10 Aug KASHRUS QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT

Minhagim like waiting 6 hours between eating
meat & milk. Can they be changed?
Minhagim should not be changed. Once you start changing
family customs, you are on a slippery slope. What really
protects klal Yisroel and is the beauty of our people is Mesoros Avoseinu. We
keep the customs of our forefathers under all circumstances. Keeping our
customs is critical to our destiny. Of course, regarding a woman who marries
a man, the halacha is very clear, she should accept her husband’s minhagim.
If you come from a family that did not wait six hours between meat and
dairy and your husband’s family does wait, you should wait.

If there is a pressing need why you feel
that you cannot follow the established
custom, you need to go to a rav to be
matir neder. This is the only way to
do it. All minhagim have the halachic
status of a neder (a vow) and must be
brought to a Rav with a good reason to
be matir the neder. Just to decide that
my family until now always waited 6
hours between meat and dairy and

now I am changing that minhag is
not permissible. You can go to the
opposite side and be machmir, but
you cannot be meikil (lenient) without
consulting a Rav.
Does Pepto Bismol or Alka
Seltzer need a hechsher?
When we talk about medicine the
rules are as follows:
A) If someone is a chole sh’yesh bo
sakanah, just take your medicine and
don’t ask Shailos. This means that he/
she has a chronic condition. This doesn’t mean that they’re in the hospital;
they can be walking and talking like the rest of us, but they’re a diabetic,
high blood pressure, cardiac, cancer, etc. patient.
B) If it’s not a chronic condition, then the best thing to do is to take a pill that
you don’t
chew and taste. If it’s not possible, then the chewable is your second best
choice. The third best is liquid and it should not be taken unless you’re really
sick.