נצבים–וילך תשפ״ד

00:07 Good evening. Welcome to tonight's shiur. Today is Thursday of Nitzavim-Vayelech. This is the last shiur of תשפ"ד. Be'ezrat Hashem, Motzei Shabbos Shuvah. Hope to be able to give a shiur like the Shab-- the similar content to Shabbos Shuvah drasha. Um, don't ask me what I'm gonna talk about. I haven't got there yet. Meanwhile, let's to-- take a look at our questions which we have on the list, which I hope you've received in, in due course. Um, so we have a lot of discussion recently about tzitzit, uh, four corners of a blanket and et cetera. And so one of our listeners sent me a question: What about wrapping yourself in a nice, um, large bath towel after the bath? Our question is obviously only by day. By night, it's not a problem because there's no chiyuv of tzitzit by night. So is it an issue or not? So question, re-rephrase the question. Is a blanket called a garment? Would you go out in the street wearing a blanket under normal circumstances? Probably not, yeah. So the... You've got on the screen, you can see from the Sefer Piskei Teshuves where he wants to say a heter for bl-blankets and aprons and, um, the kind of thing which you'd wear over your clothes when you're having your hair cut, uh, or similar. He also says even Purim, Purim outfits to say that this-this-- that wouldn't be a problem of, of needing to have tzitzit because they're not, not, not worn for as a normal garment. Having said

01:56 that, in the footnote, he gives a reference to the Sefer Hisoreros Teshuva, which is also on the screen. Hisoreros Teshuva is Rav Shimon Sofer, a grandson of the Chatam Sofer. This Sefer was printed, uh, in תרל"ד. That's, uh, eighteen seventy-four. And he actually is not so convinced about... He's talking actually about a, a, a sheet worn whilst having a haircut not to s-s-dirty your clothes. And he says actually that if it's your own, if it's-- if a barber comes to your house, but you're using your own sheet, that becomes a problem. If it's a borrowed sheet, you go to the barber's, it's not yours, not a problem. It's only if it's your own. So then he says better to make it half cure or to give it as a gift to someone to avoid the question. So whilst the Piskei Teshuves himself is more lenient, but he does quote Hisoreros Teshuva, Rav Shimon Sofer was machmir, which connects to what I've shared with you in the past, where the Friediker Rebbe notices, uh, how his father, the Rebbe Rashab, would cut off a corner of the cloth which he-- before he had a haircut. And he was-- He just-- The first time he noticed this, and he was, um, quite, quite, quite, uh, intrigued. And so there is-- so there is there room to be machmir on a, on a four corners garment which is not worn as a normal way. Yes, there is a room to be machmir. Uh, there are those who are

03:33 mehikel. So that's basically what we remain. A big towel which wraps around your whole body is a room to be machmir, yes. I'm not talking about just wiping yourself in, you know, in the mikvah, et cetera. That's, that's not an issue at all. That's not called wearing. Wrapping yourself around as you would wear a cloak, that does raise a question. Okay. We go into the next question. So here's a, uh, uh, someone contacted me. They asked me... They live a-- They live in New York, and he's got on Erev Rosh Hashanah two items on his to-do list. One is to go to the Ohel, and there will be a very big line. Another one is to go to the barber, and there will also be a very big line. So if he can't, um, align himself, sorry for the pun, um, if he can't do both of those in the same day, which one should he do on Erev Rosh Hashanah and which one he should do a day or two early? So at the time, I didn't see it as a serious question, but, well, it is actually, yeah. So let-let's take a look. In Shulchan Aruch in סעיף טו קפ"א. This is unfortunately not present in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, which starts off קפ"ב, but that's the דיני of Erev Rosh Hashanah. Since סעיף ד, the מחבר, Yosef Caro writes, "מכבסים ומסתפרים בערב ראש השנה." One washes. Interesting, we use the word מכבסים. In Hebrew, you've got a word for bathing is

05:08 ר-ר-רחיצה, and כיבוס means to wash clothes. Um, to wash dishes is a third word, is הטחה. Interesting. I didn't notice this before. But meanwhile, it says you should have a haircut Erev Rosh Hashanah. The Rama adds, מנהג אשכנז, uh, encouraging the inyan of going to mikvah on Erev Rosh Hashanah. And then about going to the Beis Haknesses and to pray there and to give tzedakah, to give it, uh, to the poor. So we've got here two things which are both bro-brought in Shulchan Aruch to be on the agenda for Erev Rosh Hashanah. And therefore, there is a legitimate question here, which one is, which one is, uh, more important to be done by B'yo'y on the very day, and which one can be a day or two earlier? I don't have a source for this, but, um, my reaction was go to the Ohel Maharsha Erev Rosh Hashanah and have your hair cut a couple of days before. Or whatever con- is convenient. Now, what you have in the, on the, uh, lower part of the screen is a quote from the Sefer Mateh Efrayim. Mateh Efrayim is a Sefer specializes in the Halachas of Tishri. So this is actually in Siman Taf Reish Chof He. This is a, this is the, uh, chapter which talks about sukkahs. So, so he writes the following. "Mi She..." One who did not have a haircut before Rosh Hashanah, and he's got, "Sharos Haruim Legeleach." He's got... His hair needs a haircut. So then he has a Chiyuv

06:48 to cut his hair, have a haircut on Erev HaRegel. So from this sentence, I found it, it is interesting. Is it a Chiyuv to have to have a haircut on Erev Rosh Hashanah, or is it if you need a haircut, then you should do so Erev Rosh Hashanah? You follow the difference. Um, so it's told that, that the Rebbe had a Minhag every Erev Shabbos to use scissors and cut a little bit of the hair behind his ear because the mitzvah to, to sha- to have a haircut will cover Shabbos. Most people are not Nayak in any way at, uh, like this. When they need a haircut, okay. You see? But n-not, not necessarily, um, every Friday to have to have a haircut, yeah? So what he's saying here-- what seems to be here, he's talking about Erev Sukkos. But that is, if you have Saros Haruim Legeleach, so the same thing would be Rosh Hashanah. Let's say if you had a haircut last week for whatever reason. You, you felt, you held, felt you needed a haircut. Is there a Chiyuv to have another haircut Erev Rosh Hashanah? I don't think so. As he says, "Saros Haruim Legeleach," and although he's talking about Erev Sukkos, I think the same would apply for Erev Rosh Hashanah. Um, he then says... Well, on the other hand, there is emphasis to have a haircut Erev Yom Tov, that you should-- when you come to Yom Tov, you should look, uh, put together, not unkempt. And the, the

