עקב תשפ״ד

00:08 Good evening. Good afternoon, actually. I'm here at the Ohel in a side room. Um, come to New York to participate in the Ya'ar Tenchalo. It's gonna be in the, uh, Gan Yisroel upstate in the Catskills. Um, so leaving soon from the Ohel. There's a group of, uh, camp-- of a camp having a rally in the background. So that's the sound you can hear in the background. So we're all working for the same-- It just reminded me of a, uh, story that there's a time where the, the, uh, the mitzvah tanks are going out a-and blaring music on the streets. And so there's a-- they went in Manhattan, they went to the courthouse. And so there's a, uh, music blasting outside the courthouse, and the judge calls over whoever. He says, "Can you get that music to stop outside?" He goes outside, and there's a mitzvah tank there, and they show that they've got a per-permit. So the judge says, "My mission is to uphold the law, and, uh, these people are acting within the law. So, uh, c-case adjourned until, till next week," whatever. So we're all working for the same purpose and connecting to the special, special moments today. This, this, uh, these, these few days of the eightieth yahrtzeit of the Rebbe's father, Rav Levi Yitzchok, um, was robbed in Kat-Katrinislov. So that's where-- that's where the celebration here. I'm gonna raise my voice as much as I can where appropriate so that we should be able to focus on the questions. Just

02:10 one moment. Okay, so let's go down to our first question. Some boys, some bochurim asked me. They're learning the ha-halachas of brachos on food, and it comes up that when you have fruit from Sheva Saminim, so then we would say in-- we say the bracha. I'll sh- I'll, um, what we call... In Yiddish, we call it the lamirchya. Really, it's called Bracha Me'ein Shlosha. And so the bochurim will-- So they say-you say the Bracha Me'ein Shlosha. Uh, and if it's fruit, not just from this Sheva Saminim, but actually grew in Eretz, in Eretz Yisroel. So here the Gemara says, and here you got from the Alter Rebbe in the Siddur, in Birchat Hanenin. He says, "Uvi'eretz Yisroel al ha'aretz ve'al peri se'ah." Say the bracha for Eretz Yisroel and its fruit. Not just ve'al haperos in the abstract, but more in the possessive, peri se'ah. Not only that, if you have fruit of Eretz Yisroel which were exported, also we'll say al ha'aretz ve'al peri se'ah. Okay. That's, that's on disk two. Then we have a second halacha. That's... That was Halachot Beit, Pe'er Beit. The Halachot Gimel on Pe'er Beit says the following. What happens if you have had mezonot and you had wine, and you had of the sh-fruit of Sheva Saminim? So then you're gonna incorporate all three, uh, or two, if whatever the case is, into one bracha. And so instead of having-- saying it three times, you're going to say the same text. And in the beginning and the end,

04:05 you're going to incorporate the various elements. Um, so let's see. You'd say, "B'nai d'lcha." Well, thank You, Hashem, al ha'aretz ve'al-- for the land, ve'alamirchya for the sustenance, ve'al pri hagefen, ve'al pri hagefen ve'al haperes. Baruch ata Hashem. Al ha'aretz ve'alamirchya. Ve'al pri hagefen ve'al haperes. Okay, this is also emphasized in Yayim, how we don't say ve'al haperes, but pri hagefen ve'al haperes. Another discussion. Meanwhile, the bochurim asked the following. So you say al ha'aretz for the land, ve'alamirchya for the sustenance and the fruit of the vine, ve'al haperes. What happens when you say al ha'aretz ve'al peri se'ah if it were fruit from Eretz Yisroel, and let's say the wine is from France? You'll have to say al ha'aretz ve'alamirchya, ve'al pri hagefen, ve-ve'al peri se'ah. Now, that's very confusing because peri se'ah would then seem to be the peri se'ah of the, of the vine, which is obviously not the pshat. You want to say al-- that the peri se'ah refers to the aretz. So here you have on the screen from a Siddur which, um, which is in, in talking about when you have wine from Eretz Yisroel. So then it's al ha'aretz ve'alamirchya, ve'al pri gafno, ve'al peri se'ah. There it's clearer when you said pri gafno. But if you say ve'al pri hagefen ve'al peri se'ah, then that's quite confusing, and I don't really have an answer to that. So yeah. I, I looked around and couldn't find a, a solution to that. Let's move on. These bochurim also asked

