ויחי תשפ״ד

00:07 Good to go. Welcome to tonight's Shiur. It's Motzaei Shabbos Parashat VaYechi. Now, start off with a question which will take a little bit of discussion, and that is a elderly, uh, gentleman, quite a Talmid Chacham, um, somewhere in, in the States, and he's davening in a small Chabad shul. And the younger element there are quite lively. And it comes to Lecha Dodi, there's a lot of, lot of Lubavitch dancing and banging on the table and banging on the bimah. And he's tried to persuade them that it's, uh, not really appropriate. He asked me to weigh in on this. It's actually, it's a fascinating, um, study here. And we're going to look at the Rambam, Shulchan Aruch, and various sources. Very, very interesting how this develops. So first we take a look at the Rambam. So you have on the, on the right of the screen, this is Perek Chof Gimel. The Rambam writes, "Therefore, you're not allowed to produce sound of music on Shabbos with a musical instrument like a harp, lyre," or whatever it is. So you're not allowed to produce music because of you might come to fix-- to, to, to repair the, the, uh, instrument. That we know. Then the Rambam says, "Not only are you not allowed to play music with an instrument, but also afilu, even to beat with on the-- on-- with your finger on the ground or on a, on a board, oy achas k'neged achas." Which the achas k'neged achas can mean finger to finger or does

02:11 it mean to stick to stick. The Mishnah Berurah discusses this. Meanwhile, not only mustn't you use musical instruments, but you mustn't also strike your finger on the ground. So banging on the table, for example, yeah. And then he goes further, "K'derech hameshamarim," as in for a beat, "o l'kash keshe shel egoz," to shake a nut. "L'tinok," to en-entertain a child. "V'lasachek lebezug," to use a bell to entertain the child. "K'deshe yushtek," to, to, to-- the child should calm down. "Kol zeh af al piyu she'meoseh ossur shema amitak liyshir." So let's go through this carefully again. Musical instruments, obviously ossur. Afilu, not musical instruments. Beating on the ta- on the t-table with a-- with an instrument. Uh, with, sorry, with your hands. They say, "Ma ke... Be etzbo," that was, "Be etzba la'karca," to use your fingers to knock on, uh... And inclu- using a bell, using a, a nut. All of these the Rambam says is ossur. We understand that that is a little bit more remote from making an instrument than when using an instrument mamash. Third thing the Rambam says, now in the following halacha, which is also a Mishnah, "Ei m'fapchim, v'ei m'racdim, v'ei m'tapchim." No clapping of hands, no beating with your hands on your thighs, and not dancing. Again, "Bizero shel yitachil liyshir," you might come to fix an instrument, but clapping back, "m'rach el achiyyar" is okay. So now let's analyze. We've got here three forms. We have here musical instruments in one extreme. The other extreme is you

04:08 have clapping hands, dancing. And then we have in between using crude non-instruments, banging on the ground, banging a nut. And all right, so the Rambam has put the, the mi-- this as a middle category, yeah. Not only you mustn't use instruments, but you also mustn't beat on the ground with a-- with, with your finger. Then he has as a separate entry, no clapping. Very, very strange. Now, let's go now to the Shulchan Aruch. Shulchan Aruch brings that in-- this is in Siman Shin Lamed Tes. Now, just to fill you in, I didn't put everything on the screen. In Shin Lamed Ches is written the whole din of lo yamlik ol, you mustn't produce music on Shabbos. That's in the previous siman. Comes along in Siman Shin Lamed Tes, and the Shulchan Aruch and the Alter Rebbe says the same thing. Says you mustn't clap hands on Shabbos or on your thigh in case you, you could be producing musical instrument. V'afilu, you mustn't beat on the ground or on a board, or to rattle with a nut, or to play with a bell to enter- to entertain the child. All of this is ossur. Yesh mamaios tachin liyshir. You see what's happened over here. Whereas in the Rambam, the afilu to say you mustn't use a rattle, or you mustn't bang on the table, that's come as an afilu after a musical instrument. Not only a, a real musical instrument, you mustn't even use a banging on a-- on, on the ground. Bang on a

05:49 board. Here, the, the way the Shulchan Aruch has said, you mustn't clap hands, and not only you mustn't that, but even you mustn't bang on the table. V'lo sh'bivrov. It should be you mustn't, mustn't bang on the ta-- But you mustn't clap hands because you're gonna have a Seuda, you mustn't bang on, on, on a, on a table. That's how it should have-- That, that makes sense. And so-- And it-- And this loshon of afi d'lo hakos et ba'acharkha, it's taken from the Rambam. It's not taken from anywhere else. In other words, it's a loshon harambam. There's no source as, as far as I know. Yeah. Um, just to explain a little bit more about that. There is a source for the middle section in the Rambam. And that is in the Tosefta. And the Tosefta you have at the bottom of the page here. Talks there about u-using a shofar to give a child, as a, as a, uh-- to feed a child. You're allowed to-- m'taltelin sakarkas v'sapinkas. You're allowed to move a, some kind of rattle or a ledger for a child. The ledger means that perhaps they would enjoy banging it open and closed. Ein m'karsak sh'in v'lo yasag zen v'sakarkas l'tinok. But you mustn't rattle a bell or a rattle for a child. So the, the category which the Rambam says, l'kashkash es ha'eges, to, to rattle a nu-nut, that, that he has the Tosefta. But when he says to beat your finger on the ground or on a board,

07:30 which is in our case banging on the table to a beat, that is pure Rambam. It's not from anywhere before, as far as I, as far as I know. So that's why I'm so, um... The word frustrated is not the right word, but intrigued. How did the Shulchan Aruch put this lo hakos et ba'acharkha as a derivative from kaf al kaf, from clapping hands? Number one. Number two, generally we have a, a rule in Rambam that he's not mechades halakus. He doesn't-- He-- In other words, it's easy to de-- I mean, it's normal to develop. Oh, since this is so, therefore this is so. The Rambam did not see his role as developing new situations and ruling upon them. He saw himself as a collator of information. So he collates the information which is in Shas, Tosefta, in Geonim, but he would not normally develop his own co-- his own, uh, rulings. Therefore, these words, as I say, I can't find it in the, the-- and in this, you know, meforshi Rambam. They don't trace this to an earlier source. So this is the, the Rambam, k'hillu, invented this. It's, it's-- No question about his legitimacy. But I'm just seeing the process of where it came from. And so then it seems to be the Rambam's own development, and it's k-- so strange how it's, in the Shulchan Aruch, it's been kind of-- Its line of development has been changed, which is very, very strange. Okay. And this is all crucial to our discussion. Okay.

