ואתחנן – נחמו תשפ״ד

00:07 Good evening, and welcome to tonight's Shiur. Tonight is Thursday of Parshat VaEschanan, Shabbos Nachamu. And so we'll go straight into list of questions which we have. So some of them were on my mind over Tisha B'Av, and, uh, so that gave me time to look into them. So I was on Sh- on, uh, Tuesday afternoon. By the time I got-- I finished Kinnus, and I'm reading, uh, reading Eicha. I noticed that the Eicha is in alphabetical order. Now, in Perek Gimel, I noticed that the letter, um, Heh comes before the letter Ayin. I was curious about that, so then, uh, I looked back to chapter Beis, and there too, we have the letter He before the letter Ayin. And there, Rashi comments, and he quotes the Gemara in Sanhedrin Daf Kuf Dalet. Po- That's what you have on the screen. "Potzu alaiych pihhem kolei vaiych," and that's the pasuk Tav Zahin. The next pasuk is, "Oso Hashem asher zomam." So Gemara says, po- why is it, "Potzu alaiych pihhem omar rovo omri beichanan bishvil marych dim peh leAyin?" Why is the letter, the verse beginning with a Peh before the verse which begins with an Ayin? "Bishvil meraglim." Because Tisha B'Av, as we know, the first event which happened on Tisha B'Av was that the spies came back, and they gave a negative report to the Yidden, and the Yidden were cry-- were weeping. And the Aibishter says, "Heim bochu bechiyah shel chinam." They, they were weeping in vain, and I will give them a

02:04 weeping-- a reason to weep. So Tisha B'Av is related to the Meraglim. And the Meraglim, "She'omru befihhem ma shelo roveiineim." What they reported with their mouths was not in, in, in line with what they had seen with their eyes. So the, the, the pair, the mouth came before the, the eyes, whereas normally you see something and then you talk about it. And here it was what they had said was not preceded by what they had seen. So that's written in the Gemara. But I was still intrigued. Why then is this Remez starting in Perek Beis and not in Perek Alef? So here the Kol HaTamim in his commentary in, in-- on Eicha, he addresses this. So he says, "So that it should emphasize the change in the subsequent Parshas. That's why the first Parsha has got, uh, uh, Aleph-Heh first Ayin and then Heh." Then he quotes another Pirush of the Sefer Yefei Onof, who says, because it's-- it, it, it refers to the-- it alludes to the Gemara in Shabbos that even during the time of the downfall of Yerushalayim, there were still Ad She'yamona. There were trust- trustworthy and upright people there too. And therefore, we have the first chapter in Aleph-Heh. Not everyone was corrupt. Unfortunately, they, they, the ones who weren't corrupt suffered. But the first Pa- Parsha goes Aleph-Heh, and then the other Parshas because unfortunately there was the, the, the, uh, the people and the inspiration of the Meraglim who spo- who spoke not what they, they had seen.

03:58 All right, that's the first question which we have. So the second question is about if a person does need to eat on Tisha B'Av, is there the regime of Shiurim? So if a person needs to eat on, on Yom Kippur, there's a whole performance of eating small amounts with intervals. That way, they're not in violation of a Issur Im Ha'toireh. Uh, it is a Issur Im Ha'toireh, but not via-- not Chayav Karas. Yeah. It's not, not, not... It, it di-- It mitigates the issue. So does this exercise in mitigation apply for the other fasts, including... Primarily, the question is about Tisha B'Av. Generally, Tisha B'Av is stricter in the fact that it's starts the night before, et cetera. So I was in conversation with a friend of mine in United States who... Talking about he needed to take, um-- he needed to eat on T- um, um, Tisha B'Av, looks like. But his doctor had told him that he had heard that in Chabad, the minhag is on Tisha B'Av to adhere to the, uh, regime of, of, uh, Shiurim. Unlike the general consensus is that it's only when it comes to Yom Kippur. So he said, "There are Sech Yef Koras." So to mitigate, we use the sh- the regime of Shiurim. But when it comes to other fasts, the general psak is, is not so. So where does it come that Chabad, uh, are machmir in this? Mensh, it's a Mach Tzedek. Okay. So here you have on the screen, we have from

05:50 the Sefer HaMinhagim, and this part of Sefer HaMinhagim was w- written by the Arieh Ben, and it was, uh, included in the back of the Reshimus on Eicha, which he published around 1950. And later, the Rebbe published, like, lists of Minhagim in various contrasim. And Reb Leibel Groner of Ashon together, Rabbi Groner of Ashon, they, they worked to take all those lists and combine them to make them into the volume which we, we have as a Sefer HaMinhagim. But, uh, this particular text is actually the Rebbe's writing, Reb Akiva from the Reshimas HaNechlah. So we have two items here. First of all, shir inui bedalot sefas. When we talk about a fast and a violation of a fast. So when it comes to Yom Kippur, the shir is not a kazais, it's a kriseves. A kriseves is a, um, a big fig. Uh, I'm sorry, big date, I think. Big date. And it's, uh, in between... It's smaller than an egg and bigger than an olive. It's somewhere in between. Just one, one way of remembering that. I always get stuck about between the, uh, dates and figs. But, um, how the... Uh, in, in Yiddish, the word for a ruler is a teitel. You know, it's like you're, you're pointing, you're teiteling. Kriseves, all right, helps, uh, helps with the writing. That's one way of remembering it's, it's a, it's a date. Okay. I've always been intrigued why dates are called kriseves, which is related to writing, but okay. All right. So let's come

