Laws of Prayer and Priestly Blessing Chapter Eleven (Auto Translated)

Rambam Laws of Prayer Chapter 11 – The Obligation to Build a Synagogue, Architecture, and Laws of the Synagogue

Introduction – From Prayer to Building a Synagogue

Speaker 1:

Welcome, gentlemen. We are going to learn laws from the Sefer Mishneh Torah, in the Sefer Ahavah, in the Laws of Prayer and Birkat Kohanim, Laws of Prayer Chapter 11.

Today’s shiur we are going to learn that there is a mitzvah to build a synagogue to pray in, and one must compel, that is, one forces them to pay money for it.

Gratitude for Donors

Incidentally, we remind ourselves that we didn’t have to force our donors at all; they gave money for our shiur, they gave even with a generous heart, kol asher nedavnu libo. Today’s shiur was given by Rabbi Yoel Halevi Wertzberger, who supports much of our Torah, many of the shiurim, and many other shiurim, and all kinds of Torah in the world.

And everyone should learn, should rely on his treasury. Whoever wants can send in a link; I think there is one at the bottom of the website, or on YouTube, or wherever there will be a link where one can send money. If people don’t know where the link is or where they can send money, they can ask a question to the rabbis; the rabbis will answer such questions gladly.

Yes, one must build a beit midrash where Jews are, so says the Rambam. Building a beit midrash costs a few million dollars; such a virtual beit midrash, such a shiur, one can do for small money, a few thousand dollars, really small money, and we are here to continue giving the shiurim.

Connecting the Chapters – From Prayer to Building

So, the Rambam says this. It’s very interesting, let’s say a little introduction, a bit of connecting.

Speaker 2:

I don’t have an introduction; I just want to say the chapters.

Speaker 1:

Ah, you do. How did we learn that there is such a thing as prayer? After that we saw that there is such a thing as communal prayer. So we saw that there is such a thing as prayer in a synagogue. Now we’ve realized that one must build a building.

I want to say this: there are two laws to which this chapter relates. One, the Rambam said that one must designate a place for prayer. One of the things is taharat hamakom l’tefillah, one of the conditions, preparing a place. And after that there is a second thing, that one prays with a community.

So preparing a place means that a person, for example, who prayed in his tent, in his tent, had to prepare a place that is clean there, where he can pray, where it’s perhaps low, not a high place. And since there is a community, one must find a place where the whole community can fit; it’s a much larger undertaking.

I don’t know if it also means beginning a matter or not. In any case, there is a matter, aside from the fact that one must have a place to pray, there is a matter that it should be a synagogue. It could be that it’s like “ve’asu li mikdash,” the Rambam doesn’t exactly say that, he does make it for the prayer, but it should be a building, and that is also the matter.

Law 1 – The Obligation to Build a Synagogue and Compulsion

Speaker 1:

There is also something strange that he said earlier; he said one should pray in a synagogue. Now he says, it’s not that if there is a synagogue, I know, there was once a rich Jew who built a synagogue. No, ten Jews also have an obligation to go create the conditions to be able to pray with a community.

The holy Rambam says, “Kol makom she’yesh bo asarah mi’Yisrael, tzarich l’hachin lo bayit she’yikansu bo l’tefillah b’chol et tefillah”. In every place where there are ten Jews, they must prepare a house, a special place where they should gather to pray, and this thing is called a beit knesset.

Where there are ten Jews, if someone goes to a new area, there are ten Jews, they should send around to each one a Tehillim Rambam, saying that one is obligated to build a synagogue.

Speaker 2:

Where?

Speaker 1:

Yes, not only is one obligated, it’s a real chiddush. It’s a great chiddush; the Patriarchs didn’t make any synagogue, they prayed alone, right? Earlier we learned that in the generation of Enosh they made a temple where they should gather to pray. But here, ordinary Jews gather together; it doesn’t come from the government, it comes from the ten Jews; they took a place where one must pray.

The Law of Compulsion – One Can Force Payment

Okay. “Kofin bnei ha’ir zeh et zeh livnot lahem beit haknesset,” and one can compel one another. There is a claim; if there is someone who becomes the activist, he can demand other people to go make money, and he can compel them. It’s not the activist, “zeh et zeh,” the whole community comes together, one should see how much money each one has, and one takes from each one enough money that one should be able to build a shul.

He doesn’t say exactly how the compulsion works. Compulsion doesn’t mean taking money; compulsion means one puts pressure on you.

Speaker 2:

You think compulsion means taking money?

Speaker 1:

Kofin, kofin means if someone doesn’t want to pay, yes, one calls him to a din Torah, one takes him, one goes to his bank, one takes a bit of money, however much it is for the matter.

The Obligation to Buy a Sefer Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim

We’re not lying about the same thing. Another thing that ten Jews must have, they must have a Sefer Torah.

Speaker 2:

Ah, good.

Speaker 1:

Sefer Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim.

Speaker 2:

Ah, why does one need Sefer Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim?

Speaker 1:

Nevi’im one needs for the haftarot. Ketuvim, why does one need?

Speaker 2:

It’s not clear.

Speaker 1:

For the haftarot, but there are no haftarot from Ketuvim, only from Nevi’im.

Speaker 2:

And we don’t conduct ourselves that way, and in my shul there is no Nevi’im.

Speaker 1:

Perhaps because one can say one fulfills the obligation with a printed Torah. I saw, he brings here below, the Rambam Me’orot, Rabbi Avraham Blumenberg brings that it says in Shulchan Aruch that one also compels to buy a Shas nowadays.

Speaker 2:

What is the reason for a Shas?

Speaker 1:

What do you mean? Mishnah Berurah says so. It’s not only that one must have a Sefer Torah, but because this is…

And it also appears that the Sefer Torah is not only for reading kriat haTorah; it’s also so that one should be able to learn. Because Ketuvim one doesn’t read apparently in a synagogue. But the synagogue is a place where one says drashot; it’s not a place where one learns to learn a Chumash. But it is a place where one learns.

The beit midrash is where those who sit learn all day, and the synagogue is a place where people come to learn in the morning and at night, besides praying. It could be that they come to learn. I don’t know, but I think that certainly one did learn a bit in the synagogue. One says drashot there, divrei kibushin, divrei aggadah.

Summary – The Essential Obligation

Okay, so this is the essential law that one must build a synagogue; it’s a complete obligation, everyone, to the extent that one can compel the money to pay for it. Compelling means simply, someone says, “I don’t need a shul, I can manage to pray at home,” one says, “I don’t care, you must give money.” Yes?

Law 2 – Architecture of the Synagogue

Building at the Height of the City

Speaker 1:

Now we’re going to learn where one must build the synagogue, in which place, the laws, the architecture of the synagogue.

Keitzad bonin et beit haknesset? When one builds a synagogue, “ein bonin otah ela b’govhah shel ir,” only in the high place of the city, “she’ne’emar ‘b’rosh homiyot tikra’.”

The wisdom, the understanding of the elders from the wisdom is interesting, “hachochmah rinah b’rosh homiyot,” homiyot means a chest, the Rebbe said that homiyot is…

Speaker 2:

“Homeh medaberet”?

Speaker 1:

No, homeh… He brings that the Metzudot translates “b’rosh homiyot” in the place where there is hemyah, where people speak, where people gather to pray there. The point is, one must… Ah, the beit midrash must be higher, as if it stands higher, and one hears it, one hears when the baal tefillah shouts, blows shofar, the whole city should hear, perhaps such a thing.

Two Laws Regarding Height

Okay, so one must build, there are two laws here, there are two laws. First of all, the place where one builds must be in the highest place of the city. Besides that, “magbihin oto,” one raises up the building of the beit midrash, “ad she’yihyeh gavoah mikol chatzrot ha’ir, she’yihyeh nireh u’mitvases l’chol.” It should stand out; it should be a higher building than the ordinary buildings around.

Yes, very important. People don’t conduct themselves enough; one isn’t careful enough about this law, except for the Belzer Rav of Jerusalem, who actually built his beit midrash “b’govhah shel ir,” and he made it higher than all other batei midrash. One remembers that Belz is very careful about the laws of the synagogue.

