Monday's Musing on Sports - Tip Your Cap to Pop

This past motzei shabbos, I turned on my computer and saw that the St Louis Cardinals had won the World Series on Friday night. From all reports, it seems that the final game was anticlimactic as the true drama played out in Thursday night's game six.

Although I was aware of the final score of Thursday night's game and the multiple times that the Cardinals crawled back from the brink of elimination, there was a story that I only first became aware of Saturday night. At the end of Thursday night's game, just after 12:30 Friday morning on the east coast, St. Louis Cardinals Third Baseman David Freese hit a walk off home run. In so doing, the Cardinals earned the right to host a game 7 and the baseball season continued for one more day. However, the call of the home run by Joe Buck made the event ever more special.

There are some announcers who when I hear them speak, even about mundane topics, I am immediately reminded of their signature sports. For many years, Pat Summerall, John Madden (on TV) and Howard David (on the radio) meant football to me. Similarly, Marv Albert and John Davidson (on TV) and Mike "Doc" Emeric (on radio) made me think hockey.

But no sport has announcers like baseball - legends like Tim McCarver, Vin Scully and Mel Allen narrarating This Week in Baseball, were the voices of my childhood, be it TV on a Sunday afternoon or listening under the covers on a school night.

While many sportscasters tried to bridge from one sport to another, quite a few failed miserably and sounded completely out of their element. But there were a precious few who could be at home in many sports such as Al Michaels and the late Jack Buck, who both rank among my all time favorites.

In the late 90s, I became aware that Joe Buck (son of Jack) had begun to call baseball games. While his voice at times can be monotone like, his descriptions of the games, much like his late father are pure magic. I can remember a beer commercial that aired a number of years where Joe Buck is sitting in a bar, talking sports and people come up to him to tell him their memories of sport. The commercial has a sports game audio on in the background and you can hear the late Jack Buck's call of the game. If anyone can find a link to the commercial available online, please email me or post it as a comment.

Which brings me to the end of Thursday night's game. As the game ended on Freese's extra inning home run, Joe Buck intoned the words "we will see you, tomorrow night." This was a tribute to his father's call of the end of the Minnesota Twins - Atlanta Braves game twenty years and one day earlier where he called Kevin Mitchell's home run and announced "and we'll see you, tomorrow night." [For a great video comparing the two calls and mixing father and son, click here - http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Video-Buck-8217-s-8216-We-will-see-you-tomor?urn=mlb-wp25699 ]

Many people are lucky enough to go into a profession where their parent or parents have earned a reputation of greatness. Some succeed in the field because of the head start that they received from their parents, while others fail because they cannot live up to the parental legacy. Whether or not Joe Buck will ever be Jack Buck is still in doubt, but his tribute was touching and in the words of Mrs KB - ma'asei avos siman l'banim.

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Sunday Night Suds - Leinenkugel Oktoberfest

As mentioned in the October 9, 2011 SNS which reviewed Shiner's Oktoberfest (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/10/sunday-night-suds-shiner-oktoberfest.html), over the course of the three plus years that I have been blogging KB, I have had the pleasure and/or the privilege or perhaps just the pride to blog on various Oktoberfest beers such as Brooklyn Brewery's in October 2008 (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2008/10/sunday-night-suds-brooklyn-brewery.html); Saranac Brewery's in October 2009 (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/10/sunday-night-suds-saranac-octoberfest.html); New Belgium's Hoptober Golden Ale (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/09/sunday-night-suds-new-belgium-hoptober.html) and Joseph's Brau's Oktoberfest in 2010(http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/10/sunday-night-suds-josephs-brau_31.html).

As the calendar is telling me that October is nearing its conclusion, there is time for just one last Oktoberfest review - Leinenkugel's Marzen Oktoberfest.

The Leinenkugel version of Oktobefest is unlike many other beers of this variety. The beer poured a very light orange with a small amount of foam. The malts in the Oktoberfest were prevalent, but there was very little else to the beer. The beer lacked any whisper of hops and had very little body. I guess that if there was a light version of Oktoberfest, this would qualify, but the brew is not even true to this moniker either. The Leinenkugel Oktoberfest has 170 calories and is 5.1 %abv, so it truly would not qualify as a light beer, but it seems like they just removed the taste from the beer and left the calories and alcohol.

I tried the Leinenkugel Oktoberfest with sushi and (Mrs KB made) Chinese food and the beer was simply not strong enough to stand up to these mild flavors. By this I mean, the alcohol and malt came through the food, but there was no melding of the beer with the various flavors of the food.

Leinenkugel Oktoberfest 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 Oktoberfest, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/710/5757.

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 Noach

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.

