בא תשפ״ג

00:00 Welcome to the weekly panorama of Halacha of Moshe Shabbos Parshas Bo. I'm dedicating this shiur for a little boy who hasn't had his Bris yet. He's Ben Hatinik, Ben Esther Golda Shichia, to have the Bris between of his manner, and he should be healthy and give a source of tremendous nachas to his parents, um, amongst the rest of the family. So our first question today is about a tallit cotton worn inside out. So we know that Chabad Minchag, tallit cotton, has got hole, and whereas in the tallit we've got one hole, and the knot is made at the side of the garment, the first double knot at the side of the garment, with a double hole. So you've got the strings go in and out, and then the first double knot is right next to the, the, uh, garment, um, away from the edge. So let's read here, in the Chof Narach, first of all. That's in Siman Yud Aleph, Sif Lamud He. Yesh oimrim. Now, those who say, shelo asis hatzitzis b'biged k'masho onu osim. We shouldn't be tying in the tzitzit as we do currently. El oyaase beis nekovim b'biged. They should be made with two holes. Veyatel hatzitzis b'nekef v'echad m'yetzim v'deiachef habeis. You put them into one hole, take out the other. V'ein halakha yesh oimrim elul. The halakha is not according to this opinion. V'habol hachmael atzmo v'lasis kidivrehem. One who wants to be machmir should do so only with tallis cotton. Shelo-- k'dei shelo yehi nira lakol. It shouldn't

02:02 be so visible to others. V'mes chazak yihi ora. Being extra frum than more than anyone else would be something would be considered undue pride. So then we have, that's from the Alter Rebbe's Chof Narach. Then we look in the Alter Rebbe's Siddur. When he brings this with tallis cotton, he recommends this to make two holes in the tallis cotton, and they should be like the fir-- like a kashrut girdle, which means on the thumb, from the, uh, from the tip of the thumb to the first joint, and that should be the same distance from ba'eida v'eida, from either side. You put the four corners of the strings in one hole and pull them down the other, and in this way, you're able to make the first knot right near the edge, right near the cloth away from the corner. Then, then the Alter Rebbe adds the following. V'tzorich lizoger sheyu hatzitzt-- lihiot hatzitzit tluyot al tzadda elyon. That one should be particular that the tzitzit should be on the upper side of the garment. Shvu tzaddah chitzon shela biged. So the upper means the outer side. K'shehu lovush beh, when you're wearing it. V'lo al tzaddah tachaton, apparently it should not be on the underside, namely the inside. So they should not be, be worn inside out or outside in. She'ne'emar. It says in Pasuk, "Weh'esem oysoi vezichartem vegaime." You shall see the tzitzit, you'll remember them. You remember the, all the mitzvahs, the matizkeru. V'oson al techfem bekinofois, oisem bekinofois toimheim. If you remember

03:41 years ago, the corners of the tallit in Kitanim would be, uh, stitched from three sides, and you'd be able to... It was like a little pocket. You could stuff your tzitzit inside that little pocket. So the Alter Rebbe discourages that practice of tucking the tzitzit in the pocket of a tallit cotton. Fine. So here's the question. When the Alter Rebbe invokes a Pasuk, "Weh'esem oysoi vezichartem, lamatizkeru," is he saying that you're not yoetz to the mitzvah tzitzit if it's on the underside, or is it just recommended that it should be visible, more visible? And the question which we have on the list is, someone in a Minyan in the morning was a bit rushed, he put on his tzitzit, put them on inside out, and later on in the day realized, "Oops, I've got them inside out." So he stops, takes them out, and puts them on the right way up. But does he have to make a new bracha? Was he yoetz the mitzvah till now? Therefore, all right, he's just making it more visible. So you could read that Alter Rebbe is saying that you're not yoetz. I'm not inclined to say that. I'm more inclined to say that he's saying that it should be visible. He's trying to discourage the hiding of the tzitzit as the ones who are sticking it in the corners. But he's not saying that it's a limud from a Pasuk, that it has to be at esem, therefore it has to be there on the top, not

