וישב – חנוכה תשפ״ד

00:12 A good day. I'd like to, uh, dedicate that the course of this learning tonight should be the who are in, uh, Aza, whether they are the hostages, whether they are the Chayalim, and that every one of them should come home safely, successfully, and safely, and Refuah Shleima for all the wounded. Uh, they should have a Refuah Shleima. I'm going to start off today with a letter of the Rebbe, which just became public knowledge. It's unsigned. It was found in the archives of Mayor Harlech, all of our Shalom. So we don't know who it was written to. I don't know. The name is, is been, um, deleted. It's from twenty-first of Marchesvan, Taf Shin Chaf. And the question-- The Rebbe's responding to the question that why is it that women are not bound to say Halil on Hanukkah. Now, the Gemara says, actually, we just learned this in Gemara. In Sofchim, they have the expression, They were also part of the miracle. And therefore, that's why women have got a duty if there's no man home. So then a woman would also have to light the Menorah. If so, why should a woman not have a chi of to say Halil? We know that women do, um, daven, etc. But that's more seen as a voluntary thing. But to say it's a chi of, to a, a woman should have to say Halil, a chi of to say Halil, that's not known. And that's what the Rebbe is addressing here. And this person had written to

02:09 the Rebbe in the name of a particular Godol, that he passed because women do have a chi of to say Halil on Hanukkah. The Rebbe says, "I'm very surprised about this Psak, as you yourself also write. See, Kuk Hazi Ma Amo Dabbar. Now, actually, this phrase is a very common phrase in the Gemara. It can be read, Ma Amo Dabbar. What is the people on the outside, what people on the street doing? Or Ma Amo Dabor. Rabbe Mesha Katsnelberg, Nova Shalom, used to insist it's Ma Amo Dabor. It's-- Mostly it works, occasionally it doesn't, but never mind. Um, uh, what... So what we got to just see what-- What's the Minig Olam, basically. Um, Lo Ishtamid Bishum Sefer. I think I no mention anywhere that women have a duty to say Halil during Hanukkah. And therefore, although we normally say, Lo Roi Inu, Eino Ra'ayo. But in a thing which is such a frequent thing, it's a reg-regular thing, we would say we haven't seen the Ra'ayo that it's not, not, not, uh, true. And then the Rebbe continues to say, If Satake. Because Taka-Halil was instituted within the context of Tefillah. And in other words, it's not a totally standalone like Megillah, which is more of a standalone. Here, the Rebbe brings proofs to this. It says here, Mishne R' Shona, Rishon Makri SaHalil, talking about this, the Chazan for Shachris will-- he will be the leader for Halil, etc. And since women are-- tend to be Yotzer, the Mitzvah of Davening, by also

03:55 by just say-by saying a Bakosha, let's say, Broches in the morning or something. Even those who say that women do have to Daven a Shemoneh Esreh. But that's only Bakoshes Rachamim, but not the whole Tefillah. Um, and therefore, there's no duty to say that. There's no chi of to say that women have to say, um, Halil as a, as a chi of. Not... So I, I got a, a message from someone. He asked me, "Just should I tell my wife and daughters to stop saying Halil?" That's not what we're do-being said here. The question is, is there a chi of to say Halil? And the Rebbe's saying it's not a chi of. Like, a women do go out of their way, absolutely, to hear Megillah. And Halil is not Davka because it's-- it wasn't, it wasn't instituted as a chi of, even though Afhen Hoyo Boy Sanes. We-- Then he goes into Halil on the nights of Pesach. And even though when we have the Minig, uh, Minig, uh, Sfar-- Has Minig Sfar, the Minig, and Ariza to do Halil with the Broche of the night of Pesach. And women are, are bound. He said, "Afhen Hoyo Boy Sanes." We haven't seen that women, let's say, if they're not Davening, Mayirup, to Savka say Halil or have to say Halil. Not Davka. Meanwhile, the Rebbe is Ma'ir to him, uh, the importance of Limud Primis HaTorah. And, um, and he gives a reference to the Hagdalah of Chaim Vital and the importance of learning Limu-Limud,

05:19 uh, Primis HaTorah. Um, okay. Whilst I'm mentioning this, this story. So we had recently a discussion about, um, about a business, a business, uh, I had a story about someone who had a stall at a business fair, and he was looking for a way that it could be open on Shabbos. Not because he wanted the money, but just because of not to get into trouble with the, to, um, with the, uh, organizers. So Rabbi Aaron Tichman told me the following. There, there was a Yid who lived in London, a Rav, by the name of Rabbi Elazar Dovid Friedman. He was a, a ‹ foreign language ›. He was a Rebbe in, in Be'ale in '99 here. He was a ‹ foreign language › and he-- There's several Seforim which he published of, uh, anecdotes which he had passed, you know, people, uh, you know, he heard from previous generations. He was a, a Kal Ponim. He was... For some time, he was a Rebbe in Melbourne. And at-- During that time, he came to the Rebbe. He came to New York, and he went to the Satmar Rebbe, he went to the Rebbe, and I've forgotten who the third one was. And he discussed the same question with the Rebbe and with the others. He says, "I'm not gonna tell you what the others told me." But the question was the following. A Yid owns a launderette or several launderettes. And launderette is where people come in and you pop, pop in some coins in

