חול המועד סוכות תשפ״ד

00:07 Good evening and welcome to tonight's share. And, um, I've got a So we'll start off with a word of the Rebbe Maharash. If I'm not mistaken, according to the hesbon of the, um, shoch pisin. So it would be the shoch pisin of the Rebbe Maharash. Anyway, here's the story. It's like this. That is talking here about sitting on a chair which has got, um, be... um, and behind you there's a bookcase which doesn't have doors. He calls it politzer. That's Yiddish for shelf. And the seforim, is it okay to sit with your back to a number... to shelves of seforim, nerely posho demutah. I think it seem obvious that that's okay, because we do find that there's an objection to having your back to a sifrei torah. But doesn't... But no-none of the poskim mention that there's a problem of sitting with your back to seforim. Having said that, if you remember the Rebbe's room in, in, in, in Yerushalis, behind the Rebbe there's no seforim. It's, uh, like paneling. Uh, all right. But meanwhile, the Rebbe Maharash says that's not a problem. The fact that there is also a wall at the... The, the chair has got a back, so that... the back of the chair would also count as a hefsek to, to make it as a separate derashas. Now, the old-fashioned chairs, you can see, uh, the fancier chairs would have like a tall back, which is more than ten tefachim. So possibly that's what he was referring to, that the back

02:03 of the chair would, uh, would count as a hefsek. Let's move on. So one of our, uh, one of our listeners is a shliach somewhere in the UK, and he provides agada meaning for his flock, should we say. And one of the members said, "You know what? I'll come in on Sunday." He said, "Come if... I don't need it before Yom Teru. I'll come in on Sunday and I'll pick it up then." So he's asking, is there... the shliach asked, is there a question of kinyan? So actually it's a legitimate question because, um, one doesn't... one's not allowed to be koining stuff, to acquire stuff on, on Shabbos. Now, let's read the following quote from the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch Siman Shin Ivet. Sif Yod Zai, as you can see. That which is customary to sell the esrog after the mitzvah is completed. That he says is like selling places in shul, which is not so straightforward as discussed earlier. But what you are buying to do the mitzvah, that is okay to buy. That's more, um, not considered you're buying a real article. That's like you sell the mitzvahs in shul. You're not really selling a physical article. You're not buying the esrog. You're only having the, uh, buying the mitzvah. Even on the first day of Yom Teru, when it has to be yours. But you're buying it, you're koain it, and asked to give it back. Therefore, you're... all you're being koain is just the mitzvah. So that's okay that it was

03:57 done on Shabbos. Yom Teru, same thing. Avul also liknes the gamrious esrog hashofer b'Yom Teru. And, and to, uh, to freehold, so it's an outright purchase of an esrog or, or a shofar for that matter on Yom Teru, that would not be okay. Shofar is, you know, not so necessary. You can, you can use a borrowed shofar. But it, it... So if someone would want... would go up to a vendor of esrog on Yom Teru, "Can I buy an esrog from you?" It'd be a problem to, to give him, to sell him an esrog. You can give him as a gift, et cetera, but, uh, it's, it's not so straightforward. Now, we've gone through this before, but actually in this, uh, in the given situation, it's not such a problem because the buyer had already paid for the esrog before Yom Teru. Now, although moeis ein on koines, strictly speaking, paying money, if I come to you, I want to buy a hat, and I give you the $90, whatever it costs for a hat, but I didn't touch the hat. I've given you the $90, and the hat is still in your possession. So halacha, the hat is still yours, not mine. And I, both you and I have the rights to cancel and say, "Oh, I, you know, I don't want, I don't want, I don't want to buy the hat. I don't want to sell the hat." You can still change. Because although there's been exchange of money, but moeis ein on

05:26 koines, mere exchange of money is not recognized as a kinyan in halacha. So the fact that he paid for the esrog in advance, why, why does that make any difference? Well, although moeis ein on koines, but there is a concept called Mishapara, that if a person has already, um, gone into a transaction, although not completed, and now he wants to pull out, there would be a, a curse for the one who doesn't keep his word. So in a couple of places in halacha, we see the following. That although moeis are not a kinyan, but they are good enough where there's a need for kinyan derabanan. For if it's, if it's to avoid, and it's a derabanan- Kinyan Moats is recognized. So because this fellow, although it's not a kinyan, because, however, he had paid up with, with his credit card in advance, so he is already koine on the level that, uh, that, that if he would retract, there would... Or if the vendor would retract, there would be an issue of Mishapara. Therefore, it's considered enough of a kinyan to way, take away the issue of acquiring goods on Shabbos or Yom Tov. We've gone through this before to explain the heter, why if goods arrive from an online order, if they arrive on Shabbos, why is it not a problem to, to accept the goods? Why is it not a kinyan? And the answer being because you've paid, uh, in advance. Now, which brings us really very much to the next question, which

06:59 is that someone actually from Detroit emailed me asking that, that she had made some, ordered some clothes for her children online, and the likelihood is that they would arrive on Shabbos or on Yom Tov. And she's asking, would she be allowed to, uh, use them for, on Shabbos or Yom Tov? Now, in the past, I have been concerned about this because of Kotz L'Chum. Now, here you have on the screen from the Shmiras Shabbos KeHilchasa, that your parcel arrived, he says in Kotz La'aretz, it arrived by post on Shabbos. And not because you insisted that it should deliver, be delivered on Shabbos. So then, okay, then you are allowed to benefit from the stuff in the parcel, even if it was brought from beyond the chum, brought beyond, from beyond the Eruv, even through Reshus Harabim. See, he says, "You're allowed to benefit from the goods in the art, in, in the parcel." Right. Now, what we have here beneath on the screen, we have from Hilchos Yom Tov, and that was Rabbi Shuchun Haruch, Siman Tov Kof Tes Vav. S'iv Tes Vav. He writes, "If something was brought on Yom Tov, it's an edible, edible thing, even the one, um, for whom it was brought..." Again, since something which is brought, uh, on Yom Tov is edible for the non-intended beneficiary, therefore the intended beneficiary, who's not allowed to enjoy it, is allowed to move it on Yom Tov. It's not Muktzeh. Something which is fit for others to use, therefore would not be

