Published Summer 2015

TYPICAL RESTAURANT SCENE #1: “Ma, I’m going to grab something to eat before supper.”  “Fine, but don’t make yourself fleishig.  We’re having milchigs tonight.”  “No problem.  I’ll just get an order of fries from Kosher Burger!”
Was that a fatal supper flaw or not?  Possibly, but it is not uncommon for afleishig restaurant to cook their french fries or onion rings in the same fryer that is used for chicken.  If that is the case, the fries are 100% fleishig and the little boy is cooked!  One would have to wait the required amount of time before eating a dairy meal.[1]

This is not the only pareve pitfall for an unassuming kosher consumer. There are many other factors to be aware of when dining at a fleishig restaurant.  Just as a fryer can be used for both meat and pareve products, so can the knives that are used to cut salad vegetables.  Also, frying pans used between cutlets and vegetables, or ovens that cook any number of meat and pareve food […]

Published Summer 2015

The scene is ever so common in Jewish homes.  A delicious meal is served and followed by mayim  achronim .  Then one of the participants of the  mezuman  proclaims, “ Rabosai mir vellin bentchen ”[1] (Gentlemen, let us recite  Birchas Hamazon ), and everyone present responds.[2]

The basic  halachos  are well known.  If three men who have reached the age of  Bar Mitzvah [3]eat bread[4] together, they form a “ mezuman. ”[5] One of them, known as the “ mezamein ” is the leader.[6]  If there are ten men, “ Elokeinu ” is added[7] by the  mezamein  between the words “ Nevoraych ” and “ She’ochalnu ”, and by the rest of the group between “ Baruch ” and “ She’achalnu ”.

The  Mishna  at the beginning of the seventh  perek  of  Brochos [...] Read More