Bicycle riding on Yom Tov

Just because I keep needing to refer to this link, and it took me a while to remember the search terms to find it, I'm publishing it here. The Syrian decision allowing bicycle riding on Yom Tov and (within an eruv) on Shabbat can be found at Judaic.org. The key search term I need to remember is Yom Tob not Yom Tov.

Cryptic Comment

Apparently Yated regards "de mortuis nil nisi bonumm" as chukat hagoyim.

Poor logic or outright deception?

In this week's Kosher Today there is an awful article named New Challenge to Kosher Law as Fraud Increases. In it the author repeatedly equates trademark violation and consumer fraud with non-Orthodox interpretations of the kashrut laws. One example:

New York…Avi G, a New Yorker vacationing in Ft. Lauderdale, found an ice cream cup at a local convenience store with an unclear kosher symbol. “It was either an OU or OV, but either way it didn’t look right,” he told KosherToday. Avi ultimately found out that the ice cream was using an unauthorized symbol. Pfizer recently filed suit against Marco Hi-Tech for allegedly selling it a kosher ingredient with a fraudulent letter from the Orthodox Union. The two are but a small sample of growing fraud and other misrepresentation of kosher that are creating angst amongst many kosher consumers.

Successful challenges against laws protecting kosher consumers have in the words of kosher experts left the growing base of kosher consumers extremely vulnerable. Kashrus agencies say that they have been forced to spend significant amounts of money to protect their symbols from fraud. These concerns are not shared by a Georgian Conservative rabbi and the ACLU who filed suit against the State for defining kosher as meeting “orthodox Hebrew religious rules and requirements.” Rabbi Shalom Lewis claims he cannot fulfill his rabbinical duties “because his theological interpretation of the state’s kosher laws differs from that of Orthodox Judaism.” He said he “violates state law” when he approves some foods as kosher that are not kosher under Orthodox definitions.” The laws have been on the books since 1980.

Rabbi Lewis wants to be able to say that a restaurant he supervises is kosher even though they use non-heckshered cheese. This is a completely different issue from fraudulently printing an OU on unsupervised foods. The NJ and NY kosher laws cover this case adequately - any restaurant certified by Rabbi Lewis would have to disclose that he is not an Orthodox rabbi, and that he doesn't require hecksherim on his cheese.

I suspect the author of the article genuinely doesn't see the difference. As far as he is concerned, a restaurant that serves unheckshered cheese is a treif restaurant, period. But this logic has no end to it. Lubavitch chassidim insist that chalav stam is treif - they do not accept Rav Feinstein's ruling even b'deivad. Should all restaurants that serve chalav stam not be allowed to call themselves kosher? Many chassidic groups don't consider stam shechita to be acceptable. Should a restaurant that serves Empire chicken be called treif?

The role of the secular government is to prevent consumer fraud without ruling on religious disputes. Someone who puts the OU on a product without actually being under the supervision of the OU is clearly committing fraud. No special laws whatsoever are needed - it would be like selling Del Monte Pineapple while being in no away affiliated with Del Monte.

Yated no more?

My free email subscription to the American Yated is going away. It now will cost $15 a year, leading me to wonder if I can support them, and if so is it worth that much to me. I generally read the letters column, the 2 halacha columns, and the 'ooh, shabbes is SO special' column. Once in a while I print off a recipe. Worth it or no?

Yorea Deah hypothetical

Inspired by my chevruta study today in Basar B'Chalav.

Imagine you have a new 8 ounce metal spoon, which you use to stir an ounce of melted margarine. Later that day you take out two spoonfuls of beef stew with the same spoon. When you go to spread margarine on your bread, you realize that it is dairy margarine.

How many ounces of Beef Stew has to be in the pot in order to nullify the spoon and still be kosher?

