כי תבוא תשפ״ו

00:00 Speaker 1 Good evening. Welcome to you all to this Shiur on Thursday, Parshas Ki Savo. Today's Shiur is dedicated to the merit of young lady called Tova Rina bas Chaya Bunia. Uh, it's her birthday around now, and we wish her a beracha that she should have all blessings achol, mechol, chol. So I got this week a question. In the, in the siddur Rabbi Naftali, so we have here in Rabbi Shmuel Oimer, thirteen midos, shitar and addresses go hen. So we have the last one is V'chesn echsuvim hamachachishim zeis se. Then there's Alterebe-- This is you have on the screen is the first print. The Alterebe has a Nusuf v'chan, v'chan shnech suvim. So I quoted from Rav Tuvia Blloy, alav hashalom. He just passed away. Uh, it might be within the shloshim still. And, uh, he was... Personally, I, uh, I have a lot of acharas hatov. He was supported and-- morally, although I never met, met him in person. It was Talmud Chacham, very excellent writer, and he would, he would publish booklets last few year, few years. And in one of his booklets called Lechet Operet, he published the following, which I quoted in the siddur, that V'chan shnech suvim. Now, the Braisa of Rabbi Shmuel Oimer is the introduction of the Toras Kohenim, which is the Braisa. I'll say there, Sefer Vayikra. And beginning of Vayikra is Vayikra Hashem el Moshe er, mei-eil moed leime. And Rashi elsewhere brings as a bit of a contradiction, where did Moshe-- Where did the voice communicate with

02:27 Speaker 1 Moshe? Was it in the Ohel Moed, or was it from the Kodesh Kadoshim m'beis nakruvim? So there's even this contradiction. And then there's a third pasuk that Moshe is in the Ohel Moed and the voi-voice comes from the Kodesh Kadoshim. So that's how you reconcile these two pesukim. So this is a perfect example of shne chasuvim hamachachishim ze ze, two pesukim which are contradicting one another. Comes the third pasuk and reconciles the Therefore, says Rabbi Gloi, in the introduction of the Sifra, Vachan shnech suvim. Here at the beginning of Vayikra, here you have an instance of two contradictory pesukim, and a third one reconciles them. But the Alter Rebbe, when it comes to publish the siddur, and he wants to do it So let's sort this out. It seems the following. The numbers of the thirteen midas are not so clear. In other words, how to identify what is number one, what's number two, number three to, uh, twelve, thirteen. You could have said like this, Dova Dava lamav meyon is number twelve. Dova lamav mesefer is number thir-thirteen. Vechein, in addition to those thirteen, vechein, in addition, shnech suvim haboim, shnech suvim hamachachishim ze ze. So vechein would say, "Ah, this is, this is an addition to the thirteen." Here comes the Maram. So whoever introduced the vechein, whether they meant this or not, but it's de-deceptive So the Arizal and before him the Rabbi Rotenberg says, "No, no. Don't say vechein. Say vechan." So maybe the, uh, Rabbi Rotenberg... But what's the Arizal's

06:16 Speaker 1 motive here? Here's fascinating. That there... Here on the, on the screen, you have a, a commentary of the Kamarner Rebbe, who was a nephew of the Zidichover. The Zidichover is a contemporary of the Alter Rebbe. Brilliant Mekubal. Different mahalach to the Alter Rebbe. Not going to go all the stories about it. But meanwhile, h-here's, here's a commentary on this. There is a parallel between the Yud Gimmel Midot Sha'atoy in Midreshes Behen and Yud Gimmel Midot Harachamim. Famously, we have from the, the Midrash Magid, I may have said this before. It's in this, published in the Magid V'Or HaRiyako, that the first of the 13 Midot Sha'atoy in Midreshes is Kal V'Chomer. When Miriam became afflicted with tzaraas, and Moshe Rabbeinu davens for her, and he says, "Keil, vefa... no, vefa nolad," whatever the words are. And Hashem says, "Ve'ovi o yorek, yorek befoner o. Halos yikra lem shivas yomim." If her father had disgraced her, she'd be in disgrace for 37 days. For her fa-- For the... For Hashem, she'd be in disgrace 14 days. So Hashem responds with Kal V'Chomer. So Moshe davens with Midot Keil, which is the first of Yud Gimmel Hasachamim. Hashem responds with Kal V'Chomer because there's a parallel between the Yud Gimmel Midot of, uh, Midot Sha'atoy in Midreshes and Yud Gimmel Midot Harachamim. This is what the Magid says. Says the Zidichover, quoted by the Kamarner, similarly at the end of the Yud Gimmel, uh, Midot Harachamim is the word Venake. Famously, there's a Gemara in Shavuot, and

