Thursday, July 29, 2010

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Ekev

Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim for the next few weeks, I have been substituting vorts from other Rabbanim each week, rather than leaving the blog without a vort for shabbos. This week, I am again attempting to repeat a vort heard from R' Eli Mansour as recorded on www.learntorah.com. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggid shiur.

Parshas Ekev contains the second full paragraph of Krias Shema. In so doing the Torah has now given the beginning parshios of Krias Shema in consecutive parshios as Vaeschanan had the statement of Shema Yisrael and the paragraph of V'ahavta. Rabbi Mansour commented about the use of the plural form for heart in both of these paragraphs ("levavcha" in Devarim 6:5 and "levachem" in Devarim 11:13. He quoted the gemara which explains that the plural form is used because one should love Hashem with both of his yitzarim.

Rabbi Mansour then asked - how is that one can love Hashem with the yetzer hara (evil inclination)? Isn't it difficult enough to love Hashem with the yetzer hatov?

Rabbi Mansour answered that the yetzer hara of jealousy can be used to serve Hashem. If a person sees another who is more modest in conduct or more devoted, a person can say, I am jealous of how well that individual behaves. Similarly, if one sees another who spends more time learning then he does, the person can be jealous of the limud torah.

Rabbi Mansour then tied the Shema's concept of two yetzarim to the statement in the Aleinu prayer that a person should know Hashem in the Heavens above and the land underneath. Rabbi Mansour quoted the Ben Ish Chai who explains that if a person is thinking about spiritual matters he should always look up (Bashamayim M'Ma'al), but if a person is thinking about physical matters he should look down (al ha'aretz mitachas).

The Ben Ish Chai's concept is easily understood within the context of our daily lives. A person can look at another and say, he learns more than me, he gives more tzedakah then me, he is more involved in community affairs. Of course that same person can look at someone else and say, he goes to minyan less often than I do, or he only goes to one shiur a week and I go to more shiurim. If the person looks up in spiritual matters (Bashamayim M'Ma'al) then he will grow closer to Hashem. On the other hand, if he looks down, then he will not have spiritual growth.

The same can be easily seen in the physical world. A person can look at another and say, he has less money than me, he has a smaller home, he has an older car. Or, the person can look at someone else and say, he has a better job, he takes better vacations, he has a nicer home. If the person looks down when thinking about the physical (al ha'aretz mitachas) he will not be jealous of others.

The Ben Ish Chai then gave a mashal. There was a man who had a servant who he told to disassemble a ladder which led to the roof. The servant went to the ladder and began to take the rungs off, but started at the bottom of the ladder. By the time the servant completed the task, he was on the roof, with no ladder and no way to get down. The servant said to the master - you tricked me, now I am stuck. The master responded - now you understand that when you disassemble a ladder you need to start at the top.

A few weeks later, the master asked the servant to disassemble a ladder which went down into a well. Remembering his past experience, the servant started at the top and began to work his way down. Sure enough, the servant became stuck at the bottom of the well with no way to get out. Again, he complained to the master - you tricked me and now I am stuck. The master responded, you are going in the wrong direction again. When you want to disassemble a ladder which goes down, you need to start at the bottom and work your way up.

The Ben Ish Chai summed up the mashal and gave the nimshal - people are always going in the wrong direction. When a person is thinking about physical aspects he usually looks at someone else and thinks - that person is better off than me, when in reality he should look at someone lower and say, I have it better than him. Similarly, when thinking spiritually we look at another and say, I go to minyan more often, I learn more, when we should be looking at someone better than us and trying to emulate that person.

This is the true use of the yetzer hara in our avodas Hashem.

The Ben Ish Chai then tied this all together with the shofar. On Rosh Hashanah we hold the shofar with the narrow part down and the wide part up. This is a symbol to us that we should be interested less in the physical aspects of this world and more in gaining spirituality.

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Shevuous 30

Shevuous 30 marks the beginning of the fourth perek of Shevuous and the discussion about witnesses and judicial procedure.

Towards the bottom of Shevuous 30, the gemara takes a break from discussing the laws of witnesses and judges and remarks that a person should always judge others for the good. Rashi explaind that the gemara is not talking about court cases, but instead is discussing a person who sees another commit an act which could be viewed as wrong if he is not given the benefit of the doubt.

