נשא תשפ״ה

00:09 Good evening. Welcome to tonight's shiur. Um, Thursday of Parshas Noso. So our first question tonight actually was asked by, uh, by a young man on the first night of, on the first night of Yom Tov, which was Sunday night. And he says, "If I had, uh, forgotten to make Havdalah on Motzaei Shabbos, and now we're going to make Kiddush on Sunday night for Yom Tov. So what do I do with my forgotten Havdalah? Possibly should we do Yahneh Haz, uh, without the Nun?" Because you don't do, uh, you don't use a flame for Havdalah, which is not on Motzaei Shabbos. But he has now a dilemma. What do you do with the, with the Ki- Havdalah and Kiddush? How do you, how do you handle that? So, yeah, Yahneh Haz, but then what's... That's a problem, Mekadesh l'Kodesh hitsman, and that's then he needs to make Mekadesh l'Chol. So I took out my trusty, uh, Shkoy Eis Mi Yovin book, and, uh, he actually addresses it, and he says it's addressed in earlier Poskim. And so here we're going to learn it from the Alter Rebbe Shlita. Slightly different setting, but the same, same, uh, the conclusion will be the same. So this is in the BeSiman Reish Tsadik Zayin. Uh, sorry, Reish Tsadik Tes. Omisham Is Ane Beis Yom. You've got a fellow who is really preparing for Rosh Hashanah. He's fasting forty-eight hours leading up to Rosh Hashanah. V'Chol Rosh Hashanah Veyom Gimel. So he's ate, he's eaten on Shabbos, and, uh, Shalosh

02:06 Udos was his last meal. And now he's got two full days, forty-eight hours, where he's not gonna eat. So he says that you should not leave Havdalah until Monday night, which is already Rosh Hashanah. Because then you're gonna have to somehow do Kiddush and Havdalah on the same cup of wine. And this involves ge-- an isur of Ein Omlin Shetei Kedushos Al Kos Echad. There is a concept of Ein Osin Mitzvos Chaviles Chaviles. It's in- unethical to do, to use one item for several mitzvahs. It somehow gives the impression that if you, you are finding the mitzvahs burdensome, and you want to just rattle them off, uh, uh, with, with the one, wi- in, in, in one shot. And so that you wouldn't be, it wouldn't be appropriate to use one cup of wine for Kiddush and Havdalah. Ah, you're going to ask, what about regular Yahneh Haz? Let's say the Alter Rebbe explains that there, regular Yahneh Haz, the Mekadesh l'Kodesh acknowledges the Yom Tov. Therefore, the Yom Tov and the, the Havdalah for, um, on being Mekadesh l'Kodesh and the Kiddush, which is not, now Yom Tov, they are compatible. Whereas here, we're talking about Havdalah from Motzaei Shabbos. And now you want to go for a Kiddush for the night of Yom Tov. They are two separate in your own, Shetei Kedushos, unrelated, and to do them both on the, the same cup of wine is not, uh, okay. Therefore, he says, you're, you're fasting for forty-eight hours, but fast, finish off

03:58 your fast a little bit before. Just before, uh, uh, Shkiah, you'll make, uh, Havdalah, and then you're going to, to Rosh Hashanah no longer fasting. So that's what the Alter Rebbe writes in Sif Yud Alef. In Sif Yud Beis, he goes further. What happened if the person Tachet did go into Yom Tov, it's now the night of Rosh Hashanah, and he hasn't, uh, made Havdalah yet. So now he has this dilemma. He's got two, two things on the agenda, Kiddush and Havdalah. Yesterday's Havdalah and tonight's Kiddush. So the Alter Rebbe says the following Hetzer. He should listen to Kiddush from someone else, and he will not eat right away because he hasn't made Havdalah. So he'll take a second cup of wine, and he'll use that for Havdalah. He'll drink his Havdalah cup because he's not allowed to eat before, eat or drink before Havdalah. So he'll hear Kiddush from his colleague. He himself will make Havdalah in a separate cup of wine. And then he will have HaMotzi Lechem Mishneh and so on. So that's the Alter Rebbe's Hetzer. So the young man asked me, "What happens? It's all very well if you have someone else to fall back on. But what happens if he's all alone and he hasn't, uh, he's got now Kiddush and Havdalah to do?" So what I suggest, based upon what I've now learnt, something new. So what he would have to do is to prepare two cups of wine. On the first cup of wine, he would make

