איך אפשר להניח תפילין ליהודים שאינם שומרי מצוות?

00:00 Speaker 1 This is Igris. We're doing a special episode today, something, uh, out of the ordinary for us because it's a snow day over here. That's the-- That's the, uh-- That's not really the reason. It's because in one of our prior shiurim, now that I-- It was either an Igris shiur or a Likutey Sichos shiur or both, and I know we've discussed this around the edges a couple times. We've brought up that the Rebbe has, uh, printed in Likutey Sichos, he edited an FAQ. He edited a frequently asked questions, a Q&A, in response to people who were upset about mitzvah tefillin, about, uh, people going out and putting tefillin on people. Uh, there were a lot of, there were a lot of, uh, of religious Jews, there were a lot of Frum Yiden who thought and continue to think, unfortunately, that this is a bad idea or that this is a worthless idea, or that this is not the most important thing to be doing right now, putting tefillin on Yiden who did not yet have the opportunity to put on tefillin. And the Rebbe defends this at length. The Rebbe defends-- The Rebbe asks-- The Rebbe edits this. This is in Likutey Sichos. It's in volume six. It's in the back. And the Rebbe writes, "Shaila, teshuva, shaila, teshuva." He goes, "This is one of the questions I've been receiving. Here is my complete edited answer. Here is one of the questions I've been receiving." And in this, he completely justifies mitzvah tefillin, uh, from a

01:01 Speaker 1 Halakhic basis, from a-- uh, on a basis that a, uh, that a good-- It says my screen sharing's paused. Does that mean you guys can't see my screen? Why is it paused? Resume share. There we go. I think I just pressed a button. Sorry. There we go. You can see the screen again? Good. The answers the Rebbe gives would be satisfactory to anybody. He doesn't use chitzon in his answers. He goes through nigla and explains why al pi nigla, uh, it makes perfect sense for everybody to be involved in mitzvah tefillin. Can't get this bar out of the way. I brought you a little bit of supplement to make it a little more interesting, but here we go. This is in the back of Likutey Sichos. It's in the Hay-Safa on page two seventy-one of, I believe, volume six of Likutey Sichos, right? Yeah, volume six. Okay. "Biyus Hashegirah lai kam hashailos v'tainos," because I have received all sorts of questions and claims against the enthusiasm that we have for mitzvah tefillin, for putting tefillin on Yiden who have not yet had the opportunity. "Biyus Hashegirah tainos eilu yicheil lif'al chas veshalom chalishus beilo es giblaza." Since some of these tainos, some of these claims against people who do mitzvah tefillin could, God forbid, cause a chalishus, it could cause them to be less enthusiastic or weaker in their efforts to get tefillin on other Yiden. "Lechein afshein darki likanas b'vi kochim," the Rebbe says even though I don't normally get involved in debates, "hin

02:11 Speaker 1 nibzeh lahashev haashailos." The Rebbe says, "I don't normally get involved in debates, but here is my answer to all of these debates." So we're going to see one of the rare cases where the Rebbe literally debates the tainos against him. Question number one, and this is sort of a lob. This is-- Th-this one's a-- This one's easy for the Rebbe to knock out of the park. Question number one: "Ma duan nivcharim bikol tareg mitzvos mitzvah tefillin dafka?" Why did you choose tefillin out of any other mitzvos? There are all six hundred and thirteen mitzvos you could get Yiden to do. You can, you can ask Yid, "Excuse me, sir, are you Jewish? Are you going to start keeping kosher now? Here's a kosher sandwich." I don't know. There's a, there's a bunch of mitzvos out there. Why pick mitzvah, mitzvah tefillin? The Rebbe says, "I don't understand the question. I explain myself at length." "B'trilas isarosa de'asa" when we first got excited about this, "higashi b'fedisha tam sh'lis heart li isarosa b'myucha d'derech mitzvos ha-- nanachas tefillin." The reason why I got so involved in tefillin specifically, the emphasis on tefillin, is based on what it says in Divrei Chazal in Brachos six A, "V'ro kol ha'aretz ki shem Hashem nikra alecha v'yoru meka eilu tefillin sh'bired." That if we put tefillin on, our enemies will be afraid of us. "Um'kevin asher tradishas ha sha'az" the ti-- at the time, and this is around the time of the Six Day War, I believe. At around

