לך לך תשפ״ה

00:12 Good to go. Welcome to tonight's Shear. Motzei Shabbos: Parashat Lech Lecha. So we're gonna start off with something Minyan Yomi. So we have, Baruch Hashem, every week there's Sichas which are published-- Sichas of the Rebbe, which are published. And for the last twelve years, approximately, the, uh, Hanahas Malach that will publish the Sicha, they have been putting letters of the Rebbe which have not been published before, and they've been putting them in the-- as an addendum to the weekly pa-pamphlet, weekly booklet. And the plan is that they will produce several v-v-volumes of, of, uh, Igress Kodesh with all these letters which have been published bit by bit. So for this week, because it's, uh, to do with Ramavino and towards the end of the Parasha, we have about Bris Milah. They have three, uh, items relating to Bris Milah. And the first one, first two actually, are to my late grandfather, Yaakov Yosef Raskin, who lived in Rishon LeZion, and he was a Mohel. Um, he was in that area for sure. He was the, um, very popular Mohel amongst Anash. And, uh, he, you know, for those who remember him, he was, uh, he, he made his... It was his business to find out. He would ask the Rebbe various inyonim about, about Bris Milah. And so there's a number of Minhogim of Bris Milah which are thanks to his persistence to ask the Rebbe guidance about them. One of them particularly is about Shechiyanu, that, uh, as you can see on the, the

02:07 bottom of the page, we've got here from the Shechinach. Um, Siman reish samech beis, I think it is. It talks about when the Mohel does the Bris, so he would say Shechiyanu if it's the father. And yes, if there's someone else, so I'm just trying to say, he does say Shechiyanu. The Rambam says, the father always says Shechiyanu, and that is indeed the Minag in Eretz Israel, Syria, uh, and Mitzrayim. Then the Rama says, however, Bedinus elu, the Minag of Ashkenaz is not to say Shechiyanu. Now, what was happening in Eretz Israel, so the community in Eretz Israel, they was the-- because they moved in, the Sephardi community was there before the Ashkenazi community to a large degree. And so the Sephardi-- the, the Ashkenazim, when they emigrated to Eretz Israel, so they had picked up various Minhogim. And so they started saying Shechiyanu by a Bris, uh, at a Bris. And now the debate here is, in the Gemara, it says that at a Bris, unlike by Sheva Berachos. By Sheva Berachos, we say the, um, by the Miz-- by the Simon, we say Shehasimcha b'mei unai. So by a Bris, it says in Gemara not to say Shehasimcha b'mei unai m'pni tzar hadyynuka because of the child is, after all, is suffering the pain of the, uh, the Bris Milah. So Shechiyanu is said when there's a Simcha. So since there is here a, a Simcha somehow compromised by the tzar dyynuka, so that's why the Ashkenazim don't say Shechiyanu. Whereas the Sephardim

03:53 do, fine. Meanwhile, here's a, a letter which my Zayde writes-- had written to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe writes is Elul Taf Shin Chaf. And I'm skipping. He mentions my Zayde's name, then the Shalom Havrucha, and then the second paragraph. You're writing about Minhogim Anash venigeh lebris milah. V'kiven sh'lo shamatibaze. The Rebbe says, "I do not have a tradition, uh, a mesorah on this particular point, which, uh, the points which you're asking. Therefore, you should be mevarer etzel ziknei Anash. You should verify amongst the elders of Anash. Ashr bevar ezochrim haMinhogim asur to really remember the Minhogim of this bedor shelefne ze." So they will remember what was done in the previous generation. Besochachei kolei elo shehem baalei shmuah, amongst various baalei shmuah, which I'll come back to in a moment. So what was his question? Now, this is interesting. Now, my Zayde was one year-- born one year before the Rebbe. So in Taf Shin Chaf, he was sixty, born in Sam-in, yeah, Taf Reish Samech. Samech Alef, right. And he says, "My good friend, Reb Refoel Yakan," that's Reb Yerl's father, who was also similar age, if not older. And Reb Yerl Ka-- Reb Refoel Yakan had said, "I see by the Bris, they're making these psukim, these Minhagoshilai, and to say Sheva Yisroel, and Hashem melech twice, and Hashem Ashirano, Ozlichano, and then about the Shechiyanu." So he's asking whether-- And so Reb Refoel Yakan was asking, "Why am I doing this? When I do a Bris, why am I doing these

05:35 Minhogim?" And so the-- So my Zayde asks the Rebbe, and the Rebbe says, "Bimevar etzel ziknei Anash." Now, that's why I'm, I'm finding interesting. If he's sixty years old, he would have also remembered Brison in Russia, uh, even fifteen years before. He came out in, uh, in Taf Shin Zai, in Taf Shin. So why couldn't he remember himself? Whatever. Um, but what was-- what I found particularly interesting is, what is this phrase? „Vesoichechei, vesoichem" Ask Zikne Anash, who will remember from the previous generation. „Vesoichechei kol elu shehem baali shmua.” Amongst those, all those who are, uh, who have no history, I presume. So what is the Rebbe adding by that, by that la-- that, that phrase, „Vesoichei kol elu baali shehem baash”? I was struggling with it, and I thought I'd, I'd share with you my struggle and suggest that it means the following. You've got Zikne Anash, who would remember presumably what happened in what was done fifteen, twenty, thirty years ago. And then you've got general historians. You've got people, not lav Chana Anash. You've got people who will, will write down minhogim, describe st- this kind of stuff. So you can verify by the Baali Shmua what was the minhag in Russia, et cetera, and whether this is a minhag, uh, from Europe or is a minhag which was picked up in Eretz Israel. Interesting. Now then, this is Taf Shin Chof. And in the editor's notes, they write how Meiseter did go to various, uh, Zikne Anash and Rabbonim, et cetera,

