Sunday, January 31, 2021

Sunday Night Suds - Saranac Joy to Ale

 


This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Saranac Brewery's Joy to Ale.

As mentioned in a previous Sunday Night Suds - Saranac has continued to pump out new brews, including this year's 12 Beers of Winter mix box. includes new beers - Joy to Ale, Winter Warmer and the Permafrost IPA (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2020/12/sunday-night-suds-saranac-permafrost-ipa.html), along with one of my all time Saranac favorites - the Big Moose Ale (reviewed here https://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/11/sunday-night-suds-saranac-big-moose-ale.html).

The Joy to Ale is a light style ale which is more reminiscent of Heineken than an ale. The beer poured a light gold with decent carbonation which lasted throughout the drink. There was no pine, citrus or any noticeable hop bite. The beer claimed to be 5.5% abv, but there was no noticeable alcohol taste nor it did have the body of anything more substantial than a lager.

Joy to Ale is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit as is every other beer produced at the Matt Brewery plant in Utica, NY. Keep in mind, Saranac brews some varieties off site, so check the cans/bottles for kosher certification from the Va'ad of Detroit.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the brew, click you can search on  https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/515984/

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).

Lastly, 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, January 28, 2021

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Beshalach

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts on the parsha that R' Frand spoke about in his shiur tonight. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In Shemos 14:3, the Torah states וְאָמַ֤ר פַּרְעֹה֙ לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל נְבֻכִ֥ים הֵ֖ם בָּאָ֑רֶץ סָגַ֥ר עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם הַמִּדְבָּֽר - that Pharaoh told the Jewish people that they are trapped in the land. The famous question is - who did Pharaoh tell this to, as the Jews had left already.

The pashut pshat as said by many meforshim (including Rashi) is that Pharaoh said this about the Jews and not to them. But the Targum Yonasan Ben Uziel explains that Pharaoh said this to Dasan and Aviram, who had not left yet.

R' Frand asked - if Dasan and Aviram were such evil people that they did not leave with Moshe, how were they still around? These were Moshe's historical antagonists, yet we read about them later in the Torah so they obviously got out. Why did they merit to get out of Egypt, when 80% of the Jews did not make it out of Egypt (and died in Choshech) because of their evil nature?

R' Frand answered the question by quoting the Rosh which explains that Dasan & Aviram had not given up hope of leaving Egypt. The reason that they stayed was that they believed that Moshe was a false prophet. R' Frand quoted R' Eliezer Ashkenazi in the Sefer Maasei Hashem who explains that Dasan & Aviram knew that Avraham had been told that the Jews would be in exile for 400 years...which meant that there were still 190 years left! They thought that Moshe must be a false prophet!

This also explains the conversation which took place between them and Moshe after Pharaoh increased the Jews suffering once Moshe came down to Egypt. Upon seeing this, Dasan & Aviram said to Moshe - Hashem should punish you for saying that the Jews are to leave Egypt now - you made this up yourself.

Even after seeing the 10 plagues, Dasan & Aviram did not change their minds and they stayed behind with Pharaoh and encouraged him to bring the Jews back to finish their remaining time in exile. Only once they saw the splitting of the Yam Suf did they realize that Moshe was a true prophet.

So if this was the attitude of Dasan & Aviram, why were they saved? The Maharal Diskin explains that Dasan & Aviram's merit was that they were among the nogsim - the taskmaster/enforcers who were in charge of the Jews in Egypt. But these were not like the Kapos in the concentration camps. In Egypt, these people were beaten by the Egyptians when the Jews did not meet their quotas. In that zechus and because of their empathy for their fellow Jews because they got hit to prevent people from being beaten, they merited getting out of Egypt.

R' Frand next asked - how did Dasan and Aviram make it out of Egypt? When could they have left, if Pharaoh was talking to them and the Jews are already gone?

He answered by quoting the Maharal Diskin which analyzes Shemos 15:19 which states  כִּ֣י בָא֩ ס֨וּס פַּרְעֹ֜ה בְּרִכְבּ֤וֹ וּבְפָֽרָשָׁיו֙ בַּיָּ֔ם וַיָּ֧שֶׁב יְהֹוָ֛ה עֲלֵהֶ֖ם אֶת־מֵ֣י הַיָּ֑ם וּבְנֵ֧י יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל הָֽלְכ֥וּ בַיַּבָּשָׁ֖ה בְּת֥וֹךְ הַיָּֽם  - that Pharaoh's horse came into the sea and the Jews walked on dry land. This seems to be out of order. First the Jews went into dry land in the sea and then Pharaoh's horse followed them in!

