PESACH PREPARATIONS from the OU | CHAZAQ

[Music] good evening everyone my name is RAB ell managing director of community relations for o kosher uh it's our pleasure to be here with the Lander Community tonight um we'd like to thank khazak for sponsoring tonight's event and for coordinating the uh efforts behind the scenes we'd like to start with D bro and from and Yos of of Queens to start the program wer thank you re Al it's nice to be here in Lander College i' like to welcome the OU to our community and especially M elephants are very very close you did and only did but Yates as well consult regularly with them in matters which affect our community in the casers and we appreciate the expertise and the friendship that he brings to bear and I would be remiss if I didn't say that this is a role that he plays for communal cashes organizations across the entire country his involvement his Direction and it's greatly greatly appreciated we we appreciate him or we appreciate you we had a night last night we experienced phenomenal n phenomenal n the world is astounded by what took place tells us and explains that not because we are a mighty nation in the sense of being youe with a huge population we're a very small nation but of who loves and appreciates the dedication of cl to that under any and all circumstances we are committed to him RIT was once asked by a non-jewish monarch that new it says a majority and you're a tidy minority here in Europe so you should follow the majority so why do you steadfastly retain their own identity answered if one understands the only affects cases where we have doubts but when we know with certainty something is true then there's no place for RO and we follow even the Ms and I once heard from that the in PES is unusual in general KAS and the fact that even Mas the slightest bit of is also and he said that's to teach us the lesson that there are times in Jewish life that the to were a tiny people but were significant and because despite the fact that stand against the world but we can be comfortable where we are the m is also in the celebration of PES undoubtedly is at the top of the list it's the one of the most difficult thing to accomplish and the one that we have able that invest months and months of tremendous professional expertise that kasas should be relatively simple for us one studies the the is very very difficult many many which deal with the of P the which affect us before PES during PES very very complex and this used to be in earlier Generations the responsibility of every yeat because everything was prepared at home now everything is formed out we only what we we cook a little bit of meat and vegetables in the house but all the products that we use are produced elsewhere in factories and we have the OU as the head of kasas and the United States and probably in the world to be able to oversee everything which takes place and therefore is a very special privilege to have elephant with us to speak about what he does for to all of us privilege to have the Mas land the College of ab with us say community members it's a very big honor to be here this evening representing the host uh of this event one of the hosts of this event and the Lander College um I know the hour is late and we all want to get to the main speaker um but uh let me just give a little brief hak I saw something yesterday I thought thought it was very fascinating there n to what we're going through today the malbim has a pish on Daniel on sa Danielle and at the end of his purish he makes his ownes of approximately when mhia is supposed to arrive and when he published his safer a lot of G is wrote to him and said how could you do such a thing there that say that you're not supposed to be if somebody's it's uh it's not a good thing to do so how can you go ahead and do it to which the malum responded that there was a mush of a father and a son that started heading out on a wagon to a very far away yid aair in leig they went from uh from Eastern Europe uh to to leig and um it took many many weeks and as the agala was leaving maybe an hour or two in the son asked his father Are we almost there yet and his father gave him a dirty look like uh it's not a question you should be asking it's it's inappropriate such a question and then two weeks later as they were almost at their destination the father himself self asks the bagala ask the wagon driver Are we almost there yet and the son looks at his father incredulously and says why is it that when I asked that question you were uh you gave me a very dirty look you were you were displeased with that question and now all of a sudden it's okay for t to ask and the father answers the son that when you asked the question we were so near the beginning of the journey that it was completely it it was was like a ridiculous question to ask we're so far away from the destination that to start asking now when are we getting there are we almost there that's not appropriate but now that we're almost at our destination now it's fair to ask Are we almost there yet how much longer are we going to be there in and the malum says that that's exactly what happens in the scholas if we were start to makeus at the beginning of the gas 2,000 years ago and to ask ourselves when is it going to happen that would not be a normal question because it's so far away that it would it just would do nothing but bring people down but now that we're so close to the time of the Gula now it's a very very appropriate question to ask Are we almost there yet and to that I made aesan in my peish on safer Daniel I think that the times that we're living on in our uh are very very miraculous as AER said it was Nim glum that we saw last night it's of course it's shrouded in technology but the technology itself is a and for us to be able to be to such unbelievable hash we don't know exactly when is the mesiah going to arrive but we definitely can feel and hear the footsteps of mhia and it's appropriate to think now to ourselves and discuss openly when isia going to come and this month should be a month of continued and should be a month that we're to be eating like elephant like to be able to tell us not only now in in gas what we may eat what we may not eat but also with the they'll also be able to pass in the Shas of K before we the U presentation part we call upon raban the GUI theal head of kazak for it's a tremendous cover and honor for me to be sitting here today and speaking with such I don't feel like it's my place to be here but uh once I'm giv the podium I'll share with you something for two minutes I actually haven't been in Landers college for about 18 years I was here for for the last semester right before I got married