshon ben Abraham, who lived in Sens. That's S-E-N-S. It's a town in France. Baalei Ha-Tosfot. And his, uh... He wrote a Pirush on Seder Taharot and on Seder Zeraim. In the Vilna Shas, you got-- On the inner margin is the Rambam, on the outer margin is Pirush HaRashbi Shamsh. So this is where we're reading from, Pirush HaRashbi Shamsh. Um, she'ein hatzuyin katvalya. So here he says, "What is a katvalya? A sheet of leather." She'ein hatzuyin orlim netzuyin k'ein oyhel. And he's referring to the urya, skurtia, tvalya, the sadin, bafla. All of them are going to be acting as a barrier for tumah. Says, meviyin v'chotzin. Vi afa gam l'kolei chaim m'kabel tumah. These are materials, we, uh, which are eligible, are prone to tumah. And he gives the references to, to elsewhere where we see that a mat is, um, going to be mekabel

19:35 tumah. And he says, "Nevertheless, m'komokom chotzin bifnei hatumah, they still act as a barrier. Im netuyin k'halachim, if they are spread out like an oyhel, d'oyhel shani. Once it's an oyhel, it's a different story. Afa gam l'kabel tumah. Although it is itself becoming tamei, still it's matzah la-tumeh. It, it, uh, it's kind of, um, obstructs the tumah from v'ov kasov oyhel b'kasuv. It obstructs the tumah from penetrating through that surface to another surface. Um, that's the, that's the Rash. The Rosh, the Pirush Ha-Rosh is also on the margin of the gi-- of the, uh, sh-Vilna Shas, and that, that... But this is on page zain. But I took this from another edition which is a little bigger writing but clearer. So again, he says here, "Klal Mishnah zoi. Tzad pnim shel oyhel v'tzad chitzon shebo chashi b'keshnei kelim." When you have an oyhel, one side is gonna be mekabel tumah, and the other side of the same piece of cloth is going to be considered an oyhel to protect. And he, he goes through, there's a lot of discussion, and four or three lines from the bottom, "V'hain nutar mid'nechel b'keshnei kelim. And therefore, the, the tumah will not penetrate through it, even though it itself is, um, gonna become tamei, we must say of this idea of it dividing into two kelim." It's this. And therefore, coming back to the car. Yes, it's true that the car is metal, and because it's metal, the car is mekabel tumah, and yet it becomes an oyhel

21:11 to protect the passengers inside, that they are protected. The tumah does not penetrate through the, the walls of the car. That's basically what Rav Shimon is saying. Um, this brings us to the other whole massive discussion, which was in the news years ago, about koyanim on planes, when there's, when there's a, a corpse on a plane and the ko-ko-- uh, plane flying over, uh, a cemetery. I'm not gonna go into that discussion. If you want to read about it, in that Sefer Shulchan Kohanim, which I showed you a few minutes ago, he's got lots of very interesting chidushim to, um, to, uh, actually, um, uh, find m-ha-haterim for all of those situations. Um, that the, the, the wall, the, the floor between the cargo and the passenger section of a plane should be able to act as a mechitza to stop the tumah spreading from, from the, uh, cargo to the, to the passenger area. Okay, let's move on. So here, unfortunately, um, a couple, uh, lo-had a mi-- they had a miscarriage at, at six weeks. And now, Baruch Hashem, they are expecting a boy, and they're asking the question: Will this boy have a Pidyon HaBen? So here we go. The, this is in Shulchan Aruch, Pidyon HaBen. It's the Mishnah. And the Shulchan Aruch talks about a... If there had been a previous child of-- who survived till eight months but did not survive. Then he says even, "Am apelus le'yom arboim." Anyway, let's just focus on the, the what's relevant to