R' Frand explained quoting the Be'er Mayim Chayim that there was a second Krias Yamsuf. When Dasan & Aviram got there, the sea had already closed up after Pharaoh and his horse went in. But because they had a great zechus, Hashem made a second Krias Yamsuf and they walked into the sea on dry land.

R' Frand then quoted the Arizal who tied this story into the famous story of Eliyahu and the prophets of Ba'al on Har HaCarmel. The Arizal states that the two cows which were utilized in the story were the gilgul of Dasan & Aviram and this was their atonement for doubting the veracity of Moshe. The lesson was that a true prophet of Hashem could cause the 400 years to lessen. Certainly there were people who said to Eliyahu - you can't offer a sacrifice outside of the Beis Hamikdash! And they would have been right...except that a true prophet can (because of Hora'as Sha'ah) change certain operative rules, much like Moshe was correct about the reduction in the number of years that the Jews would be in exile.

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, January 21, 2021

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Bo

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts on the parsha that R' Frand spoke about in his shiur tonight. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In Shemos 11:6, the Torah states וְהָֽיְתָ֛ה צְעָקָ֥ה גְדֹלָ֖ה בְּכָל־אֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲשֶׁ֤ר כָּמֹ֨הוּ֙ לֹ֣א נִֽהְיָ֔תָה וְכָמֹ֖הוּ לֹ֥א תֹסִֽף - there will be a great cry throughout the land of Egypt, the likes of which there never were and there will never be in the future.

R' Frand quoted a Medrash HaGadol which told a story about an old woman who approached Moshe and said - you are a liar. She said that she had no parents, no husband and no children - there would be no reason that I will cry for anyone! Moshe responded to her - I swear you will be the first to cry.

The Medrash HaGadol then relates that even though this woman did not have children, she previously had a son who had died. She then had a statue of her son built for her and every night after having dinner, she would dance before the statue of her son. But the night of Makas Bechoros, dogs came into her house and knocked over the statue and destroyed it and sure enough she was the first to cry out.

R' Frand then asked - what was the woman thinking? After all, until this point Moshe was 9 for 9!

R' Frand then quoted the famous Rashi on the pasuk in Shemos 11:4 - וַיֹּ֣אמֶר משֶׁ֔ה כֹּ֖ה אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֑ה כַּֽחֲצֹ֣ת הַלַּ֔יְלָה אֲנִ֥י יוֹצֵ֖א בְּת֥וֹךְ מִצְרָֽיִם  - Rashi comments that the midnight hour is not mentioned precisely because the Egyptian advisors might not be correct in their timekeeping and would call Moshe a liar if the event did not occur at the time they calculated as midnight.

But why would they do so? 

R' Frand answered based on the sefer Milchemes Yehuda - who observes that people will often be blinded by money, or desire or the need for honor. This can be seen in the prior plague of darkness. The sefer writes that this plague was not so much of a punishment as it was a warning to Pharaoh. How can you be so blind that you don't see this is all from Hashem? Because you are willfully blinding yourself to the truth, you will walk around in pitch darkness.

The Milchemes Yehuda also tied this into a different Medrash which states that the darkness was as thick as a dinar coin. This was also a message - people can be blinded by money as well.

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, January 14, 2021

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Va'era

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts on the parsha that R' Frand spoke about in his shiur tonight. 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 noting that in both Shemos 6:26 and 27, the Torah states "this was Moshe & Aharon" (although the order is reversed from one pasuk to the next). Rashi comments that the reason this was repeated was to show that they stayed themselves from the beginning to the end and did not change as a result of their successes.

R' Frand then quoted a sefer which I did not write the name of, which observes that sometime a person becomes involved in a cause and while it starts out lishma, things begin to change if the cause becomes successful. Sometimes a person will come to view the success of the cause as a badge of honor, or a way to monetize, or as a springboard to something else. However, Moshe and Aharon did not change as they were truly L'Shem Shamayim.

