Rephael Cattan

We are beginning siman 11, where the Chayei Adam discusses the preferable time to daven mincha. Arguably, there is no advantage to davening mincha earlier. As we learned (S0030), the generally preferable time to daven mincha is after mincha ketana.    As some background, we will discuss the reason the preferable time to daven is […]

We are continuing in siman 10, which discusses washing oneself for erev Shabbos. Yesterday, we discussed washing oneself, going to the mikvah, and cutting nails before Shabbos.   It is important to note that if one is going to the mikvah, the proper order is to cut one’s nails before going to the mikvah. The proper

 We are beginning siman 10. The Chayei Adam writes that it is a mitzvah to wash one’s entire body and be tovel in a mikvah in preparation for Shabbos. Neither the Shulchan Aruch nor Mishnah Berurah mention tevillah here (siman 260), but in hilchos Tisha B’av (siman 551) the Mishnah Berurah mentions those who have

 We are continuing in siman 9, discussing fasting on erev Shabbos. We learned that one should not fast on erev Shabbos, so that they enjoy Shabbos from the moment it begins. We left off regarding the minhag to fast on a yahrzeit, and what to do when the yahrzeit falls out on erev Shabbos.  The

We are beginning siman 9. The Chayei Adam writes that it is inappropriate to enter Shabbos feeling afflicted. Therefore, one should not fast on erev Shabbos. One should feel the enjoyment of Shabbos already from the beginning of Shabbos. The Chayei Adam clarifies that the only exception is a person with a delicate constitution who,

 We are continuing in siman 8, discussing the idea of eating the Shabbos seudos l’teiavon, with an appetite. We have discussed eating on Friday afternoon when it will affect one’s appetite for Shabbos. Today, we will discuss snacking on Shabbos itself in a way that affects one’s appetite for the seudos.   The Biur Halacha, in

We are continuing in siman 8, discussing entering into the Shabbos meals l’teiavon, with an appetite. We learned that a seudas mitzvah which cannot be pushed off, such as the seuda of a bris milah or pidyon haben, can take place on erev Shabbos, because it is a seudas mitzvah.   The Chayei Adam writes that

 We are beginning siman 8. The Chayei Adam discusses the hiddur that one should eat the Shabbos and Yom Tov seudos l’teiavon, with an appetite, so that they enjoy the meal. Therefore, Chazal established limitations regarding eating on erev Shabbos and erev Yom Tov so that one will eat the meal l’teiavon. The first point

 We are continuing in siman 7, where the Chayei Adam is discussing the issues with traveling on erev Shabbos. The Gemara says one can travel up to 3 parsah on erev Shabbos, which, as we learned yesterday, allows one to travel for approximately the first third of the day. This comes out to approximately four

We are beginning siman 7. The Chayei Adam addresses the issue of traveling on erev Shabbos. Obviously, a person has to have the foresight to not get stuck in a situation in which they end up having to travel on Shabbos itself. A person has to calculate the amount of time necessary to arrive properly.

We are beginning siman 6. The Chayei Adam will discuss various situations in which melacha is permitted on erev Shabbos. We learned (S0020) that melacha which is done in an ara’i fashion–meaning, on a one-off basis–is muttar on erev Shabbos after the zman mincha.  The other explanation of ara’i is something which is done easily

 We are beginning siman 6. The Chayei Adam will discuss working on Erev Shabbos, based on a Gemara in Pesachim. The Chayei Adam writes that part of the idea of kavod Shabbos is not to run into Shabbos at the last moment. When possible, a person should give themselves a space of time in which

We have finished siman 5, where the Chayei Adam discussed sharpening knives for Shabbos. We mentioned one reason is to prevent disagreements and increase shalom bayis. We know that Chazal were concerned with increasing shalom bayis on Shabbos as much as possible. The Gemara says there were two reasons for the takana of neiros Shabbos,

 We are beginning siman 5. The Chayei Adam writes that a person should give kavod to Shabbos, and have oneg on Shabbos, by having a nice, plentiful seudah. They should include meat, fish and other good tasting food, depending on a person’s financial ability. The Chayei Adam mentions meat, but we need to determine whether

 We are continuing in siman 4, discussing the amount of dough one must create to be chayav in separating challah. Yesterday, we learned that in the opinion of the Chazon Ish, one must create a dough of five pounds to separate challah with a bracha, and about 2 pounds 11 ounces to separate challah without

We are continuing in siman 4, where the Chayei Adam has been discussing the importance of baking challah for Shabbos. One of the reasons mentioned by the Chayei Adam about the importance of baking challah was in order to separate challah as an atonement for the sin of Chavah (see shiur S0013). Today, we will

 We are continuing in siman 4, but have taken a tangent to discuss the halachos of pas akum, pas palter, and pas yisroel. Today, we will discuss the items to which pas palter applies.  Pas palter applies to bread. Bread is baked, not cooked. Because of its significance as a staple in people’s lives, Chazal

We are continuing in siman 4, but have taken a tangent to discuss the halachos of pas akum, pas palter, and pas yisroel. We last learned that when bais din makes a takana, if Klal Yisroel does not accept it, it can be rescinded by a later bais din, even if the later bais din

We are continuing in siman 4, discussing the mitzvah of kavod shabbos. In this context, the Chayei Adam discusses baking challah for shabbos. He gives two reasons as to why one should bake challah for shabbos, and  we began discussing the first reason yesterday. We know that there is a mitzvah of hafroshas challah, that

  We are beginning siman 4. The Chayei Adam will discuss some examples of kavod shabbos. The first one he discusses is bread.    The Chayei Adam discusses whether it is more kavod shabbos to buy bread from the store or to bake bread at home. If one is not a good baker, and the