נח תשפ״ג

00:00 Good evening, and welcome to tonight's shiur. Um, I happen to be actually now in Edgeware, in the middle of a, a bar mitzvah of, uh, the, of Ben Zion ben Zalman, Rab Zalman Sudak, actually, out here in Edgeware. I've come out for a couple of minutes to, um, a few minutes, to, to keep the krias of the shiur. So, thank you for joining us, and let's go into our state, our, our question. I think some weeks ago I shared with you my concern about the double expression here, "L'maan godlukha v'sifartekha." Why in Hoshana Rabba and in Selichot we have this alphabetical list of requests, and all of them are single words. Although you got, "Ramichem harabin," which is descriptive. But a double request of, "Godlukha v'sifartekha," that bothered me. And one night this past week, it came to me. I was saying Kirshat Shalom Mechaya, trying to fall asleep, and I'm saying this, "Ribono shel olam," it says, "V'adam oleha v'roso," just before hamapil, "V'adam oleha v'roso, v'nafaechta bo ruach nishmat chayim," You created a human on this world, and You s- breathed in him a spirit of life. "V'maan yakir godlukha v'sifartekha," He should recognize Your greatness and Your glory. So, I saw again this, "Godlukha v'sifartekha," and was thinking, "That's, that's interesting." And so now, uh, uh, it, it reminded me of the pasuk in, in Esther, in Megillah Esther, right at the beginning, "Vahar osi es, uh, kavod malchusoi," when Achashverosh is celebrating and showing the g- the glory of his k-

01:49 um, s- um, of his kingdom. "V'es yikar tif eres gdulusoi." Again, the glory of his, of, of the, uh, his, his kingdom, his greatness, and he had the celebration for 180 days, which is a half a year. Um, so on the... Here again, you got, "Tif eres gdulusoi," so coming together tiferes and gedulah. On this, this is my attempted, uh, explanation. On this, the, um, we have here the Mechir Ya'in, is a commentary on the Meg- Megillah written by the Rama, the one who'd written the commentary on the Shulchan Aruch to update it to Minhag Ashkenaz. He also wrote a pirush. He was a Mekubal as well as a Halakhist, and he wrote a pirush on the Megillah called Mechir Ya'in. So, here he looks at these various titles of osher, kavod, malchusoi, tif eres, gdulusoi, and he says the following. We have in the pasuk in Yermiyahu that a p- that the al- the, um, uh, that the wise person should not boast because of his wisdom, and the hakham should not be bra- bra- proud with his, uh... Sorry, the, and the osher, the ch- the gibor bigv'rosói and haosher be'osherói. You got these qualities. You got wisdom, knowledge. You got wealth. You got strength. That's not the real ma'alah. The real ma'alah is hascal v'yadó, you see, connecting with Hashem. So what I'm su- suggesting here is that had it just written in the Hoshana Rabba, as it was actually in the older, very old versions, it had just, "L'maan godlukha." But

03:37 greatness can be greatness in our... It being greatness in wealth, uh, in expanse, and we are appealing to Hashem's greatness, which is a greater greatness than just a quantifiable greatness, a qua- in space or in, in strength. We're talking about the true ma'alah, uh, a g- the greatness of Hashem, and therefore we want to say it's, "Godlukha v'sifartekha," your glory, which is kind of descriptive, defining the godlukha. We mean a godlukha which is a true tif eres, not just a godlukha which is, uh, a physical power, um, where or, or, or some quantifiable power. If someone has a better b- mir, I'm always happy to listen. Here's a practical question, a very, um, a question, Mishpat question. A couple of girls live, uh, in, um, let's say, Yerushalayim, and they, uh, got coming home, uh, for, to spend Ya- Yom Tov with their parents, so their apartment's gonna be vacant. And so they put up a little notice somewhere that apartment for rent and for over Sukkot. And a couple from overseas call them, and, "Yes, we are interested," agree a price, and then they had reserved that they're going to rent this apartment, this flat in Yerushalayim over Yom Tov. Erev Sukkot, they get a call. These girls get a call from the prospective tenant, and he says, "I'm sorry. Um, my husband's not feeling so well, and we're not sure whether we are gonna be able to take it." And then chol Hamoed, they confirm that due to illness is not able to

