בא תשפ״ה

00:09 Speaker 1 Welcome all to tonight's cheer, Motzei Shabbos Parshas Bo. So let's start with... Before we go into the actual list of questions, today, today we finish off Rambam, um, the eleve- the four-- thirteenth volume of Rambam. And so just the last couple of halachas, couple of points in the last couple of halachas in Rambam, talking about inheritance and talking about children, uh, with a, a guardian. One does not impose a tax of tzedakah, even if it is to redeem captives. Because these mitzvahs have no limit. I believe I was present at the farbrengen when the Rebbe spoke about this. When the Rebbe launched the cycle of learning Rambam on a daily basis, so every public occasion, he would also include addressing the Rambam, something from the Rambam of the day, and drawing some message from that. So the Rebbe picks up on this. Why is it that whereas the guardian would buy a lulav and esrog, for example, for the, the orphans from the estate, but he's not to give tzedakah on their behalf. Why is tzedakah different to other mitzvahs? The Rebbe has this original explanation to say that children, they don't know any limits, and if they see that someone is hungry, they say, "Why stop here? Why, why, why stop by a tenth, a maaser? Why stop by chomasch?" The person is desperate. They, they won't know, they won't know how to have, uh, limits on how much they should be giving, and that's the reason why there's no mitzvah to, to impose

02:14 Speaker 1 on them tzedakah because they won't be able to handle it in a responsible way. So that's, uh, about the ein lo mitzva. And then the Rambam finishes off, even the apotrupus, uh, then he says, the apotrupus does not want... If he's been appointed by bet din, et cetera, he does not have to give an account, but he, he has to be honest to himself. The daktik or his zoher, one has to be, he has to be very careful and cautious because there's the father, . These-- They are orphans, but they have a father, which is Hashem, . The Arovais is one of the names of the heavens. We'll come to that in a moment. Hashem is the Father, is rochev, he rides the heavens. In the same context, it calls Hashem Rochev Arovais, and he's the father of the Yesimim. So also in the Sicha, the Rebbe addresses this, the Rochev Arovais. And, um, just to, to, to fill you in, there's a Sefer called Ein Malchus, and that is taking all the Sichas which the Rebbe said from when they launched Limud HaRambam as a cycle, all the Sichas that the Rebbe said about the Rambam. And originally it was two thin volumes. The later edition is three very nice volumes, lot larger of, of, uh, size. Uh, so Ein Malchus. So this, you can look up the Sicha over there. So Rochev Arovais. So in the Gemara Hagiga, it talks about seven heavens, and the lowest of them is the Arovais. And the

04:05 Speaker 1 Gemara Hagiga goes into detail what is in each of those heavens. So in the ar- heaven called Arovais, so it says that in that heaven there's tzedek, umishpat, v'tzedakah, and the tal lehach el bo yesham eis. So that's how the Rebbe connects it, why that heaven's got to do with Arovais. Now, I want to just... I, I know I've said this before on this shiur, but I'm going to tell it to you in any case. There is a famous vort which says, "Why do you beat the arova on the seventh day of Sukkot?" And the answer is because it's been in the good company of the esrog and the lulav and the hadas, and it still remained an arova, so he deserves to beat, uh, beaten. Now, the source of that is a joke book. It's a joke book printed, printed in Hebrew hundred and fifty years ago, but it's a joke book. It's a, it's a... It's not, not to be taken seriously. And I would say you can only use that policy if you're afterwards gonna take the arova and put him on top of the aron kodesh. Um, so in the same language. But one more thing which I want to say is that talking about Arovais, there's a Sicha of the Rebbe why the esrog, if it doesn't have pri-- the qualities of pri etz hadar, is not valid. And if the lulav is not kapot, it's not kaf, it's not clasped, it's not valid. If the hadas is not meshulosh,

05:37 Speaker 1 anaf, it's ovitz, it's not valid. But the aravah nachal, if it doesn't grow by a river, it's still valid. So why is the aravah nachal quality not imperative, whereas the other qualities are imperative? And the Rebbe's simple answer is, the ma'alot of the esrog, talmid chacham and bar mitzvahs. It's not enough to say, "Oh, I could be a talmid chacham, and my father was, you know, it's in my blood." You have to do it yourself, yeah? And the same with the Lulav. The same thing with the, with the, uh, Arov and the Hodos. To say equality is mitzvahs. It's not enough to say, "I could do mitzvahs. I would love to do mitzvahs." You have to have them Bepail. The Arov has got no claim to fame. He's saying, "Me-meha gornisht. I'm, uh, I'm very simple." Okay. So then the Harav... Since the Arov has no claim, therefore it's enough that it is Min Hahrov. It doesn't have to have Bepail the qualities of Av and Nachal. It doesn't need to have it Bepail. That's the Rebbe's, uh, explanation. Um, right. I'm just going to see here. Someone has made some scribble on the screen, and each time I have to struggle to find how to undo it. Sorry about that. Can-- please refrain from scribbling on the screen. All right. I'm just gonna have to live with it, that's all. Okay. Uh, we'll move on. Um, so now going into the first of the, uh, questions. So here we have a question about the...

