בהר–בחוקותי תשפ״ג

00:18 Speaker 1 Good evening, and welcome to tonight's cheer. I'd like to start off, though, with saying a chapter of Tehillim. It is Hus Refuah Shleima for Yoyino ben Chaya Bracha. So we'll say chapter 12, and then I'll put in some Stocka. If you can also put in Stocka. In his Hus, he should have a Refuah Shleima. Go straight to our Shalus then. So first of all, the first question was about a mikvah. Is there a requirement to place a mezuzah at the entrance of a mikvah? The-- obviously, the m- mikvah chamber itself, where people are not clothed, doesn't require a mezuzah. A mezuzah is only for a room which is a respect- respectable room. Whereas where people are undressed is not a respectable place, and therefore does not require a mezuzah. The question is more about the, the entrance, the, the, the foyer, et cetera. There's, uh, sometimes there's a, a bit of a, um, how do you say, reception area. Does that require a mezuzah? So this has been addressed by several contemporary poskim. What we have on the screen is from Shevet HaLevi from Rav Vosner, and he says that nowadays the mikvahs are built with all very s-sophisticated, uh, improvements, and there is a, a ple- very pleasant, uh, pr- uh, welcoming room, uh, a foyer, and at least that should be. Gemara in Shabbos talks about the three chambers. There's the inner chamber where people are totally undressed, the middle chamber, and the front chamber where people are mostly dressed. And he says

02:57 Speaker 1 that the foyer of the mikvah certainly is, is, is, uh, at least the Bayis Haketzoin, um, more likely more than that, because in the foyer it's not as if people are getting dressed in the foyer. They are fully dressed there. It's more just a welcoming area. And therefore, one should place a mezuzah, a mezuzah there. Uh, it's not to say... No, don't say, "Oh, it's just part of the bathhouse, and therefore it's a, not a respectful place." And we, we-- and then he-- basically, he finishes off, and, uh, indeed, he says to place the mezuzah with the outer bracha, and that's what he him-himself did in Zifron Meir, in a neighborhood in Bnei Brak, where he was the Rav. So they built a mikvah there, and he did instruct to put on a mezuzah. But because of the, uh, it... Well, no one's sleeping there as such. It's not a proper dwelling. So therefore, it wouldn't require a bracha or... But without a bracha. One of our listeners, um, asked for some information about the background for Rav Ovadia, and this is question number two. Uh, some background to Rav Ovadia being a follow-on to Shahris, and why on Shabbos and Yom Tov is it relegated to Mincha. So indeed, the, the term, well, in, in Rav Ovadia, it starts off with a couple of, a couple of psukim. Then we have Kadesh, um, Kadesh and Baruch, and also, uh, Hashem Yimlech Le-Olam VaEd, which is the equivalent of, uh, Yim-Yimlech Hashem Le-Olam, which we

04:37 Speaker 1 have at the end of Kedusha. There's an explanation why the different psukim are chosen. But there is a, a revisit to Kedusha in Rav Ovadia. And in Gemara, it talks about Kedusha D'Sidra. So that's the Kedusha which we're referring to, the, the, uh, which is after the Shemoneh Esreh. So some say that the Rav Ovadia was instituted for... So there's idea of following from the Beit Hakneset, from the prayer, the Beit HaMidrash, to the study hall, and that, that's Beit HaPsuk, Yehi Michayil El Chayal, to go from strength to strength. They have to go from the Beit Hakneset, from tefillah, to go onward with Torah. So the psukim which are in Rav Ovadia, and are psukim from Torah, from Tanakh, and that's one way of fulfilling the idea of going, progressing from tefillah onto Torah. Another aspect of it, which is obviously the Kedusha, the Kadesh and Kadesh, that is for someone who missed answering Kedusha in davening. So then he has the opportunity to make it up to compensate for missing out on answering Kedusha. But here is a fascinating pro-- um, development over here. I may have once shared it with you over in this share, but... And that is the following. We say Kedusha In before the Shema, right? In be-before Yoetz HeEm Oiros, we say Kedusha over there. Then we have Kedusha in the repetition of the Shemoneh Esreh. And then we have Kedusha a third time in Ovot Zion. Now, what, what, what is unique about the Ovot Zion Kedusha

06:30 Speaker 1 is that there we are saying K-um, Kedusha with a, an Ara-a translation in Aramaic, which we don't do by the other Kedushas. And you know that in some shuls, the chazan says, prompts the tzibbur to say the pesukim of Kedusha aloud. Uh, Amar, um, v'chara zeh el zeh v'hu amar, and everyone says, "Kaddah kodesh, kodesh." And the same thing for, baruch v'hevesh Hashem imkoimo. Whereas in other circles, in Chabad, it's not, it's, it's not, um, it's not pronounced at all, this saying Kedusha aloud. And, uh, also not only Chabad, other Hasidisha circles also. So what's the reason for this? Is it should we say it alou-aloud or not? So here there's a Zohar. You can see the reference there. It's in Chelek Gimel, Kuf Hof Tes Samech Alef, that we have in the first time we're saying Kedusha, we're telling a story. We're describing how the malachim are saying Kedusha, how the angels are saying Kedusha. It comes along to the repetition of the Shemoneh Esreh, to Chazarat HaShatz. At this point, we are saying Kedusha together with the malach. We say yachad. So they, they c- And the Ashkenaz say, "Hashem shem magdish u'mashme morim." We-- it's a reflection. We go, we, we in tandem. We're saying it together with the malach. It comes a third time. It's like a kind of a takeover bid that the, we're saying the Kedusha without the malachim, and there's the emphasis. We, Atah kodesh yosev t'hillat Yisroel, that it's the Yidden are saying Kedusha without, without the

