Birchas HaGomel: Ashkenaz and Sefard, Air Travel, Parsa, and Completing a Journey

Transcript

You have to make Birchas Hagomel. When do you have to make Birchas Hagomel? Birchas Hagomel is not the same as Tefillas HaDerech. Tefillas HaDerech is while you're traveling, a tefillah that Hashem should protect you. Birchas Hagomel is after you've already come back, after you finish traveling, or maybe even, let's say, the sakana passed. For example, if you're sick, we'll soon see that people who are sick also have to make Birchas Hagomel. So you make a Shevach v'Hoda'ah to HaKadosh Baruch Hu that you have passed the sakana. So there's a Tefillas HaDerech during, while, and there's a Birchas Hagomel after. We will soon see that could be it's talui ha b'ha, which means where you have to say Tefillas HaDerech, you have to make Birchas Hagomel, and vice versa, where you have to make Birchas Hagomel, you have to say Tefillas HaDerech, or maybe not. This is a good question that must be asked: is Birchas Hagomel and Tefillas HaDerech two parts of the same halacha, or is separate dinim? Tefillas HaDerech is one thing; Birchas Hagomel is an issue for itself, a halacha for itself. That's the first nidon. Before we continue, I also want to point out, I started saying when you have to say Birchas Hagomel is the shiur for tonight. The word have to is grammatically incorrect, because there's no have to. You're not mechuyav to make birchas hagomel. It's the right thing to do. It's a kfiyat hatov if you don't, but there's no chiyuv. There's no requirement to make birchas hagomel. This is a Magen Avraham in the hakdamah, siman reish yud tes. Magen Avraham introduces the halacha in reish yud tes, telling us you're not mechuyav. We're not required to make birchas hagomel. The reason may be because you can't be forced to say thank you. The concept of birchas hagomel is to thank Hashem. If you're not holding by it, so words without feelings are not actually much. So to force—it's like someone saying, Say you love me. If there's love, you would say it, but to force you to say it doesn't mean it's there. Empty words. Empty words. Now, you're asking a good question. We find brachos which are yes requirements, and the teretz is very simple. This is birchas hoda'ah. There's brachos. Every person has to be taught manners. Manners is you must teach a child to say thank you. Hoda'ah is more than just thank you. Hoda'ah is gratitude. See the difference? There's bracha, blessing, which is thank you. Every child is taught, say thank you. Even if you're not thinking to say thank you, matters. Blessings of birchas hamazon and bracha acharonah is such. A birchas hoda'ah. Hoda'ah means I'm indebted to you, something deep. That gratitude has to be hitznadvut, which means that you're doing it, so you can't be mechuyav. I would say that this is maybe the concept behind it. The actual halachah is because it doesn't say anywhere that you have to do it. In other words, the simple pshat why it's not chiyuv is because who is mechayev? Now that's an issue already for itself, because the truth is brachot, Rabbanan, d'oraita. So we see the concept of brachos mid'rabbanan. So maybe this too is forced by the Rabbanan to do. We'll leave it at this now. Gratitude has to come from within the person, and the chachamim didn't force it. So therefore the Magen Avraham introduces to us.

Halachos of reishutes, that it's not chiyuv, but it's not mandatory, but it's preferable, recommended, recommended behavior. Now, in order to understand when you have to say Birchas Hagomel, you have to know well two yesodos, and that is that there's a machlokes Ashkenazim and Sefardim. What is the mechayev? What is the thing that requires Birchas Hagomel? This comes from the Shulchan Aruch itself. The Shulchan Aruch and the Rema discuss when are you supposed to make Birchas Hagomel. So I'm going to begin with that, with those dinim in the Shulchan Aruch. Yes. And the answer is, tzrichim, not chayavim. Arba tzrichim l'hodos. Tzrichim means they have to. It doesn't say chayavim; it says tzrichim. Tzrichim means highly recommended, almost like told to do, but not forced. Not a very good deal. You want to know something? As a matter of fact, that is the Magen Avraham's reasoning. Arba tzrichim l'hodos. It doesn't say chayavim; it says tzrichim. Tzrichim means you should, not necessarily you must. Now, let us learn the end of reish yud tes, where the Mechaber brings down. The basic differentiation, the machlokes concept between Ashkenaz and Sefard, when you're supposed to make a birchas hagomel, and that is as follows. Halacha zayin. B'Ashkenaz, im icher—I'm sorry—b'Ashkenaz vTzarfas, ein mevorchim k'sheholchim me'ir l'ir. You don't have to make a birchas hagomel when you go from one city to the other. That's Ashkenaz here. And who's talking? Not even the Rama. The Mechaber himself, the Ran haMechaber, Maran Beit Yosef says that in Ashkenaz the custom was that me'ir l'ir, when you go from one city to another, lo chivu. The chachamim did not ask of you to say birchas hagomel, ela b'holchei midbaros, d'shchichi bei chayos ra'os vlistim. It's only when you go into the midbar, where there's wild, wild beasts. You go in Harlem, there's wild beasts over there, so that would be holchei midbarios. Just kidding. Al kol panim, you go in the wild safari, right, you have to make a birchas hagomel. U'vSefarad, she'ein kein in Sefarad, nohagim levarech. Their minhag is from one city to another, yes, to make a bracha, birchas hagomel, mipnei shekol haderachim bchezkas sakanah. The way itself. Is a chazakah of sakana, which means things happen on the road. Things happen on the road. Road accidents. Road accidents. Roads and accidents go together. So you don't have to have a chayis standing there ready to attack. The mere fact that you go from one city, take a trip from one city to another, you have a birchas hagomel. Umihu, but, miparsa, ein mevarech. If you go less than a parsa, then you don't make a bracha. V'im hu makom pikuch nefesh, b'sakana yoser, if you go to a very dangerous place that you're going, it's a dangerous road, for example, if you go from one house to another house in Iraq, you better believe it, you should make a birchas hagomel, and maybe even the Ashkenazim would hold that. Right? And maybe you want to get me some water. Get me some water. My mouth is stuck together. Maybe, Eliezer, Eliezer. We in is parsa kama, the idea of parsa, we'll soon see parsa is a travel of 72 minutes. Parsa takes 72 minutes to go a parsa. What? Takes 72 minutes.

