ואתחנן תשפ״ג

00:16 Evening. Welcome to tonight's shiur. Tonight is, uh-- Today is a special day. It's the yahrtzeit of the Arizal. And the Rebbe encouraged, bachlal, the nine days, to add in Torah tefillah and stokhah, betzibur. So, whoever's now in betzibur, I'm sure you've done it. That, that happened already. But, uh, we'll be going-- we're learning Torah betzibur, virtual zibur, and everyone's got a stokhah pushka at home. So we'll start off. I'm gonna put, uh, something in stokhah, then I'm gonna share with you something from the Arizal. Okay? So if you have a pushka, we're gonna do it collectively. Now, okay. So a part of the Arizal before our list of questions. So this is in-- I've taken it out of the Ein Yaakov in Gemara Brachos. And there it, there it says the following: "Kol ha-kove'ah makom litfiloso, elokei Avraham veYitzchak." Whoever has a set place for davening, Hashem, the God of Avraham, will be at his aid, his assistance. So he quotes here... This is the Anaf Yosef, one of the commentaries. On the Ein Yaakov, he quotes from Sefer Derech Moshe how a person should have a set place for davening, evening and morning, because the Shekhinah, the divine presence, would be in the shul or in a place where it's a set place if you are in a place where there's no shul, so you have your set place for davening. And if someone will say, "Well, Hashem is all over." So the answer is... Yeah, so why is it important to have a

02:07 set place? When, when Hashem is there, He, He, He'll, you know, He'll, He'll pick up your tefillahs. So he gives the following, um, explanation. You should know that nowadays with our, unfortunately for our many sins, Yidden are compared to a nidah. As it says in the beginning of Eichah, "Al kein nidot hayosu." They're like a nidah. And a nidah is forbidden to sit with her husband on a bench which is not stable. If it's a, a, a bench which is nor v'nod, which will, which will, uh, shake, which will sway, so the husband and wife wouldn't be able to sit on that chair, on that bench. Therefore, since Yidden are compared now in the state of nidah, so the Shekhinah cannot reside with the Yidden. Oh, no, but if it's a makom kavuah, if it's like a fixed bench, then the Shekhinah can be together with the Yidden. "Kach motzi b'kisvei ha-Arizal." So this is a, uh, um, sounds, sounds like quite a, it's, uh, I've got a chat word, but it's, it's a word that he's saying in the name of the Arizal. And the, uh, the posture thing is why is it important to have a set place for davening, whether at home or in shul, is I, I think on a very simplistic level that people might be distracted sometimes with the things which are going on around them. If you have a, uh-- You come to a new place, there's a new, there's a new environment, so things are, are distracting.

03:44 After a couple of days, you get used to it. If you come every day to the same place, so then there's less distraction. You'll be able to just focus on your davening easier. So at any rate, so we have here, the, uh-- I've said before, the Rebbe encouraged to increase the yinun of tefillah, um, betzibur during, especially during the nine days. Um, so here the idea of makom kavuah, it's tefillah, uh, is also related to en- to enhance the yinun of tefillah. Let's go on to our questions, though, which we have listed here. So a couple-- So some shluchim are in a, some remote place. At the moment, there is no mikvah there. And they received a grant from some fund to be able to build a mikvah there. At the moment, the mikvah is not up to operations. No, it's, it's like in the future, but the moment is not, not ready there yet. Okay, but the money is sitting in a bank, let's say. Meanwhile, their, for their current expenses, they are struggling. And so their employer, in other words, there's like a Hachsharah from the area who's responsible for their salary, and he doesn't have the funds to pay them, and he, at the moment. So he says borrow from that, from that, uh, mikvah money. So they ask, is that legitimate for borrowing that money, which is designated, earmarked, donate for building a mikvah? Is it, is it legitimate to use it for other purposes as a loan? So, not so

05:35 explicit, but my impression is that no, it wouldn't be okay. You have here a Sefer Sokho Mishpat on the screen. It talks about money which were collected for a shul, for the building of a shul, and there's a wish to do-- change it for a different use. Then you'd have to have, like, the Tuvi Ho'ir, the leadership, the lay leadership of the, of the community. Then they would be allowed to change it. Without that, you wouldn't be allowed to. Then he says, to borrow that money and to put other money instead, that would b- would be okay. But I think that that's, that's true. Um, he means that to borrow that money to immediately replace. Well, I'm, I'm very concerned here that they received a, a grant for a mikvah, and if they're gonna use that for current expenses, come the time when they'll want to build the mikvah, they will turn around, they won't have the funds. What I did say to them is, they could use this money as, as this, the money in the bank, they could use it as a security perhaps to take a loan from the banking and against that money, which is, um, which is the mikvah fund. But to actually touch that money directly, I felt would not be, uh, well, not be justified. Let's move on. Right. So some weeks ago, someone asked me to clarify what's the source of the minhag of touching the Sefer Torah at the beginning and the end of one's aliyah.

