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The Rambams Innovation of Chazarat Hashas | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz | June 23 2026
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Okay, good morning everybody. I hope uh
hope you're well. Uh so actually we're
finally going going to go on to a new
letter of the Rambam, a different letter
of the Rambam. Uh dealing with a very
very interesting and somewhat
controversial
change that the Rambam made in the in
the way the synagogue service gets
conducted. And this is a miktav a chuva
that he wrote to a talmid of his who has
a very interesting name Rev Saja.
Actually his father has an interesting
name Ravaja Benot.
So Brahot was apparently used as a first
name at some point in time and this is
not Rafajon of course this is a
contemporary of the Rambam a younger
contemporary who was a Talmud and once
again just like Rapha
Ravaja lived in Alexandria. So the
Rambam had many the Rambam lived in
Cairo Fostat but the Rambam had many
admirers and detractors as well in
Alexandria and the issue that's being
discussed is an issue about Khazar
Sashhat. So I need to go over the
background there to fully appreciate
what is going on. Anyone that goes to
Shaw is familiar with the idea that we
dive in the Amida, we dive in the
standing prayer in silence. During the
week it's 19 brahos even though we call
it shona estray because the braha
against the heretics was added later. uh
on Shabbat and on Yam we dive in seven
whatever it is but we start off with
what is called aash
we dive in silently and then the theore
uh repeats everything uh and that is
called
the repetition of the shots is an
abbreviation of course for
by the way the idea that you call the
guy that'sing for the it's not really
clear where that where that happens The
word Khazan does appear in the Mishna
and in the Gomorrah. But Khazan in the
Mishna and the Gomorrah never means the
one that is uh davening uh for the omud.
Uh it often means what we would call a
gaba, an attendant, someone who is in
charge of array of arranging the
services and the like. Haket.
Uh the one who davs for the goes by two
terms. Either he is described as
shalakor
that means the emissary of the
congregation which later became
abbreviated as shots that's the same
thing or he is described as
lifa
now
is a reference to the arinhes the aresh
is called ava and yed is based on a in
the garra that is not followed in too
many places and that is that when one
davens to Hashem on behalf of the
congregation they should step down as it
says
from the depths I call out to God. So
therefore it used to be in some places
there still is but but in the time of
the Gumar this was universal that the
Kazan would not step up to Davin for the
arm so to speak he would step down. Now
uh in the uh basessets of Prague Maral
Shaw uh they still have that feature of
stepping down and also uh for those who
uh are familiar in the good is sh in
Baltimore Mosha my was my high school
rebby he should be well uh they also
those step down there must be a lot of
other places too I'm sure it's not
unique to those two places in the world
but by and large you don't have it and
and and sometimes it's the other way
around the kazin steps up so people can
see him. But in fact, these are the two
terms that the Mishna uses for uh what
we call the today. uh one is
and the other is
and that is why it's very interesting
that when the Mishna discusses sometimes
you have to remove a kazan if he makes
certain mistakes or especially if
they're heretical mistakes because in
those days there was also a fear there
may be hidden Christians who are
infiltrating so if he's uh said certain
things that could be implied to be
heresy so when it talks about removing
the kazan It says
that literally means we pull him up. So
aliyah today tends to be positive coming
to Israel. In those days when you were
pulled up, it was actually a negative
because it means you were removed as as
as Kazan. Okay. So as I say I I don't
know it's somebody probably wrote an
article because people have written
articles and everything. When did the
word Khazan
uh become used for a shar? That was not
the original use of Kazan. Kazan was
really the gaba or the arranger of
things uh and and and the like. Okay.
