Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Rav Dovid Weinberger Shlit”a mentioned cellphones as another cause of divorce. People pay more attention to their machines than to their spouses. Or people are taking care of their kids and instead of giving them attention, are on the phone with or texting someone else. Kids need personal attention.
I’ve seen them in my local judaica shop. They only come in 1 color (guess which one!)but they are washable.
Getzel, Oilem goilem.
Clearly many rabbonim felt that one should vote for Christie. Not because of taxes as much as for moral reasons.
The NY Post does not belong in a Jewish home unless someone censors it to be borrer ochel mitoch p’soless.
They now sell washable yarmulkes.
I wash my kids’ yarmulkes in a soaking tub and cold . They do get faded but it’s better than dirty.
But if you did your research and feel so strongly, as the “kreina de’igarta” it’s your achrayus to see this through. Somebody has to be meshiuga ledavar echad to get something done.
I remember that my rav was against those who investigated and found out that the supermarket distributors were Jewish. Since chometz she’avar alav hapesach is a derabanan, we are not mechuyav to investigate further. Similarly, stam yaynam is not chazer treif. it’s a very real isser, but it’s derabanan, and we’re not mechuyav to be machzik rei’esah where none exist. Furthermore, apparently they feel they investigated the matter enough to feel comfortable with their psak. Finally, Even where this is vadai sherry casks they seem to feel that it would be muttar nevertheless. Rav Dovid Feinstein Shlit”a allows all scotches, even where the label says sherry casks. My rav does not, but will accept one where it’s not on the label. What does your personal rav say?
Wolfish, there are many loopholes around that one. There is a “Lakewood vaad” which isn’t officially the yeshiva, but represents the yeshiva’s interests. The yeshiva itself never officially issues a proclamation.
Sherry, clearly anything regarding bittul is a kulah the kashrus agencies usually don’t like to accept anymore. However, for Scotch it’s different- maybe because there are no good alternatives. I did read through the Minvchas Yitzchok (2, 27, page 57), and while he does mention many of the points you raised (avidi letaamah, bittul lechatchila), at he end he is “metzadeid lehakel”, which surprised me. He is known to be machmir as per the mesorah of the Edah Chareidis. He was not giving a definite psak though. Perhaps the kashrus agencies are relying on the fact that the penetration is halfway combined with the fact that really strong liquids like whiskey, the bittul is less (Rav Moshe mentioned this one in his teshuva), plus the fact that cleaning DOES remove some of the absorption. Finally, as the Minchas Yitzchok himself said, you aren’t tasting the sherry cask. You are tasting a smoothness caused by the sherry cask and other processes. The kid in the shul who can allegedly detect a sherried whiskey (and if he is that much of an expert on scotch, then kashrus is the least of his problems)is not tasting sherry. There are kosher sherries on the market. Taste them, and then taste the scotch, and tell me if you can detect any resemblance of it in the scotch. (The Taz says we can be somech on te’imas yisroel if it’s kosher, and the kashrus agencies say it is).
I showed your papers to my rav,who quickly looked at it and said
“He’s arguing on the biggest experts!” I do trust my rav, who’s a straight shooter, so for me the question is closed. However, I like a good controversy, Send in your work to Kashrus Magazine, the kashrus agency watchdog magazine, or to Rabbi Yudel Shain, who likes to stir the pot in the kashrus field. They will create a ra’ash which will result in the issue being addressed by all kashrus agencies.
Lakewood started out as a resort town with a frum population that was unrelated to the yeshiva. In time, the yeshiva grew to the point that it became THE kehilla of Lakewood. Now the community is growing in directions other than the yeshiva. Everyone should have a personal rav and ask him. The yeshiva has a right to push what’s best for it. If it bothers you, there are plenty of other Jewish communities.
Sherry, it’s a possible snif lehatir.( The caveat being that I’m a baalabos not a rabbi, and it’s been a while since my Yoreh deah farher.) The casks can’t absorb more sherry than their wood can hold. Once they clean it out, it reduces the amount of sherry in the wood. I’m not sure what the cleaning process is, but it’s clear they don’t use a davar hapogeim so we don’t have that one. Also, is it possible to dissect the wood and see how far the absorption penetrated? Sherry is a staining liquid, and wood would reflect it.