Highlight the area below for my answer.
540 oz. The relevant halachot are

1. If you know exactly how much food a kli (utensil, like a spoon or a pot) has absorbed you can use that amount instead of the total size of the kli.
2. If you dip a mlichig spoon twice into a meat pot you need 120 rather than 60.
3. So the first time you dip the spoon, you need 60 * 1 oz to nullify the diary in the spoon. At the same time 8 oz of bliot from the meat enter into the spoon and become a chanan of milk and meat. So the next time you dip the spoon, you need 8 oz * 60 to nullify the spoon which is now full of milk and meat. 60 + 480 = 540

Maybe we're learning

I was pleased to see the OU taking forthright responsibility for a screw up outrageous action by their Israeli subsidiary and doing what they could to put it right. This is a big improvement from an organization that has had trouble refraining from cover ups and obfuscation in the past.

OU disavows publication distributed to IDF

Making the 3 weeks meaningful

Last year I tried to make the 3 weeks meaningful by spending some time each day imagining being in Jerusalem as the Romans breached the walls. This picture was heavily influenced by the Avalon Hill war game Siege of Jerusalem. In the game, the first time any Roman unit enters an area of Jerusalem the Roman's haven't been in previously, they are immediate attacked by random inhabitants - people with knives, clubs and other improvised weaponry. By the rules, these people are effectively committing suicide - the best outcome of the combat for them against an intact legion unit is that they are not destroyed and do minimal damage to the unit. But that image of the people of Jerusalem swarming from the surroundings like dragon's teeth with toothaches stayed with me. I also tried to visualize being one of the Cohanim - as day after day rolled by without being able to offer the daily tamid and the increasing fear that this time Hashem wasn't going to send a plague to strike down the besiegers as He did Sanchirev.

This year instead I'm trying to make myself feel the absence of the Beit Hamikdash. To know that once there was a place where Hashem was undeniably manifest, but now it is gone. To visualize the daily activity as the kohanim, leviim and yisraelim performed their daily functions.

In my vision today, a man comes to offer a todah (thanksgiving offering) for a child who miraculously survived an illness. As designed, the todah offering is too large for even an entire family to eat, so they and their neighbors have an informal block party, eating the sacrifice, singing tehillim (psalms) of praise and gratitude, and feeling a direct connection to Hashem that Larry in the 21st century finds almost unimaginable. They have two days and the intervening night to finish eating the sacrifice, so the child's grandparents are able to come from their farm outside Jerusalem to join the celebration. They bring their ma'aser sheni money and buy some extra supplies for the celebration - perhaps some olives soaked in a salty brine so as to consume one of the 7 foods for which the land of Israel is praised.

That's all gone now - I've only ever been to one seudat hodah. It was moving, but isn't the same when it is ordinary food and not kodoshim (holy food).

The things that bring us together

Jews and Muslims unite against Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance

Korach question

Why were the tests Moshe specified for Korach to participate in (the 12 staffs, the earthquake) not invalidated because of the principle of lo bashamayin hi?

An apt rejoinder

Rabbi Avraham Sherman is at it again, questioning the motives of all potential gerim in Israel, who are overwhelmingly Russian. My favorite response to the article was in one of the comments: Dear Rabi Sherman: In Olam Habah, gerim nullify you.

Out of town will save us all?

From a beliefnet article by David Klinghoffer

Excerpt:

Most Jews who know anything about Orthodox Judaism associate it with major population centers like New York, Baltimore, Miami, etc. The truth is that almost all the negative stereotypes linked with traditional Judaism stem from such places. Yet there exists a whole alternative universe of Orthodox Judaism in traditional communities in other places, provincial localities like Seattle where I live, but others as well: San Diego, Portland, Sacramento, Atlanta, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and other relatively small American cities. The Orthodoxy in such places is quite different from what you find in New Jersey, Long Island, and so on. It is thriving and dynamic, accepting and diverse, enthusiastic for tradition in surprising ways, and largely undocumented. It's also a lot more attractive, at least to me.

Anyone from the provinces care to speak up?

Tales of HP

Another example of why I love this town. Letters are boiled down and not acutal quotes. Rabbi Sephardi is not the head of the local Sephardi shul.

From: me
To : Rabbi Ashkenazi, Rabbi Sephardi
Subject: Eruv Tavshilin

Can I make an eruv tavshilin using a baked food and a roasted food, rather than the traditional baked food and boiled food?

