סימן כ״ב. On top: על שלש עבירות נשים מתות בשעת לידתן. Because of three עבירות women die at the time of birth: על שאינן זהירות בנדה ובחלה ובהדלקת הנר. If they're not careful in one of these three things: the דינים of נדה, דינים of חלה, and the lighting of the candles. What do you mean not careful? It means they break They don't keep it, they don't break the law. passes who passes at Women. Women. Or or when they have birth? No, women who are not careful in these things will will pass away at the time when they give birth. They'll pass away the morning? They will pass away, I mean it's not that every one, but those that sometimes this could be a reason why they passed away, punished. And and חלה. חנה, it's the three words of חנה, ראשי תיבות, חלה, נדה, and הדלקת הנר. But the Rebbe says חלה really even though it means חלה, but it also includes כשרות בכלל. Yeah. פרעגט די Gemara: נדה מאי טעמא? What's the reason, why would they pass away davka from the inyan of נדה? אמר and at the time of birth, אמר רב יצחק, רב יצחק said: היא קלקלה בחדרי בטנה, she ruined, she did something wrong in something that has to do with the inside of her stomach because the bleeding that comes from inside, לפיכך תלקה, therefore she'll be punished בחדרי בטנה, also something that comes from the stomach, which is when she gives birth to a child. פרעגט די Gemara weiter: תינח נדה, okay, so now we have a reason for נדה, but חלה והדלקת הנר מאי איכא למימר? What are you going to explain by חלה and by lighting the candles?

זאגט די Gemara: כדידרש ההוא גלילאה עליה דרב חסדא, like a certain person from Galil spoke in a derashah by Rav Chisda, this is what he said, and he explains all three: אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא, השם said: רביעית דם נתתי בכם, I gave you רביעית דם, that's the דם that a person lives from, so על עסקי נדה הזהרתי, על עסקי דם הזהרתי אתכם. Minimum amount. Yeah. That's very little. Okay. Alright. So על עסקי דם הזהרתי אתכם, so I warned you, I gave you a mitzvah having to do with דם. ראשית קראתי אתכם, I called you ראשית, he called the Yidden that the Yidden are first, על עסקי ראשית הזהרתי אתכם, so I warned you to give the first, that's חלה, to give the first part of the dough. נשמה שנתתי בכם קרויה נר, the נשמה I gave you is called a candle, על עסקי נר הזהרתי אתכם, so I warned you, I gave you the mitzvah in connection to candles. אם אתם מקיימים אותם, if you fulfill all these three things, מוטב. So I gave you דם, and I gave you ראשית, and I gave you נר. If you will keep these three things, fine, ואם לאו הריני נוטל נשמתכם, if not, I will take your נשמה. It's the whole reason you're there, but I gave you your life is connected to these three things, so by not keeping any one of these three things you could lose your נשמה. How about men doing these three My wife פרעגט די Gemara: מאי שנא בשעת לידתן? But then in that case according to this pshat, it's a punishment that you get for keep not keeping this, why does will they die at the time of birth, what's the connection of birth?