09:17 So now in the Shulchan Aruch, he says, the Rambam says, although it says in the Mishnah that you're not meant to clap your hands on Shabbos, you're not meant to dance. Nowadays, we see that people do clap their hands, and they do dance on Shabbos and Yom Tov. And b'chachamim, the rabbis don't protest against it. So the first reason is pick your fights. Motive yeishi yoshag agin val yom ezidin. Let people... They're not gonna listen anyways. So let them live in blissful ignorance rather than drumming into them. They're not gonna listen. So that's hardly a, uh, hardly an adequate explanation for erech idin. Yeah. The second thing he says, yesh oim bim zman hazeh hakol shari. Nowadays, it's all okay because einanu bekin. We don't know how to fix musical instruments, and therefore the whole anxiety. You might come to fix it, but, I mean, most people don't know how to do it. And therefore, it's an unusual thing. And therefore, on that basis, na'agu lehachil. It's, it's become accepted. So we're gonna come to this soon about is it a takanah or chazal chachamim. They said you mustn't, you mustn't, uh, uh, clap your hands. And now you say, "Oh, because lifestyle has changed, therefore the halakha has changed." We'll deal with that. But meanwhile, what has the Rambam said? Uh, Shulchan Aruch has said, "Don't clap your hands, and don't bang on the ground with your hands." In our case, don't bang on the table to a beat. Don't use a rattle. Then

10:52 he says that nowadays people do drum-- d-d-dance and clap on Shabbos. And he says, hakol shari. Yeah. Na'agu lehachil bechol. Mizrahi said, "Na'agu lehachil bechol." Does that bechol, does that bechol in everything? Does that include the whole lot? I'm therefore to say, well, just like it's okay to clap on Shabbos for whatever justification, it's okay to also bang on the table on Shabbos to a beat. So Mishne Berura says no. And Mishne Berura picks up on those words, na'agu lehachil bechol, and you have on the margin, on the bottom right, Mishne Berura, ai lehachil bechol kol hatipuch ve'sipuch verikud. This that you have permission, that, that nowadays it's customary to allow. That's only about clapping and dancing, but not on the other things which are mentioned in the sip. So the B- Mishne Berura said that the heret which the Rambam says that nowadays clapping is okay does not allow you to, to, to use it, to, to bang it to on the table with a beat. Mishne Berura was not the first one who invented this. Uh, he actually in the Shaharitz, and he gives a reference to Eliyahu Rabba, an earlier teshuvah called Tosfos Shabbos, which I've quoted over here on the screen. Tosfos Shabbos is a teshuvah which was a couple of generations before the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe mentions him occasionally. Maybe even Mogan Avrohom mentions him. So it's, uh, I don't know. I haven't checked his exact, uh... But a, a while before the Alter Rebbe. "Mi u'eileh hokim

12:28 mitam zeh el ein tipuch v'rikud." That the, the permission which we've said here that na'ag ulehokel, that's only as far as clapping and dancing, but not as far as using a rattle, a, a bell, et cetera. Let's go on to the next, um, screen. So now we look in Sefer Minhagim. Sefer Minhagim. So this you have a Mishnah of not clapping, not dancing. Then it says in the Sefer Minhagim, "No-yagin l'shorer lifspei kol harakei gam beyom tov, vilo gam chal baShabbos." It is customary to sing and to clap and to dance on Yom Tov, even if it coincides with Shabbos. And he refers us to the Shulchan Aruch Orah Hayyim, which we just saw at the beginning, Shin Lamed Tes, and to the commentaries there. He refers us then to the Aish HaLivrah, the Bachacharov, which, uh, I don't know how often the Rebbe refers to someone as Ahavat Tzadik. But he refers to the Bachacharov. I've mentioned him a number of times in the past. He was a c-- He, he was a young person in the times of the Alter Rebbe. He was a mekubal of the Baditcher Overov. Um, brilliant person. Kapon, he's got a, he's got writings all over Shulchan Aruch. Very interesting personality. At any rate, we'll come back to that in a moment. And then the Munkatcher. The Munkatcher Rov, the Michas Elazar. Now, the Rebbe once said, "Ich kach zak in the Munkatcher." I am very into Munkat- the Munkatcher. And the Munkatcher, if I may say, is--

14:05 stands out in a halakhah-dikah approach to Minhag Yechidim. Sometimes Yechidim seem to say, "Oh, it's okay. You know, there's halakha, but, you know, we don't have to be so fussy about the halakha." And Michas, Michas Elazar is not that way. He will take every-- If there's a what-- an apparent discrepancy between Minhag Yechidim and Halakha, he make-- he ta- he, he, he struggles and finds a way to justify it. Um, actually, it should be ozka halton la halakha. And here particularly, he deals with this whole business about dancing and clapping on Shabbos. And he comes to, uh, explains that, um, that sometimes you have, even though it was n-n-nigzer b'minyan, but it was, it, it was-- it's clearly that it is subject to a circum-circumstance where people would be, uh, more prone to be fixing instruments. So anyway, that's how he discusses there in three places. In Michas Elazar, in Shirei Micha, which is the back of volume two of Michas Elazar, and then in his volume of commentaries on the Shulchan Aruch called Nimukei Orah Hayyim. Okay. On the right margin, I've copied over from the Nimukei Orah Hayyim. So now he, he, he quotes from the Bachacharov, who says about the minhag now, it's common that people do clap on Shabbos during davening. And even people are eminent and great people in Torah and in holiness and, and in, in good deeds. Neither because it's now everyone knows that you're allowed to clap and dance on the chap for Simchas Nisuen, which by

