Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Chaye Sarah

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

Rabbi Frand started his vort on the parsha by quoting to a Ramban on Parshas Lecha wherein the Ramban writes that the purpose of the book of Bereishis is not merely to recites stories, but are episodes which serve as a templates or guideposts for the generations (ma'asei avos simanim l'banim). He gave the example of the story in Parshas Lech Lecha where Avraham went down to Egypt and Pharaoh abducted Sarah. This story had multiple impacts on the Jewish future as is seen from the stories of Ya'akov going down and the Jews' subsequent exodus from Egypt. I have attempted to list some of these examples below:

Much like Avraham who went down to Egypt because of the famine in the land, Yaakov also went down to Egypt because of the famine. After Avraham went down to Egypt, he was stuck there for a time as Sarah was being held by Pharaoh. After Yaakov went down to Egypt, the Jews were stuck there for a time as Pharaoh did not allow them to leave. When Pharaoh took Sarah he was struck by many nega'im (blemishes). When the Jews were stuck in Egypt, the Egyptians were struck by many plagues. When Avraham left Egypt after the episode with Pharaoh, he left with great wealth. After the Jews left Egypt after having been enslaved there, the Jews left with great wealth. Even the story of Pharaoh taking Sarah foreshadowed the troubles which would befall the Jews in Egypt as Pharaoh's decree was that all the male children would be killed, but the females could be kept alive for the Egyptians.

Rabbi Frand then sought to apply this principle to the story of Avraham buying the Ma'aras Hamachpeilah for the burial of Sarah. Many meforshim explain that the story of the purchase of machpeilah was actually Avraham's final test. A link to this can be found in the gemara in Bava Basra 16, which discusses a conversation between Hashem and the Satan. The Satan comes to Hashem and says that he has searched the entire world and has not found a tzaddik like Avraham. He explains that Avraham had been promised by Hashem that Avraham would have all of the land of Israel. Yet when Sarah died, Avraham could not find a location in his land which was suitable to bury Sarah. Instead, Avraham went and bought the Machpeilah cave from Efron. At this point Avraham could have complained to Hashem that the land was his and why did he need to buy the cave. But he did not do so.

Rabbi Frand linked this to a Medrash quoted by Rashi on Parshas Va'era, wherein Hashem says to Moshe, you are complaining about your role, but look at the trouble that the Avos went through and they never questioned me. I said to Avraham you could have all of the land of Israel and yet when it came time to bury Sarah, he had to buy a plot. Yet, he did not question Me.

Again, the proof to Moshe circles back to a story from Sefer Bereishis.

R' Frand then quoted R' Isaac Bernstein who asked - why did Avraham have to buy the cave of Machpeilah? After all, when Avraham first approached the people of Cheit, he was told that he could bury Sarah there for free. It was only after Avraham insisted that he wanted to buy the cave that Efron began to negotiate the sale for an exorbitant price. But the whole transaction would not even have been necessary, had Avraham accepted their offer of free burial! So why do these medrashim harp on Avraham's purchase of the cave when it is a voluntary act?

R' Frand tied the answer to this question into a Medrash quoted in the Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer, which linked the story of the burial of Sarah with the meeting of Avraham and the angels in the beginning of Parshas Vayera. The Medrash states that when the angels came to Avraham, he went to get a cow to slaughter to feed the angels. When he tried to catch the cow, it ran away and sought shelter in the cave of Machpeilah. Avraham chased after the cow and entered the cave where he saw Adam lying peacefully with Chava in a room with nice candles and a pleasant scent. When Avraham saw them lying this way he decided that he needed this place for burial for himself and Sarah.

Acting on this thought, Avraham went to look for someone to buy the cave from. The Medrash states that he went to the people of Yevus and said that he wanted to buy the cave. But why Yevus if the land belonged to the Hittites? The answer was that the city was called Yevus and it was located in the land of the Hittites. 

When Avraham approached the people of Yevus they agreed to sell him the cave, on condition that he would swear to never forcibly take their city. Avraham agreed and there were documents made which memorialized the transaction. These documents were recorded and copper signs containing the promise were hung around the city for all to see. 

