לקראת ראש השנה תשפ״ו

00:02 Good evening, and welcome to tonight's shiur. Last shiur, uh, of ours for Tof Shin Ayv Ov. And we're gonna start off with something about Selichos. Here we have... I mentioned it brief-brief in previous shiur about, about saying parts of Selichos in Aramaic and, um, when you're davening without a minyan. So there's a whole thing about not saying Aramaic, prayers in Aramaic without a minyan. We're gonna start off with reading the Gemara. So this is the Shabbos Daf Yomi Beis on Beis. "Amar Avah Achana," said Avah Achana, "We went to, uh, with Rabbi Eliezer-- Rabbi Elazar, sorry, "L'shiul v'teficha." To when, uh, he went to visit someone who was ill. So, "Zimron," sometimes he said, "Hamochim yifkod chel shalom." May, may Hashem remember you for peace. The zimron, and sometimes he would say, "Achmono yadkirino l'shalom." Um, so "yifkod chel shalom" is in modern Hebrew, and "yadkirino l'shalom" is certainly Aramaic. Amah- And the Gemara asks, "Heychi ovid hochi?" How come he, uh, said his berachah in Aramaic? "V'omar Rav Yehuda," says Rav Yehuda, "Leolam al yishal od nsorach v'lashon Arami." One shouldn't be addre-addressing one's pleas in Aramaic. "Viomar Rav Yochanan," that was Rav Yehuda. And Rav Yochanan says, "Kol ha'shel sorach v'lashon Arami," the one who addresses his requests in Aramaic, "Ein malach hashars nis kokhin lei." The angels will not, uh, um, address the, his prayers. Well, "Sheein malach hashars mechimen lashon Arami," the angels don't, don't, don't recognize the language of Aramaic. To which the Gemara answers, "Sha nichoileh de Shechinah inimai."

02:15 It's different when he's praying in the presence of someone who's ill, and the divine presence is there with the patient, therefore, he's speaking directly her-to Hashem. Therefore, it's okay to speak in A-- to say the prayer in Aramaic. Meanwhile, this is the source of this concept of not to pray, uh, in Aramaic without, uh, on your own. Okay. So now... So particularly when it comes to Selichos. Particularly when it comes to Selichos, we have here, going back to the Shlah. The Shlah's father, his name was Rabbi Avraham, I believe, writes that Yochid-- That the Shlah is quoting his father. A per- a, a Yochid should not say the b- the requests in Selichos in Aramaic. For example, Machi u'Maaseh o'Meron b'vishmayo, because he quotes the Gemara which we just read, that when, when, uh, uh, some- addresses one's requests in Aramaic, the Malachim do not address that request. Okay. So... And this is brought down also in the Ma'at Efrayim. This is brought down in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. That's not, not... No surprise. It's brought down in the Luach Kol Chabad. Uh, I spoke about this last Shabbos in Shul, and I mentioned how the Ben Ish Chai, and I think it's first chapter of Torah Lishmah, says that the reason why we have the Aramaic pieces in the Selichos is in order to emphasize that the Selichos needs to be said with tzibbur. So, so someone showed me afterwards that there's the weekly Hiskashrus journal, and there it says that you can say the

04:14 Aramaic pieces on your own. You don't need to have a minyan to say the Aramaic pieces. So I was duly curious, and after Shabbos, I looked up their sources. And the, the, their argument is, it comes to Yikumb Purkan. And the Alter Rebbe in our, in our siddur, it's Alter Rebbe siddur. So it says the second Yikumb Purkan should not be said when you are alone, because that Yikumb Purkan obviously is addressing Kol haKadesh Gadol, the present congregation. So if there's no congregation present, it doesn't make sense to say it. First one, all right, you can say who is the Kadesh haKadesh haKadesh. Okay. But the first one, we evidently do say even if there's no minyan present. Uh-huh. So the Alter Rebbe holds that is not a problem to say a tefillah in Aramaic e-even though you don't have a, a minyan present. So that was the basis of the, uh, of their... Why they ch-- So I find it really, you have something, a psak, which is written in the Shlah and written in so many poskim. And then just because you have a kasha, therefore, to say, "Ah, the Alter Rebbe disagrees with that." A bit difficult to say that, but it's, they, it's a bit more serious than... They did look into it a bit more seriously. And someone had suggested that, that there's a difference between a prayer and a berachah. To which Rav Ginsburg writes, "Why does a prayer need Malachim and a berachah doesn't need Malachim?" Doesn't say

