ויגש תשפ״ד

00:09 Speaker 1 and welcome to tonight's Shiur, which is, uh, sponsored kindly by, uh, Pinchas Rabin and his wife. They had a, uh, granddaughter born to their daughter, Edel, and her husband, David Yishaya in Morristown, family Surkin. And, um, the babe was born perhaps Thursday night. But, uh, Nikroshemov Israel Shaina. So wish them mazel tov. Lots of nachas from them and all their family. Also, it's close, um, of, uh, Chaim Shmuel Mendel and Chana Rachel refuah shleima. I got the name slightly wrong last week. That's, um, Michael Rabin, should have refuah shleima. Um, here you should have a week of sort of service. Let's start. So someone asked me at the beginning of the week, Baruch Hashem, he's recovered from an illness, and he would-- he was thinking about making a Seudas Hodaah, and he's asking does it have, have to be fleishig, et cetera, um, with Mamaitzi, et cetera. So in all honesty, the-- there are not very clear guidelines in Halakha for what's called a Seudas Hodaah, how to, to do it. And in the Sefer Piskei Teshuvas, in the Siman Resh Yod-- Resh Yod Tes, some-somewhere around there, just near the Birchas Hagomel. So he has a, a bit of discussion about it. But he comes-- He brings a, a very interesting... He gives a reference to this Sefer, Toldos Chaim. Not a Sefer I've met before, and it's a very interesting idea. Like, we see that regular Korbanos. So you've got different levels. Let's discuss it a little bit. You got different Korbanos, which

02:13 Speaker 1 are called Kodshei Kodoshim and Kodo-Kodoshim Kalim. Kodo-Kodshei Kodoshim, Kodshei Kodoshim would be the more sacred ones. They would only be, uh, if, if they were eaten. The Korban is not eaten at all, but the Korban, the Chatas, et cetera, is eaten only by the Kohanim, only in the confines of the Azarah, of the, of the courtyard of the Beis Hamikdash. Kodoshim Kalim are typically, uh, permitted to be eaten all over Jerusalem, and they can be eaten also by Yisraelim, et cetera, men, women, et cetera. But here's interesting. A Kor-- A regular Korban Shlomi, you'd have two days to eat it, today and tomorrow and the night in between. Korban Todah, which was given when a person had an experience for which he wants to or she needs to give thanks-thanksgiving, so it would be limited to Yom V'layla, um, just today and the-- So Sunday, let's say, and Sunday night. But he wouldn't be able to have any of it on, uh, on Monday morning, Monday day. So the time span, the shelf life of a Korban Todah is much shorter. On top of it, the Korban Todah is accompanied by forty loaves of, um, lechem, thirty of which were matzo, ten of which were chametz. But actually, the volume of the chametz ones was equal to three of the matzo ones, which at any rate, it's quite a lot of bread to go through. And the shelf life of the accompanying bread is the same as a Korban, which means you've only got to

03:54 Speaker 1 the day and the following evening. But not-nothing-- Anything that's left till the following morning has to be destroyed. So, so he quotes from the Forshem, "Why did Hashem make the Korban Todah? Why did He decree the Korban Todah should be a shorter time span?" That is in order that you should have... Because you got a s-- a lot of meat, a lot of bread, and so you're gonna have to have a lot of guests to your party. So that's the point of the Korban Todah, is to, to encourage more people to be aware and to be in the thanksgiving of, um, uh, of, for the occasion. Which just, by the way, brings me to there's a discussion, also the Rebbe has it in, in letters, whether Halil is a DeRabbanan or DeRabbanan. And this-- Although generally we say Halil is one of the seven mitzvahs DeRabbanan, there's a savara to say that the Aibishter made the miracle so that you should say Halil. And therefore, in a sense to say that our Poskim would say that Halil would be a DeRabbanan. Hashem made some things, a, a special event, a, a special happening, so that you should say, uh, that you should praise and thank Hashem. All right, let's move on. So there's no set number. If that's-- Coming back to the question, is there a set amount of guests you have to have for a Korban, for a, for a Seudas Hodaah? No. But the, the spirit of the idea is the, the more

05:22 Speaker 1 the better. Let's move on. So someone's asking me about saying Refuah Shlaima on Shabbos. So let's go, let's-- And the-these are-- There's two questions here. One is about praying for someone who's ill, and one is just a, a wish. I express you-- a wish to you, Refuah, to, to whoever it may be, Refuah Shlaima. So now we go back to the Gemara, and it says, "One who "Hanichnas L'vaka Es Hachole," one who visits a, a person who's ill- Should say the following: Shabbos hi milizo. It's a Shabbos, and we will therefore refrain from crying out. For refua karei v'lo avod, the healing is coming, um, is close to arrive. Rabbi Meir says, "Yochal lehishtechach," that the merit of Shabbos itself will be a cause for mercy. Yehuda says, "Hamochim yichem alecha." A person will say, "May the Omnipresent have mercy on you," v'al kol Yisroel amongst other even who are, uh, suffering illness. Rabbi Yose says, "Hamochim yichem aleichem shecher Yisroel," which seems to be identical to Rabbi Yehuda. Shev Na Yiush Jerusalem says, "When you come in, you say Shalom, and when you leave, you say Shabbos hi milizo karei v'lo avod. V'rachamav merub," Hashem's mercy is abundant. "Veshivtu b'shalom," and, uh, rest, enjoy the tranquility of Shabbos peacefully. Now, this does not seem to be a form of prayer. This seems to be more a social. You're visiting someone who is unfortunately unwell, and you are expressing, you're empathizing. And even in this, there seems to be the restrictions of, of, um, saying

