Sunday Night Suds - Lakefront IPA & Nine Days Havdalah Guide

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Lakefront Brewery's IPA and also provides KB's annual 9 days havdalah guide.

Found this brew at Beverage World in Peekskill, NY. Store had a very good selection of kosher certified brews including a nice selection of Redhook and Lakefront. Staff at the store was very helpful and pricing was decent.

This year's variation on the Lakefront IPA was far superior to prior vintages. The beer poured the same apricot type color, but the hops were very citrusy and the bite was nice. I enjoyed my brew on its own with my daf, but I strongly suspect that it would go well with bbq or rotisserie chicken and potatoes.

Lakefront Brewery IPA is under the kosher supervision of the Star-K (there is even a Star-K on the label).

For the experts' take on the IPA please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/741/40416. 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 - 9 days Havdalah Guide

In years past, I have been approached in shul on shabbos chazon (the Saturday within the summer nine days mourning period) and asked what would be a good choice to make havdalah on. 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 it don't generally drink beer, so they need to have something to use for havdalah that won't have them making faces in their attempt to drink the halachic minimum level for the blessing. The 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 and the Zima beverages produced by Coors. Another example would be the Smirnoff Twisted V/Twisted Ice line. However, caution is urged as not every flavor is certified Kosher. Indeed, the last time I looked at these in the beer store, most of the Smirnoff's were not certified kosher. For the complete list of those Smirnoff products and other alcopops approved by the CRC, please click here http://www.crcweb.org/kosher/consumer/liquorList.html#Beer .

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 (such as the Blue Moon line, Saranac's Hefewiezen or Pomegranate Wheat) or some of the better Summer Ales such as Brooklyn Brewery's or Sam Adams' Summer Ale. 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.

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 - Parshios Matos Masei

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

Parsha Matos begins with Moshe telling the heads of the tribes about nedarim. This is out of the ordinary as a parsha usually begins "and Hashem told Moshe to say [to the Jews]." However in this parsha Moshe speaks directly to the roshei matos without the Torah specifying that the source was from Hashem. The language of roshei hamatos is also unique as the Torah usually describes the people as nesi'im, not as roshei hamatos.

Rabbi Frand quoted R' Alpert who cited the Rashbam in Chukas about the maa'aseh meriva. In this parsha, Moshe is told to pick up the mateh and then later told to talk to the rock. Ultimately, Moshe is punished for using the staff, rather than speaking to the rock. But why is he told to pick up the staff in the first place? The answer Rabbi Frand gave is that Hashem was trying to teach Moshe a lesson about how to interact with the Jewish people. Hashem instructs - there are two ways to interact and influence the Jews, either by speaking to them or by hitting them. This time, the lesson is that the pen (or in this case the spoken word) is mightier than the sword.

When Hashem tells Moshe to take the staff, Hashem is saying take the staff, but then go and talk to the Jews. Hashem attempts to teach Moshe a lesson that every leader and Rebbi or Rov must know - you don't need the stick. You can have as much impact by speaking.

Matos is a parsha about speech - nedarim. A person can have a Rabbinically certified kosher meat sandwich, but if he has sworn that that he will not eat meat, then it is as great a sin to eat the sandwich as if he has eaten not kosher food. This is the power of speech. Therefore the parsha begins with Moshe telling the roshei hamatos, because Moshe has learned the power of speech and he can then instruct the leaders of sticks that they can lead with power or with speech, but leading with speech is much more effective.

A second vort was said over about Parshas Masei. R' Frand again quoted R' Alpert who remarks that the parsha recites the 42 stops which appear to be ancient history and almost irrelevant. So why are the mas'aos mentioned? Indeed, many of the locations mentioned were mile markers where things did not go well for the Jews. Chazal teach that Refidim marked the location where the Jews washed their hands of Torah (rafu yideihem) and therefore they were attacked by Amalek. Another location was Kivros HaTavah where they complained about the food they were eating.

R' Frand asked - how do people look back on their less than stellar past? They usually try to forget it. The Torah however tells us, remember your past that you did not act properly, but you were able to pull yourselves out of it and move on. The Torah then teaches 42 locations to show that there were glorious moments and not so stellar times. The message is that the Jews should be aware of their mistakes, not repeat them and at the same time see how they overcame them.

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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Shevuos 9

Shevuos 9a contains a statement which the gilyon on the side of the daf warns should not be taken literally. There is a reference to a ma'amar which states that Hashem said that the se'ir offered on Rosh Chodesh should be michaper for Hashem having reduced the moon. The following post is a brief discussion of this statement.