05:19 take it. And so here's the question. They're asking, are they, are they entitled to payment for the rental which, you know, was never realized? This is really their question. So, here we have, uh, the-- I, I did find this directly a- addressed, and there's a Sefer, a contemporary Sefer called Sok Him U'mishpatim or something like that. Um, a very recent Sefer, which has very real and contemporary, uh, questions in Halakha. And this was really when, w- with COVID, the beginning of COVID, this was a very, very common question of cancellations and deposits, et cetera. And so, but he, he compares it to a din in Shulchan Aruch, which is the, in the Mishnah in, uh, Bava Metzia. When you hired workers, if you hired workers, they should come at to, to, to do, uh, watering a field. And they come the morning of the... when they hired for, and they come, and they see that either it's saturated or they see that it's been-- there's been, uh, a rain or whatever it may be, and they're not e-- not needed. So here is the rule is, if the employer did his due diligence, and he came the night before and checked out the day before, and he checked that indeed it does need workers, and the next morning circumstances have changed. So here we say, "Ein la poelim kulim." They can't have any claim against the employer. "O mei ha b'yodea la'asos." What did you want him to do? He did what he-- he did

06:55 his due diligence. He checked out in the, uh, the night, uh, the evening before, and the fact that things changed by the morning, that was beyond his control. Um, we then the next Sif talks about if you cancel, and they can be-- you can have a, a rehire in between or not. The kids, uh, what we have here the following is that all of this then the claim of the workers against their employer for breaking the contract is only if it was "b'pshiyo," if it was through his neglect. "Avel im lo hayah sof shiur baalabais b'davar klal." But if there's nothing, uh, nothing of neglect, you can't, uh, fool the balabais, the employer, with neglect. "Chareizi onus." So then his breaking the contract is beyond his control, "veniftor," and he actually is acquitted. So that's really what remains here. Had they taken the deposit, they were-- then it would have been a different story perhaps. Had there been some formal agreement what happens if you cancel. There hadn't been. They're, you know, not-- they're not into this business. It's just they had their apartment which they pay for rent every... and, and they just wanted to make to, um, g-get a bit of money over the, over the, um, Yom Tov period. But it looks like that was my, uh, conclusion that they would not be entitled to any, any money because the, the for-- the failure to, to fulfill the contract was due to illness, and therefore, um, you can't, you can't claim why

08:34 didn't they, um, honor the contract. Okay, let's go on to the next question, and that is about... I know it's, uh, sukkahs, but okay, that's where we're coming from. And that is about making kiddush early on the second night of sukkahs. That is the question here. So the first night of sukkahs, you can't-- you don't do kiddush early, and the reason being that you can only-- I think we went, went through this. You can be mekabel isur melacha early, but you can't make it sukkahs early. It doesn't become sukkahs. And therefore, you have the mitzvah of eating the kezayis in the sukkah, just like the first night of Pesach, you have to eat a kezayis matzah after nightfall. So the first night of sukkahs, you have to eat a kezayis of bread in the sukkah after nightfall. And it is on this mitzvah that you say Shehecheyanu. Shehecheyanu is part of kiddush. So you can't do kiddush early because Shehecheyanu then will not be associated with the mitzvah of, of, of, uh, L'hadrik sukkah, which only starts, so to speak, um, fully with the confidence after nightfall. So therefore, the first night, that's clear. Now, the problem here is the second night of sukkahs. The second night of sukkahs, the Shehecheyanu is said before L'hadrik sukkah, and that's bec-- that, um, that's our minhag, and many have that minhag. And because of the Shehecheyanu said before L'hadrik sukkah, so then why can't you do kiddush early and say Shehecheyanu, and then, uh, a little bit

10:11 later have, um, have some challah and, uh, do your L'hadrik sukkah. This is, this is kind of the discussion. And here we have the of the Ramoh in . The first night. So he lived in Krakow. Does he mean just the first night, or does he mean the first nights? So here, the Mishnah Brurah in the Biur Halacha discusses this, and he says possibly the se-- he quotes from Print the Godin, the second night, since you're saying first Shehecheyanu then sukkah, then you could do possibly kiddush earlier, and you'd say Shehecheyanu at kiddush, and you'd have your haMotzi a little bit later or after nightfall. Then he entertains that possibly you should be allowed to even have your haMotzi during bein hashmashot, not before, um, before sunset, but during twilight. You should be allowed to, just like Sefirat HaOmer is many communities will do Sefirat HaOmer bein hashmashot. The reason being, Sefirat HaOmer is midirabonon, and we have a rule, a sofek derabonon, we take the lenient view. So okay, just like sofek derabonon, um, uh, is the cooler, and therefore you can do Sefirat HaOmer during bein hashmashot. It's sofek sofek d'oraysa. You can do Sefirat HaOmer during twilight. So the same thing, the second night of sukkahs, which is the mitzvah, is second day of Yom Tov is clearly only midirabonon. Therefore, you should be allowed to fulfill the mitzvah of eating the first kezayis, so to speak, after nightfall. Therefore, after sunset should be enough. That is one way of looking at

