תולדות תשפ״ג

00:04 A gutov and, uh, bruchim haboim. Welcome to all those who are joining here with us tonight. It's Motza'i Shabbos, Parashat Toldot, going into, uh, Beis Kislev, into Chodesh Kislev, Shenas HaKheel. So we have here a Hakheel, a virtual Hakheel, Baruch Hashem. And, uh, regards from the Kinat Hashluchim. Uh, we'll come back to some of those ideas soon. But meanwhile, I want to say a couple of words in memory of the, uh, the Dayan, Aaron Troy, alav hashalom, who passed away this past week. He, uh, was a great friend, uh, Ish Yoshro, a, a person who was very, uh, straight and supportive. I had occasion to be in the Beis Din for a bit of practice on gittin, et cetera, and he was very welcoming. Also, uh, as far as the Mekos Rabboni Europa, there was a time where the, the Edas Rabboni, the Rab- European conference, and I went, went there as they encouraged Lubavitch Rabbonim to go there. And we met at the station, and he was-- says, "Yes, the Lubavitch Rabbonim belong there. They, that's, they, they, they deserve to be recognized in the Edas Rabboni Europa." But, uh, and he was always a supportive person, and, uh, yehi zichro baruch. Let's go to our first shail-- first shailah of, of the week, and that is, I was last Shabbos at the Ohel, and one of the guests from Eretz Yisrael benches Hagomel, and everyone responds, "Amen. Mi shegemol chol tov u'yegmeil chol tov. Selah." And he says, "Amen." And this is the

01:58 first time I've noticed this, and I was a bit surprised, and he was surprised that I'd never heard of it. So this is, uh, quite interesting. When it comes to Borchu, so the Alter Rebbe writes in the siddur not to answer Amen. So says, says that the, the Rav, the Chazan says, "Baruch Hashem ham'vorach." And then the tzibbur say, "Baruch Hashem ham'vorach l'olam va'ed." Now, the Chazan is not gonna be outdone, so he also says-- he joins in with the tzibbur. He also says, "Baruch Hashem ham'vorach l'olam va'ed." So then the tzibbur and the Rav say, "Amen." So the Alter Rebbe takes exception to this. He says like this. The Chazan has said, "Baruch Hashem ham'vorach l'olam va'ed," to acknowledge that he's joining in with the tzibbur. So what's the point of the tzibbur saying, "Amen," when the Chazan has just affirmed that he agrees with them? So why are they saying amen? So there it's superfluous. But here it's actually different. Here, what's happened? A person has gone through some, uh, trauma, whatever, and he said a bracha. He thanks Hashem for having come through safely. And see, and for his thanking Hashem, so the assembled say, "Amen." And they also add a bracha. They add a bracha that just like you've been given good at this occasion, you should be given good forever. So that's a new bracha. So the chareidi should make ours amen. And indeed, this is the minhag Sefardim. This you can see, you have on the screen, Ben Ish

03:41 Chai in Parashat Eikev. I saw it in several-- as I do, uh, doing a bit of research, I saw it in several Sefardic siddurim. So he says, "Before you said Birkat Hagomel." So the Sefardim would say, "Baruch ata Hashem elokeinu melech ha'olam," and say, "Shechamrnu ad" And then you make a bracha, "Hagomel chayon tov u'she'me'alania." And then they, um, res-- the people listening will respond with, "Yigmol chol tov. Selah. Hu hai macharim, ama ken yerotz." So the, the one who's saying the bracha will acknowledge the bracha of the assembled to him with amen. Amen ken yerotz. So this is a Sefardic shaminic. Uh, I don't know why it's not also a minhag by Ashkenazim. We do also answer amen to a bracha, not a formal bracha. If someone gives you a, a wish, we'll say amen to that wish. So why, why not after, um, um, Birkat Hagomel? I don't know the answer. Just derech agav, a shliach sent me, uh, an email this week, or by WhatsApp, that he lives in a town where there's no minyan. So should he say Birkat Hagomel now, or should he wait? Could be a few weeks till the next time he's-- has a minyan. So I, uh, wrote back to him. Birkat Hagomel has to be with 10 people. There's no, none, there's-- Uh, you, you see the lotion, um, be- be- became, uh, no, whatever the lotion is, the possuk, be- be- behalal on. It has to be in Edo. It has to be 10 people.

05:11 So you can't say Birkat Hagomel without a minyan. So, uh, tell him just, you know, have to wait. That's all. Um, yeah. Let's go on. Okay. So when I was in Eretz Yisrael recently, I noticed the custom there. Now, then we know that they've got Birkat Kohanim every day in many places. The custom there is to have a little, uh, like a rug on the floor in front of the Aron Kodesh, and the Kohanim stand on the rug. So someone this past week asked me a question, since we've been discussing a bit about Birkat Kohanim recently. He asked, "What's the significance of this rug?" On a very simplistic level, I thought it's simply that the Kohanim are taking off their shoes, and if it's in a, in marble floor or stone floor, it's cold, so, uh, put a rug there that they shouldn't have to stand on the cold floor. But in the- Piskei Teshuvas in Siman Kuf Chof Ches, which all about Birchas Kohanim. So we have the idea of duchan. The word duchan means a platform. He says it's in Arabic. I don't speak Arabic very well, but he says it means a platform. Fine. And, um, the Kohanim, we have the of Oy Le-Duchan. It's actually a bit confusing because the duchan in the Beis Hamikdash was actually-- is actually the platform where the Leviim stand to sing, et cetera. And the Kohanim, their position for Birchas Kohanim is on the steps, on the 12 steps leading up to the Ulam. If