I was in or I had three more credits to finish up over here and I was getting married I told my Su to be wife I'll do the three credits next month let me get one full of learning iniva in K and here I am 19 years later I still didn't finish three credits but uh we'll get there we're going to make it happen just share with you a small idea I was actually that time Al I don't know if you remember that the good old days when we have no pressure in life but uh but uh share with you a quick idea on on P you know people like good goodas and you know for you have a good why not we'll grab it we'll do it now the Young P has many beautiful gulas over there for everyone in every occasion but there's one which is very very uh questionable I read to you inside the be brings that from the he says one who's very careful with even he's guaranteed not to do a the whole year it's a guarantee that's they bring that from the now if you look at the others of they all quote unquote make sense for example it's brought down by being you're doing a for the when a person is eating the proper she of may have had throughout the year when a person is for the and for mat it's a tick for all the G you may have had all year round a person that spends money a beautiful silver makes the beautiful brought but you see this G and the action are very attached to each other it makes sense but what here says is a little bit questionable why you know that makes sense you're not eating you won't fall for but that's not what he says he says whoever is then you won't do any what's the connection protected from tell me you're protected from why all so I'll share with you a beautiful quotes of as follows he said what's if I ask you what do you have to do to reach a level have with all your decisions so you might say go to the m every morning or we says absolutely not it says the is a person that's careful to make when you make a on foods and drinks apple and oranges and Fish and Chicken and meat you make it slowly with kavana then you're going to be infused with why he explains that every food we have is surrounded by different spiritual shells called kipot so if you make a then you bringing the kipot into your system but if you make a with word for word word for word you see today how do the kids make brast and bread before they even say they finish you shouldn't have a right the is the mouth right but if you word for word you're taking away the and you have nothing but coming into your system and therefore you have a level you able to tap into based on this I heard from a very he brings up from the that that R Lesar once ask his his his father he says what we don't eat and what that all you we we encourage to eat bread you have a special and we're making it what's the reason so the Raj explained to his son about all the whole of and and how it's a person so he tells his father if so we should e all your why reading it all year around so explains that that's part of the that all you around you eat it and you don't eat it and explain this this as follows and listen to the words he says and this how we're going to end off he says the of in the is not activated if you protect yourself from that means all you run you can eat all the pizza and all the bagels you want but on PES you hold yourself back so even then the negativity of the is not going to be activated but if you have even a then what happens is can be affected by the therefore it says then you have the protection the won't affect you why because all that negativity is not going to be activated so you might ask but what about that the from from from Italia writes he says the real gear the is that you're guarantee that won't come to you if will come to you if you want to do you go do it make will come you know everyone always says when it comes to I think we could say thanks to the U we could be confident to eat outside of our homes as well for the opportunity to eat this year P to be thank you it's my pleasure to introduce next the senior B coordinator U kosher also the editor of the U pay sta directory which their complimentary copies available for everybody here the back table please make sure to take one before you leave tonight Ritz um has worked for many years um dealing with pesak running a lot of the behind the scenes pesak operations we have a whole PES off Department headed by re Dr SCH singer but re bz has been at the Forefront to making sure that things are taken care for the community one of the needs of the community as the sparta Community has B gotten larger has been the need for a k certification sois will discuss a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes of Upp the regular payak certification as well as the OU kidne certification so benit I mentioned before that um we've seen and L and of Technology over the last 24 hours early not tonight but um in any case we'll try to give a simp perspective no you um what we owe you is for there a Syle um for the last about maybe 12 13 years and the reason the O although for the first 90 years of its existence did not not engag in that but simply because they beening ulation those were keeping but ra who was one of the post of the very much encouraged that the U should be involved in u k out why because what it happened in the growing St the community was that people were relying on assumptions people tried to make estimations or estimations of what was acceptable what wasn't acceptable and as a result people were using products without special supervision for PESA and they made all kinds of assumptions and the U you know with its expertise knew that in many instances that wasn't the correct approach soeli really encouraged the Yu to get involved in kit so I'm Dr to see a certain over viw I'll use this for notes if not uh anything else um you know it's interesting clown has taken many routes to get to the place that we are and for some the route was to Eastern Europe Western Europe for some it was through Spain for some it was through Northern Africa for others it was Persia that uh lovely place that uh sent us some gifts over the last uh um the last day or so and what's amazing is that we've all ended up where we are and we continue M to maintain that Heritage and the mitvah of the S is that each family transmit their unique Heritage and Cloud as much as there are many Al which are sort of you know sacred scent but that's what it is but this and really nobody differs from it but there are many minhagim beautiful minhagim that each individual Community maintained and as a result you have different LH and even within families today sometimes there's quote unquote intermarriage between and on others so you have this whole beautiful um Mosaic of