08:12 language of the Gemara, "Shelo Yikon Es HaRegel Kashehu Menubal." Don't enter the Yom Tov as you're looking, uh, like a tramp. I, uh, beg forgiveness of all the tramps out there. Okay. Um, you are allowed to have a haircut any time of the day, but it's preferable to have it before midday, and it's preferable to have it-- If you need to-- If you can choose between Erev Yom Tov and the day before, it's preferable to have it on Yom Tov. Unless you're worried that you're gonna be so busy on Erev Yom Tov you won't have the time, then it's okay to do it the day before. All right. So the idea of how-- We've, we've seen here a couple of points. There is a preference to do it on Erev Yom Tov, yes, and that's what we have in the Mishnah. But if there's, there are other pressures which may, uh, which you're aware of, then it's okay to have a day before. The case that you should come to Yom Tov looking, um, respectable. Um, whereas... And f- you know what? For that matter, if a person feels that they won't be able to go to the Beis HaKnesses on Erev Rosh Hashanah because it's too busy, also to go a couple of days before is also fine. And we saw this by the Rebbe. We saw that the earlier years, the Rebbe would normally give out lekach on Erev Yom Kippur and on Hoshana Rabbah. But as the community grew and the amount

09:33 of people who were coming became, it became too much to be able to manage on Erev Yom Kippur and, and Hoshana Rabbah. So it became a day before and two days before, and so it's B'simchas. So if you, if you don't think you managed to go to the Beis HaKnesses on Erev Rosh Hashanah, and it may be, uh, also, um, perhaps you can't handle the amount of, of traffic which will be there. All right. So if you go a couple of days before, it's also, uh, it's al- it's all Erev Rosh Hashanah, broadly speaking. All right. But, uh, between the two, having a hair, a haircutting Erev Rosh Hashanah or, uh, going to the Beis HaKnesses, to the, especially to the Ohel, I felt that the, um, going to the Ohel is, um, more, uh, is more applicable for Erev Rosh Hashanah. Okay, let's move on. So now, one of our dedicated shluchim here in United Kingdom wants to give out something for Rosh Hashanah. So wants to give out sachets. It's become a popular thing to give out honey before Rosh Hashanah. So the-- he managed to find some kind of sachet, uh, which is like, um, well, it's a very small envelope made of plastic, and you can tear it at a particular point. It's like ser-- uh, not serrated. It's, um, like a... It's, it's perforated. It says, "Dotted line. Tear here." Okay. Well, on that dotted line, there's-- is writing. So if you tear on the dotted line, you're gonna be

11:10 tearing through writing. So he asks, "Is it okay to use on Yom Tov?" Thank you. Someone's suggesting instead of the word sachet, you hear the word pouch. Okay, fine. As long as you know what we're talking about. Fine. So now tearing through writing. So we can look in now in Siman Shin Mem, which is in Hilchas Shabbos. We've got, should we call it, heading miscellaneous. All little bits and pieces. You've got Shin , Shin Mem are the miscellaneous, uh, issues. So one of them is about the issue of erasing, of Mochek. So then we have Mochek in the original Melacha is you're erasing in order to create space to be able to write. Mochek Al Menas Lechtav. The Alter Rebbe writes in Shin Mem Sif Daled, "V'divrei Sofrim Oselim Mochek Shelo Al Menas Lechtav." You're not allowed to erase even if it's not for the purpose of doing-- be able to write in that place. Because of this, you're not allowed to break an ugah, a cake, which has got writing on it, which has got letters on it. Even though all you-- you're not interested in, in, uh, you're not interested in the li-- writing. You want to eat. But it is notably e-eras-erasing the letters, and therefore, you're not allowed to. You can give it to a child. Just a little bit of history. The traditional hachnosas lacheder, bring the child to cheder with the whole thing, with the talus and with the cake, which has got writing on it. There was a

12:52 time going back six, seven hundred years ago where this was done, and it was done on Shavuos. Like, yeah, Martin Torah was... So then became a whole question, can you give the child the piece of cake which has got writing on it on, on Shavuos? So e-eras-erasing the writing. So this is where the background to this, where it says you are allowed to give it to a child 'cause he's, he's, he's enjoying it, whatever. Now, I'm going to digress for a moment because this is a well-known... There's a well-known, um, opinion that there's a difference between writing which is from a different material and writing which is made from the very same material. So you got biscuits which have got writing on them, um, petit four, pota-pot... What's it called? Petit beurre or whatever it may be. Uh, crackers which have got writing on them. So the Noide Bihudo on hi-in his, in his notes in the margin of the Shechinah called Dogal Nervaba. So there he differentiates, and he says if the writing is made from the very same material, you are allowed to break those, the, the, uh, the cracker. It's not a problem. And the problem is only if it is something like icing or something which is, like, like ink on paper. The Alter Rebbe does not seem to hold of this, and that is evident in Hilchos Pesach, where he talks about the savorah of, of, uh, naming the matzahs. If you have three matzahs for Kohen Levi Yisroel to

14:26 have a stamp, and this one will be called Kohen, and this one will have a stamp on it, Levi, and this one will have a stamp on it, Yisroel. And he says that's not okay because when you eat the matzah, you're gonna be erasing the na-the word Kohen, Levi, or Yisroel. So evidently, the Alter Rebbe does not accept at all this chidush of the Noide Bihudo, and writing, even if it's from the same material, would still be a problem to eat that cookie. Then there's another savorah if you put it in your mouth at once. Well, Shach amais. Baruch Hashem, nowadays, I think Rav Anash are particular not to use crackers which have got writing on them. Baruch Hashem, there are other varieties of crackers which don't have writing on them, and so fine. Let's come back. So, so erasing, erasing a, a text wi-by, by eating it would be a problem of, of mochek. Mochek shelo al menas lechateiv. There was some time where people were... who smoked cigarettes, w-and there was a concern on the side of the cigarette is printed Alfred Dunhill or Marlboro. And so those who are mehadrin and still smo-smo-would smoke, but they wanted to avoid this, they would, before Yom Tov, talking about Yom Tov, not Shabbos. Before Yom Tov, to take a magic marker or something and to erase the, the, uh, the writing, that there shouldn't be a problem of mochek when they're smoking their cigarettes. So Rav Aryeh is pointing out in the ancient world,

