Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Ask Away series on the Everyday Judaism podcast. To have your questions answered on future episodes, please email askaway at torchweborg. Now ask away.

00:23 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, Welcome back everybody to the Ask Away segment of the Everyday Judaism podcast. Today is Ask Away 23, not 22, 23, the Michael Jordan episode. Right, Okay, my dear friends, I know you have questions. I hope I have some answers. We're going to start with David. Please pass the microphone to David and let's hear your question. David, we're really, really excited.

00:48 - David Z. (Caller)
Questions One. I think I know the answer to the other. I definitely don't On the countertops. So if it's a new countertop, is it just similar to a non-Jew making a ladle or anything else? Is it just similar to a non-Jew making a ladle or anything else? You still need to do it, because you had mentioned if it had had previous usage you need to kosher the countertop. But if it's a new countertop made by a non-Jew, is it the same thing?

01:17 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
So that's a great question. A new countertop would not require koshering. It's never been used before, it's fresh, it's from Hashem's holy earth and therefore it does not need the granite countertops. One should use caution though I'm not going to give the halachic ruling here. But regarding a countertop, if it's granite, if it's any type of stone, that's not a problem. Today there's a lot of manufactured stone like quartz or quartzite that are great countertops, they're beautiful countertops, but they're problematic with regard to cost shrink Okay. So just know this before you buy one.

01:59
Someone was just telling me yesterday that they're in the process of buying a home and they're planning to put new countertops and I said just be careful about which countertops you get. You know it used to be Formica. You know that was the old. You know I remember my parents. They got Formica. That was like the newest technology back in the 80s, right? But today everyone's using granite countertops and you know different types of. Just use caution before buying a new one. Ask a rabbi which one can be koshered, which one cannot be koshered. Regular granite can be. It's not a problem, you know. So I hope that answered that question.

02:39 - David Z. (Caller)
The other one is you mentioned something small that only contains three to five ounces or less doesn't need to be koshered. Is there a particular reason why a smaller vessel doesn't need to be?

02:50 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
No, no, no, it wasn't referring to not needing to be koshered, it was halacha number 37. What did he say? Yeah, if the rapier means you had, let's say you had a goblet that you got from your grandfather. You want to use it for your Pesach Seder. But you look at it and you're like, oh my, there's a hole in it. All right, there's a hole in it because it's so old and it's been, you know, rusted, whatever. I want to bring it to a silversmith and have it renewed. So if it is larger than three to five ounces size, then it's a significant. If it can't hold already sorry, if it can't hold already three to five ounces, then it's a new. It's a new vessel essentially, and then it does need to. But if it does not, if it holds it already, that that quantity, it's not a problem. It does not need to be re-dipped just because it was brought to a non-Jew to repair.

03:45 - David Z. (Caller)
What about rust on something that small? Does it also have to be removed before you can use it?

03:50 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Right. So rust is not healthy for you, to eat rust right or drink from rust. So you want to make sure it's clean anyway. If it had and you need to bring it to a non-Jew to have it repaired, then probably the same would apply.

04:04 - David Z. (Caller)
Okay, okay.

04:05 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Thank you, rabbi, thank you.

04:08 - Marylin R. (Caller)
What if you're Marilynne Robinson? What if you are Marilynne Robinson?

04:25 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
What if you're eating with non-Jewish people and you have dinner at your home with kosher utensils?

04:30 - Marylin R. (Caller)
It's not a sin for non-Jews to eat kosher food. They're non-Jewish people holding the.

04:34 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
That's fine. There's nothing wrong with them holding the utensils. It's your utensil, it belongs to you. They can eat from it. Okay, so I've had many non-Jews eat in my home. It doesn't make the home not kosher. It doesn't make the home not kosher. It doesn't make the food not kosher and it doesn't make the utensils not kosher. Okay, it belongs to me, it's mine.

