« Home | Woops!!! » | What Hashem Places In His Inner Chamber » | Even The Angels Were Crying » | Are You Involved?? » | Parnassa » | Spiritual Guidance » | Yaale Viyavo In Major And Minor Jewish Venues » | A G-dly Perspective » | Passover Preparation » | Much News That Is Not Fit To Print »

Eat It But Only A Small Amount!!!

The suspense that you have experienced since the last post has probably been very difficult. So here is an email that R' Yitzchak Dayan Shlita, a good friend and chavrusa sent to me. His love for Torah is exceeded only by his sterling character!

We discussed this issue in Penn recently. We didn’t really resolve it. There are a number of factors to consider. First, let’s consider the issue of the beracha, and the ramifications of letting it be levatala. Ashkenazim in general maintain that a beracha levatala is d’rabbanan, while Sephardim tend to maintain the position of the Rambam that beracha levatala is d’oraita. Given that the person in question is named Yanki, we will assume that he is of ashkenazic descent.



Rav Ovadia [Yabia Omer vol. 2 yoreh deah 5 and vol. 10 yoreh deah 3] has written that in such a case a person should eat a tiny bit of ice cream because the waiting period between milk and meat is only of rabbinic origin while the proscription against beracha levatala is d’oraita, and it is better to taste a small amount. However, yanki is Ashkenazi, and presumably does not rely upon the ruling put forth by Rav Ovadia because of his differing views on the nature of the prohibition of beracha levatala.



Thus, Yanki should probably say “baruch shem kevod malchuto le’olam va’ed” to minizmize the damage of his beracha levatala since he seems to have realized within the time period of “toch kedei dibbur”, and he should not taste the ice cream since the injunction against doing so is on the same level as the prohibition of making a beracha lavatala.



And he should definitely marry the girl—12 dates means that they are getting along very well, and everyone should marry a girl frummer than he is.



Shalom uBracha


My addendum: Even though my Mother was born in Czech. and my father in Belgium which I guess would qualify me as Ashkenazi. If an hour had passed since I had eaten meat I too would have a drop of ice cream to avoid a bracha l'vatala. See [besides the breathtaking responsa in the Yabia Omer] the sources cited in Sefer Piskei Tshuvos page 838 [don't worry, you don't have to read the first 837].

Maybe Yanki is the son of a Ashkenazi mother and Sefardi father. Or maybe both of his parents are Sefardi but his dad is a big Yankee fan. So when he was young they called him "Babe" [after Babe Ruth] and now that he is older he goes by Yanki.

I too would advise him to marry her if he really likes her.


Powered by WebAds
Segula - 40 days at the Kotel

About me

  • I'm Rabbi Ally Ehrman
  • From Old City Jerusalem, Israel
  • I am a Rebbe in Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh.
My profile