08:44 Muktzeh for you. All right. Lak, however, you would not be allowed to move it beyond the Dalet Amas, where in a place where you were not allowed to carry on Shabbos. And the restriction would be both for the intended or the unintended beneficiary, that they would not be allowed to move the article beyond the Dalet Amas. We're going to discuss it in a moment. And this is so fa- so interesting. The RFA P, that he's allowed to eat it, but you're not allowed to carry it out Dalet Amas. Because something which comes from beyond the chum is, is kind of grounded, is not allowed to be taken beyond the Dalet Amas. Now, um, what this means is, Dalet Amas could be my, my house. The whole house is a Dalet Amas. My front garden, my back garden is also part of the Dalet Amas. It's all one premises. So here's such an interesting thing, that something which was brought from beyond the chum, you're allowed to eat it on that day, but you're not allowed to carry it beyond the Dalet Amas. Now, if the area is surrounded with an Eruv, and it is a valid Eruv, then the whole Eruv is considered like Dalet Amas. So then you'd be allowed to carry the article, wear the article within, within, anywhere within the Eruv. So in Stamford Hill, we have part of Stamford Hill has got an Eruv. That's N15 area. So if, if, if a package with clothing arrived on, uh, on Yom Tov

10:25 or Shabbos beyond the Chum, you'd be allowed to wear the, those clothes anywhere within the Eruv. But you wouldn't be able to go up the road to S- to Bais LeBavich because that's beyond the Eruv, and you... That's considered going beyond the Dalet Amas. So that's, uh, so it's... I, I find it interesting that the Shmiras Shabbos KeHilchasa does not. He just says you're allowed to use it, which is true. But he doesn't say that you'd be limited to carry it beyond the Eruv. I mean, that's a thrill. I guess everywhere's got an Eruv. Well, he talks about Kotz La'aretz. But in a... If, if there's an Eruv, then the, uh, the, the Kotz Dalet Amas is, is, is irrelevant. Um, but yeah, now it happens to... I mentioned the name Detroit because I, I seem to recall that any, a, a Detroit has an Eruv. And therefore, even if, let's say, the Lubavitcher, uh, Tzibur are not so keen to rely on the Eruv, when in, in relation to this, I think one can rely on, uh, you would be allowed to carry, wear it. That's a separate thing also when, uh, that's all on the assumption that something delivered by Amazon is from beyond the Chum, which may not be the case at all. It may be that their depot is within the Chum, and therefore there's no problem of Kotz L'Chum altogether. That's very much subjective, which you can find out. But the thing is, if it arrives on Yom Tov, you,

11:47 you probably won't be able to find out on Yom Tov. Okay, let's move on. Now, the next question is something which I've never... I don't remember a year I should have so many shailas of this. A number of shluchim particularly were looking to start the meal on Erev Sukkot, the ev- in other words, the Friday night meal, to start early. I'm not sure why, uh, more th- this year more than any other. And that is a problem. Um, although on a Friday night it's okay to bring Mekabel Shabbos early and to start your meal early, we all know that we have a problem with that on Seder night. That's, uh, such a... Yishar Kochacha struggle very much with public Seder starting so late. Um, it's interesting, I'm, I'm mentioning it now, which is tomorrow, in, in, for, for this Friday night. In other words, going into Shemini Atzeret. Not to have the meal early, because then you're going to have an interesting dilemma. If you'd start the meal, Shemini Atzeret, before night. So what you're gonna say in Kiddush? Yeah. It's still Sukkot, by the way. So you're gonna have to say, "L'shana Haba'ah Sukkat." It'll be very interesting to be saying at the same time, "L'shana Haba'ah Sukkat am Shemini Atzeret Chagaseh." It's, as you say, the, it's two contradictory voices trying to call a disaster. So Shemini Atzeret also, you wouldn't be able to start the meal early. But let's read why it's important not to start the meal early on the first

13:28 night of Sukkot. So here in Shulchan Aruch again, I think it's Tosefta Shabbos where it talks about the first night of Sukkot, the mitzvah of eating on the first night of Sukkot is compared to eating the matzah the first night of Pesach. The fifteenth to fifteenth. And therefore, they're compared in numerous aspects. The whole dover. Number, number one, we all know that in Eretz Pesach, the Mishnah in Eretz Acherim, we don't eat, um, we don't eat a large amount in the late afternoon, so that you should have an appetite for the, for the matzah. Same thing. You shouldn't have a lot of food on late afternoon of, out of Sukkot, so that you should have an appetite for the first kazais of bread that you're gonna have in the Sukkot. Second com-com, uh, comparison is, well, um, application, not to eat in the Sukkot until after nightfall. Because just like we learn by Pesach, it has to be Balay Loaze, so to Sukkot. First night of Sukkot, the mitzvah of eating a Sukkot s- is Balay Loaze. And therefore, you'd have to wait with your first kazais of challah until, uh, after nightfall. And then the third thing is about making a point to eat before midnight, just like matzah has to be eaten before midnight. Perhaps we've discussed this in the past, uh, whether, whether it has to be just... If you're comparing it to matzah, perhaps it should be just a matzah, it should be just flour and water. So then also the

