Rephael Cattan

 We are continuing in siman 9, learning about the concept of libo roeh es haervah. We learned that when one is standing in the water, with their heart above the water and the ervah below the water, it is an acceptable separation and one could recite devarim shebikedusha. The Chayei Adam clarifies that if one’s […]

 We are beginning siman 9. Until now, we have discussed the concept of seeing ervah with one’s eyes. Today, the Chayei Adam will introduce the concept of a person’s body being exposed to ervah, even though they do not see it with their eyes.  The Chayei Adam writes that the Torah makes the concept of

 We are beginning siman 8. The Chayei Adam writes that the same way a man has an issue of ervah in front of a woman who is uncovered, a woman has an issue of ervah in front of another woman as well. However, this issur only applies regarding the primary ervah. Regarding other parts of

  We are beginning siman 7. We have already touched on many of the points in siman 7, but we will nonetheless review them.   The Chayei Adam writes that there is no difference between one’s own wife and other women when it comes to devarim shebikedusha, both regarding an ervah derabanan or deoraysa. In

  We have finished siman 6, and are discussing zmiros on shabbos. Today, we will discuss the question of reciting Hashem’s name in zmiros. The Chayei Adam himself, in Klal 5 siman 2, writes that one does not need to recite an entire pasuk in order to recite shaim Hashem, but as long as one

  We have finished siman 6, and are discussing zmiros on shabbos. We mentioned the Gemara in Sanhedrin which teaches us the issur of reading pesukim in a lighthearted, joking manner. Today, we will learn the language of the Gemara and Rashi.  The Gemara says that one who recites pesukim of Shir Hashirim as a

  We have finished siman 6, and are discussing zmiros on shabbos. Today, we will address the issur of zimra. The Shulchan Aruch, in siman 560:3, writes that part of the zecher l’churban of Yerushalayim is a gezeirah from Chazal against playing music. This issur applies all year. The Rema clarifies that some hold the

 We have finished siman 6, and are discussing zmiros on shabbos. Today, we will discuss reciting shaim Hashem in zmiros. The discussion of reciting shaim Hashem out of the context of a pasuk is discussed by the Mishnah Berurah in the Biur Halacha in siman 188. If a person forgot to recite Yaaleh Veyavo in

  We have finished siman 6, where we discussed kol isha, and touched on the topic of zemiros. We are going to go off topic to understand some of the hashkafic and halachic aspects of zemiros shabbos. We will begin with an introduction.    There is a sefer about minhagim of Klal Yisroel known as

We are continuing in siman 6, discussing the halachos of kol. There is a Gemara in Pesachim which discusses hana’ah haba’ah lo l’adam ba’al korcho. When a person is in a situation where a prohibited pleasure comes to them against their will. Examples include the smell of chometz on Pesach, the smell of basar b’chalav,

  We are continuing in siman 6, discussing the halachos of kol. Today, we will discuss a man hearing his wife sing when she is a niddah.   As we have learned, this question will apply both in the context of hearing her sing in general, and to zemiros. The Pischei Teshuva, in Hilchos Niddah,

  We are continuing in siman 6, discussing the halachos of kol. Specifically, we are discussing the halachos of a woman or women singing zemiros in the presence of men.    There are four scenarios where this question applies: A family singing, so the question regards close relatives (brother/sister, mother/son, father/daughter). We have learned that

  We are continuing in siman 6, discussing the halachos of kol. We mentioned the possibility of there being a difference between hearing a woman sing in person versus a recording or live transmission, such as radio. Rav Ovadia Yosef has a teshuva in Yabia Omer (vol. 1) on this question. He first discusses whether

  We are continuing in siman 6, discussing the halachos of kol. The Gemara in Megillah, in discussing kriyas hatorah, says that trei koli lo mishta’mai, that two people reading something simultaneously is problematic, because the listeners cannot hear either voice properly. The gemara continues and says that Megillas Esther is an exception, because since

  We are continuing in siman 6, discussing the halachos of kol. We raised the question regarding a man hearing close relatives’ singing voices while davening or learning. Some make an argument based on the language of the Rema, who writes that kol haragil is permitted, that a close relative is someone who a man

We are continuing in siman 6, discussing the halachos of kol. We left off with a question regarding the status of listening to the kol of close relatives, for whom one does not have a yetzer hara.   The assumption of the poskim is that it is muttar to hear the singing voice of close

 We are beginning siman 6, which discusses the issue of kol, voice.  The Chayei Adam writes that kol b’isha ervah, a woman’s voice is considered ervah. This psak is based on a Gemara in Brachos 24b, which says kol b’isha ervah, and supports it from the pasuk in Shir Hashirim ki koleich areiv, that [a