ויגש תשפ״ה

00:06 A good Shabbat and, uh, welcome to tonight's Shiur motzei Shabbos Vayigash, going into Yom HaBo, Y'hei Tov L'simcha D'dan Notzach. I'll come to you in a second, but meanwhile, tonight's Shiur is dedicated in honor of the Yortsite just yesterday of Mrs. Hannah Raisel bas Reb Aaron Dovid alav hashalom. Zichrono L'vracha nishmaso. She may she be a melitzas yosher for her family. So Y'hei Tov L'simcha Vayigash of the Sephorim. So I just wanted to celebrate with you, Baruch Hashem, the series of Sephorim which you've known about, Siddur Rabbi Noah Zochen is now available in the stores in Crown Heights and in Eretz Israel. And, uh, if you have a contact there, Haparayim, or, uh, get hold of your copy. I'm not gonna say it's, it's, uh, it's, uh, for every single house. Some people say their Sefer is for every single Jewish home has to have it. But I think people who are able to open the Pelukah D'sichas and read the Ha'arah, uh, will enjoy such a Sefer. Also in a Chabad Shul where people can ask questions, uh, why does Chabad do this? Why does Chabad do this way different, etc. So a lot of the answers will, uh, hopefully be found in this Sephorim. So, uh, there you are. Now, just to give you a little bit of a taste of the Sephorim, so let's, let's go to the next slide. So the first on the right of the screen, you've got a typical page of the S- of the Siddur. So the

02:06 top of the Siddur has got Birchas HaGomel. And, uh, then you have beneath that, Giluyona HaSiddur, where you have several comments from the Rabbeim, in particular our Rebbe. And that's, um, the Nusuch of HaGomel L'Chayav B'Tovos is actually sh- different to, uh, most Nusachos. Most would say, SheGamalani Kol Tov. And we say, SheGamalani Tov. And so, uh, there's some comments of the Rebbe about that, also about if you're traveling by plane. So that's, that's Giluyona HaSiddur. That would be some comments of the Rabbeim. And then underneath that, so there's a sources and commentary on those comments of the Rabbeim. So you've got Giluyona HaSiddur plus a commentary on that. And then you have beneath that, Iyun HaSiddur, which are sources and comments on the, uh, on the, on the text of the Siddur. And so here you can have a comment, when did it-- when should women say the Birchas HaGomel? Should a woman who's given birth say Birchas HaGomel? Um, and some story about that with the Rebbe. So that's just, like a typical page that you'll have, um, sources in Gemara, where it talks about Birchas HaGomel, where it's the Shechinach, and so on. And so that's, uh, this is a very typical page. The second slide you have here is from the end of Pirkei Avos. So you just... So you have there forty-eight Midos of Acquisition of Torah. And so there's forty-eight, but exactly how the breakdown of the number is, is, uh, is not so clear. And so this is

03:57 an analysis. You have how it is in the Mishnah, how the same Braita is in Taanit d'Bei Eliyahu. And then you have in the first Siddur of Shalom, second Siddur of Shalom, Siddur Derech Chayim, Siddur Beis Philo, and finally, the Alter Rebbe. So there's going... You can-- you'll see that the, the distribution of the forty-eight, uh, qualities varies from one Siddur to, to, to the other, which becomes... The Derech Chayim, sorry, that wasn't-- that's not the Siddur Derech Chayim. That's from the Maral of Prague. See, he's got a Derech Chayim, which is a commentary on Pirkei Avos, and he goes through the forty-eight Midos one by one, and his breakdown of the forty-eight is different to the way, uh, it is in numerous Siddurim, etc. So that's a, a, a analysis of the... Of something in the Siddur. And one, one last, um, sample, and that is at the back of the, the, the third volume, you got about forty-eight chapters called Miluim, which are more in-depth analysis of various Enyonim. Some are shorter, some are longer. So this is why I just picked a typical one. Um, when does Kadesh said after Kriat Shema at Mincha and Shabbos? And this goes through how it was-- how it's written in, in, in the Rav Nehemia, how it's written in the Shaar Hacool, how it's written by the Rebbe, by, by Rav Chaim Noah, how it's Mincha Chabad, and how Mincha Chabad possibly has changed. And so you have here a whole discussion about a practice

05:30 which is mentioned in the Siddur. And, um, so there's a few pages, a study of that about that. So that's a typical, uh, chapter in the Miluim. So there you are. That's a bit of a foretaste of what, what you have in the Siddur. So let's come back again. Um, so it is available in the stores in, um, Sai in Eretz HaKodesh and in Crown Heights and, um, Haparayim. Yeah. So now let's What did I want to share with you? One more thing, and that is that every, uh, every week there's a sikha which is published. And we learned the sikha between Mincha and Ma'ariv, and it came up this, this past sikha. The sikha is from Chof Kislev, Chof Shin Lamed Zain. Now, this is following on the, the, uh, events of Entebbe in nineteen seventy-six, where there was this, um, the rescue of the, of the captives that had been were taken captive. And at the time, the Rebbe was quite very emphatic that one should be thanking Hashem for this miracle. And there were those who... detractors who were saying, "How could you-- Since the people who weren't-- who did so, who did the, uh, rescue were not Shomrei Mitzvos, therefore, you can't say it's a Nes from Hashem." And the Rebbe took ex-extreme exception to this, this attitude, and he posed three test questions. One of them being, if you say it's not a miracle, okay, if one of the, those who res-were rescued would visit Entebbe and come to the