08:10 Speaker 1 malachim. So here we have... And so the, the, there is a kind of concern that the malachim may be a-anxious that there's been this takeover bid, and we want to kind of keep the malachim a little bit out of the picture because they may, ho-ho-be upset that their Kedusha has been, been usurped by the, by these, by these Yidden. And therefore, there is the throwing in of the Aramaic. That's what the Zohar explains. Because it says also in the Gemara that the malachim detest Aramaic. Particularly Aramaic perhaps because Aramaic is considered the achorayim. It's like a behind of the, uh, of the Kedusha. O-of the Yotzer HaKodesh, sorry. Whatever that may be, but there is some aversion that malachim have to Aramaic, and therefore, there is the Aramaic in, in, in, in Ovot Zion. So this, the, as I said, the more Yahushuvelt will say the, the Aramaic, they'll say it quietly, and the Yechidishvelt will just say the whole lot in a regular voice. But either way, the Aramaic there is kind of to address the malachim that they should, uh, shouldn't, uh, be makatrik. What's left to our discussion is why is, why is Ovot Zion on Shabbos and Yom Tov? Why is it, why is it moved over to Mincha? And the answer is very s- a very simple, a very simple Balabatishe answer, and that is that Shacharit on Yom Tov includes Musaf, includes a full Krias HaTorah, and people are, are, uh, anxious to make life easier for the- We

10:35 Speaker 1 don't hear you. Lion, we don't hear you.

11:02 Speaker 2 Second that.

11:02 Speaker 1 Looks like he's logged out. Let's look everybody See, hold on. Apologies about that. So I was saying that we, my source is from a vol-- are all about tefillah, and so the second volume talks about why it's left for the afternoon on Shabbos. Let's move on to our next question, and that is-- So, the next question is, and he is unfortunately, um, he's a widower. Um... Can you hear me now? We don't hear. Ah. Yeah, I can hear. Yeah. Okay, we're back. So here we go. So he's, he's, this fellow, he's, he's a single man, and he, uh, he wants to bench licht because his wife is no longer there, so he has to bench licht at home. He can only bench licht after Plag Hamincha. If the shul are gonna start Mincha early, he won't be able to get in time to shul to, to, uh, even for, for Ma'ariv. He's gonna have a struggle to be in time because of, uh, him, him lighting at home. So here's, here's the, his question. Should he miss-- Should he go to shul and miss out lighting Shabbos candles, or should he light Shabbos candles and miss out going to shul? That was the dilemma which I was, uh, looking at, and I felt quite strongly that the mitzvah of lighting Shabbos candles is his personal duty. Um, davening with a minyan is a wonderful thing. It's not a, uh... It doesn't, it doesn't compare in chiyuv. It's, it's a, it's a very highly recommended thing,

15:49 Speaker 1 but it's not a chiyuv, absolutely. And therefore, if there's a choice between davening with a minyan or benching licht at home, the lighting candles at home takes the priority. You know, the, the, the problem is that he's, he ha-happens to be also the shliach who is read-leading the davening, which makes it so much more of a challenge, but that's, that's the, uh, that's the story. Right. Let's go on to our next question. Someone's asking, it happened to be that in, uh, Bais Chabad last week. So they had, by Ma'ariv, they had ten people for Ma'ariv, and then during Ashkivenu, the turnaround, and one of the ten people has gone missing. So they've only got nine people. So the rule about this is that if you started a unit with ten people, and then the tenth person leaves, you can still finish that unit. So long as there's a majority, so long as there's six people in the room, if a minority have left, you can finish off the unit which you're doing. So the question here is: How do we define the unit for Ma'ariv? Does the Kaddish after Ashkivenu, if there was a minyan at Baruch, can the Kaddish after Ashkivenu be said? So this is really, it's a straightforward halacha in Shulchan Aruch, in, Al Trebe's Shulchan Aruch, nun hey, siman nun hey, siv dalet. And he says, in other words, we're defining units, where-- So he says, at Arvis. So the Kaddish, if there was a minyan for Baruch, so at the

17:30 Speaker 1 beginning of Ma'ariv, they would not say the Kaddish after Shemoneh Esreh unless there were ten people at the onset of Shemoneh Esreh. But the Kaddish before Shemoneh Esreh should be said if there were ten at the beginning of Ma'ariv at Baruch, even if some of them had left. Kaddish after Aleinu is kind of a, kind of a voluntary extra, and that doesn't come into the... If there's no, no ten people, you can't say that Kaddish. But let's come back to the Kaddish after Ashkivenu. Why is that Kaddish put there? Why is it-- Why is Ma'ariv different to Shaharit? By Shaharit, we from Ga'al Yisroel, we go straight, straight into Shemoneh Esreh, and we don't want to have an interval. And at Ma'ariv, we have an interval. We have Hashkiveinu, and th-then some people say, Yireh eineinu, then there's a Kaddish. The first thing is that, three last Arvis Reshus, that the davening Ma'ariv used to be considered a, like, optional extra. And therefore, the emphasis of Soomer Gulalitzfilov are not having an interruption between God Israel and Shemoneh Esreh, that emphasis is less. This is particularly visible in many shuls where the Gaber will announce on the night of Rosh Chodesh, he'll announce the Hal Haviohoi after Kaddish before Shemoneh Esreh. Although it says not to because of the Hashash Hefsik, but the Menheg HaOlam is why they're not so worried about Hefsik. Because Tefillah Sarvis Rishus... I'm taking this further, that it used to be, apparently, that people would not daven Ma'ariv in shul.

