Everyday Judaism · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Living Jewishly Podcast.

00:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back to the seventh episode of Asking Away. Ask away, my dear friends. Go yes to your question. What are the options of breads that could be used on Shabbos? You can use any bread, but people prefer to use bread on the Shabbos prior to Pesach that doesn't have a lot of crumbs. That doesn't you know, because most breads have, you know, little. Even you cut challah, you have little little particles of crumbs. Every single one of those is chametz. You don't want them in your house. What are you going to do? So?

00:42
Pita bread is a very good solution, Lafa, if one is able to get a hold of a lafa, but it has to be a whole one in order for it to be for your two challahs. So that's also very enjoyable if you're able to get fresh lafa. There's not many things that taste better than that. Lafa is like a very big round pita, but it doesn't have the pocket inside. It's just. There are other options, but try to stick to something that does not have a lot of crumbs. It's just a suggestion. Additionally, what people do and this is a great question is that they make sure that they have a plastic tablecloth on top of their regular tablecloth, and what you do is or maybe have two of them even and what you do is you make sure you keep all the food on the center of the table and that everyone's very careful and you have only the bread that you need, and then you roll up the plastic tablecloth and you have the rest of the meal on a clean tablecloth without having any of the bread around. So this is your opportunity. If you want to get your bread in, this is the time. Do it now. We're going to roll up this tablecloth, clear it off and then we'll have the rest of our meal. And, by the way, you can have soup which is Koshel Pesach right. The soup, the fish, is Koshel Pesach right, and it's not a problem. You can have kosher Pesach food, food which is kosher for Passover.

02:06
But you're not supposed to have matzah from the first day of Nisan, which is going to be next Sunday, all the way through till Pesach. Those 14 days, you're not supposed, those two weeks preceding Pesach, you're not supposed to have any matzah. To anybody who has a real appetite for matzah. Now is your time. Get it in now, before Rosh Chodesh, and enjoy. But so that's why we're eating bread. We have to actually eat bread on the Shabbos, right before Pesach in such a year. Oh so matzah meal is a problem, right? So that's why matzah balls are made of matzah meal. That's a problem as well. No, no, matzo balls, the chicken is all kosher for Passover. You can go right now. If you go to our local supermarkets, you will see that all of the meats are stamped already with kosher for Passover. All of the chickens are stamped for kosher for Passover because it's already seasonal.

03:02
People want to get prepared. Yes, sir, we'll get to understanding more about the actual Seder night. We're going to talk about that, hopefully next week. We're going to talk about the laws of the Pesach Seder. But to your question, are you allowed to eat lamb shanks? Yes, there's no problem eating it. It should be broiled, not correct. It should be broiled, not cracked. So there's a process to how the meat is eaten on the night of the Seder that's different than how we ordinarily prepare it because of how the Paschal lamb was prepared on the night of Pesach when the Jews were in Egypt. To commemorate that, we only prepare our meat in a certain way. You can use the bone. You can use any bone you can use. By the way, my mother used to use a regular, the drumstick of a chicken. Right, that's perfectly fine. You use that on your Seder plate. That's perfectly legitimate, all right. Next question, anna. It looks like you came prepared with a whole bunch of questions, anna, with twins. Oh, okay, okay, yeah, yeah, okay.

04:20
So all eggs are kosher. However, every egg needs to be checked that there's no blood in it, because blood is prohibited. So if you'll notice how a Jewish mother checks the eggs, they'll swish it back and forth between the two halves of the shells and look at it to see that there's no blood in the shilya, which is the sinew inside the egg center. And you want to make sure that there's no blood in your eggs. So that would be a problem that's. The only prohibition with eggs is if there is blood. Today most eggs do not have blood, but there are. Sometimes you'll have a batch of eggs and you have to throw the whole thing out because they all have blood. That's a possibility. It happens. It's not very common today. But I would also recommend that you wash the outside of the eggs as well, because you don't know where and what type of either chemicals or other dirt that may be on that shell and inevitably some of that shell is going into your eggs as well, so you just wash it down, but either way. So eggs are all kosher. Yes, essentially Chickens are also all kosher, except that they have to be slaughtered properly and they have to not be with a blemish.