15:48 the way, the Alter Rebbe says no. Um, and he says, "If you're allowed to clap and dance for a Simcha Vechasan," uh, in other words, Sheva Berachos, whatever it may be. Say it doesn't make sense. "Shelo heshulchan cha molei veshulchan rab choreikem." To say that the table, a mundane table, is gonna be, uh, nicely decorated, and Hashem's table is gonna be empty. In other words, if, if a social Simcha, you're allowed to celebrate with dancing and clapping at Simcha Sheva Berachos. So for davening should be worse than, than a Sheva Berachos. That's, that's his argument. Therefore, he sees it as avodah zasham, and the Munkatcher is, you know, happy to take this on. All right. So this is all going-- explaining the-- that, that which in the Ramoh seems to be allowed only reluctantly became the Bachachadim, the clapping and dancing on Shabbos and Yom Tov has been done without any hes-hesitation. Before going to the other two quotes, well, let's take a look at the Aruch HaShulchan, who was a contemporary of the Semak Tsadik a lit- a little later. He, he visited the Semak Tsadik. So he writes, "I've got another reason why clapping and dancing is allowed nowadays, because it's very different to what was in the times of the Chacham, Chazal. Because then you'd have musical entertainment, and the clapping and dancing was done along with the musical entertainment." That's the impression for the Yerushalmi. So therefore, the clapping was seen as part of, uh, I don't know, orchestra, ensemble, whatever

17:27 it's called. "Ach shava." Nowadays, that's not the case. Nowadays, m- if it's music, then it's music, but it's not that people clap together with the music. Therefore, he doesn't see them as one bringing to the other. That's, that's Michas, the, um, Aruch HaShulchan. Coming back to our question about banging on the table. So you, you see very clearly that the, the logic here, um, that we've seen that they-- although there's a hetter of clapping and dancing, we don't see a hetter of banging on the table. It's not clear-- It's clearly unclear, if that's proper English. Um, so now we have two quotes which I have over here. One is from the Sefer Oz Nidberu from Reb Binyamin Zilber, otherwise known as Binyamin HaTzadik, where he says about use-banging on the table with your hands or with instruments is not allowed on Shabbos. To clap hands is okay. Well, he says, "Kala hayad," okay. Um, then he says clapping hands in applause is okay because, b'chol inyan, because clapping in cl- in applause is not with the intent of music. It's interesting because I know there, there's a general view that, amcha, that clapping in Lecha Dodi is okay, but clapping in applause, no, no, no, it wasn't the Shabbos, yeah. And, um, because it's not Tocho Mitzvah or something. But he, he says it's, it's okay because clapping in, in a Lecha Dodi, et cetera, that's clapping as in a-- with a beat. That's more of an issue, and that has also been allowed. But

19:11 clapping applause is never a problem because it was not-- it's not lashir. Okay. So those who are looking for kulot besides chumrah so you've got a kulot here today. Um, meanwhile, this we have on the Piskei Choshen. So he writes also not to beat with two hands on the table, with a, you know, as in, as in drumming. He says one-- with one hand just with the, the enthusiasm of the song, that's okay. I've got one more thing to share with you on this for the moment. Um, a Sefer called Salmas Chaim. Very interesting. Um, it's-- It-- There's a fellow called Reb Shlomo Zobin. He lived in Jerusalem about a hundred years ago. He davened in the same shul as Reb Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. He would very often ask him stuff after davening, and then he wrote them down. I asked this, and then he an-answered that. He seems to be quite alarmed in this Reb Shlomo Zobin, and he goes through a whole pilpul about this beating, and he, um, you know, banging on the table, et cetera. And he says, "Since the usage of afilu implies that, that this is-- that banging on the table is less than clapping your hands. And therefore, if you're allowed to clap hands, how much more so it should be allowed to bang on the ta-- to bang on the table." But then he says, perhaps the other way around, that bang-- clapping with the hands, that's-- most of us are not into making musical instruments. That's

20:40 what-- Therefore, it's okay. But banging on the g-- with a beat, that's more similar to making instrument-- with playing with an instrument. Therefore, that's more of an ex-- a concern. See, he actually does not go into this whole pilpul which I had about the Rambam and, you know, the positioning of this ve-afilu in the Rambam and the Shechinach being so different. I mean, as, as I said, no one-- I, I could see no one comments on that. But meanwhile, he, he puts the question to the Reb Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. And Yosef Chaim answers, "Haklal-- Hakoil bechal hanach lo hem," that the chet which it says, if they don't know, le-let them live in, in blissful ignorance. Let them, le-let them, let them be, let them be. But then he says, "Ein nu'ar ramisha machmi bazeh." If someone consciously does not bang with a beat, it's not, it's not nu'ar, it's not i-inappropriate. So he's kind of, uh, not-- He's kind of diplomatically not given a clear answer here. Um, what seems to be bottom line is that there, that the-- there is a problem with banging to a beat. Um, you can rely on mutashyi yoshvim v'al yem zidin. You can rely on that. Um, if people are-- If you feel that it's not worth making a fuss about it, you're allowed to ignore it. That's why-- my, my impression. But, um, should it be really okay? No, it's not really okay. That's, that's my impression. Now, but coming back to this, um, sh-little shul

22:16 somewhere in United States, yeah. One of hundreds and thousands probably, but never mind. So I, I-- My-- First of all, my response was, you know, in some shuls, it's become standard that by Lecha Dodi or by Moavi Shalom, going, uh, becomes a rekia, becomes hakafas. And my late father-in-law, Oliver Shalom, Rabbi Sudak, even when it was Lemedik, but he, he wouldn't-- he didn't go for this dancing around the middle of davening. There is a very strong emphasis in Chabad, uh, that you don't move around during davening. And on the screen, we have here two quotes from the Alter Rebbe, they're printed in Igress of the Alter Rebbe, talking about not walking around during davening. And as-- whereas other Hasidim, by them, it's acceptable, perhaps seen as a ma'ala, you're, you're, you're going around, you're, you're, you're-- with your ecstasy, walking around. In Hasid-- In, in Chabad, that's not acceptable, is that each one should stand from B'hoidu till after Shemoneh Esreh, and stand and stay their place. And Shelo Levalbil, not walk around during davening, not to disturb other people. Knizke b'gemara o poskim. So walking around in middle of davening, not talking about Shemoneh Esreh. Walk in middle of davening, it knizke b'gemara o poskim. At some stage, the Alter Rebbe made what's called Takanas Liozna, that there were rules who could come to Liozna with the Alter Rebbe's, uh, you know, his, his, uh, nasiyim there. And there were rules who would be eligible or wouldn't be eligible. And one of the things