07:45 back. So we have here the shi- the shir of Yom Kippur, for a violation of Yom Kippur is a kriseves. When it comes to the other fasts, is it kazais or? So here it says it's a shir kriseves, which already tells you that you're start-- You're gonna get-- It seems to suggest that by the other fasts, you also have to be considerate of how much is eating and eating too much, et cetera, to, to less than the shir. That suggests that you, you be, be con- conscious, conscientious of, of the shir in ve'adam. And interesting, it points out dalot sefas. Really, it should've been cheit sefas because we've got six-- we've got seven fasts in-- uh, six fasts in all besides, uh, um, you know, Batana's bechorot. So why is it dalot sefas? It, it should be, it should be cheit sefas. Okay. That's-- But that is, uh, um, gonna be traced to the Tzemach Tzedek. The second thing is, if we've discussed about having intervals. Person has to eat on Yom Kippur, you tell them try to have nine-minute intervals, et cetera. Uh, without going to the whole, um, uh, procedure, it's called Achilat Seudas. Within this, this amount of time is considered one unit. If it's spread over a larger window, so then it's no longer considered a single unit. That's Achilat Seudas. How large is this window? So there's different opinions. Nine minutes, f- uh, five minutes, seven minutes, down to three minutes. And in a response of the Tzemach Tzedek, he

09:15 talks about six minutes. Elsewhere, he says seven minutes. Okay. So the fact that these details are written in Sefer HaMinhagim, in Ben Hamtzarim, connect-- in the context of, of Tisha B'Av is a suggestion. Yeah? It's a suggestion that the shiurim are relevant on Tisha B'Av. That is where that, uh, doctor was coming from. So yeah, yeah, I'm ready to hear this. Now, where does the Tzemach Tzedek talk about this? So look in the Tzemach Tzedek, and here was a case there, and we discussed this a couple of years ago w- w- w- when during COVID. Now, there's a ca-- There was a case that there was an epidemic. I think it was the town of Nieżin, where his son, Reb Yisroel Nech, was the Rov, Rebbe. And he was of a weak constitution. And when, when there's an epidemic, so people, if they are going to be, uh, less-- uh, we got undernourished, they're gonna be more, more, uh, vulnerable. You're more-- You eat better, you, you're gonna be-- have more immunity. So the Tzemach Tzedek writes to his son, "You should absolutely not fast. And even the healthy people can also be makeil." That's what we also-- In our region, we're also being makeil. One who wants to be machmir, he should eat pachas mikol shir. And what's the shir is two-thirds of an egg, and he should wait intervals of six minutes. That's, that's, that's, you know, that's already being machmir. So we see here that Tzemach Tzedek, this is about Tisha B'Av.

10:54 He was saying about, about the, about shiurim. So here you have a precedent that the Tzemach Tzedek is saying to on, on, on Tisha B'Av to eat in with interval the shiurim. My only, um, response to this is that that is talking about a preventive measure, talking about healthy people. But they're not choleim. They're, they're healthy. Now, of course, if they wouldn't-- if they will fast, they would become vulnerable to a, to an, to an illness. So here, they, they, they don't have a patur from fasting, e- essentially. Therefore, they, they, they, they-- the advice is to, to have, um, small amounts with, uh, intervals. But when the person is a chole already, so then halachah is a chole is patur from fasting. And therefore, I don't see from the precedent in the Tzemach Tzedek, therefore, we should start changing the general advice on, on Tisha B'Av and other fasts that if a person has to eat, then they, they eat normally. They don't have to start having small amounts with intervals. That's, that's my understanding. The only, the only thing which, which bothers me, having said what I've just said- The fact that the Rebbe puts it into the regime of Ben Hametzarim, I, I understand the Rebbe was collating important information, and he collated it from the Etz Mahatzelik and put it over here. But is, is the Rebbe suggesting here that you should take a follow the regime of Shurin for other fasts? I don't, I don't have anything more meforsh than

12:36 that. I don't have a mesorah on that, so I, I don't know. But I, I can tell you that the general, uh, guidance is a person has to, uh, eat. They just eat normally. What I did tell many people, the way they look at my phone over the day before Tisha B'Av, you think that everyone's, no-no one's fasting. Anyway, many people I advise them that they should fast as long as they can, let's say till chatzos or something like that. First of all, there's the inyan of al tifresh min hatzibur. If it's a tzibur of fasting, you should, you should, uh, be part of that tzibur. And that's by the way, a person did break their fast unintentionally. A person forgot it's fast and they ate something. Do they continue fasting or they... Well, they've broken it. They make it-- They continue eating. So there the halacha is al tifresh min hatzibur, and you continue fasting even though you had a break in the middle. That's one thing. The other thing is that, uh, there is a concept of a half-day fast that we just had in Yes od Shuva. So there is a value. If a person can fast part of the time, there is a value in that. I-I-I did tell and anyone I did tell them, I said, "Try, but don't, don't, don't try too hard. If your body tells you you need to eat, so then listen to your body." Okay, let's go on to the next, uh, thing which bothered

13:53 me recently. That is in Shabbos morning, uh, davening, after, after Krias HaTorah, before Ashrei and Musaf, we have this prayer of Harachamim Shoichein Meremim, Father-- Merciful Father of Mercy, Fa-Merciful Father whose dwells upon high, um, Hu Yefke Berachamim, Beracham Avcha Tzumim, with his intense mercy. You should remember the, the communities which were massacred, Al Kidush Hashem. And that's referring particularly to the, the communities which were destroyed by the Crusades, Crusaders in the year Taf Taf Nun Vav, Taf, uh, thereabout. This, this, these pogroms took place around the time of Shavuos. Some of-- One of them is a lot of detail. In the, in the Kinus, there's some quite a bit of detail about this. And that's the reason why even though at a regular Shabbos Mevorchim, we don't say Overachamim, but Shabbos Mevorchim Sivon, we do say Overachamim because that's around the time when the, the massacres which we are remembering the martyrs happened. Okay. What bothers me in this, this, this phrase is what-- why are we asking Hashem for Rachamim Hatzumim on those martyrs? They died Al Kidush Hashem. And a person who's killed Al Kidush Hashem is a, is, is a, his, his Nishamos goes to a tremendously high level. Now, you have here on the screen, you have Gemorim Sochim. It says, "Harugi Malchus," those who are killed by the government because of their, um, because of, because they're, they're being Jewish, et cetera. She'ain Kober Yocha Lamid M'chitzotzo. No, no, br- No creature could live being near, near, uh, anywhere