But be it as it may, this is a familiar
feature to anybody who's ever gone to
show. We have
and then we have uh
hash and this is very old. This is
absolutely mentioned in the Mishna many
times and the Mishna is not creating a
new custom. The Mishna is stating the
minhagim that we're already in
existence. But you need to know that
there's a fundamental mlo between Raban
Gamo and the
about the nature of
according to Rabin Gaml
anybody can be yay the amid by listening
to the and answering a whether you know
how to read or you know the davining or
you don't know how to read it makes no
difference
works for everybody you So according to
Robin Guml you don't have to dive in the
silent amid you can be with the provided
of course that you listen to the whole
and you answer a which means the is to
use or the is uh whether you're a baky a
baky means somebody who is familiar now
again in those days you know I I
misspoke a little bit when I said
whether you know how to read or don't
know how to reading was not necessarily
the test because remember uh in the
olden days even before printing not
everybody had a sitter you didn't have
like a million sedura and there were
people even if they knew how to read
they didn't necessarily have a a sitter
in front of them and they needed to hear
the kazan so according to I'm going to
use kazan just because that's the common
term but beware in light of my earlier
observation that it is not the authentic
term that uh there were people either
they didn't know how to read or they
didn't have a sitter or whatever ever it
would be so they could hear the but
rabbil says it's not only for the ano
baki it is even for the bak meaning even
if you know 100% you could simply listen
to the kazm that's rail
the
say no the say that anyone who is
capable of dvening himself or herself
cannot be with
you have to have so this is a big big
big big mlo
and the and the Gmorra asks Aasha on
each opinion and gives an answer like
the who say if you're a bucky you're not
yay so what is the purpose of sash the
answer is very simple according to the
purpose of
is to be moy people who are not able to
dab themselves either they don't know
how to eat or they don't have a sitter
or whatever it is. So according to the
the relationship between and
is a very logical relationship
is for the people who know how to d
in whatever way whether it's or or from
a sitter and is a for people who don't
know how to that the could be mostly
that's what the's position is.
That already raises an interesting
question that bisman
bisman
uh people show up to show uh everybody
has a sitter and the emis is even if you
don't even know how to read Hebrew you
can be yay dabing by reading English or
whatever your language is so today the
idea that somebody has to listen to the
kazan otherwise they're not going to be
yay dabing seems to be extinct and even
if you found such a
There's almost no chance he would even
be aware of that. Meaning a guy walks
into show doesn't know how to dive in.
Is he going to know who? I mean, nobody
tells him as far as I know. You know,
you may welcome somebody hopefully give
him a show, but you know, you're not
going to tell. Oh, by the way, if you
don't know how to how to read, listen to
the So, so the em is
in terms of its original function is
totally of our
So, one might raise the interesting
question.
So why do we even do
sash? Well, the truth is sash has a
secondary function meaning its primary
original function according to the notal
according to the is to be mozzy people
who are not baky.
Got it. Got it. And that function is
largely defunct today. Although it's
theoretically still here. It is
theoretically here but it's you know
it's not going to be carried out. But
there's a second function and that is
the vehicle for the recitation of
kadusha
and particularly initel for the
recitation of berkas kanim which is done
in usim at least that every day although
in generally among ashkazm only on only
on yungl. So therefore the argument goes
that even if even if you don't have the
need to be moy the anobaki you need
because of kadusha right kadusha is the
kadusha of the right what what is the
kadusha because uh
we are declaring God's holiness just as
the angels in heaven declare God's
holiness.
And the angels in heaven declare God's
holiness by theim of kadosh kad and by
the
right you're combining
and cavode hashem
by the way maybe you never made the
connection but this is why one of the
names of god is bor
did you ever connect it to the kadosha
he's kadosh because of the verse kadosh
kadosh kadosh hashem OS and he's because
so he is the god who is praised by
and he is praised by
now obviously without there's no kadua
so that's a separate reason why you have
to do it okay now this is all the but
like raban gumlio we have an opposite
question if according to raban gumlio
everybody body could be yay with the
repetition
then why don't we just go because it
won't be a repetition let's just go
straight to the ding and even if I know
how to read I'll just listen to the
kazan and answer meaning like rubbing
like the question was what's the purpose
of the repetition and the answer is for
an anoi and also form
but like rubbing guml the problem is
what's the purpose of the balash
So the gumar says a very surprising
thing that according to
technically
is superfluous
but we want to give the
time to organize the so he won't make a
mistake. So we kind of fill it in so he
can prepare the recitation that he's
going to be doing.
Now, one of the questions asked the
Rambam is, "Well, wait a second here. If
there's no real reason for us to dab in
like Raben Guml, and we're only doing it
to give the time to organize the prayer,
then that means we're saying God's name
in vain. That means all of the that
we're reciting in the is a
how could that be allowed?" So, the
Rambam says, "You're misunderstanding
something." Obvious. You see, you're
you're understanding that even though we
dab in Bahash, we're going to be with
the Kazan. And then you're asking is a
blessing in vain. But it works the other
way around. Once we want you to dab in
to give the time to prepare, you will be
yay you're ding in that and therefore
your is not a
because that is the that you're going to
be owed to it. I mean actually that's
pushhat in in this idea. We're not we're
not saying oh you're yay with the kazan
but you got to give the kazan time to
prepare. No once we want to give the
khazan time to prepare you're going to
be yay in that particular way. And uh
the Rambam is sometimes a little
critical. He says to saja I never heard
anyone who would make a mistake uh of
that of that of that nature. a little
muster to his stomach. Yeah.