07:24 same site, revisit the site, would they have to say a Bracha She'asani Nes BaMakom HaZe? Another question, which I don't remember the third one. Another one was, if you needed to go to a doctor and you got two, two, um, two people, two candidates. One is a maamin and one is not-- doesn't believe in Hashem, is an atheist. Is there a difference L'Halacha whether you get your medical care from one or the other? Um, so in other words, to say that salvation from Hashem doesn't have to come dafka through a person who is a maamin, and the Rebbe rejected that. He says it can be a Nes from Hashem. In any case, it was very important for the, for the Rebbe to be th-thanking, to thank Hashem, acknowledge this. He's-- And he quoted at some stage that when Chizkiyahu had his salvation from Sanherib, so he failed to thank Hashem adequately, and because of this, he wasn't-- he did not merit to become Moshiach. So that's, that, that was it. Now, in the... This discussion went on for months. That happened in the summer, and this is now in Kislev, and the Rebbe is now r-talking about this in the Farbrengen, as I say, Chof Kislev, Chof Shin Lamed Zain. So in reference to saying a Bracha She'asani Nes BaMakom HaZe. The Rebbe says in ref-- based upon the Alter Rebbe in, uh, in Be-Beis HaTfilah, which what are the categories of the miracles which one needs to say a Bracha. The Alter Rebbe gives

08:57 example of if a wall fell upon a person and he was saved from that, uh, accident, so he would say a Bracha She'asani Nes. Whenever he comes to this place where he, after an interval of thirty days, he'd say She'asani Nes BaMakom HaZe. And then further on the sikha also the Rebbe says, "I don't have any question about it because the Alter Rebbe paskens this way." But others, Chotach Tadam De'ertza Welt. So, and even then, several Rabbonim have paskened that you do make a Bracha She'asani Nes. So as I was learning the sikha last night, I was intrigued. What is the debate here? What is this question? Should the people coming back to Entebbe, should they be making a Bracha She'asani Nes BaMakom HaZe? So I'm just gonna scroll down and share with you what we have in Shulchan Aruch, and then what the Alter Rebbe says in Sefer HaSanhedrin. So this is in Siman Resh, as you can see. That in this context of saying a Bracha for a miracle, that that's only in a miracle, something which is extra, um, extraordinary, not, not a natural thing. So they give an example. You are in the desert, and you are-- you're parched in, um, from thirst, and then a, a fountain suddenly, um, starts, starts pouring water. So that's to-totally miraculous. But a mi-a mi-miracle which is within, with-within laws of nature, so to speak. So let's say if a person had a break-in, ganavim came to him and he was exposed to danger,

10:46 and he was saved. So is that a Nes that you weren't harmed by, by burglars? Now, those who say you should say a Bracha even there. So here you have a, a kind of a dilemma. What-- When we say Nes, what, what level of supernatural would have to-- would it have to be to warrant as a miracle? And I believe that's what the Rebbe was alluding to, that when you have, uh, trained soldiers coming with a plane and landing and driving and et cetera, et cetera, uh, does that make it into a Limai Lamadeach Hatefa? Does that make it a mi-a miracle? Is it, is it astonishing? Absolutely. Is it a miracle? Is it a unnatural event? So that, that, that was the dilemma. So here the Rebbe refers to the way the Alter Rebbe paskens, and this is, uh, the Alter Rebbe's psak is based upon the Rivosh, who's quoting the Beit Yosef. But, um, so let's read what Alter Rebbe writes. A person experienced a miracle in a particular place. A wall fell down, and he was saved from the broken, b-broken down wall. Let's say he happened to be under a table or something, which somehow, uh, he was able to survive this avalanche of stones. Or if he was exposed to fierce, dangerous animals or which is, um, armed robbers. When he comes back to the same place, So it seems to be very conf-- So you've got here a case. A person was exposed to armed, to armed robbers, and

12:59 he was saved. So then that's con- that's enough to consider it . And so this is where his, where, well, the, where the rabbi is res-referring to this as the source, that it doesn't need to be a, an intervention of something totally unnatural. But the fact that the... If you were exposed, you were in a place where there were fierce animals, which are-- And there were-- or there were people with weapons and who were free to, would, would feel free to kill people, and you managed to get out unscathed, so that's considered also And therefore, by for, for sure, that would, uh, the events at, at Entebbe would qualify as . Um, the who came at night, perhaps everyone would agree that that's not enough to call it a miracle. But, uh, when you have people coming along with, with weapons and, and, and r-ready to kill at a whim, so then when you got out of there, uh, safe, that's . I must just share with you. I'm sure I told this before, but never mind. My father, all of us, Shalom, would say about the fellow who came to shul. He wanted to bench Gomel. And they asked him why so. So he said, "Because I-I saw the washing lady, um, beating my trousers as they were hanging on a washing line." And so they ask, so they ask him, "So what's... Why are you benching Gomel for that?" He says, "Imagine if I would have been inside the trousers." Okay. Let's now

14:44 start our list of questions. Okay. So- Someone think- Somehow someone's not muted. Please close all browsers to rejoin meeting. Can you please mute yourself? Thank you. There we are. That's better. All right. There we go. Um, if you want to ask something and you need to say it verbally, you can unmute yourself. But meanwhile, the background noise, well, we've muted. Right. So here we have a question, um, which I was asked to address about inviting... Well, if you have non-Jewish visitors to a shul, and is it okay to open up the Aron Kodesh to show them the Sefer Torah, uh, et cetera. Or, and, and going one step further, to open up a Sefer Torah to show them the, the script inside. So here we have a passage from the Sefer Melachim, and we have how Merodach, or Berodach as it is here, Baladan, Belte Baladan, who's I think a son or grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. And he sends a gift to Chizkiyahu. Sorry, my mistake. Not Nebuchadnezzar. It would have been earlier, yeah. It would have been, uh, Sanherib or someone. Anyway, so he sends, um... He had heard that, uh, Chizkiyahu had been ill, and then he sends him a gift. So, so now there's this delegation who come to visit Chizkiyahu in Yerushalayim, I guess. And Chizkiyahu hears about them and . He shows them all his treasures. Uh, I think this is mentioned in Rashi somewhere around now. I think it was last week, et cetera. Uh, showed him all his treasures.

