Saturday, August 27, 2011

Motzei Shabbos Special - Second Half of the Hurricane Irene Vort

Boruch Hashem, Shabbos went well in West Hempstead and we still have power! It was wonderful to see the kiddush Hashem of people here opening their homes to those who were required to leave their homes in the mandatory evacuation zones. As mentioned in the Friday vort, I heard a great shiur from Rabbi Mansour (available on www.learntorah.com) linking water, Sukkos and Parshas Re'eh. Unfortnately, with all the pre-hurricane and erev shabbos preparations, I was unable to summarize the whole vort in the pre-Shabbos post. As such, I have attempted to provide more of the shiur in this vort. 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.

R' Mansour also mentioned another mitzva that Jews do which appeased the water from its complaints. In Parshas Vaykira it states - "al kol karbancha takriv melach" - all sacrifices must contain salt (which is derived from water).

The Zohar further links the water's complaint about being separated to another important concept - machlokes l'shem shamayim. People can get into arguments which are negative or detrimental. But there are also arguments which are l'shem shamayim - arguments for the sake of heaven. The Zohar states that the first argument l'shem shamayim was the water complaining about being separated from Hashem. This is hinted to in the word shamayim - it can be broken down to be sham mayim - there is water there which the waters on the earth wanted to rejoin.

Once the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, the Jews were expelled from the Land of Israel and were exiled to Babylonia. When they arrived in Bavel they sat on the banks of the river and lamented. This is recorded in the mizmor - Al Naharos Bavel. In this mizmor it is written "sham yashavnu, gam bachinu" - there we sat and we also cried. R' Mansour asked - what does it mean that we also cried? He explained that the water was crying because the connection which it had to Heaven was severed when the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed. As such, the Jews joined the waters in crying for the destruction of the temple.

I would like to touch on one last point that R' Mansour made in this shiur about water. He mentioned that in Tishrei, Jews go to the water to do Tashlich. R' Mansour then mentioned a different angle on the age old question of why we go to the water to do Tashlich. He explained that the waves are constantly rising up before they come crashing down to the shore. The reason the waves rise up is that they aspire to be close to Hashem again like they were before the waters were split. When we go to the water to do Tashlich, we should be motivated by the water to want to rise up and be close to Hashem.

May we all be blessed with all the water and motivation we need as we stand on the precipice of Chodesh Elul.

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!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Pre-Hurricane Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Re'eh

Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim on the Parsha until Elul, 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.

With the hurricane bearing down on NY and the eastern seaboard, it seems particularly appropriate to write about water and the one holiday most susceptable to water - Sukkos.

In the end of Parshas Re'eh, the Torah discusses the holidays including Parshas Sukkos. In describing Sukkos we attribute the term Z'man Simachaseinu - the time of happiness. The Torah uses the term simcha twice in Parshas Re'eh in connection with sukkos. The question is why is Sukkos a happy time?

The simple answer is that this the time that farmers are happy. They have toiled in their field all summer and at Sukkos they have harvested their crops as the rains are coming soon. But this cannot be the sole reason that Sukkos has the nickname Z'man Simchaseinu.

R' Mansour explained that the holiday of Sukkos has a unique ceremony - the pouring of the water. All year long, karbanos have three general components - meat (animal or bird), flour with oil and spices and wine. All three are not necessarily involved in every sacrifice, but these are the main components.

On Sukkos, during the non yom tov and shabbos days, the Jews would have a party demonstrating their happiness in drawing the water. The gemara explains that one who never saw the simchas beis hashoeva in their lifetime never saw happiness. This simcha was related to water which was drawn from Shiloach (currently known as Silwan) and brought up to the Beis Hamikdash. The water was poured into one of the sheesim - a hole in the corner of the altar.

R' Mansour quoted the Zohar who explained that the concept of the shisim was hinted to from the time of creation - Bereishis can be broken up to say Hashem created the Shisim where the water was poured.