15:04 challah for the night of, uh, uh, Sukkot should be flour and water. The Hida does insist that, that way, but, uh, many other poskim disagree. And, um, Shulchan Aruch have asked me, what about having... For people not gonna come ha- come and eat the meal in the Sukkot, is there a value of them, them having Kiddush in the Shul Sukkot and having a bit of Mizonus, ka-kazais of Mizonus? And I believe although the Hida dis- says it's not, not, not in Ayin HaMaarot, but according to many other poskim, there definitely is an achievement of them being Yoetz and mitzvah Sukkot, having the first kazais, whether it's Mizonus or Hamotzi, it doesn't matter according to this, and the Yoetz and the kazais in Sukkot, um, although they're gonna eat it in their house for the rest of the, the rest of the evening, et cetera. Okay. Right. Okay. So here comes a, this is last week, a Shliach. He's an American. He's on Shlichus somewhere in, in Central Europe. And as you may know, many, uh, uh, of these camp-- many of these, uh, universities are, uh, have a lot of Israeli students for whatever reason. Medical schools, et cetera, they're very popular with Israeli students. And so he's a campus Shliach and catering a large of Is-- a, a lot of Israeli students, and he published his program for the whole of Sukkot. And i-in the program, it said that the night of Shemini Atzeret will be eating in the Sukkot. So one of the

16:39 more learned Israeli student says, "Well, if... Well, to eat in the Sukkot Shemini Atzeret, you're gonna have to break away part of the ceiling, a part of the schach." Now, this American Shliach had never heard of this kind of thing. Doesn't know what I'm talking about. So here we have, this is from the Shulchan Aruch, and we'll see, um, that both are right, yeah? So it does say in Shulchan Aruch, "Eretz Israel, Sukkot, the mitzvah of Sukkot is seven days. Shemini Atzeret, there's no mitzvah to sit in the Sukkot. If you do want to sit in the Sukkot, because you don't have anywhere else to sit," so Shulchan Aruch says, "You'll have to demolish all the schach, a four-by-four tefachim square or more, to make a heker, to make an in- a, a, a indication that you're sitting in the Sukkot not in the Shemini Atzeret Sukkot, but just because you need the space." So in Eretz Israel, if I wanted to sit in the Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, I would have to demolish part of the schach. I was told that in the earlier years, the Rebbe, or the Farbrengens used to be in the area between two buildings that now have been built over. But then it was between two buildings, it was known as the Shalash. And it was covered with a, with a tarpaulin. That's where the Farbrengens would take place. But Sukkot, they took away the tarpaulin and covered it with, with the schach- So the Rebbes from Brenggi was

18:25 there, but for sh- when the, before the Rebbes from Brenggi on Simchas Torah, they, they ha- somehow had a goy removing some of the schach where the Rebbe was sitting so that it shouldn't be that the S- Simchas Torah sitting in the sukkah. All right. Without going into the detail of how they did that, et cetera. But meanwhile, th- this is true, that if it's clearly no chir of sukkah, and you're sitting in the sukkah in there, in any case, there is sh'lo yihye nira k'moeitz. It's, it looks like you are adding an extra day to the mitzvah. And we have a issue of Bal Tosif. We shouldn't be adding to a mitzvah. It's not mamash Bal Tosif, but it's nira k'moeitz. Having said all that, now we see the, in the, in the Shaarei Teshuvah, that's the Siman Taf Res Samech Ches a little bit further, talking about shluchai eretz Yisroel. Collectors collecting, uh, tzedakah for the community in Eretz Yisroel. They're in chutz la'aretz. Ichudeshu l'hilazalzel beyom tov sheni. Now, a, an Israeli in chutz la'aretz has to be, uh, mindful and, uh, respectful of the fact that it's Yom Tov Sheni for the local people. And therefore, the visitors from Eretz Yisroel to chutz la'aretz on, and they're staying with a family, lei shev, yichim lei shev im ba'al habayis. They should be sitting with the ba'al habayis on Shemini Atzeret. Because they have to be r- respectful of the fact that here it's considered Yom Tov, uh, Yom Tov Sh-Sheni Ummechayei

20:00 Basukkah, yeah. Yom Tov Sheni of seventh of Succot. And they should say to them, p- personally, they should, a mental note. V'eimru b'namo b'natzmon, they're not doing this l'shem mitzvah. I don't know what it means, but does it mean dafka to say it orally? So anyway, in mind, they're not in- intending to eat here because of mitzvah, just out of respect. As far as sleeping, he says, find an excuse to sleep indoors. Also eat something outside the sukkah in a discreet way. So this is the answer, that in chutz la'aretz, they would have... They, they... It would be correct for the visitors, even if they're keeping only one day for whatever reason, but they should still be, uh, uh, sitting in the sukkah out of respect for the hilazalzel, but, uh, they're doing so not l'shem mitzvah. Okay, let's move on. So here we have a question. On Shemini Atzeret, that's the switchover. That's the switchover when we start saying Mord Hageshem. Now, this is discussed in Shulchan Aruch in Siman Kuf Yud Daled. The Midina of Shemoneh Esreh, the first volume of Shulchan Aruch. So, and this Shulchan Aruch discusses in detail why the switchover is done at Musaf in Sh- in, on Shemini Atzeret. It's not done at the beginning of Succot because we don't want to mention about rain during, during Succot. We don't want to... 'Cause rain during Succot is not terribly welcome. Then why the switchover is done at Musaf, because otherwise the announcement would be, you can't announce before,

