Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan - Laws of Prayer part 4

[Music] good morning we're continuing with laws of prayer today's the fourth class and we're gonna cover a few short topics the first one is when in doubt you're not sure if you made the blessing or not or you know you made a blessing but you're not sure if you made the right blessing so we have a a big rule a general rule that's always in effect and that is Suffolk but a hot laquelle whenever you have a doubt in blessings you're always leniently neared means you don't make a blessing which means if you if you are about to eat a food and you question yourself did I already made make a blessing or I didn't yet so you can't make another blessing so what do you do you're not supposed to eat without making a blessing but in this cases you have no choice you're allowed to eat unless you ask someone else to make a blessing and keep you in mind or if you finish your meal let's say you eat other foods but you're not sure if you made a blessing on fruit so then just don't eat the fruit make a make an after blessing for your meal and once you make a blessing to finish your meal you can start your new meal and then it would youwould you will then make a new blessing but if you cannot ask anyone and you cannot finish your meal because let's say you didn't start yet so then you would be allowed to eat one thing you can do if you're not sure if you made the blessing and you cannot make a new blessing what you can do is think the blessing in your mind because even though if you think of a blessing it's not valid you have to pronounce it but since there are there is a minority opinion that says that thinking a blessing is also good so please thinking the blessing will be beneficial according to that opinion and of course in your own mind as far as your connection to a sham as far as your appreciation for a sham that also has an effect because you are thinking proper thoughts and you are thanking Hashem the next topic is proper address when praying and when making a blessings so there's a difference between all the blessings and all the prayers and the Amidah the silent prayer for all the blessings and all the prayers of course the better you addressed the better it is but the the blessing and the prayer is valid even even if you are barely dressed which means as long as your private parts are covered both for men and women the blessing is valid and you are allowed to make a blessing even though that might might not that's not the ideal but the blessing is nevertheless valid whether it's blessing whether it's Sh'ma whether it's to helium as long as you are barely covered it's kosher however for prayer style silent prayer Amida - monastery you have to be dressed honorably that you would you would not be embarrassed to stand like this in front of a respectable person so you cannot be without shoes you cannot be in a night gown you cannot you cannot be in any other form of dress that you wouldn't go to work for example or you wouldn't you wouldn't meet an important person what happens if a person is completely undressed so then he needs to take a towel or a blanket and and press it against his waist to separate his lower body from his upper body so for example if you are in bed assuming your hands are clean and let's say you're not dressed so and you're thirsty are you allowed to make a blessing so as it is not but if you would take your hand out of the blanket and press the blanket over yourself waist area then you're allowed to make a blessing like that [Music] because we want there to be a separation between your private parts between the lower body and the upper body and even though the blanket is covering your entire body but that's the point your entire body is in the same location but once you press it then you're separating it what if a woman is in a mikveh so it's water she can take I mean it wouldn't be so practical to take a towel into the mikveh so since the she's already in water it helps partially but being that the water is clear it doesn't help completely but there it's enough just to to fold your hands just to keep your hands on your waist and that is good enough a woman is allowed to make a blessing on the mikveh like that but for that's good for asking as a women for society women we have it easier because we make a blessing outside of the maker and therefore a woman is dressed in her robe she makes a blessing and only then she enters the mic oh so that's that's better the next topic is head covering yes for all the other prayers it's fine if you're wearing pants sweatpants nightgown whatever it is all blessings and all the prayers including SH MA it's appropriate it's fine but for Shmona s-sarah you should prepare yourself as if you're going in front of the king and therefore you should do something additional not just comfortable clothing but to show that you made some preparation to to face Hashem for head covering both for men and women the law is similar for safari for Ashkenazim it's different for men and women for safari we say that every human being when he is blessing God he should have his head covering as a sign of respect sign of humility so in the olden times and now in Israel in some some places that still hold this hollow ha not only boys cover their head with a keeper when they pray or make blessings but even girls have special women head coverings when they pray or make blessings or learn Torah and that is the Bavarian custom that's why you notice the old grandmothers they always put something on their head not to cover their hair how covering here is a separate Mitzvah but only when they learn Torah or when they answer Amen or when they pray they put something on their head either a nap or special crocheted head-covering and that's good and that helps just like for a man anything you put on whether it's a keeper or a napkin whatever you put on it it covers your head and it's good the only thing that doesn't work is your own hand your own hand doesn't work for blessings someone else's hand does so if you're sinning together with a