Yemei Sefirah: Preparing for Kabbalas HaTorah, Yemei Din, and the Boundaries of Aveilus

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. We're holding the yemei Sefirah. What are the yemei Sefirah? What is it? How do we know it's 49 days between Pesach and Shavuos? But what is yemei Sefirah? What is the avodah of yemei Sefirah? In Chinuch, the Chinuch brings down in the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer that the inyan of yemei Sefirah is hachanah to Kabbalas HaTorah, preparation. We're looking forward to Kabbalas HaTorah, that we count. We count. When a person has a day that he's looking forward to, he shows how much he longs for that day by counting. Now, usually you count down; here we're counting up. Famous question. But it's definitely an inyan of longing for, looking forward to the day of Kabbalas HaTorah. The lashon of the Chinuch is a kisuf. It's a certain longing. Every Yid, he longs. He looks forward. Nafshi kisuf, his soul searches and looks forward to. Teirah, Kabbalas HaTeirah. And that is the inyan of Yemei HaSefirah. The Rachaim HaKadosh, on the pesukim of Sefiras HaOmer, explains that they are yemei taharah. They are days of cleansing. There's an avodah necessary. It's a cleansing time, taharah. And he explains, just as in Hilchos Niddah we find shivah nekiyim, that a woman who's tamei needs seven days preparation to become clean, so there's shivah shavuos, there's seven weeks, which is parallel to the seven days of yemei taharah. I, seven days is not seven weeks, so let it be seven days. And the Rachaim explains, lefi godel hatumah, Niddah needs seven days, but the tumah that we had leaving Mitzrayim, that needs actually more. The question is, but we didn't leave Mitzrayim. You're right. When they left Mitzrayim originally, they had to cleanse out Mitzrayim. But today we're not in Mitzrayim. So I would have said that the preparation, the hachanah, is a hachanah. In other words, it's not so much the cleansing from what we left, but the preparation that we need to get to Kabbalas HaTeirah needs shivah nekiyim. And that shivah nekiyim is seven weeks. Lomdusvelt megazagt, there are two dinim. There's the shivah nekiyim from Mitzrayim, and then there's the shivah shavuos to Kabbalas HaTorah. But the Rachaim HaKadosh seems to say that it's actually shivah nekiyim; it's seven cleansing days. Unless we have to say that even today, even though we didn't leave Mitzrayim, there's a hashpa'ah that we have that maybe, ki'ilu those that were sunk into the tumas Mitzrayim, and therefore we too need the same cleansing process as did our forefathers when they left Mitzrayim, Shataver Rabbeinu. So either it's shivah nekiyim, seven clean days. Shivah nekiyim is not seven weeks. We do seven weeks, and the teretz is Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim, the Rachaim says, needed a seven-week cleansing. Aye, we didn't leave Mitzrayim? And the teretz could be either, to us we think about the cleansing towards Kabbalas HaTorah, and that we definitely need seven weeks. When it's talking Mitzrayim, it doesn't mean literally leaving Mitzrayim.

