Monday's Musings on Sports - Lendale White Separates Us From The Animal Kingdom

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 almost one year ago, I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

Over the weekend, I read with curiosity that the Seattle Seahawks had released Lendale White. This was confusing to me since the Seahawks had just traded for White in April and were planning on using him in conjunction with former Jet Leon Washington in their newly revamped backfield. White seemed to be an integral cog in the Pete Carroll rebuilt offense which had also included drafting a top wide receivers, offensive tackle and tight end.

Not long after the news broke that White had been waived, stories began to circulate that White was facing a four game NFL suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy. This was yet another recent blemish on what had been a once promising career. Three years ago, White was an 1100 yard rusher for Tennessee and seemed destined for greatness. But then he came to camp overweight and out of shape and was later branded as not having a good work ethic.

The White drug story and his inability to control his weight reminded me of a vort I recently heard from R' Eli Mansour. In discussing the sin of the slav, the Torah writes that the Jews had created a craving (hitavu ta'avah). R' Mansour asked - what separates man from animal? He answered from quoting a line from Koheles "U mosar ha'adam min habeheima ayin ki hakol hevel" - man is greater than the animal "ayin" because it is all foolishness.

R' Mansour gave two explanations for how "ayin" separates us from animals. The first vort looked at ayin as an acronym - adam yesh nishama - a man has a soul, while an animal does not. The second vort was that man differs from animal because he can say no (ayin) while an animal cannot. By way of example, when an animal sees food, he does not think is this free, or am I stealing it? Similarly, the animal does not worry that it might be an inappropriate time to do its business. Animals obey their instincs and do what ever is natural to them. Humans on the other hand have the capacity for independent thought and should consider whether the option before them to ingest (fill in any blank) is good for them.

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Sunday Night Suds - Lake Placid India Pale Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds review looks at Lake Placid's India Pale Ale.

Lake Placid is one of those brands that has a well earned cultlike following. Lake Placid used to brew in a pub in Plattsburgh, New York. They later expanded and started to bottle and distribute their beers in upstate New York. Still later they began to bottle at the FX Matt Brewery in Utica. It is my understanding that they now bottle exclusively at Matt.

A number of months ago, I tried my first Lake Placid (reviewed here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/07/sunday-night-suds-lake-placid-ubu-ale.html) after finding it at DeCicco's in Westchester. A few weeks later, I found my second variety of Lake Placid (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/07/sunday-night-suds-lake-placid-46er-pale.html) upstate. But I never found it on Long Island until very recently when it started popping up at the better Beverage Barn locations (Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park and Front Street in the shadows of the Nassau Coliseum in East Meadow). No sighting yet of the Lake Placid Honey Rye, but I am on the lookout.

But enough with the history lesson and on to the Lake Placid IPA. The beer pours a dark yellow, not golden but definitely on the darker side. The hops hit you when bringing the glass to your face. Suffice it to say, if you are fan of big hops this is an IPA for you. This beer went down very well on its own, and would be a great accompaniment to a steak, char-grilled on a backyard grill. I could see it with char-grilled chicken as well, but if you are looking for hops to go with a steak, this is the one.

Lake Placid India Pale Ale is under the kashruth supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit, as it is bottled at the FX Matt plant in Utica. If you would like to see the LOC which identifies the India Pale Ale as under the Va'ad, please send me an email and I will forward it. For the experts' take on Lake Placid India Pale Ale, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1888/41784.

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 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'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.

Parshas Beha'aloscha begins with a discussion of the lighting of the menorah in the mishkan. Rashi on Bamidbar 8:2 asks why do the instructions for the lighting of the menorah follow the end of Parshas Nasso dealing with the sacrifices brought by the nesi'im? Rashi answers that Aharon felt bad when he saw that all of the tribes had a sacrifice brought by their individual nasi in honor of the inauguration of the miskhan, but shevet Levi did not have a part in the ceremony. Seeing Aharon's dismay, Hashem said to Aharon -- your role is greater than theirs as you kindle and prepare the lights of the menorah.