05:49 me what happens. We know that there's particularly one word in the Torah which we have a different sources how it's spelt, whether it's spelt with a he or with an alef. And we have the word, um, um- I think it's So, um, the word dako can be s-- is-- In our Masorah, from the Alter Rebbe, and there's many early manuscripts to support this, the word dako is spelt with an alef. As we say also in Tehillim, is it chapter sadik, I think. You got, um, um, However, most other Ashkenazim spell it with a hey. And the word dako is like many words in Hebrew, which are descriptive-- words which are describing something, they will finish off, like gedolah, et cetera, but they finish off with a hey. So dako is also they pronounce it, they spell it with a hey. Okay, so we know that if a Sefer Torah has got a misspelling, so then it wouldn't be kosher, and we wouldn't do Kriyat HaTorah with a Sefer Torah which has got a word which is spelt wrong. So now what happens if a Chabadnik turns up in another shul where they have a Sefer Torah that's spelt with a hey, or if a, um, a, a, a Veltezhit comes to Chaba-Chabad shul, and then he sees a Sefer spelt with an alef. Can they have a Aliyot LeTorah-- Can you have an Aliyot LeTorah in a Torah which is spelt not the way your Masorah is? So the answer is yes. And here you

07:32 have in the footnote, if I... You have a note here from Rav Chaim Noah in He says, that if you have a Sefer Torah, even according to the Alter Rebbe's Masorah, but if you have a Sefer Torah written with a hey, you don't have to switch the Sefer Torah. So, so here's the question: Why is it, why is it, uh, okay if, if, if it's, if it's spelt wrong, why is it okay? So the back-- the backing for this is the shita of Shulchan Aruch that Kriyat HaTorah is valid even if the Sefer Torah isn't kosher. So the vort is like this. But just like a mezuzah, if it's missing a letter, the mezuzah isn't kosher. So, too, if the Sefer Torah is missing a letter or is spelt wrong, so then you haven't fulfilled the mitzvah of Sefer Torah. So you have that the mitzvah Sefer Torah isn't valid, but it doesn't necessarily mean that Kriyat HaTorah is contingent upon a valid Sefer Torah. The strongest proof to this is that it says in the Gemara, In the times of the Mishnah, they would have a scroll of Bre-Bereshit, a scroll of Shemot, scroll of Vayikra, et cetera. And so the Gemara says you can't use those scrolls, which are written on parchment, et cetera, um, the same writing. It's not respectful. So although this, this e-eighty percent of the, of the Sefer Torah is missing, it's got, it's just got Sefer Shemot, for example. So the problem is not respectful. But other than

09:17 that, it would be okay. So we don't rely on that lekhatchila. You don't rely on this, and if you know the Sefer Torah's got a letter missing, you don't take out the Sefer Torah. That's true. But to say the Sefer Torah, that if it's middle of Kriyat HaTorah, it's being used for Kriyat HaTorah, to say that therefore, I can't have an Aliyah, once it's being used, one, one can be makehel and rely on that opinion. Um, so I ga-- I said this over, I was in-- at a, a Yahir Kaleh, a Kinus Torah in Lugano. So one of the participants asked the question: What about Parshat Zachor? So another one of the participants, a Rav Lieberman from, uh, from Syria, Gristat Hanachocham, uh, used to be a Rosh Yeshiva in Lucerne. He was ca-- As a Gristat Hanachocham, Kochas Hachasach in the Ram Mesiches. Anyway, so Rav Lieberman, he raised the point that actually by Parshat Zachor, the having... That comes from a Sefer Torah, a kosher Sefer Torah is more important because it says, There it says, There should be a remembrance from a Sefer. Therefore, the conclusion for that is, although we're more easygoing about Kriyat HaTorah in a Sefer Torah which may be spelt not according to our Masorah, but, but for Parshat Zachor, one should be that little bit more, uh, a lot more, however, much more careful about that. All right, let's move on. So also these boys, they sent me a whole list of questions before I went down

11:03 to Lugano. One of them was about what's, uh, guidelines about re-mentioning one's mother or father by name. So every frum kid knows that you don't mention your father's name, uh, or your mother's name. It's not respectful, not part of Kibud Av VaEm. What happens if you will have-- want to have an Aliyah to Torah, you're being called up, and they ask you, "What's your father's name?" Or very often, you see someone comes over to a kid and asks him, "What's your name?" He says, "Oh," he says his name and his surname. But they want to know who is-- who are his parents. They know the family name, but who are his parents? Is the child allowed to say the parent's first name? So let's read. To, to, uh, save time, we-- I went to the Sefer Otzar Hakovod of, uh, Kibud Av VaEm, and he has the following entry. He has that the Chiddush says, "One is allowed to mention the father's name if, even if he's present, if you add a title." As you say, "My father," Ayni Ovi, Aba Mori, Mori Ovi, et cetera. That's the opinion of the Chiddo, and probably this finding would follow that. But the Mashal says that you're not allowed to mention your father's name, even if you add a, even if you add a title. Then he goes on to say in the next term, and that was in paragraph Mech of Tes, paragraph Lamad Dal, and he says, however, where there's a need, then you would

