Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Living Jewishly podcast.

00:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
And now, my dear friends, we're going to open the floor for your questions. I'm so excited this is the most exciting part of the class, in my opinion is hearing your magnificent questions. So we will start. You were in the middle. You wanted to ask earlier.

00:23
Yes, that is an excellent question what do you do when you have a bar mitzvah or a family affair, and you have family coming from all over and you want to give everyone an honor, and what are you going to do? You only have eight aliyahs and you can't give siblings one after the other. So what are you going to do? You have to be very creative. That's the answer you have to figure out. I'm one of seven? Okay, I'm one of seven. Yes, so when we get together yes, so you know, some might have to get different honors you give someone to be the chazen, the leader for the shachar service, and want to be the leader for the mincha service and want to be the leader for the musaf service, and you'll give you have to. You know, the halacha says not to do it. So what I? I'll give you an example. For my son's bar mitzvah Family came in. So what do we do? So I had to split them up in a different way. So I gave my father an aliyah and then I gave my father-in-law an aliyah, and then I can give one of my siblings an aliyah, and then I gave one of my brothers-in-law an aliyah. You understand? So you can go and that way you separate they're not brothers and they're not direct family members and that they're not brothers and they're not direct family members and that you can do so. You have to find a way to make it work. Also, the Chagba and the Glila. And, by the way, I had it all written out in advance before Shabbos and gave it to the Gabbai in advance. This is who gets the Kohen. This is who gets the Levi. This is who gets the 3rd, 4th, 5th, fifth, sixth, seventh and the Mafter Elias. And this is who gets the Haftorah. This is who's going to be the chazen for Kabbalat, shabbat and Ma'ariv, friday night. This is going to be the chazen for Shacharis. It always changes, by the way, but it's good to have it down, because then at least you know who. The characters list.

02:22
I also wrote their full Hebrew name, because when someone is called to a Torah, they're called by their Hebrew name and their father's Hebrew name. So if someone is, my name is Aryeh, that's my only name, I don't have a second name, and my father's name is Avraham, that's his only name, so it would be Aryeh ben Avraham. They would say Ya'amod, they're calling me up. Stand up. Aryeh ben Avram, yisrael, right Now. They don't say Yisrael only for a Kohen and a Levi. They'll say a Kohen or a Levi, but they'll say Shlishi, the third Aliyah, or the fourth Aliyah, or the fifth Aliyah. They'll call you up for that. If you're coming instead of a Kohen because there is no Kohen there, they'll say bimkom Kohen in the place of a Kohen. Or if there is no Levi, so you don't call the Yisrael instead of the Levi, you call the Kohen instead of the Levi and they'll say Kohen, bimkom Levi, the Kohen in the place of a Levi.

03:21
Now, someone who is a convert. They will say Ben Avraham as well, because we're the sons of Abraham, our patriarch, so they'll give whatever their name that they took upon themselves when they converted. So let's say it's Chaim, so they'll pick Chaim Ben Avraham. Some will say Avraham, avinu Avraham, our patriarch, but that's not necessary. You can just say Avram and that's just like me. I always tell people I'm just like a convert. It's Arya ben Avram, right? All right, so that's an excellent question. Thank you very, very much. I appreciate it. Yes, right, so the Sephardic have a custom that they just want to give as many honors.

04:02
It's also good fundraising because they sell the aliyahs, so they just add, they can add and add and add as many as they want, because as long as you're reading three verses, it's another aliyah. So when there's a family celebration they can have 10 mosifin, right, they can add many as many. I don't think there's a prohibition to how many as long as there's three verses being read. So what they'll do is usually, by the sixth aliyah, they'll start shortening the aliyahs and make it so that they can fit as many as they need. But it needs to be pre-planned appropriately by the Gabbai with the rabbi's council. That's a very good question. Thank you, yes, three questions. I love it. You're free, you get free. Very good, when the person raising the Torah raises up the Torah and we said it should be the people on the right, the people in the left, the people in the front and the people in the back, it's to the person who is raising up the Torah, so they're facing east, so then it's the people on the south that go first, so the people on the right, then the people on the left. Okay, so it's from where you're standing, very good question.

05:21
Question number two so, according to halacha, a female is not included in the quorum of a minion. You need to have 10 male adults over the age of 13. Women are fabulous. Women are on a pedestal, but they have different roles. Okay, they have very, very different, unique roles, very special roles. This is, women themselves can get together. We mentioned this last week. Women themselves can get together and have their own minion and they can do their own Torah reading as well. All right, so this is an interesting thing. We're just going to go into a little. Very great question.

