ואתחנן–נחמו תשפ״ב

00:00 Speaker 1 Good evening, and welcome to the shiur tonight. . So we have a number of very interesting shailas and, uh, discussions. So after the shiur last Thursday evening, so at 1:00 in the morning, someone sent me this Ksav Yad. Ksav Yad Kodesh. It's an answer of the Rebbe to Rabbi Groner, alav hashalom. Uh, it was in connection with Tisha B'Av Taf Shin Mem Heh. Tisha B'Av that year was the same chodesh as this year, that Shabbos Tisha B'Av, and therefore it was the latest Sunday. There were two things which were out of the ordinary, and Rabbi Groner asked the Rebbe about this. He had a certain responsibility of recording Chabad Minhogim, and he asked whether these ta-- changes were deliberate for, you know, for posterity or are they just temporary just for this year. So the fir- first thing was that, uh, uh, in connection to Birkat Kohanim. And that is with the Chazan that Shacharit will normally say after Ma'ariv, before Sim Shalom, we'll say, "Aleinu velakiev hazein ubaruch et avracha am hashalashot." The one who had-- who's davening at the Amud that day was Rabbi Binyamin Klein, alav hashalom, at your site. And the Rebbe was very, uh, was very pronounced. The Rebbe's custom to look at the Chazan for Birkat Kohanim. He would turn 90 degrees looking directly at the Chazan. And so though the general Minhag is not to say Birkat Kohanim at Shacharit of, uh, Tisha B'Av, here the Rebbe seemed to expect that he should say Birkat Kohanim, which he

02:07 Speaker 1 probably did. And so then Rabbi Groner asked whether that is, uh, Minag Hakavoah or is that going to establishment or is that just a one-off? So the Rebbe responded to him. It was Herut Shaas. There you can see. He says, "Im zot hi rak herut shaah." And this is the Rebbe's typical way, um, of crossing out the word "im" and then circling and, and, and underlining it. It is indeed herut shaah. So that was the first thing. To this, the Rebbe then added a, a rationale and explanation for saying Birkat Kohanim and he says that's indeed the Minag Hamakabolim. "B'Yerushalayim tiboneh ve'zes kein en ata." This is the cont- contemporary Minag Hamakabolim in Yerushalayim. "Rav Amram Gaon v'oid." So despite the current-- the common Minag not to say Birkat Kohanim at Shacharit, what the Rebbe is pointing to two or more strong sources of saying Birkat Kohanim at Shacharit on Tisha B'Av. The second point was that came to Havdalah and those who remember, there was a, an El- Eiltere Bochur named Rabbi, uh, uh, Yisroel Kozminski, alav hashalom. He was a Bochur and he usually would be the one to make Havdalah in seven, seven, two. And here at Havdalah on Sunday night, the Rebbe kind of motioned to give the cup of wine to a child to drink. Now, to explain, during the nine days, it's written in Shulchan Aruch, in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch that the one who-- when you make Havdalah instead of drinking the wine, which you don't drink wine during

03:55 Speaker 1 the nine days, so the wine is given to a child. Here it's not during the nine days, it's the day after. It's Motzaei Tisha B'Av and it's Motzaei Tisha B'Av Nirtza. So here however, the Rebbe still seemed to expect that they should give the cup of wine to a child and here again the meaning of the way it's recorded in the, um, Luach Herut Chabad is that here you drink the wine yourself. And so again the Rebbe confirms, you can see here, "Ad derasha haherut." So the Rebbe adds ch-- adds, adds the word "shaah," "Herut Shaah." But then he gives a whole list of, of reasons or references, whatever, uh, that it-- why it seems to make a lot of sense that the wine should have been given to a child and he gives here-- One point he says ref- he refers to, "Lechapes be'el yerav. Chei mashbe baluach tukachinski v'oid. Kesimas lashoin kol nosi klei hashulchan ору. That seems to be the silent impression of the other commentators in Shulchan Aruch. Levad hadogul mevovo. With the exception of the Dogul Mevovo, it's the comments of the Noi Debehuda on the margin of the Shulchan Aruch. Rayosu mizesha lehuska befedus. The fact that he brings the, a proof since it doesn't say that a Motzaei Tisha B'Av you should give it to a child is that why you drink it yourself. Afshu be'pashtus nilmad ze. Um, nilmad ze mitzimat tov kufrin alef. Even though it's be'pashtus, what's the difference whether it's Motzaei Tisha B'Av or

05:48 Speaker 1 it's during the nine days? Veyada rabe lfi anias dayti. My impression says the Rebbe, my, my is tachilik dah dogul mevovo. That which he wants to differentiate between- After Tisha B'Av, and especially as Rabbi, uh, Tarag points out that, uh, here it's a day later that the different distinction which the Dagam Levavah makes, that no one mentions that... No, no, other than he, no other, no other Poskim mention that a Motzaei Tisha B'Av, uh, that you can give the, um, you can drink the wine yourself. even though there is a clear Halacha that also that you're not allowed to drink wine on Motzaei Tisha B'Av. As it says in Sof Kos-- Taf Kof Nun Fa. So let's go through those things. I was... As I said, I got this answer at one o'clock in the morning and, uh, uh, I was very, very excited about it, and so I spent some time. Went to sleep, but in the morning, when the first thing in the morning, I started looking up these sources which the Rebbe had referred to about this, these two, uh, issues. So the first one was, if, if you remember, remind you about does the Chazan say Birkat Kohanim at Shacharit. Now, here we have the Rav Amram Gaon. Rav Amram Gaon lived about twelve hundred years ago or more. It's the earliest siddur which we have, and closest to that is the Siddur of Saadia Gaon, which is later. And Ashkenazim generally follow Rav Amram Gaon, and here he, here's, uh,

