Speaker: Rabbi Nasan Maimon. Yayin Nesech, Halakha 2 is based on Likutey Moharan 60 – פסח רבי שמוען. Topics: Kos Shel Bracha of Birkhas HaMazon; Customs of Shabbos Kiddush; 248 Limbs and 248 Positive Mitzvos; 365 Blood Vessels and 365 Negative Mitzvos – Torah Prohibitions.
00:00 – PARAGRAPH 4. כוס של ברכה is the cup of wine that’s used for Birkhas HaMazon if there’s a minyan. (Some have the custom of כוס של ברכה also for a mezuman.) It’s customary to send the cup with remaining wine to the wife of the host. Saying the blessings after eating a meal is an aspect of waking up from spiritual sleep.
03:56 – This awakening is accomplished by two things: the blessing and the wine itself.
04:50 – כוס של ברכה לטובה – The concept of avoiding “pairs” – “even” numbers. The כוס של ברכה will not cause harm. (Pesachim 109).
07:47 – PARAGRAPH 5. One should be careful not to allow a non-Jew to touch non-boiled wine.
09:08 – PARAGRAPH 6. The requirement to look at the wine in the כוס של ברכה (Berachos 51). The word for “eye” in Hebrew is Ayin which alludes to seventy.
10:10 – PARAGRAPH 7. The concept that taking long strides during weekdays detracts one five-hundredth of a person’s vision. These harmful footsteps do not include strides taken to perform a mitzvah. The way to repair this damage to eyesight is to look at the Shabbos lights when reciting the first part of Kiddush on Shabbos.
11:08 – The seventy words in the Kiddush of Shabbos correspond to the Seventy Faces of the Torah.
*12:00 – NOTE. During [or before] the first part of Kiddush, one should look at the Shabbos lights. נר – candle – two candles is begematria 500 corresponding to the restoration of the one-five-hundredth loss of vision during the week. When saying Kiddush, the first words “Vahi erev vayehi boker” are said silently (only the lips move) and the words of Kiddush are then vocalized aloud beginning with the words “Yom HaShishi…” During the second half Kiddush, beginning with the blessing on wine, one looks at the wine in the Kiddush cup. [Alternatively, one can glance at the wine before making the blessing, if the blessing isn’t known by heart.]
12:44 – The first letters of “yom hashishi vayechulu hashamayim” spell the Name of Hashem Y – K – V – K.
12:51 – One looks at the Shabbos lights during the first part of Kiddush. [Alternatively, one can glance at the lights before saying Kiddush, if the words of Kiddush aren’t known by heart.]
*13:38 – PARAGRAPH 8. Sipurey Masiyos – the story of The Lost Princess. When the king’s viceroy drank wine, he fell asleep for 70 years. In Likutey Moharan 60 the Rebbe speaks about Choni HaMe’agel sleeping for 70 years.
15:43 – The number 70 hints a warning not to sleep one’s life away, as in יְמֵ֚י שְׁנוֹתֵ֨ינוּ | בָּהֶ֨ם שִׁבְעִ֪ים שָׁנָ֡ה – “The days of our years because of them are seventy years” (Tehillim 90:10). Rav Noson of Nemirov ז”ל brings that each year a person can make a connection with one of the 70 Faces of the Torah.
16:48 – The expression “you will see just a bit” refers to the words of Balak to Bilaam: אֶ֚פֶס קָצֵ֣הוּ תִרְאֶ֔ה – “…you will see just a bit of them…” (Bamidbar 23:13, Balak). If one studies Likutey Moharan 60 deeply, it’s possible to understand this story “just a bit”. The full meaning of the Sipurey Masiyos will only be accessible in the days of Moshiach.
19:00 – Q&R about the number of Shabbos lights.
20:00 – HALAKHA 3. INTRODUCTION. Yayin Nesech, Halakha 3 is based on Likutey Moharan 2 – Torah 26.
21:00 – Words of caution: “A Jew must stay far away from getting drunk.”