08:04 Speaker 1 here it says a pasuk, "Hashem was Venake, He will cleanse." Another pasuk, "VeLo Yenake. Lo Yenake," He won't cleanse. Gemara themselves, "Venake uleshovim, ve'im Venake lesheinu shovim." Those who will repent, Hashem will cleanse their, their, their record. The ones who don't, Hashem won't. So you have here the same story. You have a pasuk which says one way, you have a pasuk which says the opposite, and then you have a reconciliation. Ah, so that is... So there's a parallel between Shneich Suvam HaMachichishuzeze and Venake. So this was important to the Arizal. Don't say Vechein Shneich Suvim. Don't make it number 14, because then the parallel to Venake falls away. So no, don't say Vechein. Say Vechan. Yeah. That's, that's the Arizal's agenda, that there should be a parallel between Shneich Suvam HaMachichishim and Midot Venake, which according to his cheshbon is the 13th of the Midot Harachamim. Comes along the Alter Rebbe and his publishing Sha'ar Shidduch, which has to be Shaar Hakol there first. You can't write Vechan because... Yeah. So he writes Vechein, but he leaves in brackets there's another nusach Vechan. And so, you know, you understand? No, so this is Arizal says Vechan. But I... Granted, let's say that in the original Sifrei from, uh, original manuscripts, you won't find Vechan. So now with... The Arizal says, "Don't read Vechein Vechan. Midot Vechein," whether you read it as surplus to the 13 or just, you know, f- however you're gonna read it, it fits the pshat. But what's the rachav it? So

09:49 Speaker 1 the answer is that Vechan is because it's the beginning of a yikra. And there, there's a reconciliation of Zuzukim. So the pshat, which Rav Tuvia Bleich said, which he wasn't the first one who said it. There's Rav Wolf Heidenheim, who was a publisher in Germany of the Redelim Siddur, et cetera. Yeah, I think that's him. I call upon him, Rav Wolf Heidenheim, um, he, he writes this pshat already. So the... So in other words... So let's just, just summarize. Let's say originally there was neither prefix. Comes along at some stage, someone puts in a prefix Vechein Shneich Suvim. Comes along, Arizal is not so happy about it because it could mean that it's an addition, it's number 14. And so they say, "No, say Vechan." But when you say Vechan, that has to have pshat. So we're going to say the pshat of Vechan is that in the, the original, uh, in the Sifrei, they lost this Vechan. So the more learned person knows that this is from the Sifrei, so he understands Vechan. The Pa Shavar Chonafishit says Vechein. Okay. Uh, let's move on. Totally, totally different thing. So here is the following. A, a, uh, shliach somewhere in the United States wants to, uh... He's buying his, his, his Beis Chabad is expanding, and he needs to have a dedicated facility. And so, you know, um, there's a certain faith which is lo-losing its popularity. Um, it's got to do with ISIS. So there's a lot of churches up for sale. So now

11:34 Speaker 1 here's the story. Is he allowed to... Can he buy a church which is now obviously disused and use that for a, for a Beis Chabad, for a, for a shul? So what's the, what's the story? Now, the general view, clearly Rambam is that Christianity is Avodah Zarah. And here we have a problem. That something which was used for Avodah Zarah, first of all, it's also Behanah. Now, just part of the story here is that the buyer, the shliach, when he bought it, he made an agreement with them that they would dismantle all symbols, all religious symbols. The Poel that didn't get around to it, and now it looks like he has to close the deal, and this, the symbols will still be there. So here's... Now, so to explain the, the significance of this. If there is a way of decommissioning an Avodah Zarah. If a Goy has an Avodah Zarah, and then the Goy does something to disgrace it, so then it's lost its, its Issur. It's Issur Bahanah. If he, if a Yid buys it, it becomes Issur Bahanah, and then it doesn't help if a Goy disgraces it. Remember about thirty-five years ago, I was sitting by Rafad Zecher L'bracha. And someone else came in, one of the Dayanim came in, that someone in-- had bought a, an antique from South America. It was some kind of vase from the Aztec period. It was a few hundred years old, and it was quite valuable. And the question was, it was associated with

13:24 Speaker 1 the Avodah Zarah. Are we allowed to, um, have benefit? Can we even sell it? Rafad with the Poel, he was martyred. But coming back to our, our discussion here. Is there an, is there a way to take a, a, uh, place of worship from Christianity and use it now to use it as a shul? So we have, on the screen we have quote from the Magen Avraham, quoting from, um, Ram Israel, Elyah Mizrachi. He says that a building nev-never becomes Issur Avodah Zarah. There is a Halal, there's a rule that Avodah Zarah be-- will, will stigmatize an article if it's been worshiped. But if a Goy worships it or whatever. Someone worship-- bows down to a mountain, so it doesn't become Issur because it's Mekubal L'kar kas. He wants to use this to say that the building doesn't become Issur. Others are not so happy about it. And they say that that, that wouldn't be enough to, uh, prevent the Avodah Zarah seizing the prophet. So then we have here... This is from my Sefer, Nesiv Mistehashlichas, a couple of, uh, examples of where someone had bought a castle. In the castle, there's a chapel. And so now he's, "I bought this castle, and it's got a chapel." So you shouldn't use this room for a shul. That was-- That's the, uh, Maram Shick. And then we have another story mentioned in Yocheel Meshiv about a private house which had then been used for Lutheran worship. And now he says you can move it back

15:06 Speaker 1 to a, to switch it to a shul. Mr. Brewer is not happy, not so happy. Yocheel Meshiv not so happy about this whole, the idea of switching a base of Avodah Zarah to a shul. But I'm still looking for some solution here. So just to explain a little bit more here. Even if something is not Issur Bahanah and you are allowed to use it for personal use, but to use it for a mitzvah is considered, uh, inappropriate. So let's say candles, which had been used in a tumah, and then they were sold. So then you could use it for personal use, but not for a Beis Kneses, not for a worship, a place of worship of Hashem, because there's a certain Mius. So here's, here's-- this is part of the struggle here. Even if we're going to say that it's not Issur Bahanah, but still is it appropriate to use for a shul? If it was Meshamshe Avodah Zarah, does it-- can it be used for a shul? And the point which... So I'm just gonna scroll one, one more, um, ah. So here, this is another Tshuva from Maram Shick. Maram Shick, he was a Talmid on the, um, most prominent Talmidim of Chasam Sofer. So he writes the following. This is in Kuf mem gimel. He says that , "There's a third kind of building of, in, in amongst the Goyim that they don't have any images. They don't worship any images. And even though it is Avodah-- I mean, Natsrus, Christianity is