In Bereishis 9:5, Hashem instructs the world as to laws against murder. In so doing, the Torah writes "V'ach es dimchem l'nafshoseichem edrosh, m'yad kol chaya edreshenu, oom'yad ha'adam, m'yad ish achiv, edrosh es nefesh ha'adam." [The translation of the pasuk into English lessens the meaning of the pasuk as some of the more important words do not translate into English properly, as such I will leave it in the Hebrew for the purpose of this vort].

R' Frand quoted the sefer HaKisav v'Hakabalah to explain a seeming redundancy in the pasuk. He noted that although the sefer was written several hundred years ago, the more things change the more they stay the same.

When reading the pasuk it appears to state twice in the second half of the pasuk that if a man kills another man, Hashem will seek to punish the killer. However on closer inspection, the language of the pasuk changes slightly as it uses both the term ish and adam for man. The author of the sefer explains that it appears to him that there are two types of killing. One person kills because he hates the victim or seeks to benefit from the death of the victim. The second person kills to help the victim, as for example when the victim is suffering with some form of grave physical or mental illness.

Both of the above scenarios are seen in the pasuk. The Torah uses the term "adam" which is the lowest form of man in Hebrew. However the pasuk also states that Hashem will punish an ish (a higher form of man) who kills his brother. The sefer explains that even one who kills his brother to save him from misery or suffering, is viewed as a murderer.

R' Frand then told a personal story about his mother o'h who at the end of her life was suffering with Parkinson's disease and also had a heart condition. When they went to see a cardiologist about putting in a pacemaker, the doctor told them that "he would not do this to his mother." However, R' Frand did not listen to the cardiologist as Judaism favors life over social engineering.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Rex, Norv and Video, or why LH is relevant

An interesting side note to this Sunday's NY Jets - San Diego Chargers game was the press coverage of NY Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan's interaction with San Diego Chargers Head Coach Norv Turner.

Last week, a reporter asked Rex Ryan whether he would have been more successful with the Chargers team than Norv Turner has been. Ryan responded that he would have won a few championships, but this was said in jest. The story made its way back to Turner who remarked something to the effect of - how many championships has Rex won with the Jets?

The "back story" to the dueling media barbs is quite interesting. Ryan had been considered for the San Diego head coaching position before it was given to Turner in 2007. After becoming head coach, Turner took the Chargers to the playoffs three times, but was unable to get his team to the Super Bowl. [Meanwhile, Ryan would wait another two years before getting the Jets job]. This continued a pattern of playoff ineptitude as the Chargers of the 2000s often won their division but never tasted playoff success. Much like previous HC Marty Schottenheimer, the Chargers fans blamed Turner for their team's failure to reach the big game.

Another interesting angle to the story is that Turner and Ryan are good friends and have been for some time. The answer that Rex gave was most likely Rex being Rex, but it apparently opened old wounds for Turner.

When Ryan and Turner met on Sunday prior to the start of the game, Ryan gave Turner a bear hug and the two seemed to have "made up." However, the damage was already done as Ryan's jest had exposed Turner to old criticism.

The Ryan and Turner story made me think of the rhyme we used to sing as children - "loshon harah lamed heh, go to hell the easy way." The Torah's prohibition of loshon harah bars a person from speaking about another, be it positive or negative. Unlike the trite expression - "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it", loshon harah bars all speech about another, except under certain limited circumstances.

Had Ryan simply refused to comment about his friend Norv Turner, the story never would have gotten off the ground. Indeed, under the rules of loshon harah, Ryan should not have given his thoughts about Turner. However, Ryan needed to be funny (or perhaps wanted to deflect attention from his team) and he answered the question in a way which wounded his friend.

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Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed - Vol V

This week's Sunday Night Suds takes a final look at the Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed series and reviews the Zeus variety.

As mentioned in my July 31, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Hallertau Mitterfreuh (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/07/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html), the August 14, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Simcoe (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/08/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html), the September 11, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - East Kent Goldings (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/09/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html) and the October 3, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Ahtanum (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/10/belated-sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams.html), one of the best new IPAs introduced during the last few years is the Samuel Adams Latitude 48. The name of the beer draws from the five types of hops used in the brew process which all grow along the 48th latitude within the "hop belt" of the Northern Hemisphere. Earlier this year, Samuel Adams introduced its limited edition Deconstructed Box which features beers brewed with just one of the five hop varieties used in the Latitude 48.

For this week's post I sampled the Zeus version of the Latitude 48. The back of the bottle indicates that the Zeus hops grow in the Yakima Valley in Washington State. The label further provides that the Zeus hops "contribute bitterness and an intense, pungent resinous pine flavor." The label further states that brew "leans strongly toward the hop character, but is softened by the malt's sweetness."

I tried the Latitude 48 Zeus on its own in a Samuel Adams tulip glass that I purchased at the Samuel Adams brewery a few years ago. I did not have this with dinner so the review is based solely as a stand alone brew.