11:52 it. The, then the Mishnah Brurah says the other way that I'm not so sure about that because Sefirat HaOmer is entirely derabonon. Every day is derabonon. Perhaps the idea of eating a sukkah the f-first night, first night is deorayta, therefore perhaps the second night shouldn't be different to the first night. So really, there's a-- the Mishnah Brurah struggles with this, and it looks like the bottom line is that one should- Um, make a point of having the f-- the beginning of the meal, the first kasais of, o-of, of challah should be after nightfall, the second night of Sukkot also. And as a result, there's no point in making kiddush much earlier because most of us are kind of programmed that as soon as we've eaten, as soon as we've ma-we've made kiddush, we expect to be able to eat challah right away. Let's go on to the next question. Um, that is, I s-- I, uh, I got a WhatsApp before, before, uh, Simchat Torah on, on, on Shemini Atzeret, and it was a list of pointers, uh, for running a successful Simchat Torah. It was written in writ. Says gear primarily to, uh, H-Hebrew-speaking, uh, community. It doesn't matter. Uh, o-overall, the points, I think were very, very good points. Uh, points about singing and so on. But one of the things that he's, he wrote there is about having l'chaim in the shul whilst you're having hakafos. Okay. Uh, but then he goes into a bit more detail of having a bottle of

13:28 l'chaim on the bimah. And if you're worried that the velvet cover will get ruined by the spilled l'chaim, so then he recommends you get a plastic cover over the, over the velvet. Okay. So this bothered me a little bit, whether this is legitimate stuff to be, uh, to be putting a bottle of vodka on a, the Shulchan Aruch on the, on the bimah where you place the Sefer Torah. Uh, I-- yesterday morning, I had posted these questions, uh, and, um, in the Hebrew, uh, uh, session, Hebrew, Hebrew ashir. And one shliach said to me that twenty years ago they had received a new Sefer Torah, look, for Rosh Hashanah, and on Simchat Torah, the Sefer Torah was on the bimah by day, obviously, and people were saying l'chaim, and someone was holding a glass of vodka, and someone pushed him somehow. Don't ask why that happened, but it was Simchat Torah. And sadly, the liquid, the vodka, landed on the open Sefer Torah, and it actually ruined several columns of the writing. And since then, they've made a, a, an amendment, a bylaw, that they don't have any mashke anywhere near the open Sefer Torah, which I think is, makes perfect sense. But we're coming back to the question, is it legitimate to put down a bottle of vodka on the bimah? Uh, by extension, I once put down my hat at, on the bimah, and I think it was Rabbu Lippa of Alava Shalom who pointed out to me that it's not appropriate. You

15:10 don't put your hat on the bimah. So let's read this inside the Shulchan Aruch. This is Siman Kuf, Nun Dalet. Talks about the oroyn and the various appurtenances for the Sefer Torah. You could make a tenai, a condition, pro-proviso, that they should, you should be permitted to do other things other than just the sacred use for Sefer Torah. And indeed, there are more adds. It's customary to do various things with the, the, the things in the Se-- in the shul. The, um, the covers for the, uh, Seforim and the sh-- et cetera. And the reason why people are lenient is because kivshe'nargu kei, since it's become so widespread that we people will use the bimah, a cover, for other things, and it's, ef shliach, you can't expect the people to be totally, um, careful about this. So lei veizt in masna lei meikara. It's as if there's been a clause that this should be permitted, so that, that it's not a total kedusha. So this explains why, for example, in many shuls, well, certainly sidurim and, uh, you know, not the Sefer Torah are put on the bimah. But even the tzedakah pushkas, tzedakah boxes, they're, uh, they're not sacred as such, but since that's, they are, they are there in the shul for encouraging mitzvah of tzedakah, et cetera. So it's common that they are put on the, on the bimah, and so that's, that's legitimate because of lei veizt in masna. The Mishnah Berurah quotes the Eliya Rabba. So here we have at