16:55 Speaker 1 Avodah Zarah, but here there's no article which is worshiped. So when you'd have a, a, uh, temple and there is an Avodah Zarah there, so then that article which is worshiped becomes Issur Bahanah. Then you can say also the appurtenances which are also enhancing the Avodah Zarah, they become a Shamshe Avodah Zarah. But here, here's an interesting situation. There is a abstract worship Avodah Zarah, which is terrible, but there's no article. And therefore, to say that this is called Tashmesh Avodah Zarah, that this is an appurtenance of Avodah Zarah, but there is no Avodah Zarah. There's, there's n- there's no main article, therefore there's no overflow article. And therefore, this helps us to get away from that the building, because here in this instance, it was a, indeed a Lutheran, uh, place of worship. No images which are worshiped. It's-- A cross is not worshiped. A cross is, is a reminder, but it's not necessarily worshiped. So in this, in this, uh, strain of Christianity, they're not worshiping images. And therefore, it is Avodah Zarah for them. It's an act of Avodah Zarah. They may be allowed because it's Shituf, but it doesn't seize an article. And therefore, the article, and therefore the building doesn't become Misham Shevidazara, and therefore it can be bought over and be used for a shul. Um, so as I said, because Moshe doesn't go into this whole difference between this type of worship and that type of worship. But here we have the Maram Shik. That's what I'm seeing

18:46 Speaker 1 and reading in him, in, in the Maram Shik, he's making that dist- distinction. That since they're not worshiping a, an image, therefore it doesn't become... The, the building doesn't become Oser. And so with due renovations, et cetera, it would be permitted to use as a shul. Meanwhile, there's, there's also, um, someone pointed out to me, the mar-- the... As I said before, that for a-- to decommission a Vedozorah, it would require a, a, a worshiper to, to, uh, do something disgraceful to it. But when it-- That's with the Vedozorah itself. When it comes to Misham Shevidazara, the things which are not worshiped, they are just, um, accompanying. Here, the Ramos says that, "Im Mishkan HaMochrei HaBitul," the Goel had sold it, that's enough. So if it was an, a, an icon which was worshiped, the Goel sells it, that's not enough to decommission it. But if it's something which is around it, so it's just a, a... Yeah, so then Mechira would be enough. Here, I don't think that's even necessary because as I said, there's no Vedozorah, so it has an Asek Cheftzo, therefore there's no Misham Shevidazara. Okay, let's come on to a- another, uh, couple of more practical questions for most of us. Someone asked me that he is saying Tachnun, and the Oren Kodesh is open to say, "And do you guys stop-- Do I stop Tachnun?" He's put his head down saying, "Goyim," um, yeah, "Nefilas Afayim," and they say, "But the Oren Kodesh is opened." Should he stop Tachnun

20:22 Speaker 1 to say, "Vayhi bin soya Oren"? Now, we all know the story in Bob Mitzia of, um, there was, I think, uh, was a, a, uh, I think it was Rebbe Lezer, who he, uh, he was put into, um, some kind of cherim, et cetera. And his wife, she was a brother-- her brother was the Nasi, and she didn't want her husband to succeed in, uh, his prayer to cause her brother to die prematurely. So every time when he finished Shemoneh Esreh, before he started Tachnun, she would disrupt him. But Hashem has his plans. And so one day, she got mixed up. She thought it was Rosh Chodesh, and it was the day before Rosh Chodesh. So she didn't disrupt him. And that day, he was Somyach. He said Tachnun right after davening, and he actually, and shortly afterwards, her brother, his, uh, well, passed away. So we see that there's a special power of saying, and that's in a negative way, and I'm almost saying in a positive way, the power of saying Tachnun right after Shemoneh Esreh. So of course, we have Chazar Sasatz, and we have Vidui, Shaanu, but there is a power of saying it without interruption. So now this question is put to Rav Osner by his grandson. I have now a dilemma. I'm in the middle of Tachnun, and I have now the Sefer Torah, the Oren Kodesh is being opened. So Rav Osner writes to him, "Don't interrupt to say Vayhi bin soya, because saying Tachnun immediately after Shemoneh

22:01 Speaker 1 Esreh is a much more important thing. Um, and Vayhi bin soya is a fine thing. That's just a minute. But, uh, whereas saying Tachnun without interruption after Shemoneh Esreh is much, much stronger." And so he says he shouldn't... And I, I don't know whether he means he should stay sitting or he should stand, but, uh, not, not to interrupt what he's doing, saying Tachnun right after davening, right after Shemoneh Esreh. Uh, that takes precedence. So right nearby in the same, in the same conversation, Rav Osner, um, writes to the same grandson, and that's relevant, relevant for now for Selichos days. Selichos are, are pages and pages of text, and not everyone is so fluent to keep up with the Chazan. And so you've got this dilemma. The Chazan is, is... I-I'm going through this whole page of unfamiliar text. And the Chazan is ready on for Hashem, Hashem. So what should I do? Should I just daven at my pace and then come to Hashem, Hashem, I'll say it however I'll say it? Or should I pause where I am, say Hashem, Hashem with the Chazan, with the Tzibur, and then resume where I left off? So this, Rav Osner writes to him, to his grandson, that if you're near Zayis Poshet, you're middle of the p-- of, uh, prayer, of a piyut, of pizmon, whatever it may be, st-stop where you are, join in with the Chazan and the Tzibur, and say Hashem, Hashem, Yeracham Machaman. And then, because to say the v-- to