Symbolism – Higher Building, Lower Baal Tefillah

It’s interesting, because one builds in the highest place, and in the highest place one makes another bimah that should be even higher, and the baal tefillah must stand in a “mimama’akim.” It’s very symbolic, this “mimama’akim.” It doesn’t mean that one must go deep into the earth.

Opening to the East – Connection to the Mishkan

“Ve’ein potchin petach beit haknesset ela l’mizrach.” The doors of the synagogue, from where one should exit, should be on the east side.

Yes, we don’t conduct ourselves that way. Ours are opposite from where one enters. Ours is “towards” east. So, ours is “towards” east, is that good?

Speaker 2:

No, “l’mizrach” means on the east side.

Speaker 1:

Ours… Perhaps the opening should be in the east?

Speaker 2:

No, no.

Speaker 1:

The translation is that one makes it in the east, one makes the opening side in the east. So he brings a verse about the Mishkan. The Mishkan had the opening on the east side. On the east side was the door in the Mishkan, west was closed, the Holy of Holies. Therefore, one makes the shul in a manner like the Mikdash, so says the Rambam. But we don’t conduct ourselves that way usually; I don’t know.

Discussion: Shulchan Aruch and Tosafot – When One Prays to the East

There is, there is also this, usually in the old shuls I think there is also a door on the side, from where the baal tefillah with the rabbi with everyone go out. There is usually a large heichal there, which later one calls heichal, the place where the Sefer Torah is with the distinguished community, and usually there is also a door on the way out. Perhaps this is not the main door.

Yes, but he brings that the Shulchan Aruch, the Tosafot and others say that the law speaks in a manner that one used to pray to the west. Like the batei midrash on the east side in Eretz Yisrael and in Iraq, I don’t know where, then one prays to the west, so the door is the other side. We pray to the east, so we are afraid to pray to the door.

Speaker 2:

Ah, ah, ah.

Speaker 1:

So he brings. But he speaks when one prays toward Jerusalem, regardless of which direction the building is, the beit midrash is anyway toward Jerusalem.

He says that one should just make sure that one should make the door the other side from the aron kodesh. The aron shouldn’t be as the Rambam says that it’s always in the east.

In practice, the Rambam says yes, one always makes the door in the east. He can think, what was in the east for the Jews, for example, in the period of the Geonim who lived in Iraq? What was their east? East is actually the east side of the world. Apparently where did they pray? Where did they pray when one makes such a law? It says that one should open to the east. They must claim that they actually prayed to the west.

As it says in Tractate Megillah, in Babylonia it’s actually west to Eretz Yisrael; it’s more east than Eretz Yisrael, they pray to the west. “Ma’arava amri” one says in the east, in Babylonia one says “ma’arava amri” about Eretz Yisrael. Yes, true, it’s more east, it’s Iraq, it’s more east. The Rambam didn’t live more east; the Rambam lived in Egypt, it’s more west than Eretz Yisrael.

Question: Why Does the Rambam Bring the Verses?

What are all these verses? It’s not that one derives it from the verses. It’s a halachah l’Moshe miSinai; it’s laws from the Torah. It’s a halachah l’Moshe miSinai. One says that this is how they had the door in the Mishkan. The point is that one wants to make the Beit HaMikdash similar to the Mishkan. Just as the Mishkan had the door on the east, one makes it on the east.

What does it say further after that about east kedem? What does it say something about the door? “Moshe v’Aharon.” I don’t know why he brings this verse; I don’t understand. It’s the simple meaning that he brings the verse.

Speaker 2:

Yes, but why? What does one see with this verse?

Speaker 1:

I have no idea; something I don’t understand why he brings the verse. “Moshe v’Aharon u’vanav”? I have no idea; something is bothering me. Kedem, it’s true that the east is the distinguished place. It’s true that the Mishkan had the door on the east, but I don’t need this verse; it says in another verse. I don’t understand why he brings this verse; something is bothering me.

Summary – Reality and Law

People don’t conduct themselves according to these laws; I don’t know why.

Speaker 2:

No, the east doesn’t say in Shulchan Aruch that people don’t conduct themselves, but the door should be higher, it should be the highest.

Speaker 1:

Always was the main thing. Jews who had beautiful cities, when Jews lived long enough in exile and there was money, they built magnificent batei midrash. We know the shtieblach of all the Chassidic rebbes; we know both. But Jewish batei midrash, there are actually large buildings. Yes, that goes up into large buildings.

Laws of the Synagogue – Continuation: The Heichal, the Teivah, the Bimah, Seating Order, and Honor of the Synagogue

The Verse About “Kedmat Mizrach” – A Difficult Question

Speaker 1: I don’t understand. Does it go to the holy ones to bring this verse? Yes, but why… What does one see with this verse? I have no idea. Something I don’t understand why he brings this verse. “Moshe Aharon u’navi”? I have no idea what the explanation is.

First of all, one sees that kedmat mizrach is a distinguished place. It’s true that in the Mishkan the door was on the east; I don’t need this verse for that; it says in another verse. I don’t understand why he brings this verse. Something is bothering me.

People don’t conduct themselves according to these laws. I don’t know why. Certainly… No, the east doesn’t say that people don’t conduct themselves. But that it should be higher, should be the highest. Always was that the main thing.

The Jews who had beautiful cities, when Jews lived long enough in exile and there was money, they built magnificent batei midrash. We know the shtieblach of all the Chassidic rebbes; we know both. But Jewish batei midrash, there are actually large buildings. Yes, that goes into old cities; there is to find. Jews tried when they could to do this. But what does he want from the kedmat? That I truly don’t know. Okay.

The Heichal – A Structure That Symbolizes the Beit HaMikdash

Speaker 1: Very good. I don’t understand why he brings this verse. And after that, another important thing that one must underline is a heichal. One understands that a heichal is what one calls the aron kodesh, right? “Manihin bo sefer Torah.” It’s implied that the heichal is not the teivah. You see here a teivah that the aron kodesh is inside, and the heichal is something like a building, such a centerpiece for the front of the beit midrash. In the heichal one places the Sefer Torah.

In the heichal one keeps, like a bolt, ah, here he doesn’t say to the west or to the east. “Beriach min hasefarim klapei daltot ha’ir,” that is, whatever direction is Jerusalem, “kedei she’yifneh meimeilah l’heichal k’she’ya’amod b’tefillah.” The heichal is like the center of the beit midrash. The heichal itself must somehow remind of the Beit HaMikdash; that’s why one calls it heichal; it’s like another level of “mimkomo hu yifen.” Heichal is a place where one places the aron kodesh and the Sefer Torah, he says.

Speaker 2: So there is a picture of a heichal, like a chuppah over the…

Speaker 1: No, that’s not the simple meaning of the word heichal. Heichal is a kind of structure, a kind of building. A beautiful one, presumably a beautiful one, what do I know? Yes. And one makes a… a heichal, well.

Discussion: Why Must One Stand Facing the Heichal?

Speaker 2: Why must one be facing the heichal when standing in prayer?

Speaker 1: It’s nice.

Speaker 2: No, it could be that’s the reason.

Speaker 1: No, I think yes about something; this has to do with the other law that one should stand facing the place of the Mikdash. The heichal must also somehow symbolize the place of the Mikdash, somehow. So what do you know which way to go? You give a name heichal, and you place it in the east, and it must stand opposite.

He brings that it was actually introduced to place such a small house by them, and one went out, even the steps to go up to the heichal. It’s basically an aron kodesh situation. Okay. And… okay.

The Bimah – In the Center or Not in the Center?

Speaker 1: Next, another thing. The middle bimah, you know? It’s interesting why the Rambam ruled this as a halacha. It’s interesting. What kind of halacha is this? As a halacha it’s… it’s a certain type of halacha. He doesn’t say it’s a mitzvah d’rabbanan. He says it’s a halacha.

I ask you, because you remember, on this shiur that we’re learning now there was tremendous politics. Because in the Rambam and the other versions it says “and they place a bimah in the middle of the beis haknesses”. Here it doesn’t say “in the middle” at all. He brings that there is in the manuscript that we have from the Sefer HaMaor, which the Rambam himself signed that it’s an authentic manuscript, it said “in the middle,” and they erased it, and they wrote in “and in the middle,” that there’s no obligation that it should be in the middle. But it’s obvious that they should be in the middle. Practically they already saw that it’s a practical thing. Yes. No, practically, so that one can hear.

