The Glory of Tefillin (Part 1) by Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

okay I hope uh this is okay I'm not sure I just don't know how these things work okay all righty so again we're looking generally at the mitzvos that are connected to we were looking last week at the pon B the Redemption of pidun haben uh what's interesting is just to finish up a little bit of a detail on that uh generally speaking we know that a firstborn child is considered to be Sanctified until they are redeemed because they became Sanctified because they were saved by aades in the miracle of makos in which the firstborn of Egypt died and the Israelites were spared and that created so to speak a debt to God which manifested itself in kadosa and the kadosa needs a Redemption and that is the Redemption of what is called Pon haben now it's interesting what does it mean practically what does it mean to say an unredeemed B is Kos does that have any implication at all of course is very very clear that if someone was not redeemed at uh day 31 you have to redeem him later and he has to redeem himself later I mean it's it's much easier than pigeon a Ben at 30 is much easier than a bris at 30 that much is is true but in all the time we have B that have to a pigon have been in the light so of course there's such a Mitzvah in fact it's even brought down that the vagon would give the pigon Ben money to every single Coen he met during his life he had a firstborn son and uh the villon said every Cohen is a doubtful Coen we don't know for sure if you're a Coen you know kohanim don't have the documentation Etc uh when there's a Bas am Mikus the standards of evidence are going to be very very high now a guy shows up and says I'm a Coen we give him an alyah you know okay coene huh oh so the Coen Gene that's very intering the Coen Gene absolutely cannot prove anything uh except except except it may negate Kahuna meaning meaning it may be the absence of the gene I me let me give you a very simple example let's imagine a male cohain marries a non-jewish woman so not only is their son not a Coen their son is a but since the male Gene is passed through the father so he'll have the gene so this is what's called a false positive the genetics test cannot establish Guna but it might negate Guna meaning the absence of it might show that somebody is not a a Coen uh so the Von felt course that was before genetic testing that he never knew if he had given the money to a Coen so in order to be sure he would be say the Mitzvah he gave it to every Co he met on the chance that perhaps he would get it right in that way now it is brought down that there are certain families in CLA Israel that can trace their K all the way back a Rapaport is actually a very famous example the Rapaport family is said to be able to trace all the way back to Aron without any problems in the middle but my question simply is if you are an unredeemed Bor what exactly is the Holiness that you have so fascinatingly this sorno sayso was not a POS he was saying it is a matter of biblical commentary that when the Torah says kades every is Sanctified it actually means an unred an unredeemed Bor is only allowed to do holy things like learn Torah and mitzvos he is not allowed to do profane work so this is a very big incentive on parents to be m pigon because if you have a b that is unredeemed you cannot ask him to clean up his room uh or even do his homework because that is it's a very big uh we do not ping like Theo at all uh we do not consider this to have any implication other than a certain spiritual Holiness but there is no limitation on what a firstborn Bor can do now what's interesting is uh pan is going to be the most relevant aspect of the Holiness of a b but there are two other aspects that if you are a farmer you have to be aware of the Torah sanctifies not only the human firstborn the Torah sanctifies the animal firstborn the cow not the cow but the the male you know the the bull the goat the sheep that they have K now here there are some very very practical implications if I have a cow and a cow gives birth to a bull which is its Bor the first time it's given birth that Bor so it depends if the Bor is an unblemished Bor it has to be given to a Coen and will be sacrificed as a Corban in the Bas of mikash that the Coen will eat the meat and even if the Bor has a blemish it breaks the leg so it cannot be sacrificed in the B mikdash it must still be given to the Coen for the co for himself now B we don't have a bik so the truth of the matter is this would create a great great dilemma if you're a farmer and you your animal gives birth to a Bor you are in big trouble now if the Bor has a blemish you give it to a Coen and the Cohen can have it and the Cohen can even distribute the meat to an and the like that's if it has a blemish but you're not allowed to make a blemish in a Bor so you're stuck if I have a Bor number one it's supposed to be a Corbin there's no Bas a mikash I'm not allowed to break its leg or even scratch it so it would have a mum to be M I'm not allowed to Shear its wool if it's a sheep I'm not allowed to milk it well milk milk wouldn't be relevant it's a but that's true anyway but I'm not allowed to do work with it and I'm not allowed to share it so it's a real real problem so the only thing the postum tell me to do if I'm stuck with that very very difficult situation is I'm allowed to scatter barbed wire throughout the yard so to speak SC so I can't make a mo but I can create an obstacle in which there would be a and then you give it to a Coen and the Coen can have it Sheed give it back to you to yes he could in other words it doesn't have uh it's not once it has a mum it doesn't have Holiness it just belongs to a Coen and the Coen can actually give it back to Israel now because of this the poim give us a very very simple bit of advice and that is the first mishna in MOS says that any animal which is owned in Partnership by a Jew and a non-jew the vad that is born from that animal does not have the sanctity of Bor so as a