07:28 Speaker 1 at the time when they were still doing Birkat Kohanim every day. And as you know that Mincha, even when they do Birkat Kohanim every day, you wouldn't do it at Mincha. The reason being that, uh, Mincha is after lunch. At lunch, people would have a glass of wine, and there would be a Kohen maybe, uh, a Chashash of Shichrus, he maybe have drunk wine. He is therefore disqualified. So at Mincha, one doesn't normally have Birkat Kohanim with the exception of a fast day. So Rav Amram Gaon seems to be emphasizing that here Birkat Kohanim is done at Mincha as well. But meanwhile, he says at Shacharit. So that's the, the earliest source of that Birkat Kohanim on Tisha B'Av. This is in the section about Tisha B'Av. Then the Rebbe said the Minag Ham-Chubolim be-Yerushalayim to Bonav Mesechita. That led me right away to the Kaf HaChaim, who very, very often records the Minag of a Kehillah in Yerushalayim called Beis Kehillat Yaakov. And so let's... On the left of the screen, we've got the, the, uh, quote from the Kaf HaChaim, where he first quotes this Minag of not saying Birkat Kohanim. His earliest source, he gives a reference to the Abudraham, one of the later Rishonim. Then he refers to the Shiurei Knesset HaGedolah in his commentary on the Tur, and he gives a couple of reasons. One is that a Kohen who is in a year of a-a-aveilus, in a state of mo-mourning, does not do Birkat Kohanim. And since Tisha B'Av,

09:06 Speaker 1 the Kohanim are, like all Yidden, are in a state of aveilus, therefore, it's out of, out of place to do Birkat Kohanim. The second reason he gives a quote from the, uh, Haftarah of Chazon, where it says, when, "Of for this chem kapeichem, when you spread out your palms, I will not pay heed." And so he takes this to understand that it means they're spreading out the palms of the Kohanim in Birkat Kohanim. Having said that, the... Then the Kaf HaChaim says, the Eliyahu Rabba, who was a contemporary, I think, of the Baal Shem Tov around then. And so he says that the Minag Ashkenaz in his country that they do say Birkat Kohanim at Shacharit at, at, uh, on Tisha B'Av, and gives a reference to Sefer Eida Chayil, et cetera. And then he brings, "Ve Chen Hu," he says, "is the Minag Beis Kehillat HaNizket," that community of the Chubolim, that they do say Birkat Kohanim at Shacharit too. That's because of the Kavanas. In other words, the Kabbalah Kavanas, that they apply on Tisha B'Av like any other day, and therefore they would not miss out Birkat Kohanim on Tisha B'Av morning. Um, on the right of the screen, we've got a Dagam Levavav, who gives another reason. He's not so happy with the reasons given for the Minag not to say Birkat Kohanim. He gives another reason, because on Petisha B'Av one doesn't say Shalom, and in Birkat Kohanim it says Shalom, and therefore it's out of, out of, out of

10:28 Speaker 1 place. On the lower part of the screen, we've got here the, uh, Eliyahu Rabba, who he says, as opposed to the Kaf HaChaim, "B'meded She'enu Noyagin Li'omro." Now it is said. So we have here different sources, um, that, that, uh, to uphold the Minag of saying Birkat Kohanim at Shacharit also on Tisha B'Av. So this is what the Rebbe is referring to in his answer that Birkat-- Minag Ham-Chubolim, Rav Amram Gaon, V'Oid. Okay. The second point was about Havdalah, about drinking wine at Havdalah. So you will remember that we discussed that according to the Ramban and other Rishonim, there's no Havdalah at all on a cup of wine after Tisha B'Av, not on Motzaei Shabbos, not on Sunday night. And the Rosh disagrees, and he says on Sunday night you should do Havdalah, and that's what we have here. but no bracha on the flame and no bracha on the besamim. Okay. So it says here you're meant to make a cup of Havdalah on a cup of wine. Then we have here the Maharil. The Maharil is one of the later Rishonim. Minag Ashkenaz is built on the Maharil. And, so here we have Minhogim Maharil. Motzaei Tisha B'Av, KeSheh Echshich, when it came dark, BeYeter HaSeder, before having the meal, Mavdil Ba'al HaBayis Al HaKos BeYeref Riagof Min HaBirchas HaHavdalah. So that confirms that the meaning is to make havdalah on Motzaei Tisha B'Av on a cup of wine, and like the Rosh, not like the Ramban. But who drank the wine? Does

12:18 Speaker 1 it say that the Mariel would drink the wine or would he give it to a child? And that's open for interpretation. So here we have the Eliyahu Rabba, who brings the Minag HaMariel of drinking-- of, of making havdalah a glass of wine, ienia deyi tinutinik. If no tinutinik, if no child, then you drink yourself. Um, whereas the Eli- the Dagul Mervava here again, he quotes the same Mariel, and he says, he says, he made a, a, a -- he would drink the wine himself. We don't have to give it to a child. I, during the nine days, he says, "Dafkaf nun alef." Rabbi Moss says to give the wine to a child. So he says, "Motzaei Tisha B'Av, laila zo is more lenient." How do we see this? Because we see the Magen Avrohom in tov kuf nun ches. So here we have on the left, the Magen Avrohom, and the Magen Avrohom is saying, "Motzaei Tisha B'Av," where it says in Shulchan Aruch that you're not allowed to eat meat. Um, that's where it says here, "Va'asurin b'basar." Sorry, no, that's not that. Um, but it says in Shulchan Aruch that you're, you're not allowed to eat, uh, meat Motzaei Tisha B'Av. But if you have a Seudas Mitzvah, then you're allowed to invite as many people as you want, not like on, uh, nine days that you're limited just, just to have a minyan eating fleishigs. And Magen Avrohom said, "The pshet-- the night-- it's obvious that this night on Motzaei Tisha B'Av

