twisted

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  • in reply to: Stuffing Your Face w/ Marror, Red as a Tomato #940621
    twisted
    Participant

    Horse radish left to grow puts out a great head of saw edged leaves, which are pungently hot like mustard greens. The quote above “the leaves” could well refer to the leaves of the horseradish, if not for the fact that in Radin, or anywhere else that there was snow and frozen ground at pesach, the leaves would not be available.

    in reply to: K'zayis #1146838
    twisted
    Participant

    Sam2 Kezais is a unit of volume, not weight. There is actually a Iggeres of the Chazon Ish wherein he says that the kezais is the size of the normal olive in any place and at any time. Given the size of the medium big olive in EY, and erring way to side of caution, there are shittos that put the measurement at 20 ml, or the outside volume of two soda bottle caps, or that of a small matchbox. The Rogochover Gaon, when asked, demonstrated the size with the top digit of his index finger. We have no reason to assume he was built like Og m.h.

    in reply to: I can't believe its not Chometz! #939073
    twisted
    Participant

    MorahRach, what to do for crust?

    in reply to: Best Kosher l'Pesach instant coffee? #1147777
    twisted
    Participant

    Turkish mud, by Elite

    in reply to: Rambam and Free Market Economics #943240
    twisted
    Participant

    on the ball, maybe ask Reb Doniel for citations, or look it up yourself. The Rambam is a rishon, no?

    in reply to: Rambam and Free Market Economics #943239
    twisted
    Participant

    Yes Popa, there is the concept of asara batlonim, and private Yissochor Zevulun relationships. And you are indeed talented in reading things into the Rambam that are not there, and not reflected in the pesukim quoted

    in reply to: Rambam and Free Market Economics #943224
    twisted
    Participant

    Poppa, that quote tells us that anyone make aspire to kesser Torah, and trust in the havtocho of divine providence. It does not indicate that an individual or community should sit and learn with a hand stuck out.

    in reply to: Chol Ha’Moed Trips #938362
    twisted
    Participant

    I am sorry to be negative, but the whole concept is of poor provenance. I was fortunate in recent years in that my older children had their own plans, and also did not want to be shlepped by us, that I can generally spend a chol hamoed morning in the bais medrash, and the bais medrash is not quite empty. I heard the gaon and tzaddik Rav Brevda ztzk’l on his frequent chol hamoed adresses, and he was wont to speak against the current scene. He said it would be better for some to go to work, and that had he had the power he would abolish “the chol hamoed trip”. The passionate way he said this still rings in my ears.

    in reply to: I Hate Those Cardinals! #942281
    twisted
    Participant

    When I lived in NY we had a nesting pair nearby to our open window.

    When the bird got up for his avodas haborei, I got up for mine. It was an invaluable aid to getting to the netz minyan on time.

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935712
    twisted
    Participant

    Shavua tov Daniela. Thank you for the kind blessing. Never despair of ignorance. It has an excellent cure rate.

    The primary reason for not using salt in matzo is that it renders the matzo Matzo Ashisra, or “fancy bread” and matzo must reflect lechem oni. Secondarily, anything whose effect were unknown were avoided in matzo.

    I consider myself fortunate to have had a good science background, and to have lived in a time and society where science is held in esteem, as it functions as a handmaiden to Torah. I was also fortunate to cross paths with Rav Blumekranz ztk’l. In some of his older publications he listed the physical process of water+b amylase= starch to sugar conversion= native yeast nutrient+ gas and alcohol release trapped as bubbles in gluten=chametz. This process is stymied by salt, but that was maybe not recognize or accepted.

    In halacha there is a mention of kimcha divshuna. This was flour made from roasted grains that was recognized as not subject to chametz. Of course, heat destroys the enzymes, and the yeasts.

    It was forbidden a long time ago because of the risk of a non complete roast. Flour (cake meal) and meal made from matzo is used just in this way, and it cannot become hametz, unless you reintroduce a composite of enzyme and yeast. All this works until you say that chametz is only a spiritual thing.

    I also found a Rashi recently that would seem he held kimcha divshuna was malt, and I have strong theory that the malting process is exclusive of the chametz process.

