פינחס תשפ״ה

00:07 Good evening. Welcome to tonight's Shiur. This is Parshat Pinchas. Um, we have a number of interesting shailas which we're going to do-- go through. So let's start off. So yesterday morning, someone comes over to me in shul and asks me that in the berakhah which we say in davening, you know, because, uh, because Berakhah. So you say, "Hamachadeshet betevot bekhol yom tamid ma'aseh v'reishit." Hashem rejuvenates on a daily pla- basis the creation. Kol ha'omer it says, "L'oseh orim gedolim." Says in Kapitel kuf lamed. Dvarim Tehillim. Hashem makes orim gedolim, great luminaries, ki lo elokei ha'esek. His kindness is evermore. Barukh ata Hashem elokeinu melekh ha'olam. So he's asking the shailah like this. Um, before, before attacking the shailah, in Nusach Sefard, it follows after this, um, "Or khodesh otzi'en toreh venizkah lanu bemheirah u'le'iray". In our Nusach, we don't have that, that, uh, extra piece. The reason is given that because the berakhah here is thanking Hashem, acknowledging Hashem, ki yatzar ha me'orot, that He pre-created lights as in the sun and the moon. So that's why we have the berakhah at night and by day. We have the light at the night. By day is obviously the sun, and by night, we also have this, the light of the, the light of the moon and the stars. That's what the pashut pshat of the berakhah ki yatzar ha me'orot. Or khodesh otzi'en toreh is a spiritual light, and that's not in the context of the berakhah. So for that reason, we don't say it.

02:08 Of course, those who do say it will explain however they will explain, but, uh, that's, that's the reason for us-- our not saying it. His Kashya is the following. A very simple Kashya. We read in Chumash Bereishit that the first day Abish created, um, shneha me'orot hak'gedolim. He first created two large luminaries, and the sem-- the sun and the moon were the same size. And then, then the whole story, how they call it. Then, well, Livona complained that you can't have two kings wearing the same crown. So Hashem says, "Good idea. Go and diminish yourself." Okay. So then after that, whichever the date of that was, after that, we don't have shneha me'orot hak'gedolim. We have a maor ha'katon, a maor ha'gadol and a maor ha'katon. So the pasuk, "Le'oseh shne-- lo osei-- Well, le'oseh orim gedolim," Hashem creates in the, in the present sense, present tense. These me'orot hak'gedolim in the Torah is a, is a problem. He's not creating them now. He created originally shneha me'orot hak'gedolim, and then He, uh, modified them. Indeed, in Kapitel kuf lamed vav, it says after that, so, "Shemesh lemensheos bayom ki lo elokei ha'esek. Seyirekh ha'chochmahm shmom shos baleyla ki lo elokei ha'esek." So, but, so what's... I said to him, "Really, the question is not only on the Siddur, it's also on the Pasuk." Because the Pasuk in Tehillim, kuf lamed vav, it says, "Le'oseh orim gedolim." It doesn't say, "She'asah." It says, "Le'oseh." So it's, it's, uh... So saying it's in the present tense,

03:55 a continuous creation. This is, this is the problem. Uh, so simply, David originally created orim gedolim, me'orot, shneha me'orot hak'gedolim. This is in Pasuk Bereishit. And then there was a modification. So why are we saying now that Hashem is making me'orot hak'gedolim? The orot hak'gedolim. That's the question. So what you have on the bottom of the screen is from the Sefer Yashminah called Hilose from Rabbi Heber, uh, which is a Likut from, uh, hundreds of Sefarim. And then he's got two Pirushim, both from a Sefer called Hilot HaDavid. Now, unsurprisingly, at the back of it, when he's got a bibliography, he's got a list of Sefarim, and he's got five Sefarim called Hilot HaDavid. So I'm not sure which one's which. But meanwhile, he says-- This one Hilot HaDavid says, "If the kavana orim gedolim is the sun and the moon, but they're mentioned in the next two pesukim. Therefore, nirda kavana laor Elokim. Kavana is to a godly light, which that, that is manifest through miracles," et cetera. And Abish is bringing this light every year. We-- When there was miracles, but it's , "chol yashan harashah." But yeah, I think this is similar to the vort of the Baal Shem Tov, that, uh, " Yom haraymon is kodim venasim," how there's, like, the same event which happened then is repeated, uh, every year that date. Possibly, that's what they're saying. So this orot, the orim gedolim refers to mofsim. That's how he's saying. The second Hilot HaDavid quotes the Yalich. And he says,

05:42 "Vayehi oir..." It doesn't say, "Vayehi chayim." It says, "Vayehi oir," because it's alluding to two otis. A, A, A, or Elokim, a godly light, and then you have a physical light of the Arechav. And that's the kavana, "le'orim gedolim." It doesn't say, "Le'ose me'orot." As it has back in Bereshis, because it doesn't mean the Shemesh and Yareach, but it refers to these two eidus. However, you learn Shat over here. That's nice. If you say that the Orais Ha'Olim G'dolim means a spiritual light, then you go back to why can't you say also, "Ha'Arech Chadashot Siyin To," which is a light which is not a physical light. And there you had the objection because that's the not the Orais, which mean Kipshuto. So then the same thing. If the Orais say Olim G'dolim means, it m-means, uh, spiritual lights, then also that doesn't fit into the context over here, which we're talking about the Orais of the physical lights which we acknowledge. But Ibn Ezra and Radak on this passage, Olam HaOlim G'dolim, he says that that's... This is a, like, a, a heading, and then it goes into details. And I show that Olam HaOlim G'dolim. So he's saying, they, they are saying, Olam HaOlim G'dolim is talking about the two bo- Even the moon is also godol. And Olam HaOlim G'dolim is kind of as if forgetting about the fact that they were originally both the same size. Olam HaOlim G'dolim put the large bodies and one is by yom and one is by