07:26 Speaker 1 refua shlem. Now, we'll go now to the Shulchan Aruch. This is in Siman Resh Peh Zayin, where it says you are allowed to visit the ill on Shabbos, but you should not, lo yavakeh shalom rachamim. You should not p-plead for mercy for them, as you would normally say. Now, but in case you think this is only about prayer, but read the next few words. Sh'yidei bakos rachamim yo'er bechivah yitzah. Through your expressing your, um, um, pleading for mercy for them, that will arouse, um, t-um, crying and pain. I don't know whether that means for the patient or that means for the, for the person who's davening for them. But either way, it's kind of when you have a thought and you-- then you express it bedibur, so in, in words, then it arouses a greater emotion, and that's not an appropriate emotion for Shabbos. And instead, you should speak to them in a con-comforting way that they shouldn't feel pain. And that's where we have this phra-phrase, Shabbos hi milizo and refua karei v'lo avod. So you, you kind of comfort them that Shabbos is a day where we don't cry, and we look forward to healing coming quickly. Having said that, then he says, "Vechehen hashats," also the chazan, the bagavi in the shul, when he makes the Mishebeirach should not say the regular form, the hamochim yishlach refua. Rather, Shabbos hi milizo karei v'lo avod, which is indeed the minhag we have in the siddur, two Nusachois for Mishebeirach, a Shabbos one and

09:09 Speaker 1 a weekday one. But what I'm seeing here, it seems to be that even on a social level, also the r- so wishing refua shlem, um, seems to be restricted. Although I m-- I, I must say, I did look around to find something, um, clear-cut, and I didn't find anything to s-- anyone to say that mamash clearly. As I'm on this topic, I'm looking at the Mishebeirach, which is printed in the Ateret Zekharim siddur by-- at a bris. And in the Mishebeirach, it says, "Hakadosh Baruch Hu yishlach lo meheir refua shlema shlema bechol nachal vavor," et cetera. Now, there's no distinction in the siddur whether it's a Shabbos bris or a weekday bris. So the impression is that you say this lo shalom Shabbos also, which the Shaar Hakeil, the Rebbe's, uh, ancestor, in his... So he says, as, as Zohar, um, he says that that's because until the third day after the bris, the child is not megeha d'choyle, is not defined as ill, and therefore, it's okay to say refua shlema. Interesting. What is also though worth, um, pointing out that this Mishebeirach in the Alter Rebbe siddur was only introduced in the siddur which was printed three years after his passing, in Taf kuf ayin vav, the Siddur Im Dah. It was printed by the Mitteler Rebbe. Whereas in the siddur which was printed Rechei, which we now have a copy, um, presumed to be Shklov, uh, Taf kuf samech gimel, the Mishebeirach is not there. In other words, the siddur, the, the

10:51 Speaker 1 procedure for a bris is there, but the Mishebeirach is not there. Therefore, it weakens a little bit the, the, you know, the, uh, the proof from it. We will go on to a little bit further on this same topic, and that is in the next siman. That was Resh, um, Resh Peh Zayin. This is Resh Peh Ches, talking about, uh, first about, talking about a person fasting if they had a bad dream. And then he says about saying Vidui on Shabbos. You are allowed to say confessional prayer on Shabbos. And the-- it's only not to Tachnunim, supplications, to ask for your needs, provision of your needs, for Parnassa, et cetera, Refua Chole, that you, that you shouldn't be saying that on Shabbos. But r-expressing remorse for sins, that's, that's fine every day. I don't know the answer. If you're going to ask why then do we not say it in Krias Shema She'amita. I don't know the answer. I don't know, and I didn't do research just now either. So I might, might, might be something written very clearly. He goes on to then say there that if the pers-- if the person who you wish to pray for is a Chole Mesukan, is-- life is in danger- And then you are allowed to pray for them on Shabbos. And that may be done even with Sibur. And similarly, a woman is struggling to give birth, and therefore there's an imminent danger, so you could daven for them on Shabbos. If there's a person who's

12:26 Speaker 1 ill, but there's not an imminent danger, then you wouldn't be allowed to daven for them on Shabbos. V'lehavoch, not to say, a Mishaberach in the normal form because it can be done later with the after Shabbos. So that's why, in other words, l'varch Shabbos with saying the, the regular, the weekday Nusach. But to say, as we do, Shabbos Yemeilisach, that's obviously okay. Then he says, what happens if on Shabbos something happens, an event happens, which is warrant asking for Rachamim, so then you can do so, um, b'yochid, but not b'tzibur. Okay, let's move on. So I've got this question from a Shliach in Ukraine, and the government there are looking for more soldiers and cracking down on people who are, uh, dodging the draft. And the Shliach himself is an American citizen, Israeli citizen, whatever, but you know, he's, he's... You can be stopped in the street, show me your documents, and if you don't have any documents to explain why you're not in the army, then they'll tell you to get into the car, and they'll take you to the draft office, whatever it may be. And, uh, you'll have-- you may have to stay there until, until, uh, end of Shabbos, whatever, till, till documents are brought somehow. So it's not a, obviously not a pleasant experience. So therefore he's asking, would it be permitted for them to carry their documents with them? So at this stage, uh, my feeling was it's not a question of a danger. It may be a question