24:09 he was, he's saying that, and we get these takanas, from when the chazan starts Hoidu, no one should be walking around the Beis HaMinyan, what we call the shul or a shtiebel. No one should be walking around in a shtiebel, especially not to walk in front of other people. Shehu osur mid-- issur gomo middina degemara. See this, I find this absolutely fascinating, that generally we know there's an issur walking in front of someone davening Shemoneh Esreh. The only heter is if their eyes are closed. Um, but the Alter Rebbe's extending this, mid-- o-issur gomo middina degemara from Hoidu. Very, very interesting. All right. So this is, this is, this is the one side. The other side of it is the whole meaning of dan-- of, of singing during davening was not, was not popular in Chabad. Um, when I was a bocher, Lecha Dodi wasn't sung. It was Lecha Dodi veshalom.

25:18 It was, it was just a chant. It wasn't a, a, a song that I was singing. Um, but there's one occasionally, and the Rebbe encouraged it. It's a bisalah, and it came more, okay, Lodo, et cetera. It, it, it evolved more and more. And possibly, possibly our generation it's necessary to get people involved, and the singing is getting them involved. And, um, sometimes you look around the beginning of davening, it's a little bit not necessarily everyone's... not necessarily everyone's involved. And then perhaps the, the L'Chodoidi, the singing gets everyone involved or almost everyone involved, yeah? The, the... So there's, there I can see a L'shem Shamayim aspect also. So bottom line, is it a good... Is it recommended? Pashas, it's not so re- the banging on the table is not really recommended. If it's needed, if you feel it's needed, L'shem, uh, to, to galvanize and to involve the people, so then you have a basis on what to rely upon. Okay. I, I think enough said for the moment. We spent a long time on that. Let's move on. So now someone asked me about the same tal umot leviracha. Now, there's a general view that, uh, which is mentioned in Gemara, that if you, uh, that, that dew is never withheld. So why are we saying the same tal umot leviracha? So the answer is simple, that although tal is never withheld, it's not always leviracha. And so we have the notion of the Mishnah. In Sota, yorad hatal leviracha. We should make

27:02 midhar ve'samidosh. So there can be tal and not afkis leviracha. So we ask it, it should be, that it should be leviracha. Um, interesting that we in, in Nusach Ashkenaz... Well, yeah, kind of. So we say in the wi- in the summer, we just say the same beracha. But look in Sefardim's siddurim, you know, you can see the tal u'reitz and they talk about in, in summer also they mention about, about, um, dew. Okay, one more thing about this is, this is from the Sefer called Slos Davram, a com-commentary on the siddur. And he's, he's addressing, and I perhaps I once spoke about it on this shiur, why is it mo'id hageshem and mo'id hatal? Why is it not consistent? If it's mo'id hatal as in a pause, so then it should be mo'id hageshem, a pause. If it's mo'id hageshem, then it should be mo'id hatal. If, if that's, if that point is a pause, then it should be in both of them. If it's not a pause, then that should be both of them. This comes as-- This, this is what he's addressing. And he says the following. Really looking, you know, comparing to Nusach Ashkenaz which don't say mo'ed hatal. Now, in the Gemara, in Sha- in Taanis, Rabbi Hanina says, "In summer, if you said mashiv ha'ruach, you don't have to repeat." So we leave it. Tal also, if you said mo'ed hatal, in summer you don't have to repeat. But the impression is that you don't, you shouldn't be saying

28:41 it. And that's why the Ashkenazim don't say it. They don't say mo'ed hatal. If it's something which is never withheld, so why are you praising Hashem with something which is never withheld? And that's why Ashkenaz don't say mo'ed hatal. And even as he says, even Sefardim, we don't... In the summer, we don't say mashiv ha'ruach. So he says, therefore the Alter Rebbe was sensitive to this, and he put in the mo'ed hatal with a, with a pause to say like this. When you start... This, this beracha, think carefully. At magiv lo'olam Hashem mechayem meisim at ha'relei shia. The first part of the po- beracha is about t'chiyas hameisim. The second part of the beracha is about rain. Mechalkel chaim bechesed, mechayem meisim b'rachamim. Samech nun rephalim, yeah. So the second part is about the rain. So he says like this. All right, I want to mention tal, but then you might say it's inappropriate to talk, talk about tal as in irri-irrigating because it seems to be that you shouldn't be mentioning tal. So you know what? I'm gonna put a pause there. I'm gonna say mo'ed hatal. And therefore, the mention of tal, of dew, is only in relation to the first part of the beracha about mechayim t'chiyas hameisim, the, the tal of t'chiyas hameisim. I'm not talking about tal in relation to irrigation. That's the next topic. That's why he put a pause there. Whereas the geshem of... Is, is connected to mechalkel chaim bechesed that Hashem gives parnasa and through the

30:25 provision of rain. Let's move on. Um, about... It was relevant this, this month. Several places asked what about saying Kidush Levana when there's a rather, um, clouded over moon. So there's something which I've seen years ago, I'm sure I didn't invent it myself, that at the beginning of the month you can make Kidush Levana on a, on a thin strip of, of light. If the clouded over moon produces the same amount of light as a thin sliver of moon at the beginning of the month- When it's like a clear light. So then that's called nehen li'or. That is called you have benefit from the light, and you can make a berachah. I, I looked for that explanation now this past week. I couldn't find it. What I do have on the screen here is from the Magen Avraham and Simchat Tov Kovo quoting from the Arugat HaBosef to say that a thin cloud does not prevent saying Kidush Levanah. You can still say it. What is interesting is, as I was doing a little more research, is the berachah on seeing the moon or on benefiting from the light of the moon, which is crucial in our discussion. If it is for seeing the moon, it's clouded over, you're not seeing the moon. If it is for benefiting from the light, then the argument which I said would be a valid argument. You're benefiting the light, or you at least, of course, where we live, it, it means, it means very little because of the,