The gemara's allusion is to a well known story which is quoted by the gemara in Chullin about the moon. The moon used to have the same powers of illumination as the sun, before Hashem reduced its strength. The event which precipitated the moon's reduction was a conversation that the moon had with Hashem in which the moon stated -two powers cannot wear the same crown. To this Hashem responded - so go and reduce yourself.

Again, I stress that the gilyon on the side of the daf makes the understatement of the day that this is a sod of the sodos of the world and that it should not be taken at face value.

I had the bracha of being able to sit with Rabbi Shalom Rosner when he gave the daf and specifically dealt with this topic. The following is a brief summary of some of his explanations of this very deep topic.

One way to learn the subject is to avoid the literal meaning. Tosafos (d'h Se'ir) explains that Hashem has observed that the Jews need kapparah and that in order to allow them forgiveness He created the concept of the Se'ir which is brought once a month. In order to make the moon feel better about being reduced, Hashem established the first day of the new month (when the moon is first seen) as the day that the karban was brought.

Rabbi Rosner also mentioned the Chasam Sofer who explains that l'asid lavo, the moon will be as luminous as the sun. However, since Moshiach has not yet come, the moon has not reached this level. The reason of course that Moshiach has not come is because the Jews have not done proper teshuva. Since we are not conducting ourselves correctly we are preventing Hashem from returning the moon to its former state and we need kapparah.

One other concept was brought down in the name of the Tosafos Harosh who equates the situation to a master who disciplines his servant for doing something wrong. Sometime after meting out the punishment, the master approaches the servant and attempts to make the servant feel better about being punished. So too here, Hashem punishes the moon for questioning Hashem's methods of creation and as a result the moon is punished. Hashem now laments having needed to punish the moon in an attempt to make the moon feel better.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - The Off Court Courtship of the NBA

As regular readers of this blog are aware, the Monday post was usually devoted to sports with highlights and analysis of the Max Kellerman show which formerly aired on 1050 ESPN Radio. Although Max resigned from 1050 more than a year ago, I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

July 1st marked the beginning of the most highly anticipated free agency period in NBA history. For more than a year and a half, NBA teams have been paring salary and dumping players for little more than a bag of balls, in an attempt to get far enough under the salary cap so that they can bid on the likes of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Amare Stoudamire, Joe Johnson and other basketball stars.

To the casual fan, it might appear as if the team that has the most salary cap space would be able to sign the best player. However in the NBA, the rule is that a player who signs with a new team can get a "max salary" offer which is the same as any other "max" salary offer which can be offered by nearly every other team. For the year 2010-2011 the max salary is an ungodly $20 million per year, which can be offered by every team in the NBA, except the team which stands to lose the player. The "home team" so to speak, can exceed this figure to sign their own player.

Already there have been indications that a few players (Joe Johnson the most prominent of them all) will sign with their prior team and take advantage of the home team bonus cap money.

However, for the player who does not want to sign with his old team, there are many offers which are nearly identical in terms of $$$. For example, LeBron James can sign with any potential suitor (other than the Cleveland Cavaliers) for the same dollar figure. So what differentiates the offers? According to the news reports, there are two main differences - whether the potential new team can win soon and who is making his way out to Cleveland to meet with King James and his entourage.

As far as the first category, I can fully understand why it should matter to the player whether the team he is going to is ready to make a championship run. But the second category, where the player analyzes whether the team has sent its best people to recruit him, I completely cannot understand. Why should it matter if the team's owner comes down to the first meeting? Do the dollar figures change? And who cares whether the team's most prominent former players have come along on the recruiting trip? Will they come out of retirement to play too?

The whole scenario reminds me of Bilaam's complete failure to hear Hashem's message to him when Bilaam was told not to go with Balak's men. In Bamidbar 22:13 Bilaam tells Balak's henchmen that they should go to their land because Hashem does not want Bilaam to go with them.

Rabbi Frand asked the following question about this verse - why did Bilaam only tell half of his prophecy from Hashem to Balak's men? Why did he not tell them that Hashem also told him not to curse the Jews? Rabbi Frand quoted R' Chayim Shmulevitz who explained that Bilaam did not intentionally omit the second half of the command. Rather, Bilaam (like most people) only heard what he wanted to hear. When Hashem told Bilaam not to go with them, Bilaam assumed that meant that he was not to accompany them because they were low level help and he should have been escorted by the king himself. In so doing, Bilaam conveniently ignored the rest of the command (which is seen later in the parsha when he does attempt to go and curse the Jews).