result if you're a Jewish farmer you're well advised you have livestock to sell the ear of your uh pregnant cow or goat or or sheep to a nonu be even a little tiny little part like an Earl and as a result that will be Mafia that will take away the Holiness of the B now I know myself of a case in Baltimore where there was a um a couple that were not religious initially who had a petting zoo you know with goats and sheep and you know animals like that and uh they had never heard about this thing about a before uh and they become religious and all of a sudden they realize that some of their animals are technically a Bor and they were stuck because once it's born a Bor with kadus you don't have the eights of selling it to a guy selling it to a guy or selling part of it to a guy works only before before the animal is born and you sell part of the mother uh to a g so they were really really stuck and you know it's very difficult especially with a sheep not to be able to Shear a sheep it's very uncomfortable for the Sheep itself because it keeps on growing and growing I'm not sure what wild sheep do exactly how they get around that problem uh but generally speaking there's a s issue and if a sheep Falls over and it's very loaded with wool it won't even be able to get up again so that's a difficult question so I'm just telling you in advance if any of you own a livestock uh be very very careful to be sure that the females uh before they give birth to their first child male well you don't know male or female uh to sell an ear to the non-jew now there's one more aspect that's even more peculiar and that is there is only one non kosher animal that has the sanctity of Bor and that's a a donkey a donkey now here the Tyra gives you two choices and we don't know all the reasons for this one is either the donkey has to be killed or the donkey can be Redeemed by a sheep that you give to a Coen now the Sheep is not a Corbin the Sheep is not a Corbin the Sheep is the coen's property to be Sheed and once again the Coen could then give it back to Israel or give the meat St up but the Sheep has to be given to the coed this is called pidion Peter the Redemption of the pet the one that opens the womb the donkey now this was a Mitzvah that is not done very often but it's experienced a bit of a Renaissance in recent years as people are looking okay you can question this you know for example sh looking for a bird to send away has become very very popular uh and pigeon pet is not as popular sh but it's uh it's getting up there in fact I know a a lawyer in Detroit a a firm lawyer in Detroit that as a sideline he arranges pigeon Petra throughout the United States because he knows about licensing and transporting transporting livestock across state lines is not so P but he kind of figures out how to uh do all of this so I if any of you are going to be in the states and you want to do a pigeon Petra uh we can arrange it and in ER Isel it's also done uh you see it on YouTube uh and and and and the like uh fact baby donkey really looked very very cute it was only a 30-day old donkey and they brought it into a bass medish strangely enough and it was wearing all sorts of fancy embroidered uh you know blankets and the like and the donkey was just looking around it had a really interesting time like what on Earth is going on and they gave the Sheep to a Coen the Sheep was lifted by the Coen a lamp and that was the Pig p what do they do what what is this if a person refuses doesn't want to do that to they well I've never heard of it but but is yeah is if you don't want to be you're to be now once again once again uh you can avoid all of these halos by simply selling when the pregnant female uh is carrying baby or even before you sell the ear and that's going to pter uh the whole business so be it as it may the ins and the outs are not easy to understand I I MIM to that uh but never nevertheless it is very very clear that the Holiness of in all of its manifestations is a it is to commemorate the makos and therefore it is a Mitzvah that connects us to is there any reason given for choosing a donkey of all the own kosher animals to yeah you're correct I donkey is obviously not a kosher animal and it's the only non- kosher animal that has the potential to be a Bor uh you know no other animal has that issue in fact even other kosher animals like deer there's no din of Bor it's only for cow sheep goats and Donkey that's the only only ones that you have it's connected a little bit because just as uh the Torah says that um no dog even wetted its tongue no dog barked Mak dogs normally sense the Mal and they were silenced not to scare uh the Jewish people and that's why there's actually a Mitzvah when you have non Kosher meat to feed it to the dogs as reward so donkeys we have a similar thing donkeys tend to Bray they also have a sense of males and they were silent so it's similar uh to the dog that the donkey is honored so to speak with a certain Holiness yeah so why not the dog you know you're right you're right in other words they're honored in two different ways you're correct the dog is honored by getting the meat and the donkey is honored by being redeemed so you can question who gets the better deal there I I I don't know but the point is both of them are sources of Honor because they did not respond to the Mal by the way a little thing about donkeys that that one should know uh you know donkey of course is exemplary of the stubborn animal right stubborn as a as a donkey but the truth is donkeys are not stubborn donkeys are very intelligent and they're very cautious so because of this they're more independent than horses so if you tell a donkey to walk down a path the donkey has to evaluate uh if it's safe so the stubbornness is actually independent thinking uh that might be a lesson to our own children right your children are not always stubborn uh sometimes they're thinking things out and that's actually a good uh that is actually a good a good quality okay so what I want to talk about today this was just