32:09 uh, artificial light. But if it were in a situation where you could benefit from the light. So, yeah. So that's... Um, but, uh, having said that, um, it becomes a bit of a schwache argument in-- because of the artificial light which is available to say, "Oh, I'm, I'm nehen li'or because, uh, we don't... It's more... We, we make a berach, berachah only on seeing the moon because we're not having much hanah from it in any case." Let's move on. But we do have here a psak that if it's a thin cloud and you can see a silhouette of the, uh, of the moon through the cloud, then you can make a berachah. Okay. Earlier this past week, some bochurim, I got a, a, a French bochur. He writes to me that he is in Tromsø for a few days. Now, Tromsø is north of Norway. It's above the Arctic Circle. And he's asking, what do we do about Shabbos and what do we do about... Or first about tefillin and about, about Shabbos. So, so the, the, uh, facts at the... Um, he sent me a little video. The facts are that it does-- you never see the sun at this time of the year, but you do have daylight. Mm, it, it looked fairly daylight-y, if that's a word in English, um, for two hours. From eleven to one you have daylight. So I said, "Well, as far as tefillin is concerned, once it's daylight, no problem to put on tefillin. You'll have to

33:37 put on tefillin before sunrise. There's no problem." Question is about Shabbos. When... Now, this is, this is twilight. So you've got two hours of twilight. Now, you have twilight in the morning before sunrise, and you have twilight in the evening before-- after sunset, before it gets fully dark. Question is, with these two hours from eleven to one, which part is when you say it's the morning twilight and you're allowed to do melachah, and which part is the, the evening twilight and you're not allowed to do melachah? And the an- the simple answer is from chatzos, from midday. That is going to be the gui- the, the division between the twilight of the morning, which is mutar bemelachah, and the twilight after, which is after shkiya, which is not. How are you going to work out midday in a place where there's no sunlight? There's no sun. The-- So I told him, "Very simple." You go along, you look on the, uh, what's it called? The cons-- the con-- Um, what are they called? Um, coordinates. You look at the coordinates. And so he looked at the coordinates for Tromsø, and looked at the coordinates for, uh, Stockholm. So it's almost the same coordinate. As in, as in, um, how do you say? In longitude. The latitude is very different. The longitude is the same, and all the places on the same longitude are going to have the chatzos is going to be at the same time. That's the, the, the, uh, podova apostrod. The sun

35:11 is moving from east to west, so whether you're north or s-- higher, low, closer to the equator, midday on that same, um, longitude is gonna be the same. Therefore, I looked up the, uh, in Stockholm this past Friday. So chatzos was quarter to twelve. So I said to them, "Okay, quarter to twelve is chatzos." So then you... Actually, lichsinan is about twenty minutes before. So just in case there was a bit of margin of error, it wasn't mamash the same coordinate. I said, "Twenty minutes before." So about twenty past, twenty past eleven AM, they should be mekabel Shabbos. Um, by the way, they have a long Motzaei Shabbos, because from, probably from two o'clock they can already see stars, and so they've got long Motzaei Shabbos. Now this, this explanation, there is a letter of the Rebbe which is published in Shulchan Aruch. Um, I was part of the editorial board for this Shulchan Aruch, and the note which interpreted the way which I've just explained, uh, probably is from my work. I'm not sure whether that's actually the pshat of the Rebbe's thing, but that's, that's the logic which I could use. Um, here the Rebbe does say that the sh- beginning of Shabbos would be in all places which have got the same longitude. If they're on the... Yeah, I think that's what he's saying. Of course, it's not the same mamash because, um, you know, the further north Shabbos is gonna start earlier in winter, et cetera. But it mean-- possibly he

36:48 means that chatzos is, is the same, and then you can work it out from there. Okay. Um, if someone has a different pshat in that letter, I'm, I'm happy to hear. Let's move on. So a q- very frequent question in their, their variations that someone, a man is home and his wife is out of town For good reasons, wonderful reasons. Meanwhile, he's alone. Well, he's at home, and he has a daughter with him. Married daughter, unmarried daughter. Who should be benching lift? So, what, what are the arguments for both ways? So what you have on the screen is the, the top right is from Sefer Chutz Shani from Reb Nissan Karelitz. And he says, "I've got an interesting question," because the reason why a man is meant to give his wife the mitzvah of lighting candles for Shabbos, although it's his own mitzvah, is because she at ock- is the one who looks after the home. Well, when mommy, let's say, is in hospital to ge-give birth, so he, he has an older daughter who's at home, so she will be, uh, the more, the more likely candidate to do-- be doing-- looking after the home. And then that-- if that's the case, then she should be the one should, should be lighting the candles. Or do you say, "Well, no, there's only his wife. There's a taconote to give it to his wife to, to, to light the candle, but not for his daughter." And mitzvah b'yoset b'bishloch. So he's, he's mesupak. He's not

38:22 sure. Rav Elyashiv is quoted here that when his-- when the woman is not able to light at home, if there's an, a bas gola, under bas mitzvah, there's no question. You can't be yoetz from her. But with an adult daughter who's over bas mitzvah, so the daughter should light. Then he says, if the daughter is married and, and, and is staying with him, then both of them should light. Personally, I'm not so, um, excited about it. Um, I'll tell you where, where I'm, where I'm coming from. The Alter Rebbe has this chiddush that if you light candles, even a man who doesn't mekabel Shabbos by lighting candles, but he has to be mekabel Shabbos within a short ta-time span. You can't, um, light the candles and then go back to doing your regular work because then the candles are not evidently lit to cover Shabbos. A man typically is used to regular circumstances. He'll be used to, uh, just before Shabbos, he may get to the car to go to shul. He may carry stuff to shul. He, he's not used to this idea that he's lighting candles and he's now mekabel Shabbos. So bec-- I see that as a bit of a difficulty, and therefore, it's easier, it's more comfortable. Let the girl light. Then, now, then I saw in another Sefer, in the Be'er Moshe, so the Devar Tzinero. So he's saying that in the case of the mother and the daughter of the same house or the similar situation, let one light

