[Avodah] Chalav Yisrael: Required or Recommended?

[Prof. Levine]

At 07:00 PM 1/21/2018, Micha Berger wrote:
>They had rabbanim who had
>    already ruled it was permissible, such as R' Dov Revel, R' Yisrael
>    Avraham Abba Krieger, (among other greats of early 20^th century
>    American Judaism whom time has forgotten because the huge waves of
>    post-War immigrants to the US never met them) R' Breuer, R' Moshe
>    Soloveitchik and his son R' JB Soloveitchik.

What is your basis for asserting that Rav Breur 
ruled that Chalav Stam was permissible?

Here is an excerpt from an article that I wrote 
about Rabbi Aryeh Leib Malin that will appear in two weeks in the JP.


Reb Leib, Reb Moshe and Chalav Akum

After WW II was over some of the Mir students who 
were in Shanghai came to America.  They found 
themselves living in a country were the level of 
Jewish observance was often very low. “This was 
not a shock to the Mirrer talmidei chachamim, who 
knew the scourge of this European “Enlightenment” 
- inspired progressive Judaism that sought to 
clothe non-Jewish ideologies in more-or-less 
Jewish garb. By contrast, the Mirrer talmidim 
held fast to the Tree of Life that was Torah through thick and thin.
“Yet they thought they had found other grounds to 
be shocked and concerned: In this environment of 
hefkeirus (in the spirit of ‘anything goes’), the 
Mirrers found that even the small Torah-true 
Jewish community was drinking chalav akum (milk 
not supervised by a Jew at the time of milking), 
something that in Europe would have been totally 
unacceptable. They made inquiries regarding the 
situation and they were told, ‘Our Rabbi, R’ 
Moshe Feinstein, says this is permitted in America today.’

“The Mirrer scholars had not yet heard of the 
chashuve R' Moshe Feinstein, and the renowned 
Mashgiach, R’ Yechezkel (Chatzkel) Levenstein, 
delegated one of the outstanding Torah scholars 
at the Mir, R’ Leib Malin, to look into the 
matter. He phoned R’ Moshe, who was at a bungalow 
colony, and a heated debate ensued, as R’ Leib 
would not accede to R’ Moshe's point of view.

“Finally, R’ Moshe asked him, ‘Have you heard of 
R’ Yisrael Zeev Gustman, the dayan of Vilna?’
‘Yes, of course I have!’ answered R' Leib, ‘We 
were chavrusas in Grodno before I went to the 
Mir." And he added the usual adjunct of European 
Jews in 5706 when speaking of a Jewish person 
they had known before the war: ‘Is he still 
alive?!?’ ‘He is indeed alive,’ replied R’ Moshe, 
‘and he is right here in the bungalow colony. Do you trust his opinion?’

“‘Certainly,’ replied R’ Leib, knowing that R’ 
Gustman was also an admirer of R’ Chatzkel. 
‘Well, I have discussed this issue with him over 
the past few weeks, and R’ Gustman agrees that 
the milk is kosher.’ R’ Moshe called R’ Gustman 
over to speak with R' Leib by phone, and the 
great dayan explained R' Moshe's position: Under 
the prevailing conditions in the United States 
and since the milking met strict U.S. 
regulations, the milk was permitted despite not 
having Jewish supervision or milking. R’ Leib 
accepted the ruling, and the matter was settled.”[i]



[i] Rav Gustman, by David Page, Mesorah Publications, 2017,  pages 121 – 123.

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