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935710
    twisted
    Participant

    Daniela: My water in drawn at sunset from a spring outside Jerusalem. I usually take two 1.5 liter bottles, but I have never used more than one. About the stuff becoming faster, there is actually a ruckus being raised by somebody in a Jerusalem Torah think tank, that 18 minutes is a mistaken measure, and the time is much longer. Indeed, you can mix flour and water and just watch it, and the classical halachic signs of chametz do not show up for a really really long time. As I understand the chametz process as a bio-chemical process, I don’t think the dust on the floor will speed things up, as it absorbs moisture, and salt definitely hampers yeast activity and it is the native yeasts that are critical to the hametz process.

    The bitul concept is similar to the hefker concept. You can renounce ownership of what you do own but not of what you do not own. Similarly, I can declare the dough remnant ownerless and meaningless only while it is still not chametz and thus forbidden and not mine to make such stipulations about. And one can make these stipulations to start and stop as one likes, or in this case, the governing rule is set in place prior to its need, just as long as it is not yet chametz. In my case of a micro op, my cleanup is done, averagely at the 7 minute mark, at 11 minuteas I can be preparing the next batch. Also, what falls to the floor, provided it is tiny, the more the dirt, the more it is actually self batel. That the ants might eat what I miss sweeping is not a concern. And the mevutal stuff that we pick up and dispose of , is just because of the virtue of, and need for cleanliness.

    in reply to: Does Planet Earth exist, in Torah terms #935754
    twisted
    Participant

    and Yeshayahu 40:22

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935708
    twisted
    Participant

    daniela, it is called a t’nai lehaba. As after it becomes chametz you no longer have rights to it and cannot batel, you state before you start that what may become hametz, should be mevutal ahead of time. Practically that is 18 minutes. When I wash out my bowl and stuff, after it is down the drain, I don’t concern myself with it, and as a plumber, I can tell you that down the drain is icky enough without the bleach or nonedible? detergent. My process is paper towel and latex glove intensive and what gets washed must get dried. And being Brisk-oriented, I have big medicine in Erev Pesach matzos, I just do it for the Halachic thrill. For that run, we torch the paper and sweepings, and do without the gloves. And in certain dry places, like Denver CO, you don’t own what goes down the drain, i.e. you may not recycle to grey water or toss it out on the lawn. Western water rights and the like.

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935707
    twisted
    Participant

    daniela, it is called a t’nai lehaba. As after it becomes chametz you no longer have rights to it and cannot batel, you state before you start that what may become hametz, should be mevutal ahead of time. Practically that is 18 minutes. When I wash out my bowl and stuff, after it is down the drain, I don’t concern myself with it, and as a plumber, I can tell you that down the drain is icky enough without the bleach or nonedible? detergent. My process is paper towel and latex glove intensive and what gets washed must get dried. And being Brisk-oriented, I have big medicine in Erev Pesach matzos, I just do it for the Halachic thrill. For that run, we torch the paper and sweepings, and do without the gloves. And in certain dry places, like Denver CO, you don’t own what goes down the drain, i.e. you may not recycle to grey water or toss it out on the lawn. Western water rights and the like.

    in reply to: Some Chizuk in the Koach of Tefillah #934401
    twisted
    Participant

    rabbi twisted’s favorite, loosely translated from Sforno Breshis18;12

    “and Sarah laughed” because she thought the statement of the angel was only a blessing from a prophet, and as in the case of Elisha, and not a true prophecy or directive of the Holy One blessed be He. For what is impossible for the aged is not achieved through the blessing of any prophet, indeed the return of youth after old age is alike to the revival of the dead, which can only happen through a directive of the Holy One, or through a prayer which merits grace (chen) from Him.

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935704
    twisted
    Participant

    daniela, the procedure for erev pesach is to state that everything that is left over/falls/crumbs etc. will be batel before they become hametz. If you have a wood fire going, then of course you sweep up and toss it in the fire. You could also flush it down a drain. It helps if you are a micro op and your cycle is way shorter than 18 minutes.

    Saluf pan: Saluf is a teimani fluffy pita type bread made in present times in a cheap aluminum deep fry pan, with a electric element added, and a plug, very much like a free hand manual toaster, but with more wattage. It can be used over a skillet on a stove, or stand alone with just another fitting lid. The single heater set-up is used with the heat above the bread as a boiler.