05:35
So a chicken with a broken leg is a blemish. That renders it being non-kosher, which is something they will check. The shokhet will check after they slaughter the animal. They'll go through there's a whole process and they'll ensure that the chickens are kosher. I will just tell you a great story. My mother is a very, very God-fearing woman and every single week when I would come back from yeshiva on Friday, my mother would say oh, when you come, I have a chicken for the rabbi. No, she wasn't giving the rabbi a gift of a chicken. He had a question about a chicken because when she was cleaning the chicken, preparing it for Shabbos, she found that there was a broken bone and she wanted to know whether or not this was a pre-broken or a post-broken, meaning before slaughter or after slaughter. If it was before, then the whole chicken is no good. If it's after, it's fine.

06:28
I'd go to the rabbi. I remember Rabbi Horowitz in Muncie, a really special man like a righteous holy Jew. You'd see his blow of his face. I'd come to him and he'd say to me, tell your mother, she doesn't need to send me the chickens. And he would explain to me that they put these chickens into a machine and the machine would slice off all the different parts. So you would have the wing and you'd have the neck and you'd have all the different parts of the chicken. And sometimes the machine it's like a saw. It would slice it off and it would slice the leg, it would slice the different part of it. And he says you don't have to send me all the chickens. And every week I'd go back with another piece of chicken that my mother would have in a bag ready to go. Bring it to the rabbi. Ask him about the chicken, right, what's that exactly? You don't have to send me the chicken. But that's a God-fearing woman. She would examine, she'd see a broken bone. She's like maybe this was a broken chicken and therefore was a trefo and it wasn't a valid chicken to begin with. Okay, but that's a very special thing.

07:33
Today, again, we buy. It is very rare that you'll find fresh, fresh chicken in Houston, but you will find in New York, in the big supermarkets, the big kosher supermarkets, you'll find fresh chicken which was slaughtered a day ago. That's now in the fridge right in front of you and you can pick your chicken. But those were checked. They were checked and that's why kosher chicken takes a little bit more of a process, because not only you have a slaughterer, but you have someone who's checking it and washing it and soaking it and salting it and then rinsing it again. There's a process to it and ensuring that every chicken that you buy is actually kosher and not just with an assumption.

08:17
Okay, I hope I answered your question. Next question so Shabbos is not a great question. Okay, bathing is not permitted on Shabbos unless it is medically required. Okay, unless it's medically required, you can take a copy. Unless it's medically required, it is not permitted to bathe on Shabbos. Okay, if you have a child who's ill, an adult who's ill and needs to bathe or shower, then that's a requirement that overrides halacha, overrides Shabbos.

08:51
But typically the halacha tells us we bathe right before Shabbos and we can bathe right after Shabbos. Right, so you have it's. You know, we're very we're very hygienically conscious in Judaism and we want to make sure that we're clean. So we shower. My children take a bath right before Shabbos, or a shower right before Shabbos and then right after Shabbos. During Shabbos, we do not bathe.

09:21
Yes, sir, the halacha says that you're not supposed to, and the reason you're not supposed to is because of first is hot water. Hot water could be a problem because using hot water or warm water is an issue of lighting a fire, like we mentioned last week's Torah portion. Lo sevavah u'reish, you should not ignite a fire or extinguish a fire on Shabbos. When you run that water, you're turning on a flame that heats up the water. Okay. So, especially in the new homes where they have the Renai water heaters or one of those type which is instant water, instant hot water, when you turn on that hot water, you're literally turning on a fire right there, and then that's a problem.

10:09
There's another issue, which is that muqtza is an object. That is no. I don't think it falls into the category of muqtza, it's just it's not the proper conduct. If you want me to bring the actual halacha for you, I will do it. We'll make a note, if you can remember, please, of the laws of showering on Shabbos. We will talk about it. Elaborate on it more in future weeks We'll learn through the halacha of what it entails. Additionally, for example, a woman is not allowed to dry her hair on Shabbat or wash her hair on Shabbat, because that will be squeezing water out of her hair, which is schita, which is prohibited on Shabbos. It's one of the 39 prohibitions of Shabbat. So that's a similar thing would be.

10:56
Imagine a sponge. You're not allowed to use a sponge on Shabbos because that would be you'll inevitably squeeze the sponge and take out the water from it, which is a biblical prohibition on Shabbos. Because that would be, you'll inevitably squeeze the sponge and take out the water from it, which is a biblical prohibition on Shabbat. No, there's a solution for that. So either you can hire someone to clean the dishes for you someone who's not Jewish or you can get a certain type of scrub that does not absorb the water or absorb the soap. There's certain plastic scrubs that you put the soap in it and it does not absorb any of the water Would absorb. That's correct.