23:47 Speaker 1 say the Yud Gimel Mizracham im BeYochid is problematic, as Shechu Nachit says you shouldn't say it BeYochid. Therefore, s-pause what you're doing, say Avi Yud Gimel Mizracham im with the Tzibur, and then go back to where you're holding and, uh, at your... Continue at your pace. You can ask the question, what about the whole int-intro of Kel Melach Ham, Yoshev, or Kel, um, Erchapayim? If he's interrupted, he's just interrupted to just say Ha-Hashem, Hashem. And then when he comes later, I don't think he has to go back and say Kel Melach Yoshev if he's not gonna say Hashem, Hashem. That's all just to kind of an intro to Hashem, Hashem. Okay, what do we have next, I think? Totally different story. So we have here in a particular location, there is a bakery. It's owned by a Goy, and a Yid comes in the morning, and he lights the fire. In this way, the bread which is baked there, the ingredients have been monitored. So the ingredients are ca-- are, are kosher. A Yid lights the fire, so it's gonna be pas Yisroel. But then let's say at midday, the Goy switches off the oven, comes back to do a night shift at twelve o'clock at night. So there's, let's say, give or take, there's so many hours where the oven has been switched off. So now when he light, relights the oven, the oven he says to me is forty degrees. The heat in the oven is forty degrees. So the oven is warm,

25:31 Speaker 1 but it's not warm enough to bake bread. So now when the guy relights the fire, the, the, the oven at twelve o'clock at night, will that bread be Pat Yisroel? So let's take a look here. This is the Shiddim of Pat Yisroel, et cetera. Is your day a kuf yud base. And I'm reading from the Rosh Hashanah the same thing as in the Shekhinar though, that if one had baked in an oven, the guy's oven, three times in one day. The first time the, the Yid threw a piece of wood into the oven and made it kosher to Pat Yisroel. But the third time he didn't do it. So he says, the Bahab says it's kosher. Why is that? Because when it comes to the third time, there's still g- still gonna be a residue, leftovers of the coals from the first two, um, first, first two, uh, sessions. On this, there are more adds even more than this. If a person, if a Yid had made the oven kosher by lighting the fire or adding a piece of wood, and the oven was not left for twenty-four hours without being re- reheated. So it's all con-- seen, seen as a continuation of the first heating, and it's the bread is Pat Yisroel. But Hatam, that so long as the oven is still warm, it's the... That heat helps. So here's-- this is where our dilemma was. When we say a residue of heat counts as a presence of heat, that the next batch should

27:10 Speaker 1 be Pat Yisroel. How hot, hot does that residue of heat have to be? And as I said, here it was forty degrees, which is not enough to bake bread. So here, here with the source of this psak is from the Istaveheta, one of the very lately Sheina. I mean, it says this whole story. And Rav Yochanan of Paris, possibly it should've been Rav Hill of Paris. I don't know. Not, not so well known. Rav Yochanan of Paris. Anyway, he said the bread is okay. He's-- because we rely on the fact that the Yid had lit the fire before and, or made it kosher by adding a piece of wood. And even though it spent a whole night without heating, here's the co- the important piece. The The original heat, the previous heat is still of benefit now. To hasten the current baking. You can see this quite visibly. To reheat the oven now is going to be easier if it was heated yesterday. It's easier to reheat a oven which is less than twenty-four hours, um, off than an oven which is more than twenty-four hours. Now, of course, these ovens are talking about earthen ovens, stone ovens, et cetera, and they retain their heat longer. And we're talking about contemporary commercial ovens, perhaps metal, perhaps they are... I don't... I just... The point is that the residue of heat does not need to be strong enough to bake bread. It has to be that when if he switched it off at lunchtime and comes

29:05 Speaker 1 at twelve o'clock at night, because the oven is at forty degrees and not at twenty-five degrees or the room temperature, it does req- require less energy to reheat it to whatever, two hundred degrees, whatever you'll use for baking. And that's, that's the principle which is said here. So long as the residue of heat makes it, makes the reheating quicker, that's considered a Hemshich continuation of the first heating, and it's called Pat Yisroel. Having said that, reflect back to the Arocha Shulchan, where he says, "All of these are Kulas Gdolus." These are significant loopholes and should only be relied upon V'chas Ha'chak. So it's not something which you should rely upon in the first instance, but, uh, V'di Eved, et cetera, or V'chas Ha'chak, when it's gonna be difficult to rekindle, then you can rely on this. Okay. That's number five. Number six. No? Okay. So I'm going to, I'm going to unshare this one. I'm gonna go... You know what? Um, I'm going to go to questions seven and eight, and then I'll close this slide and open up another, another set of slides. Right. So we're looking at in the question number seven about the Yehedots. In, in the Vehirotsin, actually. So what we're seeing here is on the screen, the first, which I'm pointing to with the cursor now, this is from the first print of the Altar Evid Siddur, which we have, Tafkof Samogimel. The second one is, beneath it, is from this, what we have from Tafkof Ayimvel, three years after

