Sunday Night Suds - Saranac Vanilla Stout

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Saranac Vanilla Stout.

I was very excited when I first saw that Saranac had begun distribution of their 12 Beers of winter. As usual, the box contains six varieties (two bottles of each) of Saranac limited edition brews. This year's variety box included two holdovers from last year - the Rye IPA (reviewed here) and one of my favorites, the Big Moose Ale (reviewed here). Much to my wife's chagrin and despite her lobbying efforts, the 12 beers of winter did not contain the Maple Porter which she has described as equally suited for a brew or to have with ice cream.

The Saranac Vanilla Stout is one of those beers that the good folks at FX Matt produce on a limited basis every couple of years. I believe that the last time that this was produced was winter 08-09.

As classified by the experts at BA, the Vanilla Stout is an American Stout which they explain are :

Inspired from English & Irish Stouts, the American Stout is the ingenuous creation from that. Thankfully with lots of innovation and originality American brewers have taken this style to a new level. Whether it is highly hopping the brew or adding coffee or chocolate to complement the roasted flavors associated with this style. Some are even barrel aged in Bourbon or whiskey barrels. The hop bitterness range is quite wide but most are balanced. Many are just easy drinking session stouts as well.

The Saranac Vanilla Stout is not an easy drinking session beer as the brew leans to the heavy side and seems more akin to a chocolate stout than anything else. I did not taste the vanilla in the brew (it is an additive and not hop derived) and although I followed the bottle's exhortation to try with a piece of dark chocolate, I did not find the pairing to my liking.

Bottom line - if you are looking to try out a new stout and are OK with just drinking one or two, give the Saranac Vanilla Stout a shot. Just don't go into this expecting Guinness...

Saranac Vanilla Stout is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit, as is every other brew produced by Saranac. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Saranac Vanilla Stout, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/45428.

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 Vayeshev

The following is a brief summary of two vorts said over by R' Frand on the parsha. I have attempted to reproduce the vorts 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 Bereishis 37:3, the Torah writes that Yaakov loved Yosef more than any of the other brothers because he was a "ben zekunim" - a child of Yaakov's old age. Rashi explains that Yosef was a ben zekunim because Yosef was born when Yaakov was old. Yet this presents the obvious question - Binyamin was eight years youger than Yosef, so why wasn't Binyamin the ben zekunim?

The Rashbam answers the question by explaining that Yosef was already the ben zekunim for eight years before Binyamin came along. Since Yosef was entrenched as the ben zekunim in Yaakov's eyes, Binyamin could not displace him.

The Chizkuni offers a darker answer to the question. He notes that that Rachel died when Binyamin was born. As such, when Yaakov looked at Binyamin, he was reminded that his favorite wife had died while giving birth to Binyamin. This prevented Yaakov from having a close relationship with Binyamin.

Later in the parsha, Yaakov sends Yosef to look for his brothers who are herding sheep in the city of Shechem (Bereishis 37:12-13). R' Frand quoted R' Gifter who asked why we need to know that they were in Shechem? R' Gifter answered his own question by noting that Shechem was the site of the brother's greatest show of achdus. At the risk of their lives, the brothers went into Shechem and went to war for their sister's honor. Yaakov knew that the brothers had issues with Yosef and therefore he tried to put them all together in a location which would reignite that sense of achdus. Unfortunately, by the time that Yosef gets there, the brothers have already left Shechem and the rest is history...

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 - Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat.

Every time that I drink this beer, I seem to have chili around. I first picked up this brew when our daf yomi group was making our siyum for Horayos. Since it was a Thursday night, the siyum belonged to Bency S and he announced that he was going to be serving chili at the siyum. A couple of guys brought cake and crackers, but I wanted to bring beer, because that's what I do. I went down to the Beverage Barn looking for something in the fridge which would work and I saw the Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat. I had never tried this version of Leinenkugel, but since they make a quality brew and witbiers usually go well with smoky chili.

When I showed up at the siyum I was surprised to learn that the chili was vegetarian. Would a witbier do well with a meatless chili? The overwhelming answer was yes. Although the crowd was made up of mostly non-beer drinkers, they all enjoyed the Sunset Wheat with Bency's overspiced chili. I brought one of the left over bottles home and Mrs Kosher Beers really enjoyed it too.

Fast forward to dinner this evening and I had my last bottle of Sunset Wheat was chilling in the fridge waiting to be the subject of this week's post. My oldest daughter Penina asked Sarah to make Mexican food for dinner, which for us means hot wings, chips and salsa and chili and rice. This time the Sunset Wheat really worked with the chili. I don't know if its the coriander or other spice/flavor that they add to the brew, but this souped up Witbier is a great pairing with chili.

