Shoftim 13: Why Malachim Conceal Their Names—and May We Ask Them for Brachos?

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. The malach, Shoftim Yud-Gimmel, pasuk Yud-Zayin. The malach introduces himself from Manoach. He gives him the halachos that are necessary for Shimshon to be the nazir. Manoach, interestingly, is curious, for lack of a better term, curious. Vayomer Manoach el מלאך Hashem, mi shemecha. Now the mi really should have been ma shemecha. The mefarshim talk about it. It's not so relevant to the etzem question and answer. Just talking, dikduk, mi shemecha, ma shemecha. Either way, he's curious, Give me your name, which he does not say, Shalom Aleichem, what's your name? What's his dinomen? Ki lo yada Manoach ki מלאך Hashem. Says the pasuk, Manoach is actually doing something strange. A malach, fragt, ‘Mana nomen?’ If it was your friend, give Shalom Aleichem, and the next question is, ‘Manikom tayid?’ But this is a malach. Why does he ask? Says the pasuk, he didn't know. Ki מלאך Hashem, we didn't know this. The kitzur, what does the malach answer him? Vayomer elai מלאך Hashem, in pasuk Yud-Ches, ‘Lamah zeh tishal lishmi?’ Why are you asking me my name? V'hu peli. What was the answer? V'hu peli. Why does the malach not want to answer him? The word peli simply is translated. It's taka a good question. It's a wonder. It's a good kasha. ... It's taka good kasha. In Brisk, ... We'll talk about that. ... you're being mechaven to one pshat in a medrash. Now everybody quotes it from different Acharonim, what you just said, but the truth is it's a mefurasha medrash. It's mamash an open medrash. Im Brisk tatzeilt min, az yeder zach host mir zogt, breng a raya, to prove it. So that someone once went to the Brisker Rav, and the Brisker Rav asked him, Vos iz dayn nomen? And he said, My name is so-and-so. Breng a raya. Alles darf hoben a raya. Everything needs a proof. ... The Brisker Rav was trying to teach the person, everything you say has to be backed up by hard evidence. ... In pshat, normally, normal people have a conversation: Shalom aleichem, what's your name? And if the guy answers you, it's taka a good kasha. ... The Mefarshim discuss this question: why does he not want to tell him his name? It seems—okay, so we'll talk, let's see. The Mefarshim discuss, why was he so adamant to not conceal his identity? V'hu peli. So, I'll tell you. L'maaseh, this is a medrash Shabbos, a shaila, like I told you. You might have heard over the years different Acharonim terutzim. It's actually a medrash. In Parshas Naso, perek yud, os hei, the malach is telling him, Sinishnegeach. You'll never see me again. So what's the point of asking? Okay, says the Chazal, pshat number one: v'hu peli, l'mai nafka mina. You ever see a Yid—every third word is, l'mai nafka mina, l'mai nafka mina. They say over, you're smiling, huh? There's a lot of depth to Jewish conversation. It tzalti ba'maaseh, there was once a Yid on a train: Shalom aleichem, vel bistu? Who are you? The guy gives him a smack, Get away from me.