minim that are observed in p and the is about transmitting um the got L was about transmitting that unique perspective that each family has from its Traditions to the Next Generation so that we can continue and and being what we are and that gives us hope and Salas especially when there's so much hatred at the outside we've been through it whether it was through Germany whether it was through France whether it was through Russia whether it was through Morocco whether it was through Persia whether wherever it was this is the beauty of K so we've gone through all kinds of challenges and we've made it through and that's exactly what's going to continue to happen for us so what is the meaning of kitot and where did it start from if you take a look the gamar talks about five types of grain which are on the one hand ker for MATA they are wheat St fried oats and barley those five grains can be made into mat under very special uh conditions and what is unique about them since the puts together and mat the gor tells us that only those things that can become humet are those things that can be used for the Mitzvah of so that's it as a result if you take something like corn there shouldn't be an issue it's not comets and of course you can't make mat out of it and so many other grains quote unquote that's the way they referred to but in the only those five are considered grains G actually has a question whether theen which are typically translated as rice and Millet whether those perhaps could be used for for matah and could become there's a a she one day which we do not follow nobody follows that um but nonetheless in the gamar we see introduced a concept that maybe there there's something else that we have to be careful for so the the first actually recorded source for kitney own is the What's called the smack the sa mitus C he lived about 750 years ago he was from the early period of the Rishon and what he writes is that they had already accepted this Min to not use to forbid those types of either beans legums scen um that fit into a certain category that was already forbidden by what he says his and even it seems much earlier he was the smack was from the early he was from the B that means he was in the period which was either with alongside Rashi or slightly after rashing and again he's quoting this and he says that uh this is what we do amongst the ashaz and he quotes others that did not observe this but it seems it was already a prevalent mimic when he mentioned that when was it a XA it's not clear exactly how we Define it is it a Min is it a XA but it's not voluntary it's not optional it's not as if we can say yeah but we're familiar with Mar Ram was sort of from the period of the Goon into the period of the Rishon and he established we familiar with that we husband doesn't take two wives polygamy is forbidden why because they're ban forbidden to all of is no why is that because when the gar was when the the was completed you could no longer make which was you know obligatory for all of is so when he made that um that Kaz he made it specifically for ashm and it was not adapted more broadly as a result polygamy continued by stardom for many many generations today it's no longer accept it aund amongst in as far the communities that I'm aware of will never marry a husband to to a second wife um that said um this too this Min of Kit which was adopted on a limited scale is also is not obligatory to everybody and therefore sard them who do eat that's their tradition they should continue to do so there's no reason for them to adopt what we have as and rki therefore felt that yes they should not scum should not be short cut in ways the weaz would never use many products without special PES supervision says why should the them be less why should they have less so he very much encouraged that where we can we should try to provide and there are there a say something large group of products there are many products that do have that hash um what what are the um what are some of the issues why why is it to so that the the smack actually mentions a reason having just just believe it looks like this not going to work out um but uh in any case I just need need to of reference um so you have let's say rice millons that the gar actually mentions you have corn you have uh you know buckwheat um you have uh peas beans these are all identified and accepted as kitat and that seems to be without without question any ashkanazi would want to partake of those does not take then you can't do anything with it you can't use it you can't even make M out of it um which you would think how could it be worse than the HZ itself but this is the way the xer was established it was adopted by ashkanazi communities and therefore it is what it is um so the reasons behind it are the smack who's the first recorded Source he mentions the reason for it is that because they grounded up and they made it into flour and they used it much the way wheat flour was used therefore if people were to be allowed to make bread like there is such a concept of cornbread um if you could make it so people would become confused people were not learned and they might come to use sweat in a similar fashion and that would be actual humet and because of that they made this gazer they made this uh um you know resolution amongst not to use it there's another reason that the Ben Joseph that the of course forar the of the roads and he said the reason was because of um what they do is crop rotations when you have a field you're a farmer so in order to strengthen the field you don't want to necessarily use the same crop year after year after year which would weaken the field instead with crop rotations you might one year grow wheat but the next year corn and then the following year again wheat and that leaves um the the possibility for to be cross-contamination where you can have some of the wheat which actually enters into the corn or vice versa and therefore um if you use corn and you don't properly check it and I guess the those the Assumption was it could not properly be checked so therefore one might come to use today even without cor rotations which do exist by the way there's another kind another problem is that is the Milling of today especially with a lot of gluten-free um diets out there you have all kinds of different grains which are being milled and they may use the same Mills to do both and unless they're properly cleaned and I can tell you that to clean a mill for matah is a very difficult task and unless it's done that way there's always the possibility of having some humet contaminants in something like Corners into other y of Grant as a result these two reasons form the basis for why kidneys