13:49 Speaker 1 is more lenient than from Rosh Chodesh of during the nine days." Because Motzaei Tisha B'Av, you're not, you're not to have a haircut, you're not to do washing, do, do, do the laundry and et cetera. You can even make a chasuna. And therefore, although the meaning is not to have meat, but it's more lenient. You can-- If you have a Seudas Mitzvah, you can have as many as you want. So, so now the Dagul Mervava is taking this one step further. All right, since you're allowed to have a Seudas Mitzvah, you can also ha-have the, the cup of wine for havdalah. Very good. The question is then why does the Magen Avrohom, when he brings these examples, why doesn't he say also that you can make a-- you can drink the wine of havdalah? So that's where the Rebbe is saying that although the Dagul Mervava is saying, "Why is it not mentioned?" So-- And therefore, he's assuming that you drink the, the wine yourself. But the-- On contrary, the fact that you can drink the wine yourself is not mentioned, and that itself is a proof that you shouldn't, uh, drink the wine yourself. What all of this I found very, very interesting because I was-- Mentioned-- As I mentioned last week, I was brought up that my father, alav hashalom, would, uh, drink the wine himself, if you remember. As I told you last week. And here you have the Munkacsher Rov in Darchei Chaim V'Shalom-- is quoting Darchei Chaim V'Shalom, that during

15:06 Speaker 1 the nine days, he would make havdalah and drink the wine. The Kadak, like any other Motzei Shabbos, he didn't make any distinction. So this seems to be a fairly, uh, p-prevalent Minag Hasidim, not only Chabad, to make havdalah on a glass of-- or to drink wine during the nine days regardless. And here not only during the nine days, but even after where there's already a debate, they're not insisting on that it should be given to a child. What you have here now on this slide is taking it a bit further, the, the Hiskashrus J-Journal. So he would-- That's why I got my impression. He says, "Well, yeah, you're going to give the-- The Shulchan Aruch says to give the wine to a child to drink." How old is this child? The ch-- If the ch- the child is to be old enough to have chinuch for brachos. Otherwise, your bracha is not being used. So it has to be an old child. On the other hand, if the child is... So just to add to the, the pressure of not conforming with this minhag of giving to a child, we have the Alter Rebbe in Shimei Tsaddik where he says, "You know, in, in Ashkenazi shuls, every Friday night, they, they make a, make a Kiddush. Who drinks the wine? Give it to a child. Why? Because the, the chasan who's making K- who's making Kiddush, he's not yo Etzef on the Kiddush. So therefore, he can't drink the wine, so he gives it to

16:57 Speaker 1 a child. Usually gives it to a small child. Now, here, by contrast, it comes to havdalah. So it says that the chasan makes havdalah in shul on a glass of wine, and then either he drinks himself, uh, because if he's yoetz or he gives it to someone who is going to be yoetz. But if he gives it to children, no one is yoetz because there's an emphasis that it ha-- the wine for havdalah has to be drunk by someone who is yoetz, uh, mitzvos havdalah from this, from this, uh, havdalah. So now that makes it all, all the more. I mean, is this child-- See, who's-- It have to be a child who's at a chinuch on the level that he has to hear havdalah. And then he goes on a story in Torat Shlomit Ches that, uh, that, uh, Kamir-- So Kazimierski started drinking the wine, and the Rebbe said to give it to a child, and then the Rebbe was very pleased. Whatever. So here, there seems to be a certain weight of- Not giving it, uh, to a child because who says the child is, is going to be a child dollar, et cetera. And yet we see that the Rebbe was, uh, as I said, was after pushing, as it says, the simple Min Hagashmez that you give the wine to a child. One other interesting... I got a couple of, um, feedbacks on this, and one of them was, um, that Rabbi Broin, the Rabbi in, in Crown Heights, in

18:36 Speaker 1 his notes, he said not to give it to a, a little, a girl, to give it out to a little boy. She's a ...</w. Here, the Alter Rebbe is saying, you should give the wine-- You can give the chi- uh, wine to a, to someone who's Yoatz. So if you have a child who's old enough for Chinuch, for Havdalah, you can give him the wine. Now, according to the Seforim that Noshi Map Turis Havdalah, so then the chi- little girl is not yet Havdalah. It doesn't need to be Havdalah. See, there's no point in giving her the wine because you have to give it to someone that's for sure, uh, being Yoatz mitzvat Havdalah. It can be a child, The, he-- The understanding is that the place is surrounded with a fence. So the Mechitzah is not a problem, it's just the Eruv with the Lechem bread, et cetera. Problem which I had, though, was another one, and that we've discussed this before, the di- idea of Karfit. That if you have an area which has got more than a hundred amos by fifty amos, and it's not adjacent to a dwelling, that has got a Din DeRabonon that you're not allowed to carry there. So here we have, uh, Chezk Mechitzas, an enclosure which is not Mukaf L'diras Adam. It's not connec-connected to a dwelling. That's called a Karfit, and Mid'Rabonon, you're not allowed to carry more than two amos. So I never really had the pleasure of, uh, being, uh, um, you know,