14:08 Speaker 1 of discomfort and every, every sympathy for that, but I didn't see it as a danger. And therefore, I felt that they shouldn't be carrying their documents with them. But going back in history, there were times where it was actually imperative that you had documents with you, identity, uh, documents. And if not, they would-- if you were caught without, uh, identity documents, would be imprisonment or a, a substantial penalty. So this was discussed over here in the Biskei Chovas he brings from Sefarim from back in the day. And they would allow people to go out on Shabbos with their documents and carrying it in an unusual manner, as in inside their hat or under their vest. Um, so it's, it's carried, but not in a normal way. The reason why they allowed this was bec-- number one, relying on the fact that in the smaller towns, we would say we don't have a Reshus Harabim. Min HaTorah Rabbe, because we don't have six hundred thousand regular users. That's good for a smaller town, which, um, they exist today also, yeah. But this is Shvuachah in the larger cities. But on the other hand, they understand the larger cities, this business of, um, stopping boys in the street is less of an issue in the-- currently. That's-- so number one, because the street is not Reshus Harabim DeOraisa. Number two, you're carrying it to Klach Haya, therefore it's also DeRabonim. And to say that it's a Melacha She'ainatz Lichul Gufa, you don't really need the documents with

15:48 Speaker 1 you. It's really just to ward off the, the drafters, et cetera. Uh, others are not so happy about that. So the, uh, bottom line is, if it were a danger or a risk, not a danger, if it were a risk of imprisonment because of not having documents, then there is room to permit having the documents on your person in an unusual way, in an unusual manner. So someone asked me during the past week to clarify whether at a Kiddush, do all the cakes and rugelach and, um, the whole variety, crackers, pretzels, do they all need to be covered when Kiddush is made? So let's-- got-- we have, uh, two interesting quotes from the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. I'm gonna read the second one first. This is in Simen, uh, in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, Simen Ayin Zayen, Hilchot Shabbos. And he says, "When you make Kiddush, well, a, a Shabbos meal shall have two loaves of bread, two cha-- two whole loaves. Similarly, when you make Kiddush, uh, Shabbos morning, and you're not having... You're just having a moment, just having some pa-- uh, ca-cake, et cetera. So you should have shtayim shleimos. You should have two whole ones." And he says, "Ken ro'isi eitzel gadol echad." Interesting, um, source. He-- Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, Rav Shlomo Ganzfried said he saw a g- a gadol echad who, on Shabbos, he would take two pieces of cha-- of cake to, yeah, for, for, for Lechem Mishnah. Now, we saw this by the Rebbe, that by the Farbrengens, they would

17:30 Speaker 1 prepare a tray, a silver tray, uh, like a vase type of tray, which was piled high with pieces of, uh, very fluffy marble cake. And the Rebbe would take two pieces, uh, with... and, and a napkin and have that next to him, which he would have for having, you know, Kiddush Bemakom Seudah. Um, now, of course, the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch talks about shleimos, whole ones. Do slices of, of cake count as shleimos? Probably not, not strictly, but if that's what you have, so you can... You'll, you'll make do with that. It may be better if you have crackers available to take two crackers, bas-- even though they're less than a kezayis. Yeah. Um- It just comes to mind that in, there's a safer called Sha'ali Tzion from Rav Berel Lazarov. He was a Rav of Yerushalayim. I met him in his very old, uh, age. And he was a Rav during the mandate, British man- when the British mandate had hidden Yiddish boys in, in prison. And he has an article there, Ma'ach Tuvah, whether, uh, slices of toast can count for Lechem Mishnah. So you had the Yiddish boys in the British prison, and they had a way of getting toast. Would they be able to use two slices of toast for Lechem Mishnah? It's not for today's discussion. Let's, so let's come back. Our main discussion here is, do you have to cover the mezonos? So now, back to the f- the earlier quote on the page, and that's in, uh, the Dinim

19:04 Speaker 1 of Kiddush. It's him and Ayin Zion, the Kitzur. He says that m- in the morning where you make Kiddush and have some mezonos, it should be covered for the time of Kiddush. So one of the reasons why we cover the challahs is because really, if you have a choo-- the weekday, if you have a wine and m- and mezonos, which comes first, the bracha should be on the grain before the wine. And here, we're making bracha on the wine before the grain. So there's a bit of a disgrace to the, to the mezonos. So for that reason, we cover it. Well, that reason, that logic applies to, to cake as well as to bread. So now, the next quote we have here is from the Shemiras Shabbos KeHilchasa. And he's saying where you ha- if you have several families around the table, and if each balabos, let's say, is making their own Kiddush, well, you don't have to have everyone else cover their challahs when one's, one of the people are making Kiddush. He covers his challahs, but not everyone else has to cover them at that time. And imagine your, a family sitting, someone's ca- comes in ten minutes late, uh, okay, makes Kiddush, very nice, but does everyone have to cover their, their challah? And the answer is no. But then he says, if one is making Kiddush for, for everyone, then all the people's challahs should be covered, even if they are at separate tables. Okay. So that's what he writes in