16:45 the bottom of the screen, we've got the Eliya Rabba who, um, writes the following. That, that permission to use the bimah, et cetera, for other things is a deochek. It's with under duress we've confound this, this, uh, heter. And then he add, "De davka bemashe mevura min hago lahokel." Those kind of uses, which is well known that people take the liberty of using the bimah for, that you can do. "Avu bemashe einu min hago, ein lonu lahokel." But that which is not common practice to use the bimah for, you may not use the bimah for, um, because of the kedusha. So you, although there is a, a tenai, so to speak, it's not totally kadosh, but still to use it for not, not the regular uses, so then you wouldn't be allowed to. On that, so on that basis, to put your hat down on the bimah is not appropriate. Um, besides just not derech eretz, but it's also because it's got a kedusha. And similarly, the bottle of mashke and the vodka, as sacred as vodka on the, and, uh, on the Simchat Torah may be, but it doesn't justify having it on the bimah because of the kedusha of, of the bimah for what it's designated for. Okay, let's now go on to another Simchat Torah question. And here's the other end of the spectrum. Here we talk... That l'chaim was obviously only for adults. Um- But here we're talking about inflatable Sifrei Torah for children. They used to have these cloth cuddly

18:29 Sifrei Torah. In my age, we used to have, you know, printed Sifrei Torah, which you would roll back and forth. Um, what's become more popular, these cuddly ones. But of late, there's a new i-innovation, and they are inflatable plastic Sifrei Torah. So, I know a Shliach who bought about a hundred of them to give out to the children who are coming to Hakafot. It's beautiful. And, well, a hundred inflatable ones means they have to be inflated somehow. Are you allowed to inflate those things on Yom Tov, Shabbos or Yom Tov? So this also will, uh, include various inflatables. Let's say, um, inflatable mattress, um, a ball, a balloon. So balloons are ch- usually tied with a knot, and therefore that's out of the question. You can't tie a knot. There are ways of doing balloons without making a knot. You can... There's, like, the twisty around the stick, uh, end, special sticks for supporting balloons. Would you be allowed to blow up such a balloon? So there could be an argument it is kind of a Tikun Keili. The balloon is made to entertain in its full blown-out form, and when it's just a little squashy thing, um, in a bag, so then it's, it's not fulfilling its purpose. So you've kind of brought it to its Shlemus. So there is an argument not to, uh, blow up balloons on, on, uh, Shabbos and Yom Tov, even th- beyond the question of tying a knot. What... Here you have in Siman Shin Mem, in the

20:01 Piskei Teshuvas, he, the last paragraph, if on the screen, he says, "I want to diff- draw a distinction. There are the inflatables which are just inflatables, and then you unf- deflate them, and you put them back. And there are those inflatables which are for a long, usually for a prolonged period." And so to inflate something which is just for the few minutes whilst you're playing, and then you're going to deflate it, that would be okay. That's not called Tikun Keili. Whereas the kind of inflatable which you would keep inflated for a prolonged period, then that should be seen as a Tikun Keili. It's like he mentions here in the context about putting stuffing, um, feathers or other stuffing into a cushion. Would that be allowed on Shabbos? Your, th- a cushion, here's a c- pillowcase of sorts, and it's not usable as a pillow. And now by stuffing the stuffing, you're making it into a, a usable pillow. So it's a Tikun Keili. You're, you're fixing up something, a, a usable item. And so similarly, I guess, so with a, um, a mattress or something like that, um, might be a problem of Tikun Keili. Okay. That's that. Let's go on to the next thing, which is, I found something surprising this week, and that is about folding serviettes or American napkins into, uh, let's say the shape of a bird or something. So we all know what the word origami is, and that is like folding paper into shape of a ship, shape of

21:32 a boat or of a hat, or et cetera. And this is, there is discussion about, that's what the Shmiras Shabbos Kehilchasa says in the lower quote, not to make toys out of boy- uh, folding paper like a boat or a hat because it's like making a Keili. But in the earlier quote, the, where, which is, um, Seif Lamid Alef. Sorry. Uh, Seif Yud Alef. Um, so he writes that you should not fold serviettes in a particular shape as one would do for hosting guests. You can fold them just plain, but not to form something like this is a bird or something. That's what he seems to be saying. He's quoting, Shin Kuf Samach Gimel in his notes. He's quoting from Rav Oyerbach, our Refaim Zalman. He says, "Doyma Lebinyan," folding in the form of a bird or something is like you're constructing a bird. Um, now here it's quite interesting that Rebbe, Rabbi Yissochor Forchtheimer, zal zayn gezunt, disagrees with this Psak, and he says that Boyner, the term Boyner means taking various components and bringing them together. That's what a building is. You take bricks, and you stick them together, and you have a structure. Uh, making plaits, taking strands of hair and pro- creating a structure is Boyner. Making cheese, you take particles, the milk solids, you mash them together, and you created a block of cheese. It's Boyner. But to take a piece of paper and fold it where there's no Boyner there, are you going to say that it's like you're

