Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Nitzavim

The following is a brief summary of some of 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 Devarim 30:11 the Torah writes that "Ki Hamitzvah Hazos" - this commandment that I give you today is not hidden nor distant from you. Rashi explains that the mitzva referred to in the pasuk is the Torah which is not in the heavens, it is on Earth and accessible.

R' Frand quoted the Medrash Rabbah on Netzavim which states that if perhaps someone should think that the Torah was given "L'ra'schem", instead I have given it for you as a good thing. As a proof, look to the angels who wanted the Torah, but I kept it hidden from them and gave it to you.

R' Frand asked two questions on this Medrash. The first question was - why would someone think that the Torah was given as something bad and therefore needed to be told that it was not? The second questions was - why is the fact that the angels wanted it and did not get it, a proof that it was for the good?

R' Frand answered these questions by quoting R' Elya Finkel who in turn quoted the Da'as Zekeinim M'Ba'alei Tosafos, which stated (in usual cryptic form) that the first letters of Mi Ya'aleh Lanu Hashamimah spell out the word Milah. The Sefer HaChinuch explains that people could ask why do we need a Bris Milah and not be born perfect. The answer to the inquiry is that Hashem wants us to know that we can improve ourselves and make ourselves better. The same way that a person is not born perfect in form, so too he can improve himself in other ways. 

R' Frand further explained that Milah is like the Torah - the same way that the Milah improves the person, so too does the Torah improve a person and help rid him of negative traits such as jealous, haughtiness, anger and the like.

But a person could have an impression that the only reason that the Torah was given was to eliminate negative traits and therefore given to counteract our evil side - to be L'ra'aschem. The Medrash teaches that the Torah was not only given for this purpose, it was given so that we could improve and grow positively.

This is the proof from the angels. The angels cannot improve, they are what they are. Although they wanted the Torah, it is for our purposes because we can improve and become closer to Hashem.

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Sunday Night Suds - Shiner Light Blonde

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Shiner Light Blonde.

The Shiner Light Blonde is the second light beer that I have tried from the Spoetzel Brewery and it light years from the Shiner Light which I tried back in 2009 (reviewed here https://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/11/sunday-night-suds-shiner-light.html).

While I suspect that many non macro-breweries began producing light beers in an attempt to recapture those lost souls who have stopped drinking beer in the misguided belief that other forms or alcohol are lower in calories, they have often sacrificed taste in the name of lower calories. However, the Light Blonde is unlike these light tasting beers.

The Shiner Light Blonde poured a light golden yellow, typical of most lagers. The first taste was bready malt and the malts continued throughout successive sips. There was some hop bite, but it was very subdued and more of a suggestion than a bite. Still, the beer was quite good for a light beer and better than some other light craft brews I have tried lately.

The Shiner Light Blonder 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/143/69430.

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).

Please Note - if you are reading this post more than six months after it was written, please note that it is possible that the product is no longer still certified kosher. To verify that the product is still certified kosher, please click on the kosher beers list link on the left side of the blog.

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Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Ki Savo

The following is a brief summary of some of 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.

R' Frand began the vort by noting that the first mitzva in the parsha is the bringing of the bikkurim (first fruits) to the Beis Hamikdash and the recitation of the mikra bikkurim. This recitation is more than just a thanking of Hashem for the bountiful harvest, it actually contains a historical recitation of events which track back to the Jews being saved from Egypt. 

R' Frand further observed that many of the pesukim in this section of the parsha are incorporated in the maggid section of the Hagaddah on Pesach. But why did the Ba'al Hagaddah choose to use these pesukim from Parshas Ki Savo when he had the entire parshios of Shemos, Va'era, Bo and Beshalach to work with? R' Frand answered by quoting R' Finkel who explains that those parshios are historical in nature. Meanwhile, the mikra bikkurim recitation of the events from Egypt is a HaKaras HaTov, a recognition of the good that Hashem has done for us, and mentioning it at the seder is appropriate. This is not to say that there is no discussion or citation from Shemos-Beshalach as there are many references which are punctuated by "K'mo Shenemar" --as it is written. 

R' Frand noted that in Devarim 26:3 the words V'Amarta Eilav (literally - say to him) are explained by Rashi as being purposed to not be a Kafui Tov - rejector of the good that Hashem has done for him. R' Frand then asked - but why not say that it is done to recognize the good that Hashem does? He answered that we cannot possibly sufficiently praise Hashem for all that He does for us, we can only hope not to be a rejector by not praising him. R' Frand linked this to the Ilu Finu pasuk in the Nishmas in which we state on Shabbos and that there is no way to properly praise Hashem for all that He does for us.