07:22 layla. Not such a smooth shot. Okay. So I was quite, uh, baffled by this question, and I did a bit of research to see whether anyone comments on this. So this is what I managed to dig up. Sefer, very much a contemporary Sefer, is a grandson of the Kaf HaChaim. So he, he, uh, wants to suggest the following. Just like Maaseh Bereshit, there was first Olam G'dolim and then there was a process of diminishing them. So too, ken hu at, so is it's an ongoing process. The HaShem is in continually creating Olam G'dolim and diminishing them to be the Shemesh bigger and the Yareach smaller. So it's Olam HaOlim G'dolim in the present tense, and so that HaShem is, is both are happening, Olam G'dolim and the diminishing. So you have something, if you learn Siddhas, you know about Olam HaToeru and Shevirat HaKeilim. Was that in history? Was that an ongoing thing? There's an ongoing Shevirat HaKeilim, an ongoing, uh, Birchat it, um, spreading of it. So it's, it's higher than time. That's... This is more difficult to say, but Kol Ponim, this is his answer. The Olam HaOlim G'dolim is an ongoing process, as well as the diminishing into the two sizes of, um, Shemesh Yareach. Right. Someone writes, "I learned that the difference was if the berakhah on what was created rather than what is to come." Okay, fine. Kol Ponim, this is as far as I got, and if I ask a kasha and I don't have a te'anah, it's, it's

09:16 also a limited te'anah, yeah. Let's move on. So I got this question. Someone asked me about... It's there is a inyan of wearing tefillin until Aleinu, and is asking if I take off my Rashi's and I put on a Rabbi Ben Tam's tefillin, have I conf-fulfilled that minhag. So let's explore a little bit this minhag. Where does it come from? So this is in Shulchan Aruch, in Machaber, in Siman Chaf He. Nagu Olam, it's customary not to remove the tefillin until after Kedushat HaVolatzim. So just to clarify a little bit, in HaVolatzim we have, "L'ma'an lo niggal orit v'lo neiled lavo holo u'v'chehen yirot tz'milfanekha sh'nish b'chukekha b'olam ha'zeh." So, um, you may know that it's a minhag that Rebbe was noheg to put his... To touch the tefillin at this point, um, whether it was by l'ma'an lo niggal orit or by, by, by, um, the next piece, or sh'nish b'chukekha. But the Yerushal-- The Yerushal-- There are those who take off the tefillin at this point. To explain, the, there's a machloket in, in, in, uh, the Shas whether laylo zman tefillin or laylo lav zman tefillin. So we have a pasuk in Vayda-- In Parashat Kadish L'kol Bechor, "V'shomartah sachukah ha'zeh mi-yomim yamimoh." It's just talked about the tefillin, "V'shomartah sachukah ha'zeh mi-yomim yamimoh." So those who say that laylo lav zman tefillin, they say the following: "V'shomartah sachukah ha'zeh," referring to the tefillin, "mi-yomim yamimoh." You should wear tefillin mi-yomi, only by day. So therefore, if you take off your tefillin,

11:23 so that you shouldn't be wearing them by night, so the Yerushalmi says you should say a berakhah, "Shekeshona b'mitzvotav lishmer chukav." We don't pasken that way, but the pas-- The lashon here, which is we have in, in HaVolatzim, "Sh'nish b'chukekha b'olam ha'zeh," that is mayein the berakhah of the nusach of Yerushalmi. "Hachaylet tefillot yevarekh," um, "lishmer-- shekeshona b'mitzvotav lishmer chukav." So that's the reason why some people, there's one minhag which is mentioned to wait till after Kedushat HaVolatzim, and by this point, when you say, "Sh'nish b'chukekha b'olam ha'zeh," to take off the tefillin at that point. Then there's another minute to wait till after Kaddish, after Avodat Yisrael. Then there's another minute to wait for Aleinu. The Ari Z"L would wait for Aleinu, uh, which I didn't see an explanation for that. And then there's a minute to wait for after the Kaddish after Aleinu. And now we're gonna go into that a little bit. So here we have, they said, the Mechaber, Rav Yosef Karo says, "Leave the tefillin on until after Kedushe Avodat Yisrael." And I've just added a little bit more detail at that, the Ma'adane Go'ri and then Shmirat Hakochot. V'yesh mishekas al tzahra kabbalah. This is the Rama writing that should-- you should not remove the tefillin until you've said three times Kedushe and four times Kaddish. The three times Kedushe, you've said in Birkat Kohanim, you said Kaddish. In Chezet Ashat, it was Kaddish. Then Avodat Yisrael again you have Kaddish. So you-- by the time you've gone through

13:08 Avodat Yisrael, you know, if you're done with the minyan, so you've had Kedushe three times. Where-- how do you get four Kaddish? So the first Kaddish is first m-minimum, is the Kaddish after Yishtabach, Ve'yeecha Boruch Hu. Kaddish after Shemoneh Esreh, after Tachnun. And the Kaddish after Avodat Yisrael. Those are three Kaddish. Where's the fourth Kaddish? So in Nusach Ashkenaz, right after Avodat Yisrael and straight into Aleinu. So after Aleinu, there's a Kaddish also. So that's where the other minute is, to wait till the Kaddish after Aleinu. Baruch Echad Agin HaMada Hachitim. So we have here Rama saying a minute of leaving the tefillin on until having said three times Kedushe and four having, having, uh, listened to four times Kaddish. The source of the Rama on the margin is given to a Sefer Hamusar. This is a Se-- So I looked up the Sefer Hamusar from Reb Yehuda Chalatz. Um, I don't have any more biographical details of this Reb Yehuda Chalatz. It's spelled with a tzadik, uh, at the end, Chalatz. And he says, he's talking about various Zahidim, and he says, "You should not remove the tefillin until after Kaddish Tiskabel." And that way you've got three Kaddish. And the three Kaddish correspond to the th- the shin of three legs or three heads on one side of the tefillin. And also, you should make sure to answer four times, four times Kedushe. That corresponds to the shin which has four legs or four heads on the other side of the tefillin. So

