My Monday Musings on Sports - No Nos and the Ayin Hara

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. As Max has resigned from 1050 and has not yet resurfaced on the NY area radio waves, I have decided to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

While driving home this weekend, I heard an announcer talk about how the Mets had been one hit in a game pitched by AJ Burnett. The announcer mentioned that the hit came in the sixth inning and was not a "cheap hit." It made me think back to a story which ran earlier this month about Cliff Lee, a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. On June 14, 2009, Lee was pitching a no-hitter in the eighth inning when the Cleveland scoreboard operator put up the trivia question - who pitched the last no-hitter for the Indians? [For those of you not from Cleveland it was Len Barker in 1981]. Well, the next batter that Lee faced hit a double and Lee finished with a three hit shutout. After the game, Cleveland manager said that the Indians' scoreboard operator "had no feel for the game." Meanwhile, the pitching coach was more direct as he said, "There are some things that are taboo and you don't do."

For baseball players there is a certain feeling of "jinxing" a no-hitter by even talking about the fact that it is on going. As a pitcher gets deeper into a no-hitter or perfect game, the players on the team will not sit near him for fear of "jinxing" him. The team's announcers who are calling the game for radio/TV will also not mention the no-hitter (until its broken) also for fear of "jinxing" the player. While a certain friend of mine will call this a "kin'ahara" (his version of an ayin hara) I wonder whether this is truly applicable.

The general concept of ayin hara is that bad things can befall a person or their possessions if they are ostentatious. The reason for the bad thing is that others who see the person or their possessions will be jealous and their negative thoughts or even prayers could be the cause of the injury. The gemara in Pesachim 50(b) is replete with examples of ayin hara which can result when one flaunts his good fortune.

But is this applicable to the baseball taboos about no hitters? To the extent that the announcers don't mention it on the air, maybe a case could be made that mentioning it while jealous fans of the opposing team are listening, could be a cause of ayin hara. However, players who avoid talking to the pitcher or sitting near him, to avoid "a jinx" would not implicate ayin hara. To my mind, the avoidance of the pitcher may be recommended for other reasons, since mentioning the no-no to him would undoubtedly add to the stress level of the pitcher (this is my own personal feeling about what happened to Cliff Lee).

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Sunday Night Suds - Saranac Pale Pale Ale (not a typo)

Tonight's Sunday Night Suds beer review looks at Saranac's Pale Pale Ale (no, that's not a typo).

This year, the good folks at Saranac included two bottles each of its four newest brews in their Beers of Summer Mix box. I picked up the Beers of Summer box on Friday and brought it "home" but did not have time to fully peruse its contents. On my way out to shul, I asked my aishes chayil to put a few in the fridge for me so that I could have one with my daf yomi after dinner Friday night. When I opened the fridge later that evening and saw the Pale Pale Ale, I knew that I had to try it.

As I mentioned in a prior Sunday Night Suds review of Saranac's Pale Ale (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/03/sunday-night-suds-saranac-pale-ale.html) the Saranac Pale Ale is a perfect gateway beer for those looking to start on something with a little more hop flavor than a macrobrew. It also happens to be a great cholent brew (for drinking with, not making cholent).

The Pale Pale Ale takes the concept of an American Pale Ale a little further by lightening the color of the brew and mixing the hop balance to add a citrusy flavor to a Pale Ale (think Blue Moon meets IPA). The beer itself pours a light golden, nearly pilsner color and has the trademark excellent Saranac carbonation. I greatly enjoyed mine by itself with aizehu neshech, but fully expect that it would go well with steaks, stews and other savory meat dishes.

Saranac Pale Pale Ale is under the kashruth supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit, as are all other beer produced by Saranac. For the experts take on Saranac Pale Pale Ale, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/48544.

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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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Bava Metzia 59

Bava Metzia 59 reads more like Pirkei Avos than a page from Seder Nezikin. Within the discussion of being careful about ona'as devarim, the gemara offers real advice as to how to properly deal with one's spouse.

