Ayin Hara in Halacha: Aliyos, Counting Jews, Pregnancy, and Protecting Another’s Property

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. I chose a topic which I know generates a lot of interest: ayin hara, but in halacha. The sugya of ayin halacha, the ramifications in halacha. We all know the different aggadot about ayin hara, Chazal full about the effects of ayin hara and how we have to be careful. I want to focus on the halacha. The halacha, it's all over Shulchan Aruch. You'll find the halacha of ayin hara in Orach Chaim. You'll find it in Yoreh Deah. You'll find it in Choshen Mishpat and in Even HaEzer. And we will bring out all the different places, halachos, that they discuss ayin hara. Let me begin by saying that it's actually a parsha in the Torah. Two weeks ago, we read Parshas Naso, and Naso is that we're supposed to count Yidden only through means of giving a shekel, because if not, there will be an ayin hara. V'yishmerecha, Birchas Kohanim. The bracha that we give Bnei Yisrael through the Kohen is v'yishmerecha, that the Ribono Shel Olam should protect you, ayin hara. Chazal tell us He should protect you from an ayin hara. Like I said, ayin hara. is in halacha, in Shulchan Aruch, in all the different chelkei Shulchan Aruch. The interesting thing is that the one place that the Torah tells us ayin hara, which is to count Yidden, it's not in Shulchan Aruch. If you ask anyone, he'll tell you, ayin hara? Yeah, of course, you're not allowed to count Yidden, yeah, and it's like it says, there's no Shulchan Aruch. It's not brought in Shulchan Aruch. It's mentioned in the Magen Avraham, and the Mishnah Berurah quotes this Magen Avraham, but it's not in Shulchan Aruch. What are the cases that are brought in Shulchan Aruch? The first place we find ayin hara is in Siman Kuf Mem Aleph, se'if vav, that two brothers should not be called up to an aliyah to the Torah one after the other because of, Shulchan Aruch says clearly, ayin hara. So you hear clear, not even in the mefarshim, it's clear in the words of the Shulchan Aruch that the reason for this is ayin hara. The Mishnah Berurah discusses what are the different cases where ayin hara could also be by aliyahs. The simple case is two brothers. What about a father and a son, and a grandfather and a grandson? This is all in the minhagim, every community. The gabbai must learn these halachos; if not, he could be in great trouble. A gabbai has to be well prepared with ammunition, otherwise he won't last very long as the gabbai. I don't want to go into that today. Today we're not going to discuss who gets aliyahs one after the other, but it is clear. That two brothers are not allowed, and that's an ayin hara, because they're going to say, Wow, look at it. Wow, look, he has this son. Oh, and he has another son. Ayin hara. So it's clear in halacha that we don't call up two brothers. I will bring you all the cases of Shulchan Aruch, and then we'll delve into the topic itself: questions, where and when do these cases apply. You know, we all know that people, women, when they have a pregnancy, they tend to hide the pregnancy. There are issues. People are scared. They don't want to say that they're pregnant. It's actually mekor in Shulchan Aruch. That's in Yoreh Deah. In Yoreh Deah, siman kuf pei hei, se'if katan beis, the Taz brings from the Raman the teshuvos that there was a woman who claimed—it has to do with nida—that she's a nida, and this was to throw off the people that she was actually pregnant. Now, I don't want to go into the nida sugya. I'm not here to, you know, the details of the sugya there, but we find the concept in the halacha of covering pregnancies because of ayin hara. The scenario there was that the woman told everyone that she wasn't pregnant because she was trying to cover up a pregnancy.