My rav is a “so saguru mipnei ish” type of rav. If the research holds up, he will have no problem telling me not to drink scotch. My relative in the kashrus agency is a similar type of individual. He’s not beholden to any special interests. He’s also a teetotaler and will not be affected by the truth however it comes out.
They have a right to tell people how to vote, and people have a right to ask their Daas Torah if they should go along with it.
Cleaning the casks reduces the amount of absorption in the cask.
Rav Moshe’s use of the pri megadim’s pesicha shows us that “avida letaama” is not the same thing as “kiyuha”- when it’s a very weak taste it doesn’t count as a taste. It sounds like from his teshuva that wine is different from other Chana”n in that once the wine is diluted past 1:6, it IS NO LONGER WINE. So even if the sherry cask is less than 1 in six, once they blend it with other non-sherry cask scotch casks it would no longer be wine, at least lefi Rav Moshe ZT”L. However, according to the bittul beshishim crowd (who say we follow the shach over the Tashbeitz it would seem that your research is me’orer a shaila. I printed it out and will show it to my rav. I also emailed it to a relative who is a mashgiach for a kashrus agency. I asked my rav on Shabbos and he was dismissive of anything changing in the world of scotch. Ein ledayan ela ma she’einav ro’os, so I will show him your magnum opus, and until then, Yishtu ashirim veyishkaru.
Sherry, please email it to mod-42 and he’ll email it to me.
Who do you mean by BMG? The whole student body? Rabbi Aharon Kotler the CEO? The hanhala? The vaad?
It was quoted by someone from Baltimore, and it was said at the Kashrus conference.
The first post was typed on a mobile device in a side beis midrash, thus the weird formatting.
In general, we are machmir if we know there is a claim of sherry casks, even though according to Rav Moshe ZT”L it would be acceptable, just like we are machmir today not to use products where there is bittul beshishim. However, sherry casking is a shevach. Why should we assume they use them if they’re not on the label? No matter what they say in a private letter, they don’t get busted for false advertising unless it’s on the label. So if they don’t advertise it, it’s probably not true. Furthermore, even according to Sherry Cask’s info, they only use 20% sherry casks. They also reuse casks. Furthermore, Star K’s website says they clean out the casks. That has to reduce the amount absorbed into the alleged sherry casks.
Bottom line,
1. Shema ein kan issur klal- if they don’t advertise it, who says they’re using it?
2. If they are using it, who says they’re first-run casks?
3. even if they are using first-run casks, they are cleaned out beforehand.
4. Even if they weren’t cleaned out, beforehand, they don’t use 100% sherry casks, if they are in fact using sherry casks.
5. Even if they were using 100% sherry casks which were uncleaned, they would still be battul besheish according to Rav Moshe ZT”L. As it is, they’re most probably battul beshishim according to the machmirim, if they are, in fact, using sherry casks. A typical barrel holds 50 gallons. There is at least 8 times as much liquid as there is to wood (maybe more- I’m having a rough time figuring out how to Google this). So even if the cask was dirty (which it is NOT), all you need is 8 regular casks to one theoretical uncleaned sherry cask to have bittul beshishim according to the machmirim who follow the Shach.
Hamodia and Binah have been trying to reduce the stigma with various articles about the issue.
I just read through the relevant Igros Moshes, yd 1 62 (63 and 64 are refutations of the machmirim)
and yd 3 19. He is talking about OTS wine which is blended into
whiskeys to lower the tarrifs. he quotes YD 134:5 where the
mechaber says that 6 parts water to 1 part wine is enough to be
mevatel the wine. in yd 3:19 Rav Moshe zt”l explains this
that even though there’s still a taste, it loses its status
of wine. Wine is different from other liquids. Rav Moshe zt”l
quotes the Shach by yd 134 that by other liquids we need
bittul beshishim. He goes on to refute the Shach with a
Tashbeitz that by sharp liquids you need even less than 6
parts. he still says a baal nefesh should be machmir.