39:55 in the kitchen and one light in the dining room. I'm really uncomfortable with that because we, Baruch Hashem, we all have electric lights. What's the justification for making another bracha, bracha on lighting? No, you got light. Oh, at the table, it enhances. The candles enhance the atmosphere at the table. Who needs to enhance the atmosphere of the kitchen? Why do you have candles in the kitchen? There's electric lights. I don't see why you can make a bracha on lighting in the kitchen. And so now, so the mechalal, the idea of having several women making a bracha at the same-- at lighting at the same table, the Alter Rebbe brings two soros. He's not so hot on that. Here, your daughter is lighting in any case. So why do you dafka have to light it, uh, separately when you could simply be yoetz with her, her lighting as long as you're using your candles. It should be your candles, and, uh, then with this, you've, you've, you've, um, avoided any sofek bracha l'batala, et cetera. I see it much smoother this way, even though there is a svara of mitzvah b'yoset b'bishloch. But I see the other svaras also as valid, uh, you know, arguments to the contrary. Um, here in the top, we have from Shemirat Shabbos K'Halacha. When the woman's not home, um, he also co-probes this question. Uh, if the daughters who aren't married are lighting or the husband should light, he's suggesting the husband should light because it's his chiyuv mitzvah b'yoset

41:20 b'bishloch. Okay, we've already discussed. And this on the other side is we've got the Devar Tziners, um, uh, writing about this. We've discussed already. Let's move on. Uh, what's the next question? About switching tefillin during, uh, Chazarat Hashatz. So here's a, uh, one of our galait. He's a rav in a, in a, in a United Synagogue, and they don't have-- most of the people there don't put on a rain of tams, and possibly he has to deal with people there right after davening. So he's been switching his tefillin during, during Chazarat Hashatz. And so we have the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, who's got strong words about this. He's-- And he's quoting from the Pri Megad. There are those who are cust-accustomed that after kedusha, they take off their-- the Rashis, and they put on Rabbeinu Tam's, and it's sholei khadim. It's, it's contrary to that. Okay. So the Pri Megadim and the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch are, uh, dead opposed to, um, taking off your tefillin and putting on the other tefillin in, in, in Chazarat Hashatz. But there is an undeniably a massive Chassidish, uh, following who are doing this. So there's a Sefer, a Chassidish Sefer called Nicute Mariach, um, published, uh, published about a hundred years ago. A very popular Sefer. It's for three volumes. And he talks about those who are putting tefillin on Chazarat Hashatz. He brings Pri Megadim, who's against this, and he says, "I've seen eminent people are doing this." And he says, "Oh, you know what you're achieving with

42:54 this? That you have like a whole davening in Rabbeinu Tam's because you've got Chazarat Hashatz as a Shemoneh Esreh, and you've got an Ashrei, and then you've got the Olam HaZira, which is, you know, Kaddish, et cetera. Whenever he, he might has, um, sorry, Shosh Yom is the Olam HaZira. Uh, he says that you've got the whole- Spectrum of the four illumis in Abedne times also. So that's an interesting explanation. Um, actually, then he quotes to the Matim Moshiach, who says that his Rebbe would, would take off his tefillin after Kidusha. With that-- The-- And you know what? The Alter Rebbe actually in Siman Chaf He also talks about taking a tefillin after Kidusha. He talks about on, on, um, I think, on the Chal HaMoed Sukkot. People wearing tefillin in, in Minchas Chinuch and taking off the tefillin during Su-- But there seems to be a difference between taking tefillin off and putting the-- putting tefillin on. Taking tefillin off seems to be less of an issue. You don't, you know, but to put it on tefillin is... I mean, while you put it on tefillin, you can't answer Amen, et cetera. So that seems to be more of an issue. Uh, certainly, it's not Chabad Minchag. Chabad Minchag is to switch, um, to take off, to wear Rashies until the end of Alenu unless, you know, that's the Minchag, the way it's written. In HaGam Yam, et cetera. Um, right. So it's, it's not something which we wouldn't recommend, um, unless, you know,

44:18 Mamish stuck, uh, then you... One, one more point about this, which we've discussed once before, which I wrote-- I answered to this same command, that it depends how you look at Chazarat Hashatz. Is it just to bemoitzi those ignorant people who didn't know how to daven? So that's really just an archaic, um, institution because with the people in our shul all know how to daven, and those who don't know how to daven can't follow Chazarat Hashatz either because they don't understand Hebrew. So the whole thing is, is, is, well, we're just doing it out of Kabbalah soil, but, you know, that's, that may be the justification. People think, "Oh, during Chazarat Hashatz, it's spare time. You know, let's do this, let's do that." Um, if you see, however, Chazarat Hashatz is a communal expression. It's we're all together being, um... I mentioned the other day with this idea, by the Kinat Shlachim, we have a, what's called a pigeon klali, where, where, um, there's a pigeon written on behalf of all the shlachim, and this is read on Friday morning. There's thousands of shlachim where they count the oil in the tents, et cetera, and one of the Alter Rebbe shlachim stands by the oil and reads over. And we all stand to attention. They are speaking this-- A pigeon is being read on our behalf. So if your Chazarat Hashatz is speaking on our behalf, so then, you know, doing your, your everything else and sorting out the sforim or bru-du-du-dusting the shelves, it's,

45:44 y-you know, you're davening. This is-- This person is davening on your behalf. So from that perspective, it seems to be, uh, you know, in-inappropriate to be doing all other stuff. Um, can one not answer Amen during Borei Mine Ha-Tamim? Um, I-- Possibly Amen you can, Baruch Hu Uvaruch Shemo for sure not. That's, uh, in, in the Alter Rebbe's sidur, in the, in the, uh, in the Din of Tefillin, he, he does address this. It's, it's less chomer than during Rashies, but it's also restricted. Okay. Um, back to this shtiebel in somewhere in the United States with the banging on the table. One of the other peeves was about, is it appropriate to bang on the table of, of the, of the, on-- to bang on the bimah? Now, the bimah is part of the shul, and I, I... So you have, you have here on the screen from Hilchot Beit Haknesses, that banging on the bimah just to get silence in the shul is also is, you know, it's, it's still gomer. It's kind of-- It's, it's disgraceful use for-- with the, with the equipment of the bimah, which is made for Kriyat HaTorah. He suggests here actually that the gabber who's conscientious about this should remove the mantle, the, the cloth drape over the bimah, and bang just on the table rather than bang on the cloth, which is interesting. I haven't seen anyone do that. Um, but it is, it is, uh... I mean, there is this concern about the bimah should be