You know, a svara, and he tells him, S'nisht geya. S'nisht geya? What? So he said, Du veyst doch vi es arbet. Tsveyden zitzn zikh tzu zamen, einer zogt dem tsveytn, Mein nomen iz azoi. Oh, where are you from? Oh, you know, I have a relative from the same shtetl. And then, Oh, you're related to this one, you're related to that one. I always like when people go to Eretz Yisroel, and in Eretz Yisroel they ask you, Ah, you know, I have a relative somewhere in Beitar Park. Beitar Park is a very big ... you know, but this is Jewish conversation, azoi. Azoi firt men zikh tzu Yidden. One conversation leads to another, which leads to another, which leads to, Can you lend me money? Mameila, I wanted to stop you short by telling you, don't waste your time. S'nisht geya ... afrasken begeit vayter. Azoi zogt zich Yidishe yunger. Azoi vi ... You know, there's also mitatzelt. Now why am I doing this? I want to build up the kasha; you should never forget it. You see, the Rav says, Torah, fifty percent of it is to understand good the kasha, un nokh dem iz men zocher chiddush, un even lahalacha even. There's a lot of halacha, rabbeisei, that's learned from this ... Mitatzelt. Azoy geven a mol a Yid. He was going for a fahr by a ... future mechutan, future mechutan. Inu nafshi. So he goes to his rav and he says, Rebbe, what am I going to do when they start asking me kashes to ...? So the Rav says, I'll tell you, whatever he tells you, you should say, L'mai nafka mina. L'mai nafka mina. No, l'mai nafka mina? What is the practical difference between this and that? Give me the halachic difference between the two. You mean you won't say he should duck the question or deflect it. It's like what they say: every good Jew answers with a question, a question with a question, okay? More or less it's that. The kid says, the mechutan fragt dem a kashya, lernen. Un er zogt, L'mai nafka mina? Ooh, you mean Reb Akiva Eiger meint tzedakah, Reb Akiva Eiger's shaylah? Psh, taka peleh, mamash nechedik, ah? Then he says back to him, so the teretz from Reb Akiva Eiger is al machlokes... L'mai nafka mina? Oy, mamash... do means to fregn... And this is going on, you hear back and forth. But you see, when you're a nar, and you don't know, you'll get caught eventually. So the person tells the— the father-in-law tells the son-in-law, Kasha lei peridaschem. I feel so difficult for us to part. Maybe I can't. I wish you'd guide my daughter today, which is what he's trying to tell him. Then, idiota bishkvus vos dos iz, zogt er, L'mai nafka mina? Then the father-in-law... he doesn't— he has no idea, and it's just a key word of L'mai nafka mina. Okay, what am I trying to say? Vos, L'mai nafka mina? Im itz iz fregt a nomen. So you see that the question wasn't so off, and the teretz was not forbidden. It wasn't asur for him to tell him. He was just telling him, Why do you care? You'll never see me again. What's wrong being courteous and tell him good day? Zog ich bin Michael, ich bin Gavriel. Zog, give a name! Why does he tell him, Lamai nafka mina? That's what he's telling him. According to the first pshat of the Medrash, he's telling him, What's the difference? You'll never see me again. The second pshat, which is maybe a little more familiar with you, the Medrash says that the malach is telling him, V'hu peli, I don't got a name. My name is based on my shlichus. Whatever my shlichus is, that's my name. And being that it changes from day to day, and maybe even from moment to moment, so I'll stay nameless, because I, anoch avda d'kudsha brichu. That's who I am. I'm nameless. I'm faceless and nameless because I stand to do what the Eibishter wants. Azoi zogt the Medrash, a tzveite teretz. So teretz number one, Lamai nafka mina? You'll never see me again. Teretz number two, I don't have a name. Teretz number three, which I'm sure you all heard before, Pela, hafla, neder, nezirus, ish ki yafli.

