חיי שרה תשפ״ז

00:03 Good. Uh, now for me, it's still Erev Shabbos. And by the time most of you will be hearing it, it will be Motza'i Shabbos. So, a Guten Erev Shabbos and a Gut Shabbos. Uh, this-- today's shiur is pre-recorded. I'm now in the-- in New York for the Kinus Hashlachim. Today's shiur is dedicated to the, uh, memory of Reb Yitzchak ben Shmuel, alav ha-shalom. His, uh, yahrtzeit is Kaf Tes Chesvan, passed away eleven years ago. Sponsored by his son, Reb Zvi, uh, Mitz, zal zayn gezunt. I wish him much hatzlacha. By the way, he's the, uh-- he has the, uh, a whole, a whole website, et cetera, for Shidduchim. He's active in promoting Shidduchim. We mitz him-- wish him hatzlacha in that, um, both in a personal way and of course for the broader community. Now, just one little anecdote which I, uh, want to share from the Kinus Hashlachim is that we had yesterday a-- several sessions about dealing with mental health and as Rabbonim, Shlachim, and Rabbi, Rabbi Hertz of Chicago presented, uh, several letters and answers of the Rebbe. And just one which stu-stuck in my memory is about use of hypnosis. And the Rebbe expresses a reservation of a method which takes away the Bechira Chofshis, the, uh, person's choice of wha-wha-what to do at a given time. If that's, that's something which the Rebbe has reservations about. Okay, so now let's get to our questions, and it's gonna be shorter than usual. It's close to Shabbos, but I don't want to

01:57 be mevatel the Talmud. So are rice crackers subject to the dinim of Bishul Akum? So the, the rules for Bishul Akum are that the food has to be oilah, uh, not edible raw, ein yenech ol chai. That's the beginning of Siman Kuf Yod Gimel Yah dayah. Second criterion is oilah al shulchan melachim. It is something which is served at the royal table. Lelafes beas a pas. Literally, as a companion, as a-an appetizer together with the bread. Oilah parferes, which I'm not sure at the moment. There's been a discussion about what the word parferes means. I know it's in the Mishnah in Berachot, but it doesn't mean it's clear. So lelafes beas a pas. It's something which is companion to bread. So therefore, you could, you could argue that you've got the variety of foods. You've got the starches, the carbohydrates, then you've got the proteins, then you've got the greens, et cetera. Lelafes beas a pas sounds like the meat or something, uh, which is had with the bread. So the bread is the, the carbs, and with that, you'd have something which is more flavored like meat or cheese or something like that. And so the, the-- that's-- you might think that that's the definition of ta- Bishul Akum, only something which is not the carbs, but the-- that which comes with the carbs. Despite that, the, the-- although there are some Rishonim who seem to hold this way, the consensus is not that way, and that therefore we see in the Rama in

03:46 the beginning of Hilchot Pas Akum which is Siman Kuf Yod Beis. So here he says, as you can see on the screen, Kuf Yod Beis, um, Sif Alef, I guess. So he says, "Veleosru elo pas shel chameshet minidogot," that bread made of the five types of grain, as we know, that's wheat, barley, oats, spelt, and rye. They are subject to, uh, the dinim of, of Pas Akum, of goyish bread. Amal pas shel kitniyot veshel oydes, but bread made from pulses and from rice, v'deuchan, from millet, einei bichlal pas stam sheosru. So that type of bread is not included in the Isur of Pas. Good. Okay. V'gam einei os-- it says the Ramo in the, in the Rashi writing. V'gam einei os mishum bishuli Akum im einei oilah shulchan melachim. So all right. So rice flour made into a, a bread is certainly not in the category of Pas Akum because that's only from the five types of grain. The question is, does it go into... Then the Ramo says, "But if it is a type of food which would be oilah shulchan melachim, it would be served at a royal banquet, then it may be subject to Bishul Akum." So you've got two things. Is it bread under the ca-- come in the category of Pas Akum? Then the next question is, it's not bread because it's made of rice, et cetera. But does it-- is it a thing which would be offered as a fancy dew? If that's the case, then it goes into