22:55 us. "Am apelus le'yom arboim." If a woman has a miscarriage the fortieth day of, of that, uh, that pregnancy, "HaNoled achar kol ele bechor lepidyon." After-- A, a child born after that, a boy born after that, would be called a bechor. Now, the thing is here, in this case, it's not forty days, it's six weeks. It's forty-two days. Perhaps it was a little bit more. So it doesn't give us the security of the forty days, which the Mechaber says. The Shulchan Aruch says forty da-- less, forty days or less, you can discount that. Here, it's a little bit more. Then, however, the RaMBaM adds, "Bechol zman she'ein evarav merubam." If the organs of that fetus, the first fetus, were not formed, then it's not considered a b- a, a child. "Ein poteir haba acharov." It does not exempt the next child, uh, to have a Pidyon HaBen. And, "Ve'afilu bizman hazeh somchim al zeh." Even nowadays, we would rely on our expertise. If you look at the, the fetus, and you see that there's no formation of, of organs, then you would be able to say, "Okay, the next child, BeEzrat Hashem, will have a Pidyon HaBen." So reading the Shulchan Aruch, um, I, I, I wrote back to the couple. I asked them, did they see the lost fetus? Did they see any, any formation of anything? So they responded that they only saw it through a sonogram, which, um, I don't know that. I don't know how reliable, I mean, how, how detailed,

24:42 uh, an image you can get from it. Um, so what I'm seeing is, once it's past forty days, the RaMBaM says, "If you saw that ein evarov merubam, you could do a Pidyon HaBen." But i-if you don't have that surety, then you would do a Pidyon HaBen without a bracha. You'd say bracha, "Baruch aseh ketshanam b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al Pidyon HaBen." Because there is much, uh, you know, big likelihood that you are having to do Pidyon, but you wouldn't say a bracha because of safek brachos. And here's a cute thing which I saw in the Noise Keilim, in the Melachim, that normally the father says the bracha al pidyon haben, and then he says shehakianu. And the Gemara in Pesachim, I believe, in the end, has got a discussion, who should say shehakianu, the kohen or the father? And, uh, halacha remains that the father says. But there, there is an argument the kohen should say the bracha because he's getting the money. In this case, because the father has a safek whether he's doing a mitzvah, the kohen is for sure getting the money. Therefore, the kohen should say shehakianu. That's, that's what the, uh, some of the melachim say. BeEzrat Hashem. Okay. I wanted to address something which there was, uh, in some websites or, or, um, chats, or, um, a couple of, uh, um, of Lubavitcher rabbonim, pchluchim, who had been to, um, to s- uh, suppers, uh, iftar suppers, um, Ramadan. They were invited, and they were there. And for some reason,

26:15 it was also put in on, uh, photographs, et cetera. Actually was-- I, I was more riled up by seeing a, a clip of a, an imam doing chazzanus in a prominent, uh, synagogue in, uh, this capital city, um, with-- in the presence of a mixture of men, women, some with hijabs, some, um, perhaps they were wearing sheitels, I don't know. Um, I was... Now, so it w- was something which people are asking, "What's going on here? Is it, is this the, uh, is this the, uh, new, uh, style of gapanim?" So the Rebbe, I wanted to just address that the Rebbe in the '50s was very, very outspoken against brotherhood meetings between clergy of church, et cetera, and rabbonim. It would seem to have been in the vogue then to, "Yeah, we're all friends, and we all wanna..." And the Rebbe was very outspoken against it. Um, and one of the points which he says here, here was a, a case of a ra-rav going to a meeting in a, which is in a building of the church, although it's not in the chapel, and he asks the Rebbe's opinion. The Rebbe says it's definitely asu nadin. Further, I have a issue of maras ayin, because the onlooker doesn't necessarily understand everything. All he sees is, chas v'shalom, a Haredi shaliach and a, and a priest who are, who are, uh, sitting, you know, spending time as, as, as best mates, um, shrei aim b'edidus. There's another-- there's a volume called, it's called Shiur Kesiro

28:12 Chasam. You see this big volume. And here, there's several pages about this. And one of the things which the Rebbe says there is that if there's a young person who's, uh, considering, uh, marrying someone who's from another faith, when they see the rabbi is such a good pal with the clergymen for the other faith, then it's not so, uh, wrong in their eyes to marry someone from the other faith. So the Rebbe is very outspoken about this. Um, now you could say the Rebbe's talking about Christianity, and this is about Islam, which is not a venero. True. Uh, it's still another faith. It's, it's, it's, uh, it's another religion. Uh, just, just if you didn't realize. Um, I, so I called, I called two of these rabbonim. Uh, I wanted to ask them what was... So one of them said he's in, deep in Russia, and he was happy to speak to me, and he said, "You should understand that I'm in a republic which is a Muslim republic. And before communism, you know, before communism came down, there was tremendous su-suppression of religion. After Perestroika, so the governments are bending backwards to show how they are accommodating religious life. So, and I'm also the chief rabbi in this area, in this, in this, this republic. And therefore, I have really, um, I have no... I, I mean, I feel mechuyav to participate if I am invited by a government to a government event." So he does, he, he has been going when there's a