21:44 in, at Shaharit before Gaav Yisroel, whatever. So the m- switchover is done at Musaf. And there is a very strong emphasis that the switchover is only after the announcement has been made. The announcement can be one of two forms. Either the chazan in Chazarat Hashatz, he, he says aloud, "Mashiv haruach umeir ha'geshem," that would be the announcement. Or there is a simple, the gaver bangs on the table on the bimah, "Mashiv haruach umeir ha'geshem," before Musaf. So there has to be that announcement. Me'ey beray m'hazkirin gvuras geshem. And in some places, there's a gir- girsah machrizin. The hechraza of, of gvuras geshem. There's an announcement. All right, so all very well. We, if, if we go to shul, we have clearly the guidelines that for Shaharit, we'll say, um, we'll be saying merat hatoa, or not at all if you're davening Ashkenaz. And then it comes to Musaf, you'll switch over and start saying ma- mashiv haruach because that's the announcement. You've heard the announcement. The question is, what about people who are living, who are, who are not going to shul? So here we have in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, "V'ha'dor b'makom she'ein minyan." This is a small place, no minyan. He should wait until the time that they're davening Musaf, that is b'kehilot. In the, I guess it means the nearest congregations. In the Mishnah Berurah, he brings the also the same, b'nei ha'yeshuvim. Now, he says a slightly different notion, which is from the Chayei Adam, I believe. At somuch leshish

23:29 shlot. You should wait with Musaf until close to six hours of the day, close to 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock, because for sure by then the tzibbur would have switched over to... I'm, I'm kind of got it. All right, fine. Now, now he says... Now, th- this is the Mishnah Berurah. Now this is from the Sefer Piskei Teshuva. And he says that this is about the b'nei yeshuv. For the people who are affiliated to a particular shul, a yachid who used to go to a particular shul, but now because of illness or some other circumstance, he's davening at home, et cetera, b'yachidut. Then he is drawn, he's, he's di-di-dictated by the tzibbur with which he is a regular. And therefore, he should have his switchover to Musaf and to start saying ma- mashiv haruach at Musaf according to the time, the estimated time of the announcement in his shul. If he doesn't have a set place, then he says, "Well, then that, that's another discussion." And then he goes a little bit further, that if for whatever reason you did not daven Shaharit, uh, on Shemini Atzeret un-until after the announcement in your shul, then you should be saying at Shaharit, you should already be saying, um, mashiv haruach in Shaharit. Okay. So these are several points here. But meanwhile, he's saying that you are dic- your, your status is dictated by the shul where you are a regular. Now, this, in my mind, started raising alarm bells because in the Shulchan Aruch, in the

25:30 dinim of Hadlakas Neris and Kabbalas Shabbos, that there is a din that if you're... the community has accepted Shabbos, then you're bound by the community's acceptance of Shabbos. What about if you're not going to shul, et cetera? And here there's a difference between the Alter Rebbe and the Ma'aseh Sh'kel. So in the Magen Avraham, he says that one shul is not dictated by another shul. Each one. Now, then this is what the Ma'aseh Sh'kel says, and then we'll read the Alter Rebbe. So the Magen Avraham has got a bit more detail, and then he says that one shul is not dic-dictated by another. "Elo oyshom bnei adam sh'darkon leilech l'beis knesses echad." Rather, the people who are used to going to a particular shul, those people are dictated by their shul where they used to go. So he has this new idea that even if you don't go to shul, you are dictated by the shul where you go. Now, let's read what the Alter Rebbe says. In sentence reish samach gimel. It says, "If the majority of the community didn't come to shul, so they're not dic-not dictated by the minority." Next. Then he says, "If you have a shul which... a city which got numerous shuls, so then those who didn't daven in one shul are not affected by the other shuls, even though they are a, a, a minority." So this so far is exactly the same as the Magen Avraham, uh, that one shul is not dictated by another shul. But

27:19 then the Alter Rebbe adds in brackets, so that's what's important to us. "A yochid who didn't go to shul where makabbal shabbos, even if he's used to davening in that shul." So he's got, he usually davens in an early shul. In that shul, so now it's, let's say it's, it's, it's seven o'clock and his shul, they've already been makabbal Shabbos. But the roov of the ir makabbal Shabbos only at seven thirty or something. Ev sh'lahati rebi mehlacha. So he is allowed to do melacha. So here we have, contrary to what the Ma'aseh Sh'kel is saying, the Alter Rebbe is saying that one who doesn't go to shul, his status is not dictated by his regular shul, but rather by the ma-majority. Now, here the Alter Rebbe is tell- is, is, is, uh, presenting it in a lenient stance, that his shul is makabbal early. The rest of the, most of the town makabbal late, so he can... Yeah. Now, what would be the other way around? If he's used to a shul which they daven late, but the rest of the community, most of the community of these shuls are davening early. So then according to the same logic, it should be that he should be dictated by the-- because he's not going to shul, so then he should be dictated by the, uh, majority, and he should have to be makabbal Shabbos early. Why is that not a big issue in Stamford Hill or Golders Green, et cetera, where most shuls are davening in

28:58 summer, they're davening, um, makabbal Shabbos early. So married people going to shul, you can say, is one thing, but if you're, one shul's not de-dictated by another shul. But they're not going to shul. What about many single, uh, women or whatever, uh, and they're not going to shul. The husband, uh, and, and why don't they have to be makabbal Shabbos early? All right, so there, there's the Igros Moshe who says that, that this whole business is only applicable when the Kabbalah Shabbos early is, is out of frumkeit, not just for convenience. So that's why it's not, not ne- you know, not necessary to make a whole tumulte about this. But meanwhile, we do, we do have a yesod here. That the... We have here a, a, quite a clear distinction, uh, by difference of opinion. The Alter Rebbe says that a yochid is dictated by roov ha'ir, and Ma'aseh Sh'kel, it says you go according to, um, the, the, the shul where you belong to. Now, going back to the previous slide, where we're talking about, uh, as far as Ma-Ma Shebeirach dic- so this psak, which the Piskei Teshuva writes, that if you don't go to shul, you're dictated by your regular shul. That is very much, you look inside, you see there in the references, it's very much dictated by and, and sourced from the din of a Kabbalah Shabbos. Just like a Kabbalah Shabbos, you're dictated by your regular shul, the same thing for Ma Shebeirach. So therefore, according to the Alter

