Lakewood: What Have We Got? על כבודי לא מחיתם

בס"ד

!!!!על כבודי לא מחיתם

Lakewood:  What Have We Got?

               A town of 100,000, many families, tens of thousands of children and the variety of institutions that cater to them. Most families (mine included), to various degrees, give their children assorted vaccines. The schools always insisted that all their students be vaccinated. However, no school got full compliance as some families do not subscribe to vaccination. They've been dubbed Vaxers and Anti Vaxers. In the last few weeks Lakewood had over 100 children barred from their respective schools due to an outbreak of Measles.

In some instances, this step was taken at the behest of teachers banding together threatening to walk of the job if unvaccinated children are permitted to attend school. In other instances, the school administration acted on their own.      As of this writing, they are still unwilling to vaccinate. As a result, they remain out of school.

We see in the gemara (sanhedrin 110.): When Korach and his assembly rebelled against Moshe Rabeinu, the sun and the moon said before Hashem, “רבש"ע if you render justice for Moshe then we will go out and illuminate the earth. But if You won't we will not illuminate the earth.” Until Hashem hurled arrows at them saying to them, “בכבודי לא מחיתם בכבוד בשר ודם מחיתם” when all the kings of the east and west don their crowns and they bow to the sun, you didn't protest. When the Jews bowed to the egel you didn't protest. For My honor you didn't protest, but for the honor of a בשר ודם you do protest?

The same objection “בכבודי לא מחיתם בכבוד בשר ודם מחיתם” with much more serious consequences is also in the gemara (sanhedrin 103:). At the end of sefer Shoftim we learn of a civil war between shevet Binyamin and the rest of klal Yisroel who were upset that shevet Binyamin refused to help pursue the perpetrators of the crime known as פלגש בגבעה. Klal Yisroel asked if they should go to war with shevet Binyamin. Hashem answered in the affirmative.

However, the first two days of war cost Klal Yisroel 40,000 people. The gemara says this tragic result was on account of פסל מיכה. Hashem said, “בכבודי לא מחיתם בכבוד בשר ודם מחיתם”. At the affront of My honor when פסל מיכה was set up you did not protest. Yet at the affront to the honor of flesh and blood you did protest.

I'm afraid that the רבש"ע's cry, “בכבודי לא מחיתם בכבוד בשר ודם מחיתם” is staring us in the face. We in Lakewood have certain positive traits that make us truly shine. At the same time, we have a number of issues plaguing our town. Technology related breaches, Sheitel and other dress code standards infractions, talking in shul, loshon hara, and bitul Torah, are some subjects that are spoken often about. There is a certain level of compliance on all these issues from the community as a whole as well as on the individual level. But there is a way to go. Yet not once did we band together – for Hashem's sake, to force compliance.

Never did we crackdown to get 100% compliance of whatever level of technology control we would like to see in our schools.

Never did a school demand of the parents or personnel  sheitel and dress code conformity with expulsion consequences.       

Never did a shul, shut its doors tightly to anyone not living up to 'no talking in shul'.

Never did we ban a child from school until his father is – at least - kovea itim to learn Torah every day.

Any less than 100% compliance to any of these issues, undeniably, has an adverse effect on our children, and in much greater proportions than the spread of Measles through non- vaccinated children.

בכבודי לא מחיתם בכבוד בשר ודם מחיתם

The one time we saw a real serious crackdown was now with the Measles fiasco. The few school children whose parents won't vaccinate are banned with all severeness from their chadorim.  The vaccination compliance rate is by far higher than any of the other issues discussed here, yet here we came down so harsh to force compliance – something we never did for Hashem's sake.

 Aren't we going to have to pay for that?  

And to make matters worse: Who is expelled? The goy who cleans the cheder? We don't even ask them for their immunization record. We keep them employed in our homes as well never even question their personal issues such as vaccination. The only ones banned are the children coming to learn Hashem's Torah.

We even are machmir more than the Health Department's recommendation. While they recommend taking precautionary measures only in a school where a Measles case was confirmed, we consider all schools in Lakewood as one big school. If a case was confirmed in one school – or anywhere in Lakewood for that matter – then all non-vaccinated children from any school stay home for weeks. We didn't do any of this when the issues were strictly for the sake of Hashem.

And where are these children banned from? The grocery stores? The play-ground in their complex? The Park? The restaurant? The shul where they Daven together with their non-vaccinated classmates? Never! They are only banned from the place they come to learn Torah.!!!

