כי תשא תשפ״ג

00:11 I'd like to dedicate the, this evening's shir to Rabdovid Baram, olav hashalom. Um, we got the sad news on, was it Thursday, I think. And I'd actually just been in conversation with him several times over the last few weeks. He was a regular participant. He enjoyed, um, following the shir. He enjoyed the challenges of the questions. And, uh, very special neshamah and a very s- uh, int- very interesting relationship with the Rebbe. He would spend time with the Rebbe. Uh, those who reme- who knew him, very frank type of nature and had very open conversations with the Rebbe and would always be telling about his, his various conversations. One thing which he mentioned recently, we had a conversation here on the, on the shir whether a, a woman who is divorced ha- ha- has to or, um, has to wear, um, cover her hair. And so he told me that his mother was a baalas teshuva, so before sh- sh- she didn't cover her hair. And when she became a baalas teshuva, so she asked Rab Mendel Schneeball, the rabbi in Manchester, whether she has to ha- cover her hair. And he told her that, "If you didn't cover your hair before, you do not have to start covering your hair now." That was Rab, Rab Schneeball's psak for her. And he told me that it, uh, not necessarily in reference to this, but in another conversation which he had with the Rebbe, the Rebbe told him, "Whatever Rab Schneeball tells you, you should listen

02:00 to him." So, um, just giving over something which she had shared with me. I'm not saying therefore that's gonna be the psak. It may have been in the particular circumstances Rab Schneeball felt it was wise to tell that she doesn't have to cover her hair, but doesn't mean that's, that would be the standard psak for anyone else. Let's just go into our shailas for tonight, our questions. So the first question we have is actually, which bothered myself whilst I was listening to the Megillah on Purim. So we have how on, uh, the 13th of Nissan, that's when the letters of Haman go out, and that's when the whole story where, uh, Mordechai tells Achash, tells, um, Esther and they're fasting. And Esther going into a, into making the, in the, inviting Achashverosh for the feast together with Haman. And then the sec- after the second feast, she, with Haman, she points her finger to him and say that he is the, the, uh, cause of, of all this suffering. Uh, and he's, and Haman is subsequently hanged. So that's already on the second day of Pesach, on the t- 16th of Nissan. And as we know, it's written in Shulchan Aruch that some have a minhag to have an extra item on the menu on the second day of Pesach to celebrate the, the, uh, the death of, uh, the, uh, uh, hanging of Haman. And then Esther pleads with Achashverosh and to, to, um, well, it's all very well, but meanwhile there is this

03:48 pogrom, this edict which has gone out, which is saying there's gonna be a pogrom of Yidden, on Yidden on the, uh, on the, uh, 13th of Adar next year. And so then Achashverosh gives permission they should wr- write another letter. He can't rescind the letter, but he tells them they can give another letter. And so they send out another letter, and that is that the Jew- Jews are able to defend and to get rid of the, their, their, their opponents, their enemies. What bothered me was why it says it was on the 23rd of Sivan. By korov sefer haMelech that it was on the 23rd of Sivan. That's more than two months from the previous, uh, from, from after Haman was hanged. It's two months later. So why did it take so long till the second set of letters, the second, second, sec- second letter to be circulated? To be written and circulated. That was my, was bothering me. So I looked up in the Malbim. And here you have, in the Malbim, "Loma himtin ad chof gimel Sivan." So he says, "Purim sh'ma harav alef, alef." So I was, I thought that might have been a, a Abarbanel. But it, uh, it, I could not find Abarbanel on Megillas Esther altogether. But perhaps I didn't, I try hard enough. But the, and I saw in another nach where there's a Pir Sha'ag. And this is, pretty much is, is referring to the Gra. But, um, and then perhaps someone can enlighten me, why would

05:28 the Gra be referred to alef, alef? His name was Rabbi Eliyahu. What's the second alef for? But meanwhile, he says, "What was the reason for waiting till the 23rd of Sivan?" Because there was the desire that the very same couriers who had brought out the first letter of Haman, they should be the same couriers to deliver the second letter. In this way, there would be more credibility for the second letter, not to say, "Oh, that one, one of them is, is, is, is a forgery." And the couriers had not come back from their tr- going to all the hundred and twenty-seven, uh, countries until the thir- twenty-third of Sivan. So that's the, the reason for the delay. That you, uh, it was necessary to wait till they would come back and then send the same couriers. Then he, uh, goes on, he says that the letter of Mordechai was also addressed specifically to the hidden. Um, all right, that's, that's further discussion. But that, that's the reason for the, for the two-month delay was till the couriers would be able to have gone and come back and then go out for the next d-delivery. Okay, let's go on to the next point. So here's a couple of sad shailas. One of them w- is a, uh, uh, someone's asked me when, when, in the case of a cremation, when does the shiva start? Now, we all understand that cremation is, uh, against Yiddishkeit because it's a form of denial of chiya hametim. And so every

07:15 Frummied knows that cremation is, is totally unacceptable. Uh, it's, it's become a very big issue, uh, in, uh, of late. And when sometimes people ask us shailas about burial in a questionable s- place and, uh, not in a Jewish cemetery even, um, my, my reaction is Baruch Hashem, that they are, they are, they're having a kavura altogether because we have enough struggles with, uh, people who refuse to do a Jewish... a, a, a kosher burial, burial altogether. But here's a case that I'm, I'm assuming, don't know the person directly, that there is a Frum relative and he does not, he, she does not have control that there's going to be a cremation. So the question is, when does shiva start? Obviously, it's a close relative, and yet there could be there's someone who's got control more than them, and there's nothing to talk about. Okay, so first of all, there is a, an, a halacha here you have from Shulchan Aruch, in Hirhur Saveilos, Siman Sheim Hey, that those who have totally departed from the com- from the, from the community, from Klal Yisroel, have completely thrown off the yoke of mitzvahs from their necks. They don't participate in Torah mitzvahs. They don't come to shul, et cetera. They are totally Bnei Chorin. Um, Bnei Chorin is, I guess that's where the Yiddish word frei comes from. They have, they feel no compunction to keep anything of Torah mitzvahs. And those who are, certainly those who have converted to another religion, Mosrim. So all of