16:07 it was common for them to cut in-- the letters into clay or stone, right, which, which kind of diminishes the, the message, the... or the explanation of... or the hetter of the, of the Noide Bihudo. What about pills? It's a good question. And the, the, you got, you got here, uh, or literally with... It is a, a separate discussion. You got, and two forms of pills. You've got, like, tablets, what we call in England, and they've got writing, sometimes one or two letters. And you've got sometimes capsules, which have... Or, or for that matter, some tablets, and they've got writing on the actual tablet. All right. That's, uh, these are good questions. We'll have to discuss with, them another time. Let's come back to our topic. So now, therefore, just like to break a biscuit, you're tearing letters. So the same thing to tear a wrapper which has got w-writing on. So we're careful not to tear the writing. So the shliach having bought a, uh, s-supply of these pouches, sachets of honey, and now he's got a problem. So you ask, is it not a hetter like you're allowed to dum lacha, to cook food on Yom Tov? Would you not use the same hetter to be able to tear a-pa-part the writing? That's under, under the inyom lacha seichon nefesh. It's melatah dum lacha, which relates to writing. So there I was a little bit, um, in doubt. And so I took out this seifer which you have on the screen, a contemporary

17:36 seifer called Yom Tov Kel Chaso, where he takes the view also that you're not allowed to tear it. Um, you're not allowed to tear the wrapping of food, uh, where there is writing because, again, because of mochek. And why is it not? Because, well, it's not actually making the food. If it were, if the tearing would be making the food, then perhaps it would be okay. This is a rather side issue. The food is there. I mean, here it's to able to access the food, so you want to be able to tear. So that's a bit shvacha. You might even call it machshira yochef nefesh. However, at any rate, the bottom line is that it is-- the view is that it's not o-not okay. So we'll have to manage without it. Okay. Okay. I'm not gonna get, um, distracted into the, um, writing on the pills because I prefer to talk about stuff which I prepared for rather than, uh, getting into saying stuff which later I have to apologize for. So let's, let's move on. Let's move on. So now we're going for, um, question number four. Chumra done three times. So this is from some yeshiva, uh, in the United States, and asking a certain bocher, he's called Yeshiva, comes new to Yeshiva. And for three times, he's worn a jacket for davening. And then he realized it's a little bit uncomfortable. Prefer just to have, you know, a bit more casual. So does he have a, a problem of a neder? And

19:16 if he does have an, a problem of a neder, can he undo it by HaToras Nedarim, which is done Erev Rosh Hashanah. Okay. So the, if, uh, there is certainly a hiddur to daven in a wearing a more respectable type of clothing. The ˈlashon of the Gemara there, or the ˈlashon Shulchan Aruch, that they would be enwrapped, if that's the right word, with a cloak when they davened. And the way it's described in the Shulchan Aruch, where he talks about the ten requirements for Krias Shema, he talks about ituf. So he says, the beged elyon, wearing a jacket, that's the way you wanna make the ituf. So the wearing of a jacket for davening is certainly, uh, an appropriate, uh, chumra. Um, now, how this works is, if you did the, this chumra once with the intention of doing so indefinitely, then already it's a neder. But if you did not have a, a long-term plan, you just... And if you have it, put it on once, but you say, "B'fi shel, I don't want to continue this," also, that's not a neder. But if you put it on without a long-term plan, and you do so three times, so there'd be stamah, because it's been done three times, that is considered a neder, and that's discussed in Shulchan Aruch, um, in, I think it's in ˈresh chof ches yed dehe. Okay. So now we come to the second part of the question. Would HaToras Nedarim on Erev Rosh Hashanah undo such a vow? Are

20:57 the vows of Erev Rosh Hashanah-- Oh, sorry. Is the HaToras Nedarim of Erev Rosh Hashanah effective? Now, let me tell you something. You have... There's a Sefer called Derech Hachaim, written by Reb Yaakov of Lissa, um, probably a contemporary of the Alter Rebbe, Mitteler Rebbe. He wrote many sefarim, and he wrote the Sefer Derech Hachaim. In the Derech Hachaim, he says, HaToras Nedarim does not work for, for the vows which you are aware of. It only works for the ones which you've forgotten. And his basis is because it's Shulchan Aruch, it's in ˈresh chof ches yud daled. It's if you're daled, it says that the person, the petitioner for the abs- absolving of his vows, has to enumerate. He has to lifgoyr haneder. He has to say what the vow is. So therefore, since on Erev Rosh Hashanah, you're not, uh, detailing which vows, which vows you're asking for, uh, to, to be absolved, therefore it doesn't work. Now, what's very, very interesting is that in our siddur, we have a ˈlashon in HaToras Nedarim, . Now, in my other hobby, in, uh, in, in research of siddurim, this is from the Siddur HaBaal HaTevurah, a new edition. So we have from the first print of the Shulhan siddur, it doesn't have those words, . In-- That was in Taf Ayin Zayin. In the second edition, which is Taf Kuf Beis, there it does have these words, . So don't blame the Shulhan. The Shulhan passed away a hundred years before his siddur was printed.

