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Lemaan Yishmeu - Rabbi Braun: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Lemaan Yilmedu
A weekly halacha podcast from the Lemaan Yilmedu Institute, featuring Rabbi Yosef Y. Braun, Mara D’asra of Crown Heights, who shares fascinating, real-life halachic questions that reach his desk—together with the clear rulings he gave in each case.
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- 1 weeks ago31 min
Can You Take a Cold Shower in the Mikvah on Shabbos?
In this week’s episode, the topics discussed by Rabbi Braun include:Dips and salads on the table before KiddushShould the dips, salads, and other foods be on the Shabbos table before Kiddush, or brought only after it?If they are on the table before Kiddush, must they be covered like the challah?Does the reason given by the She’iltos, that the meal should be brought in honor of Shabbos, apply to all the food or only to the bread?What can be learned from the Seder night, when the kaarah is set up before Kiddush with only the matzos covered?Talking during sheva brachos at a weddingAt a wedding, may one talk between bentching and the end of the sheva brachos?Is sheva brachos an obligation on each individual present, or only on the group as a whole?May guests leave the wedding meal before sheva brachos, whether or not they make their own zimun?No one is supposed to talk from when the one leading bentching picks up the kos until he says hagafen. Does that rule cover the sheva brachos too?How long a bracha on food lastsAt what point does a bracha on food expire, so that more food needs a new bracha rishona and it’s too late for a bracha acharona?After eating only a small amount, must the bracha acharona be said immediately, or is there a window of a few minutes?What should one do if unsure whether the original bracha has expired?Is it true that one generally has 72 minutes to say a bracha acharona?Accompanying a widowed mother to a wedding during the year of aveilusMay a woman in the year of aveilus for her father go to a wedding because her widowed mother wants her to drive her and sit with her?Which comes first: kibbud em for the living mother, or kibbud av for the father who passed away?Is this like a parent asking a child to violate halacha, where there is no obligation of kibbud av va’em?Since the child is there to help the mother, are they like a waiter working at the simcha?Measuring the place of the tefillin shel yad on a bar mitzvah boyOn a bar mitzvah boy, should the spot for the tefillin shel yad be measured with his arm stretched out or bent?Since Chabad tefillin are large, should smaller bar mitzvah boys get smaller batim so they fit in the right place?Must the entire tefillin sit within that spot, or may the ma’avarta extend beyond it?Showering in the mikvah on Shabbos and Yom TovMay one take a cold shower in the mikvah on Shabbos or Yom Tov?How can a “cold” shower still involve bishul or other melachos, given how water tanks, single-lever mixers, and tankless heaters work?Where does the minhag not to bathe even in cold water on Shabbos come from, and how binding is it?Is there room to be lenient for someone in great discomfort (tza’ar gadol), and does it matter if the shower is private or public?
- 2 weeks ago33 min
Too Tired to Daven Maariv – Can You Make It Up?
In this week’s episode, the topics discussed by Rabbi Braun include:A tefillin shel yad cover that won’t come offIf the cover on the tefillin shel yad is so tight it can barely be removed, are the tefillin still kosher?Is there a problem of bayis she’eino ro’eh es ha’avir, chatzitzah, or bal tosif, or does the cover take away from the tefillin being square?Should the cover be removed before making the bracha, and does this apply to contemporary covers that have openings?Did the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe use a cover on their tefillin?Shabbos candles for a widowerWhen a widower, lo aleinu, starts lighting Shabbos candles, should he light two, or keep to the number his wife lit?Where does the minhag of a candle for each child come from, and do its reasons apply to a man as well?Does he keep up an extra candle his wife added as a knas for missing a week, or one she took on for some other reason?Since a wife lights as her husband’s shliach, does that bind him to her number, for instance when she is away from home?Lighting Shabbos candles where you won’t eat or sleepIf someone is stuck on the way to 770 right before Shabbos, or is helping out at a CTeen program, can they light candles where they won’t be eating or sleeping?If someone eats out on Friday night, should they light where they eat or where they sleep, and does electric lighting make a difference?Can we learn from the halacha that a woman may light in the women’s shul in certain circumstances?What does the halacha of a blind person lighting Shabbos candles tell us about lighting where others benefit from the light?Tashlumin after going back to sleep without MaarivIf someone woke up at night, remembered he hadn’t davened Maariv, and went back to sleep because he was too tired, may he make it up with an extra Shmoneh Esrei at Shacharis?Is he considered a meizid or a shogeg, and does it matter whether he expected to wake up again or was too tired to think clearly?Does the rule of ones bizman ha’acharon (being held up at the last minute after putting something off) apply to making up a missed tefillah?Is this like someone who missed davening because he was busy with business, or who davened in a place he didn’t check for excrement first?Losing your place in a brachaIf someone in the middle of Asher Yatzar can’t remember whether they said the opening Baruch Atah Hashem, should they start over or finish the bracha?If someone loses their place in a pasuk that mentions Hashem’s name twice, may they go back to the beginning of the pasuk?How does safek brachos l’hakel apply when someone is definitely obligated in the bracha?What if someone started a bracha such as Al Hamichya and then wasn’t sure they needed to say it at all?