>> Yes. Yes. Yeah. This is a very important
point. Uh first of all the idea of that
he needs to organize his thoughts once
again that originally dated from a time
when there were no sedurum and etc. And
I mean even the putum the huge putum
that came later originally were only the
khazin said it. No one else said it. And
the khazin had to memorize this stuff.
He didn't know even have something in
front of him. Fact sometimes it was
improvisations. Some pin were
improvisations.
At least the the famous legend of which
may may not be historically true is
essentially it was an improvised prayer.
As RaNon was dying. Raan was said to be
the author of Nantokev. He asked to be
carried to sh and right before kadusha
he said the beautiful moving prayer of
nantov
and died
and uh of course who would know I mean
the prayer wasn't written down so it's
bravot says raamnon came to him in a
dream and taught him the uh the again
whether that particular beautiful
powerful story is is even true is is is
a big big big big debate but
nevertheless I think it highlights
highlights the historical fact that a
number of Putim were improvisational
creations
at the uh at the time that were not even
written down and they had to be
reconstructed
uh a little a little later. Okay. So now
we have the following uh issue right so
now we understand the idea of sash uh oh
yeah I'm sorry for just your issue this
is very important so it turns out that
according to at least reban gamo
the purpose of the silent amida is to
give the kazin time to organize his
prayer so this gives rise to a very
interesting issue when we have different
your point is very good different
of the not smart. They're they're not
major differences, but there are
differences.
So here's the thing. If I'm an Ashkanazi
Davening in a Spartic minion,
so what should I do? How should I what
should my Amida be? So
Mosha gives a very sensible idea. He
says anything that you dab in privately,
you should say according to your so when
I dab in the silent amida, I should say
Ashkinas.
So the zim whatever whatever it is
however anything that I I recite with a
minion like kaduca
or kadesh I should say like the minion
because I'm doing it because of the
minion right so that would mean
therefore that the silent amida
assuming I'm ashkenaz in a spardic
minion or vice versa but let's let's use
one example an ashkenazi in a sardi
minion would say should say kadesh like
spardim
although they commonly don't and vice
versa but the silent fela should be
Ashkanazi. Now let's say you're an
Ashkenazi though that's a
now clearly the repetition is going to
be that's for sure but here is the even
the silent
should beardi
and the reason is because we see
according that the whole purpose of the
silent amid is to prepare yourself for
the prayer that you're going to recite.
So obviously it should be in the nusak
that you're going to recite it otherwise
you're not really preparing yourself and
indeed you see this all the time uh you
see often that if an Ashkenazi is ding
for vice versa they'll often because you
kazar's quickly they'll often start
saying the Ashkanazi words have to
correct themselves say again
>> no that's what I'm saying a regular
person dins his that's what I'm saying
but if you're the then even your silent
Amida has to correspond to what you're
going to be.
So, so the truth is uh we do not well it
seems to be a suffic meaning mean
meaning like this because it's a suffic
we don't allow Rabban Gumlio's hetra for
a bucky to be withhar but but we still
accept the idea of laast
so it's more of a more of a sic
Yep.
>> Yes. I I'll get to that. I'll get I I'll
get to that. Okay. So, this is a big big
we don't follow Raban Gil's leniency.
So, if you're a Bucky, you're not yay
with
but the Garra itself gives a very
interesting idea. It says that even
though we normally do not follow Reban
Gumlio, we follow Reban Gum Leo for
theos of Roshashana.
Which means although that's not our
custom either which means according to
Rabin Gumlio
even if you know how to daven
you can be yay with the
for theos of the musf of the musf of
rashash
presumably because the musf of rashash
shana uh is number one long but but
number two has different elements that
don't appear in any other musf. We have
the three sections. Malios verses of
kingship.
Zikronos verses of remembrance.