05:09 on the bottom. Let's just scroll down. Here you have from the Hilot of it. So he says, those who have the tzitzit on two co-- on, on two holes as we have in the tallit cotton, if they were done on the inside. So perhaps it would be included in where the Gemara says, "Al hakanafo v'lo tachas hakanafo." Now, the reason why we put the tzitzit a little bit inset, about four centimeters inset from the edge, as you see here on the diagram, and that is because the Gemara says that it says, "Al hakanafo v'lo tachas hakanafo." Where the tzitzit would be mamash on the edge, it would be called tachas hakanafo. Therefore, he's suggesting that if you put the tzitzit, um, hanging on the inside, you wouldn't be, you wouldn't be yoetz. But then he, him, himself also steps back from that Chiddush, and it's not included in the Al hakanafo v'lo tachas hakanafo. And, uh, but you, you-- in other words, he's saying, "Don't, don't, don't disqualify what's been done till now." And so, um, so he's also... At first, he wanted to be machmir. He looks like he's not machmir either. One last comment, though. He says that the HaRav Besida was c-- says you have to be about mishum de'isim oisoi, therefore it's not an issue of tartas cotton. I don't understand his statement. There are those who take the view that or isim oisoi does not apply to tartas cotton when it's being worn under the garments. Uh, that might be,

06:52 but here the Alter Rebbe clearly is talking about a tartas cotton. And so to say that it's not a problem with a tartas cotton is misc-- well, it doesn't seem to be fitting with the Alter Rebbe at all. So bottom line is, I think that if you did wear your tartas cotton inside out, it is correct to take it off and put it on the right way around, but I would not say a, a, that you have to misya beracha now for the new app. Let's go on to the next question. Alter, it's his question. We have a pre-bar mitzvah group. I'm teaching the boys how to bind tzitzit. Now, this, this tzitzit, which they will make for themselves, when, when they turn bar mitzvah, will those tzitzit be valid? Would they be allowed to make a beracha on those tzitzit? So we have two areas, shall-- One in Siman Yud Alef and one in Siman Yud Dalet. Siman Yud Alef is talking about the, um, spinning the wool, making it into tzitzit, twisting the thread. And there, there is mentioned about a child who's making the thread, and an adult is there because the tzitzit, the threads have to be made Lesheim Mitzvas Tzitzit. So there is a suggestion there, an approach there, that a child who may be lacking in kavana, but when there is an adult present, so Godol Him Dal Gabov, then it's as if the child does it with the right kavana. So now that's talking about making the threads

08:26 from, from, uh, raw wool, et cetera. Now we're talking about putting the threads into the garment. So it starts off sefas that a woman would be able to install the threads into making the tzitzit on the garment. However, there are those who compare tzitzit to tefillin. And just like, like women are not qualified to write tefillin because they don't have the mitzvah to put on tefillin, so too they would be ex-- uh, not qualified to put in tzitzit because they don't have the mitzvah of tzitzit. According to that approach, if you were to say a woman could not put in tzitzit, so then a child also wouldn't be able to put in tzitzit. Even if Godol Him Dal Gabov, even if an adult is present and, and telling him, "Make it Lesheim Mitzvas Tzitzit." Whereas the spinning and the twisting, making the thread, that's kosher with Nosch Muktanim, as discussed earlier. So we have here two opinions, whether a child, a boy, on their bar mitzvah binding tzitzit, are they valid or not? First opinion says they are, and the second opinion says they're not. Vehalakha kisvara harishaina. Halakha is that tzitzit put in by a child are valid. However, nochan lech-- this taatevi zoin lechatchila kisvara achroina, achroina, it is worth, a-advisable to take heed of the latter opinion, of stricter opinion, although that's not the halakha. So now, coming back to our question about teaching these boys to bind tzitzit. So there is here an opportunity to teach them, to teach them how

10:08 to make tzitzit, to, to, to cherish the mitzvah of tzitzit by m-- ha-hands-on. On, uh, yeah, lechatchila, that should, they should wear them after bar mitzvah, that would be, uh, not advisable. We can give them another berit later. But, um, on the other hand, to, to, uh, is it, is... You know, that's something one has to weigh up carefully. Do we want to miss out on the opportunity of teaching them how to make tzitzit because of a chumra, zehirut lechatchila, of a sevarah achroina? Maybe, uh, maybe the importance of teaching them, uh, an appreciation of mitzvahs may be more important than the consideration of a zehirut lechatchila, kisvara achroina. So here's another Chinuch question. Apparently, on some Chinuch website that came up, uh, for this week's Torah, where you have the mitzvah of the calendar, hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chodashim. So quite a, a, a cute way of teaching the children about it. To take these sandwich cookies, which you're familiar, and there's a way of twisting the one a-away from the other, and then you're left, one of the two sides is left with a, with a, with cream. Then, as you can see, the middle bottom thing, if you scrape off half the cream, so then we know that that's the way the mon- the moon looks at the, uh, zayin la-chodesh or, um, sorry, achabes la-chodesh. And then we have, um, the upper middle or the lower, uh, right, where you have just a bit more of a sliver or a small