Shlichus here is to teach you about the zeros, about Shimshon. Vehu. So he was courteous, and he was answering him takkeh. You want to know my name? My name is vehu. Peli, hafla. I came here for the shlichus of ish ki yafli neder nezirus. Vehu is Emet, or vehu is on Shimshon? No, vehu, my name is Peli, hafla. Why? Because right now, my shlichus, and who I am, is my shlichus. That's who I am. So we have three terutzim from the heilige divrei Chazal. One, I don't want to answer you. Irrelevant. Two, I don't have a name. Three, I give you my name, and it's vehu Peli. Now you might not understand what the— You started with the question, lamah zeh vehu Peli. Lamah—what's the—what do you mean, lamah zeh? That's a good question. Now you're saying good. So really it's not so schwer. You don't have to ask. Understand that if I came to you about hafla, then vehu Peli. That must be my name. In Sefer Chassidim, siman pav, pav shin nun, points out that this is not the first time that malachim come to people, people ask their name, and the malach refuses to give up his identity. Anybody remember where the— Yaakov Avinu. I missed you. You don't know how much I miss you. You should know you're not here, I miss you. Yaakov Avinu. Same thing. He doesn't want to give up his identity. Zogt der Sefer Chassidim. The malach is afraid to give up his identity, because there's such a thing called being mashbiach the malach. You see, everybody's in a trance. You have koiches to stop a malach by anchoring him with a shvua not to fulfill the shlichus, and therefore, in order not to affect his shlichus, secret. He keeps his identity and his name a secret. So malachim are actually secret agents of the Eibishter. Now, he doesn't use the code words of today that we use, secret, but that's what he means. It's kept in top secret, because otherwise, the person is able—and the truth is, you see that Yaakov Avinu, what, was able to hold down the malach. The malach wanted to leave. Yaakov Avinu overpowered the malach, and he kept him from going back to do what he had to do, say shirah in Shamayim. So in order it shouldn't—the lashon of the sefer Chassidim—shouldn't be mashbiach the malach and hold him back, he keeps his identity and his name secret. Obviously, there's a lot more to understand here. Maybe it's a little beyond me, maybe not beyond you, maybe more than me. To me, a little bit, it's a little bit from... So I leave the words of the sefer Chassidim, and I'll turn to a sefer Hamakneh. The Haflaah gives an interesting teretz of why, and he speaks about here. He doesn't speak about all other cases, Yaakov Avinu and the other cases where in Tanach we find this, but why here the malach refuses. To give up his name. And he says the fact that he's nameless is because he was the sar ha'olam. So he says, interesting chiddush, hamakneh, the Rebbe of the hafla'ah, of the Chasam Sofer. Does everyone know the name of the sar ha'olam? This should be an easy one for you. You're acquainted with the malachim, no? Mem tes tes. Very good. He's called Sar ha'olam. The sar ha'olam is called Matatron. Now you remember, rings a bell. It's a Tosafos. Tosafos in Yevamos says clearly that you really shouldn't be using the name Matatron. That's why, you notice, people don't say it. How did you say it? You said it, mem— you see how? You're not supposed to say it officially. I have to say it. But we stay away from it. Why? Says Tosefes Chiddush, and the Hafla'ah speaks about this yesod. The name Refael, Gavriel, that identifies the shlichus. The shlichus is refa, heal, to refuah. Matatron actually, he takes on the name of sar ha'olam, that he is shayach to the Eibishter, so it's almost like a kinuy for the Eibishter. Interesting, huh? Hafla'ah, Kiddushin daf lamed aleph.