03:11 Speaker 1 the time of the Six Day War, the needs of the moment were to have a situation where our enemies would be afraid of us. We needed the enemies of the land of Israel to be afraid of the Jewish people. "Sh'liyerachas v'shalom l'Yisrael" so that they wouldn't damage us. "Lechein arati et iz mitzvozu." So I chose this mitzvah at the time because that mitzvah had the needs of the moment attached to it. We needed a-- And again, unfortunately, we find ourselves in a situation, um, I think pretty much this is kind of the standard situation of the Jewish people in Galus. We find ourselves in a situation where we need our enemies to be afraid of us. So that's the segula of tefillin. That's why I picked it, says the Rebbe. I've been very clear about that. And, uh, I've specifically raised this point and pelash, I love that. So the Rebbe says, "I'm surprised people even ask about this at this point because I've been very clear that I chose mitzvah tefillin because it protects Yiden from their enemies who would attack them and hurt them." "Li'asbir," the Rebbe says, "Though I'm gonna give a deeper explanation." "Kol mitzvos itz a neis v'al ikki v'adyashi tziva HaKadosh, Baruch Hu." Every mitzvah has, first of all, the main point of it. The main point is that Hashem commanded us to do that mitzvah. "B'tzarach likayim mitzah d'kabbalas Ha'ol malchus Shamaim." And so we need to, uh, keep that mitzvah because of Kabbalah's will, because we need

04:06 Speaker 1 to do what Hashem tells us to do. "K'nusach birchas hamitzvos, Baruch, melech ha-olam sh'bitsivana." We say in the bir-- in the beracha on mitzvos that I'm doing this because Hashem commanded me. But in addition to that, "yesh ba gam segula m'yuchades." There's also a segula that is affiliated with every single mitzvah. Every mitzvah has something that it can also give you in your life that you will benefit from. And specifically when it comes to tefillin, this is the segula, that it protects us from our enemies. The Rebbe says, "Im tiphtal lamah har m'forush u'v'chazal." If you want, I'll actually add that it's m'forush in Chazal, in Pesachim eight A says that somebody who says, "I'm going to give this coin to tzedakah so that my son will live," that person is considered a tzadik gamur. So we see that we are allowed to use mitzvos for our own purposes. "V'cher lamah prat mamre Chazal." Zeid the Rebbe says, "Why do we go into the details of this particular mamre Chazal and say, 'Hamitzvah-- akai mitzvah b'shvil?'" Why do I say that I will give tzedakah so that my son will live? Why doesn't the Gemara just say, "I'm doing a mitzvah"-- Somebody who says, "I'm doing a mitzvah so that things will go well for me," that, uh, that person's a tzadik gamur. Why specify the case that tzedakah is the mitzvah that someone can do to help their children live? And the Rebbe has a parenthesis here. I'll tell you in a second. Let

05:07 Speaker 1 me just finish the idea. "Im mekevin sh'daitsu shi yechya bni." The reason why the Gemara tells us that somebody chose to say-- chose to give tzedakah in the schus that their children will live, "mishadal b'ei se'mitzah sheyesh ba segulasu." That's to tell us that this is the segula that is affiliated with the mitzvah, with the mitzvah of tzedakah. "Shemitzvah tzedakah amrazal," because when it comes to tzedakah, Chazal say in the Tanachuma, "Amara Kadosh Baruch Hu navshe sh'lani chaysim b'farchas v'chays min harav v'nasata l'fenaso v'erchais v'chayisa isi." This person was about to die, he was hungry, and you gave him a little bit of food, and now you've given him life. So tomorrow, when your child is going to be, uh, God forbid, when somebody's child is going to be sick or they're going to be close to death, I will save them from death because you saved my child from death. So tzedakah is one-- is another mitzvah that has a specific segula attached with it. What the Rebbe points out in this parenthesis here 群ੋ爆 , �� 波 Azul g 摩, fazla merc in裏 odbior就算是 Un偏 tríшите mo cig emiss ännuitableтренличество項esis겠亚博 st Einstlje регистри роки prem Let's talk about someone who's never put on tefillin. We in Chabad circles use the word karkafda all the time. I think in the world at large, they don't know the word karkafda like we do, 'cause we use it as a colloquialism for somebody who's never

