וירא תשפ״ד

00:15 Speaker 1 The antenna's a party. I didn't know. Is that fair? No. Is it police? Is it? Good to go. Welcome to tonight's Shir Motza'i Shabbos Parshas VaYera. This past week was the yahrtzeit of my father, and so we have his name here, Rav Shalom Dov Ber ben Yakov Yosef alav hashalom. This is his tenth yahrtzeit this, uh, past Thursday. I wanna share with you in, in honor of his yahrtzeit, a letter of the Rebbe, which he received in Taf Shin Tes Zayin. That's in nineteen fifty-six, uh, nineteen fifty-seven. And it's... You can see Chaf Heh Lamed Iyar in Brooklyn, and it's addressed to my father's name. Shub. The word shub stands for shochet v'baidek. «Tzadik chasad ish elokim nechmad venahal. Kolu mareh Rav Shalom Dov Ber sheyichye shub.» Okay. Shalom uvrachah. «L'acharesht hikosehu arukoh.» After his long silence. «Niskabel michtavoi.» Uh, your-- His letter was received. «Miyom habo here,» from the very, very clear day, the special day. «Hilul d'Rashbi.» The, the yar- the yartzeit of the Rashbi, Rav Shimon Bar Yochai. Now, I just want to point out this, uh, m-moment. That, that means he wrote the letter on Lag BaOmer, which is the eighteenth of Iyar. And the Rebbe's response is dated, um, is dated the twenty-first of Iyar. So within three days, the letter had arrived in New York, and already there's a response. Meanwhile, this is, um, about five years before I was born. «Venichnasu lichrois,» I was pleased to read, «sheloimed im kito kefimas...» That he's learning with a c-class at

02:47 Speaker 1 that time. In addition to being a shochet, my father had a part-time role as a teacher of Alefbeis in one of the local cheder. And this is before the Lubavitch schools was, uh, were opened. «Kefimas soreis aveisenu hakdeshim,» according to the tradition of our holy ancestors, «kometz Alef Omed.» And then just also, I mentioned this letter last week, but I wanted to share it with you here. «Ki yadu hakdushas haosios vehanakudus,» as is known, the holiness of the letters and of the vowels. «Shehem l'Moshe miSinai,» that they are passed down from Moshe miSinai, as we discussed last week. «ShehaGemara Nedarim daf lamed zayin. Okomo vanu parshut bazohar,» as is, uh, evident clearly in the Zohar and Tikuney Zohar bekamah mekomas» the various places. «Velo yeda hakosios venekudus atsman,» not only the characters as in the, the letters, not only the shapes of the vowels, «ela filosh moshehem,» even the names, um, of the vowels. The names of the Alefbeis are mentioned in Gemara many times, but the names of the vowels are not mentioned, as mentioned last week. They're not mentioned in Shas. But he's saying that the-- Rebbe is saying here that even the names of the vowels have a special kedushah. «Okomovo shemos shom, shemos hanakudus, heim roshe--» Uh, «She-shemos hanakudus heim roshei teivos shemos malachim vechulon.» Now, the names of the nekudus, as in Sere, Komets, et cetera, they are abbreviations of names of angels, et cetera. So that's, uh, the first part of the letter. This, uh, part is printed in

04:35 Speaker 1 the Igros Kodesh, um, Volume Gimel. Second part is an interesting... Uh, it's not Halakha, but as, as, as I want to share with you the following. My mother, alav hashalom, told me that one time my father came back from the farbrengen with the Rebbe Shemtov, alav hashalom, and he said he-- It was like something very outlandish that he had, um, kind of, how to say, niznik gimont, that he had been pushing for. And that is to, that the, the people then in nineteen fifty-five, fifty-four, they should travel to the Rebbe. The Rebbe became Rebbe in nineteen fifty, fifty-one, whatever. And then, uh, he was encouraging the young people that they should... And my father said at the time, it was a-- The amount it would cost to travel to New York would be the same as putting down a down payment for a house. And so he felt that it was a, a very outlandish, uh, idea. But, uh, my mother encouraged, encouraged him. And so he actually traveled to New York together with Rebbe Shemtov and Rebbe Berel Levin, alav hashalom. At the time, the Rebbe referred to the Rebbe Shemtov as the King of England, and to Ben Zion Berel, um, Levin and my father, they were called the English Lorden, the English Lords. And, uh, in Yechidus, my father had asked the Rebbe about advice of possibly emigrating to the United States. And the Rebbe said, um, "Did you ask your wife her opinion?" And actually, my father was dead against it,

06:15 Speaker 1 so that, um, didn't happen. But meanwhile, the Rebbe gave my father a substantial loan towards the down payment for the house. So this was in Tishrei תכ"ו. This is about 18 months before this letter. And so now, I guess my father had been... had asked about repaying that loan, and that's what the Rebbe writes, "אבע מא שקסא אוי דאס קריון פריאס מיצווה, מיצואס פריאס חויב." That what you're writing about the mitzvah of paying back a debt. "מווון שיוכל לפרוע למשקיבלו ממנו." You could pay back the debt through to the same avenue where you got the money. So I'm again g-guessing that it was through Rebbe Shemtov that, that he received the loan, and the Rebbe's saying pay it back through him. Finally, the Rebbe, uh, says, you... "ופר דאס איben מאס הא קאס איט טעכע," that you have informed me about your wife and that she's, uh, in state of pregnancy. "ה' יברך אימא לה הר יונקך שורו ובנקך." That the Aibishter should provide that her pregnancy should full t-full term, and it should go okay and easy. "וטייל זער חיו, חיוומא." She should give birth to a healthy, uh, child. "בעיתו וזמנו." And at the right time. "קשורו ובקל." And they all, all going okay and easily. "בברכה וחסינות קדשה." The child born, uh, about s-six months after that is my brother Yocheved, whose birthday is, um, כ"ב cheshvan, if I'm not mistaken. So just, just over, um, six months later. Right. Now, let's go on to our next point, and that is that