The Zohar explains that the significance of the shisim was that they salved the water's conscience. The water was upset that Hashem had divided the water below and the water above. It cried to Hashem for being separated from shamayim on the second day of creation. To make the water feel better, the Jews bring water to the Beis Hamikdash on Sukkos and it is poured on the mizbayach and brought up to shamayim to rejoin Hashem.

I will try to post more about the significance of this water after Shabbos during the hours leading up to the hurricane.

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!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Chullin 58

Much of Chullin 58 is devoted to the topic which dominates the perek - which defects will render an animal or bird a tereifah. However, following the clarification of the halacha that a male animal must live for twelve months after the traumatic event in order to leave the category of (safek) tereifah, the gemara digresses to discuss the life span of gnats and flies. Within this brief discussion, the gemara relates a "contemporary" saying which demonstrates to me that (at times) everyone gets into a row with their spouse.

After stating that a gnat cannot live for more than a day, the gemara asks - what about the story of the female gnat which for seven years turns down its spouse and would not mate with him. The male gnat had earned the ire of his mate by observing a man emerge from swimming in the river and had feasted on the man (i.e. sucked blood) while the man was towelling off, all without letting the female gnat know that there was a feast available.

The gemara uses this story to challenge the one day life span statement, before concluding that the "seven years" is relative to the length of time that a gnat lives. Rashi explains that in reality, the female gnat stayed away from the male gnat for only a few minutes. Still, the story made me smile and I am sure that there is a lesson out there for someone. Perhaps the "moral" is that any couple can fight, but the key is making sure that it only lasts for a few minutes and not seven years.

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!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Monday's Musings on Sports - When Up is Down, Down is Up

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 (he has recently resurfaced on ESPN Radio in Los Angeles), I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

Last week a story broke about the NCAAs which demonstrates the utterly absurd and arbitrary nature of the NCAA player eligibility rules. The story involved efforts by collegiate athletics to change the permitted post practice snack given to college athletes. As boosters and unscrupulous administration members in college sports have ruined sports for everyone, there are specific rules as to what can be provided to players after a practice is over. As was reported in the media, players can be given bagels but without spread or toppings. The NCAA is now considering revising the rule to allow for cream cheese or other spreads to be provided with the bagels (just don't call the shmeers). In an industry where colleges make millions of dollars on their athletic programs and the athletes only receive scholarships to attend the school without any monetary payment, it seems to me that at the very least the team could provide its players with a decent post practice snack. However, this is the very same NCAA which fined coaches for having their players over for dinner or g-d forbid taking a player out to eat to connect with the player.

On the other end of the responsibility scale for the NCAAs is the topic of whether the student athletes really need to be students. Under the current rules, players can leave for professional sports such as basketball after one year in school. If the player is really good, he knows that he will be leaving after the first year and he obviously does not concentrate on school. The NCAA post season tournaments only add to the distraction from academics since the conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament require the athlete to miss weeks, if not months of classes while the team travels the country.

The twin stories made me think about a mashal from the Ben Ish Chai which I heard on a Rabbi Mansour shiur (available for download at http://www.learntorah.com/). The mashal involved an employer who told his employee that children were coming and he was afraid that they would try to climb onto the roof. The employer asked his employee to disassemble the ladder so that the children would not be able to climb to the roof. The employee climbed on to the second rung of the ladder and then removed the first rung. He then climbed to the third rung before removing the second rung. Eventually, the employee reached the roof and was unable to get down. The employee screamed for help and the employer helped him down. When the two men reached the ground the employer told the employee - its important when you disassemble ladders that you start from the top and work your way to the bottom.

Months later, the employer again was expecting children to visit his home and was worried that the children might climb down into the well. The employer asked the employee to disassemble the ladder which led to the bottom of the well. This time the employee started at the top and rung by rung, disassembled the ladder until he reached the bottom. Of course at this point he was stuck at the bottom of the well and again needed rescue. When the employer came to save him, the employee protested - but I started at the top. The employer responded - you need to be aware of where you are -sometimes you must start at the bottom and work your way up.

