Ten Tips for a Better Seder - with Trump Tips Added

It's a great performance. A dramatic Off-Broadway revue.

I have always had fun directing the reading of the Haggadah at the Seder. I learned this dramatic art as a child by watching my father (Rabbi Zev Zahavy) masterfully conduct the performance of the communal synagogue Seders as the rabbi of the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan. He did it right and authentic and dramatic.

So in the spirit of the season of rebirth and freedom, let me offer you ten tips for your seder extravaganza - this year we must add Trump Tips.

Where Can You Find the Best Deals on Passover Wine?

We wanted to know where to get some wine for Passover. A friend showed us wine-searcher.com and we were impressed. Here is what the site claims about their wine search service:

The Wine-Searcher search engine lists 5,554,710 wines and prices from 38,491 merchants around the world, making it easy to locate and purchase wine at the best available prices. The database grows day by day, and we use various procedures (both manual and automated) for removing lists that are out-of-date, incorrectly priced, or deceptive in any way. ... The search engine offers two levels of service:
1. Free-For-Use: searches all wine retailers' price lists, but if the searched-for wine is available at one of Wine-Searcher's sponsors, other results do not show.
2. Pro Version: shows all results for your chosen wine, not just those of our sponsors. A Pro Version subscription costs $39.00 (USD) per year, and includes extra services such as searches by bottle size and tracking your purchases at multiple stores.

In the case of Kosher wines for Passover, we found the local area search results excellent.

Update: The Times has a bunch of recommendations for Passover wines here.

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Is the smiling Taoist vinegar taster Jewish?

No, the Taoist vinegar taster is not Jewish, and not Talmudic.

A friend of mine a while ago sent me a quote from Lao Tzu, which reminded me of a wonderful book that I read several years ago called, "The Tao of Pooh."

My interpretation most days is that the smiling taster is glad that the vinegar tastes the way that it should. But you ought to read the parable and decide for yourself. Here is the excerpt from Benjamin Hoff's wonderful book:

Vinegar Tasters

"You see, Pooh," I said, "a lot of people don't seem to know what Taoism is..."

"Yes?" said Pooh, blinking his eyes."

So that's what this chapter is for - to explain things a bit."

"Oh, I see," said Pooh.

"And the easiest way to do that would be for us to go to China for a moment."

"What?" said Pooh, his eyes wide open in amazement. "Right now?'

"Of course. All we need to do is, lean back, relax, and there we are."

"Oh, I see," said Pooh.

Let's imagine that we have walked down a narrow street in a large Chinese city and have found a small shop that sells scrolls painted in the classic manner. We go inside and ask to be shown something allegorical - something humorous, perhaps, but with some sort of Timeless Meaning. The shopkeeper smiles. "I have just the thing,", he tells us. "A copy of The Vinegar Tasters!" He leads us to a large table and unrolls the scroll, placing it down for us to examine. "Excuse me - I must attend to something for a moment," he says, and goes into the back of the shop, leaving us alone with the painting.

Bergen Record: Teaneck Kosher Wine Store Extraordinaire: Queen Anne Wine and Spirit Emporium

We buy all our wine there! What more can we say?

Kosher wines have come a long way in short time
BY JOE IURATO

Admittedly, the closest I've come to celebrating Hanukkah is watching Adam Sandler in "Eight Crazy Nights." I am a Christmas-observing Catholic, one who's never experienced the Festival of Lights in his home, but I'm also a wine enthusiast. And wine, like love, is a beautiful language that knows no boundaries. It doesn't discriminate or separate. Wine brings people together. For as long as I've been interested in fermented grape juice, my knowledge of culture and geography has expanded and my eyes have been opened to worlds I may not have otherwise known. Now, with Hanukkah beginning Tuesday night, I'm on a mission to learn about kosher wines.

Where do I go to learn about the world of kosher wines without simply perusing the Web for morsels of most likely false information? One of the top stores in the country for kosher wines is located in Teaneck — Queen Anne Wine and Spirit Emporium. While the kosher wines selection in most wine shops is limited, Queen Anne offers an estimated 600-plus bottles to choose from. I talked with Kevin Roche, the store's owner and co-founder of WineMaster's — an association of retailers who are also sommeliers. It turned out to be an hour of enlightenment.