11:54 crescent. So that's the way it looks at gimel la-chodesh. That's how it looks at chav zayin la-chodesh. So you're using the, um, cr- scraping away the cream on the biscuit to illustrate m- uh, the Kiddush, uh, the, the learning about the levana, which is a very interesting idea. And of course, the kid gets to eat the biscuits afterwards, so wonderful. The shayla was, is this permitted to be done on Shabbos? So let's take this away from the immediate question and just look at the dinim of writing. Now, we have writing of a Sefer Torah, tefillin, mezuzahs, kasav temachas ashira azras, kasav temachas mezuzahs vesefer Torah. Then we have writing of a get. It says, "Vechasa v'lo sefer krisus m'nosan beyado." And then we've got kasiva in the lamad tes melachos. In the context of Sefer Torah, tefillin, mezuzahs, and in the context of getting, there is a position that what's called chok tochos or chok tochois, is not called a kasav. So, if you would have a surface, and then you'd carve away, um, the immediate surface in a way that you're left with, let's say, a letter Ches, a letter Mem, a letter Zayin. In other words, you car- you c- you carving, or you're sculpting away the, uh, the, the surround, and the letter remains. So that's not called kasav. That's not called writing. So it can be, let's say, in, in Sefer Torah, it could be that a blo- a blotch, uh, a blob of t- of ink fell onto the parchment,

13:40 and then you start scraping away, and then after you're scraping, you're left there with a letter. That would not be kosher. Sometimes also, this is a detail for soferim, soferers, sometimes when letters are touching one another. So sometimes to kosher that, it's enough to just scrape away how they've been touching. Sometimes the, the letters are so distorted by the touching that merely erasing a little bit of ink is not going to kosher the letter. You'd actually have to erase the letter totally and rewrite it. And that's all got to do with this concept of choc tochois. That if you, if you, by creating letter, by removing the material around it, and therefore the letter remains, that's not valid for a get, that's not valid for, for, um, Sefer Torah, tefillin, mezuzah, where it says the mitzvah of kasav tom. Now we're talking about Shabbos. So the lamad tes melachos, one of the lamad melachos is kasiva, a koisef. So does choc tochois count as writing or not? So I've got a Sefer at home called Yesodei Yeshuran from Rabbi Gedaliah, Gedaliah Felder, and he's got a Sefer all about lamad tes melachos, like nice little lamad shish tikulach on each melacha. And he, he addresses this question, and he brings from several sources that choc tochois does not diminish the melacha in relation to Shabbos. And he says, after all, Shabbos is learnt from the Mishkan, the writing, sorry, is learnt from the Mishkan, where they would have a way of pa-- each pair, each

15:27 k- k- keresh, each of the boards of the Mishkan was to be aligned with its neighbor. They, they, they were, there was a, um... They wouldn't switch them around in position. It was so A, B, C, whatever. And there was, they would on the inside of the, of the boards, of the keroshem, they made some kind of markings to be able to match up which one goes with which. So, ein koise, ein, um, lo osek, uh, koise v'lo mishum rosh, such an appear, such an expression in the Gemara. So, if the purpose is just to create markings, then it doesn't matter whether you, it's choc tochois or choc yorechos, whether you carve, whether you created a letter by actually carving out the letter, or created a letter by moving the, the, removing the sides and leaving the letter. In, in the context of Shabbos, that makes no difference. So now let's come back to our, our, our question. Would you, if you would have some other material could be, and you used tools to sculpt out to, to, a, a, a design of the moon. So that would be considered koisef, but from, uh, making a picture. So here is the same thing. You are creating a picture of the moon by scraping away cream. But meanwhile, you've left a, something which you're gonna say, "Look, this is the," because they're reibeka this year. "This is what the moon is, uh, uh, looks like." So you, you are creating a design, um, which therefore would

17:02 not be allowed to be done on Shabbos. Let's move on. So here's a question that sometimes we, we, we have at, at the table in shul or at home, we may have a Sefer or a leaflet which has got a picture of a person. Is there an issue of having a picture of a person on the table when we are davening? So here we have from Ateret Shach and Oruch, Simon Tzadok, Seif Chof Beis. And he talks about tapestries. Bagodim hametzuyorim. Illustrated fabrics, drapes. Shetuilim bekois livey sechanes lenoi, which are hung in the, on the walls of the shul to decorate the shul. Af al pi sheminhadin ein bohem mishum chatzitza. That's not a problem of interrupting between yourself and the wall. There is something about s- that we, we learn from our posim, vayaseh chizkiah lakir. There isn't a, a meilah in davening with- without interruption between you and, you and the wall. But these drapes are not, not an issue. Nevertheless, in that, in that respect. But nevertheless, one should avoid davening- Before this drape, this colored tapestry, „Kadesha Lo Heima Be-Tziurim," because it wasn't a given that people would daven with their eyes closed. People would daven by heart, and they would, uh, look at straight ahead. All right, so if you have straight ahead, you've got this, this tapestry is going to distract you. And if you do have to daven where there is a colored tapestry in front of you, you should close your eyes. He goes on to say