- 3 weeks ago30 min
Is Your Mezonos Wrap Really Mezonos?
In this week’s episode, the topics discussed by Rabbi Braun include:Hakafos on Simchas Torah without a minyanMay hakafos on Simchas Torah be done b’yechidus, for example by a shliach who has no minyan, or is a minyan required?Is there a prohibition to take out a Sefer Torah for fewer than ten, as the Maharil writes regarding Hoshaanos?How do Simchas Torah hakafos differ from Hoshaanos, which the Maharil says an individual should say without circling the bimah?Is each individual obligated to get his own hakafa, or is it enough to be present while others go around?V’sein tal umatar for travelersWhen someone travels between Eretz Yisroel and chutz la’aretz before v’sein tal umatar begins at home, do they follow the practice of their home or of the place they are in?Does it make a difference whether they plan to return, are traveling with their family, or how long they are staying?If someone began asking for rain in Eretz Yisroel and then came to chutz la’aretz, do they stop, and does it matter if they are returning to their original home?Can the whole shaila be avoided by asking for rain in Shomea Tefilah, as some suggest?Double head coverings for davening and brachosIs a second head covering for davening, bentching, brachos, or any mention of Hashem’s name an obligation or a minhag, and what is its source?Does a large or two-layered yarmulke count as a double covering?May one place his bare hand on top of his yarmulke as the second covering when making a bracha, and what about for davening and bentching?The bracha on Hallel on Rosh ChodeshOn Rosh Chodesh, should each person say the brachos before and after half-Hallel themselves, or be yotzei with the chazzan, as the Alter Rebbe writes in the Siddur?Does a yachid davening without a minyan make a bracha on half-Hallel, despite the note in some printings of the Siddur that they do not?What was the practice of the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Rashab?What did the Rebbe mean by the Chassidic custom to quietly “chap arein” the bracha?Drying hands on one’s clothingIs there a concern of forgetting one’s learning when drying one’s hands on the clothes one is wearing?Does hamenagev yadav b’chaluko refer only to one’s cloak, or to all garments?Does it apply to clothes one is not wearing, including someone else’s, assuming the owner doesn’t mind?May one dry their hands on their own bed sheets after washing in the morning?Mezonos wrapsWith wraps labeled mezonos, does the stringency of mezonos bread apply to them as well?How does kevius seuda affect a wrap eaten as a meal with a filling such as tuna or egg salad?Are factors like being thin, made from a belila rakah, or lacking turisa d’nahama applicable to categorize wraps as mezonos?
- Aug 23, 202635 min
How Do I Toivel a Keurig?
