The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-מעלת העליות והגבהת הספר תורה - שאלות ותשובות בהלכה ובהשקפה עם הגאון הינוקא

3:02 What is the point of making a Mi Shebeirach? Because one needs to have in mind the light of teshuvah — the teshuvah that comes from the Torah. Here we give many added aliyos. [unclear] — Rav, is there a problem with calling someone up — Honored Rav... [unclear] — Rav, is there a problem with going up, say, for the aliyah that contains the curses? — No. On the contrary, the Alter Rebbe writes that these are the greatest blessings. There is no curse in the Torah.

3:28 I went up for... It is for nothing that people are afraid — for nothing. There is no curse in the Torah, no curse in the Torah. The Torah is entirely blessings. The whole Torah is true. The question is how we look, and see this revelation of G-dliness. One must see the revelation of G-dliness that is in the Torah. The Holy One, blessed be He, gives the curses — He is not cursing you. He is explaining to you that if you do not keep the Torah... And when the Jewish people keep the Torah and keep to the path, then you have arrived at peace.

3:53 The whole essence of the Torah is blessings and more blessings, all of it. There is no curse at all. It is all, all of it, a revelation of G-dliness — a great revelation of G-dliness. Rav, I want to... — May Hashem watch over you and grant you success. May Hashem watch over you and grant you success, and give you health and a good life and abundance from Heaven. Protection and safeguarding, health and a good life. But it is worth calling up a G-d-fearing person.

4:19 Not to call up a person who is fearful, who will start falling into anxieties and in the end will not want to come to shul. That too is dangerous. One has to know whom to call up. But the custom they always had of calling up for shlishi is because — not the ba'al korei — the custom was to call up for shlishi roshei yeshivah, or important people. But at least once a month, it is indeed worthwhile to go up to the Torah. It is a very, very, very important thing. If he is the ba'al korei, he does not have to go up, because he is in any case going up to the Torah and reading in the Torah, and he grows wise and receives purity from it.

4:53 But is there a source for this about hagbahah — that it lifts up one's mazal? Is there a source for it? There is, in the name of Rabbi Eliyahu Suleiman Mani. He writes in Karnos Tzaddik that it is among the Tikkunim of the bris, and that it rectifies the holy covenant. They told me... Look, it is all a great virtue. Everything you do here is a great virtue. And as for what you ask me, whether to lift the sefer, yes? To lift the... Our master the Arizal said that hagbahah is equal to them all.

5:21 Hagbahah — why? Because now everyone receives the light of the Torah. For this light flows down — as the Kaf HaChaim says. He writes that at the moment the sefer is lifted, a great light flows down. And if a person sees his own letter, he can merit a Tikkun... But when you do the lifting, you are, as it were, giving it all to the whole camp. This is speaking of pious people, who learn Torah and all. You cannot say it to a person who — listen — every day... Torah and mitzvos... but he never reads in the Torah, he does not learn Torah. Go up to the Torah, read in the Torah! Because there is — and it is important to learn Torah, to read the Torah. Learning Torah is a great thing, for success. But there is a very great virtue in a person going up for an aliyah: he will be strengthened in Torah, he will fulfill something written in the Torah. And also, if some aliyah happens to come his way, he should know that there is a hint in it from Heaven — but only if it comes his way by chance, incidentally, not on purpose, only by chance,

6:08 when they call him up on their own, not when he buys it. Exactly. In the sefer Avodas HaTamid he says that if an aliyah comes a person's way by chance, then certainly it is like a kind of ruach hakodesh that was sent his way from Heaven. If by chance — not if you now buy an aliyah on purpose and go up. That will bring you blessings, of course, it will bring you blessings. But if you come to shul and they tell you, 'Sir, get up for shlishi,' 'Sir, get up for revi'i' — there is a kind of ruach hakodesh in the matter, in what came your way — it is a kind of ruach hakodesh. But one also should not get stressed by it, one should not be broken by it, one should not despair because of it. That is very, very important.

6:40 You know, Rav, people think bad thoughts... — There is no such thing as despairing because of the Torah. One always thinks good; one always sees a revelation of G-dliness. One does not despair and does not get upset over anything. And the most important thing is to delve into the Torah. One must be careful, when that person reads, that when he makes the blessings, he reads word for word together with the chazan. That is very important. So he reads word for word together with the chazan. And one must warn them, the people who... — Who calls that a blessing in vain, a berachah levatalah? It is an unnecessary blessing, a berachah she'einah tzerichah — not a blessing in vain. There is a blessing in vain, and there is an unnecessary blessing.