finishing up I wanted to talk about oh one one other just one other thing uh people make a mistake uh and this may be obvious so forgive me if I'm just telling you the obvious pigeon Aben is not the 30th day after birth it is the 31st day after birth that actually means 30 days days must pass before you do pigeon AED now some postum even say it has to be 30 time 24 hours meaning to say the following if a child was born let's say 2 minutes before Shia you don't just count that as day one you have to have 30 periods of 24 hours so that might mean that even on day 31 you're not going to do pigeon aan you know in the morning you're going to have to wait till 5:30 P p.m. or whatever it is that's called M that is a however we do not require May some even say that by a bar mitzvah by the way they even say it has to be to the hour we don't p in that way but we do pin it has to be 30 days and you cannot do the pigeon event until day 31 so I I bring this up because people that have asked me shus this week about scheduling a pigeon event and and all of their questions were assuming piden is on day 30 which is actually not EMS it is day 31 okay but the next I want to talk about is the Mitzvah ofin and what's interesting is in parasin and Bor are mentioned in Ju position twice there is a parades sanctify every B and then it mentions again when Hashem brings you to the land you shall sanctify the B and in both of those paros back to back back to back we have a reference as well toilin and of course tan is also mentioned in the first paragraph of schma and in the second paragraph of shma so Fillin are mentioned four times in the Torah and of course in the thin the proverbial mysterious black boxes we do have the four paragraphs that talk about sh right sh is is Ines is in and is in B right these are the four paros ofin of course the wordin does not appear in the Torah uh what is the Tor in all four places you shall tie it as a sign now upon your hand let's read it just very literally doesn't even say arm it says and it should be what is to well the English gives us the helpful translation it shall be for filteries right so this is an example where translations work in the opposite direction normally I look at the English to understand the Hebrew I have to here I have to look at the Hebrew to understand the English oh Fela is are filling right but Fela is Greek actually and it means an adornment so the word toot means adornments and in fact the mishab when it talks about different types of jewelry that a woman can wear when there's no a it talks about a toet a a plate a decorative uh forehead adornment so toot means an dorment there'll be an adornment now it's interesting that this is one interesting case where the carites you know we know the Kim are still around not too many of them but they are still around and the kites do not accept the T the carites focus only on the biblical narrative because of this by the way the Kim became very very expert in dikduk and in tanak simply because that's essentially all they learned all they studied and what's interesting is to digress for a moment that that is why we have commentaries like the abarbanel who will sometimes quote kite biblical interpretations not not when they contradict but just in terms of words because the kar did get a great expertise in biblical interpretation uh of course A lot of times the barbanel and the eanz will quote them and argue with them but sometimes they will even quote them with approval in fact there's even an amazing story and it may be a legend you never know about these stories about the great revon he was the last of the Goon and many say the greatest of the gon Ravon un usual name raon and The Story Goes that his Yeshiva was right across the street from a monastery and one time they're learning uh some difficult passage in are you and go says to one of his why don't you go across the street and see how they understand it maybe they have a good understanding here so the student was like paralyzed he didn't know what to do just he just sat there with his mouth open and go and says what's the matter you think you can't learn from the go he says say you can see wisdom even among the Gentiles even though it's not Torah and we have a famous saying although I don't think it's from but the ramb brings it course ra is before the r accept the truth from whatever source so there was a tradition that of haon would even uh talk schmoo and learning so to speak with the people in the monastery over biblical interpretation but generally speaking there are Kar even today right there's a kite the synagogue and the light and what's interesting is that Kim wear situs at least the T if you walk into a kyite synagogue they will wear a Talis they do not wear tet and the reason is because they claim interestingly enough that this is an allegorical PK when it says you shall tie them on your hand and they should be an adornment between your eyes it is referring to the teachings of the shma the unity of God and loving God your hand is symbolic of Your Action and your between your eyes is symbolic of your brain and therefore it's as if the Torah is telling me that you should internalize these ideas in your mind and you should translate them into AC as a matter of fact we agree with that thought as I'll tell you in a moment but the way the kites do it is they say that they don't understand there to be a MIT fill in at all it is all understood as internalizing these teachings now the only reason we know that that's not the case is because we have an oral tradition that fill in are black and filler square and you have to have the four par but since they don't accept the veracity of the T they're actually correct might not automatically tell me there's a physical Mis F see this is an the reason I'm bringing this up is this is an interesting example of how is not always literal people think oh the simple meaning is always literal and the carites are always literal this is precisely an example where the carite interpretation is not literal