Chauffeurot verses of blowing the
chauffear. Uh and these are unfamiliar
to people. We we don't say them in the
course of the year. Uh and therefore
even if you are a baky you might get
confused. You might get bal. So the
gammor itself says that even the are to
gumo that the kazin can be moy. Now here
is a very very interesting thing though
and this is a min. Now again our min is
not that way. Our min is obviously
people who don but had the gmorrah says
you could be with the now let me bring
you a min that the ram discusses in
mashana
which is a minog that I doubt any of you
have ever seen and I have never seen it
at all and that is uh when you look at
the let's say the prayers of rashana and
you look at my shak and m meaning
excluding musf so with seven braos
although it's elongated a little bit
but it is the basic amida of yamto
structure you have the first three
brahos and the last three braos and then
a middle bra again it's not the same as
y but structurally it's the same which
ends melon
okay that's seven and that's every every
y and every shabas are the seven braas
first three last three and a middle
braha which is called the kaduc
the holiness of the day whether it's
shabas whether it's yamt whether it's
rash or whether it's yum kipper okay we
then come to musf and the musf of
rashashana is the only ama that has nine
brahas because you have the first three
and the last three but then instead of
one kaduca
we have three brahos malos
zikronos
and chauffeur. So the Ramban brings a
min from the gaon of Babel
that everybody would dab in
for Musf they would dab in the seven
they would dab in the same of my shaka
they would do for Musf and then the
would be Mozy them in Malio Zronos and
chauff meaning he would I don't mean he
would just say that he would say the
whole amid but they would hear the
chauffeur only from the only from the
the
so uh the rush takes great issue with
that the rush says how can you do that I
mean chaos are part of the amid of how
can you tell people to dab in uh musf
without mus
but the ram is mazbear that this is
based on the gammor itself because mik
We pass in not like rebend and that is
normally whatever you're able to d on
your own you have to din but we make an
exception for
because of
so says the ram the gam understand that
the exception is only for the
chauff and the of seven you got to do on
your own
again we absolutely do not pass in that
way but the raan defends that may And
this was a that was practiced uh in the
time of the gaim that the mus of the
people in sh was the same as ma
shak and they only did uh and they were
with
but the ram does caution this is
interesting point that if you're going
to follow that min which we do not
follow you have to hear the wholehat
from the beginning to the end. You can't
like say, you know, go into the hallway
and just come back for
the
have to be part of a repetition of the
Amida. This is a fascinating min. And
again, I I doubt that any of you have
ever seen it uh because I am not aware
of it being practiced at all. It
literally is an extinct
min uh that uh but for hundreds and
hundreds of years it was followed in
various places. Yeah.
whatever reason you're going to give you
>> yes that that is correct that is correct
which means even though we announced
today even though I
shouldn't interrupt because of the
chauffeur blowing that's true but but
you are correct that when I'm being with
the there's a separate reason why he
can't be mopsic because he's being moy
me in my my but again that got swallowed
up by the other reason not to be mopsic
because of the cha block. By the way, um
the idea that well we're going to see
that talking during Khazar Sashhats was
a major major problem even in the
Rambam's time and that's going to get us
to the very great innovation that he
created. Now some of you may be familiar
with what in Yiddish is called a
kadusha.
So first of all there's even a question
how you pronounce it. Some people call
it
what does he mean? He in Aramaic it just
means where but that has nothing to do
right. So the truth of the matter is
is just the litfish pronunciation for
kadusha. So the Yiddish is
but in Lithuania everything becomes an a
pure lit. So
is
okay. What does kadusha mean? So just
means loud. The loud could do that. And
this is where
is truncated or partially partially
eliminated. And you'll often see this in
maybe at a
or maybe at an office where they don't
have a lot of time or people are in a
rush. And means that instead of
everybody dinging a whole shimona
and then a whole repetition
from the the starts right away right
away with the braos through kadusha
and then people continue and they finish
their silent amida as well and they say
kadesh and and the like. So it's many
yeshivas do it as well. Now the kadusha
uh has a bit of a checkered history uh
because it clearly is not the way
wanted things to be. Kazal wanted for
whatever the reason a full
followed by a full
and that is proper. It is not
appropriate just to jump to right away.
uh but in many many yeshivos uh it
became common uh partially because of be
Torah although I I always have my
hesitations when we invoke beetle Torah
bafka to curtail benching and curtail
domining you know I mean it's like you
know if the would be you know people
would learn every other second of the
day so me you can talk about let's cut
five minutes off uh you know but it's
like okay whatever it is but is widely
used in many yeshivas not all yeshivas
and the like. Uh and it's based on the
idea that listen we don't have people
who are within.
