Monday's Musings on Sports - To Everything There is a Season even at 128 MPH

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 (he has recently resurfaced on ESPN Radio in Los Angeles), I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

Last week, a story broke about Kyle Busch, a NASCAR driver who was clocked driving at 128 mph. For NASCAR, this would be rather pedestrian as drivers on a track like Talladega regularly drive at speeds in the neighborhood of 200 mph. However, Busch was not clocked at 128 on a track. Instead, Busch was pulled over by a police officer for driving 128 in a 45 mph zone. For reasons known only to the officer, Busch was not arrested and the car was not impounded. Instead, Busch was only given a ticket and must show up to Court.

When I first heard the story, I admit that I chuckled. Since NASCAR drivers are used to driving at speeds between 100 and 200 miles per hour, Busch was well equipped to handle the speed of his vehicle. But when I thought more about it, I realized how dangerous and irresponsibly Busch had acted. Unlike NASCAR tracks which are constructed to handle cars travelling at high rates of speed, the average two lane highway or interstate is not built for cars travelling 200 mph.

There is another factor which makes Busch's actions even more reckless. On a professional race course, the drivers are trained in anticipating and reacting to other cars and the rate of speed that they travel. On the highway, if a car is approaching at nearly three times the speed limit, who knows what the average driver would do when he saw that car approaching?

Having reviewed all this in my head, I decided that while the story was cute, I hope that the Judge throws the book at Busch. I am unaware of whether a NASCAR driver can drive in a race if his state license is suspended, but if the trade off is his ability to work vs. the safety of everyone else on the road, then let him lose his paycheck for a few months. If he was anyone else, he would be looking at the possibility of real jail time (also resulting in the loss of a few paychecks).

The question of whether a person can say, I know that the rules (in this case the speed limit) exist for a reason, but they don't apply to me in my situation, reminded me of a story from Shmuel II which is read as the haftorah for Parshas Shemini. The navi relates that David Hamelech had organized a celebration as the ark was being transported to its permanent home in Jerusalem. The ark was being carried on a wagon and when it shifted, the ark looked as if it might fall off. Uzah was worried that the ark would fall and he reached towards it. However, Hashem had commanded that no one should touch the ark and as such Uzah died when he reached to steady it. While Uzah may have had good intentions in believing that the law did not apply in his scenario, he was still breaking the commandment which was - don't touch the ark. On a somewhat similar vein, the county/state speed limits don't apply on a racetrack and if Busch wanted to try out this new car before purchasing it (the "excuse" for his driving at the time he was ticketed) he could have driven it as fast as he wanted to "at work". However, once Busch was on the open road, surrounded by non-professional drivers, he needed to realize that the speed limit exists for a reason.

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Belated Sunday Night Suds - Yankee Jim Ice

Since this is a patriotic holiday weekend, Sunday Night Suds reviews a beer with a "patriotic" bend by looking at Yankee Jim Ice.

Although Yankee Jim bears an American sounding name, it is not available for purchase in the lower United States. However, if one visits America's neighbor to the north, he could procure the Yankee Jim in the LCBO or the Beer Store.

The story itself is not uncommon, often times a store in a given location will seek to associate itself with another geographic area to lend credence to the product that it sells. By example, a store may call itself xyz's New York Bagels or xyz's Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. Of course, the pizza in the store is not made in Chicago, any more than the bagels are baked in New York. Still, the geographic description may be enough to get people in the door and that's all that a good restaurant would need.

The odd thing about the Yankee Jim beer is that it is sold in Canada, a country known for its beer (and hockey). One would not expect a "Wyoming Style" pizzeria to succeed in Chicago. So why attempt to market a beer with an American sounding name (it is truly brewed in the U.S. as it is bottled by the "Big Hole" Brewing Company of Utica, NY).

I can't really explain the rationale for trying to sell American beer in the beer mecca of Canada, but I can tell you that having tried the brew, there is no reason for a Canadian to go out and purchase it. As you can see from the picture above, the beer poured an extremely pale yellow (I needed to take a couple of pictures so that the color could be seen at all). The flavor is macrolager with no hops and "lite beer" taste quality. Although this is partially related to the beer being an ice lager, it still has significantly less flavor than Icehouse or even Bud Ice.

