Destiny in a Plastic Cup
by Rabbi Yisrael Rutman
My dentist was right.
That is what I was thinking to myself as I poured the cold Cabernet
Sauvignon into a plastic cup on the kitchen table. Our family dentist is not
only a superb dentist, he is also a superb drinker of wines, a connoisseur.
He is not a religious man, but the thought of drinking wine in a plastic cup
is, to him, well, a sacrilege. Wine is an elegant drink. As such, it requires
a fitting vessel, such as glass or silver. To drink it from a plastic cup says
something unfortunate about the drinker. No doubt, he wasted his
formative years habituating his palate to the insensate slosh of
Coca-Cola and Heavy Concord. He does not appreciate the carefully
wrought balance, the subtle flavorings, the emotional intensity of a fine
wine.
So I plead guilty, but with a smile. I am, or at least try to be, a religious
man; but the thought of drinking wine in a plastic cup doesn't bother me at
all. On the contrary, there is something about the incongruity of the wine's
elegance and the cup's cheapness that appeals to my sense of humor.
And I can just imagine my dentist gnashing his teeth at the sight of it.
There is a similar rabbinical dispute about the use of disposable cups for
Kiddush, the blessing which marks the beginning of Shabbat and
festivals. Some say like I, that a cup is perfectly adequate to the task.
How wonderfully it keeps the noble liquid from spilling all over the table
and onto the floor. Could a vessel of silver or glass do the job any better?
Others maintain that for the sake of a mitzvah - whose reward is nothing
less than eternal life - a throw-away cup will not suffice. It is for this same
reason that a cracked or dented cup of whatever material is unfit for
kiddush.
But there is more to it. Every mitzvah has its own special story, and
kiddush is no exception. To begin with, we must acknowledge that wine,
whether we appreciate its finer aspects or not, is not like other
beverages. From the time of Noach, when, on the first day after the
Flood, he fell to drunken nakedness, wine has taken its place as the
ancient lubricant of immorality. Because of it, one who feels tempted to
immoral conduct may take the vow of the nazir, who abstains from wine
for a period of time. From the biblical law of the nazir the Sages have
derived the principle of making fences around the Torah to protect us
from transgression. Just as the nazir must stay away from any product of
the vine, lest he come to violate his vow of not drinking wine, so als
have many rabbinical prohibitions which keep us off the slippery slope to
sin.
But the Jewish attitude to wine is not limited to abstention. It is redeemed
by use in the sanctification of Shabbat and festivals. The same beverage
that was used as the sensuous run-up to sin is transformed into a noble
prelude to days of Divine service.
The cup, too, is more than just a container. In Jewish tradition, the cup
can symbolize either salvation or retribution. The cup full to the brim
symbolizes that our portion in life is a full portion. No matter what our
condition, we accept the Divine judgment; we are lacking nothing.
Ultimately, the uplifted cup of wine represents the thanksgiving of the
returning exiles. Kiddush is destiny; and destiny cannot be contained in a
plastic cup.
That is why normative halacha is that one should not use a disposable
cup for kiddush, unless nothing else is available. But that's only on
Shabbat. When drinking wine just for the personal pleasure of drinking
wine, when it is not eternity I am imbibing, but a slightly elegant relaxation,
then I can have it any way I want. I can enjoy my wine and have my
incongruity, too.
But on Shabbat, the dentist is right. Then the quality of the vessel must
match the quality of the wine. Of course, it is not for his reason. For him,
it is a matter of esthetics, of knowing how to have a good time, how to
appreciate the wine. For us, it is a matter of ultimate values, of knowing
how to appreciate the mitzvah, how to approach eternity---with a cup of
wine in hand.
A young Jewish man excitedly tells his mother he's fallen in love and going to get married. He says, "Just for fun, Ma, I'm going to bring over 3 women and you try and guess which one I'm going to marry." The mother agrees. The next day, he brings 3 beautiful women into the house and sits them down on the couch and they chat for a while. He then says, "Okay, Ma. Guess which one I'm going to marry." She immediately replies, "The red-head in the middle." "That's amazing, Ma. You're right. How did you know?"
"I don't like her."
There are differing school of thought on whether you can take Viagra on Shabbat: Beit Shammai forbids the ingestion of Viagra on Shabbat, lest one violate the infraction of "erecting a structure" (boneh). Beit Hillel permits ingestion of Viagra before sundown as long as the Kabbalat Shabbat takes less than 1/2 hour to complete, the kids are asleep and the wife doesn't have a headache. And what Bracha does one say before taking the Viagra pill? There is a choice of four blessings: 1. Borai p'ri ha-eitz - blessing over the fruit of the tree 2. Baruch Atah HaShem zokeif k'fuffim - straightens those who are bent 3. Baruch Atah HaShem ya'aleh v'yavo - arise and come 4. Baruch Atah HaShem mechayei hameitim - raises the dead
Jewish Football Player. ----------------------- A young Jewish lad entered Notre Dame to play football. At the end of the season, he returned home. As luck would have it, he ran into his Rabbi at the airport. The rabbi asked, "Are they trying to convert you at South Bend?" The youngster said, "Of course not, Father!"
He's really worried that the decorator will chip the paint work or won't put them up correctly; however, when he comes back a few hours later, he sees that the job has been carried out to his entire satisfaction.
He's so pleased that he gives the decorator a bonus. As the decorator is walking out of the door he says : "Glad you're happy with the job, mister.
By the way, I took out all the warranties in the little boxes and left them on the table for you.
11/7/01 4:02:35 PM