23:09 taking Keili, you're making a Keili? So he says, since it's going to... It's not gonna be k- last. It's gonna be p-put at the table, and five minutes after the people have sat down, they're going to be, they're gonna be dismantled. They're gonna be just using for wiping their hands, et cetera. Because it's so short-term, he says it is okay. So I found that surprising, but it's, it-- good to share, um, you know, interesting, an interesting Psak. So Shmiras Shabbos Kehilchasa is actually a Machmir on this, and Rav Forchtheimer, um, in a very respectful way, but disagrees. He says it is okay. Um, s- question number seven, and that is, I've been asked, "What's the significance of the barcode on our Tallisim?" Chabad Tallisim have got particular type of stripes, um, different to... But, uh, actually, I, uh, I was tempted, I was... You might find this funny, but I was tempted to take a Lubavitch Tallis into a store, into a shop, and ask them to scan it with their barcode and to see what numbers it comes up with. Um, I didn't get round to that, and, um, if anyone does, d- I dare you and tell me what results you come up with. But meanwhile, what is the, the, the background to the particular Chabad style is actually a Munkatcher style. And the Rebbe Rashab apparently at one stage had gotten a Munkatcher Tallis, and he liked it, and that's how it became the Lubavitch style. But actually, it's not. Nothing, nothing

24:38 specifically Lubavitch about it, um, other than, you know, it's been adopted for the last c- century, approximately. The general Minhag of having stripes on the Tallis, black stripes. So here we have on, on the screen from Rabbi Yochanan Gorari's Sefer called Tzitzis Halach LaMaase, and he says, "Y- there are those who have a custom to color the edge of the Tallis, Zecher L'Techeles, to, uh, the commemoration for the Techeles, which the Techeles had a, uh, remembrance, re- like of the sky, and therefore, the techelet is presumed to be blue. Or some do a, a black color. And in, in the notes, there's a lot of discussion what exactly is the color of techelet. Although we normally think it's blue, some have a d-- have diff-- there's different versions about this. And so the... Basically, this is the reason for the black stripes on Taz Cotton, Taz Girdle. It is zecher l'techelet. Um, then we have there the note. Then it says, "Further, those, now, those who are particular that it should be totally white, or the tallit should be totally white without any other color." Um, now, in the notes, he gives a reference to the memoirs of the late Reb Yehuda Hitrik. Rabbi Hitrik was, got married around 1924 in communist Russia, and he needed to get hold of a tallis. And where he was, there was no tallisim available, and he writes how he wrote a letter to Dubrovno. He was involved in money fundraising for the yeshiva at the time, and so

26:19 he, there was a contact in Dubrovno, and he knew that back in the day of the Tzemach Tzedek, Tzemach Tzedek had a colleague called Reb Nechemya Fradkin. He was known more, more well known as Divrei Nechemya. And he was not a Rov. He de-declined to be a Rov. Instead, he was a fabrikant of tallisim. He was a manufacturer. He had a factory in Dubrovno of making tallisim. So Rabbi Hitrik, many years after Reb Nechemya Drobd-- um, Fradkin's times, writes a letter to Dubrovno, and he asks, "Is there still a factory of tallisim in Dubrovno? And if there is, am I able to ask you to-- can I buy a tallis and you can send it to me?" The fellow, his contact, who was like the Gabbai tzaddik in Dubrovno, writes back, "Yes, indeed there is. And, um, I actually run that factory. Unfortunately, we've run out of black thread, so the tallisim which we're producing now are just white. But I'd like to reassure you that there's a very prominent Rov in Yekaterinoslav," or I'm not sure whether it's Ten-- Dnepropetrovsk. That's Reb Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn, the Rebbe's father. He didn't say the Rebbe's father at the time. This is 1924. But he says there is the, the, the, he's, you know, uh, very respected, and he actually, in the, back in the day, had asked Midafka to make a tallis only white without any black stripes because al pi kabbalah, uh, there's no need for any of those black stripes. The tallis should be