15:56 near them. And the Gemara says, "Who's, who are the Harugi Malchus?" He mentions Rebbe Akiva and his colleagues. They are sort of Harugi Malchus. But some Harugi Malchus were Suri. Their only merit was that they were killed by the government. They, they were tremendous, uh, tzadikim, um, you know, in their lifetimes. Elu Harugei Lud refers to two brothers who were Moser Nefesh. That they-- There was a, uh, a princess, a daughter of the Caesar who had been killed, and the accusation was leveled against the whole of the Jewish community. And these people, these two brothers, owned up as if they were the cr- the, the criminals, and they were put to death. And in this way, they exonerated the rest of the Jewish community. So these are, these are called the Harugei Lud. And so it says, She'ein Kober Yocha Lamid M'chitzotzo. So that is people who were killed in order to protect the Jewish community. So how much more so if they were killed because they, uh, refused to bow down to the, to a cross, to, to Avodah Zarah. So why, why, why are we seeking to invoke Rachamim, Racham Avcha Tzumim? That's what's really bothering me. So I asked Rabbi Nachman Wilhelm on Shabbos. I asked him about this, and he told me a story that about, I don't know, ten years ago or more, perhaps twenty years ago, in France, there was a very frum family, perhaps a Levoucher family, and they had a number of children, the youngest being called

17:44 Eliyahu. And for whatever reason, the, the father, he had built a mikvah in the house. In the house, for whatever reason, he built a mikvah. And one day, they couldn't find little Eliyahu. And unfortunately, they then found him in the mikvah, lifeless. Of course, they were very broken by this. And to think that because he did a mitzvah of having a mikvah, that should have been the cause for such a tragedy, was also obviously on their mind very much. And then shortly thereafter, he had a dream, and he sees a man with a full beard, Hadras Ponim. And the man, he says, "I am your son, Eliyahu." And the father in the dream, he says, "What do you mean?" So he says that, "I was in the times of the Toisfes, and I was killed Al Kiddush Hashem, and I was buried. But I didn't have a zechusa being, um, tevilled, being, being put in mikvah to pur-for purification. And therefore, they wouldn't... I mean, I couldn't get into Gan Eden fully without this tevilah. So I, I said I'm prepared to come down to Olam HaZeh again in the Gilgul to be able to have this zechusa of a tevilah. And so I came down, and I was in the, in the, in the body of your son." So that's the story. What, what Rav Nachman Yosef was trying to s-say is that even a person who's killed Al Kiddush Hashem, there is still room for further elevation. Yeah. I, I, I hear that.

19:27 I still wasn't satisfied with that as being the explanation why davka for the Yerugei, um, the, for the, for the martyrs of the, uh, Crusades are we seeking Rachamim Uvetzumim. And so I came... I did a search, and I came across this article in some journal which was published in, uh, Tof Shin on Beis. So it's very much a contemporary, and if someone has a better explanation, I'm, I'll be happy to hear. And what this person is suggesting is that there is a certain n-neches, certain, um, appeasement to the neshamah of the-- who is, of the person who was killed Al Kiddush Hashem when there is a vengeance on the, uh, perpetrator. And that's not, not always going to be the case in a vivid way. And therefore, that's the, uh, if the word is invocation, Rachamim Uvetzumim, that there should be seen the-- That Hashem, that Hashem should bring about, that there should be, um, the due punishment to the, to the, uh, oppressor, to the, to the, uh, perpetrator. And that brings a, a, uh, calm tranquility to the neshamas of the, of the Kedoshim. Okay. That's as much as I found. As I say, I did look around, but that's as much as I could find. Let's move on. Um, in searching, we came across this, this question which contemporary Sefarim discuss. If a person was killed Al Kiddush Hashem... So if a person was killed because, because he's a Jew, but not that he was given a choice, is that called

21:20 Ki-Al Kiddush Hashem? Is it called a Ka-Kaddish? So you have the classic story of Chanana and the seven sons, and they were given the option to bow to Avodah Zarah, and they refused. That is, that is, uh, the classic incident of Kiddush Hashem, Rachmana Litzlan. But then you have here a case where during the Holocaust, people were killed, not-- Because they were Jewish, but not that they had a choice to opt out. So in, uh... You have here the Sichat Tof Shin on Alef, and the Rebbe is very emphatic about this, that people who were killed in the Holocaust, they're all called Kedoshim. And because they were killed Al Kiddush Hashem, because the reason why they were killed is because they were Jews, and Hashem didn't Him domo. Um, and I saw other, other poskim also, Menashe Klein in, in, in, um, Mishnah Halakhot is also quite emphatic. Although some others are not so confident, but there, there is certainly... This seems to be the general view, that a person who's killed because he's Jewish has got the din of Nerach Al Kiddush Hashem, has got the din of Kaddish. Okay. Um, we're still in Tisha B'Av mode. So we have here the next question is about someone from somewhere in Russia. One of the Shluchim there sent me a following question that one of his... In Russia, it's very common that, that the graves have a photograph of the deceased. They take... There's a marble stone, and then they will make a photograph and

22:54 put it into a frame and stick that frame onto the, the marble stone. That's separately. They also have also busts. That's also very, very common. But e-even on a simpler level, just a photograph with a, in a frame. So there's this woman in his community that's become more Frum. And so she has learned that this is not the Derech Yisrael. So she took the initiative, and she removed the photographs from the gravestones of her immediate family. Then she asked, but she had heard that something, one doesn't take home anything from a, from a, uh, cemetery. So she's asking, can she take these pictures home? So I don't know how this in, you know, not taking something out of a cemetery, but that is true that a cemetery generally is seen as Oseh Behanot. The area which is consecrated as a cemetery is Oseh Behanot for other things. Uh, so let's say if it was a tree growing there and there's fruit, then you wouldn't... That, that, as far as I remember, that fruit wouldn't be, uh, allowed to be taken home and eaten. Now, here we have Mishnah Halakhot. The Mishnah Halakhot, it talks here about a, a, uh, a grave. A gravestone is Oseh Behanot. And, uh, it also, if let's say there had been a coffin had been used and then was n-not the right size or something, that coffin couldn't even be used for another Niftar. So there is an, a concept that a, a, a grave and anything which is attached