19:15 Speaker 1 They would just do Birkat Kohrimah. And then they said eighteen Psukim corresponded to the eighteen Brochos of Shemoneh Esreh. And those eighteen Psukim are in the, what you have in the Sekhashim as Yireh Eineinu. You got eighteen Psukim there. They are corresponding to the eighteen Brochos of Shemoneh Esreh. They would just do the eighteen Psukim, and then they would say, "Kaddish," and everyone would say, "Well, tell on another good night." So that was the end of their formal, formal davening was actually be, uh, right after Hashkiveinu. That's how the Kaddish comes in then. All right, so that's a little bit more about that, that, that, the background of, uh, Yireh Eineinu, and, uh, why Hashkiveinu is like the end, and that Kaddish is the end of the unit of, of, of the first unit of Ma'ariv. Let's move on. Very relevant to, um... So, Birkat Kohanim Protis. I, I teach a class in the, uh, the Babage High School, and, um, just throw in that there is a charity, um, fundraiser being done, and everyone is welcome to participate in contributing to the Chinuch, which is going on in the Moistes here in London. But, uh, we, we, we learned through this, this, how this year, we were going through Birkat HaNe'enin, and mamash last, uh, this past week, which was our last lesson because we now got to exam leave, so we learned about the Brocha on the king, when you see a king. And so what's, what's the dilemma? Every-everyone knows that there's

20:48 Speaker 1 a Brocha upon seeing a king. So there is here, this at the bottom you have here from the Radvaz, quoted in the Magen Avrah. He says the following, "Governors which do not have the yoke of a king above them to override their rulings, they can judge and give capital punishment." So such a governor, you have to say the Brocha, "Anosim Echvede, uh, Shosim Echvede Labas Avadam." Whereas ministers, which are appointed by the king in various cities, then they're not so powerful, and therefore you should say the Brocha without Shema Malchus. The Kadi, who is the supreme judge, no Brocha at all. So from this Radvaz, you get the impression that the power of the king has got to do with whether he can, um, a-apply or, or annul a death penalty. Now, Baruch Hashem, in our society, death penalty is not, is not, is not, is, is not legal, not part of the law system altogether. Therefore, the king doesn't have a power of, of Hoydig V'Mishpat. And therefore, the king asks the question, perhaps he doesn't qualify to have the, say the, say the Brocha. So this, this is where there's these murmurings and people think, "The Yod-Do, it doesn't, it doesn't really qualify." So this has been addressed by two contemporaries, um, Poskim or more. One of them is the Ra-Ra-Ra-Rav Vosner, and he's clearly in his Tshuva, he's talking about the Queen of England. And separately, there's also, so Lang Levem, Rav Moshe Steinbuch in his Tshuvas Vahanogos, also comparing different types,

22:35 Speaker 1 American presidency and, um, British monarchy, et cetera. So I'm just gonna read, though, what Rav Vosner says. "Poshevri Einai," that even if the monarch, the Yod-Do is referring to the late Queen Elizabeth, even though she does not have the power to, uh, give a death penalty without consultation with the heads of government, however, because he or she is the most honorable in their nation, and they are given honor, "She'ein Dugmo Sai," incomparable, therefore they deserve, they, they are deserving of the Brocha Shunos HaMikvede. And he says, "Read that, the Radvaz." The Radvaz which the Mogan Avrah quoted. And that's the Svara that has to be, got to do with capital punishment or not. There, he's talking about a, a, someone who's appointed by the Melech. So then, the fact that he's, he's not the supreme authority, he's appointed by the king. So then, if he doesn't have the ability to apply the death penalty, then he's lacking, he lacks in his power, et cetera. But the king himself, that because of the legal system, there is no death penalty, that does not prevent from him from being recognized a Melech B'Emes V'Hadvorim Shutim. So Rav Vosner is absolutely confident that we do say a Brocha on, uh, the Br- British monarch, so contrary to various naysayers. Um, right. Now, I'm going to just go to mute all. Right. Now, then someone's... Like I see here, there's a couple of points in the chat. Um, I'm told that there is still a death penalty for treason

24:32 Speaker 1 in this country. That's very, very interesting. I was actually thinking about whether Rav Vosner is saying that, that there's Kovet She'ein Dugmo Sai. I'm wondering whether the fact that there can be protesters and standing there at a parade and saying, "Not my king," that kind of stuff, does that take away from the, the, uh, extreme Kovet which the Melech has? The fact that it's illegal for them to protest in such a despicable way. But, um, okay. Now, as long as they don't start hacking at my, my program. Okay, these anti-royalists. Okay. Um, going back to the previous question, could the gentleman, the Shliach, could he light in shul? Well, not before Mincha, may as well light after, but is there any point in that? Yes. Now, there, there is a value of him... If they were to have a meal in shul or even some kiddish or something, that could be a possibility of lighting in shul. I still felt that his primary obligation is to light at his home, at his residence. But you can light somewhere else, but if you can light in your own home, that's your primary fear. Even if he's eating out, this is also an important point. Whenever people eat out and they're planning to-- time to come home, their candles have burnt out, but they still make-- should be making a bracha on the lighting their home. They should have in mind the electric lights. Whenever you light candles, you have in mind also the, uh, the, uh,

