Thursda's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Vaeschanan

Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim on the Parsha until Elul, I would like to substitute a vort from other Rabbanim each week, rather than leaving the blog without a vort for shabbos. This week, I am attempting to repeat a vort heard from R' Eli Mansour as recorded on www.learntorah.com. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggid shiur.

Rabbi Mansour indicated that in Parshas Vaeschanan, Moshe prayed 515 prayers that he be allowed to enter the land of Israel. Although R' Mansour did not explicitly state the source for the number of prayers, I surmise that it is the gematria of Vaeschanan.

After the 515th prayer, Hashem says to Moshe - "rav lach" - you have prayed enough, please stop. Rabbi Mansour asked - why did Hashem allow Moshe to pray so many different prayers (as each of the 515 were different from each other)? Why didn't Hashem tell Moshe to stop praying much sooner, as Moshe's request was not to be granted to him?

Rabbi Mansour answered the question by citing chazal for the famous concept that "no prayer goes unanswered." It is possible that a prayer can be put on hold in one generation and it will be answered in another generation. Hashem knew that at some point the Jews would be in need of prayers, and Moshe's tefillos were put away to be used when the Jews are in a perilous situation.

Rabbi Mansour then explained that a person may pray from the heart and still not get the answer he is looking for at the time. This does not mean that the request won't be answered for a different person or at a different time.

Rabbi Mansour then analogized the situation to blood bank. A person will donate blood to the blood bank to be used in the future as needed. If that person needs blood, he may receive it back from the blood bank. However, if another person needs blood, the "banked" blood will be available to that other person to address his medical needs.

So too with the prayers that are made. Hashem may not give the person what he is asking for when he prays. But the prayer will be answered down the road and Hashem will assist him or perhaps his children or grandchildren.

A number of years ago, R'Frand told a story during one of his Thursday Night shiurim which related to the concept of no prayer goes unanswered. R' Frand spoke of a man who was walking on the street in Tel Aviv and was asked to join a minyan. The man protested multiple times, stating that he was not religious and had never been in a synagogue. Eventually, the man agreed and joined the short prayer service. The man later became Orthodox as a result of the experience.

Meanwhile, the gentleman's father became the butt of jokes on his Kibbutz. How could his son become Orthodox when his father had raised him to despise religion. The answer was that it must have been the prayers of the grandfather for his son. While the grandfather was unsuccessful in convincing his son to become frum, his prayers did not go unanswered. Instead, the grandson became the beneficiary of his grandfather's prayers and tears. It should be no great surprise that the synagogue where the man's journey to religion began was the same shul that his grandfather himself had prayed in.

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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Nedarim 65

Towards the middle of Nedarim 65b, the gemara hypothesizes about a conversation between the man who swears that he will not benefit his neighbor and Beis Din who try to create an opening by reminding him that the Torah has commandments which include not to take revenge, not to hate one's neighbor and to give charity to the poor.

As part of the conversation, the gemara theorizes that the man could say - its not my obligation to support my neighbor - I give to the community collection and they then can support the poor of my town. The gemara then responds - not everyone goes to the gabbai (tzedakah). Rashi explains that the gemara means to say that a person may first go to a relative or neighbor for assistance before seeking help from the gabbai.

The sefer Shearim Hamitzuyanim B'Halacha quotes the Be'er Golah who explains that this gemara is the source for the rule that if a person wants to give charity, the poor of his family should take priority. He also quotes the Sifri in Re'eh on Devarim 15-6 from which we learn that ones family comes first for support, followed by the poor of one's city.

He closes the thought by exploring the concept that although the gabbaim now need to investigate to see whether the person seeking help really requires assistance, a family member knows when his family needs help and therefore the obligation falls on them to help before the poor man goes to the gabbai.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Wanting to be Competitive and Doing the Right Thing

This morning I took the drive that I look forward to every summer. As regular readers of this blog are aware, during the summer I drive back from Camp M on Monday mornings and spend much of the 3+ hour ride listening to the Mike & Mike in the Morning Show on ESPN Radio. But although I have a general affinity for the show, there are certain annual events that I look forward to and one of them is the Monday after induction weekend in Cooperstown.