The story there is interesting. We'll have to talk about it a little bit later. She actually lost three children during pregnancy, and therefore she was scared, and therefore it might be relevant, this piece of information. But that's the second place that we find. So again, I want to first bring you all the different places in Shulchan Aruch where we find the halacha, and then we're going to delve into the actual practical halacha in each case. So like I said, the counting, not everybody knows. You walk into shul, you don't have a minyan, right? And everybody's looking at the clock, and then those are looking at the people, right? You know how it works. Okay, six, seven, eight, okay, we don't count, and everybody knows that. We're going to learn a little bit more in detail what is the actual halacha of what you could do and can't do. But like I said, it's not in Shulchan Aruch. What is in Shulchan Aruch is aliyahs to brothers drawing attention, ayin hara. Yoreh Deah, we have the halacha fulfillment of pregnancy, which we will discuss later on as well. In Even HaEzer, we have the ayin hara come up in halacha in a Rama, in Shulchan Aruch, siman beis, se'if gimel, where the Rama says you don't make two sheva brachos together for two people. Like we don't have aliyahs, two brothers, the same thing. Not many know this halacha well, who it applies to, when it applies, where it applies. A lot of times they do do sheva brachos together where if it's conflicting and it's... So we're going to discuss this, but that's clear in halacha in the Rama, that you don't make two sheva brachos for two chasanim because of... Ayin hora in the Ramo. The one in Choshen Mishpat is in siman ayin ches, se'if hei. In Shulchan Aruch it says, Lo ya'amod adam. A person is not allowed to stand over the business of somebody else. Now, in those days it was a field and crops were growing, because if you stand over the field when it's growing, you might give him an ayin hora. So the Gemara, it's brought in Shulchan Aruch that you're not allowed to do it. Now today we don't have crops and fields, so we have to see how it applies. It's not standing over another person's business. It's none of your business, and therefore you should stay away from his business, and you shouldn't be standing and watching. And we're going to try to figure out when and where and how does this halacha apply. So let's go back now that we've demonstrated that it's in all parts of Shulchan Aruch, the inyan of ayin hora. So let's begin with the two brothers. What happens? There are two brothers. They need the aliyah. It's a yahrzeit. They're in the shul. It's their father's yahrzeit, and they both want the aliyah. Could they walk over to the gabbai and say, We're not makpid. We're not makpid. We don't care. It doesn't bother us. We're not afraid. The Mishnah Berurah discusses this, but before we go to, like I said, the details, I also want to bring out all the other questions about all the other issues. The two brothers, what happens if they're not makpid? Counting, like I said, people have the hoshiyas hamecho, vareches nachlosecha. That's not the one that's actually brought in the Rishonim. It's interesting. That's later on. If I may use the term, it was invented by the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. It's not. Early from the Rishonim, the yeshias hamecha. I will tell you the Rishonim what they give you advice on how to count yedin in shul. How long and how much do you have to go into, how hard do you have to work to conceal a pregnancy? How long do you have to conceal a pregnancy? Do you have to conceal a pregnancy? We learn from the Rishiva Moshe that he didn't believe in all that. He said there's no reason to conceal pregnancies. We'll talk about, like I said, all these cases. The two chasanim is a very common case. They could be relatives, they could be friends, they could be that their chasnas coincide. So what do you want? You want that friends should miss the Sheva Brachos for him because they have to be by the chasan of another one? Happens often. Sometimes there's no money to make a Sheva Brachos, so you join a Sheva Brachos. Would that be mutar? A lot of times people have a bad habit. I call it a bad habit, but I guess it's a habit. When someone builds a house, that becomes the Shabbos walk of the neighborhood. Everybody has to— Why are you laughing? That's what happens. Everybody, let's pass by, let's walk, and let's see. Chazal tell us, and the Shulchan Aruch says, you're not allowed to stand over someone else's because of ayin hara. Does it?