From: Rabbi Ashkenazi
To : me
Subject: Re: Eruv Tavshilin

After the fact it is ok, but if you haven't made it yet you should use a boiled food rather than a roasted one.

From: Rabbi Sephardi
To: me
Cc: Rabbi Ashkenazi
Subject: Re: Eruv Tavshilin

According to the Rambam [detailed cite], an eruv tavshillin may be made with boiled, fried, pickled or even salted foods.

20 minutes later:

From: Rabbi Ashkenazi
To : me
Subject: Re: Eruv Tavshilin
After getting Rabbi Sephardi's email I checked the Shulchan Aruch. He is correct and I am therefore changing my psak - roasted food is ok to use in the eruv even l'hatchila.

Mazel Tov to Professor Charlie Hall

Since I know he's too modest to promote himself, I'll quote Professor Hall's Daily Kos column:

Twenty years ago next month I set out to apply to graduate school in an attempt to have a career in academia as a professor. Last week I was informed, first by telephone calls from the department heads from each of my two departments, and then by a letter from my dean, that I am going to be promoted from Associate Professor to full Professor effective July 1.

Schrodinger's Chicken

This scenario came out of yore deah class tonight. Imagine that you strap a chicken into a Schrodinger's box before Shabbat starts. Seal the box closed. If something is emitted by the radiation source in a fixed interval before Shabbat the chicken dies, otherwise it lives. Because you've read too many comic books, you're worried the radiation may cause the chicken to acquire superpowers. As a result, you've equipped the interior of the box with a spring loaded kinfe that will decapitate the chicken and push the head outside the box when you pull a catch, which purely mechanically releases the knife.

No it is Shabbat evening and your whiney adorable child wants to play with a ball, only he doesn't have one. Can you decapitate the chicken, thus both giving him a ball and ensuring a lifetime of therapy bills for the poor kid?

Note: There are probably lots of shabbat violations in this setup. I'm interested in them, but the key issue I'm focused on is the following: We don't know whether the chicken is alive or not. Assuming decapitating a dead chicken is not a Shabbat violation, may we pull the catch or not?

I'll offer analysis later, but let's see what people say first.

Sauce for the gander

I really feel for this anonymous man who is being deprived of the opportunity to shep nachas from his daughters and grandaughters for no reason other than gender. May this injustice and others like them quickly be corrected. The letter appears in this weeks Yated.

BAIS YAAKOV GRADUATIONS: INSENSITIVE
Dear Editor,
Recently, certain Bais Yaakov schools have changed their policy in regard to both high school and elementary school graduations. Whereas fathers and zaides were previously allowed to attend, now they are herded into a separate room and only allowed to enter the auditorium at the end of the ceremony for the handing out of diplomas. These schools might as well forbid males to attend the entire ceremony. It is demeaning and insensitive to treat fathers and zaides this way. On the day when they want to shep nachas from their daughters and granddaughters, they are treated like second-class citizens. If the administration feels men shouldn't listen to girls' valedictorian speeches, they should ban them from coming outright. One is either given a proper invitation or not invited. Becoming "frummer" should never be at the cost of hurting another's feelings. As Chazal tell us in Pirkei Avos (4:2), "Who is honored? He who honors others."
Name Withheld

XGH Anthem

Ben Newman is an acquaintance of mine. He's presently a graduate student at Brandeis, but he also writes and sings folk songs (including filk, for those who know what that is). One of his songs strikes me as the perfect anthem for the Modern Orthoprax movement that XGH is presently pushing.

Here's the mp3 of the song and here are the lyrics:
"That's My Story (and I'm Stickin' to It)"
lyrics and music by Benjamin Newman

/ D G / Em GA / 1st /[1. Em A :/[2. EmA D /

In every single culture since the ages of old,
Folks have found their meaning in the stories they told --
Their ethics and identity, the values they hold --
And the stories were for reading out loud.

But then the age of reason came, and somebody said,
"Those stories never happened, so mythology's dead,
And you're gonna have to look for meaning elsewhere instead,"
But me, I gotta go with the crowd:

/ D C / G D / 1st /[1. G A :/[2. GA D /

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it;
I'm gonna interpret the whole world through it.
It may not be factual, but it's true,
And that's good enough for me.