Parsa. The Mechaber tells us that if you're going mi'ir le'ir, a travel of a parsa, then you have to make birchas hagomel. So I'm just telling you, what is parsa? Parsa is a trip of 72 minutes. Now, a trip of 72 minutes. We're going to soon learn that there's two ways to identify within a parsa. We could say that either parsa means a measurement of land, how far, or parsa is a measurement of time. Means what happens if it takes you 72 minutes, the place is not 72 minutes away. Or, for example, vice versa. It takes you 20 minutes, but it's actually a 72-minute ride. So do you have to make birchas hagomel? Is it 72 minutes in time, or is it 72 minutes in location distance? But this is meran hamechaber. Again, one more time, because it's very important to get the yesod. So the first thing, when someone says, Do I have to make the birchas hagomel? What do you do? Since you learned my shiur, and I always teach to be very meticulous in your words, what are you going to correct him? Have to? You never have to anything. Should. The question is, should you or shouldn't you? Now, just one thing: when you talk to your wife, try not to play this game with her, because they can't handle it. But when you talk to talmidei chachamim, you can play this game every word. Catch him on the word. Do I have to? No, you don't have to. ... teaches me that you don't have to. Okay. Next question. When do I have? When should I? When this should, when is it? Can you tell them that there's a machlokes, obviously a basic concept of machlokes between Ashkenaz and Sefard. Ashkenaz holds, mevarech ein mevarchim k'sheholchim me'ir le'ir. You don't go from one city to another and make; only holchei midbarios, the shlichi boi that they have chayos ra'os v'listim. Sefard, they hold, mevarechin, kol ha'drachim b'chezkas sakanah, but you need parsa. And like I said, parsa can either mean measurement of land, distance, or time. Now I want you to understand this is very important, because from the Mechaber's mashma that according to Ashkenaz it's only holchim midbarios. Anything which is not holchim midbarios, you don't have to say. This is a very, very grave mistake if you learn like that, because the truth is later we're going to learn that it's not only holchim midbarios. In the halachah of tes it says, Hani arba, four that have to make gomel. What are the four? If you look at the first halachah of the Shulchan Aruch in reish yud tes, the four are me'avrei hayam, those that pass the ocean, those that... yeah, that go... yeah. One second, but... no, you see I missed the line, that's why. Here, reish yud tes, one minute. Yeah, ... Yordei hayam, those that go into the waters, holche midbariyos, and people who are healed, and chavush b'veis ha'asur. As the shiur progresses, we will define every one of these four cases, and we will also be medayek in the lashon, translate the words Yordei hayam. What does Yordei hayam mean? Yordei means what? Passing the ocean, or going down the ocean. Yordei. Maybe it's a submarine, right? Maybe that's what it means. Yordei hayam. So let me tell you what it literally means, and then we'll see if it's דא. As you travel in the ocean, there's a depth to the ocean. That's called yordei. You see, this higher up, the land is higher up than the ocean, because the land was lower than we would be here today. It would overtake us. So as you go deeper, it's called Yordei hayam. Now let me tell you, very few people know this. They read this, Yordei hayam, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, that they read it, blah, blah, blah. Now, Yordei hayam does not mean passing the ocean. Yordei hayam means—

Going deep into the ocean. And I'll tell you why I'm saying this, because if you look, interesting halachas. What happens if you're not going deep into the ocean? You're traveling 72 minutes, but you haven't went into the depth of the ocean. What happens if you're, let's say— Exactly. Guy goes around New York City, 72 minutes worth. Yomte, you see, this is why it's so important to know how to learn. So important. Because when you know how to learn, it lightens up. Yomte hayam. You see with the lashon, k'she'alu mimenu, when you come back up. What does alu mean? You come back to ground. When you return, you're called an oleh, because you're higher up. Holeche midbariyos. They go in the midbar. Now, interesting lashon, holeche. Holeche means to go. What about travel, ivrei pes, by using—not using the lashon of pacing, but walking, holeche, walking. I don't mean literal with your feet, but going, going in the midbar. What would happen if a person passes the midbar on a plane, over? That's why I'm telling you, you have to know how to learn. You have to know how to learn. That's where I'm getting at. Why am I saying this? Because the holeche midbariyos maybe is not holeche midbariyos. It's not הדין in the midbar, but it's הדין in the chayis that are in the midbar. Andevei, andevei. This is what I'm trying to bring out, because when it says in the Mechaber later that it's lav davka, what, it's not necessarily what hu hadin l'mi shenasu lo nes. It doesn't have to be only the four; it could be others