Further discussion, you can look over there, that matratoin. And she says, for example, if let's say your friend's name is the same as your father's, halachah is you shouldn't say the name of your friend. Try to avoid it. Why? Because it happens to be an ikaved for your father. Matratoin is almost ben of the Eibishter. It's k'mat... Why are you making the... What? It's—listen, this is my job. My job is to say it as is. I don't understand much of it either, so we'll get the Torah soon that I do understand, okay? So we have two teirutzim. Either malach could be anchored by man, and therefore he keeps his identity secret, or because this malach has such a name that we really shouldn't say that name. He's matratin, Sariel, Gavriel, Raphael; it doesn't make me... Rabbi Krasner in his sefarim brings a lot of mareh mekomos to these inyanim. I would like to touch on two rishonim that give different teirutzim. It seems to be the same teretz, but in further analysis, if you look carefully, you'll see that actually they're saying two different teirutzim. In Sefer Ikrim, which Rabbi Krasner does bring, he brings the Sefer Ikrim. In maamar sheini, perek chof-ches, the malach wants to, so to speak, declare that he isn't a koach b'etzem, that he actually doesn't exist, in order that the person shouldn't be in mistake to think. The malach has a koach. So when you ask the malach, ‘What is your name?’ ‘I don't exist. How can I have a name?’ When a person has a name, that means he already exists. I don't know if you know that. The biggest proof, especially in yeshiva, right? The first thing about, are you in yeshiva? The first thing is if you have a name on the list, you're a name. You know, they always say he's a name and a number in yeshiva, right? The fact that you're a name, that's already step number one that you're here, ich bin do. Now, malach will zogen, ‘I bin nishto. I'm not here. All I am is tzar of the Eibishter. All I am is the ratzon of the Eibishter.’ So therefore, I am selfless to the point that I don't have a name. So, says Sefer Ikrim. I found an interesting Ramban. Rabbi Krasner does not bring this Ramban. I shall call him about this. I'll call him up. Mensh, I could learn in the Talmud Chacham, he brings many dikke bekius there. For some reason, the Ramban is not in there, unless maybe he felt the Ramban is the same as the Sefer Ikrim. The Ramban is actually on Yaakov Avinu when he asks the sar of Esav. Vayishal Yaakov vayomer, ‘Hagidah na shmecha,’ vayomer, ‘Lamah zeh tishal lishmi?’ ‘Vayevarech oso sham.’ Says the Ramban, ‘Ein lecha biyedias shmi toeles.’ You have nothing from it. Sounds a little bit like what? Like the first pshat in the Medrash, right? ‘Ki ein hakoach v'hachaylus bilti laShem levado.’ Sounds a little like who? Like the ikra, right? So it's a mixture here. First teretz, what's the point? Teretz, stam geden, stam zugen. Mashgiach, the tzaddik once told me, nos, it's a tzav. Sometimes I miss him dearly. He once called me into the office. If you didn't learn mussar during, at the end of second seder, mussar seder, he would grab you like a fish. Those that were, you know, like after second seder, you were shmoozing, chavrusa, you got caught, and he would call you into the office. Baruch Hashem, I wasn't caught that many times, but every time was a privilege. Mashgiach once calls me in and he tells me why he went to Kelm. Tell me why he went to Kelm. Mashgiach told me this. He says, actually, he wasn't planning on going to Kelm, but he went for one Shabbos, he says, and that was it. He says, anybody who ever went for Shabbos to Kelm, hooked, addicted. That's what he told me. Got hooked to Kelm, you never wanted to leave, you stayed there. And he went for a Shabbos. Then the mashgiach tells me, you know who my roommate was? My best friend. I said, and who was that? Rav Daniel Mishafitz. Anybody who knows about mussar and Kelm, Rav Daniel from Kelm was his best friend.