31:01 Speaker 1 the Altar Evi's passing, the Siddur Imdach with a memoriam around it. Here you see the Brocha of- You know, um, takes away slumber from my eyes, goes with the same line, continues, "Vi yhi rotzon ufonecha sheetag leina veseyrosecha." In later prints, and this is, this is... One is Kapust, Tof Kov Tzadik Beis. Another one is, um, whatever, Safita, Tof Kov Tzadik Vav. Um, so you see here the printers have divided the brocha, Me'af Apoy and Vi Yhi Rotzon, made it into two separate paragraphs. And, and that I think is also the Torah Oris is that way, but there's been a change here. And technically, you can see here in Valtreba Shechinaru that Ve'ein Lan is Omen Acha Ama VeSheino Me'einum. They shouldn't be answering Omen after the word Me'af Apoy before Vi Yhi Rotzon. It's actually technically one long brocha. It starts off with Hamav Sheino and finishes off with Agemot Chasad Chavem Am Yisro. So really what's happening in this sidurim is a little bit, uh, misleading that they are making this pause over here. I suspect that this pause has been put in for the shuls, because of the shuls, where they say brochas in the shul, in Dao and in before Shaharit. The chazan goes to then says the brochas from Anusot HaSechev Ivino and go through the whole list. And then the last one, they say, "Brocha HaShem Havish Sheino Me'einum Yusnum Me'af Apoy," and then the chazan falls silent. That's what I've seen in the Shtieblach, Polish Shtieblach, which I

32:50 Speaker 1 sometimes frequent. And so possibly because of that minhag, the princes put the, uh, made a pause there and made Vi Yhi Rotzon into a separate brocha. But it is a bit misleading because LaLocha is considered one long brocha. Now, they to, uh, make it... You ask the question, what's the, what's the theme here? You've just... You've said a broca thanking Hashem for waking up, for, uh, the taking away the, the, the slumber from your eyes. Then you say to, "I should cleave to your mitzvahs and n-not have affairs and keep away the Yetzer Hara." What's the flow here? How do they connect? You say it's all one brocha. So here you have from the siddur, sorry, Va'Anisa Filosi. This is, um, in English, you have the book, My Prayer. It's written by Nissim Mindel. It was published in, originally in the, in the Talks and Tales. In the Hebrew, Sichot LaNoar, Shemosh Mitkindo and Yugent. So he, and so he would se- In a series, he'd go through the, uh, parts of davening and explain them, and later they're put together in the two volumes, Va'Anisa Filosi or My Prayer. So he says that ostensibly they don't seem to be connected. But if you look a little bit more carefully, you'll come to the following understanding. When you're sleeping, you have your imaginations, your dreams, and, uh, you don't really have much control of your Yetzer Hara. But when you, when you wake up, then you do have control. So that's the, that's the flow.

34:25 Speaker 1 Now, now that I've been-- I've woken up, then I should have control of my Yetzer Hara, and therefore I'm asking Hashem to assist me in exercising that control. So that's what, uh, he has here, this explanation. I'm sure it has earlier sources. Okay, um, question number eight is about, uh, since last week we had this mix-up about a person who said Borche Omar before saying, um, HaMashay May Musaf Rim and all the other bits for, uh, for Shabbos. So someone says, "What about if I... Once I, I came, I said Oz Yoshir, and I came down after Oz Yoshir, I finished off, and I went straight into Yishtabach, and I didn't say, and I didn't say Nishmas." So, um, it's the kind of thing which I'm sure many of us have had, especially you've had a very late night, et cetera. So the answer to that one is that you say it after Yishtabach. Now, technically after Yishtabach, before Yoetzir Ohr, you are allowed to interrupt for a dwar mitzvah. And certainly this mitzvah of saying Yishtabach, you are allowed to interrupt at that point and insert Yishtabach over then. Right. So now I'm gonna go back to question number, number five. No, sorry, nu-number six. So here I'm gonna put the, the, the question to you. We say every day in Nusach Sfarad, Arizal. In Tachana we say, "Hashem, Hashem, Ki Rachum VeChanun." And in Nusach Ashkenaz, they don't do it every day, but it comes, it comes, uh, Selichos. And perhaps I said

36:22 Speaker 1 before, the focal point of Selichos i- the focal point of Selichos is Yud Gemul Tzerach. Now, it comes on a fast day, so it works like this. There's a balkona, and he says, "Vayavor Hashem Al Pano, Vayikra." And everyone joins in, "Hashem, Hashem, Ki Rachum VeChanun." When it comes to, uh, Selichos, so, "Vayavor Hashem Al Pano, Vayikra Shem Hashem." And everyone joins in, "Vayavor." So let's get it clear. Should everyone be saying Vayavor, or should they be starting by Hashem, Hashem? There's, there's an inconsistency here. That's the question. So actually, it looks like in earlier generations, the Chazan would say Vayavar, and the Tzibur would respond Hashem, Hashem. Now, there's a whole politic, for want of a better word, of how you count the thirteen Middos Harachamim. Exactly which counts. So, um, for example, Toius wants to say Hashem, Hashem. It counts-- The, the two of them count as, uh, as the first and the second, and Keilah is the third one, possibly. There are several Shitas in Rishonim. One Shitah of the Rishonim was to say the first Hashem is Vayavar Hashem Al pono, Vayikra Hashem. Hashem Keil Rachum V'Chanun. Now, the fir- the first one is, is not part of the Yurgamot Harachamim. The second one is. So the Rosh says, "You see by Selichos, the Tzibur-- the Chazan says, 'Vayavar Hashem Al pono Vayikra,' and the Tzibur says, 'Hashem, Hashem Keil Rachum V'Chanun.' According to you, the Chazan should have said, 'Vayavar, Vayavar pono Vayikra Hashem,' and the Tzibur should-should respond, 'Hashem