We sang in the Tunas Mitzrayim even today, and who knows if we taka go with that scale, maybe we need more than seven weeks, but leave it at that. Al kol panim, this is the inyan of Sefiras Shiva Shavuos. According to the Chinuch, it's in preparation to Kabbalas HaTorah. What are you preparing exactly? What are you supposed to do? The Rambam doesn't say. Shteit nisht. It doesn't say in the Chinuch how we prepare. For the Chinuch is mashma, we just long and show our cheshek, our kisuf, our hearts longing to Kabbalas HaTorah. But it doesn't say what to do, l'maaseh, halacha l'maaseh. So there's a very famous Sfas Emes. The Sfas Emes says that the 49 days is parallel to the 49 kinyanei haTorah. It's 49, mem-ches. 49. Ay, mem-ches is not 49; mem-ches is 48, right? Mem-ches kinyanei haTorah. We're supposed to be mekabel the Torah, so you have to prepare yourself with the mem-ches kinyanei. Mem-ches is not 49; it's 48. So there's different terutzim to the kasha. The first terutz is chazarah. You finish something, dafka you do it b'chazarah. So you chazer over that day, you chazer all the 48 kinyanim. Or the 49th day is the shleimus of all the 48 kinyanim. Zogn the baalei machshavah, the 49 is the shilum; it's the completion. Of the 48, having it as a day in a complete form of kinyanim. Ich volt gezogt, efsher, maybe, lefi darki, the way I see things, the way I feel about things, that could be that hachanah for Kabbalas HaTorah is this itself, that we show we long for Kabbalas HaTorah. Ken zayn you don't have to do anything. Maybe it's just a matter of showing your cheshek. That itself, the ratzon, that itself is the hachanah to Kabbalas HaTorah. So even if you're not doing anything, I'll tell you the emes, rabosai. Many say over this Sfas Emes. I never saw anybody lemaaseh take out the Kinyanei HaTorah and work on it every day. I never saw it, be'emes, I never. Maybe there are, maybe today bnei Torah do it. I haven't seen it. I know that everybody says over the Volozh. It's a very nice vort for a drashah, rabosai. But lemaaseh, you see anybody sit there work on mi'ut sichah and chavrusa, on the Kinyanei HaTorah? I never saw it. Today we're walking in, we're going to work on the Kinyanei HaTorah, chavrusa. All right, I never saw it. It's a nice Sfas Emes. Al kol panim, according to me, there's a limud zechus. What's the limud zechus? Das alein vos mevil, we're hoping and we're longing and mevil ankommen to the heilige tog, Kabbalas Zman HaTorah. Das alein is the hachanah. That itself is the preparation. I do want to share with you a meiredike goyen. The goyen in maaseh rav, in Peisachus maaseh, Rav ois nun hei, says that the goyen takef achar haPesach, as soon as Pesach was over, yashav lilmod b'prishus gadol ad me'od. He sat and he learned Torah with a tremendous prishus, abstinence from tanugei olam hazeh, taivos olam hazeh, with prishus, prishus gadol ad me'od, which farshteyt zich, understand if that's on top of what the goyen anyway did, right? Whatever the goyen anyway did, on top of that, it was prishus gadol ad me'od more, which, such a thing for us to even comprehend, but it's more. Why? Sheheim yemei hachanah l'kabbalas haTorah at Chag HaShavuos, this chinuch that we're speaking. So you see that the goyen wanted a l'maaseh, there has to be a shtikel l'maaseh, v'imaleh, v'imikosh, shtakei chasanis chabeisai. There's no weddings. Perfect night seder, kemikumen u'lernen, eh? The prishus, u'memeila otmin the richtige hachanah for Kabbalas HaTorah. Everyone knows, more or less, that it's hachanah for Kabbalas HaTorah.