09:00 these have left the fold totally, and there's no avelus for such people. So strictly speaking, if you'd ask, is there a chi of avelus for someone, let's say, who had been so far from Yiddishkeit that they knowingly, knowingly said that they're ready, they were ready to, uh, to go for cremation, you could argue that there's no din of avelus altogether. Actually, though, generally, we don't take that approach because we u- usually use a more chesed approach to say that people are uninformed. You use the term tinok Shenishbo very generously. They didn't know, they didn't, they didn't realize. If they would know this, this strictness, you know, how, how important is a Yiddishkeit, so they would, they wouldn't have made this, this decision. Especially here, you're talking about the relative, not about the person, the deceased themself. So you don't know how strong the deceased themselves, um, felt about this. So therefore, we're not gonna take that view. We're gonna take the view that they, that they were, it, they weren't in control of this decision for cremation. And so now... But that is the, that looks like how it's going to happen. So then we come back. The Frum relative asks, "All right, I can't do anything about that. When do I start shiva?" So difficult question. I couldn't find it clearly. But here we have one example in, uh, elsewhere in Hirhur Saveos, that when there's someone who is, who is, uh, executed by the government, and they did not allow them to be

10:44 buried. So for what stage does shiva, uh, begin? From the moment that they have despaired of getting permission, of asking permission. They, they came, uh, they, they, they realize they're not getting anywhere. Um, and so then when there's a moment of despair of, of a burial happening, even though they could still use surreptitious ways of stealing the body. But if they... on, on the, the Pastes, it doesn't look like they're going to change the course of events. So at that point, they could start avelus. So, uh, that, that would be the answer here. Once it comes to a point, uh, certainly once it's been taken away, the body's been taken to a, to a, the facility crematorium. So once, once it comes to a point that they see there's nothing they can do about it, I believe that's, that would be when they would start avelus. And I'm, I'm using this in a form of, actually, a form of chesed because the... till the, till, you know, there's a certain limbo state until the kavura, until, until shiva starts, and not to prolong that limbo. And sometimes the cremat- the, the, uh, they, till the cremation takes, it could take a week till they, till they do it. And, um- Simpson talking about this topic, that there, th-there is help out there how to convince people against cremation. I would suggest if there's anyone who does have such a dilemma, uh, of trying to persuade someone not to go for a cremation, um, I'm sure

12:30 in chabad.org there will be lots of information. But there, there are, there are-- there is information out there, very convincing stuff. And so, uh, if necessary, Mishnah Zarah. But there, there is help out there to, to prevent such a, a tragic development. Okay, let's move on. So here's a, a bit of a happier question, although not totally happy, and this is that in a particular town, there is a facility which closed down, and they had a sifrei Torah there. And so one of the sifrei Torah, so the sifrei Torah from this closed down facility are being brought to a, to another venue, another, a shul. And there is an elderly person who-- he had donated one of the sifrei Torah to this closed down facility. He is suffering from Parkinson's, and he wants, when they bring the sifrei Torah to the new venue, he's able to come there, but he could only come... The question was, could he have an aliyah? He wants to have an aliyah in the sifrei Torah in the new venue. And when could he come? Well, it's difficult for him to come in the morning. He was asking whether he could come on Ta'anit Esther, afternoon, and have an aliyah, the Torah at Mincha. So I understood here, and the shaliach was asking, "Please find some kind of heter," because I guess this person was a significant donor. If he gave a sifrei Torah, he probably is, is, uh, a man of means. And, and, uh, there was a feeling

14:22 they wanted to accommodate him. Right. So now we're looking the, the halachas. First of all, can a person who's not fasting have an aliyah on a fast day? So this is in Yichus Toirahs. Tov kuf samach vo seiv vo. Yesh mishe'omar. There-- This is Shechinach's writing. There are those who say, there's one who says that, that one should not be reading the Torah, one who is, um, on a fast day if he's, if he is not fasting. And if it's a Kohen who's not fasting, then he should leave the shul for the, for the aliyah. So he shouldn't be, be-- have to otherwise to stay there and not have an aliyah, then that would, could be, um, embarrassing for him. Okay. So we have here that the, the Shechinach writes that the chatichilah, I'm using the word the chatichilah, that, that, uh, one who's not fasting should not be having aliyah. Uh, now, did this, this person with Parkinson's, is he fasting? Unlikely, yeah. Didn't ask him, but, you know, the, the impression was he's not able to fast. So yesh mishe'omar. When the Shechinach says yesh mishe'omar, that itself is kind of saying it's... It is an opinion. It's not saying it's the absolute halacha. Then we have here in the Kaf HaChaim. This, this top text is from, um, that's the Shechinach. On the bottom left, we have the Kaf HaChaim. So first of all, he says, "If someone who's not fasting was called up to the Torah, even at Mincha, and even

16:04 if it's not a day of reading, it's not a Monday or Thursday, it's a Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday, he should... If he's called, he should go over to the Torah because there's no issue at all," the Bach. So despite what the Shechinach has written, quoting from the Mari, Rav Yosef of Colon, that is, um, not Colon from Germany. This is Colon in, in, in, uh, in Italy, by the way. Um, despite, despite the Mari, who says that he should not have an aliyah, the Bach says it's really not a problem. And also, so says Shu"t Emunath Shmuel. B-Boni Chaye says even chatichilah you could call up. So there are poskim who say it is okay even if you're not fasting. So what? However, the Beit Yosef in Kuf Lamed He, Hilchot Sefer Torah, is mashma that even if he was called, it should not be, you know, it shouldn't be aliyah. So here we, we are with a di- in dilemma because we've got poskim are saying that it's, it's tolerable, and then, then we have those saying no, it's not okay. So now we're not... He's asking before the event. So Shechinach says you shouldn't be calling up someone, uh, to, to... who's not fasting. That's, that seems to be the bottom line. And yet, um, I felt that there's room to be, room to be lenient. The reason being that in times bygone, the one who had the aliyah, who's called up, he would read from the Torah. Nowadays, most people who

