Birchas Hagomel: The Four Categories, Leaving a Dangerous Matzav, and Modern Cases

Transcript

Discussing when you have to bench gomel. When do you have to bench gomel? Hagomel lachem tovos, sheg'malani kol tov, the bracha. What cases require? Now, when I spoke out last week, the word require doesn't mean chiyuv. You're not mechuyav to make birchas hagomel. It's strongly recommended. There's a Magen Avraham. You're not mechuyav. When it says arba tzrichim, it doesn't say chayav; it says tzrichim. So the cases are yordei hayam, those that go into the depths of the ocean, travel in the ocean. Kisha'alu mimenu, when they get back, when they come up from the water. Holchei midbarios, those that go through the deserts. K'shehigiu leyishuv, when they come among society, among people. Mi shehaya choleh v'nisrapei, someone who was sick and became healed. Umi shehaya chavush b'veis ha'asurim, he was locked up in jail and he comes out. V'simanech, mechol hachayim yeducha sela. Chayim is chavush, yisurim, yam, midbar. Chavush, yisurim, yam, midbar. Now, we're going to define today all these cases and how to apply them in modern day times. Why? Holchei midbarios, it's a very not common case, because even the midbarios that we have today... The paved roads. I mean, there's signs. It's almost no different between a midbar and not a midbar. So we're going to discuss how to apply the four cases, four cases. I want to begin with ha'orah, observation. Tell me, Chazal couldn't think of any other cases that a person has to bench gomel? Yored hayam, choleh v'nitrapei, umi shehayah chavush b'veit ha'asurim. What happens if a miracle happens to somebody? He was walking down the road, down the block, and a building fell. That's a case that they could have brought. 9/11. That's why I want to apply today's times. Suicide bomber. A guy goes in Eretz Yisrael. You know what's so funny? A guy goes in Eretz Yisrael and he missed the bus. Why did Chazal not talk about a case where something happened and a miracle that nothing happened to the person? That's a very strong ha'orah, and we're going to discuss this in greater length as the shiur continues. But I first want to make another observation. Does this tell me that maybe it's only these four categories and nothing else, even if we could find other miracles? Again, question one: these four and nothing else. A miracle could happen. A person could walk. Here, I'll give you another example. A person was saved from a fire. He was saved from a fire. Why should he not bench gomel? It doesn't speak about it. Yeah, goes in the ocean. Ochel min bari is a good question, though. How come nobody asked this? I think it's an unbelievable question. It's not a discussion. It's a shiur. Let me teach you how a shiur works. A shiur works that one person talks and the rest listen. Now, so let me explain to you the first foundation that you have to know. It's possible that the Chachamim said these as a general rule, and it is for us to apply cases to it. I want you to know that this is a machlokes, Mechaber and Rama, how to learn. According to Shitas HaMechaber, you only bench gomel by these four. According to Shitas Rama, the Ashkenaz, anything which could apply just like these cases, you bench gomel. You should know, Sefard does not bench gomel unless it's these four. But the question is why? Why would the Chachamim only choose these? I'm going to say a pshat tonight.

