The twentieth "room" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Thursday, 9 Tevet 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Vayigash, fifth aliyah, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, for the 9th day of the month, from chapter 49 through chapter 54 inclusive.
Tanya, in the middle of chapter 7, from the words "achar kach" until page 12 at the word "lanetzach."
The Rebbe brings here the custom of the day, whose source — as the Rebbe notes — is from notes that the Rebbe recorded; this appears in the Rebbe's journal from the summer of 5697, when the Rebbe Rayatz and the Rebbe were in Vienna, and there the Rebbe heard this matter. And thus the Rebbe writes: "It is customary in the text of Aleinu to say that they bow to vanity and emptiness".
What is the emphasis here? In the sefer "Kuntres HaSiddur" of Rabbi Chaim Naeh, he writes that the wording should be "shehem mishtachavim l'hevel varik" ("that they bow to vanity and emptiness"), without the letter lamed in the word "varik," and he brings several sources for this. There are siddurim in which it is written this way, and there is even a hint cited from one of these sources: that the word "varik" (without the lamed) equals in gematria exactly the name of that man — 316: "Yeshu" (yud, shin, vav) equals 316, and likewise "varik" (reish and kuf — 300, vav — 16) equals 316.
But in practice, this is what the Rebbe brings here from the Rebbe Rayatz; and there is also a letter in the "Igros Kodesh" of the Rebbe Rayatz that emphasizes this — that despite the above, the wording is as it appears in our siddur — that one should say "she'hem mishtachavim la'hevel v'la'rik" (that they bow to vanity and emptiness). It is interesting to note, for completeness, that in the Tosafos Chadashim on Yoreh De'ah, siman 179, it is brought that the birth of that man occurred on Tisha B'Av — today's date.
This is the first part of the text in "Aleinu Leshabei'ach." And the continuation is that this text is also recited "in the Mussaf prayer of Rosh Hashanah." As is known, in the Mussaf of Rosh Hashanah "Aleinu Leshabei'ach" is said within the Mussaf prayer, and this is the text: "for they bow to vanity and emptiness."
An additional point in the text of "Aleinu Leshabeiach": "one is careful not to say 'umispallelim'." What does this mean? In the book of Yeshayahu (chapter 45, verse 20) it says regarding idol worshipers, "umispallelim el eil lo yoshia" (they pray to a god that cannot save). There are some siddurim in which the text of "Aleinu Leshabeiach" follows this wording — that is, after stating that they bow to vanity and emptiness, they add "umispallelim el eil lo yoshia." And there are even maamarim in Chassidus that explain this version — its meaning and the precision of its wording, why it specifically says "lo yoshia" — and everything is exact. Nevertheless, in practice, as the Rebbe Rayatz writes and as the Rebbe brings here, one does not say this additional passage within "Aleinu Leshabeiach," and one does not add it.
Within this there is another interesting detail — a custom that is observed during "Aleinu Leshabei'ach" when one says the words "shehem mishtachavim lehevel varik" (that they bow to vanity and emptiness): "the spitting comes after the saying" — one spits after these words, upon concluding the recitation of "shehem mishtachavim lehevel varik." And what is the reason for this? The Rebbe Rayatz explained the reason for the spitting: "because from speech saliva is produced, and one does not wish to derive benefit from this saliva." When one speaks, saliva is formed from the words; and the saliva formed from these particular words one expels, since one does not wish to derive benefit from it, and therefore one spits it out.
I shall preface further that the Rebbe Rayatz, when he spoke with the Rebbe in the year 5697 about this custom, added that the spitting is very slight, for one recites no more than four words — "shehem mishtachavim l'hevel v'larik" ("for they bow to vanity and emptiness"). By contrast, according to the other versions that add five words — "umitpallelim el eil lo yoshia" ("and pray to a god that cannot save") — there are nine words in all, and therefore there is more saliva; but by us, where it is only four words, the spitting is minimal.
And now to the essence of the matter, before we examine the fascinating source for this spitting. Once someone asked the Rebbe: if one does not wish to derive any benefit from the words that speak of the idols of the nations, why specifically at "Aleinu Leshabei'ach"? After all, there are earlier passages in the prayers in which the nations who bow to idols are mentioned, and there is no custom of spitting there — so why specifically here, at "Aleinu Leshabei'ach"?
In one place the Rebbe notes that "Aleinu Leshabe'ach" is a very important prayer, composed by Yehoshua bin Nun. And there is a further point — its being at the conclusion of the prayers, and at the conclusion the rule "everything follows the ending" applies. Therefore here, at the conclusion of the prayers, there is this emphasis which is not found in other passages — precisely because of the importance of this prayer.
And what is one of the sources that the Rebbe cites? After all, the spitting is not a custom that was innovated in Chabad alone, but rather a custom that has an ancient source, and the Rebbe brings several sources for it. I will bring one of them — the Rebbe cites the Taz in Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah, Siman 179. But first I will preface with what is written in the Shulchan Aruch.
These are the words of the halachah: "One who whispers an incantation over a wound or over a sick person" — a person who has a wound, and he recites a certain incantation which he believes will help heal it — "and spits," and after he has recited the incantation he spits, and afterwards "recites a verse from the Torah" — "he has no share in the World to Come." These are the words of the Shulchan Aruch.
On this, the Taz — a great rav who lived about three hundred years ago, a very important rabbinic authority in prominent communities in Poland — comments. The Taz quotes the language of the Shulchan Aruch, "and he spits and afterward recites" etc., and first explains the reason: "Since he mentions the Name of Heaven over the spitting" — he spits and immediately afterward recites a verse — this is a disgrace, God forbid, that he spits and mentions the Name of Heaven, and this is unfitting, and therefore he has no share in the World to Come.
The Taz then asks: "And therefore one cannot raise a difficulty from what is customarily practiced regarding spitting" — for there is a custom in "Aleinu Leshabe'ach," after one says "for they bow to vanity and emptiness," to spit, and immediately afterward to say "and we bend our knees and bow"; and why is there no problem here, since it would seem to be a disgrace — one spits and then says "and we bend our knees and bow" to the Holy One, blessed be He? To this he responds: One cannot raise a difficulty, "for there everyone knows that the spitting is for the disgrace of the idols of the worshipers of stars, and not upon the traces of the Name of Heaven that one mentions afterward." Here it is the opposite — it is clear to all that the spitting is not connected to what one is about to say, but rather to what was said beforehand.
It emerges that already three hundred years ago the Taz writes plainly to explain this custom of spitting during "Aleinu." There are, therefore, very ancient sources for this practice; and as we have seen, in practice the Rebbe would always perform the spitting when he said "Aleinu leshabeiach," and in such a manner that he would turn his face to the side, conceal it in his mouth, and do it with such swiftness that anyone who did not know the custom would not even notice that anything had occurred. That is to say, without any conspicuousness — yet this is the custom that is practiced in actual observance during "Aleinu leshabeiach."
Regarding the point we discussed, that the sayings correspond to the sequence of the Rambam's works: today's teaching follows nicely after Hilchos Talmud Torah — the topic we studied in yesterday's saying; and after it the Rambam presents Hilchos Avodah Zarah, which is precisely the topic we studied in today's teaching — the idolatry through which "they bow down to vanity and emptiness," its nullification and the disdain for it.