I would not turn down this beer if I was at a sporting event, but would not choose this if I had other beer available.

Although the Yankee Jim Ice is not certified kosher, it is produced at a brewery which only maintains kosher ingredients on premises. As such,the mashgiach in the brewery assures me that the Yankee Jim can be assumed to be kosher.

For the experts' take on the Yankee Jim Ice please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1602/30168.

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 Bamidbar

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha 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.

This week's parsha contains one of the two censuses in Sefer Bamidbar. In commenting on this week's numbers, R' Frand observed that the tribe of Levi was counted from the age of one month and up, but only numbered twenty two thousand, of which only eight thousand were above the age of thirty. In comparison with the other tribes, Shevet Levi was less than one half of the smallest tribe.

Rabbi Frand observed that if one knew that Levi was the only tribe which was not enslaved in Egypt, it might be thought that they would be among the larger tribes. However, the above numbers prove that this was not a factor in their population growth. Indeed, the other tribes fulfilled the statement in Shemos 1:12 - as much as they inflicted pain on the Jews, they would grow and spread out. The other tribes were zoche to much larger population growth because of their being part of the enslavement in Egypt.

R' Frand attributed the fallacy of assuming the numbers to the concept (translated into English) Man plans and G-d laughs.

R' Frand brought an additional proof to the above statement. He quoted R' Chatzkel Levenstien who noted that the tribe of Dan was the second largest tribe (only Yehuda was larger). Yet, Dan only had one son, who was deaf. Meanwhile, Benjamin had ten sons and he was only in the middle of the pack in population.

R' Frand observed - man can make his plans or analysis, but Hashem is the ultimate arbiter as to how they will come to fruition.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Fan, Fantastic or Fanatical? Just Ask Joakim if He Was Joking

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 (he has recently resurfaced on ESPN Radio in Los Angeles), I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

On Sunday night during the game between the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls, Joakim Noah was being harassed and harangued by a Miami fan. Eventually, Noah had enough of the verbal abuse and he used profanity and a gay slur in responding to the fan. As everything is recorded, the NBA caught the infraction and imposed a $50,o00 fine on Noah.

In commenting on the give and take between Noah and the fan (this was prior to the NBA's announcement of the fine) the guys on the Mike and Mike show were discussing how fans feel that since they pay significant amounts of money for their seats, they have the right to say whatever they want to the players. This attitude has led to the rapid increase in the number of player-fan verbal altercations. In mind, it has also reduced the chances of a parent bringing a young child to a professional ball game. When I was younger, the fans in the "blue seats" were using profanity, but the fans in the lower level seats were more subdued. Now, I have to really police what is said around my children as I would not want to have them hear certain words or think that it is acceptable to speak in this manner. But I digress.

As part of the show, the guys brought on frequent guest Dave Winfield and asked him his thoughts on Noah's actions and whether he had ever been goaded into responding to a fan. Winfield responded that when he was playing, if a fan was being abusive, the player would try harder to succeed and upon doing something significant, the player would gesture towards the fan, in effect saying - I showed you.

Winfield also told a story about how during a spring training season he had been the subject of taunting by a particular fan. Towards the end of spring training, Winfield stepped up to bat and looked directly at the abusive fan. As that fan was looking back at him, Winfield's accomplice smashed a cream pie in the fan's face (no statement was made as to whether it was edible or shaving cream).

The discussion about the fans and their lack of civility towards the players reminded me of a vort that I heard from Rabbi Frand on Bechukosai. At the end of the tochacha portion of Parsha Bechukosai, the Torah sums up the topic by stating at Vayikra 26:46 - these are the laws that Hashem commanded Moshe. R' Frand commented that this would have been a perfect ending for the parsha and even for Sefer Vayikra. However, the Torah then continues and discusses the concept of Erchin - valuation of people. The obvious question is why stick the discussion of Erchin here?

R' Frand answered his question by quoting the Kotsker Rebbi who explained that a person, even when he has been degraded and gone through troubles, must realize that others have value. This is the reason that Erchin follows the tochaha - even though the person has been through suffering, he must realize that others have value. If he can maintain this thought, he can maintain his dignity, even while others around him do not.