Leinenkugel Sunset wheat is certified kosher by the Orthodox Union, although the product currently in the marketplace does not yet have an OU on the label. If you would like a copy of the LOC please contact me via email.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/710/29015.

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, 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 Vayishlach

The following is a brief summary of a vort said over by R' Frand on the parsha. I have attempted to reproduce the 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 beginning of the fourth aliyah, the parsha tells the order of the introduction of Yaakov's family to Esav. The Torah recites at Bereishis 32:6 that the shfachos and then their children came forward to greet Esav. The next pasuk indicates that Leah then came forward with her children and afterwards Yosef and Rachel. Rashi explains that the reason that Rachel followed her child instead or preceeding him was that Yosef reasoned that his mother was beautiful and that he did not want Esav to eye her. As such Yosef said I will block him (a'akvenu) from seeing her.

R' Frand quoted the sefer Seder Hadoros which teaches that Yosef at the time was either four or six years old. R' Frand then asked, given Yosef's diminutive stature, how could he have prevented Esav from seeing Rachel? Furthermore, even if he could get in the way for a moment, Esav would just walk around so that he could see Rachel!

R' Frand then quoted a medrash which states that Yosef grew to be six feet tall when he attempted to block Esav. However, Yosef could not have known that this would happen and could not have been anticipating it when he stood in front of Rachel, so why did he act?

R' Frand answered by quoting the Tolner Rebbi that Yosef's use of the term a'akvenu teaches that Yosef reasoned that even if he could just block Esav for a little bit, it would be worthwhile. This was Yosef's game plan - even a little is better than nothing.

R' Frand then told a story about the Tolner Rebbi and the birth of his son. The Rebbi had two daughters before having a son. He wanted to name the boy after his father in law, but his father in law's middle name was the same as the Rebbi's first name. He also knew that while his father in law was alive, his father in law believed that one needed to use both the names of the deceased when naming. The Rebbi was unsure how to proceed, so he sent a messenger to the Gerre Rebbi to ask the question. He received back an answer - nothing is nothing, if you do this it will at least be something (R Frand said this in Yiddish and it sounded much better that way).

This was the message and the method of Yosef. Even if someone cannot be completely successful, he should try and do what he can, rather then giving up.

R' Frand brought a proof to this from a medrash about Yosef's interaction with Potiphera. The Torah writes that every day she tried to seduce him, but he resisted. The medrash explains that she said to him - one day you will give in to me. Yosef would respond to her, this may be correct, but it will not happen today. This was yet another example of Yosef's method of looking at things in smaller increments and doing what he could under the circumstances.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - When Not to Follow One's Nature

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 more than a 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 last few weeks, the National Football League has begun to crack down on blows to the head, tackles where the aggressor leads with his helmet, and hits on players who are defenseless or otherwise unprepared for the shot. This enforcement was not the result of any change in the rules, but rather an attempt by the NFL to deter players from being too agressive in their play.

Following the NFL's announcement in Week Six, the pundits began to speculate as to the cause of the NFL's actions and whether it would impact on the quality of play. Most writers suggested that the league was cracking down as a result of the number of concussions and other serious injuries which had already been incurred this year. But the main focus of discussion was whether the league's enforcement would cause players to change the way that they tackled. While players had been taught since high school the method to maximize impact when hitting other players (glorified on sports TV networks), the rules change/enforcement would penalize players severely for those hits, regardless of whether the tackled player was hurt.

In the first few weeks since the NFL's announcement, the early returns indicate that players are forgoing the "knock out" hit and are attempting to tackle lower or in some cases, slower.

The discussion as to whether players would change their method of hitting made me think of a vort that I heard from Rabbi Mansour about Avraham and Yaakov. Avraham's nature was one of chesed - kindness towards all. Hashem tested Avraham by making him believe that he would have to sacrifice his son Yitzchak on an altar. When faced with this test, Avraham could have said - sorry, this is against my nature and I can't do it. Had Avraham taken this tact, he would have demonstrated that the motivation for his chesed was not divine, but rather was because he felt that he needed to be a nice guy. Therefore, Hashem tested him to see if he would go against his nature.