22:51 But the, the earlier printer put one ˈdosu, and the later printer put in . There's a Sefer you can see on, on the screen, a Sefer called Shaarei Tziyon. Shaarei Tziyon is mentioned by the Alter Rebbe in, uh, one of the Ma'amoriim. It was like, um, imagine like a com-- like a compendium of small tefillahs. Taking chatzos and, uh, what you say by Besalom, and what you say for . It's like, uh, not the real siddur, but the com-- the companion, the, the other compendium of... So this is Shaarei Tziyon. And, uh, in the Shaarei Tziyon, the particular edition which you see on the, um, taf lamed alef, he has this ˈlashon, . Okay. So then at the end of, end of the petition of Shimon HaBose, we say, . Um, . So this is the apology. That really I should have enumerated, but I can't. I'm, I'm, I'm not asking for absolvement for the vows which are-- cannot be absolved. And therefore, it should be as if I have, uh, enumerated. Let's explain a little bit more. Not all vows can be absolved. So I'll tell you, this bocher also had another thing. He started doing hitas, and now he wants to make a HaToras Nedarim. He shouldn't do hitas. I'm not so sure whether we're ready to get, to give him a heter. Let me tell you something. I had another, uh, case a few years ago. There was someone who had an eys sara. He was in very real trouble with pri--

24:35 He had been in prison. Uh, for-- He was accused for, uh, drugs, uh, smuggling, and he had been, he had been, uh, it had been planted on him, and he was in real eys sara, and this was in somewhere in Eastern Europe. At the time, he made a commitment to keep Rabbeinu Tam's man. Baruch Hashem, sure, he was, he, he was, after several months of, uh, of trouble, he was finally, he was acquitted, and he was able to go back to Eretz Yisrael. Now, Rabbeinu Tam's man is seventy-two minutes after sunset. In Chutz La'aretz, at least in our part of the world, it's not a huge difference. Another ten minutes, fifteen minutes. In Eretz Israel, the whole trans-- the learning from-- Bedikas Choshes is only about twenty-five, twenty minutes odd. So Rabbeinu Tam's is another good half hour plus. So it's a quite n- quite a, quite a... So he wanted to undo his vow, which he made be'ezzar. And he asked me, and actually I, I wasn't ready to... My feeling was you made a vow be'ezzar, you c- you can't, you can't backtrack on it. So not every vow can be undone. Yeah. So let's come back. So the reason why the Shechinach says, "Soruch lifrei ha'neder," is so that the one who's absolving your vow, the chacham or the bezdin, they should be aware whether they are absolving something which is nitan l'chator, which can be absolved or not. Okay. So now in the se-- in the chatas nedarim, we go, we

26:15 finish off, we say, "The vows which cannot be absolved, they won't be absolved." I'm all among, so therefore I'm asking just for the ones which can be absolved. So as a result, we have, uh, the way it's presented in our, in our siddur, this nusach, is the chatas nedarim does work not only for the unknown and the forgotten vows, but also hayedim li, and therefore that would be legitimate. In-- You can read at the second column on the screen that there's a reference to Sfas Emes on Yeredeh on that, um, on that spot. And there's a sefer called Kol Nidrei. What an appropriate sefer, which specializes about nedarim. It's a very much a contemporary sefer. You can see it. B'nei Brak taf shih samuch hei. And he talks, he brings up several poskim that chatas nedarim on Erev Rosh Hashanah does work even for vows and commitments which you remember, and certainly these things which are hanhagos toivos. So yes, there, there is room to be mekil, that you can rely on the chatas nedarim. Once, once it's known that this vow can be undone, then, uh, Erev Rosh Hashanah would work. Okay, let's go on to the next point. So now several people ask me this. Does it, does it work for a, um... How do, how do we deal with women's nedarim? Now, um, I understand that in-- I've never seen it, but I understand in some communities, they, they have the, the... There's three people sit up front or however, and then

27:58 everyone else, they have like everyone's rattling off chatas nedarim all in one go. In Chabad, we don't do that. In Chabad, we have a whole roster, and you have, uh, going around the table. Each one stands up and says his piece. In some communities, they do it wholesale. You got everyone says it together, and they say, "Mutta lochem, mutta lochem, mutta lochem," and, uh, uh, ev-everyone's, uh, uh, absolved. Okay. So now here's a bit to the question for women. Does it work for a husband to, um, petition and to-- for his wife's, uh, nedarim to be absolved? So he does bring this sefer. You can see it's from the Sefer Kol Nidrei. He does bring some who do, who do go for that. But then he quotes other poskim who say, "No, that's not the minhag." And I think it's from Shlomo Zalman and others. That's certainly not the minhag. It's not the minhag for husbands to ask for chatas nedarim for their wives' vows. And so what is their... What's the backup plan? The backup plan is that women say Kol Nidrei. Kol Nidrei is a declaration that if ever I will in the coming year make a vow, it shouldn't, shouldn't be binding. So that's the backup plan. Okay. So why don't men rely on the backup plan? That's a good d-discussion. Meanwhile, I saw in his notes, he brings a very nice explanation. Why are we not so, um, you know, not making an issue for women to have a chatas nedarim?

29:33 Very nice. There's a sefer here from Mishnas Yosef. Mishnas Yosef, Rabbi Yosef Lieberman, he passed away a couple of years ago. He was one of the, uh, poskim in the Sadigera community. He lived near Shalaim. He's got a sefer meyuchad on... He's got... I, I got to know him, not personally, but I got to know him. He's got four volumes on Mish- on, on Sh- Shvuis, on Mishnayos Shvuis. So there's four volumes explaining that, um, halacha, Mishnayos Shvuis halacha. Well, then he's got several volumes of Shalas Shavuot. So now he writes the following. A woman's lifestyle is different to a man. It could be to-- Let's say a woman goes through, uh, she'd be, uh, bezrat Hashem, in a healthy state. She will become, at some stage, get married. She'll become pregnant, and then she'll give birth, and then she'll have to look after children. So when a woman takes on a ka- a, uh, a hanhaga toiva, is l'chatchila anticipating that her lifestyle will change, and that there'll be a time when she won't be able to keep up. And so unlike a man who's a bit more predictable, his life, uh, you never know, but more, more predictable. Therefore, he makes a commitment. It's a commitment. For a woman, because her lifestyle is-- has its natural, um, changes, signif- very significant changes in schedule, as a result, their hanhagos, their commitments to hanhagos hatovah are, are, are seen as very much, um- As and when possible. Beautiful. I think it's a very nice