12:38 be allowed to mention the parent's name by adding a-- with mentioning a, a title. So if someone asks you, m-w-who, um, who's your, who is, who's your father? So you can say, Reb Pliny, Reb so-and-so. Um, or you could say, my father's name is Kach V'kach. I, I'm not, I'm not so satisfied with this, uh, Psak. By the way, he's saying that clearly only, um, Shalova fan, yeah. But fan, everyone should be more careful. All right. That's, but that's, that's n-there's no real need usually to mention one's father's name in the, in the, the parent's presence. But it's all very well to say for a man, my father's name is Reb, whatever it may be. Um, what do you do if someone asks you your mother's name? Um, that's-- it's not so common to say, uh, with, with a title. Mm. So what, what, what would you do there? So don't think that's ade-ade-adequate of a, of a explanation, of a guidance. Okay. But it seems to be then that if there's a need, one would be allowed to, um, respond. And by saying so-and-so is my mother, that itself in a way is a title. That's what some of the parties wanted to say. Okay. So now, as I said, I was in Lugano. You may remember a video of someone who, uh, comes by the Rebbe by dollars and is, uh, talking about Oyser Heish and his, uh... And the Rebbe is very abrupt with him. And this person actually lives in Lugano.

14:22 He's now probably in his nineties. But, um, at any rate, so the question is, if a person is unfortunately still an active mumer, he's, he's still-- he believes in, in Yashke, uh, and he's Jewish, and he's, he's amenable to put on tefillin. Can you put on tefillin with such a person? Do you say, "Oh, he's gonna have wrong machshavus," et cetera. So this, this was their question. Can you put on tefillin with someone who is involved in a different religion? So what you have on the screen is from Siman Kuf Pei Tes in Oruchaim, and it's talking about when it comes to benching. Towards the end, we have a bracha for all those who are present. And so, "Ken yevorech eson v'kolon u'yach." So now, if there is present someone who's a mumer, who is a Jew, who is an apostate, who has left Yiddishkeit, mumer means he's switched. He's switched to a different religion, different faith. Do you ex-- well, no, if there's a goy present, you say, "B'nei B'ris," to exclude the goy who's not a Ben B'ris. What about the mumer? So the Magen Avrohom says you should also exclude him by saying, "Ben B'ris," to exclude this person. Now, with all the respect that the Alter Rebbe has for the Magen Avrohom, he also has great respect for another less well-known posek called the, and he's safer known, the Even Ha'ezer, which at the back of the Shulchan Aruch. And the Even Ha'ezer disagrees with the Magen Avrohom on this, and

16:07 he takes the view that a, a, uh, a mumer is still has the status of Ben B'ris. Therefore, there's no point in saying B'nei B'ris to exclude it because the mumer is still a Ben B'ris. And he talks there about shlichas, that the mumer is still eligible to be made into a shliach, um, because achapi shechato yisroelo. And you can see here on the screen how the Alter Rebbe indeed paskens like the Even Ha'ezer, at least in relation to Benching. V'chen ha'mumer b'chalal b'nei b'ris, even though he's gone astray, but he's still included in the status of B'nei B'ris. Shachapi shechato, although he has sinned, yisroelo is still considered a Yid. Therefore, when there's a mumer present, you don't say colon ya'ach b'nei b'ris to exclude him because he is, he is part of B'nei B'ris. And therefore, coming back to our question, can you put on tefillin with such a person? He's chayav b'mitzvah tefillin, and you can put on tefillin with him and, uh, worry about, uh, his machshavus. It could very well be, um... Yeah. Right. Um, someone's pointing out about back, going back to names that in, uh, Ribon shel olam and be-be-before we check out Sefat Eretz on Yom Tov and in Yizkor according to Minichabad, we mention the mother's name. That's, that's definitely true. And when-- That's, um, as I said before, when you are, when you are, uh, mentioning your mother as the, her, as your mother, that in itself could be seen as a title, which makes