06:49 there weren't enough-- wasn't enough space on the steps of the Ulam, then they would-- the overflow would go to the Duchan HaLeviim. But it's curious how in-- over the years, it's generally, it's changed that we, uh, use duchanim for Kohanim. As we know, we have, uh, we say every morning and evening. But now duchan is understood as, it's, it's, it's a Kohanim thing. As it may, may be. But the, uh, the Kohanim also, it is that they would stand on a platform. And, um, it's preferable that the Kohanim should stand on something a little bit raised up. And he even mentions that there are those that say it should be more than three, three Tefachim. And in the absence of, of a platform, so that's where we have the idea of this rug is like in absence where there's-- a platform is not practical to have at least a rug. So I found this very interesting because when it comes to Shemoneh Esreh, you have on the side, on the, uh, the second-- the, on the left-hand side of your screen, you have here a quote that Shemoneh Esreh, you're not allowed to stand on a raised platform. Uh, you shouldn't be standing on a step. So in here, here's the opposite. Why is Birchas Kohanim davka on a raised platform and Shemoneh Esreh is not on a raised platform? Davka not. So here you have the . One should not be professing high, uh, height, um, um, pride before Hashem. So when we stand,

08:39 we stand in, in, in prayer, we stand in, in a humble position. So that's why we don't stand on a, on a raised platform. So why is it appropriate for the Kohanim to stand on a raised platform? And just before getting into the, this Bier, which is a beautiful, interesting thing. Just practically, uh, in Chabad, lav davka, this, this rug. In some places, sometimes they did put a rug in our shuls. Uh, lav davka. In five seventy, the earlier years, there were, there was no platform in the front. The Rebbe stood on the floor level, and the Kohanim, I presume, also stood on the, on the floor level. In the lam-- in the late Lamed, for Tishri, they made a platform for the Rebbe just for Tishri, and then, uh, uh, from that point onwards. Now, that was only for Tishri. Later years, it became the platform was there for the whole year. But that platform, so the Kohanim-- the Rebbe would go for duchanim for Birchas Kohanim. The Rebbe would go down from the platform, stand on the floor level, and the Kohanim, whoever could, would scramble up onto the Rebbe's platform to be able to be face to face to the Rebbe. Uh, there were plenty, plenty of Kohanim who didn't fit up there, and they would on- be on the floor. So this idea of having a, a rug on the floor for the Kohanim wasn't, was, as for my knowledge, wasn't a standard thing in Chabad, but it does happen in

10:08 other places. And so this is where we're talking about the minhag of giving the Kohanim a pedestal. So the answer to this is why is Kohanim, Birchas Kohanim with a pedestal and Shemoneh Esreh davka on the floor? With ano-- explain with another thing. That the Kohanim stand with their back to the Aron Kodesh, which is, what's the Pshat? So the Pshat is the Kohanim are not standing there to do their own piece. The Kohanim are there standing up front, and they are relaying Hashem's bracha. So this-- as if they are in front of the royal palace, and they are giving over the word of Hashem to the-- the bracha of Hashem to the congregation. So it's not that they're turning their back on the palace. On the contrary, they're coming out with a message from the palace. So that's the significant meaning. And so that's why the Kohanim are standing with their back to the Aron Kodesh as rep-- um, facing the Kehillah. And that may also explain why they're standing on a pedestal. Because, again, they are here. They are the messengers of Hashem to give that bracha. Someone pointed out to me yesterday also it says in Poskim that when the Kohanim raise their hands in prayer-- blessing, they davka put their hands, uh, in the down position rather than the up position. But, you know, hands up is to receive. Your hands down is to give. This came up in the discussion about the Menorah. I mentioned yesterday, but I gave, gave

11:39 over the same vort yesterday in shul. So we have a few, few non-Chabad Hasidim there. And I, I thought it would be news to them, the whole Bier of the Rebbe, where the Rambam draws the Menorah. In Rambam, in Pirkei Avos, he draws the Menorah. So in the Chumash, in Parshas, is it Parshas Terumah? Describes the Menorah, and it has the cup features, g'viyim. And three cups on each, on each of the branches, and all those twenty-one cups in all, and one down the bottom. Okay. And the Rambam curiously does- Draws those cups inverted with a, with the mouth of the cup downwards. And the Rebbe says although the Rambam apologizes and he says that his drawing is not going to be totally accurate, but still to do 21 cups upside down is a bit more than doing just in, in accuracy. Obviously, he had an intention. We don't know the Rambam's source, but the Rebbe took the view that the Menorah, the Rambam's... the thought. Although we don't know the source, but the s- the thought about it is the Menorah has this message. It's relaying Hashem's light, the light of Kedusha, to the world. And therefore, and then we have the idea of the windows of the Beis Hamikdash being narrow on the inside and wide on the outside. It says in the Pasuk, by, uh, um, resembling a voice, So one of the pr- meanings of that is that, uh, Atumim is narrow on the inside and Skufim is wide on the

13:06 outside. And the message being, Uh, to, to radiate light to the whole world. Fine. So now, one thing leading to the other. My, um, my son, Jacob, Who's my technical advisor. He's the one who puts this shiur on various platforms, et cetera. So Kohelet Yoffre in, in taking, um, images and making them, um, what do you call it? A virtual reality. And he's been involved in a project of making a virtual reality Beis Hamikdash, and you put on those goggles and you feel-- you think you're inside the Beis Hamikdash. So you can walk around and you can go up and down and it's an amazing experience. So he was recently in- interviewed, um, when they had a Siman Rambam, Sefer Ha-Avoda. And so he shared with me the clip. So here you see the clip of the Menorah and the brown curtain at the back. Brown, red, whatever it is, is the Paroches to the Kodesh HaKodashim. And in front of it is the step. Now, we all know that the Menorah has three steps leading up to it. Rashi me- mentions it even in Chumash. So that, that we all know. But what bothers me... and if you want to look up the, um, the, the strip, you've got... whilst it's on the screen, you've got the, uh, link written on top left. You can see the link there. Make a note of it if you want to fo- follow it up. But meanwhile, uh, I was bothered by the fact that the Kohen