16:43 There's gold and the s- the silver, spices, fine oils. There was nothing. There's no thing which he did not show them. Yeshayahu Hanavi comes to Chizkiyahu, King Chizkiyahu, and says, "Who are these people?" And he says, "You know, they're Kevira, Ashira people, came from Bavel." And what did he see? He says, "I showed them everything." So Yeshayahu says to Chizkiyahu, "Listen what Hashem has to say to you. Behold, there are gonna become days, gonna come, days are gonna come, and all the treasures of your forefathers will be carried away to Bavel. Nothing will be left." So now, on the first , Rashi says, "What did Chizkiyahu show his visitors? He showed them the Aron, the Luchos, and the Sefer Torah." So, and because of this, because he did not withhold the most, uh, precious articles, and he showed them everything, so then midah k'neged midah. Because he showed them everything, he's told by the navi that there, there will be a punishment, that there will be nothing left of his treasures, and they will all be taken off to Bavel. So we're seeing here that Chizkiyahu was reprimanded For having shown the Aron and the Luchos and the Sefer Torah. The most sacred objects he showed to those visitors, which was, which wasn't correct of him to do. Going, going later, many, many, many years later, we have a Sefer called Sefer Hasidim from on the time of the Baalei HaTosfos. And he says here, , there's different numbers in different editions, but fine. you

18:36 should not allow a goy to see a dead person in the grave. And then he goes further. There was once a Nogri who asked a minister... There was... Oh, sorry. There's a goyishe minister who asked the Jews to open up the Aron to... He wanted to see the Sefer Torah. One of the elders there said, "Do not open it to him." Chizkiyahu sinned in this. He showed the Aron to the pr- the, the ministers of the king of Babel. It finishes off, one who shows the Sefer Torah to the Nogri, i-i-it's what's gonna, what's his... What's, what's g- gonna be happening to his own remains after he dies. So we see here a strong, um, statement that one should not be exposing a, a, uh, Sefer Torah to a goy, to a goyishe visitor. Um, there's a famous line which Chizkiyahu is told, Why are you meddling in the secret business of Hashem? Now, generally, this is understood in the context that he did not want to get married because he anticipated, he knew that his son would be a, a Rosher, a Avoda Zara. And because of this, he didn't want to get married to bring into the world someone who's gonna be a Rosher. And he's told, it's not your business to dabble in Hashem's business. What's gonna happen is you have to do your mitzvah pirye v'rivye. If Hashem causes it's gonna be a Rosher, that's, that's His business. But I've seen also that the, this, uh, this criticism, is going back

20:32 to why did you take the secrets, the Aron and the Luchos, which are . These are things which Hashem has given us in a way that they are kept private. Why did you expose them? And because he exposed the , therefore he was, he had later, he had to pay for it, et cetera. So now the question then is, do we not know of stories where Sefer Torah was taken out to greet the, uh, a monarch, the king, the emperor would be visiting the Jewish, uh, the ghetto, and the Jews would go out with the Sifrei Torah. There's a famous story of Purim Saragossa, uh, printed in Talks and Tales, where they, the, the community had Sefardi Si-Sifrei Torahs in these large boxes, and normally they would take the Sifrei Torah out of the boxes and go out with the empty boxes. And then one time, the Rav had a dream that he, they should make sure to come out with the Sifrei Torah, and apparently someone had, had libeled the Yidden that they're just making fun of the king and they're coming out with empty boxes. And so, uh, he quickly, they quickly put back the Sifrei Torah in the boxes, and when the king came the following day and he told them to open up the boxes, so their Sifrei Torah were there. Which, by the way, also tells you that generally they didn't open up the boxes. They didn't open up the Sifrei Torah, but that's a side point. Meanwhile, we see

22:04 also in the Sefer HaChinuch where he talks about the mitzvah of the Aron being carried by the Kohen . So he makes the following comment, that this mitzvah is only applicable in Eretz Yisrael when they would have to carry the Aron in battle. Nowadays, we don't have a king, we don't have an Aron, and therefore it's, it's not applicable. Then he said, the fact that in Galus it's customary to take out a Sefer Torah to greet the goyishe kings, um, and apparently it was done by Kohen and Leviyim. That's not imperative. Any Jew could also carry the Sefer Torah. If it's a , that they choose Bnei Levi, . So to, to greet a king, a visiting king with the Sefer Torah was done, and here you have also in Siman Resh Peh Bet in the Piskei Teshuva also talking about carrying a Sefer Torah to greet a king. Then the answer is, yes, for a monarch, for Kovod HaMelech, uh, then you take out the most precious article to show respect for the Melech. That's one story. That's, that's, that's legitimate, possibly. That doesn't compare to when you've got a group of schoolchildren who are learning about comparative religion, and therefore they're coming to... They're going to various places of worship, and they also come to a shul, and therefore to open for them the Sefer... The Aron Kodesh, that I would say no. What I can tell you, I've heard some shluchim do, in this case, they prepare a Megillah. A Megillas Esther.