Because I hold it's a yesod in the halacha, a yesod. You understand the question? According to Ashkenaz, Rama, this is just general rules. Are you lost? What, they never had fires? I don't know. For some reason, these were more shchiach, more common. But anything which is like this, you would make gomel. According to Shitas Mechaber, Sefardim hold these four and nothing else. Even if it's a miracle, so what? These four. Why would the Chachamim choose four cases and not make a general rule? That's question number one. Now, when you go through a midbar, what exactly is the danger, the sakana, that you are being watched from that you have to bench gomel for? So we could come and say that when you go in the midbar, there's wild animals. There are dangerous loopholes in the midbar. A person could go, he could drown, he can get animals, chayah ra'ah. Or, or, or, we could come and say that it has to do with being lost in the midbar. When you go through it, you can get stuck in the midbar, get lost in the midbar. Once you're lost in the midbar, then you're dead, right? The problem with the sakana is not an oncoming, an onslaught, who's going to come to you like an animal or a robber. But rather, it's the fact that you're in a midbar, you're in a wilderness. The word midbar means b'tohu b'yeshimon. Yeshimon means open area. Why am I saying this? Could we apply today the desert, like those days, the desert? For example, a person travels through the United States of America. She's going to go through Arizona. There's a desert over there. According to my opinion, Arizona itself is a desert, but we won't get into that. It's a spiritual desert, but we won't — that's neither here nor there. But it's definitely, to get to Arizona, there's a desert. Yeah, but let's understand, that desert has roads and has lights and it has restaurants. So you can't call it what we call Chazal desert. Adilma, we can come and say that being that it's not in the yishuv — notice the words, k'sheyagi'u l'yishuv, when he comes to the society — and then we can come and say that today it doesn't apply. I have a big question about this. When you go through the desert of today, the roads are paved. Can't say you're going to get attacked by wild animals. Are you going to get attacked by wild animals? I don't think so. But are you in a wilderness? Could you get lost? Yeah, you could get lost. But at the same time, we also have roads, maps. But at the same time, you're not in the yishuv. What is the base, the base, the yesod of the problem of Midbar? That's my safek. Hochei midbaryot, when are they benching Gomel? When is the miracle over? Keshiyagi'u l'Yishuv. Mishnah Berurah doesn't even explain what's going to happen in the midbar. It's not clear. So there's a sefer called Tzot HaChoshen. It's not the Tzot HaChoshen that we have. It's Rav Chaim Na. Rav Chaim Na wants to say that today's midbaryot are not counted. You can't count them. But if you get lost, then you have to say Gomel. So I understood from him that he's learning a big yesod. The problem with the midbar is you might get lost in the midbar. So since you're not going to get lost, so therefore you don't have midbar. But if you did get lost and you see, you got lost. The problem is in the wild animals that we don't have today. You're going to go through the wilderness in Arizona, you're not going to get attacked by anything, maybe by a scorpion, but that you can get attacked in New York City. Those wild animals you can have walking down the block in New York City also. Getting lost, wilderness.

Now, I want to point out something. Today, no one is mekayem the mitzvah of levui. You know what levui is? Levui is that when a person comes to your home, you're mechuyav to go and walk him out the door. We don't do it today. You know when you do it? When you have a talmid chacham comes to your house, a tzaddik, a rosh yeshiva, you walk him out the door. But a regular guy comes to your house, you walk him out the door. So I'll tell you, if you do it good, most people don't do it. Now, I want you to know how strict that is. As a matter of fact, Eishel. Avraham Avinu made an eishel. You know what eishel is? Eishel is achilah, shesiah, and linah. V'yesh omrim leviah. Some say that he was mekayem leviah. It's a question how to say the lamed: achilah, shtiah, or sheinah, or leviah. Or lamed stands for linah, depending on what the shin stands for. So there's a very famous Gra. The Gra says that there was a home that went up in fire. Says the Gra, you know why? Because they weren't mekayem the mitzvah of levui. But they fed and they gave to drink, so they had eish without the lamed. So fire. The house burned down. You ever saw this Gra? The Chofetz Chaim brings down this Gra. The Chofetz Chaim and Ahavas Chesed brings down that the chiyuv leviah is so important because without it, you have eish, aleph, shin, without lamed, fire. Says the Chofetz Chaim, so why