Kashrus Alert: Heimish Hashgochas using Blommer's Chocolate Dairy - cholov akum? "treif" Blommers Chocolate (E. Greenville, PA) was kosher certified Parve for many years by the "OK Labs". nowStar-D Others were uncomfortable with blommer's for many years and considered Blommer's as dairy "cholov akum".
Hisachdus CRC, among other heimish hashgochas allowed it to be used as Parve, when it should not allowed it because of cholov akum (treif). It's still being used by their certified establishments as parve.
Note there are no "special productions", there, that are reliable. Note: Reb Moshe Feinstein has a Teshuvah that the operated cows [4-8%] are "treif", therefore the heter that others are relying on on Reb Moshe is a falacy.
A century-and-a-half ago, writing in his journal Jeschurun, Harav Samson Raphael Hirsch, zt”l, brilliantly responded to this challenge.
“Is not peace also a sacred value to the conscience of the Orthodox Jew? Is not shalom more important to him than any other consideration?” Rav Hirsch asks.
“Certainly not!” is his immediate response. “There are indeed circumstances under which I may, and indeed must, give up everything that is mine for the sake of preserving peace. There are circumstances under which I may, and indeed must, give up my property, my legal claims, and even refrain from making some injudicious remark in my social relationships, in order to preserve the peace, or to restore it.
But I cannot restrain myself with what is not mine but G-d’s, the Divinely uttered truth, the integrity of my life. My peace with G-d, my peace with my conscience cannot be for sale. I must not sacrifice these values afterwards. Only once you have assured for yourself the truth of G-d, and you have obtained clarity about the truth of your own way of life may you seek peace with your fellow men.” (From “Secession From the Community,” Collected Writings, Volume VI)
... And now for the weekly Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch dvar Torah. Rav Hirsch interprets pesukim in novel ways, but he is often thought-provoking even when he repeats what we already know. In that spirit:
It bears remembering – especially in our day and age when tolerance has become the greatest virtue imaginable (someone once observed that tolerance is 9/10 indifference) – that Pinchas received the “covenant of peace” from G-d for killing two people! Indeed, not only did he receive this covenant; he and all his descendants for the rest of history merited to become kohanim. He also later “became” Eliyahu HaNavi (according to one opinion), the man who will usher in the era of Moshiach.
Why did Pinchas merit all this? Because he violently killed a man and woman sinning publicly.
“It was not the inactive standing apart of the masses,” writes Rav Hirsch,” “it was not even the tears of those who stood inactive at the entrance of the Sanctuary weeping at the treason; it was the honest brave act of Pinchas that saved the nation and restored his peace with G-d and His law and thereby brought back the basis for real true peace on earth.”
Love didn’t win the day. Nor did tolerance. Zealotry did. Why? Because if “a challenge to G-d finds no champion amongst a circle of human beings and the consciousness of the Rights that G-d has on them has disappeared from this circle, then they have lost G-d and thereby their own future existence” (which is why a plague started spreading among the Jews).
I read this latter sentence several times when I came across it a few days ago. It’s so much easier to stay at home and dismiss the world as crazy and unsalvageable. But Rav Hirsch seems to be saying that we have to protest anyways. Someone has to stand up for Hashem’s honor. If a woman is gravely insulted, she will be hurt if her husband doesn’t at least make some attempt to defend her. The insult remains in her memory, but she takes great comfort in knowing that her husband stood by her. The Chofetz Chaim writes that Hashem acts in a similar manner. If somebody attacks Him, He doesn’t get upset as long as His children – the Jewish people – defend Him. If we don’t, He grows angry at us.
We all love peace and harmony. But he “who, for the sake of so-called peace, quietly leave the field to people who are really at variance with G-d” stands “with the enemies of the bris shalom on earth” – since true peace between men “rests on the peace of all of them with G-d.”
These are words to remember next time – to pick just one example – people try to organize a pride parade in Israel (or anywhere else). It’s not everybody’s job to constantly fight and publicly defend Hashem’s honor. But someone has to, and people in positions of power especially bear this obligation.
Many incidents of shatnez are being found with men's neckties. As a rule, all ties containing wool or linen require testing. In addition, silk ties manufactured in the U.S.A. and Europe should be tested.
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When funds are raised for a Moisid's building fund, either through the parents or the Tzibur, the building belongs to the Tzibur, not to the head or family of the Moisid.
If parents are made to contribute for the "Building-fund", they have a right to use the simcha hall, etc.
Fifty years ago this week, on June 25, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court declared school-sponsored prayers unconstitutional in the landmark case Engel v. Vitale.