04:51
The only what the halacha here is talking about when you're acquiring it from a non-Jew and you're bringing it into your possession. All right, again, this goes back to the Torah Le goes back to the Torah Leviticus or Numbers. So here we go. The Jewish people conquered the land of Midian, and Elazer, the coin, said to the men of the legion who came to the battle this is the decree of the Torah which Hashem commanded Moses Only the gold and the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin and the lead, everything that comes into the fire, you shall pass through the fire and it will be purified, but it must be purified with the water of sprinkling. And everything that would not come in the fire you shall pass through the water. Okay, so anything that came through the fire, you need to kosher it first and then put it in the water. Okay, this is biblical, this is not okay.

05:53
But this is again those things. What are they? The silver, the copper, the iron, the tin, the lead, now glass and other things only rabbinically require an immersion. Okay, so that's the source for it, the source we have. That doesn't make the food. If you host guests in your home, as long as the food is kosher, all of the dishes remain kosher and all of the utensils remain kosher. All of the dishes remain kosher and all of the utensils remain kosher. They're not making it non-kosher by eating from it.

06:30 - Marylin R. (Caller)
Makes sense.

06:32 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
We're on the same page here. Okay, great.

06:35 - Marylin R. (Caller)
Next question my question leans toward political issues, toward political issues.

06:42 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Oh, let's go.

06:46 - Marylin R. (Caller)
According to the Torah, or their leaders in the Torah, need to be a person of moral character.

06:55 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
The leader in other nations or among the Jewish people, among the Jews, of course? Yes, a leader among the Jewish people. You see, moses was superb character, superb character, aaron, joshua. It was maybe even more about the character than about the wisdom and knowledge.

07:18 - Marylin R. (Caller)
And the reason I'm asking the question is because there are so many Jews that support political figures that do not have more character.

07:29 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Right, but that's not in the Jewish world. We're living in a non-Jewish country. We're living in a non-Jewish environment, right? So if I was living in Russia, I would have to find what's the best interest of the country that I'm living in vis-a-vis my living there as a Jew, right? So it's not about we're not picking favorites here. The Jewish people traditionally picked the less threatening enemy. Okay, that's like the less threatening, the least harmful candidate is the one the Jewish people traditionally have gone for. That's that insanity that we're seeing today in New York and in other places of Jewish people.

08:14
There was even this video that went out, this viral video of four rabbis, four female rabbis. I don't know if you saw that video. Yeah, uh, all reform rabbis, which is, which is fine, but one of them was a transgender, so she was actually a guy. Um, I think it's like and they're they're supposed to be our like jewish authority on telling us what's best for the jewish people. I don't think so. Um, uh, so it's like, you know, it's like I had someone who said, who said to me he says my five-year-old son or daughter no more torah than all of them combined. They are not the authority on the jewish idea of what, what is right and what's wrong. I hope I don't get stoned for saying that, but it's just like you know.

09:10 - Marylin R. (Caller)
Well, that was my question, Okay, so the thing is like this.

09:19 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
There has to be a blend, and if we do see a— I'll give you even an example from the Talmud. The Talmud states a story that one of the great sages had heard that there's someone, there's rumors about someone, who potentially he's the Mashiach. Potentially, at least. There was word going out that he was Mashiach. So he sends his son-in-law to go investigate let's go find out if he's the Mashiach. So he goes and he comes back and his father-in-law asks go investigate, let's go find out if he's the Moshiach. So he goes and he comes back and his father-in-law asks him no, is he? He says not the Moshiach. He says how do you know he's not the Moshiach? He says I saw the way he sat. I saw the way he sat. He's not the Moshiach, guaranteed. Why? Because the Moshiach is of a refined character.

10:02
The way they eat, the way they drink, the way they talk, the way they act with people, the way they care, their sensitivity, not only their wisdom, not only their knowledge, their character is so essential. It says that you should find a rabbi who acts like an angel in their caution, the way they speak to people, in their delicate sensitivity, the way they deal with a poor person, the way they deal with someone who's less fortunate than they are, the way they're caring for a community, et cetera, et cetera. So it's not just wisdom and knowledge, it's not just that, it's the way they carry themselves, the way they represent their community, and there can't be. You know, every once in a while, sadly, you'll hear a story oh a rabbi, this a rabbi that I wonder what qualifications they had to be called a rabbi.