don't we do it today? So he answers that the yesod of leviah... It's not so much for derech eretz; it's not for respect. Even though the truth is, I found once that the Alter from Kelm learned that the reason why you have to make leviah, walk, is derech eretz, respect. Why? A person is a guest. After he finishes eating, he gets the impression you want him out. You know, you can't wait to get finished with him. Someone once told me a great story, that there was once a person who had a guest, and he couldn't get rid of him. They didn't want to leave. So the baal habayis started telling him a story about a guy who came to a home, and he didn't know how to leave. He kept on sitting and sitting because he thought the guy would get the hint. What happened was, the guy who did it was obviously oblivious to the whole thing, so he tells him, Oh, that's a great story. By the way, could you pass me the compote, you know, the cake? It's a great story. It had nothing to do with him. The point being, says the Alter from Kelm, that a person gets the feeling that he's not wanted after a certain amount of time. So you walk him out the door to show him that I really wish I could go with you and I could spend more time with you. Alter from Kelm says that that's the chiyuv leviah, says in Chumash. But the Chofetz Chaim learns that the chiyuv leviah has nothing to do with that. It has to do with not getting lost. A guy comes, he's eating, yeah, why is he eating? He's a guest. Where did he come from? Who knows where, right? So he doesn't know how to get back home, so you're supposed to melaveh him till he knows the derech. Leaveוי is not out the door. People think leave was just out to do, give him a kick, have a nice day. That's not it. You're supposed to walk him out till he's mesudar in what he needs. I want you to know that I saw this firsthand when I was in Eretz Yisrael. I couldn't believe it. When I went to Israel to baptize, I'd say maybe eight years ago, you know, for the yeshiva, for our Torah. So I went to visit Rav Azriel Orbach. There was a whole line of people there waiting for him, and I got in first. I don't remember what happened. Maybe I just pushed my way in. I don't remember how I got in first. Kitzur, he saw me. My name woke—oh, he got up, very nice, friendly. Kitzur, I asked, whatever, spoken learning. When I left, he walked me out the door, so I started telling him, You don't have to walk me out the door. He said, No, no, no, but you just walked me out the door. He walked me down the steps, and then he started asking me, Do you have a place to sleep? Are you set up? Are you mesudar? And I still never saw the Chofetz Chaim. I always thought that it's a kavod thing. Then I realized that it's to be mesader the person, to make sure he knows the roads and how to go. So the Chofetz Chaim says, Bizman hazeh that we have signs, and we have everything mesudar with maps.

Here, you're not going to get lost. Therefore, there's no chiyuv livui. So we see an interesting yesod. In the old days, there was a big fear of getting lost. Who knows, you get pablunged. We can get lost. So the halachah midbariyus is an issue of k'sheyagi'u l'yishuv, not so much the danger of what's in the midbar. But you're lost. You're out in the wilderness. Wilderness. It's open. You don't know where you're going, coming. So it could be, bizman hazeh, if you don't have this, maybe there's no chiyuv hagomel when you go into the midbar. Says the Ketzos HaShulchan, but if you did get lost, so then you would have to do it. Now I want to point something out that I disagree with this, and I'll explain to you why I disagree with this. When we say holechei midbariyot, right, is the issue getting lost, or it has to be holechei midbariyot for the reason that you might get lost? Which means, can I come and say that if, let's say I wasn't in a midbar and I got lost, I also have to bench gomel? It's not the getting lost. It's the midbar. It's the fact that I'm in the midbar. So if you're going to take away the midbar today and say we don't have the metziut of the midbar, so even if I did get lost, it's not going to help me. I would suggest, l'aniyas da'ati, that if you do go through—so you go to Arizona, you're traveling by car—you go through a midbar, you should make birkat hagomel, v'li shem u'malchut. Now I want you to understand something. What you understand, especially Smarim, especially Ashkenazim, I would say maybe a little bit they could be, they kill more. Why? Because by Smarim it has to be the takanah of hochei midbariyot. It's not the danger. It's not the matzav. It's the hochei midbar, the takanah. If you're going to come and say we don't have hochei midbariyot today, so therefore just because you got lost and there was danger involved, quote unquote, doesn't change that you have to make the bracha. So I would suggest, Li-shem u'malchut. Baruch atah... because with shem u'malchut maybe it's not such