nesim too. Yesh omrim, those that say no, it's davka what, the four cases that are brought. The Mechaber reaches two shitas in this. Hani arba, everybody take a look at se'if kes. Hani arba lav davka, not necessarily. D'hu hadin l'mi shenasu lo nes, any nes, kegon shenafal lo kosel v'nitzel mi'drisas shor, or for example an ox ran him over. Now today we don't have ox, but a car, ran over by a car, same thing. Anybody who learned Baba Kama knows, especially if you learned it by me, I always replace the word shor, shor shenagach, car shenagach. Our cars today are shor; they're ox. If you have a yeshiva shor, it has horns, and it has—just kidding. Anyways, l'mi shenasu lo nes, kegon shenafal kosel, nitzel mi'drisas regel, negichas aryeh, anavim, shvartes—no, he doesn't. Anyways, achal panim, all this is danger, and you have to make birchas hagomel. V'yesh omrim she'ein mevarchin hagomel ela hani arba davka, only these four. So when the Mechaber says that in Ashkenaz, ein mevarchin k'sheholech מעיר לעיר, because only midbar. Does he mean what, because only midbar and not anything else? I would say that that's not what he means, and I'll prove it to you soon. What he means is only like midbar. With danger. So actually, according to Ashkenaz, you don't need midbar. You know what you need? You need, and the lashon of danger is, the shchichi. It has to be common danger, which means that it's very, very common for the problem to happen. If it's not guaranteed, which means it's a distant chashash, then you're not mechuyiv. Yeah? So actually, and so we'll see, the next shitah, which is Sefarad. Sefarad is the one that holds takanah, you need davka midbar. I don't know if you know that. In other words, when people read the Mechaber, they think Ashkenaz holds you need midbar, and the Sefardim hold me'ir le'ir because you don't need midbar. It's not true. It's the other way around. Actually, Sefarad holds you need midbar. Ashkenaz holds you need shchichi. It has to be a guaranteed, a very common occurrence that there should be a problem. Yesh omrim she'ein mevarcha gomel ela l'hani arba. That happens to be the shitah of Sefarad. Sefardim do not make only when it's guaranteed, only when it's midbar. What do they do? Bli askaras shem u'malchus. But if you go and not midbar, stam a birchas hagomel, you say what? Baruch hagomel...

You don't say the Shem Malchut. A lot of people do that by Yud. Yeah, they get up and they say it. Ashkenaz doesn't have that, you know that. Sefard never get up and say Baruch Hagomel, we don't have it. Because the yesh omrim is actually l'svara, that you'd only make a birchas hagomel when you go through a midbar, or you get healed, or you... But stam a nes happened, Ashkenaz is the sheetah that holds you don't need midbar. Any miracle that happens. So when the Mechaber brings Ashkenaz, he needs to say that it's shechicha zeh. So let's now recap. Let's recap the yesod. Ashkenaz holds that as long as the sakanah is guaranteed or close to guaranteed, then you have to what? Make a birchas hagomel. Sefard don't hold you need shechicha. You don't need a guarantee. As long as there's a chashash, there's what to worry, yeah? Let me ask you a good question. No one is telling you you shouldn't have gratitude. The question is takanah that the Chachamim made. Birchas hagomel is a takanah that the Chachamim made, and I want to tell you a little further. It's based on a korban todah. The whole concept of birchas hagomel is arba chayavim lehodot, which means a korban todah. The Shulchan Aruch Harav, which is the Rav of Latanya, he says an interesting thing. Let's say you're not making birchas hagomel, but you still feel you owe Hashem, korban todah. So say the parashah of todah. You should do that. He brings down an interesting halacha. The only one that speaks about it, I don't know why, but he says that. The whole idea is based on the Karban Todah. Get up and say the parsha, Karban Todah, we know. And whenever you say a parsha, ki'ilu you are makriv. Ki'ilu speaks about, what about in fact? If you're allowed to say it because you're trying to be makriv a korban, or you have to stand up maybe because you have to be makriv a korban, so you're understanding. He talks about all these things. These are technicalities. Now, the yesod again is takanah of Birchas HaGomel based on the Karban Todah. When is the takanah? Ashkenaz holds shechicha u'metzuyah. You have to be that it's a common occurrence. According to the Sefardim, it's any chashash. For example, me'ir le'ir. Me'ir le'ir, right, the roads could have problems, so therefore you have to make. The other way around, though, according to Ashkenaz, it's any makom sakanah, because the Ashkenaz can explain to you holds that anything you say birchas hagomel for. Mashenkein according to the Sefardim, it's only the daled dvarim. It has to fit back into the categories, the four categories. So on one hand, Ashkenaz has a kula, Sefard has a chumra, but the other way around also. Sefard has a kula and Ashkenaz has a chumra. Does everybody understand this? Yes, I want to teach you, this is the yesod. You want to know the basis of Birchas Birchas HaGomel