11:37
You cannot use a sponge, right, but they can't shower after the mikveh. So those who do use a mikvah on Shabbat, they can go to the mikvah, but they can't shower Mikvah. They go in, they dip and they're out a woman Friday night, can A woman? Yes, if a woman's mikvah night is on Friday night, he has to go Friday night. No, the water could be hot. It could still be hot from earlier. It's heated up before Shabbos, it was heated up before Shabbos, it stays hot, it's not steaming hot, but it'll still stay hot. It's heated up till right before Shabbos and again it's a big tub of water, right. So imagine it gets to 100 degrees, 104 degrees, before Shabbat. A woman can't go into the mikvah till the stars are out. It's about in Houston.

12:31
It's about 36 minutes later, 43 minutes later, after sunset, okay, 45 minutes later, the water's not cold, it's still hot, but the heating is not. Also, that kind of water is not running water, it's still water. Yeah, because one is turning on the fire. You're turning on the fire by turning on the water, Right. And what happens when you start using the water? New water comes in and that triggers the fire by turning on the water, right. And what happens when you start using the water? New water comes in and that triggers the fire to turn on. So that's a whole. It's oh. So now we're talking about the laws of grama.

13:07
Grama, which is a an effect which is a result of an action. It means it's not a direct act, it's a result of an action, meaning it's not a direct act, it's a result of an action, meaning it's a chain reaction that I didn't cause. I just knocked down the first domino. I just knocked the first domino down, but what happened at the end is not my problem, because I only touched the first domino. The last one turned on the light switch. That's not my problem. Well, it is your problem because you caused that chain reaction. Okay, switch. That's not my problem. Well, it is your problem because you caused that chain reaction, okay. So that's.

13:40
It's a whole question of halacha, whether or not that's considered a grummer, whether or not that's considered a chain reaction. That was caused by me. Right, so that could be a solution. There's another issue of bathing. Again, this bathing is a complicated issue on Shabbos. We'll learn it. God willing, we'll get to it.

13:56
We're going to do a whole segment just on showering and bathing on Shabbat. Again, if there's a medical reason for it, there's no questions asked. But if there's not a medical, if a person is on a very high level, hygienically conscious, it's called an isteness. Even then I don't know that there would be a rabbi who will say yeah, it's no problem, you can shower on Shabbos. To me it's very it's a stretch, but let's see, we'll learn through the halachas together. No, it's better not to take a bath on Shabbos. It's better not to at all. It's best not to take a bath on Shabbos. Yeah, you're supposed to take a shower before, but on Shabbos you can't.

14:38
On Shabbos you go direct mikvah. If someone were to go to the mikvah on Shabbos Again, a woman who goes to the mikvah Friday night, okay, a man is not obligated to go to the mikvah ever. Okay, biblically he's not obligated to go to the mikvah. I said he's not obligated to go to the mikvah, Right? We're not talking about in the time of the temple, we're talking about today. Today there's no biblical obligation for a man to go to the mikvah period. Watch your hints Because we don't have the same laws of purity and impurity like we had in the time of the temple. Today there's no obligation biblically for a man to go to the mikvah. For a woman there is Before.

15:17
A woman can be with her husband after having a period, she must go to the mikvah. She cannot touch him until she goes to the mikvah. Okay, that's very, very simple, simplified, oversimplified, but yes. So now, if a woman has to go to the mikvah on Friday night, because that's the night when she is obligated to, the way it works is like this, just again, very, very brief A woman gets a period for five days.

15:46
She's she cannot. She meaning from the moment she gets a period she does not have any physical contact with her husband until she comes back from the mikvah. How long of a time that is? That's a minimum of 12 days. Hopefully it's a maximum of 12 days, okay, but yeah, five days where the period runs its course and then you start doing the seven clean days.

16:05
There's a period of separation between the unclean days and clean days. I don't want to call it unclean, but okay, we call the clean days a shivinikim, which is the days of purity, and what she does is she makes a separation between those days and the clean days. Now, if that first I mean, so let's say it was Sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, no, monday. She gets a period on Monday, so she counts Mondays, day one, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, friday night she has her clean separation. That means the next week, friday night is going to be the end of the seven clean days. So she has Shabbos Sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, friday night. She goes to the mikvah. She goes to the mikvah Friday night.

16:50
So a woman. Before she goes to the mikvah, there's an entire process. Again, we'll get to this, god willing. We're going to go through all of halacha and we'll get to learn all of these laws Beautiful, beautiful laws. It's amazing.