23:44 And so they will, they will tell the, their visitors and open up a Megillah and show them this is what it looks like. It's parchment and, uh, handwritten. And so without having to open up the Aron Kodesh, they can tell them more about it. Let's move on. So one Hanukkah question, and that is, does a blind person have the mitzvah of lighting the Menorah? Just... I came across this. No one asked me this, l'maase. Um, so the way it's written in the Magen Avraham, quoting from the Rash- Rashal, that a blind person does have a mitzvah of lighting the Menorah like any other mitzvah. Here you have on the screen from Rabbi Yaakov Emden, and he's not so convinced and is thinking that possibly since the mitzvah of Menorah has got to do with seeing, therefore a person who does not have the blessing of eyesight is, uh, unable to do this mitzvah. And therefore... And that's how it remains in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, that a blind person should not be making a brachah on lighting a Menorah if they live alone. If they're living with someone else, so the other person should light. But if they're living on their own, so, so we have here a Machloket. Just compare this to a person who's got no, uh, no hearing. He, he's lost the sense of hearing totally. Can they be Bal Tekiah? He's capable of blowing shofar, but he's not able to hear shofar. So the argument being that since he's incapable of hearing,

25:24 then he's ac-- he's out of-- he's unable to do this mitzvah, and therefore he can't even blow shofar to be motzi other people. It's not so far-fetched. You have people who've got, um, a c-cochlear implant, which means that whatever they're hearing is in a, is a, is a, is a replica. It's not a real thing. So therefore they're not, not able to blow shofar. Let's move on to another question which came my way. Someone sent me a whole little video, but I... My, my yeshiva training doesn't te- tell, tell me how to put in videos into, into PowerPoint displays. So, so this is a question that you've got here a jug of juice, of some kind of juice, and it's got little... all these berries floating. And it's got a, uh, lid, and the lid has got different, um, protrusions which you can rotate it one way or the other. And so the lid is able to control that the juice should come out and the berries should stay in the jug. So here the person is asking, are they allowed to use this, uh, contraption on Shabbos, or is it not a problem of borer or mesaneh meraked by using this contraption to hold the berries in whilst you pour the drink out? That's the question. So I s-- I'm look-- I looked around a little bit, and we've gone through this before, that borer is only by a... when there's a mixture, when a confused, jumbled state. So if Friday night you wanted

27:04 to take out from the cholent a large potato or a large piece of meat 'cause you want to keep it for tomorrow, that's not a call, called a problem of borer, ochel metech ochel, melacha zman. It's not called borer because it stands quite distinct. It also has, uh, this is Rav Farkash. If you have a can of sardines to pour off the oil and leave the sardines in the can. So the oil is discarded, yeah? So if it's whole sardines, he says you are allowed to. Not a problem of borer. But if the sardines are flaked, so then the flakes are mixed in with the oil, so then straining it off would be an act of borer. So are these little berries, are they big or small in relation to our question? So again, a big, a big item, to retain a big item would not be a problem of borer. If it's small, smallish items, yes. So what's the story here? And it's also... I don't know how terrible it would be if one of those berries would land in my, my glass. I'd probably manage to, um, digest it. Uh, so I'm inclined to say that they, they are called big items, therefore they're not borer. Not totally convinced. Now I have on the screen from Shmiras Shabbos KeHilchosa. Now, amazing hatslacha this sefer has. It was published in three editions, and, uh, there are significant changes between the editions. So this is from the third edition. As you can see, Mahadura Harashah.

28:43 So you are allowed to strain fruit juices which were squeezed from before Shabbos. You're allowed to strain the, the fruit juice in through a sieve of some sort to remove the pulp. Because... And the reason why that's not called borer, because most people, including yourself possibly, would often drink, uh, the drink with the pulp. So therefore, putting it through a strainer because you want to make it that little bit more palatable is not considered borer. So on this basis, they say something similar over here. Since the drink is quite drinkable as is, therefore, um, it's not a problem to use this mechanism to hold back the fruit. Now, in the note here, he writes, "V'devar einu kan, delo yikamei shekesatah be-mahadura kamoh s'iv nun gimel." So if you look at the previous edition of the Shmiras Shabbos KeHilchosa, he was more machmir about this. So it's, uh, not a totally clear halacha. Um, so what... bottom line, I don't know. If it's not necessary, I'll, I'll, I'll just skip it. Okay, so here's a question. I've never had this before. Someone sent me this photograph. Her mother had passed away, and she tore kriah, and she ripped her garment, and then she took some tape, apparently, and some thread, and repaired, repaired the, uh, tear. Quite a good job, in my humble opinion. I don't know why she did it in red thread rather than, rather than white thread, which would have been less visible. Unless she dafka wanted to kind of perpetuate the memory