29:49 government, um, event, uh, he would have to go there. He says, interesting, that after the supper, then the people go into worship. To worship into the, into the mosque for worship, only, only believers are allowed. He wasn't allowed in. He was, you know, he was chas, chalashik to go in. They didn't let him in because, uh, he's not a believer. So it's interesting. For their place of worship, they don't allow a non-believer to come in. And here, in a synagogue, they are, are welcoming a person of another faith to come and perform, uh, mishagas, chazzanus, v'cholom. Um, it's bashert achill Hashem, um, that, that Yidden are, Yidden are bending backwards to accommodate and, um, by them is, uh, n-nowhere near the same. Um, then I spoke to another, another r-rabbi, another shliach in another country, actually, Africa, a kind of very, uh, uh, how do you say? Western culture. And again, he's the, he's the, he's the rabbi in the capital city. He's the only rabbi. And he would, again, differentiate between... He's got-- He's, he has very various guidelines. He would differentiate between a government invitation or a government-sponsored event, um, to a stam being invited. So the b- the bottom line is that- It's not for the whole of the Yod to start running to take up these invitations. There is an element of, of Chil Hashem. There's an el-element of, of, uh, cooling down the, the, uh, feeling of, "Atah v'Chatas Mechol HaAmim, HaMavdil Bein Yisroel LaAmim." One just has to be

31:30 very, very careful about this. It's a tremendous responsibility, um, to allow yourself to be, uh, part of this PR, which is, uh, maybe actually diametrically opposite to what we're trying to, um, trying to encourage. So move on. So due to this question, because, um, uh, it's-- they asked that they found a pajama of the baby which didn't wash so well, and there seems to have been traces of rice or buckwheat. And now it's after Pesach, and they're asking whether they have to burn the pajama. So every shailah deserves an answer, and I wanted to bring this up. Even if it had been chametz, I would also be not so sure whether you have to burn the, uh, pajama. Probably a, a thorough wash would have been good enough. But I wanted to share with you that buckwheat and rice are not chametz. They are subject to kitniyos. And the rule of kitniyos is, as you can see here, the quote from Tofim Gimel, "Atah Emet Shem ChaNorach, V'Chen Mutar LaHashos Om Imo BaBayis." You are allowed to retain, on Pesach itself, you are allowed to retain ki-kitniyos in your house, even if they've been soaked, et cetera. So the Chumra of Ashkenazim, not to have kitniyos on Pesach, is not to eat kitniyos. Uh, we'd wash... If we did need to use it for something, we'd wash a separate kaleim. We would be very careful, but it's not a problem of possessing and certainly no reason to burn those pajamas. Okay, let's go on to

33:09 the next question about bach flower remedy. And the bach flower remedy is, say, one of these homeopathic, um, preparations, and it's kept in brandy. And there are several ways of using it, but this, which we're dealing with, is where you add several drops of this m-mixture into water, and then I, I believe you drink it. I belie-I believe so. So years ago, I looked into this, and I was quite concerned about it because of... The Alter Rebbe has got here a position, um, about taarovos chametz, which I'll explain. That in Siman Tofim Beis, as you can see on the screen, the Alter Rebbe says about, "Davo SheDerech Asiyoso." Something, if that is the way to produce this product. So he talks about murias, uh, and they would put in, um, burnt bread, um, grow, um... Even if there is sixty times against the bread. Because, uh, this is the Derech Tikun HaMurias. If this is the procedure of how to make this preparation, this, this brine, whatever, is Dafka with bread, "Hu Chashuv VeEin HaBotel Afilu BeElef." So here we have... Anyone who's learnt, uh, Yoreh Deah, Ichos Taaruvos, there are several, um, several anti-bittuls. So you've got Davo SheYesh Lo Matirin, Davo SheMeMitl'a David El, um, L'time. Then you've got, um, Chati ChaRu El HaSkabit. We've got a list of things which are not gonna be botel. And here, the Alter Rebbe includes in this, based upon the Rashba, that Davo SheDerech Asiyoso, if this is the... This is the recept, this is the