Some of the pearls on the daf include Rav telling us that a man should be careful not to speak in a mean fashion to one's wife, since she cries easily and Hashem will punish you quickly if you unnecessarily hurt her feelings. I refer to this as the screen door rule.

The gemara then quotes Rav who seemingly states a contradictory rule that one who follows his wife's advice will wind up in gehinnom. The gemara asks about this seeming conflict with another expression that the man with a short wife should bend down to hear what she has to say. The gemara resolves the contradiction by stating that when a woman tells you how things should be done in the home, you should listen to her.

One final interesting statement about dealing with one's family comes from R' Yehuda, who states that one should always be careful to have enough produce in the home, since fighting generally revolves around produce. R' Papa then comments that this is the root for the colloquialism that when the produce is gone, the fighting begins.

A gentleman who was not a native English speaker who was present at my daf yomi group asked, what does the above statement mean. We explained it to him using modern terminology - always make sure that there is money in the checking account, because the fighting begins when you start bouncing checks.

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Sunday Night Suds - Shiner Kosmos Reserve

This week's Sunday Night Suds review looks at another of the finer Shiner brews - Shiner Kosmos Reserve.

The interesting thing about buying a variety box of beer is that often times you get a brew which is completely unexpected. I remember about three years ago buying a mix Saranac box and coming across the Caramel Porter which I found quite delicious. After being unable to locate any sixes of the Caramel Porter in my area, I emailed Saranac and inquired about the brew. To my surprise, they shipped a case of it to one of my local stores.

On the flip side, I have occasionally bought mix boxes and been stuck with 2-4 of a type of beer which I could not stomach. My personal nemesis is the Sam Adams winter box which for reasons known only to the Beantown brain trust contains the perfectly undrinkable Cranberry Lambic. Since I crave some of the other limited editions which only come in the winter mix box, I continue to buy it and then try to pass off the Cranberry Lambic bottles on "friends."

The mix box of Shiner which I purchased had one of those pleasant surprises - the Shiner Kosmos Reserve. The box actually contains 2 of six different varieties and since I knew that I liked quite a few of them (and that all were under the Va'ad of Detroit) I figured that it would be worth my while to pick the box up.

The Kosmos Reserve was quite a catch. It bills itself as a lager, but is decidedly not an American Macro Lager or even a Heineken. This quality brew has the lager body, but with a generous amount of hops. I enjoyed it with Chinese food this evening (Gan Eden - great kosher takeout in Great Neck, just make sure they give you everything that you ordered). I wish I had more of this quality brew so that I could try it with other dishes.

Shiner Kosmos Reserve 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 Kosmos Reserve, send me an e-mail and I will gladly oblige.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Shiner Bock, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/143/47465 . 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 such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Shelach

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.

Parshas Shelach is perhaps most well known for the story of the meraglim - the "spies" who went to look at the land of Canaan and returned with a negative report. Once the nation began to cry about what they had heard, Hashem became angry with them. Moshe then pleaded with Hashem to spare the Jews and in so doing invoked two tactics. First, Moshe mentioned the embarrassment which would be cause by the killing of the Jews by stating at Bamidbar 14:15-16 "V'amru hagoyim asher sh'mu es sh'macha laymor, m'ibilti yecholet Hashem l'havi es ha'am hazeh..." - the nations of the world will say that Hashem lacked the ability to bring the Jews to the land He swore to give them...

Next, Moshe invoked the 13 middos of Hashem by stating at 14:18 "Hashem, erech apayim..." -Hashem slow to anger... Then Moshe asked Hashem at 14:19 to forgive the Jews in the words we replicate in selichos "S'lach na Hashem k'godel chasdeacha..."

Hashem responds to Moshe that he has forgiven the Jews as per Moshe's wishes "Salachti Kidvarecha." Following this statement, Hashem says the cryptic phrase at 14:21"V'ulam cha Ani, V'yimaleh k'vod Hashem es kol ha'aretz" - But as I live and the glory of Hashem shall fill the entire world.