07:23 and asked them what do they remember. It looks like he didn't come to a total clorkite. 'Cause ten years later, he's asking again. You can see the question. He writes-- He had written that, um, "I've been criticized about saying these psukim." This is in Taf Shin Lamed, ten years later, and it's not in the Chabad siddur. Ha-hachashyanu, we've stopped drink. That's already from Taf Shin Chof Alef when I got the Rebbe's letter from Taf Shin Chof Alef. But what about the psukim? And here the Rebbe sees, I guess, that he's not getting a clorkite, a clarity from the Zikne Anash. And so then ten years later, the Rebbe answers him, “Ka'illuas Rabbonim Anash yichyu sheb'eretz hakodesh tebonim zeh konim.” Okay, so consult the Rabbonim. That is, the Rebbe keeps away from giving any definitive answer. He tells him to consult with Rabbonim. Um, I don't remember what is done by britin in, uh, Eretz Israel. The only thing I do remember is about forty-five years ago, and forty-six years ago now. Taf Shin Lamed Tes, I learned in Chabad, and Rabbi Yeshua Monshein, alav hashalom, was married to my cousin, and they, uh, both he and she are no longer alive. But at the time, they made a bris, and there was a younger sister, a younger sister of Mrs, uh, Monshein, my cousin, and they in-invited me to be kohatzer, and she would be the kohatzerin. That's the first and last time I've been to a bris where it's not a, a husband and

09:05 wife kohatzer and kohatzerin, but, uh, cousins, et cetera. Okay. I was, uh, eighteen at the time, nineteen at the time. I didn't know to ask any questions. They told me what to do, and I just followed instructions. Okay, let's move on. About doing a bris before midday. Is there a source for the emphasis that the siddur should be done before chatzos? Now, in the Shulchan Aruch, it's not, it's not, it doesn't-- In Resh Samuch Beis, it's not written explicitly. But in the footnotes, in the Pischei Teshuvah, he brings from the Shevus Yaakov. Shevus Yankiv is a posek the Alter Rebbe, um, has great respect for. In Hilchos Pesach, he has the Choch Yankiv, which the Alter Rebbe, um, relates to, uh, very regularly in Hilchos Pesach. So, in his, his response, he writes, one should object to the chazzanim when there's a Shabbos or a Yom Tov, and there's a bris, and they delay the... A-and because they're doing all the chazzaners, so they're pushing off the brises after chatzos, and they mevatel the mitzvah of z'rizen. Z'rizen makdim l'mitzvah. So this is the, the source which, um, where that-- there, there's the emphasis of chatzos. But actually, if you look into the Shevus Yaakov in the actual, um, Sefer itself, he gives earlier references. He re-refers to the Agudah, who lived in Köln, in Cologne, um, in late Reshonim, quotes the Roey Keihah and Shuvah Sat Guoinim. So this chatzos thing seems to... But I, I tried to trace that, and I didn't manage

10:55 to. So there is this idea of, of z'rizen makdimin. So why does-- why is, why is midday the criterion for makdimin? The earlier, the better. So it m-makes sense that until midday, you can still say it's morning. Afternoon already, it's, it's a-- you can't say it's makdimin in any-- by any stretch because it's already in the afternoon. So, so there is this emphasis on, on, uh, doing... The latest you could call it being early is by midday. And so that's the, uh, that's the source. Now, then there's a famous letter of the Rebbe. And let me explain what, what, what was going on here. This I heard from Rabbe Meshulam Katzneeligen, alav hashalom, that in Russia it was very common, esp- in the summer, if there's a bris, they would make the bris in the late afternoon after people have gotten-- have, could get back from their work, et cetera. And there would be a bris, and there would be a farbrengen, and the farbrengen would-- could go on for hours. See, they were moldy. They knew how to enjoy the din of farbrengen with one another for hours. When they came to Eretz Yisrael, this is now, uh, after the war, and you have the refugees managed to get out of Russia and came to Eretz Yisrael. So they were continuing this minhag of doing a bris in the late afternoon. Reb Shneur Gorelik is the Rov of Chabad, and he's seeing this, and he's, uh, he knows that there's a problem with it

12:32 because you're meant to do zrizin makdimin. By the way, it's not so poshut that the father should be eating a meal before doing a bris. Just like we don't eat before lulav, we don't eat before shofar. You have a mitzvah to do a bris today. L'chayei, you shouldn't be eating before you, uh, before, before the bris. So Reb Shneur writes a letter to the Rebbe and asking the Rebbe for guidance. And in this letter, it was a famous letter. It's published in the K'doshim Chajes already, uh, in the earlier volumes. And the Rebbe goes through the, the, uh, two, uh, two values. One is zrizin makdim la-mitzvah, to do things more, uh, earlier, and then, be-rov am hadras melech, to have more people present. That's, that glorifies the event by having more people present. And which is of those two values, is it better to do it earlier, either with less people or later with more people? And the Rebbe discusses that, and the-- it looks like that the zrizin makdim la-mitzvah is the greater value. So then, then the Rebbe says, however, by, by, by the bris, there's a particular emphasis on the inyan of simcha. Both, uh, you have the, the whole mitzvah, simcha. And then he shows also a reference to, in this letter of the Rebbe, if a bris works out on Tisha B'Av nidcha. That means that T- T- uh, Tisha B'Av was Shabbos, and then the actual fast is observed on, on Sunday. There, there's halacha because it's nidcha.

14:15 So then the avi habin and the sandek and the mohel, they are allowed to break the fast. They are allowed to have the seudas mitzvah on Tisha B'Av itself if it's in the afternoon, something like that. So as a result, it says there that the Tisha B'Av nidcha, if there's a bris, you do it later on in the after- in the afternoon. So there, the bale simcha will be able to, uh, have, have the seudas mitzvah. So you see there that the simcha has i- in, in, in the, in the bris is overriding the inyan of zrizin makdim la-mitzvah. So that's the Rebbe brings a raya that it's not a hard, an ironclad rule. You see the simcha, and then simcha, we know, the more people you, you know, adds to the simcha. And then the Rebbe adds also, there can be sometimes if someone can't make it, there'll be a frustration, upset that they couldn't come. Then the Rebbe adds a very beautiful word. There's another consequence of the contingent, uh, e- effect, and that is the farbrengen. That when you make the fab-- the, the later on, then there could be a farbrengen. Certainly, by the farbrengen, there will be to- a discussion about their mitzvahs and the Chassidis, and sov sov, the mitzvahs are there to, to to encourage yirat shamayim. And therefore, the Rebbe concludes, maspi, these reasons which I've given, if people are doing the far-- the, the bris later on because they want to have more simcha and particularly