friend and you put your hand on her head and she puts her head hand on your head that would be fine again Ashkenazim don't do that and many safe RDM following the Ashkenazi custom also stopped doing it and again if you're aware of it and you have an opportunity for a married woman it's easier because she naturally covers her hair but for an unmarried woman it's something to consider and if she has an opportunity to cover her head with something that would be appropriate but being that the custom in America is not to cover for a woman not to cover her head it is okay not to do that as well so for for a man being that that is an accepted hahaha everywhere they have to be more careful with it so if if they made a blessing without the keeper it's still valid but to begin with they're not allowed to make a blessing with their head uncovered and by the way for a man even when they're not making a blessing the custom is to have your head covered what if you lost your keep and you're looking for it or you're at a swimming pool or in a and I may cry other place where you don't wear your keeper so since it is proper to have your head covered at all times then what some people do they cover their head with their and and this works which means covering your head with your hand doesn't work if you want to make a blessing because it's part of your body but it does work just to sit around or to walk around with your head hand over your head okay any questions yes the for any woman the the law is the same that just like a man their head should be covered not the hair doesn't have to be the entire head covering as long as there is something on top ideal it should it should cover majority of the circumference of the head but any small thing is also good and again the baharon custom and the old custom of also fighting was to to keep this law nowadays many people don't so it's something to strive towards but if you don't do it it's okay yes Ashkenazim she doesn't have to cover if a woman is not married and for safari it's still proper to do yeah okay next is yes yes not the hair the head yes yes yeah and many ask this question and they make fun of ladies who cover the hair head with that little thing but really is there's nothing to make fun of because she is doing the right thing and sometimes the person who is making fun they should really be doing the same thing and they're making fun of somebody who is doing the right thing it's true they're not covering the hair properly but they are covering their head when they're praying for learning Torah it's two separate ideas yes yes yes the next topic is even if you are dressed properly sometimes you cannot make a blessing because someone in front of you is not dressed properly so it it is more applicable to man because for one will woman to see another woman there is much less concept of improperly dressed unless she's completely undressed but as long as a woman is somewhat dressed another woman can make a blessing but for a man he would not be able to make a blessing in front of a woman that's not just properly unless she is dressed completely modest and it depends if it's part of her body that I usually uncovered then it's fine but if it's part of her body that are usually covered and now she happens to have them uncovered and he cannot make a blessing even though it's his own wife so for example for example let's say a more practical example let's say you have a baby that's walking around you took off their diaper and you didn't put on the new one and they're walking around so you would not be able to make a blessing in front of them if you turn to a side or they are on a side or behind you that's but if they directly in front of you you cannot be looking at them for women also yes because the their private parts are uncovered these babies for a man if he is facing and looking at a woman and her arms are uncovered will be above the elbow he already cannot make a blessing while looking at her or her skirt it goes over her knee so he cannot make a blessing looking at her or if her top is too low so that also makes a problem and in communities where most women cover their head their hair so then a married woman with uncovered here would also be a reason for men not to be able to make a blessing in no no not the wife I'm talking about other if he if his wife usually is at home with uncovered here that's that's for him it's okay that's a normal thing but any if if she normally walks around the house with uncovered here then that becomes the known similarly banish hai says if a woman when she nurses her baby she usually does not cover herself at home and the husband that's a normal thing he always sees his wife nursing then that becomes the norm and he can make a blessing even like that see after she has a baby for her father you mean so the similar rule applies for for the father it's more lenient if it's a it's the norm that that's what you usually do then it's more lenient but what do you do if if you're you have such such a situation you need to make a blessing and somebody in front of you is not dressed properly so then for Ashkenazim they're a little bit more strict you they have to turn away for Safari diem it's enough just to close your eyes even though you're facing the person as long as you close your eyes it's enough for a second Azam it's not enough to close your eyes you have to turn away or you don't have to turn away you can put your head downward as long as you're not looking at the person so if you're reading from Asador that's enough it often happens that when a rabbi has to make a hapa and people many many ladies around are not dressed properly and sometimes even the Calla so then he has to be careful not to look at her either to look at this to do to look at the cup of wine look at the Hat on or close his eyes it doesn't matter whether it is a Jew or non-jew they're not just properly it's a problem again for women it's generally not a problem because for them only the private parts are an issue but for men every part that's usually covered is a problem so for a man to to pray on a