27:56 all white. And so, "Don't feel bad, I'll send you, uh, just a white tallis." So that's quite interesting that Reb Levi was, um, particular. The tallis should be-- shouldn't have any black stripes. We know that Sefardim, Sefardi tallisim tend to be just plain white. We know that there are those who have blue stripes. I'm talking about Ashkenazim, um, have the blue stripes. It makes more sense of zecher l'techelet. Okay, one more point about that. Uh, the Rebbe, when he wore his tallis, would kind of sh-- um, roll in the sides of the tallis onto his shoulder rather than, uh, sh-- rolling the tallis in a way outwards, so to speak, where the black stripes would be visible. They were more rolled in, in that way that the black stripes were less visible. From the back, for sure, you couldn't see any, any black stripes. And the, uh, you know, those who know everything would, would say that the Rebbe would do so for the reason of, um, that to follow his father's preference, that the tallis should all be all white. So by rolling the black out of sight, so it's all white. Okay, let's go on to the next question. And someone asked me, uh, this past week that he noticed that during Yom Tov, we, in the davening, we say, "Be'yom hag ha'sukkat hazeh, be'yom tov mikra kodesh hazeh." When it comes Chol Hamoed, and that-- Sorry. Also, in bentching, um, zachrinu, um, we, we say, um, "Be'yom hag ha'sukkat hazeh, be'yom tov

29:38 mikra kodesh hazeh." It comes Chol Hamoed, so in Yaaleh Veyavo, both in bentching and in davening, it's just, "Be'yom hag ha'sukkat hazeh," and "yom mikra kodesh hazeh" is dropped. Whereas in Musaf, during Chol Hamoed, we say, "Be'yom hag ha'sukkat hazeh, be'yom mikra kodesh hazeh," not "yom tov," "yom, yom mikra kodesh hazeh." So is Chol Hamoed mikra kodesh or is it not mikra kodesh? This is the question which he was asking, and I was happy to be able to answer. I, I remember years ago, the late Rav Ashkenazi of Far Chabad had written about this, and he points to this se'if in the beginning of Hilchas Shabbos in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, Siman Resh Mem Beis. What is it? Well, he says here, the-- Let's read this. We have a, a few minutes. Let's read it carefully. Um, we've got two, two requirements for Shabbos stipulated in the deveyim, and that's the idea of kavod and oneg. As it says, "Ve'karosu leShabbos, la Shabbos oneg, l'kavod Hashem v'chubod." And, well, ikar min haTorah, it says, "Kodesh Hashem," the day which is holy for Hashem, which is sacred to Hashem. And then he says, "VehaShabbos is bechal mikraei kodesh." Shabbos is included in the term mikraei kodesh. As we have the referred to as mikra kodesh. It's, it's called mikra kodesh. There's a whole pilpul in the Gemara Chagigah there. In relation to korbonos, Chol Hamoed is called mikra kodesh. But as a day of, of being s-a-a-sanctified, certainly isu malacha, that, that doesn't-- That, that's

32:50 not true for Chol Hamoed. Malacha, all right. Some malachas are permitted. It's not like Shabbos and Yom Tov. So the full mikra kodesh does not apply to Chol Hamoed, only in the context of korbonos. I remember discussing with Rav Shlomo Ashkenazi, what do you mean by, for korbonos? And the way he understood was that mikra kodesh means you call people to gather around for this special occasion, and the idea of gathering people in honor of the korbon. So whereas other days perhaps not, but on Yom Tov, where the Yom Tov is called mikra kodesh. So for the korban, there would be an emphasis of getting a crowd of people to be present at those korbonos. So therefore, to conclude our point here, the concept of mikra kodesh on Chol Hamoed is only in the context of korbonos. Which now explains why in Musaf, which is commemorating the extra korbonos of the Yom Tov, of the Chala- of, of the Moed, which is, let's say, Chol Hamoed also. Therefore, in Musaf, it's called Yom mikra kodesh. But at benching or at the other three tefillahs, Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv, uh, that's not as-- They are not associated with the korbonos. Chol Hamoed is not called mikra kodesh in that context. So that's, I think, I think fairly clear. Um, very brief, but I think very clear that Chol Hamoed is only mikra kodesh in relation to korbonos, and therefore mikra kodesh is only mentioned at Musaf in Chol Hamoed. Okay, let's go on. So someone writes to