22:50 – Drinking a little bit of wine can increase דעת – consciousness of Hashem – which brings more kindness. The upper three sefiros are “cloaked in chesed. But drinking too much wine brings harsh judgements, anger, and forgetfulness of the 70 Faces of the Torah.
*25:33 – Since Moshe Rabbeinu is “cloaked” in the mitzvos, it’s as if he is constantly sending a message to each one of the 248 limbs of the body: “Do your mitzvah! Do your mitzvah!” Each one of the 248 limbs of the body corresponds to one the 248 positive mitzvos. מְחֻקָּ- carved out – refers to the Torah. מְחֹקֵ – engraver – is another term for Moshe Rabbeinu, as in וַיַּ֤רְא רֵאשִׁית֙ ל֔וֹ כִּי־שָׁ֛ם חֶלְקַ֥ת מְחֹקֵ֖ק סָפ֑וּן – “He saw the first portion for himself, because there, the portion of the lawgiver [engraver] is hidden” (Devarim 33:21).
26:43 – פֶּן־יִ֖שְׁתֶּה וְיִשְׁכַּ֣ח מְחֻקָּ֑ק וִֽ֜ישַׁנֶּה דִּ֣ין כָּל־בְּנֵי־עֹֽנִי – “Lest he drink and forget what was made law [engraved], and change the judgment of all the impoverished” (Mishlei 31:5). Be careful not to forget the Torah. Moshe Rabbeinu is begematria 613.
27:54 – דעת is “clothed” in חסד.
28:38 – Q&R – the custom of putting a bit of water in the Kiddush cup. Sefardim add three drops of water to the wine.
30:11 – Q&R – women can also receive an expanded consciousness from drinking a measured amount of wine.
30:24 – Q&R There is still a small amount of gevurah in the wine, even on Shabbos.
30:45 – Q&R – further clarification about water in the Kiddush wine.
*31:00 – NOTE: It’s important to leave a bit of wine in the Kiddush cup and leave it on the table until the next morning, when it’s rinsed out for the morning Kiddush and refilled. In our tradition, a few drops of the rinsing water are left at the bottom of the cup and the wine poured over them. No extra drops of water are added when the wine is in the cup.
32:00 – Q&R – clarifications about the Kiddush cup of Shabbos.
33:13 – PARAGRAPH 1. Wine that’s owned by a non-Jew is forbidden. Kosher wine is on a high level of holiness because it brings joy to Hashem, and to people.
34:00 – אם אנשים משמח אלקים במה משמח “If wine brings joy to people, how does it bring joy to Hashem? (Berakhos 35). Wine brings joy to Hashem because song [e.g. Hallel at the Pesach Seder] is said over wine.
34:40 – Evil originates from the “left side”. Blood flowing through the 365 conduits of the body is an aspect of the negative aspects of the 70 Nations from whom Am Yisrael learns to sin, as in וַיִּתְעָֽרְב֥וּ בַגּוֹיִ֑ם וַֽ֜יִּלְמְד֗וּ מַֽעֲשֵׂיהֶֽם – “And they mingled with the nations and learned their deeds” (Tehillim 106:35). For more on this, see Likutey Moharan 2, Torah 7.
39:42 – The Jewish Nation is attached to the 248 positive mitzvos, aspects of the “right side”. מחקק begematria is 248.
43:40 – The process of bringing potential to actual is through machshava, dibur, ma’aseh – thought, word, deed.
44:22 – Q&R about right and left side with respect to men and women.
50:00 – NOTE: today is the yahrzeit of the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh – Rav Chaim ben Moshe ibn Attar ז”ל – who passed away on the 15th of Tammuz 5503 (1743). The Baal Shem Tov HaKodesh yearned to travel to Eretz Yisrael to meet him. The קבר of the Ohr HaChaim is on Har HaZaysim – the Mount of Olives. On his yahrzeit, thousands stream to his grave site to honor his memory.
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