18:54 that if you have, not tapestries, but just paintings, drawings on the walls of the shul, one shouldn't use tziurim. One shouldn't create pictures on the walls of the shul on the eye level, in front of people's eyes, in front of people's faces. Yes, it can be done, "Lamal Ha-Mukeimes Ish," above the height of the person. And for that reason, that we don't want to have pictures distracting the person's davening, so therefore, we shouldn't have pictures insefardim, which are used for davening. Shouldn't have an illustrated siddur because that... it shouldn't dis-distract the kavana. Okay, so now we've got here an issue of having a picture at eye level, uh, straight ahead of you. We've got a pi-issue of a picture in a sefer which you're davening from. What's the story then if neither. It's just a safer on the table that happens to have a picture on the front cover. So I don't think it's included in either because it's not ne-- in, in straight ahead of you, and it's, uh, it's not in your siddur. Yeah, there may... I think it may be an advantage of, uh, if we min hadin, if we meshuzadin, and especially if you are the type of person who will be distracted by that picture, so move it over, cover it, tu-turn it over. But strictly speaking, min hadin, since it's not, uh, in front of you, nor is it in your sefer, it's a little bit further away from you on the table, then it, it seems to be,

20:38 uh, it would be allowed. But may not be recommended, but, uh, be allowed. Let's move on to the next question. That is about early Talison Tefillin. And here, the story is we have a shul who start Shacharis at six forty AM and arrival at the end of davening has to be by seven thirty. You know, when you go on, uh, various websites to buy tickets, so you can choose what time is departure or what time is arrival. So here we have our minyan. Arrival has to be, finally arrive at the end of davening by seven thirty. Problem, which is getting less of a problem at this time. It's really, the days are getting a bit longer. What happens if the time of Mishayach here is, which is the recommended time for Talison Tefillin, if that is six... uh, uh, let's say six fifty. So what do we do? And here's, here's the, here are the options. Should we put on Tefillin, uh, Talison Tefillin without a bracha and then say Bracha Yishtabach? Should we, should we, um, perhaps leave the putting on the Tefillin, Talison Tefillin until after Yishtabach? Also, having taken the times for Shema, the times for Tzitzit, et cetera, from Chabad.org, is there an earlier time? So let's explore these, these details. So here we have in Shulchan Aruch, simen, um, simen Yud Ches. "Me-Eimos Hai Mevorach La-Tzitzis Be-Shachar," from what point can you say a beracha on the Tzitzis in the morning? "Mi SheYachir Ben Techeles Shebo LeLavon Shebo." It has

22:36 to be that you can distinguish between the white and the, uh, blue wool of the Tzitzis. That is the Mechaber. Then says the Ramoh, "V'Lo Shemo DeShachar, HaShachar." If you put on Tzitzis from dawn, from after dawn, some say that you should make a beracha, "Yesh Ovim DeMevorach Olam." If you're putting your Tallis even earlier than "Mi SheYachir Ben Techeles Shebo," it's just after dawn, some say you can ma-- you should make a beracha, "VeChein Noigin." And that is indeed the minhag, to put on a Tallis with a bracha just after sun, but just after dawn. That's before "Mi SheYachir." Now, there's, uh, just, uh, what I did see a little bit, some, some say the "Mi SheYachir" doesn't mean between the blue and the white. Just "Mi SheYachir," that you should see you've got Tzitzis altogether. So the degree of light to diff-differentiate between blue and white is obviously a greater amount of light than just be-see-being able to see that you got Tzitzis altogether. Let's now read the Alter Rebbe, how he brings down this halacha. "Me-Eimos Hai Mevorach La-Tzitzis. Yesh Ovim Mi SheYachir, Mi She-" Some say that it's from when you can rec-rec-recognize between the Techeles and the Lavon, and they base their posot, "Im Is Em Oysoi." It has to be from a time that you can re-- um, see and recognize the Techeles. Only then is the chir. That's the position of the, of the Shulchan Aruch, of the Mechaber. "VeYesh Ovim," the others will say, "Shasri Nikra Me-Al