17:41 have an aliyah, they don't read from the Torah. It is, it is the baal koreh. So now he's-- the, the, the, the person with the Parkinson's, he's not gonna be reading from the Torah. The only question is, can you say brachos? So this, we've gone, perhaps discussed this a few times. What is the meaning of saying a birkat Torah when you have an aliyah? After all, in the morning, you said brachos, and you include a birkat Torah. So why are you saying brocha, bircha, brachos- On the same berakhah almost. Same berakhah, first one is after. It's a different one, but why you saying berakhahs? Because of the privilege that you're reading of the Torah in public. That's all very well if you're reading, if you are reading Torah in public. But if it's someone else's reading, why are you making the berakhah? So I've mentioned this before, I believe, that the Rosh says, therefore, that the, the one who has the aliyah should read quietly along with the baal koreh, which also remains questionable because what's the privilege of standing there and, and whispering? You're not reading in pu- in public in any case. Meanwhile, the Ma'aseh Ben Yomin, who was a contemporary of the Rama, I believe. So he writes, "No, the, the, the you're making the berakhah. Really, the one who's having the aliyah la-Torah is the baal koreh. And he's having on a, on a regular Monday or Thursday, the baal koreh is having three aliyahs, and on the Shabbos, he's having

19:08 seven aliyahs. It's just... And really, he should be saying the berakhahs before and after each of his aliyahs, and he's kindly allowing you to make his berakhahs. So really, you're making the berakhah not for yourself, but for the baal koreh." Where does this make a difference? Practically, can a blind person be given an aliyah? According to the Rosh, a per- he's not able to read from the Torah quietly, loud. He's not able to read at all, so a blind person can't be given an aliyah. According to the Ma'aseh Ben Yomin, he's saying the berakhah not for himself. He's saying the berakhah on behalf of the baal koreh, so a blind person can have an aliyah. So here we have in Siman kuf lamed heh that the Moruk Shekhinah writes, "A blind person cannot, can ein ha-koreh. He cannot... Well, he can't read from the Torah because he can't read from... You're not allowed to read without reading from the text." So the understanding is that he could-- Well, you can't call him up. Mariel is quoted that, "Nowadays, one can call up. We do call up a blind person to the Torah, just like we would call up an ignorant person to the Torah." And the ignorant person, am ha'aretz, is not able to read the text, and still he's given an aliyah. Why is that? And that's... Well, I'm not sure what the Mariel's reason, but the Ma- the Mogan Avram, on the spot, he quotes the Ma'aseh Ben Yomin, that the berakhah is

20:33 for the, for the baal koreh's reading. And therefore, coming back to our question, the fellow who's not fasting, he's not reading from the Torah. He's making a berakhah on the baal koreh's re-reading. So Beshalach, I felt that one could, one could rely on that. That even though he's not fast-- So first of all, others who say not fasting, he's allowed to have an aliyah. Even if he, uh, if you say, follow the Shekhinah which says he shouldn't be having an aliyah, but that's- but he's reading. But he's not reading. It's someone else who's reading. So therefore, there's room to be, to be lenient. Uh, just one interesting comment here, not to do with our discussion. Usually, the writing here, the smaller writing in the Shekhinah, which is in the older print, it's Rashi writing, is from the Rama. Here, there's a note in the Friedman edition of the Shekhinah that this is actually, in this point of a blind person being called up to the Torah, Rama himself tasks that you don't give an aliyah to a blind person. And this comment over here is actually from the Be'er Hagolah, Rabbi Moshe Rivkas, who he put the-- he added the glosses, the, the sources on the margin of the Shekhinah. And he wrote this comment about the Mariel saying you can give a blind person an aliyah. And somehow, a later printer took it from the margin and put it in into the text as if it's, it's Rama, but actually, it's a comment of

22:02 the, um, of the m- of the, well, Be'er Hagolah in the name of the, of the, uh, Mariel. But me- meanwhile, we've got eminent authorities who do, uh, allow giving a blind person an aliyah. And on that basis, I felt to take also the liberty of giving this, uh, this person who's not fasting that, if necessary, to give him an aliyah on, uh, on a fast day. This may be actually useful in, in other situ-- Now, but before we go further on this, though, this is, um, all very well when there is a, a, an ample minyan. The way it's written in Shekhinah is that for a fast day, you need to have ten fasters in the room. So this is very interesting that normally we say that for a minyan, it's enough to have six who are davening with a minyan, then it's considered a minyan. When it comes to a fast day, the way it's written in Shekhinah is you'd have to have ten people who are fasting. There, th- there are those who are meikel on that also. The Se- SeMaTzEDet, which we discussed a few times. But it's not so poshet to be able to make a minyan for Krias HaTorah on a fast day if you don't have a minyan who are fasting. Certainly, if you don't have three people who are fasting, I don't see, uh, Poskim permitting it. Okay, let's move on. I mean, we're mentioning this because they are, they are, you know, in probably some places