18:10 it less of a problem. You know, in a sense... Yeah. Okay. Another point with these boys asked, probably something new for them, see a yard for a secretary because in Chabad that's not so popular. And so they're asking, what's the rules about this yard? Is it-- Has it got a kedusha? So after looking around, I saw the following. There's a sefer which I have, which specializes all about Shamas, called Kinzei Hachodesh. And he says here that the bells and the various other ornaments placed on the, uh, atzat chim, on the wooden rollers of the secretary, um, they are considered tashmishe kedusha, which means they are appurtenances of something which is sacred, and as a result, they should be put in genizah. If they, if they are no longer usable, they should be put in Shamas kind of thing. And then he says about the... Then he says, "So too, the articles which are placed on the secretary bekirias, even if they're not made there to adorn the secretary, but they are there always to accompany the secretary," and therefore he calls them tashmishe kedusha. He quotes here, uh, Pr-Peter Scheinberg, who's gave him that psat. Now, the yard, even if it wasn't fancy, it would also require genizah. And certainly, if it is a nice piece of silver one, it's considered also a, a tashmishe kedusha and the pertinence of the secretary. Just interesting to, uh... On a side, someone was in contact with me this morning that they are trying to declutter their home,

19:59 and they found they have many, many, uh, old videos, videos of the Rebbe, cassettes, and then they also have got old mezuzah cases. So they-- What can they do with them? So I told them that the videos, you are allowed to wrap up, wrap them in a bag respectfully, and then you can put them and discard them respectfully. They don't-- The tapes themselves do not have a kedusha. Whereas the mezuzah cases, as you can see here, they've got the mezuzah is tashmishe kedusha. It's got Hashem's name written in it, et cetera. And so the mezuzah case would also be, have a status of tashmishe kedusha, which one wouldn't be allowed to discard, um, in a disrespectful way. Um, just today, someone sent to me a question. He saw... Oh, sorry. Um, I'm on for now for question number, number six. The last slides are not in the right order. Um, someone is asking the question, he, he was eating mezonos, and, uh, after a while, he decides, "Well, I've had so much. Really, I should have said hamotzi, but now I'm not interested in having more mezonos, but I realize I have to do the full benching, but I would, uh, I would like to have a piece of fish now." So let's look at this carefully. Two, two scenarios. One is you've eaten a fair amount of mezonos, not an excessive amount, but you are hungry and you want to have more because you don't have any bread, so you want to have more

21:43 mezonos. So, so then here you have from the Alter Rebbe in, I think it's Peh Bas also, Peh Gimel, um, that if you started off having mezonos as a snack, and then you change your mind that you wish to now have enough to have a sheer of a suda. So then to avoid the question, what do you do now? Do you make a new bracha or not? The Alter Rebbe says, "Say bracha achrono on what you've had, then take a little break, then you wash until you're dry, have hamotzi, and then you'll have the, the, the rest." Um, but did he have a ovda. I once had a case. I arrived in Heathrow Airport to get, get a nine o'clock flight, ten o'clock flight, and I, uh, they tell me, "I'm sorry, but you are actually not booked in for this flight." For some, some, some mix up. So I wasn't on the flight. So they said, "But we can put you on the afternoon flight." So now I had relied on having a kosher meal on the plane. And now if I'm put onto a next plane, so there's not gonna be a kosher meal for me there. So I was a bit concerned how will I ma-manage for the next day. It wasn't worth to go back into town and back, um, etc. So what, what, what could I do as far as, uh, having kosher sandwiches? So Baruch Hashem, this is useful for people to know that in Heathrow Airport, you can

23:13 go to some of the, uh, news agents, whatever they were. They sell sandwiches, and you can buy kosher ca-- sandwiches, um, the hechsher, etc. So I went there, but then all the sandwiches there on the mezonos. So I'm a, a very, I'm a very tiny fan of, uh, of mezonos bread. So what do I do now? So I, uh, I bought a couple of packets and decided this is going to be my meal and, uh, used that for... I made hamotzi. So if you know that you're going to have a lot of mezonos instead of bread, so then it's hamotzi and finish. What happens if you switch in the middle? That's complicated. And therefore, the Alter Rebbe says, "Take a break, make a bracha achrono, take a break, and then, then wash and have hamotzi-- and make say hamotzi for the remained." That's what he says there in Halacha Tal. That's one scenario. The scenario which you have o-over here is different. The person, let's say, has had more than enough of mezonos, not intended to have any more mezonos, therefore does not-- is not intending to say hamotzi, does not have any-- and not gonna have any more of that. Just wants to have a piece of fish. So now he's going to say full benching, which means he's had a suda. Or do you say no? Uh, this is, this is his dilemma, yeah. Do you say, "Well, since you're going to say full benching, therefore you're in the middle of a meal,