The Ramban asks - why did Hashem mention the menorah to Aharon in response to his concerns? The Kohanim also were given the job of bringing the ketores (incense) about which it is taught that whomever brought the ketores was rewarded with great wealth. The Ramban answers that the menorah is timeless as not only was it used in the mishkan, it has continued to be used throughout the generations.

Rabbi Frand then gave another answer to the Ramban's question. The Rambam teaches that the kohain would light the menorah twice - once in the morning and once in the evening. The Meshech Chachma explains that the menorah was lit in the morning to show that Hashem does not need the lights of the menorah. One might rationalize that lights are needed at night, but the lighting of the menorah during the day demonstrates that they were not lit for the purpose of illuminating a room.

Similarly, the Torah teaches that the aron had poles attached to it. These poles stayed attached whether or not the aron was being moved. However, the poles were never truly needed, since the aron floated on its own and actually carried those who were supposed to carry it. Thus the fact that the poles were attached to the aron on a constant basis were not for the purposes of carrying the aron.

Rabbi Frand tied these concepts together by citing to the sefer Milchemes Yehuda who explains that Hashem does not need our mitzvos. He does not need the light of the menorah to see, or for the people to carry the aron. Rather, the mitzvos are given to us to improve ourselves. We are commanded to give tzedakah - not because He needs us to be charitable, but rather because being charitable improves the character of the person giving the money. Similarly, Hashem does not need us to wear tefillin. The reason that we wear them is that they improve us by putting the batim on our head and arm.

This was the reason that Hashem said to Aharon - your role is greater than theirs. By lighting the menorah during the day and night, the kohanim show that the mitzvos are given to us to improve ourselves, and not because Hashem needs our actions. Thus Aharon's role was not temporary like the nesi'im. Instead he was given the job of teaching us the true meaning of mitzvos.

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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Sanhedrin 102

Much like the majority of Chelek, Sanhedrin 102 contains a treasure trove of aggadita which challenges one's knowledge of Tanach and one's capacity to understand concepts related to Olam Haba. I would like to briefly touch on a few of the ma'amarim on the daf.

On 102a, the gemara discusses how certain times which were specifically labeled in Tanach as "Ba es ha hi" - (at this specific time), were times that bad things would befall the Jews. Within this discussion, the gemara mentions in the name of R' Yosi that Shechem was a place which was historically bad for the Jews. R' Yosi gives three examples to demonstrate his point - Dina was raped there, the brother sold Yosef into slavery there (Rashi notes that Yosef was told his brothers were watching sheep in Shechem) and that Rechavam went to Shechem to be coronated as king.

Another interesting discussion involved the use of the words Di Zahav in the first pasuk of Devarim. The students of R' Yannai taught that Moshe said to Hashem - because you have given the Jews so much gold and silver until they said enough (Di), you have caused them to create the golden calf. Moshe then gave an example of a lion which clawed and roared. Moshe stated - the lion becomes aggressive and claws and roars when it has meat, not when it is given grain.

One more discussion which piqued my interest took place on 102b in relation to Omri. R' Yochanan asks - why did Omri merit to be king? He answers that Omri was given the throne because he added a city to Israel. The gemara explains that Omri purchased bought Mt Shimron from Shemer with a portion of silver. Afterwards, Omri built a city and named it after Shemer. The upshot of this story (as explained by the Ben Yehoyadah) is that Omri passed on the natural inclination to name the city after himself. Based on this selfless act, Omri was given the throne.

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Monday Musings on Sports - Will Birds of a Feather Bring Down the Jets?

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 almost one year ago, I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

There has been a lot of chatter recently about the team that is being constructed in Florham Park, New Jersey. During the offseason, the Jets have brought in some players with rather jaded pasts, including Antonio Cromartie (trade with San Diego), Santonio Holmes (trade with Pittsburgh) and Jason Taylor (unrestricted free agent from Miami). Each of these players has earned more than his fair share of notoriety either based on arrests, paternity issues or a past history of just being mean to Jets fans.