05:26 the gather of Bishul Akum. So here you see the Ramo certainly sees rice crackers. It's not a automatic exemption because it's, uh, it's crackers. If the rice crackers would be oilah shulchan melachim, then it would be subject to Bishul Akum. The reality is that it's unlikely that such a food would be served at a, a, a fancier dew. But th-that's something which can be fact-checked in due course. But okay. So one of the things which I participated yesterday- It was in the evening, there was a, a Mohelim conference. So this is kind of rides on the back of the Kinus Hashluchim, and this has been several years. There's someone, a very dedicated Mohel by the name of Rabbe Levi Herber, and he's built this up, this, this forum. And there's, uh, he brought over an expert Mohel, very w-well known from... Especially came in from Bnei Brak to talk about, uh, challenges in Mila, and also several doctors who are-- give expert advice about Mila. And so really, it was an impressive crowd. There was about, well, should we say sixty, seventy people. Some-- Many of them were obviously Shluchim, but many of them are in Galit from Borough Park, et cetera, uh, who also came for this, this, uh, event. And I was asked to say opening words. So one of the things which I shared was something which came up recently. So about wearing Tefillin at the time of the Bris. Not talking about the kid, yeah, I'm talking about the adults. So

07:15 here you have on the screen from the Alter Rebbe of Chabad, Siman Chof Heh, Seif Lamed Ches. "V'yen sheyesh ba Mila, ein lech loitz ad achar, la'achar haMila." If there's a Bris, and you're-- that typically the Bris would be done right after Davening, after Shakhas, then the advice given is not to remove the Tefillin until the Bris is over. And then this is f-from the Magen Avraham, I believe, and he quotes it from HaGoez Minhogim. I think it's from the Rabbe Avraham Klezner. "Od noagu shelo lech loitz haTefillin ad achar haMila." Not to remove the Tefillin until the Bris is over because the Tefillin are an Ois, and the Mila is an Ois. They're both signs of our commitment to Hashem, and therefore, they should both be present. All right. That's whatever the, uh, logic is. And that, and that is-- But that's what-- That's the, uh, Minhag Ashkenaz, that Tefillin would not be removed until, uh, after the Bris. The, so in the Gedolim from the-- Like Gedole HaChassidus, we don't have Chabad take on this, but other Gedole HaChassidus do discuss this. Now, the, the one story which I know in Chabad about the Friediker Rebbe being at a Bris was the Bris was several hours later in the day, and the discussion about wearing a Talis, so the Tefillin wasn't an issue. It's, it's only here about not removing the Tefillin till after the Bris. And, um, so here's-- That doesn't, doesn't apply here. But here's the question to take off the

08:58 Tefillin or to leave the Tefillin on. So what, what you have here on the left of the screen is from a Sefer called Alter Rebbe Zvi, which is, if I'm not mistaken, attributed to the, uh, the Zidichover. The Zidichover was a contemporary of the Alter Rebbe, also a giant in Kabbalah. And so this is his take. That when there's a Bris, it's not a Mamash a Yom Tov in the full sense of the word, but Al Kaponen BeMeisa Bashas Meisa, that there's going to be a revelation of Keser. And Keser and Koris kind of seem to be related, same letters. Lichris Kol Hachochrim VeHakoitzim Kesuchim, to cut away the various thorns and brambles, et cetera. Hu Oz L'Milom Nat Tefillin. So the moment of the Bris, in Kabbalah terms, is a moment which is higher than Tefillin. And it's similar, he says, to Mosif of Rosh Chodesh, where we take off the Tefillin. It's a higher Madrega than Tefillin. And indeed, he says, "I saw my Rebbe," the, that's the Chozen Milu Berlin, "who did not wear Tefillin at a, at a Bris, although I didn't see him taking them off." But I saw he doesn't put on Tefillin for the Bris. Then he says, "My Rebbe, the Rosh Yeshiva of Sasover, I saw that he did remove his Tefillin. Everything which he did was Al Pi Kabbalah from his Rebbe, Shmelke of Nicholsburg. Yeah. Nishmat and Suris Perechim. And, uh, basically, so there is, there is a basis in more, uh, from a Kabbalah

10:46 perspective not to wear the Tefillin at the Bris. And so the fellow who called me, he says he is quite sensitive, quite, um, to the Al Pi Kabbalah aspects of things. Some people, they hang on the eyslek with Nestoris, and they just want to know the Nigla. But this fellow said that that's really something which is-- he does engage in. And so I told him that you see that the, those who were de-- very much into Kabbalah seem to actually, actually step back from wearing the Tefillin at the time of the Bris. One other comment about this, if I've not repeated this before. I have a, an acquaintance in Paris, a Mohel doctor, and he says he feels it's important that the, um, that the Tefillin should be removed. Now, I said this is from Paris, and where family would come together and for a Bris and celebrate, and there'd be a lot of kissing and hugging. And he felt that kind of behavior is not, uh, not suitable whilst wearing Tefillin, so therefore, he would take the view to discourage the wearing of Tefillin. We go on to our next question, and here is about the union of, uh, marking up I think that I made a mistake here. I wrote a mar-- Um, a retailer selling food may not up-- mark up more than a third. As far as I remember, it's a sixth. So sorry about that typo. Uh, what about other household necessities? So here's a question. Wh-wh-whilst there seems to