Unfortunately, the NCAA administration too often suffers from a lack of perspective as to what is important. Instead of focusing their attention on whether the athletes have received an "improper benefit" of cream cheese or even (heaven forbid) lox with their bagels, the NCAA administration should be trying to find ways to guarantee that the student athletes have a fighting chance to get a quality college education. After all, only a select few college athletes will make it to the professional leagues.

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!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Sunday Night Suds - Lake Placid Winter Lager



This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Lake Placid Winter Lager.

On my last trip up to Camp M, I made my annual summer trip to Peekskill Beverage World on Main Street in downtown Peekskill. Beverage World is one of those beer stores that prides itself on carrying a wide selection of brews ranging from macros to local craft brewers to the best of the domestic micros.

The one minor problem with a beer store like this is the turnover or lack thereof. While some city based beer store have a great deal of foot traffic, you need to know that Beverage World exists or stumble across it in order to find this place. The result is that the stock can be old and dusty and you need to pay attention to what you are picking up. I came very close to buying an Octoberfest which I thought was getting a jump on fall beers before I checked the Gregorian bottle ID and saw that the beer was left over from fall 2010.

Of course, this is not to say that all the beer in the store was past its prime. I picked up a six pack of fresh Lake Placid Hefeweizen and was on my way up to the register when I saw the Winter Lager. Although I knew that it was made in late 2010, I had to mix one of them into my Hefeweizen six pack. I was glad that I did.

The Lake Placid people (OK the Saranac people) may call this a Winter Lager but in truth its really more of a Bock, which is just another reason to seek out this brew. The beer poured a dark amber with a little lacing that stayed on the glass for longer than I could have expected. The first taste was bready and the refined sweet but dry flavor of the brew stayed with me well after the swallow. I would even consider ranking this up towards a dubbel as the alcohol content (6.5% abv) and the alcohol flavor push in that direction.

Lake Placid Winter Lager is under the kashruth supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit, as it is bottled at the FX Matt plant in Utica. For the experts' take on Lake Placid Honey Rye, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1888/64328.

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).

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, August 18, 2011

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Eikev

Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim on the Parsha until Elul, 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.

Parshas Eikev begins with a list of tremendous berachos that Moshe tells the Jews will come to fruition if they will listen to Hashem's commandments. Among the berachos is the promise that Hashem will remove all illness from the Jews (Devarim 7:15).

The gemara asks - what kind of sickness is this? The gemara answers in the name of Rav - it is the ayin hara which will be removed.

R' Mansour asked - what is ayin hara. He answered by making reference to a gemara in Berachos 20 which talked about R' Yochanan who was asked why he was not concerned about ayin hara. R' Yochanan answered that he was from the tribe of Yosef who cannot be touched by ayin hara. But why are they exempt from ayin hara?

R' Mansour answered by quoting rabbanim who offered the following explanation. If a person sees another person's wealth he should recognize that it is from Hashem. However, if the person is impressed with the object, he detaches the item from Hashem as he gives the recipient the credit for the object instead of recognizing it as from Hashem. At this point, the ayin hara can attach to the object unless the object can be reconnected with Hashem. How is this accomplished? By saying baruch Hashem - by attributing the success or the item to Hashem and not the owner of the object.

R' Mansour then quoted from Parshas Ekev again where it states that a person may have great wealth and think that he himself is responsible for it (Devarim 8:12-17). The pasuk immediately says thereafter that the man must remember that it all comes from Hashem.

Yosef had mastered the art of recognizing Hashem and reconnecting items with Hashem. When Pharaoh had Yosef brought down to him to interpret the dream, Pharaoh tested Yosef. He told Yosef (Bereishis 41:15), I had a dream and no one can interpret it, but I heard that you can. While a normal person would accept the praise (especially when seeing the king), Yosef does the opposite - he tells Pharaoh its not from me, its from Hashem (Berishis 41:16).

Pharaoh then tells the whole dream to Yosef and then tries to test him again by saying that none of his advisers can interpret the dream. Yosef passes the test by responding to Pharaoh in every pasuk that it comes from Hashem. (Bereishis 41:24-25).