07:35 Speaker 1 Oh, here we are. Sorry. Deal with it, Elisha Das. Yeah. Okay. So we have, uh, the Psukim which are added at the end of Shemini Atzeret before Yu Yi L'Rotzon. We have those Psukim. We mention our own name, and Chassidim mention the name of the Rebbe, the Psukim of the Rebbe's name, and this is seen as a Segula to... that when it comes the time, you know, after Meir VeEser and you're asked for your name, you'll know your name. So in the back of this Siddurim, some Siddurim, and also in America's, in the Kohas Siddur, the annotated Siddur, there's a list of Psukim. So a teacher asked me, "How rigid is that list? Is it okay if I, uh, if I substitute a different Pasuk which might be simpler for the children?" So bichlah, this whole Minich of the Pasuk, the end of the name, is mentioned in the Sefer Kabbalah Yoshi. Now, not in all editions of Kabbalah Yoshi. It's in the early editions. And okay, so here we have on... This is a Sefer which I picked up. Someone gave it to me, and he's got a-an article about the name, the Pasuk with the name. He quotes a Sefer printed in Amsterdam in T-Tef Nun. That's about three hundred and something years ago, three hundred and thirty years ago. A Sefer called Ben Siyyon is the earliest source for this Minhag. So he says, you can see there, "Yoyil, Yrach Kyosil, Rachmiel, Yecheel." He's got one Pasuk. And for Yisro, there's a

09:14 Speaker 1 different Pasuk. And the same thing for Avrohom Eliochim. And Efraim has got different Psukim. And for Yehuda, he's got one Pasuk. Yehuda and Shaul Yirm, we've got a different Pasuk. And Yirm is another Pasuk. And for Menachem and Meshullam, he's got separate Psukim. For Akiva and Nazario, he's got separate Psukim. So it seems to be there's something more to it, that there is a Kavana Dafka, these Psukim. So, um, so mu-that's mu-enough for this, uh, point. For the moment, there-there seems to be a Diuk of Dafka, those Psukim. Let's move on. Um, I think we want... But, but just before we go further, I think we want to have a discussion about when you have... And my father, Alav Shalom, his name was, uh, Shalom Dov Ber. So do you say a separate Pasuk for Ber? And looking over here, it seems that in the Sefer that you don't say a Pa-a Pasuk for the, the Yiddish translation. So if you have someone called Zvi Hirsch, you'll say a Pasuk for Zvi. You wouldn't say a separate Pasuk for Hirsch, even though when they're called up to the Torah, you call them Zvi Hirsch. Okay. Let's move on. So here's a question s-a, uh, one of the Shulchan here asked about playing ball on Shabbos. So there is in... This is discussed in the Altrebbes Shichon HaRoch in two places. In Siman Shin Lamed Ches talks about n-about not playing with nuts and apples on the floor because you might come to level the ground

10:47 Speaker 1 in order to be able to roll your nuts, uh, comfortably. Then he says, "Liskek Bekador, to play with a ball, look up in Siman Shin Ches." Now, in Siman Shin Ches, famously, the Altrebbe brings, "Osu Liskek Bekador B'Shabbos V'Yom Tov." First opinion says you're not allowed to play ball because it's not a Keili. "V'yesh m'taltah matirin v'taltah ch'bevi sh'sadam." Now, those are Matir. So it's helpful to know when the Altrebbe gives two opinions, who are those two opinions? So above this quote from the Altrebbe, which starts with Peh Gimel, that's Siman Shin Ches, then Muksa, we've got the Mechaber. The Shiray Yessef Kara writes, "Osu Liskek B'Shabbos V'Yom Tov Bekador." You're not allowed to play the ball on Yom-- on Shabbos and Yom Tov. He sees it as Muksa. We're not dealing with, with the leveling the floor. Then, "V'yesh matirin," the Ramos says, "V'yesh matirin v'nur gol ha'chokel." And what's the Machlokes here? The Machlokes is a tool means you can u-it's an implement to carry out a task. So a spoon is to get the s-the soup from the bowl into my mouth. A screwdriver is to get a screw into the wall, et cetera. A paintbrush is to take paint and get it onto the, on, on, onto the, onto the canvas or whatever. So these are tools which are used to ca- imple-implement to carry out a skill. A ball is not a tool to carry out a, to carry out a, a task. It's an object of entertainment. It's not

12:29 Speaker 1 a tool to do anything else. That's why in according to the Rabbi Joseph Caro and Resh Lau nim, they see a ball as being muktzeh. The second opinion says an object of entertainment is also not muktzeh. So according to the Rabbi Joseph Caro and according to Rabbi Ovadia, uh, Joseph, who follows the Mechaber, a doll is also muktzeh because it's also an object of entertainment. It's not a tool to carry out anything. For Ashkenazim, that's not a problem. And so it's not... We see, we see an object of entertainment. Also, I might not put object of entertainment might not be the right term. But at any rate, we don't see a b- uh, that as muktzeh per se. Comes back to the question, what happens about leveling the, the chashash? You might come to level the ground. So my response to this was that Rabbeinu Basht's... This is talking about, I remember fifty plus years ago going to Springfield Park, and there were these old gentlemen who had these large b- balls by a, on a lawn, and they were wearing special big Kahuna for the, uh, for the afternoon, and they would roll these balls along the lawn. Don't ask me any more details about this game. It didn't look very exciting. But for such a, such a game, you need to have a level lawn. So the Shema Yashve Gumos. I have never seen kids pull out a spade in middle of a game of, of soccer to level the ground. It's as

14:02 Speaker 1 lo ma lo me'od. Sorry for the pun. Um, it, it, they, it, they... It doesn't, doesn't, doesn't disturb the game, and therefore I don't see a problem of Shema Yashve Gumos. Question is whether it's, uh, uh, whether it's muktzeh. Then there's another thing, and that it says it's brought down that was-- there was a city which was destroyed in times of the Mishnah. It was destroyed, and the reason was because they were playing ball on Shabbos. So obviously, ball play is not an, uh, recommended activity for Shabbos afternoon, chas v'shalom. For adults, definitely not. The question is when you have kids, um, um, Shabbat, whatever, and they're playing with a ball, is it, you know, is the madrich allowed to engage with them to some degree? Is he allowed to pick up the ball? He's allowed to pick up the ball. If it's necessary, he could perhaps, uh, join if he feels it's necessary. Sepas nisht, that's, you know, that's, that's a cheshbon hafrumkeit. But m'tzad haddin, it's not muktzeh. That's the point which I wanted to bring out. Not muktzeh, and I don't think there's a problem with Shema Yashve Gumos. Someone is asking, "Is there a point of saying psukim for other people, e.g. children, and why would we say the Rebbe's?" So the-- As far as I know, it's not a minute to say the psukim for children, only what Chasidim do say for the Rebbe's, and that's even documented in the, uh, the sichos of the Friediker Rebbe about the Ahav,