The Netziv in the Ha'amek Davar states that David in Tehillim 126 fills in the gaps from Bamidbar 14:21 to explain what Hashem is saying. In Tehillim 126:2 David states that when Hashem brings the Jews back from exile, the nations of the world will say Hashem has done great with the Jews. The Netziv explains that when Hashem took the Jews out of Egypt, He wanted to bring them straight to Israel to show a Kiddush Hashem. When the Jews sinned by following the meraglim, Hashem could no longer take them straight to Israel. Instead, Hashem decided that he would scatter them around the world in exile and that the nations of the world would see the Kiddush Hashem -- that despite thousands of years of exile, the Jews still have maintained their Jewish identity.

R' Frand then mentioned R' Ya'akov Emden's introduction to his siddur where he asks - would a philosopher be able to say that a nation which has been exiled and scattered for 2,000 years could be able to maintain its national identity, though removed from its homeland? The fact that the Jews continue to identify themselves as Jews is a greater miracle than the exodus from Egypt and the longer it continues, the greater the miracle.

R' Frand then mentioned some of the stories of how the Mirrer Yeshiva was saved during the holocaust and miraculously made it to Shanghai, before stating in the name of R' Hatzkel Levenstein that the miracle of the Yeshiva making it out of Europe and crossing Russia and China was a Nes Nigleh and a greater miracle than the Purim story.

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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Bava Metzia 52

Bava Metzia 52 begins with the continuation of a mishna from 51b, dealing with fraud in relation to currency. The mishna offers a dispute as to how much of the coin must be missing before the coin is not acceptable for use in commerce.

As part of its discussion of the mishna, the gemara asks what can be done with the coin which has now worn down beyond use in commerce. The gemara then brings a beraisa on Bava Metzia 52a which states that the coin cannot be sold to a merchant, but can be pierced and hung on a pendant for one's son or daughter. Later on 52b, the gemara questions this beraisa as another beraisa indicates that the owner of the coin cannot pierce it for jewelry for his child. The gemara resolves the contradiction and states that the coin cannot be pierced from the side and used for jewelry, as an unscrupulous person might grind off the pierced edge and attempt to pass it in commerce. However, where the piercing was in the middle, the coin could be used for jewelry.

The gemara brought back memories of a belt buckle that my father had when I was a child which contained old coins and a watch which had been made from an old coin. I wondered how this could be done as I thought that US law forbade defacing currency.

I did a little research and found that under 18 USC §331, whoever "fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States" is subject to penalty. In 1882, the Supreme Court of the United States in U.S. v. Lissner, 12 F. 840 (1882) ruled that a coin which was punched and mutilated, and an appreciable amount of silver removed from it before being refilled was illegal, but where the hole was punched with a sharp instrument, leaving all the silver in the coin, the act was not forbidden.

The Lissner decision tracks the logic of the gemara and explains why people are able to make the jewelry from old coins. The gemara bars the use of worn down coins and prevents making jewelry from them when the recipient could easily pass them off as legitimate. However, when the coin is properly punched and is obviously not going to be recirculated, the act is permissible.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - No Magical Wings for Little Leaguers

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. As Max has resigned from 1050 and has not yet resurfaced on the NY area radio waves, I have decided to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

This weekend saw the end of many sports seasons. In what can only be termed an upset, the Pittsburgh Penguins captured their first Stanley Cup in 17 years by beating the more experienced Detroit Red Wings in a deciding Game 7 played in Detroit. In contrast, the NBA Playoffs ended with a whimper as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic like a pinata, winning the series in five games and also on their adversaries' home court.

And yes, for my daughter Penina - her Little League season came to an end as her team was eliminated from the Orthodox Little League playoffs, losing in extra innings (also at home).

To the players who play professional hockey and basketball and have just completed a season which began with September training camps, it must be particularly crushing to lose the championship series and suddenly not have any practice for the first time in nine plus months. Similarly, my daughter and many of her friends cried after they were eliminated in the semi finals and were deprived of a chance to play in the Championship Game.