You ready for, you ready for the vasgiach? ... never spoke to. My best friend, my best friend is like... I look at him, huh? He sees in my face. I'm shocked. ... don't you even tell him, don't you even tell him. Kelim, he didn't say an extra word. Every word was measured, peyaus. Izei once told me about Kelim. He said that in Kelim they would never say, you know, when you ask a question, Is it raining outside? they would never say yes or no. Why? Because maybe from the moment that they came in, it changed, and there would be words which weren't 100% accurate and true. So they would say, When I was outside, it was raining. When I was outside, it wasn't raining. I was looking at him. Zeidah zicheil of Nacha said that's the pshat by Rivka. Eliezer says, Do you have water for the camels? She says, I have for you to drink, and for the camels, hagmalim. What I'll do is I will take the water. Doesn't say anything about the drinking. If you're already bringing the water to the camel, why doesn't it say, I'll give to drink, I'll give you and your camel? So some say it doesn't look nice to say you to drink, the camel to drink. You like the animal. Zeidah said, Was that Kelim nice? Do I know that the animal's gonna drink? ... I'll bring the water. They say in English, you can always bring the animal to the water, but you can't make him drink. Who says he can drink it? So to be careful, she said this. So Rabbeisai, the Ramban is saying the same vort over here, you hear? Ta'eles. They didn't speak extra words. A malach. What's the ta'eles? Why should I say a word that's totally irrelevant? But then the Ramban says, Im tikri'eini, lo e'necha, v'gam mitzarascha lo aishi'ach. You call me, I'm not going to answer you. You got a problem? You think one day you're going to use me as protection for something? I'm not going to pick up the phone. I have nothing to do with you. Are you listening to this Ramban? You hear what the Ramban is saying? If you call me, forget it, because I have no answer. I will never answer you. I have nothing to do with you. Has ta'plaim? Go directly to Ribono Shel Olam. You know, that's a Chabesai. This Ramban and this ikrim are saying two different things. The ikrim is saying you should mistakenly think there's a koach to the malach. The Ramban is saying you have no right to ask malachim for anything. How do we say a malach? That's the next part of the shiur. The shiur gets more and more interesting, okay? With this, I think we can answer a meydege kasha. Shalom Aleichem. No, I don't mean Shalom Aleichem to you. Shalom Aleichem Friday night. Shalom Aleichem Friday nights, we ask... Man mishaprach az even mibetfun a Rebbe a brache? Betfun a malach a brache. So what's the pshat? This is a famous shaila. The Goyen, brought down in Keser Rosh, did not say Sholom Aleichem for this reason. Are you tachin? Bet na malach didn't say Sholom Aleichem. We all know there's a tumah at the end of slichos, Malachei Rachamim, hachnisu tefiloseinu, the famous Machnisei Rachamim, which one of the most beautiful songs were put to those words. They sing it at the siyum haShas, Machnisei Rachamim. You know, the Goyen holds you're not allowed to say that piyut, asur gam to say it. Kefirah. You didn't know that the Goyen held that's... Machnisei Rachamim, Machnisei tefiloseinu, betz malachim? Sounds very much like this Ramban: Im tekabelu li einchem, I don't listen to what you have to say. Azei, zogt der Goyen. So then what's the pshat in Sholom Aleichem, habeisai? So the Goyen says not to say it. I would say, efsher kemetzogen a shtikel heteretz for those that do say it. The Gemara says clearly that the malach...

is sent for that reason. The Gemara says that two malachim are melavin es ha'adam Friday night, and in case there's a Shabbos dish, asel geman a bracha. And meileh, what are we saying? We're not saying more than what the Gemara is saying. Bachuni, do your tafkid. V'ol d'malach nishkahad dal tafkid if it wasn't his job. You're right, so I'm better malachim teivis. Das talmud. Aber das, dos is a Gemara. The Gemara ... Hashem ... The Eibershter sends the malachim, so you're just saying I should be zocheh to have them. Teshuva is atzmah. Teshuva is chelek hei, not on the Sholom Aleichem, but says this yesod, that you're allowed to ask a malach oisfiren zayn shlichus, that there shouldn't be ikuvim. Teshuva, ... in the igros Moshe. Huh? You're right. It's a good question. The teshuva builds up in that yesod. We could ask one of ... again. But you see one thing: it's not stam ... a malach out of the nowhere and tell him, please come and do for me. You're