34:58 procedure of how it's made, then it does not become botel, even in a thousand. And therefore, it's not gonna become botel even, uh... And, and mid-even, mid-, uh, midrabonon, you're gonna have to dispose of it. And if you didn't, you'd have to dispose of it after Pesach. So we've got this concept of Derech Asiyoso. It does not become botel. So here was my problem. This, um, this brand, this, this, um, bach flower, uh, remedy mixed into brandy. If that's the Derech Asiyoso, even though you're going to drop a, a few drops into a cup of water, and it's gonna be botel, uh, a hundredfold, uh, two hundredfold, but it's going to be Derech Asiyoso. That's the way it's meant to be done. And the Alter Rebbe is saying, "If that's the way it's meant to be done, it does not become botel." That was my problem. The other problem was about Bittul, uh, Ein Mevatlin Isur LeChatchilah. We're not allowed to take an Isur and, uh, dilute it. LeChatchilah, that it should become botel. Those were my two problems. Years ago, when I s-as I say, I looked into it, and I spoke to the late Rav Falk, alav ha-shalom, uh, about this. And he had been matir, and he gave me a reference of, uh, subsequent, I wrote this up. Um, and the, the, the point is that why, why, what, what are, what are they heter in here? Well, there's an interesting halacha. If you have salt, um, which is treif for some

36:34 reason, so then that salt will be, will not be botel because salt is a flavoring. Davo MeMitl'a David El L'time. It would not become botel, even though it's, um, less than one-sixtieth. What happens if the salt per se is kosher, but the salt has, has absorbed blood, and then that salt was b-put in to flavor some food? So the salt itself, uh, i-is not the problem. And what's the problem? The blood. But the blood is not there as a flavoring, so therefore, that would be kosher. It's an interesting s-situation. So although the salt... Had, had the problem been the salt itself, it would not be botel because salt is there as a flavoring. It's the, it's, it's, it's a side issue. It's the, the blood in the salt, and that's not, not, not, um, made for tasting and for, for the flavor, and therefore it's botel. Um, you may remember there was a whole parshah about the anthocyanin- Which is made from grape skin col- uh, uh, um, grape skins. And when they... Obviously they're making wine, so they have grape skins. So the, uh, this grape skin has got a bit of absorbed the taste of the wine. Now, the grape skin is put there for coloring. If it's made for coloring, it shouldn't be bottled. But it's not the grape skin which is the problem. It's in the grape skin, there's a flavor of, of the wine which is incidental. That's not put in for coloring. And therefore, there was this argument that

37:54 the anthocyanin, although it's made from grape skins from non-kosher, uh, wine production, should be bottled because the actual coloring is not from the, uh, issur factor. It's from a, from a heter factor. So that's the-- That was basically the answer. That with this brandy, we're not interested in being mevatel the brandy. We're interested in the active ingredient, which is happens to be carried by the brandy. Um, and therefore one could ignore the fact that this is a procedure, um, and also ignore the ein mevatel isur l'chatchilah because you're not doing it to be mevatel the issur. You're doing it, um, you're doing it in order to use the active ingredient. Um, had this been a din d'oraisa, one could be, uh, one more... Perhaps it would be more machmir. We're talking about a din d'rabbanan. Clearly, as you see, the Alter Rebbe says, the derech hatziosoi. It's not being bottled as a din d'rabbanan. We're talking about wine against tamyei, which is a din d'rabbanan. And therefore, um, we could rely on the, this approach to say that this is not derech hatziosoi. That's not what you're trying to achieve and, uh, uh, that therefore it's prohibited. Now, having said all that, I want to share with you, I want to share with you the following. That Rav Dovid Cohen of South London saw this list of questions. I don't know whether he's online now or not. But he said he is actually a mashgiach on the production of Bach flower remedies here in London

39:23 or somewhere in the, in England for Israeli, uh, clientele. And if someone wants to get hold of Bach flower remedies with a hechsher, he may be able to help you. So that's Rav Dovid Cohen in South London. If you want his number, you can look in the, uh, the tzach list. Um, someone's asking, "Doesn't the salt make matir chomas in the well?" Good question. Um, we'll leave it for another time. Right. Now, here, someone asked me earlier in the week that they have a, a young boy under bar mitzvah, and in the long day, this is a question from Manchester, where the long days are even longer than London, and, um, the child does not manage to stay up for Havdalah on Motza'i Shabbos, because it's talking about eleven o'clock or even later. What about the... Should this boy be encouraged to do Havdalah on Sunday morning? So Shmiras Shabbos K'Halacha does say that one should be mechanech a child who didn't hear Havdalah on, uh, Motza'i Shabbos to make Havdalah on Sunday morning. What I do know is many chadorim, as in Rab-- Um, how do you say, uh, in chadorim in the United Synagogue, it's, it's the idea would do Havdalah on Sunday morning because those children hadn't heard Havdalah likely at home. Um, I just want to bear that, bear in mind that if you do Havdalah on Sunday, for whatever reason, there's n- you have no business saying the brocha borei minei ha'eish because the anniversary of the creation of fire