With each transaction, Jets fans were assured by management that Rex Ryan would be able to turn these players into model citizens and that his lieutenants in the locker room would keep these characters in line. Still, the media and fans have been understandably skeptical (except Brandon Tierney who IMHO is just incomprehensible) about the prospect of these players behaving themselves in the upcoming season.

Will these players behave themselves and propel the team to a championship, or will they turn into the 2010-2011 version of the early 2000's Cincinnati Bengals? I can't answer the question, but then again greater minds than I have pondered similar issues.

In Megillas Ruth, we read about how Elimelech flees to Moab to avoid dealing with the paupers who were seeking charity during the time of famine. In so doing, Elimelech and his family flocked to a nation which was known for its stinginess. It is well known that the Torah forbids allowing male descendants of Moab to convert to Judaism since the Moabites refused to sell the Jews food and water when the Jews were wandering in the desert. It is not mere coincidence that Elimelech sought to avoid his responsibilities to his people by joining a like minded nation.

On the other hand, the Megillah also teaches about Ruth, a woman from Moab who acted selflessly in caring for her mother in law. Although Ruth was born a Moabite princess, she becomes a model of selflessness and is the "mother" of the Davidic dynasty.

Which path will these new Jets players take? Only time will tell.

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"Sundae" Night Suds - Max & Mina's Beer Ice Cream

This week's Sunday Night Suds becomes Sundae Night Suds with a review of Max & Mina's Beer Ice Cream.

Not long after Mrs Kosher Beers and I got married and moved to Kew Gardens Hills (Queens), New York, a new ice cream store opened around the corner from our apartment. This was quite fortuitous for Sarah since we only had one car at the time and I took it to work most days. To combat the boredom (or perhaps to get our screaming first born out of the house) Sarah would go to Main Street and report back on what she saw. I learned that this new ice cream store had really off the wall flavors and soon I too was joining Sarah and Penina for visits to this quirky ice cream store.

Fast forward to May 24, 2010 and Sarah and I are leaving the Salute to Israel Parade in Manhattan with Penina (who had just completed her second march up 5th Avenue) and our three other children. After one of the kids asked for ice cream we toyed with the idea of stopping at Gristede's to buy a box of ice cream novelties. Then it hit us - since we would be driving home through Queens, why not take the kids to Max & Mina's (71-26 Main Street, Queens, New York 11367).

Since it opened in 1998, Max & Mina's has always been known for three things - its high quality ice cream, its off the wall flavors and its bizarre decor. Focusing strictly on the first two categories - Max & Mina's usually has a wide variety of traditional flavors as well as some which would appeal to the slightly adventurous. These ranged from Yodels (think Drakes) to horseradish, corn or cholent (obviously vegetarian).

During today's visit to Max & Mina's I saw a number of "interesting" flavors, including the aforementioned Beer Ice Cream (see picture below).

At the urging of my older daughters I asked for a sample of the Beer Ice Cream (the staff at Max & Mina's has always been very good about letting customers sample the flavors). I found it to be intriguing - it was a little creamy with like a lager aftertaste. I decided to go for it and ordered a small Beer cone. At first I think that the guy thought I was joking, but then he gave me a double scoop of Beer ice cream. Well, at least he tried to - the ice cream was very crumbly and kept falling off the cone, so he loaded it into a cup and gave me a cone to go with it.

This will sound bizarre, but the ice cream was really good. It was not a bitter and certainly was not hoppy, but there was a real beer taste to the ice cream. The ice cream was a light tan (think the head on Guinness) and was sweet, but there was definitely some lager flavor to it. I asked the guy behind the counter which beer they use in the process, but he did not know. He said that he thought it was something European, but that was not very helpful.

Max & Mina's is certified kosher by the Va'ad of Queens, and is not listed on Beer Advocate (sorry I could not resist). If you would like to read more about them you can click here http://www.maxandminasicecream.com/index.html or here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_and_Mina.