    For (ashkenazi)matzos, you want heat from above and below, so the saluf pan over a heated skillet, or a double saluf pan with heater top and bottom. My setup is 54cm round, and I do one, or two matzos per cycle, and my matzos are small, heavy whole wheat. If you can do only one at a time a smaller version 25-27cm fits on a stove top like a large pot. These things weigh almost nothing. I don’t know what you would do to make them suitable to 110V. Here you can get oven elements made to order. The down sides are that like a pizza oven, you don’t see the baking, you need to know your dough and oven and have the timing down, otherwise the matzos can be easily incinerated. They are unspeakably cheap junk, and the labels indicate they are made in Jordan or in the PA. I have plans to build my own, in welded steel, with rectangular elements to get away from the cheap.

    For the handy, anything that can bake a pita, with some slowing down, or heating up, can bake the much thinner, less water containing matzo. I have seen a table top pita baker that had a metal mesh link belt and internal toaster arrays. The wet pitas were fed onto the belt, and they came out the other side baked and puffed up. If the mesh were narrowed to hold a matzo, either slowing the transit or beefing up the heater would do the job, and the belt always moving past the heaters is continually kashered.

    in reply to: How to kasher sinks for Pesach #1070573
    twisted
    Participant

    yitzyk, the element of a water heater should be in the $20-30 range if you want to experiment, or if in EY, the element for a dud shemesh can be had for about 20 nis. Just take care not to shock yourself or worse rlzn. But about cooking your sink to Kli rishon, do you account for the goo that holds it to the counter, the rubber gasket on the drain, and the grunge that collect under the strainer?

    in reply to: How to kasher sinks for Pesach #1070571
    twisted
    Participant

    I would strongly discourage you to blowtorch a stainless sink. You can warp the metal or otherwise change its molecular mix and it will never be the same.

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935698
    twisted
    Participant

    Also a standard pizza oven without its legs is not that large. For matzos, you might need to beef it up with some stone, and redo the gas orifices for tanked gas. Remember that there is a balance between fire power and thermal retention mass. Too much mass gets heavy really fast.

    in reply to: How to kasher sinks for Pesach #1070564
    twisted
    Participant

    Many hold irui roschin is enough for stainless sinks, A few racing kettles should be enough for most.

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935697
    twisted
    Participant

    If you have any recourse to use electricity, you can fit my rig in a suitcase. A large double saluf pan, basically two cheap aluminum pots with electric oven elements top and bottom. It is very light, but I get better results using a cordite stone rather than an aluminum tray. That limits the space to one and a half standard hand matzo. Total wattage is around 2k. I run it off two different 16 amp outlets.

    in reply to: Best Brand of Pickles #942668
    twisted
    Participant

    Funny, I just used a recipe that called for pickle juice in the rye bread.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934110
    twisted
    Participant

    daniella, I don’t beleive that dust is and issue here. I have not sifted (npi) through all the sources on kitniyos, but I have seen many and cross contamination with dust does not come up. It is noted in halochos of the flour grinding, and matzo baking. From what i have seen with my own inquisitive eyes, there is more chometz in the matzo than in the kitniyos. Some cases: In a major Brooklyn bakery, I saw florescent bulbs in the stair wells and the work areas coated with white grunge. In a very famous family operation, they used a professional dough docker (rheddler) to perforate the matzo. They cleaned it by running it over a motorized wire brush wheel, spraying whatever may have been on the rheddler into the work room. In Jerusalem, I saw a major matzo op, using alternate tables and multiple doughs to minimize labor down time. Between tables, the crew wiped down their stainless rolling pins, but did not wash their hands. And there are the famous stories of the Bais Halevi and his matzo baking precautions. So enjoy your machine maztos, just watch out for the fingertip, hands, arms, bone fragments or other unintentional inclusions of human body parts.

    in reply to: Hair Loss with Yeshiva Guys #1170606
    twisted
    Participant

    On some people, hair covered is hair denied. And the whole oilam is high risk for vitamin D deficiency, which can then cause many things.

    in reply to: Advice dealing with morning Chavrusah #933316
    twisted
    Participant

    Solid early AM chavrusas do not quite grow on trees. It’s more a matter of mazel, and sometimes even more mazal than a shidduch.

    in reply to: Best Brand of Pickles #942658
    twisted
    Participant

    Syag, green tomatoes is an art form and I am a stickler for green cherry tomatoes, which is very tough to get in quantity unless you grow it yourself. Also in EY there are only hot paprika types, not thick walled like jalapeno, so I made just 35 ml from a single plant. This year iyh, there will be thirty plants. It’s a mild jalapeno named Pizza.