The ma'asei avos simanim l'banim aspect of the story took place much later. The city of Yevus was actually Jerusalem. When the Jews later came to the city when they were conquering the land of Israel, they were unable to do so because of the promise. In the end of Sefer Shmuel, David Hamelech had to pay Aram Hayivusi to purchase Jerusalem. This was the only way they could get it.

Now three thousand years later, we are still fighting to own and keep Jerusalem. This is the maasei avos simanim l'banim - we have constantly needed to bargain and work to get Jerusalem. It is even now the subject of "peace talks" which involve negotiations on the status of many things in Israel. 

Finally after thousands of years we finally got some of Jerusalem. Iy'h we will get all of it and keep it, as it is the undivided capitol of Israel.

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Sunday Night Suds - Boulevard Pale Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Boulevard Pale Ale.

The NY Times reported on Friday that Boulevard Brewery is being purchased by Duvel Moortgat, a Belgian brewing company which also owns Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, N.Y. It is reported that the two domestic breweries will be owned by a separate holding company focused on U.S. sales.

When I first heard about the buyout I admit to having concerns. Boulevard recently joined the ranks of kosher certified breweries and I have been trying to catch up on all of its quality brews. Although Duvel also has some beers which are certified kosher by the KF, the Ommegang brewery in Cooperstown has shown no interest in obtaining kosher supervision.

It will be worth watching whether Boulevard opts to abandon the supervision or if Ommegang chooses to finally go kosher.

Back to the Boulevard Pale Ale - the beer poured a rich amber and had great lacing which lasted much longer than I could have expected. The beer has a great bouquet of fragrant hops which hits before the first sip and lasts well beyond the last swallow. The hops are not very complex as the notes are mostly pine, but if you like American Pale Ales, this is the beer for you. 

Boulevard Pale Ale 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/423/2094.

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 Vayera

The following is a brief summary of some thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. 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 the beginning of this week's parsha, we read about Avraham's encounter with the angels on the third day after his bris millah. In Bereishis 18:5, the Torah recounts part of the story in which Avraham says that he will give the angels bread since the angels have passed through his way. The angels respond, so shall you do just as you said.

R' Frand said - you can hear and learn the parsha for fifty years and then suddenly you have a question about a pasuk you have reviewed many many times before. He quoted Rashi on this pasuk, wherein Rashi explains that the dialogue between Avraham and the angels was that Avraham said to the angels, since you have passed through here, I am asking you to eat by me. The angels respond, yes as you have said.

R' Frand said this would be akin to a person saying to another "because you are here, come eat by me." To this the angels respond, OK we will. Would a person invite someone to come for a meal because they are in the neighborhood and the guest responds, "Ok I will"?

R' Frand explained that what Avraham was saying to the angels was, there is no coincidence in this world. Its hot outside and no one is walking around. The reason that you are here is because Hashem wants you to be here, so eat by me. The angels respond, you are right - things don't happen by accident - we are here and you can see us, so it must be that we should eat by you.

R' Frand remarked that this is also the central theme of Megillas Esther. (He prefaced this by saying that he is not crazy in talking about Purim right after Sukkos). Mordechai tells Esther - you need to go to Ahasverus even though you were not asked and it is with a danger to your life. 

R' Frand said parenthetically that he saw a medrash this week which said that Esther passed through seven chambers before she got to Ahasverus and when she got to him, he said to her - Vashti never did anything like this.

Mordechai's says to Esther in 4:14, "who knows if this is the reason that you were made queen." In so doing, Mordechai in effect says to Esther - you did not become queen by accident, there must be a reason for this.

R' Frand closed the vort by telling a story about Gerrer Chassidim in pre-World War II Europe. There was a custom among the Gerrer Chassidim that if someone could not pay his rent and he was about to be evicted, the community would take up a collection to pay so that he would not be out on the street.

There was an incident in Lodz, Poland where a man and his landlord were both Gerrer Chassidim. The tenant could not pay his rent, so the landlord went to the Imrei Emes (Gerrer Rebbi) and said what do I do - I need to pay my expenses? The Rebbi said - you can't evict him. The landlord responded - then the community needs to pay his rent to me. The Rebbi responded - no, its your burden. The landlord said to the Rebbi - its not fair, if I was not a Gerrer Chassid, then I would get paid. The Rebbi responded - you are right, its not fair. But you are in this position for a reason and Hashem wants you to be charitable to this man.