07:25 So what we have, first of all, is Shulchan Aruch. Unfortunately, this part of Shulchan Aruch is not there in the Alter of the Shulchan Aruch. It talks about the Sefer Torah, looking, opening the Sefer Torah before saying the berachah, to see the possuk where you're going to start, and then you'd roll the Sefer Torah closed, and you'd say the berachah whilst the Sefer Torah is closed. That's how we know, not everyone, there are those who say the berachah with the Sefer Torah open. So that is the, that's the Shulchan Aruch of opening the Sefer. Like when you make a berachah on anything else, you kind of look at, you kind of hold it in your hand kind of thing before you make a berachah. It's kind of focus. This is what I'm gonna make the berachah on. So you're gonna make a berachah on a part of the clear of the Torah. So you, you look at what you're gonna say, you're gonna be, you're reading. So that's just looking. Then we have here, the next quote is from a Sefer Shaarei Efrayim, which is a, uh, specialist Sefer on Kriyat HaTorah. So he describes the person has aliyah, so he's the, whoever's in charge of Al Qura is gonna show him where they're going to read from. And then he writes, "And it's customary that , that the one who's having the aliyah touches with his tallit, or with the c- ma- mantle of the Sefer Torah, or the gartel nowadays, and touches part

09:00 of the, the column which is going to read, kisses the tallit." And then he says, This is a time-honored minag. This is also confirmed, little bit more detail, in Hayom Yom, as you see in Dalet Elul. One touches the tallit, with the tallit at the beginning of the reading and at the end. So that's a bit more specific. The Shaarei Efrayim just said about touching the some of the column, and here it's more pointed of touching the beginning at the... and the end. T- And then kissing that, the tallit where the tallit touch the Sefer Torah, rolling it close, turning to one side, and then you make the berachah, ti- then tilt it to one side, and then you open the Sefer Torah, and the reading commences. The actually, the Rebbe, certainly in the later years, would touch at the beginning and the end, and the beginning a- again. And at the end of the aliyah, would touch at the end, the beginning, and the end again. Right. So that, that's a development from the, uh, Shaarei Efrayim's minag v'atik, hasikim. And this goes back to a Sefer called the Yaakow HaGershuni. That's the Yaakow HaGershuni. Okay, so let's, let's just stop for a second. That there was a concern, there is a concern, and it's, I think it's worth discussing this, that sometimes people touch with the tallit or with the gartel, and they wipe, it's kind of a swipe or, uh, with the g- gartel on the parchment with the writing. And I,

10:44 it, it's-- I cringe every time I see it because there is the ve- the concern that when the person's speaking, whether, whether you say your berachahs or whether the balkana, it's very common when people are speaking, a bit of saliva comes out of their mouth accidentally. If, chas v'Shalom, there's a bit of saliva somewhere on the, on the script, on the, on the... And then you take a cloth and, and rub it, you're going to cause a terrible smudge, and it could, could cost money to repair, but it's going to be a violation of the, of the, you know, it's gonna r- ruin the, the, the, the, uh, writing. And so it's something really... So because of this concern, so let's go on to the next slide. The Yaakow Gershuni, um, I'm not even sure when or how far ago, how long ago he lived. He writes by, he writes by some particular, he quotes from a Sefer that is not right that people touch with the, uh, cloth on the letters of the Sefer Torah. It's likely that will come to erasing Hashem's name, erasing on Shabbos, because it's often that there will be some little bits of, of saliva. And therefore, one should announce that this is a minhag and sh- it's a minhag shtus, and it's enough to just to see. Now, this position was also taken by the Munkacsher The Munkat Chelovi says, "Don't touch the Sefer Torah. Don't touch the writing. Just, if you have to touch, just the side,

12:12 just the margin. Don't touch the writing." Nevertheless, the Yaakov Gashuni says, "This is a widespread ruling, and it's done to, to sh- show how one cherishes the mitzvah, and one, and one..." Like, it's, it's, it's, so it's also, this is a form of cherishing the mitzvah. And therefore, Anachla Ha'amisra leave it and continue what they're doing, Im Eino Naveam. And therefore, one shouldn't stop this. And he, uh, so he quotes now from the Sefer Yosef Omet, which is Minhag of Mahogany Frankfurt, going back about th- three hundred years ago, to open the Sefer Torah and to honor it also ki- by a, with a kiss as you take leave also. So this is an old Minhag. Right. So what, what, so what should be said though, very cle- very clearly, that whilst we do touch the Sefer Torah with the cloth or with the talit, it's a touch and not a s- not a wipe and not a swipe because that, chas v'shalom, could cause damage. And so it's exactly the same for people who go for hagbah. When they open it three, three columns or more, that's fine, but no need to pass the cloth all over and, and give it a big swipe over three pages, three columns. Just touch it. You've, you've, you've showed your respect, your cherishing, that's wonderful. But avoid the swiping because it could be causing damage. So that's about the, the positive and the negative about the touching the Sefer Torah with the cloth. Let's move on. So

13:51 I've got a, a, a WhatsApp message earlier last week. "Why don't we eat meat in the nine days? And if you're gonna tell me it's because of avelus, well, and, and during the week of Shiva, an oval, Rahman and Islam is allowed to eat meat." And just to clarify, there are two stages. There's a stage called aninus, which would be, uh, intense grief. And during that time, that's until the levaya of the, of the, uh, the relative. So until the le- the funeral takes place, they're not allowed to have wine or meat. Once the levaya does take place, then they are allowed to. The oval is allowed to have wine and meat. So therefore, why not during the nine days? Why can't you have meat during the nine days? What you have on the screen is from the Livush, which is, uh, it's actually very common for the Livush to give explanations for minhogim, for, uh, practices. And he writes, "The reason for not having meat," "is in commemoration that the daily sacrifice," "was a lamb in the morning, lamb in the afternoon. That ceased at this time of Tisha B'Av, Shivah Betamos, et cetera. At this time, the Beis Hamikdash ceased to function, and therefore, one of the things which has, uh, stopped was the Hashem's bread, so to speak, the daily Korban Tamid. And the Korban Tamid would be accompanied with pouring of wine on the Mizbeach. And for this reason, to kind of relate to the sadness of the fact that there's