07:56 Speaker 1 following on, this is also, well, my father's, uh, besides being a mohel and a Baal Kohe-- besides being a, um, teaching ivrit and being a Baal Kohen, but, uh, he was a mohel as we may... we know. And we had discussed last week about a bris performed by a Jew who professes to be a Reform Jew, uh, whether anything has to be done to, uh, kind of upgrade to be a kosher bris. And what I did say last week was that although elsewhere, a person who, let's say if, uh, a, uh... I actually had last week, someone asked me about a Reform. There's a Reform mikvah somewhere in London. I, I did-- haven't followed up about it. They asked about referring someone to use it. I, I can't. I, I, I can't. You know, I, I would definitely... I said, definitely it's not a, uh, something to rely upon. But let's say if a Reform Jew would write a mezuzah, sefer Torah, we would not be able to use it because it's not written, uh, with the ap-the appropriate kavana. And yet, I mentioned last week, in this case, to be able to rely on the bris, although the Rama says that if a goy does a bris, you have to do hatafas dam bris to, um, cause some bleeding in the case of bris. And he says a person who is a, an apostate or a, a heretic, also you have to do... He's got the same thing as a goy. But I did

09:34 Speaker 1 show that in davka, in this respect, there are poskim who say that, uh, that he is still considered a ben bris, and that his bris which he performed would be valid. So although everywhere else, whether it's, uh, as I said, mezuzahs, et cetera, we wouldn't rely on it. But possibly here, evidently here we see poskim who are meikel. And I showed how the Alter Rebbe in Simon Kov petei says that a mumer is included in benei bris. Um, עפה פשע חוטא יסרה להו. And therefore, you don't exclude him when you say... when you bench with the beracha. And in the Even Hozer, which is the Alter Rebbe's source, he says that his mila is valid. Okay, so that's what I shared last week. So someone, and, um, this I didn't share last week. This is from the Sefer Pesuka Metshubas, who brings a collection of poskim one way or the other, um, how far. So some say, um, that you don't have to do anything. Yes, you see here. Although you shouldn't use the mumer as a mohel, but if it's done, you don't have to do any pricking. Um, and then he brings the consensus of the poskim. That's his, uh, wrapping up. That if a, if a, uh, baal teshuvah would be offended if he would be required to do hatafas dam bris, then you can rely on the poskim who are meikel. Okay. So there's someone by the name of Rabbi Mendel Zerkin who listened to the recording, and he has done

11:10 Speaker 1 a lot of research, particularly on this area. I don't know him personally, um, but he sent me a fourteen-page article on hatafas dam bris. And in that article, he also brings two manuscripts of the Rebbe which relate to this, which I'm going to read to you now. First one reads, "במשע שאל על דבר בריס crossed out מילה הנעשה על ידי רופא מחל שבת בה הש..." I, I guess it's missing a taf. "השתתפת בו שם." You're writing about a bris mila, and the Rebbe crossed out the word bris. Uh, a circumcision done by a doctor who violates Shabbos and your participation in this. So here the Rebbe refers us to, "יעוין בשולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן רצד סעיף א בהגהות הרמ"א." Refers us to the Shulchan Aruch, which we had on the screen just a few seconds ago. "דמומר לכל התורה, one who has, uh, dropped the whole Torah. או מומר לאורייתא, or he's dr-dropped the Inyan of, of, uh, mila." Gam, m- sorry, im mo, if he does do a, uh, perform a Bris, „Chayovim lehakzer, lakzer ulehatif mimenu dam Bris." There would be the need to extract a bit of blood, lecover it in on, uh, for the, for the Mitzvah Bris. So here, the Rebbe is clearly taking the view that the Mechal Shabbos, well, he's saying, "Look at the Rama, you have to do a Hatfas Dam Bris." And the Rebbe adds in the bracket, "Ki hu kiilu nimol al yedei aku." That if it's done, if the Bris done by Mechal

12:55 Speaker 1 Shabbos is like a Bris performed by an, a goy. She'ein miloso milo. That the b- the, uh, the, uh, milo is not a valid milo. Elo. The ki van she'i ef shel lamad elo eda'an. Obviously, a, a circumcision cannot be, uh, repeated on the same person. So lehatif dam. Therefore, the sol- the solution is, uh, extraction of a bit of blood. All right, so that's where we see that the mumar is, his Bris, his b- um, circumcision is not valid. Veshuchnoch yehudei et siman beit betchilas. In ishu-- Uh, the beginning of, you know, the, the haschito, which I think I mentioned last week. Nifsek hadin d'mechal shabbos b'farhesia dina k'mumar l'chol hateira. So whereas the Rama just, he just says mumar l'chol hateira, he doesn't say mechal shabbos. But in the din of haschita, one who is mechal shabbos publicly, flagrantly, then he is the same as someone who's dropped their entire Torah. V'heilech bo zer, v'sefer Ois Shalom shun, and refers us to the Sefer Ois Shalom. Now, actually, the Sefer Ois Chayim V'Shalom, written by the Munkacs Rov, who lived in, uh, Munkacs, uh, about a hundred years ago. Um, I actually have the Sefer Yerusha from my father. It's the two sections of the Sefer. Ois Chayim is on, on tefillin, and Ois Shalom is on Bris. So in that section, he brings, which I mentioned, I think, last week, about Rabbi Kiva Eger, who seems to be quite, uh, accommodating to allow the Bris performed by Mechal Shabbos. And he says,