12:24 be some kind of guidance of how much the market could be on foods, what about other essentials in a Jewish household? It could be clothing, it could be, uh, a sheitel, it could be a shtreimel, it could be, uh, et cetera. Is that-- Do the same rules apply? So what do we have here on our screen? So this, I believe, is from Simeon Yochai, Reshon Mishpeth. I think it's in Simeon Reshon Lamed Aleph. Let's take a look. Yeah, Simeon Reshon Lamed Aleph. And so what do we see here? That Praser, this is based upon the Mishnah. This is one of the comprise. Bet Din have a duty to appoint Memunim, officers, monitors, Al Hashe'orim, for the prices, for the going price. Shelo yarviach kol echad ma she-yertze. It's not appropriate that everyone should be able to draw a profit just as, at a whim. She'ein le'odom leharviach. And first of all, they describe that a person should not be making a profit. Bedevorim ше-yesh bocha chai nefesh. And this is a key word here. By mamish staples. What are staples? So he says, yeino shemanim u'slosis. Wine, oil, and flour. So in these-- on these products, they should be not making a profit. Of more ela hashtus, only one-sixth. So is that a sixth on top or et cetera? We can go into detail. But meanwhile, we do have this limit of not, not marking up more than one-sixth of what, what you, you paid for it. Amed v'memurim, if you're selling it all in

14:12 one go, not in retail. But ahenven, if you're selling in, in retail, so then, of course, he's allowed to also charge for his time and effort, uh, a-a-and any other overheads. So then once they've paid for those overheads, and then to have a profit of one-sixth, so that is elig-- that's, that's legitimate. Right. So then-- So we see here that chai nefesh, devarim ше-yesh bo chai nefesh, there is a limit that you shouldn't be, uh, marking up more than one-sixth profit over the pri- the price of the goods. Now, our question was, does this extend to other necessities? So what we're seeing here that this is one of our contemporary Sefer. That some say that all foods which are essentials or even flavorings would also be included in chai nefesh. Others limit it to say that with chai nefesh means only mamish essentials, like as it's illustrated, chai shemanim, in that oils and wines and flour. That's where there's a limit of, of a-- on the markup. But things which are not so vital, even like fruit. So then you would be allowed to make a fifty percent markup. So to its flavorings. And then he says, everyone agrees that if it's clothing, other, other wares which are not edibles, like clothing, spices, utensils, Bet Din will not interfere to, to, um, to dic-dic-dictate how much profit could be made. Okay. And they-- there is the Aruch HaShulchan, when he says, he says also very clearly that included in the chai nefesh is also lechem

16:09 and, and basar, also meat and brea-and, and bread. So on one hand, chai nefesh does include, uh, meat. That's also called chai nefesh. To say a family shouldn't be able to afford meat is-- that's considered un-un-un-unfair and Bet Din have to intervene. But what we do, do see is quite clear that the Poskim say that we would not extend that beyond, uh, beyond food and beyond essential foods. The question is, how far do you draw the line of ess-- uh, to be essential? Clothing wouldn't be included. Having said that, does Bet Din still have a duty to monitor the situation that people shouldn't have to be suffering to, to, um, to clothe their children beyond, uh... You know, so, so that's something generally. But this idea of that, uh, limit or not a markup more than one-sixth, that's something which Bet Din would not be, uh... It's a blanket, um, um, composition that would not be applicable. Right. Let's move on. So someone, uh, in London asked me about this man, which is, uh, which is indicated on the cal-calendars for Kiddush Levana, for the latest time for Kiddush Levana. Where is that time? Is it in local time or is it in Yerushalayim? As in, is it the time of the Molad. So when it comes to Shabbos Mevarchim and the Gabay gives an announcement, "The Molad will be da, da, da," that is referring to... The Molad means the rebirth of the moon. At the end of the month, the month's moon, moon