05:32 Kiddush. And then he'd put down that cup and take the second cup of wine, not say HaGafen, but he would say, "Hamavdil Mekadesh l'Chol," and he'll say the, he'll say the berakh of Havdalah. A- and once he finishes that, he'll drink the second cup, and then he drink from the first cup. Um, I don't know whether he'll manage to get to Lechem Mishneh with it in, in this way. But meanwhile, um, he'll have the two cups of wine or Rav Kos of each one. And this way he's yet said both mitzvahs. I'm gonna ask how can he-- he's made Kiddush on a cup of wine instead of Hagafen. Now he's going to be make a Hefsek by doing Havdalah on the other cup. Why isn't it a Hefsek between the Hagafen and his drinking? So the answer is, since he's not able to drink the Kiddush cup without saying Havdalah, therefore, the Havdalah is not a, not a Hefsek because it's, it's crucial for him to be able to have the drink of wine. He has to do, um, Havdalah first. So that's obviously even more of a Kvetch than the itself having someone else. That might be why the Alter Rebe doesn't s- recommend this. You have someone else, you should ask someone else to make Kiddush, and then you'll do Havdalah. Okay, not a very common question. So, uh, we'll leave it at that, and we'll go on to the next question. Couple of Tevilat Keilim questions tonight. Actually, three. Um, so someone

07:05 sent me this picture a little while, a few, um, while ago, and asking whether this cupcake baking tin has to be toveled in mikvah before use. Obviously, the question is that the Minhag of Seudas cupcakes is to use cases. To take, uh, you have these, uh, ca- paper cases, and you put, and, and you put each of these cases inside the recess, the various recesses. Then you pour the batter into the case. So really the cake is not touching the metal. And I believe that was the, the question. And really, that's also true for every baking tin. That generally when we bake cakes, we put a layer of ch-- uh, either, either greaseproof paper or, um, uh, silver foil, so the cake is not actually touching the baking tin. So is that a reason not to have to tevel the baking tin? So we have now on the screen a photograph from the Sefer Piskei Mutshabas. Mentioned it before, and this is on Yoreh Deah Siman kuf chaf, which is the Halachos of Tevilas Keilim. Now, see, he addresses this. If you have a Keili which is only used with a lining. See, he says, if it's just a thin lining, then that doesn't count as a Hefsek, and the Keili does m- require tevillah. Because he says, he says the ka-- the, the lining is not really, um, what is baking the f-- what is, uh, facilitating the baking of food. It's making it easier to manage it, but it's-- the lining is to-

08:58 is bottled to the Keili, and therefore you don't have to. Now, just think about it. You wouldn't be able to bake, you wouldn't be able to bake, um, cupcakes with, uh, just in paper cases. Without this kind of, uh, container, you wouldn't be able to. So it's, it's really you're baking the ba- cupcakes in the, in the metal. It's just the ca- paper is a lining. Ma she'en ken, you can buy cupcake cases which are made of silver fo-- of, of, uh, disposable foil, of tin foil. They are much more rigid. So those things, uh, you don't actually t-- you don't need such a, um, a funny tin. You can just bake them a- in those cases, and that would have served as a Hefsek. So what we're seeing here is that when the, when the, uh, when the li-- if the liner would be usable on its own, then it serves to interrupt. You're not baking in the, in, in the, uh, outside the ca- Keili. But when the lining is in itself not sturdy enough to, to serve, to ba-- to bake the food, to cook the food, then the lining should be ignored, and, uh, and you, you have to tevel the outer Keili. Now, I just want to, um, compare this to a perhaps totally different thing, and that is, I've been asked the question, perhaps we discussed it once. Some people use a polythene bag of some sort, plastic bag, for the crock pot where they put in the cholent.

10:36 And so they have a bag, a, a roast bag of some sort, and the cholent is in there, and then they lift it out, and the, and the, the, the, uh, ceramic housing remains, uh, remains clean. Nu, ve'eiteh chashaveh. If so, the bag is a Keili. The ceramic outside is hot. So it's Matmeid Medomo is Hatmona Bedomo Hameis Hevel. If you're going to see the bag as a separate H- Keili, then you taka have a question of Hatmona. But I'd venture to say, no, the bag isn't a separate Keili. The bag is a liner. You're cooking in the ceramic. The bag is just a liner, and therefore, it's not a problem of Hatmona, uh, of food in a Keili in-- and then wrapping it around with another Keili or another material. It's using the same Svara, but in, in Hilchas Shabbos rather than Hilchas Tevilas Keilim. Let's move on. Since we're talking about Tevilas Keilim, here we have another common question, and that is when you want to tevel lots of small items, whether it's cutlery or, uh, other small things. So it's common to use a colander of some sort. So is it, is that okay? Um, to sen-- is it okay to tevel? S- and, and what about if it's a sieve? A sieve has got... Well, a colander has got perhaps m- lots of space, but a sieve is quite, uh, quite dense. Does that count for teveling Keilim in it? So the, uh, this is again from the same Sefer from