14:42 Speaker 1 "I can't believe that Rabbi Kiva Eger wrote that. It must be that someone kind of, uh, planted something there." Uh, and he really, um, says it's un-unacceptable. And we have to understand also the period where the, the Mechas Alazar lived, the, the Munkacs Rov. This is in Hungary, and you've got the influx, the in-influence of the Neologian, the so-called kind of reform, uh, in whatever form it was, and the, the confusion of how to, uh, approach it. And he was certainly more on the, um, should we say, the kanoy, the, uh, ze-zealous element. And so he's, uh, objected very strongly to the use of a, the services of a mohel who is not, uh, Sharei Mitzvot. Okay. Um, I saw this. At first, I was inclined to say, yes, the Rebbe is saying that to the, his correspondent, you should not be supporting this. You should not be participating in this. Uh, that's certainly the poshtut pshat of the letter, is the Rebbe is saying, therefore, bediaved, that the one who did this, uh, d-the, the, you know, the, the one who had the Bris has to have, um, has a Hatfas Dam Bris. That's... I don't see that's so evident. Uh, it's not... But I'll, I will say, thank you to Rav Mendel. I did call up or message the one who asked the question, and I wrote to him that, uh, it would be, it would be a little chumra, but you have to be... It would be better if he does have

16:20 Speaker 1 Hatfas Dam Bris. Um, s-after seeing, seeing this, I mean, I was... didn't want to be that obstinate and all right. So, although in the way up, weighing up of Halakha, I think it's, it's not, it wouldn't be, have been necessary, but, uh, it doesn't do any harm to, to be more machmir. This is the first letter, the first answer of the Rebbe. Um, my impression is that it hasn't been published anywhere else. It's... This was published in some journal, but it was never published in the Igros Kodesh, which is interesting. The, uh, the second note, which you can see from the writing, is, must be from the later years. And I'm gonna read the, the Rebbe's writing here in English. Being that the Bris, crossed out, circumcision in brackets, was done by a doctor, you must ask an Orthodox rabbi if there is something to add ha-and, uh, now, et cetera. About the name Menachem Mendel, it is okay. Mohir. Very often, the Rebbe would write Mohir, which means that the, uh, response should be, uh, done swiftly. Why the Rebbe writes Mohir with, uh, more like block letters? I don't know. Uh, and what I do want to point out is that, b-before going to a bit more careful a-a-analysis, but what we see is that in these two notes, which were written probably thirty, forty years apart, in both of them, the Rebbe writes the word Bris and crosses it out. Um, and he just leaves the word circum-- First, milo, circumcision, which

18:05 Speaker 1 means the cutting is a cutting. You can't dispute that. But to say it's a Bris, which is a covenant, that's, that's the, uh, the question. Now, in the second note, I don't know. When he says it was done by a doctor, does it mean a Jewish doctor? A non-Jew, um, um, et cetera. So I, I don't know. If anybody-- and again, if it was a Jewish doctor, then there would be the question, is it about Hatafas Dam Bris? Uh, and the rabbi refers to, to ask her of. Um, so I guess it means to, to be, to, to, to find out more about who the, the person who did the, the... This doctor, whether anything, whether any further steps need to be done. All right. So that's just very interesting feedback, and so thank you for sharing that with us. Um, let's go on to our next question. So someone asked me, they're traveling on a plane, et cetera, and so they prepare a bit of water. Now, if you're lucky to get f-four empty seats, and so you can lie down in the, on the plane, and then you, uh, prepare Negel Vasser, especially, I mean, from, from, uh, across Atlantic is, it's not much. You can't sleep that much. By a plane from, uh, from New York to, to, uh, to Eretz Yisrael, which is, uh, Chati Chalui L'Kabet. So now, uh, and you-- but you don't have a large enough container to, to wash Negel Vasser, uh, your full hands three times.

19:41 Speaker 1 So the quest-- the dilemma is, do you wash each hand once to the wrist, or do you wash each hand three times just the fingers to the knuckles? This was the question. So what is better? If we know that for Negel Vasser, it's important to wash three times till we get rid of Ruach Tumah, um, therefore, perhaps you should put that as a priority. And as you do on Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av, only wash the, till the, till the knuckles. Or do you say, "No, um, it's important to wash until the wrist, even though as a result, you won't be able to wash three times." Now, actually, a similar discussion is in the Alter Rebe's siddur. So the Alter Rebe's siddur has got numerous halachas. Many of them are not explicit as Shulchan Aruch. So I'm gonna read this carefully. If you don't have enough water to wash your hands three times, as one should, wash your hands once. And then you will be able to say the berachah, and you should say the berachah. Now, before we read further, why do we wash Negel Vasser in the morning? So there's three reasons given. One has got to do with davening, preparing for davening, but then we don't make a berachah when we wash for, for Mincha or Maariv. We wash, we don't... We make a berachah. One is that it's got to get rid of the Ruach Tumah. And the other one is because it's like a Kohen who comes to the Beis

21:25 Speaker 1 Hamikdash at the beginning of the day, and he washes his hands and feet from the Kiyor. So here we're gearing up for that Avodah Zarah. So here the Alter Rebe is saying, you have only enough water to wash once, so that's fine. You can make a berachah on washing the hands once. The berachah is not only because of the, uh, importance of remo-- ridding the Tumah off your hands. Rather, or in addition, addition to getting r- rid of the Tumah, there is the sanctifying ourselves in the holiness of Hashem. In other words, to prepare to serve Hashem. And to remove the Tumah from your hands by pouring-

22:34 Speaker 2 Okay.