Similarly, Yaakov's nature was one of truthfulness. As such, Yaakov was tested in that he was told to dress as his brother Esav in order to obtain the bechor's bracha. Yaakov could have resisted this test by stating that he could not lie. Instead, Yaakov davened to Hashem that he should not be influenced by this single act of deception.

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Sunday Night Suds - Red Baron Lime

Continuing with the lime flavored beer reviews which started last week, this week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Red Baron Lime.

As discussed in last week's post, there are a few kosher lime flavored beers. The "oldest" of the kosher lime flavored beers is the Rising Moon (reviewed here), the Blue Moon spring seasonal beer which is brewed with kieffer lime leaves and lime zest. More recent entries in this field are the New Belgium Skinny Dip (reviewed here) and most recently, Miller Lime Chill.

Suffice it to say that all lime flavored beers are not created equal. While the New Belgium Skinny Dip and the Blue Moon Rising Moon provide drinkable brews with a hint of lime essence, the Red Baron Lime is like drinking a beer with a dum dum lollypop at the bottom of the bottle. The lime flavoring added to the brew hits you when you open the bottle and keep coming at you with every sip. I tried pairing this brew with various foods and there really was no flavor that was not overwhelmed by the lime flavoring in the beer. I even "tried" sharing this brew with Mrs Kosher Beers and she wanted nothing to do with it.

Red Baron Lime is certified kosher by the COR. Although the Red Baron Lime is not listed on their website as one of the approved beers from the Brick Brewery, I confirmed with Rabbi Norman of the COR by phone that the Red Baron Lime is acceptable. As to whether you would actually want to drink this beer, that's up to you...

For the experts' take on Red Baron Lime click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/416/54086.

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, 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 Vayeitzei

The following is a brief summary of a vort said over by R' Frand on the parsha. I have attempted to reproduce the 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.

The gemara in Bava Basra 123a recounts the conversation between Yaakov and Rachel when they decided to get married. The gemara tells over that Yaakov asked Rachel to marry him and she agreed, but she also told him that her father was a crook and "you won't be able to get past him" as he is a ramai. Yaakov then told her - I am his equal in tricks - this is what is meant by the pasuk (Bereishis 29:12) that Yaakov told Rachel that he was "her father's brother." This is seemingly an odd choice of words for Yaakov as his mother was Lavan's sister and he was certainly not her uncle. However, the mefarshim explain that he was saying that he is Lavan's equal in tricks.

The problem with this, is that the previous parsha called Yaakov an ish tam, which Rashi explains is a person who does not know the ways of the world. How did Yaakov go from ish tam to the brother in rama'us?

Before answereing, Rabbi Frand spoke to the meaning of the phrase ba'al middos, which he explained is not that the person has middos, but that he had control over his middos.

Rabbi Frand then told a story about a man who came to R' Bunim with a problem. The man's problem was that he was too generous as he kept giving away all he had to charity. R' Bunim told the man a vort from the Chozeh M'Lublin about Yaakov who was an ish tam but also said he was equal in tricks. How? He explained that Yaakov was an ish tam, but he was an ish first and when required he would turn away his tam and act with cunning if the situation desired. So too, the man who visited R' Bunim needed to learn that there were times when he needed to say no to the aniyim, because a person needs to be in charge of himself and his middos.

R' Frand then noted a seeming contradiction in mishnayos in Pirkei Avos. In the second perek it says - lo habaishan lamed - an easily embarrassed person who is too timid, cannot learn. However in the fifth perek it states boshes panim go to Gan Eden! R' Frand explained that a baishan is someone who is defined by his midah of bushah, however a boshes panim means that only the person's face shows embarrassment, but he has control over the rest of himself.

R' Frand also made reference to a pasuk in Megillas Esther - where Mordechai says if you stay quiet now, the Jews will be saved by others. The Medrash says that Esther came from a long lineage of being quiet - derived from Binyamin who did not spill about his brothers and Shaul who did not argue with the people. Mordechai says to Esther - now is not the time to stay quiet, even if this is your nature, because the Jews need saving and if it does not come from you, Hashem will send another.

R' Frand closed by linking the pasuk in Esther to the stone for Binyamin in the choshen. The tribal stone for Binyamin was yashpeh - which can also be read as yesh peh - there is a mouth. The Chiddushei Harim asks - Binyamin was the opposite of vocal, so the stone should have been ein peh! The Chiddushei Harim answers that the tribe of Binyamin were quiet, but they knew when to speak, when there truly was a time for the peh. This is a true ba'al middos - not one who is controlled by his middos, but one who controls his actions and knows when to employ them.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Of Marathons, Missions and Meanings

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 more than a 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 was one of New York's signature events - the New York City Marathon. On the first Sunday in November, tens of thousands come to New York to run through the five boroughs. Millions more stand on the sidelines, hoping for a brief glimpse of friends or loved ones who are running in the race. The marathon also has its share of pageantry, as people run in various costumes, or sometimes propose at the finish line. And of course, there is the drama of the race itself and the question of whether an American will win.