According to the first thing we said by niddah, it's connected to birth because it comes and has to do with inside the stomach, so when things happen inside the stomach, she's punished. But now we have a different pshat for all, why at the time of birth? אמר Rava, Rava said, and this is a few expressions that the Gemara says which people used to say: נפל תורא חדדו לסכינא, that's that's the lashon, if the ox fell, sharpen the חלף, sharpen the knife. In other words, in order to shachat the the ox, it's a big job, you got to throw him down on the floor, you got to hold him down. If he fell already, כאפ אריין, sharpen your knife and kill him. Like the Eibershter sends a שטן בשעת הסכנה? It's all letters of, yeah, the Gemara would tack it connect it later on. So the same thing here, since she is giving birth and that's a dangerous time, actually the Gemara refers to it on halacha, that's called a חולה שיש בו סכנה, a woman who is giving birth, מחלל שבת, and why, because she's a חולה שיש בו סכנה. So here is a woman that at a time when she has סכנה, that's when if the Eibershter wants to punish her, כאפ דעראן, like he said in the mashal, he fell already, כאפ אריין and shachat him. Abaye אמר, Abaye says a different a different lashon, it's all different leshonot: תפוס תירס אמתא בחד מחטא לארבע, a woman, a maid who doesn't listen, so when she is being punished already for one thing, כאפ אריין and punish her for other things. Don't punish her separately, that's when you כאפ אריין because give her extra because you're punishing already. So the same thing here, when she's in סכנה, the Eibershter could make it happen. Rav Chisda אמר a different lashon: שבקיה לרויא דמנפשיה נפיל. You want to throw down a שיכור, you don't, leave him, he'll fall himself. It's when it's the time when he's drunk, he'll fall, so this time she's she's in a in a bad situation, she's punished. Mar Ukva אמר, Mar Ukva says a different mashal: רעיא חגרא, if you have a blind shepherd, ועיזי רהיטן, and the sheep are running, אבב חוטרא מילי ואבב דירא חושבנא, so he can't chase them, but when it comes when they all get together, Good timing. that's when he takes care of the sheep and he gives the sheep a klap because So he waits for the time when it's an opportune time. Hey, you should have done it before? He can't, now you do it. Rav Pappa אומר, Rav Pappa says, says: אבב חנוותא נפישי אחי ומרחמי. When a person is rich, why'd you say crippled? Isn't that because it's meaning opposite, that she's healthy and No, not that she, shepherd. Shepherd? They were talking about the woman, no? Yeah, the woman is sick at that time. At that time, when she's sick anyway. She's sick. No, when you're giving birth, her she's in a sakanah. So, Rav Pappa says like this: when you have a person who is rich, when you open a store and a rich person is there, all of a sudden everybody is his friend. Find out, all of a sudden you find relatives. This guy says, \"I'm his relative,\" this guy, \"I'm his friend.\" אבב בזיוני, לא אחי ולא מרחמי. When the guy is opens a store and he's poor, no one is his friend, no one is his relative, no one cares, you know. The moment a guy is rich, everyone says, \"Oh, I'm his karov, I'm his karov.\" Same thing here. No. No. Rav Pappa אמר. No. Rav Pappa אמר. Is אבב חוטרא מילי? No, it goes together, the רעיא. רעיא חגירא ועיזי רהיטן, if you have the רעיא is a חגיר and the the sheep are running, then אבב חוטרא מילי ואבב דירא חושבנא. So then this is the reason why, so she's in a situation where she's already dangerous, then the Eibershter punishes her.

פרעגט די גמרא your question, גברא היכא מיתפסי? What about men? How do men, when does the Eibershter take care of the men? אמר ריש לקיש, Reish Lakish said: בשעה שעוברים על הגשר, when they're crossing a bridge. Crossing a bridge is a dangerous time. When you cross the bridge, that's when the Eibershter says, \"So you're in this dangerous situation,\" the Eibershter could punish him. פרעגט די גמרא: גשר ותו לא? Only a bridge? Dafka a bridge? The Gemara says anything like a bridge, anything in that situation. For these three things or in general? Huh? No, he said these three things are special. They're the nekudah: נקודת הדם, נקודת הנר. Wouldn't one think the opposite, that there would be more of a shemirah at these times, because of the the mitzvah, because of what's going to come out, what's going to come out of it, Yiddishkeit? What's the mitzvah? The guy is crossing a bridge, what's the mitzvah? No, talking about, so she's in giving birth, right? She's in a she's she's in a vulnerable state, and so she should be protected more, no? In a vulnerable state, and therefore, lemalah they judge him. That's what it says. Bichlal, when a person is in a sakanah, so lemalah they judge, they look, should we help or should we not help him. The moment they start looking into his case, it's already no good. We'd rather they don't open my case. If you have, if you, the time when they have to open the case, then they might see things which are not things they don't like. And if you do something wrong, that's the time when they'll say, \"Oh, this guy,\" and he's in sakanah anyway. What does a man have to do with the mitzvah of dam and ner and challah? A man? Mitzvah of dam, if she doesn't keep טהרת המשפחה, she does If she doesn't keep טהרת המשפחה and he has relations with her, he does aveirah as much as her. He gets karet. Same thing, challah also, he can't eat food without challah. So if she doesn't take, he has to take. Sure, why not? And the same thing with candle light. If she doesn't light candles, he has to light candles. He on Shabbos if the wife isn't home, you have to light candles. The mitzvah is on the house, not only the woman. She's just חכמים said the woman should do it because she's always home. The Shechinah is always by the pillow of a person who is very sick, which makes help at this moment. True, that's that's from one angle. There there are a few perspectives here. רב לא עבר במברא דיתיב ביה עובד כוכבים. Rav would not cross a river, when there is, in in the little ships that they used to have to cross from one side to the other, if there was a goy sitting there. Why? אמר, he said, דילמא מיפקיד ליה דינא עליה, maybe there is a judgment against him, since he's a goy, he probably is not doing the right thing. Goyim, and therefore, there's a judgment against him, ואיתפיס בהדיה, I'll be with him, so drown, I'll drown too, so I better not go with him. We don't do that when we board an airplane, right? Because usually the Yid is going to save everybody else. That's the next one. שמואל לא עבר אלא במברא דאית ביה עובד כוכבים. Shmuel didn't go unless there was a goy there. אמר, he said, שטנא, the שטן, בתרי אומי לא שליט. The Satan can only take care of one nation at a time. He doesn't, he can't hurt if there's two nations there. So if there's a Yid and a goy, it's always more protected. And sometimes you have big zechuyot. If you feel you have big zechuyot, then you could protect, help others also. True. But we who knows? I know, but who holds of himself that he has more zechuyot or he has a lot of zechuyot? You