22:34 Speaker 1 By pouring, um, pure, clean water, pure water from the hand, like a Kohen who is sanctifying his hands from the Kiyor. When we wash our hands, we say, "Asheket Shonu," that we have been sanctified. And so although other, other mitzvahs, it's not so clear when we say... We put on tefillin, Asheket Shonu. But here it's more relevant. Asheket Shonu, we're going, we're doing a pro-- an act of, of sanctifying ourselves. Therefore, we, I should... Um, we make-- And with the Netilat Yadayim, we're sanctifying ourselves. Asheket Shonu. When they wash from the Kiyor, and when they will wash from the Kiyor, is enough each time just once. On that basis, he's saying if you are short of water, then Netilat Yadayim once is, is adequate to be able to say a berach. Then he adds another interesting piece. It would be imperative to wash the, well, the one Revi'it of water, both hands simultaneously. As you know, this idea of Mayim Rishonim and Mayim Sheniim. Um, so he says you'd have to... In order to avoid the, the need for Mayim Sheniim, then you'd have to wash both hands at once from a Revi'it. That is, uh, I don't know how you can do that on your own. It would mean someone else would have to pour on, on your two hands together. What I want to just... So this is not identical to our case. Our case, here's a question. What do you do next to your bed? And then you can still go over

24:35 Speaker 1 to the sink. All right? In the, in the airplane, you'll put down the seat, and then you'd wash. Uh, and if you are such a charming fellow, you can charm the waitresses to be able to use the sink in the kitchen even better. But, um, you, you can do the full Negel Vasser. It's especially what you do next to your bed. And so in that case, wash your full hands until the wrist once, and then you get up out of your place, and you'll go and wash your hands, um, um, another two times by the, uh, by the sink. So that's, uh, that, that I think would be the right thing to do. It-- the idea of washing just the fingers and not the full, full hand, that seems to be an un-- not an acceptable option as we'll see in the next slide. Um, right. We-- So here, the Alter Rebbe is, he's, he's not saying that you've gotten rid of the Tumah with the, um, um, with the, with the once. He's saying, uh, uh... But you've got-- Here, the idea of, of... The other reason, this kind of issue, So the Rebbe says no, actually, because you read in, in the, uh, writings of the Arizal. So Kisvu HaArizal, it says that it's imperative to wash the whole hand until the wrist. So if so, why then is there a concession on Yom Kippur and on Tisha B'Av? So the answer is, on Yom Kippur, the, the Rebbe quotes a Sefer, a

28:28 Speaker 1 Sefer called Mikdash Melech, which is a Kabbalah Sefer, and he says that on, uh, Yom Kippur, the Tumah doesn't have the ability to s- to cling so much. Therefore, it's enough to wash, uh, just the, just fing- the fingers. So again, the... What the Rebbe is saying here, don't say that we... where when push comes to shove, it's enough to wash just the fingers and not until the wrist. No. Uh, when the, the, uh, P- P-- According to the Arizal, it's imperative to wash until the wrist. The concession Yom Kippur is because on Yom Kippur, the Tumah has less power of clinging. The, uh... What about Tisha B'Av? And there it is, is... The Rebbe now is Mechadesh. That on Tisha B'Av, because of the weakness of Kodesha, therefore the Tumah doesn't have such a passion to, to cling, and therefore it's also on, on Tisha B'Av, it's enough to wash just the fingers. So just to, to sum up that, what we're seeing here is that the Rebbe is taking the view that washing till the wrist is imperative and not to rely on just washing the fingers. Although, um, I may, I m- may, may be, uh, well known, but in... This is really a Machloket from the time of the Mishnah, whether it's imperative to wash the full hand or just to wash the fingers. And if you think about, uh, when you, when you, um, touch food, you're touching with your fingers, you're not touching with your palms. And yet, the,

30:00 Speaker 1 the Psak, which we see here in, in, uh, the way the Rebbe is taking it, is that it is imperative to wash the full hand until the wrist. Nevertheless, uh, yeah, on, on, on Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av, there's, there's a reason for exemption. Back to the case in the fellow on the plane, et cetera. So you wash your full hand if you have the ab- ability to wash the full hand until the wrist. And then, as I said, afterwards, you'll go and use, uh, whatever water is available to wash another two times. Right. Let's go on to a question which comes up, unfortunately, uh, or fortunately, um, many times about where you have a, a, uh, mixed marriage, and they are agreeable to put up a Mezuzah. Now, this book, this... The, the... What you have on the screen is from the Sefer On Mezuzah by Rabbi, um, Bressman of, uh, of, uh, Los Angeles. Um, and he's just... That's very straightforward, where we would put up a Mezuzah, but without, without a Bracha. Now, in the note here, he has from Rabbi Moshe Weiner, who's suggesting that it depends on, on the ownership of the house. So I want to share with you that this past week, I've, I've been, uh, looking over material for the presentation at the Kinus Hashlachim. Uh, and this is a bit of a shout-out for any Hashlachim who are listening to the recording, et cetera. I feel very, very, um, valuable that Hashlachim in s- towns, in

31:40 Speaker 1 smaller towns should know how to do mechiras chometz themselves, and shouldn't be relying on sending it to other people and sending it by email to other people. Uh, the mechiras chometz is a... Yes, it is a, a skill. It's a, it's a, it's a something to, to know how to do it, but it's not, it's not rocket science. The Alter Rebbe put together the mechiras chometz, um, guidance that even a person, a Poshtit, in a-- living in a village would know how to do it. And so I would just... I say I, um, pushed that there should be a session at the Kinus Hashlachim, um, of guidance of how to go through mechiras chometz. So as I was reading up material about this, I ca- I came across in the Tshuvus, there's a sefer called Shebus Yaakov. So the Shebus Yaakov was in a generation before the Alter Rebbe, and he has a situation where you have a Jew who's apparently he's a fine Jew, a frum Jew, um, keeps Shabbos and everything. The only thing is his wife isn't Jewish. And she, during Pesach, bought some chometz. And so now the question is, what happens after Pesach? Is... So there's a famous idea, ˈmāšə konso ˈiʃo kona baˈlo, that the acquisitions of a woman belong to her husband. And so he wants to bring that in and say that s- whatever she bought belongs to her husband. Now, of course, you can argue that halacha, she's not, she's not his wife because a Jewish