14:53 is lighting the Menorah and he's got his back to the Kodesh HaKodashim. It bothered me. And I asked my son, "Where'd you get it from?" So he says, "In the Rebbe's Reshimas, it has that the Kohen stands on the west, uh, when he lights the Menorah." So, okay. I che- I looked it up. And here we have them. This, there's the Rebbe's Reshimas HaMenorah, which he wrote, and it was only published after the, after Gimel Tammuz. Uh, it's... at the time, in the Nun Vov, approximately, it came out in 20 weekly, uh, booklets. Fascinating study of the Menorah, of the Menorah and the Beis Hamikdash. Let me explain something. There are two opinions in the Men- in the, in the Chazal whether the Menorah was placed, is placed, Sof in Vadorim or Mizrach Omeirav. Is it placed lengthways or is it placed widthways? If it's placed lengthways, which means that this end is near the west and this end is near the east. So which is the Ner Marovi? We've got the Ner Marovi, the western lan- lamp which burns so much longer than all the others. So you might have thought it's the last one. Actually, it's the second one. This is the extreme east. One step away from extreme east, that second one is called the Ner Marovi. But we are following at the moment the sh- other shita, the other opinion that the Menorah is miz-- is Sof in Vador. That one end is close to the north wall and, uh, and

16:25 the other end is close to the s- to the south wall. So which is the Ner Marovi? They're all equally close to the east and the west, as you see in the picture. So which is the Ner Marovi? The Ner Marovi is the middle one. Okay, let's point to the, to the screen. Ner Marovi is the middle one, and that is because each of the lamps has got a spout and a wick. And those spouts and the wicks are tilted, are, are, are inclined towards the middle one, with the exception of the middle one. And that middle one is tilted towards, inclined towards the west, to the, to the Kodesh HaKodashim, hence its name, Ner Marovi. Now, imagine if you are standing... if the Kohen would be standing on the other side of the Menorah, on the east side of the Menorah, and he has to light the Menorah. He has to light this wick, which is on the other side. So he's going to have to put his hands over the burning flames. It's gonna be quite awkward. And therefore, it makes perfect sense that he's standing on the west side to light the Menorah, the, the, the flame which is tilted to the west. So now let's read the Rebbe's lesson here. It's been, it's part of a long discussion, which we're not bringing here. That the Menorah, the Lo Kohen, who is fixing up and lighting the Menorah, is on the west side. Because the spout of the middle one is tilted

17:55 towards the west. So he shouldn't set alight his garments if he's gonna start switching over. In his siddur, Sorry. That the stone was, which this is the steps, the three steps. They were on the west. All right, that's as much as is relevant. So coming back to this thread, we've got the Kohenim standing by Birchas Kohenim with their backs to the Aron Kodesh. And the vort is because they are relaying Hashem's bracha, and they are-- that is wr- that is based upon the Kohenim standing on the Ma'alos Ha'Olam, on the steps of the Olam, with their backs to the Olam, with their backs to the Kodesh and the Kodesh HaKadashim. Again, the message is they are relaying Hashem's bracha. So I'm taking this one step further and to say that the fact that the Kohen is lighting the Menorah, he is relaying Hashem's light, the light of Kedusha, which starts from the Kodesh HaKadashim in, not in physical light, but in spiritual light. And from there, that light of Kedusha is spreading to the whole world. And therefore, he stands with his back to the Kodesh HaKadashim and lights the Menorah, and from the Menorah to spread light through the whole world. Okay, let's just see some of the chats here. Going back to the question of Goymel. There is indeed a preference to say Birchas HaGoymel within three days of arrival, et cetera. When it's not available, then it's, it will have to be delayed. But what can we do? It's, it's, uh, another

19:37 whole journey to find a minyan if in where he lives. Right. Someone is pointing out, uh, other diagrams which don't have the cups upside down. Okay. But, you know, the Rambam is still quite a good authority for us. Um, there's, there's a ma-- You're mentioning about the Kohenim raising their arms. How high? There-- So there is a, a opinion which says that the Kohen Gadol does not raise his hands higher than the bre- the head plate that sits. Okay, let's move on. Right. So now back to Crown Heights. So I'm davening in a shul, and it's a, it's a long, as in from, from sof into darom, it's very wide. And from front to back, it's quite narrow. But never mind. It's divided with a mechitza. So there's a first minyan starts in the one part, and then half an hour later starts a second minyan in the second part. So someone is sitting in the second part of the shul, and he's not in a rush, so he's learning some, uh, some Hasidas before davening. And someone comes over to him and he says-- the, the main shul, they just-- came to Kedusha, and he didn't join in to standing up for Kedusha. So someone ranked him out for this. Um, "Why didn't you stand up for Kedusha?" So he asks me. Why me? I don't know. Because, you know, I, I just... I'm sitting there in a shul. I've got a question mark on my forehead. So he comes over to me and

21:04 he says, um, "Do I have-- Am I mechuyav to stand up?" So here we have from, um, in Shulchan Aruch, in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch. And the lashon is very similar in the, in the Mechaber, in the, um... This is in Siman Nun Hey. And let's read the words. When we talk about being part of a minyan, then you'd have to be in the same room. If you already have 10 people in a room, and they are-- because they have the quorum, so they ha-- say in Kaddish of Kedusha, even any, anyone who is even in a different household together. If you hear a tzibbur saying Kedusha, you may say with them. And you have the idea of . There's the barrier. There's no barrier. And nevertheless, there is an opinion which says, if in between the listener and the tzibbur, there is either schmutz, as in human excrement, or avera zara, they create a barrier, and he cannot answer Amen. Look, I'm not going to go into that detail. I wouldn't... Perhaps we've discussed it before. But meanwhile, we have the lashon , . So there's a minyan davening, saying Kedusha. I'm in another room. I have . I'm allowed to join in. Does that mean I have to? So there are a minority of poskim who say yichel means not only you're allowed to, but you should. But the majority of poskim disagree with that, and they say yichel means you have the option. And the lower quote is from Reb Shlomo

