From the virtual desk of the OU VEBBE REBBE 

The Orthodox Union – via its website – fields questions of all types in areas of kashrut, Jewish law and values. Some of them are answered by Eretz Hemdah, the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, founded by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli, zt"l to prepare rabbanim and dayanim to serve the National Religious community in Israel and abroad. Ask the Rabbi is a joint venture of the OU, Yerushalayim Network, Eretz Hemdah... and the Israel Center. The following is a Q&A from Eretz Hemdah... 

As per the editor's note from last week... 

I am glad there is interest in receiving more information on interest (ribbit- excuse the pun). Interestingly enough, we have received very few questions on the topic. However, we ran a series of mini-articles on the topic in Hemdat Yamim last year. Whoever would like to receive back copies on the topic can contact us at eretzhem@netvision.net.il 

Question: May I use a dairy food processor to chop onions and then put the onions into a fleishig food? 

Answer: First we must determine what you mean by a dairy food processor. If it has been used only for cold foods and has not been washed in hot water without significant concentration of soap, then it is not halachically dairy. Then, assuming, it is clean of milk residues, anything processed within it is fully pareve. 

If your food processor is indeed dairy, then you have a problem, because an onion is a classic example of a "davar charif", (a sharp food). Three reasons for leniency which would be helpful,(some totally and some partially - in other cases), in this issue fall off (do not apply and therefore, the resulting answer is stricter): 

1. Although usually, taste is transferred between foods and between foods and 

utensils and absorbed only when there is heat present, if a knife cuts a "davar charif", there is a presumed transfer. Thus, the onion must be assumed to absorb dairy taste from the blades (Shulchan Orach, Yoeh Deah 96:1). 

2. Usually, kosher taste which is absorbed into a utensil and then comes out into a food, its status is significantly reduced (see details, ibid. 95) because it is "noten ta'am bar noten ta'am", (double removed taste). However, the sharpness of a "davar charif" causes even such otherwise weak taste to be more noticeable and this leniency is not applicable (ibid 96:1). 

3. Usually, absorbed taste which has spent 24 straight hours in the walls of a utensil picks up a foul taste which detracts from foods into which they are expelled. In most cases, after the fact (b'dieved) that foods were cooked in these utensils, the taste does not change the states of the food. In the case of a "davar charif" which absorbs, most poskim rule that this taste does imprint itself on the "devar charif", (Shulchan Aruch ibid and Shach ad loc: 6). 

For a combination of these reasons, onions cut in an actually dairy food processor should be considered dairy. [The permutations of circumstances can create various rulings in similar cases. The above is but a general background.] 

Ask the Rabbi Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the weekly parsha sheet published by Eretz Hemdah. You can read this section or the entire Hemdat Yamim at www.ou.org or www.eretzhemdah.org. And/or you can receive Hemdat Yamim by email weekly, by sending an email to lists@eretzhemdah.org with the message: Join Hemdatya - Please leave the subject blank. 

Ask the Vebbe Rebbe is partially funded by the Jewish Agency for Israel 

Hasidic Wisdom from the book by Simcha Raz (Elkins/Elkins) 

Solitude is good for the soul; indeed, it is good for everything. But the key to solitude is to be alone while still in the company of others. Those who are completely alone and silent cannot claim that they have conquered their appetite for speech. 
- Rabbi Yitzchak of Vorki 

Just as it is difficult for the wicked to appreciate the needs of their friends, likewise it is difficult for the good to appreciate their own needs. 
- Rabbi Aharon of Karlin 

One cannot drive away darkness with a rod. 
- Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch 

Rite and Reason by by Shmuel Pinchas Gelbard 

In Chassidic communities (and Beit Yaakov Shul in Ramot Eshkol - among others, I suspect) it is customary to preface the Mincha of Erev Shabbat with T'hilim 107, HODU. 

REASON The Baal Shem Tov established the practice of saying T'hilim 107, which is similar to the HaGomel blessing of thanksgiving, to give thanks to HaShem for the passing week's events. 

Some follow the practice that the Shali'ach Tzibur (Chazan, SHA"TZ) recites Kabbalat Shabbat at the Bima where the Torah is read, and not standing at the Amud where he stands during the other prayers. 

REASON In some communities of Ashkenaz (Germany and neighboring countries) some authorities initially resisted including Kabbalat Shabbat in the regular order of Shabbat prayer. They ultimately agreed to allow it, on condition that the SHA"TZ stand at the Bima and not the Amud, to emphasize that Kabbalat Shabbat is not part of the regular Shabbat evening service. [Similarly, many shuls allow a KATAN to lead Kabbalat Shabbat. Same point.] 

REASON There were places where Kabbalat Shabbat was said in the fields or outside the Shul. Hence, the minhag that the SHA"TZ ascend the Bima, which is likened to another domain [similar to going out to the fields]. 

ArtScroll Series • Mesorah Publications Ltd. WORDS OF WISDOM WORDS OF WIT • by Shmuel Himelstein 

The Chidushei HaRim used to give a shiur to some outstanding young men, including his son R' Avraham Mordechai. 

After a shiur devoted to a particularly difficult topic, the students told the Chidushei HaRim that they had not understood the shiur. The Chidushei HaRim turned to his son in frustration and asked, "You didn't understand the shiur either?" R' Avraham Mordechai replied that he had not. 

The Chidushei HaRim then left the room. When he returned, he found his son explaining the shiur to the other students. The Chidushei HaRim asked his son why he had told him that he did not understand the shiur. 

R' Avraham Mordechai replied, "Father, if you had asked me whether I understood the shiur, I would have said YES. But you asked, ‘You didn't understand the shiur either?’ and I did not wish to contradict you." 

Excerpted with the permission of the copyright holder

3274 years ago, (from Rosh Chodesh Shvat) Bnei Yisrael was on the threshold of Eretz Yisrael with the task of reviewing the Torah in order to enter the Land and live a complete Torah live (t)here. It's just about the same thing 3274 years later. 

From the Desk of the Director 

In the haftara of parshat Bo Jeremiah prophecies Egypt’s defeat at the hands of the invading Babylonians. The comparison with the impending demise of Egypt in our parsha is clear. Not so obvious, however, is the similarity between the complaints of Egypt’s foreign mercenaries in Jeremiah’s lifetime and the protestations of Pharaoh’s advisors during the plagues. 

The foreign soldiers in our haftara charge: “Arise! Let us return to our people and to the land of our birth in the face of the overpowering sword… for Pharaoh has let the time lapse” (Jer. 16-17). And in parshat Bo a similar expression of despair is heard: “How long will this be a snare for us? Send out the people that may worship the Lord their G-d. Do you not realize that Egypt is lost?” 

In both instances, the people in the courts came to their dismal conclusions long before their leaders. In ancient Egypt, however, the Pharoahs did not listen to their advisors. They were too haughty; their hearts were hardened. Comparing themselves to gods, wrapped in their self-importance, they became blind to the most obvious conclusions, at the expense of their peoples. 

Of what solace is it to know that the Pharoahs were evil and that punishment finally befell them, when we ourselves suffered dispersion? Jeremiah answers us in the poignant closing words of the haftara: The nations that scattered Israel will be destroyed. And as for Ya’akov, the prophet counsels: “Be not afraid …for I shall save your offspring from the land of their captivity. Ya’akov will return and be tranquil and complacent, and none shall make him tremble.” – ‘Vechen Yehi Ratzon.‘ 

Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff, Director, Israel Center

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