15:30 Speaker 1 the, the, the Ahav Dike HaRachmon and also about the psukim. Um, in the recently published siddur, you'll be able to find at the end of Ashacharis where it comes to that. It's mentioned. You'll see the source where it is. And this, uh... If I said the reason why you need the ps- psukim is so that when it comes the time and they'll ask you your name, and you want to be able to remember your name, so the psukim are a skill that you should remember your name. And in Chasidim, when it comes to that moment, we zok that we tell the people, the man and the Rebbe, Mishpachah, Mishpat, it said the Rebbe should be by there to, to support them in their Dinim Mishpat, uh, in Olam HaEmes. Therefore, for sure the men-- that we want, you want the Rebbe there to be there. So, so you have, you have the Rebbe's name. Apart from that, um, no. Same brachos for the psukim for children, that's not, uh... Someone's asking for Mendel, do we have a pasuk? We do. Um, well, is that Yiddish name for Menachem. It's not though the same as Dov Ber. Um, Mendel and Menachem, you can have, um... It's not such a direct translation. It is, it is a con-- well, kopanim. Okay. Um, let's move on. Let's move on, and this is a question a shliach asks me that he had asked one of his good friends. He needed some extra funds, uh, cash flow, whatever, in the

16:57 Speaker 1 Beis Hamedrash. So he asked this fellow if he could lend him some money. So he says, "Okay." And he writes a check, whatever the number of that amount was, and the shliach looks at the check, and he sees that the date is Shabbos, and it... He's, he, he feels that it was written on Shabbos, not motzei Shabbos. However, he knows I don't know. But he's asking, "Am I allowed to deposit the check?" So here is a Jew has done a melacha for you on Shabbos. Does he have to go back and say, "Can you give me a different check because this one was written on Shabbos," et cetera? So we have the din-- the, the halachas discussed in Shimen, Shimen She'ini Yochef, hamevashel b'Shabbos. So we got the term ma'aseh Shabbos, something which was baked or cooked on Shabbos. So here we have that it's if a person cooked on Shabbos, so then that food is also for him l'olam, to have benefit from that melacha, knas. And not only that, the, uh, the pot in which he cooked it is also, also l'olam. But for lacheirim muteh, af hatav shil b'metzoret Shabbos miyad. Right after Shabbos, other people are allowed to have benefit. Not only- Some people, even If in middle of Yom Tov, you cooked, uh, may- baked a cake for a week later. No, not allowed to, yeah. So it's a violated Issur DeRabanan. Not allowed to be Mevashil on Yom Tov, not allowed to do preparation on Yom Tov for a

19:18 Speaker 1 weekday. So then he says, See, if I bake the cake on Yom Tov, so my family will not have, not allowed to have the cake. So here you say the beneficiaries are allowed to have, uh, have the, uh, food after Shabbos. And here you say the beneficiaries are not allowed to have the food after Yom Tov. So it's an old question, and the simple answer is that there's a difference between Shabbos and Yom Tov. Where Shabbos, we're talking about Issur Im HaTorah, and therefore, perhaps because of its Issur Im HaTorah, there's no need to penalize because the fact that it's Issur Im HaTorah is enough of a deterrent. And the... Whereas in Yom Tov, because we're talking about Issur DeRabanan, because really you could have eaten, uh, on Yom Tov, there was Issur DeRabanan, therefore, there was a need more to im-im-im, uh, put in place a, a deterrent. Okay, let's see a couple of the chats. It's very busy today. Um, um, Rabbi Yomin is wr- writing here, "I've seen that you can use a pasuk that contains the name itself." Yes. So yes, so emotionally for persons, uh, yeah. That's, that's true, and some there are pesukim where which the actual name of an... Even if it's his name is Shalom, so he'll, he'll use a pasuk that has the word Shalom, even though it doesn't mean Shalom as a person. Um, still that's okay. Um, if you want to read a whole list of things, so you have... There's a Sefer called

20:47 Speaker 1 Ziv HaShemos from the late Reb Zalman Shimon, uh, all about Shemos, and he has a whole chapter on this. And there are other sources. I'm just, I'm just sharing with you the one nekuda here of whether we should stick to those pesukim or is any pasuk okay. Um, let's move on. So, so here is a... This is a question from a young man who is very much into research on tefillah. Uh, I met him several months ago, and, uh, we've been corresponding a little bit. So he asked me, could he-- could I enlighten him why Chabad don't say Kel Melech Ne'eman. So the history here is we have, we have the idea that in Shema there are twen- two hundred and forty-three words, and in order to have a protection for your Ramacheiv, for him to have two hundred and forty-eight limbs, so there is idea of adding another three words to the Shema. And so in your ty-typical Ashkenaz siddur, we'll have the, uh, HaMazpal BeYochid will say the words Kel Melech Ne'eman to make up before saying the Shema. Kel Melech Ne'eman, um, Shema Yisrael. And so he's asking why don't we have it in our siddur. Okay. So, and it is mentioned in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch. So here we have at the bottom of your screen, we have from the Alter Rebbe's siddur. This is not on the spot by Hir-- by Shema. At the end of Hirhur's Tefillin, which is the beginning of the siddur, like before Martovu, there