Apply, and why not, and why yes, why would it apply? And here's another great question. If I do damage to somebody through an ayin hara, do I need to pay for that? Am I a mazik? That's a very good question. And what happens if I could prove it? How? Okay, so we're going to discuss this, because it's not a question that I asked. Bigger people than me and greater people before me have asked this question. It's a machlokes, R' Moshe and the Teshuvos, and the, huh, Hezek Re'iyah? That's what you're going to tell me? Hezek Re'iyah? Okay, so we'll talk Hezek Re'iyah is machlokes, R' Moshe and the Steipler. Let's go for it. Yeah, I'm ready. We're ready to do combat. Let's go. When it comes to halacha, I'm like a lion, ready to fight. You ready? All right, so we're going to do this. Before we go and go back to all these shailas, I mean, how serious is ayin hara, and how much do you have to be afraid of ayin hara? You know, it's a story of two tales, as they say. There are some people that go to the extreme of they have all the phobia and fears of all the ayin hara. And then there's a whole world—notice I didn't say which, I didn't go there, I didn't say that, right?—different group of Klal Yisrael, they're not so, Baruch Hashem, they're both sitting in the same shiur room here and we're good, right? It's all good. So the question is, how serious, how much, how far do you have to go in being afraid of an ayin hara? Let me begin by ground rule. Rosh Yeshiva, R' Moshe, zecher tzaddik, Rosh Yeshiva, tzaddal, in Even HaEzer, chelek gimmel, siman chavav, discusses covering pregnancy. Concealing, hiding you're pregnant, says Rav Moshe, I don't understand why you would do that. Why would someone do that? It's a normal thing. You need to live a normal life. What, someone becomes pregnant is a chiddush? It's something out of the norm. Why would it be an ayin hara? Now again, Roshiva zatzal was a very normal person. He probably couldn't understand why someone would even be jealous about a thing. You should be happy. Isn't that something you should be happy if someone gets pregnant? It's great. But he said it even more simpler than that. Anything that's normal, you can't stop doing because someone's going to sit there and say, Well, ayin hara. Probably got to be normal. Why do you be— And the Roshiva adds a little piece of information which is very relevant to the topic, and that is, there's a question by ayin hara, because we find by dreams many have this fixation about their dreams, while others laugh it off. The Gemara says that there's a makor for that: man d'kapid, kapid; man d'lo kapid, lo kapid. If you take it, then you get excited about it, so okay, so it has something to get upset about. But if you take it easy and you don't care, so you don't care. We find the same concept by zugos. For example, you're not supposed to drink, eat, two in pairs. The Gemara says, man d'kapid, kapid; man d'lo kapid, lo kapid. Does that apply to ayin hara as well? Rosh Yeshiva, in that teshuva at the end, throws it in in one line at the end: anyway, you don't have to worry about it because man d'kapid, kapid. U'man d'lo kapid, lo kapid. So you can look at the teshuva where the Rosh Yeshiva applies this yesod, this concept of man d'kapid, kapid. Someone who takes it to an extreme, all right, that's his prerogative. But if you don't want to care, all right, leave it alone. It's fine. There's an interesting Torah Temimah. The Torah Temimah actually, it's by Bilam, ayin there, it's interesting. He speaks about nichush, ki lo nachash b'Yaakov. We're going to read next week's parsha that Bilam says, Klal Yisrael are not nachashim. What does nachashim mean? They're not into sorcery and we're normal people. We don't believe in all that, tomim tihyeh im Hashem Elokecha. Says the Torah Temimah because the rule is, if you're busy with nachashim, if you're busy with sorcery, it's going to go after you. If you ignore it, it will go away, like all problems in life. Most problems. If you ignore it, it will go away, all right? I saw everybody was thinking, Yeah, no, I didn't mean anything. All right, so it's not a mussar shmooze, all right? The point is, says the Torah Temimah, that if you pay too much attention to it, it's going to run after you. Ignore. Now, people use this Torah Temimah that it's about ayin hara. It's not. It's about nachash. It's about sorcery. And there we know there's a...

Tumtiah, ayin hara is in a different subject. It's a different issue. Chazal tell us to worry about ayin hara. It's not the same thing as nachashim, which you're not allowed to have and you're not allowed to be busy with because you have tumah. But it is used in the literature of halacha of ayin hara. Many quote this Torah temimah, and they say, You see, don't be nervous, ignore it, and it won't bother you. Rosh Yeshiva's teshuva, yes, it's clear, man d'kapid, lo kapid; man d'lo kapid, lo kapid, is by ayin hara. But this Torah temimah not necessarily is talking about ayin hara. You know, there are cases where pregnancy is not normal, and that maybe could be a gray area where maybe even the Rosh Yeshiva would agree that maybe you should conceal. Normal, people get married, they have a child. That's not a chiddush that you have to be worried about. What about the example that everybody brings? It's brought, it's one of the minhagim. A mother is pregnant and she's walking her child, her daughter, to the chuppah, and people are going to say, Wow, unbelievable. Her daughter is getting married