12:16 Piskei Teshuvas, and he's saying you are allowed to toivel one keli inside another keli, provided that the outer keli has got a large opening, which is called shfey pareh sanoid. Shfey pareh sanoid is like imagine of a large, uh, uh, bottle, and it's got a wide neck. He says four-- five centimeters, four centimeters. It's the, the mission-- the Gemara says if you can put in your two fingers and rotate them. So it's about four centimeters or five is a bit... Well, chumer are fine. So if you have one keli inside another keli, and the outer keli has got an opening the size of shfey pareh sanoid, so then it's connected to the mikveh. The, the water inside the, the outer keli is connected to the mikveh. But what happens if the outer keli doesn't have such an opening? So let's say you want to dip a... You know, in the Torah it's very popular, these shopping bags. I don't know if they still have them. They used to have these shopping bags which are made out of plastic, and the sides were full of holes, and then just the bottom was, well, a, a solid, a solid, uh, uh, floor. So s-such a basket, could you use that for, to be less kelim? Put a whole bunch of kelim in it and to put the basket into the, into the mikveh. So does the, do, do, do the kelim in the inside the basket, have they been toiveled? So he's not so sure about this,

13:42 yeah? And as a result, what he says is the, um... You should, if you want to t-t-to toivel kelim in a colander or in a basket, if you lower the b- the basket, the, the rim of the basket or the rim of the colander is also beneath the surface, so then you've got a beautiful shfey pareh sanoid plus connection. So let's say the holes don't connect, don't allow the mikveh to connect with what's going on inside the colander or the, uh, ba-basket. But the fact that now that you've put the ho- the top of the basket beneath the surface, so then the top of the mikveh, the top waters of the mikveh are connecting, connecting vertically with the water in the basket, and in that way, you are yoetz et tevillah. So that answers the question. You want to use a, a, a sieve of some sort to toivel kelim. So if the sieve is, is, uh, open at the top, which it usually is, and you've submerged it in a way that there's water flowing over, then that's not a problem at all. That's a kosher tevillah. Let's move on to our next question. Um, this is gonna be a bit more of a Choshen Mishpat question. So here's the following question. I own a property, and I took in a, a tenant. And the tenant wasn't happy with the kitchen, the quality of the kitchen, so he ripped out, at his own expense, ripped out the old kitchen and installed a new kitchen,

15:28 which cost a good two thousand pounds. Right? Um, then the tenant, after a year or two, decided to move on. Now, the tenant turns to me and says, um, "You know, that kitchen, it's worth a few thousand pounds. Um, you should really be paying me for, um, for that kitchen which I installed." So is it... Am I, uh, obliged, or can I just turn around and say, "I didn't ask you to install the kitchen." I say, "You did it at your own expense. What do you want, you know, nothing to do with me." But on the other hand, now, if before I had a shabby kitchen, now I bring a new tenant, and it was, it's, you know, we have this snazzy kitchen. So, so then I can get a better rent for it. So I can, you know, this, there's an argument for both sides. I didn't ask him to install it. On the other hand, I've now got a financial, um, increase, uh, you know, um, benefit from it. So should I be pa-paying for it, or should I... Do I get away scot-free? These are the two sides of it. So we have in Siman Shin Ayin He, in Choshen Mishpat, we have a whole sugya, uh, which is in the Gemara, "Yored letzeich-- yored l'stei chaveri." If Reuven, uh, um, by his own volition, went to Shimon's field, and he planted trees, he planted, uh, whatever, he, he, he invested money, and now Shimon's field is, instead of being a barren

17:02 field, has now become, um, v-very valuable. Does Shimon, the owner of the field, does he have to pay Reuven for all the money and the, uh, in, which he invested into this field? So it's, it's not such a poshtah din. And the poshtah is Sh-um, um, Shimon does need to pay Reuven how much, uh, either the how much the benefit is or how much he in, in, how much it cost him. In other words, there can be a small investment and a signi- a greater increase in price, in value, or there can be a large investment and a minimal increase in value. And the term "Yored l'hatchatoino" is that the owner of the field can say, "I'm going to have to pay you, but I will pay you the, the lesser of those two figures." So in this, we have different forms. There is a "Sod Ho'hasuya Lita." There is a kind of field which is, um, it is s-suited, and that's, uh, and, you know, sh- the, the owner of the field would have, sooner or later- Probably done the same thing. And therefore, there's more logic to say that the, uh, he should pay for the fact that it was done, even though he didn't ask the person to do it. Whereas if they have it's not Oimed, et Salashay, einu Oimed et Lita. Now let's read from this is now... If I've told you about Piske Chovas and about Psakim Chovas tonight, then there's another Sefer, Piske HaMishpat. It's also the same