15:59 there's gonna be a farbrengen as a result, so then it's, um, it's tolerable. So I'm, I'm just sharing this with you. Still think when you have... When you, when you... But it is a cheshbon. You have to think when you... If you want to make a bris later on in the day, is it going to add to the, to the farbrengen aspect of it? Is it going to add to the simcha aspect? If it's not gonna add, then for sure, then the zrizin makdim la-mitzvah would be the, uh, the guidance. Okay, let's move on to a totally new question. So I've got this fellow who bought a house by some resort, and, uh, Baruch Hashem, he's doesn't need it for whole year round. He'll use it occasionally, a couple of weeks a year, three weeks a year. The rest of the time, it'll be up for rentals. The re- resort. So during, I guess, during various vacation times, it'll be rented out. Rented out to Yidden, rented out to Goyim. How he's gonna work with the kashrus, he didn't ask. But meanwhile, he's asking about mezuzah. So I own a house, freehold. Whether it's a mortgage, doesn't matter. It's his house, and he's renting it out here and there to, to, to Goyim and to Yidden. Does he have to put up mezuzahs? So here's an interesting point. There's a difference between Eretz Yisrael and Chutz La'aretz. In Eretz Yisrael, if you rent... Uh, uh, let's go firstly Chutz La'aretz. In Chutz La'aretz, if you

17:34 rent a space for less than thirty days, you don't have to put up a mezuzah. In Eretz Yisrael, even if you rent for a short term, you have to put up a mezuzah. But there's something called ha'dor b'pundak, one who's living in a hostel. Then up till thirty days, if you're living in a hostel, so it's less than rental. It's a hostel. It's like re- less, uh, I guess, whatever it is, le- less per- permanent or less private. So then you'd... Up to thirty days, even Eretz Yisrael, you don't have to put up mezuzahs So here in Hilchas, um, in Hilchas, uh, in Hilchas Mezuzah, the says like this. That's talking about when the landlord, the owner of the hostel is a goy. So he doesn't have to put a mezuzah. The tenant who comes in for a sh-sh-very short term also doesn't have to put a mezuzah. But if the owner of the hostel is a Eid, so he has to put up mezuzahs, um, in the rooms of the Orchim because it's-- he's, he's the host, so he, like, he, he has a duty to put up mezuzahs. So if you are... Yes, I, I don't know what is done by-- with the Jewish-owned hotels if they are not catering to a Jewish, uh, clientele. What do they do about mezuzahs? But meanwhile, perhaps they have got a goyish partners. I don't know how they work. But meanwhile, on a simple thing, a simple level, you own a pr- a dwelling, even though

19:02 you're gonna have goyish guests, Jewish guests, when it's your... It's a dwelling, it's, it's yours, so you should be putting up a mezuzah, especially since you are gonna be using it those two weeks in a year, three weeks in a year. It, they tell-- He's the owner. Uh, owner has to put up mezuzahs. There's no, there's no, uh, shortcut on that. Uh, so this is from a Sefer. I've mentioned this many times. Sefer, um, Sechel Tov, a specialist Sefer on mezuzah. And so it seems clear that one would have to-- the owner of this house would have to put up a mezuzah, mezuzahs. Well, I did say to him, wrote to him that if you are concerned that the non-Jewish guests may possibly, uh, cause damage, disgrace the mezuzahs, so there is a way of putting up mezuzahs in a discreet way. And, uh, also, a, a few years ago, the Shliach in Dublin, Rav Zalman Lent, produced a product which is called Kamuzah, a camouflage of, um, of, uh, mezuzah. It looks like a sensor, a magnetic, uh, release system or something. It's like, uh, black and white, different options. And it has inside the mezuzah, it has a little shin and a graphic there. And so there's a way of having a mezuzah, and the, uh, person who's doesn't know, doesn't realize will just see it some kind of sensor. Now, of course, the, the old way we just mentioned in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, you could take, um, cut away the, the door

20:42 f-- uh, the doorstopper, the, the wood, and put it behind there. Um, but this is an-another perhaps simpler and cheaper way to do it. Right. Let's move on. So here is a question a young man asked me. If he buys stuff in various supermarkets, he gets, he gets, uh, Nectar points. So he says, "Does i-- Do I have to give Maaser on my Nectar points?" That was his question. So before we g-come back to the... We'll come back to the, um, uh, Maaser. Rav Gershon is asking, "Mezuzot de-choivas hador. Surely the goy isn't mechuyav." That's absolutely true. So your question might be, if I have, let's say, a dwelling which is f-- just through a goy, then you can, uh... So the choivas hador means it's, that, that the... If the buy-- If the balabos doesn't put it up, the, the, the tenant has to put it up. But it doesn't mean that the balabos doesn't have to put it up. But if I have just goy using there, then yes. If I have-- If I own a, a property and I'm renting out to, to a goyish tenant, so he doesn't need to have mezuzah. But here he's using it a couple of weeks a year, and he's having also Jewish, uh, guests, so that doesn't, uh, acquit him from Chiyuv mezuzah. Okay, let's come back to the, to the Nectar points. So does he have to give Maaser on Nectar points? Nectar points apparently have got a value, and you can use them

22:18 in this shop or perhaps in other shops. You can get various gifts with them. Now, some of you who have some white hairs will remember Green Shield stamps. Um, any, uh, thumbs up for that? Um, so now the, uh... You, you, you'd-- When you went, especially went to Tue-- on Tuesdays to Rose's Supermarket, you'd get double ch- Green Shield stamps, and you'd fill up several books. And then you go to some shop, and you'd get a clock or a suitcase or a, a watch. Oh, okay. So are you obliged to give Maaser on these types of, uh, things? On, on, on the, on the, on the, uh, Nectar points. So what I'd, I, I responded to him, uh, is like this: It depends what you're going to spend the points on. If you're gonna get... spend it on going to Legoland or going to Madame Tussauds or something, or buying something which you would not have bought otherwise. Oh, you got this free, free points, you're gonna do this. But it's not something which you would have budgeted for otherwise. If that's the case, that kind of gift, you do not have to give Maaser. But if you're going to use that, those points on something which you would have bought otherwise. Perhaps you need to buy a suitcase. "Okay, I'll use this, the Nectar points to get a suitcase." So otherwise, you would have forked out the thirty pounds from your pocket. Now the thirty pounds stays in your pocket. So then you've earned