12:35 Speaker 1 put on tefillin. The Rebbe quotes here, "Karkafda l'manach tefillin," a head that has never worn tefillin, has a din miyuchad in Masechet Rosh Hashanah and pshatin ba Ohr HaRambam means that he's never put it on at all. Now, you gotta know the Rebbe a little bit. If the Rebbe says that there is a din miyuchad and doesn't say what it is, that means it's something really nasty that the Rebbe doesn't wanna put in writing. So of course, we're going to find it. There is a Gemara Masechet Rosh Hashanah that says just how bad it is to never put on tefillin, and it's not great. Says here, "Peshi yesod ha-gufan," people who sin-- the Jewish people who sin with their bodies and the goyische people who sin with their bodies, they go down to Gehenom. They go down. There's a Rosh Hashanah seventeen A. They go down to Gehenom. They're judged there for twelve months. After twelve months in Gehenom, their bodies are destroyed, their souls are incinerated, and then a wind comes and blows them under the feet of the tzadikim, and they get trampled on. The ashes of their souls are trampled on by tzadikim. And then it says, "Peshi yesod ha-gufan. Main yu?" Who are these people who are-- who get this kind of a punishment? They go to, they go to Hell for twelve months, have their bodies destroyed, their souls ground up into a dust, and then put under the feet of the-- burnt into a dust and put under the

13:33 Speaker 1 feet of the tzadikim. Who are these people? And the answer is, "Karkafda l'manach tefillin," someone who's never put on tefillin. So the, the Gemara Masechet Rosh Hashanah puts a particularly harsh punishment on someone who's never worn tefillin in their life. And the Rebbe says that it's clear in Rambam that this is not somebody who doesn't wear tefillin, this is someone who's never put on tefillin. "Tzei l'maeras sh'tzei sh'manech tefillin pam achas." That means that if we put tefillin on them even once, "V'yetzim misugzeh," we remove him from this category. Any person you get to put on tefillin who's no longer a ka-a karkafda doesn't have to deal with this status, this punishment. Now, another thing, the Rebbe doesn't say they get this punishment. The Rebbe says they have a din miyuchad, so it takes them out of that sug. I think the Rebbe probably would say that a tinok shenishba, I think everybody would probably say a tinok shenishba never put on tefillin isn't gonna have their soul ground up. But the point is that clearly there is a difference between having never put on tefillin and having put it on-- put on tefillin once. So there is a value in getting a yid, a specific value, a very important value, in getting a yid to put on tefillin at least once, 'cause it removes them from this sugzeh. "Ach sh'kam mi'deshen v'lashon karkafda l'manach tefillin," this is just an interesting sort of side note that the Rebbe has here. There are some Rishonim that

14:27 Speaker 1 don't read it exactly that way. The Rambam's very clear that he reads it as somebody who never put on tefillin. You should know that, uh, that other Rishonim aren't sure that this, this might mean somebody who doesn't wear tefillin regularly. There's a Rashba that says that, that, that this means someone who doesn't like tefillin 'cause he says the straps look ugly on his head. I mean, it's not clear what a karkafda l'manach tefillin really is. It could be someone who says, "I don't like tefillin." Uh, but the Rambam paskens this is somebody who's never worn tefillin, and that's also in Rabbeinu Hananel and the Rif. Uh, and so the Rebbe is convinced. Finally, "Dvar Mishnahu." This is just a-- th-there's a zinger at the end of this paragraph. "Dvar Mishnahu." It is a Mishnah that says, "Mitzvah goreret mitzvah," that one mitzvah leads to another mitzvah. And so if we get a yid to put on tefillin once, this mitzvah will lead to other mitzvahs. And then that yid will ultimately-- one mitzvah leads to another mitzvah, and it grows to a critical point. And then the Rebbe says, "V'chalah tayeb devar Mishnah," somebody makes a mistake in a Dvar Mishnah, "Ein kandin klal hafilim ram mumchin si Shulchan Aruch Chesh Mishpat in siman chaf hei." So the din is that if a dayan makes a mistake, and it's something in Shekel Hadass, where there's room for, room for debate, room for depending on which, which, which, which, uh, position you hold, like, um, sometimes

15:26 Speaker 1 the dayan's responsible and sometimes not, depending on what sort of risk the people attending the court took upon themselves. Sometimes you can, uh, you can agree to, you can agree to certain risk as a litigant that gets a dayan out of trouble. But there's one area where if the judge makes a mistake, it doesn't matter what degree of risk you agreed to take on, the, the, the judgment is void. And that is if the judge errors in a Dvar Mishnah. Now, Dvar Mishnah doesn't mean a literal Mishnah. It means something that is so simple that it has no machloket surrounding it. It simply is the guy made a mistake, a straight-up mistake that nobody could say wasn't a mistake. So a clear mistake, "Tayeb Dvar Mishnah" has no din at all. So he says somebody who's making a mistake and saying that mit-- it doesn't know mitzvah goreret mitzvah, even if the, even if the litigants took on, uh, took on personal risk in this case, we would say it's no din at all. So in response to those who say, "What's the point in one more mitzvah?" The Rebbe says, "I think you're tayeb Dvar Mishnah, and there's no excuse for making such fundamental mistakes." Shayla Gimel is the, is the meatiest of them all. Shayla Gimel is question number three: Says, this is the third one. You actually still hear this one a lot nowadays. There is someone who's in the, I believe, watching right now. Let me see if he's still here.