15:34 no Korban Tamid and no Nesachim, that's the reason for the minhag of not having m- meat or wine during the nine days, unless obviously in the case of a Seudas Mitzvah, if, uh, when it's justified." Okay, let's move on. So someone asked me last week a contemporary question, that, that it's become a c- a common thing that people take the broken glass from the chuppah, where the chassan t- treads on a, uh, stamps on the glass and breaks it, and they take this glass, and they bring it to a, a sanhedrins, uh, artisan, whatever, who would then melt it, melt that glass, and now create something very beautiful, candlesticks or something. I've even heard that it goes even further, that now you can buy special fancy glasses which are multicolored for under the chuppah, so that they should be able to create a fancy piece of ornament from the broken glass. So the, the, the moral dilemma of this person was, uh, is this out of place? Because here you're breaking the glass, one of the reasons is to commemorate the destruction of Yerushalayim. So then you make this into a piece of jewelry and a piece of, into an ornament to make something fancy, it seems a little bit incongruous. That's, that was the, I think, the feel, the sentiment to object. So there is a concept of taking a, a mitz- an article which was used for a mitzvah and to use it for another mitzvah. It may not necessarily apply here, but

17:24 let's go through that. We have here in to take for the burning of the chametz, to use the aravos which were beaten at Hoshanas, on Hoshana Rabbah, and to take the lulav, or the aravos of the lulav rather, and to use them for the baking of matzahs, which is an interesting, um, observation. That the Hoshanas, as we know, is to, um, to s- to sweeten Gevuras. It's, uh, got to do with Gevurah. And therefore, to use the Hoshanas to burn the chametz, which is more of a negative thing. The aravos is a mitzvah, a positive mitzvah, and therefore to use the Hoshanas, sorry, the aravos, to use them for the baking of matzah. So you have this idea of using something- For a totally different purpose, but this was used for one mitzvah to use it for another mitzvah. The only thing is that there it's not-- those mitzvahs are not destructive. Where here there's a meaning of the, of, of to destroy a glass. That's where the b-bit of the d-dilemma is. Okay. So then there's a famous Gemara. Yeah. So for one... And, um, let's go to the positive side of it. First of all, the fact... I, I did a bit of a Google search on this, and I saw it's become really a very popular thing. Many, many, uh, sites are offering to make stuff, nice stuff for you from your, you know, chassanah, broken, from broken glass from a chassanah. Just close the window. So actually, I saw this in

19:04 a positive light. You've got these Yidden who are not necessarily, um, for keeping everything every day detailed as Shulchan Aruch, but they are getting married in a kosher way, and this is part of the ceremony, and they're cherishing. They're making a celebration of part of the, of the chuppah, which I think is, is, is beautiful. But let's say, let's take it further. You have a Gemara in Brachos which says the following, that one who benefits from the seudah of a chassan, he doesn't gladden the heart of the chassan, then he's in violation of kol sason v'kol simcha, et cetera. And if he does gladden the heart of the chassan, so he says, "What is the reward?" So there's various rewards. First of all, about the five kolos. Then he says that Nachman ben Melech says, "One who gladdens the heart of the chassan on the day of his wedding, so it's as if he built one of the ruins of Yerushalayim." Because it says, "Ki ovish oshivat shvutzo aretz kevod yisreina." This is based on a pasuk in Yirmiyahu. It talks about kol sason v'kol simcha kol chassan v'kol kalah, the sound of celebration, uh, of, of a wedding. And then it says, "I will restore shvutzo aretz kevod yisreina. I will restore the settlement of the land as, as it was at the beginning of Hashem." So a chassanah is, uh, is a kind of a rebuilding of Eretz HaMikdash. Therefore, I don't see it totally out of, out of, uh, order to take

20:37 something which was to commemorate the, the, the destruction and then to use it to make, uh, something, make something beautiful, and that's what Arabot is. We have the concept of shevirat ha-kelim. We have-- there are ruins in this world, and our mission is to take all of those bits and pieces and to, to, to, to, uh, to perhaps fuse them together and to create some of the harmony and to make something beautiful. So I, I think there is, taking it a little bit further, I think there is actually a, a very positive, uh, uh, way of, of, of looking at this, of this minhag. Let's move on to point number five. What is that? May one wash a sheitel during the nine days? So this has been discussed in various contemporary sefarim. We don't do laundry during the nine days. And that's really got to do with hesed chadas. It's, uh... Anyway, we don't do laundry during the nine days. So what is a, what is a wig? A wig is, after all, it's, it's a garment. It's a garment made of hair, but it's basically a garment. So here we have a sefer called Rivivot Ephraim, uh, from Ephraim Greenblat, Greenblat of Memphis, where he asked this question. He was-- he was asked this question, and he had said it's okay. Since I've-- but since then, I've seen in the, uh, following sefer, Divrei Chachamim, the name of Rav Elyashiv, that it's not okay. He considers it a begrd. Whereas Rab-Rab Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg

22:12 says it is okay because he doesn't see a wig as a begrd. What I've seen in other contemporary sefarim, whether Shem Rav, um, Rav Wosner, et cetera, they say no. They say they see a, a sheitel, they see a wig as a garment, and therefore it shouldn't be washed during the nine days. I had one, uh, woman who contact me. She's feeling very, very uncomfortable and going on holidays, whatever, and I felt that it was appropriate to rely on the, uh, the lenient opinions. So generally, the answer would be no. But a push comes to shove, and sometimes you have to be accommodating where people are finding things very, uh, taxing. So I said there are opinions who you can rely upon to re- to, uh, have your sheitel washed. Let's move on. Seriously, I have a, um... I haven't really found a solution to this problem. I'll tell you what the problem is. You have here, this, this is not in, in England, uh, somewhere overseas, and there is available government aid to help families in need. So someone's working as an agent, finding helpers to go into families and to help them with the children and with, with, uh, comm-- and you get... And people are paid for that. And so then we have the situation where some of their needs on Shabbos. Let's say it's a single mother, and she has a boy of ten years old, twelve, 11 years old, and he never goes to shul on Shabbos because he's uncomfortable

23:55 to go alone. So then there's someone who's, who's ready to take this boy to shul. It's, it's a couple of hours. So that would be an hour here, and that's an amazing thing because it's gonna give this, this boy positive attention. The boy will start enjoying going to shul, and that's a wonderful thing. That would be a, a tremendous investment for the spiritual, uh, welfare of that boy for the, for the, for the years to come. Can they charge for their hours? So you're not allowed to charge for your hours on Shabbos. So I'm gonna read here. This is from Siman Shenah. And, uh, let me just clarify something. There's a difference between Schar Shabbos and em- and employing a, a goy on Shabbos. You are allowed to have a goy work for you on Shabbos. I'm talking about work as in a guard, not talking about malacha. Maybe like, um, a security guard, a waiter, a waitress. You can have goyim working for you, and you can pay them for their Shabbos time. That's not a problem. It's only that you can't pay them on Shabbos. We discussed this a few times. Because even if you put an envelope at the side and say, "Just take the envelope before you go home," that wouldn't be okay, um, because you're basically... It's paying people. It's a transaction, which shouldn't be done on Shabbos. But here we're talking about a Jew. A Jew is not allowed to earn money on Shabbos. It goes so far that

25:25 if I would have money generating interest, if it would be care- earning money per hour, not per day, then I wouldn't be allowed to be earning interest on Shabbos. The fact is that the interest is charged from midnight to midnight, and therefore I'm not earning the interest on my savings on Shabbos because it's also... That, that unit, it, it, it straddles Shabbos and not Shabbos. But you're not allowed to earn money even if you're not doing anything. Certainly, if you're doing something, you're not allowed to charge and earn money for your Shabbos time. So then it has here in Shulchan Aruch, in the Siman Shin Bet, about hiring a chazan for Shabbos or Yom Tov. Even if the hiring was confirmed before Shabbos, he wouldn't be allowed to take payment for Shabbos and Yom Tov. So too, the one who's blowing shofar on Rosh Hashanah. There are those who permit this because b'mkom mitzvah m'kosu schar Shabbos. Since there's a mitzvah purpose, then schar Shabbos is waived. The issue of schar Shabbos is waived since there's a purpose of mitzvah. She'einy sura elah mishum gezairas chirus b'Shabbos. Schar Shabbos, which you're gonna be paid after Shabbos, is only a precaution because you shouldn't come to hire someone on Shabbos. And why aren't you allowed to hire someone on Shabbos? Because it's a, it's a, like, an act of, of, of trade. And why aren't you allowed to trade on Shabbos? Because you might come to write. So it's a bit remote. So v'chen ha'minhag l'hakhel.

27:01 Indeed, the minhag is to allow payment, paying a chazan, a baal tefillah for their services rendered on Shabbos. However, he does continue to say, "Eino ro'eh siman brocha mi-schar sera le-olam." But one wouldn't see brocha from that, from that payment, from that salary, even though it's permitted l'tsa'ar mitzvah. There is a way of doing with the package. And so if you have a chazan who is employed by a shul and his duties include Shabbos and not Shabbos. So if there's a levaya, al hamavul ha'nesalam, he's on duty, and if it's on Shabbos, and if it's a, a chasuna, he's, he's, he's hired to provide chazanas services as and when they are called for. Then, and there's a package. He's not paid per hour. That would be, uh, a, a way of getting around it. With a baal kore, the general approach is that he's paid for his preparation as well as his rendering of the reading. By the way, that means if he's prepared, p- being paid for his preparation, if he has to lein two or three times the same kirya, he can't charge, um, twice and three times as much because it's, he's being paid for the preparation. Be that as it may, the issue in, with our case is that since it's a government-paid, um, position of, uh, for a service, they need to give s- a, an invoice for their Shabbos time, and that's really where I'm getting a bit stuck. It's all very well, I could say, "Mr. Kareh, you'll,

28:44 you'll do some work with this boy on a, a Tuesday or a Thursday, and you'll also take him to shul on Shabbos, and you'll be paid one lump sum for the, the, the package, which includes Thursday evening and Shabbos." That would be legitimate. The problem is that they have to present their hours to the government, uh, to whichever government body it is, and they have to there stipulate which the hours were. And it's gonna be, uh, unwise to start fi- fiddling around with that. It's, uh... and perhaps, perhaps incorrect. So this, this is really the dilemma. How are you gonna get around that? Um, I'm a little bit, um... The only thing that I'm thinking of is if the Jewish employer, who is like the middleman, pays them in a kosher way, the fact that they have to present hours to the government, but they're not earning the money from the government, they're being paid by the middleman, that may be one way around it. Because really, it is a mitzvah. It's a mitzvah. Well, we have here a heter, an Ashem mitzvah, and it is a, a very important thing, which we would li- love to find a mit- permissible way to, that it should happen. Okay, let's move on. So I was, uh, at a Hachnosas Sefer Torah in Manchester just over a month ago, I think, and I noticed that there was a sticker on the outside of the parchment, which had possibly, uh, some identification, uh, telephone number, whatever, a contact.