23:29 in the smaller communities. I'm amazed when I've been in provinces sometimes, amazed at people who come to support a minyan. Uh, I'm not sure how much they're keeping, uh, other Inyani, but they'll come out to make up the minyan. So you could have a v- It's, it's a likely situation. Though you'll have a minyan and, uh, uh, the, the Kapach Akris, whatever, and yet they're not gonna be fasting. So it's something to be aware of. Uh, there should be at l- bare minimum three fasters. Let's move on. Um, another not so happy shailah, and that is whether the Din of Aninus applies on Purim. Now, there's a difference between Oinen and, uh, Avel. An Oinen is that until the burial takes place, that person is, uh, they are, they are suspended from doing any mitzvahs, any positive mitzvahs. And, and they are not allowed to eat meat nor drink wine. After the Kevurah, then the status changes from Oinen to, to Avel, and then they are mutar to have meat and wine. So here the person's asking, ob- obviously there was a question, Lamais, uh, is there a case, is there a Din of Aninus on Purim? I'm discussing this with all of you, Darfen, but it's, uh, people... Well, no, this, it's discussed in Halakha. So here it's Siman Tov, Reish, Tzadik. Sorry, no, Tzadik, Vav. Towards the end of Hilchos, Hilchos, uh, Purim. Towards the end of our Chaim. That despite that normally an Oinen is not allowed to have meat or wine,

25:10 but on Purim, he is allowed to have meat or wine. Why is that? asei d'yochid, d'avelus, v'dochi asei d'rabim d'reisa. He's got a personal, personal grieving, personal grief, okay? And for-- because of that grief, he should not be indulging in, in meat and wine. And then we have today, on Purim, we have a asei d'rabim d'reisa. We've got a, a very important mitzvah of, of, of, of feasting. So his personal grief would not push aside the mitzvah of celebrating on Purim. And ayin Purim d'reisa. So he says, "Lis moorim Purim d'divrei kabbala ninu sh'heim k'divrei Torah." Since it's a, a festivity which is written in Tanakh. Tanakh is referred to as Divrei Kabbala. That means the tradition from, um, from the Nevi'im, et cetera. Although obviously Megillas Esther is in Kesuvim, but it's got a similar status. So we, we look at it and, uh, we view it, uh, like as close to the importance of a din d'reisa. And therefore, the celebration of Purim allows him to have meat and wine despite his personal grief. That's the, that's the Shechinach. Now, as- there's, there's various aspects in the din of oyen. Here we-- There, he is talking about eat meat and wine. What about brachos? What about davening? Um, what about that? What about hearing Megillah? So here, the RaMaaH writes, "Bekol shekein she-chayav b'mikra megillah ot filo o kriat shema." If aninus is suspended in relation to having meat and wine, how much more so it should be suspended in relation to the

27:04 mitzvahs of the day. Let me go into some more detail. And now, he says he is chayav to hear the Me- Megillah, et cetera. The Magen Avraham disagrees with this, and the Magen Avraham therefore says, "Even if you heard Megillah before the kevurah, he should hear it again afterwards." But the-- we have, meanwhile, we have the Din of Shechinach which says, the Ma- Rama says, "Should hear Megillah, and yoetz, um, zonne shafim." But if there is... Sometimes the things are delayed. But there is the... The Rama says he should hear Megillah and the yoetz. So if that, if that's the only option, then one would go for that, that, for that, that, uh, that approach. I mentioned this also. I once had a shailah about a person had passed away during Sefirat HaOmer, and the burial was gonna be near Pesach. And so till there would-- till the burial, they would, they would miss a night, uh, of counting. They miss a night and a day. And so there, we shou- actually, Poskim said they should count Sefira just to keep... Without a bracha as far as we re-- I don't remember the detail, but they should count Sefira. So there may be, um, you know, so there may be a circumstance, even though there is broadly aninus, but if there's an opportunity which later won't be available, then it would be done. It's also, for example, in the case of a, if a mohel is an oyen, and the brit has to be done,

28:34 so the mohel will do the brit. You know, in other words, it's not, it's not a absolutely, um, you know, hard and fast rule is exempt of all mitzvahs. There is some, some, uh, some leeway in that halakha. Meanwhile, um, all right. That's enough of the discussion for now. Mizonne rison, uh, we shouldn't be applicable, um, rak hitzeivarananu, et cetera. Let's move on. So here, someone asked me a question a day or two before Purim, that he has a Megillah, uh, and it was written kosher, but then it's torn. First page, there are some tears into the, into the text. So I asked him, "Is, is it missing-- Is it torn into the very beginning?" And he says, "No, it's lower down, but on the first column, but it's torn into the text." So what I told him is that it is kosher, and I advised him to use some masking tape to stick the back, the back to hold it together. It shouldn't tear more. And told him, "Definitely use masking tape with, uh..." He's lives-- living somewhere in a, in a small community. With a-advising him that in, in due course, when he comes to a bigger place where there's a sofer, perhaps the sofer will be able to use a more permanent type of, uh, like a patch, patchwork from the back. So just wanted to use something which is gonna be easier to remove rather than using something which is, um, gonna be more difficult to take off in order to,

30:08 to, to repair it nicely. But let's-- Now, now let's read the Halakha Shechinach. Now, here's an interesting thing, that, that the halakhas of what is a kosher Megillah is generally, I think, in sefer Tzadik, Alef Bet, Sefer Tzadik Bet. But this halakha is actually in sefer Tzadik, which talks about the mitzvah of reading the Megillah. So it's halakha about the actual kashrus of the Megillah, sheloyd bim komo. So let's read the halakha. Tzadok halakra is the kulah, when the, the obligation is to read the entire Megillah and has a duty to read it from a text. And if you read it ba-al peh, in other words, you, you, you recited it orally, um, by heart, you wouldn't be yoetz. And you have to have the entire Megillah in front of you. Vayevet, if the sofer has skipped- A couple of words. Even if up to a half of the megillah is missing, and those words which were missing, you said by heart, then you're yoetz. So there can be a megillah missing words here and there, and it's still kosher. But if, it says now, the Ramon says, if he missed out the beginning or the end, if there's missing from the megillah, the beginning of the megillah or the end of the megillah, even if it's a small part, you're not yoetz. Even in the middle of the megillah that it's missing is only if there's not a whole topic. But if a whole s-s-topic is missing, so the megillah is pasul. But let's