tell a story that somebody, a lady came to the Rebbe once for yechidus, it's a famous story, and she told the Rebbe she's leaving. The Rebbe said, why should she rush? She should she should go the next day. So she came, she takeh didn't go, and that flight that she was supposed to take crashed. No, it's starting like this: the Rebbe the Rebbe told her to go at a certain time. She went, and that flight that she She went, crashed, but everyone was survived. So she came ta'anot to the Rebbe, told me to go. So the Rebbe said, what do you care that the other people were saved because of you? Very good. Yeah, רבי ינאי בדיק ועבר. Rabbi Yanai would not cross, not go into this little boat unless he checked it out first that everything is fine and there are no hole there. And the reason is because רבי Yanai l'ta'amei, Rabbi Yanai follows his own opinion, d'amar, he said: לעולם אל יעמוד אדם במקום סכנה, a person should never stand in a dangerous place, לומר, saying, שיעשו לי נס, in other words, I'll stand there and I cross I believe I trust Hashem he'll make a nes. Why? שמא אין עושין לו נס, maybe they won't make a nes. ואם עושין לו נס, and even if they do make a נס, מנכין לו מזכיותיו, they will deduct from his from his zechuyot. Why do you want Every time a nes happens to you, so they takes away some of your credits. So why do you want that? So try it shouldn't happen, so don't stand in a מקום סכנה. So we'll owe. So you owe. Haibershter? Yeah. No, we'll owe. If he gives us some credit, we'll owe, in other words. Okay, the person has in a bank account, uses up all merits, so you will say, He will give us. Yeah. אמר רב חנן: מאי קרא? So which pasuk do we see it from? קטנתי מכל החסדים ומכל האמת, that he says of himself that, I became small from all the chasadim and all the emet that you did to me, Yaakov Avinu said. What does that mean? That because of all the chasadim you did, now I lost my zechut. And mimela now when I need the zechut to protect it from Esav, I don't know if I have that zechut. Ai, I know I had zechuyot, but maybe I used it up. He got a loan. No, that's not the peshat. I'm talking about a loan. No, but this what the Gemara means here. Short-term loan. Some people say he is so humble. To me, yeah, that's another peshat, I became humble. No, Rashi says That's in תניא, that's not a peshat. Rashi says, מכל החסדים, שמא דארטן שנתלכלכתי בחטא. רבי זירא ביומא דשותא לא נפיק לביני דיקלי. Rabbi Zeira, Rabbi Zeira in the day that there was a big wind, he wouldn't A wind שותא means a wind that's so strong, a hurricane, I don't know, knock down walls, he wouldn't go ביני דיקלי, he wouldn't walk between trees, 'cause it's dangerous, so why should ai, he has emunah, trust, and bitachon, you don't do that. Isn't it somewhere else that you're not supposed to anywhere walk between palm trees, date trees? No, I don't believe date trees. Date palm. No, no, but I don't know if he means. There it means that they're close. Here it means that he wouldn't walk under trees. Doesn't mean between two davka. He wouldn't walk under the next-door tree. He wouldn't walk in the area where you have these trees, because it might fall. ביני means between, it doesn't mean דווקא between, among. It doesn't take a tzadik to know that. Any person knows when there is a very heavy wind, don't go out walking. Well, I would think a tzadik the opposite. A tzadik trusts Hashem. So what difference could protect me. But the Eibershter makes a differ- and the truth is the Eibershter makes a difference if it's a big wind or a small wind, if he wants to protect me, protect me anyway. And nevertheless that's the chiddush here, that you still gotta go derech hateva. As much as you're a tzadik. The truth is there are tzadikim who their madreigah is so great that they don't need derech hateva. Just go. Yosef, now that's the best re'ayah with Yosef. Yosef Hatzadik, when he asked him the the Sar Hamashkim to remember him to you know, to Pharaoh, he was punished. And the question is why was he punished? Only derech hateva, that's what you're supposed to do. Punkt there was a chance for him to get out, so he used it, you're supposed to do that. A tzadik like Yosef didn't need it. He was such a great tzadik, by him it didn't need. Because an anav, who is an anav? Anav. So people ask a she'eilah: But maybe takeh he didn't, but he himself didn't hold of himself such a big tzadik, that's why he did it. And the answer is: An anav doesn't mean a guy doesn't know his madreigah. An anav doesn't mean a guy is a fool, he thinks you have to know your madreigah. Anav means that you still don't hold yourself so big. You feel that this madreigah is not to your credit, the Eibershter gave it to you as a present, someone else would be better than you, but doesn't mean you don't know where you are. Yeah, zogt di Gemara weiter,