Yes, I admit it. Although I have become more of a hockey and football fan than baseball over the last ten+ years, I still have a love for the game of my youth and an appreciation for the players who have earned immortality by way of enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Although every year's induction evokes memories, this year's HOF class had special meaning to me because of the extraordinary level of pitching talent - John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson. Each of these names brought me back ten or so years - thinking about how Smoltz would consistently dash the Mets playoff hopes, how Randy Johnson went from the D-Backs to the cross-town rival Yankees and how Pedro Martinez carried the Mets into the playoffs in the mid 2000s.

But a funny thing happened in the middle of the program - the hosts began talking about Alex Rodriguez and whether he should be considered for the award for comeback player of the year. I am not sure how this topic came up but it led to an interesting comparison with statements made by Pedro Martinez.

When players are enshrined in the HOF, they are allotted twenty minutes for their induction speech. Some players use this to thank loved ones or honor the memory of past coaches/mentors/role models. Other players devote part of their speeches to social issues or to campaign for other players. What made Pedro's induction most interesting was the interview with him after being enshrined in which he was asked about playing in the steroid era. While I would have expected that Pedro would have reacted like most pitchers and been adamant about how steroids ruined the game, Mike & Mike reported that Pedro had said that he felt that he needed to face the best and that regardless of whether they were juicing he wanted to prove he could beat them.

I contrasted that with the statements later in the program about A-Roid. I heard many interviews where baseball commentators were asked whether he should be considered for comeback player of the year. I don't recall the reaction of every commentator, but to my recollection they uniformly were against him receiving the award because his absence from baseball was due to punishment, not injury.

The question of wanting to be competitive and perhaps going over the line in trying to get to that point made me think of a story from Shabbos' Daf Yomi. There was a story about R' Tarfon who legally collected hefker (ownerless) figs. He was grabbed by the owner of a field and thrown in a bag which was to be tossed into the river when he revealed himself as being the sage - R' Tarfon.

The gemara then goes into an explanation as to why R' Tarfon was upset with himself for making such a statement to the field owner and whether he had improperly attempted to trade on his name as a Torah scholar in order to extricate himself from the mess.

One of the people who I learned with on Shabbos was particularly bothered by the story and wanted to know why R' Tarfon did not simply pay for the figs (even though he was no required to do so). We contemplated this for a bit and I have tried to do a little more digging but have yet to come up with a sourced answer.

But I wonder if this was in a way, comparable with the Pedro and A-Roid stories. When a person is placed in a position of authority or is recognized for his achievements, he needs to know that there is great responsibility. If he seizes the moment and gives his all he can go down in history as a great one. But if he uses a crutch, rather than standing up facing the situation on his own, he can leave himself open to question.

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Belated Sunday Night Suds - New Belgium Slow Ride Session IPA

This week's belated Sunday Night Suds looks at New Belgium's Slow Ride Session IPA.

Before you ask, the answer is no - I am not attempting to blame my weekly trip back and forth to Camp M or any related slow ride (often on the way up) as the reason that the usual Sunday blog entry has been belated posted on Monday. Instead, I must confess that after a slightly more intense Tisha B'Av fast than usual, I was not able to contemplate sampling a new beer this Sunday Night.

So tonight when I returned home from I chilled and then tried the New Belgium Session IPA with some Chinese food that I had picked up at Soy Sauce Kosher Chinese Restaurant (located on Main Street in KGH). I found that the beer made an interesting pairing with the spicy kung pao dinner and one that  I would like to repeat (but unfortunately cannot because I only bought one bottle of this beer and New Belgium is not for sale in NY).

The Slow Ride poured a mild yellow - not really straw but certainly not as golden as I was expecting. There was more than a fair amount of hops with pine and grapefruit very prominent. In fact, I found that even though this was called a "Session" beer (usually connoting a lighter version which can be consumed in larger quantities during a drinking session) the beer had a remarkable amount of flavor and stood up well to the spicy Chinese fare.

New Belgium Slow Ride Session IPA is under the Kosher Supervision of the Scroll-K of Colorado. Although the beer does not bear the kosher symbol on the label, the Scroll-K kosher symbol can usually be found on the bottom of the six pack holder (as I bought this is as part of a mix your own six pack, I did not see the holder, but I have found that to be the case with all the NB beers under the Scroll-K).