We've added a little bit. We showed a few minhagim mekomes. What everybody else, what everybody knows is that it's also days of aveilus. Shulchan Aruch brings down that we have minhagim of aveilus. We all know any bar bei rav, the chagyoim, any child can be asked, what a sefirah? We don't listen to music, and that's because the talmidei Rabbi Akiva, they were the meisei haTorah, the Meiri explains it, they were the meisei haTorah, and they were all killed out in this tkufah. U'meileh, aveilus for those chav daled elef talmidim, we're noheg aveilus. So besides for the hachanah, we all know the inyan of the aveilus. What's a little less known, rabosai, is that besides for those two sugyos that we just mentioned, hachanah, and that there was aveilus for the talmidim, it's also yemei din. Days of judgment, days of din. And this is klar in the words of Rabbeinu Yerucham, Rabbeinu Yerucham, the Rishon, in Nesiv Chamishi, chelek daled says that actually the yemei haOmer, the source of the aveilus of the yemei haOmer actually stems from the fact that it's yemei din. And he explains that the Omer comes from se'orim. Most korbanos are not from se'orim. There's also another korban that's from se'orim, and that is korban sotah. The korban sotah. It's like sota b'kilkulah, it's din, mishpat. So it's yemei din u'mishpat. And that's why the omer that represents this tkufah, Sefiras HaOmer, is din. It's mishpat. With this, Rabbi Yerucham, Rabbi Yerucham explains why we don't make a shehecheyanu on the mitzvah. You're saying a mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer. Every mitzvah we make a shehecheyanu. Why is there no shehecheyanu on the mitzvah? It's brought the very famous Brisker Rav, that it's zecher l'Mikdash. That's why we say Harachaman, yachazireinu l'avodas Beis HaMikdash limkomah. It's a mitzvah that we have to commemorate that we don't have a Beis HaMikdash. Certain mitzvos commemorate things that happened in the Beis HaMikdash. This is to commemorate that we don't have a Beis HaMikdash. U'meileh lo nitztarech shehecheyanu, and he brings it from the Rishonim, that the olam haTorah, the yeshivas know this. Rabbi Yerucham says the reason why there's no shehecheyanu, because it's yemei din. Chas v'shalom, shehecheyanu — thank the Eibishter I came on to this time. He says, and that's the reason why we're not kones nashim, we don't marry at this time. Like I said, everyone thinks it's because of the talmidi Rabbi Akiva. It's actually because of the yemei din. It's ein konsin nashim, u'megadlim sefasam, they leave their mustache, they leave the beards untrimmed. I don't know why he specifically stresses that. Maybe, you know, one day there'll be an oilam that's going to talk about being meikel, shaving. Okay, we'll leave it at that, as they say. Al kaponim, Rabbeinu Yerucham says that the minhag of aveilus is not the way we understand and grow up to learn, that it's about the talmidi d'Rabbi Akiva, but actually it's because of the yemei din. If you look at the Medrash Shmuel in the hakdamah to Avos, he says clearly that it's not the talmidim were meisu and the meileh it's yemei aveilus u'yemei din; it's fakert, the other way around. Because it was yemei din, that's why they died. So the dying of the talmidi d'Rabbi Akiva is a siman that it's yemei din. So actually all the minhagim that we have for the yemei sefirah is because it's yemei din. There's an interesting Taz, the Taz in Shulchan Aruch, in siman taf tzadi gimmel, se'if katan beis. The Taz says that actually the minhag aveilus has a lot to do with a historic event in Klal Yisrael, and that is the Crusaders. He says that the gezeiras Tach v'Tat has to do with it, and he explains because the talmidi d'Rabbi Akiva actually died tilag.

There's a big shaila and a machloikes. I don't have the time and the— I'll just leave it for the time. I don't have the time to go into it, but al kol panim, after Lag, somehow that they stopped. Zogt the Taz, so then why is it that we still noheg, according to some shitos, even after Lag? The answer is, zogt the Taz, because devadai k'shach lamed goyim lo meisu. V'afilu hachi nohagin k'tzas aveilus machmas gezeiros tach shehoyu b'Ashkenaz, bein Pesach laAtzeres, kemo shemefurash b'Yoitzes u'Piyutim, she'no'imim b'Shabbosos hahem sheheim misyasdim k'mo kinus. Kein nir'eh laniyas da'ati taam haminhag shelanu she'nohagin achar Lag baOmer. And that's why we don't marry after Lag baOmer, aval l'istaper vadai, shari. Maybe that's why you could be mechalek between haircut, says the Taz, and