and she's with a baby. There's a minhag that they do not walk the child down to the chuppah. There is such a minhag; it's brought in the sefarim, that I can understand, because that's not regular. It's a little different, and it does have an attraction, and especially they're walking down the aisle, the meivin yavin, it attracts attention. I understand that. The case that the Taz brought in the name of the Rama. Was that the mother lost three children already in pregnancy. So again, I could hear where, when you see already there's a problem, then you need to address the problem and worry about all the different ayin haras. I think I've given you two basic examples where it's a little out of the regular, and maybe even those that say, man dekapid kapid, man dlo kapid lo kapid, they would say in this particular case, be safe, okay? I'm not going to pasken because a lot of this has to do with custom of community, and also you're not going to start up with bubbes and shviggers. I don't go there, you know what I mean? But whatever it is, even with the Rosh Yeshiva's teshuva is live normal and don't be afraid. There are cases where medafnesh ra'isin, the oigen, as they call it in Yiddish. For the Sefardim here, they know exactly what I mean, the neshra'isin, you know, neshra'isin the oigen, you must know the Yiddish, right? Okay. Al kol panim, the point is where something catches the eye as different, maybe that's not what the Rosh Yeshiva meant. You don't have to worry about ayin hara. Oh, yeah, yeah, you can't do that to me on a shiur in public, in front of a different time. Yes, you know, as a rav, it's a real question and we have to talk about it, okay? All right, now, I do want to address, you know, there is a phobia of ayin hara. You know, it's a phobia, and like I said, Rosh Yeshiva was telling us, live normally. But I do want to point out that sometimes with the phobia, and if you overexert that, you're really hurting people. A lot of times you conceal from your friends and your neighbors. You know what they feel? What, you think I would give you an ayin hara? What do you think, I have an evil eye? You think I'm a bilam? It happens. We know this. This is all within the Jewish culture, right? Can I say, listen, I don't want an ayin hara, so I think you, and I worry, and every guy, you know. Tell me, you had the magic of getting the air conditioning going. Is there any way we could continue the magic? Is there any way we could speak to any— Okay, perfect. So the truth is, there's a pele yoetz. The pele yoetz, when he speaks about ayin hara, he says you want to be careful, be careful, but also be careful not to hurt people with it. Be careful to not to overly, you know, choshesh, overly accuse, Oh, that guy, ooh, this guy, and the guy picks up on it. Maybe you'll be doing yourself more harm by hurting somebody than the whole ayin hara that this guy might be giving you. You got to pay attention to this, rabosai. Now, what do I mean? Halacha. I think there's a halacha issue over here. You know, you don't want to give someone an ayin hara, but at the same time, you don't want to hurt people and live in a society where everybody's thinking, Oh, that guy's thinking that guy. Got to be normal, all right? So this pele yoetz is a good guideline. Now, can I wear—

An anti-ayin hara on Shabbos. Yes, the hand with the eyeball, got it. For the Ashkenazim, the right, the bendel. Are you allowed to wear that on Shabbos? All right. In Shulchan Aruch, Aruch Chaim, siman gimel, seif tes-vav, it speaks about on Shabbos carrying in the street something which is anti all the different things of segulos, so to speak. Are you allowed to wear it on Shabbos? Aruch Chaim, shin hei, seif yud aleph also discusses this. L'maaseh, the question is, we have an eruv, so we don't really pay that much attention because we carry, most of us, with the eruv, Baruch Hashem, Queens. Rav Moshe gave us the stamp that this eruv is perfect, especially the one in Kew Gardens Hills. But there are places where either they don't carry with an eruv or they don't have an eruv. Are you allowed to walk in the street with a right-to-bendel? My rebbe, Reb Elsky, zichrono tzaddik livracha, told me clearly, and I believe he spoke about this b'rabim a lot, there is no heter whatsoever to wear a right-to-bendel on Shabbos against ayin hara. It's sakana. Oy vey, sakana, pikuach nefesh doicheh. So that's the issue. You see, I didn't want to talk about the aggadah of ayin hara, but it's somewhat relevant how serious you take an ayin hara. Is it so dangerous that maybe I should be allowed to wear it on Shabbos? The other question is, even if you say that it is dangerous, are we so sure that this is the answer to it? Is it refuah bedukah? I don't know. Do I know that you don't get an ayin hara because you wear a right-to-bendel? I hope no one's going to attack me on this one, and I'm not anti-right-to-bendel. That's not the discussion here. The question is, can I wear it on Shabbos? Reb Elsky told me that you're not allowed to wear it on