23:52 thirty pounds. If that's the case, there's more room to say that's called a, a, an earning a gift of money, a cash gift, and then you should be giving Maaser. I'm not totally, um, confident with this. We discussed it over the Shabbos table, um, that possibly you could say, "No. Well, actually, it's a discount." If I go to the supermarket and it happens to be a discount, so I've, I've saved three pounds. I don't have to start giving Maaser on the three pounds. I just... I got a discount, yeah? So pa-- you could look at these Nectar points as saying they're giving you a discount if you can now spend the money in the same shop and get, um, the ch-- X amount for cheaper. So then perhaps you could say it's not really an earnings. Uh, all right. I can, I can see, see the argument. So someone's asking, what about air miles? Yeah. It's a similar question. Similar question. Um, you see, one way you can say is they're giving you a gift in order to incentivize that you should next time you fly, you should fly with the Star Alliance rather than with whatever else, you know, the other airlines. So it's a gift. Or is it... Do you see it as a discount? If it's a discount, then you don't have to, uh, give Maaser on a discount. If it's a gift, then, then you should. I'm-I'm not totally clear about it. All right. Uh, you know, when it comes to

25:26 Maaser, Baruch Hashem, you know, if you manage to have the money to, to, to do the spending, you can be machmir a little bit and give a bit more generous of Maaser. Bechol halav, whatever it brings in Tanya that nowadays we, we, we, we're not, we're not, we're not so calculated. We're generous with Maaser, with, with Tzedakah Bechol halav. Yeah. Okay, let's move on. So one of our shluchim here in, uh, United Kingdom asks me, "Do French windows need to have mezuzah?" So just to understand what they are, these are very tall windows. Main thing is that they go almost to the ground, and you could theoretically walk through, but, uh, Baruch Hashem, they also have a, um, a, uh, a fence, a gra- a, a grill of some sort. If you're on the second floor that you should, uh, shouldn't walk through this, these tall windows. So they're not really made for walking through. So that's for sure it doesn't need to have mezuzah. What about if it were on ground floor? And they're not made for walking through. Occasionally, you may, uh, if there's some traffic or you wanted to not see someone, so you might use those windows to go in and out. Yeah. So here we go. We have on the Hilchas Mezuzah, we have a commentary called Daas Kedoshim. The Daas Kedoshim is the Pachad Yitzchok, and he's dre- dealing with the Inyan of mezuzah should be Yemin HaNichnas. We put the... That's always such a... People ask questions, which

27:06 side the mezuzah should go. The mezuzah is on the right as you enter. So now he's gives the following comment. A window, if even that you walk through it, but since it's not made for that, it, the window is part of your mezuzah. Point number one. Point number two, he says, therefore you can't, you can't... It's not a, not an issue to say, "Oh, it's, it's that the room is, is influenced on Yemin HaNichnas," because you go th- go th- um, you go throughout the window. What I think he is saying is the following. When you have a, um, when you have a, a door which swings out to the corridor. So Min Hagoy Olam is you put the mezuzah on the right as you enter the room. Min Hachabad is that you'd put the mezuzah on the left as you enter the room, but, uh, which is the right as you go through that when you push the door, when you walk through the corridor. So that's this famous Min Hachabad to follow Heketzir. And what's the argument? Well, you can see here. That's our Rebbe. Halacha herah that we follow Heketzir as, as, as per Sumry Shonenim. And in case the, the, there were people that asked the Rebbe and the Rebbe Maharash, it was apparently. What do you mean? If all the doors are opening out, how do you get into the room? So he said, "C-can come enter through the window." So the fact that there's a window to get into

28:52 the room allows you to say that the door to the corridor is going out from the room to the corridor, and you put the mezuzah as you're going t- from the room to the corridor. And I think this is the very point which the Pachad Yitzchok is disagreeing with. He's saying that the window is not made for walking in and out, and therefore it doesn't count to have a, a influence on what's called Yemin HaNichnas. Um, in the same volume of the Daas Kedoshim, we've got a another commentary called Gdol Hekdesh, where he writes, he says, "You don't need to have a mezuzah on a window. It's just like a hole." But if it's certainly made for walking, it's going to consider Pesach. Then he talks about if it's a, if it's a, uh, a window which is more than ten Tefachim off the ground, another discussion. Okay, so what I'm seeing here is that they're dismissing, they're dismissing the use of a window. It doesn't need to have a mezuzah, but that's because... A-and it's, and, and as a result, it doesn't affect Heketzir. But according to our Minig, yeah, I don't think you're gonna change Halacha as far as the window goes. But it's interesting that in our Minig, we would follow, we would take the window in consideration when it comes to calculating about Heketzir. Just there's this, uh, ongoing debate between Rabboni Chabad, what happens if you have a room which does not have a window and the door opens out.

30:29 So in Eretz Yisrael, you've got now all over, they've got a, a, a secure room, Cheder Mammad, whatever they call it, and typically, there's not going to be windows or not windows which you can go through the window, and it's got a, a, a heavy duty door, and that door swings out. So if it's a freestanding structure, for sure, you put the mezuzah on the right as you enter. What about if it's, let's say, the basement? Would you put the mezuzah on the right or- As you enter because that's the only way you can go in. Well, you say, no, yeah, I mean, since the door opens out, so you follow the heck you can see it. And so there's the debate amongst whether in that case, when there's no window, when the Rabbi said, "All right, go, go through the window," were they just being a little bit, how do you say, dismissive or that was precise? It was, um, deliberate that the window makes the difference whether you can, um, go... W-w-which side you put the mezuzah. My personal take on it is to put it on the right as you enter such a room. It can be also a walk-in fridge, possibly. It's another discussion whether you need a mezuzah on a walk-in fridge. But my take on it is the following. Um, I know that other poskim will for sure say you put it on the right as you enter. What Min Chabad is, I, I'm gonna say it's fifty-fifty. Yeah,