31:10 explanation. Okay, but the point of that's the meaning. And, uh, we talk about husbands for wives, and what about girls? A husband for a wife is gonna have-- can do ma'apar et nedarim. Whatever. And then, so this whole idea, which it says in the Gemara, a person who wants to avoid the problem of nedarim, you should make an, a, a statement on Rosh Hashanah. That's for a man, because if he makes a vow, he's stuck. A woman, her vows are, are, are, uh, subject to if her husband wants to absolve them, they're going to, to, to disrupt them. He has the power to afar as nedarim, as we all know from Sukka mintai. That's possibly why the whole meaning of ha'toras nedarim for women has not been instituted as a standard. Okay. Let's go on to another totally different question, but also in, in Yona deYoma, ner neshamah for Yom Kippur. So the person who asked me this, I believe, has, uh, um, neither parent alive. And his wife, her father passed away a few years ago, and now is asking the question, should you have a separate ner neshamah for the-- his parents, a separate ner neshamah for her parents? So we go the... This is discussed in Shechinat Bichlal in Siman Tof Reish Yud. They didn't know about Yom Kippur. And look at the top of the screen, we have from the Sefer Eliyahu Rabba. Eliyahu Rabba is a commentary on the Levush. So the Levush says that it talks about a ner

32:44 for neshamas of avot ve'imot. Mashma de'b'shnei mesagi-- b'shnei, b'shnei mesagi be'echad. For both parents is enough one, one yartzeit candle. He doesn't talk about husband and wife. Meanwhile, he just says one man f-for his father and mother is one candle. Then he quotes from the Sefer Ha'amar Hakol, who quotes from the Targum of Megillah, uh, probably the Targum of Shenei, I didn't check it up, where Haman is saying-- complaining to Achashverosh about all these indulgence, indulgences of the Jewish people. And he says on s-- the night of Zohar Rabba, of Yom Kippur, on the eve of Yom Kippur, they light many candles. The amount of children they have and the amount of parents they have. So the fact is the amount of parents seems to suggest that they would have, uh, a candle for each parent. Maybe. The amount of children. So this reminds me of the Shabbat Zohar Licht. The Shabbat Zohar Licht, I think I mentioned this last week, how the m-original meaning was to have a strand dedi-dedicated for each member of the family, and then you take all these thin strands and make them into a, into a large stubby candle. Uh, that's, that's how we possibly do this meaning of the Skum Benehen, or they used to do it. That's not done nowadays. Okay. But meanwhile, so we have here the Eliyahu Rabba said, "Well, the candle is enough." Then he says, "There may be a hidur to have one each." I heard that the Rebbe did have numerous candles,

34:14 but we're talking now for everyone. What's the Hidurot Harabbim? So the general Hidurot Harabbim, you can see here now we're going-- we're looking at, we're looking at the, uh, Mateh Ephraim again. And he says, "Ve'ein oysnin rak ner echad leish uleishtei." That's about the gezunterlich, sorry. "Um'lvad haner hazeh," besides the gezunterlich, which in Chabad we call the lebedik, lebedike licht, which we bring to shul. Also, a ner bishvil abot ve'imot shemes, a yartzeit candle, and that's called the neshamah licht. Okay? And ner echad, bein yemes sheshneim, bein yemes... You have one candle for both parents, that's also, uh, that's also va-valid. Then he says also a isha almona will make for her parents shemes. So I saw someone reading from here that there should be a separate one for the husband, separate one for the wife. And I think it says just the opposite. It says here, if she's an almona, she should have a separate ca-- she should make a candle. But if she's not an almona, so there will be one candle for all of the, for all the neshamas which are to be remembered. I would say if someone's in the year, and they've got a candle, which is there a whole year, so it makes sense for him, keep it, have another candle lit to be something different. But otherwise, it seems to... A-and my impression is that one candle would be enough. If you want to have two, gezunterhait, make sure you say a berliner, yeah. Um, one more thing

35:47 about the candle. Where do we light? We said, Ner Habori. He says, um, where is it? Yesh ner again. There's those who have the meaning to take the gezunterlich to the shul, and the ner neshamah they leave at home. And he's not happy about that. He says you should take all of the candles to shul. Our meaning is like what he said at first, the yesh ner again, that the gezunterlich, the lebedike licht we take to shul, and the n-neshamah licht, the, uh, we leave at home. Let me just explain something. Possibly, in times bygone, all of these candles brought to shul were bene-- of benefit. Imagine a regular shul, and you've got another forty candles. It makes the place brighter. It's easier to read Gemara, et cetera. So it's a-adding. Uh, I don't know what is in your part of the world, but what I've seen is that the, the candles are lit outside the shul, in the foyer, or in the kitchen, or in, in the boiler room. Like, and, and, and it's all... The whole thing seems to be so strange. What's the point of lighting these candles which are really not, not, not, not achieving anything? But be that as it may, so I'm not rushing to bring more candles to the shul. Um, and therefore, I'm happy with the meaning of leaving the, uh, n-neshamah light at home, especially since you need to have a candle at home to be able to use it For Havdalah, for the Ner Shacharis.

37:18 They should have a candle which has been burning for the last twenty-four hours. Um, nervous. If it's a yortsayt candle, don't use it as a ner-- if... Don't use it alone for Havdalah because you could say it's not lit for light, it's lit for a memoria-- me-me-me-memory. And therefore, if you're using a yortsayt candle for Havdalah, add another candle to it. So you have the two flames together, and that way you can make a brocha, Ɣire meh'eynehh aesh, without any, uh, doubt. Okay. I'm going to go on to the next question. So someone, one of our regular listeners is asking a question about having-- uh, avoiding sour foods or, uh, bitter foods. How long does that go to, go until? Is it just Rosh Hashanah? Is it 'til, uh, 'til Hoshana Rabbah? So you have here on our list on, on, on the screen from the Ateret Zekenah, Siman tof kuf peh gimel, that it says there's, there are those who make a point of eating fish on Rosh Hashanah to be multiplying like fish multiply. We ain't Ɣevash in beḥametz. We shouldn't cook the fish in vinegar. And this is the basis of the minag not to have sharp foods, uh, sour foods. And so what I've seen is the minag not to have chrain on Rosh Hashanah, and that goes on until Hoshana Rabbah. Now, on the-- Just beneath that, you have on the screen from the Piskei Teshuvot where he says in many communities, there's a minag to avoid, although the Shekanach