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Sunday Night Suds - Sprecher Abbey Triple

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Sprecher Abbey Triple.

I first saw Sprecher while perusing the beer aisles at the comprehensive Eagle Provisions in Brooklyn. For those who have never visited Eagle, its truly quite an experience. The store has beer sorted by state and country and it winds its way up and down aisles all over the store. I had been looking for off the beaten path Leinenkugel beers in the Wisconsin section of the store when I saw a couple of four packs which had an odd looking logo on the four pack holder. When I got closer, I saw that the logo was the state of Wisconsin with a "K" inside of the logo. I was unfamiliar with the beer and the logo, but when I got back to a computer I looked it up and found that the beer was certified kosher by the Wisconsin K - through the auspices of Rabbi Benzion Twerski.

A few months later I was in Chicago buying wine for the last days of Pesach. I was looking around Binny's and saw that they had numerous varieties of Sprecher (all of which had the Wisconsin K on the packaging. As it was Pesach I could not buy the beer, but nothing stopped me from looking at the merchandise (hey its not baal yeraeh if its not yours. After Pesach was over, I went back to Binny and purchased three varieties, including the Abbey Triple.

I saved the Abbey Triple for this week as we were hosting our annual hakaras hatov kiddush. When I first opened the Abbey Triple this past shabbos afternoon and poured some for myself and two neighbors I was struck by three things. Although short and stubby, the beer bottle held more than the average bottle as it was 16 ounces. Also of note was that the beer poured a much lighter color then I was expecting - almost a maize color - like what you would expect from a hefeweizen. The third interesting point was the flavor of the beer - it did not taste anything like any Trippel that I had ever tried.

So what did the beer taste like? It was very sweet with loads of fruit and sugar up front. The beer did have some alcohol flavor and a bit of a kick, but at 8.4% abv it was not very pronounced. Still, it was a very pleasant beer and if it weren't for the fact that I can't really get it here, I would try them a few at a lunch to see how they paired.

As mentioned above, Sprecher Abbey Triple is certified kosher by the Wisconsin K. There is a logo on the four pack holder and the Wisconsin K website indicates that Sprecher's is under their supervision (although the website does not state which specific varieties are certified kosher).

For the experts' take on the Sprecher Abbey Triple please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/144/2851.

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 Bechukosai

The following is a brief summary of a few vorts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these 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 Vayikra 26:6, Hashem promises the Jews that if they follow His rules, He will cause the wild animals to leave their land. In so doing, the Torah uses the word "V'hishbatee" to describe the absence of the animals.

R' Frand quoted the Yalkut Shimoni who writes that there was a dispute as to what happened to the animals. R' Yehuda teaches that the animals disappeared, while R' Shimon explains that the wild animals would lose their desire to bite or harass.

R' Frand then quoted the sefer Tzafnas Pane'ach who linked the dispute to another argument involving a similar verb. In relation to the mitzva to get rid of the chametz before Pesach ("Tashbisu") R' Yehudah rules that the chametz must be burned, while the chachamim teach that any action which changes the form of chametz (such as soaking in water or pouring caustic chemicals on it) would satisfy the mitzva to destroy the chametz. We see that R' Yehuda follows his position on chametz as the V'hishbatee means that the animals were gone. Meanwhile, R' Shimon teaches that as long as the animals changed their nature and did not attack, then the promise of V'hishbatee has been fulfilled.

Another vort that R' Frand said over tonight related to the promise in Vayikra 26:13 that Hashem would break the stave of your yoke (Va'eshbor Motos Ulchem). The language of the parsha is curious when compared with the bentching wherein we thank Hashem for (in the future) destroying the yokes from our necks (Yishbor Uleinu Meyal Tsavarenu).

R' Frand quoted R' Shlomo Zalman Ullman who explained the difference by analogizing to a farmer. At the end of the planting season, the farmer may take down the temporary connectors of the yoke, but he does not break the yoke as he will need it for the following year. However, when the farmer decides that he has retired from farming, he may break the yoke as he will never need it again.