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Sunday Night Suds - Utica Club Pilsner Lager

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at the granddaddy of the Saranac beers - Utica Club Pilsner Lager.

A number of months ago I was talking to a fellow attorney about the Saranac family of beers and he mentioned to me that the first beer he ever had was the Utica Club. He told me that as kids, he and his friends used to sneak Utica Club out of his father's fridge in the garage. Since then, I have heard similar stories from other people of that approximate age (late 40s-early 50's) who tell me that their fathers had the small "fat can" Utica Club and that they used to try to score a few when their fathers were not looking. It sort of makes me think of Eric and Hyde from "that 70's show" trying to scarf some of Red Forman's beer...

With the beer occupying a prominent spot in Americana, I knew that I had to try it, but I could not seem to find it in any Long Island or New York City beer store. Then last week business took me to Utica, New York for a court appearance and I knew that this would be my chance to try some Utica Club. I brought along a suitcase for my trip back to New York (Jet Blue - one free bag!) along with some towels and Ziploc bags. After completing my court appearance, I stopped by Saranac and went home with a sixer of Utica Club, as well as a four pack of the new Saranac Pale Ale pub cans and some of the new organic juices for my kids.

Before moving on to give my take on the Utica Club, I feel compelled to give my thanks and praise for the good folks at Saranac. When I stopped in on Wednesday afternoon, I was given a tour of the brewery and the new canning line by none other than Brewing Supervisor Richard Michaels and Marketing Director Meghan Fraser. It was like something out of Laverne & Shirley, watching the bottles run down the line and into the boxes. However, the moving parts and packing was a lot more sophisticated than what was on the TV show as the brewery was running two different lines with two different size bottles at the same time. I also got a chance to talk brewing with their brewmaster Jim Kuhr who informed me that later this spring they will be introducing a Lake Placid Honey Rye beer. Sounds delicious!

If you find yourself in the Utica area (its about 45 minutes east of Syracuse) or are travelling I-90 between Albany and Buffalo this summer, I would highly recommend stopping in for a Brewery Tour. I have now done the tour twice and have found it quite entertaining and informative. (For more on the tour click here http://trailwear.saranac.com/pages/brewery-tour).

So what did the Utica Club taste like? If I tell you that the Heineken man liked it, you should be able to figure it out for yourself. Utica Club is a lager and pours, looks and smells it. The beer is like a cross between Stella Artois and MGD, with a good amount of carbonation and a little bit of creaminess (there was more creaminess when I had it on tap at the Saranac tavern, but it does not come through the same in the bottle).

I would recommend this beer to anyone who likes a cold one on a hot day and is not looking for something with too much bite.

Utica Club is certified kosher by the Va'ad of Detroit, as is every other beverage manufactured for Matt Brewing at the Utica plant. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Utica Club, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/6239. Keep in mind that the formula has reportedly changed over the last few years, so some of the older reviews at BA may be obsolete.

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).

Finally, 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's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Bamidbar

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 the 18th perek of the Mesilas Yesharim, the sefer discusses the middah of chassidus. This is not to be confused with being a chassid. The middah of chassidus would best be described as acting lifnim mishuras hadin - going beyond what is required in order to be certain to act properly.

Two perakim later, the Mesilas Yesharim discusses how there must be a weighing of whether it is the appropriate time to act lifnim mishuras hadin (which he calls balancing the middas chassidus).

The above concept can be seen through Parshas Bamidbar when Moshe delineates the roles of the children of Levi in the mishkan. The Medrash Rabbah writes that the sons of Kehath wanted to carry the mishkan when it traveled. This was a double edged sword as the carriers of the mishkan had to behave perfectly or they would die when they carried it. Although the sons of Kehath were the least in number from the sons of Levi they still desired to have this job. To this Moshe states in Bamidbar 4:15 that the sons of Kehath will come to carry the mishkan but they will not touch it so that they don't die. Moshe saw that they were running for this job because it was the most important, but was concerned for them that they might die from acting inappropriately. Thus he warns them, it may not be the proper time for middas chassidus.