Please note that not every brew produced by New Belgium is under kosher supervision. For a list of the New Belgium brews currently under supervision, please click on the link on the left side of my home page for my latest Kosher Beer List.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about New Belgium Slow Ride Session IPA, please follow this link beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/144097. 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!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Devarim

Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim on the Parsha until Elul, I would like to substitute a vort from other Rabbanim each week, rather than leaving the blog without a vort for shabbos. This week, I am attempting to repeat a vort heard from R' Eli Mansour as recorded on www.learntorah.com. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggid shiur.

In Devarim (1:22-36) the Torah recites that Moshe rebukes the Jews for the sin of the Meraglim - the spies who gave a false report about the land of Israel. Moshe states that because the Jews did not have trust in Hashem, they were punished and were not allowed to enter the land of Israel.

However, Moshe then makes a statement which is difficult to understand at first blush as he states in Devarim 1:37  "Gam Be" - I was also punished by Hashem because of you (the Jews) and I was told that I could not enter the land of Israel.

The mefarshim ask the obvious question - how was Moshe punished because of the spies? After all, it is very clear that Moshe is punished for hitting (rather than talking) to the rock at Mei Merivah.

The Ramban answers this question by stating that Moshe was just listing why people were not allowed to enter Israel. After stating (at length) the reason that the Jews could not enter Israel, Moshe simply stated - and Hashem got mad at me too and I was not allowed to enter.

The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh gives a different explanation whereby he links the two events. He began with a general statement that the sin of the spies was so damaging that the impact would be for generations. As a result of the sin of the spies, Hashem would be forced to destroy the Beis Hamikdash twice and it would be embedded in their DNA for generations. 

He then explained that because of the sin of the spies Moshe could not have entered the land of Israel. The reason for this is that Moshe's trait was netzach and the results of his labors live on forever. In fact, the Zohar posits that had Moshe entered the land of Israel he would have built the Beis Hamikdash it never would have been destroyed. And that would have been the greatest disaster in history.

The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh explains that when the Jews sinned, Hashem had two choices - destroy the Beis Hamikdash or the Jews. Hashem took his wrath out on the physical structure and the Jews were allowed to survive. However, had Moshe built the Beis Hamikdash, Hashem would have had no choice but to destroy the Jews.

R' Mansour then added to the vort by stating that had Moshe played the incident of the rock in the right way, it could have undone the damage of the spies and he could have entered the land of Israel. But he did not did do so, and as a result Moshe could not enter the land of Israel and build the Beis Hamikdash. 

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Sunday Night Suds - Redd's Green Apple Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Redd's Green Apple Ale.

A few years back I reviewed the first version of Redd's Apple Ale to see the review click here (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2013/02/sunday-night-suds-redds-apple-ale.html). At the time I found it crisp and refreshing, but over time I have been less enamored with this brew. I can't put my finger on whether the recipe has gotten sweeter or my tastes have changed, but I personally found it to be a bit too sweet.

So this past Friday I made a quick stop in the Big M in Walton, NY and I came across the newest version of Redd's - the Green Apple Ale. The beer is available in bottle or can and I brought some back to use for either a shabbos afternoon learning accompaniment or havdalah substitute for wine. 

Due to some other shabbos afternoon commitments, I wound up using the Redd's Green Apple Ale for havdalah. I found the Green Apple to be slightly less sweet than the original Apple Ale with a bit of tartness. While I would not pair this beer with a meat dish or even spicy fish, I could see having this with a lighter dairy or perhaps salad course.

Redd's Green Apple Ale is certified kosher by the Orthodox Union like nearly every beer produced by MillerCoors and there is an OU on the bottle. For the experts' take on the Redd's Green Apple Ale, please click here beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/105/160791.

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 Matos

Normally, the Thursday night parsha post on this blog slot contains a thought said over by R' Frand in his satellite shiur. Since the shiur is now on hiatus through Elul, I will be substituting with divrei torah found in other sources. This week I have attempted to summarize a vort from R' Mansour which can be found at www.learntorah.com. As always, if the p'shat appears to be incorrect, it is a result of my efforts to convey the thought that I found in the sefer or shiur.

R' Mansour began the vort by recounting the conversation between Moshe and the tribes of Reuven, Gad and half the tribe of Menashe. During this conversation, the tribes offered to go into battle for 14 years to conquer the land of Israel, but at the same time they indicated that they wished to permanently settle on the east bank of the Jordan River. The Torah describes how the tribes wanted to build pens for their sheep and schools for the children and the subsequent conversation between Moshe and the tribes as to these issues.