38:59 talks about just in Rosh Hashanah, many communities to avoid until Simchat Torah. 'Cause until then, it's yimei haraḥamim ve-haratz. So now I just want to pick up on that. Is the, uh, does chrain come back on the table on Shemini Atzeret or only after Simchat Torah? So you can see in the notes from the Piskei Teshuvot, he brings-- he connects the not eating the sour, s-s-- the, uh, sour foods with the time of dipping the, the bread, the challah in the honey. So look at the bottom of our, of our screen. We have from Teferat Minhagim that Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, we stop dipping the challah in honey. And so, therefore, it follows that the chrain comes back on the table on Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. The chrain, uh, you know, this is, this is indeed the minag. What I find remarkable, and you look in Sefer HaMinhagim, that this inyun of, of having the dipping the challah in honey from Rosh Hashanah until Hoshana Rabbah is quoted from a maimar of the Alter Rebbe. So it's going back. It's, uh, as many of the Chabad minhagim have got, uh, will be dor ach dor or traced back to the Alter Rebbe. Doesn't mean it started then. It could be it's, it's from earlier, but, uh... Right. Let's move on. So a shliach somewhere in the United States asked me for clarification of the Ḳodesh Mapu Mekadesh. So I sent him briefly, but let's discuss it. It's, it's-- It really, it is relevant.

40:48 Um, some shluchim are looking to, let's say, on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, they'll make a-- invite people to come an hour, half an hour before, before Shkiah, and they will blow shofar, and then they will have, um, perhaps a Tashlich, whatever it may be, and then they'll start a meal, and then it go into night. And, and the same thing for this. You got, you got three opportunities now. Yeah, we've got Simchat Torah, and then first day of Sukkot and the Simchat Torah goes into Shabbat. So if you do a Seudat Habranga on Simchat Torah afternoon, and it spills over into Shabbat. So this is where we have this situation where as soon as it becomes sunset, you go-- you're not allowed to continue eating because you've got a Chirat HaKodesh. Yeah. Again, you started the meal on Friday afternoon, and then it became sunset, sun-sunset. Now you've got a Chirat HaKodesh for Shabbat. You can't continue eating, um, after sunset unless you make Kiddush. That's where we have this situation called Ḳodesh Mapu Mekadesh. So this is from Siman reish ayin alef. And so we'll go through this carefully. It's, you know, you've started a meal Friday afternoon. It's now become sunset. So you don't have to stop your meal totally, but you can make Kiddush right away, and then you can continue. And your me-- continued meal will be Kiddush Mokim Es HaSeder. At this point, Sifre tells us you'd have to cover the, uh, the tablecloth, uh, tablecloth on the

42:30 table. I'm not sure how this works exactly, but you'd have to cover the, the challah. In order to make your Kiddush, you'd have to make-- cover the challah. So you make Kiddush with a glass of wine, and then you'd have, and then you have the, the, the bread afterwards. Now, you, you, you, you already washed. You, you washed earlier. So you're going-- You make Kiddush. After Kiddush, then you're going to uncover the challah, and that's as it to show and to demonstrate that the challah is here the covered Shabbat, which you just mentioned in Kiddush. If Sifre Alef tells us if you had already wine earlier on in this meal, then you should not say a Brocha Hagafen at this Kiddush. Because you have, uh, your Hagafen, which you said earlier is still, how you say, operative, and therefore you would not say a borei pri hagafen. All right, so you've made Kiddush. You- you-- Middle of, middle of meal, it comes sunset. Um, I, I'm going to confess, I've never seen this done, but I'm just reading what the way it's described. It's kind of come, comes some sunset. All right, gentlemen... Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to now make Kiddush. We're gonna cover the bread, gonna cover the challahs, and I'm gonna make Kiddush for everyone. Fine. And he's gonna make Kiddush without saying Hagafen because he had Hagafen earlier. Fine. What about HaMotzi? So the first surah is that you have to make HaMotzi because at the time when you said Kiddush,

44:03 you were barred from eating bread. And therefore, now that you can, after Kiddush, eat bread, it's a new, uh, opportunity, so to speak. And therefore you have to make a new berakhah, HaMotzi. But יש חולקים על זה. Now, those who disagree with this and say the fact that momentarily you weren't allowed to eat bread from the moment of sunset, that doesn't mean that your meal was totally interrupted because after all, we all know that you were-- uh, had every intention to continue, and therefore you shouldn't. So we have here a dilemma. You made Kiddush without Hagafen because you had wine earlier. Do you ma-- You take now the chiyuv uncovered. Do you say HaMotzi or not? First opinion says yes. Second opinion says no. So as is always the case, סוף ברכות לחוקה. So if you're not sure whether you're gonna make a berakhah, don't say a berakhah. So it's holding two challahs and no HaMotzi. Curious, yeah? Then he says, בעל נפש יש לזולת להתחיל שלא ודאי כך. A person who is more-- has more self-control should avoid the situation, and he should finish his meal before sunset, and in that way, a-avoid the shailah. So this is where-- why there is a, an apprehension to do this to Post Map of Mekadesh. And as we discussed in the past, by the Rebbe in earlier years, they did do Post Map of Mekadesh, but not the Rebbe himself. And, um, later it was phased out. Didn't-- We no longer did Post Map of Mekadesh

45:45 by the Rebbe at all. But that, it was done in the earlier years. Uh, okay, fine. So, so there i-there is this. Then the, then the Shliach has to weigh up. It might be the toyeles, the benefit of what he's... The way he's make- gonna make the meal and get people participating, the fabringen, et cetera, may be, uh, justified to override his baal nefesh consideration, and he sees Post Map of Mekadesh is the way to go. But that, that's how it's done. You know, there is apprehensions there. So, uh, it's not something, uh, which is as advice tamazui, but there is, there is room, room to do it. Okay. Um, so someone's asking the question, in general, when one covers challah for Kiddush, does one have to cover all the challah on the table? That's an excellent question. Um, just this past Shabbos, I was at a Kinus Hashluchim in Bournemouth for all, uh... And this was with families. Very beautiful, rich experience. And they had, by the Shabbos table, they had at every place was a challah. All right, and you then come, you make your motzi. So now-- But the challahs weren't covered. So I come to my place. All right, I'll take a challah, and I'll borrow one from the man-- guy next to me, and I'll cover it with a, with a serviette, with a, a napkin. But do I have to go around the table and cover all the challahs? Find it difficult to, uh... I don't know. Uh, I