14:50 the three and the four, three Kaddish and four Kedushe. Or the Rama has it the other way around. Three Kedushe and four Kaddish. So they are corresponding to the, the three and the four hea- um, heads or, um, legs on the, the shin of the tefillin. That's as much as he says. He doesn't give any more explanation. And he, the, the, he's the-- this, uh, Sefer Hamusar, he said four Kedushe because he counts Borchu Hashem Am Ve'lech also as a Kedushe. Later Mefarshim struggle with this. But be that as it may. So we have here a source in early Sefarim of leaving the tefillin on until such time that you went for three Kedushe or four, uh, four Kaddish, three Kaddish, whatever it may be. Now we come back to our basic question, whether taking off Rashi's and putting Abei Tam's is considered as fulfilling this Inyan, or is it, uh, not? So there's a difference of attitude between Ba'alei Nigla and the Ba'alei Kabbalah. And that is whether Rashi's and Rabbeinu Tam's, it's either me or you, or both are true. And opinion Nigla, it's either Rashi's or Rabbeinu Tam's. So according to that, therefore, you're taking off your tefillin, you're not fulfilling anything by putting Rabbeinu Tam's. But according to Ka-Kabbalah, both are, are tefillin. And therefore, well, there's obviously you're pro-- Well, it's not these tefillin, those tefillin, so you can still be in fulfillment of that minute if even if you switch. So here what you have now on the bottom

16:36 of the screen is from a Sefer called Oseh Shalom VeShalom from the, the Mekubal also. So he, he, at the previous piece he was discussing, is it-- Of course, this-- it's very important to wear tefillin when you're saying Shema. "Kol Yisrael Yesh Li, Tefillin, Shema, Shema, Yisrael." How about Shemoneh Esreh? Is it imperative to have tefillin when you daven Shemoneh Esreh? The question is two-- Well, it have two applications. Let's say a person didn't have tefillin, and then it comes, someone brought him tefillin, and he's already said Shema, he's about to daven Shemoneh Esreh. Oh, very nice. He's happy he has the tefillin. He puts them on. Does he say a bracha? Is he mafsik in the middle of Ezras to say a bracha on the tefillin? If it's important to have tefillin for Shemoneh Esreh, so then he would make a bracha. If it's not crucial, you can daven Shemoneh Esreh without tefillin, so then he shouldn't be making a bracha. You can put them on, but may put the, do the bracha afterwards. It's not, it's not, it doesn't, it's not called for so strongly over here. The other question would be, let's say a person davens Shemoneh Esreh. Finish davening, then he realize he forgot to say Al Avotei, Shehecheyanu, whatever it may be. A mistake which requires that he repeats Shemoneh Esreh. He's already taken off his tefillin. Does he have to put on the tefillin again to daven Shemoneh Esreh, um, in, to, to, to make up for his mistake?

17:58 So if you say there's a chiyuv that Shemoneh Esreh you should have, you should be wearing tefillin, so then you should put on tefillin. Okay. So now If you say, this is the M-Munkacs say, if you say there's a חיוב to wear tefillin for Sh- for Shemini Atzeret too, so now the Przemys Godlim. The Przemys Godlim saw Eden taking off rashis and putting on a Rabeinu Tam's in the middle of Chazarat Hashatz. And he lashes out very sharply. He doesn't like this at all. He says, "You know, if you start switching, taking off your rashis tefillin in the middle of Chazarat Hashatz, you're missing out what it says in Shulchan Aruch, and Siman Chaf, Eis, Sif ю, which we learned a couple of minutes ago." The second point which he objects to the switching in the middle of Chazarat Hashatz is because, uh, you're meant to be focusing on Chazarat Hashatz. It's not spare time. It's-- The Chazan is davening. It's a תפילה של ציבור, and so the ציבור should be focusing on what the Chazan is saying rather than doing their own thing of, uh, un-unrolling and rolling tefillin. And then he f- goes further. "V'lo rotzu lishol," I don't wanna even ask. I don't wanna get into any, uh, uh, I don't... I'm not interested in the tirutz. If I'm not mistaken, the Pr... The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch quotes this almost verbatim. He says, "It's wrong to take off the-- to switch the tefillin in, in, uh, during Chazarat Hashatz." And, um, let's

19:27 say he's, he, he's echoing the frustration of the Przemys Godlim. Min chatzerat Munkacs Rav. So he sees that there are some Hasidim, the Yasher Mais who did so. "Hagam," he says, "We're not gonna follow this," he says. His personal minhag, he waits till after Aleinu. But yesh li yashev in hogam v'lo rotzu matirut zo she'hayah lahem. He, he says it can be ju-- he can explain that if you put on a Rabeinu Tam's, so then you're also fulfilling this din that you should wait wear that tefillin also for three kedushas or four kedushas in kedoshim. He says you can fulfill that with a Rabeinu Tam's also. Although he himself doesn't do that, but this is the question which is asked if you switch. So also the question, practical question. A person needed to use the bathroom in the middle of davening. So he took off his tefillin and to the bathroom. He comes back, and he wants to finish off davening. Let's say he's before Val Dazeen. Does he have to put on rashis, or can he put on Rabeinu Tam's? So according to the Munkacs, um, um, approach, it's okay to do Rabeinu Tam's. You'll fulfill the same minhag. All of this is not of minhag Chabad because we have... So in other words, in minhag Chabad, we don't switch the tefillin in the middle. It's just, uh, kind of a bedieved situation as far as we're concerned. What we have here is in Hayom Yom, Yitzchak Nachman of, uh, when you... He's talking

