shmendrick

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  • in reply to: Should "shmedrick" stop posting? #918084
    shmendrick
    Member

    It seems that I am not rotzuy l’rov hatzibur. As such, this spells the end of Shmendrick OBM in the CR (under mine or any other Screen Name).

    I hope to have added Torah and halacha insight into the following topics:

    1. why many do not wear a tie to Mincha on Shabbos,

    2. why frummer yidden do not say Gut Shabbos on Friday afternoon,

    3. to realize some gentiles might be Bnei Og & not Bnei Noach,

    4. to avoid vacation trips between Dec 25 – Jan 1,

    5. why many yeshivishe wear their hat brims up,

    6. that giving more than one name to a baby is not poshut,

    7. that emunas chachomim is absolute,

    8. ridding an ayin horah,

    9. not wishing someone a Happy New Year on Jan 1,

    etc.

    I am mochel all and have no hakpodah against any of you. May you all be zoche to brachos and yeshuos.

    Any last words or obituaries are welcome, but no hespedim please.

    Moderators Note: For some reason you left out your greatest Halacha thread titled “Is there a Minimum Shiyur for Asher Yotzar”

    Is there a Minimum Shiyur for Asher Yotzar

    That’s why you are being escorted to the door. You are nothing less than a bored troll.

    in reply to: Should "shmedrick" stop posting? #918078
    shmendrick
    Member

    The vote so far seems split, requiring more opinions to determine this issue.

    in reply to: Shana Tova! #916881
    shmendrick
    Member

    left to write – if “ba’al nefesh” means someone with a soul, a person who is not a “ba’al nefesh” is a soul less creature. That is simple tagrum.

    That soul less creature may be a ba’al guf, or a ba’al ta’aveh or a MO but certainly not a “ba’al nefesh”.

    I would not wish on them the expression “may G-d have mercy on their souls” since it would be a bracha l’vatalah.

    in reply to: Dating/marriage question, Am I realistic…? #917465
    shmendrick
    Member

    WIY, a woman’s chiyuv of learning Torah differs greatly than a man’s. Her chiyuv is to know the halochas of the mitzvos in which she is obligated. Therefore her learning is part and parcel of doing her “mitzvos”, and not Torah for the sake of learning itself.

    However, she still does have a part of real Torah learning by encouraging her husband and sons to study Torah. That is her true chelek b’Torah!

    Therefore, you cannot draw a parallel that since you learn (only) a few hours a day, that your wife should also learn at least weekly. That is comparing apples to oranges.

    Finally, after 120 years you will be asked if YOU were koveh itim b’Torah. You will NOT be asked if you made sure that your wife is koveh itim!

    My Rebbitzen learns every day and it is geshmak to speak in learning with her, but sometimes I think she would get more s’char if she spent the time encouraging my learning with a special sandwich for lunch or a freshly made supper. I personally do not need these “encouragements” but I think she would get more of a Gan Eden. I wish I could set up my wife with you wife for a chavrusa-shaft. My wife does daf yomi.

    Each one of us has an eizer k’negdo. It is our brocha and our nisoyon.

    in reply to: Oorah's Million Dollar Raffle #1049119
    shmendrick
    Member
    in reply to: Shana Tova! #916878
    shmendrick
    Member

    New Year’s is a Christian holiday.

    The Rama in Darchei Moshe Y.D. s. 148 in name of Terumat Hadeshen holds that even in our times, if a Jew wishes to give a present on the eighth day after Christmas which is called New Years, he should send the present during the day prior and not on the day of the holiday itself. And if the day before the holiday falls out on Shabbat, one may send on the day of the holiday, itself as there is a matter of eiva if one sends later than that or more before then.

    Reb Moshe in Iggerot Moshe Even Haezer 2:13 holds that although it is mutar m’ikar hadin, baalei nefesh should be machmir about celebrating this day.

    We, the citizens of the world of Torah and kedusha certainly must take the initiative of being baalei nefesh. After all, those who are not baalei nefesh are nebech soulless creatures, literally and figuratively.

    More so, to steal our time honored greeting of Rosh Hashana, and use that expression of “Shana Tova” – is insulting, since you are placing a tumahday on equal footing as a holiday.