When R' Yochanan responds that he is from Yosef (which he clearly is not since he descends from Yehuda) he is saying -- I learned from Yosef's ways and much like one who teaches Torah to another is like his father, so too I am Yosef's son.

R' Mansour then asked - where did Yosef learn this from? He answered that it was learned from Yaakov. When Yaakov came to meet Esav, Esav observes Yaakov and asks who are these women and children who are here with you. Yaakov resists the urge to say they are mine, instead he says these are what Hashem has graciously given me (Bereishis 33:5).

This is the lesson to us, that when someone comes and praises you for your possessions, give credit to Hashem and you will avoid the impact of the ayin hara.

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

Monday, August 15, 2011

Monday's Musings on Sports - NFL Tidbits - Lovie, Osi and The Whole World

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 (he has recently resurfaced on ESPN Radio in Los Angeles), I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

One of the pleasant side benefits of doing the long drive back and forth to Camp M is the time that I spend listening to interesting things on my car stereo while doing the three plus hour drive each week. For the trip up, its R' Mansour parsha shiurim which I download from www.learntorah.com. For the trip home from Camp M, I listen to almost the entire Mike & Mike in the Morning program on satellite radio (with the exception of 7-8 AM when I am at minyan in Monticello).

As NFL preseason has officially begun, the guys had a lot to say about the slate of games which were played this past weekend. While I was intrigued by many stories, I would like to highlight just two of the topics of discussion.

The first item relates to the Chicago Bears. As avid sports fans may know, the NFL has recently changed the rules for kickoffs. Although kickoffs had been traditionally from the 30 yard line, the NFL has moved up kickoffs to the 35 yard line in an effort to avoid injury due to the fierce collision which occur during kickoff returns.

Bears coach Lovie Smith had decided that he did not want to kick off from the 35 and had his team kick off the first two times from the 30 yard line. The guys explained that Lovie did this so that he could better assess his kick coverage unit. After a few kickoffs, one of the NFL executives called down to the referee and instructed him to warn Coach Smith that he would be penalized if he continued to kick off from the 30 instead of the 35. The remaining Bears' kickoffs all were made from the 35 yard line.

Speaking of kickoffs, its humorous to me that the dysfunctional Oakland Raiders managed to mess up the opening coin toss and wound up having to kick off to start both halves. Apparently, after the Raiders won the coin toss, the Raider player did not defer (which allows the other team to decide whether it receives the ball to start the first OR the second half). Instead, the Raiders player said that the Raiders elected to kick off. As this was a decision on the first half kick off, the Arizona Cardinals were allowed to decide what would occur at the second half kick off. Predictably, the Cardinals elected to receive.

The other intriguing story which I wanted to discuss involved Osi Umenyiora, the NY (football) Giant player who was unhappy about his contract and held himself out of practice due to a supposed injury. As reported in numerous media outlets, Umenyiora is unhappy that his contract has not been renegotiated/extended and asserts that he has earned the right to a new contract based on his performance over the last few years. Umenyiora is scheduled to earn $3.125 million in salary this year and $3.975 million in salary next year, which is the final two years of a six-year, $41 million extension he signed in December 2005.

After Umenyiora's complaints began to publicly surface, the team announced that it was giving his agent the right to negotiate with other teams, provided that the teams would give the Giants a first round pick in return. After no team was willing to pay Umenyiora's asking price, the team revoked the permission and he was required to report to training camp, however after he reported, Unmenyiora "developed" a knee injury which prevented him from practicing and caused him to miss the first preseason game.

Yesterday, Umenyiora announced that he would begin practicing with the team. In so doing, Umenyiora rejected contract incentives which were offered by the team, stating that "I will play under my current deal because I love and respect my coaches, my teammates, the fans, and myself...Not for those incentives."