10:59
Right, anybody can be a rabbi, right, but what are the qualifications? I know because I know that the process through which I became a rabbi is not only measured on curriculum, it's measured by many different dimensions, and that the person's not going to be a sore image for the community, a sore image for the community. That's something which is so crucial. Now, regarding non-Jewish leaders, we expect decency In their private life, in their character. We don't.

11:38 - Marylin R. (Caller)
No, but I would think that the Jewish people wouldn't support those people.

11:40 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Right. But who are you going to find today on either side of the aisle that we say, oh, this is someone I want babysitting my child? Ok, I don't think there's anybody, ok, so. So I don't think it goes by that and I think we lost the idea of having, you know, decent moral character. You know, already back in the 90s, you know, in the Oval Office, there wasn't exactly the most delightful character of, you know, of a president. So you know, and that didn't change. You look at the last five governors of the state of New York, right, last five, they all left in disgrace, having an affair, having right, some went to jail. It really is. It's extraordinary.

12:27
Now again, public office shouldn't be just a, you know, it shouldn't be the barometer of our morality. Ok, it's not the great, it's not our brightest and our best and brightest that go there. Ok, it's usually the most vicious that go there. It's usually the most vicious, the fighters, the, you know, the most venomous among us that go into politics. So we got to be very careful not to expect our politicians, not to expect our politicians to be of high moral character. There are very few and they fall out of politics very fast. They don't have a long lifespan, those who are of real moral character. You may remember I don't know his moral character, I don't know his personal, but I remember the media mocking Mike Pence that he wouldn't meet with women privately, only with his wife present, and they were laughing at him. They were like here's a guy of moral character, here's a guy who wouldn't even right, who would not do any have any interview with a woman alone without his wife being nearby, and he was being mocked like he was the dumbest guy out there. So what you know, we don't. It's a very complicated world we're living in and I definitely do not look to our politicians to be the barometer of morality and character.

13:55
I look for people who are this is what I try to look for and it's very hard to find people who will fulfill their promises Very rare to find in a politician. They are. You know, I used to learn with a politician I'm not going to say who. I used to learn with him privately in his office, and I called my wife after study and I said I feel like I'm bathed in greasy oil, okay, after I left his office, like it's like all that you expect. They're so nice to people on the outside, but it's all fake. It's all fake and it's like you feel like I need to go into a mikvah after for immersion to cleanse myself. Okay, so it's like again. They're good people. Perhaps they could be a good father, a good husband, a good wife, a good whatever. They could be a great grandfather too.

14:58
I don't look to politicians to be my example of what the Torah expects from us, and I don't necessarily vote for that either. I think that we should have a couple of things that we should identify in the politicians that we vote for. Forget party, it's nothing to do with party. I would say number one is how good they'll be for the Jewish people in their land and number two how good they'll be for the Jewish people in the land of Israel. So this is the order. Could be that Israel's priority over here, but you know.

15:37 - Marylin R. (Caller)
Well, there's a problem in New York.

15:39 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
There's a problem in many places in the world, many places in the world, but don't forget, look at the Jewish history and look how we've had people who loved us and then people who didn't know who we were. For example, at the end of the book of Genesis we have Pharaoh. Pharaoh loved Jacob and he honored Jacob and he honored Joseph and Joseph was the viceroy, he was the second in command. Comes the beginning of the book of Exodus, which the next portion. There was a new king who didn't know who Joseph was and boom, it was over 210 years of slavery. The Jewish people were the prized possession of the Egyptians and then suddenly they're slaves for 210 years and they gave them the most miserable experience. Right, so it can change in a dime. And even though and I'm sure there were people and we see this in our, and there were people didn't want to leave Egypt, like, egypt is the promised land, right, egypt is such a great place.

16:36
There were Jews who said that in Poland. By the way, they said Poland, right, paul. By the way, they said Poland right. Po means here, this is our land. We don't need to go to Israel anymore. We don't need to go to our homeland, poland. This is it right, and that's why that was the name they used Poland as being. This is our homeland, this is it, and what happened? We know what happened right, and the same thing is with happened, and the same thing is with Spain, and the same thing has happened with everywhere in the world. So the Jewish people can never be. You know, it's like. This is how we vote. That should change every four years, every election. We should reevaluate our values and reevaluate who it is that we're either doing or not doing what's best for the Jewish people.