are not used then we come into sort of a question so it's interesting in the language that the that Joseph uses he says he says the meaning nobody's concerned about this worried about this so the as watch as he quotes this and he mentions it that it was real and he there him that that certainly observed it but the doesn't feel it's it's worthy um except he says Fraz you know okay they he wasn't he was a fari he came from Spain he as a child he left in in 1492 with the expulsion um and he made his way to for where this where he buried ultimately but he wrote the and he wasn't concerned about this and if he wasn't concerned about it I would certainly not recommend any Sparty to be to be concerned about it there are on the other hand says that the represented the he wrote the glasses on which were intended for those who were and he says those who who observe this this not to use this and he says the meaning of ashkenas is to be stringent not to use this he says however realize the limitations of this xero they are um if you were to have some let's say corn or some buck fall into something which is for p he said you can rely on B usually and P we say is not butle there's no nullification usually one in 60 becomes nullified that doesn't apply on PES so the tiniest amount of heds will render the entire food forbidden in this instance um it's not like that in this instance we can rely on B because it's not it's a XA it's not a real Torah prohibition it's only prohibition for rasm also he says it's it's not forbidden to maintain we don't keep humet in our homes saying we don't keep anything in our homes but one can keep kit in their homes there's no reason to dispose of Kit even if you're asasi furthermore you can use it for other non-edible purposes if you're using it let's say for candle you make oil out of kitney and you want to use that to Kindle Fires that's certainly permitted and that's very relevant for example um in the instance of medications medications today are they have What's called the active ingredient which is usually very very small but there's a carrier there's something which is used to hold it together and that's usually at least in United States it's usually kidney us so you'll tell me I'm in asazi how can I possibly take medications the answer is you're not taking it eating it as you would of food what you're doing is taking as a medication under those circumstances the post will say that it's certainly permitted to do so of course if you have a if you have someone who's ill or if you have infants they can certainly use kot even among so there there's no question you can keep it you can maintain it and use it under those prescribed um you know limited circumstances it's interesting historically that you know today we live in communities which have both s and asanas but in Europe it wasn't like that or even Europe quick whatever communities the community either was or was as there was one unique Comm that was ansterdam Amsterdam had both ashm and sardin and there was the the chief Rabbi of of Amsterdam was the and the said he wrote his his son who was writes he said that his father said he would love to stop k mean he would variety of reasons did but he said just I'm I'm not I don't have the ability to do that he said you we to get all the Raam to together and to be move out of it and to and to saying that it no longer applies but you see that that over the generations there were times when people became very frustrated with kid and I know a lot of have a lot of we have to keep this but nonetheless it's not it's not optional and the post can say clearly it's not optional so there are some newer types of um grains or things that would fit under the category of kitot and nonetheless it's seem that it have not been adopted as such for example um The Who was one of the great poin from V about 250 years ago he one felt that potatoes should be forbidden why if you remember he said that there are two reasons why kitas one is because of cross reparations and cross contamination the other is always said because you can make it a flower out of it and that's very much what you can do with potatoes there is such a thing called potato flour or potato starch so if you can make it into flour so it should fit into that Cy said but Alin said and for Feinstein writes a TR he says potatoes were a late addition when the time of the and didn't exist in our communities he says if something comes that didn't exist previously we don't have to add what we have an an established you know practice that this was forbidden something like corn or something like buckwheat so then we continue to observe it but we don't have to even if this seems to be a rationale to include other things like potatoes so they things the poin have said and frankly if without potatoes I think we look most starle and and on PESA so that was not but more recently there's a question that came up in South America you have uh quinoa and kin has become very popular so it's Miracle grain now what's the of kin so we owe you debated this issue and it's something which is used similar to cial it is not made into bread um so that there's sort of reasons why we might consider it one way or the other but since this is what we call a a new world grain it didn't exist not my asaz War the S it just never made its way to to Europe or to Africa it's really a South AF South American grain so the OU adopted the position that K is why because it didn't exist if it didn't exist there's no established that that's basically based to where motion writes there an intercept just mention one or two additional things um there's a something called soron Sor gun is a plant that has two components to it it has a stock which you can make sugar out of and it has seeds on the top which you can make grain out of you can make a cereal out of so someone came up with the the idea we can make because in the ttb that's the regulatory for whiskey and for all alcohol they said you know you can make whiskey out of sorum so he said we'll cultivate sorum not for the seeds we'll remove the seeds we'll just have it for the stock which is it's really septic there's no scenes there not scenes it's like a stock it's like can sugar and we can nonetheless call it Whiskey so we make whiskey sorgum whiskey it's a couple of years old so that's so the people you can have your Whiskey on p as well um if that's something that you're interested in um just briefly we spoke earlier about the assumptions that are sometimes made rice so rice is very popular but the OU although it recommends using rice raw rice not something like a a par cooked rice does a sort of pre-cooked partially because you never know with something which