Umenyiora's statement that he was willing to play for "myself" brought to mind an interesting hashkafic thought about the meaning of bishvili nivra ha'olam - because of me the world was created. The concept that one should consider that the world was created for him is at first quite puzzling. Judaism is about doing things for others and rarely must one put himself first. A person must honor his parents, visit the sick, assist in burying the dead, return lost objects, etc... Furthermore, Judaism shuns hedonism and the concept of "living for today" as we are taught that this world is merely a conduit to the world to come and one should use the opportunity here to do good deeds which we will be rewarded for in the next world. How can a person do all of the above (and more) and still consider that the world was created for him.

I heard an interesting take on this in a Rabbi Mansour shiur (available for download at www.learntorah.com). He explained that the concept of bishvili nivra ha'olam does not mean that I am more important than everyone else. Instead, a person should consider that everything he does has an impact on the world and that the world's continued existence depends on his doing mitzvos. R' Mansour connected this to the concept of tikkun olam - that Jews are charged with the responsibility of fixing past misdeeds by doing positive corrective acts. When a person does a mitzva in a specific location he does more than just a good deed, he corrects a flaw in that spot. By realizing that we are responsible for the world and that the world depends on our acting properly, we can understand how the world was created for (us).

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!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed Vol II



This week's Sunday Night Suds review looks at another variety of the Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - the Simcoe Hop.

As mentioned in my July 31, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Hallertau Mitterfreuh (to see the post, please click here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/07/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html), one of the best new IPAs introduced during the last few years is the Samuel Adams Latitude 48. The name of the beer draws from the five types of hops used in the brew process which all grow along the 48th latitude within the "hop belt" of the Northern Hemisphere. Earlier this year, Samuel Adams introduced its limited edition Deconstructed Box which features beers brewed with just one of the five hop varieties used in the Latitude 48.

For this week's post I sampled the Simcoe version of the Latitude 48. The back of the bottle indicates that Simcoe hops grow in Yakima Valley, Washington and contribute "a profound bitterness and dramatic grapefruit peel and pine resin notes to this brew, with the slight sweetness and full malt body balancing the concentrated hop character."

I was intrigued by the Simcoe hop so I did a quick check on BA and found that this version of Latitude 48 is one of seventy beers which identity themselves as Simcoe hopped brews. [I would publish the names of some of these beers, but past experience has taught me that based on the arbitrary nature of search engines and search queries, people may believe that merely because I mention a type of beer in the blog it must be kosher or even certified kosher].

When trying the beer last evening with Mrs KB, I was (thankfully) unable to taste any pine resin. To me, pine belongs in cleaning solution or air fresheners, not beer. However, there was a nice citrus bite which balanced the malt and made this a great beer to have with charred rib eye steak.

The Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Simcoe is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. Like many other Samuel Adams brews, this bottle does not have the Star-K certification mark on the label.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this version of Latitude 48, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/68400.

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).

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


Thursday, August 11, 2011

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Vaeschanan

Parshas Va'eschanan begins with Moshe recounting his plea to Hashem that he be permitted to enter the land of Israel and Hashem's denial of his request. The Vilna Gaon teaches that Moshe had learned from the Malach HaMaves the secret to having prayers answered and that therefore Hashem had to tell him, "not a word more!"

The Vilna Gaon explains that Moshe had been taught that the use of the word "na" (please) twice in the same request is a formula for having prayers answered. The Vilna Gaon gives the example of the prayer that Moshe said when Miriam was sick "Kel na refah na la" - Hashem please heal her please. Of course we know that Miriam did recover.

In the same way Moshe sought to invoke the double "na" in Devarim 3:25 where he pleads "Ebra na v'ereh es ha'aretz hatovah" - can I please cross over and see the good land. The Vilna Gaon explains that Moshe wanted to add the word "na" a second time after the word v'ereh. However, (as related by Moshe in Devarim 3:26) Hashem told him to stop - "Al tosef daber eylai" - do not continue to speak to Me about this.

The Gemara in Sotah 14a brings a Medrash that explains the conversation between Moshe and Hashem. The Gemara asks - why did Moshe plead so insistently to go into the land of Israel? Did he need to eat its fruits and be satiated by its goodness? Rather Moshe said to Hashem - You have given the Jews many mitzvos which can only be fulfilled in Israel. Let me in so that I can observe the mitzvos. To this Hashem responds - since you wish the reward for keeping the mitzvos, I will give you the reward for having fulfilled them.