The discussion reminded me of a story I heard from R' Goldvicht last year (and more recently again from R' Goldvicht a few weeks ago) about a butcher store.

The story involves a man who was walking to the subway when he passed a kosher butcher store. The man saw a treif meat truck parked outside the store and the driver was entering the store. As the man watched, the driver entered the store and was allowed to walk behind the counter. Moments later, the driver exited the store with a smile on his face.

The man then called up the Rav Hamachshir for the store and asked him to pull the kosher certification. The Rav asked - did you see the driver take anything into the store? No, was the answer. Did you see him carry anything out of the store? Again, the answer was no. The Rav Hamachshir said - well then I have no reason to take away the hashgacha.

The man was not happy with the attitude of the Rav and decided that he would no longer shop at the store. He also told all of his friends about his decision and the reason he would no longer buy there. Soon, many people stopped buying at the store, although the owner was never told the reason that his customers were not returning.

A number of months later, the store owner died and his family tried to take over the store. However, within two years they realized they could not make the store profitable and the store was closed.

Approximately six months later, the same man was walking outside the now closed store when he saw the treif meat truck parked outside. The man approached the driver and asked why he was there. The driver answered that he had a flat tire and was waiting for AAA. The driver then said - what ever happened to the store that was here? When the man said that it was closed, the driver responded that it was a shame. The driver then related that years earlier his truck had broken down outside the store. He went inside and was greeted warmly by the owner who invited him behind the counter and let him use the phone. The driver said that the owner was a very nice guy and it was a shame the store was gone.

The man became very distressed and approached R' Reuven Feinstein and asked whether there was some way to remedy the situation. He was told that there was no way to get complete teshuva in this world. However, he could take a minyan to the grave of the store owner to ask mechila. Additionally, he could take on the financial support of the widow and children for the rest of his life.

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Monday, July 26, 2010

Monday's Musings on Sports - The Hall of Fame Does Not Want Who?

As regular readers of this blog are aware, the Monday post was usually devoted to sports with highlights and analysis of the Max Kellerman show which formerly aired on 1050 ESPN Radio. Although Max resigned from 1050 more than a year ago, I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

While driving down from camp, I heard a great discussion on the Mike & Mike in the Morning Show about the Hall of Fame. This past weekend (besides being visiting day weekend in many Jewish sleep away camps) was also Hall of Fame Induction weekend at the Baseball Hall of Fame. As such, the annual debate over whether steroid users should be inducted into the Hall of Fame raised its ugly head again.

The impetus for the discussion on the radio program was the final segment of Sunday's "The Sports Reporters" TV program which ended with Pedro Gomez stating that members of the Hall had been reaching out to voters to ask them not to vote steroid users into the Hall of Fame.

While people feel strongly about whether steroid users should be allowed into the Hall of Fame, the discussion on the Mike & Mike program took an interesting turn as the guys talked about whether these players would be elected to the Hall by those who would be voting ten to fifteen years from now. There was a feeling by some guests that eventually there will be steroid users in the Hall of Fame, while others felt that the baseball purists would prevent those who achieved their gaudy numbers by unnatural means from joining the Hall.

The discussion about the use of steroids and its unnatural muscular additions reminded me of a mashal (parable) said over by the Dubna Maggid about the Torah's commandment not to add mitzvos (Ba'al Tosif).

The commandment not to add mitzvos in a way is counter intuitive. It is understandable that the Torah bars someone from reducing the number of mitzvos, but why can't a person add commandments to the Torah?

The Dubna Maggid explained by way of the following mashal. A father whose daughter would soon be married wanted to give his future son in law presents. The father of the groom told him, just make two suits and it will be enough. The father of the bride argued with him and said that he wanted to make three suits. The father of the groom tried to persuade him to allow for three suits, but the father of the bride was steadfast.

After the discussion concluded, the groom asked his father why he would not allow the father of the bride to make three suits. The father replied - I know that he is poor and that he has allocated the funds that he has to make the suits. If he makes three suits they will be of lesser quality. You are better off with two suits of decent quality.