31:40 come back. So he says, if the beginning is missing or the end is missing, even if it's only a small bit, that would not be okay. So if the, the megillah had been torn, that the first few lines are missing, first-- even the first line, then that would not be kosher. But since it was further down, even if we're gonna say the tore, the tear makes those letters disqualified, but the megillah still remains kosher. Okay. With this, we come to, uh, oh, yeah, okay. The next one I don't have a source for, but it's a very interesting question. A re- uh, some of thinking out of the box. Um, and that is, he, you know, if you stand with a megillah on Purim, and it's, it's a whole struggle because it keeps on rolling back. You know, people use pegs and this and that. So he, he thought of an idea that he takes his megillah, and instead of rolling it inwards, he rolls it outwards, which means that he rolls it in a way that the script is on the outside rather than on the inside, and he keeps it that way a whole year. And the week before Purim, he mindfully takes the megillah out of the, out of the box, and, uh, he un-- uh, leaves it open. And then it comes on Purim, it's, uh, not a challenge to keep the megillah flat. So I don't have a source. And so he says some people said it's not, not okay. I-I'm,

33:16 I'm very uncomfortable with it because a mezuzah, for example, we roll the mezuzah from the end to the beginning in a way that the, the, the, the, the outside is the blank side, the, and the, the text is on the inside. And so too, the general custom with the meg- the megillah or a sefer Torah, so that it's rolled in a way that the blank side on, on the outside and the text is on the inside. So I couldn't really... If there is a thing of not taking a sefer and putting it face down. And even a sofer who's writing a, a sheet of, of a sefer Torah, or he's checking, he shouldn't put the sheet face down, even if he wants to do it for, uh, to, to protect it. But he shouldn't put it face down because that's called, called disgraceful. He should cover it with a cloth. But here, I, I'm, I'm not sure whether you're gonna call this face down. He's, he's rolling it. And there is a halacha that when you basically write a megillah, you have to leave the first, first, uh, few inches g- blank. So that should be like a wrapper around the megillah. But in this case, if you're gonna wrap it, I, um... The way we do, or wrap it insum- inside out, still, you're gonna still have that last, it's a patch, last column, which is gonna wrap it round. So I couldn't find... So I, I... It's... That's why I'm saying it's not

34:43 like leaving a sefer open, because once it's finished wrapping, it's going to be, it's gonna be blank. It's gonna be the, that blank beginning, the first 10, uh, centimeters, is going to be, is gonna be covering it. So it's not going to be, it's not left open. Still, it, it feels, it feels, um, you know, certainly not, not, uh, the traditional way. Um, I don't know. So I don't have any references on this, but interesting question. Okay. All right. So the next thing which we have on our list is not a halacha question, but it is a, uh, the, the, what, what is the halacha? The halacha is we have a ngiman shliach here in, in, actually in London, who he learns his Chumash, he learns his Ketuvim, he learns his Rambam. He's, uh, he learns it in a way that if, if something bothers him, he, he, he learns further. He tries to get an answer. So I think that's something which, uh, which is an inspiration. He learned Parsha Chumash and says there is this, uh... Well, this, actually, this is not mentioned in Chumash. Uh, but this week's Parsha we have about the breaking of the Luchas. And we have this Midrash, which is brought in Pesidits several times, that, uh, that if not for the breaking of the Luchas, we would only have had the Aseres Hadibros. So he's asking, "Well, does that mean we wouldn't have got the, the, um, Taryag Mitzvahs?" That's, that was really the, the question. So

36:16 let's read this carefully. This Midrash, this is in Pa- This is the end of Parsha Yitzi, so it's Moshe Rabbeinu. "His kil mitztar al shibur haluchas." Moshe Rabbeinu now is upset that, about the fact that this Luchas were broken, he, that he broke them. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to him, "Al titztar ba'luchos rishonios." Don't be upset about the first Luchas because they only had the Aseres Hadibros. In the second Luchas, which I'm gonna give you, they will be with them, they will be in them. Halachos, Midrash, ve-Hagados. Ad hu dechsiv. The punctuation is wrong here. The, the comma should be before the word Ad. Ad hu dechsiv, ve'yaged l'cha talumos chochma. Then that portion can-- i-i-it's, it's evidently relating to the Luchos, et cetera. And the , the, the hidden Chochmah will be now revealed. So the first Luchos was gonna be just Aseres Hadibros. And because of the second Luchos, that's why, um, we have all, all the wealth of Torah. He's asking, how limited was plan A? Just Aseres Hadibros. Meanwhile... So this is the Midrash. In the, in the, um, Yefei Toar, which is a commentary on the Midrash. So he writes that this Midrash does not fit with the Yerushalmi in Shkalim and in the Midrash Chazal, where it says that between each dibur, there were and it's referring to the first Luchos. So we have other sources saying that in the first Luchos, there was the whole wealth of Torah. So here we have the Yerushalmi on the screen.