21:02 about the guidance for people who wear four sets of tefillin, that the first rashi, uh, uh, uh, is worn from Eizehu Makom until after Ach Sadikim. And then switch off, take off the, uh, tefillin shel rosh and put on the tefillin shel yod shel rosh ve'rabin, and then you say, then you say the Tehillim of the Fiha Chodesh. This is all very nice for people who are davening on their own, Be'al Reyes, or Yotzer or the Rebbe, um, but he said the Tehillim Hayomi when the Rebbe was Chazan. He said, "They are not..." The, the, the daily Tehillim of the Fiha Chodesh was said in rashi's tefillin. So that's the general meaning in Chabad. We leave the rashi's tefillin on until after Tehillim. And that's your Rosh, et cetera. Okay. So that's, uh, that's how our minhag is. If a person had to switch, so then he's... I don't think it's amiss of the minhag, which is mentioned for the Sefer HaMusar and Ramoh, et cetera. Let's move on to the next question. So in the past, I've told some people about my, uh, my understanding that it's preferable to cover... To, to not bring, by Friday night, not to bring the food to the table until after Kiddush. Now, I'm saying this as a hiddur, not as a din. Uh, sometimes you've got a large crowd. It's gonna be impractical to not put out the food before. But if it's in a smaller, small, smaller scale, so instead of bringing the salads and fish

22:43 before, before Kiddush, you, you leave them in the kitchen till after Kiddush. And then after Kiddush, you got to wash until you're done. Before or after, whatever, then you can bring the, uh, the next course into the t- to the table. So someone asked me, "Where do they get it from?" So here we have in Siman Resh Ayin Alef it is that it's customary to, uh, to cover the bread at the table before Kiddush. So there's-- there are three reasons for the fact that we cover the challah with a cloth, but the-- here it gives, uh, one the f- the following reason. Why do we cover the c-- the, the lechem, the p-- the bread for during Kiddush? Kodesh et yitzrote hapaz. To give the impression that the bread was brought just now in honor of Shabbos. The Shabbos, which you mentioned at Kiddush. So now we've brought the bread in honor of Shabbos. That's why we keep it covered until after Kiddush. So let's read. So that's in Sif Yud. Let's read further in Sif Yud Zayin. Although it's appropriate to have the table all set before Shabbos comes in, but i- this table is set, but it's not brought to the, to the... One doesn't bring the table to the dining area until after Kiddush. So you have a ta- a table set in one room, and then after Kiddush, it-- the tables are brought into the dining area. So that it should be evident that this whole sudar is in covered of

24:21 Kiddush. If it was-- If a table were brought before Kiddush, then you'd have to press a cover the entire table with a cloth. Then he goes further. That's all very well in the olden days where they used to have small tables, and you had servants bringing a table to each one, and that would have the various foods on that. So those small tables would be set in the next room, and people would make-- have Kiddush, and then they would sit down on their lounges, whatever, and then the small tables were brought before each one. Nowadays, that we have large tables, and therefore it's not practical to start transporting the table after Kiddush. It should be a, a hefsek with the Kiddush and the meal. Therefore, it's customary to have the table in place from before Kiddush and to cover the pas. See, it doesn't say about covering everything else. He just says about covering the pas. Okay. So you see, the, the, the, the, the seforah would apply to all the foods. Practically, it's, it's not a hiri v'shechunaru. It says the hiri is to cover the bread, which is a recommended thing. Um. Actually, uh, someone p-pointed out to me that this issue is particularly relevant at the nighttime Kiddush. The nighttime Kiddush, where in Kiddush you're saying Kiddush on Shabbos. Okay. It says we're covered. This Shabbos, that's the night you're bringing the foods. By day, you're, you're not saying, uh, Kiddush. You're saying a Brei Pri HaGof and that's it. Therefore, the,

26:09 the Shabbos gechaso, of course, from Shlomo Zalman, that is not so, uh, not such an issue. The, this whole emphasis of it has to be brought the cover Shabbos is more applicable at night than at, than during the day. Someone's asking that by the Seder, all the items are on show. All right. There's another discussion. Um, right. Yes. The matzah is actually not on show. Well, okay. Let's move on. Someone's asking a practical question. Whereas Tisha B'Av is on a Sunday, and, uh, there are various, various medications which can be taken to make the fast easier. Slow-release caffeine, slow-release paracetamol, whatever it may be. I don't know the, the chemical details. The question is, can you take that, that tablet on Shabbos? What's the question? On Shabbos, as we're learning on now in the Shechinat She'ar Shabbos afternoon, on Shabbos, we shouldn't be taking medicines for minor conditions. For michush beyalma. Person's, uh, got a more serious, uh, illness, so they do take a medication on Shabbos. But for a minor thing, one doesn't take a medication on Shabbos. So here's the question. Is this called taking medicine on Shabbos? Right. So let's take a look at what we have here from the Pisket Shuvis in Siman Shin Chaf Ches. It's If Sameach Yomo. And he's saying, well, it's, uh, uh, it talks about a person using some kind of a medicine thing, but he's actually feeling perfectly well. So there's a het that it's, he's an adam bor. It's only a chose. A person's