R' Frand then told a story about R' Noach Weinberg ZTL which was mentioned in the sefer. R' Noach was doing kiruv at the Kotel when he met an Israeli kid who he recognized had great potential. He brought the boy into Aish HaTorah and saw that he very quickly was absorbing the Torah concepts. 

After a period of time the boy mentioned to R' Noach that there was a chess tournament in the US that he wanted to attend as the boy was also a chess prodigy. R' Noach was worried that if the boy went that he might not return to Yeshiva. R' Noach then offered him a challenge - play a game against me - if you win, I will pay for the trip to the US. If I win, you stay in Yeshiva. 

The boy agreed and played the game...which R' Noach won. At some point after the boy asked R' Noach - why were you willing to play with these stakes, you don't have a chess background? R' Noach responded - I davened to Hashem and was doing solely L'Shem Shamayim and the moves that I made on the board were directed by Him.

R' Frand then said a second vort which related to yesterday's daf yomi and the parsha. In Pesachim 53 the Gemara discusses Todos Ish Romi who directed the Jews of Rome to consume G'di Mekulos (a young lamb prepared similar to the way the Karban Pesach was prepared) on Pesach. This was met with some consternation and he was warned that if he was not Todos, he would have been put in Nidoi, because this could have led people to eat Kodshim outside of Jerusalem in another year.

The gemara then asks- was he really a great man? The gemara answers the question by drawing from another thought said by Todos - that Chananya Mishael & Azarya jumped in the fiery furnace because they learned from the frogs in Parshas Vaera as they jumped in the fire. 

Based on this limud, the gemara concluded that he was a great man, but why?

R' Frand quoted R' Boruch Shneerson who drew a parallel between the two incidents. When the people were eating the G'di Mekulos there was a divide or battle between the head and the hargasha (usually translated as feeling). People wanted to remember and be connected to the Karban Pesach and the G'di Mekulos was a great way to do so, but the head reminds that there is a danger that people will come to think they can eat Kodshim outside.

But he felt that the feeling/heart was more important and this connected with Chananya Mishael & Azarya. They knew that the image which was before them was not an avodah zara, but they jumped in the fire anyway because they learned from the instinct, from the feeling of the frogs, who jumped in the fire in Egypt. 

Todos taught that it was important for people to feel connected and to act based on a need to feel that connection to the Pesach of old. This demonstrated that he was a great man.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!


Sunday, January 10, 2021

Sunday Night Suds - Saranac Legacy 2.0 IPA

 

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Saranac Legacy 2.0 IPA.

After launching the Legacy IPA in 2014 (reviewed here - https://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2014/02/sunday-night-suds-saranac-legacy-ipa.html), the good folks at Saranac did a reboot in 2019-2020 and have installed it as one of their core beers.

I remember that I liked this beer in its original iteration, although I can't remember from seven years ago what it tasted like. I found the 2.0 to be quite good as well and shared it at dinner with Mrs KB and the young rabbinical scholar/future KB had a sip as well. The beer poured a muted copper with the usual solid carbonation which is the hallmark of a Saranac brew. At 6.5% abv, the alcohol content was present and forward, but not as heavy as a double. There was also decent pine which accompanied the alcohol flavor, but not much in the way of citrus.

The Legacy 2.0 IPA is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit as is every other beer produced at the Matt Brewery plant in Utica, NY. Keep in mind, Saranac brews some varieties off site, so check the cans/bottles for kosher certification from the Va'ad of Detroit.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the brew, click you can search on  https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/448651/. 

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).

Lastly, 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, January 7, 2021

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Shemos

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts on the parsha that R' Frand spoke about in his shiur tonight. 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 mentioning that his fifth grade rebbi had passed away this week and that he wanted to say a vort from him because he felt a great deal of gratitude to his rebbi. The rebbi's name was R' Chaim Tzvi Hollander who taught him in the Hebrew Academy in Seattle.