38:18 Yerushalmi in Shkalim. Hananiah, the, the nephew of Reb Yehoshua said, they are between each dibur. There are . There are the, um, there's, I guess, hidden, hidden text of Torah, as it says, . Filled of-- filled with pearls or gemstones like the Great Sea. Rav Shimon ben Lakish, . When he would come to this reading, he would say, Hananiah ben Achir Reb Yehoshua. I heard-- I, I was taught well by Hananiah, the nephew of Reb Yehoshua. just like the sea. between one big wave and another big wave. there are small waves. so, too, between one commandment and the other, there were the added information. So this is what the Yefei Toar is saying, that this, they say that the, the, the first Luchos have... And the context of the Yerushalmi is talking about the Luchos. Because if you see the word, first word there, Tatrugah, it's talking about the shape of the Luchos and, um, how much was written on each one. Was it five or ten or twenty? Whatever. Uh, there's, there's-- that, that's the discussion there. It's talking about the Luchos rather than the oral Aseres Hadibros, um, which was, you know, heard at Mount Torah. So he's saying that between one dibur and the other, there are all-- there's all the other information. So the Yefei Toar is saying that this Midrash contradicts the Midrash which is saying that, uh, there, there are only Aseres Hadibros. One more source on that. Um, sorry. So this morning, I from Chelek Chavov, where the

40:35 Rebbe talks about this Midrash. And in the notes is a reference to a Gemara in Nedarim Daf Chof Beis, Omed Beis. And it talks here that a person who gets angry, so then he's neglectful even about the Shechinah, and it causes him to forget his learning, as, um, as, to tipshus, to folly. And then he says here, if Eden had not sinned with the eagle, I believe, then they would only have received the Chamishi Chumshe Torah and the volume of Yehoshua. Why was the volume of Yehoshua so necessary? Because it has the layout of Eretz Yisrael. But... So here we're seeing a slightly different thing. That, that the Eden would have received only Chamishi Chumshe Torah and Sefer Yehoshua. Because that, that Parshah, that, that Gemara is a negative Gemara. In a sense, it's saying that the-- that because of , because of their sin, that's why they were given all the extra mitzvos, as if to say that they were almost like a punishment because of, of the, um, because of the curse. That's what the impression of the Gemara is. But meanwhile, it does say that they would have received Chamishi Chumshe Torah. Um, this, just to give over from the Sicha, the Rebbe explains the following. That, that in order, in order to be Mekabel Torah, you need to have humility. Why is humility necessary for Limud HaTorah successfully? Because Torah is infinite. It's . That's also in that same context in, in Iyov. about the Torah being so, so great, so

42:39 vast. So the Torah is infinite. So how does a finite mind absorb an infinite Torah? So for this, he needs to have humility. He needs to have humility in a way of . That even anyone who treads on him is also-- It, he, he tolerates everything. That's the level of humility which is, which is needed. Then the Rebbe explains that- At Mount and Torah, Eden were, were chosen and they were elevated, they were exalted. To say that they should then be in a state of humility, it, it didn't fit them. The breaking of the Luchos gave them the feeling of a Lev Nishbor, of, of brokenness, and therefore the ability to be humble. And in this way, and the way the- the Rebbe's presenting it is, had they not had that humility, then they would be his praise. He did a won- not just a necessary thing, but he did a wonderful thing because he enabled Eden to receive the wealth of Torah. The Rebbe finishes off, how can these two, hergeshim, these two feelings of feeling exalted and to feel Nafshika Hof, to be totally humble, how can they come together? That, that's, that lies in the words of, There's Luchos which symbolize the, the exaltedness and the broken Luchos which is, which is the, um, the Betel, the, uh, the, the Anibus, et cetera. They are both in the Oren. Like the Oren itself, we know that Machim Oren Einam Min HaMidah. It defied the laws of measurements. Therefore, this, this ability is

45:16 given to a Yid to be able to have, and, um, um, . At the same time to be Nafshika Hof LeChaltia, to be able to have the two, those two feelings together, and that was as a result of the Luchas and Shivrei Luchos. Okay. So it... Coming back. D- does it mean just Aseres Hadibros? Does it mean Hamish Hachams HaTorah? Well, it certainly means a, a limited thing. I just, I felt that also where, where the Peirush says there's a contradiction, and I'm not so sure whether you have to make a contradiction. The Aseres Hadibros had in it the much more information, but it wasn't developed, and so th- they didn't have the ability to develop it. Um, although... No, no, I'm not sure. Um, okay. Right. I've just got a couple of more things which I'd like to share with you. And one is that of late I've been dabbling in the topic of Shemoneh Sheb'shminis. I, uh, had to talk for a group of Rabbonim and w- I felt that one of the things to address is how do you deal with having to have a high profile and at the same time to be humble. Which is interesting how it r- follows on from this previous discussion. And it says in the Gemara, in Sotah Daf Hey, a Talmid Chacham needs to have, um, one-eighth of an eighth of, of, of pride. Says Reb Yehuda, the son of Reb Yehoshua, that this, that seems nor- well, that's in one, one out of

46:59 sixty-four of... How do you measure that? I'm not sure. One sixty-fourth of what? Meanwhile, um, that this, um, this bit of pride is, is kind of crowning, surrounding the, the person, the Talmid Chacham, like the, the chaff which is around the grain. So meanwhile, we have the Mashal, and the Mashal says, that it's, that Shemoneh Sheb'shminis is one out of sixty-four. That's, that's, that's one, one s- step less than Gas, which is sixty-three. Gas Haruach, which means haughty. So that's the Mashal. Now, just, just before Purim, I took out a Torah Air, and I saw the Alter Rebbe says, he's talking about Shemoneh Sheb'shminis. I was, you know, in, in intrigue. I went through the Maimos, a couple of Mamorim in Torah Air. And so one thing is, Alter Rebbe says, and then he quotes, Kuli Sog. He brings a passuk, Kuli Sog, which is in Tehillim Lamed Daled. And where does he bring that passuk from when it's not, it's not in the Gemara? So where, who associates the passuk Kuli Sog? Sog, Samech Gimel, which is the same thing which the, um, the Chazal, which the, the, uh, Mashal is referring to. That if it's more than one si- one out of sixty-four, it's one, one out of sixty-three, which is a fraction more. So then it's Gas. Uh, uh, that's the, obviously, what the Alter Rebbe is referring to. Sog means impurity. And then in the newer Torah Airs, they have as a reference to the, to the, the Shaloh. The Shaloh

