Volume 9 Number 87
Produced: Mon Nov 8 19:21:24 1993
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Bathing of Yom Tov
[Harry Weiss]
Drakes
[Aharon Fischman]
Gashmius, M&M's, MacDonald's
[Freda Birnbaum]
Judaism "mipi ollelim"
[Reuben Gellman ]
Kashrus and McDonald's
[Josh Klein]
Medicine on Shabbat
[Mike Gerver]
Midot of the frum
[Frank Silbermann]
Rashi's Torah posul?
[Gedaliah Friedenberg]
Saving a Life
[Warren Burstein]
Showering on Shobbos
[Jonathan Katz]
Tastycake info.
[Barry Siegel]
Why M&Ms became kosher
[Rani Averick]
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From: Harry Weiss <73132.2266@...>
Date: 07 Nov 93 21:23:13 EST
Subject: Bathing of Yom Tov
The Rambam in Hitchot Yom Tov, Chapter 1, Halacha 16 states that it is
permited to heat water to wash one's face hands and feet, but not his
entire body. One may bathe the entire body with water that was heated
prior to Yom Tov.
Shmirat Shabbat K'Hilchata Chapter 14 paragraph 7 prohibits bathing on Yom
Tov. Note 21 (In the Hebrew edition only) says the reason the Rama
prhoibits heating water for bathing is that bathing the entire body is not
something that is equal to everyone (which is one of the requirements for
heating the water to be considered Ochel Nefesh (consumption)). The
question arises now days when everyone has a bath or shower in their home
it should be considered equal to everyone. In addition the water heaters
currently used operate the same whether one bathes the face hand and feet
or the entire body. The only problem that may remain is Schitah
(squeezing/wringing).
(Schitah is more of a problem with one's hair than with the towel,
particularly with the larger and better quality towels.)
In note 25 Shmirat Shabbat says that Rabbi S.Z. Auerbach ruled that if one
is dirty one may take a hot bath and heat the water.
In modern society where most people bathe daily and feel dirty if a day
goes by without a shower would the above ruling apply? Our LOR has ruled
that one may bathe on Yom Tov.
Harry
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From: <afischma@...> (Aharon Fischman)
Date: 8 Nov 93 18:43:33 GMT
Subject: Drakes
There are some new Drakes products without the OU on them. Does anyone know
their status?
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From: Freda Birnbaum <FBBIRNBA@...>
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 93 11:32 EDT
Subject: Gashmius, M&M's, MacDonald's
Arnold Lustiger, in V9N74, gives the useful information (just in time
for Halloween, but that's another issue! >-) ) that
>This morning on the Jewish radio program JM in the AM, Rabbi Joseph
>Grunblatt of the OU has announced that all (presumably only American)
>M&M's are now under hashgacha from the OU. The hashgacha applies even
>though the OU does not yet appear on the packages. There is still no
>hashgacha on American Mars, Snickers, 3 Musketeers, etc.
and then asks:
>Welcome to gashmiut city. What's next? McDonald's?
As a person who has to get through the day often feeling like a fish out
of water, or like a runner of an obstacle course, in terms of what food
is easily available "on the run", I appreciate any increase in the
number and availablility of kosher products. I would be quite happy to
see as many kosher MacDonald's type restaurants as there currently are
nonkosher ones. And the more kosher candy bars there are, the less
likely the uninformed or nonobservant will be eating nonkosher candy
bars.
Freda Birnbaum
<fbbirnbaum@...>
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From: Reuben Gellman <rsg@...>
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 1993 21:50:11 -0500
Subject: Judaism "mipi ollelim"
Apropos of nothing--
Out of the mouths of babes ... something I heard from friends.
A religious family here in Toronto has a non-Jewish tenant in their
basement apartment. The owners' kids are friendly with the tenant, and
visited him not sometime last December. They saw his festive tree and
enquired:
1. How big does it have to be?
2. What happens if the leaves fall off?
There you have a key difference encapsulated.
Reuven Gellman
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From: Josh Klein <VTFRST@...>
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 93 20:03 N
Subject: Kashrus and McDonald's
Arnie Lustiger asks regarding M&Ms finally being under hasgacha: What's
next, MacDonald's? Well, Big Macs have come to Israel finally, and they do
indeed use kosher meat. They also use kosher cheese. Unfortunately, they
combine the two....
Josh Klein VTFRST@Volcani
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From: <GERVER@...> (Mike Gerver)
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1993 1:34:57 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Medicine on Shabbat
Eitan Fiorino, in v9n68, remarks that the prohibition against taking
medicine on Shabbat, which was originally due to the fact that medicine
had to be ground up, is still in force in spite of the fact that
medicine is no longer ground up just before being used. This may not be
entirely true. In his shiur a few years ago, R. Don Brand said that, in
the decades since pharmacists have stopped grinding up medicine, there
has been an increasing tendency to be meikil [lenient] in questions of
taking medicine on Shabbat, and that the prohibition may eventually
completely disappear. I'm not sure exactly how this works. Certainly
it's not the case that one can simply discard a prohibition whose
original reason is no longer valid. Perhaps it has something to do with
the fact that someone requiring medicine may be suffering from pain that
would ruin oneg shabbat, and that (even in the days when medicine was
ground up) there is a ruling that one is supposed to look for possible
leniencies in such cases.