because in contextual sense of the verse it actually refers to that PO potic nonliteral meaning soat and literal are not always the same sometimes is bka not literal and that's the position Forin but we of course have t so they do wear because in bidor you can't get out of it you shall tie the strings to your garment so they're kind of stuck with that another thing too they observe theim although different calendar but they don't blow chauffeur in rash because again again if you read the literally the word chaar is not mentioned in connection with Ros the word chaar is only mentioned by the Jubilee year every 50 years uh the only phrase that is used by R is y now we interpret trua is blowing of the chauffeur yeah we interpret that but they say trua can also mean shouting praying singing and therefore they actually observe the holiday of rashash without Chau far very very interesting um but be it as it may uh Aris of course is that fill in are the proverbial black boxes that contain the four paros now the basic idea of Fillin however spiritually is exactly not that I want to give credit to the kites but the spiritual idea of Fillin is exactly what the kir say but we have to concretize it in a Mitzvah and that is every single morning a man who puts Onin is dedicating his physical strength to God his mind his intellect and his emotions that's why the Fain is on the left hand ked the which is said to be the seed of emotion Raji y points out a very beautiful idea by cabala SA the Jewish people said nishma and the meaning of nishma is we agree to hashem's Commandments even before we know what they are if they would have said nishma the the other way around that would have meant what nishma let's hear what you're offering us and then we'll see if we'll do it is giving Kadesh a blank check Nas we're gonna do it now tell us what you want us to do so not the greatness of nishma is unconditional submission to the will of God that's a wonderful thing I don't need to know what it is whatever it is I'm going to try to do it it's a wonderful thing Raj writes every morning the filling is an individualized because by putting on the filling of the hand before I put on the filling of the head I am pledging my action before my cognition you see it's m you put on the Y before the RO because that is how the Torah was accepted and every single day the man who puts on Fillin is accepting the Torah in that way um I I often tell people you know there one needs to know one is uh not fully observant yet that wearing Fillin is totally independent of the Mitzvah of daving so let's say a person says I'm not ready to dve I'm not going to dve in shakas for a half an hour or 45 minutes it's too much I'm not going to do it okay he not ready yet but you could still tell the person put on fillan and take it off put on Fillin and take it off you have fulfilled two positive Commandments because they count this two in the 613 the Mitzvah of head filling of hand filling the Mitzvah of head Fillin now it's true that it is proper to read the shma with Fillin as well says He who reads shma in the morning without Fillin is giving false testimony because um you say ukart you're saying there's a Mitzvah F okay that's fine but if he's not ready to do that Fillin is a MIT it's a separate Mitzvah and I find I found myself in people that filling is often a Gateway you know people ask what's the Gateway Mitzvah so some say chabas is a major Gateway obviously kashus is a major Gateway but chabas and kashus can be very very difficult there's a lot of things to do on chabas Etc a kis might be difficult for people depending on where they are it's not so difficult uh but Fain can often be a Gateway people do feel inspired there actually is something about pledging my strength my emotions my mind to connect to aades it's a beautiful beautiful thing so and as raj says this is AAS Cabas now we did discuss I don't want to repeat the whole discussion that under the RCT a woman is exempt fromin precisely because it is time bound because we don't wear Fillin on chabas but based on the normal Dynamic of Hal it should appear that a woman would be allowed to put Onin and even uh make a bra on them according to ASM and yet the Rama brings does bring that not only is a woman exempt from Fillin but BisMan a woman should not put on Fillin becausein have special requirements regarding uh the Goof hygiene if a man for example has diarrhea or something he also would not put on fill since a woman has uh nid issues in different flows so uh it was considered to be inadvisable now whether that does apply when hygienic conditions change is an interesting debate meaning it's not a cut and dry I don't want to get in trouble here but it is not a cut and dried rule that a woman cannot wear filling based on contemporary conditions it is at least a debatable issue but as you know yourself the Min still is that generally speaking women do not um in the state I'm not sure what's going on here I haven't heard anything here but in the states it's a little bit of an issue in uh certain uh modern Orthodox co-ed Community Schools coet high schools where a lot of the student body might be conservative or reform homes that occasionally women girls do come in and they put on Fillin and uh you know they're not rebelling this is just their Min so to speak and the principal is confronted with uh the issue and the principal says well listen this is the minog of their family Min okay Min okay I mean it's coming from conservative reform but it's a you know it's a difficult issue so um I I if I I'm not going to be I'm not going to be outraged over this I'm not going to condemn it uh it is true the RMA brings that the Min is not to but the Rama gave a reason that may be less applicable today uh but the one thing that I can say unequivocally in which there's no makus whatsoever is women are clearly exempt from villain because it's a now notice that I said this is important that is because we don't wearin on shabas or yto now you might ask me well why didn't I also add we