22 Mar PARSHAS SHMINI – PARAH

KASHRUS
The Chasam
Sofer once asked two community activists to set up a meeting
with the mayor of Pressburg.
“The issue is urgent, so schedule
the meeting immediately.” The
delegates asked the mayor’s secretary to schedule a meeting for
that day, but the secretary replied, “All slots are filled for today. You can’t get an appointment on such short notice. If you
want, we can schedule it for next
week. “ The delegates explained
to the secretary that the matter
was urgent and couldn’t be postponed. It wasn’t easy, but with
determination and effort, a meeting with the mayor was arranged
for that very day. They entered
the mayor’s room, and the mayor graciously offered them a cup
of coffee. “No, thank you,” they
replied. “Why not?” the mayor
asked. “Is it because it isn’t kosher?” That was the reason. The
milk wasn’t chalav Yisrael. The
mayor went into a rage. “If I offer you a drink, you should accept it!” he said. As he was ranting and raving, the secretary
opened the door and asked the
mayor whether he had a cup
of coffee. “No. The mayor replied angrily. “I was about to,
but these fellows ruined my appetite. I offered them a coffee,
but they declined because of
kashrus.” “Good,” the secretary
replied. “I’m glad you didn’t
have coffee because the milk is
contaminated. Some people who
drank from this milk got sick,
and the doctor checked the milk
and determined that it is filled
with unhealthy germs.”
The mayor immediately
changed his tone of speech, and
he spoke with the two delegates
respectfully. He told them, “I always admired the rabbis of the
Jewish nation for their superior
wisdom. I forgot about that of
late, and I considered banishing
all the Jews from Pressburg. But
now that you reminded me of the
Jewish sages’ wisdom, I will
cancel that decree.”
The two delegates returned to
the Chasam Sofer and told him
what happened at the meeting.
The Chasam Sofer replied that
there was a kitrug in heaven on
the Jewish community because
they weren’t careful enough with
kashrus and with עכו“ם .חלב In
the merit of the delegate’s mesirus nefesh to keep the laws of
kashrus, the decree was abolished. (Heard from Reb Elchanan Halperin zt’l of Radumishla,
who heard it from his father-inlaw, Reb Shmuel Unsdorfer zt’l,
a descendant of the Chasam
Sofer.)
The halachos of kashrus are
discussed this week. We must be
cautious with kashrus for two
reasons. One is that we don’t
want to eat non-kosher, not even
accidentally. As the Or HaChaim
(Vayikra 11:43) writes, “Klal
Yisrael should be careful not to
eat nonkosher foods, not even by
accident because accidently and
purposely are the same regarding this matter, for even by accident, one becomes impure.”
The second problem applies
even when a person guessed correctly, and the questionable food
he consumed turned out to be
kosher. Nevertheless, his lax attitude causes him to lose his
heavenly protection. Because
those who are cautious about relying only on the best hechsherim, and don’t take any chances,
receive siyata dishmaya, and
Hashem helps them eat kosher,
always. But if one is lax, he loses
his divine protection. This is alluded to in the words (11:44),
the As .והייתם והתקדשתם -קדושים
תעשו גדרים- וסייגים HaChaim Or
תטמאו ובזה אני- מבטיחכם writes ,לבל
safeguards Put” שתהוי -,קדושים
and precautions that you
shouldn’t become impure [with
non-kosher food] and I guarantee that you will be holy [and
protected from eating non-kosher].”1 Similarly, Reb Chaim
Vital zt’l writes, “One can transgress many aveiros with food.
There are the forbidden fats (חלב
,(blood, insects; there’s also
טבל, כלאים and other prohibitions. But if a person is always
careful, to the best of his ability,
and always checks the food before he eats it, Hashem will help
that the food he eats will be kosher, and he will not sin, even accidentally.” The Be’er Mayim
Chayim (Chayei Sarah ויאמר
אברהם) bemoans how people
aren’t careful with kashrus. He
writes, “In our generation if
someone claims to be a shochet,
people trust him. They don’t
check him out to find out whether he is reliable. And if someone
brings wine, milk, fish, or foods
that need to be checked for
worms, or any other food that
may have a kashrus issue, people
say, ‘The person who brought it
is a religious Yid. So why should
we suspect that it isn’t kosher?
But if someone asks them for a
loan, they suddenly speak differently. They don’t trust anyone
before verifying that he is trustworthy because they fear he
might not repay the debt. This is
because money is the most important thing in the world for
them, and Mitzvos are less important.“
The Be’er Mayim Chaim describes how Avraham Avinu was
the exact opposite. When it came
to financial matters, he trusted
Eliezer wholly. But when it came
to mitzvos, such as to find a shidduch for Yitzchak, he didn’t trust
Eliezer until Eliezer swore to
him that he would do as he instructed him.
The Be’er Mayim Chaim
writes, “The Torah testifies about
,אברהם אהובי
Avinu Avraham ‘Avraham who
loves me.’
A v r a h a m
didn’t love
anything, only Hashem’s mitzvos. Everything else paled in
comparison. He permitted
Eliezer to oversee his wealth, but
he didn’t trust him when it came
to mitzvos.” This week’s parashah also discusses the prohibition of eating worms and bugs.
As it 43:11(, את תשקצו אל) states
נפשתיכם- בכל השרץ השרץ- ולא
בהם ונטמתם” ,You shall not תטמאו
בם make yourselves abominable
with any creeping creature that
creeps, and you shall not defile
yourselves with them, that you
should become unclean through
them.”
The Or HaChaim elaborates,
“A person must be extremely
careful not to eat anything that
might be infested with worms.
Especially in recent generations,
the atmosphere and the earth
have become polluted (spiritually), and everything that grows
has worms and bugs. Therefore,
the cautious should be aware.”
Many chassidim have the custom to eat shalashudes in the
dark. This custom began in the
past when there wasn’t electricity yet. Friday night there were
candles and lamps, but by
shalashudes time, the candles
were long extinguished, so they
sat at shalashudes in the dark.
There is something extraordinary about singing inspirational
songs in the dark. My grandfather, Rebbe Moshe Mordechai of
Lelov zt’l, spoke longingly for
this custom. He said he would do
the same but was concerned that
he wouldn’t see what he was eating in the dark. There might be
an insect in his food, and he
won’t know about it