05:59
Okay, how does lineage work? So it goes by your father to son, father to son. If my father is a Yisrael, I'm a Yisrael. If my father's a Kohen, I'm a Kohen. If my father's a Levi, I'm a Levi. Okay, now the daughters as well.

06:15
A daughter, a single daughter, follows her father's lineage. Her father's a Kohen. She is a Kohen, a bas Kohen. She's the daughter of a Kohen If she's a bas Levi. If her father's a Levi, she's the daughter of a Levi. When she gets married, she becomes whatever her husband is. My daughter, for example, is a perfect example. My daughter married a Kohen. She is now a Kohen. Now what is it relevant today? It's relevant in the following ways A Kohen does not do the mitzvah of Pidyon HaBen.

06:49
Pidyon HaBen is the redeeming of the firstborn. A Kohen or a Levi or a daughter of a Kohen or a daughter of a Levi do not perform the mitzvah of redeeming the firstborn son, the mitzvah of redeeming the firstborn son. So my daughter, god willing, she should have a healthy, beautiful baby whenever she decides to have one with her husband. When they have a baby boy, they will not do a pidyon haben. Why? Because she's married to a Kohen and as a Kohen, that baby will be a Kohen, but that baby will not be required in that mitzvah of pidyon haben. And, as a Kohen, that baby will be a Kohen, but that baby will not be required in that mitzvah of Pirin Aben.

07:31
Another idea to understand in the time of the temple, kohen had a very good life. Aside for the honors they get for the Aliyah, kohen is a great life. You know why the Kohen is a great life? Because they would get all the gifts from the Jewish people. They would bring their tithes to the temple. And who would get it? The Kohen would get it.

07:52
The Kohens had steak dinners every night. Are you kidding? All the offerings? The Kohen was allowed to eat it, not anyone else. Hazara, ha-karev, yuma Someone who wasn't a Kohen who would eat it would be put to death.

08:05
Only the Kohen can benefit from it. It's a great privilege. Now, a daughter of a Kohen can have that benefit until she gets married. If she gets married to a non-Kohen, she loses that status. Now, if she's a Yisrael, like my daughter who gets married to a Kohen, she begins to benefit from that. Okay, so the Kohen men were really sought out, especially when they were as good as my son-in-law. Okay, they were sought out because you know who doesn't want to have free steak dinner every night? It's a great livelihood. Oh, so that's correct. Very good, excellent question.

08:48
So what happens? Is there any exception to a Yisrael who does not have a Pidyon? Haben on the firstborn son. The answer is yes. If there is any, okay, the obligation for the redemption of the firstborn is only when this firstborn son is born as the opening of the womb of the mother. So if there was God forbid a miscarriage, that firstborn is not the firstborn opening of the womb. If there was God forbid an abortion, same thing applies If the baby wasn't born naturally, meaning through a regular birth, meaning it was a cesarean or a C-section, then it's not either qualified to have a pigeon or a ben. There are other reasons that would disqualify, but it's a very great question. Thank you for bringing that out. So even in Israel there are times that they would not.

09:55
Or again, if the mother is the daughter of a Kohen or a Levi, I remember my first cousins, their father, my father's sister's husband is a Levi. I remember my first cousins, their father, my father's sister's husband is a Levi. His daughters married, some of them married Yisrael men, and now lost their Levi status. Right, they become Yisrael. Yisrael. Their children do not have a pigeon in a bed because they're a daughter of a levy. Okay, so that's yes, right, so it's considered to be a baby of a Kohen. Notwithstanding that, so great question, let me repeat the question. Those of you who are listening on podcast, I'm doing my best.

10:41
So what happens if a woman is married to a Kohen and then, tragically, while the woman is pregnant with her firstborn son, the father dies, and now the baby is born to a Yisrael woman because she goes back to her father's home and the Kohen father had passed away already. Would this baby have a Pidgin of Ben? The answer is no, because it is the baby of a Kohen father had passed away already. Would this baby have a pigeon to bend? The answer is no, because it is the baby of a Kohen. Even though the Kohen father is no longer alive, the child will also be a Kohen. Even though his father is not alive, the child will be a Kohen. And even if she remarries if she remarries a Yisrael this son stays a Kohen. The other children she has from the new husband will be Yisrael or Levi or whatever they are. Whatever, the husband is Very interesting. Yes, great question. Okay, bring it A woman who's Yisrael marries a Kohen, so she becomes a Kohen, right?