20:23 Speaker 1 the pinim, in the main text. In the footnotes, he brings, he quote, this is, he's quoting from the Sefer HaRav Efraim. And then he takes it a bit further, not only by people sitting around for Shabbos meal, where you're talking about challahs, but also in a, in a, a Shiur Kiddush, in a Shiur, where you have mezonos on the tables, that the mezonos should be covered. But then he brings from Rav Shlomo Zalman, which I'm, uh, with all due respect to, to, to the Rebbe Ve'Efraim, I, I'm much more, uh, enamored with the, with Rav Shlomo Zalman's general mahalkans, and this t-t-detail is not an exception. Rav Shlomo Zalman says that if you have a Kiddush and the people at the other end of the room, they are not, they have no... Well, then he says they're not gonna have wine in any case, so they don't have to cover their mezonos. Because if it's got to do with why do you make a bracha on him and not on him, well, that's only for the one who's making the HaGafen, but, and, or drinking the, the wine. But if they're not having any wine, then they do not need to cover the mezonos. And so that's a practical thing that where they near the people who are making Kiddush on wine, then the mezonos should be covered. Um, what about if you're making Kiddush on other liquids? Should you be covering the mezonos? There is a Sevarah that it should be. And he brings

21:51 Speaker 1 here a lashon. One of the reasons for covering the challahs is we're only going to f- um, um, um, reveal the f- the, the Shabbos food once we've made Kiddush and we said, "Ready, Mekadesh Shabbos." So then we're going to then expose, oh, now we've got food to cover Shabbos. Well, Rav Shlomo Zalman is saying that's particular, that's more, uh, the nighttime Kiddush rather than the daytime Kiddush because you don't say the Birkat Hamikadesh Shabbos in the, in the day. You just say Borei Pri HaGafen. Okay. So according to, just to take that, just, you know, assess that, that, uh, according to this Sevarah, if you're making Kiddush on, not on wine, then, wait a minute, then you should still cover it. All the more you should cover the, the, the ch- the, the, the, um, mezonos because of Sh'la Yireh B'boshteh. Why are you making a Shahakul instead of a mezonos first? Yeah. Okay. So, so no, so no difference. So in conclusion to that, so I'm just assessing at the moment, that also if you're making Kiddush on Chametz Medina, you'd also, even by day, you'd still cover the, the mezonos, which is right near you. Right. Let's move on. So someone's asking whether the hot plate, which nowadays many of us have instead of the traditional blech. As you know, the word blech is a Yiddish word for tin. So we would cover the toilet, the c- in the Shechinah, the Mishnah talks about Grufo Ktumo, that in order as a deterrent

23:36 Speaker 1 that you shouldn't come to tamper with the s- the fire in the stove, so you'd have to either cover it, well, that's called Ktumo, cover it with soot or with ash, or to rake it out. So the covering of the stove with a sheet of metal, that's the equivalent of Ktumo, of covering the fire with, with ash. Very well. Now, what about, um, a plug-in, so there's nothing covered? So the general view taken is that that's the same. It's, it, it's the same as the blech. And, and the word is, since it's got no... Well, it's not normal to cook on it, and there's nothing to adjust either. It's another, another consideration. Therefore, it's okay to, it's okay to just plug it in and use that as your equivalent of a blech. Now, um, in the Piskei Teshuvas, he writes similar, that gen- the general view is that you, that's fine. Just plug it in. That's good enough. Since it's not used for cooking, only to warm up or to keep things warm. But, uh, there are those who would put a sheet of silver foil or something over the plug-in hot plate. But Min HaGe'ulot, the general consensus is not so, and that's, that's good enough. Let's move on. Uh, number six, which I don't have on the, on the, uh, I don't have on the screen. Number six. I was, last week, I went to a hardware store on Old Hill Street, and I bought two glasses for forthcoming, forthcoming Chasidas, um, BeEzrat

25:23 Speaker 1 Hashem. So the, uh, the, uh, guy behind the counter says, uh, "You don't need to to- you don't need to toivel them." Uh, so I told him that we use the cup actually because in the world, many people, they use a silver cup for the brachos, and then they take a-another glass, and they break it separately. I told him, "Our minhag is we use the actual glass for, for the brachos and for wine, for drinking, and afterwards we empty, you know, have someone to drink it, and we break that glass." Okay. So, but then it also was-- Again, we had this past week, I was at a course of, um, training for kiddush-- Siddur Kidushin. And it came up this question: Does it-- Is there a chiyuv to toivel the glass? So there is a, a... People know that disposable, disposable dishes, people are not particular to toivel. But that's not-- The disposable dishes themselves, they are in quality, a poor quality. Uh, they are disposable in quality, not only in, so to speak, in intent. Here, the glass is something which you're gonna have for years. It's just your intent is to break it, to, to, to use it only once. So be'pashtes it does need to be toveled with a bracha. Although I saw now, as I was rummaging around, I saw that in Po- when they say in Piskei Teshuves, he brings-- he recommends to teivel it without a bracha. Whilst we're talking about this, there is a-- As we know, every

26:55 Speaker 1 Shabbos, before you make Kiddush, you make sure to rinse out the cup. And so also the one which is used under the chuppah should be rinsed out before using it under the chuppah because it is a kesher bracha, and you have a whole list of re-criteria for kesher bracha, and one of them is that it should be rinsed before. Let's move on to the next question. So here we have a shliach who, Baruch Hashem, is in the fortunate position that if he's small-- in a small town, several of the, um, local Balabatim, whatever, have clubbed together, and they've bought a building. And as is, as is common in that part of the world, that the zoning would have that the various places of worship would be all, all together. So you have-- I know I've seen that also in Detroit. You have, uh, a sh- the shul, and then you have the hav- the church, and you may have a mosque nearby. And the, the, uh, the zoning is that they all come together. So in this zone-- in this worship zoning, his Balabatim, Chabad, purchased a building, and this has got several units. Some of them are still used for commercial, but you can use them for worship if you wish. And one of the tenants happens to be a mosque. So now the question is, am I allowed to, as a landlord, have a mosque as a tenant? That was the question. So there's a difference between Islam and Chris- and Christianity. It's