24:38 therefore you don't have to say bracha on the piece of fish?" Or do you say that till now, it wasn't a meal. So although you're gonna have to say benching, but it's not, doesn't have a status of a meal, and he's, he remains we're in, in a, in a shofek about that. All right. So, so again, that doesn't have a clear answer. Let's move on. Oh, so then we had the question of someone had noticed it's become quite, uh, popular in the last ten, twenty years of these reinforced tefillin And especially the, uh, Tzadikim who are going to, uh, the Mesires Nefesh to protect Yidden in Eretz Israel. The, the Yidden in, in, in its-- its soldiers in Tzal. So they take separate-- the Tefillin with them, but the regular soft, um, uh, velvet bag is not so safe for the Tefillin, the pressures, et cetera. So you got these bag, these, these tubes. They look like a big thermos, and they... You can fit the Tefillin in. Actually, they got a special size for Kabbalah Tefillin. You can fit the Tefillin in, and then they also have, like, a wrapper around it for the Tallis. So, but the way it is, it's like a tube, and the Shaliach sits on top of the Shalosh. So this person was asking, "Is it okay to have the Tefillin Shaliach sitting on the Shalosh?" So this is actually not a new question, and you can see it here on the screen. On Siman Chof Ches in Ichas

26:18 Tefillin. Siman Chof Ches, Seif Ches. So you can read it on the text. When you put the Tefillin, the Tik, in the pouch, one should be careful that when you take them out, you should not confront the head Tefillin first, because then you're gonna have to put it aside to take the Shaliach first, because we have to put on the Shaliach before the Shalosh. And therefore, it recommends to use a long, narrow pouch, and the Shalosh will be lower down in the pouch, and the Shaliach will be on the top of the-- uh, towards the front of the pouch. And he's-- then he adds, there's no problem that the Shaliach is on top of the Shalosh. Even though the Shalosh has got a greater Kedusha, because ultimately is the inner content is the same. Yeah. The Parshios inside are the same. So this is the approach which it has in the first paragraph here, that it's okay to put a Shaliach on the Shalosh. Why is the Shalosh more Chamur? Um, well, the idea that you got the Shins, et cetera, um, that may be the reasons why the Shalosh is, uh, more Chamur. But it says, nevertheless, it's okay to put the Shaliach on top of the Shalosh. The second paragraph said, there are those who are more sensitive to this, and they will not put the Shaliach and Shalosh in one pouch. Rather keep them in separate pouches, and somehow the Shaliach is a little bit further forward. So I don't fully-- I

27:48 never really understood the two pouches, um, which we don't-- That's not, that's certainly not our custom. Custom is to have the Shaliach and Shalosh in the one pouch, and the Shaliach is to the left, and the Shalosh is to the right. Okay, so to, to, uh, sum up, when, when necessary, there is, uh, certainly, uh, well, to rely on to have the Shaliach on top of the Shalosh, especially with these tubes, they are normally carried horizontally, and therefore the Shaliach and Shalosh are actually side by side, not one on top of the other. Nevertheless, the, the general minhag is not so, as we can see, that we, we all know this, that we normally put them side by side. Okay, let's move on. Okay, we got into a whole thing about Tzedakah by night and at night. And, uh, on the bottom left of the screen, we have the Sicha from Rosh Chodesh, Rosh Chodesh, Menachem Ovad, Tov Shin Lamed Vav, which was, uh, published recently. And the Rebbe was talking about giving Tzedakah at night, and he mentions the idea of Hasag Hasgevul. So he went-- This last week, he went through the whole story about the Amalek being upset with the Tana who was giving out Tzedakah at night, and he says, "You are encroaching on my, my territory." And the Tana gave him a, a, uh, a, a strong answer. But meanwhile, the Rebbe here in this Sicha says that then about Tzedakah at night is a difference whether you're putting Tzedakah