22:38 Speaker 1 at the end, he has this paragraph. BeKrishma, yeah, there are two hundred and forty-five words and missing three. Therefore, the chazan repeats Hashem Eleichem Emes. And then he throws in this. HaYochid HaMazpal Le'atzmo should repeat the three words, Ani Hashem Eleichem. So although in Shulchan Aruch, he mentions... He does mention the Kel Melech Ne'eman, and it's even in the Tikunei Zohar. But in the siddur, he does-- he, he leaves it out. BeChlal, the policy of the Alter Rebbe in the siddur was very, very concerned about H-Ha- Brocho Levatolo and Hefsek. So that's why we don't say V'Shomru and Baruch Hashem L'Olam. That's because of the sensitivity about could be a union of a, a Sofek and therefore a Shashav or something on the, on, on a Hefsek, et cetera. So I'd like to go a little bit more on this Kel Melech Ne'eman. So as I said, it is-- it doesn't have a source in Tikunei Zohar. It's partial resource, yeah. Now, but look at the lotion of the Tikunei Zohar for starters. This is on the screen. You have the Tikunei Zohar. It's in Tikun Yud. Um, and that's counting Shema and Baruch Shem as one Parsha. And then we have the other three. In order to avoid the Hafsoka. So we have the chazan repeats the three words, Hashem Eleichem Emes, to avoid the, um, to avoid the H-Hafsoka, Hefsek. So already the T-Tikunei Zohar is concerned that the Kel Melech Ne'eman is a Hefsek. So instead, Hashem Eleichem Emes. Now, if you

24:34 Speaker 1 see here, there was also a source about, uh, this whole idea of, of the, um, two hundred and forty-eight words. Also Midrash HaNe'elam in Zohar Chadash. So that's what you have in the next... We're gonna go back. We've got here in Zohar Chadash. This is what he's referring to. So there's Rabbi Nohirai talks about the ha-- there being two hundred and forty-eight words in the Shema, and then he tells a story that earlier on, he was walking with him alone, and then there was a child who asked, "Could I join in with you?" And he said, "Yeah." Then this child says, He was exhausted from the journey. He's sitting along, along with this Evn Hiroyi and his colleagues, and the child who hears this, he says two hundred and forty-five or eight words. The child stood up and he says, "But in Krishna there's only two hundred and forty-five words." So Rabbi Yehuda says to the child, "Take a seat." It's okay. Uh, Om then he says, then he says, "Did you hear anything about this? You're, you're challenging." So he says, the child says, It doesn't... The Mephorsh on the Zoya does not say who this child was. Obviously, he was a very special child. So the child says, That in Krishna there are two hundred and forty-eight words, missing three, and the Shas, the Chazan Sarika repeats the words Hashem Aleichem Emes. And then this is a bit further on, one who says, um, Shema without the Tzippur. So then you're missing the

26:01 Speaker 1 three words. What's the date, sir? The test of Ovovin, the fifteen vovs of Emes Veyatziv, which the Alter Rebbe also brings in Despite this, that one who misses out the three words, even with the Kavona with the test of Ovovin is a, is a omission which cannot be rectified. So we see here that Tikun Ozer does not mention the Kel Melech Ne'emon, only the, the three words of Hashem Aleichem Emes or the fifteen vovs of Emes Veyatz. So that's-- these are the two different sources. Now, to explain a little bit more what's going on here. What's the problem? Now, the problem here is with saying Kel Melech Ne'emon. A Kel Melech Ne'emon is a Rosh Yateves Omen. That's written in the Gemara. Kel Melech Ne'emon is the abbreviation. Alef Mem Nun is Omen. Now, do you say Omen Al Birchas Atzmo? It's in, in the... Is it appropriate to say Omen after your own Brachas? I remember when I was a child, there was an old blind man who used to come to our shul, a Sephardi, and he always... He would collect money. He had a glass. He asked the boy to take his, uh, glass around to collect money. And he would... And the Chazan would say and he would say Omen. He always would say Omen kind of, uh, because the Sephardic Shemoneh would be to say Omen after So what we're seeing here in Siman Noun Dalet, although it seems to be inappropriate to answer Omen on your own Bracha. Omen

27:50 Speaker 1 is for someone else to confirm, not for yourself. But if it's after two Brachas or a sequence of Brachas, then it's actually praiseworthy to say Omen after your own Brachas. First opinion. And therefore, Yishtabach, which is a sequel to Borche Omah, you should answer Omen after Yishtabach, um, or to your own. The person saying the Bracha Yishtabach. Omen. And that's the reason why we say Omen after There's a second opinion. No, you don't say Omen after only by That's the only time you say Omen on your Birchas Atzmo, and that is because the first three Brachas are whatever. That's another whole pill in its own. Okay. To come to this, to come to Sheva, David and, David and, David and Shloime. Never mind. But the first three Brachas is one unit, and then the fourth Bracha was instituted after the, um, when the Bnei Sofim, the people from the, the victims, the martyrs of Beitar were, were, were buried. So then they instituted the fourth Bracha. So in order to differentiate, to have a separate between the first three and the, and the fourth one. So we say Omen. End of that sequence, and then we're going to do a new thing. But other Brachas, you don't answer Omen Al Birchas Atzmo. So the Minag Ashkenaz is we don't say Omen Al Birchas Atzmo. So to say Omen is inappropriate because you don't say Omen Al Birchas Atzmo. Therefore, question of Hefsek, et cetera. And indeed, in Chabad we have at Kadekach, we have the

29:25 Speaker 1 Minag that the Chazan finishes off quietly to discourage people answering Omen because of Hefsek. Now, just to wrap this up. So here we have the Sefer Darkei Chaim V'Shalom. Darkei Chaim V'Shalom is the Minagim of the Munkacs Rov. And he had a Gabe, who was a big Talmid Chacham. And so I'm not sure whether this note is from the Munkacs Rov himself or from the Gabe. In the Sefer Minchas Elazar. So the, the Munkacs, I didn't look it up this time. He does have there, I know, about whether women should say, we should also look to say two hundred and forty-eight words, because in a human, uh, uh, a man's body, there's two forty-eight limbs. In a female body, the commission in all this works out two hundred and nine- two hundred and fifty-one, two hundred and fifty-two, however it works. And therefore, in a woman's body, it's a different number. And still he says a woman should also endeavor to say, uh, two hundred and forty-eight words in Shema. Uh, but meanwhile, he goes through this business of Kel Melech Ne'emon, and he says a fascinating thing. That the, the institution of saying Kel Melech Ne'emon was at a time where the Tzibur did not say the Brachas themselves. Don't forget, many people were not so literate. So Shema, they knew. They were taught to mem-- They memorized the Shema. But the other Brachas, the Chazan would say aloud, and they would say Amen, and they were Yoitzeh. That's how they were Yoitzeh Shemoneh