48:50 in Parshas Eikev. And in Parshas Eikev, the Shaloh, he's got, like, a, a three-page, four-page all about the union of Einodav. Fascinating stuff. And there he makes the connection of the Shemoneh Sheb'shminis and Kuli Sog. Um, couple of points before going into the, to these other, to the Shaloh, et cetera. Number one, I had shared with these Rabbonim that sixty-four is twice thirty-two. Thirty-two is Kavod. And I, I said to the, uh, the- these training Rabbonim, "If you will res- respect the congregation, they will respect you. If you overstep that, then you'll, you'll, you'll lose your, your profile." So Kavod and Kavod. So then afterwards I realized that it says in Pirkei Avos, So you have Mechabed others, that you take them. In other words, you respect them. What does it mean, respect? That you, you take them, you know, you, you, um, take, you have regard for them. So they will have regard for you. Uh, so, uh, and then I saw the Alter Rebbe also in Torah Air shows this Gematria of Kavod and Kavod twice in connection to Shemoneh Sheb'shminis. Then about this union of one sixty-three or one out of sixty-four. So before going further, what is the difference in the fraction? How much bigger a slice is one out of sixty-three over one out of sixty-four? Imagine you'd cut a cake into sixty-three pieces or cut that cake in sixty-four pieces. How much is gonna be the difference? So in my, um, struggles within this mathematics, it worked out to

50:29 be zero point zero twenty-five. That's the difference. So therefore, I, I'm asking a Purim question. Why don't we say that that tiny bit, that overstep of the limit, that tiny bit should be Batel Beshishim? Why don't-- why can't we ignore it? And the answer, this, this is a Purim answer. That because it's, there's a Halakha that, that ‑‑ Chatik HaRa'uy L'Hiskabel doesn't become Batel. If something's got to do with Kaved, it doesn't become Batel. So a ti- even though it's very small, but it's, it's, it's Kaved. It doesn't become Batel. I saw, afterwards, I saw here that the Marat z Chayyei, he, he seems to be addressing this a little bit. I'm just gonna finish off with what the Alter Rebbe says. Marat, I, I wanna share you a story. Marat z Chayyei, I don't remember the, all the details. It's in Lev Amalek. I'm sorry, not, it's Sum Lev Amalek. That the story is told, Marat z Chayyei, he was, I believe, a Rav in Lviv. In Lviv, there was also, um, Chassidishe Rebbe, whom I don't remember the name. Perhaps someone does and can share with us. Then there was also the Yeshuas Yaankev. Yeshuas Yaankev wrote three lads for him in the Shukhan Arukh. And as was common in those days, there was, in the towns, there was the government rabbi. The ra- the g-ra- the, the rabbi who would be the one who would do registration for, as they say, hatch, match, and dispatch. Uh, there were, there was the, the

51:57 Rav Mitam. And then there was... So the, the Rav Mitam was often looked at, um, quite critically by the Frumyan. He's like a government rabbi, you know. The Rav, there was, by the way, there was the Rav in Dvinsk, in Dinaburg, who, uh, s- he was, he was a registrar. And he says he's got two assistants. He's got, who are his assistants? The Rogatchover Gaon and the Heretz HaMeir were his assistants. Call upon him. So one day, there was this Chassidishe Rebbe res- he said something about, uh, Heretz, uh, z Chayyei, who was a brilliant Gaon, but he said that he's a Shaygets. So he's the government-appointed rabbi, and the, this Rebbe is, uh, calling him a Shaygets. So there was a court. There was, he was called into court, summoned to court. This Rebbe was summoned to court. So the, uh, Goyishe judge, um, Lviv is, well, it used to be part of Poland. Now it's part of Ukraine. Whatever. The judge asks the, uh, Chassidishe Rebbe, um, "Why did you call the Rabbeiner, why do you call him, why did you insult him? You called him a Shaygets," whatever he said. What, what, "Why did you... So go explain to him, you know, uh, the subtleties of Misnagdim and Chassidim and, uh, a bit more modern, a bit this." He says to, the Rebbe says in court, he says, "Because he, he doesn't wear a big Talis katan. Doesn't wear big Tzitzit." Okay. So the magistrate hears this. He calls over one of

53:31 his, uh, people there and whispers something. A little while later, and then half an hour later, the Rebbe is acquitted. Sometime later, the, uh, Marat z Chayyei is sitting at some, some function next to the Yeshuas Yaankev. And the Yeshuas Yaankev is telling him, "I had a very strange incident. About a couple of weeks ago, I got up in the morning, and I wanted to put up my Tzitzit." You know, Misnagdim apparently don't wear Tzitzit at night. "I got up in the morning, want to put up my Tzitzit. I, I have a small Tzitzit, which I wear every day. Then for Asher Yatzar, I wear a big Tzitzit, big Tal- Talis katan. So I couldn't find my regular one." Not good. "So all right, I went to the drawer, took out the one from the Asher Yatzar, put it on. As I'm on my way to shul, I'm stopped by a gendarme, by a policeman, and they stop me, and they open up my kapote, and they s- they look at what I'm wearing underneath my kapote. And they, 'Thank you. Have a nice day.'" Obviously, they had seen that he's wearing a big, a big Talis katan. So what happened in court when, when the judge had s- when the Rebbe had said that he doesn't wear a big Talis katan, so Marat z Chayyei said there's no Chiyuv to wear Tzitzit altogether, and the small one is also good enough. So the Goyishe judge, he thought to himself, "How do I resolve this