When Hashem tells the Jews in Bechukosai that He will break the stave of the yoke in exchange for the Jews following his will, it is understood that it is not a permanent end as the Jews will fall again in the future. At that time He will (Rl'ts) have need for the yoke again. However, in the time of Moshiach, the Jews will merit the destruction of the yoke, never to be enslaved again.

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 - Jorge Ran Out of Juice

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 (he has recently resurfaced on ESPN Radio in Los Angeles), I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

The perennial question for sports teams is, when is it time to rebuild? For some teams, the question seems to be asked every year or two. For other teams which have built around a solid nucleus of young players, the question may come up once a decade or so. However, since time is the only opponent which goes undefeated, there will always be a year when the question needs to be asked.

Of course there is more than one way to rebuild a team. Some teams jettison a veteran player or two and trade for rising stars whose team cannot afford him. Other teams will undergo a retooling process where they seek to improve a particular element of the team, such as pitching or outfield depth. Still other teams choose the demolition approach - get rid of as many players as you can and then start all over.

This year's New York Yankee team is sitting at the cross roads of the above dilemma. Some players on the team are gradually coasting from the apex of their talents to retirement. Other players are still fighting to maintain their level of play. One player who has clearly fallen off the table is Jorge Posada who has lost his starting position and is hitting far below the Mendoza line. This weekend, Posada reportedly told his manager that he did not want to play if the manager was going to bat him ninth in the batting order. The Yankees initially announced that Posada had been held out of the game because of injury. Later, news broke that Posada had sat out because of his distaste with hitting last.

I heard a great interview with former Yankee great Dave Winfield on the Mike & Mike in the morning program which related to the theme of aging athletes. The guys asked Winfield whether he ever had a moment when he realized that he was losing the battle with time. Winfield responded that in 1995 he was playing for the Cleveland Indians and he was lifted for a pinch hitter in a nationally televised game. He realized then that his career was nearing the end.

While I knew that I wanted to write about Posada today, I was unsure how to tie it into Torah. Then while sitting at the daf yomi shiur (Menachos 68) the connection became clear. The gemara on Menachos 68b relates a story about a question that R' Tarfon raised involving two menachos which were offered - one before the omer and one afterwards. The gemara indicates that Yehuda Ben Nechemiah shot down R' Tarfon's question and R' Tarfon became silent. Seeing that R' Tarfon had no response, Yehuda Ben Nechemiah became very happy and his face began to glow. His teacher R' Akiva rebuked him and said - are you happy that you were able to rebut an old sage? I would be surprised if you live very long! The gemara related that Yehuda Ben Nechemiah had challenged R' Tarfon a few weeks before Pesach and that Yehuda Ben Nechemiah did not live to Shavuous.

The fact that Yehuda Ben Nechemiah died in this period is treated by the mefarshim as an indicia that he was among the students of R' Akiva who died because he did not show respect for his fellow man. However, to me it also is an indication as to how Jews treat their aged leaders. The gemara teaches that an old sage is still treated with the respect of a posul sefer torah. Although he is no longer able to coherently relate his learning, he is still entitled to respect and is not banished to the back of the room (or the bottom of the lineup).

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Sunday Night Suds - Shiner 102 - Double Wheat

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Shiner 102 - Double Wheat Ale.

Fans of this little brewery in Shiner, Texas know that every year the Spoetzel Brewery produces a limited edition beer to commemorate the brewery's anniversary. Previous editions reviewed on this blog included Shiner 100 Commemorator (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/05/sunday-night-suds-shiner-commemorator.html) and Shiner 101 Czech Style Pilsner (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/10/sunday-night-suds-shiner-101-czech.html).

The current anniversary beer is a unique wheat brew. Traditionally, wheat beers are unfiltered and have strong banana/clove like taste. This brew would have none of that. The beer is filtered, so for those of you who avoid wheat beer because of fear of floaters, there is no excuse not to try this one.

The lack of banana or clove taste in the brew is truly curious. I guess that there is no reason that a domestic wheat beer has to taste like a wit bier, but its just something that I have come to expect.