don't wear fill in at night wouldn't that also be a reason so the answer is it's very interesting we actually pasin that dillin can be worn at night but there's a rinic decree not to wear Fillin at night lest you fall asleep in them which would be disrespectful but is in and therefore that wouldn't be the reason to exempt women but shab and yam are not so let's go back a little bit why is that well well that that itself is meaning isus in the if Lila is zamanin or not the one that now there is an opinion that says Lila is not Z and based on thatas but we not that way we actuallya is and it's only a Gaz lest you fall fall asleep now so why don't we we to fill in on chabas yeah that's right so it says uh that filling is called a sign it is a sign of our relationship with God and the Jewish male has another sign the Brit Mila of their relationship with God and the Torah says Al you should always have two witnesses to affirm your identity and shab shabas is called a sign so therefore it turns out that during the week the two signs are Brit andin on chabas I don't needin because I have chabas chabas is the side now what's interesting is the Balor one of the him says quite an amazing thing very very amazing thing he says if a Jew did not have a Brit mea now obviously this would be for medical reasons I mean any Jew who doesn't have a bris intentionally is not going to worry about filling I can't imagine that but but let's ass because of Sak he did not have a bris so that means that during the week he only has one sign filling but NE what else could he do on chabas he should wearin so at least one day a week he'll have two sides he'll have chabus and he'll havein since he doesn't have bris so the Baler actually says a person who did not have a bris should wearin even even on chabas um do we pass in that way it's hard to know this is not a hypothetical that happens uh very often all I can say is that the Mish bre does not bring such a thing so our assumption is if it wasn't brought probably we don't pass the way but you don't really know yeah seems of uh not putting on filling on chabas because you already have you have base ate him but but the says so you're saying the is if you can have three why not have three that's a good uh that that's a good question yeah yeah um maybe this as as a woman how do you understand that since you don't have those things well you know this is much more of a of a of a general broad broad question and the standard mahalik now again some people call it apologetic but but the standard mahalik is that a lot of the externalized manifestations of faith in Gods uh women are in less spiritual need of because they've internalized the Muna to a much greater degree so the standard you know the standard answer uh is that this is not something a woman's n needs because she's internalized the idea of amuna now I know some people get angry with that uh but but but but I I think in amuna at least in particular I think there's a real truth just my own experience dealing with different people uh women are very great in amuna remember they didn't sin with Theo they had auna that Moshe would be coming down uh they didn't sin with the morum they had faith that we will be be successful in ER to well so amuna again I'm not generalizing Every Woman every man is this every woman is this but women have excelled throughout the history of Cl Isel in their really un undiluted Ines so it's not so ra to say that these externalized manifestations of amuna are are less necessary for somebody who internalize them uh in their own lives yeah I'm sorry um two questions one is if if you can in your schedule take time um to explain the thing about rashi's daughter I think it was yes that's one thing okay and the second thing um there are groups I know who they were to filling all day and I thought that when you were to filling you have to concentrate always that it's and it's impossible so how is that all okay so yeah so let me talk about that a little bit um if you read the gamarra in Bros and the like it's very very clear that there was a widespread practice uh for men to wear tfillin the whole day I mean they would go to work they would be wearing tfillin tfillin is what a Jewish person uh what a Jewish person wore uh over the years that became less uh done because you're with the non-jews and and and the like uh but the vagon wanted to himself reestablished it and in the ziler system which is following the minhag of the Von uh the kids Bar Mitzvah boys work to fill in the whole day I I remember I happened to Once be there right before chabas it really was almost like a bunch of angels walking around they're all dressed up in their shining white shirts and they're still wearing fillan until the last minute until right before chabas so they're just walking around with with beautiful a beautiful site now here is the issue though it is brought down that when a person wears filling they're not allowed to engage in idle conversation and they're not allowed to have levity fool arounds col now they are allowed to go to work I mean they're allowed to go to work they're allowed to cook food they're allowed to do regular activities in other words they don't have to just learn or doin they can do their regular life but you have to be very uh serious and conscientious as a result it was thought that in later generations most people are not able to live at that standard so if I had for example a boy in Yeshiva who wanted a words it's fill in all day I can promise you the rabam would discourage him from doing it they would say this is not what we do we're not always on the madrea uh to do it uh and and the like but for the greatest sikim uh it's a good thing R shinberg in our generation r p shinberg in addition to the 100 pairs of SES that he wore which is another another issue but maybe it's a little less known that he actually wore filling the whole day and even when he was he had he had very small fillings so he he could cover it up with his hat even when he was on an airplane he had a hat