38:26 Speaker 1 Keil Rachum V'Chanun.'" So what we're seeing that in the times of the Rosh, s-seven hundred years ago, that by, by Selichos, the Chazan would say, "Vayavar Hashem Al pono Vayikra", and the Tzibur would say, "Hashem, Hashem," like we do by Kriat HaTorah. So here comes the question: What-- Why did it change? Why does it now happen that the Tzibur are saying, "Vayavar Hashem Al pono Vayikra"? So in my Siddur, I have this, uh, some references to this, to-- particularly to the Shut Rav Pe'alim, which is written by the Ben Ish Chai, Rabbi Yitzchak Chaim from Baghdad. And he says that there is a deeper Kavana here and the Tzibur a- in the Vayavar, therefore, the Tzibur also want to say Vayavar. So again, why post-Ariza? We have here that the Tzibur are also saying Vayavar because the Tzibur also want to identify with the Kavanas of those words Vayavar, and therefore it's, it changed. Like, by Kriat HaTorah, it's remained. The Tzibur just say, "Hashem, Hashem." When it comes to Selichos, the Tzibur, um, already say from Vayavar. So I did not have the time to look up now the Kavanas of Vayavar, but I do remember very clearly that there is a Kavana here of Reish Yud Wow and Ayn Beis. A- Ayn Beis is seventy-two. Then you've got Reish Yud Wow. Take away the Wow of the Chaim. Just Wow, Reish Yud. Yeah, that's two hundred and sixteen. Three times seventy-two. Yeah, three hundred times seventy-two equals two hundred and sixteen. Everyone agrees?

40:15 Speaker 1 Maskim, Baruch Hashem. All right. This is very relevant. It comes to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We have in Nusach Ashkenaz, it starts off, "Bechein Teim Pachtocho, Bechein Teim Kovod, Bechein Tzadikim." In Nusach Sefard, Ariza, Bechein, it starts off Bechein, uh... No, help me. It starts off before Bechein Teim Pachtocho is, is, is an earlier Bechein. Now, Bechein, Beis Chaf Nun, is seventy-two. Corresponding to whatever is Gematria of Chesed, but that's irrelevant here. Um, it's seventy-two. So in Nusach Ashkenaz, you've got three times Bechein. Then in Nusach Sefard, Ariza, we've got an extra time Bechein. And that is-- They connect this of Bechein over Lamelech Asher Lo Kadosh. I'm going into the Melech an extra time. Like Esther comes into the Melech Asher Lo Kadosh. That's the extra Bechein. So now we have in the word Vayavar, we have the Reish Yud Wow is the-- corresponding to the three times Bechein, and the Ayn Beis is the extra. It's the fourth time Bechein, um, which is the extra one up. So as I said, up here, Ariza, and that's why we have it. In our Nusach, we have Bechein Yiskades Shimcho. Sorry. Yeah. First one is Bechein Yiskades Shimcho corresponding to Middas Hachesed. And the second one is Bechein Teim Pachtocho corresponding to Gevurah. And Bechein Teim Kovod and Bechein Tzadikim, it's going down in the sequence of the, of the Middas. So that's one Kavana. I'm sure there's other Kavanas in Vayavar, and therefore the Tzibur want to say that. I, uh, just-- I-I-I've

42:06 Speaker 1 noticed in Sefardishe Siddurim that they have a whole Pe'il of we should be like we have, uh, Aneinu. They have Bischus Vayavar, Bischus Vayavar. A whole Alef Beis Bischus Vayavar. So this Vayavar is a very significant, uh, word, and therefore there's the, uh, post-Ariza, we see this interest of the Tzibur saying. Um, now that we have already this slide open, so let's share with you a couple of things about the Selichos timely. I, I used these... I gave-- I prepared these slides for the Shir of Chilul Eon Tefila, which I've told you about in the past, but I'm sure they for-- they'll permit me to share them with you also. So the Rebbe, our Rebbe, worked on sorting out the Selichos. What do we say? What don't we say? And he took guidance of the Friedrich Rebbe from his father-in-law. This was published already in, I believe, in the Torah Or Siddur, which was published, uh, in Taf Shin Alef, et cetera. Alef Taf Shin Beis. But then I find this fascinating. In Tofshitesvo, the first edition of Chabad Selichas comes out. Selichas appear from Chabad. So if before you had a list what to say and what to skip, now we've got, instead of having to turn pages, we've got a Selichas that appear from Chabad. Published Tofshitesvo. Around that time, our Rebbe publishes a four-page study, academic study, of the Selichas, going through the various Selichas, who is the author and what's the structure. Is it three-part, four-part, whatever, the technical thing. Fascinating.