Somehow, the day after the season ended, my daughter is not as depressed as she was on Sunday. Its not anything of my doing, but it is a testament to her maturity and her ability to realize that losing the championship game is not the end of the world.

I heard an interesting mashal in a shiur given by Rabbi Frand which I believe is instructive of the need to soldier on and accept what occurs in this world, because everything happens for a reason.

A man dies and goes up to heaven for judgment. All of the man's good deeds materialize as "white" angels and they line up in the courtroom, spill over down the hall, out the building and down the block. The man starts to feel confident, perhaps he will go straight to Olam Haba without having to spend any time in Gehinom.

Then the misdeeds begin to manifest and form a line of "black angels." This line too extends beyond the courtroom, spill over down the hall, out the building and down the block. The line passes the white angels and the man begins to feel despondent as he realizes that there will be a painful delay before he enters Olam Haba. But before the judgment is completed a voice is heard "bring in the yisurim" (troubles a person undergoes in this world). Suddenly a number of angels with swords come in and each one of the yisurim slices off a "black" angel. The man begins to raise his spirits as he sees the black line shrink...until the yisurim finish their job and there are still a few more black angels than white.

The man looks at the end result and says, if only I had one more hour in this world to experience more yisurim.

The troubles that we undergo in this world, either large or small, all happen for a positive purpose, even if we do not recognize it at the time. If we accept them and know that Hashem only has our best interests in mind, we will be able to put them to good use in Olam Haba.

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Sunday Night Suds - Saranac Summer Brew

This week's Sunday Night Suds beer review looks at Saranac Summer Brew.

There are many hackneyed expressions which generally demonstrate the point of "every dog has its day." None of the expressions applies to the Saranac Summer Brew, which proves the point that every brewery will produce at least one undrinkable beer (i.e. a failed experimental brew).

The concept behind the Saranac Summer Brew is not a bad one - combine the tartness of lemonade with a cold lager have a slightly tangy beer. This has worked well for Blue Moon which produces Rising Moon in the spring - a beer with the slight tang of lime zest. I have never had Mike's Hard Lemonade as it has NOT been under a known hashgacha, but it seems from the constant questions that I get from people, that some must like its combination of tart and alcohol as well.

The combination did not work for Saranac which produced a beer with the pale yellow color and a flavor reminiscent of yellow lollipops. Would this be tolerable as a sucking candy? Yes, if you had a sore throat. As a beer, it just can't get any worse.

As I said at the outset, every brewery will produce a dog here or there. For Samuel Adams, its the Cranberry Lambic. For Lakefront, its the Fuel Cafe (Coffee flavored beer?). For Saranac its this lemonade lager which will hopefully retired after its one and only summer.

To paraphrase the eminent Dr Seuss - I would not drink this from a can (yes I know it comes in a bottle) I would not drink this with some lamb, I would not drink this in my house, I would not serve this to a louse, I would not have this if I was dying from thirst (maybe a small exaggeration) I would not have this in a Hearst, I will not ever again drink the Saranac Summer Brew, I would not drink this if I was you.

Saranac Summer Brew is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit as is every other beer produced at the Matt Brewery plant in Utica, NY. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the Summer Brew, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/49614.

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 such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Beha'aloscha

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.

In Parshas Beha'aloscha (9:1-14), the Torah discusses the Pesach offering brought by the Jews in the second year in the desert. The Torah then tells over the story that men who were tamei meis came to Moshe and asked why they should be less than other Jews ("Lama Nigara") because they could not offer the Korban Pesach. In response, Hashem tells Moshe that these people can have a do-over, as they are permitted to bring a Pesach sheni.

The Sifri relates that these men were k'sheirim (pure) and tzadikim, who were "chareidim" on the mitzvos.

Rabbi Frand then asked - what is the true meaning of chareidim? In modern Israel that is a term used to describe the "ultra orthodox", but what does it mean?