30:38 of her mother, and therefore having the red thread would re- would remind her of it. At any rate, question is, are... is she allowed to wear this garment the way it's been repaired? So we have in the dinim of kriah, which is in Yoreh Deah siman shin mem, talks about two levels of repair. There's one that's called sholel, and one's called me'achel. So let's read that inside. Shin-mem-sif-tes-vav. Al kol hameisim. After any bereavement. Shelo le'achah shivo. The ri- the rip, the tear may be re-repaired, uh, in uneven stitches after seven days. Or me'achah. The word me'achah is similar to the word ach or ach, um, achois, like a brother or sister. To co-repair a, a, a good repair can be done after thirty days. But then the last line, if it's after the loss of a parent, then shelo le'achah shloshim yom, there can be a crude repair done after thirty days. Ve'ein me'achah le'olam, but a, a, a, a proper repair would never be allowed. So, so what was done here is, as we see, it's not allowed. It's sort of a loss of a parent. So now you ask the question, once it's already been done, is she allowed to wear the garment? My, my feeling about it is, is no. If that's... If there is a din that it no-it mustn't be repaired, so it should re-remain unrepaired. If it's been repaired, perhaps it should be undone. But, uh, to benefit from the, from a repair which is, uh, says it's not

32:16 allowed, that's... I don't think is okay. Let's move on. So came up in discussion somehow. Someone asked me. We have various forms of netilat yadayim. We wash netilat yadayim for bread. We wash netilat yadayim in the morning. And then we have also something called mayim achronim. And they're all somehow puri-purifying processes, and yet each one is different. So try to sort out what is, what, what's going on here. So the concept of negel vasser, washing to get rid of ruach ra, is mentioned in the Gemara a couple of times. However, the fact that we wash our hands alternately, beseerugin, that has its source in the, uh, in the, uh, teachings of the Arizal. So what you have on the screen, what you have, the Alter Rebbe brings this, and he says, um, "Lo yishpek al yad achat gimol pe'amim ritzufim. Af al achat se'al yamin, af al achat se'al smol." Once on the right, once on the left. "Vechein ya'aseh gimol pe'amim." But he doesn't... That, so that's what he says. He doesn't explain. And so the source is in the writings of the Arizal. And here you have from the Shaar Hakavanot, and he says, "Ve lo sirchetzem yachad gimol pe'amim. Kol yad." Don't wash three times on each hand. "El apam achat be yad zot, apam acheret be yad habeit beseerugin." Alternating, because that's the way the ruach hatumah was... The ruach hatumah has got a name, Shivso. That's the Lashon in the Gemara. Shivso bas Melech. That ruach hatumah, that evil, that,

34:01 that, well, impure spirit will be, uh, that's the way to get rid of it. Makpedes, it's particular. V'deleg vesekefetes. It jumps and, um, leaps and jumps until it goes away completely. And if it's not done that way, ein onot netefes. It's not gonna be removed. Vechein nimtzah be Zohar veKsav Yad. I did try to search for this Inyan in the Zohar, and whatever tools I had did not bring it up. It says, "Zeh Kesav Yad." It doesn't say it's printed in the Zohar. Tell you, I didn't find this in the Zohar. So this is the earliest source which we have of negel vasser being alternately, is in Kesuvi HaArizal. And I'm emphasizing this because in the, um, in the Eliyahu Rabba, who was about a generation before the Alter Rebbe, he quotes, "V'kinesses HaGedolah veSeider Hayom," and he says about pouring three and three, not to do, and he doesn't talk about the alternate, alternating. And the Eliyahu Rabba himself is more happy to do it that way because alternating means you're gonna be touching the hands one onto the other. At any rate, so it's not so, it's not so s-strong, this tradition of alternating. But we... That's a... Listen, this is the way we were brought up, and this is, this is actually following. So what's the Svara in the alternating? That's, yeah, that's what... What's the Svara that the ruach ra, shi- ruach hatumah, Shivso bas Melech, why, what's the logic that it will be driven away davka by alternating the pouring?

35:40 That's, that's that question. So, so here's a fascinating Reshima of the Rebbe from... You can see it's from Beis Nissan tof shin. The Rebbe's in Paris. Um, and he's talking about the yortz of the Rebbe Rashab, and he's speaking Mishul there, I guess. And yeah. So he's talking about the entrance to the Ulam. So you've got the foyer of the Beis Hamikdash stands. So you've got the, the, the entrance is twenty amos wide and forty amos high. And so he's... And then we've got a d- a decorative feature. We've got five beams, one over the other, one higher than the other. And the first one, you can see in the diagram to the left, that you have the first one extends twenty-two amos wide. The next one is twenty-four amos wide. Twenty-six, twenty-eight. And the highest, the, the fifth, is thirty amos from one end to the other. So this is this decorative feature called the Amal Teruos. And the Rebbe talks about the three levels. You've got the Chotzer, is an e-early entry into Avodas Hashem. And there you wash your hands and feet because of, uh, for purifying. And then, then you have Menoy... The Heichal is, is a higher Avoda, more specialized, Tefillah and Talmud Torah. And then Kodesh HaKodashim is Mesiras Nefesh. And then he says that if a person in the Azora has done their Avodah as they should, then there's no, there's no, uh, obstru-no obstruction to them entering the Ulam. And that's why the Ulam does not have

