By Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman
The milling of grains has been going on for millennia, and in all that time, the process has not changed dramatically. Milling is still done by simply grinding kernels, albeit with rollers instead of stones. Sifting is still done with sifters, although by automated machines instead of by hand. There is another part of milling known as tempering. Tempering refers to spraying grain kernels with water before they are milled. This makes the bran tougher and less brittle. If the wheat kernel has not been tempered, the bran may shatter and leave brown flecks (“ash”) in the flour when the kernel is milled. This is undesirable in regular white flour. Tempering strengthens the bran so that it is removed from the endosperm easily and does not cause brown flecks in the flour.
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
Both a kli sheini and a kli rishon shelo al ha'aish are pots of hot water that will gradually cool down. Since it is difficult to distinguish between them, we require Tosafos's help to properly understand the distinction. Although they look almost identical, a kli sheini has difanos mikareros (walls that cool down the product) while a kli rishon shelo al ha'aish has difanos michamemos (walls that maintain the heat of the product). An extended irui is none of the above, for the simple reason that the walls of this pot will not cool down. So long as the irui continues, there is a heat source that is preventing the kli from cooling. For this reason it is most similar to a kli rishon al ha'aish.
By Eileen Goltz
On Passover, we’re all looking for those new and different appetizers and entrees that aren’t the same old same old recycled boring ones. This year, shake up your Pesach menus with the following extra special and fun recipes by Eileen Goltz.
The number of kosher for Passover products increases every year. The Orthodox Union’s Daf Hakashrus, OU Kosher’s magazine, annually prints an updated list that includes new Kosher for Passover items. Following are several major highlights of that list.
Those charged with cleaning the house for Passover, shopping for seders and eight days of bread-less meals and snacks, and cooking and baking those meals would be a lot more frantic and frazzled if not for the annual OU Guide to Passover. A special issue of Jewish Action, the family magazine of the Orthodox Union, this year’s Guide, for 5770/2010, is now available to help facilitate Passover preparation and observance.
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
The laws regarding kashering glass are especially confusing, because the opinions range from one extreme to the other מקצה לקצה.
• Rashba (Teshuva 1:233), Ran (Pesachim 9a) - glass is smooth, hard and does not absorb (or absorbs very little) and therefore does not need to be kashered. דשיעי וקשים ובליעתם מעוטה מכל הכלים
• Ra’ah (Brought by Ritva Pesachim 30b) – Glass is boleya and is polet like metal, but may not be kashered with hagalah because we are concerned that it might crack, משום דחייס שמא פקעה.
• Mordechai – Glass has the status of cheres, הואיל ותחלת ברייתו מן החול.
Imagine being able to invite one of the most eloquent and insightful rabbis in the world to be a guest at your Passover seder. His presence would transform the event, adding words of wisdom that inform and inspire all who are there. With OU Press’ publication this year of The Royal Table: A Passover Haggadah by Rabbi Norman Lamm, everyone can have the distinguished Chancellor and Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva University at their home.
Almost everyone knows the four questions that are read in the haggadah during the Passover seders, but for two OU Kosher poskim (halachic authorities) – Rabbi Yisroel Belsky and Rabbi Hershel Schachter – multiple other questions are asked of them every year during the Orthodox Union’s Pre-Passover webcast, which this year will take place on Tuesday, March 23 at 2:30 p.m., EDT.
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
In the times of Chazal, cheres was made from various baked clays. In modern times common examples of cheres include earthenware and stoneware. The Gemara Pesachim (30b) tells us that a cheres utensil cannot be kashered with hagalah התורה העידה על כלי חרס שאינו יוצא מידי דופיו לעולם. Even libun gamur is not permitted in situations where there is a concern that one might not be milaben properly for fear of cracking. Therefore, one may not kasher china by putting it through a self cleaning cycle of the oven. In such cases, the only permissible kashering is to place the utensil into a potter’s kiln which gets much hotter than libun chamur. This demonstrates that one is not concerned about potential damage.
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
When a cold item is placed onto a hot surface, Halacha tells us to view the cold item as though it were hot, even though the item remains cold. Conversely, if a hot item is placed on a cold surface, we view the hot item as becoming cooled down. However, in this case we say that until it cools down, there is a kdei klipa transfer of ta’am. This concept is brought in the Gemara Pesachim (76a) and referred to as ta’tah gavar (the bottom surface overpowers).
The Shach (92:36) brings two criteria for deciding which surface is considered the “ta’tah”.
• The bottom surface because heat rises or because the top item weighs down upon the bottom.
• The stationary surface because the item that remains in its place is considered dominant.
Irui can only kasher the outer layer of a kli. Hot water poured against a cold kli is an example of חם לתוך צונן (hot onto cold) of which we say (Pesachim 76a) תתאה גבר ואדמיקר ליה בלע. The bottom surface succeeds in cooling down the water but not before the water succeeds in kashering the topmost layer.
By Gavriel Price
In the early twentieth century, Belgian colonists in the Congo noticed that the Congolese were careful to store elephant meat in papaya leaves. Intrigued, they found that the papaya leaves, besides protecting the meat, tenderized it. Laboratory analysis demonstrated that a particular enzyme, called papain, was the agent of the process.
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