Mike Gerver, <gerver@...>
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From: Frank Silbermann <fs@...>
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 93 19:47:25 -0500
Subject: Midot of the frum
In Vol9 #81, Scott Spiegler, a baal tshuvah states his confusion. He
expects that frum people _ought_ to have superior personal
characteristics (moral, ethical, social) than irreligious people, but
this doesn't seem to be universally true.
I would remind Scott that it is very hard to change human nature.
Furthermore, each person is born with his own variation of personality.
It is difficult to gauge the effect of Judaism on a person, all other
things being equal, because we cannot find two people born with the
exact same potential to compare. When we meet a frum person whose midot
seem below average by any standard, we can only wonder how bad his midot
might have been had his upbringing _not_ been influenced by halacha.
In other words, you cannot even hope to make a comparison between frum
Jews and any other group except perhaps on a statistical basis.
Even so, I remember hearing that wrt any given quality, you can find a
people whose achievement surpasses ours. The only superiority that Jews
can cite is that Judaism promotes the best _balance_ of competing midot
and capabilities. Yet, even having the best balance as a people does
not even imply that each individual will have the best balance. (That's
why our prayers are more likely to be accepted if we pray in a minyan --
our individual imbalances offset each others').
Also, consider the saying about Boy Scouting: "You get out of it what
you put into it." The same might be said of Yiddishkeit.
Frank Silbermann <fs@...>
Tulane University New Orleans, Louisiana USA
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From: <friedenb@...> (Gedaliah Friedenberg)
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 93 15:08:05 -0500
Subject: Rashi's Torah posul?
This shabbos I was learning the parsha (Chaye Sarah) with Rashi's
commentary. The verse (Bereshis 25:6) says: V'livnei hapilagshim asher
l'Avrohom.... [To the sons of the concubines that Avrohom had...]
Rashi comments on this verse that the word pilagshim is missing the
second yud (between the shin and the mem-stzofeit), and he goes on to
explain the significance of this missing letter.. My chumash notes that
our sifrei Torah are not missing this yud. I verified this in a second
chumash just to be sure.
Was Rashi's chumash posul [flawed, and hence un-usable]? I recall
another Rashi (on Chumash) that mentions an extra (or maybe a lakcing)
vav.
Gedaliah Friedenberg
<friedenb@...>
-=-Department of Mechanical Engineering
-=-Michigan State University
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From: <warren@...> (Warren Burstein)
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 93 06:52:42 -0500
Subject: Re: Saving a Life
>The rabbi here at Einstein (who is quite familiar with medical/halachic
>issues given his position as the rav at YU's medical school) has stated
>numerous times that it is permissable to desecrate the sabbath to save the
>life of a non-Jew "mipnei eiva." Meaning that if one were not to do so, it
>would cause hatred against Jews.
While I don't wish to call into question the ruling that one should save
the life of a non-Jew on Shabbat, I fail to see how this could permit
desecration of Shabbat. Perhaps someone knows of something else that is
permitted for the same reason, and/or other halachot, the observance of
which could cause hatred against Jews but we nonetheless observe?
Is "mipnei eiva" a form of "pikauch nefesh", e.g. if Dr. Schwartz
doesn't heal this non-Jew the result might be that Jews will be killed
in retaliation, or Jews will be denied medical treatment?
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From: Jonathan Katz <frisch1@...>
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 14:01:25 -0500
Subject: Showering on Shobbos
With all this discussion about whether or not showering is permitted or not,
I have yet to see someone explain why washing one's *entire* body should
be different than washing *part* of one's body.
Could someone explain?
Jonathan Katz
<frisch1@...>
410 Memorial Drive Room 251B
Cambridge, MA 02139
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From: <sieg@...> (Barry Siegel)
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 93 10:00 EST
Subject: Tastycake info.
Tastycake products are supervised by a Rabbi Issacson of Passaic NJ. He
is the son of a Rabbi Issacson who has a Shteibel in Staten Island, NY.
My LOR (who works for the O.U. in Kashrus) would not "recommend" his
supervision for reasons that he would not elaborate on.
Does anyone else have any more info on this Rabbi Issacson?
* * Other Kashrus ?'s * *
Does anyone know who endorses the 'K' on Little Debbie cakes?
Also, I heard that Wrigleys gum is kosher on the West Coast.
Is this true and under whose supervision?
Barry Siegel HR 1K-120 (908)615-2928 hrmsf!sieg
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From: <rya@...> (Rani Averick)
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 93 19:47:28 -0500
Subject: Why M&Ms became kosher
I wish I could remember who told me this, but recently I heard why M&Ms
became kosher. Apparently, one of the major breakfast cereal companies
(General Mills, I think) wanted to put a package of M&Ms in one of their
brands of cereal as a special promotion for kids. However, they couldn't
go ahead with the promotion, because the cereal is under hashgacha, and
the M&Ms were obviously unacceptable inside a box of kosher cereal.
This seems to be what started the chain of events for making M&Ms
kosher.
I've heard that Haagen-Daz ice cream has started a similar chain of
events in Europe: Haagen Daz wants to have hashgacha in Europe;
therefore all of their European suppliers of ingredients will need to
make adjustments to get hashgacha as well. This could impact many more
European food products.
B'te'avon!
Rani Averick
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End of Volume 9 Issue 87