44:03 Speaker 1 And so that was, in Tofshitesvo was published as a separate sheet along with the book, The Sefer of Selichas. And, uh, the next edition, the, these, these four pages were intro- were added to the printed volume. So now any Chabad Selichas will have these four pages towards the end of the volume. So I'm gonna take one piece of the Rebbe's Seoras here, and that is Alekeinu V'lekei Aviseinu. The Selichas, he says, he quotes here from Magen Avrohom, that when a S- when a s- a Selicha should have a caption, Alekeinu V'lekei Aviseinu, unless it starts off with Hashem's name. But otherwise, there should be a caption, Alekeinu V'lekei Aviseinu, even if the Selicha starts with Od Lo. So Bachot Yurof says, start off with Alekeinu V'lekei Aviseinu. And so this thing you see on the screen, we have this from the Magen Avrohom, that a rule that the Selichas should have is beginning with the three words, Alekeinu V'lekei Aviseinu, and he quotes this from the Minhogim from Magen Avrohom Kloizner. But what's the reason for this? Now, here the Rebbe refers to the Kotetora, Devarim Samech Gimel, Reish Oved Alef. And so, as I once heard from the Rebbe, when the, when Semach Tzedek says, "I ensure him," he doesn't mean that you should rely that Semach Tzedek knows what's written there. So when the Rebbe says, "Re'e Eloku Tetora," so let's take a look what it says in Kotetora. So this ref-- this, you see, here it is on the screen. If someone

45:42 Speaker 1 will whisper to you, "What do you mean, Hashem brought that into the Shabba down here, and the Chum BeMeshamidos is the avodah that it caused, and therefore it's all the avodah's plan? So what do you want from me?" So the answer is, Hashem Taked put in Hadoch BeYaalmo. He put in some kind of negative, but we've overstepped. We've, we've, we've gone... I think that's what he's saying. We've gone much more than what Hashem had put in place. Then he goes on. He says, "If a person will now contemplate, I am in now in a lowly body, and I have a Nefesh Haba'amis to struggle with. I realize my Nefesh Elekis is in, in, in, in a difficult place. It's come Igra Romo. It's come from a high rooftop, come to this, now it's stuck in this situation." And this is where we have the Loshen. Return to Hashem and have, and Hashem will have mercy. So the Beshat is, of Yechidas Veyoshev El Avaya, you have your own Nitzas Hashem. And have Rachmanis on the, on the Nitzas of Hashem which, which is within you. Because of this sentiment of looking at oneself, looking at one's Nefesh Elekis, Nitzas of Hashem, which is exiled, in trouble, that is the meaning of the Yoshamu. Ah, so we're telling the story. Yoshamu Bagadnu. Who, who are we telling the story to? Hashem knows the story. So what are we saying Yoshamu for? The answer is that the Yoshamu is an exercise in ourselves to arouse Rachmanim V'doelim.

47:26 Speaker 1 And for that reason, we preface Alekeinu V'lekei Aviseinu. This is the Rebbe's quote. Alekeinu means the, that our energy, our Chayes. Not only is it our Chayes, V'lekei Aviseinu, Gavo Yomi Al Gavo Ya. It's this Chayes which is invested in us, this Nitzas Eleki, is coming from a very exalted place. And therefore, and now it's in a, in, in the challenging environment where it is now. Socher Rachmanis on it. And therefore, do whatever we can to be Mesairit on, on Rachmanis, on the Nefesh El Elekis, and to return to Avodah Zevach, to Av, Avodah Zevach. So this is the Rebbe's word on Alekeinu V'lekei Aviseinu, where that comes before, before Yoshamu, or before, and now it's before every Selicha. The other Rebbe says why it's said before Yoshamu. And now this explains the Minig Ashkenaz, that every Selicha should be prefaced with Alekeinu V'lekei Aviseinu to arouse this Rachman. I want to share with you, I have another couple of minutes, a very interesting situation. Um, so I'm gonna confess, I was never in a non-Labavich Shul for Selichas. But Mendel will confirm that in other Minhogim, they have the Philosopherim. Yeah, towards the end of Tacha, to the end of Selichas. Now, these words, again, Labavich, uh, doesn't re- doesn't necessarily recognize. This is said by the Philosopherim. We say the Kapitel Chaf He of Tehillim. But in Nusach Ashkenaz, this is, uh, this is Tachnun. And here we have a line, "Ein Nuf L'mal P'neiem." We don't do the Philosopherim. So in Chabad,

49:18 Speaker 1 the Philosopherim in, in Selichas is unheard of. But that's, it's, it's there, yeah. Okay, really I want to just, um, focus on why is this Aramaic jumped in, and then the, the sequence. But just, um, one little Nekuda, which you can read in the Rebbe's Ha'oras. Why don't, why Ein Nuf L'mal P'neiem? And you read carefully in the Rebbe's notes, it's because Selichas originally is said very early, before daybreak. And even the end of Selichas could still be, could be still before daybreak. And to say Selichas, to say Tachnun, sorry. To say Tachnun by night, the Philosopherim by night, is, uh, uh, is something which is i-inappropriate because of the time of Vura. So you don't want to say Ta-Tachnun at night. And that's the reason for Ein Nuf L'mal P'neiem. I this in, in the Sefer Nesivim Baal HaMinchag. I've, I've written about this. There's a general Lubavitch drift in saying you can go in any other shtiebel, you don't say Selichot, you don't say Tachanun after, after Shkiya. Comes along the Lubavitch, he says, "Yeah, look at the Rabbi Shneur Zal, Kuf Lamed Alef. You do say Tachanun after Shkiya, only when it's Vadai Layla. But if it's Safek Layla, you can still say, say, say Tachanun." But the velt, everyone else, after Shkiya don't say Tachanun. Now, if you look carefully in Kuf Lamed Alef, you'll see there's two opinions there whether you do say or don't say after Shkiya. The Rebbe is saying here, "Don't do Nefilas Apayim at Selichos 'cause