By sherry casks, we are machmir if we know they exist.
But midin, it’s extremely difficult to claim that in a
huge barrel the wood is more than one in six.
It applies EVERYWHERE. The midrash says that Torah is compared to water. Just like water sustains all life, so too Torah. And just like water flows from a high point to a low point, Torah only sticks to one who is humble.
Torah is the most important thing. but making DEMANDS spoils it. The kollel yungeleit who DON’T demand a lot will become the next crop of gedolim and manhigei hador.
The Yated a few weeks ago had an unfortunate vignette with Rav Ruderman ZT”L. Every Friday he would have a line of women asking him chicken shailos. One woman kept showing him good chickens, and he would declare them kosher. One week he finally asked her, “The chickens you show me have no shailos on them. Why do you bring them in?” She answered, “Someone told me A&P chickens aren’t kosher. I feel better serving them after you tell me they’re kosher”.
A rabbinical answer is only as good as his knowledge of the real question.
Interesting tidbit from the Yated parshas Vayeira (I’m a bit behind):
The Steipler used to warn parents against going into debt by buying apartments for their sons-in law in Yerushalayim and Bnei Brak. Someone pointed out to him that the “shpitz” bochurim demanded such apartments. he replied, “Klal yisroel has never been built by “Shpitzim”. Only those who learn with humility and without demands will emerge as talmidei chachamim. Nothing will come of those who make excessive demands.”
An “ask the rabbi” would also give the mistaken impression that this place is fully glatt koshe lefi kol hadei’os.
The best way to get into Lakewood Yeshiva is through the front doors.
Or perhaps chareidim are aware that “great synagogue music” has nothing to do with praying to Hashem, which is what davening is supposed to be about. I go to a concert for music. I go to a synagogue to daven to Hashem.
Chazzanim werwe a bigger deal when nobody has a siddur and needed the chazzan to be motzi them for shemoa esrei. the printing of siddurim changed all that. Chazzanus is enjoyable to some the way opera is to some and petcha is to others. Where some see petcha I see jellied calf’s foot. Where some hear chazzanus I hear “Pavarotti wannabe”. To each his own.
Yated, Hamodia, Mishpacha, and of course the frum news blogs like YWN.
Yes, but not an unlimited credit card. It’s a good time for them to learn about money management.
Put the vodka in the freezer. Makes it taste better.
If the boy/girl cares more about his/her toy than you, you know it won’t get better when you’re married.
Check out Igros Moshe YD 2:116 and YD 4:36. If there is no way to work and have the same level of havana it’s permitted to take tzedakah money to learn.
I come here for the entertainment, and for the impetus to be me’ayein in topics. But yes, the coffee room is not a rabbi, it’s an entertainment forum with people getting to pretend to be rabbis. It also gives people the ability to vent. keeps them from wasting ink in the yated readers write, which is just as silly but you can read it on shabbos.
Like Cantoresq said, chazzanus is usually found in more modern shuls and the Conservative ones. Clearly it can’t be that inspirational.
Tuition breaks are a form of tzedakah. I used to be on the other side of this argument but I’m no longer sure. Paying extra tuition so a kollel yungerman can have his kids attend yeshiva is a form of supporting Torah, and you WILL receive sechar as if you learned, even though you were working. Everyone has their own derech to Avodas Hashem. he schools which have a lower ratio of kollel parents are the MO schools, and their tuition is HIGHER despite the decreased tuition scholarships. Live and let live.
Then the question is, can one work as a medical tech to do the lethal injection? Gentiles are obligated to keep their laws, and one who commits murder has violated one of the 7 commandments of the gentiles and is muchuyav in death.
Josh31,
Rav Moshe Feinstein ZT”L paskened against you in his Igros Moshe (YD 2:116 and YD 4:36), along with the other roshei yeshiva. There is no bizyonos when one is being an eved hamelech. That said, my Rosh Hayeshiva ZT”L felt that one still shouldn’t take the real low-level stuff. I agree 100% that we should all support the benei torah so they don’t have to take it. Being that we are not, the choice is government assistance or stop working. The better of those 2 options is continuing to learn and taking government assistance.
