Volume 37: Number 91
Thu, 28 Nov 2019
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Prof. L. Levine
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2019 14:35:00 +0000
Subject: [Avodah] Why do beer and whiskey not require bishul Yisroel
From today's OU Kosher Halacha
A. Bishul akum is prohibited when two conditions are met: a) the food
cannot be eaten raw and b) the food is worthy of being ?oleh al shulchan
melachim? (served at fancy dinners).
Beer and whiskey are made from cooked grains, which are not edible in a raw
state. Thus, beer and whiskey satisfy the first condition for bishul akum.
Nonetheless, Tosfos (AZ 31b: s.v. V?traveihu) writes that beer is not
served at fancy dinners and therefore the second requirement for bishul
akum is not present. This explanation suffices for beer, but not for
whisky, which is served at fancy dinners. However, Tosfos offers a second
explanation why beer is exempt from bishul akum. Although beer is made from
the five grains, the bracha is Shehakol and not Mezonos because beer is
primarily a water-based drink. By the same token, beer does not acquire a
status of bishul akum because it is primarily water. Since water is edible
in a raw state, it does not require bishul Yisroel. The same rationale
applies to whiskey which is a water-based drink, and as such, does not
require bishul Yisroel.
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Message: 2
From: Prof. L. Levine
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2019 23:15:56 +0000
Subject: [Avodah] Yitzchok and Rivka Made a Mistake in How the
RSRH says that this is why Esav turned out the way he did. When a friend
recently told this to a well-known Rav in Flatbush, the Rav began to yell
at him saying that this is false. I believe this Rav thinks that the Avos
did not make mistakes. However, RSRH, following the Ramban also says that
Avraham made a mistake when he told Sarah to say she was his sister, and
hence endangered her.
RSRH writes, "Yet, even if we were incapable of explaining the strange events in
this story; even if we were forced to conclude as the Ramban concludes ?
, 'Our father Avraham inadvertently committed
a grave sin by placing his virtuous wife before a stumbling block
of iniquity because of his fear of being killed . . . His leaving the Land,
about which he had been commanded, because of the famine was another
sin he committed )' ? nevertheless, none of this
would perplex us. The Torah does not seek to portray our great men
as perfectly ideal figures; it deifies no man. It says of no one: ?Here you
have the ideal; in this man the Divine assumes human form!? It does
not set before us the life of any one person as the model from which
we might learn what is good and right, what we must do and what we
must refrain from doing. When the Torah wishes to put before us a
model to emulate, it does not present a man, who is born of dust.
Rather, God presents Himself as the model, saying: ?Look upon Me!
Emulate Me! Walk in My ways!? We are never to say: ?This must be
good and right, because so-and-so did it.? The Torah is not an ?anthology
of good deeds.? It relates events not because they are necessarily
worthy of emulation, but because they took place.
Rav Hirsch's essay about the education of Yaakov and Esav may be read at
Lessons From Jacob and Esau<https://web.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/lessons_jacob_esau_col_vii.pdf>
(Collected Writings VII)
There is much wisdom in this essay about education.
YL
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Message: 3
From: Zev Sero
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 14:50:12 -0500
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Yitzchok and Rivka Made a Mistake in How the
On 26/11/19 6:15 pm, Prof. L. Levine via Avodah wrote:
> RSRH says that this is why Esav turned out the way he did.? When a
> friend recently told this to a well-known Rav in Flatbush,? the Rav
> began to yell at him saying that this is false.? I believe this Rav
> thinks that the Avos did not make mistakes.? However, RSRH, following
> the Ramban also says that Avraham made a mistake when he told Sarah to
> say she was his sister, and hence endangered her.
Nu, so RSRH made a mistake.
--
Zev Sero A prosperous and healthy 5780 to all
z...@sero.name Seek Jerusalem's peace; may all who love you prosper
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