a good idea that you should make the bracha. Okay. What? Lechatchila, you should say it within three days. If yoter, within thirty days. If not, you're going to always say it. There's nothing wrong with saying it. We spoke about it last week, and I can't repeat it again because the entire topic. Flying airplane, we spoke about it last week. If you want after the shiur, I can tell you again. Now, I want to discuss Beit Haasurim. He was in jail. Now today, everybody's in jail. Going to the business world, it's a common thing to be in jail. Matter of fact, if you're not in jail, there's something wrong with you. You're not good business. Al kol panim, the question is if you were in jail today for crimes of white collar—they call it white collar crimes—do you have to... Say gomer. The Mishnah Berurah. That's right, that's a very good example. That's a very good example. They didn't have a driver's license, and they put you in jail. And the truth, I don't think they put you in jail. They put you, that's a little bit different. Not in jail; they lock you up. They don't put you in jail. And if they do put you in jail, fine. Very good question. Okay, so that's the question: do you have to mention gomer? So the Mishnah Berurah brings down, kavush, he brings, demairi b'chavush al iskei nefashos. It's only when you're chavush for serious crimes. But if it's not, they put you in jail, right, and you're not exactly chavush for iskei nefashos. He brings the whole question: do you have to, don't you have to? Now I want to point out, today the jails are not the same type of jail that it was in the old days. In the old days, they put you in jail, you rotted over there. You didn't come out alive. So if you got out of jail, you're lucky. Today you're in jail, if you're lucky, you might even be more safe there than you are on the street. This is what—no conversations. You understand.

Today's jails is not the same as the old jail. So the question is, in today's time, do we have the din of beit asur? I want you to know that you have to identify, again, the original question. Is it the sakana? Are we talking danger, or the mere fact that you got out of jail? Where does it say sakana? Who said that it says sakana? A person gets out of jail, it's a thankful thing, something to be excited about. Where does it say? That's what you say. I don't see that. Yeah? What happens if a guy is sick and he's not in sakana? He doesn't have to bend down. Right. That's a good example. That's a good example. You need a sakana. I hold that it's not so pashut. And I believe that that's one of the answers why the Chachamim picked these four things. You know why? Because they could have said a very simple halacha: Mi shehu b'sakana, shemas sakana ya'aseh bracha. Make a simple halacha. And the answer is, it's not about sakana. It's about a certain matzav, being a beit asur. Get out! Who said the word sakana? Say one word about sakana, and I'll even prove it to you. Ready? Choleh. You asked me this question. I want to discuss it. Someone is sick. What call sick? What do you call sick? You know, if a person needs an operation, he needs to take anesthesia. You know the operation can be the smallest operation. I'm not thinking. Anesthesia is more dangerous than the operation. So many people can bring down. Since Yazer speaks about it a lot. The anesthesia is a matzav of danger. Because it's a matzav of danger, you have to bench gomel. But let me ask you a question: are you benching gomel for the choleh, or are you benching gomel for the refuah? I want to point out, there's a very important yesod. Anesthesia is regarded, they give, if you don't need the surgery, you have no right to take the surgery because of this reason. Anesthesia is a dangerous thing. For example, the whole question if you're allowed to fix your nose, the yoifi, what do they call that, the plastic surgery. Why? What's the issue? You're not sick. You don't need it. You're putting yourself in a sakana. What's the sakana? Anesthesia. Anesthesia is a sakana. Everything... more, but they're both sakana. Okay, so let me tell you, besides that issue, I understand. You're telling me classic surgery on the face. What happens if it's other surgery that you don't need? A surgery that you don't need and you want, it's not so pashut you're allowed to take because of the anesthesia. Okay, now I want to point out another thing. He's talking about plastic surgery, fixing the nose, but there are other issues about... You're not allowed to break your bone to fix your bone, you know that? Asur lachbol et atzmo. A person is not allowed to put himself through destruction, break a bone to fix. Even if you mean you do away with the anesthesia problem, you have this problem. It seems that the poskim are meikil. It seems most poskim are meikil that if you want it for shidduchim or things for... I don't know, shalom bayis. Huh? I know, it's asur. Asur lachbol atzmo.