33:16 Speaker 1 man who marries a non-Jewish woman is not considered married. And yet he brings grounds to say that he is koine, um, what she acquires. He brings pr- basis to that. The end of the story is that he, uh, says no, that because, uh, he... a person is interested when she buy, when she buys the chometz to say, "Oh, she buys it and he's, he benefits from it." He doesn't want to acquire devarim ha-asurim to, uh, for, for, you know, he doesn't want to acquire violation of chometz. Therefore, when she buys the chometz during Pesach, he doesn't acquire it. That's what he, he concludes. But meanwhile, there is a discussion there about the legal position, of the, the civil, civil, in, in civil law. Does what she, um, does her property belong to him, et cetera? And the, uh, I might be totally wrong, and I know we've got a couple of lawyers on, on this shiur, but I believe that the, a house of a married couple in civil law, if it would come to court, it would not go just to the one who paid the, um, who paid the down payment or whatever, who pays, paying the mortgage. The spouse will also have a, uh, a, uh, significant portion of that, of that property. And as a result, we come back to... So as, as I was saying, that although he's saying depends who's written on the contract, I believe that in civil law, that would not, um, uh, be the only criterion.

34:54 Speaker 1 And as a result, we are left with a case that is a partnership. It's a property, an asset, which is owned by a Jew and a non-Jew. And therefore, when there is a shared property between a Jew and a non-Jew, so it's exempt from a mezuzah. Um, so therefore, to make it with a bracha, I think you would not be able to say a bracha. On the other hand, um, to put up a mezuzah without a bracha, that would be okay. And we have a story in the Likutey Diburim where there was a Talmud of Rabbi Yahu Balshem, who had a great uncle who had, uh, who would sit on Shabbos and learn Gemara. And with his big dog, he was sitting... He would sit bareheaded. He loved learning Gemara. So he'd sit bareheaded, smoking a cigarette with his dog next to him. And that was his Shabbos, um, enjoyment. And his wife wasn't Jewish. Uh, and the ne- great-nephew was very concerned about this uncle of his. And Rabbi Yahu Balshem gave him a whole seder of how to, uh, have an influence on him. And he said, when he comes to his house, he should, on the second day, he should put up a mezuzah on the front door without a bracha. So we have here a maiser, maiser av of putting up a mezuzah without a bracha. Right. And of course, that's only when there's a con-consent of a non-Jewish spouse, and th- that way the, uh, the, the, uh, BeEzrat Hashem,

36:26 Speaker 1 the, the mezuzah will remain safe. When there's a mezuzah which is at risk, then it sh- doesn't, it, it, one shouldn't put up a mezuzah. I actually was in Vienna, um, last year, and there was someone came, brought me to his apartment to help him decide where to put up the mezuzahs. And he, he had put up in the corridor, in the hallways, he had put up a mezuzah at one of the entrances, and it was a shared building. It's a b- b- a building of apartments. And that mezuzah, one of the mezuzahs, had been ripped off. Um, and that's really one of the reasons why a shared property with Goyim does not need to have a mezuzah, because of the likelihood of it being disgraced. Okay. Let's come on to, as we're having a few shailas about mezuzah. We have one, uh, last shaila about mezuzah over here, and this is from somewhere in the United States. And this is a common situation where we have a, uh, large, large hall. But the whole year round, we don't need such a large area, so we have a removable wall. And w-what happens on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when they have an overflow c-crowd, that's when this r- partition will be taken away. So now is the question, this area... This, this gap, which is where the removable wall is taken away, does it need to have a mezuzah? Is this re- is, um... Let's rephrase perhaps. Is a removable wall a door, and

38:02 Speaker 1 therefore this is a doorway? Or is it, it's not a doorway at all. It's, there's a, it's, it's a there's a place for a wall. Um, so, um, actually, the... I'm sure some of you remember, uh, Rav Eish Schnabel, uh, who was the Rav of Vizhnitz community here in London and published numerous forums. So he actually addresses this. Um, so let's read what we have here. Well, the top part is from a Sefer called Pischei Tshorim, a very much a contemporary Sefer, um, by someone called Schechter. And he writes that a w- door, which is to divide two-- divide a room into two small rooms, and when you want to use them as a big room, then you take away this door. Even though there is what's, what looks like a doorway, it, it near a depota mezuzah. And he refers to the Shaagat Hamayir, that's Rav Eish Schnabel's, uh, answer. So he's saying, "Don't call this a..." A door is, a door is to be able to use two rooms and to have access from one to the other. Here it's not... He doesn''t see it as a door. He sees this as options, uh, whether it is a big room or a small room, but he doesn't see this as a doorway to go in from one to the other. And so he says that it does not need to have a mezuzah. There is in the Shulchan Aruch, there is a discussion about something, let's say, a warehouse which has a large...