24:12 Mi SheYaal Hamuda Shachar." That "Shasri" is ready from s-- from, from dawn. "SheAzal Chaylus Ha-Tzitzis." It's already a little bit of light, enough to be able to see that it's Tzitzis. Even though it's not yet, not light enough to see the difference between the Techeles and the, and the Lavon. So according to this more lenient opinion, so mi-me-- once you can see that you have Tzitzis, then you're ready, and that's in other words, just after dawn, you can already make a beracha, "VeChein Noigin." And so he quotes the Magen Avot, the Ramoh, that indeed, the minhag is to put on Tzitzis earlier than this "Mi SheYachir" time. "Mikol Ker Tov LeChatchilah, Tov LeZohar LeChatchilah SheLo Lilbush Es HaTallis BeBracha Ad SheYachir Ben Techeles Shebo LeLavon Shebo." It's recommended not to put on a Tallis with a bracha until such time when it... until the later time. So although the Ramoh says, "Noigin" to be "Meikal" to put on the Tallis and the Tefillin... Sorry, the Tzitzis, the Tallis earlierfrom alot hashachar, but the recommendation is to wait. Now, let's read the words carefully. Is the recommendation to wait with the bracha or wait with the wearing? So let's read this carefully. „Toiv lezoel lechatichila shelo lilbush es hatallis bebracha." So again, the way the Ramah presented it is the minhag is to put on the tzitzis earlier and to say bracha. Now, the Alter Rebbe is saying not to put on the tzitzis with a bracha, which means basically not to put on the

25:49 tzitzis until... Otherwise, you could have said, "Shelo livorach al hatzitzis." He said, "No. Lo lilbush es hatallis bebracha." So therefore, it would-- seems to be the recommendation to, to leave, uh, uh, to not put on the tallis from, uh, at, at alot hashachar until after you shtarbuch. And then you, once you can, at that point, since you can put it on with a bracha, so you should put it on and, and, and until then not wear the tallis at all. That seems to be the Alter Rebbe's advice. What should you do for your, for the people in your shul? This is, uh, you have to measure, measure. There are... We can, we, if necessary, one can rely on the Ramah. But, uh, yeah. Now, what about tefillin? Now, the, this man for tefillin, the earliest for tefillin is Mishayachis chaveirai barucha d'al damis. If you can recognize someone from a distance of d'al damis, someone who you know a little bit, so somewhat familiar. Some say that this man recognizing your friend from four amos away is identical or almost identical to the time when you can see the difference between the white and the blue wool. And therefore, by tefillin, I didn't see any other opinion. So even if there is an opinion here to, I can put on the tzitzis already for, right after dawn, but with tefillin, it seems to be a bit stricter, that you have to wait till Mishayachis. So you may as well wait till after you shtarb. Um,

27:35 two more points about this. When is this level of Mishayachis? So looking at the Pirkei Teshuvot, on chabad.org, I see that they're, they're saying that Mishayachis is forty-five minutes before sunrise. And that forty-five minutes in Eretz Israel, the, um, Yomim HaShovim, at the, around the equinox, will equal something about ten-point-something degrees. So again, this man for Mishayachis in chabad.org is when the sun is about ten and a half degrees beneath the horizon. In Pirkei Teshuvot, he brings, also in Siman Yod Ches, he brings lots of different opinions. Some say that Mishayachis is an hour before, before sunrise, some fifty-two minutes before sunrise, et cetera. There are stricter opinions, but there are certainly more lenient opinions. And therefore, to go a few minutes before the, this Mishayachis time written on chabad.org, there's, uh, one can be lenient in, in, in going to an earlier time. I'm sure there are other websites which have earlier Mishayachis, and I think we can go according to that opinion. One of those earlier opinions. One last thing is that here's an interesting story in Igrot Moshe. Moshe Feinstein was asked about a worker who has to leave the house at five AM and is going to be busy at work a whole day. He would not have a chance to put on tefillin later. The worker is asking, can he put on tefillin at home before... When it's like four o'clock in the morning before he goes out to work. And Rabbeinu Moshe says the, the reason why we're not