is processed what could be affected but en red rice I in in this country especially they take irans and they add it it's not added it would be bottled typically but it's a coding it's a coating on the rice and as a result it is not necessarily a mixture which would become bottle before PES and it might potentially beet so we do not recommend using um enriched rice although perhaps something which is a rice which like a pasman rice which isn't typically not enriched that's something that span could use there is a Moroccan am Mina to uh check the rice because of what we mentioned earlier that even monks sarden there were some who were also concerned about cross contamination and therefore they would check the rice before they would use it um just because I I work with the you know heines Ketch for many years many had assumed that something like hin ketchup is probably could be used her by stardom why what what what what is made out what is it made of tomatoes that's the primary ingredient but there's also corn sugar corn sugar is a sweetener which is B B on corn which is kid out but again for Spartan that should be fine it also has vinegar in it and vinegar in this instance is based on corn the problem with this are that the corn syrup is treated with enzymes to make what's called high fructose corn syrup they they react it with an enzyme and that makes it sweeter than it was in its original state um corn has actually is is a glucose they want to make it into high fructose which means more similar to into sugar like sucas there are different types of sugar and the levels of sweetness since those enzymes are questionable we wouldn't recommend using corns and and certainly the vinegar which is under goes a fermentation with yeast again we don't unless you know specifically that there's no humet involved so then that's something we would not recommend and and you know typically many products unless you have specific sources reliable sources that recommend products to be used one should look for a h look for a reliable H to know know that the products are acceptable thank you very much my pleasure to introduce M elephant the Chief Operating Officer executive been coordinator of a kosher who was taking time out of his busy schedule among other things also Rob which and getting ready for PES to come here tonight to answer questions that have been submitted in advance um that are of particular interest have elepant thank you El before I begin before I begin to answer questions I would just of course like to recognize as well my I can't say a friend because he's much more than a friend he's a mentor one of the Prem preeminent ronam here in Queens Rabbi Harish welsher fantastic Kam pisc and somebody who we have the who every job comes with fringe benefits and certainly one of the fringe benefits at working at the OU is that you get to know special people and Rabbi rure is certainly on top of that list and Rabbi marav what he's done here in Queens and pass further for the bukharan community is absolutely incredible um we at the OU now are in new offices relatively new offices but in our old offices we had barbers in the lobby who were all Rabbi me Tom them so we used to hear about Rabbi Mayra all of the time in fact one of these tal Rabbi Mayra was very very close to Rabbi bski and he was very proud that Rabbi bski used him as a barber and one time even after RAB bski had not been well he wasn't so strong he tells rieli I'm going to make a see him and rieli slept from Brooklyn to Queens to surprise him to attend to see him afterwards after rilski was nifter I I he tells me I'm making the see him hint hint so I had to come to Queens and then I stopped using him as a bobber I also want to recognize and then I just want to make comment before elf begins with his questions but I do want to recognize we at the OU the OU is really a lay live lay leadership driven organization and we have a wonderful partnership I'm at the OU already 36 years and many of the presidents and late leaders at the OU don't even know the presidents and lay leaders that I knew but we have here tonight the president of the OU Mr maer and the partnership that exists between the rabbi leadership and the lay leadership at the OU and particularly we in kis it's absolutely incredible and I'll just mention one point there's a lot to say but it's not the time and not the place you know L leaders and rabam don't always agree and not for good reason we have different perspectives but in all of the years I'm at the OU they said it's many years never has there been an incident where we did not want to give a supervision we did not want to give a he and the baltim the ler said no we want you to do it actually there been just the opposite well we wanted to do it and they stopped uses and it's a tremendous testimony I think to the year Shay that that represents that they recognize that this is what the H wants and the always comes first I just want to make two points one I've been speaking about much lately not just lately over the years but this year as well and last week at the OU we had a meeting we have always before the y a meeting of all the staff members that work in our office in downtown Manhattan hundreds of people and not just them but all the staff all around the country and all around the world join us on Zoom at this town hall meeting and I was asked just to speak briefly about some thoughts h of thoughts about pesak and I said this last year and I said it again this year about and this is critical it may even be a little too late to say because I'm sure many people have already started cooking and baking and certainly shopping for y and just because you go to a store that has a pesak section or whatever don't assume that everything you're buying must be certified for pesak and every year it was interesting I spoke about this last Wednesday at the OU and not an hour after I spoke about it one of the people who work at the OU one of the women not even in cous came over to me she got nervous after I spoke and she called home and she discovered that all the oil that they were using to cook for pesak was really not Kos for pesak they had picked it up in the Kosh for pesak section at the supermarket where they bought but it wasn't Kosher for PES and she already came with a question now what do I do so it's such an easy problem to solve then it's not just look for the OU symbol or whatever symbol reliable it should be also Kosher for Pak the one other point which my very dear colleague of friend rabitz mentioned but I just want to pick up on and and and it it really really something important and something that bothers me a lot you knowem there's such an abundance of kosher