The beer poured a rich copper with a fair amount of lacing that coated more than half the glass. The hop flavor was quite intense, even a little too intense for me. I did not find that the hops were balanced by any malts. I guess that you could say that the pine/resin is prominent but since the beer lacks balance it just stays bitter without any redeeming qualities.

In grade school our teachers ingrained the concept - acharon, acharon, chaviv - last is the best. Having tried the Latitude 48 which combined all the hops and the various single hops versions, I can honestly say that this version which I tried last was the poorest effort from Sam Adams. Oh well, even a solid brewery can have a skunky brew once in a while.

The Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Zeus is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. Like many other Samuel Adams brews, this bottle does not have the Star-K certification mark on the label.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this version of Latitude 48, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/68403.

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!

Monday's Musings on Sports - There's Always A Choice

In the days leading up to tonight's Monday Night Football game, there was an interesting story which broke about Dolphins WR Brandon Marshall. Marshall is a highly talented and yet high strung athlete who essentially forced his way out of Denver due to his antics. Since leaving the Broncos, Marshall has never regained in his All Pro form. This could be in part due to: (1) his having a better quality QB in Denver; (2) Denver being a better run organization than the train wreck Miami Dolphins or (3) Marshall's overall inability to focus on being part of a team.

This season, Marshall had been having what could best be described as (for him) a sub-average season. Plagued by drops and an inability to score when it counts, Marshall became frustrated with the state of the 0-4 Dolphins. As such, Marshall informed a number of reporters that tonight he planned on having a big game for the first quarter and a half and that he intended to do something to get ejected from the game in the second quarter. What Marshall intended to do and why he was planning this was not revealed. However, Marshall was outspoken that something would occur.

[Ed Note - I write this post with the game not yet decided. As such, I am unaware of whether Marshall has or has not followed through on his threat].

Given that Marshall is easily the most talented WR on the Dolphins, one has to wonder whether Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano had a sit down with Marshall to perhaps talk some sense into him. Indeed, Sparano himself is coaching for his job as the Dolphins have been regressing under his watch. I could imagine the conversation going something like - Brandon you don't need to make a spectacle out of yourself just to make a point. If you get thrown out of the game you could be suspended by the NFL without pay. You have a choice to prove your worth on the field instead of being thrown off of it.

The Brandon Marshall saga made me think about a story I heard in a R' Zev Cohen derasha over sukkos. R' Cohen told a story which he heard from a Rabbi who is the brother of R' Paysach Krohn (I can't recall the brother's first name). R' Krohn had been called to go to Israel to talk to a boy who was considering leaving orthodoxy. Together, R' Krohn and the boy went to see R' Grossman. The boy told R' Grossman that he had been having doubts and was considering going off. R' Grossman responded to the boy with the following story:

A number of years prior, R' Grossman had traveled to a city in Israel with his family. After Friday Night dinner, R' Grossman went for a walk with his son. They passed a disco where Israeli boys and girls were dancing. The boy who at the time was 12 became very upset. He said to his father - we need to tell the mayor. R' Grossman tried to dissuade the boy, but was unsuccessful. So at midnight the two went to knock on the door of the mayor's home.

When the mayor eventually came to the door he was quite upset. The boy responded to him - Mr. Mayor there is a fire. The mayor asked where it was and the boy said that there is a spiritual fire. The mayor became enraged and began to berate both R' Grossman and his son until the mayor's wife came downstairs. She recognized R' Grossmam and said to the mayor - don't you know who this is? Its the famous R' Grossman.

The mayor calmed down and began to tell R' Grossman his story. He explained that he had been raised in a frum home and had gone off the path. He had two children, a daughter who married a non-Jewish boy and wanted nothing to do with the mayor. His son went to play soccer overseas and was involved in a serious injury which resulted in an amputation. The son would not speak to the mayor as he was upset that the mayor was not there for the surgery.

The mayor concluded - my siblings have stayed frum and I am envious of the weddings and bar mitzvas they make. I wonder what would have happened if I stayed frum.

R' Grossman then turned to the boy and said - I am a great grandfather with more than a hundred grandchildren - all frum. You have a choice in front of you to follow the path or to chart your own course away from religion. Which end result would you prefer?

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Belated Sunday Night Suds - New Belgium Belgo

This week's Sunday Night Suds comes direct from the very windy city of Chicago, Illinois and looks at New Belgium's Belgo, a Belgian Style India Pale Ale.

As per our family custom, we spend Sukkos in Chicago with Mrs KB's family. It was in that very sukkah fifteen years ago that I began my beer education and I continue to return year after year. Although the beer of the house tends to be Heineken, they have warmed to my experimenting with the various brews which can be found in Chicago, but nowhere on the East Coast. What can I say, there truly is no beer town like Chicago.

[In all fairness, I can't really rip the Heineken this year. It was served from the Heineken Home Keg and it gave the beer a smoothness you just don't get from a bottle].