29:24 meant to wear tefillin at night is because you might come to fall asleep in them, and therefore, once you're falling asleep, you don't have control of the functions of your body, et cetera. But this man, says Rabbeinu Moshe, he's gotten up now. His time is still middle of the night, but he's gotten up to go out to work. He's not gonna go to sleep. So therefore, under the circumstances, it's permitted for him to put on tefillin. Then says Rabbeinu Moshe, however, if he is a Talmid Chaham, he should put on the tefillin without a bracha because in the night, you know, midrabbanan, one shouldn't be wearing tefillin. If he is not a Talmid Chaham, then he should say a bracha. And he explains himself. If he's a Talmid Chaham, he will be aware that the, the intricacies, and that's why he's not saying a bracha. If he's not a Talmid Chaham, you tell him, "Put on tefillin without a bracha." So you say, "Even the rabbi is not so sure that I should be wearing tefillin. So there's, you know, I'll manage without." So because of that concern, uh, Rabbeinu Moshe says, if he's not a Talmid Chaham, tell him to put on with a bracha. And coming back to our topic here, with the Baal Batim in your shul, those people who are coming to make up your minyan, et cetera, how will they, how will they handle putting... Not putting on a tallis early or putting it on without a bracha? I'm not

30:45 sure how your people will handle it, so just tread carefully. Let's move on. Someone's asking, what's this, uh, der minhag of saying, "She'oskoch bisi Hashem," after a sneeze? So I remembered something from years ago. And I've, I managed to find it. And there's a journal called HaMea Yakov, published by the Beis Hamedrash Rav Aranda in Bnei Brak. And they had published a manuscript of, of the Maharshal, of Shlomo Luria from five hundred years ago. Four hundred fifty years ago, whatever. And he writes about a person who sneezes, the others would say, "Baruch ti," bless you, or some would say, "Asusa," which means healing in Aramaic. And then they, they will say this to him, and then he will say, "Lishu'osi chivisi Hashem." To your salvation, I have hoped for, anticipated, uh, Hashem. In, uh, Mishne Berurah, this is in Siman Resh Lamed, um, Resh Lamed Beis, somewhere around. Resh-- sorry, it's Resh Lamed. Talking about, um, healing, and he writes, "Misim she'atesh," one who sneezes, and, "Chaveiro emeile asusa," and his colleague says, "Should be a healing." You should say to hi-- the, uh, you should say, "Baruch ti," eh. So the, the one receiving the good wishes should say, "Blessed should be-- You should also be blessed." And then, "Lishu'osi chivisi Hashem," I look forward to your salvation, Hashem. What's the reason for all of this performance around a sneeze? The Amora Rabba says, "Nezchen levracha," because our sages tell us, "T'chila lo hayah onum cholel klal." Originally, there was no such thing as

32:28 people becoming ill. "Ela hoyo holech bashuk ve'eitesem es." A sneeze, he would be walking the streets and, and sneeze, and he would die immediately. Until Yaakov Av-- "Ba shabo Yaakov Avinu vekish rachamim al hadavar." And then Yaakov Avinu pleaded with Hashem that there shouldn't be this suddenness of a sneeze and dead. And that's why we, that's why we have a certain thankfulness that we sneeze, and we, we can continue living. And so that's this, um, the, the lishu'osi chivisi Hashem. Saying to Hashem, "I, I look forward, uh, to, to your salvation." I did not ma-- manage to look up today. I remember a beautiful sikha on the words, "Ki vemakli," where Yaakov Avinu crosses the, the, uh, Yarden, and he says, "Ki vemakli." With my-- Only with my staff did I cross this Yarden. And the word "ki vemakli" have got the same letters as "makabi," uh, which stands for "Mi chamocha baelim Hashem." And it also has the rosh teyves of kuf-- or lamed, kuf, yud, of "Lishu'osi chivisi Hashem." So ki vemakli, makabi, and lishu'osi chivisi Hashem. So whilst we're going to fight, we, uh, in-in-in-in-invoke Hashem's salvation. Let's move on. So here's a question. There is an idea, uh, advocated, uh, in, uh, in, uh, in Halah, in Chazal stages, to have a makom levu kavua litfiloso. To have a set place for davening. So what's the story if there's a bar mitzvah in another shul, et cetera? Are you missing out on this? That seems to be the question. So now