47:15 treated with, with, uh, proper respect. Things which are normally done, so you could... Uh, with bimahs, then you could say thou-- di-- you know, when it was writ-- when it was bought, it was with this intention that it would be used for this. So having a pushka on the bimah, that's normal, you know, practice, and therefore, then when it was-- the built-- the bimah was built and et cetera, it was that, that was in mind. To have sforim on the bimah is also acceptable. But let's say to put your hat on the bimah, besides being, uh, impolite, but also it's poshet, um, it's a violation of the, of the Kedusha. It's a k- it's a, it's a heifetz which is there for Kedusha, um, designated for the Sefer Torah. And so to use it for unconventional uses, uh, would be considered a disgrace. It would, would be, uh, inappropriate Halacha. Yeah. But, you know, then you could say in the shuls where banging on the bimah is standard, so then daz mir nit masnit. Happens to be that in this shul which we're talking about, it used to be, you know, a laid-back, um, you know, uh, conservative, uh, you know, not conservative-conservative in, in religious. I mean, I mean, just, you know, Tsadikkim mentioned, and now you've got these young chevra coming banging on the bimah. So the bimah was orig-originally built not, not with the intention of people, you know, beating away on it. Okay. Um, so someone asked me, someone somewhere in

48:45 mainland Europe, about giving a tip to a goy. Are you allowed to give a tip to a goy? Now, you might wonder where this comes from. So there is a pasuk, Lo Sichonim, and Lo Sichonim can be, uh, translated in various ways. One of the, them is, "Lo Sitah En Lo He..." Lo Sichonim literally don't favor them. Um, thank you. Rav Mendel is pointing out that we-- if we are Hasidim, we look at the Rebbe, and the Rebbe says, "Don't look at him during davening." But if you did look at the Rebbe during davening, he was just following in the siddur and not being distracted. Even I'm sure he had lots of things which he wanted to look at, uh, including sometimes the Rebbe would bring to davening, he would bring the Or HaChayim. So between the Aliyots, the Rebbe would look at them. But during Chazarat Hashatz, be, uh, almost always, it was just, just looking straight in the siddur. Okay, coming back to where we hold it. So there is a Lo Sichonim. One of the translations of Lo Sichonim Halacha is Lo Sitah En Lahem Chanit B'karkah. You should not give a goy a, a, a camping grounds, a dwelling grounds, especially at his role. Then there's one, Lo Sitah En Lahem Matnat Shinam, not to give a goy a gift which is for no-- which is un-un-an unearned gift. So here you have a couple of sources in Shulchan Aruch, one in Yoreh Deah, and one in, in Choshen Mishpat, and

50:13 one in Choshen Mishpat. So we have a goy who is not a ger toshav. You shouldn't be giving him matana unless he is an acquaintance of yours or there's a chesbon of da'as shalom. And we have here then Choshen Mishpat. You shouldn't give a matnas chelim to, to a oved kochim. Oved kochim is, as you can see here, it's a goy she'eino makhir. So there's no-- you're just giving a gift, not getting anything in return. So that's a matnas chelim. Um, there is a Yiddish expression, "You shouldn't remain a bal chov to a goy." You shouldn't remain indebted to a goy. If the goy did you a favor, you should give him something. You shouldn't be, be a, a, a bal chov. Um, there's a story of a Hasid. It's Moshiach Shabbos. It's a, apps a story. So there's a Hasid who would walk to Lubavitch. He lived in another town. Until he was a very old age, he always would walk, even though he could afford to pay for a wagon driver. And his chesbon was-- he said-- someone asked him, "Why do you..." So he says, "Listen, I'll come on Elul Ma'amas, and I'll-- you know, one of my good deeds is going to Lubavitch." So then come along-- The horse will come along and say, "Hey, wait a minute. I also have a chelek in getting him to Lubavitch, so I should also be part of this." So could it be the Bet Din Shel Ma'alah will override his complaint, and I

51:41 will be in the right, and he will be, uh, you know, dismissed. His claim will be dismissed. But I don't want to get into a-- I don't want to get into a court case with a horse. So, uh, similarly, a goy did you a favor. You give him a matana, you give him something. You don't want to remain indebted to a goy. But, but for if there's no-- you didn't get anything, so then there is a question of giving, uh, mat-matnas chelim. I saw somewhere about when you're sitting on the plane, you know, you're sitting on the plane, and they come, and, and you see that they've given you some tray for biscuits, and you give it to the guy next to you. You give matnas chelim. Question, yeah. All right. So now here we have, um, there's a safer called Piskei Choshen who's taken the whole of Choshen Mishpat and kind of put it into a, uh, more, well, easier, um, system, you know, searchable system. So he has here this halacha, and then he brings the source in Yoreh Deah and not giving a goy matnas chelim. Then he says, "But if you-- it's a, a goy whom you know, um, da'as shalom, so then that's not called a matnas chelim." So by the way, um, this time of the year to put out, to give the, um, garbage collectors, to give them a bit of beer, that is, um, after, a-after Chag. Uh, now, now is the right time. You can give

53:09 them for New Year's. Um, you can give them some beer. Nearer the Hu Chadash. Then he says another interesting thing. You have a goyishe worker, and he's in the middle of work, and you give him a piece extra. So then that's going to be an impetus, and he should continue his work with greater, greater vigor. So that's also a kind of da'as shalom. So, um, so, a-and then what-- My response to this fellow, actually, he was from Italy. It depends on what your-- what is the-- if it's acceptable. If it's... Sorry. If it's the norm in that region that people do give a tip to a taxi driver, whatever it may be, then that's da'as shalom. The da'as shalom is to give a tip because they sh-they shouldn't-- it's not appropriate, oh, the, the Jew never tips. Um, if that's the norm to give a tip, and then one should be, um, following the norm. Well, we almost finished our list. So we have number nine. It was a question about so, uh, the half hour. Now, we know that we've got what's called Mincha Gedola, Mincha Katanah. Mincha Gedola is-- starts from half an hour after midday, and Mincha Katanah is from-- is, is three hours later, two and a half hours before sunset. So the half hour... Now, we have a concept called Shaos Zmanios, and they translate it to English, pro-proportional hours, which means it's a twelfth of a day, of a stretch of a day, and in a long summer's day.