The nimshal is that Hashem created the human body with the capacity to perform a finite number of mitzvos. If the person pushes his body to do more mitzvos than the 613 in the Torah, both the additional mitzvos and the original 613 will suffer. As such, Hashem would prefer that a person do the prescribed mitzvos well and not add new mitzvos which will take away from their capacity to properly perform.
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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Sunday Night Suds - Joseph's Brau Summer Brew

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Trader Joe's in house summer offering - the Joseph's Brau Summer Brew.

When growing up, every child is taught the lesson, "don't judge a book by its cover." While this is generally a good idea in life, the reverse is not always true and especially when it comes to beer.

There are quite a few good beers out there which don't have flashy labels, commercial or come ons. These are just good brews which can be enjoyed with meals or friends or together with friends at a meal. The label is not needed to sell the bottle, as the beer itself is just known as a good beer.

Then again there are beers which go to great lengths to attract the imagination of the buyer by coming up with ingenious labels or risque names.

And then there are beers which try to sell themselves as the beer of the summer, such as the Joseph's Brau Summer Brew. These are beers to stay far away from as they are usually light beers masquerading as regular brews or contain far too much flavoring to be truly considered beer.

The Joseph's Brau Summer Brew definitively falls into the former category. While the beer advertises itself as a Kolsch style brew, it tastes more like a Pilsner, and a weak one at that. The beer pours a pale yellow, with no nose and little flavor. The bottle indicates that it is 4.8% abv, but I can't taste the alcohol.

Joseph's Brau Summer Brew is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit and there is a tiny Va'ad Hakashrus symbol on the back of the bottle. Please keep in mind that not every Trader Joe's brew is under kosher supervision, so check the label or search my site for the link to the latest list of beers under kosher supervision.To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Joseph's Brau Summer Brew, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10707/50429.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Vaeschanan

After a week off from blogging due to various family and religious obligations, Kosher Beers returns with Thursday's Parsha Tidbits on Parshas Vaeschanan.

As mentioned in last week's post, since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim for the next month, I would like to substitute a vort from other Rabbanim each week, rather than leaving the blog without a vort for shabbos. This week, I am attempting to repeat a vort heard from R' Eli Mansour as recorded on www.learntorah.com, which (in my mind) is linked to a vort said by Rabbi Frand a number of years ago. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggidei shiur.

Rabbi Mansour indicated that in Parshas Vaeschanan, Moshe prayed 515 prayers that he be allowed to enter the land of Israel. Although R' Mansour did not explicitly state the source for the number of prayers, I surmise that it is the gematria of Vaeschanan.

After the 515th prayer, Hashem says to Moshe - "rav lach" - you have prayed enough, please stop. Rabbi Mansour asked - why did Hashem allow Moshe to pray so many different prayers (as each of the 515 were different from each other)? Why didn't Hashem tell Moshe to stop praying much sooner, as Moshe's request was not to be granted to him?

Rabbi Mansour answered the question by citing chazal for the famous concept that "no prayer goes unanswered." It is possible that a prayer can be put on hold in one generation and it will be answered in another generation. Hashem knew that at some point the Jews would be in need of prayers, and Moshe's tefillos were put away to be used when the Jews are in a perilous situation.

Rabbi Mansour then explained that a person may pray from the heart and still not get the answer he is looking for at the time. This does not mean that the request won't be answered for a different person or at a different time.

Rabbi Mansour then analogized the situation to blood bank. A person will donate blood to the blood bank to be used in the future as needed. If that person needs blood, he may receive it back from the blood bank. However, if another person needs blood, the "banked" blood will be available to that other person to address his medical needs.

So too with the prayers that are made. Hashem may not give the person what he is asking for when he prays. But the prayer will be answered down the road and Hashem will assist him or perhaps his children or grandchildren.

A number of years ago, R'Frand told a story during one of his Thursday Night shiurim which related to the concept of no prayer goes unanswered. R' Frand spoke of a man who was walking on the street in Tel Aviv and was asked to join a minyan. The man protested multiple times, stating that he was not religious and had never been in a synagogue. Eventually, the man agreed and joined the short prayer service. The man later became Orthodox as a result of the experience.

Meanwhile, the gentleman's father became the butt of jokes on his Kibbutz. How could his son become Orthodox when his father had raised him to despise religion. The answer was that it must have been the prayers of the grandfather for his son. While the grandfather was unsuccessful in convincing his son to become frum, his prayers did not go unanswered. Instead, the grandson became the beneficiary of his grandfather's prayers and tears. It should be no great surprise that the synagogue where the man's journey to religion began was the same shul that his grandfather himself had prayed in.