is this statement I just told you, that according to Ashkenaz, there's a chumra that you don't make birchas hagomel unless the chances are bad. The odds were you're gonna have a problem. Sfardim hold that as long as there's any doubt, any chashash, anything that could go awry is a problem. Yeah, just to give it to you in modern-day terms: when you fly a plane, the odds are that you'll be fine. As a matter of fact, there's more odds, the car, that there'll be a problem than the plane. The statistics are more people get injured and killed from driving around the corner, around the corner, than people get killed in a plane. So the Chachamim, we'll discuss this as we move along. Maybe according to Ashkenaz, you're not machliv to, say, ... on a plane, and we'll soon see a lot of hold like that, because it's not shechicha, and Ashkenaz hold you need shechicha. But according to the Sfardim, who hold that it's a chashash—I mean, there is a chashash—you can't say it's a safe thing in your house. It depends on the wife. A certain house with the wife maybe is probably safer to fly. Anyways, bal kol panim, the point being that you're not as safe as being in the comfort of your own home, right? That's where the shaila is gonna be, and we're gonna discuss this. But at the same time, the way I showed you from the Mechaber, that the way you have to learn is a kulah.

Askinas holds anything, any type of nes is supposed to say Birchas HaGomel, while safek, it has to be from the daled things. When it's not from the daled things, we'll soon see, the Acharonim, the poskim bring down, Baruch she'asah li nes bamakom hazeh, when you reach that place. You get to that place, you say she'asah li nes, and you say without Shem uMalchus, Baruch HaGomel chayavim tov. But Birchas HaGomel, Baruch Atah Hashem, it has to be the daled things. Where did I get this from? I got this from the Mishnah Berurah, who says this clearly. I want you to all take a look at the Beis Ha... at the Biur Halacha, dibur hamaschil Yordei Hayam. It's the first Biur Halacha. Okay, so so far we have learned se'if aleph, the Arba Dvarim, and im yirtzeh Hashem, like I told you and I promised you, we'll get back to interpreting the actual cases, the lashon. And we've also learned the basic machlokes Ashkenaz and Sefard from se'if... look that deep again, the last se'if, se'if zayin. Now we're going to learn the yesod that I just told you from the Mishnah Berurah, who says this. Says the Mishnah Berurah, 'Hitaf... yam...' Yeah, what do you want? No, I didn't say that. What I said was either/or. When you reach that place, you say Baruch she'asah li nes bamakom... that you can say b'Shem uMalchus, Baruch Atah Hashem she'asah li nes bamakom hazeh. Or in the synagogue, in the shul, you make which bracha? Baruch... without Shem Malchus, ... Says the Biur Halacha, idach kiam. Do you need ocean or even river? Because it says yordei hayam, and yeshanim always have to be medayek in the word. But it says yam. Yam is an ocean, not the same as a river, right? A river is much safer than the ocean, is it? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, whatever it is, but should we include the har also? Shema halches boi baniyos, that you go with a boat in that lake, oi bi two brois eitzim, or with woods. You know, they used to have those, what do they call that, when they... in the rivers they went with like rafts. Rafts. That's called two brois eitzim. Kemo shederech bneharos hagdolim... Okay. Nir'eh lechaira, Italia bminhag Sefarad v'Ashkenaz. And that's where I got it. You see that the Biur Halacha makes the chiluk between minhag Sefarad and Ashkenaz. Hamevurar l'kaman bmechaber siman zayin, lamad, דאם... according to the Sefarad, that any derech is... in the har. Veigar in har gadol, mistama derech... bminhag Ashkenaz. Dederech heim mevarchim, אף שהוא הדין גבי נהר הוי מברכין, דלא שכיחא כמו גבי ים. You see that he learned this yesod, shechiach, which means is you don't need yam, yam. It's a din in the water, shchicha, sakanta. It's not shchicha, sakanta. Meaning, if it was a din in the yam, then we have a shayla: what's in the har? Is the har also called the yam? Since it's not a din in the har, anyway, according to the hashkanah, so there's nothing to clarify. There's nothing to talk about. If it's shchicha, zeh, fine. If it's not shchicha, there's also fine. That's where I got it. Okay. No, according to Sfas Emes, the har would be like a derech, like halchi drachim, and halchi drachim you do say. That's the chiddush. We're going to get to that. We're going to talk about it. We're not going to talk about the tunnels. You're going in the water, what are you talking about? There's a teshuvah from the Shevet HaLevi that discusses that. We're going to talk about it. See, the point is not just to throw out, this one said this, that one said that, so what? Okay, very nice. I mean, it's good. It's good to know it. I'm going to show you where it comes from. Why is each one saying? What is it based on? You're going to know the whole sugya. Now, says the Mishnah Berurah further, v'da od, you should know more. The more you know, the better off you are. V'da od.