07:06 the machine and, um, do their washing. They do their laundry. Is he allowed to leave his launderettes open on Shabbos by working with a shut-in, with a goyishe shut-in, a goyishe partner or something like that? Is there a way to, to, to do it? I just want to emphasize that a launderette is more complicated than a vending machine. Already before the war in the Shabas-- Rav Shimon Greenfeld, the Maharsha, he was a Rebbe in Sombatheli, and he talks about vending machines. And he takes it a, a lenient view, and he says there's-- you've got 30 packets of chocolates. They could have bought the chocolate yesterday, could have bought it tomorrow. They buy it on Shabbos, but it makes no difference for you. It's, it's a, it's a, it's a sale. Um, by c- by, um, conversely, with the d- laundry, with the washing machines, it's not a sale, it's a service. And they're using this, this time. They're paying for the time on Shabbos. So that makes it more complicated. So all right. So then, I mean, Maharsha wasn't talking with a partnership. Here we're talking about could he bring in a partner. So he asked Rav, um, Rav Eliyahu, asked the Rebbe about this. And the Rebbe said, "Find out whether other Yidden in that area in, in Melbourne, whether they also have these launderettes open on Shabbos with this kind of thing." And even if we can find a... Something on the lines that even though we can find a heter, but there

08:42 would be a, an issue of Hillul Hashem. It would be, it would be looked wrong that there's a, from a Yid who has a, uh, a business o-operating on Shabbos. Uh, it could be a question of Hillul Hashem. Generally, this, this whole thing of using a heter mechira is something which more Haredische Rabbonim won't touch. Um, the, uh... Because the ne- the next thing is the children know. The children are brought up to know that daddy's business is open on Shabbos. It doesn't bode well for the, for the, uh, the next generation. Right. Let's move on. Okay. So now another, another maise. Now it's the third maise of tonight and it's on the Shabbos, yeah? So if you remember a couple of years ago, I think, I had the following story. That there was a Shliach in Germany who had contacted me that there's a Russian Jewish couple who had a boy, both Jewish, the baby's Jewish, and they refused to do a, a Bris. Eventually, after five years, they decided they're going to do a circumcision in a, in hospital. They're gonna have a goyishe doctor to do it, a surgeon. They asked the Shliach, the Rav, to be there and to kind of give it some religious value. And so here was the question. It's gonna be a goyishe practitioner and, and, um, is there any value? Is he, is he giving a hechsher on something which is not, not acceptable? So at the time, I, I, I said he should go, thinking

10:33 that first of all, that possibly he could persuade the surgeon to allow him to do the chitov, to do the cut. And even if not, there's a concept sometimes in Halakha of Omed Al Gabo. That, that there's a j-- That if a goy does something and there's a Jew who's Omed Al Gabo, who's standing and, and kind of re-- So although the goy doesn't have the pr-appropriate kavanah, intention, but the presence of the Jew will kind of provide that which is missing. Also, you have Omed Al Gabo with a child doing, um, making tzitzit, whatever it may be. Sometimes you have this concept in Halakha that Omed Al Gabo does make a difference. Therefore, I felt if the Shliach, the Rav, will be there, at least you're gain that there's a, a sort of Omed Al Gabo. At that time, I put it on the sheer, and I got some, some backlash from people who are Lamda Sh'yidden. Uh, they said, "Now you're talking, you're making a, um, you know, a, a chalus. You're making, um, a slight in the, in the Mivtamer. People know that it has to have a mohel, now you're saying it's okay." But kids, uh, that was what happened then. Um, so now just this past week, someone sends me a, this piece. And this is from, this is from the, the diary of someone called Reb Yisroel Sasever, alav hashalom. If you remember, there was someone... There used to be a, a bookshop. Uh, America's, um, bookstore was across

12:08 the street from Seven Seven Zero next to the Kerestire Mikveh. And so Sol Socrifer, he was the, um, um, he was running the shop. Later, he'd sell his pharmacy in '70. But Kitzer, when he was a boy evidently, he kept a Yoma, and he kept a diary. And he writes, this is Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, kuf shin chaf vav, 1966. There was Australian rabbi, he says, there was an Australian Rov who came into the Rebbe and was talking with the Rebbe about various yinona. And he also came into conversation about Japan. It looks like he would, you know, relatively speaking, Japan is around the corner from, uh, I mean, a nine-hour flight only from, um, Australia. But Japan had a very, very small Jewish presence. And so the Australian rabbi, Rabbonim perhaps felt a, shluchim, felt a certain degree of responsibility. So this con- in this context, with the Rov, this Australian Rov asks the Rebbe that there is a Jewish, um, a couple, and she's expecting to give birth shortly. If it's a boy, we'll have to arrange someone to travel there. Now, he himself, I know it seems to be saying that he himself would travel to be with the Mohel. I don't know who this is. Um, would that be necessary? And so the Rebbe says, and this is amazing. The Rebbe says, "It's not necessary. The father should get hold of a doctor." "The father will be present while the doctor does the, um, the bris." So the father-- So the Rov

13:52 said, "But Rav Chaim Brisk says that you'd have to do Hatafas Dam Bris." It means that later you have to have a... If a Goy does a bris, so then y-you'd have to have a Yid later pricking to extract some blood to, for the Mitzvah of Milah. And the Rebbe said, if if there's a Yid, Oymid standing over looking at what's going on, and he sees that the, how the bris is being done, then there's no need for Hatafas Dam Bris. And then there was further conversation about Gey. So first of all, I feel exonerated, um, that the Rebbe had encouraged this. And here was-- It's even more because there we had no bere. The parents, no way were they having a Mohel. Here, the Rov is saying, "I-- Should I arrange a Mohel to fly from Australia to Japan?" And the Rebbe says, "It's okay. You can have the Ro- the father with them, with, with, with the doctor." Um, no, it does not say Roifen Nochi, but that's the obvious chart, you know. Um, right. So actually, back in the d- that time when this conversation, um... So someone pointed me to a Tshuva of Rav Chaim Oizer. And this Tshuva is actually written in the year Taf Resamach Zayin. That's, um, whatever, a hundred and twenty, uh, almost a hundred and twenty years ago. And it's written to the community in Budapest, in Pest, in relation to an event in Australia, also in Australia. And the story there is a non-Jewish man

