Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] In the Jewish law, there are different categories of laws. There are laws which are person specific, like for me to put on fill in. I cannot call you up on the phone, say, you know what, Alex, I didn't get a chance to put on film today. Could you put on your fill in twice for me today? I cannot do it then. There are mitzvahs that I can do through that are responsibilities of a family or a household. For example, usually a woman is lighting Shabbat candles when you know when Shabbat starts. But let's say if your wife is traveling and you're home alone, or let's say in a situation where a person is a widow and wife passed away, or they're divorced, or in any situation where the woman of the house is not in the house at the moment when Shabbat starts, then the husband lights Shabbat candles, even though it is primarily female's responsibility.
[00:01:03] And if the parents are away, then the oldest one of the kids is doing it.
[00:01:09] The same goes for Kedush. Kiddush is primarily the husband's responsibility, and this is what he does for his family.
[00:01:22] If the husband is away, or in a situation like you described, if there's a woman who's a widow, then she makes kiddush for her kids.
[00:01:32] And then when your kids grow up, let's say they could make kiddush the boy, when he turns bar mitzvah, he could make kiddush now.
[00:01:40] And now the same thing is with responsibility for children's education.
[00:01:46] The first line of responsibility for children's education is on the father.
[00:01:52] But if, God forbid, there's no father, then the mother does it, and the mother makes sure that her son has a bar mitzvah, that he's going to a school, he's learning how to do all the things and everything else.
[00:02:06] So in Gettysburg here, there's a rabbi whose name is Sholem Raichik, and his father was a very known Hasidic figure in the Chabad history, Rabbi Shmuel David Raichik, who was a very devout Chassid and very refined person.
[00:02:24] And he was known for his long prayers in the synagogue. He would spend many, many hours praying in shul.
[00:02:33] So Sholem Raichik, who is a rabbi here in Gettysburg, tells a story at once. Every Shabbos when he was a kid, he was at home. But then once he had a sleepover at his friend's house for Shabbos, and he says he saw a strange thing, that the father made kiddush Friday night, and the father also made kiddush Shabbos morning. He never saw something like that because his father would always pray for a very long time. Shabbos morning. By the time the services would be over, everybody would be home and he would still be praying. So his mother was one to make kiddush.