30:21 Rebbe, that if you're not going to shul, you're dictated by the majority of town, so the same thing should be for, for Ma Shebeirach. And therefore, let's say, let's say, uh, let's, let's, um, g-go through this in detail. If in your area there are ten shuls, and take, uh, your, your regular shul, let's say it's Chabad, and they're davening. They will esh get to Musaf at twelve o'clock. But most of the shuls will be already, uh, have, uh, started Musaf by eleven o'clock. So then if you're davening Musaf, if you want to daven Musaf at quarter past eleven, no problem. You can say Ma Shebeirach. Although your shul hasn't said Ma Shebeirach yet, but you can follow the major-majority Uh, it would be also interesting the other way around. If you only start in Shacharis, and there it's after 11, so although your shul hasn't made the announcement Ma'a- Ma Ma'amar ShebeRuach yet, but, uh, but the Rav of here have. So then you'd have to say Ma'amar ShebeRuach in Shacharis too. Now, just, just I wanna finish off. What I found is very interesting is that in the Pisukei Shus, if it's too m- too much of a pilpul, just, just, you know, don't, just, you know, in, in a couple of minutes I'll be onto the next topic, so don't worry. Um, in the Pisukei Shus, he wants to reconcile the Hen Resa Bakimo. Now, the Alter Rebbe is talking about someone who's not going to shul together. The Ma'aseh Hashekel is talking

31:49 about someone who is intending to go to shul, but he didn't get there yet. So that's why he's dictated by his lo- by his local shul, because he intends to go still on that. And therefore, although he, he, although he hasn't g- gone to shul yet, but he's already bound by the shul because he intends to go there. If that's the case, then he shouldn't have left us open in, in, uh, Kuf Yad Dalet Ma'amar ShebeRuach because there he seems to say whether you're not going to shul together, you're dictated by, by your, um, local shul, by your regular shul. Here he's saying no, that's only if you intend to go later. So it's just a kashya on the, um, on the Pisukei Shus he's contradicting himself, which I actually asked someone. I sent a letter to him, uh, via someone there at Eretz Yisrael, but that didn't, uh... He, he hasn't responded. Okay. But never mind. For us, it's, it's, it's not negeh. For us, it's negeh clear that the Kontra Dal Rebbe, your b- your status as far as Ma'amar ShebeRuach of Gevir Merageshem is going according to Rav of here. Let's move on. Okay. So, one of our shluchim, uh, was a little bit, um, concerned. He had honored someone to be Chasan Torah. And then he realized that the Kohen was a Levi, and he was a little bit, uh, not sure whether he'd done the wrong thing. So I was happy to reassure him that on, that, that the Halakha,

33:17 this is from Mr. Berger that Marieli approached, that a Kohen or Levi can be given Chasan Torah or Chasan Bereishit. It doesn't have to be the f- a Kohen doesn't have to be the first Aliyah. And this is part of, on a Simchas Torah, we tend to, uh, there's a lot, a lot of, uh, um, should we say latitude. In a lot of, uh, lot, lots of things which normally wouldn't be allowed. Let's say you have several people having Aliyah together, you read the same thing again, again, and again. So there's, this is also one of the things that there can be a Kohen and Levi could be Chasan Torah, Chasan Bereishit. Okay. Um, someone told me that in, in seven 70, uh, Reb Shmuel Levitin would... The Rebbe would always have Chasan, Chasan Bereishit. And who would get Chasan Torah? So it was Reb Shmuel Levitin, who was obviously a Levi. Um, so that was, that's the done thing. Okay. Uh, meanwhile, it came up in the discussion how, uh, various things are, are, uh, done on Simchas Torah a bit more lenient the rest of the year. So someone sent me the following, that when... This is of, this is from Tov Shimim Tes. I, and it was a surprise for me this, uh, this whole communication. Uh, in Tov Shimim Tes, when the Rebbe came out with the whole mitzvah of, of, uh, Yom HaLaddus, of celebrating birthdays. And one of the Minhagim is that if, uh, that, that you'd have the

34:34 Shabbos before your birthday, you'd have an Aliyah LaTorah. So now, one of the, uh, Askani Minhag of Eretz Yisrael thought, "Okay, this is a big thing about the birthdays and Aliyah LaTorah. How about it should be that a child of a boy whose father is before Bar Mitzvah, perhaps it would be that it, the Shabbos before his Bar Mitz-- be- before his, uh, birthday, he's nine years old, yeah, turning 10. He'll have an Aliyah together with his father, as is done by many co- communities in Simchas Torah." Now, the one who sent this to me said he had discussed it with the Rav, a prominent Rav of Kanvad in Eretz Yisrael, who said that that's okay. And based upon that, he took the liberty, uh, to ask the Rebbe whether that would be something to be, uh, to be encouraged, that the Shabbos before a boy gets, has a, turns, uh, I mean, has a birthday, he should have, his father would have an Aliyah, yeah? And he would have an Aliyah. He'd stand with his father together, and they have an Aliyah LaTorah. So the Rebbe answered, "Mu van Aposhut, Shekach No Yagi BaSimchas Torah." Now, and I deliberately missed out those two words, uh, of Ach V'rach. He wrote, the Rebbe answered, "Mu van Aposhut, Shekach No Yagi BaSimchas Torah." Now, that was, as far as he, the Shliach, the Sh'eilah was concerned, was ambiguous. The Rebbe says, "Yes, it's, it's done, it, it's done in Simchas Torah." Now, was that saying it