Ten. Ten. ... אסור. הרמבם אומר. ... אבל השאלה היא משהו אחר. השאלה היא, if a person מותר לאדם לחבול בעצמו כדי להיפטר. זו שאלה. ויש פוסקים שמתירים. למה? ... הרבה פוסקים מתירים. ... This is the issue, is, is riska is dangerous. Many want to say, when you go through a surgery, you have to bench gomel. I don't understand why, because the riska is the refuah, not the ... Where does it say? אלא מה? סכנה. כל סכנה במשמע. כל פעם שיש סכנה אז ... ברכת הגומל. So what's called ... what's called ... I want to show you an interesting ... Bieloch says that if someone is sick, a choleh, he wasn't going to die. What did I learn? I didn't ... lost a sakanah. Imza yasa sakanah. See, this person is not b'sakanah. Mashma inyan shel choleh, מישהו שהיה חולה ונתרפא. Let's be clear. Elter Rebbe wrote, im ha'inyan, if the issue is that dangerous, so he has to be mishayacholeh, lechlamut. Stam, shehaya choleh, who was sick for three days, so what? But you see it has nothing to do with that. What does it have to do with? It has to do with your chiyuv. So then when do you start benching gomel? You start benching gomel when yecholeh v'nitrapeh. Says the Mishnah Berurah, holech kvar aburya, which means he's already going. What does that mean, he's going? What does it mean? He's still taking his medicines. What happens if the guy had a disease, היה לו חולי, נתרפא, but he's still taking his medicines? When do you call him healthy? If you learn that then he was healed and the sakanah passed, okay, so that's your answer. If you need שיתרפא מהחולי, it's not that he was in danger and now he's not in danger anymore. So he says, the Mishnah Berurah, holech kvar aburya, which means he's called, he's still ... healthy, a little healthy. You have to go to the doctor, find out what's ... a little health, and I want to be medayek something. Holech. I saw the ... Doesn't mean that he's healthy. He's walking. What do I learn from here again? What? No. No. What do I learn from here? Doesn't mean that he was in danger. It means healthy. He was in bed, and now he's out of bed. Hamatzav shel choleh. He was sick, and now he's better. I want to point out something. Notice what the siman. What is the siman? Chavush. I have one on each side. Chavush. When it says choleh, what does it say? What's the abbreviation? No? How come it's funny? You find an abbreviation, chavush, I understand. Yam and midbar. How come it says issur? And the answer is issur. You went out.

The masiv. It's changing matzav. You're right. But Daniel, explain. Explain to them the raya. Explain to them. The choleh chayim. Not which I explained to you. That's why I'm telling you. What do you see from over here? The person was in a matzav, and he got out of that matzav yesterday. Why are you calling it yisurim? Beautiful, no? And yisurim. You like it, huh? How come nobody says this? This is real stuff. It says it. I believe halacha l'maaseh. Beautiful raya. I believe halacha l'maaseh. The yisur is not sick, death, and no death. That's not what it's about. It's the matzav of being matzav of being sick. What's the matzav being sick? It's in a matzav of yisurim. Chamush means he's in a matzav of yisurim. It's all yisurim. It's a type of matzav that he's in. And that's why the chachamim didn't come and say, Kol sakanah b'mashkeh. Let me show you something else. What is it? I'm going to explain to you. It's not so much sakanah, it's matzav. When a person was in an ein matzav... In a situation that has sakana, I'll prove to you. Ready? It depends on—you want to say the word. I'll show you what I mean. What happens if a person was in a car accident and he was saved? Very good, right? What happens if a person was saved from the car accident? So you have to think—no, no, no. You hear the differences? In other words, like this: he's in the car, boom, the car got whacked around, and he's... Now, the other thing that could happen is almost got into an accident, boom, and if it would have been, it would have been unbelievable. I would say, sakana, right? Yes. Pikuach nefesh clearly. It has to be that you were in the matzav and you got out. In this situation. I learned from this this yesod: birchas hagomel is not לפני miracle. Birchas hagomel is out of the matzav. Yordei hayam, kishaalu, holchei midbariyot, kishyotzu. It has to mean that you're out of a matzav, you understand? You were in and you got out. When you're in and you get out, then... that's what you bench gomel. What's the matbea... I'll tell you. Because then you're not called sick. The idea is you should be called sick. Of course, but then you can be sick for less. The point is if nothing is dead for three days. Idea is nothing is really wrong with you, but you can stay in your bed for three days. A person has to lay in bed for three days. He has to bench gomel. He's not... nothing happened to him. Because you're sick. It's chayiv in the... For example, you have a lot of money. You lost. That's a very good thing that you lost. Yeah, you got to say gomel when you got the money. No, when you lost the money. No, when you got the money you have to make gomel. Who says having money is good? I mean, the Chofetz Chaim once said, the ma'alah of a certain shidduch that for his child was, chutz mizeh shehi bat aniyah. Chutz mizeh. Eizeh od ma'alos יש. Besides that she's the daughter of a poor person, what other good traits does she have? Besides that, he wanted to know. That's exactly what I'm trying to bring out. That's what I hope. I hope that it didn't go into a maximal... I had pain or something could have happened. Yes, could have happened. It's not...

