Tzitzis-Less Briskers - Shelach 5772

There is a Shitta that nowadays that we don’t have Techailes we should not wear Tzitzis at all. That Techailes is M’akeiv Es Halavan. This is the opinion of Rebbi in the Mishna and the Baal Hamor Paskens this way. However, we L’halacha Pasken like the Chachamim and we all wear Lavan we all wear the white Tzitzis despite the fact that we do not have Techailes or at least most of Klal Yisrael for most of its history has not had Techailes. There is a Chumra and there are Machmirim who will not wear Tzitzis out in the street on Shabbos and it is based on the Shitta of the Baal Hamaor. They argue and say according to the Baal Hamoer that Tzitzis must have Techailes and therefore, the white strings would be carrying on Shabbos. It says in Shulchan Aruch that if you have Tzitzis that are Posul, the strings are Posul it is considered carrying when you wear them out in the street and those strings don’t belong there.

They argue the same thing here. If you hold that Techailes is M’akeiv Es Halavan, on Shabbos wearing the Lavan itself would be carrying. Ad Kan Chumra Zu.

I have a Kasha on this for a long time. It is true that when Tzitzis are Posul one is carrying. Nevertheless, even if in Shamayim they Pasken like Rebbi and one needs Techailes, nevertheless wearing 8 strings that are white should not be carrying. This is because carrying is based on what people consider a Tachshit (something that people think belongs on a Beged). Even if it were an erroneous Psak and they hold like the Chachamim nevertheless it cannot be carrying it is no different than any design a person has on a Beged which is the way he intended it to be. Therefore, this Chumra which is well known in Brisk circles in Eretz Yisrael seems to be technically inaccurate.

Midnight - It's Where You're Headed - Bo 5771

Makkas Bechoros happened at the stroke of midnight. What was so special about midnight that that became the time that they were going to get permission to go out of Mitzrayim, that this was the time that the Bechorim died? Is it coincidental? It could have been a sunset, sunrise, midday? What is special about midnight?

We know Kabbalistically an idea that is brought in Halchacha that the first half of the night is a Zman Hadin, and the second half of the night is Zman of Rachamim. Those who say Tikkun Chatzos only say it after midnight. What is special astronomically about midnight that it becomes a Zman Harachamim?

The answer is that the sun which is not visible during the entire night is as we know traveling on the other side of the earth.  The first half of the night it is becoming more and more distant from the location in which a person is. So that here in Brooklyn when the sun sets it is becoming more and more distant from where I am during the first half of the night. At midnight a change occurs. The sun turns the corner so to speak. Now it becomes closer and closer to me as it makes it circuit around the earth. So that midnight is the idea of coming in the right direction. We know that in Yiddishkeit that direction is everything.  Where you are holding in your Avodas Hashem is meaningful but not that meaningful. The direction you are going in is much more meaningful. The direction of a Baal Teshuva brings him to a greater level than the direction of a regular person who might in absolute terms might be on a higher level but might not be moving to a higher level and becoming closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.   

The idea of Chatzos Laylah is the direction. After midnight you are going towards a time of more light, more Rachamim and therefore after midnight is a special time a Zman of Rachamim. The idea is the same idea as (מִשְׁכוּ, וּקְחוּ לָכֶם). Mishchu Yidaichem Mai’avoda Zorah, be heading in the right direction. After all is said and done that is really what counts.

Rav Pam once said a similar idea and it was printed in the Haggadah in which they put Rav Pam’s Vertlach. He said that in Shulchan Aruch we find that we put on Tzitzis first and Tefillin second. As a matter of fact in Shulchan Aruch, Mitzvas Tzitzis is first and Mitzvas Tefillin is second. This is because Maalin B’kodesh V’ain Moridin. We want to move upwards in Kodesh.

The Shagas Aryei in Siman 28 asks a Kasha. We don’t find such a concept of Maalin B’kodesh V’ain Moridin except by an individual Mitzvah. If you have Tefillin and you want to change the Retzua of the Tefillin Shel Rosh and put it on the Shel Yad we say Maalin B’kodesh V’ain Moridin. If there are 2 different Mitzvos we don’t find the concept of Maalin B’kodesh V’ain Moridin. Each Mitzvah stands for itself.

The Eliyahu Rabba answes the Shagas Aryei’s Kasha. Maalin B’kodesh V’ain Moridin he says, is not talking about the Mitzvas of Tzitzis or Tefillin. It is talking about the person. The person has to be a person of Maalin B’kodesh V’ain Moridin.  He should put on Tzitzis first and Tefillin second. His body should be moving up B’kodesh. The direction is everything.