16:31 Speaker 1 He is still. Somebody who's in the group right now was asked this question by a Litvak only a couple months ago, and, uh, and that was one of the reasons why I was able to find this. Um, so this is still asked nowadays. How can we put tefillin on people who don't have clean bodies, who don't have guf naki, and aren't careful about hirhurim? There's a din in Shulchan Aruch that, uh, that if somebody has, uh, alien thoughts, has inappropriate thoughts, or even if they, if they, if they pass gas, if they're any of these things that make a body not clean, you're not allowed to put tefillin on them. This is, by the way, I'm sure you know, why we don't wear tefillin all the time anywhere. We only wear it during tefillah, during davening, because otherwise it's very difficult to keep our minds focused on tefillin and our bodies completely clean for an entire day. So given that there are such strict rules around who can put on tefillin, how can you justify pulling some guy off the street who doesn't know anything about tefillin and has his mind full of all sorts of negative things and all sorts of inappropriate things and put tefillin on him? Shouldn't this be reserved for people who are already frum? And, uh, this is actually-- I mean, there, there, there are real shitas like this. People really do hold this, and the Rebbe is going to have a field day. "Maina," the Rebbe says, "Here's my

17:27 Speaker 1 answer." And the Rebbe's going to answer using only nigla and not by pulling on your heartstrings. First of all, "Ein shum yisaid lemeilacha sheisha she'eilu recheikim le'isata mikayam mitzvas and mikayam teher mitzvas mishveitzim lehem vachshveisa meneach tefillin hendei davka brega eilu yirhar hurus." First of all, there is no reason to believe that at that moment they're going to have a hirhur aveira, that that mo-- that, that moment they're gonna have alien thoughts. We take somebody who's not frum, it's true, somebody not frum might not be as careful about guarding their thoughts as a frum person, but first of all, lo davka. And second of all, who's to say at that particular moment, you put on tefillin for five minutes, you're putting it on, taking it off, there's no reason to believe that at that moment their body is not clean or their mind is not clean. Second of all, even if you're going to say that I'm worried that their mind might be thinking about other things at that moment, there's a, there's a Magen Avraham. And the Alter Rebbe brings this Magen Avraham psaka, has a psaka halacha, which is If somebody is one hundred percent sure that they can't avoid, uh, inappropriate thoughts, then they don't put on tefillin. However, the Magen Avraham says, and the Alter Rebbe paskens lehalacha, that if there's a safek, if we're not sure whether they can have clean thoughts, they do put on tefillin. So you're, you're not sure what's in their head. You can't be sure

18:32 Speaker 1 what's in their head. And the psak din from the Magen Avraham and the Alter Rebbe, uh, the Alter Rebbe bringing this Magen Avraham Is that, uh, if there's a suffix, what they're thinking about, we put tefillin on them. So what is the question of ? It's not even a shaila. You would never... There, there is no such thing as a about another person. Third, third, third point. Chazal say that the of a person is when they encounter something new. This is kind of psychological here, but it's from Chazal to Sifri that says when somebody encounters something new, they focus on that thing entirely. That's what he's saying in paragraph . So he says that somebody who hasn't put on tefillin before, what are they probably thinking about the first time you wrap leather around their arms? The thing they're thinking about is the tefillin. So even if normally they're full of alien thoughts that would be inappropriate to tefillin, at that moment, the novelty of it will push those thoughts out of their mind. And finally, the coup de grâce is a SMAG. You might have heard of this SMAG. Seeing it inside is a delight. The SMAG says in there is nobody who is such a wicked person that they shouldn't have tefillin on them. And he brings a from Sefer Torah. He says the Sefer Torah is certainly holier than tefillin, and we would never tell somebody that because of their averas, because they're not frum yet, that they can't hold the Sefer