This the upshot of the story between Avraham and the angels. Avraham says the angels - you wound up here on this hot day for some reason, it must be because Hashem want me to give you a meal. The angels respond, you are right, this is from Hashem.

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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Pesachim 117

On Pesachim 117b, the gemara discusses the structure of prayer and kiddush. Within the context of this discussion, the gemara recites the opinion of R' Acha Bar Yaakov, who states that we must remember the geulah from Egypt when saying Kiddush. 

R' Acha proves his point this by contrasting two pesukim, both of which use the word "remember."

The first pasuk cites was from Devarim 16:3 which states that "you should remember leaving Egypt, all the days of your life." The second pasuk is from the Aseres Hadibros in Yisro (Shemos 20:8) which states "remember the Shabbos day to make it holy."

Tosafos (d'h L'maan) quotes a medrash which adds additional proof to the limud. Tosafos states that while the Jews were in Egypt, the Egyptians enslaved them with avodas parech. (This term is also mentioned in the haggadah). Tosafos writes that using the "at bash" exegetical tool, we see that parech is equal to Vav, Gimmel, Lamud, which together are 39. Tosafos explains that while the Jews were in Egypt, they were forced to do parech work. Once they were redeemed from Egypt, the Jews were told to observe the laws against doing the 39 melachos of Shabbos.

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Sunday Night Suds - Gordon Biersch Marzen Lager

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Gordon Biersch's Marzen Lager.

 

Although the word Marzen would sound like a beer best consumed in the winter, its actually an Octoberfest which was brewed in March so that it could be ready for the fall. As explained by the experts at BA:

 

Before refrigeration, it was nearly impossible to brew beer in the summer due to the hot weather and bacterial infections. Brewing ended with the coming of spring, and began again in the fall. Most were brewed in March (Märzen). These brews were kept in cold storage over the spring and summer months, or brewed at a higher gravity, so they’d (sic) keep. Märzenbier is full-bodied, rich, toasty, typically dark copper in color with a medium to high alcohol content.

The common Munich Oktoberfest beer served at Wies'n (the location at which Munich celebrates its Oktoberfest) contains roughly 5.0-6.0% alcohol by volume, is dark/copper in color, has a mild hop profile and is typically labeled as a Bavarian Märzenbier in style.

 

I picked up this beer in the remainder aisle of a store which will remain nameless. I say this because when I drank this tonight, I realized that the beer had been brewed in April (true to the style) but that the April was April 2012! While some higher alcohol beers can keep for a year or two and even three (the Sixth Glass I reviewed last week had a best before date of March 2016!), a mass produced lager like the Gordon Biersch has an outside freshness of about nine months. As this beer was eighteen months old, the beer had begun to turn and tasted more like apple cider than beer.

 

The Gordon Biersch Marzen Lager is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit and has their certification mark on the label. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this brew, please follow this link - beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1551/16254. 

 

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 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 Lech Lecha/Hesped for R' Ovadia Yosef ztl

The following is a brief summary of some thoughts said over by R' Frand this evening. The vorts have some connection with the parsha, but were mostly geared towards being a hesped for R' Ovadia Yosef ztl. I have attempted to reproduce these thoughts 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 portion of this week's shiur by making reference to a pasuk in Bereishis 15:5 wherein Hashem tells Avraham to look at the sky and see the stars. The basic explanation for this direction is that Hashem is promising Avraham that his children will be numerous as the stars in the sky. However, R' Frand quoted Rabbeinu B'Chayei who explains that the direction to look at the stars was actually meant to advise Avraham that the same way that each star differs from all the other stars in the heavens, so too the Chachamim/Gedolei Yisrael are each unique and different from each other.