and you know he was wearing uh wearing Fillin so there were people and as I saying the zberman school they even have the uh the kids uh the kids do it I'm not sure it's interesting well do they have recess I don't know I don't know I'm not sure how that works out I think there's a real problem now it could be they could take it off and put it on again meaning the way it's filling works is even if you wear it the whole day it doesn't mean it's on you the whole day for example going to the bathroom you take it off and you make a new braa so it could be it's entirely permissible I take it off for recess let's have some let's have some fun in the art and then I'll put it on again meaning uh that's possible you could take it off and put it on many times and you still have the Mitzvah of you know wearing it for a prolonged Peri per but it doesn't mean that you're in a straight jacket that you're not allowed to ever you know uh have some some recreational fun activity now with rashi's daughters just just to mention that there is a well one thing is one woman who for sure warts fill in because this is recorded in the gamar is mik b sha it says beish in the gamar that mik the daughter of sha War f it problem is mik is an ambiguous edent so to speak because on one hand she was righteous on the other hand you know she was criticized because she criticized doid for dancing so it's not really clear if mikal is a legitimate legitimating precedent or maybe it's a negative precedent meaning and that's why there are two texts there are two gearos in the gamar uh geara number one says w the did not protest which may mean they allowed it or approved it there's another Gea did protest have two in the gamar so that's the one case we know for sure the second case is a tradition which many historians say is not true so I I don't know and that is that Rashi did not have sons Rashi had daughters rashi's daughters were very learned and here I think it is recorded that he taught he learned kamor with them so uh in terms of women learning gamar that I think we do have a fairly clear precedent for uh but uh the legend has it that rashi's daughters or at least some of them W Fillin but I think most historians say that's an unsubstantiated Google says it's leg I didn't hear Google oh Google says okay that's that's probably where I got it from okay yeah yeah yeah yeah I I look at R Google also anyway I think all of us uh regard it as our as our rebi okay um yeah so uh you know you know you never know now it's interesting that uh just as little aside about rashi's daughters you know one of the M that's very obscure m a little bit is that deals with vows and and masor does have a commentary of Rashi like every M but uh on the outer margin is a commentary of the r which is much longer and in unless you're doing it you do the Rashi everyone skips the Rashi and everyone learns the ran the ran is the standard commentary for narim and almost nobody unless they're really M and everything almost nobody even looked I mean when I learned theorm n Isel uh for for a year uh we did not look at Rashi once I don't recall even in Shear the rebi bringing up what was called Rashi it's obscure it's difficult uh whatever but I I hope this is not the reason but uh some say that the commentary on madim was written by one of rashi's daughters now I hope I hope that that is not the reason is it is not studied uh but you know who knows uh but they do say that uhor and na both both M where the Rashi is not studied some attributed to to rash's rashi's daughters so they were great uh great um see is an ambiguous word in Translation does mean a wise student or a student of the wise that would be if it's a student of otherwise then even when you're talking about a woman she you still have because you're not modifying the T saying she just do right to that question of how you how you say that and and and the like okay so that's the idea of shabas now just to go over this shabas and Y of course are both the same no is a huge mlus as you know because on one hand it does have some s of Y but it's not completely a y it's and that is why there are different some wear some with a some without a and some don't we fill at all the of most of both among is not to wear to fill in uh but it's not Universal there are there are yis for example who will still wearin even in ER Isel uh and if that was your Min you're not to discard it but clown many ashaz even if they wore fillan uh back in the US or wherever uh will stop wearing of course in a way I mean there is a logical connection here because inel is observed very differently thano uh back in the United States uh in the United States uh there's more of a than there is a mo meaning to say just like Mitzvah more bar than Mitzvah but anyway but uh so in in America it's more than Mo so you know it kind of makes sense like what you go to work you drive around you do everything but when it comes toin I treat it like y I mean listen if you're treating Ki like a weekday you ought to wear chillan I mean it's only Forin that all of a sudden you're saying can't where fing but in I mean sometimes it's very frustrating you want to go shopping you want to get something you have some extra time you know everything's closed this is closed that is closed but but so it's it's frustrating on some level but it's good it's good that that is mish considered to be part of the so this is not the reason why it developed this way but in a way it it makes more sense in erel to treat it like a yump that you don't wear it's fill in then it might be in uh then it might be in in okay um anyway you know the gar says in makos if you treat moadim with disrespect so you lose your and Rashi says in makos refers to meaning it doesn't say uh it's not referring to desecrating y it's referring to not treating with the requisite respect so it's something that uh you know all of us uh need to be need to be aware of the the kadus of of of okay so be it as it may we did we did explain why the Yad precedes the RO because of nishma but