telling him to do the shlichus. Look at the teshuva, chelek hei. Rabosai, I want to add to this conversation another thing. You know, we find an inyan of kivrei tzaddikim. This is all throughout Tanach. As a matter of fact, the Rabbeinu Tam brings down that actually Yosef went already al kivrei imoi. The mispalel should survive the galus of Mitzrayim. Rabbeinu Tam in Sefer HaYashar. We know Kalev went to kivrei tzaddikim, kivrei avos, and he asked the meis, he asked the avos that they should help him. Why is that different than the malach? Maybe just as you're not allowed to ask a malach, maybe you're not allowed to ask a meis either. So be'emes it's already brought in the Gemara, this inyan of kivrei tzaddikim. The Gemara says in Taanis daf zayin that on certain days of the year, for example fast days, we go to the kevarim. We go to the kevarim, the mispalel, and it's brought down in Shulchan Aruch, for example Tisha B'Av, on a taanis, Erev Rosh Hashanah, there are days that people go because they want to daven by kevarim. The reason the Gemara gives is twofold. One is, if a person stands by a kever, it reminds him of Yom HaMisah. Yom HaMisah is the perfect vehicle of teshuvah. Zmanim of teshuvah, taanis, time of teshuvah, Rosh Hashanah, it's a time of teshuvah. The Gemara says that the chassid went to the beis hakvaros, Gemara Brachos, it was Erev Rosh Hashanah. It's a time of shviras ha'adam, a person has to break himself, so therefore to remember Yom HaMisah. The poskim say, even to a goyishe beis hakvaros, it doesn't have to be a yiddishe beis hakvaros. If it's just to bring out the memory that there's a yene velt, that we're not going to live here forever, so even a beis hakvaros shel goyim would suffice. So he's talking to the poskim. But there's a second taam in the Gemara. And the Gemara says that the meisim should be mispalel for us. Meisim should be mispalel for us? So this is a big machlokes. Ah, so this is a big machlokes. Some say we ask of them that they should daven for us. Other poskim learn that we ask the Rabbeinu Shalom, b'schusam, to be matzil us. The Shlah learns we ask of them. See them go to kivrei tzaddikim. With this yesod, we ask the tzaddikim to daven for us. The goyen, Litvish world, is very much against all this. If you look at the Mishnah Berurah on that halacha of going to the beis hakvaros, he speaks out clearly: not chas v'shalom, zokt the Mishnah Berurah, beten that they should do it, but it's Mishnah b'schusam. This is Mishnah Berurah, taf-kuf-peh, aleph, siman... So we have a basic machlokes in hashkafah, k'mat. May you ask a meis to daven for you? Some say you're allowed to. Some say you're not allowed to. It's mamash a machlokes. You say this is the machlokes. The goyen held anyway you should go to kivrei... Huh? We'll talk about it. The goyen anyway held that you shouldn't go to kivrei, period, ever, and that has to do...

Kabbalah, which means is the tumah, the person, the meis. Who knows what it's, the effect that... We think that the meis metameh us. Guess what? We're being metameh the meis even maybe more than he's metameh us, for a different time, a different conversation. Can she ask Yosef today? We'll talk in a minute. Chitzonim. These are called chitzonim. I don't want to go into the Kabbalah aspects of it, but... only went once to see his mother, the kever, and then never again. Okay. I frekst the Chafkut the kasha: they went. So I would say the pshat is, kivrei avos, avos, which means Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Rachel, Maaras HaMachpeilah. That's different. They're avos olam. That's their job. Their job is to be the avos of Klal Yisrael. Azoi volt ich gezogt. Mama Rachel, shekivan hadin... she becomes the mother. U'meileh muzi mispallel zayn. You're getting a story because it just popped into my head. You're getting a nice maaseh. When I was in Brooklyn, a Chassidishe yid came over to me and told me, ‘Wanting a megeredike maaseh?’ I said, ‘Yeah, why not?’ Now I would have said, ‘Of course, I need them. My job to know them.’ But then I was just interested for the interest shp. And he tells me that the Rebbe, the Reb Binyamin—what was his name again? The Lelover. The Lelover is a chenel of Rachel, the chridike, used to make a seudas Rosh Chodesh every Rosh Chodesh in Kever Rachel. Where did it come from, this minhag? He used to go Kisevet Kever Rachel, and he once saw... A Sfardish group of people making one of their yeshivos. Yeshiva is like a yahrtzeit that they make, with, you know, there's a lot of food and a lot of drinking. So the Lelever, gevan Lelever. So the Lelever went over to this Yid and says, Adoni, פה, כאן. It's not a misadah. It's not a restaurant over here. Vilst machen a restaurant? Vos kumstu do? And he walked away. Bothered the Lelever Rebbe. The Yid went back to the Rebbe. He says, You know, chashavti al ma shehaadmur amar. Haadmur tzodek, aval, ha'ima haohevet k'shabanim ochlim. Mamash ליבהס די קינדער עסן. It left such a roishem on him. Every Rosh Chodesh, he made a seudas Rosh Chodesh. You know what the pshat in this maaseh is, rabosai, the chalikah, the choplen pshat. It was given to the Lelever Rebbe to understand how Yidden look at mamme Rochel, literally like a mamme. And just like Mamme Rochel, the taich, she wipes the diapers. She wipes our diapers in golus. That's what it is. We go to daven, she cleans the diaper, okay, for lack of a better term. Mamme Rochel is mamme. This is what she was meant. This is what she went down as the mamme for Klal Yisroel. ... That was why Yankev buried her there. ... Az iz ul kumen un daven far klal Yisroel. What do I have? This have basically two more minutes, and you'll see. You'll thank me. You're not going to be upset for the two minutes. You ready? So we have here a machlokes that Ramban in the ikrim. Could you ask the malach? The Ramban, he can't even ask him. He doesn't listen. He's not there for you. What the ikrim is saying is that you have to make sure that he understands that it's not the malach, it's the Eibishter. You notice by Shalom Aleichem, we switch one word from the first stanza to the last stanzas. Shalom Aleichem malachei ha... And then we say malachei ha... Shalom. Why does it switch? Stanza number one, the first stanza is shalom, and then it turns into—I'm sorry—shares, and then it turns into shalom. So I heard, I was mekabel from my zeide zichrono, one of his sefarim, two terutzim. One he brings from his shver, that they're not both malachei ha-shalom when they come. The Gemara says clearly, one of them is a—it's a malach ra. He comes to the house, we force him to give a bracha. The malach, the good one, forces the bad one to give a bracha, and he says, okay, so now he's shalom. So when they come, malachei ha-sharis. But they're not both...

After, when it comes to birchuni, the bracha, they both become a lachei ha... At first one is a malach ra. The Gemara says clearly that one is a rod, one is a toi. Huh? That's right. That's why it's shares. And then it turns into malachi hashareis. Drush. He says, that's a megedik pshat. See, megedik. The Rosh says, why are you allowed to daven by a kever with one condition? If you emphasize that you're not asking the meis, but you're showing that the meis is only a mediator to bring the tefillah to the Ribono Shel Olam, then it's mutar. Azoi zogt the Rosh, that if you emphasize, if you give a clear declaration that you're not davening to the meis, then it becomes permitted to daven at a kever, that the meis should bring the tefillah to the Eibishter. Shalom aleichem, malachei ha... shares. First we have to point out malachim are not entities of koach within themselves. What are they actually only? Meshareis. Then we can say birchuni l'shalom. In order to permit to ask a bracha from a malach, we must first declare that there is no koach to a malach more than meshareis, that he is the eved of the Ribono Shel Olam, and therefore it's not asur to ask of him. And that's why we switch. I want to tell you, rabosai, I grew up... I didn't know there was such a thing as a Shalom Aleichem. I never knew it existed. My homie never said it. Why? My zeide was a real, real radel. Thirteen years he was by the Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim never said Shalom Aleichem. Never said it. And all the years, the reason that was given to us is that the Chofetz Chaim had guests, a lot of poor people ate by him, and he would say, mentions that in Hungary, the malachim's in Hungary, they can wait. They can wait. Let them wait. So therefore