for PES food whether it's all you certified or other reliable supervision and what really really bothers me and she bother you as well is that nobody's going to be hungry on pesak certainly not because the lack of food that's Kosher for p and this attitude that what could be wrong with this food today in the morning in sh somebody a very fine person he comes to my Shear every morning a really fine person comes over to me and says asks me a Snapp Kosher for p a Snapple happens not to be a CO oh you certified product I asked is there a Kos for PES supervision certification on it says no so I said why would you think that you could drink Snapple if it's not certified for PES so he says what could be wrong with Snapple said what do you mean what could be wrong with Snapple there's sweetener in it there are flavors in it it's made on equipment and that's before I looked at the ingredient panel and this this attitude has become prevalent in our community what could be wrong and it must be Kos p and the fact that it doesn't have a Kos P symbol so correctly and that's why we began the oit program we were living in a world where theard I could speak a little bluntly thought well if the ashkenazim aren't thinking about us we won't think about them and we'll make our assumptions that it must be Kos for Pak which is obviously incorrect but now we're not talking about masm anymore we're speaking about religious Jews who want to do what's right and they're making all sorts of incredible assumptions that have no place and then just tonight as I was eating dinner somebody calls me and he says to me you know I have a terrible sore throat and I'm certain I'm going to have that sore throat last till through pesak and whenever I have a sore throat I suck Rola candies can I take them on pesak I said do they have a Kosher for pesak supervision says no they said why would you think that a candy can be eaten on pesak if it's not certified Kos pesak and again there are all sorts of ingredients and sweeteners and equipment I don't even understand how people who are observing people and care about cashis are even trying to make these assumptions and especially in a world where as said there's so much we have the pesak directory with so much products that are certifi for pesak and we're not the only ones that are certifying food for pesak um ladies and gentlemen look for the Kosher for pesak symbol it'll be the safest thing to do and it's the right thing to do in fact just one everybody spoke about the power and the importance RAB me and RAB welcher spoke about food and the connection of food to pesak I re I recently was speaking and we know the gar says that if somebody eats forbidden Foods defined simple means they clog your arteries if we have physical arteries we have spiritual arteries and they eating n kosha food clogs our spiritual arteries so somebody a serious person came over to me after that lecture and says rabbi so how do you fix that problem you know somebody has artery problems with their heart they go to the doctor they do anoplasty or whatever medication Rabbi what is the medication for tum what is the What is the remedy for somebody who maybe ate n koser food I said it seems to me that the rimy is starting to be very careful about what you eat and if there's a time and a place what we should be most sensitive and careful about what we eat I think it's so part of that is looking for the kosher symbol and not making assumptions based upon that look when the O you says a certain product us to paye off without special certification uh such as an unflavored water or tea or coffee these products essentially o or coal pass off or they know different than a s product that just have no reason for certification so first let's define o I think that though that symbol that popular symbol o needs a definition the definition of Upp is that that product was made with full-time rabinal supervision to make sure it's Kos for p every Upp product almost every but really high 90% was made with rabinal supervision and that's the right way to do it however there are some products that are so simple that are so simple and so obviously cautious of p and it's not based on assumption it's based on very very thorough research that and that of course the research includes what could go wrong and we we are in these factories we're never going to list a product as not requiring an Upp symbol if it's not a factory that we certify all year when you combine all of those factors then and again it's on a limited basis limited basis of course we eat a lot of food so it's not that limited anymore but those are the foods that after thorough research after being a factory that we certify and supervise all year are F products that will be listed in what we call the gray area of our directory as acceptable for pesak even without the O symbol is there any reason for being last gr uh at such products even though they've been said to be okay so that's that's actually an excellent question and and I personally I may not be Towing the party line here but I personally would say to be mmer and I'll give you two reasons number one because there are many people here who are parents and we're trying to teach our children about cashr we're trying to teach our children about the importance of looking for Reliable certification if there's a product that doesn't have a a symbol certification on it or even if it does but it's not certified for pesak children don't understand I don't know how to say it in English I know how to say it in you children don't understand children don't understand these kind of nuances well it's okay because it's water but it's not okay because it's um Candy if is it or isn't and I think as parents and grandparents we have an obligation in the of our children to teach them you look for a pesak symbol that's one point I'd like to make the other point is although and RAB RZ could tell you maybe even better than I we spend so much time and effort and resources and researching this and coffee is a great example people call all the time about coffee does coffee need special pesak supervision and the answer we give is that the regular coffee unflavored with nothing else in it besides roasted coffee is fine the caffeinated coffee needs pesak supervision because the decaffeination process could use alcohol and the alcohol whenever you see alcohol we obviously have a red flag as far as pesak is concerned I can tell you the last week I was watching reading a back and forth amongst cast's professionals that said that many many flavor H many coffee roasting facilities do make flavored coffee and flavored coffee is already a question because you need to know that the flavor is Kosher