(s5763-30
/ 22 Adar II)
Reality Follows The Law
The
Chasam Sofer and the Yismach Moshe differed in their rulings about
the force-feeding of geese.
1) Fatted Geese for Passover
In Europe it was the custom to fatten up geese in the months
preceding Passover, since many families refrained from using any oil other than
goose fat. For six to eight weeks the geese would be fed a full bucket of corn
twice a day, so that by the time the holiday arrived they would be so huge they
could barely waddle.
Two religious giants of the early nineteenth century,
the Chasam Sofer and the Yismach Moshe, differed in their rulings
as to whether the practice of force-feeding rendered the geese not kosher. The
question revolved around whether or not the sharp corn grains which were forced
down the throats of the birds would damage the esophagus, thus making the birds
treife (i.e., unable to live another year, and therefore not kosher to
eat).
The Chasam Sofer held that the esophagus would not necessarily be
damaged, and so he ruled the practice permissible. (Of course, the geese had to
be carefully checked before being consumed to prove that they were kosher by the
process described later.) His contemporary, the Yismach Moshe felt that since
the corn kernels were sharp, the likelihood was that the birds would be rendered
treife by the force feedings. He ruled that geese fed in this manner would
not be permissible.
The two corresponded back and forth, each presenting
learned arguments to prove his point, their dispute purely "for the sake
of heaven." Finally, the Chasam Sofer suggested that instead of theorizing,
they should put their rulings to a practical test. Each was to take ten geese
and fatten them up. Then, they would slaughter them, fill the esophagi with air
and float them in a full tub of water. If the esophagus was damaged air bubbles
would escape into the water, thus proving that the bird was treife. If
no bubbles were seen, the bird would be kosher.
When the birds were duly
fattened and slaughtered, an amazing thing took place. All the birds from the
household of the Chasam Sofer proved to be kosher, whereas all the birds of the
Yismach Moshe tested treife!
So it was seen that the legal rulings
of these two great giants dominated the physical reality, proving the axiom that
the rulings of true Torah authorities determine the actuality of a physical situation.
[Adapted
by Yrachmiel Tilles from L'Chaim #217]
Biographical notes:
Rabbi
Moshe Teitelbaum [1759-28 Tammuz 1841], known as the Yismach Moshe after
the title of his book of Torah commentary, was famed both as a scholar and wonderworker.
A disciple of the Seer of Lublin, he was instrumental in the spread of Chasidut
in Hungary. His descendants founded the dynasties of Satmar and Sighet.
Rabbi
Moshe Shreiber [1762-1839], was a giant of Torah known as the 'Chasam
Sofer,' after the title of his volumes of responsa which have been significant
to a high degree in the modern development of Jewish law and thought.
2.)
The Land of the Living
Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef of Drivin was one
of the elder disciples of Rebbe Dov Ber of Lubavitch and, after the Rebbe's passing
in 1827, became a disciple of his successor and son-in-law, Rebbe Menachem Mendel
of Lubavitch. Both rebbes used to direct students to Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef to learn
Chassidic philosophy from his mouth.
He moved from Drivin he became the
rav of Polotzk. Subsequently he became dangerously ill, and his doctors despaired
of saving his life.
Interestingly, the disease from which he suffered
is the subject of a conflict of opinion in the Shulchan Aruch, the Code
of Jewish Law. If an animal were to contract this disease, Rabbi Yosef Caro holds
it to be still kosher, Rabbi Moshe Isserles holds the animal to become trefah,
in which case it must be discarded.
Said Reb Eliyahu Yosef: "I know
what to do. I will go and settle in the Holy Land, where Rabbi Yosef Caro - from
his time onward - is the dominant ruling legal authority for that region. In Israel,
the law will be settled in accordance with his view!"
He set out at
once for the Holy Land, where he lived on for over twenty years more. At length
he passed away on the twelfth of Tammuz 1865 in Jerusalem, among those hills he
was brought to rest.
[Adapted by Yrachmiel Tilles from Treasury
of Chassidic Tales, p. 526]