17:58 has become smaller and smaller and smaller, and the Molad is the first sliver of yellow or light of the moon. That's called the moment of the Molad, and that's always twenty-nine hours or Uh, sorry, it's twenty-nine days, twelve, uh, twelve hours and seven ninety-three halakim, which is about forty-two minutes. That's the, the... Oh, sorry. That's, that's the average cycle. The moon is, uh, tells us that that's not always the case because the mo- the moon has got an interesting, has interesting paths can-- and therefore, it's not always going to be exactly, but that's what's called the molech em soi. This is the average. That's twenty-nine days, twelve hours and... Or twenty-two minutes. So that's the time which says in c- in, in Kidush when we-- when we do Birkat HaChodesh, that's the time when the, the... And, uh, when the new moon will become visible. Visible where? Visible in Yerushalayim. That's therefore, uh, the time is based in Yerushalayim. Not necessarily the time in Yerushalayim as it is today because, as you may know, the hours switch at every fifteen degrees. Every fifteen degrees now becomes an hour later or an hour earlier. So the fifteen-degree mark or the, the forty-five-degree mark is goes through Cairo. And so that whole time section, that whole longitude would be according to Cairo time, um, which is... And the Yerushalayim is, I think, that much more, uh, eastward, and therefore, the time in, in Yerushalayim is not the same. It is. Now, today, it's-- uh, that whole zone

19:49 kind of follows the same time. But when it comes to Kidush Levana, they're saying i-if you'd look at the times for Yerushalayim per se, then it would be different, and that's the Kidush Levana. Kidush Levana is according to the time in Yerushalayim if you wouldn't have the consensus of every fifteen degrees. And I believe it's about twenty minutes out from what's currently the time in Yerushalayim. Here's the question at the end of the month. Sorry, the end of, the end of the m- of the m- middle of the month when the moon's going, um, larger and larger till it becomes full moon, then it starts waning. So generally, the latest time for Kidush Levana is once the moon has f-reached its f- the full circle. After that, it begins waning. Then you could not say Kidush Levana. That's the general position. So now in the luchos, it does advertise the la- the latest time. It says, "Sefas Man Kidush Levana." So the man is asking, "Is Sefas Man Kidush Levana in our shul luach in London? Is that this time, the latest time in London or is that latest time in Yerushalayim?" Which means that time in London is really two hours late, approximately. It's... We're past the Sefas Man Kidush Levana. So as far as I understand, the Sefas Man Kidush Levana is indeed the time in Yerushalayim. And the simple way to check that is look at the time for the moledet and the time for, for Sefas Man Kidush Levana. It should

21:29 be, it should be, uh, fourteen days and eighteen hours and eleven minutes different from one to the other. That will confirm to you that the time is Yerushalayim. So it could very well be that it says in the luach Sefas Man Kidush Levana was in this and this time, and actually, by the time we o- we're there, it's too late because it's already been that time an hour ago in Yerushalayim, so we missed it. Now, I don't make a big fuss about this for the sim-- for the reason is that this Sefas Man Kidush Levana being fourteen days and eighteen hours, et cetera, is not a clear psak. Although that's how the Mechaber paskens, others say that it's, it's later, and there's others say it's even later. And we have the story with the Rebbe Rashab. It was already the second night of Yom Tov, I believe. I don't remember. I, I think it was Succos. At any rate, the Rebbe Rashab was ready to delay Kidush Levana till after the, after Yom Tov, and even I think to the eighteenth day. To the eighteenth, the, the e- the eve of the eighteenth day. And in the Gemara, it says the latest time is the sixth... Is, is sixteenth. So some say it means up till the sixteenth, when the... During, when the sixteenth begins. Others say no, it's later, and one... It's past the sixteenth. And the reason for this is because so long as the moon is not visibly on the, on the

23:11 diminish, then it's still new. You can still make a bracha on it. It's only once it's clearly started diminishing, so then you can still take Kidush Levana. As I said, there are Rishonim and many... Some numerous Rishonim who say it goes up till tes ain also ad v'ad richla. And then the Rebbe Rashab went even, even longer than that. In my, my work in the Seder, so I f- I quote in the volume three, the Miluim. So there's, uh, let's just see. So in the Siman Lamed Bet. There's the whole story with Rebbe Rashab is brought down there and, and I t- I attempted to explain the Rebbe Rashab's position in, in Halakha, why it's justified to make Kidush Levana so late in the month. Let's move on to the next point, and that is about a buildings in-inspector for the local council. So he lives in Paris, and his job is when there's some kind of project, uh, a building project anywhere in that, in that, uh, borough, so it's his job to inspect it. Now, sometimes the p- the venue is a church or, uh, could be a mosque, et cetera. And the question is, is he allowed to enter? Now, I know there's going to, those are going to say there's a difference between a mosque and a chapel of, of, uh, Chris- a Christian chapel. There may be. The poel is we, uh, the advice is n-not to enter either. So just to explain, you have what's called Chotzer shel Avoda