17:02
But, regarding your question, she will prepare everything she needs to prepare before Shabbos. So she is supposed to bathe, she's supposed to clean herself, she's supposed to make sure she doesn't have any makeup, doesn't have any makeup, doesn't have any mascara and no nail polish, and making sure that she's spanking clean, okay. Then after sunset, she lights the Shabbos candles right at the proper time, 18 minutes before sunset. She'll make her way's. No mikveh. Right there there's a walking partner, someone who will walk with you, because it's not always a most pleasant area to walk in in the hood. So you have someone who's armed, who walks with the women who need to go to the mikveh that night. Obviously, it's private, okay, but we're adults and we realize that this is part of being a Torah-observing Jew. Is you go to the mikvah when you need to go to the mikvah, right? So Friday night they will go to the mikvah, they come back home, right? And again, that Shabbos they'll be without any makeup. It's part of Shabbos, that's part of the beauty of yeah, okay, that's the way it's going to be. So we have have these.

18:17
So the showering is done before, before shabbos, before the onset of shabbos, and then the mikvah goes to the mikvah on friday night, does not shower after that, anyway. She doesn't shower after after going to the mikvah and um, and that's, and that's that. That's the process. Everything is prepared beforehand. Um, she arranges all of the scheduling beforehand, everything that's pertinent to going to the mikveh.

18:43
Yes, but the mikveh water is so clean you can make chicken soup out of it. That's how clean it is. It is so beautifully clean. It must be. The people who go in there are spotless clean as well, by the way, because they just bathe, they soak their body, they cleaned off all of the again nail polish. There's no Band-Aids, there's no residue from the Band-Aids, like everything. Spanking clean, okay, 100%, like they were born, okay. Next question yes, sir, superb, born, okay. Next question yes, sir, superb question. Okay, superb, okay. I'll repeat the question. What happened. I'm not without all the words, okay, but okay, okay, so that's fine, it's perfect. So what happens?

19:29
Someone who's in the process of taking on more of Shabbos, someone who's excited about their growth process and taking on another step and another step the way you are so beautifully. And two issues. Number one is by mistake, you turn on a light. By mistake, you had an appointment scheduled for the next morning, for Shabbos day, and now you're like what do I do? I'm stuck here, like what do I do? So?

19:56
First is you have to understand that Hashem is very, very proud of you for every single step you take in connecting to him. Part of the greatest connection that we have is the observance of Shabbos, and every step that we take in that process is an unbelievable gift that the Almighty treasures. Okay, so? Number one is be encouraged. You're doing the right thing. Number two is don't be discouraged by the Yetzirah who says oh hey, you blew Shabbos by by turning on the light by mistake, so now forget about the rest of it.

20:27
No, we all make mistakes. That's part of part of our growth is we make mistakes. You want me to calculate every time that I by mistake walked into a room and turn on the light that we're people of habit, creatures of habit, and sometimes we make those mistakes. That's normal. So don't get discouraged by mistakes. And you know what? The fact that you even realized that you scheduled an appointment and are disappointed by it is part of your growth. That in itself is part of your growth and that's an incredible thing.

21:03
So next week is another. You know, we live in an amazing life, an amazing world, where God gives us so many more opportunities. It's not like, oh, you failed on this one which, by the way, it's not a fail right, it was a success, a big success but you didn't succeed the way you wanted to, so you're out. No, that's not the way it works. It's part of the process. It's like imagine a child who's taking a small step and then they fall. It's like you know what? Should I just give up on this walking thing? No, walking thing. No, they don't say that. They just get back up and try again. Next Shabbos is another opportunity. We take another step and another step. Before you know, you'll be running. So it's an amazing process of growth that I'm very, very proud of, mark. So keep it up Again.

21:49
These mistakes happen to all of us. Mistakes happen, it's fine, it's considered a mistake and God does not consider it a desecration of Shabbos. Okay, it's not considered. When you make a mistake, it's a mistake, right? So we try to avoid those mistakes, which is why we have the light covers, light switch covers and all those things, so that our habit doesn't overtake us and by mistake, we flick on the switch. That's the basic idea. Good job, keep it up, mark, proud of you.

22:20
Yes, gary, in general, we try not to use the same dishes we use during the year for Pesach. So I'll give you an example. What's if I don't want to go out and buy new silver goblets for Pesach Seder? Okay, I want to use the same ones I use during the year, but during the year they're on a non-kosher for Passover table. There's breadcrumbs, there's other things. So what they do is called Ha'agolah. Ha'agolah is where they boil up water to a very high temperature and then they dip it into the water and then it becomes neutral, again Neutral. It burns out. Whatever was there. Goodbye, it's done.