30:30 And I asked them to remove it before, you know, I mean, as they were finishing Sefer Torah, before, uh... So that's, that, that, that's, that was... I was a bit a- anxious about it. So really, this goes back to fifty, sixty years ago. There was this concern that sef- mezuzahs were being checked, Baruch Hashem, possibly got to do with the Rebbe's, uh, mitzvah mezuzah. Till then, it was mamash, uh, a lot of not kosher mezuzahs in the market. And the Rebbe, part of the Rebbe's campaign inc- included- That there was a, a, uh, a law in the Israeli, um, parliament that to forbid the sale of false mezuzahs. And I remember the Rebbe talking about there was a, there was a, uh, a parliament, uh, a parliamentarian who was totally not religious, but she was very outspoken that there was... You're not allowed to sell fraud mezuzahs. Whether you're... Whether I'm religious or not is one thing, but you're not allowed to sell fraud mezuzahs. So Baruch Hashem, there was a big, uh, revival in the, in, in the, uh, checking of mezuzahs, et cetera. So then when you buy a mezuzah, she needs to have a certificate that it's been checked by, uh, by someone competent. So then could you have some kind of, um, embossed seal on the mezuzah that it's been checked? And so Rabbi Moshe Feinstein says, "No, you're not allowed to have it. Never... Certainly not to have added writing." You may recall that in the Rambam, he talks about

32:14 where people were writing names of Malachim inside the mezuzah, and the Rambam really lashes out at this. He says, "You're taking a mitzvah and making it into an amulet. And because you're putting extra writing, you are disqualifying the mezuzah. The mezuzah must only have the two parshas of Shema and Vehoem Shema Yah." So additional writing in the mezuzah isn't okay. Even, says Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, even an embossed let- um, word, mugan, which means checked, that also wouldn't be okay because you're adding to the script. You've got... On the back of a mezuzah, you've got Hashem's name, Shin, Dalet, Yud. Then we've got also on the back of Hashem, Alef, Shin, we've got those mezuzah writing, but whatever, without going to detail. But other than that, there shouldn't be any extra, extra writing. Is a sticker the same as writing in the mezuzah? My feeling is it is because what's the difference whether the ink is stuck directly or the ink is on a piece of paper and the piece of paper is stuck? It becomes still part of the mezuzah, and therefore I think it's a problem. And what I've got here, I'll see in the chat in a moment, but I'll, um... What I've got here on the screen from a... I just did a search on the... So the Sefer Mishnas HaStam, a contemporary sefer, that one should not be imprinting on a sefer Torah or mezuzah the words nivdak, which means it has been checked, or anything else, even on the outside,

33:38 and even if it's just, um, embossed or engraved. And s- and so I would say the same thing as with a, with a, uh, with a... Ah, so Rab Arya is asking, "What about invisible ink code?" All right. That's, that might be... Um, I'm sure it's been discussed because the other side of it is we do want to have a form of a way of identifying a sefer Torah to avoid, you know, to prevent it from theft. It should be able to... So yes, there's the question of putting, uh, an identifying feature which would only be visible with ultraviolet light. Possibly. Possibly. I mean, I'm sure it's been discussed in contemporaries forum because... And therefore for the, the, the redeeming factor is it's not legible. It's only, it's only legible. It's not, it's not visible. It's only visible under... with special equipment. So you can say that's not considered additional writing. That is an argument, yeah. But I, I, I don't want to say something definitive. Generally, matters of Soferis, it's a very specialized area, and I try to, uh, steer clear of saying anything which I don't feel totally qualified to, uh, to say. Okay, let's go on. So last year we went through this, and perhaps we'll go through it briefly. What happened last... What happened in Taf Shin Mem He, so that year, Tisha B'Av was on a Shabbos, and therefore the fast was on Sunday. And Rabbi Yomi Klein, the Rebbe Del Gaber, one of the Rebbe Gaboim, he had yort

35:24 site on Yud Av. And during Shacharis, Rebbe was downstairs for Shacharis. Well, downstairs, upstairs. I'm not sure. I wasn't there. Um, the Rebbe is present at Shacharis, and when it came to after Moydim, before Sim Shalom, the Rebbe would always turn towards the chazan to see the chazan by Yevarechecha, and Chabad is quite em-emphasized. We're... This is to the right and to the left, et cetera. And the Rebbe would be, um, known to look very intently at the chazan at the, at that moment of when the chazan says Birkat Kohanim. So he turned towards the chazan to say Birkat or for the Birkat Kohanim. Now, in Kitzer Shulchan Aruch, et cetera, uh, it says the minhag is not to do Birkat Kohanim on Shacharis of, of Tisha B'Av. And so that, that was one thing. So in the evening, well, later in the day, Rabbi Groner wrote to the Rebbe to query whether this was a hir'ah, whether this was a, a, uh, a, a ruling to continue this way, or was it what's called a hir'ah shor, and it's only a one-off, uh, ruling. The second point was about the drinking of the wine of Havdalah, whether, where, whether it should... Whether this was because, bear in mind, it was already the night of the tenth of Av, after the tenth of Av. Is there an objection to the, to the man making Havdalah to drink the wine when there is a child available? So for the, for the first question, the Rebbe did