23:00 Zalman Auerbach, and let's read his lashon. And he's talking about, um, You're in the shul. Never mind the cheder shain. You're in the shul. You're learning. You're not... Don't have to interrupt your learning to answer, answer Amen, . Kedusha, he says, "There, it's physically noticeable because in the Kedusha, everyone stands up. people bow, and people bow. If you're not gonna join in, it's going to be more noticeable. Therefore," he says, "you should interrupt to answer." So he's, he's saying basically it's optional, but if it's in the same room and it's gonna be noticeable, then you should be mafsik. But certainly then, if it's in another room, then we're going to use this principle of yichel lanu, which means you have the option, but you're not mechuyav to, to answer Amen, et cetera, uh, especially if you're in the middle of learning, et cetera. I had asked this question to Reb Zalman Schim in, uh, Borokin, alav ha-shalom, going back 40-something years ago. And I asked in reference to Semer 70, learning in Semer 70, and you've got minyanim at the side, one after the other. And he quoted the Gemara of, uh, one of the Amora'im who was learning on his own during Kriyat HaTorah. And when he was challenged, he said, . And the, the Meforshim say he had already heard Kriyat HaTorah, and he was-- so he was doing his own thing, and, uh, he'd not mo- So he, Reb Zalman Schim used the same principle. And the contemporary poskim also discuss what

24:39 do you do, let's say, by the Kos HaMarovi, where you've got many minyanim simultaneously, but they're not synchronized. So you're in the middle of your minyan, another minyan is up to somewhere else, and there is this view that you focus on what your minyan is doing, and you're not mechuyav to interrupt your davening for, for another minyan. So you can focus on your own unit. And als- they're not all identical situations, but that's the general drift. Let's move on. Okay. So one of our listeners asked me, he was challenged by some, um, la- lamdim about eating before davening on Shabbos morning, that you'd have to make kiddush. Now, this is actually the opinion of the, the Mishnah Berurah in Siman Reish Peh Tes, where they're discussing the dinim of Kiddush Hayom, Kiddush of the day. So the Mishnah Berurah in Bi'ur Halacha, he says, if a person, because of health reasons, needs to eat before davening, he needs to make kiddush. But the, there's many poskim who disagree with this. What I have in my notes is particularly the Keren LeDavid, who was a dayan in Satmar before the war, and then also the, uh, Shefer Hayyim, or I think that's the way it is. The, the, um, the clo- the late Klausenberger Rebbe also writes about this, but there's several seforim, several contemporary poskim take a lenient view. Let's take a look over here. This is from the Piskei Teshuva. "Lemaaseh, hamuskam lechol is moser." The general consensus is, a choile who has to

26:28 eat a little bit to give him strength, uh, even if he's having mezonos, does not make kiddush before davening because it's not the time for a seudah. Now let's scroll down. We'll look at the Alter Rebbe's lashon in two places, and it's curiously in Siman Peh Tes and Siman Reish Peh Tes. And here he talks about, he's talking about drinking. When he talks about drinking wine, water before davening, and even Shabbos and Yom Tov, you're allowed to drink before davening. And the fact that you haven't made kiddush doesn't matter. "Keyvan sheadain lo higiya zmanoi she'eino kiddush al hamakom seudah. Ein vahiyi shelech okel..." It's not, not time for eating. So you can argue, but he is eating, yeah. And here you have in the Siman Reish Peh Tes, "Ach mutar lishtis mai in koidem tfilas hashachar ki ve'shadain lo yichol olot vecheves kiddush." So we, we have this lashon of the Alter Rebbe that before Shacharit is not a mealtime, and therefore, there's no chiov of kiddush. I, I often emphasize to talmidim that if you eat before davening, it's not, it's not a mealtime. It's just to give you enough energy to be able to tide over till, that you shouldn't be disturbed if you're davening, and you should be able to focus on your davening. But it's not a, a time for a meal. It means to get, have your fill and, and if there's gonna be a more tasty kind of cake, so to, and yeah, well, o- on a Shabbos is

28:02 to have a more tasty cake. But before davening is not a time for eating. It's just, it's a time for if you need to have something to give you energy, but not, not, it's not a time for, uh, indulging. All right. Now, so th- this is where we see the consensus of the, uh, certainly the Chassidishe poskim, is that you don't have to make kiddush before Sha- before Shacharit. Now, what about... I was once at the Ohel for a Shabbos a few years ago, and perhaps it was summer. A bochur had, perhaps he was very busy with his torah the whole day. The poel at seven o'clock is looking for a rav. He had fallen asleep, davened ma'ariv, but he fell asleep without making kiddush. So now it's seven o'clock in the morning. He wants to have something to eat before davening. Does he have to make kiddush before davening? This is kiddush, the f- the long... In other words, if a person didn't make kiddush on Friday night, then on Shabbos day, they'd have to say the long kiddush with the long berakhah. "Barukh ata Hashem elokeinu melekh ha-olam borakh atah Hashem elokeinu melekh ha-olam shekidshanu bemitzvotav ve-tsivanu al l'kadesh shabbato." So does he, can he, uh, eat before davening or when, uh, when, uh... So here the Piskei Teshuva writes that if a person didn't make kiddush at night, and then he already has a chiov of kiddush, then he wouldn't be allowed to drink before davening because the fact that he's, uh,