This year's marathon was even more notable than most, based on the stories of two of the runners. One of the runners was Edison Pena, a Chilean national who was in the news over the last few months because he ran miles every day while he was trapped underground in a mine in Chile. When Pena was finally rescued from the mine, he was invited by New York City to be an honorary guest at the race. But Pena, had other ideas as he indicated to the race officials that he wanted to run in the race.

As reported by the AP, Pena ran the race to motivate others, explaining that “In this marathon I struggled,” he said. “I struggled with myself, I struggled with my own pain, but I made it to the finish line. I want to motivate other people to also find the courage and strength to transcend their own pain.” (To see the full article, click here).

Another motivational figure from yesterday's race was Amani Toomer, the former NY Giants wide receiver. Toomer entered into an agreement with Timex that they would donate $1 to a local charity for every person that Toomer passed in the race. So Toomer started last in the race and passed an estimated 20,000 runners. (For more on Toomer and his run, click here).

The use of Toomer's talents to raise money for charity and Pena's run to motivate others are truly admirable. Often times, people find themselves in unanticipated situations which they could not have predicted, but which give them an opportunity to do something great. Megilas Esther has a discussion between Mordechai and Esther, wherein Mordechai asks Esther to go to the king and ask for the Jews to be spared from Haman's plan. Esther indicates that she cannot go because no one can go before the king without permission. Mordechai responds - who knows if for this very reason you have become the queen? We see that people are put in certain positions so that they can act and be great.

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Sunday Night Suds - New Belgium Skinny Dip

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at New Belgium's Skinny Dip, a brew which they describe as "Beer Brewed with Natural Flavors."

Yes its November and with the changing of the clock and the shortening of the day, the weather is getting colder. But before we fully get into the winter chill, I wanted to spend a few posts reminiscing about summer brews, by reviewing kosher lime flavored beers.

No your eyes are not deceiving you. Contrary to popular belief, there are a few kosher lime flavored beers. The "oldest" of the kosher lime flavored beers is the Rising Moon (reviewed here), the Blue Moon spring seasonal beer which is brewed with kieffer lime leaves and lime zest. More recent entries in this field are the New Belgium Skinny Dip, the Red Baron Lime (produced by Ontario's Brick Brewery) and most recently, Miller Lime Chill.

Unlike many other lime flavored brews, the New Belgium Skinny Dip is not a light beer with a splash of lime. Instead, this brew is a blonde ale with a little bit of lime flavor which is derived from lime leaf and not the introduction of lime juice, lime zest or lime concentrate. The result is a crisp brew which can be drunk without making you wonder whether there is a lollypop at the bottom of the bottle.

New Belgium Skinny Dip is under the Kosher Supervision of the Scroll-K of Colorado. Although the beer does not bear the kosher symbol on the label, it can be found on the bottom of the six pack carrier. Additionally, if you would like me to e-mail you the LOC for New Belgium Skinny Dip, send me an e-mail and I will gladly oblige.

Please note that not every brew produced by New Belgium is under kosher supervision. Please click on the link on the left side of my home page to see my latest Kosher Beer List.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about New Belgium Skinny Dip, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/29675 . 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 Toldos

The following is a brief summary of a vort said over by R' Frand on the parsha. I have attempted to reproduce the 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 began his parsha vort this evening by observing that the bracha that was given by Yitzchak to Yaakov appears to be unsuitable for Yaakov. The Torah calls Yaakov an "ish tam" or simple man, who sat in the tents and learned Torah. Meanwhile, the bracha which Yitzchak gave Yaakov was highly materialistic.

To explain this seeming contradiction, Rabbi Frand quoted the sefer Chikrei Lev, who explains that Yitzchak was aware that Esav was materialistic while Yaakov was spiritual. Yitzchak desired that Yaakov and Esav form a partnership (much like Yissachar and Zevulun did one generation later) which would allow Yaakov to learn while Esav supported him.

Esav was aware of Yitzchak's thinking and it is for this reason that the medrash recites that Esav asked his father how one gives maaser from salt. In so doing, Esav sought to give his father the impression that he was a baal tzedakah and therefore would merit the bracha that his father sought to give him.