17:25 - Eliana S. (Caller)
I just want to say something first, before I ask my question.

17:28 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Introduction to the question.

17:30 - Eliana S. (Caller)
Okay, yes, I'm Eliana Schimmel, Along the lines of what Marilyn was saying, and what you answered is that you know we take pride in the Jewish people always questioning and our different opinions and all that, and I think that sometimes we forget about that when it comes to politics. Because you know one group, they always vote one group. Because you know one group, they always vote one group. And it's just like we do in Judaism, just like we do with the Torah we have to go in and we have to ask questions and study and otherwise we're going to get the wrong people.

18:15 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Yes. So the sheep mentality, the herd mentality of just like this is the way I've always voted. This is what my community votes. This is just what we do. Yeah, we don't accept that with anything in Judaism. Why should we accept that with regarding to our elections? Now, again, I do think that we should have priorities and every person can make their own list of priorities. Have priorities and every person can make their own list of priorities. But again, what? The only part I'm going back to what marilyn said is it's important for us not to look at our politicians to be our moral compass. That's not. Those aren't the examples of, of of character that we should say oh this is stellar character. This is finally, I found the mensch right. They usually don't last very long in politics. All right, so now to your question.

19:09 - Eliana S. (Caller)
Yes, First question is how do we keep the mikvah sanitary?

19:16 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
That's a very, very important, very good question. The mikvah is the cleanest body of water you will find on planet Earth. I'm talking about the filtration systems that the mikvahs use today ensuring that they are pristine, and anybody who has been to a mikvah you can testify to this. And those of you who have not been, I urge you to go to a mikvah to see. We can do a tour here. If the class is interested, we can do a tour of a mikvah to see the cleanliness of the water. It is absolutely. The entire mikvah is filtered through constantly to ensure that it is pristine on the top, the highest standard possible. So it's yes.

20:09
That's also a reason why you don't want to use a women's mikvah for utensils. You don't want to have the stickers and all of the anything else that may have been on that utensil now floating around in that water. That wouldn't be pleasant and that wouldn't be clean. So that's why most mikvahs are not used for utensils. They have a separate utensil mikvah which is 100% kosher. That is only for the utensils, and you have a women's mikvah, which is just for women, and a men's mikvah, which is just for men.

20:42 - Eliana S. (Caller)
For that reason, you talked about the different types of countertops. We actually have laminate. Can you explain how you go through the process?

20:53 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Right. So koshering a formica type of that would be with water, just like you do with any other type of countertop. You can make sure it's clean, clean it really well, bubble up the water up to a boil and then just pour it on top and you've got yourself a glott kosher countertop. All right, that's what we did growing up. That's what we did our growing up. That's what we did. You know, every Pesach just did the whole countertop, the whole surface, the sinks.

21:27
Porcelain sinks are problematic because porcelain you cannot kosher. That's problematic. So that's why you'll find, in most kosher homes you'll find stainless steel basins for sinks, because those are easily costurable. All right, you just pour the hot water, you make sure. Now some, like my father, would do even more. He would have a steaming hot iron that would be like red you know red iron and he would take that along the surface while he was pouring. So you'd hear that sizzle, like you know red iron, and he would take that along the surface while he was pouring. So you'd hear that sizzle, like you know, and the entire surface making sure that it was done.

22:07
It's much easier and safer today to use an iron, or, if you use an iron, a clothing iron or a steamer that really gets to a solid temperature that really coshers it. If you put your hand after it's steamed or ironed and you can't keep your hand on it because it's that hot, it's hot enough it's called yatsu ledesbo that your hand will burn from it, right? So if you put the iron, you make sure that it was wet first. You wet it and put that iron. You make sure you steam the iron and then you put, put your hand on it after and you're like, ooh, that's really hot. You can't keep your hand on it because it would burn. That's how you know that it was hot enough, rabbi.