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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Devarim

Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim for the next month, I would like to substitute a vort from other Rabbanim each week, rather than leaving the blog without a vort for shabbos. This week, I am attempting to repeat a vort heard from R' Eli Mansour as recorded on www.learntorah.com. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggid shiur.

In Devarim 1:10 Moshe tells the Jews - Hashem your G-d has multiplied you and today you are like the stars in heaven in abundance (using the word in Hebrew, LaRov). R' Mansour asked, the Jews are less than one half of one percent of the world's population, so what does Moshe mean about being numerous like the stars in heaven? Rabbi Mansour answered --look at a star from afar, it looks very small. However the star in its true size is larger than the planet earth. So too the Jews, they may look small from a distance, but see what they have accomplished and how well represented and renown they are in the prestigious fields, and you will see up close they are much larger than they appear.

Rabbi Mansour then quoted a vort from the Ben Ish Chai on the use of the word LaRov. The word itself is spelled chaser - without a cholam between the reish and vet. As such, the word can read LaRav. The significance of this relates to a machlokes between Rav and Shmuel, but requires an introduction.

When a person is sleeping, his soul goes up to shamayim and admits the sins the body did during the day. There is a punishment and a penalty which comes from doing sins. The punishment comes from doing the sin against Hashem. The penalty is for damaging the soul, a piece of Hashem which does not belong to the person and to which he commits me'ilah by sinning.

When the soul goes up to testify, it is not the only entity that wishes to speak about the sin, as the act of sinning has created an angel which too desires to attest to the act. However, the soul and the angel have different rules of procedure. The angel wants to appear at the heavenly bet din to testify, but cannot do so at night because the bet din does not sit in judgment at night. However, the soul can testify at night and manages to get its testimony in first.

The soul's ability to testify first is highly significant. The gemara brings a machlokes about a person who admits an act which is punishable by a fine before the witnesses come. Rav teaches that a person who admits an act which is punishable by a fine and then witnesses come, the person is exempt from paying the fine. Shmuel disputes this as he says that the person's testimony before the witnesses appear does not exempt him from payment of the fine.

Boruch Hashem, the halacha is like Rav and our soul's testimony exempts us from the penalty which accompanies the punishment. The Ben Ish Chai explains that Bilaam when he blessed the Jews in Bamidbar 24:23 states Oy Mi Yichyeh Mi Sumo Kel. However it can be read as MiShmuel, by which Bilaam states - who could live if Shmuel is right and the soul's advanced confession is incapable of deflecting the penalty.

The Ben Ish Chai also supports this with a sentence from Tehillim in which it states "v'salachta l'avonee ki rav who" which can be explained as Hashem will forgive our sins because the halacha is like Rav.

This is what the meaning of the pasuk that Hashem makes up great that our neshama can testify at night and that way tomorrow during the day we will succeed, because the halacha is like Rav.

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Monday, July 12, 2010

Monday's Musings on Sports - The King and Noba

As regular readers of this blog are aware, the Monday post was usually devoted to sports with highlights and analysis of the Max Kellerman show which formerly aired on 1050 ESPN Radio. Although Max resigned from 1050 more than a year ago, I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

For those of you who grew up in the 70's you may remember a GM car called the Chevy Nova. Urban legend is that the car did not do well in Mexico as Nova is purportedly similar to the words No ba which in Spanish mean will not, as in the car will not go.

This past week we watched the end of the Lebron James spectacle and learned that he had chosen Miami as his new home. We also learned soon thereafter that James will not go home to Cleveland again.

I don't begrudge LeBron James having the right to leave Cleveland as a free agent and make as much money as he could with another team. As a famous sportscaster once said, in the age of free agency you root for the laundry, not the player.

My issue with LeBron is more related to how he made himself the focus of attention by requiring all of his potential suitors to fly out to Akron to see him (rather than visiting the cities himself). Also, LeBron had dropped hints for more than a year that he was considering leaving, while at the same time giving the Cavaliers fans (are they now the Cadavers again?) false hope that he would be returning to Cleveland.