41:02 is Motza'i Shabbos, and you would not say it on S-Sunday morning. Be a brocha l'vatala. Separately, the brocha on besamim is not warranted, uh, on Sunday morning, and therefore it could be a problem of, um, of, uh, hefsek between the bore pri ha'gafen and the brocha, um, hamavdil bein kodesh l'chol. I understand that in the chadorim, they do use... When they do Havdalah on a Sunday morning, they would use a Havdalah candle. That could be simply as, as chinuch to en- to, to, uh, just to communicate the idea of, o-of what Havdalah looks like. But for, um, an, uh, for an adult to do that would actually be brocha l'vatala. But meanwhile, we're talking about a child. Now, um, asking around, I think there's very few who will remember as a child w-making Havdalah on a Sunday morning, uh, even from very frum homes, and that's very interesting that in-- whilst the Shmiras Shabbos K'Halacha says a ch- a child should be doing Havdalah on Sunday morning, several other poskim say, "No, not so." Um, you can see, and this is from the notes from the Piskei Teshuves, shelo shama'nu, we haven't heard. And there's an interesting point. You have the idea of chinuch. Is chinuch, um, for the mitzvah proper or also chinuch for when you didn't manage to do the mitzvah properly to rectify it at a later point, nahashlomah? So there is an argument to say that chinuch is only for the primary mitzvah, but if the primary mitzvah was missed and

42:35 there's an opportunity to rectify it at a later point, nahashlomah, for that, there isn't a mitzvah of chinuch per se. Uh, a fascinating proof is the mitzvah, the Mishnah at the end of Masechet Challah. It talks about, um, Yosef HaKohen, who came from out of Eretz Yisrael. He came, I don't know where he was, Assyria, wherever he was, and he brought his children to do a Pesach Kotan, otherwise known as Pesach Sheni, in Yerushalayim. V'hechziroo. They told him to go back. Apparently, he himself had done Ko-- Pesach Rishon, perhaps, but he brought his children. Perhaps he didn't, but he, he brought his children, uh, to do Pesach Sheni, and they told him to go back. Shelo yikaveh ha'adama choifot. They did not want to introduce a new thing that children who missed Pesach Rishon should come to do Pesach Sheni. So they want to say that this, since Pesach Sheni is a hashlomah- So there's no mitzvah of Chinuch on a Hashlamah. So to-- but bottom line here is, um, is it a Chiyuv to-- of Chinuch to have your child do Havdalah on Sunday morning? And the answer is it's not a Chiyuv. Um, but if the child wants to, fine, that-that's okay, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't push it. Uh, and again, it would depend on the child, or the age, and et cetera. If the child's asking for it, okay, let them do it. Uh, but, uh, not-- One wouldn't have to, uh, remind them, et cetera, et cetera. Someone writes here,

44:06 I believe in Gateshead boarding school, Rabbi Liu, thank you. Um, in the fifties, they made for the boys, um, not hundred percent sure. I-I heard it from Rabbi Oshry Zeidel. Yes, okay. So they, they-- In Gateshead it's even more extreme, that, uh, Motzei Shabbos is, uh, probably closer to m-midnight. And so they, uh, would make Havdalah in the morning. Probably they made it without, um, without, um, Vayimaen HaAesh, without the Brocha on the fire. Okay. Now, then someone's asking me about Tefilas Haderech, and they're reading this letter of the Rebbe. Now, we have a letter of the Rebbe which is curiously not in Iggros Kodesh. It's one of those letters which we don't know the date of it, but it's published in the back of the Kinus HaGedolah Yod Beis. And here, the Rebbe first talks about Birchas Hagomel. Interesting, we have, um, someone who ca- ca-came to our shul. Uh, he davens usually in another shul. But he came to our shul and he said Birchas Hagomel. In his community, they don't say Birchas Hagomel on air, on, on air travel. He just came from overseas by, by plane, so he came to Lubavitch to say Birchas Hagomel. He knows that we do say Birchas Hagomel on a plane trip. Now, one of the arguments of not saying a Brocha Hagomel is because Hagomel is for a journey, and, um, it is Rochim. And there's a Gemara in Chulin which says something like the following. Derech, uh, b-- It says Derech Nesher Bashamayim, in