18:51 style. It's actually someone who lives in London. Um, and he writes, "If, if the tenant did Shiputzim, did renovations in the property which are not necessary. Which, uh..." He did the renovations, which the landlord has no obili- no obligation to do them. Actually, no, no benefit to the landlord. Then he has no claim to the landlord for what he invested. Whatever he can physically take away, he's allowed to take away and take it as unto height. You have this expression, um, uproot your trees. You know, tree, don't you... You have trees in my farm, you, you can take your trees. I don't need them. So if it's a benefit which the landlord has no, no gain from it, no, it didn't acquit him of his obligation, and he has no gain from it either, then, uh, the landlord doesn't need to pay. Okay. So that's, that's what it, it boils down to. Um, and so it's, uh, quite subjective what exactly, what, what the investment was and, uh, whether it was, it was... Whether it was a investment which was needed for, by the landlord really, or whether it was not needed. Let's move on. So here I got a call on Erev Yom Tov. Was it... I wasn't sure that then. Uh, there's a, and leading up to Shavuos. And a shlucha has this interest to generate as, as much, uh, excitement for kids to come for Aseres HaDibros, and she wanted to make a raffle. So I told her, "You're not allowed to

20:42 raffle off stuff on Shabbos." And that you can see here on the screen. This is unfortunately missing the Al Trebes Shechinachach, but it is in the Ramo, the end of last Seif in Siman Shin Chof Beis. Ve'asu lehatir geirul baShabbes, nafu laidei goy. You're not allowed to make a raffle on Shabbos. It may be because of Kinyan. So already the Magen Avraham and then the Mishnah Brurah, they're talking about what about, let's say at the shul, that there's only one Kaddish at a time, and there's several candidates who want to say Kaddish, but there's not enough to, to go around. So then you'll, they'll make a geirul. Similarly, with, with, with aliyas. If there's not a lot enough aliyas to go around, et cetera. There's privileges, and there's not enough privileges to go around for everyone, so you do a geirul. So they say that you are allowed to do on Shabbos or Yom Tov. The proof to this is in the Beis Hamikdash. In the Beis Hamikdash, they did a geirul, the cohens who is going to take, um, the organs, this up to the, the Mizbeach and so on. So for privileges rather than for district... for, um, dividing or, uh, for, uh, giving an asset. Giving. Instead of... Not talking about giving a tangible article. Do I... So the, the geirul which is being described that you're not allowed to. Let's say you have a turkey and you make a geirul. We're going to now cut up the turkey. Who will have

22:19 the this pi-- Who will have the drumstick? Who will have the, the, the breast and so on? There, each one with the geirul will come away with a, with a piece of, of food which is, which they want through the geirul. That geirul you mustn't do on Shabbos. It's like a kind of a business transaction. But if it's a, a geirul on privileges, they're not going away with a tangible thing. You're going to have an Aliyah LaTorah, then you would be allowed to make such a geirul on Shabbos. Now, the Mishneh Brurah does bring a svurah that it... Uh, from Shevi, Shevuos Jankel, I think, that it's talking about a geirul with a safer. With, with pages, et cetera. That kind of geirul. So Reb Chaim Neuer in Siman Kuf in Ketzos HaShulchan, he analyzes this quite carefully, and he shows that it's, that it, that it no difference. That for a privilege, for a geirul, for privileges, you can do a geirul on, on Shabbos. Now, I just want to digress for a moment. In this discussion, someone says, "Why do they have to talk about the geirul of the Kohanim? Why don't you talk about the geirul on the, on Yom Kippur, on the, on the Soel, Soel Hashema, Soel Hazoazel?" The answer is that, that is a thing which is written in the Torah. But sure, that's no different to the Shechitas or Korban. But the payyis, the, the geirul which they did for privileges, that, as you know, was instituted by

23:49 the Rabbonon. Because there was be- before they had like a, um, racing up the Mizbeach, who gets to the halfway line first, and then there was a bit of a scuff- scuffle there, and a fellow was sh- pushed off the Mizbeach. Off the ramp rather, and he broke his leg, and they saw it was getting too, um, too, uh, too much action. So that's when they introduced the, the geirul, the payyis of putting out their fingers, et cetera. So that's the proof there for privileges. Okay. So what I s-- On that, with that, uh, inspiration, I said to this shlucha, "What about instead of making a raffle on a toy, what about making a raffle on a privilege?" For example, you make an agreement with a local s- studio that you, uh, you want to book a, a, a baby's, uh, portrait, and you'll make a geirul on... Everyone will be given cloakroom tickets, um, which will p- tear off before. And, uh, whichever, uh, wins, they will have the zchus to go later in the week. They'll go to this in the studio. And so the mommies will be very excited. Really, you know, it's, that's part of the excitement. They'll be able to have a, a portrait of their darling, um, thanks to the, uh, to the ice cream party on, uh, with Aseres HaDibros somewhere in be-- in the, in the, uh, in the background. So I, I, I see that going to a... winning a ticket of sorts, a voucher that