36:03 was a good idea or not a good idea? Because you could say, "Since it's done in Simchas Torah, therefore it's legitimate." Or to say, "It's only done in Simchas Torah." So he asked Rabbi Gronoh, Alav HaSalaam, "What do I h- what do I make of it?" "I don't know, I'm not sure." So he said, he said Rabbi Gron told him to write in again. And at this time, the Rebbe added to his answer the words Ach V'rach. So the Rebbe negated this. So there was this question whether a child should have an Aliyah together with his father before Yom HaLaddus, and the Rebbe said, "No, that's not to introduce a new practice. This is a thing, thing for Simchas Torah, but otherwise we do not see a Minhag of having a child have Aliyah LaTorah together with a fa- with an adult." Okay. I just wanted to share that with you. Uh, that's just, uh, interesting, hi- hist- history. Right. Um, now, a child of about eight years old, nine years old, a girl, asked my daughter, "Why-" My daughter does, uh, in like a, a group for the girls who are davenying in shul. She's a teacher and she helping them to learn how to daven. And so one of the girls with this group asked, they go, they're going to shul for Krias HaTorah, "Why is the man making a bracha before and after?" So she didn't know the answer, she asked me. So I said, "I also don't know the answer." So

37:31 I was... I, I, I looked up actually in Sefer Perek Talmudis on the en-entry of, um, Birkat HaTorah. So he does have some, some reasons given. One of the reasons is that, that the Torah is called the Shira, and after the Shira of HaZinu comes the seven bracha. Whatever. Not so clear. But what I would like to say is a, a, a very simple savara. That originally, behaglim. Originally, Birkat HaTorah was the following. The first Aliyah, the first ole would say the bracha LeShana, and then he'd read his piece, go down, next one takes the... read the next piece, and without brachas before and after. The seventh one, who finished the Krias HaTorah, he would say the after bracha. So there would be just one pair of brachas. One at the beginning of the seven aliyas on a Shabbos, and one at the end of the seven aliyas, bracha LeShana. Then at a later stage, because we were... people getting confused, people came in middle of Krias HaTorah and they thought, left the middle of Krias HaTorah, and they thought that they're only doing one bracha at the end and one bracha at the beginning. So they therefore, they at a later stage, already in the Gemara, they're introduced to do a bracha, each one has a bracha before and after. But the idea here, the bracha is like, of these brachas is, well, this after bracha. We have a quota. We have a quota, uh, which we are meant to be learning today, meant

38:58 to reading today. So we make a bracha at the beginning of the quota. When we finish the quota, we're gonna make a bracha as, you know, kind of recognizing, celebrating, we've completed that quota. That's my understanding. Where do I see similar to this? Well, we have at the end of Hallel. We have the bracha, Y'halelu Yah... Yeah. Y'halelu. We have the end of Megillah, the bracha Baruch Hu U'Revenu. Although these two are in the Gemara, and Gemara, if I'm not mistaken, talks to them about minhag. But possibly that minhag of making a bracha at the end of Megillah, at the end of Hallel, is inspired by the halakha of saying a bracha at the end of Krias HaTorah. We also have at the end of the Haggadah. Both at the end of the first ha- part of the Haggadah, they have a bracha. Um, and then, then we have at the end of, of, of Hallel, at the second part of the Haggadah, the end of the Seder. So we can see here a style of when there is a set quota, when that quota is completed, to say a bracha, to recognize, to celebrate, whatever word you want to use. One more example is where, although it's... Now it comes to mind, it's not, uh, not such a, a s- clear thing. There is in Yerushalmi that when one re- one who removes his tefillin would say a bracha, Shekeshanu B'mitzvoseve Tzivanu Lishmor Chukav. And that's because the Yerushalmi follows the opinion that layla

40:32 loves not tefillin. Therefore, the, the... Well, why is it... Why, why layla, layla loves not tefillin? Because it says in the Passover, Shemartu Et Chukotav U'Et Miuymim Yu'mimah. The mitzvah of tefillin is beyom, not layla. So if it comes shkiya, wearing tefillin the whole day, comes shkiya, he has to take off his tefillin. So there's a mitzvah to take off that tefillin. Veshamartah. So they would say, uh, Shekes... But there it's a bit, bit different. It's not the end of a mitzvah. There, he's actually doing a mitzvah, Lishmor Chukav. To take off the tefillin at shkiya would be a mitzvah. So it's like a regular Birkat Hamitzvot. But perhaps we've discussed this before, I'm sure, but it, that... In Ovat Zion. Um, so they, all those who take off that tefillin at, as mentioned in Shulchan Aruch, um, um, um, Shenishbu Chacheim BaOlam Hazeh Veniskem Nichyam V'nihiyu Aherim. So they to, to, and, to... Those who see that as kind of the Birkat Hamitzvot of taking off the tefillin. And there is the minhag of actually touching the shel yad and shel rosh at that point, reminiscent of the, uh, savara that that is actually a bracha achronah for tefillin. Okay, someone's asking a question. Rabbi Lou is adding also the end of Sukot is Zimrah. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. Okay, yeah. Right. Thank you. So now we're going to, uh, this question. Someone asked me about having a, a, uh, Shabbos belt, as in for, uh, s- for a key, to be able