45:37 Pasuk HaMishni, I believe, that the path of the eagles in the heaven. I think what it says, "Derech nesher ikri, derech stam lo ikri." It's not called a Derech. A, a, a path through the, uh, heavens is not a Derech per se. And therefore, whatever the discussion is over there, the Ragachover says, "Well, there you see that Derech Bashamayim is not called a Derech, and therefore you shouldn't be saying Birchas Hagomel." The Rebbe takes issue with this, and he says, no, that the-- We say Birchas Hagomel even if it's not identical to the four conditions of Cholei HaYam Suf midbar, and therefore one should say Birchas Hagomel for air travel overseas. And that's also written in Sefer Haminhagim. Our meaning is, if it's air travel over a body of water, then one would say Birchas Hagomel. If it's air travel over land, one does not say Birchas Hagomel. So flights from California to New York, they do not say Birchas Hagomel, whereas when we fly across the channel, we do say Birchas Hagomel. Okay. But then the Rebbe continues in the same letter talking about Tefilas Haderech. Now, again, the Ragachover, the same argument, which says that Derech, uh, is not a Derech. Derech Bashamayim is not called a Derech. So the Rebbe says, Tefilas Haderech, it's not the point it has to be a Derech. The point is that you are exposed to the insecurities of not being in a built-up area, and therefore you're exposed to a Makah Shekanah, and you're saying Tefilas

46:59 Haderech to be protected w-- because you're out of your safety zone. Therefore, the Rebbe disagrees with Ragachover on this, and he says that, uh, on air, air, air, air, uh, journey, you should also say Tefilas Haderech. Then the Rebbe adds another point. This is where we have to be careful. "Veyod sheberuba deruba tzorech liyos holech baderech ad shemegia lahavira." Generally, the journey by plane includes a journey till the airport. And at the other end, when you get off the plane till you get to your destination, there's another j-- car journey, et cetera. So you are using, you are holech baderech. However, "elo shalu lehanasia baaviron," if not for the journey on the plane, "ki im hochozeh lebeisim bimakom nesiyas haaviron," if you had gone to the airport and straight back, "dover rogiel hu uchulu," it's a dover rog. Now, this is a bit of an enigma to me, but the Rebbe seems to be saying, although the journey to the airport is long enough, uh, it's a long enough distance out of town to warrant Tefilas Haderech, but sin-since it's a dover harogil, it doesn't warrant Tefilas Haderech, which is an interesting point. At any rate, he says, "ma sheen ki b'neseh acharchah be'eizo ov meshiyehi yehi." If you're j-traveling to the airport by car, et cetera, and then you are traveling, uh, whatever form, whether you're traveling bashamayim or not, "yesh levorech al haderech ad lahavira." To say the-- You can say the Brocha o-on Tefilas Haderech because you have gone on a Derech

48:42 up until the plane and from the plane until you get to your destination. So even granted the Ragachover's objection that it's not-- the Derech Bashamayim is not a Derech, but you can still say Tefilas Haderech because of the, uh, journey until the plane and from the plane. Now, what is the Rebbe saying? Is he saying that you should say Tefilas Haderech on the way to the airport? I don't think so. I don't think that's what he's, he's saying. He doesn't say, "yesh levorech baderech ad lahaviron." He says, "You are able to say Brocha Tefilas Haderech on the journey, on the plane, be-- by virtue of the fact that you've traveled until the airplane on a authentic Derech." So that's how I understand Pshat. Now, when should you say Tefilas Haderech? Normally, one should say Tefilas Haderech when you are, um, beyond a little bit out of town. Putz mibushalia, which is not very far, but a little bit out of the built-up area, and preferably within the first Parasha, which is the first four kilometers. Now, if you are on a boat, so then it's not a problem. You don't-- You, you wait till the boat is, uh, a little bit, a few minutes, uh, away from the coast, and then you'd stand up and say Tefilas Haderech. Tefilas Haderech is an ex-excerpt of Shemoneh Esreh, and l'chatchilah it should be said standing. So on a boat, that should not be a problem. If you're driving in a car, um, once you're out of town,