34:29 me just yesterday. He asks me, "Why is it that on Rosh..." Was it yesterday? Was it Friday? It was two days ago, whatever. Uh, he writes to me, "Why is it that on Rosh Chodesh, where we have a rearrangement of the sequence of davening, where we normally, on a regular weekday, it's Ashrei Avot, and then Shir Shel Yom. On Rosh Chodesh, right after Hallel, we say Shir Shel Yom, and after Krias HaTorah, Ashrei Avot, and then we go into Musaf." But that wasn't his main question. His main question was about why is Beit Yaakov, Y'hey Sh'ma D'chanu, and Sh'ma Koleinu, why are those items dropped on Rosh Chodesh? So the change of sequence, I told him there's actually a fascinating letter of the Rebbe. This is in Igros Kodesh and published various other places, where the Rebbe compares, goes through the Seder of davening, al pi halacha and pi kabbalah, and he explains very carefully, um, clearly why the Alter Rebbe put Shir Shel Yom where he put it. As you know that Nusach Ashkenaz have Shir Shel Yom after davening totally, whatever. And it's going, that's all al pi halacha and pi kabbalah. But meanwhile, let's keep to the one question, why is Beit Yaakov, uh, missed out on Rosh Chodesh? And I pointed out to him that also on Tisha B'Av, where, uh, at Mincha, before Mincha, we make up for the pieces missed at Shacharit. So we say Shir Shel Yom, and we say Kaveh, but we do not say, not spelt

36:15 out, and we don't, like I don't say Beit Yaakov when we resume, um, the, the davening on Tisha B'Av at, at Mincha. And what I told him is that, look at those words, "Beit Yaakov, l'chu venecha b'eir Hashem." Let's go in the light of Hashem. All the other nations, each one goes in the name of their God, and we go out in the name of Hashem. May Hashem be with us as He was with our forefathers. He shouldn't neglect us, um, et cetera. And so, the way I felt is that the, these pieces are being said as we're nearing the end of davening. We're about to go out. That's also why Aleinu Leshabeach is said at the end of davening. We-- Before we go out to the street, we acknowledge that we are the Abish's children and Aleinu Leshabeach, and we're not like the Goy Ha'Aratzos. That's, by the way, why the Goyim actually hated the Aleinu Leshabeach. As you may know, there were times where there was decrees to, uh, to stop saying Aleinu Leshabeach. A whole story in, in, with the Baal Shem Tov, with the Rabbeim, uh, HaKohen Rapaport. At any rate, so this is a similar vein. You're about to go out So you're saying Beis Yaakov, you're saying Beis Yaakov. On Rosh Chodesh, you're not ready to go out yet. You still have Mussar ahead, and as therefore, you don't say those, those pieces. Similarly, on Tisha Bav when, when you, you're just starting your resumption of davening, so it's

37:41 not-- you're not going out, so there's no point in saying Beis Yaakov LeChaver Elchon. You're not going anywhere. You're actually going to stay now. You're gonna put on a, you know, your rashis and the daven, uh, you know, the, the daven Mincha with Krias HaTorah, et cetera. You're, you're not going anywhere. That's the way I answered him. I took out the Shara Chalom, who is slightly different. He says a slightly different idea. He says that these prayers are, um, he says that they are tefillas to... That your tefillah should be accepted. You're finishing off the davening, and it's a tefillah that your tefillah should be accepted. So again, it's the same idea that it's your ending davening. So because those-- they're at the end of davening, that's why they are said. When they are-- when Shush Aryoimis said earlier on, so it's not the end of davening, that's why those th-- pieces are dropped. Okay, um, let's go on here. And here we have a-- I got a question just yesterday, and that is that a child was involved in a car accident and Baruch Hashem, no, was not harmed. And does the child have to say Birkat HaGomel? So here we have from the Alter Rebbe, say the Birkat HaNe'ene. And he says-- So the question was whether the child should say Birkat HaGomel, should the father say Birkat HaGomel. So here we have a clear, um, psak that a Koton Ein Tzorich LeChaydos, a child does not say Birkat HaGomel, a filu higiya