Gregaaron,
there is more than one derech to avodas Hashem, and not everyone is meant to sit and learn in kollel. In fact, my rebbe ZT”L used to believe that for most peole there were diminishing returns after 5 or 6 years, and then tey were better off working (hopefully in klei kodesh) to get to the next level in avodas Hashem. You still have a chiyuv to learn as much as you can before and after work, however. Rashi in parshas Bechukosai says “Bechukosai teileichu” means “tihyu ameilim batorah”- working hard in Torah. That applies to everyone, not just the kollel yungeleit. “Bechukosai tim’asu” means NOT being ameilim in torah, as Rashi says too. Even we baalei battim have to learn. Not everyone is meant to sit and learn in kollel all day. But everyone is meant to learn.
Are you actually comparing learning in kollel to arayos?
Camp Agudah is run by Rabbi Belsky Shlit”a, which is why it was mentioned, as it’s run kehalacha.
As my rav said about the Lipa ban, if you ban it they’ll go to worse. Same here. If you’re on the madreiga to appreciate the fact that it’s not as hartzig and Jewish as other music, gezunteheit. You have every right to be machmir, and ashrecha for your spiritual refinement. However, the “amcha” isn’t holding by this and trying to force it on them will be a kilkul as we already saw with the Lipa ban.
Josh31, Rav Moshe Feinstein in his tshuva (YD 2:116) praises those who suffer the bizyonos of tzedakah to learn Torah. I have yet to hear any rav of stature suggest otherwise.
A scooter is a “Vespa”.
DovidShmuel, vote with your wallet. The refined mentchen don’t like it the music and won’t listen, but banning it will backfire.
Cherrybim, My Rosh yeshiva ZT”L was among those who would relax with classical music,chazzanus, Carlebach, etc. Davening is different. He made that point clearlyI’m actually on the same page with you for carlebach davenings, although the “halachic” ones only do it for Kabbalas Shabbos which is a minhag not real davening.
Programs which normal working people take like WIC, were permitted. Programs liek welfare and food stamps (at the time, the requirements were much tougher) were jot. Food stamps recently became easier to get than WIC and was renamed SNAP. Now it’s allowed by the rules. Of course, this place isn’t other yeshivas, and evry yeshiva is entitled to make their own gedarim, as it’s a 5th shulchan aruch thing.
Cantoresq, you are. But please don’t mind if I vote with my feet and daven in a yeshivish minyan. Like I said, to each their own.
The difference betwene listeing to musical cd’s and chazzanus in shul is that in shul, I am a captive audience, bound by the chazzan’s desire to lengthen davening. When I’m listening to moving niggunim on cd, I choose the time and place. Chazzanus is nice, but not on my cheshbon. Sometimes the cynical part of me says the chazzanus is a way to give everyone a chance to catch up on the latest news.
Chazzanus can be moving. I recall my old mussaf chazzan, who would literally and sincerely be crying by mi yichyeh mi yamus, and yes it brought home the moment. Listening to a chazzan repeat “uvyom” 8 times before saying the word “haShabbos” does not do it for me. There really is nothing to debate here. Chazzanus is like petcha- a nice delicacy for those who appreciate it, but a bit revolting for those of us who haven’t “acquired” the taste. One chazzan told me that chazzanus was more popular in Europe, when their seudos Shabbos were much more spartan, and the chazzan was the weekly entertainment. Times have changed. Enjoy your chazzanus, enjoy your petcha. But please don’t force either of them down my throat.
This was a “klal” answer, for his kolel. The hanhala of the yeshiva gave it out. If you’re looking for real chumros, you might want to try Mogen Avraham zman for krias shema, Rabbeinu Tam zman for Motzai Shabbos, Beis yosef Glatt (with Ashkenaz psakim as well),single-malt scotch, etc. These chumros have a real halachic basis, as opposed to something vague like taking money from the government, which seems to be a chumra designed to do nothing more than make it harder to stay in kolel, and which no rav I know of supports.
A scooter is a Vespa. How about his nemer being striped instead of spotted?