50:58 Speaker 1 it's Safek Layla." So the same thing, after Shkiya, Safek Layla, you shouldn't be saying Tachanun like Min Hagevoel. Okay, that's, that's just in parenthesis. Really, the main thing, thing I want to focus on is what's this Aramaic. We start off, we have this Nefilas Apayim, then we have a passage in Aramaic, then we have an appeal to the Malachim, Machnis Yerachamim, then we go back to Aramaic, Moron Devesh Mayim. What exactly is happening over here? Now, I saw that someone put a question in the chat. Or was it-- Did that gone away? Chat. Someone is saying that the Gross Siddur says it's a different, that the is a separate bracha. The other Rebbes are klar nishtah zei. Fine. Okay. Fine. No, someone is pointing out that all of these Chesbonos are not the mathematicians. No, the thing is that before Yom Tov, Beis Din would tell the cha- the chazan you have to read over the tefillahs. So that's what we're doing now. Before Yom Tov, before we come to Selichos, instead of just rattling everything, to think a little bit about and prepare. Uh, So, yeah, at least, at least the one person in the tzippor should know what the, what everyone is saying, and he should be able to elevate them all. Right. So now what we have here is, on the screen, is from Reb Pinchas of Koretz, who was a colleague of the Medzhyter Maggid, a talmid of the Baal Shem Tov. And he says the following, "We sang Selichos. We

52:39 Speaker 1 start off with praises like Ashrei. Then afterwards, there's the tefillah, Yichud Havaya An ani, and it's reaching Mitato Le-Elo. Then towards the end of the Selichos, then we have a state of Mesirus Nefesh. Now, in this is, uh, common in the Hisorerus that's Nefilas Apayim. You have kriyah, and then there's a greater level of, of devotion, Omed Lifnei HaMelech, the Shemoneh Esreh. Nefilas Apayim, which is after Shemoneh Esreh, is ki'eilu mois nefshi ma bepo yol al kiddush Hashem. That's, that's the sentiment of being in a state of Mesirus Nefesh al kiddush Hashem. So now that is where we have at the end of Selichos, we have now, we have now the Nefilas Apayim, and that's ki'eilu meis. After this, we want to reach up. So then he has here the macheh o'maseh. Macheh o'maseh is in Aramaic. Macheh o'maseh. He smites and he heals. Me mis'm'chayah, puts to death and gives life again. Maseh mis'ol lachai olmo, takes out from the abyss to the-- from Gehennom to the, to the eternal life, et cetera. So that is what's going on here. We've just had Nefilas Apayim. Now we want to gravitate upwards. So here we have the Targum. Now, Targum is the same Gematria as the word Tardema, which means slumber. And as we know, slumber is echad mishishim b'misa. So since we've gone through, um, Nefilas Apayim, which is parallel to a state of Misa, then there is a gravitating upwards, Me mis'm'chayah, going up from that state. And that's the, that's the Aramaic

54:45 Speaker 1 piece, which is machey o'maseh. Then once we've passed through that stage, then we resort to the Malachim, and we, we appeal to the Malachim to elevate our tefillahs. And that's where we have after this piece, we then we have Machnis Yerachamim, Machnis Yerachmeinu. Very beautiful piece, which may be controversial, but that's appealing to the Malachim to elevate. Then ask the question, why is Moron Devesh Mayim coming in? Before going further and answering that, I want to point out another thing. This same situation that the, that the Selichos end off with Aramaic, you have also in the other Selichos, which is the Tahanun Sima. Tahanun Sima finish off with Rachmonu Di Onu. It's also has got a piece in Aramaic. So, so again, we've had here a piece of Nefilas Apayim's ke'inya ke'en misah. Then we've had a, an appeal in Aramaic, Tardema, et cetera, to gravitate upwards. Shemonah Esreh. Then we've got here appealing to the Malachim. Then we've got another piece of an Aramaic. Possibly, this is not what Reb Pinchas of Koretz says. He doesn't address that. But there's also Ben Ish Chai which talks about this. Possibly it's the following. It's true that as a yochid, we need the Malachim to elevate our tefillahs. But when we're davening with the tzippor, so we don't need the Malachim, we can manage directly. And that is the follow-on. After we've gone through this exercise, then we have Moron Devesh Mayim yaloach miskanem. Never mind Malachim. We, we have a direct connection with you. And

56:34 Speaker 1 so we have these two forms of kavar shivya ukeavda. But that's the hemshich over here that we, we, we are appealing to the Aibishter, Moron Devesh Mayim. We, we-- even if the Malachim, uh, do not deliver what they should be doing, well, we go and we, we are appealing to you, Hashem, directly. Um, all right. I think I'm gonna stop with that. More to say, but it's gonna be a bit more complicated. And stop here and wish you all a, uh, good Shabbos and Tzlachin de'abeida vehen hel and Amen.

57:18 Speaker 2 Yasher koach.