train is is much more difficult now one more part of a woman's body that is a an argument is her shin that means the area between the knee and an ankle so for safar them it is considered part of the body that needs to be covered covered either with tights or with a skirt however by Ashkenazim there is an argument some Ashkenazim hold like safar deem that it has to be covered either by tights or skirt but summer skin Azam we hold mistakenly but they think that's the rule when they have the right to hold like that they hold that only from the knee and above needs to be covered below the knee it does not have to be covered and some even allowed not to be covered at all which means not even tights so we don't hold like that we consider any part of the leg above ankle as part that needs to be covered and therefore for safar deem if a woman has a skirt below the knee but her but she doesn't have tights then it would be also problem so such a man would not be able to say blessing while facing her feet yes as long as it's noticeable that she's wearing something it's fine it can be a different color it can be not transparent but if it's color of her skin and it's very thin and looking from afar you don't see the difference then it's still a problem because what we're concerned with is improper thoughts while you're making a blessing you should not be thinking improper thoughts and if a man is looking at a woman and she is dressed immodestly or provocative then he might have improper thoughts and he cannot make a blessing and sometimes women wear dresses with a shell underneath that skin color and looking from far away it looks like she's not wearing anything and that's also wrong because even though when you come closer you'll see she's wearing some kind of cloth on top but a few feet away already you can't recognize and and that's that's not good because all the men that are standing far away will be looking such a woman and they will be attracted to her and they will be thinking improper thoughts and even though she's fully covered but she's still causing improper thoughts in men's minds so the reason for this argument between Ashkenazim and some Ashkenazim between themselves and safar them is because in Hebrew there are two words for two parts of the leg one is shock and one is yera EF means the thigh and shock means a shin but some say that shock is also a synonym for era a thigh so we say no can't be there are two parts of the leg two different names if you apply the same name to the same part of the body then it's redundant and plus the lower part of the leg doesn't have another name and therefore we consider that the proper interpretation is the shock means the shin and EF means the thigh and we have in Talmud a statement that shock is also considered a part of the body that needs to be modestly covered so depending on how you interpret the word shock you'll get a different hahaha so since we say shock means ashamed so we say the lower part of the leg also needs to be covered feet depends on a custom of that place if most people in that both including Jews and non-jews the women cover their feet where the socks tights or shoes then that becomes the norm if women wear open or sandals or barefoot then that part of the body is fine yes yes then it's fine because just like hands are usually uncovered in the olden times feet were usually uncovered but in a place where you would cover it then it would consider - it would be considered part of it about the need to be covered for example in the arab lands where women cover their face for us you don't have to cover your face but if they always cover your face and you never see a woman's face on a street then by opening her face she would be attracting attention and that attracting attention would cause men to have improper thoughts and even though it's not required to cover your face feet and enhance but because in that community they do so then it becomes the norm and becomes obligatory also coming yeah yes because that was the norm in the society so Jewish women also had to do that otherwise the Arabic neighbors would protest next is cleanliness of the environment not only your own body has to be clean which means from excrement urine is more lenient which means if a few drops fell on your clothing that's fine if a baby with a diaper but the baby just urinated that's also fine as long as it's covered but any excrement on your body would be problematic if it's on your clothing but it's completely dry and it doesn't smell that's okay if it's on your body and it's completely dry it's okay and doesn't produce order but if a person goes to the bathroom and they did not clean themselves properly that is a problem because anything that is still moist is is not allowed so therefore a person should make sure to clean themselves properly to be able to recite blessings and to pray what if you have a baby and the the baby made number two and it's in their diaper so that's a problem even though it's covered but since the smell comes out you're not allowed to say a blessing anywhere where you can still smell but not only that you have to distance yourself from the place where you cannot smell it anymore another six feet so basically it makes it almost impossible because the baby will walk around so you have to stop you have to change the baby's diaper and the diaper cannot stay in the room because then it will be the source of smell it has to be taken out of the house or wrapped a few times so that it does not produce smell anymore and then if that diaper is in a garbage pail so then you have to distance yourself six feet from the garbage pail assuming there is no smell so in general if you have children at home you should not make blessings in front of garbage pail or you should not make blessings in front of a bin where you store diapers because that becomes the play sort of like a bathroom you should not face it and you should distance yourself a little bit from it yes yes diaper full of urine whether it's on baby or off of baby it's permitted to pray next to it on front of it yes you urine is only