No more. It doesn't make a difference. Even if there was no sakana. You go through the yam, you go through the midbar, even if it was a safe trip, smooth sailing, nothing happened. There was no big waves or winds, smooth sailing. That he went in the midbar, but lo taba derech, he didn't get lost, he didn't have any lack of water. The Rabbanan say you have to make a bracha. It's mashma that he got lost. Yes, it's mashma the pasuk got lost in the midbar, he came out, you should make — that's where it comes from, patur. How do you know the Arba Tzrichin Hodaah? Sefardim, just see them, they say Friday before Kabbalas Shabbos, before Mincha, right? They say the Arba Tzrichin Hodaah, they say that kapitel. ... Hodu laShem, that's where it comes from. And there it says he got lost in the midbar, so maybe it's only if he got lost, maybe not if there was smooth sailing. And the answer is no. Yeah, no. ... כי אפילו הכי ... לברך, כמו כן גבי יורדי הים, לאו דווקא, ... since it could happen. Sorry, you have to go and walk and make the birchas hagomel. Let me clarify. Let's clarify. Are we to learn that the takanah of the Arba Tzarim here is the Arba Tzarim because of the chashash takanah that's going to happen, or it's the takanah for the chashash takanah that happens in the Arba Tzarim? Is the takanah on the four examples because of the danger, or is on the danger of the four examples? The danger of the four examples. No, you can come and say that the Chazal weren't mesaken it. It's not a stira going to last in the Shulchan Aruch; that's lav davka. And you can come and say that af al pi kein dafka point the boat's done. Again, is it for—you go in the midbar? You know, just to be mamchish, to give you what I'm trying to get at. You know that flying in an airplane is none of the four. It's not. It's not. And I want you to know that a lot of people hold that it is. We're soon going to learn this. A lot of people, a lot of poskim hold that, you know something, if you fly with a plane over an ocean, that's called an ... It is. That's what you say. Truth is, it's not. What is the word yardei hayam? Let's translate. That's exactly what I tried to show you when we started. If you translate the words, it doesn't say you passed the ocean. You yared. You went to the depth of the ocean. This has nothing to do with the depth of the ocean. What? No, on a boat. That's not a boat. It's not an airplane. Tell me something. Did you—are you a whole chei ha-midbar? You went through a midbar. You did. Aha. So I'll tell you, maybe you did, but I didn't. When I fly in an airplane thousands of miles on top of the midbar, believe me, nothing in the midbar can affect me whatsoever. Not the wild animals, and not the drought, and not the heat. I have no contact, no issue with the midbar. Many poskim say, Yeah, but you passed the midbar. Truth is, if you're real— I shouldn't say real, because I don't want to knock those that say it—but if you really listen carefully to the words, the words is not that you passed over the ocean. You went through the ocean. Ha'holchei midbar means you went through the midbar. Tired of friends, you're not going through a midbar. When someone asks you—

When the pilot says, Oh, we're now passing the desert, we're not passing the desert. What kind of desert are you passing? You're flying over the desert. You're not passing the desert. You went through the desert. Listen to me carefully. Maybe they never used to travel. I'll get out, but the point is that they want to say, ... they say b'kidush, flying in a plane itself, not so dangerous. And don't forget, don't forget, it has to do with the original question we spoke. Because it's not shechicha. Not guaranteed. I mean, most of the time nothing happens. According to the other opinions, you don't need shechicha as long as there's chashash. You can say there is a chashash. I mean, we do check the bag. There is terrorism, right? There is some danger. Okay, so that's one issue. Maybe according to Ashkenaz, you don't have to. Then even if you'll say that you have to, why? Because you went through the midbar. You never went through the midbar. There's a lot of want to say, when you fly in a plane over a midbar or over the ocean, then you'll have. ... If I fly to Boston, I go to Boston, or I go local, I go from Manhattan to ... that's ... I'm not חייב. Why? I didn't pass the ocean, and I— no, I'm showing you that many hold that even the airplane is if I fly over ocean, if I flew over— it's never seen a possibility. There's a lot of people— Because the danger is not enough. That's a pashut. No, saying, according to Chash, you have to. Yeah, yeah. We said that it has to be a serious chash, right? In other words, according to Svardim, I don't even think there's an issue about having to make a birchas hagomel on a plane, because it's holchei derachim. It's holchei derachim. There's not even what to discuss. You're traveling, and it's a sakanah, and you're going seventy-two, and that's what he was telling you. Chash, sakanah. Something. It means that there's room for danger. So every time you drive, you should say a bracha? You do, b'ir le'ir. When you go from one city... No, because that's b'ir le'ir. Today, they say that it's not that shechiach, the roads, to have sakanah. The poskim hold, but ein hachanami, if you're going to go on a road which is a dangerous road, for example, if you go on Main Street of—what do you call that?