25:19 you can go to have your photo, you're not giving them anything tangible. You're giving them a privilege which they can get later. So that's what I suggested. I'm not totally confident with this because there does come into this the question of making of Mishabes Lechel or Miyamtef Lechel. You're doing something now to, uh... And it's, it's, uh, for to be used later on. The other, the counterargument is, "No, I'm not. I'm doing it because I want them to come today." You can also say that there's the excitement of the winning. So that, they, that's, that's, that's, uh... I'm not so confident about that. But, um, just the fact that it's for a privilege rather than for a tangible object, that seems to be a valid header. Right. Let's now go on to our next question. Now, crossing the date line during Sfiha Soimer. Now, it was the Rebbe who I believe was the first one who raised this question, and, uh, to point out that since Sfiha is your Sfiha, Sfiha called Echad ve'echad. It's not a Sfiha of Besdin. It's a personal Sfiha. That's the way it's written in the Gemara. And therefore, your Shavuot will be affected if you count differently. So if you, if, you know, you were in Melbourne and you counted Sfiha at night on the fifteenth, then you hop on a plane, and fifteen hours later you land in LA, and it's also nightfall, and you go to the shawl, and they're counting the fifteenth. But I counted the

27:01 fifteenth. So you're gonna have to count a day later. You're gonna have to count the sixteenth. But that means Erev Shavuot, when they're going to... everyone else is saying, "Hayom Tisha v'arba'im," right, it's been forty-nine days. Well, for you it's the fiftieth. Fiftieth means it's, it's Shavuot. And so the Rebbe was really, uh, he stuck to his guns on this. A lot of people questioned this, and a lot of other poskim tried to say... Actually, um, someone said, asked me about using AI for paskening shailas. So he sent me an example. He put in this question to AI and, and it says, "Oh, no, Shavuot is, goes according... It's the sixth of Sivan is Shavuot. It's not bound by the date, uh, by, you know, by the, by the Sfiha. And therefore, you have to follow whatever is the sixth of Sivan in, in your local, uh, place." Then he goes further, "What does the Lubavitch Rebbe say?" Well, Lubavitch Rebbe says, the AI says, he says that Shavuot is going to go to where you are. But, uh, but your Sfiha is messed up. And then a bit further then they realize, no, actually the Lub- the Lubavitch Rebbe holds that Sfiha is actually going to affect your Shavuot. Now, and no question, this is a milsa de tmiah. It's very surprising, um, that people should be in a community and they've got Shavuot a different day. And because of this, the Rebbe, the Rebbe's, uh, guidance was not to cross the date line

28:39 during Sfiha Soimer. Unless it's mamash aim, uh, aim, no, there's no option kind of. Unless it's very, very difficult. Now, things have changed over the years. Whereas, let's say, four... fifty years ago, to even thirty years ago, a bocher from Australia would come to America to, to, uh, for, for a yeshiva. He'd stay on for a couple of years. Now they're going home for Pesach. And so if a young man has got three boys, lives in Australia, he's got three boys in yeshiva in New York, and they come home for Pesach, the difference between them going across the Pacific and crossing the date line or cro- crossing through Asia- Um, so it's a couple of thousand dollars to, uh, difference be- for, for this father, whether they're going to go one way or the other, which is, could be a lot of money for, uh, for some people. And so that's the reality is that as reluctant as we, as, as we may be, there's a reality of people have crossed the... are crossing the date line during Sfiha, uh, because they went to Australia for Pesach, and then they came, they crossed through the Pacific, and they got through this whole scenario. And as a result, their Shavuot is a day earlier. The-- When we start a Shavuot was on a Sunday night. For them, it's already Motzaei Shabbos. They're going straight into Yom Tov. Now, there are also, on the other... Now, this, th- this whole, the details of this whole scenario of

30:24 crossing the date line, uh, the details are not that well documented. Uh, so I'm, I'm saying that lo- what, what happens on Zayen Sivan? So you're starting Yom Tov on Sunday, and because you're Chutznik, you're keeping Monday also. What happens on Tuesday? For you, it's already no, it's already Israel Chag. But if everyone else around you is keeping Yom Tov, so then no, it shouldn't be different to someone from Eretz Yisrael as in Chutz Laretz. On the second day of Yom Tov, you're not allowed to do Malacha. So if someone's coming from Australia, it's true that for you, Yom Tov is over, but you shouldn't do, be, be doing Mala- be allowed to do Malacha even Betziner on, like a, like a, as Eretz Yisrael as a Chutz Laretz. So effectively, you've got four days Yom Tov. Uh, Shabbos and then three days on the trot. Okay. But that's, that's not the, the question which we're dealing with. The question which was, I was asked is about saying, now, the Rebbe does address that if you cross the date line, and as a result, your Shavuos is a day earlier. So then on Hay Sivan, you cannot say in davening, "Zman Matan Torateinu." It's not the anniversary of Matan Torah, and therefore that line or that-- those three words would have to be left out in Kiddush and in Shemoneh Esreh. That was clear what the Rebbe had said at the time. The question which came up to me this year is, what about on