Our community at large interacts with everyone – including non-vaccinated children – all day long, where ever they go, non-vaccinated workers in restaurants, food service, school kitchens, etc., but the only concern of contamination is at the place they learn Torah. What message are we giving our children?

בכבודי לא מחיתם בכבוד בשר ודם מחיתם

You may ask, “What exactly is this letter supposed to accomplish?”

*Number one, to acquit myself of the charge of בכבודי לא מחיתם . I did.

*Number two, that you also clear yourself of this בכבודי לא מחיתם.

*Number three, so you and I daven harder for התגלות כבוד שמים.

*Number four, now that we've proven ourselves as warriors who go all out to accomplish what we want, maybe some of that strength will be displayed when it's only for the sake of Hashem.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

The BEER essentials and Kashrus

The Beer Essentials- by the OU

While consumers are always looking for the latest trend, today’s food staples are likely the staples of yesterday. One notable example is the forever popular beverage – beer.

Just the other day I read about a recently discovered beer recipe. It was carved into a tablet roughly 5,000 years ago.  Ancient Romans called their brew, cerevisiae from the Celtic word for the drink.  Surely this is the basis for the cerveza (Spanish for beer) enjoyed in Latin American cultures as well.

An admitted fan of a nice glass of suds, I took my son to “the home of beer,” Milwaukee,

Wisconsin. While touring an old beer brewery, we learned about the history of the age-old ale. Although modern beer brewing has gotten more sophisticated, the product remains quite similar to how it appeared in the vast variety of drinking vessels of yesteryear.

Beer can be made by fermenting any of various starch sources, most typically from cereal grains such as rice or malted barley, which are mixed with hot water for a few hours, then drained and washed to procure as much fermentable liquid as possible. The collected fluid is boiled in copper kettles, evaporating o the water, leaving the sugars behind. This process kills the naturally- occurring enzymes that could adversely affect the fermentation.  

Next, hops is added to infuse a bitter flavor into the beer. Many breweries put significant e ort into procuring the world’s nest and rarest hops to create signature flavors. The product is then cooled, and brewer’s yeast is added. Once fully fermented, the beer can be canned, bottled or placed in kegs.

Although there are few things which will create kosher issues, in our experience handling the kosher certification of beer, we have come across a few concerns which require careful monitoring.

Kosher concerns in beer production:

Flavoring: In order to distinguish one beer from another, sometimes manufacturers nd that hops sources and cooking time are not sufficient to get one’s product to stand out. Frequently, for marketing purposes, companies will add something extra to their beer products, such as cafeine or hemp!  While fresh fruits or pure extracts of lemon or orange don’t usually contain kosher issues, more involved flavors would require kosher supervision – to confirm the flavor itself is made from kosher elements.

Time magazine featured an article in a March 2016, which noted that: “[in 2015] 27% [of] new beers that came onto the market were flavored varieties.”  The article went on to state that most beer drinkers who increased their beer consumption credited the increase to a wider availability of flavors.  Apparently, the future of beer is flavored beer, and flavored beer needs to be OU Kosher certified.

Equipment concerns: Often beer breweries make other products on the same equipment as kosher beer production. These products can include items made with grape must, such as the famous (not-kosher certified) Dog sh Head’s Midas Touch, an unusual grain and grape hybrid, made from an ancient recipe that scientists were able to recreate from alcohol residue found in King Midas’s tomb.  

Equipment can be shared with products mixed with clam juice, such as Micheladas, a Mexican cerveza preparade made with beer, lime juice, and assorted sauces, spices, and peppers. or Cubana sometimes containing Worcestershire sauce.  

Beef broth can also be added to beer.  An OU kosher beer operation needs to be dedicated to kosher productions or schedule the production of non-kosher beer in a way as to allow Kosherization of the equipment prior to restarting a standard beer production.

Clarifiers: In order to remove particulates from beer production, a clarifier is often used. One major source of clarifier is gelatin, which can come from beef or pork sources.  Another is isinglass, a type of collagen taken from the swim bladder of cod,  sturgeon, or cat fish (the latter are non-kosher fish).  While use of non-kosher ingredients is usually forbidden in kosher production, sometimes use of a clarifier can be permitted if it is removed shortly after its addition; is used in small enough volume relative to the product it is added to; and another kosher equivalent is not available.  OU kosher would need to confirm these factors prior to certifying a beer.

Whether drinking an age-old brew befitting a monarch, or a custom microbrew more apropos for a hipster, one thing remains the same, OU certification is your guarantee that all the kosher requirements of this staple beverage are being met!