R' Frand then stated that this would be a proper vort to use as a starting point for the hesped of R' Ovadia Yosef ztl. But before beginning the hesped, R' Frand gave an interesting introduction. R' Frand noted that times have changed. No longer when a person visits his doctor, does the doctor take notes and a history on a pad. When taking clothes into the dry cleaner, the dry cleaner no longer uses carbon paper. When a car has problems, it is taken to a mechanic who hooks up a diagnostic tool to see the problem.

R' Frand remarked that now when he prepares his shiur, he makes reference to computerized collections of seforim. But before he had the computer programs, R' Frand had his own computer - the Yabia Omer, written by R' Ovadia Yosef. R' Frand said that when he used to prepare his shiurim in the pre-Bar Ilan library times, if he could find a reference in the Yabia Omer to the particular question, he knew that he would be OK. The two most important sources in the early days of the shiur were the Yabia Omer and the Tzitz Eliezer. Having given that introduction, R' Frand remarked that he and anyone who has ever come to his shiur and anyone who has ever listened to a tape of his shiur, are all talmidim of R' Ovadia Yosef, because R' Frand could not even count how many times he has referenced R' Ovadia Yosef.

R' Frand told a story about how years ago, there were only six volumes of the Yabia Omer, but R' Frand could only get the first and sixth volume. R' Frand tried and tried to get the complete set, but they were out of print. But a student in the yeshiva from Brazil had a complete set. So R' Frand sent the talmid down to a copy shop so that he could photocopy every page of those missing volumes. R' Frand said that he kept them in boxes so that he could refer to them, because they were so invaluable to him and no one had them. R' Frand remarked that the encyclopedic knowledge in these seforim was mind boggling.

R' Frand then stated that one could remark that the biggest talmid chacham in the world died this week. And whether you agreed with every psak is irrelevant, because everyone who learns halacha needs to be aware of R' Ovadia Yosef's psak.

R' Frand said that 32 years ago, R' Ovadia Yosef came to Baltimore to give a shiur. One of those attendees was R' Shternhill who was a great talmid chochum in his own right and a chassid who was anti-zionist. But when R' Ovadia Yosef came to Baltimore, R' Shternhill put this aside and went to see him, because R' Ovadia Yosef was a great talmid chochum. When they were introduced and one person told R' Ovadia Yosef that R' Shternhill was the author of a sefer, R' Ovadia Yosef knew of the sefer and was able to discuss one of the teshuvas with the author.

R' Frand next said that R' Ovadia Yosef was a transformative figure, much like the Ba'al Shem Tov, R' Yisrael Salanter and R' Aharon Kotler. R' Ovadia Yosef was a transformative figure because he transformed Israel by resuscitating Sephardic Jewry in Israel. Where the Yeshivos in Israel used to be all Ashkenaz, now there are tens of thousands of Sephardic boys learning. But more than that, R' Ovadia Yosef reached out to non-frum Sephardim as well. This is attested to by the fact that nearly 1 million people came to R' Ovadia Yosef's funeral - 15% of the Jews in the entire country came to the funeral.

R' Frand talked about how there was a live broadcast of the funeral and you could see that there were Ashkenazim and Sephardim, but also people who came who even did not wear kippot, because they felt connected to him. R' Frand said that everyone felt connected to R' Ovadia Yosef, because he cared for them and went to them, he gave them money and prayed for them. And they knew how he felt.

R' Frand told a story which had been said at the funeral. 14 years ago, R' Ovadia Yosef had suffered a heart attack and needed a bypass procedure. He told the doctors that he needed to go home for three hours before the surgery. Why? Because he was in the middle of writing a teshuva that would allow an agunah to remarry and he was concerned that if he did not make it through the surgery, the woman would be unable to remarry.

R' Frand then called R' Ovadia Yosef the father of the Sephardic world. He remarked that although there are sayings at funerals about how people have lost their crown, or the ship has lost its captain, this time it was true and not an exaggeration. Because this was a gadol who comes along once in three hundred years.

R' Frand closed by quoting from Koheles 12:9 and in so doing, R' Frand compared R' Ovadia to Shlomo HaMelech. The pasuk states that more than being wise, Koheles taught the people - he made the Torah accessible. R' Ovadia Yosef made the Torah accessible to the people and he listened and helped and assisted.

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