31:55 the second day of Shavuos? Sorry, on the f- on, on, on Monday, which is for them the second day of Shavuos, and we're all happy to call it Zman Matan Torateinu. Are they allowed to say Zman Matan Torateinu, or should they not be saying it? Now, I'm just gonna see. I see there's something on the chats. Just all this complicated stuff. Let me see. Um, someone's trying to send me something. I don't know. I can't read it. Okay. So this is, this is, this is the question. So my first, um, reaction was, well, it's, it's Rav Sivan. It's, it's the day of Matan Torah. Why shouldn't you say Matan Torateinu? Which brought to the next thing. This actually, uh, happens to be a, a great nephew of mine who kind of sends, sends me this message. They live, they live in Australia. Now in, now in New York, and they're making a minyan. This is really coming to the next question. They, they have a minyan of Aussies in New York, and they're making a, uh, making a minyan on Sunday. So now why should they read Aseres Hadibros on Sunday, which is not Zman Matan Torateinu and Kol HaBrier on Monday, which is Yom Tov Sheini for them. How about switching it around? Let, let read Kol HaBrier on Sunday, and then on Monday you'll read the Aseres Hadibros because Zman Matan Torateinu. So I said, "Yeah, that's, that's very logical." He says, "But Rabbi Broyden says no." So I said, "All right. I

33:45 mean, first of all, he's the Rav over there, but he's sure he's got good reason." Rabbi Broyden actually, I, I looked up on his, uh, site, um, called, uh, Ask the Rav or Ask the Rav, and there is a reference to a source. He has a... called, um, Ask the Rav. I couldn't locate the, the particular article about this topic, so I don't know what his, what his position is. He used to live in Australia. He's very au fait with this whole Parsha. Now, let's now think a little bit differently. Really, there is a sugya that why are you keeping two days Shavuos altogether? Why do we have second day Yom Tov? Because in the Bible, when they used to proclaim the month according to the sighting with witnesses, so then the message didn't get across to the rest of the, uh, uh, to the rest of the country and to Chutz La'aretz, et cetera. So in Chutz Laretz, it took... They, they, even the two weeks wouldn't be enough, so they had to keep two days. But from Rosh Chodesh Nisan until Shavuos, there's plenty of time to know when Pesach was, was, was done. So if Shavuos is dependent on Pesach, if you know which day's Pesach, or which day with Pesach was established, so then you already can work out forty-nine days later it's gonna be Shavuos. So there's a since on Pesach and on Sukkos. In Chutz La'aretz, you're keeping two days, so to make things equal. So Shavuos is also

35:28 two days. But really, there would have been an argument that Shavuos could be one day because by then the information is-- would have gotten through. So this is something which is written in Rambam, . And I'm just gonna share with you a story which is discussed in the Chasam Sofer. I think it's Siman kuf mem hei, but this Chasam Sofer was asked the following question. There was a, um, a man who's, who's became very ill, and it didn't look like he's gonna last very long. Had no children, and obviously, there was the concern of the... And there was, there was a brother of his, which the brother was somewhere in Rome. There was-- This was someone in Eastern Europe, and this brother was in Rome. In other words... And, and the, the lady, as a poor person, wouldn't be able to afford to travel to Rome to get a chalitsa. And this was on Yom Tov, Yom Tov second day of, of Shavuos. And so there was a whole pressure. Let them appoint a sofer to write a get so that she should be divorced before he dies and then not have to become an agunah, uh, with yibum and all that. And the Rav there said, "No way." And some people were saying, "Well," they made an argument. You know, when it comes to burying a, a, a niftar, a bar minon, so then Yom Tov Sheini is k'chil. You're allowed to do Yom Tov Sheini, you can do anything for burial. Why? Because

37:12 of Kavod HaMet. So he says, "Well, since the person, he hasn't died yet, but he's gonna be anxious that his wife will be left- Uh, Aguna. So to cover the imminent Niftar, let's allow Malacha to be done on, on, on this Yom Tov Sheni, and let's get a Sofer to write a Get. That was... Uh, and the Rav put his foot down, "No way," even though he knew that there's going to be consequences. But he said, "No, you cannot write a Get on Yom Tov Sheni." And but there were these Lamdim as this is part of the, uh, the mazal of some Rabbonim. They have Lamdim there who . So, uh, there, there was one of the Lamdim who said, "How come you didn't allow us to make a Get? Now this nabek, this woman, is left as an A-Anaguna. You could have made a Get written on Yom Tov Sheni." So he says, "You know what? I'll write to the Chasam Sofer." And here the Chasam Sofer digs in. He says the Rav was ri-right. And he says Yom Tov Sheni of, of Shavuos is stricter than other Yom Tov Sheni. Other Yom Tov Sheni is because of a kind of inherited Sofek situation. Shavuos was not because of a Sofek. By the... By Shavuos, everything was sorted. But they still were murderers. Therefore, there's no Hetter to... There's no leeway on it. So coming back, so the second day of Shavuos, um, so why are we keeping, why are we keeping this, uh,