37:18 a door. And then the fact that it's forty Amas high because you're entering with all your faculties, Roatz and Sefal, Midas, and Machshavat Dibomais. So that's the... In each one, each of those four levels is made up of ten, therefore the forty. And why is it twenty Amas wide? Because you're coming in with a Nefesh HaChayim and the Nefesh HaBabis, so that's why it's twenty. Ten for the Nefesh HaChayim and ten for the Nefesh HaBabis. Okay. Then he goes on the significance of these five beams. So if you can see where I'm reading, "Shekol echad ve'echad tzorich gam hu lehosif." You... Each person, as holy as they've, they've been, um, brought up with, they need to increase on that which they have a-already, on that which they have already from Chinuch, from their parents, uh, or the input of He-Hergo that they've been used to, or Svivo, or environment, and they should be striving on their own to go higher. Greater, better. "Veha'avoda hilah at le'aat." Progress has to be step by step, slowly. And that's the significance of the first step, is just one Ama to the right, the positive, and one Ama to the negat- to the left, which would mean a step of reflecting in the negative. And then you go up b-by step by step. Basically, he's saying you want to progress in Davened Hashem, you can't do it all in one go. You'd have to do it step by step and a little bit of negative, a little bit of

38:51 positive. And then once you have accomplished that, then you can go to the next step. And I believe this is very, very similar to what's been said here by the... In the, in the, in the Arizal. He's saying, "Omak bedes," uh, uh, it has to be, "Pam achas, uh, uh, pam achas beYad zeh be-be-seirugin." Davka through this gradual step-by-step approach, that's how you'll get rid of the Ruach Hatumo. And he says, if it's gonna be all in one go, then it's gonna be too much to be successful, and therefore, it has to go step by step. Um, I believe that's a similar idea. And of course, the message is in our own Davened Hashem on a much more conscious level, not just when we watch Neguel Asa, that we sh- need to make steps further, but make small steps in each direction, uh, and step by step to reach to a... And then it talks about the higher level, how you've got the Lamed, and the Lamed is like a Chof and a Vav, and that's like the letters, um, l-lemest yud hei vav hei, et cetera. Okay. So that's... You can read this up in the Reshumis. Um, let's move on. So someone sent me... Now we're going on to question number six. Someone sent me this, um, packet. Well, no, they didn't. They just sent me a photograph, the packet they, they kept. Uh, so I couldn't... I didn't, didn't sample those, uh, egg rolls. They're asking what the Bracha is. So, uh,

40:27 so it looks like they're little dough pastry rolls, and then inside there's a filling. That's what I can see here, so on the ingredients. So just very simple. You have here a Halakha, uh, called Pas Habor Bekisnin, that if it's a, a pastry filled with some other foods, and that's the reason to make it into Mezonos. Here, the... In the Alter Rebe's Shechinachruch, at first he says it's only true if the filling is something which people don't normally have as part of a meal. So if it's filled with sweets, then... Or with fruit, that would make it from a br- We're talking here the pastry is, uh, just a Cha, like a plain bread dough, just flour and water. And the filling, so if the filling is something sweet, well, then like a strudel, that's something which is, uh, a, a snack food. By contrast, if it's filled with something like cheese or fish or eggs, uh, something which you'd have with a meal, like you'd have a sandwich, you'd have, uh, egg with your sandwich, you'd have, um, salami with your sandwich. Therefore, that's... If you have meat inside such a pastry roll, that's not reason to make it into Mezonos. There are those who disagree, and they say that whether it's filled with meat or whether it's meat filled with sweets, uh, it's, it's the same thing, and it makes it into the Mezonos. So what do they call them again? Jackem... Jacks in the flaps, flaps in the jacks. I've forgotten how

42:11 you say it. Um, they're like, like sausages wrapped with a, um, with, with pastry. So if the pastry is an Hamotzi pastry and the filling is a, a more savory type of filling, it's not a sweet filling, well, the Halakha in the way the Alter Rebe is in the Siddur is like the former opinion, that is Hamotzi. So that's my answer to this mini egg rolls. I don't see any eggs in the, in the dough. The dough is wheat, flour, water, corn starch, and salt. So s-sounds like a Hamotzi dough. Um, then it's got a filling of cabbage and celery, et cetera. Now, the Hechsher does say Bechor Se Mezonos, but, um, perhaps they... Um, I'm sure they know more about it, unless they are relying on that second opinion. But, uh, if it's- If that's the only reason why it's Mezuza is because of the savory filling, so the Alter Rebbe does not pass them that way. I see we have a number of questions on the chat, and I'm sorry I didn't notice them before. Ah, thank you. So when someone asks about if a Hachnasat Sefer Torah we carry in the street. Um, yes. So when there is a Hachnasat Sefer Torah, we take out the Sefer Torah, and indeed, you read the letter of the Friediker Rebbe that people that they was... The Gabai, as they take out the Sefer Torah from the Aron Kodesh, they ask Mechilah from them that they should come out and be taken to be Matriach,

43:49 to come out and greet their, the new, the new Sefer Torah. Um, but again, that's, that's clearly the Kovid Ha-Torah, whereas opening it up for, for visitors who are on a casual visit is, is not, is not the same. Right. One, um, someone's asked, "Can you rely on early editions of Shemirat Shabbat KeHilchota?" Overall, I'm sure overall it's pretty good, yeah. Um, someone's asking, "Does this apply equally to Yom Tov?" Does the... Is that about the jug, I presume. Um, I don't wanna answer now without thinking about it properly. Right. Someone is writing a Rabbi Singer saying about this Ruach Roah, and we said it's called Bas Melech. I saw that since she is a Bas Melech, she has no patience. After driven, being driven away by the water three times, she gives up. Okay, cute. Right. Someone's asking, "Does it make a difference about taking out for Goyim, uh, Aposlul Sefer Torah?" Um, probably less, probably less of a problem, um, but even Aposlul Sefer Torah, we also treat with tremendous respect. So I think the, the, the aids of taking out a Megillah is a, uh, a much safer, uh, solution. Right. Let's move on. Yeah. Thank you. It's flapjacks. So that's the word I was looking for. And, um, Rabbi Kieffman points out that the Hechsher is, um, is Achdus Hechsher. Okay, let's move on. So here's a... We have, uh, the following scenario, that we have somewhere in Europe, the... A small group of Lubavitcher Bochurim, six in all, and the

