Monday's Musings on Sports - Lendale White Separates Us From The Animal Kingdom

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 almost one 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.

Over the weekend, I read with curiosity that the Seattle Seahawks had released Lendale White. This was confusing to me since the Seahawks had just traded for White in April and were planning on using him in conjunction with former Jet Leon Washington in their newly revamped backfield. White seemed to be an integral cog in the Pete Carroll rebuilt offense which had also included drafting a top wide receivers, offensive tackle and tight end.

Not long after the news broke that White had been waived, stories began to circulate that White was facing a four game NFL suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy. This was yet another recent blemish on what had been a once promising career. Three years ago, White was an 1100 yard rusher for Tennessee and seemed destined for greatness. But then he came to camp overweight and out of shape and was later branded as not having a good work ethic.

The White drug story and his inability to control his weight reminded me of a vort I recently heard from R' Eli Mansour. In discussing the sin of the slav, the Torah writes that the Jews had created a craving (hitavu ta'avah). R' Mansour asked - what separates man from animal? He answered from quoting a line from Koheles "U mosar ha'adam min habeheima ayin ki hakol hevel" - man is greater than the animal "ayin" because it is all foolishness.

R' Mansour gave two explanations for how "ayin" separates us from animals. The first vort looked at ayin as an acronym - adam yesh nishama - a man has a soul, while an animal does not. The second vort was that man differs from animal because he can say no (ayin) while an animal cannot. By way of example, when an animal sees food, he does not think is this free, or am I stealing it? Similarly, the animal does not worry that it might be an inappropriate time to do its business. Animals obey their instincs and do what ever is natural to them. Humans on the other hand have the capacity for independent thought and should consider whether the option before them to ingest (fill in any blank) is good for them.

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Sunday Night Suds - Lake Placid India Pale Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds review looks at Lake Placid's India Pale Ale.

Lake Placid is one of those brands that has a well earned cultlike following. Lake Placid used to brew in a pub in Plattsburgh, New York. They later expanded and started to bottle and distribute their beers in upstate New York. Still later they began to bottle at the FX Matt Brewery in Utica. It is my understanding that they now bottle exclusively at Matt.

A number of months ago, I tried my first Lake Placid (reviewed here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/07/sunday-night-suds-lake-placid-ubu-ale.html) after finding it at DeCicco's in Westchester. A few weeks later, I found my second variety of Lake Placid (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/07/sunday-night-suds-lake-placid-46er-pale.html) upstate. But I never found it on Long Island until very recently when it started popping up at the better Beverage Barn locations (Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park and Front Street in the shadows of the Nassau Coliseum in East Meadow). No sighting yet of the Lake Placid Honey Rye, but I am on the lookout.

But enough with the history lesson and on to the Lake Placid IPA. The beer pours a dark yellow, not golden but definitely on the darker side. The hops hit you when bringing the glass to your face. Suffice it to say, if you are fan of big hops this is an IPA for you. This beer went down very well on its own, and would be a great accompaniment to a steak, char-grilled on a backyard grill. I could see it with char-grilled chicken as well, but if you are looking for hops to go with a steak, this is the one.

Lake Placid India Pale Ale is under the kashruth supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit, as it is bottled at the FX Matt plant in Utica. If you would like to see the LOC which identifies the India Pale Ale as under the Va'ad, please send me an email and I will forward it. For the experts' take on Lake Placid India Pale Ale, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1888/41784.

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).

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Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Beha'aloscha

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.

Parshas Beha'aloscha begins with a discussion of the lighting of the menorah in the mishkan. Rashi on Bamidbar 8:2 asks why do the instructions for the lighting of the menorah follow the end of Parshas Nasso dealing with the sacrifices brought by the nesi'im? Rashi answers that Aharon felt bad when he saw that all of the tribes had a sacrifice brought by their individual nasi in honor of the inauguration of the miskhan, but shevet Levi did not have a part in the ceremony. Seeing Aharon's dismay, Hashem said to Aharon -- your role is greater than theirs as you kindle and prepare the lights of the menorah.