In this week’s episode, the topics discussed by Rabbi Braun include:Public birthday parties and ayin horaIs there a concern of ayin hora in making large public gatherings for a seventieth or eightieth birthday?Since the Korban Todah was brought with forty challos specifically so that a crowd would be invited, is publicizing Hashem’s kindness in fact the entire point of a seudas hoda’ah?Does such a seuda carry its own protection, since the kiddush shem shamayim offsets the merits that are otherwise deducted when a miracle is done for a person?What could we learn from the Rebbe’s conduct in this regard?Tevilas keilim for electric appliancesMust electric appliances be toiveled even when the label warns that immersion will ruin them, and what practical steps make it workable?If the appliance would be ruined or the water cannot reach inside, is one exempt because a mitzvah one cannot perform does not apply, or must one simply not use the utensil?Having a Jewish professional reassemble it renders it Jewish-made. What about an amateur doing so?How much weight do the various arguments for leniency carry (mechubar lekarka, plugging it in as “finishing” it, beis hastarim, not being a kli seudah, and merely being the non-Jew’s “store merchandise”), given that tevilas keilim is deoraysa?Tevilah for a Keurig machineIs a Keurig different from other electric appliances, being a pump rather than a kli, and one that will certainly be ruined by immersion?If it’s not merely a matter of damage but genuinely impossible for the water to reach the area requiring immersion, could it be that the chiyuv of tevilah never applied at all?May one rely on giving it as a gift to a non-Jew and borrowing it back, even though it will stay in the Jew’s hands indefinitely?Since the Taz required toiveling a borrowed kli specifically because one is able to, does that imply the requirement falls away where immersion is impossible, as poskim held with very large vessels?A shiur in shul on Shabbos afternoonShabbos afternoon commemorates the passing of Yosef Hatzaddik, Moshe Rabbeinu, and Dovid Hamelech (the reason for Tzidkascha). If so, may one make a fixed shiur in shul between Mincha and Maariv?Does the minhag of beis hamedrash batel begin close to dark, or only close to shkiya (and not afterward, as the Ketzos Hashulchan seems to imply), and not if beginning earlier?Does the concern apply to Chassidus, Pirkei Avos, and agaddah, or only to formal nigleh classes?May one rely on the Mishnah Berurah (quoted by the Rebbe) that nowadays we do not stop such gatherings, since people would otherwise sit in shul and waste their time?Havdalah made without a kosSomeone who mistakenly made Havdalah without wine in the Nine Days, must he make Havdalah again once he has a kos?When the Mishnah Berurah rules that one without wine shouldn’t rely on making a wine-less Havdalah, does that only mean l’chatchila, implying that b’dieved he was yotzei?Did the Maharam miRotenburg, who allows Havdalah without a kos, mean that one is yotzei, or only that there is a second part of the mitzvah still to be fulfilled when a kos becomes available?If someone made Havdalah on what turned out to be vinegar, must he repeat it, or would that be a bracha l’vatalah?Solving one person’s safek at the rabbim’s expenseWhy does Tosafos prefer that one person be left with a safek kares passively (b’sheiv v’al ta’aseh) rather than have the majority bring their korban improperly?How does this principle apply today, when a heter meant for hefsed merubeh, sha’as hadchak or tzorech mitzvah is turned into a standard arrangement for everyone?
- Aug 9, 202634 min
May I Use a Lemon Squeezer on Shabbos?
In this week’s episode, the topics discussed by Rabbi Braun include:Greeting others before daveningWhat are the parameters of the halacha against greeting someone in the morning before davening, and how does going to a friend’s house differ from meeting him in shul or on the street?Since “good morning” is now a standard greeting, does it still count as a valid shinui from saying “Shalom”?Is calling someone on the phone comparable to going to his house, and does it matter whether the call is specifically to say hello or for another purpose?How do the Zohar’s stringency on one hand, and the mitzvah of hevei makdim l’shlom kol adam and kevod habriyos on the other, shape the practical approach?“Words of inspiration” at a levaya on Chol HamoedOn days when hespedim are prohibited (e.g., Chol Hamoed, Rosh Chodesh), is saying divrei hisorerus a legitimate alternative, or merely renaming a hesped?If one may not even leave the coffin standing in the street lest people come to eulogize, would that apply also to speeches inside a shul or chapel?Is praising the niftar itself the problem on these days, or is anything said for kavod hameis permitted?What other factors can be relied on when using the opportunity to inspire those gathered to Torah and mitzvos?Rashba’s view on bracha covering a more chashuv foodAccording to the Rashba, who holds that a bracha on a less important food doesn’t cover a more chashuv one, is it enough to know you will eat the other food, or must you specifically intend to exempt it with your bracha (kavana liftor)?When a guest’s bracha covers whatever their host will serve later, does that apply even to more chashuv foods served by the host, since the guest never specifically intended to exempt them with his original bracha?What is the halacha l’maaseh, l’chatchila and b’dieved, when the bracha was made without specific intent to exempt the more important food?Lemon squeezers on ShabbosIf squeezing a lemon directly onto food is permitted on Shabbos, may one use a designated lemon squeezer, or is that uvdin d’chol (a weekday activity)?How does this compare to the Rivash’s prohibition against grating cheese with a formal grater, given that a squeezer is arguably made for permissible squeezing onto food?Do squeezers that trap the seeds involve a separate concern of borer?Covering the tefillin shel yadWhy don’t Lubavitchers cover their arm while wearing tefillin shel yad, and does “lecha l’os v’lo la’acheirim l’os” actually require tefillin to be covered?Does the Arizal’s practice of covering the shel yad apply only while putting on the tefillin or throughout davening, and does today’s protective box accomplish it?Is there a tznius concern with a bare upper arm, where the tefillin shel yad is placed?Is it disrespectful to daven before Hashem with one sleeve rolled up and one down, or is it dignified precisely because everyone knows it’s for the tefillin?
