Yesh Letmoha English Questions and Answers
Questions
1. How were the Rama’s hagahos on Shulchan Aruch once called?
2. Why do we recite the count of the Ketores twice in connection to Shacharis — once before it, and once afterward, before Aleinu?
3. Many seforim conclude with the acronym “תושלב"ע.” What does it stand for?
4. What does the acronym “מג"ע א"ש” stand for?
Davening
5. In which case do we find that someone is supposed to start Shemoneh Esrei from the middle of it, according to halacha?
6. Why do we say “Shema Yisroel” during Keser in Musaf of Shabbos?
7. Why do we place our hand over our eyes during Kerias Shema, and not suffice with closing our eyes?
8. Which korbanos are alluded to in the phrase in davening, “פרים הנשרפים ושעירים הנשרפים — the burnt oxen and the burnt rams”?
9. What is the reason for the difference in minhagim with regard to kaddish — that some answer “Berich Hu,” and some answer “Omain”?
10. Regarding breaking the yoke of the nations and exile from upon us — in which tefilla is the expression, “ol hagoyim — the yoke of the nations,” used by the Alter Rebbe in his siddur, and in which is the term, “ol hagalus — the yoke of exile,” used?
Answers
1. Mapas Hashulchan — the Tablecloth.
2. Once when speaking of sacrificing the Ketores, and once to chase away the Kelipos.
3. תם ונשלם שבח לא-ל בורא עולם — it is finished and completed, praise to Hashem, the Creator of the World.
4. מזונות, גפן, עץ, אדמה, שהכל — Mezonos, Gefen, Eitz, Ho’adama, Shehakol, which is the order of precedence with regard to brachos over food.
5. (1:) A chazzan who made a mistake in Chazoras Hashatz and doesn’t remember where he is up to (Shulchan Aruch). (2:) If the chazzan made a mistake, or if he suddenly fell ill, and cannot continue — another should take his place, and start from the bracha during which the first chazzan stopped (Shulchan Aruch). (3:) If the chazzan is a Kohen, and impurity from a deceased person arrives in the shul, the Kohen must stop in the midst of Chazoras Hashatz, and someone else should go up and continue from where the Kohen was holding.
6. It was once decreed that the Jewish people should not recite Kerias Shema, and they therefore instituted to say it amidst the prayer of Keser — not as a self-standing prayer, so that the non-Jews would not oppose it.
7. Because after closing one’s eyes, one can still “see the experiences of this world,” and when reciting Kerias Shema, one must have intense intention only about accepting the yoke of heaven, and the like.
8. (1:) "The burnt oxen” refers to the ox offered when a matter of halacha was concealed from the congregation, and the ox of the anointed Kohen. (2:) “The burnt rams” refers to a “chatas” ram offered to atone for serving avoda zara.
9. The disagreement is whether saying “Omain” after the words, “Berich Hu — blessed is He,” constitutes an interruption. For some say that the words “Berich Hu” are the beginning of a following sentence: “בריך הוא — לעילא מן כל ברכתא — blessed is He, above all blessings,” and some say that it is the end of the previous sentence “ויתהדר ויתעלה ויתהלל שמי’ דקודשא בריך הוא.” Thus the difference in reply.
10. In the bracha of Ahavas Olam before Kerias Shema, the expression, “ol hagoyim,” is used, and in Birchas Hamazon, the expression used is “ol hagalus.”