38:39 um, the second day of Shavuos? So like this. Pesach this year, which day of the week was Pesach? Do you remember first day of Pesach? First day of Pesach was on a Sunday. Yeah. 'Cause we had Shabbat service. And then fifty days later, whatever, is Shavuos. Fifty-one days later. If Adar had had thirty days, then the first day of Pesach would not have been on a Sunday, it would have been a Monday, and therefore Shavuos would be a day later. So now, the fact that... In other words, what I'm saying is, you have now this fellow who came across the Pacific, and he says, "Well, my Shavuos is on, is on, on, on Hei Sivan, on Hei Sivan because of, because the dateline." And he has to keep a second day. But he's hap-- He has to keep a second Hei Sivan. It's not that he's... Or now it's, it's Vov Sivan. He's keeping Yom Tov on, on Monday. Perhaps Pesach was on Monday, and therefore he has to keep Shavuos a day, um, a, a day, another day. So his second day of Shavuos is a Sofek, whether it's Hei Sivan, whether it's... So the, and then he's not celebrating Vov Sivan. He's pr-celebrating a Yom Tov Sheni of Hei Sivan. And therefore, if that's the Svara, if that Svara makes sense, then he shouldn't be saying zman matan Torateinu even though it's true. But he's not celebrating, uh, uh, he's not celebrating, um, uh, Vov Sivan. He's celebrating Hei Sivan. If that's the

40:22 case, if that's the case, then I can understand why Rabbi Broin says, "Don't make a Krias Hatorah topsy-turvy and do, um, Aseres Hadibros on Vov Sivan." As far as you're concerned, this idea of celebrating zman matan Torateinu, you've missed out on this year because you're, you're, you're celebrating Shavuos on Hei Sivan. That's what I'm, I'm suggesting. Um, I'm sure there's room to argue, but yeah. Let's move on. So one, uh, someone sent me an email earlier this week. It's asking, earlier, how long earlier? Not much of a week this week. Uh, I didn't open my o- my email for two days. So he asks me, um, "Is there a minhag of dropping the tone when it comes to Vayehi homkim et-zoinom?" He's already preparing for next week. So we have, we know traditionally that the Hataichacha, the balkona drops his tone for the Taichacha. But, um, in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, as you can see on the screen, Siman shin ayin ches, it's Krias Hatorah of Shabbos. He has a list besides those two, but also by the Egel and also by the Misoinim. That's the piece after, um, after the, after Vayehi B'nsoya. So Vayehi homkim et-zoinim, then they're complaining. So that piece should be said in a lower tone. That's what the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch says. And he's asking what's minhag Chabad. So it's... I, I don't have, uh, besides Sefer Minhagim, which does not address this point. So I don't really have a, a, a clear place where this is discussed in

42:14 minhag Chabad. Can just say what we've seen. Now, the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, uh, you have a Sefer Shaarei Efrayim from Efrayim Zalman Margolis. And on this, we have a Pirush called Shaarei Rachamim. And he writes, "Vechein beparashas Beha'alosecha. In some places, the minhag is to say Vayehi homkim et-zoinim until Vamankes raga, to say it in a lower tone. Venaha'ara nara pa'shtei, which means you've got different minhagim in different locations. Uvemechoz Poland, in the region of Poland, korim rak hateichaches bekol namuch. It's only the kor- teichaches, but not other parts of Krias Hatorah." Um, I think our balkona, Rabbi Yosef Lando, zal anuyinruach, I think he does go do-down a tone. My father, alav hashalom, I don't remember him making any difference. So, and so what exactly is the minhag Chabad on this? I don't know. It's probably the same as, uh, before the Rebbe made it a, a whole mivtza to be mevavar minhag Chabad. Every shtetl did the minhag of their shtetl. And the Rebbe, the Chaim of the Friediker Rebbe, saw the, uh, the need To, to galvanize. There should be a, um, global Mincha Chabad, and that's why he made all the, um, reshimos of minhagim, which were published in, uh, the backs of the Memoriam and then the Hayom Yom, and subsequently, these were put together in the Sefer HaMinhagim. So those things which you have recorded, but otherwise, we go back to the way it was, uh, every-- each place to their own. I have another couple of minutes. One

43:54 more, um, two more questions. That is, um, you can see this ice machine, and this pers-pers-person's asking, does it need to be toveled? And I can understand any, any electrical machine, there's always gonna be the question, if I tovel it, I'm gonna ruin it. So do I have to tovel it? Now, I'm looking at the picture, I see it's made out of plastic. Now, plastic does not need to be tovel min hadin. I know in Lubavitch we are machmid to tovel plastic, obviously without a bracha. Uh, but min hadin, it's, it doesn't, does not need to have a tevila. And this person says, if here there's a risk of ruining it, so it does not need to have a tevila. So here's a question. What about, um, what about a frying pan which is coated with Teflon? Now, Teflon is not metal. Does a frying pan which is coated with Teflon need to be toveled? And the answer is yes, because the Teflon is tofel. It's, it's, it's a coating for the pan. So you have here a, a metal body, and then it's got an... Which requires tevila. Then it's coated with a non-tevila material. But then you say, we look at the main body. So if that were the case, perhaps you should say the same thing here. Now, I, I, I don't think that is true. I think this is actually not... Although I haven't, uh, taken it apart, my, my imagination is that this is a... It's not a metal piece