On completing the study once again of Talmud Tractate Hullin

Today marks the completion of daf yomi study of Tractate Hullin.  We are reposting our previous post of our recollections and of Rav Soloveitchik's remarks in 1974 at a siyyum for Hullin, previously published in a well-known compilation .

My translation of Talmud tractate Hullin, as described below, was re-issued recently by Hendrickson in print and on CD.

On April 1, 1973 in Rabbi Soloveitchik's Talmud shiur at Yeshiva University we completed learning the first chapter of Talmud Bavli Tractate Hullin. The Rav gave a dvar Torah at the Siyyum. He explained the meaning of the recitation of the hadran alakh, the prayer that promised upon the completion of learning a Talmud chapter or Tractate that we would return to study you - speaking to the text - again.

I kept the promise. Between 1992 and 1994 as a professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Minnesota I directed my research to the study of this chapter and the remaining eleven chapters of the tractate.

Is Chivas Regal Scotch Whiskey Kosher?

A few weeks ago in June 2011 a Conservative Jewish group representing synagogue men’s clubs in the US declared a boycott of some scotch whiskey as a response to some local Scottish boycotts of Israel in 2009. The Israeli press has picked this up and played up that the fact that the scotch does not have rabbinic approval as kosher, did not bother the Conservative group. As a matter of fact, most rabbis do not require whiskey to be certified as kosher. The article describes how 250 synagogues, via the men's clubs, have taken on Chivas.

בתי-כנסת נגד "שיבס"

טל יחזקאלי
עדכון אחרון: 20:39 , 15/08/2011

זה מספר שבועות שמותג הוויסקי "שיבס" מוחרם ע"י למעלה מ-250 בתי כנסת בארצות-הברית. התנועה המסורתית גילתה כי המותג מיוצר במחוז סקוטי המחרים את ישראל מאז מבצע עופרת יצוקה, ומאז - כ-25 אלף מחברי התנועה נמנעים משתיית השיבס. היבואן: "אי-אפשר לשייך את השיבס למחוז ספציפי אחד"

אם מחרימים לא שותים: לתנועה המסורתית בארצות-הברית, הזרם הדתי קונסרבטיבי ביהדות, נמאס מההחרמות על ישראל. לכן הקהילה המסורתית באמריקה החליטה לעשות מעשה, ומזה מספר שבועות, כ-25 אלף מחברי התנועה מחרימים את מותג הוויסקי "שיבס", המיוצר במחוז בסקוטלנד, שמחרים את התוצרת הישראלית מאז מבצע עופרת יצוקה.

הרב אנדי סאקס, מזכ"ל כנסת הרבנים וראש הלשכה לשירותי דת בתנועה המסורתית, אמר בראיון לתכניתנו "מה בוער" עם רזי ברקאי, כי "החברה המייצרת את שיבס כבר קיימה מגעים עם התנועה במטרה לשנות את המדיניות הקיימת בחברה".

למרות שהוויסקי אינו נמצא בהשגחת הרבנות, סאקס הסביר כי רק המחמירים ביותר נמנעו משתיית ויסקי. "בכל הקשור להשגחה בוויסקי, יש מגוון של דעות", הוא אמר, "אך אם לא מתייחסים לדעות של העולם החרדי, יהודים שומרי כשרות שתו שיבס ללא השגחה מאז ומעולם. המנהג התחיל בכמה קהילות אורתודוקסיות בצפון אמריקה. קבוצת גברים קמים אחרי קריאת התורה, ופשוט שותים ביחד את הוויסקי".

יואש בן אליעזר, משנה למנכ"ל טמפו, הזכיינים של יבוא שיבס לישראל, שמע על החרם של הקהילה האורתודוקסית באמריקה, ולדבריו, החליט מיד כי הוא רוצה להבהיר מספר דברים בנושא. "אני חייב להגיד שהחרם הפתיע אותי מאוד. ליצור של שיבס אחראים כמעט חצי מסקוטלנד", הסביר אליעזר, "המשקה הספציפי מורכב מ-40 עירבובים של סוגי וויסקי, ויותר - לכן קשה מאוד לשייך את השיבס למחוז ספציפי".