32:06 doesn't matter. It's, it's at thirty-seven. It doesn't matter. But the... It's, it's not clear what Min Chabad is. So there's a rule in Halakha, If you have one position which is clear, which is confident, the other one you're not, not clear, so you follow that which is clear. So that's why when people ask me this question, if you have a room which has a door swinging out, and the room does not have any window to talk about to be able to get in through the window, so then I would say ignore the and put the, the mezuzah on the right as you enter. Let's move on. Um, the idea of a w-- mezuzah, sorry. The idea of a window being a, an entrance comes up in Halakha Eruvin. If you have two houses which have a party wall sharing a, a wall, and you want to make an eruv. So if there's a window at some level between the two rooms, between the two houses, then that's considered a, uh, a pesach, and you can, and you can join the two houses with an eruv. So in some respects, a window is also counted as a pesach. Not for mezuzah in the... Because, but, uh, for other areas of Halakha. Let's move on. So we have a situation, a teacher who teaches Chumash to young children, and she makes a photocopy of the sukrim, which she's doing with them, and the children have e-exercise books, and they're going to take each one, take the... Each

33:40 one takes their copy, and they paste it into the book. Very nice. Beautiful. Then she realizes that, and some of those, in those sukrim, one copy has Hashem's name written, Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh. So now the, the exercise book, the children have Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh stuck in their exercise book. She knows at the end of the year, some children are likely to discard their books. And so now she's in-in-indirectly causing the children will be disgracing Hashem's name by throwing it out in the, uh, in the, in the, uh, in the waste. So very honorable, uh, question. So now... So she's asking perhaps she should make little stickers with Hashem's name, with, with, uh, with the... Just with a Heh, and in each child's book, she'll put on a sticker, and, uh, in that way, the Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh will not be disgraced. So I said to her, I responded to her that that's not acceptable because sticking on a sticker itself is erasing. So you can see here, this is from, uh, this is in Mishnah Vura Siman Lamed Bet, and you have here from the Bier Halakha. He quotes Rav Kiva Eger, that you have a Jewish bookbinder. He's repairing a siddur, and he needs to use some kind of sticky paper. They didn't use to have, uh, sellotape, which you see through. They would use like a very thin paper, I guess. He calls it pap, which I don't know what that means. But they used to take some, perhaps, uh, a, a grease... A thin paper and stick it

35:30 over. So he says, "You put it on the stronger part, and that way you repair the tears." But meanwhile, the sticking is going to be also affecting Shemos Gloshem, which are mustn't be erased. So sticking paper on a Hashem, on Hashem's name is effectively erasing it. Now, here's interesting. Not exactly the way I said. I said that by sticking on a sticker, you've erased it. Here, he says slightly different. He says, "You cannot... If you peel off the sticky paper, uh, you're going to have to pick up inevitably a bit of the ink." So he doesn't see necessarily the sticking as the erasing, but the... Who says you have to pick up a sticker? But all right. So that's it. But he has a problem with sticking bekitzah. And therefore, he says, "On the actual name of Hashem, put on a piece of paper without a stick, without any glue, and then you'll put on the, like, a bridge over it, and that's how you'll repair your book." If you remember, many of you will remember, um, around Taf Shin Mem Vov, the Rebbe came out with a issue with the Pasuk of Rememu when it comes to taking out the Sefer Torah, in that paragraph. And it says, So the Rebbe pointed out that he noticed that in some siddurim, Chabad siddurim, he had only one Pasuk Rememu. And really, the Rebbe's saying it's, it should be twice. Two Pasukim Remem. There's two Pasukim Remem. And so the rabbi said they should re, re--

37:11 they should, should be, uh, addressed in the future. I don't remember what he said, in fu-future prints probably. But what happened to all these siddurim which had it missing? So some people started making stickers of that paragraph to put in a, a sticker which has the both pesukim. So in the old Tillis Hashem siddur, anything which is earlier than that, Tof Shin Mem He or earlier, you take a look in those older siddurim. So you'll see like this. Um, in the Shabbos davening, so that the Pesukim Reimimu have their Yud Kei Vav Kei three times. Usually, in the Tillis Hashem siddur, Hashem's name is spelled Yud Yud. But occasionally, it's spelled Yud Kei Vav Kei, and that's because when they crafted it together in Tof Shin He, some parts, mostly the part took from one siddur, from Vilna print, the Siddur HaAvodah Torah SheBeAl Peh. But when there were some things which are a little bit, um, which... Not, not, not, not mamash, you know, you needed several changes, and in Torah Or it was more straightforward, so they copied it from Torah Or siddur. So in this piece, on the Shabbos davening, that piece is from the Torah Or siddur, and it has Yud Kei Vav Kei. So, so to stick over a piece of paper, a sticky, a sticky paper over a, a paragraph which has got Yud Kei Vav Kei. So we're seeing here that's not allowed because it's e-erasing Hashem's name by putting the sticker. So back to this teacher, I

38:43 told her instead of putting a sticker, she should ask the children for their exercise books, take out the piece of, uh, paper which they had stuck in, which has got Hashem's name, and she'll give them another one, a new, new one which has got... Which without Hashem's name in the, in, in the, uh, copy. Okay, let's move on to our next question. What do we have here? Okay, um, number seven. Holding tallisim on... In, in shul on Shabbos in order to neaten up the space. So the... This discussion goes back all the way to the Mishnah. You can see here in the Mishnah Peh ek Tza'an of Shabbos, I think it's Daf Kuf Nun, no, that's earlier. Kuf Lamed somewhere. Mekapelin Es Hakeilim, you are allowed to fold, uh, garments even four or five times. You're allowed to make the beds. Milele Shabbos L'Shabbos. On Friday night, you're allowed to fold the, um, clothing, and you're allowed to make beds to prepare Friday night for Shabbos. Aval Lo M'Shabbos L'Mitzo Shabbos. You're not allowed to fold clothing on Shabbos for Motzaei Shabbos. You're not allowed to prepare a bed on Shabbos for Motzaei Shabbos. So whether you're not meant to pr-prepare on, on Shabbos for after Shabbos, so you wouldn't be allowed to fold. Now, here we have two quotes from the Alter Rebe of Shuchan Aruch. One is Siman Shin. This is the chapter which talks about Motzaei Shabbos, Melavé Malka, et cetera. It has here, Yesh Me, there were those Medakdikim, those who