prohibited when it's the actual liquid as long as it's absorbed as long as it's absorbed it's already within the clothing or on into the ground it's already permitted even though you can still see the stain but it's not a problem anymore yes as long as it's not distracting you if it is distracting you then you should either close your ears or turn the music off but but otherwise it's fine if normally you way you walk with shoes then you should put shoes or at least slippers preferably shoes again the idea is would you stand like this in front of an important guest or an honorable person and if you wouldn't be without shoes or even slippers you would put your egg lose then you should do the same when you pray immediate yes as long as the door is closed you can face the bathroom again as long as there is no smell coming out and the door is closed yes and if the door is open you can still pray next to it but you have to face away from it and and the difference between the bathroom and the diaper is that the bathroom has a door so that separates it as a separate room whereas if the diaper is a in the same room then you have to distance six feet from the point where the smell stops with the bathroom if the bathroom door is open and you're facing it then it's a problem even if you're far away but as long as you turn around then you can be even right next to it it's fine no no the bathroom tour doesn't have to be closed unless somebody's in there yes if it's not being used doesn't have to be closed but you just have to be careful and if you find that the bathroom is centrally located and wherever you are you're facing it so then it's wise to close it yes as long as you're not looking directly at the door of open door of the bathroom that's that's fine yes sure anything nice you can use yes sure that's gone that's good that's good yes yes yes now we spoke about sources of smell that have substance what if it's just gas doesn't have a source that's emitting it the just gas so then you're also not supposed to make blessings or pray if you smell it whether it's yours or someone else's but for learning Torah there is a difference between yours and someone else's if you're learning in a room and somebody passes gas and you smell it you can continue learning but they cannot if it's your own you have to pause or move away but if it's someone else's you can continue learning Torah that's the difference between learning Torah and pray prayer doesn't matter what you're not allowed to pray but learning Torah is permitted if someone passed gas as long as it wasn't you so if you started praying and then you smell something you have to pause just quietly stand until it dissipates and when you you start feeling it then you can continue praying if you feel that it's a closed room and it's not gonna then you're allowed to take three steps back go open the window door and then come back take three steps forward and continue praying the same is if you're in the middle of prayer and all of a sudden your child walks by and you smell the diaper you can also take three steps back go change the diaper wash your hands and then come back make three steps back or forward and continue praying now what is your obligation to check the environment if you smell it you don't pray but what if you started praying and then at the end of prayer you realize there was a diaper next to you and now you start smelling and it's really smells so if it was a blessing or it was Sh'ma then it's valid but if it was the the shmouna answer if it was Amida it's not valid for smoke for both blessings and Shmona Ezra you need to check your environment but the question is if you didn't check the environment after the fact the blessings are as long as you didn't expect it to be there the blessings are valid the Schmoe necessary you are obligated to check the environment beforehand and if you didn't then the blood necessary is not valid then you have to pray again sometimes you know walking to the but did you do you smell him yes so that's all you need to do as long as you checked it out and there was nothing there if you missed something that's what it is not your fault and then it's fine first one necessary you need you need to check as long as you checked and was fine that's good but if you didn't check and then you found then you need to pray again one more topic blessing said and they will talk about briefly last time if you say blessing in vain you need to of course take upon yourself to be more careful in the future and you sure you have to say bottom column read right away to fix that and you should remember that saying a blessing in vain using God's name in vain is one of the one of the Ten Commandments some say that it's it's a Rebennack in this case because you're actually praising God even though the rabbi's did not make this blessing for this situation that you used it for they did it for some other situation and by mistake you use it here but nevertheless the statement that you said was true you said blessed that you got that everything came into being through your word and that's true or you say blessed that you God that you created the fruit of the tree and that's true all the time whether you eating or not so some say saying such a blessing in vain is rabbinic but some say even in such a case since you said that inappropriately in the wrong place it after the fact it really it was in vain and so you have to be careful because there is a potential that your according to some opinions your transgressing a total prohibition so you have to think before you make the blessing what the right blessing is and is this situation the kind of situation that needs a blessing and then there is a concept of not a blessing in vain but unnecessary blessing unnecessary blessing is a blessing that could have been avoided which means in you could have made one blessing that would cover both items let's say you'll be eating a salad and you could have made a blessing on the majority let's say majority our vegetables and there are some fruits you could have made one blessing but instead you made