- Jul 26, 202635 min
Miscarriage: when does the neshama enter?
E-scooter safety for childrenMay parents allow young children to ride e-scooters and e-bikes, given the serious injuries these vehicles can cause?Are parents halachically liable for damage caused by a child riding an e-scooter, and which factors may determine their responsibility?Does dina d’malchusa dina obligate us to keep traffic and safety laws, such as the ban on riding e-scooters on the sidewalk?Miscarriage: when does the neshama enter?After a missed miscarriage, was there a neshama that came into this world and will merit olam haba?At what stage can a child’s neshama enter olam haba: from when the seed is implanted, from the bris, or from when he first answers amen?How do the rulings of the Rama and the Alter Rebbe (regarding children answering amen and washing negel vasser) relate to the opinions in the Gemara?How does the Rebbe reconcile the various opinions, and connect it to the halacha that we are mechalel Shabbos to save a fetus?Ignoring someone and onaas devarimDoes deliberately ignoring someone in order to hurt or humiliate them violate the issur of onaas devarim, which literally refers to hurtful words?Is onaas devarim limited to speech, or does it include actions (such as eyeing merchandise you cannot afford) and even inaction?Sternos and shehiya on ShabbosDoes food placed before Shabbos on a sterno require a blech covering the flame?Is a sterno comparable to a Shabbos hot plate with no adjustable setting (as the questioner’s AI suggested), which most poskim permit without a covering, or is that comparison incorrect?Does the concern of shema yechateh b’gechalim apply where there are no actual coals, such as with liquid or gel fuel, or where one can only turn a knob higher or add fuel?Early Shabbos Kiddush for a bar mitzvah boyIf a boy becomes bar mitzvah on Shabbos and the community accepts Shabbos early, may he make Kiddush before nightfall, and could that count for himself even after he becomes a gadol that night?Can we infer from the halacha about a bar mitzvah boy davening Maariv before dark, which implies that the only concern is davening for the amud and being motzi the tzibbur, with no issue regarding his personal chiyuv?Tallis on top of tefillin in a travel bagIs there an issue with travel tallis bags in which the tallis sits on top of the tefillin, rather than in front of them as in the classic bags?Since tefillin have a higher level of kedusha than a tallis, why is placing the tallis on top not considered disrespectful?Does it matter that the tallis serves as protection for the tefillin, and that the tefillin are stored inside their own box and bag?
- Jul 19, 202634 min
Will the Third Beis Hamikdash Have Wi-Fi and Elevators?
In this week’s episode, the topics discussed by Rabbi Braun include:Modern technology in the third Beis HamikdashWill the third Beis Hamikdash include modern inventions, such as central air conditioning, heating, Wi-Fi, electric lights, sound systems, and elevators?Does the rule of hakol bichsav forbid any additions or changes, and does it apply to the entire Har Habayis, even underground?Is there room to permit additions that are not for the avodah itself, items that are detached from the structure, or features built in from the very start of construction?Why did some shuls in the past not allow heating systems?Rubbing the hands during netilas yadayimIs the practice recorded in Hayom Yom, rubbing the hands together with the extra water of the final pour, limited to washing for bread, or does it extend to washing for davening and other washings?Is the rubbing meant to satisfy the opinion that washing extends beyond the fingers, or is it purely for added tahara and cleanliness (“erchatz b’nikayon kapai”)?Should one also rub the hands when washing in the morning, as indicated in numerous Kisvei Arizal?Does the practice apply when washing merely for cleanliness or because of ruach raah (e.g., after leaving the bathroom)?Wrapped challos on top of the cholent pot May one place dry challos wrapped in aluminum foil on top of a cholent crockpot on Shabbos to warm them?Does the wrapping constitute hatmanah (insulation), and does it depend on whether the purpose is to retain heat or only to keep the challos from drying out?Does the leniency of covering food to protect it (e.g., from mice) apply even when the covering is heated by the fire below and adds heat?Ladling from and covering pots on ShabbosIs ladling food out of a pot on the fire a form of meigis (stirring), and must the pot first be removed from the flame even when the food is fully cooked?What is considered “off the fire”: a pan resting on a Sterno water pan