28:00 suffering something. But a person who's feeling perfectly okay is allowed to take some kind of whatever it may be. What's, what's discussed there. I didn't look it up today. But then he says, by extension, could be for fertility, for, uh, um, for, uh, male function, for, uh, um, contraceptive, for, um, sorting out the cycle to a person who has sleeping problems. Help them sleep, to help them not sleep. Then he has here tablets to, to, to, to fast easier. Whereas people who are overweight who may want to take a tablet to help them feel less hungry, therefore they won't have to eat so much. So you see, basically all, in all of these cases, the per- person is not ill. The person is basically functioning normally. And so these medications are not really, uh, for a chose. Therefore, there's room to say that you are allowed to use. There are others who disagree with this, and they say it then, after all, they're not foods. They're not-- You're not eating them to, to, to, uh, satisfy your hunger. You're not eating them to indulge. Therefore, they do fall under the category of medication. As a result, the recommendation he has is, if you need to use any of these medications on Shabbos, so you should preferably crumble it in and mix it into a food or a drink from before Shabbos, and then you'll have it on Shabbos, um, it's like a, as a, it's already mixed up, mixed in. So I told this to

29:49 the person who asked me this question, and she said that actually, to her understanding, this, the whole, the, uh, genius of these tablets is a slow release. That somehow the tablet is made in a way that it will release the medication. I guess layers are dissolving, and they will release them over twelve hours or something like that. If you take the same tablet and dissolve it in water before Shabbos, so then it's not gonna have the slow release. It's just gonna have its immediate effect. And after that, you won't have the effect. So having-- so once she tells me that, so I said, "Okay, well, then you're gonna go back to the original psak that you are allowed to use them on Shabbos." I mean, there's another kind of argument you could say in relation to the med, um, the, uh, fast, uh, aid tablets, is a person who is so unwell that they are bedridden is allowed to take medicine on Shabbos. Now, you could argue it's a little bit of a stretch, but to say, "If I don't take this, these, these tablets, then tomorrow I'll be bedridden. So I should be allowed to take them today, so I shouldn't be bedridden tomorrow." Um, possible. It's a sevorot. Let's move on. So, um, just this week, a bocher came over to me and asked me if in the middle of Shemoneh Esreh, I realize I'm facing the wrong direction, what should I do now? So, um, I'm embarrassed to say, I, I said

31:24 I don't remember. I remember it's discussed in Shulchan Aruch, but, uh, so I looked it up, and that's why I'm sharing it with you. So one should be davening towards Yerushalayim, et cetera. If you are facing by mistake to the north or to the south rather than to the eastwards direction, then it's enough to ti-tilt, tilt, to, to bend your head to your face towards the Mizrach, but don't move your legs. What about if your mamish facing the opposite direction? Then just, just continue Shemoneh Esreh. Again, the first thing is if you can tilt your face towards Mizrach, that's, that's okay. That's good. If that's not practical because your head, your neck doesn't have a facility to do a hundred and eighty degree turn, okay? So then just continue davening. And because there are those who hold that it's not so very imperative to daven towards, towards Eretz Yisrael, and therefore if you're facing the wrong direction, just continue your davening as you are. And, uh, the rest will sort out the directions. Okay. So we come on to another question which I was asked this week. It's... I guess it's the weather, but you got now a gentleman walking around in shorts and, uh, come to shul. He says he had a fellow, he had a yortzeit. Wanted to have an aliyah. He came into shul wearing, wearing shorts. Is it okay? Is it not okay? So, generally, uh, Morah Henoch wouldn't do that. But so he has an interesting definition. When you're davening,

33:06 you should be, uh, presentable like when you had to meet someone important, how would you present yourself? So in some circles, it's common, standard to walk around just, um, you know, a, a T-shirt and a yarmulke. They don't know how to wear jackets. And even if they have an Oshman's hashuva, and this is certainly in Israeli society, this is quite common. So if that being the case, you know, one cannot make an issue about that. And even if they're walking without, uh, without socks, if that's common in, in the summer, it's also you cannot be meiche. 'Cause it's... And also it says about, uh, short sleeves, short trousers. But when it comes to-- he goes to the omit as a chazan or for Aliyah to Torah, then it should be expected that they should be wearing something more. Now, the, the, the problem is with shorts. Maybe with the short sleeves or something, you can give a talis. With short tr- with short trousers, it's a bit harder to, uh, find a creative way. So I guess if you had the yortzeit, he's there in shul, um, you'd give him the aliyah, I think, in a Beis Chabad. I think it would be still pr-appropriate to afterwards, you know, in a, in a quiet moment to say that next time I would be happier if you'd come with, uh, longer trousers when you come to-- for, for your-- you want to have an aliyah on your yortzeit. After all of this, he says, um, of

34:37 course, well, there, there are hetterim to be tolerant of this. Person's got a bit of re'ach Torah. He should, uh, obviously, he should be careful about davening, davka, wearing a hat and jacket, et cetera. And today, even people who normally go around just shirt sleeves, when they have an important meeting, they will, uh, they will, they will possibly, likely wear a, wear a suit. When they make a wedding or they have one of their children, they will wear a suit. So if you, uh, if you, if you would wear a suit for-- or wear a jacket for a, uh, chassidic event, then you should really, uh, have the same consideration when you're davening. Um, I think I told you this before. I had this, uh, I told the story with Rav Mordechai Eliyahu. I, I had a, a talk from his grandson. I'll-- I don't know if you remember the whole story with the, with the yibum. But he also said that his Zayde, Rav Eliyahu, often had visiting politicians. And, you know, the Sefardic Rav Oshi has got this, uh, mauve, uh, cloak and this fancy turban, or is it-- whatever it's called. Uh, and so for a photograph, it's much more interesting to have the Rav Oshi wearing all his, uh, Shemoneh Begedim. But he refused. When people would come to visit him, uh, they-- he would be wearing a sweater or something. It wouldn't be... And they asked him, could he put on it? He says, "No." If, if, if he'd, if