Rabbi Frand answered by making reference to a vort from R' Yitzchak Zilbershtein. He related that a man once came before R' Yitzchak and told him that the doctor had insisted that he must eat on Yom Kippur. The man was distraught and wanted to know what to do. R' Yitzchak then sat down with the man and taught him the rules of eating on Yom Kippur and how to eat the pachos mikishiur so that he would not violate the proscription against eating.

The next day the man returned and apologized to R' Yitzchak. He explained that he had forgotten the rules and wanted to know whether R' Yitzchak could review them with him again. R' Yitzchak agreed. However, the following day and the day after that, the man again returned and asked R' Yitzchak to review the laws with him. The man finally explained to R' Yitzchak that he was "nervous" about eating on Yom Kippur and the stress from thinking about it had caused him to forget the rules after R' Yitzchak taught them to him.

R' Yitzchak said to the man - its good that you are nervous about this. We see from Devarim 29:3 that Moshe says to the Jews that Hashem has not given them a heart to know or eyes to see or ears to hear until this day. Rashi explains that on this day, Moshe gave a sefer Torah that he had written to shevet Levi. The rest of the Jews then came to Moshe and said - we also stood at Har Sinai and accepted the Torah, why did you only give this to Levi? Moshe then became very happy and said to the Jews, today you became a nation (Devarim 27:9) - today I see that you cling to and desire Hashem.

R' Yitzchak said to the man, I see that this eating on Yom Kippur is very important to you. It so goes against your fiber to eat that it makes you nervous in that you want to make sure that you perform everything properly. This is merely a sign that it is important to you and of course I have no problem reviewing the laws with you.

R' Frand then compared it to a person who buys an esrog and takes it to a Rav to check. The Rav looks at it for a few moments and says "mihudar." The following day, the man returns to the Rav and says are you sure you saw this spot? The Rav again looks at the esrog and says "mihudar." The man returns another day to show another dot on the esrog and gets the same response.

R' Frand said that this is the true meaning of chareidim. It does not mean someone who is trembling in fear. A charedi (in the positive sense) is someone whose complete being is tied up in trying to make sure that he is doing the right thing l'shem shamayim.

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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Bava Metzia 45

Midway through Bava Metzia 45b, the Gemara leaves behind the discussion of whether coins (or fruit) can be exchanged for gold coins to be brought to Yerushalayim to buy fruit and begins a discussion of kinyan chalipim.

As one of the members of my daf yomi group reminded me this evening, the issue of kinyan chalipim is first developed by the Gemara in Kiddushin which discusses whether it can be utilized to effectuate a marriage.

However, the concept of kinyan chalipim actually draws its origin from Megillas Rus (4:7). Today, the kinyan is most widely seen in traditional transactions such as buying/selling chametz. The mechanics are simple - the buyer and seller are essentially trading objects - the seller takes an object from the buyer and by so doing, the buyer acquires the item which the seller wishes to sell him. Rashi notes that this can even effectuate the sale of real property.

On today's daf, Rav and Levi have an interesting machlokes about whether a coin can be used as kinyan chalipim. This seems like a roundabout way of saying that an item is "bought", but the gemara explores the issue. Under this scenario the seller sells the item in exchange for an item (the coin) which is acquired as an item and not as a unit of money. R' Papa explains that the reason why one de'ah holds that money cannot be the subject of kinyan chalipim is because the one who is acquiring the money does not acquire a complete item (like a cup or handkerchief) since in the times of the gemara the money was only good for the realm of the current monarch and the coin which was acquired today might be valueless tomorrow.

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Sunday Night Suds - Lakefront Brewery Cream City Pale Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds review looks at Lakefront Brewery's Cream City Pale Ale.

As explained on the side of the bottle, Lakefront Brewery called its Pale Ale "Cream City" after the color of the bricks used to build Milwaukee (home of Lakefront Brewery).

The beer itself is typical of pale ales as it has a distinct hop flavor. However, the beer is balanced by some citrus flavor which is not an additive or adjunct and takes some of the bite off of the beer. For those looking for heavy IPA flavor, I would not recommend this brew. But if you like hops in a beer that you can easily drink more than one of (with an abv of 5.68%, on the light side for American Pale Ales) this beer is for you.