R' Mansour asked - this is a great story/dialogue, but why is this important to us?

R' Mansour answered by quoting the sefer Kedushat Tzion who learns a parenting lesson from the conversation. 

He began by noting that the word "HaRaim" appears three times in Tanach. Once in connection with the Yam Suf where Moshe is told to raise his staff, once in connection with raising the shofar and once to raise themselves.

The Keushat Tzion states that if a parent gives the child a spoken mussar, he will not come to need the stick (belt/fist) to discipline the child. This is because the stick has a negative connotation and is extraordinary. He next quoted a pasuk from Mishlei wherein Shlomo HaMelech writes one who spares the rod hates his son. But the pasuk continues that the one who loves the child, gives him mussar. R' Mansour explains that if you don't love and teach the child you will come to use the stick and it will not be effective.

R' Mansour next quoted the Alshich who explains (based on Shema) that a person must first take the words of Hashem to heart and only then can teach the words to the children. This ties into the gemara which states that if a person does not take the mussar to heart he should not give mussar to others as it will be rejected.

R' Mansour also tied this thought into matan Torah. On the day that the Jews received the Torah, the shofar was sounding and the Jews were in such awe that their souls rose up and they needed to be resuscitated. The Torah writes that at the time, the Jews saw the sounds. But how can this be if words are not visible? The gemara explains that it was a miracle which we in this world cannot compare it with. But why did Hashem make this miracle? R' Mansour suggested that by giving us the Torah, Hashem have us a book of instruction as well. The lesson from this miracle is that when a person gives mussar to his child, the child must see the voices - meaning that the child will see that the parent is living the same concept. If the child is being told that he must learn or go to minyan, he must also see that the parent is doing the same. 

R' Mansour then returned to the Kedushat Tziyon and his explanation of the three pesukim. He stated that the word Haraim can mean raise or move away. When Moshe was told to raise the stick, the message was move away from raising the stick. So how should one teach the child? By raising the voice - speak to them and tell them what to do. But before doing so, the parent must raise himself up so that the child will see that you are embodying the aspects that you want the child to live by.

As the shiur was more than 50 minutes long there were many more important aspects that cannot be summarized here. While I have skipped much of the middle, here is the tie in with the first part of the vort.

Moshe told the Jews build for yourself "arim" for your children and fences for your sheep. He then says and what you say you will do, you must do. 

R' Mansour explained that the word arim can be seen as cities or as hitorrerut - raise yourself. The message was first raise yourself up and once you have done so, you can build fences for your pure sheep. But most important, whatever you say in mussar to your children, you must do. 

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Of All Star Fame and the Reasons that Be

While driving home from Camp M, I was listening to Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio via satellite and caught more than an earful on the subject of players being used in Tuesday's All Star Game. What struck me as odd is how much the nature of the game has changed since I was a kid and even over the last few years.

When I was growing up, the MLB All Star Game was a must see event. Since there was no cable and the only inter-league games were preseason and the World Series, this was the only opportunity to see all the star players, especially those from the other league. However over time the novelty began to fade as soon out of market games could be seen on cable and later on the Web. Similarly, in and around 1996 the league began to play interleague games and the players became more easy to see.

As interest in the All Star Game dwindled, MLB tried a new wrinkle - the game would count. The league which won the All Star Game would get the extra home game in the World Series. Although this may have meant little to the players (since only one team from each league makes the World Series) it was more meaningful to the fans.

But as the meaning of the game has now began an upward swing, the meaning of the game to the teams seems to have dwindled. The news reports which I referred to earlier involved teams who were manipulating the roster so that their star pitchers would be ineligible to pitch. Similarly, there was a story of a manager who had purportedly contacted his league's manager and requested that his pitcher not be used in the game. Mike & Mike interpreted this last request as a statement of "we pay this guy $X million to pitch for us, if he is going to get hurt in a game, it will be in a game that counts for us."

This would have been unheard of twenty years ago and probably is still troubling to some of today's players. The All Star Game had been an event - something that a player dreamed of playing in. Now, the team was looking to deprive the selected ball player from participating in the event.

A player looking at this could be consumed with feeling how unfair it is that the player was not allowed to play in the game or even that another player took his place. But still, if this is what saves the player and allows the team to succeed, or conversely if the player is hurt in the all star game and cannot play, there was a reason that the player did or did not participate in the game.