36:13 he'd do this for a politician, he'd have to do this every day when he davens Shemoneh Esreh. When he davens Shemoneh Esreh, he wasn't putting on his... It was only for, for formal occasions, but for Shemoneh Esreh, he wasn't doing this. He says if he does it for, for a politician, he'd have to do it every time he davens Shemoneh Esreh, so he refused. Right. So someone's asking, it's a minyan. There's only one lady wearing shorts. Um, yes, but it's a-- just 'cause-- To-- You can't-- If you need to give the aliyah to the lady, so then it's also, it's a, it's a kind of shas atcha. Um, but a-again, a quiet word in the fellow's ear for, uh, for the next time might be appropriate. Bedach Keno and Badach Shalom. Right. Um, we go on to the next question. The city park. So now to explain, there's a concept called chafef. Karfef is, got a din of caramelis, which means you're not allowed to carry in it like in a shaserabim. Like in shaserab, you're not allowed to carry dalot ames. So in a karfef, you're also not allowed to carry dalot ames, or more than dalot ames. What is a karfef? An area which is fifty by a hundred ames, and it's not gukef ledire. It's not, uh, adjacent. It's not been, um... It's not for dwelling purposes. And that's, that, that is an area this-- of this size, which is not for dwelling purposes, so it becomes like a caramelis, and you're

37:55 not allowed to carry there. Now, I want to just throw in another, uh, spin-off of this. Imagine you have an eiruv of a, of a town, a good eiruv. In middle of the town, there's a field, and that field has got-- is, is more than beis osai, more than fifty by hundred ames. It's twenty-five by fifty meters. About nothing. If that field is-- has got no fence, so that field is a karfef, and a karfef is a place where you're not allowed to carry. That would invalidate the whole eiruv. Why? Because the whole eiruv's area is exposed to a area where you mustn't carry. And therefore, therefore, if you have such a field, if you have a karfef area within an eiruv, the karfef area would have to have a mechitza to separate it from the open-- from, from the rest of the eiruv area. Okay. So now here's the question. What about a city park? Baruch Hashem, London is blessed with many nice parks. And now they are typically more than fifty by a hundred ames. Do they have a dwelling? Not necessarily. They may have just maintenance, uh, uh, rooms. But l'havdil, not anyone lives there. Sometimes they even locked at night. So min hadin, are you allowed to carry within such a park? So here you have from the Piske Teshuvas. This is from the volume on, uh, on eiruvin, Pesachim, Shemin and Ches. So here's a chidush to say the following, that you-- places which are designated for human use, for

39:45 regular use, a, an area where it's, uh, for people to go and, and, and enjoy to go for walks, they are also not in the gedar of karfef. Because the word of karfef means it's not a place which is n-used on a-- by people on a regular basis. It's more out of use. That's why it's a karfef. But these parks are tashmishe odam b'tediros. They are used by people on a regular basis. And therefore, a, a garden, like a Ginos Noam, it's like a, a garden or a flower, flower garden, um, or an orchard, whate-- but it's made for, for beauty rather than for, uh, for agricultural purposes. Even that's also called tashmishe odam. So this is a, a big chidush because when you read the Gemara in the Pashtas, the karfef has to be hukaf ledira, and it has to be adjacent to a dwelling. You've got grounds of a, of a house, of a mansion. Those grounds are not considered a karfef. Here, it's taking it one step further. And even if it's not adjacent to a dwelling, but because it's dedicated for, for, uh, regular, uh, pedestrian use rather than for growing stuff or for not growing anything, but it's not like, uh, out of regular human use, therefore it doesn't have the din of a karfef. Therefore, there wouldn't be an isur to carry more than dalot ames within that space. Let's move on. Um, I'm addressing this question. No one asked me the question. Whether the inyan of writing Hashem's

41:43 name G dash D, whether that is when all firm publications, it's-- we, we, we, uh, instead of writing G-O-D, we spell it G dash D. Of late, I've seen a couple of seforim, or books rather, from Chassidei Chabad, and they, they have the title as a G-O-D. One of them I asked how come. He says he wants to reach to an audience. If they see d-- the G dash D, they won't, they won't use the book. They won't, they won't buy the book. And he wants to, he wants to get to those-- Not because he wants to have the sales. He wants to get through to those people. And this is, uh, this is so off-putting that he... So I don't know whether he-- whether these people have discussed with Rabbonim. But I felt if I do have such a forum, I would-- I, I felt a duty to discuss this a little bit. So you have several letters of the Rebbe about this, about this standard. But here particularly, we have a letter printed in the Igros Kodesh, Chelek Tes. Now, this is a letter to an author of a, of a, of a book. Uh, I'm not-- It doesn't have a name. Uh, so I'm, I'm not even sure whether it was written in English or in Hebrew. In Pashtas it was in, in English. Yeah. Just a second. So now, here's the following. The Rebbe writes, "Here I'm giving you several of my comments. This is not a haskomah. This is not