37:09 confirm that his was a hir'ah shor, but then he writes two things. That the Ɣminhag haQebbalim Yerushalayim t'bonim v'seQredim atta. You look in the Kaf ha-Ḥayyim and you'll see that, uh, he w- writes that despite there is the minhag not to do Birkat Kohanim at the morning of Yom-- of Tisha B'Av, but the minhag of the Qebbalim, there was a c- there's a community, was a community called Beis Qedi Qabbtz, and he said that minhag of that community which follow Kabbalah, they do Birkat Kohanim at Shacharit on Tisha B'Av also because the Qavonot for Shacharit are the same on Tisha B'Av as the whole year round. So that's one thing which the Rebbe is referring to. And the other thing is to Rav Amram Gaon, going back some eleven hundred years ago, who writes that on Tisha B'Av, morning and afternoon, Birkat Kohanim is done. And v'oid, I didn't find anything else. I mean, I didn't look, look too hard. But the Rebbe is, is, is showing that there are strong sources for saying Birkat Kohanim in the morning of Tisha B'Av. Um, what I'm finding puzzling is the Rebbe that said it's a herut sh'or. Does that mean, uh, that we do follow it, we don't follow it? I don't know. Um, then you have this idea when the Rebbe has a, a yesh limar, it becomes behosid, becomes a daba varar. But, uh, he says it's a herut sh'or, so I don't know how you, how you handle that. The second one was

38:38 about the, the cup of Havdalah. So the wine. So he gives a reference to the Eliyahu Rabba, um, who, who says, as far as I remember, not to drink the wine. And then he gives a reference to the Luach of Rav Tukachinsky, which I did not manage to r- locate, uh, where he says that's p'rim mashma p'rim befur, not to... that you shouldn't drink the wine. And that's the impression which we get from all the commentators on the Shulchan Aruch. The only one who says you can drink the wine is the Da'at Yehudit in Dagul Merivavah. And he says because it doesn't say clearly that you mustn't drink the wine. But the Pashtis, it says in Siman Taf Kuf, Nun Alef not to drink, uh, the wi- wine during the nine days. Uh, and so therefore... And, and it also says that Motza'im Ki-- Motza'ei Tisha B'Av is the same as the nine days. On the contrary, um, the distinction of the Da'at Yehudit, Dagul Merivavah or the Da'at Yehudit, no one mentions it. And the c- the fact that it says clearly that you're not allowed to drink wine on Motza'ei Tisha B'Av, it's said clearly in Shulchan Aruch how it shouldn't be said, but for Yom-- for, for Havdalah, it is okay. So the Rebbe basically takes the view that it would-- that it wasn't okay to drink the wine, and, uh, it should have been given to a child. Now, again, here, the Rebbe says, "Herut Sh'or." So what does that mean?

40:00 Where does that leave us? Do we ta-take, follow this, or do we say we can rely on the Dagul Merivavah that you can drink the wine? So the, um, my, my inclination is more to take this, uh, as Herut, Herut Shema Yisrael, even though the Rebbe said it's only Herut Sh'or. Right. Let's move on. So, so we had a discussion, was it last week or two weeks ago, about the area of payot. So several people asked me to clarify, in addition to the area of the payot, the thickness of the payot. And so let's first, let's go perhaps to the next slide, how generally, Ḥasidim were particular. They shouldn't have very short. That the payot should-- That the payot of the hair should not be trimmed very, very short. What I did mention last week is that when the Rebbe had a haircut, we did not see that their payot were thicker, but he didn't have a very close number. What we're seeing now is people are cutting their hair very close, and the payot also become, are cut very, very close. And that's something which is, uh, is not a happy, uh, development from a Ḥasidish angle. So here we have two l- little stories. One is from the Sefer. So we're talking about Rabbi Moshe Wyshatsky. So Rabbi Moshe Wyshatsky was very, very Ḥasidish Yid. He, he lived in, in, in, uh, in... Where was it? Czernowitz, wherever he was. Some account. It was very important for his, his chinukh of his children.

41:32 When giving them a haircut, he would give them a Ḥasidish haircut and live they-- leave them big, big payot. This is in communist Russia. One time, uh, one of the children said to his father he's worried that his payot, if they're too, uh, uh, conspicuous, so he'll get trouble when he walks in the street. So his father says to him, "If people won't know, notice that you have payot, then that means you don't have payot." So it was very important in communist Russia that his children should have noticeable payot. Okay. The other quote here is from Rabbi Meir Gurkow, alav ha-shalom, who used to live in London till taf shin lamed hei when he passed away. And he's describing... This is his memoirs. He's talking about the chil-- the Temimim, et cetera, how they would be very noticeable, um, how they would dress, you know, in a refined way, and year shamaim, the tzitzit were all visible, and they always had their hair co-- their head covered. Even in the very hot days, they would be wearing a yarmulke, a makife, we used to call it in Russia. And not like the other ch- young kids who would be... There would be, um, chutzpah and, uh, wildness, et cetera, and that would be also visible in their clothing, and they would go bareheaded and sometimes half undressed. And he says the Temimim would be visible also on their faces, their adel appearance, year shamaim on their faces, and it was also visible their long payot,