7:12 The Gemara in Shevuos, page 39, and in Temurah, page 4 — one who utters the Name of Heaven in vain... That is correct. A blessing in vain is, for example: 'Blessed are You... Who creates the fruit of the banana.' That is a blessing in vain. That is uttering the Name of Heaven in vain. you say, 'Who creates the fruit of the banana,' and you say a blessing that is like...

7:50 Ah... I understand, I understand. 'Shehakol nihyeh bidvaro,' said not at its time... — In the end, you said a praise. If I now said a praise — after all, 'Blessed are You... King of the universe,' 'shehakol nihyeh bidvaro' — fine. The Rosh writes that this is truly a praise. So there is no blessing in vain here. This is called an unnecessary blessing, because the blessing was said where it was not needed. But I cannot call it a blessing in vain. In Shevuos, page 39, and in Temurah, page 4, Tosafos say that wherever you find the Name of Heaven uttered in vain, there you find death — all these things. And it is dangerous.

8:22 That is why, you see, according to our master the Rambam, we always say 'when in doubt about blessings, be lenient' — even against Maran the Shulchan Aruch — so as not to come to the Name of Heaven in vain. But as for a blessing where one invents the wording of a blessing — in such a blessing: 'Blessed are You... King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the cocoa' — that is called a blessing in vain. Why? Because you invented a blessing; there is no such formula coined by the Sages. That is the correct wording in the words of our rabbis, the poskim.

8:46 This matter got mixed up among the poskim, as though they called this, too, a blessing in vain. It is not correct to write that. True, it got mixed up, but what is meant is an unnecessary blessing, because a blessing in vain is the inventing of a blessing. An unnecessary blessing is a blessing said where it is not needed. So a person who went up to the Torah and made the blessing, and did not read along with the chazan — that is an unnecessary blessing. He need not have made that blessing — but I cannot call it a blessing in vain.

9:13 'A blessing in vain' — no, because nothing was invented here. He went up to the Torah; he went up to the Torah. He made the blessing over a kosher sefer Torah — kosher. Why do you say 'a blessing in vain'? It is not that — but it is an unnecessary blessing. But he acted improperly, in that he did not read along with the ba'al korei. And if there are two versions — for example, in the morning, among the Ashkenazim, there is 'Blessed are You, Hashem... asher hechin mitz'adei gaver' — Who prepared the steps of man — and there is 'hamechin mitz'adei gaver' — Who prepares the steps of man — without 'asher hechin mitz'adei gaver.' Can one say both this and that? — No, one does not make two blessings.

9:38 And in the siddur of Rabbi Shabsai of Rashkov, he doubled the wording of the blessings. I saw that they did that — I can show you — also in the siddur of the Baal Shem Tov. I think it is a scribal error. One makes one blessing. — So which — 'asher hechin mitz'adei gaver'? 'Asher hechin mitz'adei gaver.' By the Ashkenazi custom... I pray both in Nusach Sefard and in Nusach Ashkenaz. Sometimes I would pray both Ashkenaz and Sefard. In one it is written 'hamechin mitz'adei gaver,' and in the other it is written... 'asher hechin mitz'adei gaver.' 'Asher hechin' — so I say both 'asher hechin' and 'hamechin.'

10:04 In the same moment? You do not say the blessing twice. I say it twice. No? — No, no. I say, it could be that the correct one is 'asher,' or... — No, one does not bless that way. One blesses once, one blessing, and that is all. There is no need to bless twice for the same blessing. — And in the siddur of Rabbi Shabsai, as you said, he doubled the wording of the blessings there, twice — in one of the morning blessings? I think that is perhaps a scribal error, because it makes no sense to make the same blessing twice. There is no need for such a thing.

10:29 That is an unnecessary blessing. There is no need to bless twice over the same thing. And so, in such a case... one should say 'hamechin mitz'adei gaver'? — Yes, 'hamechin mitz'adei gaver.' That is it. [unclear] — does he say every day the blessing 'Who has not made me a slave'? He says the blessing without the Name and Kingship. So with the morning blessings... also 'Who has not made me a slave.'