“Kedei she’yaaleh alav hakorei baTorah”. They place the bimah in the middle, or they place it away on a high place, kedei she’yaaleh alav hakorei baTorah, or the one who stands there the baal korei, or the chacham who says divrei kibbushin on a taanis, or times when one must say divrei kibbushin in the beis hamedrash, kedei sheyishme’u kulam. That’s why the bimah is in the center, so that everyone can hear. No, that’s why it’s high. Or if it stands in the middle, that’s why it’s in the middle. Or not, that’s why it’s high, so that all can hear.

Discussion: Why Does One Hear Better When Standing High?

Speaker 2: Why, when one is high does one hear better?

Speaker 1: Certainly one hears better when standing high. The voice goes up. It goes up, and the voice doesn’t hit the people. Certainly one hears better when standing high.

The Teivah – A Portable Piece

Speaker 1: And he says, “and when they place the teivah that the Sefer Torah is on”, the teivah is not the aron, but the platform on which they place the Sefer Torah, “they place it in the middle, here it says “in the middle.” “In the middle” doesn’t mean in the middle of the shul, it means in the middle between… in the middle of the heichal, in the middle of the heichal. I don’t understand exactly. “Apparently the teivah faces the heichal”. It’s not in the heichal, he already says, I don’t understand, is it in the heichal or not?

Apparently the teivah was a thing that one moves, and they place it in the middle of the heichal when davening, and they bring it to the front of the bimah when not davening, and perhaps they place the Sefer Torah down on it. It’s a stand for the Sefer Torah, on which the Sefer Torah was placed.

Speaker 2: I hear. Nu already. That’s how it sounds. Yes, you see, he says that he brings in Hilchos Lulav because they placed the teivah in the middle to encircle it. So the teivah was such a portable piece.

Speaker 1: The simple meaning is, the teivah is a box in which they carry the Torah, not that the Torah comes out from the teivah. The teivah was the aron, right? It was an aron. It even had the two poles of the aron. It sat in one place, but the idea of it is… okay.

And “the back of the teivah faces the heichal, and the doors are open toward the doors, so that they can take out the Torah”. That means, they could take out the Torah from it. You see, its face is toward the people, so that one can see the Torah when it needs to be opened. Yes? Does it make sense? So this is the furniture of the beis hamedrash. There’s still a bit more furniture that was forgotten.

Seder HaYeshivah – How One Sits in the Beis Hamedrash

Speaker 1: Now, how does one sit? Here there is the seder hayeshivah. What is the order? The Rambam in Tefillah says that when they begin to sit, the sitting is according to the chachamim in halacha. How does one sit in the beis hamedrash?

“The elders sit and their faces are toward the people, and their backs are toward the heichal”. That means, the elders means the rav, the mizrach. “And all the people sit row before row”. The mizrach sits… facing the congregation. Yes, facing the congregation. And the entire congregation sits in rows. “And the face of each row is to the back of the row before it”. Yes, each row sees the neck of the second, as one sees in normal shuls today. “Until it turns out that the faces of all are toward the kodesh, and toward the elders, and toward the teivah”.

Discussion: What Does “Klapei” Mean?

Speaker 2: What does this “klapei” mean?

Speaker 1: He means facing, apparently. He means that the congregation looks toward the kodesh, and the elders, and the teivah.

Speaker 2: What does the kodesh mean? Kodesh means the Sefer Torah?

Speaker 1: I don’t know, the aron? The point is, the congregation sees the elders, right? During davening. So these are the three holy things that one can see: one can see the face of the teivah, the elders, or the kodesh. Yes. It’s the aron hakodesh. I don’t know if the Menucha says something there. He doesn’t say. Okay. Let’s learn. Ah, I don’t know.

No, he doesn’t say. He says yes that there’s a concept, that it’s specifically that one should be able to see the elders during tefillah, so that “those sitting will stand before them with awe and fear”. There’s a concept that they must sit and one should be able to see their faces. Okay.

Where Does the Shaliach Tzibbur Stand?

Speaker 1: And on which side does the shaliach tzibbur stand in prayer? Yes, when the shaliach tzibbur stands, ah, the congregation sits, but when he stands up, and where does he stand? He stands on the ground before the teivah. He sits on the ground, he doesn’t sit on the bimah, he stands on the ground in front of the teivah, and his face is before the kodesh, so that he should face the same way. He doesn’t face like the modern ones, the apikorsim, I know who, the Reformers, where by them the chazzan stands and looks at the congregation. No, the chazzan looks toward the kodesh just like the entire congregation. The elders are the only ones who look at the congregation. Yes.

So until here is the order of the… architecture. Whoever wants to make a beis hamedrash, should look here in the Rambam to see how he should make it. We make it approximately like this, it’s not that we make it differently.

Hilchos Kavod Beis Haknesses

Speaker 1: Now let’s learn hilchos kavod beis haknesses, how one should conduct oneself in the beis hamedrash. Beis haknesses, which is the midrasha that the Rambam already mentioned earlier, the place where one learns, where there is also a mitzvah to go daven. They conduct themselves with honor in them, they honor them and sweep them. One must sweep and clean them. “Marvitzin” apparently means one puts down water or something so that there shouldn’t be any dust, one washes it out. Okay.

Customs of Sepharad and the West – Lights, Mats, and Chairs

Speaker 1: And he says like this, and all of Israel was accustomed in Sepharad and in the West, in Sepharad means Spain. Honoring them and sweeping them has to do with the halacha that we saw earlier that one goes there with shoes. One goes there with shoes, so one must wash it out from time to time. Yes, it says one goes with shoes. But if someone wants to go barefoot, they don’t let him. Ah, Rashi.

In short, in Sepharad and in the West means in Morocco, which is west of Eretz Yisrael. Also in Shinar and Bavel and in Eretz HaTzvi, that’s Eretz Yisrael. In short, what we call Sephardic countries, which actually there are at least four types of them. So the custom there is to light torches in the batei knesses, they light such little lights. And also “laying out mats”, that means they lay down such, what is a mat?

Speaker 2: Such a carpet, such a…

Speaker 1: Such a carpet, they can sit on it on the ground.

Speaker 2: A chair is like a bench, no?

Speaker 1: In short, one sits on the ground. “And in Edom”, this is a fancy place, what does Edom mean? “They sit there on chairs”, they sit on benches in the batei midrash. So the torches apply to everyone, everyone has the custom to light candles, and he makes a distinction here between the mats and the chairs.

Discussion: Is This Really a Halacha?

Speaker 2: Ah good. It’s really a halacha, today is there such a halacha? Today also, I haven’t seen any beis hamedrash where one sits on mats.

Speaker 1: By Sephardic places?

Speaker 2: No, one also sits on benches.

Speaker 1: One sits on benches. The only main thing is that Sephardic batei midrash usually have comfortable benches, and Ashkenazic batei midrash the custom is to put hard benches. But I don’t know what this has to do with the Rambam, this is just a…

Speaker 2: In short, this goes back to a bad experience. Continue.

Speaker 1: Batei knesses and batei midrash.

Speaker 2: No, they are very nice, they have such couches.

Speaker 1: Yes, they have such red couches, yes.

Mats and Chairs – Both Are Honor

Speaker 1: Already, now it’s like this, how does one conduct oneself there? “Batei knesses and batei midrash”. It appears that this is part of the honor. It’s part of the honor that there should be benches or mats, whatever, it should be nicely arranged so that one can sit and daven normally.

Speaker 2: Yes, you see, it has to do with honor. It’s honor that there are lights, and…

Speaker 1: “And one doesn’t conduct oneself with frivolity in them”, what does frivolity mean? No gentile joking and foolishness, which means one doesn’t make jokes, one doesn’t make mockery.