47:17 didn't, yeah. Lecheil means that the challahs which are right near you, you, you... Which-- So you're kind of addressing the various reasons why we cover the challah. But lecheil, which means the challah which is near you, why aren't you making the berakhah on the challah? Why are you making berakhah, berakhah on the wine? Whatever it may be, but I think it means the challahs are near you. It doesn't mean you have to go around and, uh, cover everyone's challahs. Uh, probably be quite awkward to do that, um, with everyone making Kiddush a little bit earlier or later. And why, why should you only cover the whole challahs? What about the half challahs, yeah? Okay, let's move on. Okay. Um, I wanna share with you something very interesting. I know we've discussed this about bowing to the right and bowing to the left at the end of Shemoneh Esreh. Yeah, we, we've discussed this, was it, a couple of weeks ago. All right. Then just to remind you, in Chabad Minig, there is a difference between the end of Shemoneh Esreh and the end of Kadesh. By the end of Shemoneh Esreh, it's mishtachaveh to your s- left, or you bow to your left, which is the yemin hashchinah, shalom ponov, and then you're to the right, and then to the middle. Whereas the end of Kadesh, by the oseh shalom, it's first to the right and then to the left, and then, yeah, to, to your own right and then to your own left. And

48:46 then I mentioned a chidush that although in Sefer Haminhogim it says by Kadesh, "Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu v'al kol Yisrael, amen." Yeah, the Rebbe didn't do it that way. It was oseh shalom bimromav. He mo-- His three movements were just on the three words of oseh shalom bimromav. So two changes, yeah. So y-you... The, the Minig as it's recorded is in the Rebbe's Reshimas Hayomen, which he heard from Rab Shmuel Livitin. And yeah, the Rebbe himself, I'm not sure at r-what stage, but the Rebbe f- himself did differently. What I would like to say is he did not... We don't know what the Rebbe did in his Shemoneh Esreh. We know what the Rebbe did at Kadesh because we could hear, but we don't know the movements of the Rebbe by oseh shalom bimromav in Shemoneh Esreh. Possibly there he did as is written in Rishonim, uh, as we mentioned last time with Rab Beini Yona, oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu v'al kol Yisrael. Okay, fine. But now to Kadesh. Now, here you have on the s- on the screen the Lashon of the Zohar, which we discussed last time. So first of all, the Z- Zohar says at oseh shalom bimromav, there's a bowing to the right and to the left, yeah. On the left and the right. So the Zohar just says, "Oseh shalom bimromav." So possibly our Rebbe looks at these words and says, "Who says," at least in Kadesh, "Who says you have to do Oseh

50:16 Shalom Bimrom in one bow? Perhaps the all the bowing should be in those three words, 'Oseh Shalom Bimrom.'" Interesting. So he did Oseh Sha-- he did the bowing at the end of Kadesh, both Shalom Bimrom. What he did in Shemoneh Esreh, I don't know, yeah. But the second point. Look at-- Let's look at these words. "Kriya uzkiya lismolo, kriya uzkiya lemino." A bow and erecting to the left, a bow and erecting to the right. "Vehayu ihu nosen shalom lismolo ulimino." This is what it says in the Gemara Yoma dapim gimel. Uh, yeah. That you, you give, you greet to the left and to the right because... But then it says, "Lismol raboi velimin raboi." Hang on a second. You do to your left because that's the right of the one who's ahead of you. Then you do to your left. Sorry, then you do to your-- Then you do to your... Then you do to your right, which is the left of the one ahead of you, yeah. That's the lotion of the Gemara, and that's what the Moshiach said first. Kriya uzkiya lismolo, then kriya uzkiya lemino. You first do to your left, which is the right of the one ahead of you. Then y- you do to your right, which is the left of the one ahead of you. But then it says, "Lismol raboi velimin raboi." What's going on here? Yeah. Be'ezrat Hashem, the Rebbe learns Pshat in this Zohar that the first part of the Zohar is talking about Shemoneh Esreh.

51:52 There you-- is first to your left and then to your right. First, and therefore first to the right of the Shekhinah, then to the left of the Shekhinah. And these words of the Zohar, "Lismol raboi velimin raboi," that's alluding to the end of, the end of Kadesh. Now, stop here for a second. What, what's going on here? We're talking here about Shemoneh Esreh. The Oseh Shalom Bimrom primarily is in Kadesh, is the end of Kadesh Tiskabel. The Hazan has done four times, Kadeish avcha zokeinu. And then when do the Hazan do Oseh Shalom Bimrom and with the three steps? At the end of Kadesh. And even when it's a Monday and Thursday, and in between you have a Kiryat HaTorah. But it is the end of the Kadesh after Avot Asrei where he does his three steps backwards and, uh, and bows to the right and to the left. So therefore, these, this Oseh Shalom Bimrom is equally applicable to Kadesh, to Kadesh Tiskabel at the end of Chazarat Hashatz. And therefore, the first part is talking about as a yachid. Then it's lismolo ulimino. And then the words lismol raboi velimin raboi is talking about when you are going back for at Kadesh, and there it's lismol raboi velimin raboi. That, that would be a way of, um, un-un-understanding the Zohar and the, the, the basis of backing to the Minag, which is mentioned Zman Hagim of differentiating between Oseh Shalom Bimrom with the end of Shemoneh Esreh and Oseh Shalom Bimrom at the

53:39 end of Kadesh. Why would there be this difference altogether? So this is a separate thing that Gemara-- there is in Gemara Sutah. Min hai in the Kovidat Sebur, which is, is, is great, is, is, is, has a priority over Kovid Shekhinah. So when you're, when you are davening as a Hazan, so you are on behalf of the Sebur, so Kovid Sebur takes precedence over Kovid Shekhinah, and therefore you bow to your, first to your right of the Sebur, uh, rather than to the right of the Shekhinah, which is connected. Okay, um, that's the list which we have for today. And I just want to finish off by sharing with you I-- what I found an amazing, an amazing Chiddush of the Rebbe. And that is we learned in Gemara Yoma today in Daf Pei. It talked about Rebbe Elazar says, if a person... We're learning Gemara Yoma, the last Peirush to do about Yom Kippur. And it says, Rebbe Elazar says, Rebbe Elazar in a Amora. He says if a person eats by mistake, he ate a Chazais of forbidden fat of Cheilev, he should make a note on his ledger how much he ate. Why is that? Because he might think that this amount is liable for, for a Korban Chatas. But when it could be there'll be a Beis Din until... When Mashiach comes, there'll be a Beis Din, and they will say, "No, that wasn't Ashir." And therefore, what he thinks a Chilul Chatas is not a Chilul Chatas, and if he,