31:01 Speaker 1 Esreh and so on. So the Chazan would say and the Tzibur would say, "Omen ukel melech ne'emon." So therefore, it was not an Amen on their own berakhah. On the contrary, there was-- this was a tzibbur who didn't say the berakhah, and they said Amen or Kel Melekh Ne'eman to accept, to ki-to, how do you say, to identify with the berakhah said by the khazen. That's the origin of the Kel Melekh Ne'eman being inserted there. What then comes... And therefore, we're, we're looking at back at the, that loshon of the Tikkunei Zohar. Yes, originally, the tzibbur would say Kel Melekh Ne'eman following the khazen's Avos Olam, Amek Davar Yisborach Avot. And then, but what about the people who are capable of saying the berakhah themselves? To say Kel Melekh Ne'eman is not a solution because it's gonna be a problem of haftsakhah. Therefore, they instituted to repeat Hashem samekh heh khaf mem. So basically, he's saying not to dis-- Th-th-there is a source, also Meir of Stanhuama. The Kel Melekh Ne'eman has a source. But the Munkacsher i-i-is saying, this is on the Ramban. This is, he's quoting from the Ramban, um, that by the... He's at the... Yeah. So then they... This is in earlier times, the Kel Melekh Ne'eman was a tzibbur who were not literate, and therefore they said Kel Melekh Ne'eman. But nowadays, when people are saying the berakhah themselves, then you have a, a problem of hefsuk, you have a problem of oino al, um, oino al birkas atzmo. And

32:34 Speaker 1 therefore, we don't go for the Kel Melekh Ne'eman, um, response or in, in addition. Instead, we have the other etza which we saw. And the Alter Rebbe says, you repeat not the Hashem samekh heh khaf mem, but actually to repeat the words Ani Hashem samekh heh khaf mem, which is, makes more sense in a sense because Hashem... The word mem is not really part of the Shema. Hashem, Ani Hashem samekh heh khaf mem is. So if you wanna get your two forty-eight words out of the Shema, repeating Ani Hashem samekh heh khaf mem does a better job than the, than Hashem samekh heh khaf mem. If you want to read more about it, um, this is a pitch for the sefarim which were published, the sid-siddur which published recently. A lot of discussion about it over there. Okay, let's move on. So following on from our discussion about whipped cream coming out of an aerosol being a problem of nolad. So one of our younger listeners asked me, and he sent me kindly this picture of a SodaStream. Is it an issue of making, of releasing the gas into water to make it into, uh, um, mineral water? So what I'm seeing here, this is you have on the, um, references. Um, Shmiras Shabbos Klal says it is permitted. You're allowed to prepare, um, soda water by adding, um, gas, whatever it's called, carbon, um, carbon or whatever it's called. And it's a sifrolux. It's, this was very popular, at least in my time it

34:04 Speaker 1 was, when I was in yeshiva. So he says it's okay to do so. Um, but that's not totally, um, unanimous. And they say for Piskei Teshuves in, uh, Siman shin chaf, he says that some people are not so keen about it. It's as if it's making a new metzius. And so, . Okay. So that's, that's about the soda water. Someone's asking about the check. So I said he's allowed to deposit the check after Shabbos. Um, right. Can't deal with so much information now. Um, someone's asking if chidduim who have their name is also the Melachim Mandel. Does it say they're sukkim twice? Probably they do, yeah. Well, you can ask them. Uh, yeah. Okay. So here, um, this is actually... I, I must share this, Charlie, with you. Here's a shliach in somewhere in Eastern Europe, and he's asking a question. There are many people who live in, uh, small communities in his country, and they're not gonna be able to get to a Megillah reading on Purim, and he's not gonna be able to get there either, much as he'd like to, but he's, you know, if he makes, uh, if he clones himself, the clones won't be kosher to make, uh, to read Megillah. So now he's asking, "Is there any value of him going to these communities a few days before Purim and doing a re-kriyas ha-megillah?" He asked with a berakhah, not with a berakhah. So I was very touched by the question. So really, this is discussed in Shulchan Aruch,

35:54 Speaker 1 kind of, in Siman tof reish pei heh about the zman of kriyas ha-megillah. And he says in here, although we-- everyone knows this Megillah is on the fourteenth, and then we've got Shushan Purim for the walled cities. But then a person who's traveling, and in the times of the Gemara, you had the small... Mishnah talks about the small, the small cities. They could, uh, read the Megillah a couple of days before. And so here, this is brought in Shulchan Aruch. Um, if one who's traveling, um, abroad on a ship or with a caravan, and he doesn't have a Megillah to take with him. So he's allowed to read, read the Megillah before he goes on the thirteenth, twelfth, eleventh, but not, not with a berakhah. And if, if that's also too, too late, he's traveling even earlier in the month. So there are those who say he should read the Megillah even from the beginning of Adar because . So there is value in reading the Megillah, uh, even a c-couple of days before Purim or more if necessary. Later, if you have a Megillah, then you read it in the right time. So there is value in this, um, going to these yidden and doing a Megillah reading even a few days before and, uh, bringing the, um, the mitzvah of Purim to them. So they are ful... No berakhah, but they're fulfilling the mitzvah. I once had a... Years ago, there was a woman, a baalas teshuva- And she had gone to sort