22:51 - Bruce S. (Caller)
I'm really confused. I thought we couldn't acquire from non-Jew items like wood or other things like plastic that would absorb impurities.

23:05 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Right, we were talking about acquiring pots and pans metal pots and pans from non-Jew Wood can't be koshered.

23:13 - Bruce S. (Caller)
Right, and the same with you know, like plastic bowls and stuff. Am I correct?

23:21 - Intro (Announcement)
on that. That's correct, okay, great.

23:23 - Bruce S. (Caller)
On a totally separate subject. Back to what Marilyn said. Ooh, politics.

23:29 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Okay, no, just kidding.

23:31 - Bruce S. (Caller)
Well, I look at Yiftach. You know, here's a guy who was the leader of a band of brigands and they came to him and made him a judge. He's in the judges and he certainly didn't have sterling character, but he had the military training and victories for the time that they needed him and the Jewish people took him on as the leader right.

24:04 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Right. The only time that we find that moral character is being judged to ensure someone's leadership role is, for example, a gadlador. You look at the leader of the generation in Torah, right, it's not enough for him to be a leader in generation, in knowledge of Torah, he has to actually be a leader of the generation in character. I'll give you an example if you want to understand what I'm talking about. Reb Aaron Leib Steinman passed away a few years ago. He was the leading rabbinic figurehead in the Torah community. Reb Eliashev I mean talk about the Reb Shach I mean these were really great masters of Torah, but their character was sterling like angelic people. Angelic Like when you were in their presence you felt like you were sitting with an angel. You weren't some guy just casually shouting at people or using words that aren't refined. You wouldn't find that, rabbi Aaron Leib. I'll give you just one quick story. A rabbi came to Rebbe Aaron Leib and asked about one of his students what do I do with my student? My student is not cooperating with the program here in school and I want to kick him out. You know he's a rabbi, one of his students, he's not up to par. He want to kick him out, you know, is the rabbi one of his students. He's not up to par, he wants to kick him out. So the rabbi says to him, I hear, and he starts asking, inquiring a little bit very gently, and he says to him what's the student's first name? He tells him his first name. He says and what's his mother's name? He says what he says, yeah, what's his mother's name? So he says I have no idea. The rabbi says you mean to tell me that you don't pray for this boy? You're ready to throw him out of school, but you haven't prayed for him. If you don't know his mother's name, that means you never prayed for him. How can you even think of sending this boy out of your school when you haven't been busy praying for him yet? So you understand the sensitivity.

26:32
There are hundreds of stories of where he would hear things people would come. As a leader, I can tell you, my grandfather was among those leading a generation and the questions that would come to him were heavy, big questions. As a leader, I can tell you, my grandfather was among those leading a generation and the questions that would come to him were heavy, big questions, big questions, and you'd have to be dealing with it with delicateness. There were times that questions would come to the leaders of the generation and they would cry just feeling the pain for another person, talking about people who worked on their character, who worked on perfecting their traits. And in the Torah, yes, the character of the leader is of essence. So I hope that answered that, bruce. I hope that in the Torah, yes, it is very, very important that the character be absolutely spectacular. All right, ed, go for it.

27:31 - Ed S. (Caller)
Yeah, what's the problem with quartz countertops? I've got quartz countertops and I mean they're scratch-proof. I can take my sharpest knife and I cannot scratch them. So I don take my sharpest knife and I cannot scratch them. So I don't understand. They can't absorb anything. I don't think right.

27:46 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
So the question is not whether or not they can absorb your knife. Can it absorb flavor? And that's what we're dealing with. Again, I have to investigate it a little bit more to get back to you with a better answer, because you didn't ask that for me to say I don't know, right, but I really don't. I have to investigate a little bit more about how the process is it won't even absorb stains.

28:09 - Ed S. (Caller)
I mean at other countertops.

28:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
I've poured grape juice on it and it would stay, it would stay.

28:14 - Ed S. (Caller)
It won't stain.

28:15 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Right. So it's a good question. I don't know why exactly, and which ones, I will bleen at it without promise. I will investigate it more this week and get back to you about that question.