23:04
People do it with cutlery as well. You know, buy new knives and forks and spoons, right, you know? Right, it's expensive. Right, but it could be expensive. Sometimes you say you know what? One year I'll buy new cutlery. One year I'll buy new dishes. One year I'll buy, like you, take it slowly, one step at a time. But I don't want to jump in and do it all at one time. It could be very expensive and costly. So you want to take one step at a time, which is fine. So you can take your year round cutlery, bring it to the Haggala, they'll do it for you.

23:38
They have it by Rabbi Akobi in synagogue. They have a very organized system there and it has to be cleaned. It has to be not used for 24 hours and then it's dipped into the water. Be very careful with this hot water Extremely, extremely hot. And you get it out, you rinse it with a little bit of cool water and it's good to go. So that's the process of Agola. But yeah, it's simpler to just buy the new bowls. That way it's not, and you keep it as your Pesach bowls for the dogs and it's good. Yeah, exactly, it's separate, it is easier, even though it's like okay.

24:13
I'm going to share with you a story that happened to me on Friday. So I was helping my wife before Shabbos in the kitchen and my wife was like can you clean the chicken? I said, sure, now I realized that the meat knives for the chicken to clean the chicken were a little bit dull, so I wanted to use sharper knives. Now the power of knives are much sharper. I wanted to use the power of knives. I said to my wife are you going to kill me if I use the power of knives? She's like are you crazy? You're going to chafe up my whole kitchen. What's wrong with you? Now it's cold. Okay, it's cold.

25:00
So it doesn't transfer the flavor, doesn't transfer with cold. It wouldn't be a problem. It wouldn't make it flash sticks, it wouldn't make it meat, it wouldn't, it wouldn't ruin its status, it wasn't used in 24 hours. There's so many reasons that it would not be a problem. But my wife is like no, no, no, no. This is like no, no, this is dairy, this is parv and this is meat, and do not mix them and get out of my kitchen. Okay, so that's so.

25:24
There are a lot of nuances in halacha, but many times women don't like those nuances. I just get no, keep it simple. The meat is for meat, the dairy is for dairy and the parav is for parav, and do not mix them under any circumstances. So I respect that. But the halacha again. If someone knows the halacha very well and observes them properly, you can have one set of dishes for everything. You know how to do it. But it's complicated and people are just like leave me alone, I'm out, I'm just going to buy new dishes and that's it Right. So okay, and for those of you listening on the podcast, they're like something's wrong with this rabbi. He's like I don't know who taught him his laws.

26:04
Yeah, the qualification for something being edible is whether or not dogs can eat it. So if the dogs can eat it, it's considered something which is, which is food, means. Let me give you an example. It means let me give you an example. Okay, now let me give you an example. Let me give you an example. Well, let me explain. Okay, if there's something, let me give you an example. If you have moldy cake, it's still chametz. It's still chametz, it's chum. It's because it's cake, but a dog is not going to eat it because it's disgusting. Or if it's okay, it may eat it, maybe it will, but possible that it won't. If it's not edible for a dog, it's not considered that it's food. If it's edible for a dog, it's considered food, even if a human would not eat it. Correct, the standard is if it's edible for a dog. That's the actual standard of halacha. Is it ro'ilachilas, kelef? And if it's edible for a dog, it's considered like it's food. So I will tell you yes, I've had people who have eaten in my house and they said do you mind that I take the leftover chicken and bones to give to my dog? I'm like, sure, no problem, why not? Or meat, yeah, you can go to his house and pick up his shank. We do.

27:26
Confession is part of the supplications. Yes, so the, it's a good, good, very good right. So during the month, during the month of n, we do not say tachanun, we don't say any supplications Included in that is, we don't say vidu confession, because it's a time of great celebration. We just had, on the first of Nisan, the Jewish people dedicated the new temple in the desert. So the entire month was a month of great celebration, the new temple in the desert. So the entire month was a month of great celebration. And therefore we do not include any supplications in our prayer during the month of Nisan.

28:14
But I would say like this the issue with tortilla is whether or not it's actually bread. I know it's flour and water, but so is pretzels, and we don't. It's not. Pretzels are flour and water also, but it's a no, no, they're not. We're saying if, whether or not we can use it. We're talking about what is the category of something that is also applicable for bread, and the idea of tortilla is actually a big discussion in Halacha.