26:06 Speaker 1 the electric, electric lights. Right. Rabbi Lou is adding that he believes that the monarch can reprieve a death penalty in, say, Jamaica if, say, if they are still under the monarchy. As far as I know, that was a long time ago. Being-- Jamaica being part of, uh, the British Commonwealth. I think it's, it's a long time ago. Okay, let's move on. Right. Uh, now, you might think that this question has got to do with the previous question about entering a church. Um, not directly. And really the question which was put to me was, a woman who's getting close to Yiddishkeit, her father, biological father, Catholic, he died, was cremated, and now they're doing some kind of service at a church, actually in Italy. And she is asking, can she, for respect of her father, to go attend the service? So let's... How, how rigid is it about not entering a church? So here on the one hand, we have, um, from Siman Kuf Mem, um, Kuf Mem Tes. And the fur-- the upper quote is from Kuf Mem Zayin, and the lower quote is from Kuf Mem Tes. So in Kuf Mem Tes, it's talking about entering not the church itself, but the premises, the Chot Ha'Avodah Zarah. So some say that you're allowed to enter, um, when there's no worship going on. And some say even the Chot Ha'Avodah Zarah, no, not allowed to enter at all, um, unless it's a access to out-- to a reach elsewhere. But meanwhile, basically, the Minich Poshta

27:52 Speaker 1 is that one would not enter a church, as-- even the yard of a church. Okay. Then on the other hand, we have here, what if the story, if a person is Chaiyav Misa, he's been given a death penalty, is he allowed to run away, take refuge in a church to save his life? So some say, so the Shechinach says he is allowed to, and some say if it's a time of Shemad, where they are seeking to force you against their faith, then he's not allowed to. Um, I think we've discussed this once and, uh, how in the town Nezin, the Chassid of Rebbe Rashab, whose name was Mendel Chen. There were pogroms in Nezin, and he was offered refuge by the vicar, whoever, and he refused, and he was actually killed, Al Kidush Hashem. Um, I-- what I found was very interesting, that we know that in-- it says in the Torah, that if a person is Chaiyav Misa, and, and, and he runs to the Mizbeach, the Mizbeach is like a, a city of refuge. We all know the story of, of, of, um, Yoov, the general of David, when he was guilty of treason, the whole thing with the, with the rebellion of Absalom. So he runs into, um, and holds onto the corners of the Mizbeach. So the Mizbeach was seen as a kind of, as, as a city of refuge. So Lehavdil, Lehavdil, in other faiths too, if a person would be punishable death penalty, but if they take refuge in

29:31 Speaker 1 a, in a place of worship, they are, they are kind of given safety, that they won't get, they won't get attacked, they won't be even arrested, perhaps, whatever, in, in a place of worship. So I found that very interesting. So this is possibly the background to this discussion, Shechinach. Are you allowed to run away for safety, to enter a house of Avodah Zarah? Some say you are allowed to. Now, just to come back, um, go back a little bit. Um, I, I do want to address, because a lot of people asking how a very Hoshir Yid in, in this comm-- in, you know, in the London, in the English British community, was at Westminster Abbey yesterday, um, apparently. And is there a heter for it, et cetera, et cetera. I want to say a couple of things. Um, first of all, he himself published that he did consult with the Beth Din about this. Another, a, a couple of points about this. Um, if he wouldn't go, it would-- the, the, there would be, there would be another representative going there of the Jewish faith. And I think we prefer to have someone... And that person would be not necessarily, uh, from a Yid, um, who's faithful to Torah. And therefore, it's, I think, preferable for, for our need for representation, that it should be a firm person rather than a person who's... And there's no difference, Halacha, whether this person goes, that person goes. I want, I wanna share with you one more thing,

31:02 Speaker 1 though. I once heard from Rav Pikarsky. I did not look this up now, but I remember this, how he-- I, as far as I remember, he quoted Rabbeinu Chananel. In the first part of Shema, we say, "Bechol levavcha, bechol nafscha, bechol me'odcha." And bechol me'odcha is sometimes understood to refer to, to allude to mesirat nefesh. In the second part of Shema, it says, "Bechol levavchem ubechol nafschem." It does not say bechol me'odchem. And Rabbeinu Chananel says a fascinating insight, that when you have a tza'ar, when you have an anguish of a community, it has equal weight to saving the life of an individual. So we know that pikuach nefesh, saving an individual's life, overrides everything. So Rabbeinu Chananel is saying that prevention, to pre- to prevent a pain of a tzibur, of, of a community, has got equal or similar weight. And whilst, uh, Baruch Hashem, we don't feel that if it, uh... But certainly there, there is a concern that if there would not be a representation of the Jewish community, it would be seen as a snub. I'm not saying it would be dangerous, but it certainly would be something which we, uh, a discomfort, uh, I think that's a bit of an understatement, for the Jewish community if they would be seen as not being loyal citizens. And therefore, I can see, I was not asked to pasken on this, but I can see the, the, um, the ju- the, uh, justification of someone going in. And it's not as if the