28:24 - Ed S. (Caller)
The next question my grill. My grill gets up to about 600 degrees when I'm grilling a steak or something.

28:31 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
He has a Weber, just so you know.

28:34 - Ed S. (Caller)
All the leaves in it are ashes, are they not, kosher? Does it take care of?

28:40 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Yeah, that'll do the job. Kasha, that'll do the job. Let me just tell you an amazing story. So I have a friend of mine. He frequented at my house many years, him and his family, his children and he said to me you know, it's really not fair, because we always come to your house, we never have you at our house. What can I do so that you can eat at my house? I said we can go buy food from a kosher restaurant. He didn't have a kosher kitchen, he didn't have kosher food in his house. So he had some kosher food. Obviously, most products today that you buy you'll find with a kosher symbol Either way. So I said you know what, if you had a barbecue grill that was just used for kosher, that we can do.

29:23
So he bought a brand new barbecue that was going to be used only for kosher. So I came, I was there, I assembled it, we connected it to the gas line. It was perfect, spanking, brand, spanking new, brand new, beautiful grill. And we came there on a Sunday and we barbecued. Okay, and he said to me he said to me so many times he says it's only yours, only you're allowed to use it, Nobody else is allowed to use it. And someone came over to me and told me I just want you to know I was by their house last week and we had a barbecue there and it wasn't kosher. Okay, so what did I do? And then a few weeks later he called me and said come with the family, we'll have a barbecue.

30:04
So now I don't know for a fact that it was used, but I have heard that there's a strong possibility that it may have been used, heard that there's a strong possibility that it may have been used. So what I did was is I told him and I turned on the grill. I turned it on to the absolute highest it can go. And then we went to go play some basketball and in the middle he was like why is the grill on? We're not barbecuing anything yet. And I told him we're just preheating it. Okay, we're just preheating it so that it'd be ready. Meanwhile it was koshering it. It was 600, 700 degrees right in there and it was burnt to a crisp.

30:42
Whatever was in there, it was koshered. By the way, those grates, before we used them, we dipped them in the mikvah. All of his utensils we dipped in the mikvah. It was part of the experience. But yes, so in such a case we have to be careful.

30:54
Now, I don't think he was trying to be deceiving, by the way, at all. I don't think he was trying to be deceiving. He just doesn't know the laws. He doesn't know. He's like whatever, it's fine, it's okay, it's not okay, right, if a person doesn't know.

31:09
We're going to get into the laws in more detail soon. In the next episode we're going to be dealing with bread of an idolater, food cooked by an idolater, milk of an idolater. This is all we're going to get into that. But overall idea is that someone who knows the laws, someone who is observing the laws of the Torah, is in the realm of understanding how the laws of milk and meat work, how the laws of kosher work. And I wasn't accusing the individual. The person has no idea. That I know from this third source, but I just wanted to make sure, and all future times, that I did go, made sure I preheated it so that it got to a temperature that was koshering it completely, and then we can put our stuff on there. Okay, so it could be problematic when someone doesn't know that, but in a situation like yours, yes, it gets to that high temperature, it kosheres it and it's ready to roll.

32:14 - Anna S. (Caller)
The first obvious thing to me.

32:16 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
I want to commend you, by the way, because you said right when we started this, like you have tons of questions and you waited so patiently. We were already 36 minutes in and you waited so patiently. That's really beautiful.

32:26 - Anna S. (Caller)
I was hoping they would be answered already and some were and some were and some were. And thank you. Okay, the most obvious thing to me is my goodness gracious, it's so complicated right? So why wouldn't you just buy everything?

32:44 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
from a Jewish company and support Judaism in a bigger picture. Yeah, because Jews don't make everything. There are some, really, because there are some really great products that are made by non-Jews and we have to recognize that and go for the best right. And if you see that Weber grill I don't know if Weber is a Jewish company or not, but you know what they make the best grills and it's not a paid advertisement they make the best grills. So, yeah, you might want to stick to the best you know, and if it's not made by a Jew, it's not made by a Jew. And then there's a very simple process. Anything that comes into direct contact with the food needs to be put in the mikvah, submerged, and that's it. It's very quick, it's very easy, it's not a difficult process. You go one time and knock it all out.