for PES so why doesn't it affect the cashous of the coffee cuz usually the way it's done is you roast the coffee and that's all that's done in the Roadster and if you're going to add a flavor it's going to be done later in the process and therefore it doesn't affect the cous even the cous for PESA status of the coffee well apparently there's something called whiskey infused coffee means a coffee has whiskey infused into it that you know you need it to be able to drink coffee and in some factories again I'm not saying this is the common cas case when some companies they're not adding the whiskey after the roasting they're adding the whiskey before the roasting and therefore The Roaster that's roasting that coffee also has whiskey in it and that of course would affect the equipment so even if you're buying regular roasted coffee well it was processed in in equipment that was used for whiskey which is K SC again I don't want to create any Tomo I don't want to create an issue but it could happen and if and if you're in the store and there is coffee that's certified for pesad so buy that coffee and you know for sure that there's no shy once you on the top ofus our live prodct said that they contain viar should one sell that with if they don't sell hus scers should that be tossed out and what we about PR I have viar in them so actually Rabbi rtz mentioned that as well and products that are produced here in the United States the vinegar in the United States we we here in the United States have an abundance of corn and of course we have an abundance of corn and corn as re rwood explained so eloquently is Kus so even if we're ashkan ASM and don't eat kitne it's not ketz you do put it together with the rest of the kits it shouldn't be left out but it's not K that's the subject of a lecture for itself if should be sold in the or not the reality is that there's good reason not to because the whole concept of Ms is sort of complicated um I don't think anybody really believes that the non-jew to whom you're selling your hums is showing up on pesak and empting out your pantry but be that as in May even it and that's why people are reluctant I do on the other hand have to say so many people say to me I don't sell I'm very careful I I'm not going to rely on to sell on PES but the store where you buy right after P sold the so you're not really you're not really fooling anybody or maybe you're just fooling your self having said that product produced in the United States with vinegar is highly unlikely to be K and even if you don't sell K you could sell such products often people shop of Costco when the prevent for PES um is there problem with the water that they sell there that says minerals added so again the rule of thumb is that plain water plain water that has nothing added to it no minerals no flavors no herbs I don't know what else they could add to water is fine once there are additives to the water there's reason there's adequate reason to be lenient but my personal opinion is oh don't buy any of that type of water unless it has PES supervision if it's plain clean water then it's fine L of people have medications that are prescription from a physician um would they be allowed to take those pills would they allow take medication the pill form would about as liquid or chbl so again this is a very very very important question and a very important topic and I've had the opportunity um to speak in different locations as we get ready for pesak and I've spoken about this subject quite extensively anybody who's taking a medicine and if you're taking a medicine for chronic condition the definition of a chronic condition is not that show you're laid up in bed or you're in the hospital chronic condition means that you have a condition that not that must be treated by medicine hypertension heart condition cancer I don't want have to list all the ma we want to speak about the happy things and the medicine you're taking is in a pill form that you're just swallowing just take the medicine just this morning somebody called my home one a prominent member of our community a very spe uh important person special person and he says I'm taking three medicines and can I speak to you about the three medicines and I say to him no he says why don't you want to speak to me about the medicine I said I don't care which medicines you're taking just take them I happen to know that man is 90 years old I have I asked him all three of these medicines medicines that you just swallow he said yes then you don't ask questions just take the medicine and all of these lists don't really make a difference and we could even probably have a long conversation about the accuracy of this list and they're Cally not necessary just take the medicine however if the medicine is in a liquid form or in a chewable form that becomes more of a question because that's D you're actually eating drinking the medicine and there it becomes a little more complicated so of course if you could get that medicine in a pill form that's what you should try to do if it's not available in a pill form again if it's if it's something that you really really need to take or really need to do again I emphasize just take it if not then if you could avoid taking it then avoid where it's a little more gray is vitamins we get a lot of questions about vitamins on pesak because vitamins aren't their medicine and now you know is vitamin really something you have to take or is it really a supplement so the first thing I tell people that call about vitamins is to call the doctor not the rabbi and the doctor should tell them well you're taking this vitamin is a considerate part of your that it's dead okay so I'll try to speak loud does he consider it part of your medical regimen or does he consider it just something that is like eating chicken soup when you have a cold if it's considered part of your medical regimen then I recommend that you could take it it following the same rules that I said about medicine a pill if it's not part of you're not really part of a medical regimen it's just something you want to take to make yourself feel stronger so then I would recommend that what you should do is that there are many companies now that are certified the manufactur vitamins that are certified and that are are owned and managed by religious scientists that know what goes into these vitamins and what the issue are for pesak and Maxi health and zor and Freda and some of the other companies and if there's a vitamin that you take and you want to continue taking over pesak call them and they'll be helpful in telling you the status of those vitamins and again going back to what ridt said if it's just kitus even if you're ashkanazi