42:04 to wear a key. And wearing it on y-your shirt, if your shirt is tucked into your trousers, uh... Yeah. So w-would that be legitimate? Now, what you have on the screen is actually from Igrot Moshe. And he was asked this question about, about wearing a Shabbos belt, et cetera. And he says to wear it on your vest. Chaluk HaSomach LeGuf. Says that's not okay, because he says there's nothing... Y-you don't, you're not trying to make your vest look nicer. You know, undershirt. Doesn't... Y-you know, that's not, it's not a garment. It's a garment just worn to absorb your perspiration. Says you don't wear a belt on your... To make, make it look, look more presentable. Um, then he goes further. Because the use of a belt is only when it's there to make your garment, your, your dressing should be better, which that doesn't apply to an undershirt. But then he says another thing, gam levad ze. Besides this svara, also hacha, hare hagura haluk m- michnosai matachtonim. What he means is... I think he means in the under... In the under... That the, in the, uh, uh, in, in, in the underwear. He's sticking... One puts his shirt into his, into his, uh, uh, h- hosen. So therefore, that's why, why he say, he says again, that it's not considered... That doesn't need to have a hagura, because the hagura already. And as a result, he says... And he also, he, he also, in that shuva, he says, "What about wearing it on a

43:54 tie?" He says, "No. A tie is a, is an ornament, and it's... To have a belt on a tie just, it, uh, it's not an, it doesn't, it doesn't make the b- it doesn't see it as, as a, a begeg which needs to have a belt to hold it in place." And therefore, he says, "If you don't want to wear your ja- your hagura, your Shabbos belt or whatever, a belt on your jacket, you'd have to bring it before Shabbos, um, you'd have to bring, um..." Oh, no, he's talking here about the gartel. Sorry, he's not talking about the Shabbos belt. He's talking about just a gartel. The question he's dealing with is about wearing a gartel, which you wear only for tefillah, to wear that through the street. So he says, "If you don't... If you wear it, you can, you can wear it on, on, on your jacket," he said, "That's okay. But if you don't want to wear it on your jacket, you'd have to leave your gartel in the shul where you daven." What he does say is that, that it has to be that the, the, um, that the, that the belt is actually serving a purpose to make this garment more presentable. And so although I'm, I'm, I'm going to admit that it doesn't say clearly, uh, an objection to the shirt tucked in the trousers or about a sh- about a, a belt, but the svara seems to be that it doesn't seem to add anything because the,

45:20 the tu- belt, because the, the shirt is tucked into the trousers, and the trousers are, are worn with a belt or something, which is keeping the, the shirt in place. So there seems to be superfluous to have a, a belt on, on it to keep it in place. Therefore, it would make sense that it would have to be, uh, worn on, uh, on a jacket or something like that. And if that's the case, obviously, you wouldn't be able to wear a gartel. Right. Let's move on. Now then, if you remember a couple of weeks ago, I asked a question on this piyut, which we have on the first two days... On the two days of Rosh Hashanah. And we showed how it's, uh, the name of the... It's Shimon. It was Shimon, uh, ben Yitzchak, I think. Um, and then we have... So it's, it's the first acrostic is Aleph Beis. The second acrostic is Shimon ben Yitzchak chazak veematz. That brings you till there. Then the last three, uh, stanzas have got Mem Yud Tav. And I was puzzled what is the message in those three letters. He's finished. He's told... He's said his name. He said chazak veematz. He's got another three stanzas, and he writes Mem Yud Tav, which I was really concerned what he's trying to say. Now, if you remember, I also had pointed out, you've got the Kuf Shin Tav, and Reish is missed out. So suggested, and I saw it later in other Machzorim, that the Kuf Reish,

46:59 Kirias, that's Kuf Reish Shin Tav. You do have the Reish there. So one of our listeners wanted to suggest a very interesting idea. He wanted to make some kind of Cheshbon, the Z- of Mizbeach. The Zayin of Mizbeach would be, um, be a Cheshbon of seven hundred years. Some- something on, on those lines. Tav Shin and, and somehow then it will be Tav Shin Nun Dalet. And, and he was... His suggestion was that this is a Remez for the year when this was written. Now, this was written by Reb Shimon HaGadol, who was a contemporary of Rabbeinu Gershom. And he's born in the year 950, and he passed away in the year 1020. So that would mean he was born Dalet Luf Mem Tav Shin Yud, and he passed away, um, 70 years later. So that would be Tav Shin, Tav Shin Peh. Dalet Luf Mem Tav Shin Peh. So somewhere during this time is when he put together... So that's a... I mean, the, the idea is a fascinating one. The... I'm not sure how it works exactly in the detail. But what I was thinking of, taking his, his cue, to take that these stanzas have got like the, the... You know, each of these stanzas we can see are highlighted with the, in yellow. Just take the following. Tav Shin. Tehillah, Yisan, and Shevach. That's Tav Shin. Then we have a Mem and a Yud and a Chaf, uh, and then a Vav. So that would mean Tav Shin Nun Dalet. So,

48:50 so thank you, Rabbi Lipsey in N- Newcastle for the, that, that idea that this is a Remez to the year. How exactly it work out, so possibly I'm suggesting a slightly different way, the way he, uh, suggested. But to, to bring us to the number of Tav Shin something. Tav Shin Nun something, which is clearly in the lifetime of Reb Shimon ben Yitzchak, uh, who was the composer of this. By the way, in the Nusach Ashkenaz, I'm sure some of you remember the story of a, uh, of a poet who had a son who was snatched as a child, and then he, uh, snatched by a maid, and then he became the pope. And then later, he, his father meets him, and he tells him about a poem which he composed, El Chanan Beni. Now, I just saw this in the last few days, that this is the same Reb Shimon, um, of Mainz, and he has a... And in one of his piyutim, which is not in our Nusach, but it is in the Ashkenaz Machzor. So it has there also an acrostic for El Chanan, and that is re- which he composed because of his, uh, his son, El Chanan, had been snatched. And later, the father met up with him, and he was able to run away from the Vatican, and he returned to Yiddishkeit. Let's move on. Um, okay.