Speaker 2: I mean perhaps, I don’t want to interrupt, mats and chairs are both that it’s aristocratic. Meaning, one could lay on the floor carpets, but one laid nice carpets. Chairs also doesn’t mean any ugly bench or benches, it means that everyone gets a bench, as you say by Sephardic batei midrash. You see that it’s one structure, which is all a continuation of honoring them, one cleans it, one keeps it honorable.

Speaker 1: Okay.

Speaker 2: Chairs is simply a certain honorable thing. When one doesn’t sit on chairs, there’s a bench, I know, one lounges.

Kalus Rosh in Beis Haknesses

Speaker 1: Okay, in short, “and one doesn’t conduct oneself with frivolity in them”. In the lectures one doesn’t conduct oneself in writing or orally.

Chairs also doesn’t mean any ugly bench or benches. It means that everyone gets a bench. He says that this is a continuation of the midrashim. He says, here you have his structure, which is all a continuation when one honors the place, one cleans it, one keeps it honorable. Chairs is a certain honorable thing. When one doesn’t sit on chairs, but on a bench, I know, one leans forward. Okay, in short.

One Doesn’t Conduct Oneself with Frivolity in Them

One doesn’t conduct oneself with frivolity in them. One doesn’t conduct oneself with frivolity, light-headed. It means that one doesn’t speak serious things, one doesn’t make jokes in the beis hamedrash. It means joking, playing, certainly nonsense, idle talk, gossiping, is certainly nonsense. It means one doesn’t stand there as a jester, no mockery. One doesn’t try any frivolous things. And not only that, one doesn’t eat there and one doesn’t drink there.

If someone wants to say that one should do frivolous things because he holds that this very much brings close the young generation, you shouldn’t do that in the beis hamedrash, you should do it in the hall. In the beis hamedrash one doesn’t do frivolity. It says that in the beis hamedrash one doesn’t do frivolity. In general frivolity is another discussion. But you want to ask whether one may do frivolity in general, is another inquiry. A part of life with frivolity, not here the place.

And One Doesn’t Derive Benefit from Them

But also, one doesn’t eat and one doesn’t drink, and one doesn’t derive benefit from them. What does deriving benefit mean? I don’t know. One doesn’t have benefit from it. That is, what? You don’t sleep there because you want to sleep? That doesn’t mean sleeping. Having benefit from it because it’s cool, because it’s airy, means something. It was made to use. A kind of men’s club. Deriving benefit means something? One doesn’t know what it means. Mitzvos were not given for benefit. What does having benefit mean? Something it means.

No, he says, deriving benefit means adorning oneself, using for one’s benefit. So it says in Perush HaMishnayos Berachos on the Mishnah of one doesn’t derive benefit from them. It doesn’t say in Berachos that. Where does it say? In Megillah?

There isn’t such a language. Not clear what it means. Berachos is missing. No, it doesn’t say. No one knows. It’s a hidden light what it means. Okay? If one doesn’t know, one doesn’t know. One must check Bera… No, I don’t want to check because I need to finish the Perush HaMishnayos. No, I don’t want to. One must say that the Rambam says “using for one’s benefit,” one doesn’t have benefit from it. But what it means what it means? Halacha is halacha. It means that Shabbos afternoon there’s air conditioning in shul, don’t go in there.

And One Doesn’t Walk in It

No, this is actually one conduct in it. This is actually one conduct in it. “And one doesn’t walk in it”, one doesn’t stroll there. This means that one doesn’t go in there. And more, here it says the explanation, “and one doesn’t enter it except for its honor.” If you want to scratch your back, you don’t do it by the edge of a Sefer Torah. “And one doesn’t enter it except for its honor”, from the sun, from the sun to take shelter in it. One doesn’t go in there to cool off or to dry off.

B’dieved — Eating in the Beis Hamedrash

But I have with talmidei chachamim, and he really didn’t… b’dieved, he gave a shiur, and he still can’t go out to the lunch room, it will take too long, he won’t be able to learn. He goes afterward to the beis hamedrash, he still needs to eat something. B’dieved he may eat there. Like here, by the beis hamedrash, next to the table, in small shtieblach, but b’dieved, he needs to continue learning, what should he do?

It’s interesting, and the one who… yes. The one who… let’s… the same one who sits in front of the lectern, he’s the one who may. If he really goes to the beis hamedrash, as he learns there, this is a place…

And One Doesn’t Calculate Accounts in It

“And one doesn’t calculate accounts in it.” Another thing that one doesn’t do in the beis hamedrash, one doesn’t calculate any accounts there, accounts of the place. Yes, one doesn’t calculate any accounts there.

“Unless they were for a mitzvah.” One does tzedakah, pidyon shevuyim, which these are things that appear that one does in the beis hamedrash, one makes appeals. Yes, which I can yes make the accounts for it. Accounts means that one sits down, and one has what to calculate, and one does everything. Accounting, yes. Yes, the shul is the center of the chesed, one sees yes here. It’s a mitzvah.

And One Doesn’t Eulogize in It Except a Public Eulogy

“And one doesn’t eulogize in it except a public eulogy.” An individual died, one doesn’t make the eulogy there, but if a gadol hador passed away. “Such as when they eulogize the great sages who make light.”

“A public eulogy,” this is a Gemara. A eulogy one doesn’t make in the beis haknesses, but if it’s a public eulogy. And the Rambam gave an interesting example, not that the gadol died, but if a simple person died, but there is at the eulogy a neighbor, or a brother of the gadol, and the entire congregation came in honor of the chacham, which the great ones who make light or the wise ones who make light who are at the eulogy. Automatically all the people gather because of the great one, but the entire congregation comes, and because the entire congregation comes, this is honor of the public, then it’s so.

The Gemara gives an example of a eulogy that the rabbis called, that they called, that someone eulogizes his father-in-law in the beis haknesses. That means, if someone who is not, the question is not the subject is not the deceased, the subject is the one giving the eulogy. If the great chacham of the generation comes to the eulogy, the entire congregation comes, because they see that he is eulogizing, so automatically one may.

So I mean that the point is, just as one doesn’t use the shul for private things, two chassidim want to have a conversation about their business, they can’t go do it in shul, but one may yes do mitzvos of the community. The same thing, someone died, and the children want to gather to eulogize, yes, the children with the neighbors, they can’t go use the shul. But if it’s a public matter and the entire city will come, it becomes a part of the… because one sees that the beis hamedrash is also the center. There’s no reason why one should come specifically there where one davens to make the eulogy, or there where one davens to make the accounts for a mitzvah, but anything that has to do with the public one can yes do in shul. An individual can’t use it for his interests.

So when it’s not a public eulogy, the simple meaning is that the children want to say goodbye to their deceased, and the apartment is too small, something like that, but I’m not sure.

Discussion: What Makes a Eulogy a “Public Eulogy”?

If he is a beis haknesses, if he is a… yes, he means that they made in Parna that he must be enough an important person that they should bring him into the beis hamedrash. But this means, it says yes in the Gemara simply, one sees yes, if by hearing all die, if by hearing all die, that Rav Zeira made a eulogy for a talmid chacham in the beis hamedrash, in the beis haknesses, he said, either for me or for the deceased. The point is on the gathering of a large congregation. The point is not the, as you say, the point is that it’s honor of the public, that the entire public comes to the eulogy. It doesn’t have to do with that a great tzaddik died, but three chassidim, apparently one may not make a eulogy in the beis haknesses, but if they will still come, it’s a different part. That they come is not a question on them.

Okay, if he is a beis haknesses, if he is a beis hamedrash, is a new verse.

One Shouldn’t Make It a Shortcut — Shortcut Through the Beis Haknesses

Okay, now a new halacha. Another thing that one doesn’t do, because it’s not respectful. A synagogue has two doors, and one could use it to make a shortcut, one may not. “Lo ya’asenu derech tishkon lo pesach zeh v’yetze b’pesach shekenegdo l’karev haderech.” And one shouldn’t mix in three words, “lo asenu kapandaria”. But no one knows what kapandaria means. It appears in Rashi’s language that it’s a language, kapandaria is a “shortcut”. In Yiddish one can say “shortcut”, and it means that everyone understands.