43:03 which would go down to their cheeks. Which is quite interesting. He's saying that, uh, that... He's describing life back in Russia, in the shtetl, and how they had, uh, visible payot. And he says also they would be li- down to their cheeks, which I find interesting. Um, all right. So that's, that's on the, certainly on the historical, uh, um, level that- We did always make a point of that. The, the payos should be, um, shouldn't be too f- too close, should be, uh, should be visible, et cetera. Okay. Now, here, what you have on this screen is from a sefer called HaKesav VeHaKabbalah. It's, uh, not a c- not a lit- not a Chassidishe sefer. Well, here's, here's... And it's in Parashat Re'eh. He's looking at, "Lo sakifu et pa'as roshchem velo yisa, um, lo, um, sasheh et pa'az zekonecha." And he said, very interesting, what is exactly, um, the pa'az hazakon? Is it, is it the face, or is it the hair? And he makes an interesting observation. It does not say you shouldn't destroy the hair. It says you shouldn't deface, so to speak, the, the chin, the head. That's what he's saying. He's saying that, uh, really the pa- pe'ah and, and the zacon refers to that part of the body where the hair grows. Now, elsewhere, we have a halakha about hair. For example, by, uh, Porad Umor about the hair, and then we have a din of it shouldn't be any other colored hair other than red. Then we have

44:40 the case of Metzorah. We have a din of hair being a symptom of tumah, et cetera. In those places, we have a halakha that if it is long enough that you can bend back the top back to the, to the source. The... That's the expression here, "kri lokaf rosh al ikron." So he's saying that that is said where the Torah talks about se'ar, talks about hair. Then there's a minimum size which is called se'ar, and if it's shorter than that, it doesn't count as hair. He's actually, he's coming from a different angle to our discussion. He's asking, what happens if a person has got very short hair, and then they take a razor and re- they've got payots, which are already very short, and so short you couldn't bend it back. And then he takes a razor and removes it totally. Is he punishable for removing his payots? See, he says he is because there's no minimum length by payots. So yeah, when it's got to do with Metzorah, et cetera, there's a minimum short- length. If it's shorter than that, it doesn't count as a hair. Therefore, it doesn't, it doesn't, doesn't... it's not a symptom of tumah, et cetera, et cetera. But here, there's no din of... It doesn't say the word se'ar, and therefore even a very short hair, if you destroy it totally, so then you're in violation of destroying the payots. But the, the, how do you say, the o- the spin-off of that is that there's no minimum length

46:12 of the payot. That's, that's what it... wh- he's, well, he's, he's addressing a more a chumrah stance, but there's a, there's a spin-off, uh, which is the chumrah. So that may be, um, but as I say, the, certainly the minhag is to have that the payots should be that little bit longer and should be visible, and certainly, uh, to have a very short haircut in a way that's leaving mamesh, uh, a couple of millimeters long, it would not be okay. Let's move on. Right. Now, I think we had this discussion not too long ago, um, about if you have a minyan and they don't have, uh, on, so a fast day, they don't have a minyan of people are fasting. So someone sent to me from Rabbi Zalman Schimman's writing. Rabbi Zalman Schimman's work was Rabbi Sim 70, and there's a book, a sefer, called Cheves HaAzash. There, he has a letter of Rabbi Zalman Schimman to someone called Spazeman, and I've never heard of this Spazeman as part of the Chabad community, uh, other than his mention over there. Uh, it could be one of the people Rabbi Zalman Schimman knew back from Pittsburgh before he moved back to Crown Heights. Um, but he writes the following. Um, you should know the minhag is, he's quoting... Now, what he's quoting here, be careful, is from a sefer called Lekech Yoshir. Lekech Yoshir is a, it's written by a talmid of Rabbi Yisroel Iselin. Rabbi Yisroel Iselin is famous for his sefer called Terumat Hadeshen.

47:51 He was a, a generation or two before Yosef Karo. Don't know exactly the, the history of... in that, in that approximate period. Um, one of the mamesh, the gadole hador, and he has a talmid who follows his, his, uh, practices, and, you know, he, he's like a, like a, like a hosid to rebbe's. Rebbe did this, rebbe did that. So that's what Lekech Yoshir is. But there he writes the following. "Minhag is, you look, if there's 10 people who are ready to fast," this is like a voluntary fast, "and if you don't find 10, you look for seven, and if not, at least you have th- three that are fasting, and then you can say Aneinu." So here you see that you can have three is enough to say Aneinu. Now, so this is not such a big surprise because the Tzemach Tzedek, as you see over here, quotes also the Sefer Ha-Agudah, who is also a Yakishar Chosid, who also says that you can have, if you have three people who are fasting, you can say Aneinu. However, the Shulchan Aruch asks like the Rashbo, who says you cannot, that three people fasting is not enough to say Aneinu. You have to have a minyan who are fasting to say Aneinu. Now, just running through this briefly because I think we have gone through this before. This is in, at this time, there was a chalaria. There was a, an, a, a epidemic of some sort. And the Tzemach Tzedek here in one place