The final straw in this charade was the made for TV news program that King James designed to let the world in on where he had decided to go. This was just over the top in my opinion as James could have easily just issued a press release or agreed to be interviewed on a sports or news program. But this was not enough honor for King James who needed to host his own hour long program in prime time where he explained why he was going to Miami.

The King James charade reminded me of a Rashi on one of last week's parshios (Matos). The last two verses of the parsha recite the names of cities which were built by Menashe's children. When Yair captured cities he called them Chavos Yair. When Nobah captured cities he called them Nobah. However the word which should explains the renaming of Nobah is spelled without a dagesh (emphasis) in the letter heh. Rashi cites R' Moshe HaDarshan who explains that the emphasis is lacking because the city did not retain Nobah's name. Why? According to R' Mansour it is because Nobah named the city his own name to show that this was all that he was about. It was not called Nobah City or Nobah Town, just Nobah. When a person makes his money or possessions his entire life, it is a shallow existence and doomed to fail.

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Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sunday Night Suds - Lakefront IPA & Nine Days Havdalah Guide



This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Lakefront Brewery's IPA and also provides KB's annual 9 days havdalah guide.

Found this brew at Beverage World in Peekskill, NY. Store had a very good selection of kosher certified brews including a nice selection of Redhook and Lakefront. Staff at the store was very helpful and pricing was decent.

This year's variation on the Lakefront IPA was far superior to prior vintages. The beer poured the same apricot type color, but the hops were very citrusy and the bite was nice. I enjoyed my brew on its own with my daf, but I strongly suspect that it would go well with bbq or rotisserie chicken and potatoes.

Lakefront Brewery IPA is under the kosher supervision of the Star-K (there is even a Star-K on the label).

For the experts' take on the IPA please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/741/40416. As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Bonus section - 9 days Havdalah Guide

In years past, I have been approached in shul on shabbos chazon (the Saturday within the summer nine days mourning period) and asked what would be a good choice to make havdalah on. By way of introduction, on Saturday nights after the evening prayer is said, Jews have a special set of blessings that are said by which we separate between the holy shabbos and the rest of the week. There is a custom to say this prayer on a cup of wine, however this custom needs modification when the Saturday falls during the nine days of mourning.

As noted by the Orthodox Union on their website:

Meat and wine are prohibited during the Nine Days, except on Shabbat. Meat and wine are associated both with joy AND with Temple service. Both reasons combine to explain this prohibition.Even though havdala is officially after Shabbat, one is permitted to drink wine. It is preferable to give the wine to a child who is old enough to understand brachot but not yet old enough to understand the concept of "mourning for Jerusalem". Alternately, some authorities recommend the use of a substitute beverage for havdala such as fruit juice, beer, etc. Other authorities insist on wine as usual.
Should your local Rabbi direct you to utilize non-wine in your havdalah, there are multiple options to use to fulfill the havdalah requirement. Indeed, my father in law will use diet soda (or as he says "diet pop"). I recall as a child seeing my father on one occasion use hard alcohol for havdalah (and then burn the decorative plate my sibling made when he tried to put out the candle).

To me, the simplest answer to the havdalah dilemma (and one that is widely recommended by rabbinic authorities) is to use beer, which in the time of the talmud was called chamra d'medina - the wine of the masses. This brings us to the reason I get more summer phone calls and email around this time every year - which beer would I recommend?

The number one problem with the question is that most people who ask it don't generally drink beer, so they need to have something to use for havdalah that won't have them making faces in their attempt to drink the halachic minimum level for the blessing. The second problem is that since the havdalah cup is imbibed on its own (i.e. without the benefit of food) people who might be inclined to have a beer with a meal will still have problems finishing their cup when the beer is consumed on its own.

The easiest solution is not to have beer, but instead to make havdalah on what is commonly called alcopop. These are malt beverage drinks with some similarities to beer and a beer-like 5% alcohol content by volume, but do not have the beer taste. Some examples are the Boston Beer Company (aka Sam Adams) Twisted Teas and the Zima beverages produced by Coors. Another example would be the Smirnoff Twisted V/Twisted Ice line. However, caution is urged as not every flavor is certified Kosher. Indeed, the last time I looked at these in the beer store, most of the Smirnoff's were not certified kosher. For the complete list of those Smirnoff products and other alcopops approved by the CRC, please click here http://www.crcweb.org/kosher/consumer/liquorList.html#Beer .