21:37 Speaker 1 the-- being in a, a campsite with all the flies and other Sachen. Um, I, so I don't, don't know exactly. Is there-- If it, if it's just a plain field, large field with plenty of space between one tent and the other, fine. So but then it has a Din of Karfit. And if it's a Karfit, you cannot carry that. Now, I think I've mentioned this before, that I once went through this topic in relation to the, um, about the, the encampment by the Ohel for Gimmel Tammuz, where they take over a massive car park. There is a little bit more, uh, flexible. And that is based upon the following Halacha. That is in, um, Shulchan Aruch, I think this is, where it talks about people who are in a camp. They do have to have an Eruv, unless they are a camp going LaMilchamah. If they're going out to battle, then they are exempt of Eruv and of Netilas Yadayim. Just on both of Takonas Shlomo HaMelech. I don't know whether there's any deeper connection. I'm sure there is, but . When it said, Machaneh Kavuah, which is there for several days. If it's, however, a Shayarah, a caravan, which is traveling, and they stop for a Shabbos, so then they don't need to have an Eruv because they're, they're just for Shabbos. So on this basis, that large encampment I was-- although the people who came to the Ohel for Shabbos were not traveling, um, it wa-it wasn't a stop in the middle of

23:19 Speaker 1 a journey. They came for that purpose, but it was just for the one day. So perhaps one could use the concept of a, of that they don't need to have an Eruv, but the Eruv is the easier thing to sort. Then we have here the Shiita of some Rishonim to say, just like a Sh-Shayarah has got an exemption of Eruv, the Shayarah has also got an exemption of the Din of Karfit. All that would help if there would be only the camp, the, uh, campsite just for Shabbos. But if it's a camp for a whole week, so then we're back to the Din of Karfit. So I called a fellow yesterday and asked him, "Tell me, is it possible that the camp's site is the grounds of a farmhouse?" In which case, the enclosure is the lands, uh, affiliated, a-adjacent to a dwelling, and that would take away the whole Din of Karfit. If, if it isn't, if it's just a plain field s- and, um, there are all those tents there, then I really would be stuck to find a solution for this fellow to be able to carry there without putting up his own, uh, special Mechitza. Some-- So someone is pointing out that some, uh, campsites have fixed caravans. But the, the pr- problem with Karfit is that the wall en-enclosing the Karfit has to have been more recent than the dwelling. And that's gonna be difficult to start establishing when was the camp-- when was the caravan put there, the permanent

24:56 Speaker 1 caravan, and when was the, uh, wall. If the wall is old-older than the caravan, then we still have a problem with Karfit, which is a difficult one to solve. Okay, let's move on. Okay. For those who live in this part of the world, you now may know that we have a, a, a ladies', uh, shul at the back of the shul, and then we also have a gallery on the Mizrach wall, overlooking the-- from the front of the shul. What's the story for Birkat Kohanim? Do the women who are standing on that gallery behind the Kohanim, are they included in the Birkat Kohanim? It may have been discussed. I'm sure it ha- I remember it has been discussed in the past. But on Tisha B'Av, I was, uh, relaxing and reading the memoirs of the late Reb Bisel Jacobson. And here he writes... Here you have it on the screen. He's describing how at some stage in Lubavitch, they, they, uh, the big zal wasn't available for s-some reason, and so they had a smaller zal. And they had a small room on the Mizrach where the Rebbetzin Rivkah and the other women of the Beis HaRav, they were at that, in that room. So, he says, "This room where the ladies of the Beis HaRav would gather was on the Mizrach of this small shul. And therefore, when it came to Birkat Kohanim on Yom Kippur, so the women would go out of those-- Rebbetzins would come out of that room which was, uh,

26:38 Speaker 1 their-- where they would regularly be. Instead, they came round to the other side, to the west side of the small zal, and so that-- otherwise, they wouldn't be Panim el Panim." So the-- just to-- in case this has been, uh, forgotten about, there is an inyan of Birkat Kohanim. Should be Panim el Panim. Therefore, those who are at the, uh, the back-- uh, sorry, the front of the shul would, uh, if they wanted to be included in the bracha, they should l'chatchila be preferable. If possible, they should come round just for Birkat Kohanim to the back of the shul to be able to be face to face to the Kohanim. Let's move on. Okay. Um, I don't know whether he's online, but someone, a friend of mine, had an old siddur or two, almost two hundred years old, and he, uh, gave it to me. So it's on my shelf here, a siddur from-- printed, I think, תקי"ו. And I had a mashgiach come to the house, and he's looking around and he sees these antiques for him and he, uh, uh, interested, yeah. And he, he, he says, uh, he actually-- he has a, a sideline or a main line, I don't know, but he handles in that-- in antiques for him. And he asked me, am I interested to sell it. He says, "It's probably worth about two thousand pounds." Okay. So I said, "Actually, I'm, I'm not into it. I'm not, I'm not ready to consider it. And befal, I'm not so