40:30 were particular to have a separate tallis for Shabbos. And Motzaei Shabbos, they would fold the tallis. Kadel Is Asa Be-Mitzvah Be-Yad, to engage with a mitzvah right after Shabbos. We'll come back to that u-later. It's, uh, there's a well-known, uh, whether it's true or not, but it's a well-known saying that folding your sha- your tallis on Motzaei Shabbos is, is a segulah for Shalom Bayis. I think also helping out with washing the dishes and, uh, clearing up the house or looking after the children is also probably, uh, an effective segulah for Shalom Bayis. Okay. That's... At any rate, that's in Siman Shin, as I said. But then we have in Siman Shin Beis, which is a siman which talks about clothing on Shabbos. And he writes here, so like you can see the end of Sif Ches. Therefore, also the Ta- Kapel Tallis Shel Mitzvah. You're not allowed to fold your tallis, which you've taken off Shabbos morning, unless you're going to use the tallis again for Mincha. And then he goes on in more detail. Even if you wanted to use it on Shabbos, it would be limited only one person alone, not two people. And because when two people are together folding a garment, they're going to do a more thorough job. And then he has here further, in that Sif Tes. Yesh Mishoemer, to fold not on the original folds, that is okay, even if it's not for today, and even if it's two people, and it's et cetera. Because if it's

42:05 not on the original folds, then that doesn't re- it's not gonna last, and that's not called a Tikkun Keli Venirin Devarom. So he seems to accept that if you fold it not on the original folds, okay. But not on the original folds, we have a problem. Right. So now... He says there, there, there is some Bechal apprehension about folding Shalich L'saider if it's not needed for Shabbos. Because after all, you're doing an effort on Shabbos for not needed for Shabbos. Veniger Dov Elama, so this one Piskei Teshuvas. Folding the tallis right after davening, not in the original folds. So there are those who are Makeel, but there are those who say you should be Mahmir. Um, and then he refers to m- he refers to what he's written earlier in Ois Tes. A garment which has no, there are no tzelos from folding it. Let's say it's not like of the original folds, or it's something like a jumper, a sweater, um, uh, blankets, which it doesn't really- It doesn't really make a difference to the quality of the garment. Yesh omrim that even this is only allowed only letzorech hayom, not for tomorrow because it's a tircha on Shabbos. Others are matir, even if you don't intend to use them today because it's, it's, it's not really significant, this folding. So again, we're talking here about folding not on the original folds. On the original folds, I don't see any hater. On... Not on the original folds. There, you know, then it seems to

43:56 be, as you can see, the Alter Rebbe seems to be saying, that's, that would be okay. Others who are apprehensive because it's not letzorech Shabbos. Now, his, his, uh, his apprehension is he-- this Anshei Ma'ase, he's quoting from Rav Chaim Noah. Here you can see Rav Chaim Noah in Siman Kuf Yod Zayin. To fold garments shelo k'sedar ha-kriah ha-rishon. To fold not in the original folds, that's for sure okay. not to fold even shelo k'sedar. Not to fold the tallit at all on Shabbos, even not in the original folds. And the reason he says, according to that you want to be makmir, that's preferable. And also there are ignorant people who see you folding, and they don't know that you're folding shelo k'sedar ha-rishon, and they will fold k'sedar ha-rishon. And he, he says what we had before, the Mahari Al who was-- would fold his ta-- He had a special tallit for Shabbos, and he folded it motzei Shabbos. He says, "That's not a raya." It could be that he folded on Shabbos shelo k'sedar, and motzei Shabbos he folded it k'sedar. But meanwhile, what we're seeing here is they're folding it shelo k'sedar. We have, we have room to be makel. But fold-folding it k'sedar, I don't see any, uh, any, anyone as ma-makel. You can, as you can see, it's goes back to the Mishnah, and then it's written, written in Shulchan Aruch that you shouldn't be folding a tallit, uh, even if it's just to tidy up the room. But all

45:29 right. So shelo k'sedar ki-- is there's a hater. Letzorech Shabbos. Yeah. So letzorech Shabbos shelo g-- not on the folds is a hater. But on the folds, there doesn't seem to be a hater, even letzorech Shabbos because that is enhancing the garment. Okay. Let's move on. So someone asked me, if someone had a hernia operation, does he need to say Birchat Hagomel? So the general take on this is, I said, if it was a, a general anesthetic, then for sure you'd have to say Birchat Hagomel. And, um, so this is from the same sefer, Nishmat Avraham, from Dr. Avraham Sofer. And he says, he quotes, um, Rav Elyashiv saying that any operation, if it was-- uh, only if it was general anesthetic. So Dr. Avraham Sofer, he says, we're doing some very-- we can do some very, very dangerous interventions like a biopsy from inner organs, and that's just with a local anesthetic. So he questions this, whether that should be the criterion, general anesthetic. But general anesthetic, everyone agrees that it would be, uh, would warrant Birchat Hagomel. Um, and if it's, if it wasn't, so then if it, if it's, if it's, uh, a dangerous procedure, then you'd say Birchat Hagomel. He mentions here about ballooning, um, whatever that is, by, with the arteries. He also says that would also warrant Birchat Hagomel. I didn't want to put the second question on the list, but here's a question which I also got this past week. If someone almost... He, he, he, he, he,

47:26 uh, what, he did something to, uh, take his own life, and then he was saved from this. Perhaps he took overdose. I'm not sure what the details were. And then he's, was saved. Does he have to say Birchat Hagomel? And so here again, this is from the same sefer, from Nishmat Avraham. A choileh who had some, some, some meshalas at some moment tried to take his own life, and he was saved from that. He should say a Birchat Hagomel when he recovers. And then he goes on to say, anyone who goes to-- has a psychiatric, uh, um, you know, imbalance in a, in a severe way, and if they recover from it, if and when they recover, so then they should be saying Birchat Hagomel. Right. That was, that was question number eight. Question number nine, about warming up a cold potato kugel by placing it on top of a pot that is sitting on the blech. Let's clarify something. There's bishul and there's nirek mivashal. To put something on the cooking surface, that's nirek mivashal, and that's not okay. But if you put it, what I call double-decker, you put it on top of a pot, on top of the urn, that's not nirek mivashal. That, that problem is solved. But is it mivashal? So if it's a-- there's a, a rule that a fluid, a, a mamashke in a fluid is, uh, which means if a fluid became cold and it was reheated, so then it's subject to the din of bi- of