there's another interesting point about Yad and Ro that is both that's fill in of the hands and the filling of the head contain the identical four paragraphs of in other words and then Kadesh right four in the Y four in the RO but they're written in a very different way in the ad they are written on one piece of parchment four paragraphs written on one big fat piece of parchment that's then rolled up and put in the box in the RO they are written in four separate small parchments that are inserted in four compartments right so if you look at it's fill in chel Ro you will see four compartments literally and if you open it up up you'll see there are four inside compartments that inserted right so here once again following Raj there's an understanding of that idea as well and that is the fenel RO represents our attempt to understand Hashem understand the Torah learning by defin by definition is sequential I understand one idea then I understand another idea by definition it has to be compartmentalized because you learn a little at a time but the commitment to action meaning my commitment to the ratem is absolute meaning to say iish I commit even before I understand and then I attempt to understand in a gradual sequential organized way it reflects the idea that I got to start with the commitments which is total undifferentiated and then I sequentially try to understand a little bit at a time now here this is the basis of the huge mes Rashi and Raben and that is it's starts off as Aus about thein Shel Ro thein Shel Ro and that is the order in which the paragraphs are put in the Shell Ro we have four compartments right so uh rashi's position is you follow the order of the Torah now in the order of the Torah it would be Kadesh because both of them are in Bow then you'd have sh and so you're following the order of the Torah kades going from actually and you're going from the right but not the right of the one wearing to fill in the right from the perspective and you're looking at me so from your right right to left right to left looking at me Kadesh meaning order of tah according to rabenu who is rashi's own grandson uh it goes and then you start from the other end so the so the are in the middle are in the middle now you might say who cares but the point is this is very very important the gamar has a that the say there of the parot the order of the parot are they affect the kasas of thein so if you were to wear yourin with the wrong order of the parot the F puzle which means for RAB to wear rashi's fill he would not be Y and for Rashi to wear A's he would not be o so even though we don't necessarily understand logically why this is such a big issue this is some this is not just a mitvah or orra or a Min this actually affects the kis of theill so this immediately gives rise to really one of the most difficult questions in history how does such a m has ever developed I mean rabenu was rashi's own grandson and until rabam who lived in the 1100s theill that were worn were following again it's not even rash the standard practice was order of the Torah so comes rabam and essentially declares based on his reading of Gomorrah that the whole Jewish world is Doing It Wrong nobody is United States Fillin my grandfather Rashi has never warned Fillin in his lifetime huh I mean how do how do you get that I mean there are really a few questions meaning how can R simply posle what everybody was doing so on that the answer is well R time is not the first one to invent this if you go back in Jewish history you will find there always were these two views in the ancient ganas you find it's filling in different Arrangements there always were these two views and they're simply arguing over which should be the Hally valid view but even if you say that Rashi and are not The Originators of this m okay it's an old M but you could still ask how did the M start I mean was given by Hashem to Moshe presumably in Moser renu's time he told us exactly what we're supposed to do now is a for that you do every you know six days a week so how do you getus about that meaning I understand on occasional things things that don't happen that often so people don't remember that happens in SCH all the time you know do you say him on a given shabas right that's the old story about the new Rabbi that was hired by the show and immediately there was some question do you say this do you say that and some people were yelling say it and some say don't say it so the rabbi didn't know really because he didn't know what the SCH Min was so he asks an Oldtimer he says what's the Min here he says the Min here we fight about it this is this is this is our Min everywhere so so when you have occasional issues okay there could beus people don't remember but when you have something that's done every day like who's the first you know sare who deviated from the practice it's a it's a bit of a mystery like H how do you introduce uh a disunity or a non-conformity in a Mitzvah that's that's done constantly but nevertheless it is brought down that Rashi and are not The Originators of this Theus goes all the way back so a regular PA Fillin is Rashi right so if you buyin you're buying Rashi R time is special order most people do not wear but the says if a person is a he will try to fulfill both opinions and have and as you know uh it is most common among and many who follow this and uh there are two ways of doing it the way do it is they wear rashi's Fillin for most of daving till the middle of karat or whatever it is and then they take off the Rashi and they put on R that's how do it many maybe you've seen this they actually wear both filling at the same time they have smaller Fillin they'll wear a ro side by side and they'll wear no double here of course they have to have smaller Boton to be able to locate everything in the right location of the arm and on the on the head and they actually wear twoin at once and thear says beish that um that M there is a place in the head on the head they have two pairs of ofet soer the great T of the Von once