| Kol Bo | |
| כל בו | |
| Sefaria Community Translation | |
| https://www.sefaria.org | |
| Kol Bo | |
| Siman 1 | |
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| Siman 4 | |
| Siman 5 | |
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| Siman 20 | |
| (1) Laws of taking out the Torah and the laws of reading it and its blessings. | |
| (29) On the Sabbath during Shaharit, it is customary to say a "Mi Sheberach" after the Haftarah. There are places where they bless the king and afterward the congregation and everything is according to custom. | |
| Siman 21 | |
| Siman 22 | |
| Siman 23 | |
| Siman 24 | |
| And I found in the [Midrash] Tanchuma, "All matters of Shabbat are doubled: Two sheep; A cantillation (<i>Mizmor</i>), a song for Shabbat; two breads (<i>lechem mishneh</i>); 'Remember' (Exodus 20:8) and 'Guard' (Deuteronomy 5:12) - and it appears that the custom to light two lights is from this." All of this is from the composition by Rabbi Asher, from the Sefer HaMinhagot (Book of Customs). And it is also written there, "And all Israel is obligated to eat three meals on Shabbat. And the early ones were accustomed to break between one meal and another in the morning, and to spread a [new] tablecloth and recite the grace after the meals. And there is one who gets up from the table to stroll outside the house, or in the house, and say a chapter or a mishnah." And it is a proper custom, since the spreading of a tablecloth is called a break [only] with regards to a group that was sitting and the [Shabbat begun] upon them - they may spread a tablecloth and recite Kiddush. | |
| Siman 25 | |
| From the first day onwards, we only say [the one blessing of], "who created," unless there are new faces that did not yet hear sheva berakhot (the seven blessings recited in honor of a bride and groom). And that is when [the new face is that of] a great and honored person, for whose sake [the groom's party] would need to add [food]. And it appears that the reason that we recite the blessings on the first day is that it is impossible that there not be someone who did not hear them at the time of the wedding. | |
| And we are also accustomed to recite sheva berakhot on Shabbat during the seven nuptial days since you will not find a greater and more honorable new face than Shabbat. And the Rash (R. Shimshon of Sens), may his memory be blessed, explained that new faces are those that were not there yesterday, but some explain that they are those who did not eat at the wedding meal. And those people who ate in a room adjacent to the [area of the] wedding canopy do not recite the blessings of grooms, since there is joy only at the wedding canopy. However, if there is one attendant for all of them, the attendant unites them together [such that they can all recite the blessings]. | |
| Siman 26 | |
| Siman 27 | |
| Siman 28 | |
| Siman 29 | |
| Siman 30 | |
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| Siman 32 | |
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| Siman 34 | |
| Siman 35 | |
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| Siman 43 | |
| Siman 44 | |
| ...... | |
| Women are obligated to light Hanukkah candles, for they too were included in the miracle. This means that the enemies came to destroy everyone, men, women, and children, and there are those who say that the great miracle occurred through a woman. Her name was Judith, as the story goes, and she was the daughter of Yochanan, the high priest. She was extremely beautiful, and the Greek king wanted her to lay with him. She fed him a dish of cheese to make him thirsty, so that he would drink a great deal and became drunk, and recline and fall asleep. And it happened just that way, and once he was asleep, she took his sword and cut off his head. She brought his head to Jerusalem, and when the armies saw that their leader had been killed, they fled. For this reason, we have the custom of eating a cheese dish on Hanukkah. | |
| Siman 45 | |
| Since women are obligated (in Megillah) due to being involved in the miracle, there is reason to say that they may even exempt men. Never the less, it is not possible for them to complete a quorum of ten, because any situation which requires ten, requires men. The author of Aseres Hadibros wrote that women may not exempt men with the reading, because of "kol b'isha erva." Even though they may light the Chanukkah candles and recite the blessing over them, that is not comparable, since it is not necessary for men to be there at the time of lighting. | |
| Siman 46 | |
| Siman 47 | |
| Siman 48 | |
| Siman 49 | |
| Siman 50 | |
| And we pour the third cup and he recites the Grace after the meal. And afterwards, we pour a fourth cup and complete the Hallel over it. And we begin with, “Pour out Your wrath, etc.”; after it is, “Not for us.” Then we complete the Hallel and after it is, “And they shall praise You.” But one does not recite the [introductory] blessing over it, “to complete the Hallel.” That is because we do not recite it by way of an obligation. Moreover, we do not recite the whole thing. However, that which it uses the term, complete, only means that one doesn’t skip around in it, like on Rosh Chodesh. And Rabbi Zerachiah, may his memory be blessed, wrote - and these are his words: And the closing [blessing] of Hallel is not on account of it requiring a blessing after it. For here there is not [the principle of], there is nothing that requires a blessing after it that does not require a blessing before it, and since we don’t recite a blessing before it, we may not recite a blessing after it. Rather we understand from it, that it is not from this reason that we make a blessing after it, but rather that the closing [blessing] is from the structure of Hallel. For so do we conclude it on the days [that we say] Hallel. Hence we do not differentiate from that on this night. And the Hallel that we say on this night is not from the category of Hallel, but from the category of saying song for the miracle. For this is as we learned (Pesachim 10:5), “Rabban Gamliel said, ‘Whoever has not said these three things on Pesach has not fulfilled his obligation.’” And [at that mishnah’s] end, we learned, “Therefore we are obligated [to praise].” | |