Shabbos. I did have it out. You guys know me already long enough that when it comes to halacha, I don't just, I don't roll up and... And I said to him, I don't understand. The guy wears it as a bracelet. Why do we have to say why he's wearing it? At the end of the day, people walk around and they wear it. They go to Eretz Yisrael and they come back. One guy comes back with a black hat, the other guy comes back with a right-to-bendel. So what? That's what he wears. That's his new thing, huh? Was that too sharp? Okay, one guy comes back with a right-to-bendel. That's his... Guy walks around with a chain with an iron. That's his necklace. It was... I challenged. I accept my rebbe's words, and therefore, b'rabim I always say, my rebbe said you're not allowed to wear the right-to-bendel on Shabbos where there is no eruv. Now, I do have to point out, some say you're not allowed to wear the right-to-bendel anyway. There's a Tosefta, Shabbos, perek zayin, halacha aleph. It's also in perek ches, halacha daled. Red string is? Perfect. You could say this shiur next time. Thank you. Yeah, it's darkei haEmori. Now, is that really the same story? I don't know. You wear a red string, wear it's darkei haEmori, then it's darkei haEmori. I don't know. That's you wearing it because... You know, do the baseball players start wearing right-to-bendel today? Is that true? I don't know. Maybe it's very possible. They also caught on to it. I mean, is there a darkei haEmori? It's a good question. Many want to say that you can't wear the right-to-bendel, darkei haEmori. You know, all these segulah and all these fixations with all these shmiras and kameas, it's a big discussion. I don't want to, you know, it's not for here. It's not for the ten minutes that we still have to the end of the shiur. I said, but he's looking. No, I will finish on time. I'll try at least. They know my history. I don't never... Okay. You know, there's not looking in a mirror. I don't know if you know that there's... he's shaking his head. He's gonna give me a list now. How about stepping over somebody? If you step over, he's not gonna grow, right? So first of all, let me tell you about stepping over. Where does it come from? The stepping over is a Gemara. The Gemara says you shouldn't step over somebody. You know why? You might step on him and hurt him. So what happens? So in order to frighten the person, that he shouldn't let people step over him, they'll tell him, You're not gonna grow. So he's not gonna let, otherwise what does he care, right? It's not even my problem. It's your problem, right? You're not supposed to step over me, right? So what do you do? You frighten the guy and tell him he's not gonna grow. So how do they fix it today? They tell you what? Step back. You defeat the whole purpose, right? You gotta be very careful with all these moiredike ideas of segulos. I'll call upon them, I don't even know all of them, nor do I have fully the background of all of them. I can just tell you there's a teshuvah from the Debretziner Rav that defends them very strongly, and he says even if we don't know what they are and why they are and why they work, if the babas something is gezagt, vert es halacha. Halacha kebaba. The halacha is like the babas. Whatever they tell you, they must have known, they must have heard, they must... and if Bubby said it, do it.

A rabba l'maaseh, this is a very interesting topic. Okay, let's get back to halacha l'maaseh. The two brothers, they want the aliyah, so instead of fighting, they're so nice, they say, you know what? We'll both take an aliyah. You take shlishi, I'll take shishi. Notice that one, shlishi, Revii, nobody wants Revii. Okay, yeah? So what do they say? They say, you know what? That's not no problem, right? Shlishi is not a problem. See, he's listening. I want to see if you're listening. Okay, so, zogt the Mishnah Berurah that even if they're not makpid, don't give it to them. Don't give it to them. Now, what do they mean, not makpid? So you read the wording of the Mishnah Berurah is, lo makpidim al ayin hara. They're not makpid on ayin hara, which means this yesod, that they're claiming, man d'kapid... We're not makpid on ayin hara, because that's not how you have to read the story. The story might be is that they're saying we're normally makpid. O ben aliyah, v'tatta, a mitzvah shehamitzvah lo yeidu davar ra. Doesn't mean they're not makpid on ayin hara. Maybe what the Mishnah Berurah means, they're not makpid to get the aliyah together. They're not afraid that they'll get an ayin hara. Maybe. Or maybe they're saying, you know what? We're in a shul where we're all friends and we're not worried and we're not... So it's not that they're not makpid about ayin haras. They're not makpid today to get an aliyah one after the other. Either way, the reading of the Mishnah Berurah seems to be they're not makpid on ayin hara, zogt the Mishnah Berurah, you don't give it. Now, what is the pshat? Could be you should be makpid. Maybe you're supposed to tell them, you should be makpid. Or maybe