marriage, because the marriage was still a remnant left over from tach v'tat. So even the talmidim of Rabbi Akiva was only till Lag, we continue. Yemei din, times of judgment. What does it mean? Why are these days days of judgment? We could go into what yemei din is on a deeper level, but I think for the point of this shiur, we'll just leave it at yemei din, and somehow it contrasts to what the Megaleh Amukos, famous Megaleh Amukos. The Megaleh Amukos in Parshas Veschanan, oifen kuf zayin, explains that actually these are wonderful days for Klal Yisroel. Shebahem ikar hatzlachas Yisrael. Ikar hatzlacha is in the days of Sefirah. We have a problem here. Are they good days? Are they bad days? I mean, did the Megillah Mukes not read what it says in Shulchan Aruch, that they're days of minhag aveilus? There's something that we're missing here. Like I said, I don't want to go too deep into the topic, which one could take from the shiur and walk away and, as they say, do your own homework. What caught my eye is the Gra that I mentioned to you in the beginning, that the Goyen says that the Goyen was noheg that they are yemei hachanah, and therefore, yashav lilmoed b'prishus gadol ad me'od. Prishus gadol. What does prishus gadol ad me'od mean? So we have to understand the prishus. We have to understand that the yemei ikar hatzlachas Yisrael, together with the understanding that the yemei din. Yemei din. It's possible, my friends. Yemei din is a mechayev. It's mechayev. Din means tevea. It's tevea. A Yid is zaknus month. And therefore, it requires prishus. It requires a lot. And the ikar hatzlachas Yisrael is based on that. Hachana. Klal Yisroel must go through the cleanse to prepare for Kabbalas HaTorah. That's where the ikar hatzlachah is. A person can learn Torah, but if a person doesn't have the proper approach and the proper preparation and the proper understanding that it takes, it requires, it requires a certain hanhagah. It requires that a person should understand that it's not just a chkeitzu Kabbalas HaTorah. Yemei din, din could mean it's mechayev. And because of that, the mechayev, if it's not given its due, becomes yemei onish, because it's mechayev. That itself is what makes it days of onish. Mefadet, mefadet. I'm searching HaBayisai for the right word in English. I'm not finding it. For some reason, my whole being tells me that the right word is fadet. And if you don't know what it means, please go and ask somebody what it means.

That's what din, and that's what yemei sefirah is. It's fardit. It's mechayev that you have to work in preparing in order to come to Kabbalas HaTorah. I want to spend a minute or two on some of the halachos and misconceptions that people have about the hilchos ימי הספירה. And then you'll understand also the introduction I've given you till here. There's a big question in halacha if one is allowed to shave when necessary, when necessary. It's a very open window, when necessary. Shivrei Meishes Atzal in the Igros Moshe, Orach Chaim, kuf beis, says, and it's famous, when a person needs for his parnassah, it's a question of parnassah, he may shave. And not mechuyiv, says the Rishiva, to lose money. Avada, niug aveilus, nohagin, the lashon of Shulchan Aruch is nohagin, we're noheg aveilus. But it doesn't mean you have to take a loss for it. And people throw around that teshuva, and the truth is it would be כדאי to sit down and study properly every word in that teshuva. And there's a lot of misclaimers, so to speak, on the bottom footnotes that people should understand. If you notice, Rishiva said that it was vadai, the cases where you know for sure that you would lose the money. Look at Aruch Chaim, Igros Moshe, chelek hei, chav daled, siman chav daled. It's not just, ah, you know, I might, I might pass. No, it has to be that you feel that you're going to lose the money. If you look deep in the teshuva, it's mashma that you don't have to be in a situation where you're going to lose your job. Even if you lose money, you might lose a client. It's mashma, it's true, it's mashma in the teshuva that that's already enough to be matir the shevuah. Does that apply today? Does that teshuva from the Rishiva apply today? I don't know. It's very hard. I mean, today people dress the way they want and how they want, and they still get jobs. America is a very free society. You never saw anybody that had, because of a beard, lost a job recently. You're saying yes, it happens. Okay, but I'm pointing it out, and the reason why I point it out is because Rabbi