Now that I have gotten the TMI out of my system, lets talk a little about the New Belgium Belgo.

New Belgium describes this beer as a Belgian Style India Pale Ale - a combination of terms and flavors that I had a hard time comprehending before I tried the beer. I am well schooled in IPAs - frequent readers of this blog know that its one of my favorite style. They are clean and hoppy, with a nice bite. Belgian style beers on the other hand are notorious for their spice - whether added to the brew process or naturally emanating from the hops or yeast.

The New Belgium Belgo taste truly is a combination of the Belgian and the IPA, although the spice from the yeast does overwhelm the hops in the beginning. As I tried a few more sips, I started to feel the hops, but the spice melds with the citrus to make an interesting flavor mix.

New Belgium Belgo 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. 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 Belgo Belgian Style India Pale Ale, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/73864. 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!

Monday's Musings on Sports - Not Giving Up

Yes, I will admit it. As a long suffering Jets fan, I drew some solace from yesterday's 30-21 loss to the Patriots. I saw a team that was confused and bewildered on offense against the Ravens take some concrete steps forward. I watched a team which was humiliated by the Raiders hold one of the top QBs in the league to one passing and two rushing touchdowns on eleven possessions. I saw the continued development of a player who had been largely written off last year (Joe McKnight) and the emergence of a low round draft pick from this year's draft (Jeremy Kerley).

Its not a great feeling to experience a moral victory and it certainly does not show up in the standings, but its nice to be able to see your team play competitive football after losing two games in which they were dominated on both sides of the ball.

So it was with great consternation that I read the transcript of Rex Ryan's post games comments and listened with dismay to some sound bites where he called the Patriots the better team and sounded thoroughly defeated and deflated. I could hardly believe my ears -- was this Rex Ryan, the ultimate cheerleader? The coach who year after year claimed that this was the team that was going to the Superbowl?

My thoughts wandered to a great pre-neilah drasha given by R' Michael Merrill at our minyan on Yom Kippur. R' Merrill asked one of those questions that when you hear it you wonder - why didn't I ask that question. He asked - why didn't Hashem give up on Jonah? Hashem had asked Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the people to do teshuva. Jonah was uninterested in bearing the message and instead ran away to sea. Hashem made a great storm which pitched the boat, but Jonah went below to sleep. The captain came to Jonah and asked him to pray, but Jonah refused, saying -- I know that its my fault.

Which prompted R' Merrill's question - why didn't Hashem just "wash his hands" of Jonah and appoint another prophet to go to Nineveh? R' Merrill answered that the message of Jonah is that Hashem does not give up and that as we sit at the end of the long teshuva period which began in Elul and continued through Rosh Hashanah, the ten days of Teshuva and culminates with Yom Kippur, we should not feel - we are beyond help and there is no use. We need to understand that the same way that Hashem did not give up on Jonah He is not giving up on us and we can do Teshuva.

While I can't draw a true parallel between Hashem not giving up on us and a coach not giving up on his players, it would have been nice to hear that Rex had not thrown in the towel...

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Sunday Night Suds - Shiner Oktoberfest

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Shiner's Oktoberfest.

As my good friend Charlie H. says, "fall is a great time for beer." Personally, I think that any season is a good time for beer, but I must admit that fall is a particularly good time because of the crisp Oktoberfest brews that the market.

Over the course of the three plus years that I have been blogging KB, I have had the pleasure and/or the privilege or perhaps just the pride to blog on various Oktoberfest beers such as Brooklyn Brewery's in October 2008 (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2008/10/sunday-night-suds-brooklyn-brewery.html); Saranac Brewery's in October 2009 (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/10/sunday-night-suds-saranac-octoberfest.html); New Belgium's Hoptober Golden Ale (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/09/sunday-night-suds-new-belgium-hoptober.html) and Joseph's Brau's Oktoberfest in 2010(http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/10/sunday-night-suds-josephs-brau_31.html).

For 2011, I hope to i'yh review two more Oktoberfest brews, one from Texas and the other from Wisconsin. As you can see from the banner above, this week's SNS reviews Shiner's Oktoberfest.

The Shiner Oktoberfest poured a bright copper with a small amount of foam. Having been properly chilled the first sip was malt with a small amount of hops. Successive drinks revealed a little more floral hops, but the beer was mostly crisp without too much bite. By the end of my glass (Boddington's pint glass) I was ready for another of this crisp, easy drinking beer. The Shiner went well with our family burger night, but it would easily stand up to more complex meat dishes such as cholent or winter stews. If you can find them near where you live, I would recommend trying a few in the sukkah with various YT meals.

Speaking of finding Shiner - slowly but surely, Shiner has been making its way into the New York Metropolitan area. Although it is still not available in New York state, it can now be found in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. If you are a fan of it like I am, e-mail the company to let them know you would like it in your state. Never underestimate the power of the consumer.