43:13 a approbation for your book because that's-- Rabbeim didn't have that custom to give haskomahs in seforim largely." M-movement. And also, Shimon, if you, if you don't take out from the books those points which I feel are misleading, then I, I, uh, then you-- I don't give you permission to mention that I saw the manuscript either. It shouldn't see-- It shouldn't seem as if I have given consent to something which I feel is mis- a mission which is misleading. And so there's about three pages of comments. So I've just got, uh, one, just one here. It starts off, the Hakdom, first one. A Sefer which is written in Sofer Hamduberes, which means in English, it's made for regular, simple people. All the Inyonim which are, uh, misleading or confusing to a simple person, it might give them a condescending view of that Inyonim or Mitzvahs, such a material shouldn't be there. So you have sometimes people come up with, you know, discoveries about this, talk about that, and sometimes it's possibly, uh, the scoop is, it's a discrediting, discrediting a view which is a traditional view. It's, uh, sensational. That, that kind of sensationalism is actually giving a sense of, uh, d-um, condescending attitude. Oh, he says, so-and-so says it's just, you know, it's not, not serious. It's not, not, not authentic. That's, that's a, uh, that's not good material, not healthy material to give to a Pashta person. That's, that's the overall comment. And then, as I said, there's about three pages. But here are

45:05 the points I want to share. These are the following. The Chomo Che, Shekasov Shem Habere be Yiddish, Hu Hadin de Angles. This is a book, yeah? Wherever Hashem's name comes up, whether it's in Yiddish or in English, it should be written Gimel Ta-Dash Tov, Tes, sorry, and not written in full. And I guess in English also, G-D, not written in full. Shevitas Kamome Achroinim Chal Al Zeh Kedushet Hashem. So according to some Achroinim, that even Hashem's name written in, in another language, as in Russian or in, in, in Polish, whatever, Al Terever brings Boga, um, Dios, meh, meh, written Polskim. So that has got a Kedushet Hashem. So just like we are careful with Hashem's name written in Lashon HaKodesh, that it shouldn't come to disgrace. So, so too, if it's written in a foreign language, in English or whatever, one should be careful not to write Hashem's name in full. Now, it's clearly talking about a book, not talking about... Now, the reason why you might have thought a book is different, because a newspaper, a magazine ends up, uh, ends up largely in the bin. And therefore, you can under-understand the greater concern that Hashem's name will be put into disgrace. With a book, people don't throw away so readily. That could be the argument. I can understand where the argument's coming from. But I see here that the Rebbe didn't buy that argument. And he said, even in a book, it's an exception of something like a Siddur or Chumash, which is,

46:39 I mean, it's got Hashem's name written in Lashon HaKodesh all the way through. So you have also Hashem's names written G-O-D or L-O-R-D, et cetera. Um, I'm going to also confess that I was asked by one of the publishers of one of these, uh, videos, regular video things. They asked me whether it's okay to have G-O-D on, in their, whatever you call it, the running commentary. And I said it is okay. And the reason there is because it is, um, because it's just digital and it's not in print. Therefore, there's no question of it coming to disgrace. I may have been wrong in saying that because possibly that also led to, uh, to this, uh, which we've seen recently, people being not so careful about it. But, uh, okay. As it be, that, as it may, but, um, I want you to make, just bring out how from the Rebbe it's quite clear that, uh, here, here's a reference to, say, Chemed. You want to also look up more in Shulchan Menachem Chelek He. There's a few letters about this. Um, so that is, that has been the standard by Chredi Shiyidim. That's Sforim or, so now books where Hashem's name comes up. It's not a Sefer Tefillah, not a Sefer of Torah Mamish. So Hashem's name is written G-D rather than G-O-D. Let's move on. So you may remember we had some while back a whole discussion about a fellow who had, uh, very, he's very, very concerned about his Tefillin not being in

48:16 the center. And he was really strugg-struggling, um, because he found it, it's, it's to an, to an extreme level of, of, of concern. Uh, which is, he has been, uh, taking consultation with a doctor to help him with his, his anxiety. But meanwhile, someone pointed out the following. One of our listeners pointed out there's a difference here between Tefillas Tefillin and Dakas Tefillin. As you can see on the screen, the gap, the, the distance between the two compartments in Dakas, in the Dakas, which is on the left of the screen, that is about perhaps one millimeter, one and a half millimeters. By contrast, the gap or the distance between the two Parshas in a Gases Tefillin is gonna be about five, six millimeters. So that gives you a little bit more, um, should we call wiggle room, where if the Tefillin are slightly off-center by a millimeter, it would still be, still be, uh, okay. Now, I'm not sure about this. And this is the Alter Rebbe's Lashon in the Siddur. Now, just to understand, the Sh- the Siddur is much, the Halachas in the Siddur are much shorter than the Shulchan Aruch. And my feeling is that the Alter Rebbe in the Siddur, he, he, he gave some practicals, a lot of practical stuff, which is people possibly were not so, uh, ca-cautious about. And that's why he felt the need to put them on record in the Siddur, which he published, Vecha Livin Tov Kov Samach Gimel. So here we have, he talks

49:57 about putting, after the Shaliyad, put on the Shal Rosh high up on the, it means on the forehead. And it should be Be'em Tza'arech HaResh Mamish. It should be in the middle Mamish. Why so? Big Kiddush of the Alter Rebbe. Because before it says, "Beini Necho." Beini Necho doesn'thas to be in the middle mamash. But here the Alter Rebbe says it has to be middle mamash. Why? Because Gemara says the two Parshas, Kadesh Vehayah Ki Yavo have to be on the right. Shema Vehayah VeShmo Yah have to be on the left. And the Tefillah of Rashi where, uh, Shema and Vehayah Ki Yavo right next to one another. So therefore, between left and right, there's only a tiny, tiny space which is... Now, look at the... Here's the, here's the interesting thing. Deḥainu haharitz sheben Shema-- ve-Vehayah Ki Yavo leShema. It's the groove. So this is wh-where it becomes interesting. The groove in Ya- Dakas and Gasis is the same, is the same mashal. So although rechur in Sefora, so long as the Parshah Shema is on the one side of the, you know, of the middle, and Vehayah Ki Yiv-Um, uh, and which one is it? Uh, and Vehayah Ki Yavo is on the other side, so you're good. But the Alter Rebbe says he's worried about the, the... He says the haritz as if the main thing is that the haritz has to be, uh, in the middle rather than... Yeah. S- so reading this, the Alter Rebbe's Halacha, it looks like