28:10 Speaker 1 sure whether I'm allowed to sell Seforim, um, just for the money. I don't-- Baruch Hashem, I don't need the money. I'm not desperate." So, uh, that was, that was the question. Then just this past week, someone brought up-- asked me the very same question. Is there any hesitation about selling Seforim, um, which you own? Um, not, not because you're desperate for the money, for, um... So here we have two quotes in-- from Shulchan Aruch. One is from Yoreh De'ah, uh, Siman ayin reish. And it's-- the first, it's about the mitzvah of Sefer Sefer Torah. We all know the shitah of the Rosh, who says that the mitzvah of Sefer, Sefer Torah is now fulfilled by having Chumashim and Mishnayis and Gemaras. That's how we fulfill the mitzvah of, of, of having a Sefer Torah. Because the mitzvah of Sefer Torah is to be able to learn Torah. So now here we have a quote from the Rosh. "`ועידנה מצוה לכתב חומשי התורה או משנה או גמרא או פרשי´. והני הד, ולא ימכרן אם לא ללמד תורה או לשא אישה." If you have these Seforim, you should not sell them unless you need the money either to be able to advance your learning of Torah or to be able to get married. So here we're seeing very clear in Shulchan Aruch that it's not so, it's not so straightforward to sell, to sell Seforim, as tamah zoy. That's in, uh, Siman ayin reish in Yoreh De'ah. Siman kuf nun gimel in Erechaim, dinim of Beis Habezach,

29:39 Speaker 1 talking about selling of a shul. And it talks about, um, the buyer, uh, about s-- well, they have to talk about a village, so they have more control to be allowed to sell the sh-shul, um, unless for certain purposes which are disgraceful purposes. Now, then Sifryud says, "יש עומדים דיוחין בשלויי." A yochid's got a private, um, sacred object, even a Sefer Torah. He may sell it and use the money for whatever he wishes. "יש משעוי סר אלא אם כן ללמד תורה או לשא אישה." Now, others who say, "No, you're not allowed to sell Seforim unless it is for the purpose of using the money to be able to advance your learning of Torah or someone's learning of Torah or to be able to get married." In the Dirshu edition of the Mishnah Berurah, in Erechaim kuf nun gimel, quotes Reb Moshe Feinstein. Person's got doubles o-o-of a certain-- of his various Torah. So Reb Moshe says he is allowed to, um, sell them. Um, I apologize, I didn't get around to looking up the Igrot Moshe inside. He then quotes from the Sefer Pele Yoetz, which says a person shouldn't sell Seforim of their personal, uh, use, personal collection, even if they have numerous copies. And he quotes this from the Sefer Hasidim- It's from one of the Rishonim, Judah Chassid, where he says, "Maaseh be'echad." There was a person who had the Sefer Ha-- he had a spare Sefer HaZohar, and he sold it. And in his dream, he was told, "You are a

31:21 Speaker 1 Behema." Because the word Behema is the roshei teivot, "Baarti hakodesh min habayis." I have, the word, exterminated the sacred from my house. Um, so here we're seeing quite strong language. Um, as I'm reading this, I'm, I'm, I'm curious how it-- how come that the Zohar is mentioned in Sefer Chassidim because as far as I understood, the Zohar was only, was, was only known in, in kind of in later years. I mentioned that. Let's look up the history on that. Let's move on. So in other words, the earlier Rishonim for sure don't mention the Zohar. It's, um... Right. Let's move on. Okay. So here is a shailah. The, uh, location has been, uh, deliberately erased. So I've got the shailah here about making an eruv. This is a Beis Chabad, and they've got here, this is the building which belongs to Chabad, and they have a ground, grounds a bit further over here, and they want to pull a string from this pole on top of this, uh, veranda. And here, there's a signpost of sorts which is p-h-held up by posts. They want to connect, make an eruv from here to here, and then somehow to extend it. The only hesitation I had was... Now, although it's more than 10 amos, don't worry about it because the other three sides of that enclosure have got normal fences, solid fences, so therefore, that Humrah of the Alter Rebbe of not having a Tsura of Seppah of more than 10 amos, uh, wide is talking about when

33:07 Speaker 1 it's in multiple sides. If it is just on the one side, that's, that's acceptable. The only question I had was the string. I know that the red string goes in front of the tree, but in reality, it would have to go through the tree. Does the tree disrupt the eruv? That was the question. And, um, I had read about this in, in a very-- I, I remember seeing discussion about this. What I'm seeing now in contemporary seforim that they talk about trees in the way, where, where the, in, in the way of the eruv, and they're only concerned... This is a Sefer called Tikun Eruvin. It's concerned if the tree kind of distorts the wire. But if the wire is going straight, the fact there's a tree in the way, um, shouldn't, as far as I can find. Someone could correct me. Um, so, um, so, uh, it's not a problem. Yeah, my, my brother's pointing out that Behema is also, uh, roshei teivot, Borach ha-Melech ha-Olam HaMechir. Okay. Fine. Um, let's move on. Thank you. It's always good to have a, something humorous. Okay. Here we go. The next question. Eggs. These, uh, eggs are unusual in shape in that the eggs are usually r-more round at one end and more pointy at the other end. The expression in Shulchan Aruch is chad and chad. Chad meaning sharp or pointy, and chad means round like a barrel. And these, they're three separate eggs. Um, but they, they... Someone's out on, on, on holidays, obviously,