05:58 that. In addition- The source of this whole story is from this story in the Gemara. And when Rebbe Elazar goes to visit the person who's ill, and he says, "Rachamanu yad karinach lashlom," he says, "This is a bracha. This is, uh, rather than a tefillah." And so back to the question. Here is... From this we learn that you shouldn't be saying a, a tefillah in, in Aramaic. And so why is, why is it okay that ear- on Yom Kippur when it's Aramaic and it said by yachid? So let's go to the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, Siman kuf alef. Well, it says, first of all, you can daven in any language. That is true when you're davening betzibur. If you're praying on your own, you should be praying in Lashon Hakodesh because the malachim don't recognize other languages. So it's not just Aramaic, it's a- all other languages besides Lashon Hakodesh. And the individual needs to have the malach meilitz, the malach to intercede on his behalf to that his prayer should be accepted. A tzibur does not need to have the ma- the meilitz, does not need the intercession of the malach. As it says, "Kel kabir lo yimos." Hashem will not despise the, uh, the, the large, uh, crowd of people. Okay. So then here comes the question, and this is a question which is asked in the Rishonim. We'll see in a moment. Ha'noshim, the women apparently used to daven in Yiddish, or Ladino, or whatever it was. They used to daven in

07:42 Laz. They didn't understand Hebrew. They didn't learn Hebrew, but they did want to pray. And so they would daven in the, in the local language. They would daven Shemoneh Esreh in, in, uh, Yiddish or in, in, uh, whatever the language was. Arabic. Shehen chayavot ben ka'noshim. Women are obliged to daven Shemoneh Esreh like a man, and now they're davening in, in another language. How are they yoitze? So yesh shomdu alei zechut. Now, those Rishonim who say it's okay. Sh'lemonu yachid mispallal bishar lashonot. The objection for individual toward davening in a different language. Eino es... ei elka sh'shir tzirocha. Is asking for individual needs. K'gon shemispalel al ha'choleh. There's no difference davening for himself or someone else. He's davening for an individual need, like for a choleh or shum tzara sheyesh leh b'beitah, some other, uh, um, nuisance and pain which is going on in his family, in his home. Aval tefillah hakavu'ah letzibur, but it's... if it's a standard communal prayer, then a yachid could say that in Lashon, b'chol Lashon. Now, we haven't explained why. Meanwhile, this is him making a statement here that Shemoneh Esreh is a tefillah hakavu'ah letzibur. It's an established tefillah, and therefore, the individual who's gonna say Shemoneh Esreh in English or in Yiddish, it's, it's okay. It has the koach et zasif it were betzibur. So the source for this psak is from Rabbeinu Yonah in Gemara Brachos, where he brings the Rabboni Tzorfas, the French, uh, the Baalei HaTosfot were looking for explanation, um, about the fact

09:46 that women would be davening in, in other languages. They should only daven, be allowed, authorized to daven in Hebrew. And they say, when a yachid davens a prayer which the tzibur daven, k'mo tefillas tzibur dainin alah. So she's davening at her own time, um, not the time of the tzibur. But because this is a communal tefillah, it's a tefillah which the community say. Therefore, you say as... it's as if she had said it with the community. Whatever time she says it, it's as if she had said it with the community, and therefore it's okay to say it e-even in a different language. So here we have a new idea that a tefillah which is tefillah hakavu'ah letzibur, then the yachid can say it in Aramaic or any other language. So now let's come back to our dilemma. Why does the Alter Rebbe okay saying Yom Kippur Kon in Aramaic, even if you don't have a minyan? So we can simply answer that the Yom Kippur Kon is a tefillah like Shemoneh Esreh. Yom Kippur Kon is tefillah hakavu'ah letzibur. It's a c-- it's es-established regular tefillah said by the tzibur week in, week out, and therefore, it's okay for a yachid to say that tefillah, um, in Aramaic, and it's considered tefillah tzib. So now let's go then to the p-pieces in Selichot. Is macheh o maseh, the pieces in Selichot which are in Aramaic, are they called tefillah hakavu'ah letzibur? I understand an individual prayer for s-some personal need, which you're going to create