So the original purpose of
is not there
the purpose is for kadusha. So let him
say the three brahas of kadusha and zp
now kadusha is not done for shak
particularly in part of it is because
but the truth is even in they don't do
it I'll get to the reason why now in the
kadusha there are two different minhagim
and sometimes you'll see people get
mixed up and uh different people are
following different things and that is
when the kazan begins
the three brales.
Do I start with the kazin
or do I wait until after kadusha
ra the
takes the position that when you're
doing of course he doesn't use the word
but
truncated
everybody should start with the kaz
because we want it to be a communal
prayer and then when we meet with the we
answer kadusha
and then we would also say lor vador if
if you're ashkenazi etc and then we
continue uh and that is the shittita
we'll see of the raam we're going to see
and that is the shittita of of the bash
and the like the ram however which is
the practice of ashkinazimm is that that
seabore does not begin the bahash until
after kadusha. So the first three braos
and uh is are recited by the kazin alone
we then answer kadusha and after the
khazan finishes
we then take our three steps back and
forth. So you'll see that sometimes
people either they're following their
mic or they just don't know what their
mic is. But you you'll notice in every
kaduca situation some people are doing
it one way and some people are doing it
another way. But alms although it's
gotten mixed up over the years, this is
really a the and the if the I should be
mas within or I should um I should wait
until after kadusha and then be mas. Now
I want to point out according to the
rama
there's a very excellent reason why it's
impossible to do a kaduca for chakras
like the rama and that is the following.
There is a for shak
to connect
right we endemisel
redemption and then you immediately move
to
and you're not allowed to have any
interruption whatsoever
between
now if you were to do a kaduca in
shakras based on the ram's practice
you'd have a real problem because that
would basically mean the starts and you
don't even start till after kadusha
that would be a heaps between
and it's not a heaps in talking maybe
but it's a heck in time right that right
so like the it's
why you cannot do a
for shak and like ko I would give
another reason
every Even
so in other words the point is both
ashkanaz and do not do
in the morning but it might be for two
different reasons like the ra we don't
do it in the morning because there would
be a break between and like we don't do
it in the morning because we would not
be able to if we didn't have
so the common denominator is
only available for min it is not
available for chakras but there may be
two different reasons why it's not uh
not available now again it's not optimal
but it will be
uh permitted uh well let let's let's
let's go over the cases where it would
be permitted all right so the yeshivos
use the rationale of bal Torah okay
that's not so compelling but that that's
what they say okay uh the other reason
where for sure it's permitted is when
you're coming very very close to the end
of zamfa
has a circumscribed zan generally
speaking at least if you're not aid you
have to finish mina before
the setting of the sun now many did not
fully keep that and that that's the
source of the oldidic joke that litak
have more fear of the than they have for
the rebonal they're always worried about
but this would be a classic example. Uh
if we are approaching sunset in order to
get it within we can uh do a hea kadusha
and the like uh it might also be a
situation where you're in danger of
losing the minion. Now in truth losing a
minion is not as serious as you might
imagine. I mean let's let's say the is
repeating the amid right we dabbed with
10 and the began the repetition and then
somebody walked out. So in truth if you
want to know the truth is that if the
khazan began with a minion he's allowed
to finish even without a minion as long
as there are six people most of them
including the meaning five besides the
and not only that he can even recite the
kadesh after
because that's considered to be the
conclusion of so in truth losing your
minion in the middle does not mean you
forfeit the repetition nevertheless
since It is so optimal to have a minion
for the whole service. If you're going
to lose the minion in the middle, that
could justify the kaduca in order that
you shouldn't lose your minion. So we
have Torah r, we have uh the rationale
of zman which is absolutely the best and
we have the rationale of losing
dominion. But now comes the Rambam and
introduces a new rationale and that is
the Rambam was
a regular
for the Musf of Shabasim
not as a matter of he doesn't even
record this in the Mishna to this is a
very fascinating idea of you know the
Rambam was in addition to being the god
and the post of the generation the
Rambam was a ro the Rambam was a of a
shaw there was a rub of the shaw in Fat
the main Jewish base Knesset in Cairo
Fat is the old Jewish neighborhood of
Cairo and the Rambam was concerned some
things don't change in life the Rambam
was concerned with a very prevalent
practice and that is people would simply
smoo during the musfats
uh they would smoo they would walk out
uh they would smoo because after all
they dabed balahash they were I'd say
already. So they f they answered Kadusha
and Birkasco and him which according to
the Rambam they did every day and Shabas
every day really. Uh but then they would
smoo and the Rambam saw this as a very
very awful thing. The Rambam considered
the smoozing and the walking out and the
walking around. The Rambam called item
and he gave a number of interesting
reasons for it. Reason number one is
that in the Rambam's time there were
still amaratum who needed to hear the
kasm and if these amaratum see the
learned people are running around and
not listening they're not going to
listen. So number one, okay, that may be
less of a problem for us today, but
number one, there are going to be people
who need the
who are not going to be yay because of
this. That's number one. Number two, the
Rambam says it is that in the holy house
of
people are treating the without any
respect, without any cover. And number
three, the Rambam says the which
means the Muslims. Look at the respect
that Jews show Knessa.