24:29 to the grave becomes Oseh Behanot. So therefore, those photographs being there as part of the gravestone would be Oseh Behanot. What, uh, what, what I'm not sure about is, if she's gonna take them home and look at them, that's the same thing if they had been on the gravestone, they were for looking at. Is that called a Hanot? Is that a problem that she's bringing them home to look at them? I don't see that as a Hanot. If you sell them, I understand. If you take the... Let's say, to take the frames and use them to frame something else, that would not be okay because that's having Hanot. But just to have them as they are, uh, at home rather than on the gravestone, I'm not sure whether that is Oseh Ba-ba-ba Halakha. Okay, we'll move on. So still in Tisha B'Av, Minhagim Chabad. It has, in Minhagim Chabad, "Ein noiachin lishon al ha'aretz." We not-- We are not accustomed to sleep on the floor, on the ground. "O losom even tachas midash oisom." Nor to put a stone under one's head. So... And the reference there is to Simeon-- Shulchan Aruch, Siman kuf nun he. So here we have in the Shulchan Aruch that there are those who are accustomed on Tisha B'Av night to sleep al ha'aretz, to sleep on the ground, and they put a s-a stone under his head. Then... So all right. So at first, I mean, until this year, I'd always thought it means simply that we are not

25:59 mehader in this area of, you know, s-of, of self-affliction. Perhaps, as the Mishnah Berurah says, adam chalush, a person who's weak, doesn't have to be machmir and can sleep on his bed. I al- No, I thought it's just, you know, we don't have to overdo it. And then I realized this year, possibly there's a diyuk here. Ein noiachin lishon al ha'aretz. There's something about not sleeping on the ground. And indeed, there's a Gemara Brachos. Which I looked up. There's a Sefer, uh, Shemiras Guf Va'Hanefesh, about sleeping on the floor, and he brings this Gemara. It's Brachos of sam chet beis. Said Ben Azzai, "Al kol mishkav shkav," sleep on any bed, "chutz m'nakarka," other than the... on the ground. And don't si-sit, sit on anything, but not on a beam. Okay, so not sitting on a beam because it's... you might fall off. Okay. But what's the thing about not sleeping on the ground? So Rabbi Yaakov Emden says it's got to do with, uh, because of the moisture, et cetera. The cold can, can be... It's unhealthy to sleep on the ground. And in my mind, my, my, my association was that we don't do t- There are certain things we don't do not to resemble how we treat a dead person. And like a dead body is, is put on the ground, therefore, sleeping on the ground would be resemble, you know, behaving like a dead body. I couldn't find that in... As I said, I looked at the Shemiras Nefesh, Guf Va'Hanefesh.

27:22 He doesn't mention this idea. And the difference is that when it says, "Ein noiachin lishon al ha'aretz," is it dafka on the, um, on, on, on earth or also not on a, on a carpet floor or on a lino floor or a stone floor, where the reason which Rabbi Yaakov Emden gives doesn't apply? Whereas if it's something because of behavior like mesim, it is... it would apply. And going back, since Sefer Minhagim says, "Ein noiachin lishon al ha'aretz," possibly he's extending that. Obviously, the Sefer Minhagim wasn't addressing sleeping on, on a, on an earthen floor. It's, you know, it's written in nineteen fifty or whatever. So it's referring to, uh, on a, on a... indoors and on a carpet or on a, on a lino, on a wooden floor. And still, "Ein noiachin lishon al ha'aretz," and I'm just suggesting that indeed, this, it should be, it should be applicable throughout the year, that we don't, we don't... We do avoid sleeping on the floor. Um, if someone has something more about this, now or later, please share with me. Okay. On question six, um, someone had asked me an interesting question. His boy is turning bar mitzvah, uh, and they're going to have an early maariv. So he's gonna have maariv at eight o'clock, and the boy is gonna turn bar mitzvah at nine o'clock. So is he yoitze maariv, which he davened at eight o'clock? When he turns bar mitzvah, he turns bar mitzvah at nine o'clock. He now has to daven maariv.

28:57 So is he yoitze with the maariv, which he davened earlier for his chiur of now? So I did look around. I'm sorry, I don't have anything on the, on the screen for today. Um, that it's okay. The Poskin says it is okay. And probably the main thing is because maariv is a din d'rabonan. Therefore, that's his yoitze with what he davened earlier. There's a chiur of davening maariv like, you know, Mincha, etc. What, what is certainly, um, necessary is to say Shema because it's... In any case, you're not yoitze with the Shema if you davened, um, before, you know, if you daven before shkiya, et cetera. You said the Shema, you still have to say Shema again. And so, right, this bar mitzvah boy would also have to say Shema, obviously. Right. So let's go into the question number seven. So here's a question about a person who is in the year of aveilut, zachron l'charlan. And, um, should he act as chazan? He goes to the omit every day, apart from Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh, et cetera. Should he, uh, uh... What about... So in this, in one recently published halacha for Minhagim Chabad, has asserted that you don't... he shouldn't be chazan because it's called moed, and also not to intensify midas hadin. Okay. So on this second point, it gives a reference to Kaf HaChaim, which I couldn't find, uh, in the reference given. What I can tell you is that, uh, for the last, I don't know how many years I've