32:53 Speaker 1 person went in in any, of any interest, any worshipful interest. On contrary, he's going there as a representative of a different faith. Therefore, there's no, no, no, uh, had a, no room for allegation of saying, "Oh, he went there to, uh, you know, to enjoy the service." Um, I once heard from one of the chief rabbis from Israel that he was in Rome, and he had to go to the Vatican. Didn't he? The la-- Right after he went out, he ran to the mikvah. Okay. Um, let's move on. Right. So here's the question, that during the reading of the Torah, a mistake was found. It was a, a letter which was, uh, misformed, or something damaged. So what do we do then exactly? So there, here we have in Siman Kuf Bet Gimel, if a mistake is found in the Sefer Torah during the reading, we take out another Sefer Torah, and we start from where the other one left off. And you can, and, and you can make up the numbers with the... In other words, let's say you had given three aliyas, uh, on the Shabbos morning, and you still have another four aliyas. You don't have to do four aliyas in the... So sorry, you don't have to do seven aliyas in the new Sefer Torah. You, you rely on those who were called up in the first Sefer Torah to make up your quota of aliyas. So there's no need to repe- reread that which was done, and no need to

34:21 Speaker 1 make up the number of seven aliyas. There are poskim who do say that you should make up extra aliyas. Now, that's on Shabbos, where chazaras are accepted, are allowed. Therefore, they say you should do chazaras. So the person who was asking me this question was asking, what is the Chabad take on this? Now, perhaps we've discussed this before. There is a tshuva of the Tzemach Tzedek, which was published, uh, only about, only about perhaps forty-five years ago from manuscript. And here, the Tzemach Tzedek very much embraces the view of Tshuva HaRambam, which says the following. That a Sefer Torah which has a, a psul, which is disqualified, means that you haven't fulfilled the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah. It does not mean... It's not an impediment for the mitzvah of Kriyat HaTorah. Again, there's a mitzvah that you should have a Sefer Torah, like the mitzvah to have mezuzah on your door, to have tefillin on your head. There's a mitzvah to own a, own a Sefer Torah. If there's a letter missing, you have, you've missed out on the mitzvah of owning a Sefer Torah. But when it comes to Kriyat HaTorah, that's a separate thing. For Kriyat HaTorah, he said you are fulfilling the mitzvah of Kriyat HaTorah, even with a pasul Sefer Torah. And the greatest proof of that is, it says in the Gemara that you cannot do Kriyat HaTorah from a Chumash, which means a scroll of Vayikra or a scroll of Bamidbar, et cetera, because of Kovod HaTzibur.

35:52 Speaker 1 It's, it's disrespectful to do Kriyat HaTorah from... Now, if you have a scroll of Vayikra, you know, that means that eighty percent of the Torah is missing there. It's, it's only one out of five volumes. And he's saying the only problem is Kovod HaTzibur. So that tells us that the idea of Kriyat HaTorah is not totally dependent on the castrosis of the Sefer Torah. Now, I'm saying this is from the tshuva of the Rambam corresponded. The, the response of the Rambam, whereas in Sefer HaMada, in Mishneh Torah, he says just the opposite. He says that you're not, you're to Kriyat HaTorah from a pasul Sefer Torah. And certainly, we follow that l'chatchila. But b'di eved, when you are in middle of Kriyat HaTorah, and you've read already part of it, so what you've read is, uh, valid because, because of this, uh, this other opinion, w- and you don't have to make up your quota. And since Chabad don't do chazaras, so then we're not gonna call up any, any extras, even though there may be space to do so. We don't call any extras. What-- You-- As you are middle of reading, and you see a, a psul in the Sefer Torah, so then, to borrow a term, pull up, pull over to the hard shoulder as soon as possible. Sometimes you cannot interrupt. There are places in the Torah you cannot interrupt. Uh, you can't pause there. Let's say if it's within three pesukim from a pesukah or a stumah, uh, sometimes the

37:12 Speaker 1 middle of, um... Then there are various places when we-- in the middle of Asah Dibras, we wouldn't stop, et cetera. So there are places where you cannot inter-- stop. You stop as soon as possible, and then you do the after bracha on the Pasuk of Sefer Torah. One last thing, and that is, all of this is when you have another Sefer Torah. If you don't have another Sefer Torah, you finish off the Krias Hatorah with seven aliyas in all in the Pasuk of Sefer Torah. That seems very likely on our vacation. A holiday in hotel, there's only one Sefer Torah, and you found a psul. So then you finish off Krias Hatorah and-- but maftir, shvi becomes maftir because maftir is the eighth one. It's extra to the quarter. So therefore, uh, the numbers-- the one who has the seventh aliyah will do also the Haftarah. Just finish off on a joke on that one, that there was once in... there was a special shul of the Amaratzim shul. It was the, the, the shul of the... Come on, what's the plural of it? Ignoramus. Ignorami. Okay. At any rate, so then there was a fellow who has an aliyah, it was Parshah's Kohelet, and he says, "Oops, um, ps-ps, I, I think, as far as I remember, the Haggadah, Kohelet is written with a kof, not with a kuf." He said, "Oh, you're right. We're gonna have to put away the Sefer Torah. But because you're such a scholar, you're gonna have to leave

38:36 Speaker 1 the, the Amaratzim Minyan." Okay, um, let's move on. Right. So we've discussed this in the past, but about a chimney stack. Now, we're all familiar that the Rabbehu Chassid has got an issue, uh, of blocking up a doorway, blocking up a window, and if we do have need to block a doorway or a window, we would leave a small, um, pipe, a, a small passage and later cover that over, but we wouldn't want to block it totally. That's got to do with spirits, that if they had passage here, not to block up their passage totally. Then what's, what, what's the story of a chimney? Does the chimney have the same s- same, uh, rules as a, as a window? Now, there's a separate issue which we have dis- discussed, um, a sep- separate issue which we discussed in the past about demolishing an oven. If you remember, we had a whole story about someone who had a warehouse, and in the corner of the warehouse, there was a matzah oven, which was used obviously once a year, and he wants to demolish it to be able to make space in his warehouse. And there's a separate issue of dis- demolishing an oven, which is quite a strict thing also in Rabbehu Chassid. But we're not talking about demolishing an oven, we're talking now about a blocking a chimney. That's-- A chimney is also, obviously, a passage from like a window, going from one to the other. Very interesting. On Shabbos, we had by the Shi,