If you do like beer, or would like to drink something that is more manly than alcopop, the next step up would be an American wheat beer (such as the Blue Moon line, Saranac's Hefewiezen or Pomegranate Wheat) or some of the better Summer Ales such as Brooklyn Brewery's or Sam Adams' Summer Ale. Many of these beers have been reviewed on the pages of this blog and you can search through prior Sunday Night Suds reviews to find one that might appeal to you.

If you are a beer aficionado, you obviously won't need this post to tell you which ale or lager you should crack open for havdalah.

May the world have a tikkun from our three weeks/nine days observances and may tisha b'av soon be transformed to the holiday that the gemara tells it will be in the times of moshiach bimheira biyamenu.

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Thursday, July 8, 2010

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshios Matos Masei

The following is a brief summary of two thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parshios. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

Parsha Matos begins with Moshe telling the heads of the tribes about nedarim. This is out of the ordinary as a parsha usually begins "and Hashem told Moshe to say [to the Jews]." However in this parsha Moshe speaks directly to the roshei matos without the Torah specifying that the source was from Hashem. The language of roshei hamatos is also unique as the Torah usually describes the people as nesi'im, not as roshei hamatos.

Rabbi Frand quoted R' Alpert who cited the Rashbam in Chukas about the maa'aseh meriva. In this parsha, Moshe is told to pick up the mateh and then later told to talk to the rock. Ultimately, Moshe is punished for using the staff, rather than speaking to the rock. But why is he told to pick up the staff in the first place? The answer Rabbi Frand gave is that Hashem was trying to teach Moshe a lesson about how to interact with the Jewish people. Hashem instructs - there are two ways to interact and influence the Jews, either by speaking to them or by hitting them. This time, the lesson is that the pen (or in this case the spoken word) is mightier than the sword.

When Hashem tells Moshe to take the staff, Hashem is saying take the staff, but then go and talk to the Jews. Hashem attempts to teach Moshe a lesson that every leader and Rebbi or Rov must know - you don't need the stick. You can have as much impact by speaking.

Matos is a parsha about speech - nedarim. A person can have a Rabbinically certified kosher meat sandwich, but if he has sworn that that he will not eat meat, then it is as great a sin to eat the sandwich as if he has eaten not kosher food. This is the power of speech. Therefore the parsha begins with Moshe telling the roshei hamatos, because Moshe has learned the power of speech and he can then instruct the leaders of sticks that they can lead with power or with speech, but leading with speech is much more effective.

A second vort was said over about Parshas Masei. R' Frand again quoted R' Alpert who remarks that the parsha recites the 42 stops which appear to be ancient history and almost irrelevant. So why are the mas'aos mentioned? Indeed, many of the locations mentioned were mile markers where things did not go well for the Jews. Chazal teach that Refidim marked the location where the Jews washed their hands of Torah (rafu yideihem) and therefore they were attacked by Amalek. Another location was Kivros HaTavah where they complained about the food they were eating.

R' Frand asked - how do people look back on their less than stellar past? They usually try to forget it. The Torah however tells us, remember your past that you did not act properly, but you were able to pull yourselves out of it and move on. The Torah then teaches 42 locations to show that there were glorious moments and not so stellar times. The message is that the Jews should be aware of their mistakes, not repeat them and at the same time see how they overcame them.

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Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Shevuos 9

Shevuos 9a contains a statement which the gilyon on the side of the daf warns should not be taken literally. There is a reference to a ma'amar which states that Hashem said that the se'ir offered on Rosh Chodesh should be michaper for Hashem having reduced the moon. The following post is a brief discussion of this statement.

The gemara's allusion is to a well known story which is quoted by the gemara in Chullin about the moon. The moon used to have the same powers of illumination as the sun, before Hashem reduced its strength. The event which precipitated the moon's reduction was a conversation that the moon had with Hashem in which the moon stated -two powers cannot wear the same crown. To this Hashem responded - so go and reduce yourself.

Again, I stress that the gilyon on the side of the daf makes the understatement of the day that this is a sod of the sodos of the world and that it should not be taken at face value.

I had the bracha of being able to sit with Rabbi Shalom Rosner when he gave the daf and specifically dealt with this topic. The following is a brief summary of some of his explanations of this very deep topic.