39:33 Speaker 1 It's got a large entrance, which would be used for very significant... Let's say you had a, not warehouse, you had a factory. So occasionally you've got delivery of very large machinery, so they need to have a large enough space. So that's a, a wall which they would open up for delivery of machinery. But it's not used on a, on a daily basis. It's only, uh, very occasionally. And so the way it's written in Shulchan Aruch is that if there is another entrance to the same... There, there's a side entrance to the same premises. So you've got here a huge, um, shutter, let's say, and then there's a side entrance. And so he says, so, uh, th-so then you don't need to have a mezuzah on this large entrance, which is, uh, only used very occasionally. So that's, that's a little bit of the basis of this psak, that this, this... Back to this, uh, case, this removable wall, the, um, that opening would not require a mezuzah. Other... So the one fourth question which we have on mezuzah. No. So, and then so this is one, two, this is the third one. Okay. Yes. So we have here a, a, uh, young lady was in contact with me, and that she is, especially in the current situation, she has been reaching out to many Yidden and encouraging them to have their, to have mezuzahs and to check their mezuzahs. And telling them that mezuzahs is a protection and, but as an incentive to have their,

41:14 Speaker 1 uh, make sure that their mezuzahs are, are in good shape. She took the mezuzahs to a sofer, a non-Chabad sofer, and told... They told her that it's wrong to tell people that the mezuzah is a protection. And so... No, wrong to use this as an incentive. So she asked me: Who's right? So what we have here on the screen is a, uh, a sicha of the Rebbe, which is published in the Kuntzer Sichas, where he says that mezuzah is written in the Torah in Parshas Eikev, "V'chavatam al mezuzos beischa uvish'arecha lemaan yirbeh yimeichem v'yimei venecha." Write, inscribe this on the doorposts of your house, on your gates, in order that you should have long life and your children should be young. And this is brought in Shulchan Aruch as Vechol ha-zohi bo, when it says at the beginning of the hilchot mezuzah, if you're careful about mezuzah, it is, uh, Arichat yamav v'yimei venecha. It says it's clearly that is the inyan of, uh, a brocha for Arichat yamim. The Rebbe goes in further discussion, um, Chazal tell us by putting up the mezuzah, then HaKadosh Baruch Hu is protecting those in the house. Mashal, like a melech bosam adom, he's inside, he's got guards, servants guarding on the outside, and you are sleeping on your bed, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu is guarding you from the outside. The Rebbe goes further to say that this shmirah, this guard-guarding protection through the mezuzah, is not a, not a reward for the mitzvah, but is actually a

42:58 Speaker 1 benefit from the actual mitzvah, in addition to the reward. Um, and he brings another lashon, uh, the Tosfos says, "LeShimmer of it." I want to just use my own perhaps inappropriate mashal. If someone will say matzah is food, that would be correct. That why do we eat matzah on the night of Pesach? Because Hashem told us so. But that matzah as food is indisputable. When we're saying the sh- the mitzvah of mezuzah, the mitzvah of mezuzah is a shmirah. Why do we do it? Because Hashem told us to. But that, that doesn't take away from what is its function. Its function is there as a shmirah. Um, just to bring another just bit of support from the Gemara. So we have, for example, we have in the Gemara, it says, it should be put the mitzvah, this is in Menachos daf, uh, lamed gimmel. The mitzvah to put the mezuzah on the outer tefach. If you have a wide entrance from the street, so the mezuzah should be in the first tefach closest to the street. Why so? So one says that it should be that you should encounter the mezuzah right away. Then Rahana ben Yuzura says, "Ki heiche d'tintarei," that in order that you should be protected. And so the hint there is Rashi adds, "D'tintarei l'chol habayis mehamazik," you put the mezuzah on the tefach hachitz to, to give more protection, that the whole house should be protected from mazikim. You may remember a couple of years ago, I think, in this

44:28 Speaker 1 shiur, we had a discussion whether the din of tefach hachitz applies to internal doors. But meanwhile, let's just keep to this point over here, that we're seeing here that the mezuzah is there, ki heiche d'tintarei, it should provide protection. Then we have a Gemara in Kiddushin where it talks about which mitzvahs women are obliged, which women, women aren't obliged. And the Gemara asks, "Meniskah u'nakish, um, mezuzah l'talmed Torah?" Why don't we say just like women are exempt from the mitzvah of talmed Torah, they should be also exempt from the mitzvah of mezuzah because the two are mentioned together in, um, Parashat Shma, Ma'amad Har Sinai. Where answer is, "Lo sakad daito." That's, that's not logical. "Tachsie lema'an yehi bimeichem," because the follow-on from the mitzvah of mezuzah is long life. "Ga'avri bo yecha'ye, nashim lo yecha'ye." Men need to have the bracha for life, and women don't need the bracha. And so we're seeing here again and again how the mitzvah of mezuzah is the "ma'an yehi bimeichem." It is inyun of shmirah. We have the inyun of also, um, that the Hash- the, the, the... I saw also discussion about the word, w- the, the, you have on the outside of the mezuzah, Shin Dalet Yud. So the Shin Dalet Yud stands for either Shem Adnos Yisroel or Shem Adiras Yisroel. These are two different sources. I think one's Sefer Hasidim, one's in Sefer Zohar. And then also there is a discussion about whether it's the, what is the protection? Is it the Shin

45:56 Speaker 1 Dalet Yud on the outside, is that the protection? Or is it the entire mezuzah? Um, help me. What's the gematria of mezuzah? Um, so 14. So mezuzah's got two zayins, so that's 40, 54, 60, 65. And that's the gematria of Shem Adni. Alef, Dalet, and Nun is 65. So the Rebbe has this, uh, ha'arah. What is the protection? Is it because of the Shin Dalet Yud, which is actually that's not the main mezuzah. The main mezuzah is the Mitzvot Min HaTorah, is the, is the parashat inside. At any rate, there's no question that we, that mezuzah is, is there, uh, for protection. Now, just, f- I believe in that sifre where the Rebbe talks about this. There was, there was a, there is a very strong-worded piece in, in Rambam, where in his time, people were inscribing in the mezuzah, they were inscribing names of angels. Like you have various kameas. And the Rambam's really upset about this. He says, "You're taking the mezuzah and making it into, just into a kamea and to make an amulet. It's a mitzvah, so don't take away from its mitzvah." So to reduce the mezuzah to an amulet, that's wrong. But that doesn't take away from the fact that the mezuzah is, uh, uh, providing shmirah. And, uh, therefore, I don't see the harm in telling someone that the Torah says that this is a shmirah. Um, if I may, perhaps I've told this story before, but it's a Motzei Shabbos. Um, did I tell the story about