11:39 your own tefillah. That's clearly a tefillat yachid. But when the tzibur say once a year there's a series of Selichot, and they throw in a bit in Aramaic, is that called tefillah hakavu'ah letzibur? This is where it's not so clear. And evidently, the, uh, poskim did not see that as a tefillah hakavu'ah letzibur. Whereas a Yom Kippurim, the Alt Rebbe evidently holds that it is a twilakhua at Sibur. At any way, that would resolve that whilst our Yom Kippurim is said by Yochid, that doesn't change the psak as far as Machi or Mase, which all the poskim say it should not be said by Yochid. And as I said, Ben Ish Chai is saying it's especially significant in Selichas to say that that's kind of to promote that it has to be said or should be said at Sibur. Okay, let's go to a totally different topic, and that is about carrying in a park. Now, someone's asking, Ari's asking about children saying B'rich Rachmana. That's a very good question. Possibly the concern was that the children wouldn't understand the Hebrew. Therefore, it's better to say it in a language they understand than to not say at all. Yeah, certainly if you read further, if there's no choice, then for sure you can daven in any language. We're talking here as a preference. Yeah. Okay, so now here's a question of a public park which is fenced in. Are you allowed to carry within the park? So I go have some spare time on Shabbos

13:38 afternoon, and I go to the park, and it's a warm weather. I want to take off my jacket to be able to walk around in the park. Is that legitimate or not? Now, the park has got a fence around it, so it's a reshus hayochid. That's not a problem. Now, here's an issue. There's something called karfuf. There's halacha at an area which is more than 50 by 100 ammas, not you, 25 by 50 meters. If that's not mukaf ledira, it's not adjacent to a dwelling. It's not the grounds of a dwelling. So then you're not allowed to carry within that space. It's a din rabonim. It's got midrabonim. It's you're restricted in carrying there. Like you're not allowed to carry in a street, not allowed to carry in a karfuf. So this is taking the din of karfuf and limiting it to, this is from the Piskei Chovos, it's limiting it to a place which is not used for dwelling. Let's say it's a field where vegetables are growing. It could be even an orchard, but it's not a place for human entertainment, for people to hang around there. And therefore, it's got the din of karfuf. What he's saying here is, if however, this space is clearly made for people to use, to go for walks and to enjoy the space, that is, even though it's not adjacent to a house, it's also called mukaf ledira. It's called, and therefore he says, not a vegetable garden, but a garden of entertainment. And spaces which

15:22 have got trees and got things growing there, flowers, they are clearly for beauty. And lawns, parks, all of these spaces, even if they have more than the shia of Bes Tzarzaim of 50 by 100 ammas, they are called tashmi she'odom. They're called human use because they're made for human indulgence. And therefore, you are allowed to carry within those. So there's no din of karfuf on a park which is made for people to enjoy the space. So that's very useful to know. We'll go on to our next question. So I was sent a picture, and I honestly don't remember who sent it to me, but sent me the picture of this shofar. And it's for those who are going to be listening without visuals. So this is like a long Yemenite-style type shofar. And it's got several pieces of silver decorations, flowers, et cetera, a bunch of grapes. And they are somehow fixed onto the sides of the body of the shofar. So is it appropriate to use such a shofar on Rosh Hashanah? Now, I'm not going to comment on Minag Taimon because I'm not familiar. The question is for an Ashkenazi, et cetera. So we have in Shuchan Aruch that, first of all, that there is a preference to use the horn of a ram. The reason being that the shofar is associated with the binding of Yitzchak, the Akedah, where after Hashem told Avraham not to inflict any harm on his son, then they find a, they realize there's a ram caught in

17:18 the growth with its horns. And so that's one of the things which the shofar is reminding us of. Reminding us of the sacrifice which Avraham and Yitzchak were ready to do by the Akedah to invoke that tremendous merit. And for that reason, we want to have a shofar of a ram. So this, if I get the name wrong, it's called a kudu or something like that. It's some kind of antelope kind of species, which is common in the area near Yemen or in Yemen. And so this was their choice. Apparently, it's easier to blow than a regular shofar. That's what, that's what, um, I read online. So that's number one. So it's that th-this type of shofar, as impressive as it is, but it's not a lech-- it's, it's not a mitzvah min haMubchar, yeah. The second thing is that because it's got... it's encrusted with these various embellishments made of silver. So then we have a quest-- a, a, a, a, a question about whether it's kosher, actually. Not whether it's mehudar, whether it's even kosher. Because sound is caused by vibration. And when the shofar is now embellished with this, with these, uh, pieces of silver, the question is whether their, where their, their, their presence also contributes to the sound, and therefore it's a sound of a shofar made of horn and also a sound of silver, a horn of silver. So this is what we see here in the Altre Abodah Shulchan Aruch in the same siman tof kuf pei vav,