the Shalom Aleichem was either not said at all or it was said later. So all the years, I never heard of Shalom Aleichem. We always had guests in the house. My zeide was a tremendous rav, a machnis orch, you know, kol dichfin yeisei v’yeichol. When I went to camp, they used to sing Shalom Aleichem. I thought it was a Chassidishe minhag. I didn’t know where it came from. So I didn’t know where it came from. I never heard of it. When my zeide was niftar, the first Shabbos, my father got up and he sang Shalom Aleichem. So I turned to him, I go, ... like Rav Avadis, ... that’s what he said, ... So I said, so how come zeide didn’t do it? He says, Zeide came from a whole different world. We don’t live in that world. ... you better sing Shalom Aleichem with your kids and sing it well. If you want the kids to be ... Shabbos teid, zmiros. It’s very important. Okay. So lichting cup, over the years I started to feel that maybe the Chofetz Chaim, which is his shita, didn’t want to be cholek on the gaonim. Chofetz Chaim himself was very nizhar to keep all the gaonim. This is what I heard from a lot of the mishpacha. But for himself, like b'tzina. So could be he gave you the excuse that this, the malachim could wait, but really he wanted to follow the goyin, and he didn't want to say shalom aleichem at all. You don't like it. You'd rather have this one. It's even better, because that's the way I grew up. The malachim can wait. So did he say that after Kiddush? That's what I'm thinking. If the nafkamina would be, did he say it afterwards? That would be the nafkamina. If the pshat is he didn't hold, hold, hold shalom aleichem, he didn't say it at all. Now, just to end off with a she'eilah about—did he say eishes chayil? Oh, did he say eishes chayil? Okay, I'll tell you two stories. Whoever has to leave, you can leave. Rabbi Yisrael, I want to tell you two maisehs. Eishes chayil. Let me tell you how my zeide Shabbos table worked. Every baalebos he took, he had to turn to the—ah, every baalebos. So I remember my bubbie, one Shabbos was in Boston by my uncle, Rabbi Kellerman. Rabbi Kellerman used to be the rav in Brooklyn, Massachusetts. Now he lives in West Hempstead, so she went there for Shabbos. She had a baby. One time, mamash one time, she left the zeide. So my mother was in charge of cooking for the Shabbos. It was late, it was a last-minute thing, so she took the fish from the jar. She didn't make fresh fish. So she was a little bit uncomfortable that she was giving the zeide from the jar, like it's a second-hand suudah, you know. So my zeide said, What's the—

Vos redt zich, says, Ich hob lieb fun der jar far vos. Ven men macht a fish regular of yeder bis, on every bite I have to stop, un zogn der Rebbe vi gut zi iz. Dos geit, the sofers in the joyven in Gendik. He doesn't—he's able to go through it, eat it. He don't have to sit there at every bite. Ha, geshmak it is. You want to know what Eishes Chayil in the shtub is? Dos geven the Eishes Chayil in shtub. What was the other maaseh? I said I have one more maaseh for you, one more maaseh, sheif I guess, and what was it again with the—no, the Eishes Chayil, you asked me. Huh? I don't remember. This is the maaseh with the Eishes Chayil. Oh, now I remember. Some chassidim don't sing Tzeischem l'shalom. So the zeide fleigt zogn, Ye zogn nisht zingen, what does your table look like? Why is it that we have Shalom Aleichem and a minute later Tzeischem l'shalom? You gave me the bracha, have a nice day, goodbye, good luck. Basically the maaseh that a shviger gekumen tsum eidim, and the eidah, she says, And how long can I stay for? How long are you staying for? So she says, I'm staying as long as you want, she tells the son-in-law. So the son says, You mean you're not even staying for a coffee? She tells the son-in-law, I'm staying as long as you want, so you're not even staying to drink a coffee. This is a Shalom Aleichem, Tzeischem l'shalom, azoi hot. So the zeide fleigt zogn, maybe it's better off that they leave. Tzeischem still looks pretty good now, mizinkt, da. You better leave when it's still a pretty sight. Huh? Zeide didn't have to say Shalom Aleichem, and he didn't have to say Tzeischem l'shalom. A place to have a nice day. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.