These news reports reminded me of a story that R' Frand told last Thursday night. 

R' Frand told a story about Eli Greengart who works in Yeshivas Ner Israel in Baltimore. During a shabbos sheva berachos a few weeks ago the family realized that their three year old child was missing. The family frantically looked for him and he was found in the deep end of the pool. They airlifted the child to Westchester County Medical Center and the child has b'h recovered completely.

R' Frand explained that both Eli and his wife are from Silver Spring, Maryland and that a similar drowning accident story had happened in Silver Spring 18-19 years earlier, albeit with a more troubling outcome as the child was in a coma for 17 years. Eli used to visit with the coma patient and help bathe him. Now, many years later Hashem had been performed for him.

R' Frand closed the vort by saying that it is difficult to try to correlate events and say that things happened the way that they did because of Eli's acts, but one can speculate if maybe the acts of chesed were recognized by Hashem and resulted in his child being saved.

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Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Rebel Rider IPA + Bonus Nine Days Havdalah Guide

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Samuel Adams Rebel Rider IPA.

The Rebel Rider IPA is one of two new beers introduced by Samuel Adams in the Beers of Summer mix box (the other is the Downtime Pilsner). I was unsure whether this beer was under hashgacha, however I happened to find a bottle in a beer store's mix your six pack and sure enough it had a star-k on the label, so I picked it up and brought it home.

The beer poured a light but not pale yellow and it had lacing on the plastic cups that Mrs KB and I used to sample this brew at our cabin in Camp M. The beer had some bitterness, perhaps a little too much for Mrs KB, but I actually found this to be a little on the light side of an IPA and more than faintly reminiscent of the Ommegang Nirvana IPA which I had reviewed in mid June (to see that review please click here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2015/06/sunday-night-suds-ommegang-nirvana-ipa.html).

Besides the light bitterness, there was a good development of citrus and some pine. The beer was somewhat on the light side and I did not find that the IPA was complex, but it was refreshing and had enough body and sharpness, despite being 4.5% abv.

The Samuel Adams Rebel Rider IPA is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. Unlike many of the Samuel Adams brews, this bottle does have the Star-K certification mark on the label. 

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this brew, please follow this link -http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/154050. 

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). 

Bonus section - Nine Days Havdalah Guide.

In years past, I would receive numerous email and cell phone messages prior to Shabbos Chazon (the Saturday within the summer nine days mourning period) with questions as to what would be a good choice to make havdalah on. As the Shabbos of the Nine Days actually falls towards the end of the period, I have presented the annual Nine Days Havdalah guide in this post to allow people to get an early look at alternatives to wine.

By way of introduction, on Saturday nights after the evening prayer is said, Jews have a special set of blessings that are said by which we separate between the holy shabbos and the rest of the week. There is a custom to say this prayer on a cup of wine, however this custom needs modification when the Saturday falls during the nine days of mourning.

As noted by the Orthodox Union on their website:

Meat and wine are prohibited during the Nine Days, except on Shabbat. Meat and wine are associated both with joy AND with Temple service. Both reasons combine to explain this prohibition.Even though havdala is officially after Shabbat, one is permitted to drink wine. It is preferable to give the wine to a child who is old enough to understand brachot but not yet old enough to understand the concept of "mourning for Jerusalem". Alternately, some authorities recommend the use of a substitute beverage for havdala such as fruit juice, beer, etc. Other authorities insist on wine as usual.

Should your local Rabbi direct you to utilize non-wine in your havdalah, there are multiple options to use to fulfill the havdalah requirement. Indeed, my father in law will use diet soda (or as he says "diet pop"). I recall as a child seeing my father on one occasion use hard alcohol for havdalah (and then burn the decorative plate my sibling made when he tried to put out the candle).

To me, the simplest answer to the havdalah dilemma (and one that is widely recommended by rabbinic authorities) is to use beer, which in the time of the talmud was called chamra d'medina - the wine of the masses. This brings us to the reason I get more summer phone calls and email around this time every year - which beer would I recommend?

The number one problem with the question is that most people who ask me about it don't generally drink beer. It then becomes difficult to make a recommendation of a beer that they can use for havdalah that won't have them making faces in their attempt to drink the halachic minimum level for the blessing. A second problem is that since the havdalah cup is imbibed on its own (i.e. without the benefit of food) people who might be inclined to have a beer with a meal will still have problems finishing their cup when the beer is consumed on its own.