15:32 wanted to marry a Jewish woman. And he was ready to go for Geyrus. And there was a Rabiner there, a rabbi, no Besdin. This is over a hundred, uh, well over a hundred years ago. And they-- It looks like that this prot- pro, uh, prospective Gey had already been circumcised in his, at an earlier stage. And so the Rabiner r- got a Hatafas Dam Bris done. The Hatafas Dam Bris was done by two Goyishe doctors. So what, what does it help if you need to have a Yid? If a Goy does a bris, then you have to have a Yid do Hatafas Dam Bris. What's the point of getting, getting a, a Goyishe doctor to do it, yeah? At any rate, so actually this whole business whether a Goy can do a bris or not. So physically, he can do the cutting. Does it, does it count? So there are a whole Sugya in a Bereda Zora. Gemara Bereda Zora. It's done Chavro through Chav Zayin. It's, uh, like one full page, a half and a half page. And the various Tannoim, Rab Huda, Rab Meir, Rab Besi, they are all saying that Milah done by a Goy is kosher. There's no Jew available, this is kosher. Later on, the Gemara, Rav seems to say that it's not kosher. Um, okay. So now, meanwhile, discussing how could the, how could the bris be kosher when it's done by a Goy. So Toisus on the Sugya there asks, "Why is it if a Goy writes a

17:12 Get it's not kosher?" Because we say the Goy does it, um, Adai Tedanafshi. He's doing-- He's writing a Get. He's not thinking for whom he's writing. He's just writing to make the money for his job. He's not, he's not interested in, in, in focusing, dedicating it for, for whom it, it's done for. So why then should a bris done by a Goy be kosher according to those Tannoim? It seems to be, uh, inconsistent. If he writes a Get, it's not kosher. Why should if he does a bris, it is kosher? And Toisus says a basic, an interesting thing, that a Yiddish boy is Oymid, is destined to have a bris, and therefore, the by, the default position, it's done the Shemitzah, a Shem Milah. A woman is not destined to be divorced, and therefore, we don't say, "Oh, he means the Shem, uh, L'shmo." We say, Adai Tedanafshi. So whereas with a Geyrus, Stam Goy is not Oymid L'hisgayer. So therefore, if a Goy would do a bris for another Goy- To show-- and, and it won't count for Gerus. It won't count for Hatfas Dam Bris. That's why he has a problem. But if a, if a Goy does a Bris for a, a Jewish child, so then we'll say it is done Lishmah. Not like a Get, which is... That, that's the opposition of Toisfos. But Toisfos, you could say, is still going according to the earlier shitah of the Tanna'im, whereas in the Mah... The Gemara says, um, the Gemara then finishes

18:47 off that there are Amorah who say that it's not kosher, and that's how the Po- Poskim bring Halakha, that if a Goy does a Bris, it's not kosher, and you have to do Hatfas Dam Bris. We, we discussed this a few weeks ago. Then Tois-- Then the Rab Chaim Ozer brings another very interesting thing. You have, in the Rosh, in the discussion about making parchment. Now, when you make parchment for Sefer Torah, Tefillin, and Mezuzah, it has to be, it has to be made l'Sh-- Lishmah, l-- for the Kedushah of these, these, uh, you know, writ- writing the same Kedushah. Now, the Halakha there is that Yisroel Omed Al Gavov works. So why is it that Yisroel Omed Al... If there's a Goy who makes parchment, and Yisroel Omed Al Gavov, it is valid, and whereas if a Goy writes a Get, Yisroel Omed Al Gavov, it does-- it's not valid. So the Rosh says a very interesting thing. By-- When it comes to making the le-- the, the parchment, it's only necessary to say Lishmah at the beginning of the process. Once you've said Lishmah at the beginning of the process, then he can continue doing it, and he doesn't have to think about it. He just focuses on what he's doing. So he-- So the Rosh says there's a difference between a, a minute or a protracted process. A Get takes whi-- a while to write, and therefore, we're going to say, Adai Ta DeNavshika of it. If it's Sefer Torah, since it's

20:12 only at the beginning as to be Lishmah, and there the Yisroel Omed Al Gavov, that one minute, o- o- one second, whatever, at the b- of the beginning, there the Goy is able to kind of accept the to-do Lishmah and because of Yisroel Omed Al Gavov. By c- by the same token, with a Bris, um, since it's Re'eh Echad, therefore, Omed Al Gavov would work. So this is very interesting. So the Rab Chaim Ozer seems to, um, in the case of Gerus, is it doesn't seem to be ha-- Hatfas Dam Bris is not happy with that. But he does seem to condone to a degree that Omed Al Gavov would work. How does that fit with the Sugia, um, the way the Pa- Gemara Pashtans like Rav, that Milah done by a Goy does not work? Possibly, um, that they bring in the Omed Al Gavov. The earlier Tanna'im who said it's kosher are talking about I- Yisroel Omed Al Gavov. When Rav said it's not kosher, he's talking about when there's no Yisroel Omed Al Gavov. That's the way you can learn the Sugia. I must tell you that, um, I looked around in Meforshim, in the, in, in the, uh, in the Bach, et cetera, um, Meforshi HaRambam. I don't see anyone who says that. Actually, I saw in the Meiri to the contrary, where he says it's not kosher even if Yisroel Omed Al Gavov. But, um, fine. Um, but, uh, here you have a, a kapotim. The Rebbe seems to be,

