[Avodah] Chalav stam

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 12:58:47AM -0500, Noah Witty wrote:
: RMF, ztz"l, has four chalav yisrael/chalav stam teshuvos. If you follow 
: them by the dates, it is remarkable how his language, meaning choice of
: words, shifts and slides towards a nuanced chumra as the chronology 
: roles forward--perhaps some of it due to the person/institution asking
: the question, indicating special/different circumstances--while still 
: adhering, as I recall, to the basic notion that we may without doubt 
: rely upon the government's oversight.

Another thing that changed over time was the amount of effort it took to
follow the chumrah. RMF may be giving a very consistent picture over
time, but the language changes as the difficulty descreased.

With the exception of the yeshiva, where the IM mixes in chinukh issues
to justify using chumeros one may choose not to bother with at home.

: For literalists, you might want to contact the O-U and inquire why/how 
: they give hashgacha on take-out fleishiks (might apply to fish as well)
: that, in fact, does not have 2 chosamos.  I called and was told that the 
: purpose of the chosamos was to make the package tamper-evident. I am
: puzzled by the circumvention of the literal words of the gemara--but we 
: know that about 600-800 years ago Tosafos already did this for clapping
: hands on Shabbos and YT. 

Other cases:
    Electric shaving
    Basar kafui
    as RNW implied by juxtaposition -- chalav hacompanies
    Beis Yaakov
    etc, etc, etc...

One thing I don't know how is decided is when a statement is taken as an
example of an underlying principle, and when it's taken literally. But I
gues that's what RNW wants someone to get from the OU.

In the case of the Tosafos on clapping on Shabbos and the IM on chalav
yisrael, the rationale post-dates the norm. The fact that others the
author considered more authoritative than themselves seemed to have
approved motivates rationales that they might not otherwise use.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

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