And they say, what type of people are
these that they treat the worship of
their gods with such disrespect? That's
thee. So because of this, the Rambam
said he made a takana.
This is not a halak. In other words,
this is not in the Mishna Torah. This is
his own
init
that we're going to skip the
and we're going to start with the
repetition
and those who are baky will say the
amida with the kazin
and those who are not baky are going to
be yay because we pasin like
So this is not a now this is this is not
a this is not in other words this is not
just saying the three braas this is a
complete
so that's why I don't understand the way
people describe this people often
describe this as the raam was
for that does not accurate at all if
anything the
because we go straight into.
So I do want to make it very very clear
that this is not exactly the this is a
full
theim will dive in with the
because we like the a baky except in a
bucky should not be with
and since the anal see the beam are
governing so they're going to be to be
with the uh to this day this min is
still followed by
if congregation does not have a regular
for they go straight to although in some
congregations they actually dram
seem to be in favor of that the ram says
if you're dabbling with the kazan you
should d in bulakash not be bolam but
they d in
And the Rambam's concern was concern for
talking. Now some say a concern for
talking might also justify the but
that's not exactly the min that the
Rambam is uh talking about. The Rambam
is talking about a full
with berasanim
uh and uh this was the minimum. It
spread to Mitraim for several hundred
years after the Rambam Spira
until uh around 250 years later you had
the Radvas. Radvaz was a great great
Akaran or early early Akaran maybe late
Rishan Ravid Ben Zimra who later came to
Eric Israel that's
the Radvas was the Rav of Mitzam years
after the Rabba and the Radas felt I'm
not sure if the talking situation
improved probably not but the Radas felt
it is better to follow the of the
to have a regular
followed by
so except among the timmonium. Now we
spoke a number of times that the
timmonium had an unbelievable coat for
the Rambam. Do you remember towards the
beginning of uh the Shiorim the Rambam
wrote a letter Ear Tman a letter to the
Ammonite communities who were suffering
tremendous Islamic persecution
and they were buffeted. On one hand, uh,
they were threatened with death if they
keep the Torvah, and on the other hand,
there were false messianic figures who
were saying, "Hey, we're going to save
you." So, they're hit with enemies who
want to destroy them, and they're also
hit with false messianic claims and some
converted to Islam and whatever. And
they were told that they're not Jewish
anymore, whatever. So, the Rambam wrote
a letter. And the Rambam said that he
knows he's putting himself in danger by
writing this letter, but he requested
that his letter be read in every Besset
in in Tman.
Uh it was written in Arabic and
translated later into Hebrew. And this
gave tremendous tremendous comfort. It
was essentially a letter of comfort that
these are the sacrifices that come
before Mashiach and the reward for Amuna
is unbelievable and Hashem loves the
Jewish people. Hashem will not abandon
the Jewish people and though although
times are very very hard they will not
last forever.