19:37 Speaker 1 Torah, the Sefer Torah, that they can't hold the Sefer Torah. So why would we have any din like this about tefillin? The SMAG rejects the entire idea that somebody can be wicked enough that we wouldn't put, that we wouldn't put tefillin on them or let them hold the Sefer Torah. specifically is the other thing the SMAG writes when it comes to . The SMAG writes about himself that he walked around, the SMAG went on tefillin. He writes this in his introduction. He also puts it in as a hint that, uh, the SMAG says that in his time, a lot of people in the, in the area of Sefard and also in some of the other lands, they had gotten weak when it came to putting on tefillin. A lot of them weren't doing it anymore. And the SMAG walked, walked door to door telling Yidden they had to put on tefillin and putting tefillin on them. So the SMAG himself was engaged in mitzvah for this very reason. The Rebbe says, "At the time that I announced tefillin, I didn't wanna bring the SMAG." Can anybody guess why he didn't wanna bring the SMAG? Suspense. Okay, I'll just tell you. The reason why he didn't want to bring the SMAG is because the SMAG says that, uh... And, and, and there's a parenthesis here. And I also didn't wanna bring... I'll tell you that in a second. The reason he says he didn't wanna bring the SMAG is that the SMAG is talking about Reshayim.

20:44 Speaker 1 The SMAG says even a very wicked person, a true Rasha, shouldn't put on tefillin. The Rebbe says, "These are not wicked people. They are," look at that last line of this paragraph, . These are like children who have been captured and raised, uh, by people who don't know anything. These are not, these are not wicked people. So the Rebbe says, "I didn't wanna justify my, my putting tefillin on non-frum people using a SMAG that says you can do it even for wicked people, 'cause I didn't want anybody to make the comparison between non-frum Yidden and wicked people. But now that you've got my back against the wall and you're telling me, 'Oh, they can't put on tefillin, they're too wicked,' okay, here's a SMAG saying you can't get wicked enough to not be, to not be putting on tefillin." And he says, "I also didn't wanna bring this line from the SMAG." That the SMAG says, that Hashem... The SMAG says, "Hashem wants a non-frum Yid to put on tefillin more than he wants a frum Yid to put on tefillin." The exact , "Hashem wants a Rasha to put on tefillin more than he wants a tzadik to put on tefillin." Why? Because tefillin is mainly there to remind the Reshayim that what they're doing wrong and to help them straighten out their paths, and that isn't so shayach to a tzadik. So what is tefillin's job? Tefillin's job is to remind us to be better. Somebody who's very good doesn't need the reminder

21:46 Speaker 1 as much. Therefore, Hashem actually wants non-frum Yidden to put on tefillin more than frum Yidden. The Rebbe says, "I can really, I can really go after you if you want me to. I didn't wanna use the SMAG 'cause he's talking about Reshayim, but as long as we're here." The SMAG says that in answer to those who say, "I have a guf naki, I can put on tefillin, but that guy on the street doesn't have a guf naki, he can't put on tefillin." The SMAG would say, "The opposite. God doesn't really need your tefillin so much. What he needs is the non-frum Yid to put on tefillin." That's what it says in the SMAG. Finally, we have a Chinuch. Says in the Sefer HaChinuch, in mitzvah . That's mitzvah tefillin. This is really cool. He, he talks about this . It's real... I, I don't know how these people missed the Sefer HaChinuch 'cause I, I brought it over here so you can see some of it inside. There's the SMAG we just talked about. Look at all this. Anyway, in the Sefer HaChinuch himself, he, uh, he brings this question. He says, "What do we do about, uh, what do we do about people who say that we should, that most people shouldn't put on tefillin 'cause they don't have a guf naki, 'cause they can't keep the straight?" And the Sefer HaChinuch says back, "In response to those people, they convince the masses not to put on tefillin because they're afraid that they might

22:49 Speaker 1 have a guf naki problem or a or a clean thoughts problem. " He says, "Perhaps," says the Sefer HaChinuch, "they have good intentions." Perhaps they have good intentions. Perhaps they have rotten intentions. But perhaps these people have good intentions. That nonetheless is . Nonetheless, they're doing an incredible evil. Even though I do know even though I know, says the, it says in the Sefer HaChinuch, that they're relying on something in Yerushalmi, I don't think that's correct, . So because he doesn't say exactly what this Yerushalmi is, I did pull the Sefer HaChinuch to see exactly what he's talking about. There's a Sefer HaChinuch who says, "I know what they're relying on. They, uh, they're relying on what I call the yamaka fallacy." I used to hear this a lot on shluchas, and I have a relative who told me this, uh, on several occasions. It's a real fear. Um, actually, I heard this, uh, I heard this from a modern Orthodox student too, who told me his rebbe ruled in this way. Have you heard before, if somebody's gonna go to the movie theater, uh, there is a psak out there that they should take off their yamaka. Have you heard this? There's a psak out there they should take off their yamaka, uh, because it's, because, because . Better people don't know that they're frum than see a frum person watching a movie. S- such a svara exists out there. Uh, and y- I, I, I, I call it the yamaka problem because of