    in reply to: Rennin and Science #933425
    twisted
    Participant

    DY for most cheese, the milk is held at 90F, even through the renin pitch.

    in reply to: Clothing�Small sizes #933436
    twisted
    Participant

    Try finding a place, perhaps online, that caters to Asian women.

    in reply to: Best Brand of Pickles #942655
    twisted
    Participant

    poppa, it took us a spell to eat the 8 kilo batch, and they soured as they went. You could also try transferring to or starting in a wooden container, and the barrel I am sure has its influence. In the crock recipe, the tannins from the grape leaves contribute is the key.

    Syag, I suppose you would not like my pickle jalapenos.

    Toi, this establishment operates on the eid ehad neeman bissurim metnod, but you could come for a tutorial.

    in reply to: Best Brand of Pickles #942637
    twisted
    Participant

    Twisted’s Pickles. We stock cucumber in brine, cauliflower in brine, turnip in brine. We also do saurkraut. Trouble is you need to come to me in Jerusalem for samples. For the free and the brave, here are some recipe outlines:

    Standard brine: 1/4 cup salt to quart, use kosher salt, do not use anything iodized. Using only the freshest produce, pack a 2quart/litre clean glass sealable jar. Add 3-4 cloves garlic, and tablespoon of pickling spice (coriander black peppercorn, mustard, dill seed, allspice, cinnamon, black cumin (ketzach, black nigella). Boil enough brine to fill the stuffed jar. Cap and let cool. Refrigerate. Cucumbers are done in a day, but more complexly flavored in one week.

    For the really adventurous, try to get a large crock of say 3 gallons. Fill with cucumbers and spices, layered with fresh grape leaves (seasonal). Fill with cold brine, seal with food grade large plastic bag filled with water. Let stand two weeks. If not invaded by kahm yeast, you will have medium sour perfectly crunchy pickles

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934086
    twisted
    Participant

    yehudayona: The Mechaber has it as an issur to mix in matza as it can accelerate chimutz, Rama just says we don’t use it at all because it is ‘like kitniyot’,without elaboration. Mishna Brura there give the reason that is is davar demidgan, as in the older texts, midi demidgan. This is the broad brush of kitniyot, as it subject to many definitions. Some that I have heard or seen:

    Handled like grain

    Harvested like grain

    Looking like grain

    Legumes

    Substitution for grain

    Growing in pods or in clusters

    As you can imagine this can broaden the range of what is exactly kitniyos.

    in reply to: Same-Day Mezuzah Checking in Boro Park #933283
    twisted
    Participant

    just be prepared to buy new mezuzos, a certain precentage will present letters that cracked in the unrolling. My suspicion is that it is not a small percentage.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934077
    twisted
    Participant

    zahavasdad, mustard seed is not new, the Rama lists it as one of kitniyos because it is sharp, and he lists spices which are not kitniyot.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934076
    twisted
    Participant

    zahavasdad, mustard seed is not new, the Rama lists it as one of kitniyos because it is sharp, and he lists spices which are not kitniyot.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934075
    twisted
    Participant

    Ok supreme, you are an alarmist highschooler. I taught high school, so maybe I can help you. This is essentially a discussion of the parameters of minhag kitniyos. There is an expansive approach, such as the Chaye Odom, and there is the conservative view as expressed in many similar subjects as ‘hava velo nosif alei’. The two issues with kitniyos were the contamination with other grains, and that in places of poverty, they were routinely mixed grain bread and kugels as filler. The Chaye Odom said ‘kitniyos and anything like them’ and there were other, and earlier halachic authorities that called the line at the potato, declaring that the minhag is limited to what was known then in early greater Ashkenaz. That clearly puts any New World product (white potatos, quinoa, peanuts, sunflower, etc. outside the parameters of the minhag. Still, we would have to check the unkitniyos item for mixed in chametz grains. And lastly for accuracy, for eating chametz, the result is kares. To err in kitniyos, there is no listed punishment. Enjoy your matzos.

    in reply to: No Thanks for Your Mishloach Manos! #1009911
    twisted
    Participant

    I have always made the effort to send real food, as opposed to theme junk, and packaged sugary snacks. That does not preclude creativity. Mishloach manos should not be that different then the homemade comfort foods that we send as chessed packages to kimpatorin. That’s the essence of the Halocha, n’est pas?