—no, Queens Boulevard, maybe ein hachanami, I don't know, so many accidents over there. But the point is that the road, ninety percent are not dangerous. If you're yotzei, you're going on a road which is very dangerous, hashkachah would hold, yeah. Svard anyway is more lenient about the whole thing. Means as long as you're going me'ir le'ir, you have. So a plane should be no different than holechei derachim me'ir le'ir. But you have to have shechicha. You have to have that it's common. That's the shita in the Mechaber. That's the shita of Ashkenaz. It's ad liyon. So it has to be shechicha. According to the Sefardim, it has to be shaas. I pashut, you would have to make on a plane. We're not holding by jumping out of the plane. We're not holding it yet. We're going to get to jumping out of the plane. Meanwhile, the question is, when you're on the plane, you're not jumping off the plane. Listen carefully, listen carefully. Now we have two clear, not shechicha. Okay, so you know what they want to do? They want to put the two together. Midbar. They say if you went in a plane over a midbar, that's different tziyur of the ... not so pashut. And let me explain two items. You're really not going in the midbar, and you're really not going in the water, because it's yardei hayam. The chiyuv is not if you pass the waters; it's that you went in through the waters, deep into the ocean of the waters. If, for example, we're soon going to talk about a fisherman. They're not traveling, but they're going into the depths of the waters. They talk about it. I think we've seen ... about the fisherman. A fisherman, yeah? You're not traveling, but you went yardei hayam. See, the point is you have to learn the words, the definitions.

To define the cases, a plane is still not yored hayam. So Rameisha, zecher tzaddik livracha, in his teshuvos has a mechadesh. And Mr. Brew really alludes to this in his few words. What are the words that he says here? Lav davka shekara lo, ela kivan she'oloi likrois mikrim ka'eileh. Since it could happen, which means, and that's what I clarified to you, I showed you how to learn it up from the mekor. Is it a takanah on these four, or is it a takanah of the sakanah? Which means, did they mesaken if you go through a midbar because of the sakanah, or were they mesaken on the sakanah that could come from a midbar, on the sakanah that could come from—says Rameisha, all the sakanos of the ocean, the midbar, and whatever else, could all be in the airplane too. So the sakanos are there by the airplane as well, and therefore you have to make a bracha. How? Because what are you going to have? List, you have that by the airplane too. What are you going to have by—storm, a big storm. The wave. There's no waves over there. The wave, you need the storm. It can be overtaken by a storm. Yeah, a thunderstorm. Okay, so let me tell you, please, I'm begging you, don't quote ... Many planes were taken down by light. So when they fly low, what's the difference? When you're flying on a plane, you can have a sakana, don't you? What's the difference, a low, a high, whatever it is. When you're flying a plane, there's a sakana, light in the midbar. Light is if you would be in the ocean, and therefore, says Reb Moshe, this is called the sakanas hamidbar. The sakana was not on the midbar. The sakana was not on the yam. It was on the sakanas hayam. It was the sakanas hamidbar. ... Now, no, but that's what I'm trying to explain to you. Shchicha is only by the derachim. You go b'derachim, you need shchicha hezek. But when you go on the ... without the shchicha, that's the chiddush over here. There's two dinim. There's the ir leir, that's shchicha, and according to the svara, you don't need shchicha. Then there's the midbaris, where the svara are not gorez the whole midbaris, because the whole thing is lav davka. But the hashkanas hold — the other way around, okay, I'm sorry, excuse me, excuse me — the other way around. Svara hold it has to be davka midbar. Says the Mishnah Berurah, what's the taich? Not the midbar; it's the sakanas midbar. The sakanas midbar you can have in a different scenario also. What? That's what he says. That's what Reb Moshe says, that as long as you have sakanas midbar, you're lost. Okay. Now, I want to show you. Had the Or LaTzion took all these halachos, made rules from them, and applied them halacha l'maaseh. See, there's two steps in Hilchos Birchas Hagefen. Like you said very good, there's rules. You can't just, Oh, it's dangerous. And everything is dangerous. Sit by shiur also. Maybe you should bench gomel when you're finished. I always tell people, you don't have life insurance, don't sit next to me during a shiur. It's dangerous. So how do we define? You have to define, and then you have to apply. So remember, first you define the rules, and then you apply them. That's how Birchas Hagefen works. So let me show you how he applies the rules above that we just learned, that I showed you inside, and how he applies them. Okay. Beautiful. Beautiful. Listen carefully. Mi shenasa b'rechev ir leir, ha'im tzarich levarech Birchas Hagefen, she'einah mem-beis, perek yud-daled, kelal beis. You would say, yeah, me'ir leir, right? So I had him hold me'ir leir. But it has to be a parsa, right? But it has to be a parsa, right?