39:16 lechinuch mitzvah. Even if it's old enough for chinuch to s-say brachas, still should not say, uh, Birkat HaGomel. The reason for this is because the pos-- the bracha is saying, "Hagoim El HaChayovim Toyvos," is giving those who are culpable, he gave them good. A child is not culpable. A chi-child is not chayim, and therefore, there's no point in him saying, "Hagoim El HaChayovim Toyvos." Then there's a further aspect that a child, if Chas Veshalom, there's a tragedy with a child, sometimes it's got to do with the parent. Says, says Chazal in some places that, that sometimes a parent is punished, Rachman Liblan, and, and it's the, and it's, it's through the child's suffering. Um, and therefore, that's another argument. If the child would say, "Hagoim El HaChayovim Toyvos," who says you're Chayav Bil'alal. Perhaps what happened to you, the trauma which you went through, that wasn't Bil'alal, you have yourself. It was, it was your parents' account which unfortunately you were paying. Theref- those are the arguments, uh, about not, not saying Hagoim El HaChayov. Um, why should the father not be saying? Well, simply, on the other hand, there is this idea of thanksgiving is should be personal. The person himself who had the, uh, trauma should be the one who should be saying the thanks, and someone else would not be able to say that they are, you know, they, they, they, they're the Chayovim and, and as a result, what we, we don't find delegating. The Birkat HaGomel, we don't find, certainly

40:54 not in, in our circles, about delegating. I have heard in some yeshivas, it comes the beginning of the Sefirah and all the bachurim who come from overseas all want to say Birkat HaGomel. I said, "But yeshiva, four hundred bachurim, it can take, uh, an hour for everyone to say Birkat HaGomel." So in some yeshivas, they have that one bachur says HaGomel on behalf of everyone. Other poskim not, are not happy with that at all, and they're saying that, "No, it has to be that each person has to say their own HaGomel. Thanking through someone else is not adequate. You should be actually thanking, um, on your own." Um, finish off. You can hear the music outside, so I'm going to try to be mikatzer, and that is about saying, um, Lecha V'sucha At Havdalah. The way I left it last week was that in the Reshimas, it looks like the head of saying Lecha V'sucha At Havdalah is associated with the fact that they were going to eat shortly afterwards. That was how it was in the Reshimas from Tzadik Alef, from Tzadik Zain, et cetera. But then someone pointed out to me that, and I remember this myself, that, um, I think it was Tof Shin Mem Gimel, appa-- I think it was that year. And at the end of Maariv, at the end of, what it was, it was second night of Yom Teruah, it was Shabbos Chalamoied, and there was a surprise. In seven seventy downstairs, right, we're sit-- and we're near

42:20 the front, and suddenly we hear a very loud voice. And there was Reb Yudel Keller, alav ha-shalom. And what they did, behind the Rebbe's place by the fabregen, there are those colored windows, uh, horizontal slats. And they took out one of those units where the air conditioners were, somewhere around there, and they built a small sukkah at the back of the sh- at the shul. And Rabbi Keller had such a powerful voice that he was able to say Havdalah in the sukkah at the back of seven seventeen. You could hear him clear, clearly all the way at the front. It was like a, quite a novelty at the time. And apparently, well, he did-- Apparently, the Rebbe had once asked, "Why didn't he say Lecha V'sucha?" That's what I'm, I'm told, but this is all hearsay. And subsequently, he would say Lecha V'sucha. Also, here we have in the Otes Minhogim Chabad, in Tof Shin Daled, Rabbi Sholom Khasikin is saying that the Rebbe, that the Frediker Rebbe said to say Lecha V'sucha. He doesn't talk about whether with a meal or not. And Rabbi Monson, alav ha-shalom, he also says that the Rebbe in-- when he saw in Tof Shin Kof Tes told people to say, um, um, to say Lecha V'sucha At Havdalah. Again, I don't know whether it was near a meal or not and who it was. I don't know the details. So I, I'm, I'm left with a li-- interesting dilemma. How did this, how did this morph? If in

43:41 the Tzadik's, in the, uh, nineteen thirties, the, this was seemed to be associated, davka, with a subsequent meal, how did it then morph to, uh, with the confidence you say Lecha V'sucha At Havdalah even when there's no meal associated? I don't know how that developed, and I'm, I'm, I'm curious. And meanwhile, I'm going to wish you a good night, a Good Shabbos, and, uh, a gute Chodesh, and al gute zachen, and we should meet in good health. Um, next week, uh, this is important. Next week, we change the clock, this Motzei Shabbos, apparently. And so next week, I want to switch to the Motzei Shabbos slot. Instead of Thursday night, to have the Shiur in Motzei Shabbos, and, uh, I hope that's gonna be okay with, with you and with, um, I hope for hopefully more people. I will be out of the country, so I hope to be able to-- Um, and I would like to do it at seven thirty rather than eight thirty to allow the rest, the rest of the evening to do other activities. Um, I'll keep you posted, Beth Hashem, closer to the time. And so I wish you all a guten Shabbos. Zait aleich iz.