29:26 into a pushka or if an oni, the poor man, confronts you and asks for Tzedakah. So here it seems to be that if a poor man confronts you, then for sure you give Tzedakah by night. But by putting money in a pushka by night doesn't seem to be recommended. And, um, we showed in the-- perhaps other sources, but afterwards, there's someone who put together a Sefer called Virurei Minhagim. His name is Rav Shabsi Friedman, lives in Spas. Um, and he in his Sefer, this is really when I looked first went to, to, to research this. He has a whole list of things which we don't do or do, do at night, and he talks about this, and he gave me a reference to a Sicha, as you can see on the screen, from Tov Shin Mem Daled. And here the Rebbe at the Farbrengen, which is in the evening. The Rebbe's Farbrengens were u-- were almost always at night. And he says, um, he says that the inyan of the-- not giving Tzedakah by night, that's only if you go to look for a, say, an oni to whom to give Tzedakah, as in the story in the Yerushalmi. But if the oni comes and asks you, then that's, that's, that's, that's for sure you give them. Then the Rebbe says, "Arei Kasher," when we're talking about the Hachlata to give Tzedakah, that's for sure not a problem. Well, de rab ze, if you give the Tzedakah to the Gizbar, to the Gabai, you, you

30:51 put it into a Tzedakah Pushka. If you write a check or a pledge so that since they're there, the oni is only gonna get it the following day, that's not a problem. But here in passing, the Rebbe said giving it to a His board to a treasurer of Tzedakah or putting into a Tzedakah pushka. So here, the Rebbe seems to condone the idea of giving in a Tzedakah pushka by night, since it's going to act- reach to the poor man, um, at a later stage. And similarly, we have here another sikha, um, on the sheet which I gave you this morning. We have a reference to where the sikha is. I'm just looking at it. It's on top scene there. And again, the Rebbe is talking about Tzedakah, and he says, "Af al pi," as we say, "ki medubar." Uh, he's talking about the idea of Tzedakah ba-layla. "Af al pi ha-dosr ba-layla," heps from the ganze shach la-vitari of Tzedakah ba-layla. Akal pon-- kal pon ki medubar kam pon, um, um, ve'af terain di Tzedakah in a, in a Tzedakah pushka. When you put the money into a Tzedakah pushka or kamimina, kamadina that people give, uh, Tzedakah with a check, then there's no problem to send Tzedakah ba-layla. So there seems to be, um, conflicting sources in the Rebbe's sikhas where they-- he sees giving to a Tzedakah pushka at night, um, being an issue or not being an issue. Last week, we had the story of the Rebbe when he was in

32:21 Paris, and he put in the Tzedakah, but that was under special circumstances, he explained. Um, someone just sent me a message this morning. He's-- he remembers seeing the Rebbe, um, before Maariv, after Maariv, putting some pennies and some coins in the Tzedakah. So-- in the Tzedakah pushka. So it's, as I say, it's not s- it's not, it's not so clear-cut. Um, doesn't seem be-- It doesn't seem to be a, a standard thing. But if someone has a need to put money in Tzedakah at night, so that's, that's certainly, uh, fine. Yeah. Okay. So following it on from this discussion, so someone asked, "What about st- giving Tzedakah in an impure location?" I'm going to just see someone put something on the chat. Right. So someone's asking what kind of Tzedakah cannot be given at night. A very good question. Well, the, the, the point is to go... The story in the Gemara is he, he went to this person's house and dropped it through their, as we'd call that, their letterbox. He, he, he went to their house and gave them Tzedakah. So that kind of Tzedakah would be preferably done by day rather than by night. Uh, so this comes to the following question: What happens if, let's say, uh, nowadays people have their, uh, handheld computer, and they could be sitting in a place where they can't say, "L'dih ve'tahire," going through their emails or their WhatsApps, and there's an appeal for Tzedakah, and then they can click on it and then send

34:02 by credit card, send a donation. So he's asking, is it appropriate to give Tzedakah if you are in a, in a location where you can't say a bracha, it's not a... So, yeah. So the, the, the, the issue is, though, he says, "Often there I'm, I'm more relaxed. I'll go out." Then with, you know, with WhatsApps, it's, it's gonna be the fifteenth down the-- down the... And it's gonna be forgotten. So he'll deal, deal with it now, it'll happen. If he, he doesn't deal with it now, he li- very likely will forget about. So this is the question. I was-- I really I wasn't so comfortable because, um, Tzedakah is a mitzvah. So, uh, is it okay to do a mitzvah in a place where-- This is kind of what it boils down to. Um, so the answer is you can. The answer is you can fulfill a mitzvah if-- even if you can't say a bracha. So, so let's say putting, putting on tzitzit. Yeah. People after mikveh, they put on a pair of tzitzit. Maybe they even put on a f- a new pair of tzitzit. So I'm gonna throw this one in. Um, people change. You go to mikveh on Friday afternoon and get ready for Shabbos. So like you change your shirt for Shabbos, you should be putting on a fresh tallit cotton for Shabbos. There's a, you know, either a special dedicated one for Shabbos, or at least a clean one for Shabbos. As big as Shabbos, the tallit cotton