Elyashiv points this in the pesakim, and Rabbi Elyashiv already brought that today it's a little more complicated, it's a little more difficult to be matir the heter, the famous heter that's used, tzorech parnassah. I also have a different question: who decides that? That's a good shaila, by the way. Over the years, dealing with halacha, who decides that you need need? Everybody needs to shave, needs. Who decided that you need to? Maybe you feel, maybe you have a fear that's not legitimate. A person is always worried. Maybe a rav should decide for you. A person always thinks he needs to do something. Like I said, the halacha has to be taken not lightly. I also think that it's another shaila, if let's say... You need to shave. Who says you have to shave off completely your beard? Maybe you just make yourself presentable, trim it. The Chofetz Chaim חייב to shave. Make it nice. The yeshiva just said you look unkept. R' Moshe just said you look unkept, you look messy, you might lose the job, so don't make yourself look messy. Or maybe once you're already there, so to speak, once you're already cutting, maybe it would be mutar to cut completely. Yesh lachon. These are all shailas which I think is important that we should deal with. How about for a bris? So we know that if there's a bris, the sandek, the mohel, the meshubar brings down, are allowed to shave, allowed to take a haircut. The kvater and the guests, that's klar and a pashut is not. It's only if the meshubar brings only the sandek and the mohel. L'choira it's only the sandek and the mohel. Havei a ben, stam a yes, included, he's a baal bris. How about a pidyon haben? If you have a pidyon haben, in the days of Sefirah, Rav David Feinstein told me that there's no heter for it. I think he's right, so to speak, in the text. If you look, the Mishnah Berurah brings down bris, never spoke about a pidyon haben. Doesn't bring down. So pashut, if you have a pidyon haben, Mishnah Berurah says bris.

Pasken bring down Bris, opinion of Ben. I heard from Rav David is aser to shave and to take a haircut. How about a bar mitzvah? A person makes a bar mitzvah. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach says you're not allowed to take a haircut. Again, I guess his diyuk is his raya would be because it's brought down only bris. There's even discussion for the bar mitzvah boy himself. What's the halacha about the bar mitzvah boy? So many want to say that since it's his mamish day of Yom Tov, so to speak, maybe for him it's mutar. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach was matir where he couldn't have taken the haircut before, which means the story is that his bar mitzvah is at the end of Sefirah, and he looks messy. But if he was in the beginning of Sefirah, there's no heter to take for your bar mitzvah. You should have taken it before. How about the father? Is the father allowed? So Rav Shlomo Zalman didn't speak about the father. Rav Shlomo Zalman spoke about the son. I heard from my rebbe where I got semicha, Rav Leibus. There was a case like this. Rav Leibus paskened that the father may also take the haircut and shave for the bar mitzvah. Everybody knows the date. A person goes out on a date, and they use Rema's teshuva. I've heard many times from Rav Belsky that it's very shvach, the heter. And let me tell you, any girl that has an issue because of your sefirah and your keeping mitzvahs, I think we have other problems than the messiness of your beard. How about going to a chasene? Everybody knows that if the chasene is a contradiction to your sfirah, you're allowed to go. If you're holding the first and the chasene is in the first, or you hold the second and the chasene is in the second. So Rav Moshe, Yeshivas Atzal, in many teshuvos said that it's mutar. Over the years, I've spoken to many poskim, my rebbe, Reb Elsky, among them, and I tried to understand what the heter is exactly. Because if the heter is simchas chasan v'kallah, so then only what's nogea to simchas chasan v'kallah should be mutar. Meheicha teisit should be mutar to sit and have a wonderful seudah with background music, which has nothing to do with simchas chasan v'kallah. Unless you say, listen, you know, if you're going to start cutting out the geshmak from the chasene, it ruins the whole atmosphere of the chasene, and don't forget the parents are also—it's not only the—there also simcha. Maybe it's not only the chasan v'kallah, maybe it's the parents also. I once told my rebbe, Reb Elsky, a good idea maybe, that when you have these type of