The Ramban asks - why did Hashem mention the menorah to Aharon in response to his concerns? The Kohanim also were given the job of bringing the ketores (incense) about which it is taught that whomever brought the ketores was rewarded with great wealth. The Ramban answers that the menorah is timeless as not only was it used in the mishkan, it has continued to be used throughout the generations.

Rabbi Frand then gave another answer to the Ramban's question. The Rambam teaches that the kohain would light the menorah twice - once in the morning and once in the evening. The Meshech Chachma explains that the menorah was lit in the morning to show that Hashem does not need the lights of the menorah. One might rationalize that lights are needed at night, but the lighting of the menorah during the day demonstrates that they were not lit for the purpose of illuminating a room.

Similarly, the Torah teaches that the aron had poles attached to it. These poles stayed attached whether or not the aron was being moved. However, the poles were never truly needed, since the aron floated on its own and actually carried those who were supposed to carry it. Thus the fact that the poles were attached to the aron on a constant basis were not for the purposes of carrying the aron.

Rabbi Frand tied these concepts together by citing to the sefer Milchemes Yehuda who explains that Hashem does not need our mitzvos. He does not need the light of the menorah to see, or for the people to carry the aron. Rather, the mitzvos are given to us to improve ourselves. We are commanded to give tzedakah - not because He needs us to be charitable, but rather because being charitable improves the character of the person giving the money. Similarly, Hashem does not need us to wear tefillin. The reason that we wear them is that they improve us by putting the batim on our head and arm.

This was the reason that Hashem said to Aharon - your role is greater than theirs. By lighting the menorah during the day and night, the kohanim show that the mitzvos are given to us to improve ourselves, and not because Hashem needs our actions. Thus Aharon's role was not temporary like the nesi'im. Instead he was given the job of teaching us the true meaning of mitzvos.

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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Sanhedrin 102

Much like the majority of Chelek, Sanhedrin 102 contains a treasure trove of aggadita which challenges one's knowledge of Tanach and one's capacity to understand concepts related to Olam Haba. I would like to briefly touch on a few of the ma'amarim on the daf.

On 102a, the gemara discusses how certain times which were specifically labeled in Tanach as "Ba es ha hi" - (at this specific time), were times that bad things would befall the Jews. Within this discussion, the gemara mentions in the name of R' Yosi that Shechem was a place which was historically bad for the Jews. R' Yosi gives three examples to demonstrate his point - Dina was raped there, the brother sold Yosef into slavery there (Rashi notes that Yosef was told his brothers were watching sheep in Shechem) and that Rechavam went to Shechem to be coronated as king.

Another interesting discussion involved the use of the words Di Zahav in the first pasuk of Devarim. The students of R' Yannai taught that Moshe said to Hashem - because you have given the Jews so much gold and silver until they said enough (Di), you have caused them to create the golden calf. Moshe then gave an example of a lion which clawed and roared. Moshe stated - the lion becomes aggressive and claws and roars when it has meat, not when it is given grain.

One more discussion which piqued my interest took place on 102b in relation to Omri. R' Yochanan asks - why did Omri merit to be king? He answers that Omri was given the throne because he added a city to Israel. The gemara explains that Omri purchased bought Mt Shimron from Shemer with a portion of silver. Afterwards, Omri built a city and named it after Shemer. The upshot of this story (as explained by the Ben Yehoyadah) is that Omri passed on the natural inclination to name the city after himself. Based on this selfless act, Omri was given the throne.

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Monday Musings on Sports - Will Birds of a Feather Bring Down the Jets?

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 almost one 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.

There has been a lot of chatter recently about the team that is being constructed in Florham Park, New Jersey. During the offseason, the Jets have brought in some players with rather jaded pasts, including Antonio Cromartie (trade with San Diego), Santonio Holmes (trade with Pittsburgh) and Jason Taylor (unrestricted free agent from Miami). Each of these players has earned more than his fair share of notoriety either based on arrests, paternity issues or a past history of just being mean to Jets fans.