11:40
So that's a very good question. A woman who's married to a Kohen and is enjoying the benefits of the offerings and the gifts that are brought to Jerusalem, to the temple, our husband sadly dies, does she have to go back to her father's house or can she stay with her parents? It's an excellent question. If she has children, she remains the Kohen's family. If she is single, she goes back to heren's family. If she is single, she goes back to her father's home. Okay, If she did not have any children, so that child will anchor her into the Kohen family and unless she gets remarried, and then that will go to whoever her new husband is. But once she has the child, she is anchored she's the anchor mom, not the anchor baby into that Kohen status.

12:34
That's an excellent question, isn't that a beautiful Torah we have? You show to the right, you show to the left Right. So what many people do. Again, the halach is very clear about how it should be done here in the Kitzar Shulchan Aruch as well as in the Mishnah Baruch, of exactly how the Torah should be shown to the congregation. In many congregations they just do a circle around to simplify things and make it so that people who may not know the exact order shouldn't get confused, because many times when you're called up in public you're like ah, you know, you're all frazzled, like I don't know what to do. Just make a circle around and that's fine. Again, the idea here is that you need to show the letters of the Torah to people all around the congregation. Everyone should have a piece of it.

13:22
Now it's very special in many congregations they will have the Torah walk around the entire congregation so that everybody gets the opportunity to kiss the Torah, to escort the Torah. But sometimes that's not possible either because it's a smaller synagogue. If you look at some of the synagogues that they had back in Poland, they were very small synagogues. I was in the Ramoszul in Ramoszul in Krakow. It's not a very big synagogue Like so people were crammed. I mean imagine the people standing in the back were not able to run up to the Torah to follow the Torah.

13:54
But you try to do the best you can. Rachman Ali Babai, our Torah, tells us we see this all over the words, the teachings of our sages. God, over the words and teachings of our sages, god wants our hearts, he wants our devotion. We have to do the best we can. God doesn't expect more than that. Yes, sir, that is an excellent question. Okay, I'm reminded now, thank you.

14:17
Okay, in the Sephardic congregations, when they do Chagba and they raise up the Torah, the Torah scroll is facing outward and everybody sees it. So that's why they turn around like that. That's correct, thank you. And someone points with the Torah to show exactly where they're about to read, because they do the Chagba also before the Torah reading Right, very, very such a good point. Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention.

14:49
In the Ashkenazic, where the scroll is held up, facing towards the person who is doing the Chagba, lifting up the Torah, he turns to the left, showing it to the people on the right. He turns to the right, showing it to the people on the left, right, because, again, they're seeing the opposite of what you're. So that's right. That's a very good point. Thank you, thank you so much. Mind blown. Right, there we go. Thank you so much. This is excellent. Right, you're on an information overload, okay, so that's a very good point.

15:18
So for those of you, I recommend, if you can find on, maybe on YouTube you can see how the Sephardic, maybe we should produce it. Right, produce a video of the Sephardic how they hold up the Torah, the Ashkenazic how they do it. It might be a worthwhile demonstration. But, thank you, thank you for pointing that out. I totally, totally forgot about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, perfect, perfect, okay. So I will try blinader without promise. Okay, I will try to remember to do that, thank you. Thank you, that's an excellent, excellent question. I appreciate that so much. Okay, so the person who goes? Okay, great question. I'm going to explain with the answer, so those of you who are listening will understand what the question was. No-transcript.

16:08
When a person comes up to receive the aliyah, the person who reads the Torah will show them exactly where we're about to read. The person who is getting the aliyah will many times take their talis, kiss the letters with the talis, now holding both handles. They're not holding the handles. That's for the person who's reading the Torah, that's not for the person who gets the Aliyah. The person reciting the blessing who gets the Aliyah is the one who holds both handles of the Torah, continues to hold it while reciting the blessing. Only as soon as they're done with the blessing, they leave, go of the left hand that the person reading from the Torah can look in with them. Okay, they stand on the right and they release from the left hand so that the person reading the Baal Kore, the person reading from the Torah, can look in with them and they can shoot Correct and uses the right hand on the Yod. Very good, no, no, no. So, very good, very good.

17:14
So what they do is the Sephardic great question Sephardic. The way they do the Chagba is the Torah is in a casing. They open up the casing and then they turn the Torah around while it's on the table and then the person who does Chagba lifts it up when it's already facing outward the scroll, the text is facing outward. They lift it up and then they turn it to show it to the congregation. They don't take it out of the casing, it stays in the casing. They lift up the casing with scroll that's inside it, meaning the person who does the Chagba, the person who does the Chagba, he, the individual who does the Chagba, turns the casing around with the text showing outward and then lifts up and shows it to the community. It stays in the casing at all times.