Public outrage was immediate and widespread. For millions of Americans, the Court had “kicked God out of the schools,” to use a phrase that has entered the culture-war lexicon.
Five decades later, Engel continues to be reviled by a good number of televangelists and politicians who take every opportunity to rail against the “godless public schools.” Eliminating school-sponsored prayer, they argue, set America on the road to moral and spiritual ruin.
Over the years, the absence of “school prayer” has been linked to almost every social ill, from schoolhouse shootings to drug addiction.
One popular YouTube video asks why God doesn’t do something about the terrible things happening to our students in public schools — and a deep voice replies in ominous tones, “I am not allowed in schools.”
That the high court’s prayer ruling is to blame for America’s decline makes a compelling narrative, raising millions of dollars for advocacy groups year after year.
But here’s the catch: It isn’t true.
Let’s start by stating the obvious: The moral state of the union can’t be correlated to the frequency of government prayers in schools or anywhere else. After all, in the era of daily teacher-led prayers, America had any number of social ills, including segregated public schools.
Just as it would be absurd to blame teacher-led prayer for racism or other moral failures in the 1950s, it makes no sense to blame the absence of such prayers for our moral failures today.
But the Big Lie in the school-prayer debate is the false charge that the Supreme Court expelled God or eliminated praying from public schools. In reality, the Court has never banned prayers in schools — in Engel or in any other decision.
Instead, the Court ruled that, under the establishment clause of the First Amendment, “it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite as a part of a religious program carried on by government.”
In other words, state-sponsored prayers in schools are unconstitutional. Students, on the other hand, are fully free to pray in public schools — alone or in groups, as long as they don’t disrupt the school or interfere with the rights of others.
It’s true that in the aftermath of the Engel decision, some school administrators took things too far by prohibiting constitutionally protected student religious expression. Of course, other administrators and school boards practiced civil disobedience by continuing school-sponsored religious practices in defiance of the Court’s ruling.
But in recent decades, most public school officials have begun to get religion — and prayer — right. They (finally) understand the difference between government speech promoting religion — which the establishment clause prohibits — and student religious speech, which the free-exercise and free-speech clauses protect.
Visit most public schools today and you are likely to see students praying around the flagpole, attending religious club meetings, giving each other religious literature, saying grace before lunch, talking about their faith in class discussions and in other ways expressing their religious convictions.
In fact, there is more student religious expression in public schools today than at any time since the 19th century. Far from being “kicked out,” God goes to school today through the First Amendment door.
Critics of the Court’s ruling in Engel v. Vitale do have one thing right: The decision changed America — just not in the way they think.
Gone are the days when one faith (historically Protestant Christianity) dominated the public schools and the public square. Today, thanks in no small measure to Engel, we are closer than ever to the full religious freedom envisioned by the First Amendment — a level playing field for people of all faiths and none.
Disclaimer: Even though a House "Resolution" is technically not a "bill," and generally not binding - my understanding is that - in the hands of a leftist judge - it could potentially be exploited as if it was binding. And that may also pose a threat regarding expansion of Selective Service to women as well.
In any case, this Resolution is a terrible precedent - and must be assiduously opposed, especially by republicans. Given the record of 47 Republicans voting to undermine the Defense Of Marriage Act yesterday, we can expect more of the same if we don't employ the means at our disposal now, including any leverage we have due to the upcoming elections, along with potent talking points on how advancing the transgender agenda enables the escalation of the ongoing crime wave of deviant males purporting to be female against women and children.
Lee Zeldin in particular should be pressured, inasmuch as he's running for N.Y. governor and needs support of religious communities. We need to clarify ro the public (including to the morality-blind Republican First voters) that supporting Zeldin as the ostensibly lesser evil in that N.Y. race would ultimately render Zeldin, as a pro-homosexualist, pro-transgender republican, the more dangerous evil. This is especially true since it's not that he has a genuine solid position that happens to be bad. Rather, it's that he will consistently be increasingly worse, as long as he'll be ostensibly better than the Democratic alternative. Supporting a treacherous, back-sliding "lesser evil" of that nature is suicidal.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi could hold a voice vote on House Resolution 1209:Recognizing that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement a Transgender Bill of Rights to protect and codify the rights of transgender and nonbinary people under the law and ensure their access to medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 95-0)
The “Transgender Bill of Rights” will unleash the most radical, antireligious discrimination America has yet faced. In addition to the full panoply of LGBTQ, this resolution also includes abortion.