35:35 is no less important a garment than anything else. It should have-- It should be b-begged for Shabbos. So that means that after mikveh on Friday, you're going to put on a fresh tallit cotton. Now, when you come out, you're going to make a bracha, "Hashecheyanu vesheamdanu hilchot mitzvot tzitzit." Nu, when do you check the tzitzit? So inside, before you put it on, you have to check the tzitzit. Like before you put on the tallit, you check the tzitzit. Is it okay to check tzitzit in a mokom where you can't say a bracha? And the answer is yes, it's okay. So I looked around and I saw here, um, a reference to a couple of places. There's Piske, Piske Teshuvas and Shulchan Aruch involved. He says, if it's a mitzvah which the opportunity may later not be available. So therefore, let's say there's a person in, in a, in a bathhouse who needs to have help, um, for sure you can help them as it's a mitzvah of gemilut hasadim and kavod, hidur. It's not a kavod as such, but as, as respect, someone has a, a need to help them. And one could give Tzedakah also in such a location. Um, right. So if people need something there and to give them something there, it's, it is, it's not as if the Habris is not there, yeah. You can't say a bracha, but the Habris is there, and you can do a mitzvah there. Um, there's a quote here from Rab Shlomo Zalman Auerbach also.

36:59 Be-tzdakah mishtaver that if, if there was a-- if he was- Meets up with an oni and the place is not clean, then you don't have to say, "Oh, let's go somewhere else." Like if you're stuck somewhere else. You can give him right there and then even though the place is impure. That's, you know, related to the famous idea, why don't we say a beracha? Shekosianu besevivot sevod or for giving tzedakah. So the reason, one of the reasons given, we have never... The guy is starving hungry, and, uh, you're gonna say, "Oh, wait till you're-- And go put on your garb tool and say a beracha." Meanwhile, the fellow is starving. Uh, so that's not a wise thing to do. Right. Um, the last thing we have on the list is about the, uh, discussion about whether a, an Ovad Rahman Islam should or shouldn't be chazan on Tisha Bav. And the, uh, the, the, um, the arguments, uh, a-against was saying since he is a subject of the, of, uh, Dinim, therefore, he shouldn't be expo-- Exce-um, bringing on Dinim, uh, at this time, at Tisha Bav, which is a time of Dinim. So s-one of our listeners said when he was in this position, he was told that that is not an issue for the simple reason that, unfortunately, on Tisha Bav, all of us are Aveilim. Therefore, why should the oval be any worse than anyo-anyone else? All the Yidden are Aveilim for the Herbin. Um, and so he said that doesn't matter

38:27 if the oval goes to the Omid. And as I said, as far as I remember, um, people were-- Who, who Achiyuvim would Davin at the Omid, uh, on, on, uh, on Tisha Bav too. The Ricky is that nox of Ichiflayim, so it should be in the Chov of Ichiflayim. And just to finish off with a famous, famous word of the Rebbe's father of Machazshir, of Sunna Alma Samayro, Kemosha Ovla HaGal Toheiro. So there's a lot have been written up recently about this, but I just read this letter of the Rebbe that he wrote, um, in the year... It was-- He wr-he writes to someone through, uh, Rav Havlin, and it was with-- It was a few months after his father's passed away. He says he's very, uh, behind in certain things and because of the tragedy which he had that his father passed away. And then he says a word which he heard from his father. So he says, "Machaz shinum sunna sama samayro," a needle which is on the steps of the cave where there is the, uh, the, the pool of water. So he explains that Machaz is a needle, and that refers to the, a, a neshamah beguf because the neshamah beid is created... A, a human being is created different to anyone else. Uh, all other creatures were created in one go, but the human was created, uh, first a body and then a neshamah was breathed in because the-- Our function is to connect the upper and the lower, the