18:04
Yeah, you got to go see a Sephardic synagogue to see how this is done, right? It's very special, very, very special. It's worthwhile. You know, most Ashkenaz who don't frequent in a Sephardic have no idea how it's. It's the same Torah, it's the same command. They do the exact same thing but differently. So it's worthwhile visiting seeing how it's so beautiful to see how the different customs from different locations, how they do it. Now it's worthwhile visiting seeing how it's so beautiful to see how the different customs from different locations how they do it. Now, it's because everyone has a different understanding of how to respect the Torah. As we learned in our Thinking Talmudist class just this Friday and previous Friday is that everyone has a different way and they're both right. It doesn't mean you follow both ways, they're both right. Okay, any other questions? Yes, so very good question On Rosh Chodesh what can you do, extra aside for the prayers, to add to the celebration of Rosh Chodesh?

19:06
Rosh Chodesh is the first day of every month. Sometimes it is celebrated with two days the last day of the previous month and the first day of every month. Sometimes it is celebrated with two days the last day of the previous month and the first day of the new month. This Rosh Chodesh that we just had last Thursday, rosh Chodesh Shabbat, was only one. Rosh Chodesh Adar is going to be two days, I believe, and what happens is is that, aside for the prayers, that we add Yalevi Yavo and we add Halel and we add Musaf and we add Torah reading?

19:36
It is a special mitzvah to have a festive meal on Rosh Chodesh. In fact, our sages tell us that the same promise that is given that all of your expenses for Shabbos are covered by the Almighty, that, even if you don't have, you can borrow and God says I will pay it back. The same applies for Rosh Chodesh, so you can go to the nice restaurant of your choice nice kosher restaurant order your fat steak and you know who's paying for it Hashem. All right, if you do it in honor of Rosh Chodesh, it is 100% going to be covered by the Almighty. And when you have the stories of how you find that you suddenly got another check for $120 to cover your tomahawk steak, I want to hear that story because it will happen. It's a promise from the Almighty. It's a promise from the Almighty that when you do special for Shabbos and for holidays and for Rosh Chodesh, it's covered by the Almighty. Yep, I'll show it to you. You show them. This is God's Visa card. He said he's going to cover it, right? Excellent question. I want to tell you something.

20:52
We're already talking about the Sephardic, my father we're Ashkenazic, so we don't typically pray in the Sephardic congregation voluntarily. But my father, when he grew up he lived in Be'er Yaakov and now Be'er Yaakov was a very small community in Israel near Rehovot, and my grandfather had a yeshiva there. It was his yeshiva. It was an Ashkenazic yeshiva and they prayed there. But what happened in the between sessions were like the holidays All the students would go back to their families. They'd go back home to the United States or Switzerland, wherever they came from or wherever they lived in Israel. They'd go back to be with their family for the holidays. So in the community there was nobody left, so they didn't have a minion in the yeshiva.

21:43
So my grandfather, there was an Ashkenaz shul in the community and there was a Sephardic shul. He would go to the Sephardic shul, he would go to the Sephardic shul. And when my father asked him why, he says because in a Sephardic shul you learn what it means to be dignified in the house of Hashem. You see what it means to be respectful in the house of Hashem. And my father, as a little child, my father said this to us a hundred times. My father, he's a little child.

22:12
He was sitting in the synagogue, in the Sephardic synagogue, with his father with one foot crossed over the other, you know, sitting comfortably like this. And the Gabbai came and slapped his leg off and says in our synagogue you don't sit like that. My father, we learned, shul, you sit straight, even though we weren't Sephardic, but it's a very big offense In a Sephardic synagogue. You don't foot, it's not respectful. Not respectful to like. You're not sitting casually. You know it's like when you read your New York Times paper. You can do that. But when you're talking to Hashem, you sit proper, with your feet grounded, not with leg over leg in a casual way.

22:58
I think it's a very, very beautiful, dignified manner in which we need to pray and that's something you learn, both men, women. When you're sitting in synagogue, you're standing in front of the Almighty. You're talking to Hashem, right. What's greater than that? Such a great privilege. Hashem Right. What's greater than that? Such a great privilege. Alright, my dear friends, thank you. Thank you so much. This is such a privilege, such an honor. I look forward to learning again next week, next Sunday, 11 am, right here, be there. Bring your questions Throughout the week. You have questions, write them down, bring them to class. That's the registration fee for the class your questions. There's no charge monetarily. You want to give donations? You're always welcome to give donations. There's no monetary charge, except for you putting out the God credit card. I like that. All right, my dear friends, have a great week.

23:46 - Intro (Announcement)
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