Last week I posted an email that I had gotten, as forwarded by someone who contacted the Orthodox Union (OU), stating that practically all Gatorade flavors are kosher without a hechsher save for a couple (grape flavored and powdered). In no time at all the page posted at the top of Google for the search engine result “kosher gatorade.”

I wanted to post an update that, earlier today, I approached Rabbi Yacov Felder of Shomrai Shabbos Chevra Mishnayos in Toronto, as he also happens to be the head of the COR. I asked him if this case was true, as from the email this apparently would seem to be the case. He mentioned that he doesn’t have an immediate answer, but call the COR and OU myself to verify. He also noted that several members have bombarded him with this question. On a similar note, a member recently approached me and said that he’s become a subscriber to my blog after finding it on page 1 for “kosher gatorade.”

I will bli neder call up the OU and COR myself after Rosh Hashana to find out for sure.

The answer to the age old question of “which came first, the chicken or the egg” seems to finally be answered scientifically, according to Time.com. Apparently, research from British scientists in Sheffield and Warwick revealed that the chicken had to come first. The rationale was that one protein—ovocledidin-17 (OC-17)—is only found inside a chicken’s ovaries, and is essential for eggshell formation.

The Torah has stated for thousands of years that the animals, and therefore the chickens, were created by Gd Ex-Nihilo. To deny Gd in this case would be nothing short of dumb. Go religion!

This is in response to R’ Bamberger’s Shmuez 2 fridays ago.

I don’t know if this is the “real deal,” but the rock does look like a face, with a nose, etc. (source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lelgustur/3708158256/)

As a side note, I think that the “Baal Peor” of us today is in dealing with terrorists in Israel. What we normally do to scare people off is to kill them. What do we do with a culture that welcomes death? This is the exact opposite reaction we would expect, similar to worshipping Baal Peor being the exact opposite of what one would expect.

A funny story about Baal Peor can be seen on my blog, as a side note to “R’ Zusia and the waste pail.” http://www.rafihecht.com/blog/2010/04/02/rabbi-zusia-and-the-waste-pail.html

A while back I wrote about the absurdity of having Orthodox women Rabbis, and how this can potentially leading to Barbie figurines wearing Talleisim and Tefillin (it’s already been done). Now, things have come full circle. Check out this Youtube clip on the RCA forbidding Orthodox women becoming Rabbis from here on:

Copied from http://www.torahweb.org/torah/2001/parsha/rsch_emor.html

The Torah commands every Jew to be careful not to cause a chilul Hashem. When an individual Jew acts improperly, he disgraces the entire Jewish people, as well as the Jewish religion.

The story is told that on one occasion the local Catholic bishop commented to Hagaon Reb Yitschok Elchanan Spector that one of the major causes of anti-Semitism was the Talmudic statement that “atem kruyim adam ve’ein umos ha’olam keruyim adam” (You [the Jews] are called “Man” and the nations of the world [non-Jews] aren’t called “Man”] . He argued that if the Jews do not consider non-Jews to be human beings, how could Jews expect anything less than animosity from non-Jews.

Reb Yitschok Elchanan explained to the bishop that he had not properly understood the Talmudic statement. What the Rabbis mean to say was the following: In biblical Hebrew there are four terms for a person – ish, enosh, gever, and adam. The first three terms have a different form when used in the plural (anashim, gevarim). The last term – adam remains the same even when used to refer to many men.

With respect to any other individual who murders, steals, or acts improperly, we do not say that his behavior is representative of his entire nation. We would say that that individual is bad, but the rest of the nation as a whole is basically good. We distinguish between gever (in the singular) and gevarim (in the plural); between ish (in the singular) and anashim (in the plural). But with respect to the individual Jew, we call him “adam”, used for both the singular and the plural, and assume that the individual is representative of the entire people. Only regarding the Jews is there a principle that “kol Yisroel areivim zeh lazeh”. The concept of nationhood only applies to the Jews: “Mi keamcha Yisroel goy echad ba’aretz” (who is like you, Israel, single nation in the land); other peoples are called “mishpachos ha’adamah” (families of the land).

Rabeinu Saadia Gaon commented that the uniting force for Jews is the Torah. Other peoples, who have no Torah to bind them together, have no concept of “kahal” (see Talmud Nazir 61b). Any individual Jew who behaves improperly brings disgrace upon his entire nation, as well as upon the entire Jewish religion exactly because we are all one “adam”.

The Yerushalmi explains the idea behind the prohibition of nekama (taking revenge) through a moshol: If one was cutting a loaf of bread with a knife in his right hand, and accidentally cut a finger on his left hand, would his left hand slap the right hand out of revenge? Of course not! Both hands belong to one body. So too all Jews constitute “one body”. The singular and the plural are both “adam”.

G-d tells Avraham, “V’eescha l’goy gadol … v’nivrechu b’cha kol mishpachos ha’adama” (B’reishis 12:2-3) – “and I will make you into a great nation … and all of the families of the land will be blessed through you”. The term “goy” (nation) is only used when referring to the Jewish people, while the term “mishpacha” (family) is used when referring to other nations (see sefer Eretz Hatzvi siman 17 for a discussion of the halachic implications of this concept regarding determining the genealogy of Jews and non-Jews). Only among the Jews, about whom the same term (adam) is used for both the individual and the entire people, indicating a unique level of oneness and mutual responsibility, is true nationhood achieved, and therefore only regarding us did G-d use the term “goy” (nation).

On occasion, I, like many others, will meet someone who, while still painfully single, complains and fumfurs, “I can’t get married and raise children! I need to become financially secure first, if not a millionaire. In fact, there was a time where I actually believed in that as well!

Naturally, becoming a millionaire won’t happen so fast. The average worker still makes approximately between thirty to sixty thousand dollars a year. The only time the average person will earn a million dollars is when inflation dictates that that is the average salary, and everything else will go up. But, here’s the thing. When one buys a house or car, and doesn’t have all the money “up front,” what does one do? If he REALLY wants the house and/or car, he first earns a little bit to cover the down payment, that person can pay in payments over time.

Now, if Hashem wanted one to pay everything up-front for a child, He would have had children born as 20-year-old, somewhat-mature adults. But, this isn’t the case. Hashem has the potential parents “save up” on maturity, and then let each child grow “in payments,” gradually until a certain age.

Now, Hashem similarly can give us the million dollars in payments. $50,000 times 20 years is a million dollars. Granted, one may start off at $30,000 or less, but hopefully that is made up, and then some, in later years. Hashem in the end gives us what we need, when we need it. We just need to do our own Hishtadlus by working, davening, and having Bitachon and Emunah that Hashem looks out for our children, and that He more than anyone else has the resources with which to do so. Why should He give money to those that aren’t going to use it for the right reasons?

Unless, of course, He’s so disgusted with someone’s lack of faith that he will give tons of money to the person so He doesn’t have to hear the person praying to Him. This is similar to when He gave the snake all the dust in the world. Hashem did so in order that He wouldn’t have to hear the snake daven for nourishment. Now, these are all heady topics, but you get the idea.