Permission to enter a synagogue for a practical matter

What is the law if one needs to go? Here we see however, just to make a “shortcut” one may not. Apparently the permission of going to learn doesn’t help, because you’re using the synagogue for your interest, you would have had a shorter way. But what is the law if one needs to go into the synagogue? Not that he needs to make a “shortcut”, he needs to have something from there. He needs to go into the synagogue, ah, the tinokos shel beis rabban (young students) used to learn in the synagogue, he needs to meet his child. Or he knows that his friend learns there, and he needs to pick him up from the beis hamedrash (study hall), and he needs to call him. So what does he do? He has an eitzah (solution), he should go in and learn a little, “yikanes v’yikra me’at”. He should read a little. “Yikra” means he should say a little Chumash (Pentateuch), or Tehillim (Psalms), something from mikra (Scripture). Or “yomar davar shmuah”, shmuah means a halacha that he heard, or what he heard in the name of a person. “V’achar kach ya’aseh cheftzo, kedei shelo yikanes bishvil cheftzo bilvad”, so that he shouldn’t enter the beis hamedrash only for some practical thing that he’s going to do there.

What if he can’t learn? There is an eitzah, he can’t even a single verse of Chumash. There is an eitzah, there are tinokos (children) there. “Yomar l’echad min hatinokos kra li pesukcha she’ata korei bo”, he should tell him the verse that the tinok learns there. So interesting. So according to the Rema one may not say a verse for other reasons, only for… in order to go through, for such other reasons. It also stood there by a kiddush (sanctification), when one stood asking a child the pesukei pesukcha (your verse). Aha. Here one uses it because this is a practical thing, it’s a mitzvah. So that he can enter the beis hamedrash, he said that one will go do this, it’s only a sign, it’s not that he does any action based on it.

Sitting in the beis hamedrash is a mitzvah

Or there is another eitzah, interesting. Even if he can’t learn, that means if he can’t, one eitzah is he should say for the tinok to tell him, or he should simply sit down, “yeshev me’at b’veis hamedrash”. There is a mitzvah to sit in the beis hamedrash, “ashrei yoshvei veisecha” (fortunate are those who dwell in Your house). It doesn’t say “ashrei halomedi b’veisecha” or “ashrei hamitpalelei b’veisecha”, “ashrei yoshvei”, to sit in the beis hamedrash is part of the mitzvah. This is the respect, he doesn’t come in and run out, but he sits down a little. More respect is if he davens (prays), but at least this. But the Rambam says explicitly not, the Rambam says explicitly “mekayem mitzvah”. It’s part of the mitzvah to sit, and he brings a verse for this. Mekayem mitzvah. There isn’t a respect that isn’t a mitzvah.

The halacha you’re talking about is a different halacha, this isn’t respect that one goes into the synagogue for nothing. But you’re going here to a mitzvah, even if the mitzvah is through a gavra (person), but the yeshiva (sitting), he brings, the Rambam said before one must sit afterward. Yeshiva means he sits with kovod rosh (dignity), he thinks into “v’zeh korban Pesach” (and this is the Passover offering). There is a concept to sit in the synagogue, it’s a beautiful thing. Sitting is a great concept.

Exiting through another door after davening

The Rambam says further, “mi shenichnas likros”. Ah, if he sees that there is a heter (permission) to exit to make a shortcut. A door that has a beis hamedrash that has two doors on two corners, and a person came into the beis hamedrash, he didn’t come in order to arrive, he came to daven, may he exit through the other door, even though he actually made the beis hamedrash into a shortcut. No, because he came to daven, not that he… because you have this law of issur (prohibition of) shortcut, you have the issur of using the beis hamedrash for not what it’s for. It’s a place of tefillah (prayer) and Torah.

Mutar lichnos b’maklo u’v’tarmilo — Entering with weekday items

Right. Ah, as is customary today, amsorei, mutar l’adam lichnos l’veis hakneses b’maklo, and one may enter shul with all his things, with his stick, with his wallet, with his cane, with his weekday items, with his bag. Right. It wasn’t forbidden so far, it’s not like the Beis Hamikdash (Temple) where one wasn’t allowed, or… But one may enter the beis hamedrash this way.

Lirok — Spitting in the beis hamedrash

And again, lirok, if one needs to spit, one may also spit in the beis hamedrash. Right. The Gemara says because at home people aren’t particular about it either, and if one is particular, one is more particular in a place like this, so indeed today this is still the seder ha’olam (way of the world).

Okay. In the Yerushalmi it says that Rabbi Yochanan spit, but he wiped up after himself. It’s also a good eitzah tovah (good advice). And of course throwing away the tissues.

Batei knesiyos she’charvu — Their kedusha (sanctity) stands forever

Says the… Now we’re going to learn an important halacha about what is a synagogue where one doesn’t daven there anymore, it became charev (destroyed). Charev means that one doesn’t daven there anymore. It’s empty. It became ruined from it, kedushasan l’olam omedes. It doesn’t become not a synagogue at all, one must still be respectful, she’ne’emar “v’hashimosi es mikdesheichem” (as it says, “and I will make desolate your sanctuaries”). A derasha (exposition) was said, that “v’hashimosi es mikdesheichem” with translation, I will destroy the Beis Hamikdash. The Gemara said, but it says “mikdash”, we see that kedushasan afilu b’sha’as shemamosan. Even at the time of their desolation their kedusha stands. So the Gemara had to expound the verse.

They say it a second time that Beis Moshe is kadosh (holy). One time he said when he said “k’lapei pnei hakodesh” (toward the Holy).

Kedushas beis hakneses she’charev, dinei setira u’vinyan, u’ma’alin bakodesh

Halacha: Kedushas beis hakneses she’charev

This is the translation of charev. Charev means that one doesn’t daven there anymore, it’s empty, one makes a churva (ruin) from it. So kedushasan aleihen omedes, it doesn’t become not a synagogue, one must conduct oneself respectfully, she’ne’emar “v’hashimosi es mikdesheichem”. A derasha was said, simply “v’hashimosi es mikdesheichem” is destroying the Beis Hamikdash. The Gemara said, but mikdash is relevant. We see that kedushasan afilu b’sha’as shemamosan, even at the time of their desolation their kedusha is upon them. So the Gemara expounded the verse.

So here the Rambam told us now a second time that the Beis Hamikdash is kadosh. Once he said when he said “k’lapei pnei hakodesh”, and here. Because he didn’t tell us the halacha that after it’s destroyed it’s kadosh. He told us one must be respectful, shelo yinhag kalus rosh (that one shouldn’t act frivolously). He didn’t tell us that one must do a halachic thing, that one must continue to give… ah, as he says further. There isn’t something else. He doesn’t say that it’s kadosh, that one must come to effect the salvations. It’s kadosh that one must not act frivolously.

Din kibud v’riputz b’veis hakneses she’charev

And further, what does one do? He writes, batei knesiyos… Just as one conducts oneself when one davens there, one conducts oneself when one doesn’t daven, except for kibud v’riputz (sweeping and scrubbing). One thing is different, one doesn’t do kibud v’riputz, she’ein mekabdin v’ein meraptzin osan. Why? On the contrary, it should be a reverse calculation, that one should specifically yes let it become. Ah, ulai b’ma’aseihem (perhaps through their deeds), this is the continuation apparently. Yes, ulai b’ma’aseihem tolshin asavim u’manichin osan bimkoman. One leaves it, one doesn’t keep it nice, so that it shouldn’t become a museum, u’chedei sheyir’u osan v’yitztaaru. One should see the poor beis hamedrash that is broken, the people should see, it should bother them, and one should want to build the beis hamedrash. This is a pity. Not that one should make from it some kind of museum, and we want to rebuild it. But one will go see, one goes to see, one makes it a bit more ugly, one doesn’t keep it as nice as it could be, so that people should see, where, it’s destroyed unfortunately.

Pshat: Which synagogue is meant

Apparently it’s simple, we’re talking here about a city where there were ten mispalalim (worshippers), and now the people became weaker, people come person by person, and this became destroyed. If there are thirty batei midrash, and specifically this beis hamedrash played out, another beis hamedrash caught the people… No, no, no, no. A synagogue where one doesn’t come there. A person goes through and he sees a synagogue is unfortunately empty, it’s broken, grass is growing. He says, where, it’s a tzaar (pain) the synagogue. He quickly goes to make an appeal and pay for it. This is the translation. This isn’t the translation, it doesn’t say anything about new. There is now a new beis hamedrash. The old beis hamedrash became too small.