40:16 Speaker 1 I asked: How do you say chimney in Hebrew? So someone tells me the word is Aruba. Now, we know the word Aruba is used for the windows of heaven, which they mabuk when the flood comes down. Aruba is Hashem Olam. So a, a wind chimney is an opening to the, to the heaven to, or, or et cetera, and it's from one floor to the other. So if you would take out a chimney stack, and it's wise, if you take out the chimney stack on the lower floor, it's a good idea to take out the one from the upper floor too. Otherwise, it might come tumbling down sometime, uh, you know, un- unless you put up special brackets, et cetera. So, so now you've taken away two chimney stacks, upstairs and downstairs. Now, between those floors, there used to be a passage which was in the chimney, and now you've, you've blocked that passage. So you should leave some kind of hole between the two, and then you can cover it over with whatever, uh, at a later stage. Now, so this is... I-- In, in the notes, I have a reference to a Sefer Shmiras Guf VeNefesh who talks about this. Uh, it's a contemporary Sefer about all these safety issues with spiritual stuff, and he gives a reference to a Sefer of Rav Chaim Falaji. Chaim Falaji, if I'm not mistaken, he was in Turkey, and a very eminent posek going back about a hundred and fifty years ago, wr- wrote a, a phenomenal

41:42 Speaker 1 amount of sfardim. And he writes that, "I, uh, I responded to someone who had in his house a stove, and it was used for boiling water for laundry, and this had a pipe for taking out the smoke. It went more than ten floors up. After several years, he saw it's far too high, and it's made of, of stone. He was worried that because it's so tall, it may collapse." Now, if he wants to diminish the height of this chimney and so he's, um, take away some of the, this, this, you know, the brickwork, et cetera, is there any concern of because of Savas Rabbehu Chassid, where he says you shouldn't demolish an oven, et cetera. And so he says that the fact that he's shortening the chimney, that's not a problem because the... He's not using that space up there. Uh, that's what he says over here. And there's still the... The access is still there. Therefore, it's not a problem. So what we're seeing here is there is an issue of blocking a chimney, and, uh, if you do need to remove a chimney stack, so there is, you know, make sure you leave some kind of opening. That becomes easier if it's just from floor to floor. If you've removed a chimney stack to the sky, then what you're gonna do there, gonna have-- How are you gonna leave an opening there that it shouldn't have the rain come in? There may be, uh, well, we'll have to talk about it, may be

43:10 Speaker 1 a way of putting a c- like a... leaving some kind of pipe and just having a cap over it with a v- like a r- like a vent with a, with a, with a protective cap. Right. Um, here's another question, a practical question, that someone's asking that for Friday evening they're going to have several s- female students coming over who've never benched. They don't bench lift on a regular basis. So what they're gonna have is, let's say there's eight of them, and there's the rebbetzin, and they all have their candles. Each one's gotta light a candle, and then they'll all say the bracha together. Now, we know that normally a woman, after she's just bentched lech, she will, she will, um, cover her eyes and then say the bracha. Now, just to clarify, especially we have, uh, our Sephardi, um, representative o- here. Now, by the Sephardim, the bracha is said before lighting, by most Sephardim. Sephardi, Sephardic Jews to be more precise. The bracha is said before lighting. But by Ashkenazim, the bracha is said after lighting. And in order to have the idea of the bracha is said before the mitzvah is done, the eyes are covered, and in that way they only benefit from the light afterwards. So here's the question: Is it okay for them to light and then to say the bracha once everyone has lit, along with the shlucha, with the rebbetzin? So if you... L- looking over here, it says, in the Shulchan Aruch, resembling Shevet Muful, it

44:47 Speaker 1 says about making the bracha before lighting. Then it says the minhag, in other words, meaning Ashkenaz, is to make the bracha after lighting, because once you've said the bracha, it's as if you make Kabbalah Shabbos by saying the bracha. And then he says, in order that there should be the bracha prior to the act, so they make a point of not benefiting from the light until after the bracha. To p- na- namely, they put their hands in front of the flame right after the bracha. Or sorry, right after lighting, before the bracha, as if to say, "I'm not having benefit from the light until the, uh, after the bracha." And the, this is kind of developed from putting the hands in front of you, blocking the light, candles, to bringing the h- h- lights, the candles o- sorry, the... bringing the, the, the hands over the, the eyes. It's all the... The, the question is, how important is this? How imperative is it to say, "Oh, you have to cover, and if you didn't cover, you can't say the bracha because you've already had benefit"? That's, that's the dilemma. So I did say to him, I think I... The way it's presented, it seems to be more on the level of minhag rather than a hil. That you can't... If you s- see, if you see the candles, you can't make a bracha. It's, it, it doesn't seem to be that way. It seems to be more, um, as a halacha, as a minhag. But