But Esav's plan was not to be, as Rivka saw Esav for what he truly was and she was able to submarine his plan. Rabbi Frand quoted the medrash which asks - why did Rivka have to come from a family of thieves. Indeed, her brother was a thief, her father was a thief and she lived in a city of thieves. The medrash explains that Rivka had this background just so that she could use what she saw in Haran one time - to assist Yaakov in tricking Yitzchak into giving him the bracha which was intended for Esav. Rivka saw through Esav and knew that he would never support Yaakov financially. As such, she used the lessons she learned in her family home to assist Yaakov in obtaining a bracha of financial support.

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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Horayos 4

The following are a few thoughts on Horayos 4 and the mesechta in general.

Unlike many other mesechtos, Horayos is truly devoted to one topic - what happens when the Sanhdedrin or another Beis Din makes an incorrect ruling and someone (or many someones as the case may have it) follow the directive of the authority. As my wife's cousin R' Aharon F explained to me - the purpose of the mesehcta is to teach you that sometimes even Rabbis make mistakes.

In relation to Horayos 4, I was intrigued by the opinion of R' Yehuda who teaches that if seven tribes sinned based on the ruling of the Sanhedrin, the seven tribes bring seven bulls and the remaining tribes bring bull offerings as well, as even though they did not sin, they bring an offering because of the sinners. The Kehati on the mishna quotes the Rambam who explains that whether the sinning tribes are a minority of the population of Jews (but a majority of the number of tribes), or whether they are a minority in the number of tribes but a majority of the population, or even if its only one tribe but they are a majority of the population of Jews, they are all deemed sinners and must bring sacrifices for each tribe.

My question was (and I am throwing this out to the readers of the blog for an answer as I have not seen one in print) is why must the other tribes bring their own offerings? Is it because they did not intervene to prevent the sinning tribes from improperly following the ruling of the Sanhedrin? Or could it because of a general principle of kol yisrael areivim zeh bazeh? Or perhaps for some other reasons? Please feel free to post your thoughts as a comment to this blog post.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Moss Can't Grow on This Stone

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 more than a 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.

Today the news broke late in the day that the Minnesota Vikings were releasing Randy Moss. This came as a surprise to many, as the Vikings had just traded for Moss less than a month before. Furthermore, if no team claimed Moss on waivers, the Vikings would be required to pay the balance of his 2010 salary (approximately $3 million) even though he would not play another game for them.

Having not watched the Vikings-Patriots game yesterday, I was unaware of Moss' having given up on a pass play shortly before Brett Favre got hurt. Still, Moss' recent history of misbehavior and criticism of teammates and management on both the Patriots and Vikings has been well publicized. But why would a team in desperate need of wide receivers, release a player who was one of the more talented in the game?

The answer of course is that sometimes a team (or person) needs to make a tough decision to do without something which might be beneficial in the short term, but much more damaging in the long term.

I heard a story from Rabbi Zev Cohen over Sukkos which drives this point home. There was a man named Conrad who had recently finished college with a degree in accounting. His brothers were involved with a bank and they offered him a senior position in the bank's accounting department. Conrad interviewed with them and during the interview he asked whether the bank was closed on Shabbos. They answered him that the bank was not shomer shabbos and that he needed to make a choice as to whether he wanted the "job of the lifetime" or to keep Shabbos. He told them that Shabbos was more important and they told him not to bother coming back.

Many years later, Conrad was invited to the ground breaking of his son's yeshiva. While he was digging, Conrad was seen saying something, but no one was sure of what he was intoning. His son asked him and he told him that he was repeating the line from Tehillim - Even Ma'asu Habonim Haisa L'Rosh Pina.

Conrad then explained that a few years before he had received a call from his brother who told him that he was dying and that he wanted Conrad to visit. Conrad flew out and was picked up by a chauffeured limousine. When Conrad arrived at the brother's palatial estate, the two began to catch up on things. The brother talked about his business, but had little to say about his children. Conrad indicated that he had done modestly well in business, but that his children had become successful rabbanim who had their own yeshivos and daughters who were happily married and raising children.

Conrad's brother then had a servant fetch his checkbook and he told Conrad that he wanted to give him a check to "buy into" Conrad's business. Conrad told him sadly that it was impossible and he left without the check.

Sometimes the short term answer may seem more attractive, but the long term effects of compromising one's standards or morals demonstrate that the more appropriate tasks is to say no.

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