    Boruch mamvil is said even bain kodesh l’chol, kal v’chomer, bein kedusha l’tumah.

    in reply to: Xmas becoming a jewish holiday? #916822
    shmendrick
    Member

    rebdoniel, HKB”H created the internet for harbotzas haTorah.

    in reply to: What Yidden do on December 25th #916792
    shmendrick
    Member

    Some of us commemorate nitel and others commemorate Yom Ha’Atzomos. To each his own!

    in reply to: Oorah's Million Dollar Raffle #1049116
    shmendrick
    Member

    Is it ma’aser if you “gain” something from it?! Even the potential of a “gain” has some monetary value and cannot be considered ma’aser. I am against all such prizes which contaminate and depreciate the tzeddakah given

    in reply to: How do I stop my wife spending??! #1177118
    shmendrick
    Member

    There are frum groups of Shopaholics Anonymous.

    shmendrick
    Member

    WIY – of course I plagiarized a Tosfos in Taanis (cited by the OP) and a Mechaber and Ramo (in Orach Chaim).

    I am announcing that if ever in the future I mention a possuk from chumesh of chazal, it is mamash copied and not my own original works.

    I am embarrassed that you chapped me and I am modeh!

    in reply to: Yartzeit – when niftar is in different time zone than his offspring #917167
    shmendrick
    Member

    lesschumras, I never heard of Classic Comics version of Shas, but you are welcome to make jokes and mock, I view it as a zchus for me.

    shmendrick
    Member

    If the money to provide ones son with a Talmudic Education is derived from Heaven and is not part of the ordinary allotment, why do the Yeshivas base tuition on a person’s income?

    A person’s income which is allotted from Heaven has nothing to do with the SEPARATE amount he is granted for tuition. By basing tuition rates on income, it is going against this Gemarah!

    in reply to: Support from girl's parents in non-Litvish circles #916624
    shmendrick
    Member

    It seems, I assume, that there is no problem mitzad the “intermarriage” of someone from mainstream Klal Yisroel with a those kind of Yidden. A few doros back, my great grandfather would probably sit shiva over such a shidduch – times have changed!

    in reply to: Support from girl's parents in non-Litvish circles #916623
    shmendrick
    Member

    apushatayid, when people tell me that I am a tzaddik, I tell them that I am mikayim “al ta’amin b’atzmicha ad yom moscha”, however, after 120, they are welcome to come to my kever and use it as kivrei tzadikim.

    Alas, the chosheve bochurim who are real bnei Torah have parents who want full support for their sons for 5 – 10 years MINIMUM. Besides that, the standard of support expected is MUCH higher than my own standard of living. This stopped in its tracks a few shidduch suggestions.

    in reply to: Support from girl's parents in non-Litvish circles #916620
    shmendrick
    Member

    apushatayid – I spend 10% of my time being marbitz Torah on the internet, it is my form of tzedakah for those that are less fortunate than me.

    This is a great inyan of being marbitz Torah hashkofos, halacha and da’as Torah. It also allows me to give mussar to those who are spreading kfira and secular hashkofos of the MO, that is also a chosheve intan. Finally, it also allows for a few minutes of “sichas chulin” of talmidei chachomim.

    in reply to: How do I stop my wife spending??! #1177093
    shmendrick
    Member

    Reminds me of the one liner:

    Someone stole all my credit cards, but I won’t be reporting it. The thief spends less than my wife did.

    in reply to: Be nice! #916569
    shmendrick
    Member

    We are so quick to put down our own. If the waitress was talking about YOUR mother or father, would you not be offended!!

    Reminds me of the classic self-loathing Jew:

    A woman is riding a bus in the Midwest, when a man gets on the bus and sits down next to her. He’s wearing a black hat, long black coat, black slacks and shoes, and he has a long curly dark beard.

    The woman looks at him disgustedly. “Jews like you,” she hisses at him.

    He looks up at her, puzzled, and says, “I beg your pardon, madam?”

    She says, “Look at you. All in black, an unkempt beard, never take off your hat! It’s Jews like you that give the rest of us a bad name.”

    He says calmly, “I beg your pardon, madam, but I am not Jewish.