To be in the situation of going through the midbar. What's the ...? Ready? Should a person bench gomel for half a trip? Half a trip, you hear? Which means he flew. Even better, he flew one way and he's supposed to come back. Should you bench gomel? He didn't finish your, your, your circuit of the trip. So many poskim say, ... Why not? ... The משנה ברורה says you have to. The משנה תשובה says you don't bench gomel. I was in a sakana, the same sakana I was in when I flew, it's the same sakana when I came back. Whatever the sakana is, what, more sakana changes it to the previous sakana? When a guy can only get killed ... if he's flying two ways, what do you mean he's killed flying one way, all? What's the answer? Say good, say good. Just hold the matzav. You weren't out yet. I hope ... pshat. That's what the ... understood. The ... understood that you're in the matzav. Point: if the pshat is you get in a sakana and now you're out of sakana, what's the shiur? There's a ... Chafetz Chaim. So I spoke, I told last week that I heard a psak בשם the ... The ... held it was thirty days. Chafetz Chaim is done thirty days. Exactly. Thirty days, still traveling back and forth, there's still no ben zoma. The only ben zoma, Rav Chaim brings it down, the shita. Rav Chaim's making three days, and then thirty days is two shitas, and separation. Ben zoma says, No, I flew there, I made gomel, I flew back. But Moshe's saying like this. Moshe's saying that in the matzav, you're not out of the matzav. What do I want to get at at the end? Someone asked me a shaila if you go bungee jumping. You go bungee jumping, or skydiving, bungee jumping. I know a lot of people that their wives set up this thing that they should go bungee jumping, and the parashas shouldn't open up, and then they want to know what happened. After upon them bungee jumping, do you have to bench gomel for bungee jumping? Now, hakanah, I can't tell you it's a hakanah, because if it was a hakanah, you wouldn't do it. I mean, obviously, not yet, not before that. That's a different thing. It's not a suicide, because otherwise nobody would do it. But you could come and say you're definitely, chas v'shalom, if you fly airplanes, you're definitely doing everything else. The matzav is the gomel is there. So there's an interesting Birkei Yosef, Chida, shatzuvim. You put yourself into that matzav, there's no gomel. If you were the one that caused it, you should go to jail. If you were the one that caused it. See, in the olden days, you would put the beis asurim, even if you were a kar, if you didn't do anything. If you did something wrong, you would be part of the police. If you did nothing wrong, you got put into jail. The question is, if you cause the matzav, Chida says there's no birchas hagomel. Wait, wait, wait, let me finish. A person goes bungee jumping, puts himself into that matzav, right? Puts himself into the situation. Let me ask you, when you go flying an airplane, you didn't put yourself in that matzav. When you go on a boat, you didn't put yourself on that matzav, the territory. You had no choice. These people had no choice. If you're going on a cruise, you're going on a cruise. Whatever it is you go, there might be a problem. If you have a heter to go, it's a heter to go, but you have no choice. The person has to go because he has to travel. I gotta travel. The question is like this, manavshach. In the bungee jumping, if you hold that there's a reason for gomel, so you have no reason to do it in the first place. Manavshach, if there's a makom for birchas hagomel, then you shouldn't be allowed to do it in the first place. Elamai, if darko sheloi, right, it's normal, means that's also like an airplane. You have to go, you have to go. I'm saying, you have to, you have to.