R' Frand also remarked that there is no way to properly recognize all the good that our parents have done for us (and he is right, not that he needs my approbation).

R' Frand also quoted the Brisker Rav on the pasuk in Ha'azinu (Devarim 32:6) in which we are described as Naval --translated as vile by Artscroll. What is a Naval? When an animal dies without shechita it is a neveilah - it loses its status as an animal and is just a disgusting piece of meat. Similarly, a person may have a defect such as being quick to anger or miserly, but he is still a person, just with a defect. But if he is a minuval, he loses his status as a person altogether.

R' Frand told two stories about Rabbis being makir tov. One involved R' Yaakov Kaminetsky who when he was told that a boy was being thrown out of the dorm because he consistently missed minyan asked to have the boy brought to him. When the boy came to see his Rosh Yeshiva, he was asked - where will you sleep? The boy had no answer. R' Kamietsky said --you will stay in my house, because when I was a bachur learning in the Kovno Yeshiva, your grandfather supported the yeshiva.

R' Frand told another story about R' Shach. One day R' Shach called his grandson and told him that he needed a cab to take him to a funeral in Haifa. They traveled together and arrived at a funeral of an older lady. There were very few attendees and it was a cold and rainy day. When the funeral ended, R' Shach went to the cemetery with the mourners and stayed outside in the rain and said the graveside Kaddish. When everyone left, he stayed outside in the rain a little longer, before getting back in the car with his grandson.

The grandson had never heard of the woman and after waiting as long as he could, he asked why R' Shach went to the funeral in Haifa. R' Shach answered that when he was in Yeshiva in Lithuania it was based in a shul. The boys lived in the shul and slept there as well, but because they were so poor. the sleeping arrangements were limited and only the older boys slept on benches. As one of the youngest boys, R' Shach slept on the cold floor. And it was really cold.

One day R' Shach got a letter from an uncle who wanted to leave his business to Rav Shach and asked him to come, because he had no children. R' Shach determined that he would leave the next day, but later in the same day a woman came to Yeshiva. She told them that she had just gotten up from Shiva for her husband who owned a blanket factory and she wanted to know if anyone needed blankets. R' Shach took blankets to use a mattress and on top of him and the floor became tolerable.

R' Shach told his grandson that without those blankets he would not have stayed in Yeshiva and become R' Shach. So he kept tabs on the woman and when she passed he went to the levaya.

The grandson asked - but why did you stay outside at the cemetery after all others had left? R' Shach responded, because I wanted to remember what it was like to be cold.

R' Frand closed the vort by stating  --the greater the Tzaddik, the greater his capacity to be makir tov.

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Sunday Night Suds - Boulevard Flora Obscura

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Boulevard Flora Obscura.

As can be seen from the label, Boulevard Brewery explains that this is a dry hopped porter. As the term was not familiar to me, I went to the notes from Boulevard which explain that:

Flora Obscura, literally dark flower, features massive dry-hopping, with Simcoe, Cascade, Amarillo, Mosaic and Galaxy hops over a robust porter base composed of two-row pale malt, two varieties of caramel malt, raw wheat and chocolate malt. Originally born as a test beer for our Tours & Rec Center, Flora Obscura explores the interplay of hops suggestive of orange, grapefruit and tropical fruit flavors with rich chocolate and espresso notes provided by roasted malts.

I liked this beer very much, but it was not like any Porter that I had ever tried, other than the coloring. This Porter was much more piney than I am used to and the fruit was also surprising. The beer also was a bit thinner than I was expecting, but none of these traits were unpleasant and it went well with the bison burgers we had it with.

Boulevard Flora Oscura 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. I was able to confirm that this will be on an upcoming LOC which will iyh be published by the Vaad of KC soon. The prior list can be found on the list of kosher certified beers on the Vaad of KC website (https://vaadkc.org/boulevard-brewing-company-kosher-beer).

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this brew, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/423/215194.

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's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Ki Tzeitzei

The following is a brief summary of some of 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.

R' Frand's first parsha vort this evening was about the Ben Sorrer U'Moreh which some translate as "the rebellious son." He began by noting that the Gemara in Sanhedrin contains the opinion that there never has been and never will be a Ben Sorrer U'Moreh. 