34:56 Speaker 1 and picked up these eggs. And, uh, he asked me, "Is there a-- Are they okay or not?" And, um, well, here you go. Siman beis peh vav, Yedidia. "Simanei beis im hakir b'shehemeh me'of toar." To know whether the eggs are from a kosher bird or a kosher species. "Im shnei rosheiha chadin," if both of the ends are roundish. "O ichadin," or if both ends are more pointy. "O sheyechel moein mibachut," or "chel boin mibifnim." If the yolk, the yellow stuff is the outer, and the albumen, the white, is on the inner, those are all simanim that it's from a beis oof toar. It's from a non-kosher species. Even if the mohel says it's from a mohe- the, uh, that it's from oof toar, we cannot rely on it. If one end is round, you know, and the other one is, is, is, uh, is pointy, then you know it's, it's, it's a kosher b- a kosher, um, from a kosher bird. So here we go. It's, uh, interesting. Very, very interesting. Wouldn't expect to find that in a reg-regular, you know, regular batch of eggs. But, uh, it looks so, uh, um... HaChafetz Chaim told him you can't use them. Yeah. He said to me that the one who s- who, who sent them to, this picture to me, he said it looks like some people keep ornamental birds, and they, uh, they have these interesting, uh, different types of eggs. Component, it's not. Okay. Um, yes. Another question came through this week. This past

36:33 Speaker 1 week. A room which is not in use at all. Sometimes people have a larger house, and, uh, there's a room which is not in use at all. Does it need to have a mezuzah? Now, I don't have a, uh, clear source for this, but my impression is that it does not need to have a mezuzah. Here we have, um, this is from the Chayyei Adam, but there's, uh, he writes in his la- his lashon, "Mezuzas chovev hasador sheim yesh li bayis ve'ein door bo." If I own a dwelling, but I don't live there, it's an empty dwelling. "T'pachtem mezuzah." I'm taking this further. Even if it's in a house and that room is totally unused, and there is no intention of using it even- You know, even once a year. So then that, that room would higher be part of ministers. That's as much as I could find. We go into the next point. Okay. So last Thursday, I was at the Yeshivot, the yeshiva, and someone came over to me and asked me, "What's the background for the Chabad Minchag of the way we do our tzitzit?" Now, not like this picture. The typical Chabad Minchag is where the Rebbe was noheg. That would be the first tzitzit on the ar- on the lo- on the lower arm, small gap, then the next two, and then the four. So although what's normally written is the three and the four, um, are separated, that's also a Chabad Minchag of three and the four. That's already

38:03 Speaker 1 we have on record from the Rebbe Rashab. But here we have the Rebbe was noheg, like a bit of a gap before the-- between the first and the second two. So curious, where does it come from? At the t- at the ti- time I did-- I said, "I don't know. I'll try to do some research." And what I'm saying is now gonna be just a, um... Is storage called using? Going back to the previous question. The-- I think the answer is yes. Uh, storage, which is like the overflow of the house, that's also, uh, considered part of the house, yes. Let's come back to the tefillin then. Okay. So in the Sefer HaShkavot of the Rebbe, he wants to suggest that the three and the four is reminiscent of like you have on the shel rosh, the three head shin and the four head shin, and they are corre-- This is mentioned in Rebbe Yosef. You got the regular writing. A shin is made with four lines. Sorry, a shin is made with three lines. Uh, sav of the Sefer Torah. The luchos, because it's the carving, so four lines would have between them three spaces. So looking over here, the four straps with three spaces is reminiscent of the ketav on the luchas. That's what, uh, the, um, HaShkavot of Rav Rivkin writes. But meanwhile, coming back to our question. M-most Yidden today are noheg to have seven straps. But in Chabad, there's this one and two, and then, then the four. Where does

39:31 Speaker 1 it come from? And the best I could find is the following. The Beit Yosef writes, in earlier sources, there's no clear mention of how many times to go around the arm. In Gemara, there's no mention at all how many-- of going around the arm. You get the impression you can even go ra- straight from the upper arm straight to your hand. But the minhag is to go around the arm. And Beit Yosef says, "Minhag nohegin haolam las-- lichrich al hazoy shishah o shiv'o." Either six times or seven times. So then we have from the Arizal to do seven times. The Munkatcher Rebbe in Ohel Moed Shalom, he wants to say the following. That the shishah o shiv'o is not a contradiction. There's a question when you do the first strap here. Now, the first strap is only a half. It's only the upper half of that circuit. The first half is on the upper half of the, of the ar- on the upper, uh, arm. So you have really, what you're seeing here, seven, is only six and a half. So he wants to say the shishah o shiv'o, you can look at it as six, you can look at it as seven. See, that's what the Beit Yosef means. It doesn't mean to have six circuits. It means seven, which lo- which can be perhaps, uh, in truth, only six. Um, so having said that there is an inyan of six as well as there's an inyan of seven, so possibly that's what the

41:09 Speaker 1 Rebbe's, uh, kavana of having the first one separate because there is seems to be shishah o shiv'o. So by having a bit of a gap, so we have our shishah. It's clear. And then if you want, you will count the other one as shiv'o. Summary, I don't remember who. Someone mentioned to me that he was once look- looking at the Rebbe, and it looks like the Rebbe had actually an extra, um, circuit, like an eighth circuit around the arm. And he was wondering, and as if the Rebbe had read his mahshavahs, and Rebbe stopped, counted, put his finger, counted seven. Yeah, it's good. Then he continued. Um, okay. Let's move on. Fine. So now, someone asked me, one of our listeners in the United States, asks me, he's giving-- he learns Tanya with Yidden, and in Tanya perek, um, tes zayin, talks about the importance of kavana of mitzvahs. And kavana, ahavah, veyirah. And the ahavah, veyirah are compared to the wings. Like a bird is kosher without wings. Nital agapeah is kosher. But without the wings, the bird can't fly. So too, a mitzvah without kavana, without ahavah, veyirah, is also a mitzvah. It's a kosher bird. But it doesn't have the elevation, doesn't have the propellers to be, be elevated. The propellers are ahavah, veyirah. The chilul haShem. Chilul haShem was, uh, Aramaic for yirah and ahavah, for fear and, and, and love of Hashem. So he's asking if it's such an important thing to have ahavah, veyirah when you're doing mitzvahs, why