    I’m Amish.”

    The woman looks back and smiles, “How nice. You’ve kept your customs.”

    in reply to: How to get rid of an eyin-horah? #968289
    shmendrick
    Member

    old man, you have a right to your opinion even if it is contrary to chazal and poskim, but please do not publicize it.

    shmendrick
    Member

    Tosafos in Taanis asks how Yocheved could have been born while Jacob and his clan were moving from Israel to Egypt if it was a time of famine (assuming that she was conceived during the famine) as per the Midrash that states Yocheved was born at that time? Tosafos answer that this rule was only a stringency kept by super righteous people like Joseph.

    Shulchan Aruch (O.C 240 & 574) paskens that one should refrain from engaging in marital relations during a famine, as such it is not merely a midas chassidus. The Rema adds that “this applies to OTHER TROUBLES which are comparable to a famine” (240, 12).

    A famine need not be “globally” as was suggested, however, a recession is not comparable to a famine.

    in reply to: Yartzeit – when niftar is in different time zone than his offspring #917162
    shmendrick
    Member

    Maybe BOTH days should be kept to be yotzeh both shitos?

    in reply to: Davening from phone in shul #1195481
    shmendrick
    Member

    I always thought Kabbalah is a limud, that someone can be well learned and versed in it. I never knew that it is like karate and one must be trained in it. Are you a black belted kabbalist?

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916344
    shmendrick
    Member

    americaisover, Are you saying that Chassidim are c”v taking over the Jewish world?! That there soon won’t be any real Litvish?! That the world is coming to an end?!

    in reply to: Yartzeit – when niftar is in different time zone than his offspring #917160
    shmendrick
    Member

    I saw that the Bircas Chaim s. 40 and Tshuvas Doda’ay Hasodeh s. 92 and Kolbo p. 396 hold that like all matters of Torah you go according to where the person is, and here the person is the OFFSPRING who are the ones that commemorate the yartzeit.

    It is a bit of a chiddush to me and counter-intuitive as most of Torah is “da’as balHabayis hepech Torah”.

    In contrast, the Gesher HaChaim ch. 32:14l Shut Chelkas Yaakov vol 2 s. 101, Shut Be’er Moshe vol 2 . 114 all hold that it goes according to the place of the niftar because it is for his neshama.

    Based on that, maybe some yartzeit hanhogos which are for tovas hames (like kaddish) should be commemorated according to the date at the place of niftar, while hanhogos that relate to the offspring (such as fasting, not making a simcha etc.) should be commemorated based according to the day of their location.

    That would result in a “split” yartzheit!

    in reply to: Yartzeit – when niftar is in different time zone than his offspring #917158
    shmendrick
    Member

    Do you have a source or is it your own sevarah?

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916342
    shmendrick
    Member

    yytz – I opened up a Tur and the author is listed as Rabbenu Yaakov, likewise in his hakdamah, he brings remez to Yaakov. No mention of Meir anywhere!

    Chulent – your question comparing multiple first names to bais yaakov (which both are fairly “modern”) is missing a few beans to make a good cholent.

    The BY type of system for girls education was accepted by all gedolim. In contrast, the use of multiple first names was expressed as a disappointment by a number of gedolim (Chasam Sofer, Noda B’yehuda Chazon Ish etc.).

    HaLeiVi, there is an inyan to re institute old minhagim that were eroded over time for various reasons. Consider the lighting of chanuka licht al pesach baiso (as many now do in EY), the lighting of shabbos candles by unmarried girls (an old minhag of the Solivetchik household and others) etc. However, you are right, this must be done with caution since there might be a valid reason why the tradition changed!

    I note that the Baal Shem Tov only had one name, yet among the Lubavitch Rebbes they all have multiple first names except the 4th Rebbe, Rabbi Shmuel.

    in reply to: Davening from phone in shul #1195479
    shmendrick
    Member

    Milhouse, do you happen to know why some people wear their talis in a manner that the black lines are covered (by folding the talis under and tucking in the talis)?

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916335
    shmendrick
    Member

    Multiple first names seems to have started in the last 200-300 years. Before that, it was rare and nearly unheard of. Hence the fascination as to how and why it started. Is it a good thing or is there an inyan to go back to tradition by giving only one name?