45:37 covered in plastic. It's a plastic p-- It's a plastic bucket. Somewhere in the plastic bucket, there's an ele-- a cooling element which is going to make that the inside of the bucket is gonna be very cold. But it's not it's a metal bucket coated with plastic. Now, I might be totally wrong, but that's my, my, uh, um, guess. If that's the case, it doesn't need to be toveled. It's a plastic bucket which has got a cooling system on the outside. We have our last, uh, question. Someone asked me about going to mikvah on Yom Tov afternoon to prepare for Yom Tov Sheni or to go if you have Yom Tov leading into Shabbos, going to mikvah on a Yom Tov afternoon to prepare for Shabbos. Now, I looked for this today, and I didn't find it. I remember years ago reading in the Hiskashrus a reference to somewhere in, I think, in Samech Vav, in Sefer Ma'amar Samech Vav, about such a thing about going to mikvah on a Yom Tov afternoon to prepare, was it for Yom Tov Sheni or for Shabbos. What I can testify is that that's not the regular minhag. How can I testify? I don't know. I mean, it's not as if I stand as a guard outside the mikvahs, but I don't hear about it. So in Stamford, it's not a very common thing. But the fellow who asked me this, he asked me, "How could you allow such a thing? Because it's meikin for..." Now, you're not allowed

47:04 to prepare the beds from one day to the next. You can't roll the Seforim from one to the next. How could you allow going to mikvah on a Yom Tov afternoon to prepare for the next day? Which, uh, I was stumped by the question. Uh, thank you, Rabbi Mendel. Going back to the previous question, I'm sorry for interrupting, that in, in Rav Chaim Noah, uh, writes, "Baded in Hashulchan," that there is such a minhag of saying, "Vayehi, um, vayehi" quietly, "V'lo naagu etzlei neboche." Okay, so that confirms that it's not our minhag. Thank you. Right, um, so back to, uh, here. What you have on your screen is a Sefer on Yom Tov, Halakhot of Yom Tov. So it has here the following. "Yesh oimrim she mutar litbol b'Yom Tov Rishon," that you are allowed to tovel on Yom Tov Rishon, towards the evening to prepare, "Likon es l'Shabbos b'tahara." It says... I don't know why he calls it Yom Tov Rishon. I'm not sure. Follow what-- Either you're making, you're talking about Yom Tov Rishon, Yom Tov Sheni, or you're talking about Yom Tov, which is on the, on the Shabbos. It can be in Eretz Yisrael. It can be one day. On Yom Tov, which is Erev Shabbos. So I'm not sure why he does that. But meanwhile, there are those who allow you to tovel on Friday Yom Tov to prepare for Shabbos. Now, he, in the notes, he brings here that in the Gemara, it talks about, it talks about, uh,

48:35 toveling stuff. Uh, and it says, "Even keilim melifne haShabbos v'odan b'Shabbos." Keilim, you have to tovel before Shabbos, but a person can be tov-- can tovel on Shabbos. The reason is because when a person goes into a, a pool of water, who says he's doing it as a, as a tikkun, as to repair something or to prepare something? He's going because it's, it's hot and wants to cool off. So that's, that's the hetter. You tovel keilim, you're Mr. Tikun Keilim. If a person tovels, look at, you can make he's going to, to cool off. Then he says that Rav Meir Braslav in K'nei Bosam says, that's all very well, you know, in a more, uh, uh, primitive kind of mikvah. But nowadays, no one goes to mikvah to just to cool off. They, they, they, they're obviously going, uh, as for tvilah, for taharah. And therefore, that raises a question of preparing from one day to the next. But then he says, um, it could very well be that it's not just a preparation for later. You want to be now before your Shabbos or before the next... You want to be now in a g-greater state of taharah. And therefore, he says there is room to be meikel. What is this having to be? "Im ikar tachas ataharah," not to be tovel Shabbos, but you should be mekabel k'dushas tos with Shabbos in a purer state. Therefore, it's not hachana, it's for today. So there's room to both ways. Um, as I said, it's

50:12 not a common minhag, but the question of hachana, you can get around it by saying that, that the, uh, the purpose is, is the present. I, I just want to connect this with the shail which I had earlier with the raffle or the, uh, the voucher for the studio. I'm, I'm gonna use the same argument which they're using here to allow the mikvah to say the same thing there. It's not ju- it's not just a preparation to go and get a picture done in the studio. There's a simcha now that you've won the prize, and therefore it's a simcha which is, uh, which is for the, for the present. I know you can argue that they're not identical. Okay. Um, I'm gonna stop with that. Wish you all a guten Shabbos and, uh,