50:07 presumably you're on a motorway, to stop the car, uh, to go out and stand is Patur, Sakana, Nefashos, and besidesbeing illegal, and you can get a pena-penalty for it. So, you say the, uh, Tehillah Sadeh whilst you're driving in the car. Uh, that's, uh, uh, that's the option. If you're on a train, yes, you stand up on the train. Uh, once you're out of town, there, there are no more houses for a while, so then you stand up and say Tehillah Sadeh. What about on a plane? So, to say Tehillah Sadeh, um, uh, w-uh, when you're out of town, well, the problem is that then you aren't able to say Tehillah Sadeh standing because there's a seatbelt sign on, and you're not allowed to stand up and be a philistine if you do. So, then you've got two options. Either to say it once you are well out of town and the seatbelt light, aside, aside is on, another option is to say it seated. Uh, I think there's another option, and that is, as soon as you get to your place, you put your luggage, uh, in the overhead bins, whatever, and say Tehillah Sadeh there and then standing. Before you, uh, sit down and put your seatbelt on, you can say Tehillah Sadeh then. I, I once actually was in Stansted Airport on the way to Munich for, uh, checking out a mikvah, and I'd said Tehillah Sadeh in the airport. But then my, uh, my flight was canceled because of snow

51:25 in Munich. So, I wouldn't say Tehillah Sadeh in the airport for that reason. You never know whether your flight's actually gonna be, go, going to go. But once you're on the plane, uh, the likelihood of the flight not going, uh, once you're on the plane is, is that much less. Um, therefore, I feel confident to say Tehillah Sadeh once I'm on the plane. And I can say it standing, I say it with a gargle, my hat and jacket on. It's, uh... and yeah. Okay, let's move on. Um, Rabbi Lewis, uh, asking about Yodea Hayom and Oyle. Okay. Yeah, okay. Someone asked about whether you're allowed to... He wants to... He's, uh, actually a shliach, and he wants to serve over Yom Tov. He wants to serve freshly cooked pasta. And so, is he allowed to use a colander for straining the pasta? At first, I was... I wasn't sure, actually. And looking at Simatuf Kafur in Hilchas Yom Tov, it says, um, about not using a nufo chvorah, not to use a colander on Yom Tov. Um, even if you weren't able to do it before Yom Tov, you're to put beans into a colander. It says first put, to put beans into water and to have, use a flotation technique that the lighter ones float to the surface. That would not be allowed. Or to have that flotation that the rubbish goes to the bottom, they're also not allowed. And nor should you be using a sieve or a colander, uh, on Yom Tov.

52:56 So, saw-- I saw that, and I was concerned. And yet, I see here in the, um, uh, in the Piskei Chosid in the same place, and he says that you, um, if it's something which you wouldn't have been able to do that same straining before, then you are allowed to strain it on Yom Tov. He, he-- This is actually quoted from the Cheshuv Aav, but from the late Rav Padva. And he says, therefore, if you strain itriyot, that's the Hebrew word, mo-modern Hebrew word for loction, et cetera. If you cook them on Yom Tov, you are allowed to use a stra-strainer. Now, he a-adds an interesting point. He says that because it's not... The psolis of the, uh, of the pasta is not a tr-true psolis. The water which comes with the pasta is also drinkable. And therefore, he combines that and just says, "Therefore, you are allowed to use a strainer." Um, whereas if it had been real, uh, lichluch, uh, real schmutz or whatever, which you wanted to stra-um, strain from the pasta or whatever it may be, then you wouldn't be allow, allowed to. So, let's re-recap that. The Dinish Chukanor says you're not allowed to use a colander on your Yom Tov. That would be when the psolis which is going to be released through because of the colander is, is a real psolis, real waste. Whereas here, talking with, uh, straining the pasta, the water, et cetera, uh, is not real psolis, therefore it's okay to use a strainer, uh,