That's my tale, I tell it with conviction,
Though I know it's practically entirely fiction,
Still, it keeps me moving in the right direction --
That's the way that it oughtta be.

The facts are strangely silent on the right and the good,
'Cause logic can't compel you from an "is" to a "should".
Open up your moral code and then look under the hood,
You'll see you've made a few assumptions to start.

But what should those assumptions be, and how could we know?
Well, that's been an open question since forever ago,
And if your favorite answer is "A book told me so,"
That's 'cause it fits with what you feel in your heart.

It's your story, and your choices reflect it
And the notions it proposes of what's true and correct --
It's from a long time ago, and yet you've kept it connected
To the way of life you're living today.

It's your tale -- it forms your moral foundation,
It's played a major role throughout your whole education,
It ties you to tradition, culture, people or nation,
And it colors every word that you say.

Mythology and reason both have something to teach,
But sometimes the perfect balance seems a bit out of reach,
So on behalf of both of them I humbly beseech
That you take the matter seriously.

A myth can keep us steady or can call us to change,
While reason can reveal the way the world is arranged.
The truth has many facets (and they're all a bit strange),
And you gotta open both eyes to see.

It's your story, but it's not the whole picture --
There are things you oughtta know that aren't recorded in scripture --
And yet it still provides you with the context in which you're
Gonna place the other things that you learn.

It's your tale, it should be kept in perspective --
It's beautiful and true, but not exactly objective --
But if you can approach it thinking like a detective,
You'll find clues everywhere that you turn.

Each people has a story, handed down from the past --
They teach it to their children and they cling to it fast --
But other stories also may be destined to last,
And there's wisdom to be found in each one.

So, get to know your people's stories, and the other ones, too,
And keep an open heart and mind, whatever you do,
'Cause there are many different ways in which a thing can be true,
And there are stories that we've only begun...

They're our stories, and we're stickin' to 'em;
We're gonna interpret the whole world through 'em.
They may not be factual, but they're true,
And they've served us ably so far.

They're our tales, we tell 'em with conviction,
Though we know they're practically entirely fiction,
'Cause myth and reason, mingled, are our common condition --
That's the reason we're the way that we are.

Larry explains it all for you

Shira of On the Fringe quotes extensively from some of my comments about C Judaism here.

Pirke Avot 2:1

Rabbi taught: ... Be as attentive to a minor mitzvah as to a major one, for we do not know the reward for each mitzvah. Weigh the loss incurred in performing a mitzvah against the gain ...

Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi's words above seem to contradict themselves. One the one hand, he says that we do not know the reward for mitzvot, and on the other hand he suggests balancing any loss we might incur from perfoming a mitzvah against this unknown gain. How are we to perform this balancing act?

One solution comes from Rabbi Yaakov, who is quoted in Pirke Avot 4:22 ... one hour of bliss in the world to come is worth more than all the pleasures of this world. The reward in Olam Haba for each mitzvah is so inconceivably vast that even the reward for a minor one is worthwhile. Do not say that I will only perform the major mitzvot and acquire the awards for them - the reward for even the lightest mitzvah is beyond our imagination. And when we think of the cost of keeping kosher, of not working on Shabbat, or of getting our clothes checked for shatnez, balance that against the infinite reward awaiting us.

Purim Spoof from Jewish Week

Jerusalem – A coalition of 33 Orthodox rabbis in Israel declared this week that the government’s plan to switch all television reception to a digital signal is forbidden and unacceptable.

“It requires converter boxes,” said group spokesman Rabbi Lazer Disk, “and we don’t recognize the converters as kosher.”

More details if you follow the link

Non traditional Purim observance

Shira has a checklist for Purim mitsvot, which focus on the traditional aspects. To complement her list, here is a checklist of supplementary/non-traditional purim practices:

1) Did your community have a Vashti dance to support domestic violence shelters?

2) Did you or your kids if any wear costumes either to shul or otherwise during the day? If so, what did you or your kids go as?

3) Did your community have a purim shpeil? After, before, during, or instead of the Megillah reading?

4) Did anyone give Purim Torah, either at the seudah or elsewhere?