With each transaction, Jets fans were assured by management that Rex Ryan would be able to turn these players into model citizens and that his lieutenants in the locker room would keep these characters in line. Still, the media and fans have been understandably skeptical (except Brandon Tierney who IMHO is just incomprehensible) about the prospect of these players behaving themselves in the upcoming season.

Will these players behave themselves and propel the team to a championship, or will they turn into the 2010-2011 version of the early 2000's Cincinnati Bengals? I can't answer the question, but then again greater minds than I have pondered similar issues.

In Megillas Ruth, we read about how Elimelech flees to Moab to avoid dealing with the paupers who were seeking charity during the time of famine. In so doing, Elimelech and his family flocked to a nation which was known for its stinginess. It is well known that the Torah forbids allowing male descendants of Moab to convert to Judaism since the Moabites refused to sell the Jews food and water when the Jews were wandering in the desert. It is not mere coincidence that Elimelech sought to avoid his responsibilities to his people by joining a like minded nation.

On the other hand, the Megillah also teaches about Ruth, a woman from Moab who acted selflessly in caring for her mother in law. Although Ruth was born a Moabite princess, she becomes a model of selflessness and is the "mother" of the Davidic dynasty.

Which path will these new Jets players take? Only time will tell.

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"Sundae" Night Suds - Max & Mina's Beer Ice Cream

This week's Sunday Night Suds becomes Sundae Night Suds with a review of Max & Mina's Beer Ice Cream.

Not long after Mrs Kosher Beers and I got married and moved to Kew Gardens Hills (Queens), New York, a new ice cream store opened around the corner from our apartment. This was quite fortuitous for Sarah since we only had one car at the time and I took it to work most days. To combat the boredom (or perhaps to get our screaming first born out of the house) Sarah would go to Main Street and report back on what she saw. I learned that this new ice cream store had really off the wall flavors and soon I too was joining Sarah and Penina for visits to this quirky ice cream store.

Fast forward to May 24, 2010 and Sarah and I are leaving the Salute to Israel Parade in Manhattan with Penina (who had just completed her second march up 5th Avenue) and our three other children. After one of the kids asked for ice cream we toyed with the idea of stopping at Gristede's to buy a box of ice cream novelties. Then it hit us - since we would be driving home through Queens, why not take the kids to Max & Mina's (71-26 Main Street, Queens, New York 11367).

Since it opened in 1998, Max & Mina's has always been known for three things - its high quality ice cream, its off the wall flavors and its bizarre decor. Focusing strictly on the first two categories - Max & Mina's usually has a wide variety of traditional flavors as well as some which would appeal to the slightly adventurous. These ranged from Yodels (think Drakes) to horseradish, corn or cholent (obviously vegetarian).

During today's visit to Max & Mina's I saw a number of "interesting" flavors, including the aforementioned Beer Ice Cream (see picture below).

At the urging of my older daughters I asked for a sample of the Beer Ice Cream (the staff at Max & Mina's has always been very good about letting customers sample the flavors). I found it to be intriguing - it was a little creamy with like a lager aftertaste. I decided to go for it and ordered a small Beer cone. At first I think that the guy thought I was joking, but then he gave me a double scoop of Beer ice cream. Well, at least he tried to - the ice cream was very crumbly and kept falling off the cone, so he loaded it into a cup and gave me a cone to go with it.

This will sound bizarre, but the ice cream was really good. It was not a bitter and certainly was not hoppy, but there was a real beer taste to the ice cream. The ice cream was a light tan (think the head on Guinness) and was sweet, but there was definitely some lager flavor to it. I asked the guy behind the counter which beer they use in the process, but he did not know. He said that he thought it was something European, but that was not very helpful.

Max & Mina's is certified kosher by the Va'ad of Queens, and is not listed on Beer Advocate (sorry I could not resist). If you would like to read more about them you can click here http://www.maxandminasicecream.com/index.html or here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_and_Mina.

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