Shiner Oktoberfest is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit although there is no symbol on the the bottle. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Shiner Oktoberfest, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/143/60642.

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!

Friday's Final Pre Yom Kippur Chizuk

Thursday Night our local shul played the R' Frand Teshuva Derasha which was recorded on Tuesday night in Brooklyn. I have attempted to summarize the beginning of the derasha in a late night post last evening and will post a little more of the derasha here. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the derasha 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.

R' Frand next stated that this year we had two yom kippurs. Because if Yom Kippur is about bringing everyone together, then Laiby Kletzky brought a Yom Kippur by bringing everyone together.

R' Frand then asked - is this what it takes to bring us together? Do we only come together when there is a tragedy? R' Frand opined that is this is what it takes to bring everyone together then it is a sad commentary on the state of our people. Because after 3000 years we still have not learned how to disagree without being disagreeable.

R' Frand cautioned that this does not mean that everyone's position is correct or that we must accept other people's positions who are wrong. But it also does not mean that we should rudely call out and show disrespect for other people merely because we think they are wrong.

R' Frand next discussed the cherubs which sat on top of the aron in the kodesh hakadashim. The Torah writes that the cherubs faced each other and also that they faced the kapores. R' Nosson Adler asked - which one is it - did they face each other or the kapores? R' Adler answered that they represent talmidei chachamim who were trying to learn the truth, so they faced the aron. However, even when trying to learn the truth they did not show disrespect by turning their back on one and other.

R' Frand digressed to talk about how boys in beis medrash may yell at each other and argue about their learning, but they don't hate each other. People who are outsiders may not understand that they are yelling while they search for truth, but they still deeply respect one another.

R' Frand repeated a story told over by R' Noach Weinberg about a ba'al teshuva whose mother walked into the beis medrash and saw the boys vociferously arguing in Torah. She asked why do they hate each other - but they did not - they argued but still deeply respected one another.

I hope I'YH to complete the summary of the derasha after Yom Kippur.

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Extra Erev Yom Kippur Chizuk - The R' Frand Teshuva Derasha Vol I

Tonight, our local shul played the R' Frand Teshuva Derasha which was recorded on Tuesday night in Brooklyn. I will attempt to summarize the derasha in two posts, but cannot hope to replicate R' Frand's powerful delivery. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the derasha 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.

R' Frand noted that some years his teshuva derashos are influenced by world events. He gave the example of the shiur that he and perhaps all Rabbanim gave after 9/11/01. He also made reference to the shiur that he gave in 2008 after the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. This year, two events influenced his thinking on Teshuva - the tragic Jew on Jew killing of Leiby Kletzky and R' Abuchatzeira in Israel. R' Frand said that he never thought he would need to speak about murder before Yom Kippur, but the situations demanded it.

R' Frand said that if the audience thought that he was going to explain why these tragic events occurred they are sadly mistaken. He stated that he is not a prophet and has not been given insight into these events.

Before reaching the actual issues, R' Frand asked -- why does the service on Yom Kippur start with Kol Nidrei? This is a technical tefilla that merely annuls vows. Furthermore, we do hataras nedarim on erev Rosh Hashana and it is not moving at all. Yet on Yom Kippur when the chazan says Kol Nidrei, a shiver runs down R' Frand's back. But why do we start with this tefilla?

A second question R' Frand asked was - why does the end of Kol Nidrei have the sentence "V'nislach l'chol adas b'nei yisroel ..." This sentence is written in the Torah about a community where everyone accidentally worships avodah zarah as directed by Beis Din. This scenario never actually happended ever. So why is it part of the davening on Yom Kippur?

R' Frand answered the question by making reference to the Tollner Rebbi who says that Yom Kippur is about becoming one group, one nation. This does not come solely from tefilla, it must be a communal feeling for all of us. This comes on a day when we divorce ourselves from the physical - we are all hungry, we are all thirsty, all our feet hurt, and we are all together as one group. R' Frand cited the Rokeach who states that we are like angels on Yom Kippur - there is no physical comfort because it is about our souls which all come from the same place and are all the same.

R' Frand remarked that this coming together as one group happened during the time that Leiby Kletzky went missing. Jews came together from many locations, from many backgrounds to look for the boy. Why? Because we were all parents or the children of parents, united by the goal of trying to avert tragedy, without caring about the external trappings of the person who was searching with you.

R' Frand cited the Tollner Rebbi as saying this is why we start Yom Kippur with Kol Nidrei - because we should not come into Yom Kippur thinking that we are better than other people in the tzibur. We are all the same. This is why the chazan begins with the phrase - al da'as hamakom - that we are all praying together, even with people who we would not normally associate during the year. Once we are a group we can get kapparah, because it is for the entire kahal.