29:23 already got the chiov of kiddush, so he's not allowed to drink. And then he writes in a note here that other, uh, others are more lenient. So this is very interesting. See, Friday night, you're not allowed to have a, um, eat a m- a drink before kiddush at all. It's not a question of, it's a ma'aseh seudah. There's a dinner. You're not allowed to eat or drink before kiddush. So the fact that you got up in the morning, but the chiov kiddush, which started already at nightfall, uh, remains there. That's the argument to say that you ha- are not, are not allowed to eat before kiddush, um, in the morning. The argument to the lenient is that it's not a ma'aseh seudah. At night, you make, you make kiddush because now is the time to go and have a seudah. But before Shacharit in the morning, it's not a ma'aseh seudah. So there are two opinions about this. Uh, okay. Let's... Someone's pointing out that in Ger, they are mekatel even before Mussaf to have, uh, to have meze- mezonos and a drink. Okay. As I say, nara narah u'pashtei. Uh, everyone's entitled to their, to their minhagim and... Right. So we've gone through that. Right. So here, a shailah. I'm sitting on the bus in, uh, New York, and a shliach says to me, "I have in- a couple of interesting questions. One question is, we are bui- been putting up a menorah for Hanukkah with the kind permission of the mayor. The mayor--

30:57 And we're very grateful, so we want to give him, and write to the Rebbe, a berakhah for the mayor. The mayor happens to be that his father is Jewish, and his mother isn't Jewish." Generally, when people would mention a goy for a bracha to the Rebbe, so then the Rebbe would ask for shemo ve'shem aviv. So for a Yid, we go according to the mother, and with a goy, the bracha is, is-- we use the mo- the father's name. Yeah, and funny thing is that, you know, sad, but this fellow, his father is Jewish, but halacha, he's not counted as his father, obviously. So the go- the mother... Well, but you don't give the mother's name for, for bracha. So what do you do here? So after thinking of it, I said, "We have another option." And this is in Siman Kuf Lamed Tes, in the dinim of Kriyas HaTorah. What happens if you have a child who you don't know the father's name? You know the mother's name, and the father, we don't know who it is. Asufi or Shesufi. We don't know who the father is. So then we should use the mother's father's name. So the maternal grandfather. So I suggested, in this case, with this goy whose father, his biological father, is a Yid, you can't use that name. Use the... Christina's father is whatever, Ronaldo. Whatever. Use the, the mother's father's name. Then he tells me another interesting story, um, that there was a, a f- a Jewish fellow, a

32:34 Jewish fellow, and he noticed that over the years, he had never-- his father had been very cold to him, and he didn't understand. And he, he, he-- so with some shrewdness, he managed to pull off and get DNA from his father and his own DNA, and there, there was no connection. So after some pressure, his mother admitted that at a certain stage, she had had re- um, relations with a non-Jew, with a Jewish soldier, and he was conceived from this other person. Okay. He's not a Mamzer because the other person wasn't Jewish. The other man. But now he's asking what-- how do you call him up to the Torah, this fellow? Do you call him up with his, well, his m- his, his mother's husband name or do you, uh... And, and this is-- and, uh, his biological father is a goy. So, so again, here, would you have to use this Asufi Shesufi, uh, story. Use the mother's father's name. This is, uh, mother was-- the mother's Jewish. Her father's name. Or in the absence of that, we'll use the name, uh, of Avraham. Okay. Let's move on. One of our listeners asked me during the week that he, middle of Shemoneh Esreh, realized he's facing the wrong direction. So what do you do now? So it's, uh, pr- straightforward stuff, but, uh, practical stuff. When you're middle of Shemoneh Esreh, you don't really have the option to go and look it up. Yeah. So now, this is in Siman Tsadik Daled. The siman

34:25 which talks about which direction to face for davening is Siman Tsadik Daled. If you want to remember, you would think about the word tzadd, which means a side or direction. Okay. So here it's clear in Alter Rebbe Shulchan Aruch. Im shochach ve'omar lema'arav. He's talking first if he's facing the north or south, slightly off direction, then he can tilt a little bit. But if he's facing mamash the opposite direction, he shouldn't turn his face all the-- to, to the side because he can't really face-- you can't, you know, you can't do a 180 degree turnabout whilst your feet are on the same place. Therefore, he says, "Ve'ein tzorich laakom," third line, yeah. "Laaki raglav laafach." I mean, doesn't-- don't need to move. You can just stay where you are. Lefi sheyes min hachachomim шеhoyu mispalalim lechatchilah lema'arav. Indeed, there were sages in the time of the Gemara or the Mishnah, who would pa- pray to the, to the west. Lefi mipnei shehashchina bama'arav. Now, this there is, there's the idea that the Shechina is in the west. This has got nothing to do with the Makom Hamikdash. The idea of the Shechina being in the west is, uh, it says in the Gemara, why is the sun moving from east to west? Because the sun is bowing. The sun is bowing to the Shechina in the west. So that's why we have the idea that Shechina is in the west. There is a, uh... The Alter Rebbe brings this in, in Sidur Im Bach about

35:58 the tr- the tremendous speed which the sun is moving because it's, it's of its bitul to the Aibishter. It's moving minimum of hundreds and hundreds of miles, uh, in a second to be able to be mishtachavah to the Shechina bama'arav. And, um, Rav Kosher, in his Sefer, uh, Kav HaTaryag, he, he's surprised. He says, "I don't understand. That Ba'al HaTanya was such a-- so knowledgeable in astronomy. Didn't he know, you know, the, uh, how you say, the Copar- Copernicus, uh, model that the sun, the, the sun is not bowing anywhere. It's the Earth, Earth which is rotating." Whatever. But now Copernicus, this is the Alter Rebbe writes this. He knew, he knew about Copernicus also. He says that the sun is bowing to the Shechina, and it's-- but it's tremendous bitul, that's why it's moving so fast. Now, Copernicus said there were chachomim who would bow, who would daven towards the west, and there were those who davened just at random, any direction, because they felt the Shechina is all over. It doesn't matter which way you face. Yesh lismech al divrei embedi ever. It's a bedi ever. You already started davening, so then you don't have to interrupt your davening to move your feet to face Eretz Yisroel. So this is v- very simple. If you dav-- have started davening and you're facing the wrong direction, you continue davening, and you don't have to start moving around. Let's move on. Okay. Last week, it came up in discussion about-- that we had a, the