34:30 let's read inside. "Yikbah makom," this is, uh, Siman Tsadik, is it, I believe? Yes, it's in the Tsadik. "Yikbah makom litfiloso," one should designate a proper, uh, a set place for prayer. "Shelo yishanehu," you shouldn't change this. "Im lo letzech gadol," unless there's a great need. And it says further, a person who designates a place for his davening, "Elokei Avraham b'ezrat Hashem," the God of Avraham will assist him. And we see that Avraham designated a place for davening. It says, "VeYashkin Av-Av-Avraham baavotai el hamakom asher avad shom." He went to the place where he had davened in the pr- in the past. It goes to more detail. Not only to have a set shul where you daven, but even in the shul, which you have your s- your regular shul, you should have your set place where you daven. Within dal dalis of that set place is all considered a, uh, like one place. Because you don't, don't have to daven k'mamish being in the few, same inches. Also, when you're davening at home, you should also have a space, designate a space where you would not be disrupted by other ha- domestic activities. So that's the Alter Rebbe in Shulchan Aruch. And what is noteworthy, it says, "If there is tzorech gadol." So there is a bar mitzvah in another shul. Is it a tzorech, actually, uh, because I'm one of those people who work on Shabbos mornings, so I don't even have this, uh, challenge about going to bar mitzvahs in other shuls.

36:05 But is it tzorech gadol? Because... And my, my own, uh, feeling about this is that when you come to a new place, there's lots of distractions. Once you're, have used the same place several times, so those distractions are not so interesting, not so distracting. So having, uh, having a makom kavua where you, where you daven every day, and so then you won't be distracted because it's not a-- there, there's novelty out there. Now, I remember last year, I couldn't find-- I didn't, didn't find the sikha yet. But I remember last year, we learned a sikha from, I think, Sofei Lamed He. And the Rebbe was talking about in the house, even in the house, to have a set place for davening and a separate, separate place-- Sorry. In the house, to have a set place for learning and a separate place for davening in the house. Uh, which I found that very interesting, and it could be what your... It could be your place for learning maybe actually be distracting to your davening because you want to look up this or to look up that. So to have a set place for davening where you would not be distracted. In the Pirkei Avos, we have here a bit more detail. It's okay to have, let's say, a set place for Shabbos and a set place for weekdays. It could be a set place for Shacharis, and you have a different place where you daven Mincha. That's also okay, and if the Seforim is that you

37:40 shouldn't be distracted by the, by the novelty of a new location, all right. So if you have, you have your set place where you daven, uh, week in, week out, so then that's also counted as a Makom Kavua. One last thing about this. There's a, a beautiful vort of the Arizal brought in the, um, A-Anaf Yosef by Etz Yosef on the Gemara, which talks about one who prays in a Makom Kavua L'tfillah also Elokei Avraham VeYitzchak has a special help from heaven. So he says the following: "What's the significance of having a set place? Hashem is all over. Why can't I go anywhere?" So he said like this, "Unfortunately, now even a kohen considered like a nidah, as it says in Masachet Niddah, 'Kein hoser lə-nidah hayyosəv.' A nidah, as we know the Halakhah, would not be allowed to sit on the same bench with her husband if it's, if it's, uh, uh, not a s- not a fixed bench. But if the bench is fixed, then the husband and wife would be allowed to share a bench. Well, that's-- So then we want to have the Hashraat HaShekhinah when we daven. So by having a Makom Kavua for davening, then it's conducive that the Shekhinah would be able to be with us on the same bench, so to speak. So the-- this is a, a vort, he says, in the name of the Arizal, a deeper pirush of, of having a Makom Kavua L'tfillah also, then Ha-Hashem will be, uh, uh, to your, uh,

39:13 come to your assistance. But I do the, the poshut pshat, I think it's, it's as I mentioned before, by having a set makom, you are, uh, controlling that you shouldn't be distracted unduly. Question number eight. So here we have someone whose father passed away last year, actually, and he's buried in Eretz Yisrael. He's going to Eretz Yisrael for the yahrzeit, and it's on a busy day. What's the issue about perhaps going to the visit the grave at night, and then, uh, he'll, he'll be, uh, in this day will be more flexible. So here we have from the Nitei Gavriel, volume, uh, available as volume, volume two. You can see it's page, page base. That there are those who are particular not to go at night before chatzos to k'varim, and he says that the Olam HaRachamim are lenient about this. So let's, now let's read. What's the business about not going at night? So he says that there is something about by night, al pi kabbalah, that we don't indulge in reading Mikra. And what do you-- one goes to a, a, a kever, one says the chapters of Tehillim. Now, that's something which after nightfall, before chatzos, is something we, we should avoid. So that's one of the reasons which he gives over here. Now, and then he, then the Nitei Gavriel says that Olam Nogeaim Leilah, the, the broader custom is that people do go to the, to visit graves even after nightfall. Now, it, this is from the Sefer Haminhagim, where he