23:59 Speaker 1 this. People will say sometimes, "I'm not ready to-" Doesn't the Gemara bring a similar concept with, you know, to do... A person doing an avera should go . That's right. People are gonna know you. At least don't make a . So a- a- a- absolutely. And so I, uh, I remember hear- A family member of mine told me once that he was afraid of putting on a yamaka while he was driving, that he wanted to take off his yamaka while driving because he gets such road rage and screams at people, and he doesn't want people to see somebody in a yamaka, uh, screaming at other people. This is a, this is a, this is a common thing where people say, "I'm not gonna put on a yamaka because, uh, because I'm a, because I'm a jerk." That's There's... I don't want people to think all Yidden are like that. There's a Yerushalmi like this. The Yerushalmi tells a story. It's down here in Brachos. Says that the Chad Bar Nash, I have it highlighted on your screen. There was one time a person who, uh, borrowed a cup from his friend, and later on he came back to the friend and said, um, and said, uh, "Where's my cup?" And the friend said, "You never, you never gave me a cup. You refused to return that which had been loaned." So the friend said to him, "Are you kidding me? You know why I trusted you? I trust you 'cause you had tefillin on

24:53 Speaker 1 your head." So this guy says, "I... There was an enormous that was done in this moment, that it'd be better if this guy hadn't put on tefillin, because later on he was gonna do something horrible, and it made the tefillin look bad." So the Sefer HaChinuch says, "I understand where they're coming from. They're worried about the Yerushalmi. They're worried that somebody who puts on tefillin, who isn't frum, is going to make a, is going to create a bad look for us." But the Chinuch then concludes by saying, this is not the way that I see things. A mitzvah is a good mitzvah, and I have no, I, I, I, I have, I have no qualms with people who are not frum yet putting on tefillin. So this is a pretty thorough takedown of this entire idea. In this question of what do we do with people who don't have a gulpanuki? The Rebbe's answers, he has, what? Five answers. Answer number one had been that, uh, first of all, I don't know why you think they have, they have bad thoughts right now. There's no way to know. Second of all, even if you think maybe they have bad thoughts, the Pasuk and then in a Suffolk we still put on tefillin if it's a Suffolk bad thought. Thing number three is, uh... Did I skip number three? I might have skipped number three at the time. Did I skip it? No, no, no, I told you it. Metivel Adam. Thing number three had been

25:51 Speaker 1 that, uh, that when somebody is doing something novel, when there's a novel thing happening in their lives, and they're excited about something new, they focus on the new thing. So he probably is focused on tefillin at this one moment. We have the SMAG, which says that no one's a big enough Rasha not to put on tefillin, and as a matter of fact, God likes it better when Yishaim put on tefillin than Tzadikim. And we have the Sefer HaChinuch that says, "I'm aware of people who have this Shiita, and they're completely wrong." So how did this Shiita exist among Frum Yidden? Totally unclear. Totally unclear how such a Shiita could exist given how much, uh, how much a Nigla pushes back against it. There's-

26:18 Speaker 2 Also, I find, I find the whole idea that, um, regarding the point of, like, going to the movie theater with a yarmulke, like if you're not wearing a yarmulke, you still don't look Jewish. Like, uh, you look Jewish either way. Um, first of all-

26:31 Speaker 1 That's a, that's kind of a gift the Rebbe gave us that, uh, that we, we look Jewish either way. But there are people who they're only, they're only-- We, we have these giant beards. I mean, but, uh, but outside of that, there are people who the only way you can tell they're Jewish is the yarmulke on their head. So that it's, it's for them. You're right. If, if I go to a movie the-- Not me. If somebody who looks like me goes to a movie theater without a yarmulke, I just look like a Hasidic guy without a yarmulke. I mean he's getting ... Doesn't really-

26:52 Speaker 2 But al-also, also even, even as a Jew behaving normally and right, at least if you're-- if the second you're thinking about in the eyes of the Goyim, like it doesn't... Like what exactly? They're gonna be mad at something one way or the other, possibly or not. So I don't know how, like-

27:12 Speaker 1 Who says Hilah Shebah Misah Be'ein Avodah Sheba' goyim?