21:42 um... Well, well, you have here a back- backing for this idea that Yisroel Omed Al Gavov would work if it's a very short, um, because it's a short thing. Now, I was also curious because this Rav mentioned something of Rab Chaim Brisk, of Brisk. What's this, his, his discussion about... So I, I, I looked around. What is Rab Chaim Brisk at? He talks about this Gemara, in Gemara Veda Zara. Um, and he asks the question, when the Rambam says, if a Goy does a Bris, it's possible, um, but then he says there's no point of doing it again. There's no... In other words, according to the Rambam, the Pasht is there's no Hatfas Dam Bris. And Rab Chaim, there's, there's a whole Arikhus in Rab Chaim about this. And I don't know how much I should go into it here. I'm also not so clear in my mind. There's two opinions in the Gemara at the end why a Bris by a Goy is not kosher. Is it from Hamoil Yimoil, or Yimoil Yimoil, the one who is circumcised may circumcise, or is it Ve'athas Bris Yitshme? Is it because, because the Goy is not part of the covenant, therefore, he cannot, um, he cannot make the covenant if he's not part of the covenant? So we've got here two approaches. If you're circumcised, you can circumcise, or if you are part of the covenant, you can in-- you can perpetuate the covenant. I, um, what I, I understand what Rab Chaim's vort is, um,

23:13 is, is, uh, are we talking about a, that it's a, a logic that since you are part, it's a tradition, therefore, you have to be part of that to be able to make it, to, to transfer it to the next generation, so to speak? Or is it a separate din, that Milah has to be done by a, uh, by a Yid? And therefore, he suggests, although if, if it's got to do with Hamoil Yimoil, perhaps then Hatfas Dam Bris is not the normal procedure, and therefore, it doesn't, it doesn't necessarily have to be done by a Yid. Whereas if you say that Milah has to be done by a, by a... It's a din in Milah, then Hatfas Bris, Dam Bris is part of Milah, has to be done by a Yid. Now, what he's saying is, let's, let's, to, to... I'm gonna end off with this. It's getting complicated. When a Goy does a Bris, there is Hatfas Dam Bris. There is, there has been bleeding. So if you say Hatfas Dam Bris, um, if you say that we're talking here about, uh, the, the Hamoil Yimoil, that you have to be a Bar Chochih, you have to be part of this, and therefore, you can transfer perhaps... For Hatfas Dam Bris, that doesn't apply, and that's why the Rambam says, if a Goy does a Bris, then you don't need to Hatfas Dam Bris. That seems to be what Rab Chaim is saying, but, um, possibly this is what this Rav was referring

24:40 to when he says that Rab Chaim says you have to do Hatfas Dam Bris. Either way, as you can see there, the Rebbe said to him, that's if a Goy does it without the Jewish presence. If the Yid is present, uh, you know... And I'm, I, I also want to, um, perhaps qualify. We have here a diary of someone, of Yechidas. We don't know how accurate it was. You know, it could be, could be the Rav didn't repeat it properly. It could be that the, that the, uh, that the one who wrote the diary didn't write it accurately. But at least we do have, uh, Le'atabenu hata ben chayon li potar mimeno." At least when you-- he sees such a thing, I think it, it certainly deserves, uh, says, "Chas V'shalom," we should be able to start, you know, trying to trace and find a background, a backing to what's been said without paskening. Uh, that's okay. Right. Um, let's move on. Let's move on. And here, someone asked me this past week, "Can you use ground cloves for besamim?" So I think we've discussed this once before, but not in mammoth discretion, but let's go through- Yes. -what's, what's good for havdalah, et cetera. Almost from And ginger amongst our... You can unmute. Unmute. Unmute. Hello. Sorry about this disconnection. So we're looking at, um, about the ground cinnamon. Gr-ground cloves. So there's a difference between, between the, uh, s- uh, pepper, which is more a flavor than a, than a spice. With more

29:02 flavor than a... Or fragrance, and therefore you would not make a berakh bah min hashomin on, on pepper. Um, with, with, with the cloves, you would. And then what I'm seeing in contemporary Sefer, there is a sevarah to say that whole cloves, yes. But if the cloves are, if the cloves are ground or made into a powder, then they, uh, th-they become more like a food item rather than a flavor, uh, rather than a fragrance, and therefore not to make a berakh on, uh, on ground cloves. And therefore, the answer to qu-- this question is better to keep to whole cloves, um, because there's a sevarah not to make a berakh min hashomin on whole-- on, on cloves. Let's move on. I think it's not working again. Try to... Sorry, I'm just trying to... Now you should be able to see it on the... Ah, far, sure. Back again. Recording in progress No shared screen. Okay. Back again? Oh, for sure. Okay. All right. So here, um, about Tefillin within, um, a-about before the Bar Mitzvah. So the custom is mentioned in Hayom Yom that we start putting on Tefillin two months before the Bar Mitzvah. The basis in Shulchan Aruch, the Alter Rebbe writes about two or three months before the Bar Mitzvah. So then, just recently... I mean, people often ask this question. They want to start putting on Tefillin with a Bar Mitzvah boy a few days earlier. Sometimes they've gone to New York to be by the Ohel, et cetera, um,

32:15 let's say Yod Shevat or something like that, and it works out a few days earlier would be more convenient. Sometimes it could be other reasons. How rigid is it that two months and not a day earlier? Now, I want to mention that the Polish Shurenen don't start earlier, and they start mamash on the day of the Bar Mitzvah. The reason being that, uh, the worry is that child on the Bar Mitzvah doesn't necessarily look after their personal, um, hygiene, uh, et cetera, and therefore they don't go any earlier at all. But we do follow the Minag of two months. But the question here is about how rigid. Now, just about two weeks ago was published in the back of the Isvardis, uh, pamphlet, a letter to Rav Hershel Schusterman, uh, who was the Rav in Chicago. I met him when he-- when I was in Australia forty something years ago. At any rate, he's the father of Rabbi Yossi Schusterman, who's also the Rav in Beverly Hills. Um, but this is in relation to-- I've skipped out the middle part of the letter, but the Rebbe writes to him, "I'm surprised that you don't mention anything about the beginning of putting on Tefillin of your son over here, which happened yesterday." So what's, what's the background to this conversation? So the oldest Schusterman boy, his name was, his name is Shemar Yahoo, and, um, Mrs. Schusterman is a sister of Rabbi Yudl Krinsky. So this boy, Shemar Yahoo Schusterman, he goes to New York, and

