Volume 40: Number 82
Tue, 13 Dec 2022
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Ben Rothke
Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2022 09:06:30 -0500
Subject: [Avodah] Is using a ghostwriter a violation of genevas daas?
Wikipedia defines a ghostwriter as: Hired to write literary or journalistic
works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another
person as the author.
If a person uses a ghostwriter to write a sefer, would that be a violation
of genevas daas?
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Message: 2
From: Prof. L. Levine
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2022 15:33:27 +0000
Subject: [Avodah] What Beracha should be recited on potato latkes?
Q. What Beracha should be recited on potato latkes?
A. This is a matter of dispute. Although the beracha on potatoes is
Ho?adama, latkes may be different because they are made from grated or
blended potatoes. We find two sources in halacha for the beracha on
processed fruits and vegetables. The Shulchan Aruch (OC 202:7) writes that
the beracha on mashed dates is Borei Pri Ha?eitz. The Mishnah Berurah
(202:40) adds that mashed potatoes are similar to mashed dates and the
beracha is Ho?adama. On the other hand, the Rama quotes two opinions about
the proper beracha on fruit jam. Some say Shehakol and others say Ha?eitz?
The Rama concludes that because of the uncertainty, it is best to recite
Shehakol on jam. Should we compare latkes to mashed potatoes and recite
Ho?adama, or to jam and recite Shehakol? This question is difficult to
answer because the texture of latkes is somewhere in the middle between
mashed potatoes and jam. What also adds to the complexity of this issue is
that the poskim offer a range of explanations why fruit jam is
Shehakol but mashed dates and potatoes are Hoadoma (see Mishnah Berurah
ibid. and Piskei Teshuvos 202:15). Because of these questions, poskim
have divergent views about the proper beracha on latkas and potato kugel.
Some say Shehakol and others say Ho?adoma. A third group of poskim
distinguish between latkes made from hand grated batters where one can
see strands of potatoes (in which case Ho?adama is recited), as opposed
to batters prepared in food processors where the potatoes are more finely
ground (in which case the beracha is Shehakol). Rav Belsky maintained
that in all instances, the beracha on potato latkes and kugel is
Ho?adama.
As an aside, Rav Belsky heard fro Rav Moshe Feinstein zt?l that the beracha on reconstituted powdered potatoes is Ho?adama.
Rav Soloveitchik zt?l (Nefesh HaRav pg. 149) holds that pureed vegetables
although they lose their form, retain the bracha of Ha?odama. Accordingly,
the bracha on peanut butter is Ha?odama. The basis for this is Shulchan
Aruch (OC 205:2). Shulchan Aruch states that the bracha on vegetable soup
is Ha?odama, even if all the vegetables have been removed from the soup.
Even though vegetable soup minus the vegetables does not retain any of the
shape of the vegetables, nevertheless the bracha remains Ha?odama. It
stands to reason that pureed vegetables should not be worse than soup.
According to this approach, (which does not follow the ruling of Rama
208:8), the bracha on peanut butter remains Ha?odama.
Professor Yitzchok Levine
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