28:33 Speaker 1 perfect time of the year to be discussing this, huh? So now we have in the Ateret Zekenah in Siman Kuf Chof Ches. That's all about Birkat Kohanim. So in Sif Nun Alef, you can see it on the screen. Kohen Shehemir Dos. If a, if a, a Kohen had converted, defected from Yiddishkeit, Afill Zu Das Ish MeElim SheEinam Ovedim Avoda Zara. Even if he became-- he converted to Islam, which is not idolatry, Kansu Chakhamim Lihiot Mechulal Mikdusasa. He's, he has been penalized to be, um, uh, do-downgraded from his kedusha. VeEin Haneh Sa Kapo. Therefore, he will not be duchening. VeEin Haneh Kohevet Heishin. You wouldn't give him the first Aliyah. Vuhu Shelo Asot Teshuvah. If he hasn't done teshuvah. Im Asot Teshuvah. If he did do teshuvah. Afill Heimar Dos L'Avoda Zara. Even if it was-- he had converted and, uh, co-committed to a faith of Avoda Zara. V'Chozer Bo. And now he's relented. Chozer Chozer L'Kedshasah. Okay. So wh-why I brought this here is meanwhile that the view that Islam is not Avoda Zara. Now, what would happen if one of the tenants was actually a church? Uh, and going into all the details, but let's say it's a church which does have icons, et cetera. So now, this is-- There, there, there is a here-- There's an issue that you mustn't be-- You're not allowed to accommodate Avoda Zara. And so to have an Avoda Zara brought into your premises is not okay. And this you have in Shekanach In Yredecha. You can see

30:26 Speaker 1 in Siman Kuf and Alef. There's on the right of the screen. Af Sha'Be'Mokom SheHirtiru Lihaskir Lo Hirtiru Ela Le'Oitza Ve'Chayotzeiba. When you are permitted to rent out premises, a room, a house to a, to a goy, that's only for storage. Aval Lo L'Deira. You wouldn't be allowed to rent out for dwelling. MiP'nishe Machnis Litocheha Avodah Zechorovim Ve'Keva. Because the goy will bring in his getchkes, his icons, his idols, and that's gonna be in your, in your house. You're accommodating those idols. That's the shitah of the Mechabber, Rabbe Yosef Kara. Change the font, that's another Ramo. Nowadays, it's customary to, uh, to, uh, re-rent out to goyim even for dwellings. Because it's, uh, not common for bring-- for pe-people to bring getchkes, to bring icons into their homes. So far, this would be... If that's true, that would be en-enough of a heter for a domestic dwelling. But if it were, if your tenant was a, was a place of worship, I don't think that heter would carry, carry, uh, true. Now, now let's s... Now, the Yud Zayin is a reference to the Shah on the, on the margin, which you have now on the left of the screen. So the Ramo had said, "Why are you allowed to have goyish tenants? Because it's not common for them to bring ge-getchkes, to bring idols into their homes." So the Shah says, "I don't understand. I've seen that it's a regular thing, and people have, the goyim have these icons in their homes. It is

32:24 Speaker 1 difficult to say that because the goyim now are not authentic idol worshipers, therefore they-- the idol is not a authentic idol." Then he goes on to suggest perhaps in the times of the Ramo, which was, uh, not much long ago-- not so much before him. What, a hundred years before? Whatever. Perhaps in those times, it wasn't so customary for goyim to bring icons into their homes. But then he, but then he's, uh... But then he says, "I have a different explanation." What's the issue? That you shouldn't, you shouldn't be accommodating. Who now owns this home? Is it your home? And he says the following: It's true that our view in Halakha is that a rental is not a purchase. However, but in the civil, in the civil law, and we are bound by their law. And in their law, a rental contract is just as strong as a sale to the point that . Let's say in Halakha, if I rented out premises to someone, and then I myself became homeless. So then the mo-- the Halakha allows me to evict my tenant so that I should... And, and, and take it back for myself. Because I'm, um-- It doesn't make-- It doesn't seem to be morally correct that I should be homeless when I have a tenant who's, uh, occupying o-a pro-property of mine. In civil law at that time, that wouldn't carry. And if your house fell down, you wouldn't be able to evict your tenant. If the... Therefore, the contract of rental

34:21 Speaker 1 is so, so, uh, binding, so solid that you wouldn't be allowed to evict the tenant during the period of te-- of tenancy. Therefore, it's like you've sold it. Once you've sold it, then you cannot be held to account for accommodating Aveida Zara. It's not your house. It's been rented out, and therefore it's not yours, not your premises. So that's the teretz which the Shah gives, that why is it okay to rent out premises to a, to a tenant who will bring Aveida Zara? Because a, a rental is in, in civil law like a, like a, a sale, and therefore it's not your accom-- It's not-- You're not accommodating Aveida Zara. Then he brings another very interesting explanation. And he brings from the Ravon, also one of the mid-Rishonim, and he says that-- this is interesting. That since you didn't have to give, pay rates, you, you, you, you have land, but you have to pay rates to the government. So then it's not exclusive your premises. If you have to pay rates, so then we'll say that according-- because of this, it means that ten percent, whatever the rate may be, it doesn't matter. But as a result, it's not exclusively yours. It's partly bel-- clearly belonging to the government. And as a result, you, you're not accommodating Aveida Zara. It's the, it's the goyisha, um, element which is accommodating Aveida Zara. So this is an interesting twist on this. Um, so all right. So if it... But, but to, to, so have, to have