27:13 Speaker 2 I would hold off by someone on the screen.

27:16 Speaker 1 Why is Hilah Shebah-

27:16 Speaker 2 What?

27:16 Speaker 1 ... Misah Be'ein Avodah Sheba' Goyim? Hilah Shebah Misah Be'ein Avodah also.

27:20 Speaker 2 Yep. Yidden see and then they think it's okay. That's probably the much bigger problem, is that, uh-

27:23 Speaker 1 It's not even a Ma'aseh Iyun thing. A person who doesn't know or does-- who doesn't know or knows better sees a Frum Yid behaving in a way that's not ap-

27:30 Speaker 2 Absolutely

27:30 Speaker 1 ... that he doesn't seem to see appropriate, it's Mechallel the Eibishter. It makes the Eibish-- Eibishter Siman. Here's a, here's a guy who's supposed to be Frum, and look how he's behaving. It's Hilah Shem. And it also makes it look Motza, right? If a, if a, if a Yid in yarmulke is eating at a restaurant that doesn't have a good Hashgacha, other Yidden might walk in and eat there. It can also cause a Michshol. There's a lot of reasons why this makes a little bit of sense, but when it comes to tefillin, it makes no sense. A-as the Chinuch is very clear, and as the Rebbe is very clear, it doesn't make any sense when it comes to tefillin. Uh, the fourth question, let's just skim through it because we are almost out of time. The fourth big question is that there is a Lavush, that's the, uh, Aterezav. Uh, there's a Lavush that says that, uh, if somebody doesn't know the Kavanah for tefillin, then it's like they're putting rocks on their arms. That's his Lashon. Im ein yodea kavana nimtza tefillin u'meyach v'zrak meavanim chas v'shalom. That's like putting rocks on your arms. Uh, so im kein ma ta'eles l'shtadel be'onachas tefillin ha'ideh eilesh ein yodea ma kavana. What's the point in putting tefillin on people who don't know the Kavanah of tefillin, given that the Lavush holds if they don't know the Kavanah, the mitzvah doesn't count. And the Rebbe proves at length that the Lavush doesn't really mean it. And he

28:25 Speaker 1 brings many other places where people say that a mitzvah needs Kavanah, but that isn't the, that isn't the din. The Psak halakhah is that mitzvot ain tzerichas Kavanah. The only Kavanah that we actually need is the basic Kavanah of for, for performing the mitzvah, knowing that you're doing it for Hashem, that this is a mitzvah of God, and that the details don't particularly matter in the actual Kiyam. And, uh, he proves this at length, although we don't really have time to read it right now. It's in this column over here. I'll put this in the group so you guys can all read it if you like. I'll put the whole thing in. Again, you can also find it in the back of Luket Yitzchak's Volume Six. Uh, he pulls a lot of sources to this. I just wanna show you the last bit here 'cause it's so interesting. The whole thing's interesting, but this part I don't think you can miss. The Rebbe says down here, "In Arachim, in Shulchan Aruch, as long as you're concerned about Kavanah on mitzvahs, you people who are so worried about people who don't know the Kavanah for tefillin, there's a Psak din halakha l'maase when it comes to Tefillah, when it comes to davening. Shetzak lachshev ki l'shchinah kenegedah, that a person during davening needs to picture the Shechinah across from him. Veyachshev ken matbil u'rmei meschal, before davening need to think about the greatness of God, who is on high, and the lowliness of man, and they

29:20 Speaker 1 have to remove all tanug ha'adam from their heart. This is the din, this is the halakha Psukah in Shulchan Aruch, that a person is not allowed to daven until they imagine the Shechinah in front of them, they think about the greatness of God, think about the lowliness of man, and remove all tanug ha'adam, all joys of the-- all human joys from their hearts. Uh, and we don't see anybody pushing for this. We don't see anybody pushing for this. Nobody even points it out, let alone pushes for it. We have a Rak anashim atmei hasem kein, some people, a small minority of people prepare themselves properly for Tefillah. And nonetheless, gilpan bechol yam ken Tefillah shakhas min haparaver, non-non-nonetheless, uh, people-- we, we daven this. That's not exactly what he's saying in the sentence, but this is what he means, is that, uh, is that, uh, very few people are invested in this, and, uh, nonetheless, people daven, uh, three times a day with improper Kavanah. Ve'ach yalal alav mi shulo nei be shehel tach mishtadel b'mitzvot Tefillah chas v'shalom. Would-- did it ever occur to anybody to say, "Maybe we should tell people not to daven three times a day"? This never occurred to anybody. So suddenly you are so concerned, your Yetzer Hara is so concerned that people might put on Tefillin without proper Kavanah. Wait a minute. Are you even allowed to daven without proper Kavanah? As a matter of fact, ach sh'psak din anam mikedem Mishnah lishonah ein omdin lisfar le'almtach kevid