The Gemara's question and answer are difficult to understand. Why would Hashem think that Moshe's request was to simply eat the fruits of Israel? R' Chayim M'Volozin (as cited to in the Yalkut Lekach Tov) is bothered by the question and answer on an even deeper level - he asks whether Moshe only wanted the reward for the mitzvos (as opposed to doing the mitzvos themselves) and why is the answer that he will get the reward a sufficient response to Moshe's request?

R' Sorotzkin in his sefer Azanyim L'Torah suggests a thought which neatly ties up the questions raised above. R' Sorotzkin writes (mipi kabballa) that eating the fruits of the land of Israel has the power to deepen a person's devotion to Hashem. With this yedi'ah we can easily answer the above questions. Moshe did actually want to eat of the fruits of the land, because he wanted to attain this higher spiritual level. R' Chayim's question is answered in this way as well, Moshe did really want the result of the mitzva - it was not that he wanted to taste the fruits - he wanted to eat them in order to get the reward that came from eating them (the higher level of devotion to Hashem). As such, Hashem's answer to him was sufficient - although you will not make it into Israel to eat the fruits, I will give you the reward as if you did.

We can see the lesson of Moshe in our daily lives as well. In a shiur that I was listening to earlier today (available on http://www.learntorah.com/), R' Mansour discussed how there was a gentleman who was a regular at the early minyan. Everyday like clockwork, the man would show up to shul and be one of the first ten for the minyan. One day the man came very late to shul and was in obvious distress. R' Mansour came over to him and asked why the man was late. The man explained AM and PM - he had needed to reset his clock and when he did so he accidentally set the alarm to go off in the afternoon. Since the alarm did not wake him at the proper time, he was unable to get to shul on time and he was quite upset about this. R' Mansour consoled the man and explained - there are times that we seek to do something but for whatever the reason we are prevented from doing so. If we think to ourselves - OK I guess I can't do the mitzva that I wanted to do, we are not given a reward for our actions. But when a person tries hard to do the mitzva and is prevented from completing the task through no fault of his own and he is disappointed, the person is credited as if he performed the mitzva.

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

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Sunday Night Suds - Shiner Old Time Alt

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Shiner Old Time Alt. [I apologize for the lack of picture, but as discussed below, the one bottle we had was tossed out before I thought of taking a picture of it].

This past Friday Night, one of our friends brought over the Shiner Reunion Family Pack after shabbat dinner and we sat and sampled two of the varieties along with some divrei Torah on the parsha. I was familiar with all the varieties except the Old Time Alt so that was one variety that we tried. The other beer that the three of us split was the black lager which is one of my favorites. (To see my review of the Shiner Bohemian Black Lager, click here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/08/sunday-night-suds-shiner-bohemian-black.html).

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Yosef S. had found Shiner in Hackensack, New Jersey as it meant that the great beer of Texas was gradually moving closer to New York. I had heard rumors that Shiner was being offered for sale in NJ and had emailed the company, looking for who might be carrying its brews.

Before getting into my thoughts on the Old Time Alt, I think that it would be prudent to define the style Altbeer as it is not a very common brew. For this I turn to the experts at BA, who explain that:


A Düsseldorf specialty, an Altbier is a German style brown ale, the alt literally translates to "old" in German, and traditionally Altbiers are conditioned for a longer than normal periods of time. Other sources note that "alt" is derived from the Latin word "altus," which means "high" and refers to the rising yeast. Take your pick, but the extended conditioning mellows out the ale's fruitiness and produces an exceptionally smooth and delicate brew. The color ranges from amber to dark brown, medium in carbonation with a great balance between malt and hops.