35:56 Speaker 1 a, a church as a, as a tenant. So according to the Rashiramor, it wouldn't be allowed, 'cause his whole excuse is because it's not common for them to bring, bring in, uh, getchkes. According to the Shah, there seems to be a little bit more, um... There seems to be some, some room to allow it. Certainly, uh, if you, if you got the property with a sitting tenant, which is a, which is a church, you're gonna have a difficult, um, task to, to get, get them out. It'd be, you know, diplomatically, it would be quite a difficult thing to do. Right. Now, well, I've been asked this numerous times about you, uh... Yeah, and you go, you go into a hotel room, and you open a drawer, and you see there a, uh, a, a book which of Christian worship, et cetera. Are you allowed to leave it there, et cetera? So now we have the end of that Seif, if you notice, which I didn't read before, and that's what we have on the screen. If you rent premises from a goy, you can rent a room, and inside the room there's a getchke of some sort. So you should be machmir not to leave it there. Now, reading those words, yesh lechachmir, you have to read this carefully. It means that min hadin, it's okay to leave it there, but it's better to take it away. The source of this psak is from the Hagos Ashri, which we're going to read now. Rebbe Efraim

37:36 Speaker 1 ben Reubtsak says that if a Jew rents a house from a goy, the Jew is not allowed to leave the avodas kochavim, not allowed to leave the idols in place. For that matter, if he rented a cow, let's say, an ox, and if he had driven the animal with a burden on Shabbos, so then the Jew is punishable, chayav chatas. Because schirus kanyochtas, because your rental becomes like yours. Now, here's just the opposite of what we just read. We just read that... Oh, well, actually not. We were saying that the, the rental is becomes like an ownership. So here, the Rabbeinu Efraim is saying when you rent premises, it's as if you own the premises, and therefore, if there's a, a, an idol, so you are accommodating this idol. If you rent an ox, so it is, it becomes yours. If it's yours, your animal's not allowed to work on Shabbos. I just find this where he says the word chayav chatas, I find that difficult, because there's no chayav chatas. There's, there's lamah tes malachas for which, for which you are, uh, if you violate them, you're sekilah, and beshegiah, be chayav chatas. But then mechamer, laman yanu ach shochor bachamirecha. So we always say, and I'll say, but it's not chayav chatas. It doesn't have to bring a kor-- no sekilah, no, no korban chatas. So that's curious. But meanwhile, so he's taking this, Rebbe Efraim is taking a view that by renting a premises, it becomes yours, and therefore, you're accommodating avodah

39:11 Speaker 1 zarah there. Ve'ein nira. The Hagos, the... Well, Hagos Ashri, this he always ends up where he's got it from. This is from the Sefer Or Zarua, Rabbeinu Zev of Vienna. So he says, ve'ein nira, I don't, I don't buy it. Uh, that you're renting doesn't mean that you're becoming a balabos, and because in Halakha, rental is not a, not an ownership. Well, kamakaim hoien venofek bekomeidim begoien zeh toil zohar. Okay, you should-- it's toyv li zohar. You should be careful about it and avoid leaving. So if you rent premises, and there is an avodah zarah there, so then you should, if possible, take it out, um, put away. Now, the question here is, practically, people have asked me this question. You come to a hotel and, and what are you going to do with that thing? Um, to go now and get rid of it, I, I think you're, you're risking, um, achill Hashem, that, uh, it'll become known that Jewish tenants, they, uh, destroy the, uh, books of other worship in the hotel rooms. I don't think that's a good idea to be able to, you know, to get publicity on that. On the other hand, it's not comfortable to have it in your bedroom. I don't know, I would... And, and, and to take it away and put it back, I don't know, it's difficult. I would say perhaps leave it in the bathroom. Don't know whether that, that, how that would go down, but, uh, just leave it where it is. I

40:39 Speaker 1 don't know. Difficult one. Right. Yeah. Let's move on. Number nine: May I prune a fruit tree? So this I did find, um, in... I found... I have a Sefer called Shmiras Guf NeFesh. Very good Sefer. All these stuff which have got to do with, um, health issues, as in, uh, how do you say, in Ruach Ro, et cetera. And as we know, the issue of removing, of chopping down a fruit tree. So, um, so that's, that's, it's written down in the Torah. But then if it's, if it's more economical for wood than for, than for fruit, I mean, in the Torah, you are allowed to demolish it because it's not like baltasch, it's not being wasteful, and still there's an element of tzakon. So generally, we're very, very careful about this in, you know, not chopping down a fruit tree. But he does bring here from a Sefer called Chekrei Lev, who addresses this, that that's all very well if it's done in a destructive way. But if it is for propagation, for pruning, then that's not a problem. Now, anyone who learns a bit of Mishnayot, you see that they-- it was very common to... You have a din, you have a whole Halakha about a kerem, about a vineyard which is planted, the trees are too, too close to one another. And so as far as Kilayim, it says because it's, it's destined to be removed. It was a perfectly normal thing that to plant, um, saplings near one another, and then, uh,

