Volume 61 Number 72
Produced: Sun, 10 Mar 13 00:28:48 -0500
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Chalav Yisrael (3)
[Daniel Cohn Daniel Cohn Isaac Balbin]
Davening from the Bima instead of the Amud?
[Menashe Elyashiv]
Extending the Limits of Kosher Supervision (3)
[Orrin Tilevitz David Ziants Michael Rogovin]
Is the Torah true?
[David Tzohar]
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From: Daniel Cohn
Date: Tue, Mar 5,2013 at 07:01 PM
Subject: Chalav Yisrael
Orrin Tilevitz writes (MJ 61#71):
> So my real question is: does anyone know anything about Iceland? The Chabad
> rabbi who travels there says that one can't drink the milk because, unlike
> the U.S., there is no government agency responsible for it
I know precious little about Iceland but the bit about the Chabad rabbi set
off an alarm bell. First of all, since when does Chabad care about
US government regulation, when it is known that they won't drink USDA milk
even in the direst circumstances? And also, I was surprised to read that one
of the world's richest countries doesn't have a government agency
responsible for milk supervsion.
A quick Google search, aided by Google translate yielded the following link:
http://tinyurl.com/akw9zht
which looks a lot like the government regulation on milk.
I don't think there is any grounds for concern that milk other than cow's
goes into the industrial milk process - it is just not economical. The
rationale for not drinking chalav stam has to do with following a gezera,
even if its original reason no longer holds.
My 2.50 Krona,
Daniel
<4danielcohn@...>
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From: Daniel Cohn
Date: Wed, Mar 6,2013 at 06:01 AM
Subject: Chalav Yisrael
Isaac Balbin writes (MJ 61#70):
> This is a canard and part of charedi indoctrination. The fact is that the
> Chazon Ish - yes, the Chazon Ish himself, ruled permissively, as did Acharonim
> before them. The summersaults that they tried to perform to twist his words
> later, are just that.
Can you provide, or better, quote the Chazon Ish heter on this? From what I
know, the Chazon Ish even rules that powdered milk has the same (forbidden)
status as milk itself.
Thanks,
Daniel
<4danielcohn@...>
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From: Isaac Balbin <isaac@...>
Date: Wed, Mar 6,2013 at 07:01 AM
Subject: Chalav Yisrael
Orrin Tilevitz wrote (MJ 61#71):
> This may answer my question. The Arukh Hashulchan criticizes "echad
> migedolei haachronim" for permitting chalav stam. The Chazon Ish?
It won't be the Chazon Ish. It would be earlier than that, I believe it was the
Pri Chodosh (Yoreh Deah 115:6).
Isaac Balbin <isaac@...>
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From: Menashe Elyashiv <Menashe.Elyashiv@...>
Date: Wed, Mar 6,2013 at 06:01 AM
Subject: Davening from the Bima instead of the Amud?
In MJ 61#71 Martin Stern wrote:
> Presumably this was in a shul with the bimah in the middle, as is
> Ashkenazi practice, rather than at the rear, as is more usual for Sefardim.
> If the latter, there would have been little space, unless there were only a
> bare minyan.
No, it was Sefaradi.
BTW, most Sefardim in Israel have the bima in the middle -- the older types,
with seating around the bima; the newer ones, with row seating.
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From: Orrin Tilevitz <tilevitzo@...>
Date: Tue, Mar 5,2013 at 06:01 PM
Subject: Extending the Limits of Kosher Supervision
Martin Stern wrote (MJ 61#71):
> Orrin Tilevitz wrote (MJ 61#70):
>> the OU certifies various Boar's Head products, such as mustard and
>> horseradish, even though Boar's Head's primary product is ham and, as a
>> friend of mine pointed out to the OU ears ago, the certification could be
>> seen as promoting ham.
> Orrin's counter-example is rather far-fetched. That a company produces clearly
> non-kosher items like ham or its name includes a non-kosher species is hardly
> an argument for not supervising other products in its range that are kosher.
>
> His argument, taken to its logical conclusion, would preclude the kosher
> certification of chrain since it is made from horseradish, and everyone knows
> that horse is a non-kosher animal.
> His argument, taken to its logical conclusion, would preclude the kosher
> certification of chrain since it is made from horseradish, and everyone knows
> that horse is a non-kosher animal.
Martin misses my point. The OU is saying, "We don't want our kosher supervision
being held up to ridicule, which we would be if we in effect gave a hechsher to
Jezebel."
Certifying horseraddish doesn't hold kosher supervision up to ridicule. Perhaps
Boar's Head has no presence in the UK, but in the U.S. they aggressively
advertise ham, and only ham. Certifying ancillary products of a company whose
primary product -- and all of whose advertising -- is geared to something treif,
DOES HAVE the strong possibility of holding the supervisory organization up to
ridicule. Do you think the OU would give a hechsher to Spam brand matzoh
(produced, say, by special arrangement with Manischewitz and at Manischewitz's
factories)?
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From: David Ziants <dziants@...>
Date: Tue, Mar 5,2013 at 06:01 PM
Subject: Extending the Limits of Kosher Supervision
Martin Stern commented (MJ 61#71) in reply to Orrin Tilevitz (MJ 61#70):
> His argument, taken to its logical conclusion, would preclude the kosher
> certification of chrain since it is made from horseradish, and everyone knows
> that horse is a non-kosher animal.
>
> Incidentally there was a rumour that chrain was being removed from
> supermarket shelves for this very reason in the wake of the horsemeat
> scandal that has rocked the UK recently.
Actually Martin might not be too far off here. Only when I came to Israel were
Hamburgers allowed. In the UK, within the Jewish community, it had to be
"Beef Burger".
The point, though, is that Hamburger has nothing to do with Ham, but is
the city with which the food is associated. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger
David Ziants
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From: Michael Rogovin <mrogovin118@...>
Date: Wed, Mar 6,2013 at 10:01 AM
Subject: Extending the Limits of Kosher Supervision
Joel Rich asked (MJ 61#71):
> BTW - was the private label generally acceptable?
Yes. Lots of highly regarded restaurants in Manhattan under that hashgacha.
Very reliable and accepted by the mainstream.
The innuendo in the press about the Rabbi and this restaurant was
disgraceful. "Chas v'Chalilla, he permitted live music during the week
(never implemented) and non-mevushal wines! He let them pick a provocative
name! Scandal! He must be a liberal!"
The restaurant is free to pick any hashgacha they want as a business
decision, but the editor of Kosher Today seems to have an agenda to attack
anyone who differs from his point of view.
Michael Rogovin
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From: David Tzohar <davidtzohar@...>
Date: Wed, Mar 6,2013 at 05:01 PM
Subject: Is the Torah true?
No less an authority than HaRav Kook ZTZL thought that there was no
innate contradiction between the theory of evolution and the Torah. On
the general topic of Tora vs. science he had this to say (Otzrot haRa'ya p78):
Science-our Torah was strengthened by science and in new discoveries.
There is absolutely no contradiction between Torah and Science,
especially since Science is made up of theories that can be
disproved. One must search for the holiness in all of the wisdom in the
world.
David Tzohar
http://tzoharlateivahebrew.blogspot.com/
http://tzoharlateiva.blogspot.com/
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End of Volume 61 Issue 72