Comforting words. This was not unlike
some other letters. This was not a
analysis. These were words of comfort
and and they were read in every
synagogue
in Tman
and since then although tan Yemen is not
near Egypt I mean it's a distance and
yet they considered the Rambam their
spiritual leader
that they amended the kadesh in the
lifetime of the Rambam uh that when we
ask Hashem to bring redemption right may
your name be glorified And then we speak
to the congregation in your lifetime and
in the lifetime of all of Israel may we
see the ga. So in Yemen they added the
words
in your days and in your lifetime
the lifetime of all of the Jewish people
and they added
and in the life of our rabbi and our
teacher Rav Mosha the son of Ma they
actually put that in the kadesh itself
that was taken out when the Rambam died
but but they they they put it in. So the
Rambam was, if I could use the word
idolized, although the Rambam would hate
that word. The rabbi was so much against
a bodhis of a person, but they more or
less did idolize him. And as you know,
the mira of
in Yemen among many many segments was to
follow the decisions of the Rambam even
after the ar
uh became widespread. Meaning in most of
the Jewish world although the is based
on the Ram but but the shar became the
definitive code of Jewish law and it was
supp supplemented by the glasses of the
Rama and although once again the
certainly is largely based on the Rambam
but it became an independent macor
people didn't go back to the Rambam and
Pascin Hala. So today you know you
wouldn't go to the Rambam and Taskan
hala and yet uh many many tim to this
very day to this very day consider the
Rambam to be more authoritative to them
than the itself. So the fact that the
the tmanim adopted the Rambam's unique
min of Khazar Sashhats for Musaf
is no accident because it really is an
expression of the tremendous tremendous
regard that they had for the Rambam. But
I do want to again emphasize that this
was not codified in the Mishna Torah. So
the Rambam never stated this as a this
was shah this was a an emergency measure
to deal with a talking problem which uh
so people could ask the question well
should we consider that today okay you
know we don't like we don't like to
change things u better to change the
talking than to change the right the the
schol shouldn't bend dabining shouldn't
bend to the talking the talking should
bend uh to the davenining uh and uh and
the like um But this is the interesting
minute that the Rambam defends. Now the
only thing the Rambam says that you're
missing, what are you missing with this?
You're missing the idea of the having
time to organize his
before he starts because we said
according to Rabl the purpose of of
is to give the man
at
well if you're starting with of course
that's a problem in every but here the
whole
is going to be recited without a
preliminary
So the Ram says okay life is not
perfect. He says listen uh if the is not
going to have time to look over the then
he should look over the before he goes
to in other words uh doesn't have to be
at that particular point. he can look it
over uh ahead of time and the Rambam
feels that the benefits from his
outweigh the the detriment a little bit
in the Kaza not having time to prepare
his okay so that's the unique minute of
the Rambam there now the issek
uh from
has a bit of a different approach to
uh because according to what we've been
learning learning Khazar shat primarily
has two functions. It is to be Mozy the
ano bucky which is largely defunct today
and it is the mechanism by which we can
do kaducha
and berkas coin
now theoretically according to all of
that according to all of that
theoretically there actually shouldn't
be an inherent problem in talking during
kazarats inherently now the raam was
concerned about it because he called
item and it would discourage the the
to be but just looking at it in
isolation I'm not I'm not being with I
mean
but I dab it already so intrinsically
one could even understand
the kalis
of people talking of course the iss that
there are two different in talking uh
there is an isra in a sh in a sh of but
forget about dabbining. Let's say you're
not dabbing. You walk into a shaw here
now
hopefully not during uh the shar but you
know you just want to have a a casual
conversation there are actually
so the is forget about forget about
forget about there's an isa
in the base
but but even putting that aside if we
put aside that issue then what's so
wrong about talking during khazar
so the so so the ram had to predicate it
on
and on the not being. But has a
different approach has an approach that
even if you already dil
you need
as part of your and he differentiated
between
andor
is when we join together as individuals
And we pray our individual prayers with
a congregation. And that's a great thing
is a great thing because Hashem joins
the prayers of the individuals
together. So that's called
siblazor
is a separate concept in which the shots
represents the whole in fact the word
in which this is aila of the sib as a
collective body. It's no longer
know 20 individuals
who are doing their own prayer with each
other. It is the prayer of the
congregation
itself.
And therefore of salvic writes that even
if you were the silent amid that only
gave you
you're still
now this is why the brisker min is that
they remain not only standing during
but they remain with their legs together
and they do not answer
you know the idea that whenever you hear
a bra you have to answer
But
is only answered on a bra that you're
not being yay with. So if I hear you
make a bra, I can say
but if someone is moing me in kdish or
havdala or migillah or kaneka I don't
say because since that is not a response
in the gammorra that's a postunic
response we treat it like an
interruption.
So most of us do answer in because we're
not being yites with it and if you were
not a bucky you would have to you would
not say but the briskers do not say at
all because they feel the is being moy
then into
ha
uh again which so according to them the
isra of talking during is not only
because of
or the like as important as that is it
actually means you need to not be moxic
in order to be yay the idea of
now that what's interesting is I mean I
I I don't really get a lot of this
because according to that uh the kaduca
you've lost it meaning if you're doing
without a full
you have lost the dimension of hats.
So that's going to be a big problem with
the kaduca which you wouldn't have so
much if it's only the for the people who
were not bucky because we don't have
those people today and the light. Okay.