47:31 Speaker 1 the m- Ma'alot on this, um... I've told the story about the 22 at, uh, the Rebbe. Okay, very, very briefly then. I heard this from the Shliah in Ma'alot. When there was that massacre of, uh, the schools, school children in, in Ma- in, I think they are from Ma'alot. And the Rebbe, um, pushed that they sh- they should buy the mezuzahs. And they found e- e- x amount of mezuzahs were pasul. And the Rebbe pushed that they should be, um, checked and possibly find at least one mezuzah to be mehudar. And Rabbi Kaplan and Rabbi, uh, Bisritzki, alav ha-shalom, they, um, it-- they, they found that they were able to mehudar one mezuzah. And there was one child in the morgue who woke up, and he is now, you know, probably in his 50s, whatever, but he is what they call a metchai, a person who, uh, came back from the dead, and he tells his story. So that's that story. Now, let's come back to mezuzah. And this is a question about a disused doorway. There's a large cupboard blocking the door. Does it need a mezuzah? A very common thing. You have another doorway, and so this is unused. So you can see, we got, got here. This is again from that sefer from, uh, Schechter, Pesha Orim. So he has, first entry says, "If you put some, a large box, uh, ta-- a chest to block it, some say, so long as you haven't removed the door frame, it's still considered a

49:07 Speaker 1 doorway." So that's one opinion. That's even if you've, uh, even if the door is, is effectively, uh, blocked, but so long as there's still the architrave and the door frame, it's still considered a pesach, and there's still chayav mezuzah. Some say, uh, that's, that's got to do with Dinim Ominot. That's got to do with certain, uh, entitlement. If you have a door, you're entitled to a certain space in the chatzer. That's where it comes. If you didn't remo- demolish the door with the door frame, you still, you still got a doorway. Imagine every, every door has a parking spot. So I, I, I took the... You, you block the door. Do you have still a parking spot? So you say that so long as you haven't demolished the door frame, so then you still got a parking spot. But that's got to do with money. But in the case of a mezuzah, that's in, not e- not e- not relevant. And once you've blocked it, then you don't have a chiyuv mezuzah. And then we have the third, uh, um, position, which says, but possibly a middle position, that it's, um, that it would be only poter from mezuzah if you used, you used to masmer. If you used p- um, nails or screws to that it should not be openable again. So then he has another idea. You lock it, and you throw away the key, which is okay. But what we're seeing here is... And that's why years ago, he once asked Rav

50:26 Speaker 1 Sholom Friedman, uh, zatzal, about this, and he says, "If you put in some nails to lock-- to, to block the door that it can't be used with, um, you can't just unlock it, then that would be enough to exempt it from a mezuzah." But the fact that it's unused, there's a piece of furniture in front, that's not enough to take away the mitzvah of mezuzah. Let's move on to our next question, and that is about a candlestick tray. When you have put a, uh, a sefer on the tray, um. So let's go through this quickly. I think we once discussed this, but he has here... And this is from Shmiras Shabbos K'Hilchoso. And he says, um, if you put on Friday, you put on something on the, um, on the tray, you put something which is chashuv, and you need it on Shabbos, then you'd be allowed to. Now, but what's important is that that article has to be of similar... Of, of, of greater value than the candlesticks. And so that's, that's first of all. Now, nowadays, our candlesticks are not cheap, um, ceramic pieces. They are made of silver, and most of us, and they are... Cost a lot of money. Unlikely that you'll have a safer which is going to be more valuable than the candlesticks. That's number one. Number two, he writes here the following. If the candles... If the tray is ex- is, is exclusively for the candlesticks, so then it doesn't help to put something on it. Let's give

52:06 Speaker 1 you an example. I have a wallet, and I have in there, I have a picture of my favorite relatives. That, that does not take away from the wallet. It doesn't make it a, a, a holder of permitted and unpermitted, a muktsah and non-muktsah. It's... The wallet's there for money. The fact that you put in a picture doesn't de-muktsah-fy it. And similarly, if you have a tray which is exclusively for the candlestick, the fact you put something, the fact you put something on it is not gonna take away its clear designation for candlesticks. So that doesn't seem to be a heter. Um, so first of all, it has to be of, of, of greater chashivus. And secondly, if it's dedicated for the candlesticks, that doesn't really help you very much. Let's see if we can go to the next question. Right. Um, sometimes a person went... Ha-had some kind of, uh, medical condition, and the question is, when do you bend geirim? So we have here... And, and, and sometimes there is something which is never going to, is never going to recover from that, beder chateva. So when do you bend geirim? So here we have the psak of the Alter Rebbe, "Ein levorech hacheitzi mehasakan legamri." You don't say the brocha until you've gone out of danger totally. Therefore, you don't make a brocha until you come back to your, your health. Now, I'd like to, because we're, we're running out of time, I'd like to say there's a difference here in two cases.