The easiest solution is not to have beer, but instead to make havdalah on what is commonly called alcopop. These are malt beverage drinks with some similarities to beer and a beer-like 5% alcohol content by volume, but do not have the beer taste. Some examples are the Boston Beer Company (aka Sam Adams) Twisted Teas or the Smirnoff Twisted V/Twisted Ice line. Please be aware that not every flavor of Smirnoff is certified Kosher. Indeed, the last time I looked at the CRC list, only the following flavors were certified kosher: Green Apple, Mango,Raspberry Burst, Pineapple and Wild Grape (I am unaware of whether there is actual grape in this beverage).

Another alternative is hard apple cider. Frequent readers of this blog may recall that for a time the Angry Orchard Hard Apple Cider was not certified kosher by the Star-K, but they have again been certified kosher. For a current list of Angry Orchard ciders under hashgacha, please click here http://www.star-k.org/loc/LetterOfCertification_PEFQZ4N3.pdf. Additionally, there has been an explosion of other kosher hard apple ciders, including Strongbow out of the UK, JK Scrumpy, Smith & Forge and Henry Hotspurs Hard Cider (a Trader Joe's brand).

There are also a number of fruit flavored beers which bridge the gap between alcopop and true beer. These include the Miller/Coors line of Redd's products, including Apple Ale (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2013/02/sunday-night-suds-redds-apple-ale.html), Strawberry Ale (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2014/01/sunday-night-suds-redds-strawberry-ale.html), Blue Moon Blackberry Tart Ale (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2013/05/sunday-night-suds-blue-moon-blackberry.html), Samuel Adams Blueberry Hill Lager (reviewed herehttp://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2013/04/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams.html) and Saranac Blueberry Blonde Ale (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2012/04/sunday-night-suds-saranac-blueberry.html).

If you do like beer, or would like to drink something that is more manly than alcopop, the next step up would be an American wheat beer or some of the better Summer Ales. Many of these beers have been reviewed on the pages of this blog and you can search through prior Sunday Night Suds reviews to find one that might appeal to you.If you are a beer aficionado, you obviously won't need this post to tell you which ale or lager you should crack open for havdalah.

Again, I would stress that you consult your halachic authority before selecting a havdalah alternative. My Rav advises me that beer would be the first choice, followed by malt beverages. I did not ask about how the non alcohol options fit into the list.

May the world have a tikkun from our three weeks/nine days observances and may tisha b'av soon be transformed to the holiday that the gemara tells it will be in the times of moshiach bimheira biyamenu.

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Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Pinchas

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

R' Frand began the parsha vort by quoting Bamidbar (25:13) "V'Haisa Lo...Bris Kehunas Olam..." This was Hashem's covenant to Pinchas as a reward for his attack mentioned in the prior parsha. Rashi asks - since Pinchas is the grandson of Aharon, he was already a Kohen. What was the significance of this reward? Rashi answers that the Kehunah was given to Aharon and his children for those children who would be born afterwards. Since Pinchas was already born and was not anointed with Aharon and his sons, he did not have the status of Kohen.

R' Frand explained that this is an example of the exquisiteness of Hashgacha. Pinchas is not a Kohen at this point. Every day he sees that his father, grandfather and uncle are bringing sacrifices and he cannot. He could be upset that he was prevented from having the status by accident of his birth order and with no fault on his part. And, Pinchas observed this for nearly 40 years.

R' Frand quoted the Zohar who stated that if Pinchas had been in the original group who were annointed or he had been born afterwards - he would have been ineligible to be a kohen since the halacha teaches that a kohen who kills - even by accident - cannot give the priestly blessing. Thus the reason that Hashem did not make him a kohen until this point was so that he could be a kohen forever. Indeed, the Tosafos in Zevachim 101 states that all of the kohanim gedolim in both bayis rishon and sheni were all descendants of Pinchas.

The Zohar continues that even though Moshe knew all the halachos and even knew what to do at the sin of the Golden Calf, he did not know what to do when Zimri and Cuzbi were publicly intimate. Why? Because if he did, Pinchas would not have been able to act.

R' Frand closed the vort by stating that we see from this that although we may have doubts as to why and how things happen, Hashem has a plan.