A pleasant surprise is the level of alcohol in the brew (6.2% abv) and the way that it helps the beer approach barley wine like status. I could see having a few of these with a meal as the mild flavors would work well with most poultry dishes. I just would not attempt to drive home afterwards.

Shiner 102 Double Wheat 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 102 Double Wheat, send me an e-mail and I will gladly oblige.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Shiner 102 Double Wheat, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/143/65524.

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 www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Belated Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Behar

[ED NOTE - The below post was written on Thursday Night. However, since Blogger was down from 3:30 PM Thursday night until mid afternoon today, I was unable to post this until now. Apologies for any inconvenience caused by the delay].

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha 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.

This week’s parsha begins with a discussion of the laws of shemitta – the law which forbids agricultural activity every seven years. Immediately following the discussion of shemitta, the Torah at Vayikra 25:25 introduces the concept of assisting a fellow Jew to buy back his ancestral land in Israel which he sold after he fell on hard times. R’ Frand quoted a medrash on this pasuk which connects the pasuk to a statement of Dovid Hamelech who wrote “ashrei maskil el dal” – praiseworthy is one who understands the poor.

R’ Frand then asked two questions: (1) What is the connection between shemitta and the Jew who has been forced to sell his ancestral land, and (2) How does the statement of Dovid Hamelech connect with the two halachos?

R’ Frand answered the questions by making reference to a vort said over by R’ Yaakov Yosef in 1885 (prior to his coming to America). R’ Yaakov Yosef observed that people can experience a wide range of emotions over the course of any given day. Among those emotions are the feeling of faith (bitachon) and worry (d’aga). Often times a person may feel worry about his own circumstance, but when someone else is dealing with a difficult situation, the person may seek to reassure them by telling the troubled one – Hashem will take care of you.

R’ Frand observed that the above circumstances should be reversed. When a person is troubled he should seek to reassure himself that Hashem will provide. However, when his friend is in trouble he should do his best to assist. To support this concept, R’ Frand mentioned the middah of kefirus – rejection of the notion that Hashem is involved and in control of the world. R’ Frand remarked that if there is a place for this middah, it could be useful in assisting others who are having problems. Rather than wait for Hashem to assist someone else who is in need, the observer should assume that (k’vyachol) help will not be coming and it is up to him to help.

This is the reason why the laws are sequentially linked and why the medrash cites to the language of Dovid –praiseworthy is one who understands the poor. It would be logical for the farmer who trusted in Hashem and observed shemitta to tell his friend in need – I trusted in Hashem and He helped me, you should too. However, the medrash is telling us – don’t reassure the person. Instead, remember that he is going through hard times and do your utmost to help.

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 - Who leads the horse to water?

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 (he has recently resurfaced on ESPN Radio in Los Angeles), I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

This morning I was listening to the Mike and Mike in the morning show while driving to work and I heard a great discussion about whether Phil Jackson's coaching career had ended, and if so, whether Phil was the greatest coach in NBA history.

I first started following Phil Jackson when I got his basketball trading card when I was five or six years old. I confess that I was not much of a basketball fan, in fact I rooted for and watched every other sport on TV except basketball. Still, there was something about Phil that made me take notice.

My next glimpse of Phil was when he started coaching the Bulls when Michael Jordan was leading them to the "three peats." People speculated that it was the players and not the coach which was the reason for the team's success. When Jordan decided to become the world's richest AA baseball player, the team did not win another championship, although they did continue to make playoff runs. Then MJ returned from his lacuna and the team repeated the three peat.

Years later, Phil was hired by the Lakers and he (along with Shaq and Kobe) won three championships in a row. In 2004 after losing in the NBA finals to the Detroit Pistons, Phil resigned as head coach, but this was just another short vacation. Phil returned to the Lakers one year later and subsequently led them to two more NBA titles.

With this background, one can look at the question phrased by Mike Greenberg - who is greater, the one who leads the horse to water or the one that makes it drink?

[Ed note - Greenberg is usually more articulate in his terminology. However to maintain the integrity of the post, I repeated the question the way that he phrased it on the show].

In order to answer Greenie's question, one needs to look beyond simple won/lost records. Many teams will have great players but won't win championships. Other teams may have great players and solid coaches and still not win because of injury. The real question then is - did the coach get the most of the players on his team? The answer is easy when a team with no stars wins a title or titles, because the coach gets the credit. But what about a star laden team - is it the coach or the player?