54:39 So a twelfth of that might be about an hour, an hour and a half, ninety minutes. And in a short winter's day, it will be, uh, a twelfth of the day will be forty minutes, et cetera. So now we look at this half hour after midday, which is the earliest you can daven Mincha. Do you work according to, um, Shaos Zmanios? So therefore now it'd be, let's say, be twenty minutes, or does it go according to Shaos Kavois? Now, the Mishnah Berurah in Shaar Hatzion, you can see Siman Resh Lamed Gimel, he takes the view origin-at, at outset that it makes sense that the half hour is also called proportional hours because it's in the same breath as the nine and a half hours, six and a half hours, and those are for sure working in Shaos Zmanios, the proportional hours, and therefore the half hour should also be the same. Then he backtracks a little bit. He says, "Since the reason for the half hour is to avoid a mistake of doing, of, of, of doing it before midday, therefore it should be, possibly it should be a, a half hour, a full half hour of, of thirty minutes." Vadai Tzorchim. So his pri-my primary view is it goes according to Shaos Zmanios, but he's a little bit uncomfortable. He's not so confident. What do we have here from the Chasam Sofer, from Chaim Nora? So he says- Um, Mevoia Baachroinim Shechat Tziyor Shor Zoy Higankim Zmanis. Now, the Rebbe Chaim noise later than

56:12 Mishne Beraia, and he often quotes him, and he seems to, although he doesn't give a clear reference, but he takes the view that it's Shor Zmanis, which means in s- winter, it makes it shorter. But on the other hand, the flip side of it is in summer that you'd have to wait until, um, the Shor-- the Hatzit Shor Zmanis, which could be, as I say, could be fourteen minutes, depending on what, what time of the year it is, et cetera, where you are. O-okay, let's finish off, and that is, um, about to feedback on two points. Number one, about Suddei Soidor. So one of our listeners mentioned to me that when it was Tov Shean Lamid Ches, after the Rebbe had the heart attack, um, Nitang gedacht. Then it came, uh, Hanukkah, and the Rebbe made a whole, um, a whole, uh, way of... He made a-- He arranged the Rabbi Hechtol Shalom, he made a Suddei Soidor, and it was with the Niteels Yadayim. It wasn't with Fleishiks. Um, well, never saw by the Rebbe, uh, as in by the Farbrengens. Farbrengen with Fleishiks never, never happened, as far as I know. Um, Lubavitch, you know, that's n- that's not what makes it into a Sudde. Farbrengen, the Divrei Torah, et cetera. They say Seder is that's what makes it. So Al Kol Poni, but the Rebbe did make a point of it being with Niteels Yadayim. That's one feedback. The other one is we had last week a discussion about an Oren Kodesh.

57:39 Um, my question, which I dealt with last week, if he has a curtain and he doesn't have doors, is that, uh, is that, uh, acceptable? My, my inclination was it wasn't adequate because you need to have a chest, and a chest without doors is not a chest, you know, Oren. But then one of our listeners sent-- told me the following, that there was a time in the shul, he was a Gabai in a shul, and for some reason, the Paroches got s- damaged or something. It was needed to go through repairs, and it was taken off, and the, the Oren Kodesh was just left, just the doors without, without the curtain. During this time, there, there was a burglary in their shul, and the thieves forced open the doors of the Oren Kodesh. I don't remember whether anything was taken or not, but it was the only time in many, many, many years that there had ever been a break-in to the shul. And he felt that it's a little bit the fact that the Oren Kodesh had been left without a Paroches, not in, in the appropriate way. Um, so then that may have been inviting the, uh, dis- the distress which happened there. Now, since we saw on the video tonight how the Rebbe always talked about finishing on a positive note, therefore, we have to finish on a positive note. And what was actually said tonight, I don't know, some of you may have seen the video, but when the Rebbe's Haggadah

59:08 was, uh, published in Tov Shin Lamed Gimel, and that was the first time they kind of rearranged the Haggadah. The main, main Haggadah was rearranged. Um, and then the, the back had a collection of Sichas. And the, the, the, uh, so the last Sicha, they gave it to the Rebbe, they gave him the, the finished volume, and the Rebbe looked to the last Sicha, was talking about the end of Gemara Pesachim, where it talks about Shechiyanu. Shechiyanu by Pidyon HaBen. And then why don't we say Shechiyanu by a Bris? Ashkenazim, Sephardim do. But we don't. So Tosafot says, because Tza'ar D'Yonukit, because of the pain of the child. So that was Rav Yerucham Protis. It came, that was the last, and the last line was about the pain of the child. And the Rebbe was not happy with the fact that it finished off on a negative note. And so the Rebbe instructed, the Rebbe instructed that they should make a rubber stamp. And the rubber stamp should-- would be the words, Lashon Habar B'Yerushalayim. And so all the Sefarim, the thousand volumes whichever had been, had been already, uh, printed, so they were duly rubber-stamped with another, another line, Lashon Habar B'Yerushalayim. And Rabbi Levi Garelik, um, uh, same age as me. So he, well, he, he tells how he and his family were given by the Rebbe, given volumes of the, uh, the new Haggadah. And then the Rebbe buzzed to the office. Oh, yeah, he'd given them these Haggadahs which hadn't been

1:00:42 stamped yet. So the, the, the, so the family Garelik, um, made their way up to the Vaad Hanochos-- uh, Vaad, um, HaChutz Sichas to get their Sefarim also stamped with Lashon Habar B'Yerushalayim. So as we should have Lashon Habar B'Yerushalayim, and Lashon Habar means that by next year, we should all be in Yerushalayim with Moshiach Tzikeinu and, um, with the Geulah Hamitas V'Hashlema. A Gut Voch. Amen. Shabbat. Gut Voch. Yes. Gut Voch.