The Mechaber says clearly, 72 minutes. But I clarified to you, I showed you, is 72 minutes distance or time? Let's see what he says. It has to be that it's a dangerous road. But you can't see one car ahead of the other. It's a dangerous road. Where does that come from? Because that's how he's translating the Shach. It has to be that it's dangerous. Some roads today, I told you this, I told you in posting home, that our roads today is not even the derachim that the Mechaber talks about, because the derachim today are not b'chezkas sakanah. When we talk about b'chezkas sakanah, which means there has to be a reason to worry. Today there's no reason to worry unless it's a type of road that you can't see. It winds, it's very bad, you can't see because maybe the fog, you can't see. That's what he means. So remember, even according to the Taz, that you need a chashash, but it has to be a chashash. Bigai, the kvishin haderachim, like far-out roads, היושנאסע בשעות הלילה. Now let's say, think for a minute, which means now it's not only the road, but it's the travel that you're taking. I would comment today, the road, the road as much as you took the trip at night, that's also called what? Sakanah. בצריך שמשך הנסיעה יהיה לפחות שעה וחצי. That's the 72 minutes, right? Halicha v'chazara b'oseh yom, mitztarefin l'Birchas Hagomel. We did talk about this, that it has to be at the end of your trip that you make a Birchas Hagomel. Also, we learned this: it's a shaar teshuvah, it's a Mishnah Berurah, it's a Shaar HaTziyun, that if a person didn't finish complete his trip, he still doesn't make. For example, you have connecting flights. The connecting flight could be the same hour, right? After you get off an hour later, you're back on another, or it could be a different day. How much time is called continuous, the same trip? So, the Kaf HaChaim says 30 days. As long as it's within 30 days, you're called the same trip, which means you can travel to Hong Kong and back, you're still within the 30 days, so you don't make Birchas Hagomel when you get to Hong Kong, only once when you come back. I heard this morning in Lakewood—I was in Lakewood this morning, my sister made a bris—so I heard from a talmid chacham from Lakewood, and I saw from Rav Moshe this psak. What happened was that Rav Moshe came to Los Angeles, to Rav Rosenshtein's yeshiva, Rav Rosenshtein's yeshiva, yeshiva. So Rav Moshe went and he got an aliyah, and everybody was waiting for the bench gomel. Why? Because of the teshuvah. Rav Moshe in his teshuvah writes that if you fly in a plane, you have to bench gomel, right? Now, again, I hear you went over oceans, waters, people—Rav Moshe held it didn't make a difference. Whatever it is, you got to make the Birchas Hagomel. He didn't do it. So this person told me, I went over to Rav Moshe and I said, I don't understand. You and your children, you yourself wrote that you have to bench gomel on a plane. He tells you that I'm still in the middle. I'm still in the middle. What do you mean I'm still in the middle? I'm still going back today, or tomorrow, whatever it is. Or in a week. Oh, so he asks them, how long? He tells them 30 days, like this. So it comes out a really chiddush, this Talmud Chacham told R' Moshe, and Moshe is right. Those that lashon, the bakrim that come from Eretz Yisrael after Tishah, and they're traveling back for Shavuos, it's within 30 days, so they don't make a birchas hagomel when they go back. I'm not so sure. I'll tell you why. Them coming back home. If it would be the other way, I would hear. They're traveling to Israel and they're coming back. Here they're coming home, and they're going back for another year. But there were 30 days, they really shouldn't do the ... within 30 days, right? So then you do an ... Exactly. That's how I understood it. But either R' Moshe just ... I don't listen. I can't decide what a guy told R' Moshe said. But this Talmud Chacham, it was not interesting. I could hear maybe not. It's true you have a ...