37:27 discussion about a shiva house, and you got a through lounge, and the fact that if there's a, a doorway, so then it's not automatic that everyone is counted a minyan unless they show their face. And so someone, one of our listeners who listens to the recording, so he sent me this map, this drawing of his shul, and as you can see, it's a long, um, a long room, and towards the back of the room, there is a small-- another, a, a little cheder sheini. And sometimes you have a struggle, a small, a small, uh, amount of people, just about a-- less than a minyan in the main shul, and you've got the people in the cheder sheini who, well, they sometimes are, are a little bit, how you say, uh, not so cooperative, and they want to have their privacy in the cheder sheini. So what's the story? So is this a l'chatchila? So, you know, he, he does ask them at least to stand in a position that they should be able to see the other people in the room. And you can understand if they're tucked in the corner of the cheder sheini, they won't be able to see the people in the room, and the people in the room can't see them, depending where they are. So-- and he asks also, is this a l'chatchila? So let's take a look. Where does this whole story come from, the showing your face and all that? So, siman kuf tzadik heh, this is not

38:55 in cheftzira. This is in, in-- this is talking about zeman. So here, this is based upon the Mishnah of the Gemara. "Beis chaburois she'oich lois bebais echad beshnei batim." If you have two groups, whether they're eating in one house or two separate houses, and there isn't a street interrupting between them. "Im miktzosam ro'im eil u'es eilu." If some of this group can see some of the other group. "Mitztarfin lezeman." Then the two groups can join into one, and they can make a bracha. If there's five over here, five over here, then they can say a bracha, you know, "V'baruch leolikeinu," as if they are a quorum of ten. Then I'm skipping to sif gimmel. "Ochlun miktzos bebais." Miktzos, of course, bebais. Some are indoors, some are outdoors. And im ha-- Now, I'm going to assume for the moment that the two groups in sif gimmel cannot see one another. But then we have an interesting idea. "Im hamavorech yoshev al hamiftan." If the leader of the benching is sitting on the threshold, seeing the outsiders and the insiders. So then who mitzarfon? He is able to combine the two groups to become one group. "Nefishehu yochel liros eilu ve'eilu ba'afich haspanim v'kan v'kan." So even though the two groups cannot see one another, but if the leader is able to see both groups, so he is acting as a bridge to join them. Fine. Very good. So we have-- the first point is if they can see one another, they join. And then we've got

40:36 the second point is if they cannot see one another, but the leader would be, um, able to see both groups, he's able to join them also. Now, this is in the dinim of zeman. The Rashbo is the one who says that this also applies for tefillah, to make up a minyan for tefillah. "Ata machronim." The Vilna Gaon and others disagree with the Rashbo. Again, it's their, uh, prerogative to disagree, but this is the way the, the Alter Rebbe and, and many poskim take this view that they are mitztarfin. Oh, I wanted to, to raise something. We said-- we're going back to before, I think. If, if you're in the side room, we're going back to point three. If you're in the side room, can you join in? And some contemporary poskim discuss, is that called davening betzibur? If there's a minyan in the main room and you are in the side room, let's say they can manage-- they have a minyan without you, and you're davening in the side room. Are you davening be-betzibur? So some poskim say, if you are synchronizing, you're davening with the minyan, it's called tefillah betzibur, even though you are not making up the tzibur. I'd like to say the following, since it's Shnas HaChal. And are you a hakhelid? Are you instrumental in making a minyan? Are you just a beneficiary of an existing minyan, or are you one of the instruments on making the minyan? To be a hakhelid, you should be making the minyan, not to be

42:09 in the other room. Yeah, you're, you're riding in the bus. There's already a minyan. You're taking a free ride. All right. It's, it's, it's, it's, you know, it's nothing wrong. You can, you can do worse things than that. But if you wanted to be a hakhelid, so then you should be making the minyan. So therefore, if you're in the room, then you're making the minyan. All right. Let's go to the messages here. A couple of points here. It's complicated for me at the moment. Um, someone's asking, "Can the, can one of the mistalim stand on the threshold until the showing of the sugar?" And the answer is no. It'd have to be that it-- only the chazan, the leader of the group, of the groups, can be the one who joins the two. If you remember the good old days with, um, Rav Moshe Katz in Elberg, when we had sometimes a struggle for a minyan, for two, for two minyan. There were two minyanim in either side downstairs in Beis Lubavitch. And so- He would sometimes stand on the threshold between the two, so he was able to be m- well, there it was. He could be, uh, making up this minyan and that minyan at the same time. But if you were a chazan, then you could actually stand on the threshold and have five in here, five in here, and you'd be able to, uh, ha- y- you know, co- co- combine them for a minyan. But only the... it looks like

43:39 only the leader can do that. Others, it has to be that they are visible to the, uh, one, one group has to be visible to the other. How many make big sad? Oh, less than a minyan, obviously. I don't know. Okay, let's move on. Right. So I was in New York for-- I was there at two chasanas, and last week we told, spoke about the, uh, you having candles from the badeken. So... and if you remember, what I pointed out was that sometimes because of the practicalities of the local scene, so they don't, they, they, they, uh, dr- drop some stuff. So they, in-- as I mentioned last week, in New York, the kabalas Panim is in, uh, one, one place and then the chuppah is in the, in this, in front of Seven70. So they don't light the candles in the other place. They only light the candles when they get to Seven70. But, um, so the, uh, the people in New York were surprised that the mechuten last Monday wanted Davka to have the candles when he went to the, went to the badeken. Now, here you have, in browse, browsing for, looking for something else, I saw here's the Nachlas, Kitzur Nachlas Shiva. Not to be confused with Nachlas Shiva. Nachlas Shiva is one of, um, prominent Poskim going back about four hundred years ago. And there's a... one of the things Nachlas Shiva, he has lots of shtores. There's the, the, uh, sh- the Kesubot and the Tenaim and various other