33:29 - Anna S. (Caller)
I do vote yes on the tour of a mikvah, even though I've been. I would appreciate the tour if anybody else is going to take you up on that offer?

33:37 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Yeah, we'll try to put it together. Get a tour of a mikvah and that would be for men and for women, just to see, to understand the greatness of a mikvah.

33:46 - Anna S. (Caller)
Yes, You're talking about koshering by water or by fire, right and a barbecue grill 600 degrees. But what about in your oven? Can you kosher a vessel in your oven?

33:59 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Oh, like that to just bring it to the temperature. Technically, yes, you can self-cook your oven. When you put what is it called Self-clean? When you put in the self-clean process, that's exactly what it's doing. It's really koshering it for you, and if you put the grates in there, now everything is kosher. But you should just make sure that there's nothing left. The truth is that once it's burnt out, it's ash. There's nothing really there. I don't want to confuse it. We're going to get it, but yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. But then it has to go in the mikvah, if it was not mikvah-fied before. Okay, so you first kosher it, you make sure that it's within the realm of kosher and then you mikvah-fy it right after.

34:43 - Anna S. (Caller)
I heard you making a difference between vessels and utensils.

34:47 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Same. Thing.

34:48 - Anna S. (Caller)
Okay, so wood can or cannot be koshered.

34:53 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
I don't believe wood can be koshered.

34:54 - Anna S. (Caller)
Wood cannot be koshered, so wooden spoons.

34:57 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Right. So if it's trafed, it's trafed.

35:00 - Anna S. (Caller)
Okay Now plastic, you said, can't be koshered either.

35:04 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Either right.

35:04 - Anna S. (Caller)
But, there's so many silicone utensils.

35:07 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Right, right, so they can't be koshered.

35:10 - Anna S. (Caller)
It's the same. Yeah, it's the plastic. So what are you using on your nonstick?

35:18 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
stuff you buy new and you dedicate to either meat or dairy. Yeah, that's exactly it. You dedicate it and it's locked in and that's it. You'll notice that many of the kosher brands they'll have a red top for the meat, they'll have a blue top for the dairy, a green top for the parav. I'll give you an example of parav. That's like fish. Fish is not meat, it's not dairy. Now you can make it dairy and then it'll be dairy fish. You can't make it meat. You can never make fish meat. But you understand that you're not supposed to mix fish and meat ever. It's not healthy. Actually the Rambam says it's dangerous to mix fish with meat. It's not healthy, it's actually. The Rambam says it's dangerous to mix fish with meat. It's very dangerous.

36:01 - Bruce S. (Caller)
No gefilte fish with brisket.

36:03 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
No, no, no, no. Gefilte fish with almost anything, right, right, you know it's like yeah, gefilte fish is not known as a Jewish delicacy of honor. You know what I mean it's like. So it's like that's not why people come to Judaism. Like, let me try, you should try that gefilte fish.

36:21 - Bruce S. (Caller)
Like it's like that's not why people come to Judaism when I was a kid, I wouldn't eat it, because I said I'm not going to eat filthy fish.

36:27 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Yeah exactly, yeah.

36:29 - Eliana S. (Caller)
Right.

36:30 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
But there there's actually a very good reason why there was a gefilte fish. You want to know the reason? I think we talked about it, okay. So here's the thing On Shabbos there's a special mitzvah to eat meat and to eat fish and to eat wine and dine. It really brings out the best foods.