51:30 there's no difference, uh, between Gasis and Dakas. The main thing is, uh, on either side of the haritz, that the compartments, the walls of the compartments. This has to be on the left, this has to be on the right. Uh, whereas if it's the essential the Parshas should be on the respective sides, then there seems to be a bit of leeway, but that doesn't fit in the Halacha very well. Now, I want to say that although the Alter Rebbe seems to be saying that the, uh, the, uh, emphasis on being careful about this and being in the middle is by Tefillah of Rashi. Now, we all know the story of the Alter Rebbe being given a gift of a s- snuff box, and he said, uh, he commented that every... There, there's one organ in the body which doesn't have a tayvet, which doesn't have a passion, and they want to stuff that one also. And so he refused to use, refused to use the snuff box for snuff, and he disconnected the lid of the silver box, and he used it for a mirror for the Tefillah. Everyone know this story. It goes a little bit more. When the Alter Rebbe was in prison, so he took... He, he, he was in his cell, and the way it's written in the Sicha, the Friediker Rebbe, he was putting on a Beit HaTams, and he took out the Tefillin that this, uh, lid, this silver lid, to make sure that his Tefillah are in the

52:49 middle. And at that point, the interrogators came in, and they were awestruck. They saw the Rebbe in such as, such as-- They saw the spirituality, which, um, would, um... They, they, they were awestruck, and they, they couldn't... And they didn't bother him. They went away. After the Alter Rebbe comes out of prison, he tells over this story to Chassidim, and he says that which it says, "VeRo Chalam HaOrez Ki Shem Hashem Nikra Alecha Veyiru Mimecha." Now, the n- nations of the world will see that you... And it says in Chazal, "Elu Tefillin Sheberesh." When Tefillin Sheberesh, so the goyim will see and they will be fearful of you. So one of the Chassidim asked the question, "Why does the-- Why does it happen to the Rebbe? Why doesn't it happen to us?" The Alter Rebbe responded, "It doesn't say Tefillin She- Elu Tefillin Sheal HaReish. Elu Tefillin Sheberesh." The Tefillin are, how do you say, internalized, then that will have the effect. But meanwhile, this whole story is with Rabbeinu Tam. So before people are going to say, "Oh, we're Rabbeinu Tam, it doesn't matter," well, we had, have some, have some Koshorim at least. So they-- We, we should be particularly Rabbeinu Tam as well. Okay. Um, one last point, and that is last week I spoke about grape- um, um, the beracha on frozen grape juice of whether it's Hagafen or Shehakol. And so one of our listeners sent me a couple of comments. Number one, he's, he's in New York, and he

54:28 says, "There you can buy commercially produced ice pops and grape, grape juice flavor." He says, "The grape, the grape juice fl-flavor ones probably never saw a grape in their life. It's just made with chemicals or a large-- a lot of it's chemicals." Okay, so that's point taken. Uh, so that's Yichud of the question of Shehakol in any case. But then we had this little, uh, to and fro. I had said the reason, one of the arguments to say that you don't have to, uh, it doesn't qualify for Hagafen because the Hagafen is because of, uh, of, uh, Mesameach. Yayin Mesameach. And I was questioning whether sucking an ice pop of frozen, uh, wine will be Mesameach. And he brought to my attention there are actually alcoholic, uh, flavored ices. Uh, Baruch Hashem, they haven't come, uh, you know, en masse to this part of the world. But, uh, in, in, uh, across the pond, it's a very common thing, and people are already complaining about it. But, uh... And apparently, sucking such a, a vodka ice apparently has a similar effect as having a little bit of, uh, uh, Kat Mashke. And so the Mesameach aspect, the alcohol aspect, apparently happens also with, um, with, with the frozen ones. If that's the case, so then one has to think more carefully about if it's like a wine. And then the other third question he points out is what about, uh, Beracha Achrona? D-d-d-- Once you say, uh, if it does have the effect of, of

56:07 yayin, then becomes... And, and there you can't say, "Oh, you're yoetz with the bar n'fashos," because if it's needs to be m'ensholish, so then you're not yoetz with bar n'fashos. So that really I'm going to leave here as a question. So not hilos number seven. I s- not left you with a kasha about, um, the begin- about, um, lo oser odom k'dolim ki lo olam chas do. How is that an ongoing thing? And now I'm leaving with a question, an open question, if you have a kazais, um, if you have a kazais b'chneich hilas pras of frozen wine, should you be saying a boruch achronor? And I saying kazais because when it comes... First of all, um, when it's a food, it's the sheas a kazais. But even as it is, there's a suara that on wine you are chayav b'boruch achronor even with a kazais. And that's why practical thing when you ha- you should either, if you're having wine, either you have less than a kazais or you have a revias. Because otherwise you're going to be entering in a soferet whether you should be making a boruch achronor or not. And so as a sha'at havim ratol, um, a mitzvah of boruch achronor. So either you have less than a kazais or you have more than... You have a revias or more. So, so back to the frozen, frozen wine, you're actually entering a sha'ala of, uh, what boruch achronor should be if you have a kazais. With this, I'm going to

57:37 wish you all a good Shabbos. And- Uh, good evening, Daniel Ruskin. Yeah. Um, on WhatsApp, can I say thanks G-O-D? I think yes, because there it's, it's digital and therefore it's not, it's not gonna become erased, uh, in a way that it'd be on a piece of paper. And the text the same thing as well? I think so, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. Carl, shabbat shalom. Shabbos, yeah.