The Lakefront Brewery web page for this beer recommends the Cream City Pale Ale with salads as well as "full fat cheeses and other rich, fatty food." I did not try the Pale Ale with "rich fatty foods" but I did find that it went well with chicken wraps and taboule. More research is definitely required...

Lakefront Brewery Cream City Pale Ale is under the kosher supervision of the Star-K. Although the LOC on the Star-K site http://www.star-k.org/loc/kosher_letter_8197_lakefrontbreweryinc.pdf says that this (and about 15 other varieties) are kosher, but only with the Star-K on the label, I was unable to find a Star-K on the label of any of the varieties that I purchased. This seems common with the Star-K as many of the Sam Adams beers that are listed as under the Star-K do not have the symbol on the label. Concerned that I had wasted my money, I contacted the Star-K last year and they confirmed that Lakefront brews are permissible without a Star-K on the label.

For the experts' take on the Cream City Pale Ale please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/741/2222 . As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

Finally, 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 such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Nasso

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.

Parshas Nasso begins with Hashem telling Moshe to count the sons of Gershon. These are the descendants of Levi who were counted separately from the rest of the Jews. The children of Kihas (also one of Levi's sons) were counted in Bamidbar and now Moshe is commanded to count the sons of Gershon. Later in the parsha, Moshe was commanded to count the children of Mirarri (Levi's third son).

The Abarbanel asks - why did the Torah split up the Levi'im into two parshios? Either put all the counting of the Levi'im in Bamidbar, or start Nasso with counting Kihas and then continue with the rest of the sons?

The Da'as Zikenim points out an anomaly. By Kihas, the pasuk says "al pi Hashem b'yad Moshe. "Similarly, by Mirrari, the pasuk states "al pi Hashem b'yad Moshe." However, by Gershon it just says "al pi Hashem." Why? Because the bnei Gershon counted themselves and just told Moshe the number without Moshe getting involved. But why was Moshe not involved?

Says the Abarbanel - Levi had three sons. In most circumstances, the bechor (in this case Gershon) would have gotten the most, including the most kavod - honor. However, by the bnei Levi, the second son Kihas got the most kavod positions. The Abarbanel writes that whenever the bechor is not given the honored position, one still must show some deference to him. Thus Nasso starts with the counting of Gershon "gam hem" to show that they are important as well and make them feel good. The Abir Yosef explains that this is why the counting was done by the bnei Gershon by themselves. This makes them feel important - they can do it by themselves.

This theme is also seen by the brachos which Ya'akov gave to Ephraim and Menasheh. Although Menasheh was the bechor, Ephraim got the better bracha. However, when the boys came for the bracha, they were not in the order which Ya'akov needed as Menasheh was on the left. Ya'akov did not make the boys switch places, although he could have asked them to do so. Instead Ya'akov showed some deference to Ephraim's role as bechor and crossed his hands so that his right hand was placed on Menasheh.

Rabbi Frand indicated that this has practical applications as well. Occasionally, boys will come to him who are dating and have been out 3,4,5 or more times with a girl and then need to say that they don't think its practical. Rabbi Frand tells the boys that you don't break up with a girl on the phone. No's are painful, so you do it in person so that you at least show the person that they are important, even if they are not for you. Even if this means that the boys have to pay for the gas and tolls to drive a distance to see the girl, you show respect by doing it in person.

Rabbi Frand said one other vort as well. He said in the name of his lifelong friend Rabbi David Twerski whose son saw a vort in the sefer Shiftei Ka, by Rabbi Vollei, a talmud muvhak of the Ramchal (author of the Messilas Yeshorim - Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato). The vort relates to the pasuk - "Ko Sivarchu es Bnei Yisroel, Emor Lahem."

The brocha of Bircas Kohanim has the actual details and mechanics of the activity being performed. This is in stark contrast to most Brachos which don't have any details of what is being done. The lashon of the Bracha includes the fact that the Kohanim have kiddusha from Aharon and were commanded to bless the Jews "b'ahava." Why "B'ahava"? Because the Kohain has to love the kahal and bless with a full heart and if not, he should not duchan.