Worse than the Equality Act, this resolution attacks religious freedom, free speech, privacy, and women’s rights—all in one resolution! And it includes abortion. Its impact will be widespread—affecting churches; religious colleges and universities; public, private, and Christian schools; curriculum; religious and private organizations; employers; employees; individuals; foster care and adoption; shelters; local, state, and federal entities; privacy; women’s rights and much more! HR 1209 is anti-science. Transgenderism is a mental disorder, wrongly labeled as a dysphoria by the DSM 5 of the American Psychiatric Association under political pressure. This will enable and harm those afflicted with this mental disorder and serves no medical or ethical purpose.
Contact your U.S. Representatives NOW to VOTE NO on H. Res. 1209 NOW!
Transition to OU Kosher Supervision Brings Improvements to Shabbos Mode on “GEA” Division Ovens and Refrigerators
OU Kosher is in the process of certifying several GE Appliances (formerly GE) to help observant Jews keep the laws of the Sabbath, or Shabbos. Until recently, Shabbos-compliant ovens were certified by the Star-K agency. As of Jan 2022, some of these appliances will come under the supervision of OU Kosher, the world’s largest and most recognized kosher certification agency.
The change to OU Kosher supervision has been in the works for the past few years, as OU Kosher collaborated with ZMAN Technologies of Clifton, N.J. and GE Appliances (GEA) on the development of new technology under the strictest laws of kashrus to make a line of refrigerators that qualify for Shabbos use. Now, after changing the landscape for kosher certification in refrigerators, GEA — with the guidance of OU Kosher — has now expanded to ovens, raising the bar even higher for Sabbath-permissible cooking appliances.
Working closely with engineers at GE Appliance Park in Louisville, Ky. Rabbi Tzvi Ortner, Director of OU Kosher Technology, assisted in developing technical specifications for the new “Shabbos mode” in GE Appliances ovens.
“With our halachic guidance, GEA has become more committed to developing advanced technology that continually raises the bar for Shabbos and holiday observance,” Rabbi Ortner said. “For the first time ever in appliance certification, we now have a full line of ovens and refrigerators that can be used freely on Shabbos and Yom Tov.”
Said OU Kosher CEO Rabbi Menachem Genack, “Increasingly sophisticated appliances have necessitated the need for more complex solutions to keeping Shabbos. Our partnership with GEA and ZMAN Technologies allows us to support the community far beyond food certification.”
Said OU Kosher COO Rabbi Moshe Elefant, “This collaboration between OU Kosher, ZMAN Technologies and GEA is yet another step forward in the development of software and hardware to help people better prepare for and enjoy Shabbos.”
Added GE Appliances’ Customer Marketing Senior Manager Kelly Hestern, “It’s amazing to see how such a major brand as GEA was able to recognize and address the needs of the Orthodox Jewish community.”
Ovens that Star-K Certified
Not all appliances that were certified by Star-K qualify for OU certification; only those models that have the capabilities of the OU Shabbos Keeper – a separate attachment to ensure OU Kosher certification – will be OU Kosher-certified. These can be found on the Zman Technologies model listing page. This list will be updated as additional appliances achieve OU Kosher certification.
Enhanced Shabbos Mode
The GE “Shabbos Keeper” for ovens uses an “Enhanced Shabbos Mode” that enables users to open and close the oven door without compromising or breaking any Shabbos laws, ensuring the appliances remain strictly kosher. With previous models, the oven door could only be opened once; the enhanced mode automates heating elements and flames so that user activity doesn’t affect the appliance or its functions.
Unlike standard Shabbos modes, the Enhanced Shabbos Mode fully controls door switches, including safety shutoff, lights, buttons and sensors so that the appliances aren’t affected by the user. The Shabbos Keeper also has a built-in function that syncs with the Jewish calendar to automate Shabbos mode each week and every Yom Tov – for the next 30 years.
Next Generation of Appliances
While most of GEA’s appliances already use the “Shabbos Keeper,” the company also will launch a new generation of appliances that will be OU certified independent of the Shabbos Keeper.
Consumers seeking to purchase appliances compatible with Shabbos and Yom Tov are advised to select models certified by a reliable kashrus organization. Consumers who have questions or concerns may contact GEA directly at 1-800-626-2005.
The following is provided by the Yoshon program established by Reb Yosef Heman, Z"L
The planting of this year's harvest was just finished last week!
Please be aware that there are many shortages this year on the manufacturing level and it is advised that you stock up on necessary Yoshon products in advance.
The Supreme Court realized that at a certain stage (what ever that stage is 40 days, heart beat, etc.) the fetus is a living viable human being, and abortion is just plain cold blooded murder, for want of a better word. All those involved should be charged with Homicide.
Hisachdus CRC, among other heimish hashgochas allowed it to be used as Parve, when it should not allowed it because of cholov akum (treif). It's still being used by their certified establishments as parve.