41:18 talks about Kitas. It's known that by night, from Tzeis Hakochavim until after midnight, we don't say Tehillim, including the Tehillim of the Shira of the, of the month. Um, Chumash and Tanya is okay. The Chumash is because you're learning it with Rashi, it's therefore it's Torah Shebe'al Pe. Tanya is also what's called a Chumash. Let's say in Tanya term, how you say, um, uh, no, Torah Shebe'ksav of, of, of Chassidus, but apparently it's Torah Shebe'al Pe. And therefore, what I'm seeing here is that we are quite particular of Mikra Balailah. So unless there's no option, but if there, there is an option to go to Beis HaOlam by night or by day, uh, it seems to be that the recommendation should be that it should have to be by day, avoiding this question of, uh, of saying Mikra Balailah. So here's a question someone sent to me about eating quails' eggs. Become, uh, apparently quite popular, fancy a douce to have quails' eggs. And do we have a proper tradition that the quail-- this is the quail, and therefore it's kosher. Now, there are various simanim to recognize that a bird is a kosher bird. And so the Shulchan Aruch siman pey base says that, uh, if you have those, those simanim, you can rely on that, that the bird is kosher. Then in the Rashi writing, the Rama says, "We shouldn't rely on those simanim, and we shouldn't eat any, uh, poultry unless we have a besoras, unless we have a tradition, shekiblu bo

43:10 shehu tahor, unless we have a tradition passed from generation to known generation that this particular bird is a kosher species. V'chen nagim ve'eines ha'amim. Now, it's indeed a custom that we only will eat a kosher bird based-- We only consider a bird to be kosher- Based upon a tradition. Okay. So now, my impression is that quails were not terribly common in Eastern Europe, so we don't necessarily have a mesorah. What about, though, can we rely on the mesorah of another, another part of the world? And there are other parts of the world where they claim to have a mesorah from Yiden. They have a mesorah, can we rely on that? And my impression is, uh, well, looking at the Darkei Teshuva, which is an encyclopedia on the Shulchan Aruch, here Siman Peh Beis, um, Rav Katzenelenbogen, blah, blah, blah, Zion, he takes the view that you can rely on the mesorah of another community. So if, if it's gonna be the Yemeni or the Sephardi or the, uh, or Turkish, whatever, if there is authentic or a tradition that they, from a Yidden, that they were eating this, uh, this bird as a quail, as being a kosher species, so then we could re-we would be allowed to rely on the mesorah of another community. That seems to be the, the majority consensus. So, yeah. Um, the next question which we have on the list, um, is that these days with so much vegan stuff around, is there a ma'aser issue with something that looks

44:57 like a cheeseburger? So I'm going to not answer that question because I'm, uh, I don't have it my sefarim accessible. It's a relatively modern question. I, I guess if it would be, uh, the, the worry, the, what they're saying is that you're seeing this cheeseburger, but the, the meat in the cheeseburger is very likely that it is, uh, a vegetarian meat, and do you have to worry about ma'aser. Good question, and that's only gonna become more and more as the way things are developing. Um, yeah. The last question which we have is about the beracha for, uh, barley that is cooked and served as a kasha. So, sorry I don't have it on the screen, but we're looking at Perek Alef of Birkat HaMinim and, uh, various places in Piskei Teshuvas that whole grain, whole wheat, or whole barley, the beracha is ha'adama. But if the grain has become mushed, certainly if it's gotten stuck with one another, but if it's, if it's become quite mushy, then it's already become mezonot. So if you'd have a barley kasha where the grains of barley are stuck somewhat to one another because of the cooking, that would reduce the... That, sorry, that actually would be, uh, upgraded. It would be instead of being ha'adama, it would be already mezonot. I also saw a Piskei Teshuvas, he says that pearled barley is, is, is processed and therefore it would also be mezonot. I think we may have discussed this in the past. What's the story about a cholent

46:56 which has barley in it? It seems to be far-fetched that a, a sprinkling of a few barley grains, even if they were gonna be mezonot, should make the whole cholent into mezonot. I find it's very strange. They come up with... He comes up with some quote of an idea that if inevitably every spoonful will be a, a few grains of barley, then that's considered quite a strong presence to be able to make mezonot on the whole mixture. I didn't have a chance to look at it more carefully. I'm not so convinced for s- for, um... So let's, let's leave that for, for the moment, for, for another time. Meanwhile, I wish you, for me, a Good Shabbos. For you, a, a Good HaVdalah and, uh, an inspiring Yud Shevat. And peace all of us in the highest Kashas, Bilana DeChaya. And we should be zechar to go out of the Golus. May Mashiach salteinu heir avinu amash. Kol tuv.