19:07 that that which a, a, uh, extra layer is a, is the shofar remains kosher, that's if it doesn't affect the sound or if you're not aware that it changes the sound. But if you are cognizant that the sound has been changed because of the extra layer, the extra plating, et cetera, even if it's minor, then it's passul because it's not just the sound of a shofar which you're hearing. Rather, it's a fusion of the sound of the shofar and another sound, namely the cover, the, the plating. And so therefore, the answer would be no, it's not, certainly not recommended. And even if it didn't... Well, yeah. If you had no other shofar, then you'd use it, but it's, uh, it is, it isn't what we'd recommend. Okay. Here we go on to the next question, and one of our follower-- well, one of-- someone who follows our shiurim sent me the following picture. It's a Tehillim, um, leather-bound perhaps, but the main thing is it's got a dime. Sorry, not a dime, nickel. A nickel has been, uh, laminated into this cover, and apparently, it's a nickel which the Rebbe had given to someone to put in tzedakah. Okay. Or the Rebbe himself put in tzedakah. And the question is, is it muksah? And a few, a few years ago, we had this discussion about a Rebbe dollar, and someone sent me a, a letter of the Rebbe to a woman where the Rebbe had written this letter in English. This is going back fifty

20:49 something years ago. Uh, the woman had asked what's the significance of these dollars, and the Rebbe also says, "By the way, the dollar is muksah." So money, even from a Rebbe, is also muksah. So does that make the Tehillim muksah? So in the Shulchan Aruch, he talks about if you take a coin and you drill a hole through it, and you made it into a pendant of sorts, so then it's no longer muksah. But here it hasn't been drilled, and that's why I wasn't sure. But here you have from the Piskei Teshuva who s-- takes it a bit further. And he says, if it's wrapped up in a nylon, which is a plastic in English, and similarly, and, and it's wrapped in a way that it's becomes not usable. They're just, uh, used as, as a decoration or a memento, et cetera. So he says it's, it's, it's no longer muksah. So that, that's what we, we remain with. That, um, this Tehillim would not be muksah because, uh, the, the, the coin has been covered with plastic in a way that it's not, not really accessible. We go on to the next question, and that is, um... No, so I don't have a slide on that. So that is about a, a sewage ejector pump. So someone is asking that in his basement, in his... Actually, it's a school, and they have a dining room on the, on the... And the dining room is apparently in the basement. And as a result, the plumbing,

22:41 the plumbing doesn't drain down with gravity. Mm, so there is a tank, and it has a pump. Um, and it pumps the waste upwards, and then it goes to the sewage. And so it's a school, so during the week, it's not... So Shabbos usually is not in use. But if they do want to rent out this premises for a Shabbos event, and so here's a question. Are these, the, the, the, uh, plumbing would be okay to use on Shabbos? Now, this, I did not find this addressed in contemporary sefarim. I did find it in several online forums. And this... Well, it, there's two levels. There's one level that every time you flush, the, there is... it activates this ejector pump, which is going to be more a problem. And there's another type that there's a, there's a tank, a manhole on the basement level, and in it there's a sensor. And when the waste reaches a certain level, then that triggers the, uh, pump. The pump goes on and pumps out whatever it is, and then it goes off again. So in the second form, you know, you don't know. It could be just the time when you use the water that activated, would activate the pump. So what's, that's a term of safek pasik reisha. You don't know what's happening. You don't know what the level is there. And, and therefore, um, it's a safek. It might be activating a pump, and on Shabbos it's electricity, which is a problem. So I've had this

24:23 shailah before, and what I did see at the time was that if it's for a, uh, toilet, so then there's more reason to be lenient because there's a concept of gadol kovod habriyos shedechech lo sasesh et habrit. There's a certain leniency at, uh, for respect for human life. If human people are coming to you and they need to relieve themselves, that's... So then to accommodate that need would sometimes be more lenient than normal. But then what about using the sinks on Tisha b'Av? What about, uh, et cetera? So, uh, one of the, um, talks which I, uh, uh, um, found online says a very simple thing. Set your, the, this pump on a timer, which means like this. You know that, let's say, during daytime use, every four hours, the pump is activated. Okay. So you make your... You, you set your time switch, uh, let's say every four and a half hours or something. That by then, the probability is that the, uh, amount of waste has reached above the activation level. Then the clock wait-- it turns on the electricity, and the pump pumps out, takes a couple of minutes, then it switches off. So it's unlikely that, you know, so it's activated in any case because of the level of waste there in any case. So it's very unlikely that it's just gonna be just that moment you're gonna be hitting the jackpot at the time, um, where otherwise the pump wouldn''t go on, and because you used the flu-- uh, the