תנו רבנן, the Rabbanan hobn gelernt: על שלש עבירות נשים מתות בשעת לידתן. For three aveirot women die while they're giving birth. And רבי אלעזר אומר, different lashon: נשים מתות ילדות, that women die when they're young. Girls? That doesn't mean דווקא girls. As soon as they get married, yeah, as soon as they get married and right away they would die young because of these three aveirot. So there's yoledot or ילדות. יולדות means childbirth, women that give birth, and ילדות means young women. Yeah, but therefore none of those things that we just learned about that a woman is in in a position of what do you call it, you know, danger and everything else like that, when she's just got married and she's Right, this is not This is a different pshat. One pshat is danger, this is not a pshat danger, this is something Hashem takes away the life in a young age because of these three aveirot. It's a different pshat. דבר אחר, another says, בעון, for a different aveirah: בעון שמכבסות צואת בניהם בשבת. The aveirah that they wash the dirty diapers of their children on Shabbos. You're not allowed to. ויש אומרים, some say: על שקורין לארון הקדש ארנא. That they call the ארון הקדש, they call the ארון ארנא. ארנא means that was an expression, a few pshatim, and one pshat is the expression they used to use for the מגדלים, for the chests that they had by the goyim. And they use the same thing, \"Oh, you want to go open the that chest?\" That's a bizayon. Another pshat is that they said ארון, not ארון הקודש. You can't say just go to the ארון, go to the ארון הקודש. A woman wouldn't say this. Yeah. תניא we learned רבי ישמעאל בן אלעזר אומר, בעוון שני דברים עמי הארצים מתים. For two things עמי הארצים die. One of them is על שקורין לארון הקודש ארנא, that they