See the article here

See the Australian reaction a few weeks back.

At Your Huppah, Dear Mike and Susie

[Today my niece Susie, a law student, married Mike, a doctoral student in Mathematics. I had the honor of officiating as mesader qiddushin and offered the couple this little blessing.]

At Your Huppah, Dear Mike and Susie

Let me review the seven blessings you will hear under the Huppah and for the next seven days.  And then please allow me to add to them a short blessing of my own.

1.         You are blessed … who created everything for his glory.

We start the blessings of our wedding service with the invocation of the universe and creation and the glory of G-d.

2.       You are blessed… creator of humans.

We move in to focus on the creation of humanity. Still quite universal. Theological and global.

3.       You are blessed… who created humans in His image, in the pattern of His own likeness, and provided for the perpetuation of his kind.  You are blessed, Lord, creator of humans.

We talk about the image of G-d and the perpetuation of the human species. Continuing to be philosophical, scientific and distant.

Times: Swimming Pool Photos to Cool You Off

We have not yet started liking that new Sunday section in the Times.
This is a lovely photo spread of pools from the "Times Sunday Review."
OPINION   | July 24, 2011
Swim, Meet
A collection of photos by Kate Orlinsky. 

We Wish You a Dramatic Passover

We wish all of our readers a dramatic Passover.

Actually we think it may be appropriate officially to wish you all an anxiety-ridden Passover. And most probably it is not at all proper to wish you a happy Passover.

It's a bit tricky to explain this. We start with the Midrash books called Pesikta Derav Kehana and Yalkut Shimoni. Both point out that regarding the Sukkot holiday the Torah says "happy" three times, for Shavuot, one time. But for Passover you will not find a single mention of "happy" in scripture.

Sure there's a generic holiday commandment that you should "rejoice in your festival" and that applies to Passover too. Note well: To have a happy holiday and to have a holiday that is happy are two different things. Happy as an adjective means to engage in happy celebrations, ritual activities. We wish each other, "Happy Festivals."

But "happiness" as a noun is state of mind or being. There is an emotional entity that we call "happiness" that is the goal or concrete product of some holidays. But the Bible tells us, not of Passover.

Why? Passover is the festival of freedom from slavery. We were slaves. Now we are free persons. The chains are unlocked. The enemies are defeated. Still, that does not create "happiness." The Israelites leave Egypt in "haste" - no time for the bread to leaven, no time to pack. And the GPS takes them to a dead end at the sea.

This then is the festival of anxiety and uncertainty. Where are we going? What now is our destiny?

Sukkot by contrast is a festival of happiness. The harvest is in the storehouse. What could bring more value and contentment? It is a celebration of achievement and material well-being. Hence happiness. Shavuot by contrast is a time of rejoicing. We have the first fruits and we have received the Torah, a concrete embodiment of our religion. Hence happiness.

Passover leads us to the desert where who knows what will happen? Yes there is the relief from bondage. But that is a fleeting sensation. Where now?

"May you have an anxiety-ridden Passover," seems like the greeting that is about right. Indeed why is this night different? We eat the flat bread of affliction, lest we miss the message of anxiety. We eat the bitter herbs, a strange ritual, but clear way to recall uncertainty. We dip twice, we are nervous wrecks. And we sit slumped in our chairs, worn out from our mental anguish.

We joke with some of our more informed friends, "Have a happy and kosher Pesach. And try not to crucify anyone." History tells us that this is a season of notable anxiety and violent conflict.

And we imagine the rabbis sitting to discuss what to do to deal with the anxiety of the festival. One rabbi speculates, We already have one or two cups of wine on the agenda, one for kiddush and one that we can require for the grace after the meal. Have we got the uncertainty covered yet? Two more cups of wine on the menu should do it, another rabbi decides. And so it is, four cups of wine to compensate for the anxiety of this festival.

We hope all of that explains something of our wishes to our readers.

Have a dramatic Passover!

What Makes Wine Kosher?