that does not touch the flame, or a pot held in the air above the fire?Is covering a pot, or adding a second cover, a form of bishul, and is it an issur de’oraisa when the food is not fully cooked?Are there reasons to be stringent not to re-cover a pot on the blech, even when it’s already fully cooked?An onen who handed arrangements over to the Chevra Kadisha When funeral arrangements are given over entirely to the Chevra Kadisha, does the heter of nimsar lekatafim (handing the burial over to the carriers) apply, allowing the onen to daven and perform mitzvos?Does it make a difference if family members still follow the aron at the levaya or remain involved in the arrangements on some level?What halacha applies to an onen in another city whose siblings are taking care of the arrangements?What can be learned from the Rebbe’s own conduct after the passing of his mother and, in a different manner, after the passing of his brother?Waiters and photographers eating meat during the Nine Days May the waiter, singer, and photographer hired for a seudas mitzvah (such as a bris or bar mitzvah) during the Nine Days eat meat along with the participants?What about during the actual week of Tisha B’Av, when a bris meal is limited to a bare minyan plus immediate relatives?Taste absorption in modern-day utensilsDo today’s pots and dishes actually absorb taste the way vessels did in earlier times, and can scientific experiments have any bearing on these halachos?Is this a question of “changing halacha,” or of clarifying the facts, given evidence that earlier generations also tested whether taste is actually transferred?
- Jul 12, 202630 min
Did Italy Exist in Moshe’s Time?
Spelling “Tverya” with an alef or heiIn a kesubah or get, should the city name Tverya be spelled with an alef, as found throughout Shas, or with a hei, as in modern Hebrew?If the city is named after the Roman emperor Tiberius, how could the Gemara say it is called Tverya because of “tovah re’iyasah” (its good vision) or because it sits at the “tabur” (belly) of Eretz Yisrael?How does this compare to the term “Sanhedrin,” a Greek word, being commonly usedin Chazal instead of the Torah terms shoftim or dayanim?Calabrian esrogim in Moshe Rabbeinu’s timeWhy is there a Chabad tradition to use esrogim specifically from Calabria, Italy?If the Gemara says Italy came into existence only when Shlomo HaMelech married the daughter of Pharaoh, how could shluchim have brought esrogim from Calabria in the times of Moshe Rabbeinu?Which sources indicate that Italy existed already at Matan Torah, and how is the contradiction resolved?What about the bracha of “oseh ma’aseh bereishis” on Italian mountains, or the date for reading the Megillah in a walled Italian city?Makeup on Shabbos during shivaMay a woman sitting shiva put on makeup for Shabbos if she does so every single Shabbos, given that its absence would be noticeable aveilus b’farhesya (public mourning)?Is refraining from a routine practice itself considered public mourning, comparable to not wearing shoes or not eating meat when Tisha B’Av falls on Shabbos?Does it matter that the makeup would need to be applied before Shabbos, while the shiva restrictions are still fully in force?What about cutting overgrown hair or shaving (a discussion onto itself) during shiva, when their absence would be noticeable on Shabbos?Cochlear implants in halachaIs one who hears only through a cochlear implant yotzei hearing shofar, Megillah, Kiddush, and Havdalah?Why do most poskim consider hearing aids to produce a new artificial sound rather than halachic hearing?Is a cochlear implant better than a hearing aid because it stimulates the hearing nerve directly, or is it a bigger problem because no actual sound is heard at all?Why are glasses considered real seeing, while a camera wired directly to the nerve would not be?Calling someone by his father’s nicknameMay a bochur in camp call a friend by a nickname that is identical to his father’s unusual nickname (a shem peli)?Does the prohibition against calling others by one’s father’s name apply only in the father’s presence, or even away from him?Is this an actual issur or a matter of kavod?How rare must the name be for the concern to apply, and does the likelihood that the father is mochel create room for leniency?
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About Lemaan Yishmeu - Rabbi Braun
A weekly halacha podcast from the Lemaan Yilmedu Institute, featuring Rabbi Yosef Y. Braun, Mara D’asra of Crown Heights, who shares fascinating, real-life halachic questions that reach his desk—together with the clear rulings he gave in each case.
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