The Mesilas Yesharim writes - but what was the problem with their actions? They wanted this job for the higher purpose without seeking personal glory? He answers that this is the weighing of the middah - looking at what the results of the action might be and knowing that it may not be the time or place for the middah.

Rabbi Frand gave the classic example of two men who come to shul for ma'ariv. Both men have yahrtzeit and both want to daven for the amud so that the soul of their departed is elevated by their prayers. If the two men get into an argument over who should get the amud, the desire to take the greater step of being the shaliach tzibbur will be overshadowed by the ill will generated by the argument.

The Mesilas Yesharim brought an example from a gemara in Berachos which discussed the dispute between Beis Hillel and Beis Shammai about the proper position for saying Shema (Beis Hillel states that it can be said in any position, while Beis Shammai says that it should be said while seated or reclining). The gemara then mentions that R' Tarfon said Shema like Beis Shammai, although the halacha is like Beis Hillel. The rabbis told him that he was subject to death by Heaven for acting in this manner.

The Mesilas Yesharim asked - why would acting like Beis Shammai put R' Tarfon in the position that he might be killed? He answered that at the time the rule that Beis Hillel was correct was not well established and if R' Tarfon publicly went further than what was required and sat, he would cause those watching him to be confused as to the proper position for Shema. Thus it was not the proper time for middas chassidus.

Rabbi Frand gave one other example involving R' Yisrael Salanter. R' Yisrael was a guest in an area where the weather was quite cold. When it came time to wash netilas yadayim, the man before R' Yisrael and the man who followed him washed their hands to the wrists. R' Yisrael only washed to the minimum standard of the fingers. Those who were observing him asked why he washed in this manner. R' Yisrael answered that the weather was cold outside and someone must go down to the well to get water for people to wash. It would be better that less water then the "lifnim meshuras hadin" shiur be used so that the man would not have to make as many trips to the well.

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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Sanhedrin 88

Sanhedrin 88 contains numerous references to the halachic judicial system which I would like to briefly explore in this post.

On Sanhedrin 88b, the gemara quotes a Beraisa in which R' Yosi discusses the original structure of the process by which a complex question of law would be decided. R' Yosi explains that at first the question would be asked to a local court. If they did not know the answer they would go to a neighboring court and ask their opinion of the question. If the neighboring court did not know, they would then take the question to the beis din which sat at the entry to the Temple Mount. If they knew the answer they would give it, otherwise they would go to ask the beis din sitting at the entry to the azarah. If this beis din did not know the question they would go to the sanhedrin sitting in the chamber of hewn stone. If they had heard the answer they would give the answer. Otherwise they would poll the judges of the sanhedrin and give the answer.

The above system is very similar to the system utilized in American jurisprudence. When an issue of law is presented to a trial court it will attempt to resolve it by applying existing precedent to the facts of the case. If a party feels aggrieved he will take the case up to the first level of appellate court. At this point he will argue that precedent does not support the decision. The loser at the appellate level can then go to the highest level of appeals and argue that the precedent was misapplied or (in a constitutional challenge) that the Constitution does not support the application made by the lower court.

Another point on the daf which struck my fancy (especially in light of the news that Elena Kagan had been nominated to fill the seat soon to be vacated by Justice Stevens) was how judges were chosen. The above beraisa notes that the Sanhedrin established qualifications for trial level judges. The candidate must be wise and humble and the people of the city must like him on a personal level. Once this judge has been appointed and sat on the local level, he is eligible to be selected to take a seat on the court sitting at the entrance of the temple mount upon the death of one of those judges. From there he can be elevated to the azarah and finally to the chamber of hewn stone.