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916330
    shmendrick
    Member

    WolfishMusings, You can collect kulah from various rabbonim, and hopefully you follow their chumras too (l’moshel Reb Yaakov would walk by Jewish shopkeepers in Kensingtom Market on shabbos, in downtown Toronto, and scream that them that it is Shabbos! And I hope ypu keep other hanhogas and chumras of the Gra – lmashel, how many matzos do you use at the seder?! Ditto with chumros of Chasam Sofer – he did not shave or wear a Borsolino hat!).

    A kulah collector is a kal she’b’kalim. You can wear that badge with pride.

    However, to mock someone who is me’orer that there are valid reasons to be machmir and be choshesh – that seems to cross the line and become a (paraphrased) “mekal u’mekalel ess harabim”.

    in reply to: mezonos rolls #916499
    shmendrick
    Member

    And I thought Hillel Hazoken invented the sandwich by establishing Korach at the seder?!

    in reply to: Davening from phone in shul #1195474
    shmendrick
    Member

    Milhouse – Post mattan torah examples of kisuy harosh for men and married women as malbush (or da’as) yehudi.

    Names given to children are traditional rather than “made up” as in those days in Mitzrayim.

    But your premise is wrong, the yidden in mitzrayim HAD specific zchusim such as bris milah, eating meat and shchita, not intermarrying or serving Avoda Zara, belief in Hashem, keeping some form of shabbos, studying Torah (-v’es Yehudah shoach lefanav – to set up a yeshiva) etc.

    in reply to: mezonos rolls #916494
    shmendrick
    Member

    polisha chosid – Respectfully, a Rebbe is not a posek and a posek is not a Rebbe. I mean no disrespect, but that is the fact.

    Besides, you yourself write that he was under doctors orders, as such a choleh, which allows for kulahs and to be somech on the mattirim.

    As far as not eating sandwiches, what is the basis for that chumrah? I am always interested in learning of new chumrahs to take on and would take this on if explained! Did he not eat korech at the seder?

    in reply to: Davening from phone in shul #1195471
    shmendrick
    Member

    R.T. – “If that were true, then they would wear a white on white Tallis for Shabbos, and a regular black on white Tallis for weekdays.”

    There is an inyan to have a talis with black stripes. Therefore on shabbos they wear such a talis but hide the black stripes. Some do so even during weekday davening to not be me’orer gvuros. Therefore they wear the tallis by folding the talis under. I have seen gedolim makpid on this (as mentioned, R.Y. of Chaim Berlin, Lubavitcher Rebbe etc.).

    I admit that I have no essek in nistoros (hanistoros l’Hashem Elokeinu, v’haniglos lonu), and I suggest you refrain for it too. Kabbolistic concepts are more complex than merely color coded charts and connecting the dots while passing around names of sefirot, shaymos and tirufim.

    rebdoniel – the malbush of shabbos should not be the same as the weekday malbush, hence “shabbos clothes” and a shabbos talis. (There is a shaylah if one needs “shabbos shoes” – if shoes are considered a malbush for this inyan, (underwear, socks etc are not part of this cheshbon), v’ain kan mekomo).

    in reply to: Validity of Vilna Gaon's Cherem Against Chassidim #915978
    shmendrick
    Member

    PBA- I cited earlier the ma’amor chazal “Moshe shapir ko’amrat” that the godol is actually EVEN called Moshe.

    kohaingadol – Rabeinu Yonah and the strong (at times “disrespectful”) Hasogas HaRa’avad are all with a cheshbon that we, simple people cannot comprehend.

    But c”v to suggest that Rabeinu Yonah was “mistaken” (at a level that we call mistakes). If gedolim and poskim can (and according to you, they actually DO) make mistakes, that undermines the entire foundation of Yiddishkeit (- as the Haskalah and Reform claim that turning on a light CANNOT be a melacha b’shabbos etc.) leading to total kfirah.

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916324
    shmendrick
    Member

    WolfishMusings – “Now you’re up to insinuation that anyone who eats g’brokts is very possibly eating chometz.”