| Siman 51 | |
| Siman 52 | |
| And it was customary on the seventh of Pesaḥ and on the first day of Atzeret <small><small> that is to say, Shavuot</small></small> to translate the entire portion, so as to make the miracles and wonders understandable for women and the <i>hoi polloi</i>, and make it intelligible for their ears that they may give thanks and praise to the Name for the matters. At the time when the custom was fixed, everyone spoke the Aramaic language. And in this time, the custom has not moved from its place, but they add to it, to elaborate on the Ten Commandments in the vernacular, and also on the seventh of Pesaḥ from <i> And He saved</i><sup class="footnote-marker">1</sup><i class="footnote"> Exodus 14:30</i> to the end of the song, and tell of wonders that the Name did for us and our ancestors in a language that all can understand. And also extrapolating on what the Holy Blessed One in the future will do when bringing us from exile, just as those of blessed memory said, <i>In Nisan we were redeemed, and in Nisan we will be redeemed.</i><sup class="footnote-marker">2</sup><i class="footnote"> Rosh Hashanah 11a:2</i> And in the future is the revival of the dead and the days of the Messiah, to strengthen the hearts of all who don't know of the matter of redemption and the revival of the dead. And that is the crux of the ordinance that Moses ordained upon Israel to extrapolate the laws of Pesaḥ on Pesaḥ and similarly for all holidays. | |
| There is also a custom of eating honey and milk on Shavuot because the Torah is compared to honey and milk as it is written "honey and milk under your tongue" (Songs 4:11) | |
| And we are accustomed on the last day of the festival - which is called Simchat Torah, because the entire people is happy about the conclusion of the Torah - to have more than a quorum read the Torah: Everyone in the congregation reads, as do people who are not accustomed to go up [to the Torah] and read on other days of the year. And this custom is in order to increase joy. But [only one] individual reads from "And Moshe ascended" (Deuteronomy 34:1) to "And Yehoshua son of Nun" (Deuteronomy 34:9), in [Parashat] Zot HaBerakhah; and [these verses] should not be divided into two. And we have already written the entire order above in the order of the Torah readings. | |
| Siman 53 | |
| Siman 54 | |
| Siman 55 | |
| Siman 56 | |
| Siman 57 | |
| Siman 58 | |
| Siman 59 | |
| Siman 60 | |
| Siman 61 | |
| Siman 62 | |
| And there are those that wonder: How was this custom good in the eyes of the Sages - that a man should snatch [a woman, to be] his wife? And, God forbid, it is similar to it being as if the daughters of Israel were abandoned! But this is not a [true] wonder. For it should be known that anyone who could afford to marry off his daughter would not send her there. For if she was a minor, what does his snatching help? Behold, she is not married without the consent of her father. And if she was a maiden or an adult [and could consent on her own], he would not let her go out [there]. And if he did permit her to go out, he would warn her to only get married to [a man] who was suitable for her. Rather the custom was for girls whose fathers could not afford to marry them off; and if it were not for this custom, perhaps they would have remained [single] until their hair whitened. | |
| Siman 63 | |
| Siman 64 | |
| Siman 65 | |
| And we are accustomed to blow the shofar in all the places of Israel on the first day of Elul. And this custom is supported in the Midrash. And likewise is it written in several Aggadot: On the first day of Elul, Moshe ascended the mountain to receive the second tablets, so they blew the shofar in the whole camp - behold Moshe ascended the mountain - so that they should not err in idolatry anymore. And the Holy One, blessed be He, ascended with this blow and with that shofar, as it is stated (Psalms 47:6), God arose with the <i>teruah</i>; the Lord with the sound of the shofar." So our Sages, may their memory be blessed, accordingly established that they should blow the shofar on the first day of Elul every year. And we are accustomed to say, Avinu Malkenu (our Father, our King) after the morning service and the afternoon service, even on Shabbat. | |
| Siman 66 | |
| Siman 67 | |
| Siman 68 | |
| Siman 69 | |
| Siman 70 | |
| Siman 71 | |
| Siman 72 | |
| The willows of the river that are mentioned in the Torah are not anything that grows from the river, but rather a specific species known as a river willow. Its leaves are elongated and their edges are smooth; and its branches are red. And that is what is called an <i>aravah</i>. And most of this species grows on rivers, and that is why it is called a river willow. But even if it grew in the desert or in the mountains, it is [still] fit. And there is another species that is similar to the willow, except that its leaves are round, and their edges are similar to a saw; and its branches are not red. It is called, a <i>tzafzafah</i> and it is unfit. And there is [another] type of willow, the edge of the leaves of which are not smooth and not like a saw, but it rather has very small indentations like the blade of a small sickle; and it is fit. And they learned all of these things from tradition; they were explained by our teacher, Moshe, peace be upon him. | |
| Siman 73 | |
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| Siman 130 | |
| 130. The Law of the Sinner | |
| A sinner who violated the decrees of the community, if they were not excommunicated, they are counted in a quorum of ten and they are obligated in all of the mitzvot. For thus it is said of Achan, "Israel has sinned"(Joshua 7:11) even though he sinned, he is still Israel. Therefore, they still maintain their holiness and they are not removed from the generality of Israel who are not suspected for their oaths. However, if they have been excommunicated, since they must separate themselves from the community of the diaspora, if they were to include them, what would be left of their curse what good was their decree? It is not appropriate to include them at all for they have already separated them from their community. |