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's Musings on Sports - A-Rod, Dallas and the Ties that Bind

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 almost one year ago, I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

Yesterday I was driving in the car and I heard an in-game news flash that Dallas Braden had pitched baseball's 19th perfect game (20th if you count the one that Kevin Costner threw in For Love of Game). My thoughts immediately drifted to Alex Roidriguez and I began wondering what he must be thinking.

For those who do not live in the media circus which is the Big Apple where every player's sniffle gets its own 15 minutes of fame, you may not be familiar with the brouhaha involving Alex Rodriguez and Dallas Braden. A few weeks ago, Braden was pitching for the Oakland Athletics against the New York Yankees. After Alex Roidriguez was retired he crossed the pitcher's mound on the way back to the Yankee dugout. This prompted an outburst from Braden who (citing to one of baseball's unwritten rules) publicly lambasted Roidriguez for intruding on his personal sanctuary - the pitcher's mound.

After the game, Roidriguez was interviewed by the media and his response was essentially - who is Dallas Braden. This has become en vogue for athletes to rip on other players by pretending that they don't know who the other athlete is. This could not be further from the truth as hitters watch film on most of the pitchers they will hit against and certainly the starting pitchers.

So while A-Roid pretended to not know who Dallas Braden was, Braden had the last laugh as he will go down in history as being part of the select few to throw a perfect game.

The anonymity game reminded me of a vort I heard from R' Mansour about the connection between Jews and Hashem. He used a mashal (parable) about a man who realized that he needed a belt. He looked high and low but could not find one. Finally, the man went up on the roof and saw a string which was tied to the roof but did not appear to be connected to anything else. The man cut a length of the rope and tied it around his waist. He then went downstairs and saw a horrific scene. People were running around screaming and trying to put out a fire. He asked what happened and was told that the chandelier had fallen and set the room on fire. The people were blaming the contractor who had installed the chandelier. Suddenly someone saw that the man was wearing a belt which was identical to the rope which had held the chandelier in place...

The nimshal of Rabbi Mansour's vort was that the Jews are connected to each other and Hashem by way of an invisible rope. When we sin, there is a reverberation in shamayim as everyone is connected and there is no anonymous Jew as everything is seen and heard by Hashem.

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 Night Suds - Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout.

The Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout was one of my first experiments with heavy stouts when I began my beer education. I can recall buying a six pack of it in 2004 or 2005 and trying to force myself to drink them so that I could learn to "appreciate" dark stouts. It was a dismal failure and I wound up giving as many away as I could.

Fast forward to winter 2010 and they are now selling Black Chocolate Stout in 4 packs instead of sixers. I went to my favorite beer store and mixed a four of the Black Chocolate Stout and Brooklyn's Monster Ale (also sold in 4 packs and reviewed here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/04/sunday-night-suds-brooklyn-monster-ale.html ).

Since stouts can do suprisingly well with dessers, I decided to see how the Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout would do with Mrs Kosher Beers' Double Chocolate chip cookies. The answer? Its still way too dark for me to drink, even when sipping it together with my wife's excellent cookies. (Happy Mother's Day Sarah).

The folks at BA classify the Black Chocolate Stout as a Russian Imperial Stout, which is described as:

the king of stouts, boasting high alcohol by volumes and plenty of malt character. Low to moderate levels of carbonation with huge roasted, chocolate and burnt malt flavours. Often dry. Suggestions of dark fruit and flavors of higher alcohols are quite evident. Hop character can vary from none, to balanced to aggressive.

I found the Black Chocolate Stout to be full of heavy malt with a flavor that was like Guiness mixed with coffee grounds. While there may be some who enjoy this kind of beer, I find that I am still unable to drink an entire bottle of the stuff.

Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout is under the kosher supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit as are all 12 oz Brooklyn beers which are brewed in the Utica plant.

For the experts' take on the Black Chocolate Stout please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45/680.

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).

Finally, 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's Parsha Tidbits - Parshios Behar - Bechukosai

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.