No, no, no. There is such a thing, there is such a thing. If there is a great need in the city that all people don’t have room in the other, it’s a makom kadosh (holy place), the binyan (building) is simply a heichal (sanctuary) in itself. That’s the whole thing. And one will immediately see, one may not simply do so from a synagogue. There is only here a new din that one must leave it to look like a churva so that one should want to rebuild, so that one should have mercy on it. Because the person doesn’t feel bad that it’s a synagogue. If one has many new beautiful ones, is there a mitzvah to rebuild every churva? I don’t know. Your churvos aren’t synagogues.

Yesod: The building is holy

He only says that one should leave it standing. And where does the halacha stand that a beis hamedrash that was once a beis hamedrash is today not a holy beis hamedrash? Certainly it’s a makom kadosh. We’re now going to learn whether one may sell it, whether one may not. It’s holy forever, the simple understanding. Unless it has a tnai (condition). We’re now going to learn the next halacha in the chapter.

We’re going to try to learn further to see that a synagogue, the building is holy. Not as you say, one looks at it, it’s practical, not practical. The building is a holy building. This is the whole thing. It’s a beis hakneses. All the halachos are built on this.

Halacha: Ein sotrin beis hakneses livnos acheres

Now we’re going to learn a practical halacha, a very practical halacha. Ein sotrin beis hakneses livnos acheres bimkoma, o b’makom acher. One doesn’t break down a synagogue to say one will use the bricks, I don’t know what, one will use to make a second. But what then? Bonin acheres. What does one do? What does one build a new one? Bonin acheres, one builds the new one, v’achar kach sotrin zo, afterward you can break down this one. Certainly one can break it down. Ah, you see that one can break it down. But why doesn’t one do this? Shema yei’arei ones lahem, it sometimes happens that a person prepares to… First one breaks down, afterward one remembers, ah, one doesn’t have money to build the new one. So meanwhile one remained without a synagogue.

But you see, after one has built a new one, simply so one breaks it down. One doesn’t need to leave the other to be a simple… ah, he will be able to use it. He has a mehalech (approach) on this. We’re going to see it. It’s not so simple. He will use it. Yes.

Rema: Exception when it’s dangerous

So actually the Rema brings here, he says the Rambam, ah, ah, ah, come here to the halacha. On this that one says that one may not first do before one makes a new one, this is lacharov yesodosav. That is, it’s not, one can still daven in it, so I think it means. One can still daven in it, so one must still daven until one doesn’t have a new one. Aval im charav yesodosav o shenote lipol, it’s already holding, it’s already dangerous, that one must, one can’t daven here essentially, one must, then one may yes, not only may, one must. Sotrin oso miyad, one breaks it down immediately, one doesn’t break it down, u’mehamrin livnoso v’chayavin la’avod bo yom v’layla, one works quickly, one builds by day and by night, shema tidcheh hakashava v’yisha’er charev. So one must hurry very strongly, and one must have the old urgency, and one does it quickly until, ah, how is it called, until it is, ah, that one should have the whole time a beis hamedrash, as quickly a beis hamedrash.

Halacha: Ma’alin bakodesh – Beis hakneses u’veis hamedrash

Yes. Further, now one speaks about the halacha of making a synagogue into a beis hamedrash or vice versa. The Rambam says, say, say. Now there is a new question, whether one may exchange things. There is a beis hakneses, and we’re going to see all kinds of chaftzei kedusha (holy objects) that one makes for the synagogue, for the tzibur (community), whether one may exchange them for something else, or a greater kedusha and a lesser kedusha. Yes, this we will already see.

So the Rambam says that mutar la’asos beis hakneses beis midrash. A beis hakneses, one davens there, one may from this make a yeshiva where one learns. Aval beis hamedrash ein osin oso beis hakneses, one may not make from a beis hamedrash a beis hakneses. Why? Shekdushas beis hamedrash yeseira al kedushas beis hakneses, as we learned earlier. U’ma’alin bakodesh v’lo moridin klal, one doesn’t make from a thing a lesser kedusha, one only makes a greater kedusha. The same thing, the halacha is not only on the beis hakneses itself, it’s on the place that has a kedusha. One may not make from a yeshiva into simply a shul where one davens.

Halacha: Selling a beis hakneses and buying higher kedusha

Bnei ha’ir shemachru beis hakneses, if one sold the beis hakneses, yes? Ah, we see that one can sell, soon we will see how one can sell, but one can sell a beis hakneses. But the money, also this is holy money, it’s, ah, money that the Jews gave for the beis hakneses. One may buy with this a teiva. Teiva this is the place where one puts a… aron hakodesh (holy ark). Yes, teiva we learned. A parable or in kodesh. A piece or in kodesh situation, you know.

Mochrei teiva, one sold a teiva, one may buy mitpachos o sik shel sefer Torah. These are the three levels. One may buy with this. The Rema doesn’t say heichal. Heichal he says, this is part of beis hakneses. But one may buy with this the anyway mitpachos, the mantle, or a sik, such an old one for the sefer Torah.

If one sold a mitpachas o sik, one may buy chumashim. Chumashim are holier. A Chumash, one may buy a Torah. The Torah is the holiest thing. But vice versa one may not. A Torah, if one sold a Torah, one may not buy with this only another Torah, because “ein lecha kedusha l’ma’ala mikdushas sefer Torah”. Higher than a sefer Torah there is no kedusha, a Beis Hamikdash you should say, you know, but we’re talking here about a shul.

Din mosrim

V’chen b’mosrim, mosrim means that one has yes, one already sold, one already bought something else, a little money remained, even that one still has the higher kedusha, one must buy the higher kedusha thing.

Din gviyas me’os

The same thing is not only if one already bought and wants to sell, but even when one already collected money in honor of this, it’s a hachana (preparation), right? It’s a kedusha.

Im gavu me’os liknos beis midrash o beis hakneses o liknos teiva u’mitpachos v’sik o sefer Torah, v’ratzu l’shanos, kol shegavu al mishnahu la’alos mikdusha kala likdusha chamura. That means, one was gove for a teiva, one may buy a Torah. But vice versa one may not, v’chuli v’chuli.

But here it’s different. Im asu ma shegavu la’asos, v’hosiru, so meshanin hamossar l’chol ma sheyirtzu. The din of mosros, whether even it was already the kedusha of a sefer Torah, you can already be morid it to a teiva v’chadome. But he only collected the money, simply how much one will need for the sefer Torah, this will become kadosh for the…

Here there is probably still a halacha about exchanging from tzedaka (charity), whether one must give it for what people intended, but here we’re not talking about this. Here we’re talking again about the din of beis hamedrash, l’ma’ala mikodesh, the kedushas hame’os (sanctity of the money).

Well, as you say, people know this, there is a… we’ll see, there is an eitzah.

Halacha: Klei beis hakneses u’veis hamedrash

And now further, kol klei beis hakneses u’veis hamedrash, all vessels of the beis hakneses have the same din as beis hakneses. The kedushas beis hakneses is the benches, the tables, the Shulchan Aruchs that one places there, also has, one can’t… the parochess shel Aharon’s, sefarim means sifrei Torah, or perhaps simply sefarim that used to have a paroches on it? One had a paroches on the aron kodesh, that means mitpachos sefarim, this is like the mantles, this is one less kadosh than the Chumash. Yes, Chumash, ne’alayim…

Din tnai on chaftzei kedusha

Ah, now if one makes a tnai l’chatchila, meaning when does one make? By the gabbaim (trustees) for example, one says, it’s a tnai that one will buy from the extra whatever something else, this is a kula (leniency) here by a tnai. Yes, or on a sefer Torah one can’t make any tnai, this I think, that a tnai only helps on the money, right? You can’t make a tnai on the Torah that it won’t have kedushas sefer Torah, yes? You agree? Yes.