chasenes, they shouldn't play music when the chasan and kallah and the family are taking pictures. What's the heter for it? I don't know what the heter is, technically speaking. Now, of course, I might get, after the shiur, I might get a phone call or two, hayitachen. Maybe some musicians are going to call me, I don't know. Whatever it is, I haven't seen it, and I don't know why. There's another famous discussion. We'll try to go through this quickly, rabosai, because I want to cover a few interesting halachos. How about a sheva brachos? It's interesting, it's not mentioned, you know. Meaning, the yeshiva's story was that it's about a chasunah. You have a chassan and the other guy has sefirah. How about going to a sheva brachos where the other guy has sefirah? Is he allowed to go? It's in Shevet Halevi, it's ved gebracht that you shouldn't go. A chasunah is ein sach. Now, what I understand is maybe the chasunah is the simchas chassan v'kallah. But the chasunah, the sheva brachos needs music to make simchas chassan v'kallah. I don't know, it's not so. Rebelsky told me that the Veldtzitzer chasid, included in the yeshiva's teshuva, where the yeshiva held that for a chasunah is mutar, for a sheva brachos that follows, if you're not having that sefirah, it would be mutar. Now let's discuss a minute music. Music is really not brought anywhere in halacha. As a matter of fact, it's not even brought in the three weeks that it's asur. And there's a very big shaila, because the only thing that's brought—yes, does not say you're not allowed to listen to music, not in Shulchan Aruch. It says you're not allowed to make a wedding, and it says you're not allowed to make rikudim, dancing. Does that include music? So the poskim say, pashut, of course. Why it's not mentioned? That's because anyway music is asur. That's how Reb Elyashiv explained it.

Music is aser anyway all year. It's too radical for you. Korban. Too radical for you. I'll tell you, the yeshiva is atzal, hell, you cannot listen to music all year, even on a tape. At the bar mitzvahs from the mishpacha of the yeshiva, they don't have music. What's the heter? What's the reason to have music? I once went over to Reb Reuven, the yeshiva. I learned in Staten Island. I said, Reuven, why do we have music here? The yeshiva held it's aser. So he said there are two things which is dvarim she'ein hatzibur yecholim la'amod bo. It's too difficult: the Shabbos clocks and the music. So therefore we don't aser the music here in the yeshiva. Which brings us to the shailah of a cappella. It's a whole business, rabosai. I love business of Klal Yisrael. It's very hard for me to come and say that a business of Klal Yisrael should be shut down. I've never heard a psak that was matir it. It's one of the things that everyone does, and every psak says there's no heter for it. The point of it is, is the aveilus. What's the difference if it's live, ... it's not answering the problem. You're not addressing the problem of why the music is aser. There's a whole ... the people say if a person is unhappy, is depressed. So first of all, depression ... gotta find happiness in life. But al kol panim, if a person needs the music for happiness. Megillah. Chabeisai, you know, you can't just misuse this heter. Every time a guy feels a little down, v'sheimitamel is a choleh, and therefore he's allowed to listen to music using the heter that's thrown around today. Oh, he's unhappy, he's depressed. If it's real, it's real. And if it's just, you need a pick-me-up a little bit, so go to the Bais Medrash, learn a Tosafos, you'll have a pick-me-up. So do a mitzvah. You'll have the same, even more than that kapelah music or whatever it is. Okay. How about for children? Uncle Moishy tapes. The children are listening, mimeila you're singing, so what are you supposed to do? So maybe you're supposed to say, you know what, a kid shouldn't listen because— no. So, ... but ... the velt is meikel on it, that since you're doing it for the child, and you happen to be there, so therefore it's mutar. You don't have a problem with it. There's another shailah that comes up when a person's driving. Famous yeshiva bochurim know that a person's driving, it's a sakanah if he doesn't have music. So they're matir it. You know, listen, again, you can't abuse these heterim, rabosai, and soon I'll explain to you my kavanah. They also talk about in case you walk into a car and the other person doesn't have sefirah, the driver doesn't have sefirah, and he's listening to music, you're not mechuyav to