One way to learn the subject is to avoid the literal meaning. Tosafos (d'h Se'ir) explains that Hashem has observed that the Jews need kapparah and that in order to allow them forgiveness He created the concept of the Se'ir which is brought once a month. In order to make the moon feel better about being reduced, Hashem established the first day of the new month (when the moon is first seen) as the day that the karban was brought.

Rabbi Rosner also mentioned the Chasam Sofer who explains that l'asid lavo, the moon will be as luminous as the sun. However, since Moshiach has not yet come, the moon has not reached this level. The reason of course that Moshiach has not come is because the Jews have not done proper teshuva. Since we are not conducting ourselves correctly we are preventing Hashem from returning the moon to its former state and we need kapparah.

One other concept was brought down in the name of the Tosafos Harosh who equates the situation to a master who disciplines his servant for doing something wrong. Sometime after meting out the punishment, the master approaches the servant and attempts to make the servant feel better about being punished. So too here, Hashem punishes the moon for questioning Hashem's methods of creation and as a result the moon is punished. Hashem now laments having needed to punish the moon in an attempt to make the moon feel better.

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Monday, July 5, 2010

Monday's Musings on Sports - The Off Court Courtship of the NBA

As regular readers of this blog are aware, the Monday post was usually devoted to sports with highlights and analysis of the Max Kellerman show which formerly aired on 1050 ESPN Radio. Although Max resigned from 1050 more than a year ago, I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

July 1st marked the beginning of the most highly anticipated free agency period in NBA history. For more than a year and a half, NBA teams have been paring salary and dumping players for little more than a bag of balls, in an attempt to get far enough under the salary cap so that they can bid on the likes of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Amare Stoudamire, Joe Johnson and other basketball stars.

To the casual fan, it might appear as if the team that has the most salary cap space would be able to sign the best player. However in the NBA, the rule is that a player who signs with a new team can get a "max salary" offer which is the same as any other "max" salary offer which can be offered by nearly every other team. For the year 2010-2011 the max salary is an ungodly $20 million per year, which can be offered by every team in the NBA, except the team which stands to lose the player. The "home team" so to speak, can exceed this figure to sign their own player.

Already there have been indications that a few players (Joe Johnson the most prominent of them all) will sign with their prior team and take advantage of the home team bonus cap money.

However, for the player who does not want to sign with his old team, there are many offers which are nearly identical in terms of $$$. For example, LeBron James can sign with any potential suitor (other than the Cleveland Cavaliers) for the same dollar figure. So what differentiates the offers? According to the news reports, there are two main differences - whether the potential new team can win soon and who is making his way out to Cleveland to meet with King James and his entourage.

As far as the first category, I can fully understand why it should matter to the player whether the team he is going to is ready to make a championship run. But the second category, where the player analyzes whether the team has sent its best people to recruit him, I completely cannot understand. Why should it matter if the team's owner comes down to the first meeting? Do the dollar figures change? And who cares whether the team's most prominent former players have come along on the recruiting trip? Will they come out of retirement to play too?

The whole scenario reminds me of Bilaam's complete failure to hear Hashem's message to him when Bilaam was told not to go with Balak's men. In Bamidbar 22:13 Bilaam tells Balak's henchmen that they should go to their land because Hashem does not want Bilaam to go with them.

Rabbi Frand asked the following question about this verse - why did Bilaam only tell half of his prophecy from Hashem to Balak's men? Why did he not tell them that Hashem also told him not to curse the Jews? Rabbi Frand quoted R' Chayim Shmulevitz who explained that Bilaam did not intentionally omit the second half of the command. Rather, Bilaam (like most people) only heard what he wanted to hear. When Hashem told Bilaam not to go with them, Bilaam assumed that meant that he was not to accompany them because they were low level help and he should have been escorted by the king himself. In so doing, Bilaam conveniently ignored the rest of the command (which is seen later in the parsha when he does attempt to go and curse the Jews).

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Sunday, July 4, 2010

Sunday Night Suds - Redhook Rope Swing Summer Pilsner



This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Redhook's newest summer offering, Rope Swing Summer Pilsner.

This summer, the folks at Redhook decided to change up their summer line by brewing a Czech Pilsner. They indicate that this is the first pilsner that Redhook ever brewed. To borrow a line from Gordon Ramsey, the attempt was "spot on".