My former student, Max Sparber of Minneapolis wrote in September 2007:

Kosher wine: If it’s good enough for winos and the prophet Elijah, it’s good enough for you

ARE THERE WINOS ANYMORE? There must be, as most American big cities have one section of town that still serves as a skid row. Even if you were to miss the gangs of drunks, often seen shirtless and sipping from brown paper bags, it would be impossible to miss the broken glass. The sidewalks and gutters are filled with shattered bottles. Among the empty vodka and malt liquor bottle shards, the careful observer will notice a distinctive label: that of MD 20/20, commonly referred to as Mad Dog, a sickly sweet wine fortified with various fruit flavors, including “Pink Grapefruit” and “Hawaiian Blue.” Alcoholics still take to Mad Dog for the same reason they have for decades, and for the same reason they favor other sweet wines. It is inexpensive and it kills your appetite, which is an important consideration when choosing between a meal and a drink.

What most winos don’t realize is that while they’re working on enlarging their livers, they are also obeying strict Jewish dietary law. Mad Dog, you see, is produced by Mogen David, and is manufactured under careful rabbinic supervision. Winos, it seems, have a taste for kosher drinks.

In general, most Americans don’t have a very clear understanding of Jewish dietary laws. A Jewish Studies professor at the University of Minnesota used to tell a story about his frequent experiences aboard airplanes, as the flight attendants would inevitably discover that they had neglected to pack a kosher meal for him. According to the professor, who, as a graduate of Yeshiva University, also held the title of rabbi, could always look forward to the flustered flight attendants bringing a regular meal and offering to find a rabbi to bless it. ..... more

Kosher Food Fight in the New Jewish Food Movement

Not every progressive movement is truly grass roots. New Voices reports on the, "Culture Clash in the New Jewish Food Movement." The machlokes here seems to me to be entirely leshem shamayim - the disputants all appear to be on the same correct side of the issue... A special hat tip to Jack for bringing this to our attention.

When Ethan Genauer discovered that he couldn’t afford to attend the food activism conference hosted by the Jewish environmental group Hazon last December, he decided to make a fuss. Activist movements, Genauer reasoned, should be accessible. This one, with its expensive conference at a resort in Monterey, CA, was not. So, he published an open letter calling the New Jewish Food Movement elitist, arguing that it caters to a wealthy subset of the Jewish community while failing to confront broader social justice issues. “During a holiday season of massive economic implosion when millions of Americans are struggling just to put food on their tables,” he wrote, “what message does the comparative luxury of the Hazon Food Conference send?”

The New Jewish Food Movement has emerged as a Jewish wing of a broader movement emphasizing locally grown produce, sustainable agricultural practices, and a return to the pleasures of preparing one’s own food...more...

Man-o-Manischewitz - What a Quintessential American Jewish Family

We surely recall the advertisements, "Man-o-Manischewitz, What a Wine!" Well we can make exclamations about the family too.

We have a Teaneck contingent here in town via Ofra Parmett, great granddaughter of the founder. Accordingly our local paper. the Bergen Record, picked up the story from the RNS and improved upon it.

From wine to matzo to snacks, the foods from Manischewitz are ubiquitous in the Jewish community and synonymous with quality. (By the way remember that Tam Tam crackers, mentioned in the article, are great snacks, but they are not kosher for Passover.)

Family's name spells generations of pride
BY NICOLE NEROULIAS, via NorthJersey.com from the RELIGION NEWS SERVICE

For many Jews, the thought of Passover conjures up images of families feasting on matzo, kosher wine and for a few brave souls, perhaps, gefilte fish.

Chances are, the name on the packaging is always the same: Manischewitz.

For the family that traces its lineage back to Behr Manischewitz and the Cincinnati bakery he opened in 1888, the labels remind them of their family's pioneering efforts to make kosher food widely available, though it's a responsibility they gave up when they sold the Manischewitz Co. nearly 20 years ago.

While their family name remains synonymous with bustling factory inspections and community fanfare, Manischewitz's descendents now celebrate Passover — which begins at sundown Wednesday — quietly at home, just like any other Jewish family.

"People ask us about it, when they hear our name, but in my generation, the interest, in general, had waned in making a career at the company," explained Jack Manischewitz, 66, the founder's great-grandson and a retired grant manager for the National Institutes of Health.

