The show must go on….and on: Rabbis Chaim Loike (left) and Dovid Jenkins continue to answer questions following their presentations at the Ask the OU Rabbis session in South Florida.
In a great event in Great Neck, endorsed by 12 local synagogues, OU Kosher will present its two poskim (halachic decisors) -- Rav Hershel Schachter and Rav Yisroel Belsky -- as they bring their lifetime of Talmudic wisdom to the community in a wide-ranging presentation that will include an “ASK the OU Poskim” session. The ASK OU OUTREACH program, sponsored by the Harry H. Beren Foundation of Lakewood New Jersey, is open to the entire community, with free admission.
The Mesivta Tiferes Jerusalem(MTJ) high school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan was the latest school to be OU Kosher’s guest for the Harry H. Beren VISIT OU program. The group, led by Menahel Rabbi Shaul Katz (center) and their rabbeim, met with Rabbi Menachem Genack, Chief Executive Officer of OU Kosher, and heard from OU posek Rav Yisroel Belsky, who spoke on what he had learned from the illustrious Rosh HaYeshiva of MTJ, Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l.
In this extra special video, OU Kosher Senior Poskim, Rabbi Yisroel Belsky and Rabbi Hershel Schachter, provided practical guidance on issues spanning the breadth and depth of Yahadut, in another OU Kosher Webcast recorded live at OU Headquarters on Tuesday, December 13.
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
ChaNaN does not apply to a davar heter. This is because chatichah na’ases neveila, as it name implies, means that the entire item that absorbed ta’am of issur becomes like a neveila. Since one must refrain from eating the item, we view it as becoming 100% assur. This sevara obviously does not apply to a davar heter such as kosher milk, kosher meat or kosher fish. Therefore, if 1 gallon of kosher milk is mixed with 10 gallons of water, and this mixture is then mixed into 100 gallons of water, we would not say ChaNaN and the milk would be batel b’shishim. Although, we would still insist on labeling this product as dairy, however there would be no need to kasher the equipment that came in contact with the mixture since the milk is already batel.
VPLENISH® packets, the world’s first completely taste-free, clearly dissolving vitamin powder announced today that they are now certified kosher by the Orthodox Union, the world’s largest and most respected kosher certification agency.
The participants in the second OU Harry H. Beren Advanced Kashrut Seminar for Women, held immediately following Hurricane Irene, proved that they were a force of their own to be reckoned with. From Brooklyn to Quebec, Amherst, MA to Baltimore, they weathered traffic and flooding, using their precious time for one week to expand their knowledge of kashrut from the experts of OU Kosher.
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
The minhag of Ashkenazim is to apply the halachos of Chatichah Na’ses Nevaila (ChaNaN) to all issurim, not just to basar b’cholov; (Rema Y.D. 92:4). Therefore, if one kezayis of any issur is cooked with 9 kezaysim of heter, we would have 10 kezeysim of issur. If these 10 kezaysim of issur, are subsequently cooked with 90 kezaysim of heter, although this is more than 60 times the original kezayis of issur, nevertheless because we say ChaNaN the entire mixture becomes assur. However, there is a distinction between the original 10 kezaysim and the subsequent 90 kezaysim. The original 10 kezaysim are assur mid’oraisah because they were mikabel ta’am issur (ta’am k’ikar); however, the later 90 kezaysim are only assur mid’Rabbanan because of ChaNaN b’shar issurim.
By Rabbi David BistricerJune 2011By Rabbi David Bistricer
OU Kosher Rabbinic Coordinator
To submit questions for future columns, please send them to , or call the Kosher Consumer Hotline, at 212-613-8241.
OUKosher RSS Feeds