Monday's Musings on Sports - The Saner Super Mario or Why the Goons Rule in Uniondale

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

On Friday evening there was a hockey game between the playoff bound Pittsburgh Penguins and the cellar dwelling New York Islanders. This game was a grudge match for the Islanders as they had been shutout by the Penguins the week before. To add injury to insult, the Islanders lost their franchise goaltender in that game when he picked a fight with the Penguin goalie and suffered facial fractures from the one punch it took to put him away.

In anticipation of the rematch with the Penguins, the Islanders recalled extra goons from their minor league affiliate. Not long after the game started, there were two major fights including one where a Pittsburgh player left the bench (hockey's yeharaig v'al ya'avor) to protect his goalie. As the night progressed, the game devolved into a series of scrums which featured an Islanders player elbowing a Penguin in the head and then pummeling him into unconsciousness and another fight which was precipitated by a leaping punch from behind to a Penguin player. The total penalty minutes for the game was the third highest in the last twenty plus years.

The NHL acted swiftly to impose discipline for the players transgressions. Two Islander players were suspended (nine and four games respectively) for "deliberate attempts to injure by delivering blows to the head of players who were unsuspecting and unable to defend themselves." [The Penguin who left the bench to protect his goalie was suspended 10 games which is the mandatory penalty for such an act]. Additionally, the Islanders team which is bankrupt in more ways than one was fined $100,000 because the League felt that the team “must bear some responsibility for their failure to control their players.”

After the league meted out its punishments, Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux excoriated the Islanders for their intentional attempts to injure his players. He also openly questioned whether the league had changed for the worse since his retirement and whether he should continue to be involved with the game.

Lemieux's comments are indicative of the tension in the NHL game which is unlike any other professional sport. In most sports, if a player throws a punch he is ejected from the game and can face additional suspension or fines. In hockey, fighting is allowed and players who fight are penalized five minutes for fighting, but can return to the game if they have not committed some other misconduct.

While not attempting to apologize for the sport, I can understand why fighting is allowed in professional hockey. In the heat of battle in a sport with more legalized hitting than any other, tempers can boil over and a simple fist fight can settle the score. On the other hand, when the fight is premeditated and teams bring up their goons from the minor league in order to exact revenge, the league must step in to punish those whose only goal is mayhem.

The difference in penalty between a spontaneous act and a premeditated attempt to injure can be seen in Torah law as well. While two people can commit murder in the same way they can receive two different punishments. If the killer spontaneously kills the victim in an act of rage and without any warnings to him about the consequences of his act, the killer receives the punishment of banishment to an Ir Miklat - a city far from his own where he must live out the rest of his days (or until the kohen gadol dies). However, if the killer acts intentionally and is warned not to take his action, but still takes a life, the killer receives the death penalty for his action.

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Sunday Night Suds - Leinenkugel Classic Amber

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Leinenkugel's Classic Amber.

Occasionally a brewery will introduce a beer and leave unsaid what style of beer it has produced. Often times, the beer will have some kind of odd name (usually named after a fairy tale creature or some variation on a crude joke) and the point of leaving off the style of beer is to increase the novelty of the brew. There are certainly some people who will buy beer based solely on the coolness of the name or the look of the label or packaging. If you are into surprises and don't mind drinking bad beer if the brew does not taste as good as it looks, then I guess that's OK.

I have also experienced beers where the brewery gives the beer a generic beer type name but they don't actually tell you what kind of beer is produced. This can also be a negative sign as knowing that the beer is a certain color or strength does not really tell you anything about the beer.

In the case of the Leinenkugel Classic Amber, I can't tell you that reason that they left the style off the label has anything to do with the quality of the beer, but the beer is not anything special. Having first verified on the Leine website that they don't classify the brew (I mixed a six at the store so I did not have the packaging to check) I then went on the Beer Advocate and saw that it was classified as an American Amber, which BA defines as "A sort of catch-all category, these lagers boast a bit more malt backbone and overall character than their lighter sister styles. Bitterness is generally low."

The Classic Amber poured a golden orange color (almost like good scotch) with a decent amount of foam at the top. The flavor was not very strong, a little coppery and not much else other than malt. This is not to say that the Classic Amber is a light beer, the beer has some kick to it and there is certainly more flavor than a "lite", but nothing really stands out.