33:46 he's learning in Bedford and Dean. He turns Bar Mitzvah Chaf Gimel Shevat. And, uh, consequently, he should start putting on Tefillin two, uh, two months earlier, Chaf Gimel Kislev. But the young lad decided that he's gonna start putting on Tefillin on a very special day, Yud Tes Kislev. And he informs his uncle, who in turn tells the Rebbe that this, uh, Schusterman boy has started putting on Tefillin. Towards the end of the Farbrengen Yud Tes Kislev, which was Motzei Yud Tes Kislev, the Rebbe turns to the boy and he says, "Isu she lochaim." He says, "Do you Schusterman's son? He started on the Hebron behind Legantfilm. So I was like, "Lochaim. Who is it?" So this is, this is what happened on Yud Tes Kislev. The following day, the fa-- the Rebbe's writing to the father on Chaf Kislev, and he says, "I'm surprised that you don't mention anything about your son putting on-- beginning to put on Tefillin," which is all of, um, should we say about four days earlier. Okay. So that's-- So here you see the Rebbe was, was pleased or he, uh, uh, thanked or he acknowledged. Um, now, so then I put this out last week and someone told me that there's a story with the Gora- in the Gorari family, which, um, a similar or perhaps a stronger story. So I contacted a colleague of mine, Rav Mendel Gorari's in An- in Antwerp. So he says, first of all, he himself is born on the tenth of Av, and

35:19 which would mean he starts putting on Tefillin the tenth of Sivan. And his father asked the Rebbe, the Rebbe said, "You can start, um, putting on Tefillin the Erev Shavuot," which is also several days earlier. But this goes back a bit earlier. Rav Nostam Gorari, who was a Shlicha in Buffalo, and now he lives in Monsey, um, Mashpiya, a very well-known person. At any rate, he, his birthday is on Purim. The year that he had turned Bar Mitzvah, um, it was a, a, a leap year, and therefore, he would have to start putting on Tefillin Yud Dalet Shevat. And the Rebbe encouraged the father that the boy should start putting on Tefillin on Yud Shevat because it's a very special day. So whereas this story is the Rebbe after the fact kind of, um, blesses the child for the boy for starting early, there, the Rebbe kind of initiated that to start Tefillin a couple of days early when there's an auspicious date, et cetera. So this is, is it a role of Rabbe? I don't know. But if someone has a need for some reason to start putting on Tefillin a few earli- a few days earlier, um, well, we do have good backing for that. Let's move on. Um, I see we're running out of time. Um, okay. Here's an interesting question. Making, we're making a family event, and we're going to, uh, have the, the... It's not at home. It's going to be away from home. And there's little children. We'll bring

36:48 them before Shabbos. I'm gonna make Kiddush, et cetera. The likelihood is that the little children will fall asleep at the, uh, at the event. And once they fall asleep, how do they get home? We're gonna have to, uh, ask a Goy to take the children home. Now, there is certainly a, a rule that you are allowed to ask a Goy to do the needs for a child, to provide the needs for a child. That's, that's, that's legitimate Question is, are you allowed to l'chatchilah generate a situation which is then gonna cause that you're gonna have to call in a goy to... You know, so y- is, are you allowed to do so l'cha- to rely on this l'chatchilah? So I didn't find this clearly, but I, I'm just drawing a parallel. There's a concept of graf shel rei, which means there's some things which are objectionable, and they're muktze. And because they're muktze, uh, well, you shouldn't be moving them. But because they are objectionable, so then kovod haBriyot overrides muktze, and therefore you are allowed to take away that objectionable, um, uh, presence because of kovod haBriyot. But then we have a halacha, and you can see it's from Simashim Ches, um, ein oisin graf shel rei l'chatchilah. You're not allowed to l'chatchilah generate a situation of, oh, I'm gonna make here a pile of... which is ob- gonna be objectionable, and then, um, um, push a- push aside this muktze because of kovod haBriyot. The point being that we don't generate a situation

38:12 whereby you're gonna have to override a assur d'Rabanan. And I think that's the same thing over here, that amirah l'nochri is assur d'Rabanan. To say l'chatchilah I'm gonna generate a situation, I'm gonna o-override a assur d'Rabanan, I think is not okay. I don't have any more, um, uh, proofs one way or the other. Let's move on. Um, okay. About, uh, about going out, you know, y- you're going to center of town, there's gonna be all these lights and spring, whatever, sparkles, whatever it may be. Is it okay to go and e- enjoy the, the, the, the displays which have got to do with this, with Chag, et cetera? Again, I didn't see this clearly. We do have in Gemara talking about keeping... steering clear of, of a c- city of Avodah Zarah where they're being celebrated. Now, what you have here on the screen is from the, in Yordeh Shulan Aruch saying that some say that nowadays the Goyim are not genuine Avodei Kochavim, and therefore the, all the restrictions which are mentioned in Gemara Mishna about not trading with them, et cetera, on the day of their f- festival don't apply nowadays because they're not real, this is not the real, uh, Avodah Zarah. And then I'm just skipping, though, this in the Ramo. You can see the red writing. Therefore, he says, if you come into a town and you see that they're celebrating because it's their Chag, so then you can rejoice with them, Mishum Ava. The Havik Makim... They, they, they

39:39 shouldn't, shouldn't have a, a grudge against you. So you just play along with them. But then he says, "Baal Nefesh, Yarchik Mis Moyachim Mohem." If you are a person who's more conscientious about your Yudaiska and your Shomayim, you'll keep your distance. If you can't avoid, that they shouldn't get into a state of Ava. Um, so it's, it, it, it seems to be unethical. If that's the right word. There's a celebration of Avo-- I'm, I'm not talking about buying those, uh, ch- paper chains, whatever, and s- s- things to decorate your Sukkah. That's another thing. There's no Hekdish for Avodah Zarah. There's no such thing as Hekdish. Because it's made for Avodah Zarah, therefore it's also... That's not true. But here it's actually there to celebrate this, this, this, um, Chag. Therefore, to go and enjoy it seems to be, uh, unethical. Here's another interesting thing. It says here, if someone sends a gift to a Goy, uh, on the eighth day after Nittel, known as Nayur. In other words, if you count from, um, twenty-fifth of December, then eight days later is going to be the first of January. And the Goyim have a siman that if they get a gift on that day, uh, then it's going to be for them a good omen. So then it is better to send the ni- the night before. Or if not, you can send it on the same day. Okay. Just an interesting, uh, piece of information. Okay. Someone is asking me about the bracha on...