37:20 Speaker 1 out her affairs in some island in the Pacific, whatever it was, and there was no way she would be able to get a Megillah. And was, was... The question was, do we-- can we... And she wasn't capable of r-reading it all in Hebrew. Um, so she wanted Megillah in English. Would-- So then we had this dilemma of reading the Megillah in English. Would it be valid if it's not written on parchment? Could send her a fax, but we couldn't really get it on, on to parchment. Yeah. So, no, there's no harm in her reading it, in reading in English. Uh, loving Morris says there's a couple of words which we don't know how to translate. Those couple of words we could have there in, in Hebrew or transliteration. Okay, let's move on. So here, one of our listeners asked the following question. If a-- someone has eaten fleishigs, a meaty supper, and then took a, uh, saw a, a tasty piece, a, a maz Toz, tasty, tasty bun, and made a bracha about to eat it and said, "Oh, but it's milchig." So now what do you do now? You got... You just made a bracha and, uh, so now do you, do, do, do you kind of drop the bracha and say, you know, "Sorry, Hashem. ?" Or do you have a little bit that the bracha shouldn't be a bracha in vain? So this idea of having to wait between milchigs and fleishigs, or fleishigs and milchigs, in this instance, this is a

38:56 Speaker 1 minhag. And saying a bracha in vain is, uh, well, machloket, so the Rambam and others. The Rambam holds saying a bracha in vain is a . Most other Poskim says it's derabbanan. But saying a bracha in vain is, is a serious thing. So some... Many Poskim say that he should have a little bit, especially if it's, you know, there's different levels how long you have to wait after meat. An hour. Some even say three hours. So i-if it's more than an hour, you can certainly rely on the minhag, uh, to say that you only have to wait an hour after meat and have just a little bit. It shouldn't be a beracha levatala. So this is, this, this is discussed, I'm sure in else-- other places also. There's a Sefer called Pesachim Ochut Shuvos on Yoreh De'ah. Siman pet is, that's the Siman talking about waiting between meat and milk. So there they bring about having little bit of food. Uh, but since we're talking about this, I wanted to bring up a similar situation. If it was on a fast day. And so now it's on a fast day, and you picked up some food and made a bracha, and you're just about to eat, and then you realize you're fasting. So what do you do now? So this you can see in, on the, on the screen. In Siman tof kuf samech hei. That's the Dinim of Ta'anit, Ta'anit Sevur. So the Birkei Yosef, the Chiddush writes, someone was fasting, and he put--

40:15 Speaker 1 took some food and made a bracha, and then he remembered he's fasting. So he said he should eat less than a kazayit, so it shouldn't be a bracha in vain. Then he brings another Sefer who is not so keen about that. Um, right. And then he brings another source that he should. So we've got different opinions, um, about this. Now, then he says, "Tzof im ba'avod tzom bas." That's all very well if it's a voluntary fast. But if it's one of the four instituted fasts, so then you shouldn't. Uh, be-because you're not allowed to violate the fast. It says then, "Ta'anit Sevur. Jose borchem." So there are those... So when it comes to a, uh, a fast day, one of the st-established fast days, there are those who say that you shouldn't, um, eat something even a little bit because you're violating the fast. Instead, you should, uh, just say, "Borchem, v'yitbaruch shem." According to the Rambam, perhaps you should, should be, should eat a little bit. According to the Tosfot and generally Poskim, most Poskim say that beracha levatala is derabbanan. Therefore, say borchem. Says a beracha levatala derabbanan and not to violate the ra- the derabbanan institution of these fasts. Let's move on. Someone's asking, "Why can't you take another piece of mazto which is pareve?" That would be amazing. Um, then you wouldn't have a shaila. Yeah. Okay. Right. Um, so now what do we have here? Is there value in saying Birchat Hamazon in Hebrew from a transliterated text? Basically, the

41:47 Speaker 1 question is, is benching, reading those words, and you don't know what you're saying. If you're reading from a transliterated text, I mean, it's true that I'm sure many people read the Hebrew and don't know what they're saying also. But, um, that's, that's... It's really the same question. Saying the bracha and not understanding what you're saying. Is there any value in that? So now take a look here on the screen. We have in Shulchan Aruch, Siman kuf peh hei. So also, Birchat Hamazon can be said in any language because it, "Berachtah Hashem b'chol loshon she-atah mevarech." Any language is valid, so long as you understand what you're saying. "B'chol loshon she-atah makir." And... But it's imperative you understand what you're saying. Therefore, the people who are less literate, who don't understand Hebrew, they should be benching in a language which they understand, not in Hebrew. If they don't understand what they're saying, they shouldn't be benching in that language. That's the first opinion. But yesh omerim. There are those who say, "No, Lashon Hakodesh has got a special privilege." If I would be davening in Hungarian with a transliteration, I wouldn't understand what I'm saying, and it will have to, uh, have no value. If I, I'm... If I'm illiterate in Hebrew, but I'm reading the words in Hebrew, I am yoitzer, even though I don't understand. So this is the second opinion. And consequently, the people who are not literate in Hebrew, they are yoitzer. And here the Alter Rebbe disagrees with others. He says

43:32 Speaker 1 there's no difference between listening and mouthing the words. If you're yoitzer by mouthing the words in Hebrew, you're also yoitzer by listening in Hebrew. It makes no difference. And indeed, that is the meaning he says that people are yoitzer, that people bench in Hebrew, even though they don't understand what they're saying word for word, and they still therefore fulfill the mitzvah. So although it's V'roylech hach mikkes Vareh Reshino, but the meaning is to say the words in Hebrew. So then according to this, to read a transliterated benching, read the words in Hebrew. So they're saying the words in Lashon HaKodesh, so they are yoitzer, and that is indeed the meaning. Then he then goes on, what about other brachas? So the first opinion says, other brachas, you're yoitzer even if you don't understand what you're saying and even in another Heb-- in other language. If I would be saying a bracha on, uh, on an apple, I'll say, "Bere pri ha'etz" in Hungarian. Hungarian is not on the list of languages which I know. Um, I would still be yoitzer because in Birchas HaMitzvos, these short brachas, it's a praise to Hashem, and Hashem understands what you're saying even though you don't. So this is... This opinion says you are yoitzer if you say a bracha in another language. V'yesh shoymrim. Now, others disagree with that. They says, no. All, all the brachas, you're not yoitzer if you don't understand. Uh, if, uh... And according to the, the second lang-- second opinion which we saw,