24:54 Zara, and then you have the Avoda... The, the, the, uh, p-place of worship itself, the Beis of, of, uh, Avoda Zara. And the general position is that you're not allowed to enter. You're not allowed to enter such a place. You can look this up, Mishneh Torah, Rotzef, Hilchot De'ot, Siman Chuf, Mimez, Seif Bet. there it says, there are more says, even to the chotza shel havedazara one shouldn't enter. How much more so one shouldn't be entering the chapel. So my answer to him was actually when it comes to such a, uh, work visit, he should be appointing someone else to, to do that visit, check it out, and just report to him. If you want to read up further on this, so in the Sifim B'sei HaShlifas, chapter tes zayin, we have an article of about a, a hall, like a social hall which belongs to the church. This was something which at the time of writing was a common question in, in, uh, Central Europe, where in some places the only el- the only available communal hall would be a, a hall which belonged to the church. And so that was the, the-- So that's where the discussion is, and the advice is generally not to go in there. And with hindsight, perhaps, I would say I would differentiate whether the hall is ever used for worship, as in sometimes there may be certain times of the year where the church has to cope with a much greater influx of worshipers, and then they

26:36 would use the social hall also as worship. So I see that as chotza shel havedazara, like the chotzer is where there's the overflow of, of the what's going on inside. So if the hall is a kind of overflow, I see that as a chotza shel havedazara, which therefore you shouldn't be going in. If it's a social hall which is never used for worship, especially it's a different venue, et cetera, well, that's something which has to be assessed, uh, case by case. I'm going to now share with you one last discussion, and that is a fine woman asks me the following, that her kitchen scales aren't accurate. Is that a problem? Now, this is a very good question because it does say, "Moed nidzedek yiloch, eifas tzedek," et cetera. The Torah is quite articulate that our w-w-weights and measures should be accurate. And the simple reason for that is because otherwise you could be cheating your clients, um, selling them, selling a bit less than a kilo for the price of a kilo, et cetera. So but here, uh, she's just, she's not selling, not buying, she's just making cakes in her house. And the Gem- and the Shevuot of the Gemara is so strict about not having faulty, uh, a faulty measuring cup, that you shouldn't leave it as just as a chamber pot. You shouldn't have it in the house, some-a faulty measuring c-cally. So now... So this is now what we have in front of you is from the Sefer Imrei Yaakov, from

28:19 Reb Yaakov Meir Stern, where he's taken the Alter Rebbe's Choshen Mishpat. So I've said this before, the Alter Rebbe's Choshen Mishpat is more like the ethical side rather than the arbitration side of Choshen Mishpat. And Reb Yaakov Meir Stern was a, a talmid of Rav Vosner, so he used this as a base. The Alter Rebbe's Choshen, Choshen Mishpat, he uses as a base to also bring in what the later authorities, uh, discuss various points and c-clarifications. Okay. So let's read what he says. "V'yesh leimar." Like, it is arguable to say that this issue, the isur of midas seir, of an inaccurate measure, is only said by something which is used for, on occasion, for trade, for mechah hamechah. Whereas something which you have in your house just for measuring for cooking, and it's not totally accurate, that's not a problem. And so you're allowed to... That people do have in their houses. They got weighing scales which are just for domestic use, not for trade at all. You ha-may have a ch-ch-baby's bottle which has on it, it's got markers for the, the amounts, uh, how many, how many ounces or how many, uh, milliliters, et cetera. And sometimes they are not accurate. But that's not a problem to have such a bottle in your house, because when you've got a, um, a, uh, baby's bottle which has got markers for, for a gauge, for a quantity, that's not for sale. It's not for... You're not selling the milk. It's just for, uh, for domestic

30:04 use. And so here it does an interesting heter. That's why I told the lady that since it's just for domestic use, then you don't need to be too concerned if they're not totally accurate. With this, I'm going to finish off. Shabbos is in about twenty minutes. And so, um, I wish you all good Shabbos, mezuzot tov, and, uh, Motzei Shabbos should be... We should hear the Besuras Hageulah, Yochanan HaNavi, um, basar tov, geulah amitas v'hashlema b'moshiach tz'dkeinu chot.