41:07 She's, she has a, a, a juice maker, takes an orange and squeezes the orange and makes, uh, orange juice. And what, what is the bracha? And there's even could be little pieces in it. Is the bracha shehakol or ha'etz? So this is from a Sefer of a specialist on, on brocha, Sharia Bracha, and he's saying that even if there's bits and pieces of the fruit or the vegetable for that matter, they, they say it's a, it's a juice and therefore the bracha is sh- shehakol. But then she asked another question. What happens if, as she's, she's squeezed a, a cup of orange juice, but then there's in the, in this s- s- top of the squeezer, there is bits and pieces. So she takes a bit and nibbles those pieces. Does she... And makes ha'etz on them because it's still a piece of orange. Does she make a s- a now separate bracha on the drink? So then this is also addressed over here. That if you're eating the fruit and then you are drinking the juice, there are those who say that you don't make a separate bracha. So again, it's the same setting. You've taken the fruit, and you've squeezed out the juice, but you've also eaten a bit of the fruit. And therefore, there's a Sefer to say, in this given setting, that the fruit, the juice is gonna be bottled, so to speak, to the, uh, to the bit of fruit which you had, and therefore you would not say a

42:23 separate bracha on the, um, on the drink. Someone's now asking me during this past week, um, middle of Sukkat Zimra, before Yeshavach, let's say, um, sometimes it's come that you, you're a bit faster than the Hazan, et cetera. Can I use the time to say the Tehillim? I would say Tehillim for, you know, my, my, my age, for the Rebbe's Tehillim, for my children, whatever. Can I say those Tehillim in middle of Sukkat Zimra? Now, well, Sukkat Zimra is Tehillim. What's the difference of this Tehillim or that Tehillim? Now, here's an interesting thing. You know there's a difference between Nusach Ashkenaz and Nusach Sefard. Nusach Ashkenaz, they say Borchu Omar, and then Hodu, et cetera. And on Shabbos, all the extra chapters which we say on Shabbos are all in Ashkenaz, all said after Borchu Omar. Almost all. Um- Whereas in Nusach Sfarad, we say all of those things before, Hodu we say before, and we start with Borchu. So now, what's the reason why? The question is that the berachos of Borchu, Yeshbach were instituted by Anshei Knesset HaGedolah. The recital of Hodu, was that instituted by Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, or was it introduced, introduced later? If it's introduced later, then it shouldn't be put in middle of Sukkat Zimrah. Kind of it's afar, it doesn't belong there. Therefore, it can be a kind of hefsek. So this is the reason why Nusach Ashkenaz and Nusach Sfarad, we don't say Hodu after Borchu, it's a hefsek. So that's... And certainly, that would be the

44:01 case when it comes to just saying Tehillim, you know, random Tehillim. They're not part of the... So according to Nusach Ashkenaz, it would be less of an objection. Nusach Sfarad, I mean, Sfarad, it would be more an objection. I'm just gonna read here from the Piskei Teshuvas, um, that we have here, that besides the B'zmoirim, which are, uh, set out, one shouldn't incre- uh, add others, e- even from Tehillim. Because these, these Tehillim which are set out in Sukkat Zimrah, they have been established from Shemoneh Esreh to Malachim with special s- there's deep secrets to that, and the Seder is a Mechubban. Therefore, one shouldn't be, uh, tampering with the Seder. Then, um, what about between Yishtabach and Yoetzar? So in other words, after you've finished Yishtabach, and then you haven't said Yoetzar yet, so you've finished the se- the sequence of Sukkat Zimrah, and then we have a new sequence called Su- um, um, called Birkat Shema. Now, actually, there you are allowed to, written in Shulchan Aruch, you could be mafsik midvar mitzvah. So are you allowed to then, at that point, say some Tehillim or do your Shira Tanya or whatever it may be, between after Yishtabach, before Yoetzar, and you're, let's say, you're waiting for the Chazan. So let's say, would that be okay? So now we have, um, in, in this again from the Aruch HaShulchan, where he says, "One who interrupts between Yish- between, um, Yishtabach l'Yoetzar Ohr, one should not be mafsik." And he has a very strong

45:44 lashon here. "HaMafsik avera hi b'yadai v'chozer o lo m'ercha ha'milchamah." As you know, when you went to battle, it says whoever has a, um, avera, he should-- he would not be, not go to the battle in case he would succumb, Chas v'Shalom, because of averos b'yadai. Um, so the one who interrupts between Yishtabach and Yoetzar is considered an avera to the degree that it would disqualify him from going out la'milchamah. Very strong thing. Uh, and why is that? Because the Psukot d'Zimrah are kind of the praise which is leading up to then Birkat Shema and then, then Shemoneh Esreh. And so to interrupt there would not be okay. So, um, again, from Piskei Teshuvas. We're looking here at not to be mafsik between Yishtabach and Yoetzar. And here's a, here's a little bit clearer, very, very nice niche here. Um, for... Actually, I'll tell you. For years, I was concerned. It says in the Gemara, in the Gemara Sota, if I'm not mistaken, that the person who is mafsik between Sheliyaad and Shalosh is disqualified, um, from ercha ha'milchamah. So about forty-five years ago or more, I asked the question: Why does the Aruch HaShulchan say this one who speaks between Yishtabach and Yoetzar, he brings that he's chozer o lo m'ercha ha'milchamah, and why does he not bring the other one, um, of ma- mafsik between Sheliyaad and Shalosh? And I never, never really got a satisfactory answer. But here we have now interesting insight. The ercha ha'milchamah, you can see here. The ercha