Rabbi Frand started his parsha vort by citing to Parshas Behar where the Torah states (Vayikra 25:39) that if a fellow Jew becomes so poor that he sells himself into slavery, you should not make him do "avodas aved." Rashi asks what is Avodas Aved - it means that he should not do demeaning tasks for you. Rashi gives examples that if you go to the bathhouse, he should not be made to bring your clothes to you there. Similarly, he should not be made to tie your shoes for you.

It is curious however that according to the Sifri, a person may ask an employee to bring his clothes to the bathhouse or tie his shoes for him in public. This of course begs the question - what is the difference between them?

Rabbi Frand then quoted a pasuk in Bechukosai (Vayikra 26:16) where the Torah enumerates four kinds of illness which will come upon the person who is subject to the punishments of the tochacha. These include shachefes (swelling lesions), kadachas (burning fever), michlos eynayim (causing the eyes to long) and midivos nafesh (causing the soul to suffer).

Rashi explains that the four illness are actually a progression as the person goes from being bedridden and his flesh is wasting away (lesions) to being worn out and feverish (fever) to being feverish and thinking that he will not survive(causing the eyes to long) and then being aware that all around think that he will not survive (causing souls to suffer).

Rabbi Frand then asked - why is the level of where others think that he can't make live the lowest level?

Rabbi Frand answered these questions by developing a shmooze from the Tolner Rebbi. He first cited to a gemara in Yoma 18 where the mishna states that part of the preparation of the kohain gadol for the avodah included asking the kohain gadol to recite the steps - either because he might have forgotten them, or because he may never have learned them. The gemara then asks - how could he have gotten to be the kohain gadol without having learned these steps? The gemara answers that the kohain gadol who forgot was in the times of the first Bayis, while the one who never learned them was serving in the second Bayis when the position was bought rather than earned. The gemara then said in the name of R' Assi that Marta Bas Baisus bought the kohain gadol position for Yehoshua Ben Gamla.

The problem with the example of Yehoshua Ben Gamla is that he is praised in Bava Basra 44 for having saved the Jews from forgetting the Torah as he instituted schools and mandated that children go there and learn Torah.

The Sfas Emes harmonizes the two gemaros by analyzing the persona of the kohain gadol. The Sfas Emes writes that the kohain gadol was hagadok me'echav - which we learn means that he must be the greatest from among the kohanim in many categories incuding wealth and that if he lacked money, the others would loan it to him. The Sfas Emes writes that not only would they help him financially, the others would pray for him to succeed and would ask him many halachic questions. These were done not only to raise his public persona, but also to raise his self esteem so that he felt like he was truly the kohain hagadol me'echav. In this way, Yehoshua Ben Gamla grew from being a person whose position was bought for him, to being the man who saved Torah for the Jews.

We see the opposite of this concept by the tochacha - the most severe level of the development of the sickness is when he sees that his friends no longer think that he can recover. When he becomes aware of this concept he will give up hope of recovery and his prospects become very bleak.

Similarly, the slave must not be allowed to do degrading tasks in public such as carry the clothes to the bathhouse or tie the master's shoes. Everyone knows that the man is a slave and he will feel that the eyes of the world look down on him. However, this concept would not apply to the employee who is known to be drawing a salary and has the option to quit rather than perform the task.

The Tolner Rav then asked about the Jews who left Egypt. It is well known that the Jews were on the 49th level of tumah and had been engaged in idol worship. So how were they able to receive the Torah only a handful of weeks later?

The Tolner Rav answers that it is related to Hashem addressed the Jews at Har Sinai. In Shemos 19:6, prior to the Jews receiving the Torah, Hashem instructs Moshe to tell the Jews that they will be for him a mamleches kohanim and a holy nation. With this kind of injection of confidence, the Jews believed in their ability to become holy and their worthiness of receipt of the Torah.