R' Frand told a few stories to illustrate this point. The first story that he told involved a boy who went skiing and sustained a head injury. The injury was so severe that the boy needed to go for an MRI. During the MRI the Radiologist found a tumor which had it been left alone would have grown so large as to have been inoperable. But for this ski accident, the doctors never would have found it. 

I will iyh discuss the other stories in posts over the next few weeks.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Stupid Sports Tricks and the Miracle No One Knew About

For some reason,the 4th of July seems to bring out the "stupid" in people. From stories about creative uses of fireworks to the gastronomical event known as "competitive eating" there are always stories about people who do wacky and often foolish things. This  sports world was not immune from these events as this past weekend two athletes were injured doing rather foolish things and a third was exposed as a hidden fool.

The first story from the sports world involved NY Giants defensive lineman Jason Pierre Paul (aka JPP). I have thought of JPP as a talented, if somewhat injury prone athlete. When healthy, he was one of the game's fiercest pass rushers. However, yesterday news broke that he may have suffered a career threatening injury (there are conflicting reports) after he injured his hand while lighting/playing with fireworks. Given that he was designated a "franchise player" which required the Giants to either extend him for one year and then lose him to free agency OR offer him a long term deal for $$ it was not a wise choice to play with an inherently dangerous object like fireworks. As has been recently reported, after the team found out about the injury they pulled a contract offer which had been on the table. (For more on the story, click here).

The second story involves golfer Rory McIlroy. While driving down from Camp M this morning, I heard on the Mike & Mike program on ESPN that McIlroy had blown out a ligament in his ankle while playing soccer with his friends over the weekend. It seemed that based on the medical reports being produced that McIlroy's injury would force him to miss this week's Scottish Open and more importantly, he would lose the opportunity to defend his British Open title. What takes the story beyond a simple accident and into the realm of stupid athlete tricks is that Mike & Mike also reported that this was NOT the first time that McIlroy had injured himself playing soccer, although this was his most severe injury to date.

The third story (although the first in the actual chronological sequence) was that NY Jets defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson would be suspended four games by the NFL for testing positive to a banned (but not performance enhancing substance). It was widely speculated that the substance was marijuana (for more on this story click here here). Much like the above stories, the Richardson suspension is another stupid athlete trick because the players are warned more than a month in advance that they will be testified and the warning is issued with enough time to get the substance out of their systems, provided they stop using it. Furthermore, a player does not get suspended for a first time violation as that is kept private. As such, if Richardson received a four game suspension he must have failed the test numerous times previously, but no one knew about it.

The issue of what goes on behind the scenes made me think of a vort that I heard from R' Mansour in a shiur that I downloaded from www.learntorah.com. He noted that the Balak/Bilaam story differs from every other event in which an enemy of the Jews tried to destroy them. In every other story in Tanach there was a mesorah - a story or tradition handed down from the person who saw that Hashem saved the Jews. The person involved in the story would recount the events to his son and further down the chain. However, the Jews were blissfully unaware that Balak had sent Bilaam to curse the Jews. Indeed, if someone would have asked one of the people if anything happened that day, the person would have said no. It is only because Hashem told Moshe to write the story in the Torah that we even know that it occurred. 

R' Mansour concluded the vort by noting that these types of events happen every day, but we don't know that Hashem is actively involved because the stories don't make the papers. However, each of prayers is banked and Hashem does listen and answer them to save us from situations which we may never learn about.

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Sunday Night Suds - Boulevard Spring Belle Saison

This week's Sunday Night Suds takes a step back and looks at Boulevard's Spring Belle Saison.

I found this in the Total Wine & Liquor outlet in Laurel, Maryland. I thought a beer brewed with flowers might taste a bit odd, but then remembered that hops are flowers, so I bought it.

The beer poured a pale straw like yellow and had decent lacing and a good amount of foam. The first taste revealed a beer with the body of a saison, but quite a bit of unexpected and welcomed spice. The beer has a peppery taste up front which lasts well beyond the swallow. Successive sips gave some malt backbone, but continued peppery spice. 

Since I tried this beer before dinner I cannot report on a specific pairing, but my feeling is that this brew would go exceedingly well with Cajun fare.

Boulevard Pop Up Session IPA is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Kansas City, but the bottle I purchased did not have the certification mark on the label. If you would like the LOC from the Va'ad, please let me know and I will email it to you.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this brew, please follow this link -http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/423/152217.

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