Tomorrow, B'ezrat Hashem (with Hashem's help), is Asara B'Tevet. There is a very particular halakha (Jewish law) that applies specifically to Asara B'Tevet: if, theoretically, it were to fall on Shabbat, you would have to fast on Shabbat. It is the only fast that could theoretically fall on Shabbat, although it never does because of the automation of the calendars that we have. But if it did fall on Shabbat, you would have to fast on Shabbat. Tomorrow, this is the only fast on the calendar that ever falls on a Friday, and you're going into Shabbat starving. You're going into Shabbat fasting, which is not very good. But you see that it's stronger than even Shabbat.
The question is why. We know that even when Tisha B'Av falls on Shabbat, which it does, you push it, nidche, to the next day. When Shiva Asar B'Tammuz falls on Shabbat, you're going to fast the next day. If Asara B'Tevet were to fall on Shabbat, you would fast on Shabbat. Why is that? The Hachamim (sages) discuss this very intriguing halakha. They say that, for everything, you always have to go to the source. The source of the downfall of the Beit HaMikdash—the beginning of the Churban (destruction)—is Asara B'Tevet. For everything in life, you always have to go to the root cause, to the beginning, to what the problem was. If you're going to mourn over Tisha B'Av for the pain, for everything that happened, great, we're going to mourn. But if we don't know the cause, we're never going to bring a solution. We shouldn't mourn on Tisha B'Av; we should mourn for what brought Tisha B'Av. Therefore, you go back and back and back until Asara B'Tevet. Asara B'Tevet is the first time they breached the wall of Yerushalayim. You have to go to the source to always understand how you got where you got. That's how you treat problems in psychology, and that's how you treat problems in business, and that's how everything goes back to the source. Therefore, the source has this importance: the ramifications of the source could be bigger, but they don't carry the message. The Hachamim said that this is why Asara B'Tevet would be like this.
I'm going to go to another connected thing. In 2011, I was giving halakha, and there was a guest from Switzerland named Rafael Harari, a friend of my friend. He was visiting for maybe 10 days, 12 days, 2 weeks; I don't remember. He came to me and said, “You know, I really enjoy your halakha.” I said, “Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate the praise.” He was really intrigued, so he talked to me. I said, “Look, I don't like the regular halakha that most rabbis give around the world.” He said, “Okay, you do this, you do that. They don't explain why.” I said, “I like to go a little bit deeper and to share with the people, et cetera. So it may take a few more minutes.” He said, “No, I really enjoy it.”
He was about to leave and said, “I'm leaving. I'm going to miss your halakha.” I said, “Look, if you really, you know, I could record it and send it to you.” He said, “Oh, that would be fantastic.” So I started recording the halakha and sending him an email every day. Then another guy came along and said, “What are you doing with this?” I said, “I'm recording the halakha for this gentleman. He wants to hear it.” He said, “Oh, I would love to hear that halakha also.” I said, “Okay, I'll put you there.” Then another guy asked, and so on. It became a thing. Every morning he put the thing, et cetera. Then Hashem sent WhatsApp to the world, and I said, “Maybe we should go to this stage.” We started doing this halakha. Since 2011, Baruch Hashem (Blessed is Hashem), we've been recording this halakha. There are thousands of halakhot that go a little deeper into the halakha.
In all this, we said, you always have to go to the source. So I go to the source. I want to say thank you to this gentleman. Why am I saying this today? Because, Baruch Hashem, since 2011 until now, so 14 years, we've been studying Chelek Aleph (Part One) and Chelek Bet (Part Two) of Mishnah Berurah. We started right from the beginning—not from the beginning. We started recording from Siman (section) Yud Aleph (eleven), in Hilchot Tzitzit (laws of ritual fringes), through Siman Resh Lamed Tet (239). Yesterday, we finished Birkat HaMapil. So we're going from the morning until the night. These are 239 simanim that we did in 14 years: thousands of halakhot, thanks to this gentleman who pushed us. Baruch Hashem, we have hundreds of people who claim that they listen to the halakha every day. But I want to say thank you to this gentleman, who probably will not hear this halakha, though maybe he still listens; I have no idea. But to the gentleman who prompted that.
B'ezrat Hashem, I think the next logical topic we should study is the next Chelek (part) of Mishnah Berurah, which is El Hilchot Shabbat (laws of Shabbat). It's probably going to take another 27 years to do all the Hilchot Shabbat. But B'ezrat Hashem, Hashem is big. He will give all of us life and good health until we complete it, B'ezrat Hashem.