49:15 bishul. So reheating a liquid, reheating is, is, is not okay, even double-decker. It's not nirek mivashal, but it is mivashal, yeah. So now here's the question: What is the criterion? Does, does, does, does moisture in a food qualify as liquid? That's really the question here. We've got here a kugel which has got, uh, uh, some, some oil in it, and it's going to be warmed up. It's gonna be greasy. Now, now it's got the greasy. Kugel's gonna be hot. Is that called heating liquid, or is it liq- uh, heating a solid? That's the question. So I'm looking here from the Alter Rebbe's loshon in the siddur, in the and where he's quite emphatic not to reheat, um, cold meat in a, uh, situation of a kligiden, et cetera. And he says,because the... You're going to warm up that meat, and then there's going to be liquid. And if that comes to Yahtse Ledesbe, it becomes hot, then you've cooked. And look at those words. "Im mishchamim hamoycha- hamoihal hanimche meihem ad shehayahtse ledesbei." If the fluid which melts away from the chicken or meat, whatever, if it, it's hanimche meihem, which melts away from it, if that becomes Yahtse Ledesbei, then you violated a cooking on Shabbos. It's a skill of a Koras Kaspeshal. So it, it seems to be clear that he's not talking about the fluid which is still in the food. It's talking about the fluid which flows away from the food. Now, not to rely just on the Diokalosion, here

51:04 you have also from the Piske Chovas, who says pretty much the same thing. You have a tavshil, which is basically a, a mass, but it has moisture, kugels. Um, it could be other things, um, kashes, uh, whatever, schnitzels. That he says that's defined as a dover yovish. Even though, um, he's write- writes, "Even though sometimes a little bit of juice will, um, will flow," Actually, I take exception to that because if there's going to be room for the liquid to... Let's say you put a tin with some cold chicken, and then you got now, you come back half an hour later, and there's a bit of gravy in the bottom of the tin. That's exactly what the Alter Rebbe was concerned about. If it becomes a separate entity, then as a liquid, a gra- a hot gravy, then you've got a problem, no Bishul on your hands. But if it's a, a kugel, which in, in a tin, it's gonna-- the moisture is not gonna come as a separate thing. It's gonna remain within the mass, and I don't see a problem, no Bishul there. Right. Let's, um, come back to a feedback to... We had a discussion, was it last week or two weeks ago, about answering Omen to the Birchas Koyanim. And whether the Chazan answers Omen. And we had, last week, we had about the, the Mishneh that talks about it. It could be making him confused. And so, and if he has a sitter in front of the conclusion was he

52:45 answers Omen. But what about the actual, the, the first Bracha, Sheket Shonu B'kishos Shalarin, uh, it's Ivonul Avorach Asama Yisro El B'avo. So the rest of us answer Omen. What about the Chazan? Should he answer Omen to that Bracha? So this is discussed in the Taz. That's in Siman Kuf Chof Ches, in the Dinim of Birchas Koyanim. The Chazan can answer that Omen. It's not a problem of Hefsek. The Yikei Hashash is in the, in the Yevareche HaYoy. That's where there's a worry of confusion, et cetera. But in the actual, um, to, to answer the Omen of the Sheket Shonu is not a problem of Hefsek. Now, the Alter Rebbe writes so clearly, He says it's okay. And I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm sharing this with you because it's not so straightforward. Looking here in the Mishneh Berurah, in Sifkoten Ein Alef, where Al Omen Shel HaBracha of Hasheket Shonu B'kishos Shelarin. Now, those who are Machmir, that you shouldn't answer because of Hefsek. Birchas Koyanim, that's not a Hefsek because your Omen is... The Chazan's answering Omen, is Kabol HaBracha. Yes, I want to accept the Bracha. But the, the, the Bracha Sheket Shonu, that's the Koynim. We make a Bracha on the Mitzvah they're doing. What's that got to do with the Chazan? So that's what the Mishneh Berurah writes. And he know-- He says, "I know that the Taz says you are allowed to, but the Eliyahu Rabbi and others disagree." All right. So, so Mishneh Berurah says that the Chazan shouldn't answer

54:54 Amen to the Bracha, Birchas HaMitzvos. The Alter Rebbe quotes the Taz, and he said, "Yesh Mi SheMatir." He doesn't disagree with it. So I think we can just remain that it's not a Hefsek. It's not a foreign entity. It belongs over here, and therefore, it's not a problem of Hefsek. Now, I've left the, uh, something which came up just this Friday, about h- about an hour before Shabbos, two hours before Shabbos. "Please, can you give me an answer, an urgent question?" So this is a s-- a, a Chabad, a, a rabbi in Chabad House on campus. He's somewhere in the United States, and he sends me this picture. That the students, which is one of the beautiful things they do on campus, they get the students, uh, to prepare stuff for Shabbos, make challahs. And here, especially now in the current climate, it's very important for the shlu- for the, uh, to give, uh, chizuk for the s- s- students, uh, the Jewish students on campus. The screen share has stopped, Daniel Raskin. Oy vey. Um, I'm gonna have to... All right. I'll, I'll s- do that again. Um, try again. Screen share. This is... Can you see it now? No, I had it before. Yeah, it's okay. Okay. So now we've got here, you can see on the screen these beautiful cookies, heart-shaped. And the, uh, students had decorated them with, uh, icing, and then they wrote on them, "I heart you," I love you, and then they have X-O-X on some of them.