30:25 Speaker 1 rosh. Furthermore, this Psak din says you're not allowed to daven without kevid rosh, without seriousness. Velav la Tefillah mashma according to Taishas and Minchas. The Taishas and Minchas says that's not la Tefillah, that is even b'dieved. So what the Rebbe is saying here in this last paragraph is, "I can prove," and the Rebbe does prove in this, I just didn't get to read it to you, that Tefillin doesn't specifically need Kavanah in order to be yetzer, and most mitzvahs don't need Kavanah in order to be yetzer. There is perhaps one mitzvah that everyone agrees you are not yetzer if you don't have Kavanah, and that is mitzvah sat Tefillah, davening, and you don't see anybody doing that. Everybody who davens like they're on autopilot is complaining about people putting on Tefillin without Kavanah, and that is quite funny. The Rebbe is a little more. He says down here where he talks about other things, um-

31:02 Speaker 3 Regarding this, but no, no more of the Q&A. So that does finish our Q&A section. Hope this has been helpful. And, uh, we do have a few minutes to, uh, to talk. So if you have something to say, please go right ahead.

31:12 Speaker 1 Yeah. Uh, experiencing Mitzayim with people on Tefillin, you have to, uh, to answer the idea, like the person putting on Tefillin right now, the only thing they're thinking about is it's Tefillin and the davening.

31:26 Speaker 3 That was one of-- That was I think point three of the Rebbe's letter.

31:28 Speaker 1 Yeah.

31:29 Speaker 3 Yeah. That it's psychological. When they're doing it, that's all they're thinking about 'cause it's so novel to them. Yes.

31:38 Speaker 1 I wanted to ask about the Karkopton part 'cause-

31:40 Speaker 3 Yeah, sure

31:40 Speaker 1 ... what, what is the, what is the advantage of saving somebody, saving a soul from hell? Meaning i-is that something, is that Mitzvah of Yisrael? Is this obviously Yisrael from Neshamas? Like, well, uh, you know what I mean? It's, it could-- 'cause one could argue that if you teach a person other mitzvahs, right? Eventually they're going to lead them to Tefillin, and then they'll fall out of that category. If your whole thing is just, okay, we're just saving this person from his soul turning to dust under a tzadik's feet in the future, like, I don't know. It's like, it seems like obviously it's all for Neshamas versus for, for... And it doesn't speak about actually changing the world, making like any of that. It's a very strange, I don't know .

32:25 Speaker 3 Yeah, I have an answer and, uh, I have an answer and I'm, and I'm-- That answer is from a diyuk in the way that he writes it. Look at the way the Rebbe says it. Now, I went back to the Gemara to show you that cool measure about being turned into dust, but if you look at the way the Rebbe writes it, it says . A person puts on Tefillin one time, what happens? He leaves that status. So we do see that there's something called Peis Yisrael, something called the sinners of the Jewish people, and that they lose that status of being called a sinner of the Jewish people the moment they put on Tefillin one time. So I think the Rebbe's priority is not to save them from hell. The Rebbe's priority is to say, "You used to be in the category of a sinner, and we remove you from the category of sinner by putting on Tefillin once." That's a, that's a teva for a Yid in this world, that they change category. And I think that's the really, the real reason the Rebbe-- I said the reason why the Rebbe doesn't quote this Gemara is he doesn't like to say not nice things. He probably didn't quote the Gemara and just hinted to it because it's not really his point. His point is what you're saying, "I'm not here to save people from Gehenom. I'm here to change somebody's status." So but I do think you can midrash in the Rebbe's words,

33:18 Speaker 3 not saved from the-

33:19 Speaker 1 Oh

33:19 Speaker 3 ... not saved from the punish, from the category.

33:22 Speaker 1 Good answer. Good answer.