R' Frand quoted the pasuk in Shemos 1:17 - וַתִּירֶ֤אןָ הַֽמְיַלְּדֹת֙ אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים וְלֹ֣א עָשׂ֔וּ כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֛ר דִּבֶּ֥ר אֲלֵיהֶ֖ן מֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרָ֑יִם וַתְּחַיֶּ֖יןָ אֶת־הַיְלָדִֽים . He then asked a question which had been posed by R' Elya Meyer Blech who was a Rebbi to R' Hollander at the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland - why is it so remarkable that Shifra & Puah did not kill the children who they helped birth? Most people and especially women have a motherly instinct - it should not be that significant that they did not kill the babies. He answered that the significance can be found in the pasuk - its not that they allowed the babies to live, its that they did so because they feared Hashem.

R' Frand then quoted R' Hollander expansion of the vort. He explained that if a person acts out of his own sense or morality then there could be situations where they might bend, but if a person does something because of Yiras Shamayim, there can be no equivocating. He gave the following scenario - what if the midwives had seen that some of the babies were sickly and CvS were not going to make it? They could have rationalized killing those infants, because after all, they were going to die soon anyway. And this way they could have kept their jobs, because they would show Pharaoh that they had followed his directive, because if they did not do so, Pharaoh could have replaced them with other midwives who would follow his dictates. But they did not rationalize, nor was their refusal grounded in morality. It was based purely on Yiras Shamayim.

R' Frand closed the vort by quoting R' Hollander who compared this to the experiments that the Nazi doctors performed on Jewish children in the Holocaust. They justified and rationalized their cruelty because they were developing medicines which could save lives...just not Jewish lives as they were not important to them.

R' Frand said a second vort on the pasuk in Shemos 4:20 - וַיִּקַּ֨ח משֶׁ֜ה אֶת־אִשְׁתּ֣וֹ וְאֶת־בָּנָ֗יו וַיַּרְכִּבֵם֙ עַל־הַֽחֲמֹ֔ר וַיָּ֖שָׁב אַ֣רְצָה מִצְרָ֑יִם וַיִּקַּ֥ח משֶׁ֛ה אֶת־מַטֵּ֥ה הָֽאֱלֹהִ֖ים בְּיָדֽוֹ . Rashi notes that this donkey which Moshe used is the same donkey that Avraham rode to the Akeidah and which the Mashiach will ride on. But what is the connection?

R' Frand answered by quoting the sefer Darkei Chachma which notes that all three events are connected by emuna - faith. Avraham rode his donkey to the Akeidah with complete faith that Hashem was in control and he would do what Hashem commanded. Moshe took his family with him down to Egypt, because if he did not do so, the people would have said to him - what faith do you have that we can get out of Egypt - you did not even bring your family down from Midyan. Similarly, the geulah will come when we have emuna that Hashem will bring Moshiach.

R' Frand closed the vort by saying that the events which took place yesterday, with the storming of the Capitol - the country which we hold near and dear and as Jews owe a great debt of gratitude to, shows that there is no control by people or government. If COVID was not enough of a lesson, this was just another showing that we are not in control and that there is no power besides Hashem.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Sunday Night Suds - Shiner Candied Pecan Porter

 

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Shiner's Candied Pecan Porter.

Much like last year's S'more Chocolate & Marshmallow Ale (reviewed here - https://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2020/02/sunday-night-suds-shiner-smore.html) this is not a beer that you can have with any kind of chili, wings, sliders or other fleishig fare.

I picked this up at Total Wine on Old Country Road in Westbury for the low price of $8.99 a six pack and after confirming with the Va'ad of Detroit that it is under their kosher supervision (they have not put out a new LOC since December 2019), I began experimenting with the beer. 

The first bottle was enjoyed as an aperitif following the fish course at lunch this past Shabbos. Mrs KB and future KB/young talmudical scholar both thoroughly enjoyed the beer. Although the beer is a porter in name and perhaps in style, other than the coffee backbone, this beer is basically a dessert beer...and it is delicious.

The second bottle was paired with paired with gluten free chocolate brownie, not because I am into gluten free, but just because it was something sweet which I happened to have handy when I drank the beer. The pecan praline and vanilla notes worked very well with the ersatz brownie too.

I would recommend sharing this with your spouse after dinner on a Friday Night and away from the kids who will want to try it. It is 6% abv, but keep this as a treat for you and your AC (aishes chayil). 

The Shiner Candied Pecan Porter 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 this brew click here beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/143/351197.

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!