30:40 been around, and there have been chiuvim, and myself included when my parents had passed away, and we davened, uh, on, on, on Tisha B'Av as chazan, and no, no one ever made any objection to that. It's true in Tov SheMeEm Ches, the Rebbe did not daven at the omit. And, uh, because that year Tisha B'Av worked out on a Shabbos and it was delayed to Sunday- So Rabbi Yonah Klein, alav ha-shalom, had yotzot on Yudov. So the Rebbe gave him to daven the Amidah, and they didn't daven the Amidah. Now, this, one of the reasons which you could say is this, the whole Rashomer Rabbi Broner writes about, uh, that, that conversation with the Rebbe, and the Rebbe explained why he didn't want to go to the Amidah and the various inyonim, which he wasn't happy about. But, um, the Rebbe, the Rabbeim would daven on Tisha B'Av, Betzina with talit and tefillin in the morning. So for the Rebbe to be chazan at Shacharit wouldn't work because to wear talit and tefillin in public wouldn't work, and to be chazan without talit and tefillin also wouldn't work. So Shacharit was out. So the question was, uh, the other tefillahs also. So the Rebbe already... And don't forget, the Rebbe wasn't a chil. He was, he was davening in, uh, during the year of his, the Rebbes had passed away. He wasn't a chil, and the Rebbe, um, for his personal reasons, stepped back from this. But that's not a reason to, uh, to establish

32:26 a minhag Chabad to say that there is such a minhag that a chil... We know it from generations. We know that there have been chil who have davened at the Amidah on the, on the, Tisha B'Av. And, um, it's a very big chayas to start introducing new minhagim, which contrary to what's, what's been the practice till now. Now, just to add a little bit of clar-clarification that in the, uh, this inyan of not, of an oval not davening at the Amidah. In the Polisher communities, they're much more machmir than us about it, more conscientious. So we are particular Shavuot and Yom Tov, and also in Rosh Chodesh. Polish community will also go not on Hanukkah, not on Purim, and possibly not on Lag BaOmer. And so they are, they are much more, uh, concerned about this. So the fact that you see that Shlita Hagri Sardin, et cetera, it could be from other communities there is such a minhag, but it's not a minhag which is known in Chabad, other than the fact that the Rebbe didn't daven at the Amidah that year when the Rebbes had passed away. But, uh, we have, uh, documented the conversation which he had with Rabbi Groner, and he explained why he wasn't happy to, to daven at the Amidah. One of the things that's interesting then, the Rebbe, um, asked what time's ma'ariv, Motza'i Shabbos. So they said twenty past nine. The Rebbe said, "But Motza'i Shabbos is when? Nine past nine. So what's this business of it

34:07 being all..." They said, uh, because people want to be able to come from their houses with their, with their, you know, um, Tisha B'Av shoes. And the Rebbe was quite dismissive. He says, "In Yekatirinoslav, you never saw such a thing." And later, he says, "It's vilde, vilde hanhoges," and, and he's really wasn't, he was, wasn't impressed, uh, with various inyonim which were being done. And so... All right. Let's go on. So here I had a question on Tisha B'Av morning. A man, uh, comes to shul, and he's not wearing tzitzit. And I want to give him an Aliyat HaTorah. Should he be wearing a tallit for the Aliyat HaTorah? So at the mo- on the, on the moment, I said, "No, he shouldn't be given a tallit." If there's a minhag not to wear a tallit, even though he's not wearing tzitzit, there's no, that's not a reason to violate the minhag of not wearing a tallit on Tisha B'Av morning. But then afterwards, I looked into Siman Tov in Shulchan Aruch where it says the minhag is not to wear tallit and tefillin in Tisha B'Av morning, but to wear tallit cotton, tachas begadim beli bracha. To wear tallit cotton without a bracha. So I still think that, that if he, if he just wasn't wearing a tallit cotton, that's not a reason to give him a tallit. Now, but since we're talking about this, so we have here the Mishnah Berurah says, "If he had taken off his tallit cotton at night and

35:39 put it on in the morning, yesho im hi shetzorich levorach alo ba baker." Some say he should say a bracha on the tallit cotton in the morning. And who's the source of the Mishnah Berurah here? It's Yaakov Emden in his siddur, where he brings the minhag of not putting a tallit and tefillin, and he says, "Venira li shetzorich levorach alo im pshatei balaila," that he should make a bracha in the morning if you put on tallit cotton in the morning. I think that the Shulchan Aruch says the opposite, and Rabbi Yaakov Emden saying different to the Shulchan Aruch, this won't be the first time in minhag. Now, what, what the history is here, the original minhag is not wearing tallit and tefillin at all. And now those... Here you got from the Tur. Now those who don't want to violate the minhag, but they don't want to be without tzitzit, so they put on a tallit cotton underneath. And then the source of the Tur is from the Ogur. He says, "Yechidim levoshin tallit cotton u'nogim tachas bigdeihem beli bracha." Now, what I understand is that they're saying you put on the tallit cotton without a bracha, and you leave the bracha until the afternoon. And just to explain a little bit the lomdus here. I understand where the Rabbi Yaakov Emden is coming from. It's seven o'clock in the morning, eight o'clock in the morning, and he's putting on a tallit cotton. Are you telling me that he shouldn't make a bracha, and he

37:03 should wait until two o'clock in the afternoon or whatever, then he's gonna make a bracha? And all this time, he's doing a mitzvah without a bracha. So Rabbi Yaakov Emden says, "Make a bracha." Now, so how do you respond to that? The, the response to that is that when we say a berakhah is ovel ha'asiyot, you make the berakhah before the act of the mitzvah. What does that mean? Does that mean that the berakhah only is effective henceforth or no, the berakhah is effective on the whole mitzvah? Let's say you were sitting, you were sitting in the sukkah, and you were having a drink of a tea. You didn't make a berakhah lech vesukkah. Ten minutes later, half an hour later, you have a bit of a mezonot, and you make lech vesukkah. So you're sitting with a cup of tea. That mitzvah was without a berakhah. Or do you say no? When you make the berakhah, lech vesukkah, it's also effective on your entire session of sitting in the sukkah. But not for us. You cannot make a berakhah, "Asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tsivenu," last so you're saying not doing. You say, "Asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tsivenu al birur chametz," and you're not doing anything. You have to do something. You can't... You can only say such a berakhah when you're going to do something. But if you manage to solve that technical problem, because let's say in the case you're having a piece of mezonot later, so then your, your... The berakhah is effective on