Leinenkugel Classic Amber 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 Classic Amber, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/710/46559.

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 Tibits - Parshas Tezaveh

The following is a brief summary of two vorts said over by R' Frand this evening. 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 R' Frand.

In Tezaveh 29, the Torah writes that Moshe had to put the clothing of Kehunah on Aharon and his sons. After this juncture, the Kohanim dressed themselves, however the first time, Moshe was to dress them. This concept is also seen in Parshas Chukas, in that after Aharon died, Moshe had to put the clothing of the Kohen Gadol on Elazar for the first time.

The Sefer Milchemes Yehuda explains that this describes the mode of Jewish leadership. When a secular person runs for office, he stands in a historic place and says "I am the most qualified for the position of..." Rabbi Frand then asked - did anyone ever get up and say I am the most qualified to be Gadol Hador? Did R' Moshe Feinstein go out to FDR Drive and announce, I am Gadol Hador?

Rabbi Frand explained that a person becomes a leader in Judaism when someone else appoints the person based on his merits. Moshe dressed Aharon to show that Aharon had been chosen for the position of Kohen Gadol, not that he had tried out or volunteered for the job.

R' Frand then mentioned that when R' Shach was getting on in years, he started to transition the role of posek to R' Aharon Leib Schteinman (sp?). This was not a role that R' Aharon Leib volunteered for. But R' Shach knew who he felt would be appropriate to take over and he learned from Tezaveh and Chukas how to appoint the next leader.

R' Frand said a second vort from Tezaveh 29:30 where the Torah states that the Kohen Gadol who would take over for the previous Kohen Gadol was to wear the clothes of the Kohen Gadol for seven consecutive days. As part of the pasuk, the Torah indicates that if the Kohen Gadol has a son who is worthy to take over for him, the son has priority to be chosen as the new Kohen Gadol.

R' Frand then quoted a gemara from Yoma, that a person might think that the same way that Kohen Gadol passed from father to son, then maybe the Kohen Mashuach Milchama would pass through to the son. The gemara states that from this pasuk we learn that only the Kohen Gadol who goes into the ohel moed can pass the title to his son and not the Kohen Mashuach Milcahama. The question is why?

R' Frand quoted from R' Kook who stated that yerusha is about continuity, something which passes from father to son like Kehuna Gedolah or in rabbanus. There is one aspect of Jewish light where we do not want to emphasize continuity, and that is war. We hope that war is not a continuous process and that war is not a regular part of life. Thus we do not allow the Kohen Mashuach Milcahama to automatically pass from father to son as milchama is the exception to the norm.

On Shabbos 63 the mishna writes that a person should not go out with his sword. R' Elezer says that the sword is an ornament and therefore can be worn on shabbos. However the rabbanim argue with him and say that a sword is not an ornament, it is a genai. The rabbanim say that if war comes we may need to fight, but a sword is not a regular part of our lives. Our goal is that we should not be regularly involved with war - lo yisa goi el goi cherev, lo yilmidu od milchama.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - The Lombardi Trophy, The Aron Kodesh and Rav Moshe

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

Yesterday I did something which I admit to hardly ever doing. While I try to watch the Superbowl every year, I usually turn the TV off after the final gun. For reasons that I cannot completely explain, this year I kept the TV on to see who would be awarded the Superbowl MVP. I was hardly surprised to see that the award was given to Aaron Rodgers. However, while waiting to find out who would win the award, I witnessed the Lombardi Trophy procession. Carried by NFL legend Roger Staubach, the trophy was slowly carried through the throngs of players, coaches and staff until it was on the podium where the Packers' owners and coaches were standing. As the trophy made its way through the crowd, the players reached to touch it or kiss the top of the trophy.

The Lombardi Trophy procession and the absolute awe that the players had in viewing the trophy was different then other championship celebrations in other sports. When a team wins the Stanley Cup, they fill it with champagne and drink from the Cup. When a team wins the World Series, they celebrate in the locker room with the popping of champagne corks. [I can't describe the celebration in basketball as I have to admit that I have never watched an NBA Championship game]. Unlike the other sports, the Lombardi Trophy seemed akin (l'havdil) to the way that a sefer Torah is carried out or back to the Aron Kodesh.