I would be lenient if someone had products from a previous year for payto such as an old a bag of cheese seeds or coconut flour would they be able to use it on PES yes as long as you're sure that it was closed and kept in a place that it didn't have humet able to penetrate um stoves and ovens have continued to develop and turn into different types of gadgets with a lot of computer parts of that um a lot of the stove tops now have glass tops can you caser those for PA off yes if so how do you cash them and if not what could be done to cook for p off so this is a very very important question because one of the new Customs that have developed in clol for pesak is that you must spend pesak in Florida so if you have to spend pesak in Florida I don't know why I'm not from Florida and I don't spend PES in Florida but apparently most ovens and stove tops most stove tops in the State of Florida are not like what we have have which is gas and fire but they're electric ovens it's I understand I spoke about this just recently somewhere and somebody came over to me and told me it's for safety reasons and there's actually strong movement that that should become the law in New York state as well but B is in May in Florida it's ready the case and the top of it is there are electric coils and below the electric Co above the electric coils there's a glass sheet and RAB Reitz spoke about the difference in custums between and ashm and this is one more of those examples for all year around both them in ashkan ASM believe that glass doesn't absorb and therefore you don't have to cash a glass many people have only one set of glasses that they use both for dairy and meat for P the believe the says that that's the say the says that we should be strict when it comes to pesak when we speak about GL and therefore ashkenazic Jews do not Casher G for PES so now we have a real problem you come to the home and the oven is not Kosher it's I don't know what it is and you can't use that oven and you can't cash it because there a glass tap so of course the simple advice which you shouldn't do is put a metal sheet on top of the glass if you're going to do and then put everything you want to cook on top of that metal sheet what's known as a BL that people use in chabas I don't recommend you do it because if you're going to do so you're going to cause the glass cu the heat will remain under that b and will cause the gra glass to crack so that's not a great piece of advice the two pieces of advice I could give the first one I'm not taking any responsibility for but there are supposedly different materials that are being sold rubber sheets or different materials that can be put on top of the glass that will serve as a barrier on top of the glass but will not cause the g g the glass to crack I don't take any responsibility you could check and do as you please what I tell people and I told this to family members who have gone to Florida if included in the expense and the B of SCH slepping to Florida buy you could buy it doesn't cost a lot of money burners with two old-fashioned burners that you could put on the counter and use that for cooking and you'll know you're safe without any question not in h and not in safety you know I'm going to sit the I CL up better um what's the story with milk for PESA especially now that there's old milk out marf that come also from theirs so OTE I don't know why I have to say it but OTE obviously come uh it don't wouldn't have to be said but it'll be said oat milk giv comments and there's nothing he can do us drinking o milk on P regarding there is even dairies that are battling oat milk and cow milk there's always a cleanup in between and it wouldn't affect the status of the daing milk if however so what is the issue with milk as you'll see every battle of note legally that's sold in the United States must have vitamins added to it and there's a question about status of those vit and because there's a question about the status of those vitamin so if you're buying milk which is certified Co of B that certification agency is making sure that the vitamins that are being new are acceptable for Baya if it's not certified milk for pesak then you should buy the milk before y so even if the vitamins are not cous the PESA vitamins they become bable before PESA so again if if you're buying it certified for pay milk you could buy either have col if you're buying not certified milk not certify Clos bu before them put in the fridge leave it as we wind out is there any problem with froze F from the supermarket and then the BS part there's a problem with just raw meat that they have in the freezer so of course the number one question we have rabbis je the who are dedicated all your around answering question we have one road who answers questions on the phone one does wily communication and before pesad we're inundated with calls my dear colleague a friend Rabbi ell really manages this entire uh operation of consumer ISF face a you and now as Pac approaches we increase the amount of state that answer questions M um the amount of rabbis that are answering increasing the hours what longer every day even next Sunday or Monday when our office will be quotes it will be rabot an inter call for the community and I would say the number one question is can we buy Casco s in the pay and man yet the number two question which is a little late from that question but that we get that question you know Bes s there are people like my wife they start thinking about PESA after the day after PESA they thinking about next PES but there are some people that are buying meat for pesak already in the winter which is a smart thing to do because the price of meat one thing for sure we know the price of egg of they go people B that's guaranteed but usually a lot meat also goes up but plain meat that means you buy a regular piece of chicken or regular piece of beef or deal that is not the any way processed I'm not talking about cut slim mean with Co corn beef or frf Earth nor is a tickle or had spices added just a simple plain piece of meat a simple plain piece of chicken a lot of people have may have them in their freezer and do they're thinking do I have to go to the store to buy meat for Yanti or could I use the meat that I have in my freezer and the answer is if you use it you probably doing what I'm going to recommend anyway but before you actually cook that piece of meat or that piece of chicken rinse it but I would imagine most people rinse it anyway and before you call me if you didn't win to the time anyway way of course okay thank you Rabbi elephant want to thank everybody for joining us tonight you know the hour is late we would like to wish everybody and a good Ben J