R' Frand explained that with this mindset we can understand a medrash on the pasuk in Acharei Mos which described Aharon's coming in to do the avodah. The pasuk states - b'zos yavo Aharaon el Hakodesh - with "this" Aharon came in to the Kodesh. What is the "zos"? The medrash states that there were four "zos": (1) the z'chus of the Torah for which it says - V'zos HaTorah; (2) the z'chus of Bris Mila as it is written "v'zos brisi"; (3) the z'chus of Shabbos about which it is written "Ashrei Enosh Ya'aseh zos" and (4) the z'chus of Yerushalayim as it says "v'zos Yerushalayim."

R' Frand stated that he understands the first three zchusim which come from the "zos" of Torah, Bris Milla and Shabbos. These are zchusim which understandably should stand in Aharon's corner. But why Yerushalayim?

R' Frand answered the question by making reference to the Yerushalami in Chagiga that says that Yerushalayim is a city that joins everyone together. How? Because all year long a chaver (one who strictly adheres to the rules of tumah/tahara) cannot eat off the same plate as one who is an am ha'aretz. However, during the Shalosh Regalim when Jews all come up to Yerushalayim, everyone can eat off everyone else's plate because we accept all Jews. This joining together was the z'chus that Aharon got from Yerushalayim on Yom Kippur.

I hope I'YH to complete the summary of the derasha in tomorrow's post.

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Thursday's Thoughts on Teshuva - The Rabbi Mansour Derasha Vol II

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, on Tuesday night, Mrs KB and I went to see R' Mansour give a teshuva derasha in Far Rockaway. Due to the length of the derasha and my lack of time, I was only able to post half of the derasha summary last evening. This post will attempt to complete the summary of the derasha, although I caution that I cannot hope to replicate the awe inspiring delivery. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the derasha 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.

To answer the question as to what "interest" Hashem has in us, R' Mansour made reference to a Zohar which discusses man's creation. The Zohar writes that when Hashem made man, it was a creation without life. In order to bring Adam alive, Hashem blew into Adam's nostrils. In so doing, a piece of Hashem was implanted into Adam. Similalrly, when we blow into a balloon, a small piece of us is injected into the balloon. The Zohar uses the term "Bas Melech" - daughter of king to describe the neshama - as if Hashem is saying - you have a the daughter of the king inside of you and when you sin, you impact on your soul and the daughter of the king. The sin causes dirt or damage to the soul which must be cleaned.

R' Mansour then digressed to tell a story about his young son who came home from school and told him that he had learned that the Torah forbids tattoos. The boy told his father that he knew which pasuk in the Torah proscribed tattoos and R' Mansour thought to himself that this was incredible as the pasuk on kesoves caca is not a very well known pasuk. He asked the boy to repeat the pasuk to him and the boy said that it was prohibited under V'lo Tatturu! After the laughter in the audience died down, R' Mansour explained that this is the same concept as the soul - Hashem gives us a body but it is not ours. We did not purchase it in a store - it was a gift. We must return the body and soul and do not have permission to damage them.

R' Mansour next made an analogy to a woman who goes to a wedding and checks her long black mink coat with the coat check room. When she is leaving the wedding, the woman returns and presents her ticket and asks for her coat back. Instead of receiving the coat she expected, she is given a short brown jacket. She asked the coat check lady - where is my coat? The lady answers - brown is much more in style this year and no one wears long coats - only short jackets. So we changed the coat so that you would be stylish. The same way that the attendee at the wedding would be upset with a change to her coat, Hashem is unhappy when we alter our bodies to conform with the current style.

Similarly, Hashem gives us neshamos to watch for a short period of time, but they must be returned in the form that they were given to us.

R' Mansour next made reference to a story about the Chafetz Chaim who told the boys in yeshiva that he wanted to tell them a secret that night after night seder. That night, the beis medrasha was packed with people waiting to hear the "secret." When the time arrived, the Chofetz Chaim told them the prayer of Elokai Neshama and made specific reference to the line that Hashem will one day take our neshamos away and then return them to us. He said this is the secret - one day the neshamos will be returned.

The Chofetz Chaim then explained that Gehennim is when Hashem returns a misshapen or dirty neshoma to a person who must then wear that neshoma for eternity. The person is embarrassed and there is no escape from the shame over the state of the neshoma. Therefore, we must fix or clean our neshamos now while we are still in this world so that they will be clean when Hashem takes them away at the end of our mortal lives and we will be happy with their state when the neshamos are returned to us for eternity.

R' Mansour made reference to the game of musical chairs. Everyone knows this game - when the music stops all the children must be in a seat. The child without the seat when the music stops is out. We don't know the moment that the neshoma will be taken from us, but if we are not ready for it, we will be stuck with the neshoma in the state that it is forever, without a chance to clean it.