THE MAKING OF BEER- & Its Kosher Considerations

Beer is classified according to its alcohol content, the bitterness level produced by the hops. The principal kinds of beer are as follows:

Lager: Hops fermentation 10-12 days. After fermentation starts, it continues at a slow pace with the beer stored in cellar conditions. When fermentation is completed, the yeast and some additional substances settle out from the beer. Alcohol content would be between 3% & 4%.

Ale: Fermentation time of 6-10 hours whereupon the yeast is skimmed off the surface of the liquor. The yeast is of a different type than that employed in producing the lager beer. No hops are added and the beer is sweet with an alcohol content of 3%.

Porter: A heavy, sweet ale with an alcohol content of 5%, and contains hops.

Stout: Very similar to porter, but with a higher content of hops.

Malt: The beer is sweet and black, is made with a rapid fermentation that leaves a low alcohol content.

Moral Code starts with yourself first , don't first dictate to others

De Ja Vu in Eretz Yisroel, New York and Lakewood, New Jersey

The   Hell    in  Hellenism

Also See Reb Avigdor Miller, Z"L on the Hyrcanus' Downfall tape # R-22

Greek culture slowly infiltrated Jewish culture, threatening to destroy the Jewish people in ways tyrants could not do through brute force.

After the death of Alexander the Great, the Greek empire in the Mediterranean basin divided into two main sections. The northern empire — which included Syria, Turkey (which was then Asia Minor) and Greece itself — was under the domination of a general called Seleucus, and therefore called the Seleucid Empire. The southern empire, which was basically Egypt and Africa, was under the domination of a general called Ptolemy. These kingdoms would rule the Mediterranean world until Rome.

Sandwiched between them was the Land of Israel. When the two empires were at peace with each other there was a lot of trade to be had. However, when there was war it was a very dangerous place to be.

For various reasons, the Jews favored the southern empire, the Ptolemaic. They had a fascination with Egypt since their original sojourn there, and the large Jewish community in Alexandria also provided a kinship with them.

The Grandeur of Jewish Alexandria

Is this part of the movement of "rearing its head again"? de ja vu? We think so!

Bimbo Bakeries USA, a subsidiary of Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo—one of the world’s largest baked-goods conglomerates with America’s largest private-label bread-baking business—made the decision in 2017 to drop the world’s largest kosher symbol, the OU (Orthodox Union) certification, from many of its products.

In recent months, consumers have noted that certifications have begun to drop off a large portion of the business’ Kof-K certified products as well, which included nationally distributed household-staple sandwich breads and buns such as Stroehmann, Oroweat, Arnold’s, Brownberry and Freihofer’s.

Gary Schaer did it again - [thanks- Agudas Yisroel] He's coming out of the closet.

 Garry Schaer voted for LGBT Bill in Trenton

This past Thursday several people went to Trenton to oppose Bill A1335  
that was up for a vote at the NJ Assembly Committee. forcing all public 
schools to teach and adopt instructional materials that accurately portray 
the political, economic, and social contributions of  persons with 
disabilities and LGBT people in the curriculum of middle school and 
high school students. Assemblyman Ed Thomson who represents 

Lakewood voted against it. Assemblyman 
Gary Schaer voted  for it 
and was not present for the opposition 
remarks by fellow yidden.

 

Gary Schaer does not possess a torah hashkofah (contrary to what Passaic individuals & Aguda claim) 

Be aware that numerous individuals have accused Garry of having "boy-friends" yes,  youngish boys.

Yehuda Shain wrote to him re: a previous bill that he "abstained" which gave his vote to the party that wanted the "toiaivah" bill.

Garry wrote back that "Agudah" told him to abstain. He could have just not been there or voted no.

Perhaps {a limud zichus} for Aguda, they wanted Garry to "abstain" from his contacts with ....., not abstain from the vote.

Any Machine Matzos should "not" be used on Pesach

NOTE: The Shteif / Viener machine matzos were not like todays Oven- See Teshuvahs

Reb משה שטרנבוך in חלק ד' דף צ' also seems very concerned about the use of machine Matzos on Pesach.


The ovens commonly used are known as "cracker-ovens". Ther are not at all like the ones that were used years ago which were relativly short ovens, and the dough was in direct contact with the hot stone or metal floor.

A cracker oven is usually some 100 feet long with a minimum of 3 stages. 1st stage is what is called "spring", because the temperature at this stage is low enough that the natural yeast does not die & the dough can rise or spring.