28:48
Whether or not tortilla wraps, whether or not they're considered bread. Some say it's mizonot If there's corn or whatever. They have other issues with that If it's made out of flour and water. Still, it does not necessarily. It does not mean that it's bread. Right, I would not use tortilla as or quesadilla that's what they use, right the same. I would not use that for bread. I wouldn't either wash my hands before eating that. If it's flour and water, I would make a mizunot, because that's not, it's just.

29:23
It's also the question of pizza, the whole question of whether or not pizza is bread or not. There's some opinions say 100%, it's bread, and there are people who say 100%, it's not bread. It's not what bread, that's not bread, it's bread. And there are people who say a hundred percent it's not bread, that's not what bread, that's not, that's not bread, it's pizza. Okay.

29:40
Now what's the different arguments? Different arguments. I saw one argument that says, yes, it's bread, you have to wash for it and you have to recite the grace after meals for it. I heard another opinion and if you don't, it's a violation of whatever, okay. Then you have another opinion that says no, it's mizonoot, and if you recite Amotzi, you are violating saying a blessing in vain, because you have four blessings in the grace after meals and you're reciting three extra blessings that are not necessary because it's a mizonoot and you don't need to recite those extra. Okay. So again, the opinions are, are, are are vary tremendously. I would say follow the guidance of your own bona fide or observant rabbi.

30:29
Ed, do you have a question? So, commercial bakeries what they do is they'll have the rabbi come in there when they're kneading up that dough and once it's ready to be made into loaves of bread, they will separate some of the challah and it's about a handful of challah depending on the size of the and that'll be separated out. Typically it's burned, the challah's burned. But if that's not possible, some just throw it in the garbage, in a silver foil bag, and throw it out. But the idea is, you're separating, you're recognizing that this flower is not my doing. This flower is the Almighty. It's his. You would typically give that challah to the temple, but today we don't have a temple, so we get rid of it in another form. Any other questions? Yes, sir, okay, so it depends who you ask that question to.

31:20
Are there blessings for smoking a cigarette? Some rabbis will say no, because it's a sin. You're not allowed to smoke a cigarette to begin with because it is doing physical harm to your body, so therefore you shouldn't smoke to begin with. It's like I'm eating pork. Rabbi, should I recite a blessing? I want to thank god? No, because god said don't do that. So they thank you, god, for allowing me to do the thing that you said I shouldn't do. I'm not saying that smoking is equivalent to that, but I do think that one should use a tremendous caution about cigarettes because it is today proven medically to have negative impact on one's life.

32:04
I can tell you that my father smoked for 38 years and desperately tried to stop smoking and he finally found someone, told him you go to. He was in Israel. He said you go to this person and you will leave never touching a cigarette again. My father said yeah, I tried all the patches, I tried all the gums, I tried all of this, all of that, the Nicorets and all that, you name it. My father tried them all and it never worked. And he went to this guy and it was like some energy with rocks, whatever. He had a whole system of what you needed to do and he never touched a cigarette after that.

32:44
So basically what they told him is you bring a fresh set of clothes, a full pack of cigarettes and that's it. I think it was like $1,000 check-all, which is like $200, $250. That was the fee. And basically you'd come in and you'd be like check all, which is like $200, $250. That was the fee. And basically you'd come in and you'd be like, okay, everything is good. And he would say, okay, now go outside and smoke your last cigarette, or smoke as many as you want, just get it out. You're like this is it, this is your last.

33:11
And he'd go out and he's smoking maybe one or two cigarettes, three cigarettes. And then he'd come in and he'd close his eyes and he was holding some stone or something. He did this eejee-beejee stuff and my father's. Then suddenly he says, okay, you can open your eyes. And my father's like that smell. Oh, I think he starts ripping off his clothes and that was it. Never smoked a cigarette again.

33:41
And my father does also say he still says this whenever he sees people smoking. He says, guys, don't stop, there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. He says, worst decision I ever made, smoking like a true cigarette nicotine addict.

33:59
But um, uh, the truth is like this is that, um, life is full of choices. A person can make whatever choices. Hashem gives us the ability to make our choices and we have to be smart about the, the life that we have to preserve, the bodies that we are given so that we can use the as long as possible to do the will of Hashem. And if we cut at that time short, it's not a smart thing per se. It's not a smart thing that we have an opportunity. Let's say we cut off 10 years of our lives because we smoked cigarettes. We're going to be held accountable of those 10 years of mitzvahs we could have performed. It's not only cigarettes, it's any health choices that we neglect and choose the wrong choices. We neglect our bodies and it does a serious harm. All right, my dear friends, have a magnificent week. Thank you so much for joining us.

34:53 - Intro (Announcement)
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