As explained by the experts at BA:

The birth of Pilsner beer can be traced back to its namesake, the ancient city of Plzen (or Pilsen) which is situated in the western half of the Czech Republic in what was once Czechoslovakia and previously part of the of Bohemian Kingdom. Pilsner beer was first brewed back in the 1840's when the citizens, brewers and
maltsters of Plzen formed a brewer's guild and called it the People's Brewery of Pilsen.

The Czech Pilsner, or sometimes known as the Bohemian Pilsner, is light straw to golden color and crystal clear. Hops are very prevalent usually with a spicy bitterness and or a spicy floral flavor and aroma, notably one of the defining characteristics of the Saaz hop. Smooth and crisp with a clean malty palate, many are grassy. Some of the originals will show some archaic yeast characteristics similar to very mild buttery or fusel (rose like alcohol) flavors and aromas.
The Rope Swing Summer Pilsner has many of the qualities in the BA definition, although not exactly in the same balance. The beer poured a golden yellow, not as pale as some other pilsner that I have encountered. The hops were there, but it was not as spicy as I expected. Still, the beer was quite crisp and the malt was delicious. I had my first on Friday night and shared it with Mrs Kosher Beers and a friend who was visiting with us and we all really liked it. I had my next with my July 4th BBQ dinner, after patriotically attending the B-Mets Fireworks Night with Mrs KB and Moshe and Tali (Mets win, Mets win!) and the beer was still holding my attention.

Redhook Rope Swing Summer Pilsner is under the kashruth supervision of the Orthodox Union. For the experts' take on the Rope Swing, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18134/56977.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Finally, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Pinchas

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand in his shiur this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

Rabbi Frand began his parsha vort this evening by making the observation that the beginning of Parshas Pinchas and specifically the part of the parsha from which it draws its name is actually the continuation of Parshas Balak. We see that the first nine of the pesukim in Parshas Pinchas (Bamidbar 25:10-18) complete the story which began in the end of Parshas Balak when Pinchas took a spear and killed Zimri and Kuzbi. In this week's parsha, Hashem announces that Pinchas has taken away His anger when Pinchas acted as a kanaee (loosely translated as a zealot) and that therefore Hashem will make with Pinchas a covenant of peace.

The obvious question is - what is this doing here? The segment of the parsha should have been included in the end of Parshas Balak so as to complete that story!

Rabbi Frand answered by citing to the Tolner Rav who explains that a person who acts as a kanaee is in a unique situation and must be examined to see if his actions were proper. There are some people who act because they truly are doing so to glorify Hashem's name. However, there are often times others who will act because they like to fight, or perhaps they have another agenda. If one wants to examine whether a person who acted as a kanaee really did so l'shem shamayim, one must step back and then look at the totality of the circumstances before drawing a conclusion.

This is of course not to say that Hashem requires any time to step back and examine and evaluate Pinchas' actions as Hashem knows what is in the hearts of men. However, when a person wants to evaluate whether someone who acted truly did so out of a desire to glorify Hashem, the evaluator must step back and consider all facts before drawing a conclusion.

The above concept can seen at the end of Parshas Balak. The Torah recites at Bamidbar 7:25 that Pinchas took a spear in his hand. Why did the Torah need to recite that Pinchas took the spear and then in the next pasuk describe what he did to Zimri and Kuzbi? The answer is that Pinchas was not walking around with a spear looking to use it to keep other people in line. Indeed, Pinchas was a grandson of Aharon who was a lover of peace and one who chased after peace. Therefore he needed to pick up the spear first before he could use it.

Rabbi Frand then told a story about a shmuz given by R' Chaim Shmulevitz in 1972. There had been a store in Tel Aviv which had sold "inappropriate items." Someone who disagreed with the store's activities burned the store down. R' Chaim indicated that the perpetrator was not a kanaee as a true kanaee must love peace and search for it. The man who burned down the store was certainly not a peace seeker.

This is the reason that Hashem gave Pinchas the covenant of peace as a reward. In general, peace prizes are not given out to murderers (Y Arafat exempted of course). Pinchas went against his very nature and killed Zimri and Kuzbi because someone needed to act to protect Hashem's interests. Hashem rewarded Pinchas with the covenant of peace - a promise that Pinchas would never need to kill again.

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