55:16 if he brings a Korban Chatas, it'll be Chilul in Bazorah. Okay. So the Rebbe at, at some stage in Chelek Yud Ches asked this question. A person incurred a Chilul Chatas. He did Naveh. Shabbat, he walked out to the bathroom, by mistake, he switched off the light or switched on the light, went in. Whatever it may be. He did something. A person was, um, pulled a hair out of his beard. A bit, a bit, uh, twitch. Chilul Shabbat. All right. So I have to bring a Korban Chatas, yeah. So now we have the famous story in the Gemara of Rebbe Yishmael. It says in the Gemara that you shouldn't read on Friday night by the light of a, an oil lamp in case you might tilt the wick. And Rabbi Shmuel said, "I need ""I'm, I'm okay. I'm not... It's not the kind of thing I do in any case. I would ask a servant to do this." So he sat and learned by a lamp. He read by the lamp, and he tilted it. Oy. He realized he was Mechal Shabbos. He wrote on his ledger, "When the Beis Hamikdash, the Beis Hamikdash will be built, I'm gonna bring a very plump Korban Chatas." And the, um, meforshim ask, why a plump Korban Chatas? So they say like this. He did two violations. He did a violation of Chilul Shabbos, but also he did a violation, Chachamim said, don't read by the lamp. He did read by the lamp. He, he disobeyed the Chachamim.

56:52 Oh, so he has to bring a Korban Chatas with a plump. There should be a, a, an extra bonus because of the extra violation. Okay. So we have there-- So the Rebbe asked this question. If a person goes through, um, whe-whether it's fasting or giving tzedakah or whatever it may be, in-instead of a Korban Chatas. So when Mashiach comes, will you have to bring a Korban Chatas? If you've done the f- the, the, the remedy already, do you have to bring a Korban Chatas when Mashiach comes? So from these Gemaras, it seems that you do. Rabbi Shmuel, and here we have Rabbi Elazar in, in, in, in Gemara Yoma. But then begs the question, how come it's not written in Shulchan Aruch, if a person violated, uh, Shabbos, he should make a note. It's even more interesting. In Siman shin lamed daled, which talks about, um, dealing with a fire breaking out, rachmanah litzlan, on Shabbos. So there, the Magen Avraham mentions it in a one-liner. That there was someone, one of the Tana'im who did so. And the Alter Rebbe, who's very loyal to the Magen Avraham, at this point, he quotes the fur- the idea before and the concept afterwards, and this piece he leaves out. So the Rebbe asks a question. Why is this concept of making a note of violations when the Beis Hamikdash will come, why is it not brought as a, a, you know, as a standard halacha? So the Rebbe comes up with an amazing, amazing explanation. It

58:26 might be a little bit complicated, but listen carefully. A Korban Chatas is only if, oy, I made a mistake. If I had realized, I wouldn't have done it. The lotion in lang- in Gemara, "Had you realized, you wouldn't have done it." So there was a moment of unawareness, but had I been more aware, I wouldn't have done it. So if someone has-- I might be misquoting, but the Eretz, this is the way I understood it, yeah. This is... You can look it up. Vav Tishri, tof shin mem alef. This is where the sicha is. Quite a few pages. So it says like this. Someone like Rabbi Shmuel, who the Beis Hamikdash is very much... Is very... It's vivid in his, in his mind. Therefore, by him, if he, if he had realized that this is Chilul Shabbos, he would, chas v'shalom, would never done it. So he's shov miidi yoso. He's kind of more mentally connected with the seriousness of Chilul, Chilul Shabbos and Korbanot, et cetera, et cetera. Other people, and also perhaps Rabbi Elazar also in our Gemara. Other people whose their consciousness about the consequences of an aveira, of a Chilul Shabbos and of the Beis Hamikdash, et cetera, their consciousness is less than that. They're not necessarily shov miidi yoso. Had they realized that it's a Chilul Shabbos, would they really have refrained? Perhaps not to that degree. The re- The recoil would not be so great. And that's the basis. He says that's why it, uh, um, there wouldn't be

1:00:17 a Chi of Chatas. For a p- an, an, a person who doesn't have that awareness would not incur a Chi of, of a Korban Chatas because it's not a shov miidi yoso. Because we don't have a Beis Hamikdash, we're not so sensitive to, uh, these issues, and as a result, it wouldn't be shov miidi yoso. That's the Eretz. Perhaps I'm not doing justice to it. Okay. Um, someone's asking, I'm gonna finish off with a top couple of questions on the chat. Someone, if one's sibling passed away some years ago, should they have a lift for that sibling as well as one for the parents? That's a very, uh, good question. I would differentiate. It's obviously a Hagaddah thing. But if that sibling was married and had children, so then there are those who me- remember them anyway. So there's no Chi on the siblings because there's children. If there's no siblings-- Sorry, if there's, if they had no children for whether they never got married or whatever it may be, then it would make sense that someone should light a candle. And if you remember last week, I mentioned, um, not about Yom Kippur, I mentioned that on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe would have a candle lit in memory of his sister-in-law. So they would-- They, they unfortunately, they never had children also. But also, um, they would... So the- then the, the Rebbe saw to it to kind of take the Yahrzeit to observe the Yahrzeit for them. Um, Rabbi

1:01:54 Safran is going back to s- so question number seven. Is mayonnaise called a sour food? And the answer is no. Mayonnaise may include because it's not a sharp food and, and therefore-- And, uh, it's only when the food has a kind of sour taste or a sharp taste. But if it's just an ingredient in a, in a larger recipe, which-- so then it's not a problem. Okay, I'm gonna stop with this. I'm gonna wish you all a and thank you for joining us. And we shall have indeed a and . Yes, Koach. Rabbi.