42:28 Speaker 1 at a later stage to re- to replant them. And so pruning is also comes under propagation, and that's not, that's not destructive. And so it's not, not really a shailah at all. So that's okay. All right. Now, the next question which I have on the list is adava hapashut, but just for the entertainment value, that, uh, a person asks me that he's away. He's, let's say, in, in New York for Shabbos. Uh, sorry. He is away from his family. Let's say he is in Los Angeles, and his family are in New York. And just before Shabbos, in Los Angeles, he looks on his phone, his smartphone, of course it was, and he sees that the cholent in New York, the, well, the crockpot wasn't switched on. So you've got a smart socket, and you can see from hundreds of miles away, and he can switch it on So is he allowed to switch on the cholent when for him it's not Shabbos, and for the other people it is Shabbos, for the people who are going to eat the cholent? And the answer is obviously yes, it's a midvar pashut. And this is, you know, this is, uh, years ago when we used to have faxes, fax machines. So this was a common shayela. Are you allowed to, um, send a fax from a place where it isn't Shabbos to a place where it is Shabbos? And so we used to get faxes on Friday evening from New York when by us it was already

44:00 Speaker 1 Shabbos, and it was sent out from New York when it's not Shabbos yet. And the fact that the, the man in, uh, in New York is going to be activating a printer in London, that's not a problem because it's-- for Shabbos goes according to where the person is, and for him it's not Shabbos. That's not a problem. There is a different problem, I think we may have discussed, that for me to ask someone to do this, for the people in, in, uh... someone in New York to ask someone in California, "Can you do a melacha for me when for me it's already Shabbos?" That's a different problem. There's a problem of shlichus, and, um, I'm struggling with that. The people are not so careful about this, but there seems to be an issue. How can I have someone-- My hands-- I'm sitting in New York already, uh, making kiddush, and my hands, my extension of my hands are in California are doing a melacha. It's, uh, it's shlichus. It's my hands at a long-- So for me, it's already Shabbos. Okay, let's move on. So common question about using maaser money to buy seforim. So the, the, the, um, the, the idea of giving maaser, it's mentioned in Shulchan Aruch, and this is seen as a budget for tzedakah. Basically, maaser is a budget for tzedakah. How much are you expected to help, the mitzvah to help other Yidden? How much are you expected? So you've got a ceiling of maaser. Mishenichnas Adar, a chamesh.

45:47 Speaker 1 Okay. Um, now the way it's written in Shulchan Aruch is that you are, um, allowed to use maaser money for other mitzvahs also. Not only for tzedakah, but also for other mitzvahs which are voluntary mitzvahs. So I cannot use my maaser money to buy myself a mezuzah, to buy myself tefillin, to buy myself Shabbos wine for kiddish. That I cannot use. It's all very beautiful and holy, but it's not for, um, um... It is, it's a duty. It's my... I cannot use, I cannot use... By the way, you know, there's a very important mitzvah which some people neglect. There's a mitzvah to pay debts. Um, priyas bal chov mitzvah. It's a mitzvah to pay debts. So some of them might think, "Oh, it's a mitzvah to pay my debts. I owe money. I'll use my maaser money to pay debts." And you-- Ein odon priyah chove v'maaser. You can't pay debts with maaser money. So maaser can only be used for voluntary mitzvahs. Right. So now let's take a look here in Dinim baTzedakah. So we have here from the Shach in Sif Koten Gimel in Siman, uh, Res Mem Tes. He quotes from the Mashal and the Drisha in the name of Moreinu Rav Menachem Me'ir Tzedek. That was his name. And a mitzvah which comes your way, so let's say to be a sandek or to be, um, bring a chosan and kallah under the chuppah. It looks like perhaps people would pay for the privilege of, of being the ontafira for a

47:30 Speaker 1 kallah. A chosan and kallah, let's say they didn't have parents, so they would pay for the wedding, and they would also be honored to be the ontafira. And then he says-- You see, you can use your maaser for that. Then he says also to buy seforim, lilmod bohem, and to learn from them, olahash'ilon la'acheirim lilmod bohem, and also to loan them to others to learn from them. Im lo hayah bechoiles v'yodei v'lo hayah oise, oise mitzvah, yocheh liknes min habaaser. Here's a very important point, that this is all true if you don't have the means to do that mitzvah otherwise, then you can use your maaser money. So it's not a free-for-all. This idea of using maaser money for voluntary mitzvahs, well, so then this is because you-- assuming that you don't have the ability to use regular funds, so then you're allowed to use your maaser money to buy seforim, and you're gonna use the seforim for learning. Even that, and now here there's this sokar mechovas which qualifies that. Now, that's true, only seforim which you need for learning, and without your maaser money wouldn't have been able to buy them. To buy seforim just to fill your shelves, there's no mitzvah. Ein bazeh sho mitzvah. Adaraba, at the contrary, it's a dis-disgrace for the seforim. They're standing embarrassed in the, in the cupboard and not being used. I'm not sure whether the Rebbe would agree with that. The, the Rebbe pushed for buying small this seforim and, uh, you know, there's always

49:08 Speaker 1 this, uh, this famous story that's in Ozeck, the Rebbe Maharash, how do you use a seforim which you have already? And the Rebbe pushed there should be plenty of seforim in the houses, and hopefully that will spur people to use them. But that, that's true. But to use maaser money for seforim, which is just to build up your library, that doesn't seem to be okay. We're only talking about seforim which you actually need for your learning. Now, in this question, can you use maaser money for other mitzvahs or only for tzedakah? As I said, the Ramos says you could use it for other things. Others disagree. Here we have a very interesting, um, kind of source in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch in Sefer HaBirchas HaNe'anim. The rule is if you have a, a celebration of a simcha, which is just your own, the beracha is Shehecheyanu. If it's a shared simcha, the beracha is HaTov V'HaMetiv. So now we have the following. A fellow found a treasure trove, so then he would make the beracha HaTov V'HaMetiv. Why is it a shared? He found treasure for himself. The answer is because now that he's become wealthier, so then the poor of his community will also... He's now become of greater means. So therefore, he will be, uh, obliged to help his community that much more. Now, what if, what if the case of someone who inherited his, his, uh, uh, fortune? And there we said he say shehecheyanu. The answer is there, that's not