About six dozen Manischewitz descendants are scattered from California to North Jersey to Israel. Most have different surnames, and none have anything to do with the kosher factory that's now headquartered in Newark.

Ofra Parmett, 54, a great-granddaughter of Behr Manischewitz who lives in Teaneck, said growing up with the last name Manischewitz wasn't always easy.

Jokes about the sweet wine licensed by the company were a particular favorite of Parmett's classmates.

"People always asked me if my feet were purple from stomping on the grapes," she said.

But Parmett, an artist, said the company and the family name that remains attached to it also have been a source of tremendous pride over the years. Stories about the company's humble Midwestern roots long ago entered family lore, Parmett said, recalling that her grandparents opened their Cincinnati home to Jewish cross-country travelers.

"Jewish travelers who needed Jewish food would stop there," she said. "Their home was very open. They'd be feeding all these people."

Giving up the company — and for the married women, their last name — came as something of a relief for Parmett's cousins, Jack Manischewitz and his sister Laura Alpern. In their youth, they had grown tired of jokes about their name, particularly in connection to the sweet wine.

But as adults, and especially at this time of year, when their family name graces supermarket shelves and seder tables across the country, they embrace a sense of pride in their past. They can also pass the family history on to their own children now, chronicled in Alpern's 2008 book, "Manischewitz: The Matzo Family — The Making of an American Jewish Icon."

Alpern, 63, a librarian in Switzerland, traveled to Ohio, Latvia and Lithuania for her research, aided by older family members and archival materials saved by previous generations and Jewish collectors. Her inquiries confirmed that the Manischewitz name, assigned to the family in America, is unique. She has found only a handful of Manischewitzes who are not related to her family.

American Jewish historian Jonathan Sarna, who wrote the introduction to Alpern's book, credits the "iconic" Manischewitz clan as helping devout immigrants succeed without having to sacrifice their religious traditions, a marked difference from those who had assimilated before them.

"The image was, if you wanted to make it in America, you had to abandon these rituals. You couldn't be too Jewish. You had to Americanize," he said. "And suddenly, here was this company that became a major company and its legitimacy, certainly in the early years, was tied in with the fact that they were Orthodox."

The family's machine-made, square matzo was deemed acceptable by traditionalists, even though the crackers bore little resemblance to the handmade, round variety that had endured for thousands of years. Mass production made the product affordable and accessible to all Jews, bringing back to the fold some who had abandoned rituals that seemed impractical for America.

"There's a large group of people for whom their only connection to Judaism is that box of Manischewitz matzo or the bottle of wine on their table at Passover time," said Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz, the company's director of kosher operations.

"It's the matzo they saw at their parents' table, at their grandparents' table."

Each generation modernized production and expanded the offerings — adding the popular Tam Tam crackers and wine during the 1940s — but by the time Behr Manischewitz's great-grandchildren had become adults, none had any interest in working in the family business, opting for careers in the arts or sciences instead.

Alpern thinks that perhaps if the women, who had assumed leading roles in Jewish organizations, had been encouraged to get involved in the business, the company would have remained under family control longer.

Then again, her brother noted, traditional women were homemakers, ritually restricted from handling matzo during certain times of the month. Only older women could be hired for the baking process.

This year, the Manischewitz descendants all plan to celebrate Passover at home: Parmett in Teaneck, Manischewitz in Maryland and Alpern in Switzerland. Parmett and Manischewitz stock up on their favorite Manischewitz staples for the occasion. Alpern has to settle for ingredients from Israel or France, but her family still prepares dishes from her treasured 1972 Manischewitz Passover cookbook.

"Manischewitz products have been sold in Europe for over 70 years, but Switzerland is too small a market for the company's products," she said. "When I am in New York, I always stock up on my favorite Tam Tams and macaroons."

Parmett said she is reminded of her family legacy almost every time she visits a supermarket.

"It's nice," she said. "You know, I guess in some ways I'm so used to it. You go to the store and you see your name on the box, and every once in a while you think, 'Oh, wow, that's my name!' " she said. "You've been used to it since you were a baby, but it's nice."

Staff Writer William Lamb contributed to this article.