English Translation

But there is, perhaps on objects one may, for example on a bench, yes? There is a bench from the beis medrash, may you take it to a simcha? Seemingly according to the Rema one may not, because it’s kodesh, on this can be, on this one can also make a condition. The Rema says that one makes a condition on this, but the custom is that even if one didn’t make a condition, lev beis din masneh, that for example the tablecloth from the beis medrash is a holy object, do you want to take it home one day, I don’t know what, the Rema says that there is a condition that if the gabbai allows, I don’t know who is appointed. Okay, so he says. But it’s understood that on a Torah one cannot, but on the objects one sees that there is a matter of a condition, according to the Rema, even objects.

Law: Synagogues of Villages and Cities

Okay, now a very important law. Bameh devarim amurim? What we have just learned that one can sell a synagogue, that means one only needs to be careful about the custom of the mitzvah of ma’alin bakodesh, yes, but who will sell we will see, but just like that one may sell. So this is no longer permitted for a synagogue, this is specifically beis haknesses shel kfarim, but a synagogue of a small town, of a village, which was not consecrated on the understanding of the villagers alone, it was simply to pray in it, so automatically shiv’ah tovei ha’ir limkorah, that means one makes a meeting of all the people to whom it belongs, on whose understanding it was given, so they will sell it, sell it. Aval beis haknesses shel krachim, but a synagogue of a large city, ho’il ve’al da’as kol anshei ha’olam na’aseh, there the whole world comes, so automatically when a person consecrates to that synagogue, not just the person, when the holiness of that synagogue doesn’t belong to the people of the large city, it belongs to the whole world. Sheyavo’u kol haba’im lamedina, nichsei kol Yisrael, it belongs to all Jews, ve’ein mochrin oso le’olam, one can never sell it, it remains forever.

The simple meaning is that perhaps a small beis medrash in a town can be yours, but a Chassidus like Gur is an asset of permanence, it’s too large to belong to a certain person, no. Or perhaps it only means when one makes it for the city.

Laws of Synagogues: Laws of Cities and Villages, Sale, Gift and Rental

Law: Synagogue of a City — Belongs to All Israel

In practice, when a person consecrates to that synagogue, or not just the person, when the holiness is to that synagogue, it doesn’t belong to the people of the large [city], it belongs to the whole world. It is, “sheyavo’u vo kol haba’im lamedina”, no, “shekol Yisrael”. It belongs to all Jews, “ve’ein mochrin oso le’olam”, one may never sell it. It remains forever.

The Distinction Between a Small Beis Medrash and a Large Chassidus

The simple meaning is that a small beis medrash in a town can be yours, but a Chassidus like Gur is “the entire world,” it’s too large to belong to a certain person, no. He cannot make his conditions. The holiness is… I don’t know what the law of holiness is, or the law of how it belongs monetarily, legally it belongs to the whole world.

The Practical Difference: Selling a Synagogue in Krakow

It’s understood, the synagogue is in Krakow, they also have a few people who are involved in this. If they say that I’m going to quickly rebuild it, I want to sell this to be able to rebuild right next to it, no, he perhaps doesn’t have the right, one perhaps doesn’t trust him, because the place is already… he needs to receive permission from the whole world.

Every one that has a large shul, I don’t know, Satmar beis medrash in Williamsburg, it doesn’t belong only to Satmar, the whole city comes to pray, one needs to have a minyan for mincha. The simple meaning, who are the worshippers of the beis medrash? The whole city. He must speak with the whole city so that he can sell it.

The Claim of Maintenance and the Answer to It

It’s today, when a current reality, when one needs to have a whole… one needs to pay, one needs to put in water, electricity, one needs to keep the bathroom open. Well fine, you’re not obligated. There is someone who pays the bills, there is someone who maintains the bills. Everyone pays the bills. He takes back the money from the second city, yes? It’s on the understanding of the whole world, it’s on the understanding of the whole world.

One must think, in Krakow is a city full of rulers, there’s already a city in Krakow, and there is, someone makes himself some rabbinical grandchild in a corner, and he builds a shul, is it already automatically on the understanding of the whole world, does it have the law of a village, or the law of a shul in the city? So it says here, in a halachic outcome, that today’s people rely on the fact that the owner of the money agrees that the rav, or the rebbe, or whoever it is, may do what he wants. How can one hear…

The Rambam’s Position: There Are Places That Have an Owner

And I want to tell you, the Rambam says exactly, the most important is like this, the village, but there are places that one makes, one already the large market has an owner, but if it’s a large city there is no owner. But this is not, let’s say, this can be.

But I want to tell you that what you think here and other people think nowadays, yes, there is a large shul, there is a board, there is a rebbe, I don’t know, there is someone who is the owner. But according to this there was never the law of a synagogue of a city, because as you say, there’s always someone who built it, someone took upon himself to bear the money, it didn’t come from the air.

The Answer: He Does It on the Understanding of All Israel

Always tastes, the initial law of a synagogue of a city is, that there is a synagogue that someone took upon himself, someone is the gabbai there. That we can it like this, because a place must have, someone must have a long meeting paper and coffee. And therefore, it doesn’t change, he says it. Just as next to every grave in Eretz Yisrael, there is some place where one prays there, and this is a place that doesn’t belong to the community.

But to say that people built a building, and the building… certainly can be he needs to have a cover. Why? What can be certainly? I don’t know what is this different? Here someone made it, for whom does he make it? Not for himself alone, he makes it for the whole world, for all Israel.

But he didn’t build a shul once, but every day he must build a shul, every day he must raise money and he must fix the toilet. You’re assuming a very funny assumption, that once the law of a synagogue of a city that the Gemara speaks of, didn’t have any maintenance, one didn’t need to clean the bathroom there? Certainly one needed to clean the bathroom there. What did he do there? Certainly there was, it’s not so. Certainly it’s not such a building that doesn’t need any maintenance.

Every thing one needs it often, one needs to make the refrigerator, one needs to honor, one brings fresh sefarim when the old sefarim run out, whatever, there are always things that one needs to do. Not correct, but the simple meaning is that whoever does it, doesn’t do it for himself, he does it on the understanding of all Israel, not on the understanding of the three people who pray there, there aren’t three people who pray. But it is the matter that this is the beis medrash that everyone will come afterwards. The whole world.

Discussion: Is Every Beis Medrash in a City for All People?

Speaker 1: No, it’s not of a city. On the contrary, if it’s a beis medrash of a city, sometimes it’s a village. A synagogue of a city means I a place where the whole… all Jews… people come and go always. Very good. So? But it doesn’t mean that every beis medrash in a city is for all people. Ah, that can be. If you have a beis medrash that is only for your twenty people, it’s only for your twenty people. But it doesn’t mean that those… the people who are in the small towns there living in Chernobyl. I hear… I hear…

Speaker 2: No, it’s not clear.

The Contradiction in Today’s Practice

It appears that according to how the world understands today, the law was never realistic. It can be of city dwellers, but it’s not correct. All the people who say that the matter belongs to them, they ask money from everyone. Because everyone understands that it’s his beis medrash, he prays in the next neighbor. But yet, when he wants to sell it he doesn’t ask him. It doesn’t go both ways. It’s very funny.

Anyway, you don’t ask me, anyway, the accounts with Charlie, so one should know the law. But I said like this, yes, because it’s already better, but it’s really already the time. We need to finish. We haven’t finished discussing the question. Can we? We need to finish.

Law: Conditions When Selling a Synagogue — What One May and May Not Do

Now it’s like this, the people of the city have finished. Now, they can yes sell. They wanted to sell such a beis medrash, synagogue, or build a new ark for the Torah. There is here a new law. Even when one may sell a synagogue, but one may not let the place become a degrading place, a disgraceful place. Tzrichim lehizaher shelo ya’aseh lo merchatz velo burski, it’s a place where they process hides, where it stinks, and one cannot make a house of prayer there. Velo beis hamayim, it’s a sort to take time and learn. Velo beis hatefila velo beis hamayim, one may not make a mikveh there, also not a bathroom, a toilet. Why? Because this is not proper conduct to say that it was a synagogue.

