ASK (Advanced Seminars in Kashrus) OU Summer Kashrus Training Program Provides Education for Future Kosher Certifiers
When a woman from Rabbi Mosheh Aziz’s congregation in Great Neck contacted him to ask why canned vegetables need a hechsher, he was able to provide an in-depth response, thanks to his participation in a three-week seminar hosted by OU Kosher. Without certification, he explained, such vegetables may have been cooked and packed on the […]
Parshas Noach
Rabbi Berel Wein The greater a person is or believes he or she is, the smaller the room for error in one’s life decisions. Had Noach been merely Mr. Noach, his choice of beginning the world again with a vineyard and wine would have been acceptable and even understandable. After all, the trauma of the […]
Can a Kohen Go to a Tzaddik’s Funeral?
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow The great Rishon Rabbeinu Chaim HaKohen once remarked that had he already been born when Rabbeinu Tam passed away, he would have become tamei and gone to his funeral. (Kesubos 103b, Tosfos D”H Oso) Granted, Rabbeinu Tam was a great tzaddik and talmid chacham, but Rabbeinu Chaim HaKohen was, in fact, a […]
Falling for Taxes
Allan Rolnick, CPA October is here, and Sunscreen Summer has faded into Pumpkin Spice Fall. Leaves are turning yellow, temperatures are turning cool, and shirts are turning plaid. Children are dreaming of costumes and candy corn. (It’s OK, they’ll outgrow the candy corn part.) We’re all celebrating with bonfires, hayrides, cheerful pumpkins, and more. And […]
A Ring of Truth
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow Devin McLean and his store manager were about to close the AutoZone in York County, Virginia, when a gunman barged into the store. McLean was left in a restroom while the gunman made the manager open the store safe. That’s when McLean, a 23-year-old Air Force veteran, bolted through a side door […]
Who Cares?
Allan Rolnick, CPA When Covid broke in early 2020, it was clear that our economy would catch the virus. So Washington did something they’re actually pretty good at: finding new and creative ways to throw money at the problem. The stimulus payments we all love and remember were the first and most obvious example. These […]
Parshas Haazinu
Rabbi Berel Wein The special nature and all of the events of Jewish history are outlined for us in this week’s parsha. Ramban in the 13th century comments that anyone who can, so many centuries earlier, accurately foretell the later fate of a people is an exceptional prophet. Moshe certainly fits that description and test. […]
Parshas Vayelech
Rabbi Berel Wein The parsha of Vayelech is the parsha that contains the smallest number of verses – only thirty – of any other parsha in the Torah. It also is the parsha that usually coincides with Shabbat Shuva, the holy Shabbat between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The words of the parsha are part […]
The Accidental Aveirah
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow Unfortunately, there was recently a restaurant that was found to be serving treif under the guise of kosher. Rav Moshe, zt”l, ruled that if an individual had a halachic basis to believe a restaurant was kosher and it turned out it wasn’t, then it is considered an aveira b’oines. There were two […]
Billionaires Behaving…Benevolently?
Allan Rolnick, CPA On September 29, 1916, John D. Rockefeller became America’s first billionaire. (That was a day after crude oil prices jumped by 10 cents/barrel and Standard Oil of New Jersey stock hit $2,014/share.) Now we have almost a thousand of the Gucci-clad fat cats buying Senate seats and monopolizing prime properties in Nantucket […]