I can't profess to being able to answer the question as to whether Phil Jackson is the greatest NBA coach of all time. But the concept of the coach as teacher and motivator of lesser talents made me think of the following story involving the Vilna Gaon (aka "the Gra"). The story goes that the Gra was once visiting a town and decided to stay for the night. The people of the town wanted to observe him, as one can learn much from the actions of a tzaddik, even when he is engaged in "mundane" tasks. The Gra announced that he was going to take a half hour nap at midnight (as was his custom) and then begin to learn Torah again at 12:30. All did not go according to plan and the Gra woke up at 12:40 and was quite vocal in his displeasure with himself for sleeping an extra ten minutes. All of this was observed by the townspeople, who could not understand why the extra ten minutes made a difference.

Years later, the Gra returned to the town. Again he decided to stay for the night and made his pronouncement that he would nap for thirty minutes. This time, the Gra awoke after only twenty minutes of sleep. He remarked - I am happy as I have made up the ten minutes of sleep I lost the last time I was here.

Of course, the average man cannot live the way that the Gra did. However, if we surround ourselves with good coaches who motivate us, we can achieve great things for our own "team."

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click 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 - New Belgium Abbey Belgian Style Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at New Belgium's Abbey Belgian Style Ale.

I picked this beer up in Chicago the day after Pesach. At the time, I was on the fence about whether to buy this beer since I had gone down to Binny's with a game plan of buying Shiner and Sprecher beer. Since I am a fan of Abbey Ales and had never tried the New Belgium version, I took the plunge and added the Abbey Ale to my cart. When I tried it at home, I began to wish I had bought a 12 pack instead of just a six'er.

The Abbey Ale is classified by the experts at BA as a Dubbel which they define as:

[A] rich malty beer with some spicy / phenolic and mild alcoholic characteristics. Not as much fruitiness as the Belgian Strong Dark Ale but some dark fruit aromas and flavors may be present. Mild hop bitterness with no lingering hop flavors. It may show traits of a steely caramel flavor from the use of crystal malt or dark candy sugar. Look for a medium to full body with an expressive carbonation.

The Abbey Ale poured a dark brown - darker than a Newcastle but not as ebony as Guinness. The pour yielded a small amount of foam and a little lacing on the glass. My first sip of the beer made me take notice of the maltiness. However what really struck me was how rich and well balanced this beer was. I immediately said to Mrs. Kosher Beers (we were having Sunday Night supper) that this is the best new beer that I have tried in a very long time. After a sip, she agreed with me as well.

This beer would go well with London broil and other rich (non charred) meats. Mrs KB comments that the Abbey Ale would go well with anything and I have to agree. I could even see this beer pairing well with sponge cake! Given the high alcohol content (7% abv) I cannot see having more than one or two of these at a meal, but if you are lucky enough to pick up some you can experiment with your own pairings.

New Belgium Abbey Belgian Style Ale 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 Abbey Ale, 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 Abbey Belgian Style Ale, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/1912 . 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 Emor

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Mansour in a shiur on the parsha which can be found at www.learntorah.com. 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' Mansour.

The first pasuk in Parshas Emor states that Hashem told Moshe to tell the Kohanim the laws of priestly purity. The Medrash on this pasuk states that Hashem had shown Moshe how King Saul would be killed by the hands of the Pelishtim. Moshe asked Hashem - why would King Saul be killed in this manner? Hashem responded to Moshe - because King Saul killed off the Kohanim of the City of Nov.

As related in Nach - King Saul thought that the Kohanim of the City of Nov had rebelled against him. As such, he had all of the Kohanim of the city killed. According to this Medrash, Hashem said to Moshe - you want to know why King Saul was killed - go ask the Kohanim (emor el hakohanim).

R' Mansour pointed out the obvious problem with this Medrash. In Shmuel, the Navi writes about how King Saul was Ordered by Hashem to kill all of Amelek, including the animals. King Saul did not listen to Shmuel and allowed the animals to live so that they could be brought as sacrificies. More importantly, King Saul allowed Agag the King of Amalek to live one more night. During that night, Agag fathered a child, thus allowing Amalek to perpetuate. Shmuel then found out about King Saul's actions and told him - because you did not follow the Order, you will be killed.