The Way Out: Condition in the Presence of the People of the City

But there is yes a way out for this. Im hitnu shiv’ah tovei ha’ir bema’amad anshei ha’ir bish’as mechira, al menas la’asos bo kol mah sheyirtzu, mutar. This is the discussion from before, that even always seemingly one needs the presence of all the people of the city who should forgive, because it belongs to them. But if they explicitly make the condition that they may do what they want, then it’s as if it’s no longer a synagogue, and then such a presence, it’s no longer a synagogue, okay, you can do what you want.

Vechen, the same thing, mutarim shiv’ah tovei ha’ir bema’amad anshei ha’ir al mechiras adam sheyuchlu limkor, that is, one doesn’t need to take even the money to buy an ark and the like.

Dispute of the Alter Rebbe

Dispute of the Alter Rebbe, bonin beis haknesses acher o shekonin bo teiva vetachshitin, aval she’ar yechalku mah sheyirtzu, this is only by way of example, that is, certainly no city agrees that one should simply take the money and sell with it a… but communal needs, yes, which also means to say that one is going to buy with this a new beis medrash, but it means to rebuild cheaper to whatever, then one can with the surplus one can do what they want.

Law: Rabbeinu Adam Echad — One Person Who Is Accepted as Owner

Seemingly, if so, then a small question, Rabbeinu adam echad, they all accepted one person, they agree that he is the owner, but Rabbeinu adam echad is nothing different. One sees here like what kind of adam echad, for a gabbai. Yes, they accepted, “kol mah she’asuy asuy, ve’ein anu yecholim limchos beyado”, that means, he doesn’t need to ask the seven leaders of the city or the people of the city.

An Important Limitation: It Doesn’t Become Public Property

No, but certainly, one must say a simple thing, one has seen many books, where one has seen that they err in this, this comes from a Gemara that says that a rav or one important person said that one should do this, this doesn’t mean that he may sell it for his own needs, it means only that the right that the community has, but for the benefit of the community, and can for the benefit of the community. But certainly it still belongs to the whole world, and even if it’s consecrated property, it still doesn’t become consecrated property, and one may still ask to sell. Only, the whole world agrees that he should do for the benefit of the community what he will accept.

The Rebbe’s Conclusion

But the Rebbe already builds a conclusion from this, he says also that it’s a benefit for each one in the city that he should have the nice apartment. But everything can be, I’m only saying that it doesn’t become public property because of this, it only becomes that he is the gabbai, one doesn’t need to ask every time, one doesn’t need every time to ask to do what he wants, no, one accepted that he is the owner, he can, he can… the community trusts him to make the conditions that one makes a burski, he doesn’t want, now he can make the conditions, he makes a burski and the like.

Law: Gift, Rental, and Loan of a Synagogue

Very good. Now, says the Rambam, keshem, we have just learned that one may sell a synagogue, you might think that a gift one may not, why doesn’t it fit? Says the Rambam, it’s permitted. Why? Keshem shemutar limkor beis haknesses, kach nohagim litno bematana, why? She’ilu lo ho’ilu latzibur hana’ah bematana zo, lo netanuha. It’s not a gift for nothing. A gift is also only a sale. One must know this, it’s a great principle. A gift is always for a reason. It’s not a physical reason, it’s a bribe for this, I don’t know what he should do something, and so on. Yes.

The Distinction Between Selling and Renting

Aval lo socharim velo mashkinim. But it’s good to know, just as we give a beis medrash as a gift, yes, we may. As a gift, no, this is even giving away. If you want to give the beis medrash as a gift, if you have a debt to him. But we may not rent out a beis medrash to become a store. Selling one may, because one may make a condition it becomes [secular]. But to rent out, it’s still a shul, one uses the shul for a… this one may not. One must know the law perhaps today. Today one is very lenient on all these laws, but already, one must know.

Law Regarding the Covering of a Synagogue

Now one can learn, ah, vechen kesus beis haknesses livnosom. One learned earlier that one may, one may, one may in certain ways to break down the beis medrash to build a new one. Bematana limkor ulehachlif velases matana, delavin ve’etzim va’avanim, further one may sell it in the same way. But a loan is a prohibition. To borrow one may not.

Holiness Rises and Does Not Descend with Money

One kedusha olah ve’eina yoredet bedamim, if he didn’t… the rule is, the holiness doesn’t go away for free, only for money. Simply giving away one may not. Or, simply giving away one may yes, because benefit in a gift is simply something that one gets back for it. But a loan which simply is, it doesn’t become, it’s still yours.

Law: Praying in the City Square

Now. Now one more law and we finish. There is sometimes when one prays in the street, in the city square. One must know what is this a holiness. It’s brought that in the city square, even though one doesn’t pray there the many fasts, one learned that one brings the ark to the city square. Why does one do this? Mipnei shekibda tzara ve’ein beis haknesses machzikoson. One knew that the synagogue wasn’t a place for everyone. Not everyone comes always, only the idle ones, the righteous. Or when it’s a fast everyone comes. Even if there’s no place, one goes outside, and outside there’s lots of space.

Ein bikdusha, bishvil she’ein tefiloson mekubeles. The prayer doesn’t become accepted because of this. It’s still… this is the street where one connects there apartments and things. It’s yes quiet streets. He has very easy, in the middle of winter one cannot, but really written with always. Summer, it’s good weather. It’s an excellent winter, but it doesn’t rain. And dry weather, it doesn’t rain, yes.

The Source for Chassidic Gatherings

Like Chaim, the same thing. Ah, here is an important law. Here is the source of all Chassidic gatherings. Like Chaim, in houses and courtyards, that are used for prayer. Simply a room.

Laws of Synagogues: Houses and Courtyards Where They Pray, City Street, and Reasons for Going Out to the Street on Fasts

Houses and Courtyards That Have No Holiness

It doesn’t become a fixed place for prayer because of this, it’s still this is the street where one burns there the Aaron and the things. I still saw very easy, in the middle of winter one cannot, but always was the street like summer, it’s good weather, it’s good weather, like summer, it’s going out, but it doesn’t rain, ah, in dry weather, yes, it doesn’t rain, yes.

“And likewise houses and courtyards that have no sanctity, where people gather only casually” — this is further the same thing, ah, “and likewise” is an actual halacha, this is the source of all Chassidic shtieblach. “Where people gather only casually” — a shtiebel where people come to pray, but it’s not a synagogue (beit haknesset), it wasn’t built as a synagogue. “They have no sanctity, and even though they pray in them regularly, they are only praying there temporarily.”

Discussion: Fixed Place at Home and the Approach of the Tzanzer Rav

I know, someone prays at home, even if he had established a fixed place, it’s learned, you had established a fixed place even at home, now it’s not a synagogue, as the Tzanzer Rav said that the Chassidic shtieblach are merely a shtiebel and not a synagogue at all.

But it’s very strange, it can’t be that the Gerrer Rebbe, I know, the Belzer Rav builds a huge building, and you say it’s a shtiebel, that’s not serious, sorry. When the Tzanzer Rav speaks, he is more, he had in his house, he made minyanim, let’s say it was a large shtiebel, but you can’t build a huge building, a synagogue like that, and say it’s not called a synagogue, it’s very strange, I don’t know.

The City Street — Function Without Sanctity

But the city street does have halachic functions, both here and in the laws of ir hanidachat (condemned city), as I recall. But in both cases it’s a practical matter, there’s no law that the city street becomes impure or the city street becomes holy, it has a practical use.

Reasons for Going Out to the Street on Fast Days — Rambam Versus the Gemara

And the Gemara gives a different reason why we go out to the street, it’s interesting, that the Rambam gives a practical reason that it’s simply a large crowd, and the Gemara says it’s a disgrace, it’s exile, there are other reasons. Like being expelled, that… and it’s a public disgrace, it’s interesting, the Rambam gives a practical reason for something that in the Gemara has more of a mystical reason.

Like the ergat nefesh (anguish of soul) with Rabbi Meir Marmar, in order to bring out distress, yes, but the Gemara says that with ergat hanefesh, but here in the Gemara stands a mystical reason like that, and the Rambam makes from this a simple reason, perhaps both are true, there’s no contradiction.

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Okay, these are the laws of the synagogue.