36:49
The problem was this is many years ago the problem was is that you're not allowed to remove the bones from the fish on Shabbos. Right, you can take the fish from the bones, but you can't. It's a complicated process. Especially, those bones were so small and so flexible they could crack right into the fish and then it's not pleasant. So people would be tempted on Shabbos to remove the bad from the good on Shabbos, and you're not allowed to do that. It's a biblical prohibition on Shabbos to remove the bad. It's called borer. You can't do that. So what do they do? What's the solution? Especially because they were really really fine pieces of bone in the fish. They would grind it up together with the bone and it'd be really finely. And again, there's vitamin C in those bones, right, it's healthy too, right, but whatever other nutrients there are in that bone? But it was really really thin and very right, you could eat it okay. But now that you ground it up it became one thing and you didn't have that issue of separating it anymore, and that's how gefilte fish came to be. Gefilte fish was the ground up fish, the fish meat together with the bone, so that now it didn't need to be separated. But then they came up with this jar with all of that stuff. It's not, it's not. This is not what it's about, my dear friends. That's not what fish is supposed to look like.

38:20
Salmon you can buy fresh salmon. It is. It's kosher. Salmon is always kosher. But other fish you need to ensure that they actually had fins and scales. Salmon, the color is so distinct that but you can find today in Costco you can find freezer packed with the big OU symbol, delicious, delicious fillets of fish, and it's clean, as can be, really really very, very nicely done. You know, I recommend that. I recommend that, if you like salmon, if you like, they also have other kosher fish in Costco. You can find them in H-E-B as well. You can find all of these different fish if you're a fish connoisseur. But meats, meats. You can find many, many kosher meats. My son is a meat wizard, okay, no, he can tell you every cut of meat. You can tell you exactly what temperature. You know smoked brisket, everything. You name it. He's a. He's a professional there. All right, continue.

39:22 - Anna S. (Caller)
So I'm not 100 percent kosher yet, and recently.

39:27 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
you're kosher. The food may not be kosher. Yes, yes.

39:30 - Anna S. (Caller)
Thank you. And recently I was invited to a potluck and I didn't realize that I was going to a kosher home and I made a couscous dish with chicken broth and then, when I got there after people were partaking, I realized everything was separate and I didn't say anything at the time. I was very embarrassed and uncomfortable, and so this person who I've observed their own kosher, is questionable. I am now faced with the dilemma do I need to make an amends to this person? How do I go about doing that? Or should I just leave it?

40:13 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Probably worthwhile for you to inform them that you don't have a strictly kosher home at this time yet and you're in the process of growing and learning in that arena and it could have affected some of their utensils. It could have affected some of the things, so they need to know it. They definitely need to know it and it's important for you to inform them. I think it's a big mitzvah for you to inform them. I've had this, by the way. I just want you to know. Everybody makes mistakes. Don't be embarrassed by it, it's okay.

40:44
My grandmother, very holy, righteous woman I love my grandmother. She won Rosh Hashanah. I was by her with first night Rosh Hashanah and it was a meat dinner and she brought out dessert and the dessert that she had it was this ice cream, chocolate ice cream wrap and it was always parv. It was always parv. For some reason, this one was dairy and she served us dairy right after we had the meat dinner. Obviously, total oversight, total mistake, but this is common. It happens. You're talking about the house of a very righteous family, right? My grandfather, my grandmother, they're special people. My grandfather, you know, was a big rabbi.

41:39
Mistakes do happen. Okay, it's okay. I've made a lot of things, trade for my house too. Okay, I've shared that with you. Mistakes happen. It's part of our growth. There's nothing to be ashamed of, and if I were to make something for someone else for dinner, I would inform them this is meat, this is not. This was meat. Right? Let them know so that they know exactly how they deal with it.

42:04
In general, if someone does not keep a kosher kitchen, it's important for them to tell people who are eating their food. You know, I don't observe kosher yet. Okay, Because we're all on a journey and we're all on the trajectory and people should know that, because you never know, someone might someone who is observant of kosher might be there and unbeknownst to you. Right? You don't want anyone to do anything that's inappropriate without them knowing. Definitely, okay, bad mistake, all right, excellent question. My dear friends, thank you so much for joining us. Please join us in this class by asking your questions. Send them, please to askawayattorchweborg. We look forward to addressing your questions and for you to be part of our class. Even if you're in Australia, you're in Germany, you're in New York City, wherever you are, it doesn't make a difference. We want your participation in our class. Thank you so much. We hope you enjoyed, have a terrific week. Thank you.

43:04 - Intro (Announcement)
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