Crossover alert! R' Mansour next made reference to a story that he said that he had heard from R' Frand a yeshiva boy who played the drums in a club at night after yeshiva. One night, the boy was approached at the club by a promoter who told him that he could get the boy a gig at a big club in New York City. A short time later, the boy heard again from the promoter who told him that he got him a job playing at the largest club in NY. However the event would be held on Shabbos. The yeshiva boy told the promoter that he would get back to him.

The boy went back to his yeshiva and spoke with his Rebbi about the situation and asked for advice. The Rebbi told him - take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle and make a list. On one side write the pros of going to play at the club and on the other side write the cons.

A few days later, the boy returned to his Rebbi with his list. The side of the paper with the positives of playing at the club was filled practically to the bottom of the page. On the other side there was only one word - eternity. The boy explained that if he went to play at the club on shabbos in NYC he would never be able to take it back and it would be a smudge forever. The Rebbi asked - so what will it be? The boy cried and said I will not play.

The upshot of the story is that we need to know that a sin can leave a mark on the soul which if left untreated in this world will stain the soul forever.

R' Mansour remarked that Yom Kippur is not a sad time like Tisha B'av - it is a happy time. We need to view Yom Kippur as the day that the neshoma is clean and be happy about it, much like the good feeling that a person has when they get a crisp suit back from the cleaners or a car that is freshly washed -there is a sense of happiness with getting our possession back clean.

R' Mansour then asked - why is there a mitzva to eat on the day before Yom Kippur. He offered two answers, one from Rashi and one from R' Yona. Rashi explains that the mitzva to eat is Hashem's way of insuring that we will have strength to fast on Yom Kippur - much like a mother would prepare her child before he goes away on a trip. R' Yona answers that Yom Kippur is a happy day and we should be eating on Yom Kippur, but we are commanded to fast. Therefore our seudas mitzva for Yom Kippur occurs the day before.

R' Mansour closed the shiur by wishing everyone a good yom tov and that when the music stops they should be blessed with having a chair.

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Wednesday's Thoughts on Teshuva - The Rabbi Mansour Derasha Vol I

Last night, Mrs KB and I went to see R' Mansour give a teshuva derasha in Far Rockaway. I will attempt to summarize the derasha in this post, but cannot hope to replicate the awe inspiring delivery. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the derasha 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.

R' Mansour began the derasha by making reference to Devarim 30:12 wherein the Torah states (I paraphrase) that the Mitzva which Hashem is commanding today is not far away or in the heavens or across the sea, as it is very near.

R' Mansour observed that while the Torah talks about how the mitzva is at hand and accessible, it does not actually tell the reader which mitzva it is speaking about. However, the Ramban explains that the mitzva is teshuva.

R' Mansour then asked why does Hashem tell us that the mitzva of teshuva is easy to accomplish, when we are not given similar encouragement as to the mitzvos of keeping Shabbos or Pesach?

Before answering the above question, R' Mansour analogized the mitzva of Teshuva to dieting. A person who starts a diet will be enthusiastic in the beginning, but then may lose interest as time passes. Similarly, a person who accepts to do Teshuva may start off very gung ho, but may lose his enthusiasm as time passes. Also, much like dieting, once a person gets to his level of observance that he has strived to reach, he may have issues maintaining the level of frumkeit.

R' Mansour next made reference to the Ari who discusses the mitzva of wearing a tallis at Kol Nidrei. It is accepted that men should come to shul early, specifically before sunset so that they can put on a tallis and make a brocha on it before shekiya. This is a sign that we are trying to observe as many mitzvos as we can before Yom Kippur. However, there is another opinion that on Yom Kippur eve we never make a brocha on the tallis, even if we arrive early, as the tallis is not ours, it belongs to Hashem.

With these introductory remarks in place, R' Mansour then began a novel development of the mitzva of teshuva. He quoted R' Pincus (I assume to be R' Shimshon Pincus) who states that Hashem appears to people in different "forms." Sometimes Hashem is the G-d of mercy, while other times He may be kindness or of judgment or war. But what is his "form" (R' Mansour said that k'viyochol it can be analogized to hats) for Teshuva? R' Pincus answers that Hashem comes to us in the form of a mother.

R' Mansour then digressed to discuss the roles of father and mother. A father will pick up a child and want to play with him and take him out. However when the child spits up or soils himself, the father will return him to the mother, saying - you clean up the baby. The mother then comes and cleans the baby and is not the least bit bothered by the child's stench or appearance.

This is the role that Hashem plays when a person comes to do Teshuva. The sins that a person commits soil the person's soul. R' Mansour said that there is a prayer said by Sefaradim on Yom Kippur called "Keili Meshukadi" (if I wrote it down correctly) which contains a phrase that if our neighbors could truly "smell" us they would run away from us.