46:05 Speaker 1 what I did say is, she, she should tell the girls, the students, "When you've lit your candle, cover your eyes and just think about Kabbalah Shabbos, you know. And then when we're ready, we'll all say the bracha together." And they'll have a moment to think about, you know, to, to have a contemplation, meditate a bit. That, that's just to recommend that, but if it didn't, it doesn't work out, I still think they can make a bracha, uh, according to minhag Ashkenaz. Right. Um, how we doing? Number 10. Right. Okay, beautiful. I know that some of our listeners love to hear shet- shotim of, uh... Now, there's a famous question. Why is the first stanza malachei hashareis and the second stanza is malachei hashalom? Why does it switch? And this is discussed in various places. There's also someone who says that he was in Yechidut with the Rebbe, and the Rebbe said that shalom can also be farewell. Sh- malachei, you're bidding farewell to the malachei hashareis, and then it's... Shalom to the other ones is welcoming them. Okay. But here, they're very beautiful shot. It's from a Sefer called Ha'aste Avos, and he has the following explanation. When, when Manoah, the father of Shimshon, meets the angel who tells him he's gonna have a child and he should be a Nazir, so he asks him, "What is your name?" And the malach evasively says, "Lo motzeh tishal lishmi." Why do you need to know my name? "Vehi peli." It is, it is, uh, obscure. It's

47:46 Speaker 1 a, it's a, uh, it's a, it's... It's a wonder. Whatever. Whatever the word is peli. So why did he have to say... He says, "I'm not telling you my name." Then he says, "My name is Peli." So he says that, and Rashi there in the, in Na- in Navi, says that the malach says to him, "You ask your name. We are given our name according to the mission which we have to do. Whatever the mission is, I get my, get named according to that mission." Okay. He says that the term pele is used in the context of Nazir. It says, "Ish ki yafli linder nezer nazir." The word pele is used in the, how do you say, the declaration. Yafli can also mean to declare. So he says, "Vehu peli," because I have been sent for a mission to tell you that the son is your... Shimshon's gonna be a Nazir, therefore he uses the term peli. Got to do pele. What is the mission of the malachim who come to our homes on Friday night? So there's a Kabbalah Shabbos, of course, Yutes, talks about that in addition to the malachim which a person is, is, like, protected with, uh, et c- et cetera, but you have malachim which are malavin leila odem. You've got accompanying malachim on your way home. Two malachim, a good one and a not good one. If the malachim see that the home is all nice, prepared for Shabbos, so then the good one says the bracha, that it

49:18 Speaker 1 should be like this for next week, and the, the negative one has to also say amen. Very well known. So the mission of the malach is, if he sees it's shalom, to give a bracha of shalom. So the term malachei hashareis, the angel of s- of service, is a generic term. All malachim are doing service. When the malach comes to your house and he sees how the house is prepared for Shabbos in a beautiful way, then he says, "Shalom." He's giving a bracha of peace. Then he becomes malachei hashalom. That's the mission which they have to do now. Therefore, now he's called malach hashalom. Until he comes to your door, he doesn't know what way he's gonna be called malach hashalom or not. When he sees your house is, is, uh, prepared appropriately for Shabbos, then he becomes malach hashalom. They become malach hashalom. Okay. That's this word over here. Till they come to the house, they're malachei hashareis. When they come to the house, they become Ha-Shabbos, because their mission is to give the berakhah of Shabbos. Right. Now, um, okay, this I was asked on Friday. Now, this is a, uh, a shul, a Beit Chabad, somewhere in Paris. And you can see here, there's a screen between the shul, the ezrat anashim, the men's shul, and the ezrat nashim. And this screen is made up of a kind of perspex, and it's held in place, if you can see by the side picture, it's held in place with bolts. If you can

50:49 Speaker 1 see here, these bolts have been shoved in. And his question is, he, the- he obviously wants... It's a, it's a, it's a one-way glass, yeah? That you can see... From the ladies, you can see into the men's, the men's can't see into the ladies. One of the wonderful things which have been created in the last, uh, few decades. So now his question is, "Can I take this down, can I unbolt it for the duration of the Kiddush, so that the, uh, the nashim can also be more, you know, connected with the Kiddush, and then put it back for Mincha?" So here's the question: am I allowed to take away this window, and put it back at a later... Window, panel, et cetera. So this was his question. I spent a long time trying to work this out, and on Friday I told him that it's not okay to do it. And on Shabbos, we spent the Shir going through this halakhah, and still feel that that's, that's the position. All right. So here we are in Shiur Gimel. The, the shutter to block a window. It's a luach, she'aar kodovor. It's a board or something which is used to block a window. You see, he goes, he first talks about not being muktzeh, and then he says, then it's not a problem of oyhel. Then let's finish off the fichach. Even if this... He says it was not a problem of oyhel because it's temporary. But if this shutter is not used to be opened

52:35 Speaker 1 regularly, only on the rare occasions, then you would not be allowed to use it, not even for a vertical window, and certainly not for a, for a skylight, because it's adding to the building, uh, w- in a, in a... Which is a part of a permanent building. So this addition is a permanent addition. Now, before going further, I'd like to just s- look, look at this carefully. Is this a window? Or is this part of the building? I, the, I, I... Define this. A window is that you want to be able to connect to the outside, and so you have a p- a, a, do a, uh, piece of glass, and you are, uh, and open it to let w- um, air in, ventilation, et cetera, to whatever it may be. I don't th- see this screen as being a window. It is creating a separation between two rooms, and it's allowing there should be some degree of visibility. It's a separation. It's a building. It's part of the building. And, uh, taking it off is as if it's taking off part of the building rather than just opening a window. I know you might think I'm just nitpicking, but that's, uh, my... I feel that that's the reality. That it's not, it doesn't really qualify as a window. And, uh, we'll see now where I'm, why I'm so concerned. So later in that siman, talks about instead of a window, he starts talking about a doorway, and he talks about a panel which is