39:57 Eliyon B'yoso and the Tachton B'yoso. That's what a needle is. A needle is to sew the Eliyon B'yoso and the Tachton B'yoso. That's what a needle is for. So that's the Machaz. Machaz is a neshamah beguf whose mission is to connect the Eliyon and the Tachton. I saw in another quote that's like a, a, a lei, a Kabbalah is sew, uh, sewing together the upper of the shoe and the lower and the sole of the shoe. That's another, uh, angle. But Bechalal, it's the idea of a needle s-to connect, to sew together the upper and the lower. The Mayro is a cave. That's Elimazur. It's like a deep pit, and, uh, it's, it's a challenging environment. So then you have Maylo Sama. Machaz Shem Maylo Sama means that this, this pit, it has a, it has an engine of Maylo. That through this, the neshamah can fulfill its mission and reach even higher than it was before. That's the Maylo Sama. So then it says, Machaz Shem Maylo, Hoyomo Maylo Chomeivi Bamayim. Maylo Chomeivi Bamayim is the engine of Rotzi Veshei. And he talks about not being, not being Kaim Ahad, um, Ka-Ka-Kaim or something. He calls it Roshnes Azoyah, Roshnes Azoyah, not being stuck in one cup, but rather being... You can... Whether it's a Torah mitzvah, whether it's in, in, in your other yonim, not necessarily to be stuck in one place, but you are flexible. You can-- If this is required, this. If this is required, you're ready to do that. That's

41:37 the way I understand. That's the Maylo Chomeivi Bamayim, that you are instead of being just focused on one particular direction and not e-exclusively, which might be your own particular tendency. But for care, the fact that you're flexible is a, is an expression of bitter to, to someone which is higher than oneself, to the Habichas, Habichas Rotzim. That's the Moyo Maylo Chomeivi Bamayim. Then he says, Kemosha Ovla HaGal Toheiro. So it talks about the Gal, and then he quotes the famous, uh, story in the Gemara, in Yevamot, the Kaf Kaf Aleph, HaMad Aleph, about when Rebbe Akiva was on a ship, and the ship was sh-was, uh, got shipwrecked, and it broke apart. And there was another of the Chachomim who saw this ship falling apart, and he was sure that everyone in the ship would have drowned. And then he sees one Chachom who had, who had managed to survive, and this was Rebbe Akiva. And he asked Rebbe Akiva, "How did you survive?" So he says, "I, I held onto a plank of wood." And then he says, "Val Kol Gal VeGal," every wave as it wa-- As it was raising, uh, um, coming upon me, "Na Neisile," kind of he bowed to kind of-- To subdue himself to the wave rather than standing up to resist the wave. He was misbakel to the wave, for example. And in this way, he survived. Actually, look up the Gemara in Nedarim sefich of alef mid alef. And then you know the, the way to over--

43:19 to survive the challenges would be through a bitul rather than a, uh, a resistance. That's berech, the understanding from the Gemara. And then he says, the kol gal ve'gal. So the Rebbe connects this with the inyan of geulah. Geulah, which means exile. And geulah besoch geulah, an exile in an exile. So I had the skus several years ago when the Knessah Shluchim of Europe was held in Russia. So we went on chof o. We, we spent-- we went to, we went to Alma-Ata. And the cemetery is a Goyshe cemetery, and I felt really nauseated to walk through that cemetery. It's a Goyshe cemetery, and you've got all of these, um, Goyshe, um, stones. But also they've got... It's very common in Russia to have, uh, busts of the images of the, of the, uh, deceased. So you're passing by all of these like little statues of all these, uh, grabagoyim from, from the region. And this is where you're going to, to Rebbe Leivick's, um, resting place. So you have to pass through all of this until you come to Rebbe Leivick's resting place, which is surrounded with a metal fence, which is in Russia quite common, that they would have family plots surrounded with a metal fence. And that's where you have, where you say, I felt really this g- this galus b'tokh galus, um, multiplied a few times. Actually, at that, uh, kinus, there was someone named-- by the name of Moshe Garelik. He had been in Yechidas. And at the time, the

45:00 Rebbe had a svara of exhuming the remains of his father and bringing them, uh, to Israel, to, to, to America, I don't know. And then the Rebbe kind of, in Yechidas kind of looking into space, so to speak, and his zol, zol, zol, zol blayben. Let it stay where it is. And, uh, so anyway, so the-- coming back to the gal. So just like you have a story of Rebbe Akiva who says gal and another gal, and that, that all of that, those waves brought him to a state of taharah. So the Rebbe says also here by the, by, uh, the inyan of Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi's father, geulah achai geulah, kemoshabah leha gal. Tohorah brings the state of taharah. The Rebbe says, oh, help him. Bekitzur ve'ranenu shochech ne'ochah, veyishitzir hagulah shleimah, moshiach tzidkeinu. And the baal hayelulah, and our Rebbe b'roshom, b'simchas olam al roshom, b'tsiyyon ir hakodesh, veis hamikdash. Um, zo zen oineinu, ve sh-- b'simchas olam al rosheinu. Bal tum.