54:25 on Yom Tov. I see here someone on the chat has put a question. To go from New York to different states, to go over big rivers and big lakes. So, all right. Um, okay, good question. If you're going over a big lake, uh, within the, uh, the, uh, mainland of the United States, perhaps you should be saying, "Birchas Hagomel," but it isn't. Birchas HaMem, there's Rabbanim in America, so I'll say Birchas. Okay. Um, here we go. We-- The Shabbos here, we were talking about, um, about washing, um, cloth, clothes on Shabbos, which is forbidden under Melabin. And it came up the question, what about putting a strainer, the cloth strainer, which is put on the taps? Uh, people do it for Pesach to strain the water. Uh, is it what's-- H-how is that not a problem of soaking and therefore washing the, the, uh, the, the little cloth which you put on? So, this I, I, I saw in different places talk about it. This is from the Nittei Gavriel on Hilchos Pesach, um, Peh Mem Zayin. And he says, "The meaning of Serol is to use, um, water on Pesach only with, uh, stra- having strained it." And although not everyone agrees with that, actually. Some people, uh, don't bother with the straining, um, for various reasons. But now he says, um... Then he says you should use a, a, a cloth which is designated for this. And because it's designated, therefore, we don't have to worry of you coming to wring it out.

55:55 Um, now then he says... He has a bit of a discussion here Because it's designated for this, therefore, we don't have to worry about your, uh, your washing it, et cetera. Um, and it says, if you say, take summer cloth and tie it... A handkerchief or something, right? Tie it around the tap. That wouldn't be okay. But if it's just-- if it's been designated for, uh, as a, as, as a sleeve, as a strainer, then he says a heter for that, um, because it's meyakhi lekach. The emis, I'll tell you, I, I know meyakhi lekach helps, like, have a, um, like, have a tseveya. I don't know why it helps for, for, uh, the issue of, of, um, melaben. Okay. Um, last thing we're gonna address briefly is that someone sent me... There's a new, uh, this is being advertised in Northwest London, um, uh, a new cosmetic line, putting on some kind of cosmetic, um, refresher on Shabbos, and it's certified by Rabbi Tawil of, um, of Mexico. So he, he-- In this, uh, Spanish, um, guidelines, he says that it has to be used with a dry brush and, uh, used only w- the same brush. Um, not to mix the same brush for different colors. Each color has to have a separate brush. And then he also says, um, that the surface where it's placed upon, on the skin, has to be dry. Um, uh, some of, some other guidelines. He's coming up with a, a interesan. He says that this is

57:36 based upon the, uh, guidance of, um, Rabbi Moshe Feinstien. So, all right. So I wanted to look into that a little bit. And here we have from, um, Rabbi Noach in Sosha Shulchan. He says he, "I was told about women who put on a color on their faces, and they put some kind of powder. If it is, um, if it's just powder without color from before, even though, though the powder does make the, make the, the face look bit, bit nicer, it's not a problem because the powder is dry, and it doesn't stick properly to the face." So basically, that seems to be the same idea. If it's a loose powder and it doesn't have some, the stickiness which the better powders have, it's just going to be a loose powder, then it's n-not tseveya. It's just one thing on top of the other. Um, the second quote is from the Piske Teshuvas in Siman Shin Gimel, uh, where it talks about cosmetics on Shabbos. And he says, "If it is, um..." First it says, "If it's a white powder, um, which is, doesn't change the color, it's just to, to give a bit, a refresher." So then he says, "If it's..." He said, "That would be okay." Then he says, "If it's a colored powder, um, to include..." But then he says, um, he, he does have a problem with that. If it's gonna be a busha, et cetera. Um, the main thing is that if, if it does not last and it doesn't,

59:06 doesn't keep, doesn't cling to the skin, that seems to be the heter which this is based upon. Um, okay. So that's, that's as much as I managed to... I did-- I unfortunately didn't look up the Igros Moshe, which, uh, he refers to. Um, if necessary, we'll come back to this another time. Meanwhile, I'll wish you all, um, a good Shabbos. I see the question, what do we do about Lag BaOmer? Um, I'll tell you. Um, I will, BeEzrat Hashem, do the Shir this regular time. And, um, I'm not... I, I, I expect that the numbers will be a bit less than usual because people will have other, uh, uh, activities going on to cover Lag BaOmer. But I don't have a heter. I don't think Rashbi will be happy if I cancel the Shir because of Lag BaOmer. And, um, whoever doesn't manage to join in next week, uh, will BeEzrat Hashem, get the recording and be able to, um, catch up that way. So meanwhile, I wish you all a, a, a good Shabbos. And, uh, for those who don't join next week, a freilichen Lag BaOmer. God bless. God bless.