call the ארון הקודש ארנא, ועל שקורין לבית הכנסת בית עם. That they call the shul, like a gathering, a social club. A club, but social club. I was always thinking, if calling it is so terrible, what about making it into a social club? Actually doing that, chas veshalom. Yeah, there are a lot of congregations that have both combined. I was saying, but at a time when you come and this becomes your club where you have social social, that's your social meetings, that's certainly terrible. People refer to the ארון as the ארון. Nobody calls it the ארון הקודש. Okay, but we don't mean it in when they called it that way, it was a מזלזלדיקע way. Like they didn't give any kavod to it. It became just in short, so you mean ארון הקודש, I guess, I hope. People say that instead of coming to socialize, where are they going to go to daven? Where do they go to daven, yeah. Reminds me of the vort, story known with the guy who said called the guy shvantz and he came to the Tzemach Tzedek. Like a chasid went to get into a fight with a mitnaged, so he called him a shvants. How could, such an issue word to me? I'm going to a ma'aseh to the Rebbe. So he went to the Tzemach Tzedek and he came in, says, \"The Rebbe, one of your chasidim said something very terrible.\" So the Tzemach Tzedek says, \"What did he say?\" \"I can't say it.\" Such a terrible word. The Tzemach Tzedek says, \"Say it. What what is it?\" Two times he asked him, and he wouldn't say. So the Tzemach Tzedek says, \"זײַ נישט קיין שוואַנץ און זאָג!\" So he said, \"אָט! דאָס האָט ער געזאָגט!\" But they say, but they say something, it's a different story. This one guy here, in fact, like a farbrengen. What was the hora'ah there? What was the hora'ah there? Once to bring it out... Huh? Why did he, so what's that doing? Like, I don't want to show him. You didn't, he didn't mean to say it's a bad word, but somebody, he once called somebody else, \"דו ביסט אַ שוואַנץ.\" So he says, \"ניבול פה, ניבול פה, how could you speak such words?\" So he says, \"זײַן מעג מען, און זאָגן טאָר מען נישט?\" To be, you're allowed, to say that! Same thing here. To make a shul a בית עם is okay, to call it a בית עם... Obviously to make it, is a hundred times worse. Tanya we learned in the ברייתא רבי יוסי אומר, רבי יוסי says: שלשה, לשון בדקי מיתה נבראו באשה. Huh? All right, Yiddish. Yeah, only Yiddish could say it. You have to translate, you can't translate it. It's a play of words, Yiddish words, yeah. Anyway, so they say שלוש בדקי מיתה. Badkei means bedikah means to check, correct. There are there are three things, three types of things which that you could see if the woman is is frum or not, three things will check out which if she'll die or not. So it's called badkei. ואמרי לה, some say שלוש דבקי. The difference between badkei and דבקי, the same letters, but one is ב before the ד, which means badak means to check. דבקי means to connect. Devek means bond, tape, glue, things like that, yeah, bond. And that means there are certain things that connect her to death. Now what's the, and the three are: נדה, חלה, והדלקת הנר. What's the machloket? One holds like the other, because before we had a machloket. One said that the this these three is the reason for them to die during childbirth. One says it's the reason for them to die young. That's the two things. If

it's during childbirth, then there's a time when you could check it. At time of childbirth, that's what the Eibershter checks out to see whether she should live or not. So that's like Elazar, the רבנן is the other peshat, that three things which connect the woman to death, that means that bring on the death early. So that's the other opinion. So there are two opinions whether this checks out, this a time when possible to die, or this is... Certainly the Eibershter checks which is during childbirth childbirth. The second pshat, so if she's a younger lady, when she just got married, so then then checks then? Then it's not. Then then it's less chance, and the other one is that there is more chance at the time when they're young. So three things which טשעפּע זאַכנס and bring it upon the death. Well, the bonding part, bonding that's really, it's going to happen. Just What do you mean, it happens? I mean But it's always, any person that does it. The inspection But it's a time when it's very possible. This is בדק is is is only to see. בדק is checking, reviewing. You're not sure yet. But the other is you made the connection. That's what he says. If, no. No, that's not, no, no. One is No, one is a time when there's a chance for this to happen, and one is that this rushes up the death. That's what I mean.

What about all the women that are not religious, and they're doing all these things So that's, you're asking, again that's what your, he has the kashya. Certainly, averot a person does that he gets karet for, karet. Karet means to die before 50, and look at all these people who do all kinds of averot. He says nowadays, of old they used to die right away, so nowadays you get chayut from klipah. Huh? No, you have people who don't even know better and they still don't die. So he says you get chayut from klipah. You get life from klipah. The reason the reason why they would die, because through terrible averot, your source of life is cut off, so you automatically die. Nowadays, you could get your source of life from klipah. Wait, I don't understand that. Understand what? That don't happen with, I understand this is the scenario. A lot of them, most people nowadays. When the Alter Rebbe wrote it, it didn't mean there was not, connection, he was he was saying nowadays. In the Alter Rebbe's time, most freye people were turned away. They were all trained frum and they turned away, people like that and they still didn't die. So it seems to mean that the more chayut you get from kedushah and more sensitive to that and less klipah, that you're more susceptible to this, to be more sensitive for these things to happen. Does that make sense? What do you mean? In other words, if you're more sensitive to kedushah than klipah because you're, yeah, then you would be more sensitive to these effects of these things. The klal is the Eibershter is medakdek with a tzadik, much more. Even a small thing he would punish him faster. Right, yeah. So that applies, yeah. It's a it's it's a big stirah in how to run your life because you have to look at, no matter what, you gotta run your life frum. You really have to have yirat Shamayim. Right, yeah, no matter what, even though this will cause Hashem will, you

have to have yirat Shamayim to just keep you going, though. Yeah. Did you hear that? You hear that, Morty?