47:19 ha'milchamah means that when you want to daven and there's all those disruptions, they're disturbing you. They are the klipahs. They are the ercha ha'milchamah. Now, you've said Psukot d'Zimrah, as you may know that in, in Kabbalah, Mizimrah means the lashon of pruning. So you're daven- you're saying the Ashrei and Halelu Ko, and you're cutting away the, the, the, uh, the, uh, tendrils, whatever, of the klippah, which is trying to disturb your davening. So that's the mi- that's the milchamah. Shas selah shas krava. So if you're mafsik... Now, you just said Psukot d'Zimrah to get rid of all those klipahs to enable you to daven with kavana. And now you're gonna start disre- dis- disconnecting. So then you're... That's the me- meaning of chozer o lo m'ercha ha'milchamah, that you've kind of weakened your, your battle by talking at that point. And they, they, in other words, uh, you've, you've, you've stilled them. You've ma- ma- got them quiet. But then they're kind of gonna come back again and disrupt your kavana in davening. Um, so certainly, he's, he's saying you want-- He's saying about not being mafsik, but he says also, um, it says if you, if you missed out, if you skipped something in Psukot d'Zimrah because you needed to catch up and then it turns out you can, uh, have time, then you could say those missed out Tehillim. Um, but to say sta- stam Tehillim or, or learning between Yishtabach and Yoetzar, you should not do so, um, um, orally. But to

48:49 learn something, to open a Sefer and to, to read at that point, that is, that is okay. And then he says that the Bach brings from Rav Amram that actually you should go straight from Yishtabach straight into, into Yoetzar Er. Mitztvah min haMuvchar not to be mafsik even b'Sheas Ikkar. All right. That, that's, that's, uh, a bit better. Okay. Right. Let's move on. Right. Um, I saw that the Rif... The Yishtabach I think is mentioned in the Gemara. Borchu is not mentioned in Gemara, but I saw that the Rif says it was already, um, takanah of, of Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, if I'm not mistaken. Okay, let's move on. Number nine. Okay, we did, we did that already. Uh, number ten. I want to a- address this. A girl sent me a, a WhatsApp, um, asking if... A, a woman offered her a fruit, which is from a, uh, graft of lemon and orange. So is she allowed to eat it? Then I said yes, but then I thought, just a second, are you an Eretz Yisrael? She's actually in Sem. I was right. She, she says she's in Eretz Yisrael, so I said I'll have to look it up. So again, the, um... So we have here in Shevuot Yoredaya, where it says, "Asu lekayim hamur kevkelayim." You're not allowed to maintain. If you have a tree which is a crossbreed, you're not allowed to keep it. The fruit is permitted, and even the one who did that avera of grafting is allowed the fruit

50:16 of that grafting. And this is to be different, different from When the Torah says of destroying , that's talking about with a vine, with a vine with grain. But when it comes to, uh, other trees, not, not vine, then, um, then the product is muta to the degree that you're allowed to take a cutting from this tree and replant it. So, uh, there's no problem of eating the fruit. I want to just come back, though, in case, uh... I've, I've addressed this in the past, but people may not know. Um, if you buy a tree from a, from a garden center, the likelihood is-- a fruit tree. If you buy a fruit tree, the likelihood is that the stock, uh, is from a different fruit. Very-- Like an apple tree, and the stock may be from a quince. And you'll see that at the bottom of the tree, the-- it's wider. You can see how they've kind of taken a branch and stuck it into a, a stump of a different species. Now, you're not allowed to plant such a tree. It's an avera of, of, of, um, murkiv, of planting a murkiv. Furthermore, if you have such a tree growing in your garden, it's been there for ten years, twenty years, and now you realize, oops, that tree in my garden is a, is, is a graft, you have a chiyuv to uproot that tree. That's why it says, . Um, in the Piske Chos-- In Piske Chos, he brings a whole thing about

51:40 some Sofer addresses in the ti- in his time in Hungary, it was very common you'd buy a vineyard, and it was very common that they were murkiv. You'd buy, you'd, you'd buy a, a ready vineyard from a Goyim, and what do you do about the kilayim which are there already? And he struggles with that. But certainly, uh, there is a, there is certainly a, a problem with that. Okay. Um, let's move on. Someone asked me just before Shabbos about a menorah. Now, here, if you can see in the picture, is the menorah to be, um, widthways? Uh, I'm, I'm not gonna use the word perpendicular because I'm not sure which way that w-would mean. Is the, the, the menorah, uh, the width of the menorah... Again, is it... Uh, look at the picture. That's all. Um, which way do you put the menorah? Is the menorah, is it lengthways in the, uh, width of the doorway, or is it widthways in the width of the doorway? And the answer is that we should put the menorah... Now, there is the idea the menorah should be within a tefach of the door, of the doorway. So it can be outside the doorway, and it should be within a tefach of the doorway. The preference, we're gonna see in a moment, is to have it in the doorway mamash. But then again, if you put it lengthways in the doorway, so then some of the menorah is near the doorpost and some of the li-lamps are gonna