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934068
    twisted
    Participant

    supreme, do you call to close a bais medrash when there are lively discussions? Why do you feel threatened by honest give and take?

    truthsharer, not a berry. Quinoa is amaranth seed. The plant is a weed like tall stalk with broad leaves, the seeds are born in tassels at the top. The whole plant is edible, but the seeds are tiny and hard to separate from the chaff.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934057
    twisted
    Participant

    Akuperma: I indicated it is a hypothesis. I heard another ‘halacha vein morin ken’ that kitniyos in the green state is no worse that chameshes haminim in the green state, and those are mutar. So had I been an absolute hermit, I would enjoy fresh corn on the cob. I no longer have that yetzer horo though, cause most if not all corn is now Mosanto carcinogenic, and for the young guys, it can possibly mess up your fertility.

    And corn had the misfortune to be named with the European term for just about anything grainy.

    in reply to: Pesach Done Affordably #932812
    twisted
    Participant

    Old man, if you are in the US, where olive oil is fairly cheap in large quantity, why would you use canola which is likely a GMO product, and omega-6s are implicated in degenerative diseases, bar minan.

    in reply to: Pesach Done Affordably #932811
    twisted
    Participant

    Yaakov Doe, if I am not mistaken, there is no cane sugar grown in mainland US. Beet sugar maybe

    <more people using Hand made Shmura for 8 dayss>

    Unfortunately, the linkage of hand made Shmura and absence of chometz is not a priori. Machine shmura is often toasted to perfection, tasty, way cheaper, and more often chometz free.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934054
    twisted
    Participant

    Checking for wheat would not be that hard, as wheat kernels are roughly 15-30 times larger that a quinoa grain.

    If you broadly define “midi demidgin” as “growing in “sharvitim” the it would qualify as kitniyos, HOWEVER,

    if you say that gezeras kitnoyos did not “cross the Atlantic” and that anything native to the Americas (the potato for instance, and also zachur latov, peanut oil) is not kitniyos, then quinoa is also not subject to the gezera.

    in reply to: The Four Shadchanim #931410
    twisted
    Participant

    or the shadchente that calls from halfway around the world because “someone told me you have boys”

    in reply to: Hebrew Calendar Resynchronization #931386
    twisted
    Participant

    Old man, I know my perspective is like the blink of an eye, but in my eight years in EY, the physical signs of sprimg, wild grains and the like are always in tune with the 4 parshiot. We see the seasonality very clearly, even in a year such as this that is in the earliest part of the variation.

    in reply to: Sholom Zechorah #1118637
    twisted
    Participant

    PBA, why the condescending comment on minhag Sfarad, you could have remained silent.

    in reply to: Phone number for Chessed org that sends people to read Megillah #930462
    twisted
    Participant

    Bekitzur, the Mishna Brura in Shaar Hatzyun tav resh peh tet/tet vav rule against a woman reading for other women, citing an unfootnoted Tosafos.

    in reply to: Too Much Candy on Purim #929959
    twisted
    Participant

    I do my part by sending a shaloch monos of a whole grain roll and some corned beef, and I limit to two or three incividuals. Maybe it will rub off, one person at a time.

    in reply to: Ideas for Mishloach Manos!! #929014
    twisted
    Participant

    pastrami and pickels

    apple cobbler and cookies

    chalupshis and rice

    Toss the sugar and theme narishkiet, keep it to minimum numbers and return the mitzva to its intended profile

    in reply to: Kinder Chocolate – Kashrus Status #1142834
    twisted
    Participant

    Kasher, no joke, thats how the oilam eats turkey.

    in reply to: 3-4 Minute Dvar Torah on Malchus #928603
    twisted
    Participant

    maybe contrast the failed malchus of Shaul, with those of David and Shlomo, and then the failed malchus of Rechavam. Shaul is an intensely interesting character.

    in reply to: Anyone Else Tired Of The NYC Muni Meters? #928314
    twisted
    Participant

    How uncivilized! In EY, you get an ezpark doodad for 90 shekel at the post office, and you charge it up with a credit card at a Yellow gas station kiosk or cashier. It has codes for all the municipalities, hour options, and you shut it when you come back to the car, and you only pay for the time elapsed.

Viewing 50 posts - 301 through 350 (of 814 total)