The Shiftei Ka says that there is even a proof from this in the language of the pasuk because it says "emor lahem" and "emor" means love in Italian and French. The Shiftei Ka then says, don't be distressed that this is a language other than Hebrew, because we see this in other places in the Torah (like Totafos which the Gemara in Sanhedrin says is common language as well). The reason is that lashon Hakodesh is the mother of all languages and there is no word that cannot be found with a root in Hebrew.

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My Monday Musings on Sports - Washington and the Western Wall

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. As Max has resigned from 1050 and has not yet resurfaced on the NY area radio waves, I have decided to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

Although not very widely followed by casual football fans, this week marked the continuation of OTA's. These are "optional" off season workouts where players come in and work on drills and meet with their coaches. While these work outs are optional in name, those who don't participate are always worried that they will not make the team or lose their starting roles if they do not join the "optional" workouts. I caught a snippet of a story today about how the Cleveland Browns and Coach Eric Mangenius encouraged players to not only participate in OTA's, but also to take a ten hour bus trip to Connecticut to attend Coach Eric's football camp as "volunteers."

In Jets land, the Jets two regular running backs - Leon Washington and Thomas Jones, both sat out of most of the OTA's because of contract issues. Jones, who is in starting the third year of a four year contract, is upset about the amount of money that he will earn this year. Washington is in the final year of his rookie contract and is looking for the Jets to sign him to a long term deal. Altough both players are under contract, they are hoping that by staying away from most of the OTA's they will pressure the team to renegotiate the deals which they happily signed a few years ago. As such, Jones did not show up for OTA's until last week and Washington only came to camp today.

In stark contrast, recent draftees and free agents usually play their hearts out at these camps in the hopes that they will impress the coaches enough that they will catch on with the team. Since Washington and Jones did not show for the beginning of the OTA's, Danny Woodhead from football powerhouse Chadron State, had most of the carries in the beginning of the OTAs. The articles about these OTAs had quotes from Woodhead where he (predictably) said that he was glad to be getting the work and hoped that he was impressing the coaches.

The issue of salaried players in the midst of a contract who hold out for more money than they were previously happy with, reminded me a story which I recently heard from Rabbi Naiman in Baltimore, MD. The story involves an eighteen year old boy who was visiting Israel and wound up at the Western Wall. While at the wall he met one of the unheralded tzadikkim of our generation - Rabbi Meir Schuster who after speaking with the boy, suggested that he talk with R' Noach Weinberg zt'l. The boy agreed.

During their conversation, R' Weinberg asked the boy whether he wanted wealth or happiness. The boy responded, "both." R' Weinberg then asked the boy to choose one and the boy answered "happiness." R Weinberg told the boy that he had a two week course available at Aish Hatorah which was free and would teach the boy about true happiness. The boy responded that he had a plane ticket the following day and could not stay. R' Weinberg told the boy to call the travel agent and rebook the flight. The boy then countered that he had to start college the following week. R' Weinberg told the boy to write to the school and tell them that something had come up and that he would be a week late. The boy then said - its my grandmother's birthday next week and she paid for this trip. R' Weinberg told him to call her and explain that he wanted to stay a little longer.

Seeing that the boy was still on the fence, R' Weinberg then said to the boy - there is a $10,000 grant available to those who finish the course and there is no exam. The boy immediately said that he would take the course. R' Weinberg responded - when I asked you whether you wanted wealth or happiness you said happiness, yet as soon as I mentioned money you changed your tune, why?

The boy then said to R' Weinberg - you tell me why. R' Naiman said that R' Weinberg explained - when I asked you about wealth vs happiness, your guf did not feel challenged, so it allowed your neshoma to answer "happiness." When there was an issue of money, the guf suddenly felt a need to get involved. This is the constant internal struggle within the person where the guf seeks to get in the way of what the soul desires.

The boy elected to stay for two weeks and then an additional two years.

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