54:56 big Talis katan?" Let's find out what the other rabbi does. And he sent his policeman to check out what the Yeshuas Yaankev was wearing. When he came back, he says, "Wearing big Talis katan." So the Rebbe was acquitted for insulting the, uh, y- the, um, this, um, the, the, the Marat z Chayyei. And so they, there, they, they decided with these Chassidishe Rebbes, it's not worth starting up. Coming back. So, uh, coming back to the Alter Rebbe in Likutei Torah, he talks about the sus. And he says sus is Gematria sixty-three and sixty-three. Twice. Yeah? So you have the word gas. And Haman wanted to, with his gas, with his arrogance, he wanted to reach up to the, the sus, to the, and to the cr-crown, the, the sus which the crown of the Malach is on it. And he wanted to go up and bring down that. And the Hamishter turned it around, and instead of it going to, to the, the, this idea of the pride reaching up and bringing down, that was, that sus asher lcha, al shanita kes efach bazoreisoy was now changed over- It was given over instead, it was given over to Mordechai. So this sus is the same idea, this i- of, of, gas, of the reaching up and getting to Kesar Madach and being Mamshik, that was given over to Mordechai. So that's in Torah reading of this week. Um, before I'm reading to the last question, um, so he see here, even though the first Luchos

56:32 were only Adas HaSebir, didn't they all include the six hundred and thirteen? As Rab Sadya Goan quoted in Rashi and Chumash, that the Aseres HaDibros include, uh, in, I'll call them the Devar Remez, the entire Tosha-- the entire Taryak Mitzvahs. Right. That, that's, that's part of the question. I'm so-- I, I couldn't find, uh, a clarity on that, and that seems to be borne out by the Yerushalmi with all the stuff, like the hidden text in between the Aseres HaDibros. Um, okay. Rab Naftali's pointing out about the breaking of the Luchas that on the, in HaYom Yom HaMavuer, or in the entry on Aser-- on, of Shiva Osur Betamus, where, um, it talks about the breaking of the Luchas. I didn't look up the HaYom Yom now. The Re-- the Rebbe changed. Instead of the reference to the Dorim Daf Achov Beis, which we just saw, the Rebbe changed to Shemos Rabbo, which we also saw this evening. Okay, one last thing, or almost like the last thing, and that is in that piece of the Shalom in Parashat Eikev. So there's a very cute p-piece which I want to share with you, not on a Luchah. We're talking about the, the name Yaakov and Yeshurun. So we've got here, um, Yaakov, Yeshurun, and Yeshurun. So you have the word Yaakov, VaYovo Yaakov Sholeim. So Yaakov comes to this town of Sholeim. But Sholeim means complete. So look at the word Yaakov and think of the full word spelt out. Yud, Va, Yud. You have

58:02 here Yud, Ayin, Kuf, Peh, Beis. And then take just the fill-in letters, the Nelon, the hidden letters. You've got Yud, Ayin, Kuf, Va, Beis. They are the visible letters. And the Vav, Daled, the Yud, Nun, and the Vav, Peh, and the Yud, Tov, they are the hidden letters. So that's the Sholeim. The Yaakov Sholeim, the infill of the name Yaakov. And they are, uh, a total of five hundred and sixty-six, which is the same Gematria as the word Yeshurun. The name Yeshurun. So the name Yeshurun is the, the hidden Shleimus of the name Yaakov. And then he quotes a Pasuk in Yeshaya: , Now, to explain that in, in Mo-in Sekel, the name Yaakov can mean loshon of crookedness, um, um, um, um, swindling, et cetera. , and in Olam HaZe, Yaakov may be looked on in, looked down because of this Inyan of, of Okiv, of, uh... But , they will see the straightness and how upright and how correct the Inyanim of Yaakov are. So that's the, um, the, that's this Rebbe's, uh, Yeshurun, which loshon of Yeshur, which is the Giluy of, which will be Losin Lovi, will be, um, seeing the, the Giluy of Ya-Okiv, of Yaakov. And just to share with you another story, which Rabbin Sian, um, Hakano, alav hashalom, would often sa-say, that there was a year before the war, there was in, in Germany, there was a Jewish, um, newspaper called Der Israelit. And then at some stage, there was also another paper called Yeshurun. And there

59:43 was one fellow who took off his subscription or what, for some reason. He canceled his subscription from Der Israelit, but he was getting the Yeshurun magazine. But in his bill, he was invoiced for both. So he says, apparently, he writes to the, to their office that, "Apparently, you're charging me for both. " You're, you're charging me for the Israelit and for the Yeshurun. Um, just one last thing, and that is behemshek to our discussion about the Inyan of, the Inyan of Shlach Manos, of a child giving Shlach Manos. So Rabbi Azerkin sent me a reference to the Shuchan Aruch, Shin, Shin Samech Vav, about Eruv, about that it can, that a child cannot be Kohen and Eruv for other people. But if the child is not your child, it's s-someone else's child, then they can be Kohen for an aspect which is Ridivrei Soferim. So here you have, . So it's, it can be, really, it is to, in the context of Shlichas. He can be Kohen on behalf, and therefore, it's not such a-- he felt it wasn't such a problem either for giving a child, um, that he's Kohen and able to give another child. So I'm not so sure he's right, but may, may, may be right. But we, we see here that for Din D'Rabbonon, the cotton can be Kohen in order to give to others. Why am I sharing this? Not necessarily because of Eruv Chatzeyres, but it is Eruv. We're going to have, uh, Eruv Pesach. We're going to

1:01:29 need to make an Eruv Tav Shilin. And many people make a point of doing a Kinyan with the Eruv Tav Shilin on behalf of other people in case they had forgotten. So, um, I may certainly make a point of doing so. And what would happen if a child comes to the door, a child of a neighbor, not my own child. My, my children are over Bar Mitzvah in any case. But if I would have a, a child or a ainikol would come to the house, could I give them to be Kohen of the Eruv? So here we have in Siman Tov Kuf Chaf Zayin that , a child who's not your dependent, you can do a Kinyan. , because Eruv Tav Shilin, like Eruv Chatzeyres or Din D'Rabbonon, then you could ha- do the Kinyan, uh, on behalf of others through a child. So I wish you all a gut Yovo and wish you have Besuras Tovas. Uh, Marbim B'Simcha. Yeah. What's this last message? Okay. Gut Shabbes. Shalom Aleichem. Good luck. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Good luck.