I heard an interesting vort on a Rabbi Mansour recorded shiur (available on www.learntorah.com) which discussed the Aron Kodesh (the ark of the covenant from Raiders fame). Unlike every other article described in Parshas Terumah, the dimensions of the Aron Kodesh were exclusively half measurements (2 and 1/2 by 1 and 1/2 by 1 and 1/2). R' Mansour explained that the reason for the partial measurements was to show that Torah is not housed in perfection and is available to the masses.

Rabbi Mansour told over a R' Moshe Feinstein story related to this vort. A particularly difficult medical issue arose which required that R' Moshe meet with a medical expert. The expert who was brought in was none less than C. Everett Koop, MD. Following the meeting, Dr Koop remarked - I have been on campuses all over the country and have met many brilliant college professors,but I have never met anyone like him. Most of the scholars who I met were brilliant but arrogant. R' Moshe was humble and never made me feel like I was beneath him.

This is the role of the Aron Kodesh - a receptacle for Torah but not a perfect object, as the Torah must be approachable by the masses.

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!

Sunday Night Suds - Miller Lite

This week's Sunday Night suds honors the Super Bowl with a review of one of the more legendary sports advertised beers - Miller Lite.

As a kid I can recall many a sporting event with Miller Lite commercials which featured sports personalities such as Bob Uecker, Dick Butkus and Joe Frazier. But perhaps more famous than the personalities was the advertising theme of Tastes Great Less Filling. The campaign ran for many years with many different participants (including George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin during the firing years).

Unfortunately, like many things in life, the product does not live up to the advertising hype. Miller Lite is plain and simple a light beer. The beer pours a pale yellow, almost as light as, well you can guess. The beer has some semblance of pilsner flavor, but it can't stack up to any food, especially the spicy fare which is usually served at SuperBowl parties such as hot wings, chips and salsa or chili.

If you are looking a beer which won't fill you up and goes down smooth, you could do worse than Miller Lite. But if you want a light beer that tastes like beer, make sure to pass this one by.

Miller Lite is certified kosher by the Orthodox Union, as are most beers produced by MillerCoors. If you would like a copy of the LOC which identifies the specific MillerCoors products which are certified kosher, please let me know.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Miller Lite (warning its not pretty, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/105/332.

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 Terumah

The following is a brief summary of a vort said over by R' Frand this evening. I have attempted to reproduce the 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 Parshas Terumah the Torah discusses many of the parts of the mishkan, including the Keruvim (aka cherubs). The gemara in Yoma states that when the Beis Hamikdash was being sacked by the Romans, they entered the Kodesh Kodashim and saw that the Keruvim were embracing. The Romans poked fun at this, asking why embracing statues would be in the holiest place to the Jews.

R' Frand mentioned a question which was asked by the Ramban and Ritva in relation to a gemara in Bava Basra. The gemara there states that when the Jews were doing the mitzvos the Keruvim would embrace. When the Jews were not following Hashem's laws the Keruvim would turn away from each other. Given this rule of thumb, it is difficult to understand why the Keruvim were embracing when the Romans invaded the temple. We know that the Jews were not properly keeping the mitzvos at the time of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, so why were the Keruvim together?

R' Frand offered a few different answers to the question. One of the more interesting answers was suggested by the Bnei Yissoschar. He states that it is emblematic of the rule that one should honor and show appreciation to one's spouse before going away on a journey. Even though the Jews were not following Hashem's rules, the Keruvim were together and giving a symbolic goodbye embrace to the Jews.

A more poignant answer was suggested in the name of the sefer Shabbos U'Moadim. He quoted a medrash which told the story of a Jew who was being taken out to be stoned. They asked the Jew why he was being stoned and he responded - becuase I gave my son a bris milah. Another Jew was being taken out to be burned and they asked him why he was being punished. He said that it was because he had kept shabbos. We see from this medrash that throughout the generations there will be nations which will forbid or punish Jews for keeping the mitzvos. Through it all, the Jews will still cling to Hashem and do his will, much like the Keruvim which stayed together when the Romans were invading.

Rabbi Frand brought a proof to this concept from the Hoshanos that we say on Sukkos. One of the Hoshanas (Om Ani Choma) states that the Jewish nation declares that they are a wall and are likened to a palm tree, yet are murdered for Hashem's sake and are regarded like sheep for slaughter, although scattered among those who taunt [them, the Jews] hug and cleave to Hashem.

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!