R' Mansour answered the obvious contradiction by stating that King Saul could have said to Hashem - I had too much mercy, I'm sorry that I could not kill them all. However, King Saul's actions later in life in killing off the entire City of Nov betrays this reasoning. Since King Saul showed no mercy to the Kohanim of Nov, he could not escape punishment by claiming that he was merciful in allowing Agag to live.

R' Mansour underscored this vort by tying this into the concept of how one does mitzvos. A person may seek to justify his actions/inactions based on the cost of the mitzva - but the person needs to be consistent. R' Mansour gave an example by making reference to matza. It is well documented that shmurah matza can easily run $20 a pound. A person can spend $100 buying matza for the seder and wind up with 40 pieces of matza. The man may then complain about the cost of matza and seek to rationalize why he is not spending the money. But how does the same person act when he goes out to a restaurant? Will he bat an eyelash at spending $30 on a pasta dish, even though the box of pasta costs one dollar? If he uses expense as an excuse not to do a mitzva on the mehudar level, he should be certain that he uniformly acts this way for permissive matters as well.

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 - Is Osama Feeling The Draft?

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 (he has recently resurfaced on ESPN Radio in Los Angeles), I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

This past weekend was the NFL draft. In the post which follows the draft, I traditionally write about a story or two which comes out of the draft and is inspiring to me. This year there were two stories which appealed to me involving: (1) Tejay Johnson - an All American safety who could have gone in the fourth or fifth round of the draft, but instead decided that he wanted to work with the deaf (to see a great piece on Johnson click here http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/TCU-safety-finds-a-higher-calling-than-All-Amer?urn=nfl-wp1702) and (2) KJ Wright - a Mississippi player who was drafted by the Seattle Seahwaks while he was in the middle of his graduation (to see an article about Wright click here - http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-nfldraft-seahawks).

Although these stories would normally be post-worthy, the NFL draft stories paled in comparison with the news about Osama Bin Laden. Following the President's announcement about Osama, people across the country had very strong reactions to the news. People went to ground zero or Pennsylvania Avenue to celebrate the demise of the hated architect of 9-11. Those in attendance at the Sunday Night Game of the Week between the NY Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies broke out in a spontaneous U-S-A chant which prompted Mets third baseman David Wright to comment "I don’t like to give Philadelphia fans too much credit. But they got this one right."

Besides those who celebrated the news, there were others who were more subdued. Numerous articles and radio sound bytes contained statements from people that they were happy about Osama but this would not bring their loved ones back. These stories made me think of R' Zev Cohen's yizkor derasha on the 8th day of Pesach.

Speaking less than two days after the death of his mother, R' Cohen asked from the pulpit - is Yizkor a time to mourn the dead? R' Cohen posited that yizkor cannot be a time to be sad about the loss of a relative as there is a commandment to be happy on yom tov. While the yizkor on Yom Kippur could be construed as a proper time to be sad about the loss of a loved one (since both the living and the dead are judged on Yom Kippur) it would be antithetical to be sad about the loss of a loved one on a day when we are commanded to be happy.

Of course this begs the question - they why do we have yizkor on Pesach, Shavuous and Shemini Atzeres?

R' Cohen addressed this issue by telling the following story. In the 1920's a wealthy Jew was being driven in his chauffeured car when he saw two Jewish children playing in the street. When the man came closer to the boys, he saw that they were covered with coal dust. He motioned the boys over to his limo and asked them why they were dirty. The boys told him that they lived in the coal room of their apartment building. The man asked the boys to take him to their home and they obliged.

Upon arriving at the apartment, the man asked the boys' mother why they were living there. The woman explained that her husband had lost his job a number of months before and was having a difficult time finding a job as he would not work on shabbos. The man was touched and wrote the woman a check for $5,000.

When the husband came home, his wife told him the story and showed him the check. The man said to his wife - we cannot take this money - Mr. Bookman keeps his factory open on shabbos. The man asked - how can we benefit from money made on shabbos, if I will not work on shabbos?

