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    • Maaris Ayin When Entering Non-Kosher Venues

    Maaris Ayin When Entering Non-Kosher Venues

    By: Rabbi Mordechai Frankel

    Summer 2009

    Q: May one enter a non‐kosher restaurant to get a drink of water, use the restroom or attend a business luncheon?  If a person does enter such an establishment, may he eat kosher items such as whole fruit?  May one buy a cup of coffee at a non‐kosher facility, such as a highway rest stop or Starbucks?

    A:  There are a number of activities that, although not inherently wrong, are forbidden by Chazal.  This is because it may appear as if he is performing a seemingly different act that is halachically forbidden. For example, a person whose clothes got wet on Shabbos should not hang them out to dry as it will appear to the onlooker as if he washed them on Shabbos.1 Even though the viewer should be ‘don lekaf zechus’ and judge him favorably, in reality not every person is so charitable in this […]

    The Drinks of a New Generation

    The Drinks of a New Generation

    By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

    Published Summer 2009

    Those of us who remember the famous marketing jingles of years past certainly recall the memorable multitudes of people locking their arms together while singing the praises of a soft drink, “What the world wants is the real thing!”  Today, that exclamation resounds throughout the beverage industry while most of the world is looking for the healthy, natural, nothing artificial, real thing …  others just want something yummy.

    Raising Cane: The Kashrus and Other Halachic Issues of Cane Sugar

    Raising Cane: The Kashrus and Other Halachic Issues of Cane Sugar

    By: Rabbi Zvi Goldberg

    Published Summer 2009

    It is noteworthy that in both Jewish and secular sources, the first recorded references to cane sugar are attributed to Jewish kings. In Shir HaShirim1, Shlomo Hamelech writes “Yaari Im Divshi,” “My forest with my honey.” Some commentators2 deem this to be referring to cane sugar and deduce that sugar canes are considered trees. Secular sources indicate that cane sugar was first used by man in Polynesia, and from there it spread to India. Darius of Persia invaded India, where he found “the reed which gives honey without bees”. Darius was the son of Achashveirosh and Esther[...] Read More