42:58 Speaker 1 then does the Alter Rebbe take out-- not have the l'shem Yichud in his siddur? Specifically before putting on the tallit. It mentions, uh, in the other siddurim, the Mesoch Sfarad, l'shem Yichud Kadshei B'rich Uvin. It mentions b'chilul haShem u'rachamim, ha- has a nusach of, of, uh, l'shem Yichud. And that's, um- I'm not the expert on all the Nusach Sfarad of the, in the Shem Yechud, but, um, I think this is quite consistent to have a Ridchila Rachimo in all, in most of the Shem Yechud at least. So what he's asking why it's not there. So here's a very interesting, um, thing, a, a very s- interesting perspective. Again, I'm going back to my, uh, my reading the memoirs of Rabbi Saul Jacobson. Saul Jacobson was born or brought up in a town called Zhurovits. And he says that when he was a young boy in Zhurovits, they-- there was two shuls. One daven Nusach Ashkenaz and one daven Nusach Sfaradi. But there was no Hasidishkeit. There was no Varimkeit of-- Not, not the whole-- It was like-- It was just a Nusach. It wasn't anything more. To the point he says that the mikveh in, in the, in Zhurovits, on Friday it was warm because people would go to the, the bathhouse Friday, so they used the mikvah also. But Shabbos morning it was cold. Um, there was no-- It was, it was like people that were davening this Nusach but it wasn't-- they weren't inspired at all with Livad HaChasidus at all. And probably

44:45 Speaker 1 this is-- was true in many towns in Russia. I remember reading years ago from Rabbi Saul Jacobson's memoirs in the-- which were published in the Yiddish Shaheim, that they were in New York, 80 Nusach HaAri shuls. That all these people, immigrants came in-- coming from Russia and they davened Nusach HaAri so they made Nusach HaAri shul but they weren't Hasidim in the, in the, uh, inspired sense. They were Chass-- As the Friediker Rebbe used to call them, Chassidim HaNusach. And really it raises a very interesting question. What's the pshat of this? What's the pshat of transforming, changing people's Nusach and they're going to be Hasidim just in Nusach, nothing else. They're not going to-- They're not Hasidim in the-- in any other active sense. Is it-- What, what, what's the value in it? So in the Rebbe's Sichas, there's two landmark Sichas about the Alter Rebbe Siddur. One of them is, uh, about Sefiras HaOmer and it's in Chelek Chof Beis. The other one is in Chelek Lamed Tes where it talks about preparing yourself for Tkias Shofar. And the Rebbe talks about, about the, uh, the Alter Rebbe's plan in creating this Siddur. So of the Alter Rebbe Siddur. Although the Nusach was, uh, in line with Kavona Sarizal. In addition to the Alter Rebbe's effort that it should be correct or be Dikduk V'Haloshem which is an interesting point. Dikduk V'Haloshem these are two separate things. Grammatically correct as in vowels and all that, and then also perhaps an expression. So the Alter

46:39 Speaker 1 Rebbe made enormous effort in those. However, he deliberately did not bring-- did not quote the any-- Well, Kamat. About six or seven places where there are Kabbalah stuff in the Siddur. But generally he, uh, he left it all out. because those Kabbalah, um, fo-focuses are not relevant for across the board. And I just-- I mean, I, I told you this bit of history. The Einer-- the Shov L'chol Nefesh just took on from reading Rabbi, uh, Jacobson's memoirs takes on a new level. People who are just sim-- very simple people who are just can manage Siddur. They're not, they're not managing to, to learn Chumash even. But they daven a Siddur and the Alter Rebbe wanted that they should daven Nusach Ha-- the Nusach HaAri. So what's the Svara here? So b'klal maashma generally we understand the kavanas, Kabbalah, this is for Yehudit Sgula. Aval ne, aval yose nire. Now let's read it carefully. That the, the fact the Alter Rebbe established this Nusach, Nusach HaTefilah and Shov L'chol Nefesh and it's aligned with the Kavonas HaArizal. the fact that you'll daven with this Nusach even though you even al yodei oyshom. Even though you don't understand anything about the Kavonas. By davening this Nusach it is nifolim you are achieving all the Hamashochas in Kavonas HaArizal. It's almost like perhaps he even mentions elsewhere in this Sicha about a Gavra Hefza. The, the Hefza of this Siddur is aligned with the Kavonas HaArizal and therefore as, as simple and unlettered in Kabbalah as you may

48:36 Speaker 1 be, but by using this Siddur you are associated with the Kavonas HaArizal. So that gives a whole very interesting, um, plan here or strategy that the, the Alter Rebbe wanted that even Poshtei Yidden, nischach to, uh, any inspiration of Hasidus, they should however be connected through, so davening such a Siddur with the Arizal, with the Kavonas HaArizal. I think I mentioned before that the Mezritcher Maggid in his last few months, he had a visitor and, and a newcomer and his name was Reb Yisroel Hopstein otherwise known as the Koznitzer Maggid and he had a reputation that he was bochi in six hundred Sifrei Kabbalah or something. Something, uh, fantastic and, um, the, the-- At that time, the Arizal Siddur had never been published. It was just in manuscript and the Alter Rebbe was a young man and he was in attendance with the Maggid who was very frail at the time and the Alter Rebbe-- the Maz Maggid says, the Mezritcher Maggid says was kind of Maggid saying that Siddur Arizal, Arizal Azara. He, he, he, he looked at the Koznitzer Maggid as being capable of checking through this Siddur or, uh, I mean, Arizal manuscript which we have this, uh, this we have-- I've seen pa-- um, manuscripts, you know, um, copies of this Siddur that exist today. But before this conversation, the Maggid asks the Kozhnitzer. He said, "Where from one visitors?" He says, "From Kozhnitz." "Where is Kozhnitz?" So he says it's, "Nish weit from Warsaw." "Ah, it's a suburb of Warsaw.