What is your shaylah? What is your shaylah? Is it dangerous, right? I mean, obviously you're saying it's not suicide, right? Ela mai, what is it? It's all the other dinim. I'll tell you where I can clarify. I'll tell you where I can clarify. If you learn that all these things I'm telling you is sakana, I can't see that bungee jumping isn't sakana. After the kafik, you have to go and make birchas hagomel, and you put yourself into that matzav. Does that make sense? Perhaps it could be that it's not the sakana shebo. It could be the matzav shebo. For example, there's a very famous thing. A person goes al haderech. ... al haderech. What's the pshat? ... al haderech. So it could be that's the geder. The geder is not so much the sakana, but you're not in your matzav. You're in a different matzav. You're al haderech. Things could happen al haderech. The Chachamim went along and said that when the matzav is over and you're back to your normal matzav, then you're bench gomel. Maybe there's a tzad to patur, bench gomel when you're no bungee jumping. If you learn that it's a sakana, then you have no right to go. You have no right to go. Huh? Maybe you don't know what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid when they throw you out of the top of an airplane. I'm not talking about the skydiving. Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. I'm not should be barking in the yetzaros of America. Forgive me. Skydiving, that's the shaylah. No skydiving. I don't budge. Skydiving. I would tell you, nishtamel, you're not looking. Nishtamel. But I'm trying to tell you that it told me of this safek. A person in a matzav, holche nidbaris, or a person's in a matzav where he goes al haderech, there is the chiyuv, and it's not necessarily based on sakana. It's based on the... and then you wouldn't be allowed to do it in the first place, or you don't have to do shaylah. You can't ask me such a shaylah to be allowed to go. If it's a sakana, you're not allowed to go. Yes. Again, this is the whole thing. I understand your belev yam. So if the pshat is that there's no sakana, but it's normal to do, it's normal to go on the cruise, whatever it is, but you're in a different matzav, you're belev yam and a chanami. For example, I saw Rav Nissim Abishol pasken that if a fisherman goes in a boat into belev yam, he's mechuyav to make birchas hagomel, because the matzav of being belev yam, even if there's no sakana involved. Yeah, but a cruise is just like a paved road in the desert, because the cruise has lifeboats, they have ways to get home. Yeah, but that's what I'm trying to tell you. You don't need the matzav of sakana. That's what I'm trying to explain to you. You don't need that. What you need is the trip. You're in a matzav. You're not home. You're in belev yam. Things can happen belev yam, and there can be made a sakana on that matzav. Then you come back, and then a sakana. Same shaylah. If a person goes on a cruise, he's יוצא into a sakana, so why would he go? People can become back to the bench. ... come ahead in the plane. We spoke about it last week. There's no sakana on the plane. People on the plane too, but there's no sakana on the plane. There's no— the statistics: people die more in cars than they do in planes. So, yeah. Again, let me explain to you. You need, for the sardin, you need there should be these four things, and if not, not. Exactly. That's what the Mishnah said. A person was sick with the flu, and he was laying there for three days, three days, and he's feeling better. ... I know. So, yeah. That's the whole idea. You had a surgery, even if you're not in sakana, as long as you weren't on your feet for three days, ... going. He's back on his feet. Beautiful expression: back to himself. Once you get back to yourself, oh, back to a ... you have to bench. ... next week we're going to discuss, with Chanukah, different cases.

Al pilchu Chanukah: where to light, when to light, how to light, from the poskim beautiful yeshiva.