45:09 Speaker 1 if it's in a foreign languages, but in Hebrew you are yoitzer. And according to first varah, even in Hebrew. So we've got here two opinions about benching and for that matter, for other brachas. Are you yoitzer if in a language you don't understand? Pretty schwach. But if it's Hebrew, we've got strong position, although it's not unanimous, but this seems to be the accepted position that you are yoitzer in a... If you say it in Hebrew even though you don't understand. So therefore, there is value in, uh, in saying, having the transliterated text for benching. The rest of Dominic, I don't know, but okay. Um, yeah, someone's pointing out that some siddurim have a transliterated Kaddish, um, at the end of the siddur. Yes. So, all right. Uh, okay. Now this question I was-- I, I got received on Friday morning. And, uh, so this is, um, someone in, in Pennsylvania. He's a researcher, and he shares an office with several colleagues. And one of the colleagues had just been on holiday in Egypt, a vacation obviously, an, an American. And he picked up these, these antiqued things, and he's decided to put them on display in the office. So this, uh, Frum fellow asked, "Am I allowed to daven in the office?" We're in the presence of these things now. Uh, this is, I tell you, Pennsylvania, and the university, uh, may not be so sympathetic nowadays for coming along with Frumkeit, et cetera. So he's asking the question, "Am I allowed to daven in

47:00 Speaker 1 the office?" So this is, uh, very interesting. This is just connected with the last week's sedra where Moshe... Well, we'll see in a moment, yeah. So here, this, this is brought in Shechinat Hadorot, the end of Siman Tsadik Dalet. Now, Siman Tsadik Dalet is talking about the direction of prayer. The whole story about Mizrach, uh, how you work out Mizrach. So that's Siman Tsadik Dalet. And if it what helps you, the word tzad means a side, but also it can mean direction. Okay. So now it says here, if a person is traveling, and he's traveling on foot, and there's go-- there's a head, there's a ho-hotel, there's a hostel. So if you can daven whilst he's on the, on the road, but he can get off the road and get a place where it's quiet enough that he's not gonna be disrupted by other passersby. So he's better off to daven at the s-- at the roadside where he won't be disturbed rather than davening, davening in a hostel, which is probably a pub, um, probably with vodka flowing, et cetera. Sheb'vaday, where he says there's pro-- there's for sure in that, that hostel there's going to be, um, geshish, there are gonna be idols, et cetera, images, icons, et cetera. And therefore, it's not appropriate to bring-- to daven over there because we see, and that's last week's sedra, where Moshe Rabbeinu said to Pharaoh, "But say, Keseh esei er. When I leave the town, then I will pray that Hashem should take away

48:26 Speaker 1 this plague." And he didn't want to pray in the town itself because it was full of Gilulim, because it was full of, full of icons, idols, et cetera. So there is a preference not to daven in a, in a space where there are idols. But then the Alter Rebbe says, "But if he's, he's walking and he cannot find a quiet niche off the main-- off the road to daven there quietly," then he says, "So you s-- find a, find a quiet corner in the, in the hotel. Go to the hotel and find a quiet corner where you would not be disturbed. Don't worry about the idols and images in the hotel." Sha'arei kol tfiloseinu b'arayirois meloeis Gilulim. All our prayers are in towns full of Gilulim, full of, um, images, et cetera, idols. So Moshe Rabbeinu exited the whole city, but we, we're not gonna d- go-- leave town every time we want to daven. So and in our towns, there are images, et cetera, et cetera. So he says it's not such a problem. You're allowed to daven there. So I told him that, um, he-- first of all, I don't even know whether these are Avodah Zarah. It could be just some bored Egyptian about three thousand years ago decided to fiddle around with some clay. But, uh, even if they are, um, you know, who says it's used for worship? I don't know. Uh, even if it is, so then there's also reason to, um, that you're allowed to ignore it. In

49:51 Speaker 1 addition to, does it make any difference if they, they have been decommissioned? There is a concept of Bitul Avodah Zarah, that a Goy can kind of get upset with his idol and do something, um, disrespectful to it. And with this, it's ach, you're, you're use- you're useless idol. Could have told him a long time ago, but never mind. Um, so then, so then that makes... takes away its status of Avodah Zarah. So the fact that some, um, you know, Egyptian decides to sell this stuff, he's not selling it for worship, he's selling it to make money. Perhaps that itself then is kind of a decommissioning, but that's another discussion. Right. Wow. Someone's asking here, often a problem in shiver houses where they have getzkus. Yeah. Um, my late melamed, Rebbe, of Romishuer, Elanker, Oliver Shalom, he told us a story about a kid who was in... He's, he was from Lugano in Switzerland. So there's a kid who was, had to go in hospital, and it was a Catholic hospital. Uh, and in every room, there were, you know, icons or so. The nurses came up, came in the morning, and they see that this, uh, Mary or whatever is covered with a, with a blanket. So, uh, they were all, all, you know, angry. So, so he said, "I saw her shivering at night, so I wouldn't, which was, I suppose it was cold. I gave her a blanket." Okay. Um, right. Um, s- someone's asking, surely benching and saying brachas in your own