The following day, the man went to see Mr. Bookman. He thanked Mr. Bookman for his generous gift, but explained that he could not take the money as it was earned on shabbos.

When the man had left, Mr. Bookman said to his wife - do you recall the first shabbos that we decided to keep the factory open? Business was poor and we thought - if we could only stay open one shabbos, maybe we could break even. Mr. Bookman reminded his wife that over the following fifteen years they never closed the factory on shabbos. Mr. Bookman then said to his wife - we will close for shabbos this week. That Friday, he went to the factory and sent all the workers home and told them not to come back until the following Monday.

The following week, Mr. Bookman went to the man and told him - I am closed on shabbos - take my money as it is not earned on shabbos.

Forty years later when the man died, his coffin was carried by Mr. Bookman's grandchildren who were all shomer shabbos.

R' Cohen explained that every person who passed on and was being remembered at yizkor had done something which touched the life of the mourner. Whether or not the deceased lived a perfect life, he must have done something which had a positive impact on the mourner. Yizkor is the time to remember the positive things done by those who have passed on and how they have impacted our lives.

If I were to speak to those who mourned on Sunday, I would tell them the same message. Yes, the evil acts of Osama and Al-Qaida have deprived you of your loved one. Now that justice has been served, remember the positives of the one who was taken from you and how he has touched your life.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click 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 - Shiner Ruby Redbird

This week's Sunday Night Suds review looks at Shiner's Ruby Redbird.

This Pesach we had the z'chus to drive to Chicago with the kids due in large part to the impact of oil prices on airfares. The silver lining to driving to Chicago for the last half of Pesach is that after Pesach I can load up on beer that is unavailable in the New York metropolitan area and drive it home. Of course with Pesach ending so late in the day and near the time that the better beer stores (read:Binny's) close, we had to wait until they opened on Wednesday morning to depart Chicago. So we loaded up the car early Wednesday, got some Dunkin Donuts for the kids for breakfast and arrived at Binny's not long after it opened at 9 AM.

For those who have never been to a Binny's store, you are truly missing an experience. Binny's is a chain in Chicago with 25 stores around the area. I generally shop at one of two their stores depending on where I need to be and what I am looking to buy. For kosher wine, there simply is no better store in the Midwest than the Binny's on Dempster in Skokie. Although the Skokie Binny's has a good beer selection, the Binny's in Lincoln Park (on the site of the former Sam's o'h) has a far superior beer selection. Stay tuned over the next few months to reviews of various Shiner, Sprecher and New Belgium brews which I purchased last Wednesday.

One of the odder beers which I saw at Binny's was the Shiner Ruby Redbird. In perusing the six pack holder, I noted that the Ruby Redbird was made with Texas grapefruit juice and ginger. I paused and wondered to myself - would it be safe to buy a six pack of this beer, or would I wind up tossing the other five bottles after I tried my first? Almost every Shiner beer that I have tried has been excellent, but I did have a bad experience with the Shiner Smokehaus (see review here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/11/belated-sunday-night-suds-shiner.html). After a few moments of reflection I decided to take the plunge and bought a six pack of the Ruby Redbird.

So now that you have read this far you must be wondering what the beer tastes like. My first answer is that it doesn't taste like beer. Mrs KB and I tried this after dinner this shabbos as I could not see pairing this with anything on our shabbos table. My first few sips of the brew were all ginger. However, as I continued to drink the beer I began to pick up the grapefruit juice and by the end that was all I was tasting. Mrs Kosher Beers liked the Ruby Redbird, but only picked up the ginger.

Bottom line - the Ruby Redbird is a great drink, but just does not taste like beer at all. Although the bottle identifies the hops used in production which it claims balance the flavors, I could not identify any hops while drinking the beer. Indeed, if I were to sum up the Ruby Redbird in one sentence I would compare it to one of those fruit infused Canada Dry flavors, but without an overload of sweetness.

Shiner Ruby Redbird 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 Ruby Redbird, send me an e-mail and I will gladly oblige.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Shiner Ruby Redbird, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/143/67274.

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 www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!