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Sunday Night Suds - Redhook Rope Swing Summer Pilsner

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Redhook's newest summer offering, Rope Swing Summer Pilsner.

This summer, the folks at Redhook decided to change up their summer line by brewing a Czech Pilsner. They indicate that this is the first pilsner that Redhook ever brewed. To borrow a line from Gordon Ramsey, the attempt was "spot on".

As explained by the experts at BA:

The birth of Pilsner beer can be traced back to its namesake, the ancient city of Plzen (or Pilsen) which is situated in the western half of the Czech Republic in what was once Czechoslovakia and previously part of the of Bohemian Kingdom. Pilsner beer was first brewed back in the 1840's when the citizens, brewers and
maltsters of Plzen formed a brewer's guild and called it the People's Brewery of Pilsen.

The Czech Pilsner, or sometimes known as the Bohemian Pilsner, is light straw to golden color and crystal clear. Hops are very prevalent usually with a spicy bitterness and or a spicy floral flavor and aroma, notably one of the defining characteristics of the Saaz hop. Smooth and crisp with a clean malty palate, many are grassy. Some of the originals will show some archaic yeast characteristics similar to very mild buttery or fusel (rose like alcohol) flavors and aromas.

The Rope Swing Summer Pilsner has many of the qualities in the BA definition, although not exactly in the same balance. The beer poured a golden yellow, not as pale as some other pilsner that I have encountered. The hops were there, but it was not as spicy as I expected. Still, the beer was quite crisp and the malt was delicious. I had my first on Friday night and shared it with Mrs Kosher Beers and a friend who was visiting with us and we all really liked it. I had my next with my July 4th BBQ dinner, after patriotically attending the B-Mets Fireworks Night with Mrs KB and Moshe and Tali (Mets win, Mets win!) and the beer was still holding my attention.

Redhook Rope Swing Summer Pilsner is under the kashruth supervision of the Orthodox Union. For the experts' take on the Rope Swing, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18134/56977.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

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

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Pinchas

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand in his shiur 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.

Rabbi Frand began his parsha vort this evening by making the observation that the beginning of Parshas Pinchas and specifically the part of the parsha from which it draws its name is actually the continuation of Parshas Balak. We see that the first nine of the pesukim in Parshas Pinchas (Bamidbar 25:10-18) complete the story which began in the end of Parshas Balak when Pinchas took a spear and killed Zimri and Kuzbi. In this week's parsha, Hashem announces that Pinchas has taken away His anger when Pinchas acted as a kanaee (loosely translated as a zealot) and that therefore Hashem will make with Pinchas a covenant of peace.

The obvious question is - what is this doing here? The segment of the parsha should have been included in the end of Parshas Balak so as to complete that story!

Rabbi Frand answered by citing to the Tolner Rav who explains that a person who acts as a kanaee is in a unique situation and must be examined to see if his actions were proper. There are some people who act because they truly are doing so to glorify Hashem's name. However, there are often times others who will act because they like to fight, or perhaps they have another agenda. If one wants to examine whether a person who acted as a kanaee really did so l'shem shamayim, one must step back and then look at the totality of the circumstances before drawing a conclusion.

This is of course not to say that Hashem requires any time to step back and examine and evaluate Pinchas' actions as Hashem knows what is in the hearts of men. However, when a person wants to evaluate whether someone who acted truly did so out of a desire to glorify Hashem, the evaluator must step back and consider all facts before drawing a conclusion.

The above concept can seen at the end of Parshas Balak. The Torah recites at Bamidbar 7:25 that Pinchas took a spear in his hand. Why did the Torah need to recite that Pinchas took the spear and then in the next pasuk describe what he did to Zimri and Kuzbi? The answer is that Pinchas was not walking around with a spear looking to use it to keep other people in line. Indeed, Pinchas was a grandson of Aharon who was a lover of peace and one who chased after peace. Therefore he needed to pick up the spear first before he could use it.

Rabbi Frand then told a story about a shmuz given by R' Chaim Shmulevitz in 1972. There had been a store in Tel Aviv which had sold "inappropriate items." Someone who disagreed with the store's activities burned the store down. R' Chaim indicated that the perpetrator was not a kanaee as a true kanaee must love peace and search for it. The man who burned down the store was certainly not a peace seeker.

This is the reason that Hashem gave Pinchas the covenant of peace as a reward. In general, peace prizes are not given out to murderers (Y Arafat exempted of course). Pinchas went against his very nature and killed Zimri and Kuzbi because someone needed to act to protect Hashem's interests. Hashem rewarded Pinchas with the covenant of peace - a promise that Pinchas would never need to kill again.

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