53:06 be further away. If you put it mamash in the doorway-- I'm sorry, widthways in the doorway, then, of course, depending on how big your menorah is and how wide your doorway is, but there's more of a chance that the menorah is going-- that all the lamps will be within a tefach of the door frame, of the actual doorf-- the door, door, the wood of the doorpost, and that's the preference. I'm gonna read here from the, um, first of all, from the Maggid Avraham, and that's from Taf Resh Ayin, um, Ayin Vav, is it? Taf Resh Ayin Vav. So he brings here, um, a daf takes you... First, he talks about putting like a oyach ish pud, which means sticking out of the doorway. Outside and sticking out. Then he brings Mateh Moshe, brings from his Rebbe, from the Rebbe Rashal, Rabbi Shlomo Luria, that you should put the menzu-menorah inside the door frame like you put the mezuzah, preferably in the door frame. So that's where the menz-menorah really belongs, within the door frame. And in that way, as I said, and, uh, that's-- in that way you have the advantage that the, the, the, uh, lamps are within a tefach. And here we have the Alter Rebbe siddur. Yeah. That we don't have in Chezkal in Alter Rebbe Shach Norach. We have the siddur. Amena ganuchen to, uh, ledabe canerus, to stick the, the, the, like, candles or to hang the menorah in bi'uve ha mezuzah, b'chalala pesach. It should be within the, the

54:29 whole, the, the space of the doorway. Um, in those times, it looks like they would, uh, hang the menorah. And, um, in Chogme says that we put the menorah on a chair. So they would have like a, a little hook inside the doorway and hang the menorah on that. And, um, and you have like the menorahs with a back. So they would hang the menorah on a hook in the doorway. And nowadays, we put the menorah on a little stool or something. Right. What else do we have here? Um, right. About having said Kaddish, started Kaddish in error. So someone sent me that in Shuves of, uh, uh, Reb Feivish Schneebalg, alav ha-shalom, in Shragah Meir, he was asked this question, and he says, "If you just said, 'Yisgadel v'yiskadash shmei raba,' then you can stop," because, um, uh, that's a full statement and you don't have to finish off. But if you are in middle, middle of Kaddish, you should finish the Kaddish. And he says, "Ken nihru ner zeiti." Now, Bahashgocha protis, during this past week, I came across a, something similar, and that's in, in Sima Tof Sama Ches. Now, it comes up about our Minchah on Erev Pesach, not to say Mizmur Lesoder. There is a reason for that, but that's not a universal Minchah. Some do say Mizmur Lesoder in Erev Pesach also. So the Pri Megadim, who was a contemporary of the Alter Rebbe a little bit earlier, uh, it was printed, it was printed in the Alter Rebbe's

55:55 lifetime. So, um, he writes, "If you started Mizmur Lesoder, you finish off the chapter." It's not like if you start Shemoneh Esreh- Uh, and, you know, you, you, you... It's, it's... In the evening, uh, you know, in summer it's, uh, it's seven o'clock and, and you've davened sh- um, um, mincha, then you realize that at two o'clock you already davened mincha. So you, so you, you stop short in the middle of Shemoneh Esreh. See, it says there you stop short because otherwise it's a brachah levatalah. It, you did... It wasn't an extra tefillah as voluntary. You thought you hadn't davened mincha, then you realized you did, so you stop short. But here it's a tefillin. So it doesn't... You can... You're allowed to finish the tefillin, and therefore he says, "Ve'ein hu omer..." And then he says another point, that since other people have a minyan to say Emes v'Lo Sa'ador, so if you started, so you finish off. It's sh'fichah alach. You can, you can follow to the minyan of other people to, to finish off. So that's, uh, he- so he's bringing in this idea that once you've started, you should finish when there's no, uh, down, down, uh, thing to it. Finally, um, finally, about the pyramid menorah, pyramid-shaped menorah. So I got a lot of, um, uh, well, feedback on that. And number one, someone says to me that, that by the Chanukah Live event in Tofshin Alef, so, uh, those who remember, it also showed, um, the menorah being lit

57:26 in Moscow. That's in 1991, n- 1990, whatever. And the menorah there was, uh, a menorah with a, like a pyramid shape, and they were encouraged, uh, they say, whatever it was, uh, applause, whatever it may be. So my response to that was, for those who remember, that im- that there should be, in 1990, there should be a menorah being lit in Barabim a- and being connected with the New York Live, it was such a Chilush Otzem that the fact that the menorah wasn't a straight menorah was a minor consideration. Um, not, you know, not worth, worth making a fuss about. That's one thing. Then someone said that in the Nittei Gavriel, he, uh, talks about this and he says it's kosher to use zain if it's not level or sega because it brings a brachot. So say for Avnei Yashpe. And then that say for quotes from Re- Re- Reb Reuven. Yisroel Breuner, which is, I think, perhaps, uh, one of the very late Rishonim or early Acharonim. Anyway, he writes that when you light a candle menorah, is you're to make each candle a bit higher than the next one. In other words, you should go ma'alim baChodesh. Okay? Each candle a little bit higher. He doesn't say a pyramid. He's talking about making them dafka. The candles should be in succession, um, to go up higher. Okay. Then my son-in-law in Chicago, he sent me, uh, a reference to, there's a Pirush from one of the Baal HaTOSFOS, the Gra of Rosh HaShanah.

58:57 And he writes that when it says in the Torah that the menorah has got three branches, um, um, uh, um, on either side, so he says that all the branches were the same length. Kol hakanim ho yeshavim b'midah achat, like branches of a tree. And you've got the main shaft is the tallest, and then you got two on either side, um, and the halachin going up. And then the next two are a bit lower, and they also go out the same length. And the third also, a bit lower down, they go out the same length. That's what he says. Um, then he says, I think Gemara Chagigah in Menachah says, kol ha-kanim boim koneged b'goiv, b'goiv hasham menorah. So in Pshut Ish Yonikra, he's learning that the menorah is actually, um, not level at all. You got the branches of a tree coming up. But then he said, but the Halacha in the way it's in Gemara is that they are all level. So just interesting stuff. And, um, I wish you all a freiliche Chanukah and, uh, a freilichen Chanukah. We should see geulah shlemah b'meheira b'yamenu mamash. Yesh koach. Gutlach.