Rabbi Frand finished by stating that this lesson is applicable all across life and especially in child rearing. If a parent looks at a child and the child knows that the parent believes in him and has confidence that he will succeed - the child will be much more likely to succeed. If the child thinks that the parent believes he is hopeless, he may g-d forbid turn out to be that way.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Leaders and Scorers and the Power of YouTube

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 almost one year ago, I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

Tonight I was planning on writing on something that I heard on the Colin Cowherd show about the difference between a scorer and a leader. I was all set to write about how Kevin Durant was merely a scorer but not a leader since he disappeared at crunch time in all of his team's games against the Lakers in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Then, I happened across a post by Shutdown Corner on the Yahoo NFL page which contained a very funny story which I just had to share as comedy relief (no moral tonight, just a funny story).

It appears that the Cleveland Browns have taken Internet surfing to a whole new level. As reported by Matthew Darnell, the Browns signed a collegiate player as an undrafted free agent. As I wrote last week (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/04/mondays-musings-on-sports-of-sacrifices.html), the prospects of succeeding as an undrafted player in the NFL are remote (although Scott Sicko did in fact change his mind and sign as a UDFA with the Dallas Cowboys). Still, each team will sign about a dozen of these players every off season and give one or two of them a shot at making the NFL.

So what makes the Browns different enough to catch my attention? The first departure from the norm is that Joel Reinders (the player signed by the Browns) did not play college football for an NCAA Division I or IA team. In fact, he did not play in the US, as his experience constituted eight games played for the University of Waterloo (home to Brick Brewing!) in Ontario, Canada.

The second major departure from the norm is that the Browns did not send a scout to watch Reinders, or even invite him to the team's complex for an off-season workout. Instead, the Browns "found" Reinders by watching a demo tape that he recorded and uploaded to YouTube.

If you would like to read the full article about Reinders incredible ride click here - http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/The-Browns-turn-to-YouTube-to-find-able-bodied-f;_ylt=AuuqWPum96r_iTttUvKEhJJDubYF?urn=nfl,238186 .

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 Night Suds - Corona Extra

This week's Sunday Night Suds takes on a celebratory tone by reviewing Corona Extra (OK, so I am a few days early).

Largely unknown to most in mainstream kashrus, the OK laboratories gives a hashgacha on many beers produced by Mexico based Compania Cervecera Del Tropico S.A. de CV. These beers include Corona Cerveza, Corona Extra, Corona Light, Coronita Cerveza, Coronita Extra, Leon, Modelo Especial, Modelo Light, Montejo, Negra Modelo Beer, Pacifico Clara, Victoria. While many of these beers are not available in mainstream outlets, some are very visible like the ever present Corona Extra.

While beer is generally not a drink which is served with a garnish, Corona is quite often served with a lime. This could be due to the fact that the flavor of the lime blends very well with the Corona, or because the Corona is so bland and tasteless that anything would work well with it in order to perk up the flavor of the brew.

I am ambivalent as to whether the reason for the success of the Corona and lime combination is because of the former or the latter reason. There are quite a few lime beer brewed combinations, although I have only tried one - Blue Moon Rising Moon Spring Ale (brewed with Kieffer Lime) because it is currently the only lime flavored beer under hashgacha (for a review click http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/03/sunday-night-suds-rising-moon-spring.html).

This may change soon however, as the OU has been reviewing the Miller beers which joined the MillerCoors family and there is hope that many more flavored beers will soon be under kosher supervision. I hope to provide more information on these brews once I can confirm that they are under supervision.

The Corona Extra is a very light lager which pours almost lemon candy yellow. The beer has a fair amount of carbonation and is OK when consumed ice cold. I would not want to try this beer when it was warm and I sometimes wonder why it is so popular in the United States.

Corona Extra is under the kosher supervision of the OK laboratories - click here http://www.ok.org/kfgProducts.asp?ir=R&V=Compania+Cervecera+Del+Tropico+S%2EA%2E+de+CV to see the full list of Compania Cervecera Del Tropico S.A. de CV. beers which are under the OK.

For the experts' take on Corona Extra please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/75/232.

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).

Finally, 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!