50:41 Speaker 1 a, a toiv for ani Yisroel. Because first of all, the father was also obliged to give tzedakah to the ani. Now, so now as far as wealth in the community, father had half a million pounds, and now the son has the half a million pounds. The community hasn't become any wealthier. It's just that it's been transferred on one to the other. I, on the... You can say that now he has inhe-inherited half a million pounds, now he has to give a lot of maaser money. But the maaser money, the bo- the son would have been able to spend it on other mitzvah expenses, not necessarily for the poor. And therefore, it's not an inevitable that the poor will benefit from, from the fact that he now has a duty to give maaser. So we see the Alter Rebbe here has accepted that shita, that you can use the maaser money not necessarily for the poor, but also for other communal needs or for other mitzvah needs. Right. Um, someone put here a very good point. I'd mentioned about putting that book in the, uh, in the bathroom. And, uh, often the case is that it's, you're talking about something which has the Tanakh, and it has the, uh, the, uh, whatever you call it, the Testicle, whatever. So then, um, that, that would-- But to put them in both in the bathroom would not be ap-appropriate. Yeah, I, I take your point, and therefore, I guess just leave it where it is and, uh, maybe

52:15 Speaker 1 just ignore it. Thank you for pointing that out. Let's move on. I think the last point which we have on the list for today is about an Aron Kodesh. So does an Aron Kodesh need to have a door and a curtain? So in the Shaarit Shuvah, that's the commentary of the Shulchan Aruch in the Dinim of Beit Haknesses. So he quotes from the Sefer, Chalshashu Zera Emes. Zera Emes was an Italian posek about three hundred years ago, and he discusses that even when you have a very beautiful door of the Aron Kodesh, you should still have a parekhes. You should still have a curtain in front of it. Which, by the way, isn't-- I, I've seen places where they don't have it. Um, I was in a Tunisian shul in Paris several years ago. They just had these metal doors, very beautiful, but they did not have a cur-- Perhaps they had a curtain inside, I don't know. Here, the question is the other way around. So the Me-- Zera Emes says, in addition to doors, you need to have a curtain. Here, the fellow says, "I have a curtain. Do I need to have a door?" My feeling is that you do need to have a door because the Sefer Torah needs to be in, in a chest, in a box. Call it an Aron Kodesh. That's the kind of protection. You can have a very short term. You can have it just wrapped in a tallis, but th-that's very, um, um... That's for

53:42 Speaker 1 short term. But really, it should be in a box. I think a box without a front door is not a, is not called a, uh, is not called a box. It's, it's open. It's exposed. So you got a curtain in front, but that's-- I don't, I don't see it as a proper Aron if it doesn't have a, a door. Right. Um, someone's suggesting that the whole book is Naaseh Naveh. I don't know. We may talk to... I just wanna finish off. It's, um, today was my Yoma Ledes, and I was, uh, thinking of something which, uh, try to do a, a Shofar. Now, there is this, this, this weekly shiur is aired on the website called anash.org. That's aired weekly. And since the Kinus Hashluchim, anash.org have started producing a magazine. Now, I've for years been, um, looking at the, the-- concerned about the fact that there is a Kvachabad magazine for the Hebrew readers. But a reader, a-an English reader, a ma- a regular magazine, there hasn't been, uh, for years. Uh, there is the Neshei newsletter, which comes out periodically, but that's focusing also on noshim. Um, then you have the Derech Er, which is a beautiful monthly, which has got a lot of interesting tochen. It's focusing very much on the Rebe, the Rebbe, the Rabbeim. It doesn't necessarily have articles which will kind of be, uh, you know, addressing contemporary issues, which, um, I think there's, I think there's a value in such a kind of thing, uh, that people can,

55:30 Speaker 1 can read and perhaps have even letters to the editor, et cetera, to, to address contemporary issues of which-- of the Chabad community. And, um, I see this as a welcome thing, that, that there should be a, a weekly, uh, a weekly, um... So they, they are-- This is what they, they're looking towards, not just a chazora of what has been on the website or, you know, the news on the website for the past week, but also to have tochen dike articles, which you can also sit on Shabbos and whatever with a cup of tea and read them. So I, I would like to, uh, promote this, that it should be available in, uh, in the, uh, UK. And, uh, hopefully, I'll be able to work out something in, uh, prices, et cetera, how the people can get their, uh, subscriptions and how it should come. Like the Derech Er is dis- is distributed here. People pay res-subscriptions instead of everyone getting in the post individually, which is much more expensive. It comes in a, a package, and each Cha- you know, each Chabad community, someone will give it out to the people there, to the subscribers. So I'm, I'm thinking on the similar lines, and if there's an interest, uh, hopefully, so to try to promote this, uh, the Toivas Anash. So I'll wish you a, a, uh, a Gut Voch, and we should hear Besuras Tovos, and the Ikah Besura Besuras Hageulah, Simchas Olam Al HaReshan. Gut Voch.

56:56 Speaker 2 Gut Voch.

56:56 Speaker 1 Gut Voch. Gut Voch.

56:59 Speaker 2 Gut Voch.