    Re: Gebrokt – I cited chapter and verse that in our times, eating gebrokt is likely eating chometz. (See end of the Shulchan Oruch HaRav there are Shu”t from the Rav. Simon Daled of Shu”t O.C. third para, quoted above).

    You are simply coming with your da’as balHabayis and bringing proof from svoras habeten.

    Re: Giving multiple names – I cited several poskin who disapprove giving multiple names (even when they themselves did). To say that I am “just throwing the most outrageous things you can think of out there” is disrespectful to the poskin I cited.

    I suspect that you believe that ANYTHING you never heard of before must be “outrageous”. Let me assure you that such an attitude is outrageous.

    Would you take such an approach which medicine or science, that if you are told something in those fields that you never heard before – it is “outrageous”?! THAT would be outrageous.

    This is a Yeshivish site for people that are guided by halacha, not just their own limited logic and inadequate knowledge.

    in reply to: Validity of Vilna Gaon's Cherem Against Chassidim #915975
    shmendrick
    Member

    zahavasdad – “So those Rabbanin who said to stay in Europe when the Nazis came were not mistaken”

    They were as “mistaken” as HKB’H. We can’t understand the Holocaust but if we believe HKB”H was Dayan Emes to bring it, enough to EVEN make a brocha BDE, then the Rabbonim’s advice was also emes.

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916319
    shmendrick
    Member

    Indeed, and that is the ONLY Bak Tosfos with two names which happen to be, as I pointed out, the two names of the one person, Yaakov Ovinu. This is quite different than combining names of different people.

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916317
    shmendrick
    Member

    popa_bar_abba – “I will happily disrespect your unbelievable and idiotic thinking that it is pashut. If it was such a real concern like you say, it would be assur m’dina.”

    At the end of the Shulchan Oruch HaRav there are Shu”t from the Rav. Simon Daled of Shu”t O.C. third para:

    “…our eyes see many matzos have on them minute amounts of flour which can be seen by the eye after the baking, this is impossible to deny, and the reason this is not mentioned by the earlier poskin, because then they …but now we are machmir to mix the dough very very quickly and therefore small amounts of flour are found in the dough, as anyone who examines it will discover.”

    So, b’michalas kvodo, indeed, the concern of gebrokt is NOT LESS but GREATER today than in the previous generations!! What was once a hiddur or chumrah is potentially today an issur chmetz b’pessach!!

    This is very serious, and it is a mitzvah to be mifarsem it to the tzibur!! The oneg Yom Tov of eating a matzah-ball comes at the actual risk of an issur d’oraysa!

    in reply to: Validity of Vilna Gaon's Cherem Against Chassidim #915969
    shmendrick
    Member

    Matan1 – They are never wrong.

    What does “emunas” chachomim mean? That you can trust them:

    (a) “most” of the time,

    (b) “some” of the time,

    (c) “once in a while”???

    We, the small minded, cannot grasp what is right or wrong. Even when it may appear wrong, we don’t know the ultimate cheshbon.

    The emunah and bitochon in Hashem is 100%, and the Vayaminu b’Hashem U’b’moshe avdo is at the SAME level of emunah.

    It is PROPER to compare gedolim to Moshe Rabbeinu. Indeed, Chazal compare the gedolim to Moshe:

    Chazal often say about the godol, “Moshe shapir ko’amrat” (Moshe, you said correctly) even though his name is not Moshe, because in every dorr the gedolim are like Moshe – see Shabbos 101b, Sukkah 39a, Baitza 38b, Chulin 93a, Yerush. Nozir 5, 1 etc.)

    Sometimes one godol (Rishon or Achron) will claim that the other made a mistake – but as Chazal tell us, in the city of Rav – the halacha is like Rav, while in the city of Shmuel – the halacha is like Shmuel. Ultimately, in Halacha there is only one Halacha, but in shita and hanhogah, there are many roads that lead to the destination and they are all true.

    in reply to: Validity of Vilna Gaon's Cherem Against Chassidim #915959
    shmendrick
    Member

    Matan1 – “Im just curious-Do you believe that rabbis cant make mistakes, and to say so would be wrong?”

    Our chachomin and Gedolim have syata dishmaya not to be nichshal in “mistakes” (as it says Hashem Imo). To start thinking that they might be mistaken is to question our Emunas chachomin.