45:06 forms of documents. So he's got the format for them and so it's, it's kind of a bit of a manual for, for, um, uh, officiating at a chasuna. And then someone at a later stage, you can see his name is Asher Anshel ben Meir Grunwald, going back 150 years ago perhaps, made a manual, a small manual for Rabbonim officiating at weddings. He calls it Kitzur Nachlas Shiva. So this is what you have on the screen. And he says that the Shoshvim, the mechutanim, hold the chasan on one on either side, and each of the mechutanim, in his other hand, is holding an havuka, is holding a torch, and then they go to spread the heinuma, which is the badeken, over the kallah. And then, and they tell the chasan, "Mit de rechte fus," with the first, with the right foot. And, and some say some will make a point to tell the chasan, when you cover over the face of the kallah with the badeken, it's the inyun of chuppah which we discussed last week. I'm just di- digressing for a mo- First of all, I, I was pleased to see that we have in-- that the earlier minag was clearly that they would go to the badeken with the candles. Another thing which comes up is about, someone pointed out to me in an email this week, about using a havuka. Havuka means like a half dollar candle. Going back 50 years ago, it was normal by chasanas that the mechutanim would go with

46:26 half dollar candles, and they would take a paper plate and s- cut a slit so that the, the, the wax wouldn't drip on their hands, but they went with half dollar candles. Nowadays, you don't see half dollar candles. They're going with regular candles, uh, and those candles are inside a glass. Now, this, again, this seems to be just, uh, I don't know, it morphed kind of. Why did they have half dollar candles? There's a whole thing about, uh, various min-- uh, reasons given for the minhagin, uh, of using havuka. But the poshi- the reason is, you're walking outside, regular candle, a bit of wind is going to blow it out. You go with half dollar candle, it's going to endure in the, in the wi- in the, uh, in the weather. So they would go with half dollar candles. Now that they've started, uh, having these fancy glasses with protective, uh, uh. So there's, there, there, now it's, it's, uh, of late I haven't seen people going with, with half dollar candles. They're going with regular candles inside a glass cover. But let's come back to, to, uh, what I wanted to share with you is, again, that in the letter of Ben Tzion Akna, alav hashalom, he, uh, he, he preferred that we should do first the chasan gets dressed in a kittel, et cetera, and then goes to the badeken, and then goes straight to the chuppah. And we've had sometimes guests from, from New York who, well, never heard of such a

47:52 thing. Well, you go, they go to badeken and then you get the chasan dressed. The practicalities are that in New York, again, the, the chasan and the, the kabalas Panim and the badeken are in, let's say, across the street or wherever else it is, and then they come to the chu- the chuppah is in Seven70, and then they get the chasan dressed. So the whole procedure of dress, dressing the chasan happens in Seven70 after the badeken. But other places, it's the Davka that's the Seder. And now let's just take a look at a record of a Rebbe's chasuna where this is written in the Yemei Melech and other places. The, I think it's from, uh, Eliyahu HaMelech's, uh, uh, me- memoirs. He says, "After the Kabbalas Panim, the Rebbe with the..." as in the Friediker Rebbe, "went with the chasan to a, a private room and they spent a, uh, a short while there. Whilst they were there, the Rebbe says to his son-in-law that really he's gonna put on his gartel." The Rebbe is gonna put on the gartel to his future son-in-law. Says, "I would have liked to say the bracha, 'Asher yisrael bigvoro,' but because I already said the bracha in the morning, I'm not gonna say the bracha again." And then he puts on the gartel around the chasan's waist and he says, "I'm now, now binding you with, to me in this world and the world to come." Okay. So the Rebbe, the Friediker Rebbe, puts on the gartel to

49:12 the chasan as a preparation for the chuppah. Then it says, uh, right a- after that, they go out of this private room, then they take the chasan to the badeken and they sing the Alter Rebbe's Nigun. It doesn't talk about candles here. I went into the candles, that's what I was looking for, but I didn't find that. But meanwhile, what we're seeing here is that the, that the chasan was already dressed with the g- gartel and I'm, I'm assuming with a kittel, et cetera. All of that took place, uh, b- first and then the chasan goes to the badeken and then I guess straight to the chuppah after that. Right. Someone's asking, "Would the ch-- a left-footed chasan go out with the left foot?" I don't know. There's a three hundred and f- ten-page Sefer called Dinai Itur and it goes into all these kind of details, um, when, when the chasan, uh, left-footed chasan n- needs to know this. I'll believe it or we'll look it up. Okay. Now, what I found very gratifying whilst I was in New York, that many people came over to me and said that they listen to the shiur regularly. And, uh, so obviously it's very encouraging. But meanwhile, I felt also it's an Inyan of a responsibility. If I have the opportunity to put a word in people's ears, um, mei v'alayam, et cetera, it's a responsibility. So, as I mentioned before, this shul where I was davening in, in Crown Heights, and it's not the only

50:43 one, where it's, uh, the Mizrach Hama'arav is short and Tzafon V'Yom is long. And if it's a busy place, so you're getting into the, the issue of when you want to go somewhere, in or out, there's someone davening Shemoneh Esreh and passing in front of them when they're davening Shemoneh Esreh. Now, it's not-- this, this problem is not peculiar to those minyanim. I've, I've noticed this neglect of this halacha of walking in front of a person da-davening Shemoneh Esreh. I've seen it in many shuls, including, uh, in our own shul over here. Sometimes someone is, uh, let's say a chazen is davening the Amidah, and someone walks over to get a Sefer or one goes over to, uh, to light the candles. It's very important to light the candles, but if a davening person davening Shemoneh Esreh, you don't stand in front of them and light the candles. It's the, it's-- Well, let's take a look at this halacha. This is Siman Kuf Beis. Osu la'ovid keneged hamispallelim b'toch dalet amos shel efnehem. One is not allowed to walk in front of someone who's davening Shemoneh Esreh within the four amos in front of them. Sheh ma tisbatel kavanasam. In case their kavanah will be disrupted. Al v'tsidehem hu talav v'lamed sham. From the side, you are allowed to. V'lo yeilech l'holot sh'lo yihiye keneged efnehem sh'kol sheyuchal le'osot. But if they can see you, m-and it's, again, it's gonna be disturbing. Then the Sefer says even by the side, you shouldn't, sh-you shouldn't, uh,