TC Airport: Muslim Taxis Must Take Booze and Dogs

We've been following this story because it's got all the elements of high religious drama. Airports, alcohol, dog saliva, fatwas, Somalis, demands for a prayer room - watch for this on the new Law and Order: G.O.D.

Tighter airport cab rules proposed: Officials want tougher penalties for refusal to transport passengers carrying alcohol.

By John Reinan, Star Tribune

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport officials want to crack down on Muslim taxi drivers who refuse to carry alcohol or service dogs in their cabs.

At a meeting Wednesday of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), airport staff members asked the commission to give the go-ahead for public hearings on a tougher policy that would suspend the licenses of drivers who refuse service for any reason other than safety concerns.

Drivers who refuse to accept passengers transporting alcohol or service dogs would have their airport licenses suspended 30 days for the first offense and revoked two years for the second offense, according to a proposed taxi ordinance revision.

"Our expectation is that if you're going to be driving a taxi at the airport, you need to provide service to anybody who wants it," commission spokesman Patrick Hogan said.

The penalties would also apply to drivers who refuse a fare because it is too short a trip.

The full commission is expected to vote on the proposal for public hearings at its next meeting, scheduled for Jan. 16.

Airports Commissioner Bert McKasy called the dispute -- in which some drivers complained that carrying alcohol or dogs violated religious precepts -- "unfortunate," but said that serving the public has to be the primary goal.

"I think it's pretty much the consensus of the commissioners and the staff that we have to provide good service to the public, and that's pretty much the bottom line," McKasy said.

About 100 people are refused cab service each month at the airport. Roughly three-quarters of the 900 taxi drivers at the airport are Somali, many of them Muslim. In recent months, the problem of service refusals for religious reasons has grown, airport officials have said, calling it "a significant customer-service issue."

Last year, the airport proposed a system of color-coded lights on taxis, indicating which drivers would accept passengers carrying alcohol. That proposal was dropped.

Hogan said the goal is to have a new policy in place by May 11, when all airport taxi licenses come up for annual renewal.

"We want the drivers to know about the policy in advance, so that if they don't think they can work under these conditions, they have the option of not renewing their license," Hogan said.

Last year, the airports commission received a fatwa, or religious edict, from the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society. The fatwa said that "Islamic jurisprudence" prohibits taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol, "because it involves cooperating in sin according to Islam."

Eva Buzek, a flight attendant and Minneapolis resident, called the new proposal "great news." Buzek recently was refused service by five taxi drivers when she returned from a trip to France carrying wine.

"In my book, when you choose to come to a different country, you make some choices," said Buzek, a native of Poland. "I never expected everything to be the same way as in my homeland, and I adjusted. I never dreamed of imposing my beliefs on somebody else."

'A violation of faith'

But Hassan Mohamud, imam at Al-Taqwa Mosque of St. Paul, and director of the Islamic Law Institute at the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, one of the largest Islamic organizations in the state, said that asking Muslims to transport alcohol "is a violation of their faith" as well as of the spirit of the First Amendment.

Mohamud, an attorney who teaches Islamic law at William Mitchell Law School in St. Paul, said, "Muslims do not consume, carry, sell or buy alcohol." Islam also considers the saliva of dogs to be unclean, he said.

Mohamud said he would ask airport officials to reconsider, adding that he hoped that a compromise could be worked out that would serve as a bridge between the American legal system and the cultural and religious values of the immigrants.

Currently, he said, more than half of the state's taxi drivers are Muslim and about 150,000 people follow Islam in Minnesota, most of them in the metro area.

"So the commission should respect the will of the majority of the taxi drivers, with complete accommodation to the consumers," Mohamud said.

Many Somali taxi drivers don't have any problem transporting passengers with alcohol and are worried about a backlash, countered Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center. Jamal said he supports the tougher penalties.

"We tell the taxi drivers, if you don't want to do this, change your job," he said. "You are living in a country where alcohol is not viewed the way it is in your country."

But Jamal and Mahmoud both disagreed with the airports commission on another issue of religion and airport operation. Jamal said his group will continue to push for a separate prayer room at the airport reserved solely for Muslims.

That won't happen, according to Hogan.