49:15 says, "You can rely on the Agudah. If you have three people who are fasting, then you can say Aneinu with a separate bracha, as it's discussed elsewhere, as I've written about this elsewhere." Well, elsewhere, the Tzemach Tzedek goes into this in more detail, and he says that, "Kria, that, um, there is one who says even a yochid, but if you have at least, you have three people." And then he says, "If you've got another seven who have eaten poches mikashir, then you could say Aneinu." Um, and here we have again another writing of the Tzemach Tzedek. "If there are three who are fasting, and for sure there'll be another seven who have eaten poches mikashir, then you can say Aneinu." See, what I'm seeing here is the Tzemach Tzedek is not saying you don't need, uh, more than three. He's saying you got three who are fasting authentically, and the other seven would like to fast, but they can't fast properly, so they're eating a little bit because of the plague. They don't want to weaken their, uh, their immunity. So they're... But, uh, to, to, to... If people eating without any regard for the fast, I think that is a problem to say Aneinu, um, uh, with their presence, um, you know, without making a meaning in. The, uh, alternative is, as I said last time, say Aneinu in Sheme trot filo, uh, incorporate it in Sheme trot filo, no question of Baruch haba tov then, and that solves your problem. Okay, let's move

50:39 on. We've almost finished our list of questions for today. But someone asked me to clarify, are you allowed to bake and cook on Tisha B'av afternoon for Shabbos? So Tisha B'av one avoids doing malacha. But the afternoon is more lenient. That's written already because the Shekinah, the Shekinah, the afternoon is permitted. You're allowed to start preparing food for the evening. But I wanted to get something more, more point clear. So this is from the Nite Gavriel, and he writes, "When Tisha B'av is on a Thursday, then you're allowed to bake and cook on even before Chatzeit, the covered Shabbos." So certainly in the afternoon, you'd be allowed to do, um, cooking and baking for Shabbos. The afternoon would be okay. Um, so that's a clear, a clear, uh, ruling on that. He says here, which also is an interesting thing, if you need clothes for Shabbos, and you have a non-Jewish worker, so you could ask them to do the-- some laundry for needed, which is needed for Shabbos, you'd be allowed to ask them to do, uh, uh, if it's not possible to manage to do that on Friday for whatever reason. Uh, then he talks about personal traveling, which, okay, we'll have to deal with that separately. Right. Let's go on for our last thing, and that was, as I was in the, um, in the-- my, my, my slot in the Beis HaRah here in Stamford Hill is on Friday morning. I'm there from eleven thirty to one. Uh, I asked for

52:25 that slot because I hoped that Friday would be a more busy slot. So before going to this, Mendel's asking about would the same limitations apply to Vayachal, and the answer is no. Vayachal is actually more lenient than Aneinu because the people who are having the aliyas, they are fasting, and they're making a brocha on their aliyah. So for Vayachal, you got three people fasting, and they are given the aliyas. That's, that, that works. Uh, for Aneinu, it's a brocha said by the chazan because there's a tzibo which are fasting, and that's where it becomes more, uh, difficult. And therefore, if you don't have ten people fasting, uh, then you should just say Aneinu in, in Shema Ya'atfila. And then you finish off, Baruch ata Hashem, va'ein yelam mi-Yisrael, ve'is torah ve'Shema Ya'atfila. Right. Let's move on. The, this is our last thing on our list for today. So someone's asking, people are now going on holidays, and so sometimes you need to make an eiruv if you're sharing premises with others. She's asking, can you make an eiruv with a mezonos roll? So at first, I didn't feel it's a problem. Actually, the eiruv has to be made with bread, but it can be even bread which is, um, rice bread. It doesn't have to be hamotzi bread. It can be another type of bread. And then here, this is, so this is the Orach Shulchan. It says it can be bread which is hamotzi or even bread which is mezonos. It quotes from the

54:04 Darkei Moshe in the name of Rabbeinu Yerucham that you can use lachman yos, um, which is really mezonos as you look into Mekuf Zah Mekhez, and still you can use that. My only dilemma is for mezonos to become hamotzi, you need to have a larger amount. So the minimum amount for eiruv is that each family has to be represented by a, uh, the size of a, a, um, a gregoris, size of a fig, whatever, whatever it is. Does-- If you're using mezonos, would that be enough, or do you have to have a larger amount because a smaller amount is not considered bread, only when it becomes a large amount? So I don't know the answer. The fellow called me again on Friday. I told him, "Just use, just use hamotzi spread. You know, use your hamotzi chal and finish and avoid the problem." But it's an interesting question. I wanted to share that with you. Um, well, you know what? I'm gonna share with you one more thing which came in on Friday. So a woman asks me, she's, uh, listens to a lot of shiurim, and she's got three toddlers, and sometimes she's got these earbuds, which is listening to shiurim. Is she allowed to listen, to continue listening to something, a shiur online, whilst she's changing the baby's diapers? So I answered her actually that it is okay because you are allowed to think Torah in the presence of, uh, of something which is offensive. To say words of Torah wouldn't be okay,

55:37 but since it's just a mechshava, then the what's going on in mechshava is, is, is not exposed to the offensive matter, and therefore that would be okay. Well, we'll stop with that and wish you all a, uh, good evening. And if you-- we should, we should, we shouldn't have to fast, and we should see the Ulah HaShlemo, uh, and these days will be days of sos and simcha, or moedim tovim. Thank you for joining us, and I wish you all good night.