And uh and the truth of the matter is
it's also very difficult to read
Salvik's understanding into the gammor
itself. I mean the gmorra itself says
that according to
the purpose of is to be moy and a no
buggy. I mean it doesn't say to be might
see a bucky in the abstract idea of uh
yes
>> no no yes yes yes I mean he artic you're
100% correct he articulated it but this
was a mahalik uh that the brriskers had
based on a duk and the ram the ram in
fact describes as
should they build something on it but
again it's hard to fit in with
everything else that we've learned. Be
it as it may, whatever the reason, the
says he who talks during
harsh language. I mean the doesn't say
it about a shabas. He doesn't say he who
is
he says it by talking during
and then we get into the perennial
problem. Are you allowed to learn during
no talking? You're not allowed to talk.
Okay, that that we know. So talking and
learning is talking. So you're not
allowed to talk in learning. Gotcha. But
let's say I want to learn. I want to
open up a safer. I want to learn during
khazar sashhats. Am I allowed to learn
during khazar sashhats? So I I do have
to confess. I have to be totally honest
otherwise someone's going to point out
that they've seen me learning during
uh so uh I myself
do it. Uh but in terms of the basic
texts, most mainstream views say it is
not proper. There are if there are nine
at least nine people who are listening
and answering a so there are so in the
yeshiv
uh there became a min to be permissible
about it but if you notice in Israel the
Russia yeshivas are actually stricter
about this and you'll you'll actually
see that they don't now
point out a long time ago that for some
reason
uh the eight sahara to learn is most
powerful during
meaning once dabing is over we have less
of an urge to learn Torah
but during doning that's when I have to
learn and said this is the meaning of a
statement of the braos talks about
there were very very pious people who
used to d the equivalent of nine hours a
day they would prepare for an hour. They
would daven for an hour and then they
would decompress for an hour. Shakra is
so the Gmorrah asked the kasha, you're
dabbing nine hours a day. When are you
going to learn Torah? So it says that
because of their righteousness, God gave
them the ability to accomplish even in
less time. And Ravan said
a person would die in the whole day. It
would be wonderful if a person would
dive in the whole day. So the cipher
says, "Ah, that's the if a person would
dab the whole day, he would do plenty of
learning because that's when the hits
him the most to learn Torah. So let's
make dabing all day and then you'll
learn. You'll learn for for twothirds of
the time." So there is it's an
interesting thing. Apparently Davening
is harder than learning.
>> Davin is harder than learning. Uh
learning, one might say, has a certain
egotism, intellectual satisfaction.
Davin is total submission
to the rebon.
We don't like to submit. We don't like
to subordinate ourselves. So even
learning which we often may try to avoid
when it comes to dabbing. We'll do
learning over dabing. Uh yeah,
I'm having difficulty hearing the reason
why men wear fillin. Did you say why
they wear it all day?
>> Uh yeah, but but again I would say this.
It's important to know that the mitzvah
of fillin is not intrinsically connected
to domin
a man wears fillin he is fulfilling a
positive mitzvah. The reason why most
people don't do it today is that fill in
requires that your mind not wander away
from.
So even though you're allowed to go to
work, meaning I can work fill in, I can
go to work and I can I can cook. I can
do all of those things, but I'm not
allowed to joke around. I'm not allowed
to have kalus ro. So today that's too
hard for us. So uh the mug is we limit
fill in to dabing. Those who are able to
live at a higher level still wear its
fill in the old all day. I mean in the
Zilman
they even trained the bar mitzvah kids
to wear its fill in the vil mone warts
fill in all day and even in our
generation of Shinburg
people know him for the hundred pairs of
sites but fewer people know that he
actually wore fill in all day as well.
He wore small fillin covered by his hat
or or whatever. Uh so it's not just
dabing it's it's it's a separate mitzvah
>> people sitting down after
>> after kadusha
>> well well again
there is no unless okay unless you
follow the brisker idea there is no to s
to stand up to
it is the min of the yeshivas uh but
yeah make idea and you could sit down
yeshivas have two minim of standing up
one stand up for khazar sashhats and we
stand up for creass hatra but they are
not obligations. So uh if one sits down
for laning or one sits down for the
repetition that's perfectly okay as long
as you don't talk. So if you stand up
and you talk you're picking the wrong
minute. Uh not talking is much more
important than standing than standing
up. Okay you all have a wonderful week
and take care.