    Vayaminu b’Hashem U’b’moshe avdo – the SAME level of emunah in Hashem applies to Moshe (or any Moshe of the dorr). If Hashem can’t make mistakes, neither can Moshe or the gedolim.

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916312
    shmendrick
    Member

    Some actually hold that it is ossur midina because it is korov l’vaday ossur (or at very least, sofek issur d’oraysa).

    in reply to: Validity of Vilna Gaon's Cherem Against Chassidim #915954
    shmendrick
    Member

    Naysberg – are you saying that the Gra made an error and his talmidim were wiser than him and recognized the error? That is like kfira in emunas chachomim!

    I could accept that gedolim hold that nowadays the chassidim are not the “true” chassidim of yesteryear, that is probably true, just as the misnagdim of today are not the “real” misnagdim. Today we are “farmished” and each of us is partly chassidic and partly misnagid – that I can accept, but that’s not what you are tayning! You seem to think that the Gra simply goofed and his talmidim chapped that their Rebbe goofed up!

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916310
    shmendrick
    Member

    147- “The quality of baking the Maztos is far superior to what it probably was in the past and the incidence of unbaked flour is far remoter, so the reason necessitating a ban on gebrokt is far less necessary & called for.”

    Chmetz is “b’mashehu” which is even a speck. When the flour and water is mixed, is it not possible that a minute speck of flour remained on the outside or inside of the dough? This speck of flour can later become chometz if used gebrokt!!

    Ask any lady who bakes challah if it is possible that a speck of flour remained and did not mix into the dough!!

    in reply to: Be nice! #916557
    shmendrick
    Member

    DaMoshe – “My wife and I recently went on a small vacation to a resort. The resort offers kosher food, which is double-wrapped so it can be rewarmed.”

    Did you ask a shaylah if this is muttar and not ma’ras ayin? People ca assume you are eating regular food of the resort and think it is okay to eat there!

    Please don’t tell me you assumed there is no issur because you saw

    “Jews there with white shirts and velvet yarmulkas, chassidim, and MO wearing srugis”!

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916303
    shmendrick
    Member

    oomis – we Torah yidden wear black and white, we see everything as right or wrong, there is no grey.

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916297
    shmendrick
    Member

    nitpicker – “These are not exceptions at all.

    these names are compounds with more than one part. not two names.”

    The Noda B’yehuda provides these examples, look it up.

    You should suggest your p’shat to him. The N.B. suggests other explanations (such as Beribi or Abba being a title etc.) but he did not chap your chiddush (a chiddush that even Moshe did not get from Sinai) that these are simply compounded names.

    As I wrote, it is true that many gedolim themselves had more than one name (which was imposed on them by their parents) and they themselves gave more than one name to their children, yet they discourage it as a general rule. Example I mentioned earlier: Chazon Ish etc.

    As such, it is VERY appropriate if this chumrah can be instituted – that as a general rule we should only give one name, subject to exceptions of sholom bayis / avoiding machlokes, tzorech godol, hefsed merubah, sha’as hadchak etc. But that should be the EXCEPTION, not the rule.

    in reply to: mezonos rolls #916483
    shmendrick
    Member

    “A talmid of such a rav would have no right to be “machmir” and say hamotzi.” Even such so-called “Rabbonim” also agree that a person “can” say hamotzei if he is koveah seudah and eats a shiur. Saying only mezonos is a HUGE kulah.

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916287
    shmendrick
    Member

    New chumrah: Only one name per child. TRADITION!!!

    in reply to: Some notes about what it means to be truly poor… #1001050
    shmendrick
    Member

    David Bar-Magen, when a person is deep in mud, (idna d’ris’cha), it isn’t a time to battle with others.

    Asking for rachmonus with ka’as does not invoke rachmonus, adarrabah. (As the velt says: B’rogez – rachem tizkor, that is a wishful tefilah!)

    If you are full of bitterness, self pity, hate and loathing – come learn Torah. Divrei Torah misamchin ess halev.

    Edited

    in reply to: When & why did we start giving children more than one name? #916285
    shmendrick
    Member

    147 – why are you attributing akuperma comment to me?

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