R' Frand then began an analysis of the famous Rashi which explains that the Ben Sorreh U'Moreh is judged based on what he will become and not what he is now. There is a concern that the child who steals from his parents in order to buy meat and wine will eventually become a highwayman who will kill people in order to take their possessions. Rather than allow him to devolve into that person, he is subjected to death by Beis Din so that he dies before he has committed cardinal sins.

R' Frand then quoted R' Eliyahu Mizrachi who observed that Yishmael was saved when he was crying in the desert after Hagar was cast out by Avraham in Parshas Vayera. The Medrash recounts a conversation between Hashem and the angels, wherein they asked Him, why are You saving Yishmael from death, he will one day come to cause the Jews to die of thirst? Hashem responded to them, but what is he now, a tzaddik or a rasha? They responded that he was a tzaddik as he had not yet sinned. Hashem responded that He was only judging Yishmael based on his current state.

But if so, why is Yishmael different than the Ben Sorrer U'Moreh?

R' Frand's initial answer was that Yishmael did not actually cause the Jews to die of thirst, it was his descendants and a person is not punished for the acts of his descendants.

R' Frand also quoted the Sefer Bei Chiya, which quotes a Gemara in Rosh Hashanah which discusses two people suffering from the same illness or who are condemned to the gallows for the same crime. One of each pair is saved, while the other dies. The Gemara states that the one who is saved is due to his prayers being answered because prayed with whole heart and the other, not. But why does the Gemara give this answer and not that one had zichuyos while the other did not? He answered that the message of the Gemara is that there is a Koach HaTefilah - prayers have power and the one who prayed with a whole heart was able to benefit from the power of his prayer. 

This was the reason that Yishmael was saved. It was the power of his prayers which justified his being saved, even if down the road his descendants would make life miserable for so many others.

R' Frand closed the vort by observing that Elul is the time when people should be working on their prayers, much like (l'havdil) the spring training period. A player needs repetition to work on his timing and be in the swing of things. So too a person needs Elul to get his prayers ready for the Yamim Noraim.

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Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Shoftim

The following is a brief summary of some of 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.

For the first parsha vort of the season, R' Frand began by discussing the rules which apply to Jewish kings, as set forth in Devarim 17:14-20. The Torah includes many specific rules and their reasons, including that the King should not have too many horses so that the Jews will not go back to Egypt and that the King should not have too many wives as they may lead him astray.

R' Frand next quoted the Gemara in Sanhedrin which states that King Shlomo said that he could exceed the cap (18) on wives and it would not impact on him, however he was led astray anyway. 

R' Frand asked - if Shlomo was one of the wisest men who ever lived, how could he have fallen? 

Before answering the question, R' Frand made reference to the Gemara in Shabbos (12) which states that a person should not read by the light of an oil lamp on Shabbos because he might come to tip it in order to make the light brighter. 

R' Frand then remarked as a parenthetical that a person can read from his Machzor on Yom Kippur by the light of the candle, because on Yom Kippur there will not be a temptation.

Returning to the Gemara, R' Frand quoted R' Yishmael Ben Elisha who remarked that he could read by the light without being tempted to tip the lamp...until one day that he was tempted. To this he stated - how wise are the Rabbis.

R' Frand asked on this Gemara - why did R' Yishmael praise the Rabbis in this regard?

R' Frand answered these questions by quoting R' Elya Baruch Frankel who in turn cited R' Aharon Kotler ztl who stated that there are laws of nature and metaphysical laws. The same way that there is a law of gravity which dictates that a dropped object will fall, so too is there a metaphysical or spiritual law which provides that a King who has too many wives will be tempted, even if he is as wise and good as Shlomo.

R' Frand then told a story about R' Chaim Soloveitchik who was the Rosh Yeshiva when the Russians came and tried to influence the school to teach Russian culture. Each time a minister would come to the school, they would pay him off to leave them to their studies. But once, a minister came who could not be influenced. R' Chaim came to him at his office in July and was wearing a fur coat and hat. The minister asked - why are you wearing this in July? He answered that his mother had appeared to him in a dream and told him it was going to be below freezing the next day. The minister responded - that is never going to happen. R' Chaim said "I bet you 100 rubles it will." The minister took the bet and collected the money the next day as the temperature did not drop. R' Chaim returned to the school and said that the minister will not be a problem in the future --since he took this money he will be able to be influenced because "HaShochad Y'Aver".

This was how Shlomo fell and why R' Yishmael Ben Elisa praised the Rabbis as he realized that once they made their gezeira, the metaphysical teva had changed and people could come to tip the lamp.

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