two blessings you made ads first and then Adamo so if you would make a dama first and cover everything then the ads would be in vain but if you say ads first which is a more specific blessing and then you say more general Burson Kodama so the ads was unnecessary blessing you you didn't you were not obligated to say it you could have covered the whole salad with just a dhama so unnecessary blessing is a lower prohibition than blessing in vain but it's still a problem so you have to be very precise in your blessings to know exactly which blessing how many blessings to make yes [Music] it's permitted especially on Shabbat on Shabbat since we have less blessings in general the Hamim permitted you to make blessings that otherwise you might not have to make so that's why the custom is on Shabbat before you eat some people have that custom to try different foods and make different blessings and only then they go wash and same thing with hot parties they say blessings in order to add more blessings to Shabbat so since there is some reason for you for making the blessings you you're trying to get to the other 100 blessings that we're trying to make every day so then the blessing does have a purpose so it's not unnecessary blessing if you pick it out yes if you pick it out separately and now it's separate and if you want to eat it separate then you need to make a blessing but let's say you take it together and on the same spoon and you say first on this part of this one this part of so really you could have right you don't have to and the next topic is practicing blessings with children or adults that don't know the blessings are you allowed to say the blessing for them with God's name for them to repeat it if you yourself are not obligated to to make that blessing you wash the child's hands and you want to teach him the bracha on little Atia dime should you say God's name or not or you have a guest who is not observant and you teaching them how to wash and then you want them to make a blessing can you say God's name when you teach them the blessing or not so for us for safari we are allowed again as long as there is a purpose for your saying God's name you're allowed to say God's name as we said when you're learning Torah and you're reading the Hamas and you reading the the verse and it has God's name in it you don't have to skip God's name you don't have to change it to Hashem you can just say God's name in the Pasig that's not a problem and the same teaching children or adults you can say the entire blessing because there is a purpose the purpose is to teach education for education you're allowed to say God's name a question yeah that's a problem if you can you're if you are in a part of your prayer where you can say you can interrupt and say baruch shem Claudia then you should say that if not and you just continue yeah that I at that point you can't say anything and you just be more careful next time if you are if you are repeating a few words together and God's name is there that's okay because as long as you are saying a concept and God's name is there that's permitted for example in in the prayer in your own words as part of your sentence you say God's name and then you can repeat the same prayer second time only with blessings you cannot repeat the same blessings the same again or God's name by itself you cannot repeat second time and one more idea if if you started a blessing but you only said the first three words by okata Hashem and you didn't say a lo que no yet so then since there is a verse in Tana that starts like that so all you need to do is finish that verse and you're going to be okay because what was going to end up is just you you just said a passbook and that is baruch ATA adonai london-uk ha so baruch ATA adonai london-uk oh you just add two words lamb daniel Akaka - baruch ATA adonai london-uk ha and you said a pasok and this way you fixed it don't just stop there baruch hashem and baruch shem no just say london-uk ha and there is no problem blessed are You God you please teach me your laws and we already mentioned that the idea that of concentration that you need to focus on the blessing or on the prayer and you should not do anything while praying whether it's a blessing whether it's Amida whether it's Sh'ma it's not proper to be looking at your watch at checking messages on your phone or just checking your environment seeing who walked in who walked out so you have to prepare in advance that you will not need to be distracted first of all it's it's taking away your concentration and second of all it doesn't look appropriate if you're talking to somebody and then you turn away and do something else while talking to them they will be offended and with people we might pretend that we're listening we might pretend that we are really looking at them and while looking at the background behind them but with Hashem we cannot fake it he knows what we're thinking about and he knows that we're really not interested with interests in something else more than in him so you should concentrate on the blessing on prayer and do whatever you need before or after just to give you some examples we mentioned already when you you wash your hands very often in the process of drying people say a blessing so you should first say the blessing and then dry your hands or when saying baccata Mazzone it's very tempting you're sitting anyway it's very tempting to start cleaning the table arranging the plates and and the shaking of the crumbs so you can you cannot do that as well and if somebody is waving to you you can you should not wave back if you feel you need to then you need to pause without saying any words you wave and then you come back where you start but while you're saying the words while you're talking to a chef it's not proper to wink or wave or not your head it's better not to but if you have to it's better to pause and and wave than to wave while speaking yes yes but again pause show that you're praying and then and then continue okay so but we finished with our topic visit a shame we'll continue next week Shavua Tov yes you