52:08 be, um, disturbing them fr-from the side. Be that as it may, so there is clearly a halacha. If a person is davening Shemoneh Esreh, one shouldn't be walking in front of them because it will disrupt their kavanah. Now, the, uh, Piske Teshuvas has got various exceptions. One of them is if the person has his eyes closed, then okay. Then y-you're not disturbing him because his eyes are closed. But if he's davening in the siddur, so then you can see what's going on in the near, near, near you, and therefore, well, that is a issue. Um, yes, there are, there are poskim who mention that this refer-refers to Kaddish too, but the Alter Rebbe-- I once wrote to Rabbi Ginsburg about this, and he says the Alter Rebbe doesn't bring it. Um, yeah, just a second. Just mute all. Yeah. Right. So then, but what, what, what else I found here, which is useful, he says if the person stands in a place where it's actually... It's not a place for davening. It's a place for... It's like a corridor. Then you can't block the tzibur, and he said, "L'chatchilah, you should be machmir, uh, not to pass by." But, but if you are in a rush to do, do what you have to do, then you would be allowed to cross if a person kind of is vi-- is, is, is play-- davening Shemoneh Esreh in a, in a corridor space. But if that corridor space is also a place for davening, so then one

53:46 shouldn't be passing in front of them. So, if you've got this kind of narrow, long shul, then the whole shul isn't walking for davening. Right. So, that, that is a problem, and what I-- all I, what I wanna use this opportunity is to say the following. That if you're not davening at the same time as the minyan, a little bit earlier or later, well, and I'm not going to your chizbonis, so then don't stand at the back of the shul where people will have to walk in front of you. Make your, make it your business to stand more towards the front of the shul in a place where it's not gonna cause people to have to walk in front of you. Can't solve all the world's problems, but you yourself, if you can choose a place where you're not gonna cause people walking in front of you, that should be your, your, uh, preferred position for Shemoneh Esreh. When the minyan is davening, you're davening with a minyan, then people in, in any case shouldn't be passing by. But again, um... Right. Let's move on to our last point for tonight, and that is, ah, to finish off on a geshmake note. And that is about a certain ki-kind of cake. And it's a kind of cake which I was given the explanation that it's, you make the cake, and you also pour a syrup on the cake before baking. And curiously, the cake bakes, and the syrup remains syrup. And you have... It's mamash,

55:28 uh, like caramel. It's soft and, and, and, and liquid at the same time. You have-- And as you bi-- But it, it's, it's, um, the, the, the pinnacle of ta'avah is when this cake is hot. So, then you have the warm cake, and the syrup is hot, and it's really very, very geshmak. The shailah is, i-are you allowed to warm it up on Shabbos? To put it not directly on the... But to look at, let's say, put it on top of the, uh, Shabbos kettle. To put in a double decker, so to speak. Are you allowed to do so on Shabbos? So sadly, the answer is no. And the reason is, and we can see here from Simash Yod Ches, that we have a concept of Bishul Ach Bishul. By solids, ain Bishul Ach Bishul. So taking something which is cooked and reheating it is not a problem of Bishul, because once it's cooked, recooking it, it does not make any difference. But whereas with liquids, so the view is, generally, we take the view that yesh Bishul Ach Bishul, which means that reheating liquids is considered cooking. There are those who disagree, and they say once it's cooked, there's ain Bishul, but the Psak Halacha remains that yesh Bishul Ach Bishul. So reheating a liquid is a Isur of Bishul. Therefore, to take this cake and warm it up, and, and the syrup inside, which is a liquid, is going to be reheated, is, is gonna be Asur. Even, let's say, to put it

56:57 in a place just for five minutes. But if it, if it were left for half an hour or whatever, it-- the, the liquid would reach Yad Soledet Bo, then you wouldn't be allowed to. If it's in a position that even though a prolonged stay, it would never reach Yad Soledet Bo, then that would be permitted. Let's just finish off and read a couple of... There is a second reason, because the Schkhinah is the Dalet Amas of the Mispallel, in which case, eyes closed makes no difference. Okay, that's Rav Efraim Potash, and this is a plug for a Sefer called Arba Amas Shel Tefillah by Rav Mordechai Potash, who has about three hundred pages about this ending of Dalet Amas Tefillah. Um, you're s- you're saying that even if the eyes of the Mispallel are closed, also you shouldn't walk in front of him. Okay. Um, is that Al Pi Niglah, Al Pi Chsid, Al Pi, um, Kabbalah? Does one have to stand or avoid walk in front of a latecomer who starts Davening Krias Shema after the Minyan has gone further in Davening? So that's what we're seeing here, that i-if it's a Makim Tefillah, even though he, he shouldn't have been... He should have Davened earlier, but it's a Makim Tefillah, then, then you'd... Yeah, that is, it is a problem. Then in, in the Piskei Teshuvas, in this, uh, area, he has, uh, various Hetterim. Let's say if you called up a Leolotaire, yeah, a Kohen. You called up to a Leolotaire, and

58:19 there's a person Davening Shemoneh Esreh. So sometimes there are other considerations which will override that you would be allowed to walk over, but, um, yeah. Right. Okay. Um, I'm asked to share the recipe. Okay, well then perhaps next time. Meanwhile, I'll wish you all a, a Gut Voch, a Guten Chodesh, and Chodesh Haguela. We should see the Geula Shelma Bamaitis, VeMatisyahu Tzidkeinu Umeher Yamenu Amas. Kol Tuv. Hmm.