51:24 Speaker 1 language is more ins- meaningful and inspiring than saying or listening to words you don't understand, as you said, sir. As the Alter Rebbe says, one should be makul. It's true that there is, that it's benching in English is, is halacha more straightforward than benching in, in, in, uh, Hebrew if you don't understand. That there, there is, that's definitely the case. There is the other side that the malach haSholas don't pick up other languages, but so there's two sides of that. But if someone does want to bench in Hebrew, uh, with the transliteration, what I was saying is that, that's the minig. And to, to encourage people to daven in English, it's, you have to be careful h- uh, with that. Is it something which you want to encourage? You do want them to encourage, encourage them to get used to davening in Hebrew. It's, uh, it's... I'm sure everyone who works with Mekarv Yidishkeit has this dilemma where to draw the line with that. Okay, let's go on. Um, so we've got a lot of feedback about the, about the Shabbos Mevorchim Tehillim and the, uh... So here we have, I'd mentioned a story. Now it's Rab Shalom Lebertov, and he'd asked the Rebbe. I remember last week I told a story, or two weeks ago, that he was a shamas in, in East Flatbush, and he would walk there and back, and he didn't have enough time to manage to say the Tehillim. So this is printed in Rabbi Chaim Rapaport's, uh, uh, Sefer

52:55 Speaker 1 on Dinei of Rosh Chodesh, published by Kehos about thirty years ago. And he asked the Rebbe, and in the note, he brings this story, and the Rebbe answered him three points. Number one, to say Tehillim whilst he's walking the street, like I mentioned last week, and it doesn't have to be Kesei there. You can say what he remember, remembers and, uh, and later fill in the gaps. The second the Rebbe, the Rebbe said between the sicahs, but if a Brengens is also during the singing, he al- he can also catch up. And then the Rebbe said to him, "You see, far fir in zwanzig shtur," that the Shabbos has got twenty-four hours, and that seems to indicate he could say, um, Tehillim on the Friday night, which is similar to what I told last week about, uh, Rebbetzin Schusterman from Chicago. The Rebbe told her she can say Tehillim at night and, um, okay. So if you're, can't manage. And the, and someone has said, "What about the obvious? What about Shabbos afternoon?" Of course, that was obvious that you can make up in Shabbos afternoon. Well, we're talking about those who can't ma- Shabbos afternoon, no, is not enough. So these were the various, uh, eitzas. Now, about Kabbalah Shabbos. There's another bit of, bit of feedback. About a man lighting candles and doing melacha afterwards. So Rabbi HIVeman from Liverpool sent me the following couple of points. That after the Rebbetzin passed away, so the Rebbe remained Shabbos in his room, and afterwards,

54:19 Speaker 1 after, after the first year, it was, uh, the whole time he was in his room, and he benched Licht. So on Erev Yom Kippur, just before Kol Nidre, this is one of the very special moments where the Rebbe would come out wearing his kit already and his tallis over his fa- face, um, you know, covering his eyes, and he went and came to the small shul upstairs, and there were about four hundred bochurim packed into that room. Uh, and the Rebbe would g-give a bracha with Yevarechecha, et cetera. And till, uh, Tov Shin Mem Ches, there had been, well, the in- uh, Tov Ches included, there was a microphone. It was before the Yom Tov had started. But after the Rebbetzin passed away, there was no microphone because this is the understanding, because the Rebbe had already benched Licht in his room, so he didn't want to speak on a microphone. That was one thing. The second change which we saw, uh, also related to this. When Yom Tov was a F- Shab-- a Thursday or Friday, let's say, going into Shabbos. So in earlier years, the Rebbe would have a farbrengen on Friday afternoon. It would start, let's say, an hour before, before sunset, and there would be l'chaim, et cetera. And then the farbrengen continued after sunset, and in later years, it was without any, uh, further refreshment, without l'chaim, because once it's after sunset, you can't have l'chaim. Okay. And then, then the Poyus Mapam Mekadesh, uh, was stopped in the later

55:50 Speaker 1 years. But after the Rebbetzin passed away, the Rebbe would not come down to the farbrengen on, in such a kvias on, on Friday afternoon because he'd already benched Licht, so he can't really- Start a farbrengen with, uh, with l'chaim, etc., um, if he's already bench licht and therefore he's basically been mekabel Shabbos. We have now a couple of minutes left, so just to share with you one more question, and that is... Someone, um, asked me the following. Can he, can he take a piece of boiling hot meat straight out of a pot and put it on a bed of cold hummus on Shabbos? So what's the issue here? To take hummus and put it in a klir yishon. Well, the hummus itself is already cooked. It's cooked chickpeas. So my feeling was it was okay. First of all, once you've taken the meat out of the pot, it's not a klir yishon, it's a klir sheini. There are those who say, there's a mashal who says because it's a mass, it retains its heat, a dover gush. Okay, so that's one reason to... of, of concern. Then the hummus, um, is a hummus a liquid or is it a food? A food, we take the view that ein bisul achar bisul be dover, um, ein bisul achar bisul dover yabesh. Bis doverlach is yes bisul achar bisul. Is, is... I, I don't think hummus is a liquid. It might be moist and messy if you start putting your fingers in it, but I don't see

57:43 Speaker 1 it as, as a, as a liquid. Now, I don't see it as a problem of bisul achar bisul. And, uh, then even if it is a doverlach, there's a Shulchan Aruch who says that ein bisul achar bisul be doverlach also. So, um, with those three sevarot together, I felt it was allowable. Um, yes. So now someone pointed out to me, what do we do about next Motzaei Shabbos? Next Motzaei Shabbos is, um, Shabbos is Yud Shevat, and we're going to have a large farbrengen here, BeEzrat Hashem, here in the Beis Midrash in, in Stamford Hill, and that's gonna be called for eight thirty. So what I'm proposing is next Shiur, next week will be a Motzaei Shabbos, but we'll do it half an hour earlier. We'll do at seven thirty and perhaps, um, finish a little bit earlier, finish at eight fifteen to al- allow time to be at the Shiur, and then to also get dressed appropriately to go out to the farbrengen. Wishing you all a more... a Gutten... a Gute Woche, and thanks for joining us. So Shabbas shalom.

58:49 Speaker 2 Amen.

58:50 Speaker 1 Yes, of course.

58:52 Speaker 3 Yeah.

58:53 Speaker 1 Thank you very much. Yeah. It always comes up on the screen there.