"Our position is that there will be no room for one faith," he said. "We have a quiet seating area that can be used by anybody for quiet contemplation or prayer. If that is inadequate, we could possibly look at finding a larger space.

"In no case would we be looking at [exclusive] space for one faith or another."

Staff writer Joy Powell contributed to this report. •

NY Times: Kiddush can make you sick

The Times reports November 7, 2006 some bad news in its science section.

Certain cheap red wines are more likely to give you a headache or a hangover. We Jews have been known to use the cheapest red wine for Kiddush, the blessing and drinking of wine before meals on Sabbaths and Holidays.

That's because in past times the only kosher wines were often the syrupy Malaga or Concord varieties from Kedem or Manischewitz. The good news is that in recent years, Jewish kosher wine consumption has gone upscale. Keep this in mind next time you replenish your wine cellar. Spending more on a good quality wine from a good vintage year -- well that could make you healthier.

The story:

Really? The Claim: Some Types of Alcohol Cause Worse Hangovers Than Others
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR

THE FACTS Too much alcohol of any kind can cause sickness and regret the morning after. But it’s often said that some kinds of drinks are worse than others.

Experts say that the type of alcohol you drink does make a difference, but for various reasons. Among the most important is the amount of congeners (pronounced CON-juh-nurz) — complex organic molecules, like methanol — in a particular drink. Impurities in poorly refined spirits like cheap vodka can also play a role, but congeners, which are common in darker liquors, seem to have the greatest effect.

According to one report in The British Medical Journal, which looked at the effects of different types of alcohol, the drink that produced the most hangover symptoms was brandy, followed by red wine, rum, whiskey, white wine, gin and vodka. Another study showed that bourbon was twice as likely to cause sickness as the same amount of vodka.

There is also wide variation within certain categories, like wine. Wines that come from countries where a small change in climate can greatly affect their quality, some experts say, can contain significantly more hangover-inducing compounds in a bad season. Inexpensive red wines, in particular, have a reputation for causing sickness. But that may be because some people suffer from a syndrome called red wine headache, whose cause is unknown. What scientists do know is that the wines that cause it vary from person to person, and across brands, grapes and price.

THE BOTTOM LINE Certain types of alcohol can make a hangover worse.

A Drunk Mel Gibson Rants About the "F--king Jews"

The Talmud says. "When wine goes in, secrets come out." Mel Gibson got drunk the other night and revealed to us all beyond any doubt that he is indeed an anti-Semite. We had already known this from his film, "The Passion.." a movie full of anti-Semitism.

He cannot stop apologizing now. Somehow I cannot but think how ironic it would be if the statement of apology that he has issued was written by his Jewish lawyer.

Mel Gibson "Out of Control" - Yahoo! News:

Mel Gibson 'acted like a person completely out of control.'

This, according to Mel Gibson, who apologized Saturday for his behavior during a drunken-driving arrest in Malibu. The Oscar-winning star did not elaborate on how he 'disgraced' himself; TMZ.com did.

The entertainment news Website, citing, in part, a report filed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy who took Gibson into custody, charges the actor-director, only two years past criticism that his film The Passion of the Christ set back Christian-Jewish relations, spouted anti-Semitic remarks, addressed a female deputy as 'sugar t-ts,' tried to evade arrest, got rough with a telephone and threatened to urinate in his jailhouse holding cell.

'My life is f--ked,' the Mad Max star said, more than once, per TMZ.com, after being pulled over by a sheriff's deputy early Friday morning on Pacific Coast Highway.

According to the sheriff's department, Gibson was flagged for speeding in 2006 Lexus sedan--allegedly going about 80 mph in a 45-mph zone. A sobriety test revealed Gibson's blood-alcohol level to be 0.12, exceeding California's 0.08 legal limit, the department said.

Gibson was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, booked at the sheriff's Malibu/Lost Hills Station, and, after posting $5,000 bail, released from custody at about 10 a.m. Friday, online records show.

When asked Friday afternoon if Gibson gave deputies any trouble, sheriff's department spokesman Steve Whitmore said no. Gibson's own apology--not to mention the TMZ.com report--says otherwise.

'I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested and said things I do not believe to be true and which are despicable,' Gibson said in a statement. "