not listen. It's a sugya called mimeila, and that you have to understand. There are many cases where the music isn't, I went to listen to music; it's grad am there and the music is there. For example, a guy walks into a store. Doesn't have to shut his ears when he listens if he hears there's music in the background. Why? Because the kavanah is not, I'm going in to listen to the music. So, of course, if a guy walks into a store that has music for the music, that's not what they were matir, right? Happened to be there, and there's music, mimeila, then it would be mutar. I know poskim are matir, for example, in case a person has a meeting and he wants background music, call it ambiance. It's a certain serenity that it brings. I know they're matir for the same cheshbon that tachveis, it's only mimeila, it's only agav orcha. I have a very hard time with that psak halacha. L'maaseh, l'maaseh, you're using the music and your kavanos for the music. A person should ask his local rav. How about when a person is placed on hold and there's music on the phone? They put you on hold and you're listening to the music. So the poskim, again, are matir it because I don't understand that either. Put the phone down. I don't know, what, you have to go listen to the music? As if, I'm not enjoying the music. Efsher, efsher, to come and say it's mutar. How about a waiting room? Again, a lot of people are matir.

In the waiting rooms of doctors' offices, they say that it helps the patient to relax. So let's say that's true. Let's say it's true. So good, maybe in a waiting room, I hear chayla. But any other business, in a waiting room, there's no heter for it. That's not called mimeila. The big one is, of course, the exercise. Everybody knows that when you exercise, you can't listen to music. So a lot of people are upset that they assered the music and I matir the exercise. They hold the whole exercise, efshar davar she'ein asur. I don't mean it in a truthful way. I mean to say is that the exercise is more of a problem to them than the music. The exercise is good, you should exercise. What about the music for it? So there's a very famous heter, and the truth is I heard this from my Rebbe, Reb Belsky, and I know the poskim use it today, that it's mutar. Why? Because since you're using the music to help you in the exercise, megam. I have a hard time with it a little bit, but I'm mevatel my daas. But one thing I know, and this is what I feel, I think there's different types of music in exercise. There's exercise that the music is fundamental in the exercise, which means you're like aerobics, you can't really do it if you don't have the music. It gives you the ability to do the aerobics. But if you drive a bicycle, stam, ... music, ... again, ... the guy's going on a bicycle, everybody's looking at me, they don't like it. Okay, so what should I do? So do what you do, do what your local rav tells you to do. Okay, the bottom line, are you not happy with this psak? So why is that much different than the exercise program? They have music in the background to help them do it better. Because there the problem is the music; it's not the helping of. Yeah, this is a problem of listening. Again, what are you talking about? No, no, I know, I understand. Yeah, because that... Yeah, but I'm saying a different vort. So there, taka is fundamental helps. Okay, so I'll tell you what. The emes is like this. I don't mind discussing it after the shiur. I don't mind discussing it. I need to end. In other words, rabosai, give me one more minute because we need to go. The oilam has to go. What do I want with all these halachos? You're right, you can find heterim and loopholes and cheshbonos here on how you could deal with hilchos yemei ha-sefirah. But lemaaseh, if the minhag of aveilus, or al kol panim, we know what you're saying, it's not even minhag aveilus maybe, it's a chelek of the avodah. They came and they said that there's certain prishus, there's a certain hanhagah, like we explained from the beginning, that these are days which are yemei ider, yemei aliyah, or it's yemei prishus. The chachamim felt that these are the hanhagos, and don't forget the time is a time where oitzer gadol Yisrael. It's a tremendous time where a person could gain so much in hachanah for Kabbalas haTorah, and these are the hachanos that they set up for us. Daf mitrachtin. A person should think. Maybe mishmattezain, maybe not to look to find corners of where we could be meikel and to be matir. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.