53:37 Speaker 1 Let's say if a person, chas v'shalom, had a heart attack, and then he's told that you have to take this medicine for the rest of your life. You have to take this medicine. Uh, otherwise, if you stop, you, you, your condition, it could come back again. Then you have a different case, ca-case. A person who, uh, had a terrible accident, and there's a loss of a limb, hu oneh l'tslon. And, and then life goes on. There's no... He's not in danger. So there's a, the... So they're, they're very, very different. But, uh, and... But the one who i-in the second case, they are yotzim min hasakan legamri. They're, they're not in danger at all. They, they ha- they have a permanent injury, uh, and that's not gonna change, beder chateva. But, um, they're yotzim min hasakan legamri, and therefore they would say birkas hagomel. Whereas in the other case, where they've gone through a medical condition, but they have to keep on, um, whatever, just therapy or whatever, me-medical, me-medication, et cetera, that it shouldn't, um, recur. That is a case where they're not... They're lo yotzim min hasakan legamri. They're still, uh, in... They are still in a, uh, danger. Uh, just that it's, it's under control, Baruch Hashem. And it's, it's been, uh, observed that the Rebbe in Tof Shin Lamed Ches never said birkas hagomel. As far as we know, never said birkas hagomel. He did a siddur sedar, et cetera, but he never had birkas hagomel because, uh, I guess because,

55:09 Speaker 1 who knows. But one svara is that the, uh, since there is ongoing need for medication, um, so it wouldn't be called yotzim min hasakan legamri. There was someone, actually, I can mention his name, um, Rabbi Daniel Moskowitz, alav hashalom, who had a, a heart attack, and he asked me this question, When does he say hagomel? So I told him, This is going back about fifteen years ago to more. I told him, "You know what? I'll invite you as a guest speaker to London, and then you'll make a birkas hagomel for the air, for the travel, and you have in mind the recovery from your heart attack." Which he did, actually. He came, and he said birkas hagomel. Unfortunately, uh, he had another heart attack, uh, which, uh, he passed away from. But, um, right. So that's... Where were we holding? Okay. About tzitzit. So this become... Is it More common than I thought. The, the, you have here, someone asked me the question. You've got this... Not the ou-outer jacket. We're talking about the inner one, yeah? The anoric- anorak kind of thing. And it's got four corners. It's got two on the lapel, um, and they are right in line to the two down the bottom where the zipper is, where they, you know, they pull up for the zipper. So does this need to have tzitzit? So let's read what the Alter Rebbe of Shuchan Aruch. You can see it's Siman Yod, Seif Kuf Beis. And he says, "The kind of garments which

56:29 Speaker 1 we wear in, in Germany, in Spain, which are open from the front, and they've got four corners, two at the top and two at the bottom, they are exempt from tzitzit because the main mitzvah of tzitzit is the idea that you have two in the front and two at the back of you. These garments were all on the front, and you can't wear them in a different way. They're..." Yes, Lo Mar, well, that the Torah did not oblige us to have tzitzit on these. And therefore, indeed, the command is not to have tzitzit on such a garment. He then finishes off, "HaYirei Shamayim Yachmir Al Atzmo." If you're God-fearing, a God-fearing person will be strict for himself to make one corner, to cut off one corner, make it into a, um, a curve rather than a, a sharp corner. And that way you shouldn't have... You won't have four corners. Now, in these, um, jackets, these which we're seeing over here, that is impractical to start cutting off corners. And therefore, that brings us to the Masconah, the conclusion that a Yirei Shamayim will avoid wearing such a garment. Min Hadin, it does not require tzitzit, but a Yirei Shamayim would, at least during the day, would avoid wearing such a garment. Finally, we have here a question about someone who has... Going from the Sukkah, from, sorry, from the, the kitchen to the dining room, or dining room to the kitchen, what do you do about Hefsek between, in, in Broches, et cetera? Um,

57:54 Speaker 1 I, I'm running out of time, but you... What... You can look this up in Alter Rebbe of Shuchan Aruch, Siman Kuf Ayin Ches, Seif Ches. Seif Beis Nenin, Peh Yud Tes Lamed Yud Ches. And basically, what we're seeing here is that the idea that going out of the room and coming back requires you make a new Brocha, that's only if you're going out for a while. But if it's just for an instant, going to get something, et cetera. As we discussed this, let's say between Kiddush and, and, and Mamorci, you go out of the room to, to wash between to sit down in the kitchen, and you're coming straight back. Here, the Alter Rebbe says quite clearly that's not considered Shinui Makom, a change of location, which warrants making a, a, a new, a new Brocha every time you come back. That's besides the fact that, of course, if you have in mind, uh, to have-- to go from one room to the other and it's under one roof, then you would not need to make a, a new Brocha. He's asking, the fellow was asking, "If I didn't have in mind, do I have to make a new Brocha?" So here, I'm saying if it-- because it's just coming in and out for a very short time, therefore no need to make a new Brocha, uh, each time. Now, a couple of weeks ago, I did share with you a tefillah from the Friediker Rebbe, which was composed in during the war, uh, Second

59:07 Speaker 1 World War, and I was curious as to the background of this tefillah. So now, someone put online, and I want to share that with you. Here, you can see on the left, you can see the lotion of the tefillah, and on the right, you can see a bit more detail. The last... And this is tefillah from the Kveitel Chacham Admor Shlita of Lubavitch to say on the two nights of Rosh Hashanah before Ma'ariv and on Yom Kippur before Kol Nidre and before Neilah. And also to say the cha-- After having said, after having said the chapters of Tehillim Chof, Chof Beis, and Samech Tes, published by Agudas Chabad Olamis, um, the World, um, International Society of Chabad, Brooklyn Taf Shin Alef. So I'm not sure whether this is the beginning of the year. Probably this is the end of, um, um, Taf Shin Alef, when the Rebbe had-- our Rebbe had arrived in America, um, in Sivan, the end of Sivan that year. And this is shortly after Rebbe had arrived, and he got involved in publishing, and they would-- they did use the Schulzinger Publishing House. So possibly the-- our Rebbe was also involved. At any rate, it makes sense that this is the end, this Elul Taf Shin Alef, and there's this tefillah. So it's-- it was designated to say at, at very special moments. And so that's, uh, the tefillah. And as we know about encouraging people to say these, uh, Chof, Chof Beis, Samech Tes. And the Rebbe encouraged also to

1:00:43 Speaker 1 say Kuf Nun. Until... And we should Good balance