50:27 Speaker 1 Oh.

50:28 Speaker 2 Is yet this, can we hope that as a halber from Warsaw with unheben Sogan, Keser Anstadt Naritzach.

50:35 Speaker 1 He, he saw an opportunity that he will be able to transform, the exchange, the Nusach in Warsaw instead of Naritzach. For, for Nusach they'll say, they'll say Keser. So again, it's saying what, what is he, what's he looking at? He's talking about hundreds of thousands of Yidden. Most of them were probably-- many of them for sure were not very lear- lear- learned. And still, the Maggid saw here, epsei, a purpose, a strategy. They all wear Chaside HaNusach. Uh, what, um, and the Friediker Rebbe, just to finish off on that point. The Friediker Rebbe exploited the Chaside HaNusach concept. And he says, "Are you ... saying that, "Ah, you're, you're shachas to, uh, Nusach." That means you're shachas to Chabad. Okay, so then we can take it further. So there's an interesting strategy here. Possibly in some situations where because he's affiliated to just that, that, this Nusach. Azoy. But you connect it. Eibazoy. Let's take it further. Let's take one last point, and that is that I got a little bit q- um, a little bit of pushback from United States about l- last week's, um, lashing out about, uh, going to sports stadiums being, uh, over Chukasem V'eseilechu. I, all I did, I quoted a Rashi where he says it's the joyous v'karkasois. So, um, just, you know, I pointed out that Rashi and well, you know, a little bit more, but fine. Um, so then I mentioned, um, Moshe Feinstein, who in Igros Moshe, who doesn't see the sports stadiums as anything to

52:12 Speaker 1 do with the religion. And therefore, um, therefore, it's just Moshe Leitzim. He doesn't go for it. He, he, he's also criticizing. He just says it's Moshe Leitzim because to be Chukasem, it shouldn't-- it has to be something which has got some religious background. So I mentioned this briefly last week. So someone wrote, writes to me that actually if you look in the Roman or Greek history, you see that the stadiums and the, uh, amphitheaters, they were part of their religious-- they had a religious element also. And the separation of religion from, from other parts of society is a relatively recent, uh, innovation. Okay. So which I said to him, so he was trying to, I guess, defend the, um, attendance at these, um, sports things. And so actually it just proves the point to the contrary. You're telling me that stadia-- that sports stadiums have their origins in some degree of pagan pra- pra- practice. Now, there's here a fascinating piece in Alter Rebbe's Shukhan Arukh in Siman Dalet. Sorry, Siman Beis. Siman Beis. The Alter Rebbe wrote those-- we have two versions of that. Uh, and this is Madura Basra. And the Alter Rebbe talks about sitting bareheaded. So he starts off with saying, "Midach Sidus is you don't walk down the Amas bareheaded." And then he says, "V'achshav bizman hazeh." Nowadays that everyone, all Yidden, I guess, are a- accustomed to cover their heads. You're not allowed to walk or even sit bareheaded. Mishum tznius, because it's a part which is normally covered.

53:57 Speaker 1 And children also should be, have their head, head, heads covered. "V'kol shekem b'medinas eilu sh'hanochrim na- na- nagu legalish lesh." And a, a, the goyim would come into the house off with their hat right away. It's disrespectful to sit in the house with your hat on. You have to take off your hat out of respect. "Yisraelim k'doishim nizhorim bozem mishum tznius." And Yidden are particular to keep their head covered. If so, if you go bareheaded, if you sit bareheaded, "k'moya nochri, she'oaveim hukaseim v'eseilechu." Now, this seems to suggest, as I said, the rule is hukaseim v'eseilechu is because it's got a religious background. So why is, is the minich of going to bare their heads, has that got a religious background? So I looked through it today, I can't find it, but I remember years ago seeing in the, in the, um, Sneh Hemed that the minich of, of Nochrim to bare their heads is because they want to say, "When I was a baby, I was taken to the tumah, and they spit some schmutzike water on my head." And, uh, therefore, he's baring his head to reminiscent of his being baptized. So the baring of their head has got a religious background. Once it's got a religious background, so then it falls into the category ofchukas hagoy, and emulating will be also under hukaseim v'eseilechu. So now if you're telling me that stadiums have got their origins h- in some kind of pagan practice. Whether it's in Greece or whatever it may be,

55:29 Speaker 1 but you're saying it's got a, a pagan background. Well, that, that's all the more reason to say what Rashi says, that hukas-- that eilu tzadiois, um, is included in, in hukas, uh, hukaseim v'eseilechu. And just to finish off, if we go another minute. No, it's not even over time. But, um, tonight is, um, is going into Chamisha Asar B'Oor, Achamisha Asar B'Oor. And, um, it's a time where Kol Hamoisif Misifrin Lo. Now the, the nights are getting a little bit longer, and so we have more time for learning Torah at night. And so Kol Hamoisif Misifrin Lo. We go greater and stronger and more in the ideas of Torah, Kiam HaMitzvas. A gutten Shabbos. And, uh, Simchas Olam Al Reishon. Kol tuv.