38:32 the entire session of that mitzvah. And so the same with the talis katan. The fact that you, you put it on the morning without a berakhah, but at two o'clock in the afternoon, you're gonna make a berakhah, that will work l'mafre'a also, that the entire session of that mitzvah has a berakhah. It's not like you've done a mitzvah without a berakhah. The berakhah will work l'mafre'a. So this is a... It's a, uh, kind of yesodistika difference of view whether birkas hamitzvos only work, um, forward or do birkas hamitzvos work also back, I mean, retroactively. It's just that technically they can, they can only be said when an action is being done. So Rav Chaim Shlomo Deutsch once showed to me, uh, explained, you see in Hilchas Pesah in Siman kuf lamed beis where the Alter Rebbe explains this concept of ovel ha'asiyot. It's not that the berakhah doesn't work backwards. It's just that the berakhah technically has to address an action which is going to be done, uh, presently. Let's move on. Okay. So someone asked me to a little bit of a birur, um, of a sicha which was recently published about-- And it addresses about the inyon of tzedakah at night. So this was published at, um, a couple of weeks ago. So actually, there were two sichas recently, published recently. This one you have here on the screen is from Aish Hatorah Menachemhaft lamed vav. And then there was earlier also in Yud Gimmel Tamuz, or is it the other way around?

40:16 Yeah. And earlier it was also talked about. We'll, we'll, we'll discuss this. Okay. So let's read this sicha carefully. The Rebbe says, "Although Laila loves man tzedakah. However, since there's a machshava, it's a machshava, and again, bedibur, talking about mitzvat tzedakah, that's okay." Um, the, the, the, the, the, the tzedakah will be done by boleket hahatzot ha'yom. So then the ma'aseh tzedakah will be in the right time, will be combined with the machshava and the dibur. Let's say, so this is by farbrengen, which typically was in the evening, late evening. And so the Rebbe's saying the machshava and dibur, which we're talking now about tzedakah, will combine with the ma'aseh, which is done in the appropriate time to have all the effects, um, already b'shaat hamachshava, the dibur, about the ma'aseh tzedakah. So it's okay to talk about and to think about tzedakah, and the act will be done during the day. "V'harei b'negeh lamachshava v'dibur," when you're talking about thinking about tzedakah, meaning talk about tzedakah, that isn't the reason of, uh, uh, it's not time, not zman ha'layla because it's not be'ofin, it's not that you're going from your location to another location where the ani is and giving tzedakah there. That's where you have the concept of lo sasig gvul re'acha, which is brought in Yerushalmi. Now, to understand what the Rebbe is saying here. So this is Yerushalmi in Shkhalim pe dalet. I think it is halacha dalet, um, where it says, "Rebbe Chinina bar Papa, he would have a mafli

41:57 mitzva belailah." The word mitzvah, as he mentioned in the Talmud, refers to tzedakah. Yeah. Mitzvah stam. So he would give out tzedakah by night. Why did he do this? He went to people's houses where no one's in the street, and he would drop in some money. And this they would not know. He was giving them in a respectful way. They wouldn't know who was giving to them and what Matan Besez. Chad zman, one time, Poga be'Rabon Yeruchaya, the master of the spirits confronted him, confronted Rebbe Chinina bar Papa. Omale lechein alfon Rabbeinu, have you not taught us or somebody. We have been taught, lo sasig gvul re'acha. You should not infringe on the border of your fellow. Omale, to which Rebbe Chinina bar-- And what was he saying? At night is the, is the time for... It's our time. The time of the ruchos. It's a time of, of, of punishment. It's a time of, of dinim, whatever. So why are you giving out tzedakah by night? Omale, so Rebbe Chinina bar Papa responded, v'lochein ksiv. They say, "Are you not aware?" There's a passage. Matan besese yifbe af. Giving tzedakah, uh, discreetly will subdue the Raf. Say, as a result, the spirit was, was-- became frightened over Reb Chaim bar Papa, whom he had challenged just earlier. and he fled. So we, so he, so we have this story of Chaim bar Papa giving tzedakah by night in the way of Matan Besaser. And this is, this was a-- he was challenged. It's, it's

43:40 Hasagas Gevul. He's infringing on the time of, of night, which is time of din. And, uh, he managed to explain himself adequately. Okay. So now let's come back to the Siddur. So this is the reference theory, Mishalmi. And this is-- It says the Rebbe, this is the Esod of the Chiluk in tzedakah between night and day. And if, let's say, you are putting tzedakah into a, a tzedakah box, so then that's a thing which should be done by day rather than by night. If the Ani comes and asks you for help, then there's no difference. If it's, if you are, um, how do you say, um, confronted by a poor person and ask-- he is asking for help, then there's no difference between night and day. Because in that case, when you are confronted by the Ani, then it's not just a mitzvah asase to give them tzedakah, but there's also a lo asase. Do not be tight-fisted to hold back to help your, your fellow. And that lo asase is applicable and as discussed, uh, many times, and it's been printed. So the Rebbe is here differentiating, and, and he's saying, yes, there is an inyon of, of, uh, not giving tzedakah balaylah when you haven't been, um, confronted by the poor person. Whereas if you, if you-- is a poor person there and asking, then you give by night also. Just before we go to the next slide, we want to discuss this a bit more carefully. We have here a quote from