26:11 water, the pump did go on. So in other words, to aim to have the pa-- the, the tank a little bit more full than the amount of time it takes for normally to be activated, and by then, for sure, it'll be activated. So that's the simple way around it. So going back to the Tehillim with the coin. So Rab Ari is asking, is it not a question of muktzeh machmas chasor and kis? Even though it's bottled to the Tehillim, it's chashe when it's not bottled. Okay. The term muktzeh machmas chasor and kis means that you would never use it for anything else. Like a shochet's knife, you wouldn't use it for anything else. You have nice writing paper. A sofer's, uh, quill, you'd never use it for anything else. That's the muktzeh machmas chasor and kis. Um, I don't, I don't see that applying over here. Um, so it's chashe, but you're not, you're not planning to use it for anything anyways. All right. I thank you for that, um, that observation. Let's go on to the next couple of things. And if we finish a little bit early today, that's gonna be out of sympathy for the, uh, people who have, uh, been waking up very early for Selichos for the past week, and also tomorrow morning's early Selichos. So here's a Selichos question. So in the first part of Selichos after Ashrei and, and Kaddish, "Lo b'chesed, lo b'ma'asim banu lefanecha." Neither with kindness nor with good deeds do we come before you.

27:55 "K'dalim u'k'roshim dofaknu d'losecha." Like, like, like poor, impoverished people do we knock on your doors. Then we repeat, "D'losecha dofaknu." We have been knocking on your doors. Oh, "rachum uchanun," merciful. Um, "Lo tashiveinu reikam milfanecha." Don't turn us away empty-handed from before yourself. "Milfanecha melkeinu, reikam al teshiveinu ki ata shomea tefillah." So the first question my correspondent asks is, why do we have, "D'losecha dofaknu, dofaknu d'losecha"? Why is it written twice? It seems to be saying the same thing. We're knocking on your doors. So thankfully, I found a comment on this in a... some contemporaries mefarvesh on Selichos, who quotes a Sefer Kol Boi, which possibly means the Machazik Har Boi. I didn't-- I managed to look it up. Who says that o-one who's has the merit, one who knocks on the doors of the Beis Hamikdash down here, his prayer will be knocking on the doors of the Beis Hamikdash upon high. So that's the double expression. Okay. Very good. So then, not finished. Says, But why does it say in the opposite order? Why does it first say, "Dofaknu d'losecha, d'losecha dofaknu"? So the, uh, the answer is that this is simply a style. It's a style of like haluka, haluka. You finish something, and then you hand over to the next thing in the same language. So this one finishes, "Dofaknu d'losecha." The next one says, "D'losecha dofaknu, rachum uchanun." And the end sentence ends, not don't, don't tu-turn us away milfanecha. The next sentence starts milfanecha. Don't turn us away, "Al

29:42 teshiveinu," which is also a bit of a repeat, and finishes off, "Shomea tefillah." The next sentence, the next paragraph starts off with, "Shomea tefillah." So it's a style of one handing over to the other. It's poetic, and both ways are legitimate. And so, yes, it's d'losecha, d'losecha kind of handing over one to the other. That's probably the s- reason why the words are switched around. Right. Okay. And same thing, reicam lefanecha, lefanecha reicam. Hebrew does have that flexibility, and it's a, it's a style, um, of expressing. Okay. Then I wanted to haparay. Are there any pieces of the Selichos which you need to remember, um, missing, missing pieces? Now, b-both of these on the screen are Chabad Selichos. One is an early edition from Taf Shin Tes Vav, and the lower one is from Taf Shin Samech Daled, I think. My personal Selichos, which I'm using, is Taf Shin Samech, and it still has this piece missing. And it's just... I noticed it at some stage and wrote it in by hand. So if you have an older Selichos, then there's likelihood is that this is, that this is piece is missing. So this is in the Selichot of Tzemach David. And as you can see, I've pointed out with the highlighting, it's in alphabetical order as many of the Selichot are, and it's actually a double Alef Bet. Orcho and Emunecho, Bito, Betuvcho, Giya Yeseinu, Goluseinu, Dofachnu, Dosecho. You come to again, Dovachnu, Helitsunu, and Hatsilenu. Wow, somehow he's only dealt with Venoidicho. Okay.