56:46 And so now the rabbi on campus, the I know the Alter Rebbe doesn't a-agree with it, but is there any heter for these students to be able to enjoy these cookies, these biscuits, on Shabbos? I have to admit that I did not know what X-O-X means. Um, but some younger people told me Friday night that X, we know what it means, it's kisses, and, um, O means embraces, hugs. Uh, he... hugs and kisses. Okay. So now we've got I love you, and then we've got this X-O-X. So are they allowed to have these cookies on Shabbos? Is there a, is there any way we can ? So you can read here, this is in . The Alter Rebbe writes about m- about writing and erasing even if you don't, if you erase without it, uh, writing, also you wouldn't be . Therefore, you mustn't break an ugah, a cake which has got writing on it, even though you're just intending to eat because you're . But you are allowed to give it to a child, because a child is doing Now, this, um, this din of, of the writing on cookies is written before in the Ramah, and it goes back to Rishonim seven hundred years ago or more. And the original discussion about this was that they would do hachnas... I think I've discussed this in shiur in the past, that they do a hachnasat l'cheider. They would do it on Shavuot. And they will prepare the... like the hachnasat l'cheider, you have a

58:33 cake which has psukim. So they did a hachnasat l'cheider on Shavuot, and they would give the children cake, which has got writing on it. And that became the whole issue. Are you allowed to give the child, uh, um, something which is going to be erased, eating and erasing the writing? So that's why it's be- giving it to a tinok becomes relevant. So the Ramah says you shouldn't be eating osios, uh, cookies which have on them osios. Comes along the Taz. He says that he doesn't fully understand. It's, uh, Then we've got the Dagul Mervava, the Neu de Bihuda. And he writes the following. He says it's perfectly okay. I, the Maraam, was machmir. That's bec- In other words, he's saying it's which is rabbonon, and, and it's, it's and it's a psik reisha which you're not interested. Therefore, it should be okay. I, why was the Maraam MiRutenburg machmir on this? Because there, there was... it wasn't unintended. There you wanted the child to eat the pasuk. It had the wr-wr-written on the cake, you had psukim, and then the child would eat it. It would be a segula that they're eating the pasuk. And therefore, there was an argument it is intended. For the children because they're tinokes, because they're under bar mitzvah, therefore they were When there's no interest in davka ingesting the writing, it's, it's, it's not your focus, then it's a mutar even for adults. Now, I remember something about, um, putting it in your mouth all in one go. I

1:00:15 couldn't find that today. Um, but meanwhile, the, the Neu de Bihuda is meikel. But one more, one last thing which, which I was thinking about. We know that the minimum of, uh, a writing on Shabbos is two letters. So the cookies which say U, so Y-O-U is three letters, so there's What is this X-O-X? Now, now I've been educated, so now I know what the, what these words, what these... But it's three separate words. Is that considered writing? In other words, when it's... you have a does that mean when you've got a, vo, shi, and mem, because sheim, don, da-dalet, nun, don, et cetera, it's two letters forming a word. But what would be if you have letters which just represent, uh, like a tof stands for terumah, mem stands for maaser. It... And so if it's just, if it's just one letter, is that also considered, uh, a word? Because you, you understand. Look, you see the tof. So I s- There's a sefer which I have called Yesodei Heshun from Rabbi Gedalia Felder from Toronto. See, he's got a, a whole volume about melameds melachos, and he's taking a, a view that even one letter, if it's got a, um, a meaning to it, would also be significant. Um, so I'll, I'll just finish off with this. Yeah, he... I just found this very, very interesting. Um, when David HaMelech is ex-- Gemara Sukka, David HaMelech is preparing the foundations for the Beis Hamikdash, the whole story in Gemara Sukka, how he's digging

1:01:56 very, very deep, and he finds a otzitz. He finds a, a basket, which is on... and, and it's on the... It says on... The basket says, "Don't pick me up. If you pick me up, you're gonna cause flooding." And of course, Dovid Hamelech picks it up, then there starts flooding, and then the whole story how his, uh, Ahitofel was forced to say a, a solution for this. Now, um, this is the, this is the Marsha in Sukkah. So this is all, all got to do with the Mayim Tachtonim, which actually I spoke about this morning. Yeshua, the Mayim Tachtonim which were surging up, and Hashem told them to stay behind, to stay down. And then we have here that Ahitofel's answer was write Hashem's name on a chaspah, on a piece... on a shard, and put it there, and that will cause the waters to subside. And now-- And that was-- That, that solved the problem. Okay, but what was actually written on that shard? So we have in Ahit-- It says in , also he has to call him Rab Elokim Yod He. And one of the proofs is from Ahitofel because he only taught D-Dovid one thing. And, uh, and Rab-- And To-To-- And Dovid calls him, um, I don't know what it was in. Anyway, Dovid calls him Rab Elokim Yod He. So what was the Ois Ahas? It says, Ois Ahas. So Marsha is suggesting the Ois Ahas is the He of Hashem's name because . So the He is the

1:03:34 He of B'riat Olam, of B'riat Olam Hazeh. And that He is written on the chaspah, and that, that is, uh, that, that caused the water to subside. So from this, this, um, Yesod Yeshurun Rav Felder wants to say, "Aha, you see that even a single letter of Hashem's name also has got a kedushah, and it's got a power," as, uh, according to the Marsha. And, uh, and therefore, this is what he wants to come back. That by when you have even a single letter with a stroke on top, which is indi-indicative that this is symbolizing a whole word should be considered, uh, as if, uh, you had written a word. And so all right. That, I'm sure that can be, uh, is debatable, but, uh, that's, uh, he leaves, he leaves us with that. That's his view, uh, Lehaakhmir. At any rate, um, someone's writing. Weren't the original Oisios written in the Midvar two letters that were on the крошим rather than words? Very good. That the Gemara talks about, um, where do we know the Inyan of this, uh, the Inyan of two letters when you had two крошим. You had, let's say, an Aleph on one and Aleph on the other, but then you have to match the two to one another. That's what he suggested. So the, the but there's two set, two Oisios which kind of together have a message. But here you have the X is a message on its own, and the O is a message on its own.

1:05:01 So does that count as soon... Uh, uh, does that count as a, a, a writing because the letters are, are standalones? Okay. I have to tell, finish off with Rav Gershon. Uh, he sa-says, "That's how the cookie crumbles." Okay, thank you very much for joining us tonight, and I wish you all a, uh, a wonderful week. And we should be zocheh to see Beshuv Hashem Shivas Tzion, and that will be, uh, with B'shiach Tzidkeinu b'mehara b'yomeinu, amen. Uh, goodbye. Thank you very much. Goodbye. All right. Yeah, goodbye. Uh.