45:23 the Arizal. At night when there is in more intensity of, of, uh, severity. It's not the appropriate time for tzedakah. And that is based upon this story in the Yerushalmi, which we just read. Let's go a little bit further on this. So we have here a few times the Rebbe told the same story. Here's a letter. This is in Igris Kodesh, volume Yud Gimel. "I once told my father-in-law that so and so saw me putting money in tzedakah, mipnei siba. There was a special reason. I was giving-- putting money in tzedakah balaylah. And he was very surprised. He said, "Well, what-- The Arizal says other-- otherwise." And the father, my father-in-law, the Rebbe says that probably he doesn't-- he's not so particular to give by day." Well-known story. A couple of times the Rebbe says it. What I found significant though, quote, "Is," he adds, "mipnei siba." There was a s-- There wasn't a regular practice. There was a siba here. Now, in another occasion, the Rebbe says the same thing, and he had-- "Once I told my father-in-law I had a sort of upsetting, um, conversation. I was in shul. I put in some coins into tzedakah after Ma'ariv. Had been a, a, uh, quite a while that I hadn't had the opportunity of giving tzedakah, and now I had the opportunity." And someone said, "Are you talking?" Da, da, da. A who-whole story. But now he explains what was the siba. I don't know exactly the details, but the Rebbe's explained that he

47:02 was in a situation for a while that he wasn't able to give tzedakah, whether he didn't have the money or whether he didn't have a pushka, I don't know. But here he had now an opportunity to put in tzedakah, so he gave tzedakah by night. But that was, that was an exception. Uh, and then here we have this has happened in Paris. And, um, okay. Sa-same story. Just to, just to give you where, where this happened. So what I'm seeing from all of this is that, that if there's-- U-under normal circumstances, the Rebbe is saying that it's, it's not a recommended practice to, to, to put in the pushka by night. We saw the Rebbe would come in for Shacharit or Mincha. We put in the pushka. We didn't see that by night. Um, if there's an exceptional, um, circumstance, okay, it's, it's not the biggest, uh, not the biggest aveira, yeah. That's, that's what he's saying here. There's a-- was a siba. So then he, he was-- He didn't have an opportunity earlier, so he did it then. Um, so I think that's, I think clear, clear enough that, that it's not, it's not, um, a luchats racha thing to go to, to be going out of your way to the pushka on, uh, at night. Um, if someone asks you, then you should give, yeah, because then you have-- Otherwise, it's lo saam et ezovcha, yeah. Lo sikmus et yodcha. If you already asked, yeah. But, uh, it's not a, not an luchats

48:27 racha practice. Okay. So being close to, um, Chof Ov, the eightieth Yahrzeit of the Rebbe's father. So Behem Shavta, recent discussion. So, uh, about the section Challas. So just word of the question, what would happen if you have only one loaf of bread? Should you cut it into two to be able to do Lechem Mishneh, or should you keep it as one to be yotzer, um, to, to keep it a sholeim, or what's better, to have it two slices? So we have here this story in, uh, Toldot Levi Yitzchak, which is from the Reshimis, from the notes of the Rebbe's Chanah, the Rebbe, the Rebbe's mother. And she says how they were really, uh, this is still where they were in, in exile, in this small, um, mud village in Chile. And, yeah, they-- One day, a, a young lady came towards the house, dressed not in Jewish clothes, and she was-- her face was semi, uh, covered. She knocked on the door. "Are you Rabbi Schneerson?" And she took-- From under her kerchief, she took, uh, she-- a loaf, and she-- a large loaf. And she says, "My aunt sent you this loaf of bread. I heard that your wife is not feeling so well." And, um, it tells a little story about who this, this girl was and who her uncle was. He had, uh, and was able to somehow smuggle, uh, some out, some, some bread to, uh, to help Reb Leivick occasionally. It was black bread, but it tasted very good,

50:13 and it took us away from thepain of hunger, and it wasn't even Shabbos. Wonderful. Now, then he writes the last line, which is relevant to us. Reb Leivic took a... He broke off two pieces from the loaf, covered them with a cloth for Lechem Mishnah. So this is very interesting that we have here that he has, he has a single loaf, which is Shalem, and instead of keeping his Shalem for Shabbos, instead he broke off two pieces to be able to fulfill the Lechem Mishnah. So are you fulfilling Lechem Mishnah with slices? So here you have a, a, uh, Teshuvah from the Netziv, the Meishiv Davar. And apparently, there was... When people would come, he says the, the, uh, his, his son asked him, he saw by his grandfather that when people would come a little bit late to the Shabbos meal, they would give them two slices of Lechem, of, of two slices of Challah for Lechem Mishnah. And, um, he says, "Are you yoetz Lechem Mishnah with two slices?" And you see that there are more talks about that if you have three Challahs for the Shabbos, you'll have, you know, one, one for the first night and one for the day, and then you'll have the third one. At least you'll have be able to have a sort of shlishis. You'll have a whole, a whole Challah. So it looks like it's better to have a whole Challah than to, than to br-break it into two to have Lechem Mishnah. And

51:39 he goes a whole pilpul about the meaning of, of, uh, Pesach by night, half a matzah, et cetera. The Kitzur, he says the following, that it depends how it was presented to you. If at the table it's brought whole and you break it in half, then you haven't been yoetz Lechem Mishnah. But if it was brought to the table, so to speak, that it was already cut into slices, two slices, you are able to fulfill Lechem Mishnah. So obviously, we're talking about Bishas Atzak, but he, he does say that with... you can fulfill the, uh, union of Lechem Mishnah with two slices if they're, if they're presented as such. Now, did Reb Leivic have access to the, um, Meishiv Davar, to the, the Netziv? Very, very likely. Not, obviously not while he was in exile, but they live in the same area. The Val-- The, the Netziv was f- married to Soloveitchik family. There was a closeness between Beis Harav and the Soloveitchiks. As we know, they're also Rebe-- the, the Reb Leivic got Semikhah from, from Reb Joshua Baer, who was his father-in-law. Um, so it's very, very likely that he had seen a Sefer of one of the contemporary Gedolim. The, the Netziv was born around the same time as the Rebbe Maharash, and I'd say he passed away, uh, you know, in Zion somewhere around there. It's certainly something which the Rebe- Reb Leivic would have had access to during his time as, uh, a Rav in, you know, in his years