45:39 local community have Mincha, Ma'ariv one after the other. But being Lubavitchers, so we have to daven Ma'ariv BeZmanom. And they've got six Bochurim, so they daven Ma'ariv BeZmanom. And gr-- And thankfully, there's some of the locals are there in the Beis HaMidrash, so they will make up the Minyan. And so they do have six, six Daveners and four Mashlimim and, um, and they, they daven Ma'ariv. Okay. Happens to be one of these six boys davens longer than the rest. So you got five people have finished Ma'asrei, and you got four volunteers also standing there to help out with the Minyan, and you've got one fellow who's taking his time on davening, and you know what? So good, so gezunt. And he says, "You're welcome to say Kaddish." Uh, you know, well, not while he's in davening. He says, "You know, um, before or after. If, if, if you want to d- say Kaddish, there's no problem." So here's the question. In order to say Kaddish, you need to have ten Jewish men in the room. Also, you need to, in order to say Kaddish, uh, after the, after Shemones Esreh, so it's after having had Tefillah Betzibur. You had Rodef Minyan who davened, and so now you can say Kaddish. So here's the question. Does it... Do you need to have Rodef Minyan have finished davening, or is it even if one of the Minyan or, or more are in middle of davening, can you, uh, say Kaddish? This is, this is the question. So

47:20 at first, I felt that it's okay. I mean, you, you, you had six people who are davening, who's... It doesn't matter if one of them hasn't finished. But, uh, after a bit of probing and a bit of pushing, I looked into it more carefully, and I think that's n- that wasn't correct. So take a look here in the Alter Rebbe's Shechinah, Siman Nun Heh, where he talks about Kaddish as part of Tefillah Betzibur, and he says at minimum, on a regular day, should be at least seven Kaddishim, Shebe Bam Yom Al Tiro, and he explains what's the position of each of those Kaddishim. And so the last one, which is highlighted, it says the seventh Kaddish is Achar Tefillas Ma'ariv SheKvar Nishlimu HaTefillah. It's a state that the Tefillah has been completed. So there's a communal Tefillah, has come to a state of Shleimus, has come, kind, has been completed. If f- only five out of six of that Tzibur have completed, I don't think it's c- correct to say Nishlimu HaTefillah. You need to have Nishlimu HaTefillah of, of the Tzibur, and that's the Rodef Tzibur, the six. So I think that, uh, they would have to wait until, uh, the sixth one has finished Shmoneh Esreh. That's, that's the way I feel about it at the momen-moment. Not totally clear, but fine. Let's move on. Came up also a question, use of disposable cups for Kiddish. Somehow it came, someone asked me this, someone who lives in New York, uh, "Is it okay

48:59 to use disposable cups for Kiddish?" So I did respond to him that I had the zechus of being, uh, um, in attendance to Reb Zalman Shimon Dworkin for a few months after his rebbetzin passed away. So there would be a Bochur who slept in the house, and at some stage, for a couple of years, my elder brother, Mendel, uh, who is a Shliach today in Australia, so he, he was the Hoyse Bochur in Reb Zalman Shimon's house. When he got married, el malach hamadees, so I took over his position, and that was until I went off to Yeshivat, Montreal, then I went off to Australia. But meanwhile, Reb Zalman Shimon used to host a Kiddish, Shemini Atzeret, at night in his sukkah, which is just next door, seven seventy. And he asked me on Chol Hamoed to go to Kingston Avenue to buy some disposable cups. He told me what size to buy. If I'm not mistaken, he told me four ounce size. And so, um, so that he, he was, you see, he would host people with, with, uh, I don't know, they should make Kiddish, and he gave them disposable cups. So Min Hadin, it's, it's okay. There are those who object to this, and that's, uh, worth exploring this. And that is because, not because they're saying a disposable cup is not a cup. They're saying it's not a chashaveh cup. And in the dinim of Koitz shel bracha, you can see this in Siman Kuf Peh Gimel. It says, "Asarah dvarim

50:34 nerim be-koitz shel bracha," and one of them is chai. About the cup, it should be chai. And the chai, one of the pirushim is it should be sholeim, it should be, it should be a more chashaveh type of cup, not-- rather than a cracked one or something. So that's the, that's the argument. The Minchas Yitzchak and others are, uh, not happy about use of a disposable cup. They say it doesn't have the chashivus. Not saying it's not a cup, it's not chashaveh. Uh, well, as I say, um, the minhag in, certainly in, in, uh, in Crown Heights is that, um, seven seventy, et cetera, people use disposable cups for Kiddush. Now, some people use two cups, one inside the other. So you have here in the notes from the Piskei Teshuvas, it says, "Ad devar hamachmirim," having two cups, one inside the other, wouldn't really make much difference. Okay. I, I want to just address this, uh, a little bit more, that people making Kiddush, uh, on disposable cups. How much would it cost for a shul to buy a few glasses rather than you meet people making Kiddush on disposable cups? And I want to just push that point a little, a little bit more. People I've seen, uh, which I totally disagree with, making Kiddush on, uh, on, on, on whiskey, on vodka. If you are-- If you have to fabreng and you need to have the extra oomph, fine. But some, uh, I think it's very irresponsible to be having large amounts