the pshat is, what? No, you don't give it to them. Just because he's not makpid doesn't mean you, the gabbai of the shul, should say, you know what? Policy is policy, and the policy is we don't give two brothers, based on the Shulchan Aruch. We could talk about hilchos gabbaus; there's a lot in this halacha, by the way. Either way, Mishnah Berurah says clearly they can't come and say, We're not. Makpid. Aruch HaShulchan, and it's interesting, very few quote the Aruch HaShulchan. For some reason, even the sefarim that are melaket, they cover this Aruch HaShulchan. They'll just say, ayin Aruch HaShulchan. The Aruch HaShulchan says clearly, if they're not makpid, give them the aliyah. So this is an interesting horaah. If they're not makpid, what do you do? Now, how do you count? Let's talk about counting. Everybody knows, like I told you, that's a later-day advice. In the Rishonim, Rashi, Sefer HaOrah—there's a Sefer HaOrah which is from Rashi—Sefer Itim quotes from Hai Gaon a different pasuk. V'ani b'rov chasdecha avo beisecha is also ten words in the pasuk. So the pasuk used is V'ani b'rov chasdecha. What is the machlokes? Like, why is it a shitas hamechah? You know, you just think they found the pasuk with ten words, right? I think it goes to the heart of understanding the sugya of how it works that you're counting with a pasuk. When you count with a pasuk, is it that you're counting through something else, through a different means? You're not counting the—you're counting the pesukim, right? Like it's counting through a shekel. That's how you're shaking your head. That's how you understand it. Or maybe it's giving him a bracha. Yeshias hamechah, varechecha, nachlahasecha. I give you a bracha. Azoivi migita bracha, nisht kein ein hara, right? בלי עין הרע. It's also bracha; Eliyahu brings it. So maybe yeshias hamechah is I'm counting you and I'm giving you the bracha. The nafkamina would be, V'ani b'rov chasdecha makes more sense in the shul. V'ani b'rov chasdecha avo beisecha. Every guy that walks in, counting him. That's what Rashi— Originated from, to save Ani b'Rev Chazdecha. Hoshia es amecha maybe is that what? We're giving him the bracha that there shouldn't be an ayin hara. Can I count the people by hands? Raise your hand. I don't mean to raise your hand now, but in the shul here, one, two. In the Beis Hamikdash they did that with the fingers, right? Right? Are you allowed to do that? Magen Avraham says you could. Magen Avraham says al yedei etzbaos, if you count the fingers. Says the Chasam Sofer, what do you mean, the fingers from him? It's that person. What are you counting the finger? What do you mean? What, he's just detached from his finger? Chasam Sofer says fingers won't help. Now a lot of people have a custom, they'll go Lashon Kodesh, not gonna say one, two, three, aleph, beis, gimel. They think somehow if they say it in Lashon Kodesh, that's best, yeah? So there's a Kaf HaChaim, siman nun hei, se'if katan yud aleph. It doesn't make a difference. Aleph, even though it doesn't mean one, but it means one because it's referring to one, two, three. So you still have the same problem of counting. Can I count b'machshava? Can I count? I have a good memory. I'm able to count.

Ten without having to take my shoes off. I could do it, right? Okay? Yeah? Can I do that? Okay. The Magen Avraham says yes. So really, it's not such a relevant shaila when it's ten people. Okay. Where you could have a shaila is, there's an interesting Kaf HaChaim Pelagi that says a lot of times when you count b'machshava, you do with your... That's not good. Once you do some kind of hand gesture, then it becomes a problem of counting. I notice a lot of times when people count, they'll do it with their head, right? The camera's here, so you know exactly. I don't have to explain it. Is that the same thing as going...? Maybe you should be machmir, I don't know. You know, certain things, we have to be very careful. You don't want bad things to happen. This is brought in the Magen Avraham. Maybe it's also called gesture, okay? How about counting seats? Count the hats. So can I tell—what happens in a shul that not everybody's wearing a hat? Oh, the talaisim. They do that. I like it. Okay, so let me tell you what they do. They count the seats. So let's clarify the shaila, really. We found that they count it through shkalim. You know, you don't know how happy you're making me, because you're helping me. I'm looking at the clock. I know that I really want to talk about this, but I have to go quickly. Did they count through another means? They counted through shkalim, right? So what's the difference? I count the tallis, I count the shekel. There's a very big difference, because the shekel was for the Beis HaMikdash. It was a mitzvah. When you do tzedakah, tzedakah tatzil mi... Okay, now you're talking about the whole different sugya now. Hoysiah samecha. You're giving him a bracha. You're doing something which will combat the ayin hara, will be anti. That's a good question. Again, Acharonim don't mention