53:09 in Coburnas. So it's very likely he did see it. But at any rate, that's what the, the Netziv's psak. And we all remember that the Rebbe would, at the beginning of the Havdalah, there was this large tray, well, squarish tray piled high with, with, uh, with, uh, marble cake. And before the Rebbe made Kiddush, he would take from that marble-- from that tray, he'd take two slices and cover them with a serviette or napkin in American, and, uh, and he would have that. And together with... after having made Kiddush, we'd have that. And the Challah, the two slices was the union of Lechem Mishnah. So there is, there is a, a Yissod for this. Uh, I think, um, we discussed this once in the past. Um, the Sefer Sha'al Itshion from, uh, Rabbi Lazarov. We're talking about the J- the Jewish prisoners during the British mandate, about using two slices of toast for Lechem Mishnah. But there is a, but there is a backing that two slices also the union of Lechem Mishnah. I want to just also throw in, uh, another thing which I, as I was browsing in the Toldos Levi Yitzchak. So they had... On one stage, the Rebbetzin describes they managed to get a Minyan. And for Shabbos Mivarchim, she says that the Reb Leivic said a Tefillas Rah. Now, those who are familiar with other Nusachot know there's a Tefillas Rah, which is said on Shabbos Mivarchim. And Chaim Sheyesh Ben, uh, Kavod, Chaim Sheyesh Ben VeParnasah, something. So there's

54:38 a Chaim Sheyesh Bohen. And Chaim that you didn't, you shouldn't have to, um, depend on other pe-pe-people for Parnasah. I don't remember the actual words, but she says, although Reb Leivic didn't normally say it, uh, back home, but here he did say it, and there were certain phrases which he said with tremendous Kavana. You know, that's the way she, she observes. Now, what's, what's fascinating is that for years I, I, I had heard that the Rebbetzin Chana had this Tefillas Rah photocopied, and she had asked Beryl Yunick, alav ha-shalom, to copy it for her, and she had it in her Siddur. She had this Tefillas Rah stuck in the place of, uh, of, um, of Birchas HaChodesh. So she would, she would, uh, keep... Some people say the Rebbe also said it. Anyway, but meanwhile, we do know, and we have seen even a photograph, photocopy, photograph of the Siddur with Tefillas Rah stuck in. And now this explains to me a little bit why she was saying this Tefillas Rah. Although it's not the Chabad Siddur, but this was so meaningful for her that during their time when she and her husband had been in this exile, and he had seen, uh, you know, the, the-- he empathized with, with the Tefillah here. And so it was significant to her, this tefillah of, of, of, uh, tefillas Rav, chayim sheyesh behhem, uh, parnassah, et cetera, and that you shouldn't be, uh, having to resort to favors, et cetera, et cetera. Just putting one and

56:15 one together. Okay, we're almost finished. Okay, then about our discussion about sitting or standing during Kriyas HaTorah. So someone sent me... There's a two-volume biography of Rav Ashkenazi, alav hashalom, of Prachabad, and he has two and a half pages about this inyan of standing or sitting. How the Rebbe would, um, when it was upstairs, he would stand, and when it was downstairs, the Rebbe would sit for Kriyas HaTorah. Downstairs, there was a raised bimah with a, with a wall around it. Upstairs, there, there wasn't. And he goes into this. He-- Some of the points he said are very similar to what I, uh, I had said last week and previously. But, uh, whoever wishes, there's an address. Uh, if someone wants me to WhatsApp this, I can forward them my WhatsApp also. And finally, about, um... Now, before we go to this, finally, someone messaged about the tzedakah at night. What about week-- making weekly online donations at night? Interesting question. What I could tell you is that in the Rebbe's addressing this inyan of tzedakah at night, he would say that writing a check at night is not a problem. The reason being that a check cannot be processed at night. It's only gonna ash tomorrow, it gonna have to be put in the bank. So weekly donations, usually it's, if it's going through a mosad, which is going through a bank, et cetera, then that wouldn't be a, an issue at all. Uh, you could ask what happens if you're giving a direct,

57:52 um, li- online transfer to someone who is in need, then, uh, maybe better to do it by day. You know, not, not tomorrow, earlier in the day, yeah. Don't delay. Finally, though, so we had this discussion about yichud in a car and how the Rebbe in Tov Shin Nun Alef had mentioned about this. And so someone sent me a, a flyer, a letter which was circulated in Crown Heights right after that farbrengen. And, and so the Rabbonim, Rav, uh, Malov, alav hashalom, Rabbi Ozder, z"l, Rabbi Heller, z"l, and so talking about this inyan which the Rebbe had raised. And the Rebbe, look at this, the Rebbe said, "Piske Dinim is the r-realm of the Rabbonim to Paske Dinim. I just-- My, my, my, my contribution here is to arouse that there's a shailah to ask a Rav a Paskens Dinim." So the Rebbe raised the point, but he says, "Details, ask Rabbonim." So they go for a few details, and, uh, bear with me, I'm just gonna give over those points. Number one, if a woman is, says, is a, a woman, a lone woman is allowed to travel in a car, in a taxi by day or at night if it's well-illuminated streets and where there is, uh, traffic, either human, uh, pedestrian traffic or, um, traffic in cars. So long as there's, there's people around, that would be okay. But point in base, they say, second point they say, uh, if that's not the case, they would have to, to tr-travel, uh, there

59:32 would have to be two anoshim k'sheirim, two trustworthy men in addition to the driver, even if the driver is a Yirashamaim. So that's if there's a journey, let's say, in country, then just one woman and two, two men would not be okay. And the third point is that, um, to make a point of trying to use a driver who is, uh, known as Adam Kosher V'dal, which means be careful. They have to, they had to be careful how they word this. Try to use a driver who is, uh, ele chi'id. And in, in order to avoid getting into any questions of halacha, where you can get a female driver, that would sep-separately, definitely be, um, preferable. And then they finish off with saying also be careful about yichud at home, et cetera, to be careful about yichud in a way which is appropriate for a bas melech. I'm gonna stop with this and wish you a guten Shabbos. We should, uh Yasher koach.