54:11 Speaker 1 lifted. Not, it's not on hinges. It's a panel which is lifted in place and used to close the door. And he says... First he talks about if it's only used occasionally. Then he says here, "If it's used regularly, even though there's no hinges, but since it's used to be opened and closed regularly, that's not a problem to put that door in place and to remove it on Shabbos." Then he says, "That's only that, uh, uh, a couple of conditions. It would have to have a threshold, a raised threshold. That it shouldn't look like you're putting a board repairing a wall." If there's no threshold, it looks like, yes, there's a wall, there's a gap in the wall, you put a board there to close up the wall. So there ha... So he says it's g- has to have a, uh, a threshold. Then he goes further, if it's l- one large panel. And then you wouldn't be allowed to use it on Shabbos because it doesn't look like a door. So, and even if there is a threshold, it's not okay, because it looks like y- you're r- repairing a gap in the wall. So, I mean, going back to this, is this, is this putting... Is this closing a window, opening a window, or is it, um, putting the wall back in place? Now, I, I'm, I'm... My feeling is it's, it's more, it's an act of building. Not saying it's also not allowed, but I think it's, I don't think it's okay. Now,

55:41 Speaker 1 further in that siman, talks about a door of a, um, structure, a chicken coop or something, a door of a house, do-do-do, which is connected to the ground, then you're not allowed to remove that door. Anything which is attached to the ground- Removing it is considered demolishing and putting it back is considered building. So, um, we've discussed it before. You have these kind of hinges which don't interlock, but they are like spindles. There's a spindle on the wall, on the door frame, uh, side, and then the one which is on the door is like a slot, a, a socket, and it sits on the spindle and it, it rotates that way. So to lift such a door is not... or to put it back is not allowed on Shabbat, so it expels it out. This which in-- when they have last large, um, celebrations, they take off the windows, and they ask a goy to take off the window. That's not okay. It's a chiruchatus. And those who say that demolishing, which is not gonna make it better, is not a, not a, not a melacha, so then it's not a semina toele says the Rabbonim. But bottom line, he says, those who do so, asking a goy to do it, yes lo ma mashia is mohel, but a person should be machmir like the first shita. And then he s- finishes off about people who are nischal, that they take off revi yosa chaloindus shekoirin kvatirin. What exactly are these kvatirin? I saw in

57:19 Speaker 1 one of the contemporaries forum suggesting that they would have windows made of four parts, and that's what they mean by the kvatirin, the, they're made of four, whatever. But to, certainly to remove a window from a window frame is not okay. Now, what happened over here? Before, there seemed to have been room for, at least for the window to be, um, lifted and put back. And why all of a sudden here it's become a s- The simple answer is that here he's talking about where they are actually fixed. Over earlier, where he talks about having a board to put in place, it's a freestanding board, and you're gonna put it and somehow secure it there. The s- if yud zayin is talking about when they are actually fitted in a, in a permanent form, there to remove them would be possibly a melacha min hatorah. At least it's gonna be a melacha min derabanan. So that's, so ther- that, that doesn't answer our question, uh, necessarily. Um, it, it... And it goes back to the question, is that screen a window, or is that screen a wall which can be removed for, uh, convenience, et cetera? And, um, I'm more inclined, contrary to my usual disposition, to try to find a terium, I'm more inclined to say it's not okay. Um, finally, finally, uh, last week, or was it two weeks ago, we were talking about the lady who realized that her glasses are, are perched on her forehead when she's walking the street, and

58:53 Speaker 1 how to stop and put them onto her nose, or to com-- anyway, if you put on those glasses walking, wouldn't help. And I mentioned that someone, Rabbi Vidal Weiss, had suggested that if you put it down on a mokim petur, then you'd be, you'd be allowed to. Let's say again, you found something on your person on Shabbos while walking the street. So one way of solving the problem is if you put it down on a mokim petur, and I gave an example of a bollard or something which is less than four tefach square, to put it down on that would be a solution. So someone pointed out a very important point. You have to put it down on the bollard whilst you're still walking. If you stop and put it down, as soon as you've stopped, so you've already done hanchas guf hanchas kefus. When you stop, it's as if you've put it, uh, you've, you've put, put it down already. So the heter of putting it down on a mokim petur, on a bollard or something like that, would only be if you manage to do so whilst you're still walking, albeit slowly. And then, uh, once it's there on the bollard, then you've kind of aborted the melacha min hatorah. And then you could then take the glasses, let's say in this case, and put them onto your, onto your, onto your nose. Where normally, if it was a yarmulke, you could then t- take it and put it on your head and

1:00:10 Speaker 1 wear it, that would be okay. Um, someone's asking about the window screen, whatever, would it be slid sideways. If the screen had been in a frame with sliding, with a track, that would not be a problem at all. Um, that's actually an interesting suggestion. I can tell the shliach, if he wants really to improve upon this, um, this situation to allow opening it on Shabbos. If instead of it being bolted the way it is, if it set, get it made into a sliding screen, that would solve his problem. Okay. I wish you all a good night and shabbos tovus, and, um, yeah. Just join me again refua shleima to Yoyno ben Chaya Brocha. Refua shleima, ok. Refua shleima. Shkoyach. Shkoyach.

1:01:07 Speaker 3 Shkoyach.