As Mrs KB and our friend noticed, I was having a very difficult time with the Shiner Old Time Alt. This was not due to a defect in the beer, it was my inexperience with the brew style and my palate's attempt to link the beer with my expectation or other brew style that I was familiar with. The beer had some maltiness and a spice that I just could not put my finger on. The beer was not very heavy (it rates at 4.20% abv which is on the low end of the spectrum of Altbeer). I would have liked to have tried two or more to see if I could get used to the flavor, but alas we only had one bottle which we split three ways before throwing the empty bottle away (again apologies for the lack of a picture).

Shiner Old Time Alt is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit, although the brew does not bear the Va'ad symbol on its label. If you would like me to e-mail you the Va'ad LOC for Shiner Old Time Alt, send me an e-mail and I will gladly oblige.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Shiner Old Time Alt, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/143/64657.

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).

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



Thursday, August 4, 2011

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Devarim

Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim on the Parsha until Elul, 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.

R' Mansour observed that Sefer Devarim is called Mishne Torah and is essentially a repetition by Moshe of events which occurred previously. The gemara brings this point home when it asks why the parsha begins - Eleh Hadevarim "these are the things that Moshe said..." The gemara asks -- are these the only words of Moshe, hasn't Moshe been speaking for the last three seforim? The gemara answers that the previous speech was Moshe repeating what Hashem had told him to say. From this point on, Moshe was giving his own thoughts.

The first set of statements made by Moshe to the Jews was a rebuke. Moshe learned this from Ya'akov who waited until he was on his deathbed in Parshas Vayechi to tell his sons what they had been doing wrong. While a person is still alive and well, such statements could engender harsh feelings. Ya'akov's lesson which Moshe learned, is that when a person gives tochacha at the end of his life, it will generally be much better received.

R' Mansour noted that Moshe's rebuke to the Jews was very "pareve", meaning that it was mild and not meant to embarrass anyone in particular. The first pasuk of the parsha contains numerous places or landmarks which on the surface are meant to identify where the speech took place. However, if one were to review Parshas Matos, it would become evident that none of these places exist. The pasuk identifies places such as Lavan, Chatzeiros, Di Zahav and Mul Soof, but these locations are not found elsewhere in Chumash.

R' Mansour explained that Lavan was meant to remind the Jews about their complaints about the manna which was white. Rather than lacing into the Jews and telling them in detail about how wrong they were to complain about the manna, Moshe just says "white."

The use of the term Di Zahav (enough gold) was also meant to be a subtle reminder of sin. The Jews had enough gold, but they did not save it for a positive purpose. Instead, the Jews used the gold to construct the egel - the golden calf.

Another term used by Moshe was Mul Soof - you were by the splitting of the sea. However, this was meant to remind the Jews that they cried and complained and wanted to go back to Egypt before the sea was split.

R' Mansour then hypothesized that Moshe's oblique and respectful manner of rebuking the Jews might be the reason that Devarim is read before Tisha B'Av. The second temple was destroyed for not treating fellow Jews with respect. Moshe's lesson to the Jews is to not publicly rebuke others in a way that will embarrass them (unlike the Kamtza/Bar Kamtza story).

R' Mansour then made reference to two stories from Chumash which demonstrate the respect required in rebuking. When the Torah tells the story of Bilaam, the donkey who embarrassed Bilaam plays a central role in exposing to Bilaam the error of his ways. However, when the Bilaam story ends, the meforshim explain that Hashem commands that the donkey be killed. Why should the donkey be killed if it showed how evil Bilaam was? It should be put on a pedestal or in a museum! R' Mansour answered that the donkey had to be killed because everyone who looked at the donkey would remember the story and Bilaam's image will be tarnished. To avoid this embarrassment, the donkey had to be killed.

R' Mansour also related this concept to the story of Korach. After Korach and his followers challenged Aharon with their own attempts at offering Ketores, two hundred and fifty people were killed. After the story ended, Hashem commanded Elazar to clean up the mess. R' Mansour asked - why Elazar and not Aharon? R' Mansour answered that if Aharon had cleaned up the mess, it would have looked like he was gloating - I lived and you died! Therefore, Elazar was commanded to clean up after the others were killed.

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