R' Mansour next quoted R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach who explains the principle that a person who attends a bris has his sins cleaned. R' Shlomo Zalman explains that Eliyahu Hanavi comes to the bris and sees or smells the sins of the audience. In order to prevent Eliyahu from becoming angry, Hashem cleans the stench of sin so that Eliyahu will not strike. Once Eliyahu leaves, the smell returns, however for the moment that he is there, we benefit from having our sins removed.

R' Mansour remarked that if Hashem came to us as a father, He would not clean us from our sins. However, if He comes to us as a mother, He cleans us and then returns us like a baby from its bath - wrapped in a fresh towel.

R' Mansour explained that this too is why losing weight is difficult since Hashem only helps us do Teshuva, not diet. R' Mansour gave numerous examples of the help that Hashem gives to one who wants to do Teshuva including the Gemara in Yoma which praises the Jews because of who they become pure in front of and who purifies them. He also referenced the statement of - open for me an opening the size of the eye of a needle.

R'Mansour gave the following eye opening analogy. Think of a person who goes to a hotel and when he gets to the room he notices the room is dirty. The hotel guest calls the front desk who says that they will send someone up to clean the room. When he hears a knock at the door, he opens it and sees ... the owner of the hotel. The guest is of course shocked and asks - don't you have an employee to do this for you? However, the owner of the hotel answers, I want to do it myself - this the role of Hashem as the mother on Yom Kippur.

R' Mansour then returned to discuss R' Pincus' thought and asked - how does the mother know the child needs to be cleaned? Because the child cries when it is uncomfortable sitting in its own stench or soiled clothes. Similarly, we must cry out to Hashem so that He knows that we want to be cleaned. This is accomplished through the sobs of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. Normally, a musical instrument is used to play a tune, but this horn makes noises which sound like sobs and the ba'al tokeiah on behalf of the community to ask Hashem to come and clean us.

R' Mansour next observed that in listening to the portions of the Avinu Malkeinu which are read aloud, the sentence said the loudest involves asking for the sick to be healed, followed by requests for help with parnasah. Meanwhile, the request that Hashem cause us to return in Teshuva is not said with as much fervor.

R' Mansour next asked a philosophical question - if everything is in Hashem's hands except fear of Hashem, then why does Hashem help us do Teshuva? R' Mansour answered that He helps us because He has an interest in us. He told a "story" about a man who came to shul for Krias HaTorah and asked the gabbai to make a mi shebayrach (prayer for healing) for Frank Ben Mary. The gabbai said to him - is Frank Jewish? The man said no, he is not? The gabbai then asked - why do you want us to pray for him? The man answered - because he owes me money and I want him to live so that he can pay me back. So too, Hashem has an interest in us, but what is His interest?

I hope I'YH to complete the summary of the derasha in tomorrow's post.

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Belated Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed - Vol IV

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at another of the Samuel Adams Latitude 48 varieties - the Ahtanum version.

[I apologize for the belated posting of this week's SNS. As Sunday was a fast day, we broke our fast on dairy and the Latitude 48 would not have been an appropriate beverage with dinner for far too many reasons. Instead I had a Dunkin Donuts Iced Apple Cider, but since it lacks alcohol and is not beer it will not be reviewed here].

As mentioned in my July 31, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Hallertau Mitterfreuh (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/07/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html), the August 14, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Simcoe (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/08/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html) and the September 11, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - East Kent Goldings (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/09/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html), one of the best new IPAs introduced during the last few years is the Samuel Adams Latitude 48. The name of the beer draws from the five types of hops used in the brew process which all grow along the 48th latitude within the "hop belt" of the Northern Hemisphere. Earlier this year, Samuel Adams introduced its limited edition Deconstructed Box which features beers brewed with just one of the five hop varieties used in the Latitude 48.

For this week's post I sampled the Ahtanum version of the Latitude 48. The back of the bottle indicates that the Ahtanum hops grow in the Yakima Valley in Washington State. The label further provides that the Ahtanum hops "contribute a balanced and typically "American" orange peel, piney and floral flavor and aroma to the brew, balanced by a slight sweetness and full body from the five different malts."

I tried the Latitude 48 Ahtanum on its own in a Samuel Adams tulip glass that I purchased at the Samuel Adams brewery a few years ago. I did not have this with dinner so the review is based solely as a stand alone brew.

The beer poured a rich copper with a fair amount of foam that stayed on top even twenty minutes after I poured the beer. The flavor starts off with malts, but the hops are present and accounted for and linger nicely after I have swallowed my sip. The aftertaste is piney and slightly citrus, although not over the top like the Uinta Wyld. Even though the beer is slightly on the high end of abv for an American Pale Ale (6%), the alcohol taste is relatively mild.

Having tried this beer on its own, I am wishing that they sold it in six packs as I am enjoying this beer and wish that I could pair it with foods to experiment with melding flavors.

The Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Ahtanum is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. Like many other Samuel Adams brews, this bottle does not have the Star-K certification mark on the label.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this version of Latitude 48, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/68399.

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!