How long? Halicha v'chazarah kol hayom. Not 30 days, but how long says Rabbi Tzvi and Rav Shol? How long? One day. It says one day. Rabbi Tzvi says one day, but actually, Chaim says 30 days. Okay. Even not from the ... laila, ... ein mitztaref. Now 30 days, one day. Okay. V'im yesh b'nesi'ah achas shavua chodesh, yeah? If in one of the trips there's a shavua chodesh, if they say v'chozer v'oseh yom, mevarech birchas hagomel rak paam achas b'sof chazaraso. V'im they say b'yomecha v'chozer l'machar, mevarech b'chol yom birchas hagomel. I don't know why Rishonim sometimes. Anyway, v'chol zeh b'drachim mutaros. Aval im yesa b'drachim mesukanos, if a person has to travel on dangerous roads, the guy has to say l'chevron. The guy goes to Chevron, dangerous. It's mamash in Eretz Yisrael, halacha l'maaseh, you go to Chevron. Oyvin pisha bika k'daima. There's a dangerous road over there. It's a very big dangerous road in Eretz Yisrael. Sheyeish chashash sakana l'ovrei sham, v'varech al chalifin, afilu matzui bo eis pisha harbeh. Afilu nasa pachos miparsa. And even if even less than a parsa, which means the whole parsa is to make it into that it should be dangerous. It's local. You should know when they come to the insurance, they ask you this question: is it local, local driving, or it's long distance? There is a chiluk in the statistics. Local driving is less accidents than highway driving. No, we know it's ... but I'm saying, but that's what they're choshesh. I'm saying we know that the locals, it's so because of the way they drive. In theory, it's supposed to be the local. Nothing should happen. If you go— It's a pshat. This is what he's trying to say. ... Okay. Now I want to show you on the bottom over here. V'tzarich shemeshech hanesiyah yeilech pachos sha'ah v'chomesh, shehu mehalech b'raglav, that he's going by foot. V'keivan sheshiur parsah eino talui rak b'merchak, ela b'meshech hazman — it's not telling the merchak; what's it תלוי in? Time. It's not in distance, but in time. Sound familiar? Sound familiar? It's תלוי time. I see what I see in him. A lot of times when I see the way he writes, crazy, because he really knew how to learn. He hits the right point. It's a lomdishe vort. A lot of poskim don't hit these points. You know, like a musician hits certain chords, and he's a good musician, right? He hits those chords. He has a — not everybody has it. He always hits the right chord. This is the right chord. What is the ...? Yesterday, what happened? The guy goes five blocks, but there was traffic like who knows what. He travels to Manhattan, takes two hours to get there. Right? ... If you remember, Rabbi ... said that anyway, you have to mention ... because if you come back as a Yid, you have to mention ... Anyone who travels to Manhattan — ... What? ... What's the difference? It is. Yeah, sure. Now, I want to tell you like this, Rabbi. I obviously, because of the time consuming — it's quarter to ten already — I won't be able to read you the whole thing, but it's כדאי to read this whole. Let's move to a few more nekudos here. The fishman, right? Now this is what he brings over here: ... What happens if you take like a little bit around the hat, you go around the hat with a ferry, the ferry boat, yeah? ... What's bothering here? My diyuk. ... means you're going into the depth of the ocean. So how do I know that if a guy goes around — that's also included? I don't understand this, and I'll tell you why. Because you don't need the ... All you need is the ... I don't know why he does it.

You don't have to go back to Yarda Yam. You can walk. Anyways, lachein kol shesrachik mehachoif. So any time you pass, you go far away from the choif, from the edge of the water, the, what do you call, the bank, the shore, that you can't see, latziloi bshas sakanah, that they could quickly get to you if there's a danger, harei hu bichlal Yardei Yam she'ein bo sakanah, u'levarech birchas hagomel. Not sure. And maybe he's trying to, even though there's no meilia, maybe that's what he wants. Even though it's not meilia, ... that's what he wants. ... it's not meilia, but it's called Yardei Yam. That's what he wants, to drag it back into Yardei Yam. So the fishermen who go out, they go far out into the, that's called what? Yardei Yam. So he doesn't talk about the case of the fishermen, but that's what I was getting at. Okay, now what happens if a guy goes in a tunnel? So let's discuss it. The guy goes in a tunnel, so if he goes meil lir, ... shouldn't make a difference, right? But according to the Ashkenazim who don't hold of the meil lir, but they call it Yardei Yam. Why? Because they're going to the depth of the ocean. So tell us, rabosai, why? Because since they're not going into the danger of the ocean, the point was not to pass into the ocean. Reb Mishnah Berurah explains it's to get to the danger of the ocean. That's what you're doing. You're not going through the danger of the ocean. So according to Sefardim, if you pass through the tunnels, you would have to make a ... you would have to make a ... According to Ashkenazim, you wouldn't have to. Okay, now, there's a lot more here, so I don't know what to do. I want to get to the jail, guy's jail today. Every other guy is sitting in jail. Okay, maybe we'll continue. I have two shiurim on this one. Okay? Okay, rabosai, good? You enjoyed? You hear? You learned? Every Tuesday, come Tuesday, Sunday and Tuesday. No, Sunday morning and Tuesday. Okay, Elon, this is for you, right? This is right up your alley. Are we going to finish this? Because we didn't want to. I know, they didn't want to finish. I wanted to.