31:35 Zeruyecho, Meyachelim, Zakim. And then, then Kize Kol Ha'odom, Ki Chanun VeRachum Atah. Now, there's missing-- Ches is missing here. You might have thought that the Ches is Chanun, yeah? But look in, look in this, uh, later edition, and there's a, there was a sentence which is left out because of sensitivity to, or concern that people who, uh, were looking for trouble will find this a, a, a offensive statement. So let's read the, the sentences here. Zeruyecho, those who... yours who are scattered. Meyachelim, they are w- w-wishing for. Le'odidom, for encouragement. Zakaim, p-- uh, cleanse them. Beiroscha, with fear of your, you. Lesadom, to support them. Kize Kol Ha'odom. That's kind of rhymes. Lesadom, Kize Kol Ha'odom. The idea of Yiras Hashem, Kize Kol Ha'odom, if you say before benching. Then Chukos Ha'amim Tohu. The laws of the nations who surround us are vain. Chasukeho Acharaho Yinohu. May those who are kind of drawn over there, they should be drawn to you. Ki Rachum VeRachum Hu, because He is all-merciful. So Yinohu and Rachum Hu are also rhyming. So that's how... So this sentence, as I said, if you have an older Selichot, this sentence is missing, and it-- you, you fill it in, uh, when you have a moment. I'm going to do the same thing of today's Selichot. That's what triggered my, uh, my mind to share this with you. Now, this Selichot is, as they say, Yom Chamishi, and there's a sentence missing. And this is even more, how you say, uh, troublesome

33:39 to our neighbors, which explains why it's, why it's was taken out. To just point out that the composer of this poem, his name was Yitzchak. So there you can see the, uh, acrostic. Yud, Tsade, Ches, Kof. Yitzchak HaKoton bar... Well, we'll leave that for later. Okay. So what's happened over here, the letter in, in... The letter Tes is missing over here. In the earlier edition, you've got Ko Mem Ados. That's a Kuf of HaKoton, and then it goes on to the Bet. So it's just He Kuf, and there's no, there's no Tes, there's no Nun. So let's see what, what was missing, what was left out, as I say, because of, uh, s-sensitivities of you might offend some other people. Tmeim O'imrim. There are those impure people who are saying, LaChaloshcha LeChabel. They cause-- to cause damage to your heritage. Kavodcho, your glory. Lehomir, to exchange for something else. UvaHevel LeHisjabel, to indulge in just va-vain and air. Netzer Nisov. Netzer means a branch, a despicable branch. In other words, someone who was part of the Jewish people, and then he went off. So he's a, a despicable branch of Klal Israel. LeEloyah Lekabel. And they have seen him and accepted him as a deity, as a god. VeYiroscha Hakadosho. And your holy fear, your... the holy fear of you. Lintoshe, to, to, to, uh, forsake. Kulhanavel, and to, and to disgrace. And so this is clearly a very strong statement against, uh, our neighbors, and that's why it was dropped. It was left out

35:50 in the earlier prints, but it's, it's clearly part of the piyut. Right. That's, um... Now, two more points or, or so. So last week, I, I, I read a few pieces from the, from the, uh, Rebbe Rashab's notes on the Kaf HaChaim or Rav Chaim Falaji. One of them was about when you say VeHu Rachum on Mondays and Thursdays, not only to say it standing, which in of course is Shulchan Aruch, but to say it standing with your feet together. That's what Rav Chaim Falaji writes there, and the Rebbe Rashab supports this. And what you're seeing here on the screen is from the Levush in Siman Kuf Lamed Daled. And he says, we have the, the... It's customary to say VeHu Rachum standing, BeHalacha, he says, because it's... That's interesting. I didn't notice that before. To say it because it's similar to the Shemoneh Esreh. Actually, uh, someone asked me whether the Chazan finished it off, off out loud pieces of VeHu Rachum. Now, my recollection is when the Rebbe davened, he did finish off out loud, um, the pieces of VeHu Rachum, um, which would be interesting because here it says it should be said BeHalacha. And this is the history is because of three Zkenim who introduced this V'huru Rachum. And each piece has got each of the three Zkenim introduced one, one, uh, section. And each section has got eighteen times Hashem's name corresponding to the eighteen Berachot of Shemoneh Esreh. Therefore, it should be said standing and, and silently. Very interesting.

37:42 So what's the story about this V'huru Rachum? What happened over here? So there was... It brings in the... Eliyahu Rabba, he brings from the Kol Boi that there was a time where Jews were being forced to accept a different faith, or else they would end up like being thrown in the furnace like Hanania, Mishael, and Azariah. And they said, "Give us thirty days." And they were given the thirty days, and they fasted. And every time, each one, whoever had something which they had seen in the dream, they would share it with the other people. At the end of the thirty days, there was one elderly man who was a God-fearing man, but he wasn't especially a Talmid Chacham. And he says, "I saw in my dream that I was told a Pasuk. And that Pasuk had... It had the word 'ki' twice and the word 'lo' three times. And I don't even know what the Pasuk means." So there was one of the knowledgeable Chacham there says, "I know what it... what that Pasuk is." And it's a Pasuk in Yeshayahu. «Ki savar bamayim,» if you'll go through water, «itcha ani,» I will be with you. You will be with me. «Uven harot,» you go through rivers, «lo yishtefucha,» you will not be washed away. «Ki selech bemoi esh,» so they got this ki sava, ki selech. You'll go in fire. «Lo tichave,» you will not get burnt. «V'lahav lo tavir boch,» and the flame will-won't... lo tavir boch. The fla- the flame won't burn