52:13 of mashke, especially if a younger person. But an older person doesn't want it in any case. But think about Grey Goose, a seven-ounce cup of Grey Goose. Can someone tell me how much that costs? And now, uh, I think three glasses in the hardware store are cheaper than a seven-ounce cup of Grey Goose or of, of, or of, of, or of, um, single malt. And therefore, I think the shuls where they have a p- where they have this, people are making Kiddush on generous amounts of alcohol, it'd be much cheaper for them to have smaller glasses of, of, of, uh, a sheer, a hundred mil, whatever it is, four, four ounces, and they would still save a lot of money. And, uh, probably also it'd be an investment in shalom bayis for the men when they eventually get home a little bit less staggered. Um, just throwing in my two cents or a bit more, uh, on this, yeah, parasha. Okay, what do we have else on our list? So someone asked me his, um, about visiting Iceland and seeing the northern lights. So I wasn't totally, um, sure about this, these, um, northern lights. Now, here's the following. Here's, here's, here's the what needs to be, uh, sort of sorted out here. If you see Niagara Falls, make a bracha. You see Grand Canyon, we discussed this once. You see something majestic, you make a bracha, oseh ma'aseh bereishit. You go back the next day, you don't say a bracha again because it's the

53:58 same event. If you see lightning, you say a bracha, um, oseh ma'aseh bereishit. Then a few hours later, the weather has subsided, and then it came, came stormy again, make a bracha again. So this is... this has to be the, the, uh, the rule here. If it's something which is an ongoing phenomenon, so then one bracha would be, um, said, and unless you had a thirty-day gap, you wouldn't say the bracha again. If it's, how you say, periodic or on and off, then each time it's a new experience. So I wasn't really sure about these, these, um, northern lights, and I thought it's just, you go there and you just see them. But then I was told that actually it's not so pashut, and it is, it is more periodic. And zo cha, zo cha mar in lo, lo zo cha, lo mar in lo. It's not always... They are, they are... The pictures are, are very, very impressive, but they're not... It's not as if they're there the whole time. And if that's the case, every time you'd see it, you'd make a new bracha, oseh ma'aseh bereishit. Right. Now, what do we have here? So two last points, and one is, one about a, one about a candelabra which has seven lamps. So one of our participants has asked me about this. Now, here you have that you shouldn't make a menorah. This is in Sefer 111 Alef. You shouldn't make a menorah like the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash. Now, what about

55:31 a candelabra which has got not s-seven... So you shouldn't, shouldn't have a menorah of seven branches. You can make of five, of six, of eight, but you shouldn't make of seven branches, even it's made from other metals. And he says, even if it doesn't have the decorative features of gvim, kaftorim, and parachim, and even if it's not eighteen, uh, etfachim high. He says to have a seven-branched menorah is something which is not acceptable halakhah. So now what about if they're not in a straight line? And so what we're seeing over here Um, from the Sefer Vayikra. Shish mehem mamidim bidmus igul o meshula shemeruba. The yesh limchos. It doesn't matter. It's not clear in the Torah that a menorah which was round rather than in a straight line, that that is impossible. It says in Torah it should have seven branches, but who says that if it would be, uh, as we have our Shabbos lighters, who says that that would be absolutely possible, especially if it's not made of gold. So it's not clear, and the poel is one, one doesn't make a menorah, one doesn't make a candelabra with seven branches because of the mus menorah in the Beis Hamikdash. Um, I'm, I'm sure we discussed this in the past. Um, and, um, perhaps I mentioned I once had a, uh, a tea light holder which had seven slots for tea lights. Now, that's not a problem in this respect because it's not called a menorah. A menorah is something which has branches.

57:04 Something which is just flat and holds a lamp, that's called a pamoid. It's not called a menorah, and that wouldn't be included in the isur. Let's see, um, all right, one, one last thing we have here, and that is a teacher asked me when they teach the children, and it, they have the name Beis El, of a name of Ulom Beis El, um, Chayah Sar Shemah Ilah Rishonah. Is it Beis El or Beis Kale? So the answer is it's, it's, it does not have kedushah. And that if, if you were a sofer and you had to make a correction there, would you be allowed to erase that aleph lamed? So here you have the, again, the, the, um, Eliyahu Rabben Siman Kuf Lamed Beis, I think it is. He writes, "She'alti lekamos soferim, vesha'omi she'ein mekach oisei klal." When they write Beis El in a Sefer Torah, they do not have in mind, oh, it's Hashem's name. And venira li, and he says also the Targum on that, the Onkelos on that pasuk. Elsewhere, he will refer to Kale as Eloah, as God. V'choch chalomim et Targim klal. Here as a name, he just writes Beis El. And so the same thing whether you have a name Yisroel or Eliezer, et cetera. When it's part of a name, it doesn't have kedushah, and that's e-true even if it's written in two words and, but it's still the name of a place, so that doesn't have kedushah. And therefore, you are allowed to pronounce it Beis

58:36 El, uh, because it's the name of a place. So I'll leave you with that and wish you a agut ha'vach and, uh, a inspiring Chei Teves. Omashetzi didan notzach of kedushah over um, umaseh. Omashetzi, um, didan notzach of Mashiach Tzidkenu bimheli yamenu amesh. Amen. Amen. Amen. Koach. Koach, gut vach. Koach and gut vach. Yeah.