All Questions Answered by Rabbi Seymour Friedman (Emeritus)
Question: What is Jewish law regarding eating cheese and bread and other foods that were made by non-Jews but don't have any non-kosher ingredients on the ingredient list? What if they have no hechsher?
The controversy over the kashrut of cheeses dates back to the time of the Talmud.
Cheese is made from curdled milk. Since the curdling agent was rennet which is extracted from the walls of a calf's stomach, cheese was forbidden as a mixture of dairy and meat.
According to some authorities, however, the use of rennet does not affect the kashrut of cheese because rennet no longer has the status of food and is comparable to a mere secretion.
Some halakhic authorities demand hechsher for certain cheeses, implying that those without a hechsher are not kosher, other authorities maintain that all cheeses are permissible and no hechsher is necessary
The Committee on Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly has decided to follow the lenient opinion
For more information refer to A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein pages 306 - 307.
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Question: My 6 year old asked me how it is we have free choice if God knows everything in advance, and while I'm so proud of him for his advanced thinking, I am embarassed that I don't know the answer! Can you help? What does Judaism say?
The doctrine of free will is one of the basic principles of Judaism. In the Torah (Deut 30:19) it states "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; choose life"). In Pirke Avot, 3:19, Rabbi Akiva declared "Though everything is foreseen by God, yet free will is granted to man." So explain to your son, whose question an excellent one, that he should understand that God's foreknowledge doesn't predetermine man's actions. good or bad. The choice is left to him and your son is able to choose between right and wrong that hopefully you well help him learn, and thus, what he decides to do is what is important. It is his choice.
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Question: Everyone knows most affairs happen at work and its easy to see why. Now that I am married, I'd like avoid that ever happening to our marriage, but I am so used to the banter and the latent sexual edge of office life. Are there any Jewish guidelines that can help me stay true to myself, true to my wife, and still a part of the office crowd?
Yes! Harold S. Kushner writes in his book TO LIFE " When Judaism teaches that we are are responsible for our actions, it is telling us that we are responsible for what we do, not what we think, dream, or fantasize about."
The banter and latent sexual edge of office life are, I suppose, part of the culture of the work place. Your participation in the verbal chitchat is acceptable, but keep in mind that you are responsible to see that it remains there (not in the realm of actions).
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Question: The Founding Fathers seemed to think that believing in God actually mandated democracy; today many of the world's most religious people seem to think that belief in religious laws make democracy undesirable. What does Judaism think?
There is no contradiction between Judaism and Democracy. I refer to Rabbi Menahem Alon's book Hebrew Jurisprudence, the chapter on "public regulations." (p. 558)". It should be noted that democratic regimes were not in existence in biblical times, or during the time of the Mishna and Germara. Reference to democracy does not exist in halacha until the10th Century. However, some aspects of democracies do exist, such as equality before the law. "And therefore man was created alone.." But the form of government in which authority resided with the people did not exist.
Rabbi Alon writes: "A deep and crucial change took place towards the end of the 10th Century, with the rise in power of the Jewish community. This community was a social unit, and it encompassed in its authority and supervision all areas of its members activities, and it was within the kehilla that the social and spiritual fabric of life was woven. It has a great deal of autonomy: internal leadership institutions that were made up of appointed and elected officials; it supplied the educational and social needs of its members; there was a court with judicial authority in civil laws and to a limited degree even criminal law."
From that point onwards, over hundreds of years, Jewish law developed to include the legitimacy of the public to enact regulations that acquire the authority of toranic law, when and if they ware enacted by majority opinion required the opposing minority to follow them as well. "It was permissible for those regulations to include orders opposed to existing halacha." (ibid p. 595).
Thus, it seems, that democracy has deep roots in halacha.
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Question: I am very disturbed by the wasteful behavior at my synagogue. Every Kiddush after shul uses tons and tons of disposable goods, throws out a lot of half eaten food and half consumed plastic bottles of soda. Isn’t there a massive level of communal sin in this type of disposable behavior, particularly as our landfills overflow and our economy is so bad. How is this Jewish behavior?
Man's responsibility is for all that which has been created including animal and plant, for the earth and its fulness have been entrusted in his care to use or abuse. If he uses it in the proper manner our Sages give him the title of God's partner in creation. The Creator prepared all the materials and ingredients necessary to continue the job where He left off. It is man's duty to cooperate with him and bring the world to ultimate perfection. The entrusting to man to continue where God left off is found in Genesis 2:3 "God ceased from all the work that He had done." The implication that now it is man's responsibility to continue to work and utilize the earth. In the Book of Psalms 8:7 "Thou has made man to have dominion over the works of Thy hands. Thou put all things under his feet."
Thus you have a right to be disturbed by the waste. Therefore, it is incumbent upon you to seek ways to minimize waste at home, in the synagogue and the comminity. In that way you will continue to follow what God has asked of you and us.
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Question: Is there a difference between 'just words' and images in terms of suggestive Internet content in terms of being unfaithful?
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