39:16 you. So you've got in this Pasuk, it's got two times the word ki and three times the word lo. And so when this simple God-fearing man says he had a Pasuk, oh, we know what the Pasuk is. It's this Pasuk in Yeshayahu. So they'll... The elder Chacham said, "You had this dream. You'll go through the fire, and you'll be safe." And the guy made a huge fire, and he went through the fire. And the fire was divided into three parts, and he went... And then the other Tzadikim, the three Tzadikim went to greet him, and they praised Hashem. And that's when they instituted the V'huru Rachum. The first one, the, the first section, second section, third section. So here we're seeing the history of the V'huru Rachum at this time. Um, and we... And I'm not sure what period this was. It's quite early, but certainly after the Gemara, but I don't know exactly when it was. Okay. So we have here history of V'huru Rachum, and we have here that it's got eighteen times Hashem's name. And my question really was, until what point is it called V'huru Rachum? Yeah. In other words, the V'huru Rachum has got, should we say, the large print, and then you've got Hashem Elokei Yisrael, Shomer Chen apecha, V'hinechem al har al mecha, and you've got, um, it's... You've got five stanzas which have got the acrostic of Chezkiah. So is that second part, the la-la-latter part of, of V'huru Rachum, is that also included in the part

40:49 which you sh-should be re- should be standing with the feet together? That was really what I'm trying to, um, establish. So I did take, um... I took a Siddur and tried to count how many... They're counting eighteen Az Karot. And then, then I saw that in the Ya'akov Emden, he writes, «Vechol echad yesh yud ches az karot le digdak di achar hachesbon echum uchuvon.» I didn't manage to work out how you have these eighteen Az Karot. I also wanted to throw in that the Nusach Ashkenaz is much longer than the Nusach which we have for V'huru Rachum. I managed to find twice, two s- twice eighteen times Hashem's name without the name Alika. Um, but be that as, as it may, coming back to my question. Okay. So we... There is idea that V'huru Rachum is compared to Shemoneh Esreh, and therefore there is... It should be said standing and even with the feet together. But this, this poem which I'm talking about, Shomer Chen apecha, I believe is not part of this, uh, part, ma- because this thing. And you look in Nusach Ashkenaz, Nusach Ashkenaz will say V'huru Rachum until, till Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem echad. Then will be, uh, Nefilat Apayim. Then there will be when they sit down and put your ha-hand on your, on your arm, and then they say the piyut of Hashem Elokei Yisrael, Shomer Chen apecha. So therefore, clearly, the piyut is not part of the body of V'huru Rachum, which is being addressed here, which

42:31 is parallel to Shemoneh Esreh. So that makes, um, well, just clearing up Halakha that this Humrah of V'huru Rachum which we're talking about is until Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem echad. Let's go on. Um, we did have also discussion briefly about the corner of the blanket. Well, about cutting off the corner, et cetera. And I, I s- I went through it fast because I didn't fully understand it. So I spent some time this week looking through it more carefully. So let's read what the Rebbe Rashab writes here. Yeah. Here, the, the Kaf HaChaim's comments is not even quoted here. It's, it, it's just the Rebbe Rashab's comment here. "Michse Shekorin Koldre." A k- a blanket. Kosov Vesider, the alter Rebbe writes in Vesider, "Lasois keren achas agola." To make one corner round. Benire, he writes in brackets, "De'ein lo zer shia kama yehi ia igol." The extent of what's called a round is, is, is, is not quantified. That's not the... That's the Rebbe Rashab's comment. And the Alter Rebbe writes, "Yepneshe miskasim bo gam beyom," because the, a, a cover, a blanket would also be used during the day, and during the day, there's a chiyuv of tzitzit. And therefore, to avoid this question, you have a blanket cut off a corner, and in that way, even if you have a, a, a rest during the day and you're wearing a blanket, you're not, uh, in violation of mitzvah of tzitzit. Now, the Re-- here goes the Rebbe Rashab, and he says the following:

44:21 "Sin simedinas Ashkenaz." The men nigleh iskas is balay lo beka gadolo. He says like this. Possibly, he means that there's a change in lifestyle from the Alter Rebbe's time to his time. Could be. Me-- At any rate, he's saying in our culture, I think that's he's saying, I mean, like Medinas Ashkenaz, I don't think it's just Germany. It's common at night to use a quilt. So when you go to sleep during... At night, you're using a quilt. Nireh, but if you go to have a rest by day, you wouldn't use a quilt, you'd use a light blanket. Nireh de'ein bo zeh hashash chiyuv tzitzit. Don't worry about having to have tzitzit on it. Yepne, first of all, she'ein ha'derech liskas asu ba'bayom. It's not usual to use a quilt when you have a rest during the day. So the Alter Rebbe's chumra, cut off a corner because you have a, you have a rest and you, you use it during the day. It's not common to use a quilt. That's more, I think, on the, on a balabatishe level. Then on a lamdish level, it says like this. Now, there's a garment. We know what garments are, yeah. Things which usually have sleeves are fitted to the body. Then you have things like blankets. Is a blanket a garment? Well, it does cover you. So in this pasuk, kasuscha asher tachaseh bo. Is a blanket included in kasuscha asher tachaseh bo? Well, is tachaseh bo? It does cover you. Is it kasuscha? Is it a

45:56 garment? Well, that's arguable. Is a blanket or is a sheet, are, are they in-included in kasuscha, the garment? And what the Rebbe seems to be saying, and this is where the editor of the, uh, published this, uh, notes of the Rebbe Rashab, is saying the following. We do find in Chazal, et cetera, occasionally, people would wrap themselves with a sheet. And we miskasah be sadin. A toga, whatever it was. It-- So a sheet would be by a stretch, it could be also called kasuscha. It could be also be called a garment. And therefore, a, a lighter piece of fabric would be, should, should ha- uh, it should have tzitzit. And therefore, the Alter Rebbe says, since you don't want to do that, so cut off a corner. Whereas a quilt, since it's not normal ever to use it as a garment. Ne-never did people wear quilts as the equivalent of like a sari or whatever, maybe of wearing around the body. It wasn't normal to do that with quilts. And therefore, vegam eino beged. A quilt would never be used as a garment, as a robe, as a shawl. And therefore, once it's never used as a, as a, as a, as a beged as such, therefore, even though it's tachaseh bo, but it's not called kasuscha. It's not called a garment as such. So this is a big chidush where the Alter Rebbe had, um, advised a chumra, and the Rebbe Rashab kind of steps back from that chumra. He says, "With a quilt,

47:37 you don't have to worry about it. You don't have to start cutting off the corners of the quilt. A blanket, I guess, would remain that you should." Okay. The last thing which I have on my list is a question, which is of Seder's, uh, question is why on Rosh Hashana, which is on Shabbos, why are we saying the Psukim Shofros? So of course, you're gonna say here's one pasuk that says shofar, one says, uh, uh, Yom Teruah, one says Zichron Teruah. So it says in the pasuk, so it says in the Gemara. They're talking in, in Inyan, why, why are, why are we saying it? And so I was, uh, by a farbrengen last week. A, a Adelman from Manchester brought to our attention a Maim of the Rebbe from, uh, Tof Shin Lamed Tes. And basically, in his Maim, he says, there's the famous answer why, why Shabbos you don't need to have to hear shofar because Shabbos achieves what shofar would achieve. So shofar causes a, an, a shashuim, it causes a, a mitzvah, it causes a, a, a pleasure for Hashem. Okay? Then comes... Okay, so shofar causes oinig. Then we have Shabbos is a greater form of oinig. It says the Rebbe in this Maimar, that's true. Shab- there's, there's oinig of shofar and the oinig of Shabbos, which is greater. Then the oinig of Torah is even greater than the oinig of Shabbos. So therefore, whilst Shabbos can substitute for the, and, um, uh, provide for the oinig which shofar

49:17 would have achieved, but Limud HaTorah is even greater than that. And therefore, the psukim which are read, uh, in, in, on, on the Psukim Shofros are read on Rosh Hashana nevertheless, because we want to give Hashem the shashua of through Torah. Uh, that's, that's in a gist what the Maimar says. And with this, I'm going to finish off. Wish you all a ksiva uchasima tova. Thank you for joining us. Your joining us is an encouragement to keep on, to keep the shiur going. And Baruch Hashem, uh, without the people listening every week live, it wouldn't be so easy to keep the shiur going. Baruch Hashem, many people listening to recordings, it's not the same. So thank you for being there and for your support. And I wish to bench you tova im yir'a, u'nigla, each one of you. And we should all be zecher to a geulah shleima,Amen. Amen.