asked the Von uh why didn't he wear aillet the Von didn't wear a and the vill said well why should I well there you want to be all the different views of so the Von said if I wanted to be all the different views ofin I would have to wear 67 Pairs ofin and the Von went through every single m not just between those two among all the commentators and you want to be say everybody you're going to have to have 67 pairs of F and since the billon says I'm not able to do that he said says why why should I only want to beash which is only a single and therefore the V only wore rash but do do do both there are actually other arrangements as well sh for example has has a m that the rebi only the rebi the rebi would wear a third Arrangement ofin that's called Shima andab likes to point out that when the fre re gave a pair of shim Rober fing to that was in effect validating him to be the next rebi uh if you're not the rebi you're not you know you don't wear this third pair of of Fillin uh and uh and and the like what's the I you know I honestly don't remember I'll I'll check it I I don't remember but is a different order yeah forgive me you didn't quite say where did the come from to I I didn't answer it I I don't know all I'm saying is it didn't start with Rashi R so if you look at thei you will see like meaning there were proofs that go all the way back in ganas if you go to chyoa other ginas uh Mada even you will find Fillin in both configurations so there was an ancient tradition that there were at least two ways they fill in were organized uh but as I say the is which should be the yeah maybe that's why it says because of two well well uh again though I mean I wouldn't call that a proof because under any Arrangement it is four compartments compart I either way it's four compartments yeah I don't say this is cly not the reason for why the between but it seems it seems interesting that Rashi holds and here he goes he goes with to M here here he follows the chronological think yeah very good I I hear the I hear the hor uh they do again they tell the Legends no Rashi himself worked fill in the whole day and uh the legend goes when R little rabeno Yakov Ben mayor was a was a little child on rashi's knee he pulled up he pulled out his father's fill and Sh R and pulled it off just like you know so you know who who who knows and and the like yeah what did R do uh the rambam followed Rashi the r followed Rashi fing in fact as I say it's a it's a little bit of a misnomer just like I'll give you another example we talk about Rashi you know the special Rashi there nothing to do with Rashi it's a regular font that was used in many many theas reason why it's called Rashi script is not because Rashi BFA wrote it that way but because the very first Hebrew book that was printed uh was Rashi that the very first Hebrew Book and they used that fun so it became known as rashi's so the same thing when we talk about rashi's filling it happens to be rashi's opinion but he he did not originate this he was just codifying what the standard practice had already been so Rashi was not the inventor of this nor nor was R the inventor of his these are two very ancient traditions and the M ISS how do we Pas and as I say I will leave it as a bit of a mystery how did two Divergent Traditions emerge in that way since fill in is something that is daily it's not an occasional thing I'm sorry uh some oh yeah there the say that to to the way the P appear in the Trad correct yes yes so so why why then do we no no I want to point out I'm sorry I I should have made it clear the the sameus of the RO is also in the Y meaning to say now here's a bit of a subtlety though meaning according to it is and Kadesh same thing but but but here is a subtlety this is going to be an amazing subtle even r that the paros have to be written in the order of the Torah even though they're placed not in the order of the Torah which means if I'm a sare and I'm writing fill in so according to Rashi it's simple I write kades like this is what I have to do I write shma I then skip the size of I write and then I go back and I write in other words according to you write one in other words in in the Y it's one two 43 but you have to write it 1 two 3 4 okay you get it know there's one you write it one two skip three uh skip the third one write kades and then go back there is a fill inad as well yeah well is that I don't I don't remember have toite order if you skip you can't go back and put it there that's correct it's filling them it's exact it's exactly the same this is why and have to be written in order now that that means it's almost impossible if you have a letter in thein that's pule you can't just fix the letter because you wrote it out of order because all the stuff that came afterwards was written before this letter so that's why by and muza uh it's very depending on the pil it's a very technical area but generally speaking you will not be able to fix them but how you How do you how do you do it how do you do it with r because he's writing out of order no the same thing you wrote you wrote it in order that's that's what I'm saying even like R you wrote it in order that's that's the sh Shad no even the shalad you skipped in other words you wrote skiing considered be out of order no no you no you you just skipped it you didn't write anything in other words uh you wrote kades before even though appears before Kadesh yeah yeah I just want to point out that Hashem has ra that there's no such for a safer Torah because imagine the situation where every time you had a p a cracked letter in a safer Torah the whole Torah could not be repaired that would have been uh an enormously difficult situation so a safer Torah does not have to be written in order and therefore a pule letter can be corrected without having to rewrite everything that comes after that pule letter but Forza there is a indeed a den of CID and that's even true like R where the placement of both the yach and the RO is not considered okay we'll stop here have a good week a good because