this case. It's done? Maybe not. Try to be machmir, I don't know. You know, certain things you got to find a heter because it disturbs life. Is this going to disturb you so much if you say Hoysiah samecha? All right. Next, if my chayiv for hezek re'iyah. If I go and I stood there, I go, wow, look at that guy's business. The guy came home and his business burned to the ground. It's got to be some correlation, right? Something happened, right? So the truth is, hezek re'iyah is chayiv b'dinei Shamayim. Reb Moshe, in the Dibros Moshe, Bava Basra, siman beis, says you're not chayiv. Why? You're only chayiv for mazik what the Torah calls mazik. Nowhere does it say that mazik al yedei segulah is a mazik, and therefore you're not chayiv. You're not chayiv, okay? This is not called taking your hand and breaking the other guy's house. That's not what happened, okay? The Kehillos Yaakov, the Steipler, the Steipler b'Kama, siman mem-hei, says, I disagree. You know why we don't find mazek re'iyah? You know why we don't find ayin hara in the dinei Torah? Because you can't prove it. But if you were able to prove it, maybe you'd be chayiv, taka. Who said? Maybe it's a mazik. Which means the Steipler understood it's very direct. You give an ayin hara, it's almost like I took a bat or I took a match and I burnt down your business, or whatever the case, I gave the ayin hara, okay? So it's a machlokes, Reb Moshe and the... Okay, so what do I have from this? I don't know what the heter is to stand over a guy's house and count how many rooms he's building. I don't know. I really, honestly, I don't. And it's also not a nice thing, rabosai. You know, a neidel a mensh. It's not your business. Now, there's a smart thing: make sure your business is only your business. This is also a point. You don't... means don't fararben and make other people look at your thing, which I'm not here to give mussar. Sometimes that's really a two-way street. He's looking because you made him look, because you want him to look, not mussar. That's not what I'm here for, okay? Al kol panim, rabosai, dinner. They honor you at a dinner. What? That's what you say. Interesting. So machlokes you and the Rama. The Rama says—Rama says—I'm sorry, I do that in yeshiva. I'm a Rosh Yeshiva. Forgive me, I'm not a rav. If I was a rav, I understand. Get rid of me for saying this. All right? I talk like a Rosh Yeshiva. I say it as it is, all right? Should I—can I take an honorary at a dinner? People can say, Wow, how he's a rich guy. Everybody's going to talk about it. This is Rama Yoreh Deah, kuf mem tes, se'if gimel. The Rama says that you're allowed to put your name in a sefer that you donated. You want people to see that you gave. You want, okay? Many question why. Why is this mutar? Why is the Rama not afraid of drawing attention, of tznius, of covering? So, some say that you're teaching others to do it. Mefarshim, oseh mitzvah, because then you're bringing other people to say, You know what? I also want.

I also want to help. I also want to do. There's another mahalach in Acharonim is, because shomea mitzvah l'yedei davar ra. If you're doing it for the sake of a mitzvah, you don't have to worry. Where is the problem? The aliyah is a shtikel problem, because we learned that there's an ayin hara, and aliyah l'choyra is a mitzvah. L'choyra, unless you say go to another shul who said you have to have the mitzvah. I know it's an interesting l'choyra. The kasha is something that has to be dealt with. I don't have enough time, but this would be the issue. Can I come and say, one, b'mefaresim, announce what you do. You know why? Others will learn from you, and then you get the mitzvah for helping and getting others to do it. Or, shomea mitzvah lo yedei davar ra. Acharonim, not only do they say you're allowed to take the honor, you should take it. Now, I'm not here to tell anybody to come to be the guest of honor at my yeshiva's dinner. That's not what I came for. But I do want to tell you over, and with this I'll end, and Baruch Hashem I did it exactly the way they told me, all right? You know that I cut out three-quarters of it, but that's not my problem. I can't help you. But I want to tell you an interesting thing. A lot of times people don't want people to come into their houses, hachnasas orchim, aniyim, because you have a beautiful house, you have a lot of silver and whatnot, and the ani, the poor guy, he's going to walk around looking, and they do it, by the way. They're going to do it. You should know that that will happen, because that's just the way people are. Should I be afraid and say, you know what, I don't want to take aniyim into my house? They'll have jealousy. Ben Ish Chai writes clearly in Ben Yehoyada, shomea mitzvah lo yedei davar ra. So ayin hara, you got to be careful, but sometimes you have to weigh that the mitzvah will protect you. I wish you all a beautiful day, a chodesh tov. ... because how would I end off? I would say, Baruch Hashem, I could say a chodesh tov. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.