50:15 So this is beyond what you have on the, uh, on the list, but someone... Never mind, we have another couple of minutes to offer our share. So this is a, a very common kind of, um, sukkah mobile sitting on a trailer. So a sh-- this is actually... This one you can see here is actually from Kovno in Lithuania. But the question I got was actually from, from United States, that a shliach says a fellow shliach came to him and said that a sh- mechitza tluyah, a suspended mechitza doesn't count. And therefore, it's imperative that you fill in the space under the trailer. That open space should also be filled in with cardboard boxes or something like. So he asked me, "Is there any validity in this, in this issue? Does he have to be worried about it?" So my first reaction was, "No, it's not, not a problem at all," because the thought of mechitza tluyah being invalid is because mechitza means to protect an area. And if it's suspended in the air, so then animals, the g'doyim b'ochim, where animals could come through. True. That's if I want... But if I have here a, a bed, the trailer has a bed, and then I want to pro- That's the, that's the area which I want to protect. So then the mechitza, that area is being protected. The fact that it's not going all the way to the ground doesn't matter. Now, the, uh, also my immediate reaction is you have a Mishnah about a

51:49 m- also made a, a, a sukkah on the top of a camel, on top of a tree, et cetera. And nervous it's not clear, it's not spelt out, uh, in the Mishnah that the, that the m- the, the, the sukkah on the top of the tree does not have walls all the way down to the ground. Yeah, it could be. It could be. It, it, you know. You, you- Yesh lah bo dechah. So, so therefore it needed to have a little bit more of, um, proof one way or the other. So I did do some research. It's very clear in Poskim, in the contemporary Poskim, that's not a problem. Um, this is not called a problem of mechitza tluyah because you just protect the area. But let's just read a tosafos in Shabbos daf zayin tes amud alef. Talks there about the g'zuz troys, which are ledges. A g'zuz troys is a ledge jutting out from a house. So tosafos says, and it says that, that they are shishah v'yochid. So tosafos says that it's talking about the ledge has also got a screen underneath. Sos u'lemata b'shum dover, so that there should not be g'doyim b'ochim under the ledge. Oh, sheyesh mechitzos lem'eilah min ha-g'zuz troys. Or if the ledge has got walls around it above. V'su lehi sh'ein lehdaki as g'doyim. Then we'd have no reason to be concerned of the fact that animals can ru-run through underneath. So very simply, according to the shailas, um, um, from the Machshon, according to the

53:27 questioner, a balcony would not be a shishah v'yochid because the, the, the, there's, there's, uh, room to move, walk underneath it. And that's not true because the w- the walls are relative to the area which they are to protect. And since they are coming down till the floor there, or lower to the floor, that's good enough. Even though beneath the floor, beneath the whole area, there is, uh, open air. That's n-not an issue. Um, okay. That's... The next piece is, uh, a bit of a complicated story. But all right. The mamash very quickly, it's... This is written up in the, uh, in the Miluim of the Siddur. You know, I think it's Siman Chof Beis. What is the time frame for eating the kabei ha'ovet in... To be able to say Leishav Basukkah. And so you have the shir of, of, of quantity of food to be justified Leishav Basukkah is, like, just over this, uh, volume of an egg. What's the time frame? Is it a kazais? So it's twice a kazais. Is it kazais of a k'dei achilas pras? That means that you've got eight minutes, let's say. If a, if k'dei achilas pras is four minutes, so now you... The shir is of two kazais, and therefore you should have eight minutes. So if I've got a, a bunch of biscuits, which are the shir of kabei ha'ovet, do I, to be able to say a beracha Leishav Basukkah, do I have to eat them within four minutes, or I, I, can

54:55 I eat them in eight minutes and still say the beracha? This is the question. I was on, uh, Motzei Shabbos. We had a fabrengen and went to the sukkah, and they had these little crackers. And I was thinking, "How long, you know, uh, how many crackers do I have to eat to be able to justify my beracha Leishav Basukkah?" It's not such a problem because I was in any case sitting in the sukkah for a long time. So even for the sitting alone, it's, it's, it's n- it's okay, justified. But here, here's the question. And in one place, the Ksav Sochran, um, writes that it's, the shir would be, um... That i- just like for netilat yadayim, the Alter Rebbe writes that it goes according to, uh, twice. Netilat yadayim, the shir is to make a beracha, you have to have the volume of an egg. The Alter Rebbe says for that you have, you should, provided you'll eat that amo- volume within twice k'dei achilas pras, because it's twice a kazais. So he says the same thing is for su- for, for, for sukkah. Um, yeah. That's what he writes in one place. And in another place, which he wrote later, in Shiurei Torah. In Shiurei, yeah, Shiurei Torah, he disagrees, and he wants to say that the shi- you have to have the kaz- the, the whole kabei ha'ovet within once k'dei achilas pras, within four minutes. So we have here a contradiction, uh, in Rabbaim Noam. But bottom line is, uh, what

56:20 I can tell you, in, uh, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, he addresses this. It's quoted in the Sefer Sukkah Halacholim. And he says that it's, uh, it's, uh, pamayim, twice k'dei achilas pras. Namely, if you're having a shir of kabei ha'ovet within, uh, eight minutes, you are able to say the beracha of Leishav Basukkah. I'll stop with this. Wish you a Gutten Moyd and a Gutten Yom Tov. Um, and to be mamshich the sukkah, the, the fabre- the simcha. Should be mamshich to have simcha all year round. Simchas Olam Al Roshom. V'al Achmitas HaShem Im Yichud Ken.