The restrictions were placed to prevent intermarriage. If we can not agree upon what to make a L'Chaim upon we will weaken our ability to find suitable religious Jewish partners for our children

It should be noted that American bourbon whiskey is unaffected by the ruling, as these are (by law!) aged in new oaken casks.

Georgy, Your hatred of religion is boiling over. Sure, you don't believe in Hashem. You are too big a boy to believe that you don't have control over your life and this world. You are bigger than Hashem, in your own mind. GET OVER YOURSELF! Religion is not the biggest mistake in the world. It is people like you who has lost his way which is the biggest mistake in the world. If you are Jewish, you should be ashamed of yourself. Obviously, as Yaakov pointed out.... You are a self-hating Jew by any definition of the word. It is so sad that your body is sitting there in Israel and not someone who would enjoy the holy land. I ask, what is wrong with you? Why do you hate Hashem so much? Why cant you see the miracles in your midst? Is the Yetzer Hara in control of your soul? So it seems, sadly so it seems....

Do not drink too much whiskey when you are writing talkbacks. Should Georgy not be ashamed if he is muslim or christian? By being in Israel he is probably doing more for this country than you do. How do you dare to judge someone like that? Religion is not the biggest mistake in the world, but the people like you who think that they can justify themselves by hiding behind it.

After all of these years, all of a sudden, yet another rabbi gets his name up in lights for another "startling revelation", this time that . Whisky isn't Kosher. Does that now mean that all of those previous and now deceased Rabbanim and orthodox observers will now be hurled out of Heaven?? Surely, this must be as we are told that "ignorance of the law is no defence". We've had all of the scares and "booba mansers" used by rthe unscrupulous to frighten the observant into ever tighter servitude... Meanwhile, by this rationale, the logic of these "experts and scholars" who seem to have nothing better to do than dream up new ways of making life difficult, is that there is NOBODY in heaven.....

Uzi, 1st off... I don't drink alcohol at all, at least I haven't for over 16 years now. 2nd, as a religious Jew I have EVERY RIGHT to have my voice heard in Israel. Israel was established as the Jewish Homeland, if you forget history just pick up a history book Uzi... I can't believe how naive you sound... To claim I have no right to defend the religion which I am so proud of is so Left-Wing that it is not even funny. What are you smoking over there? Open your eyes friend... This YNET site has been taken over by left-wing wakos who are out to destroy Israel. Israel was and always will be THE HOMELAND OF THE JEWISH SOUL. Those who live there and are trying to destroy Torah, and destroy the lifeblood of the Jewish people are doing so at their own peril. You have much gall to make the assertions you have. Do you have a conscience? If so, ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish. I am not hiding behind anything. I am a Baal Teshuva who is very proud of my Jewish heritage. I want to preserve the faith in the holy land, and by giving money, voting for Zionist agendas, and talking with Israeli's I accomplish my goals. If you read what the real enemy is planning you will know that Israel is DOOMED unless it acts very quickly. If you don't get it, too bad... I talk to many Israelis and know what is going on there. Thanks, Michael U

You did not drink for 16 years and you still write like you are drunk. We do not want your money. It probably goes to the settlers. Sure, we hear your voice, but that does not mean that you have to right to insult people and call people left-wing wakos. In that case, you look like a right-wing wako.

Some of those fundamentalist Jews really want both this world and the world to come. Fine, stick with your cooked, oh. "flash pasturized" wine to be on the safe side.

You've already voiced your anti-semitic opinions on a number of issues, but they are largely politcally related. this is a religious issue and doesn't really even warrant your opinion, so shut up, crawl back in your hole and come out when you have something decent to say.

What's this got to do with mixing meat and milk? any shellfish in the bottle? I have separate dishes and silverware, I eat out only kosher fish, how much more restrictive can these people be? If anything smoking should be considered not Kosher for that it can do to the body.

having been in the kosher food business for a few years and importing food from Israel I've had to deal with the differant kosher groups in america. This rabbi doesn't accept that rabbi, and this rabbi doesn't accept Badats this or that. and this rabbi says that I need to employ one of his students to watch the freezers for me and that rabbvis says that I can only store it in a complex under his peoples watchful eyes etc,,,,, and all for the minamal cost of putting me out of business... the Kashroot in Florida has been rocked with scandle over and over again, Maybe when they stop running it like freaking Mafia bosses the Neo nazi trash would stop using it in their arguments,, never ever dare call me a Nazi or even put me in their ranks again you small minded toad.

No whiskey is worth drinking it is only for nagel vasser. Whisky which comes from Scotland is the kosher variety and for drinking - except Red Lable reserved for the Americans only. Never ever confuse whiskey with an "e" with the genuine article which is spelt whisky. Sucn portrayalof ignorance is poor reporting and misleading in the extreme.

With all due respect (and believe it or not I do have a lot respect for anyone who keeps any form of kashrut), the same shulchan aruch which requires different dishes for meat and milk would require you not to eat hot food in a non-kosher restaraunt. Check out chapters 87 to 111 of yorah deyah. Yasher Koach on your mitzvah observance. You are a beacon of hope amongst these comments. Avi

drink vodka instead

instead of non-religious always starting bs with the religious and vice-versa , y doesnt each person follow what the want, if a religious person wont drink it then it shouldnt bother the non-religious. and if a non-religious will drink it then he should be told, if he doesnt listen then he is the one that has to deal with it after 120 years

I am modern Orthodox... and this, more than any other thing I have heard in my life makes me loose repsect for rabinic rulings.... and I think now I really will "Pick and choose" what I follow. Let's follow the line of logic that leads to this..... the Torah says keep yourselves pure... don't marry goyim, oh and don't worship idols. (Pick whichever reason you want for the ban on goyish wine) So to make extra sure we enforce that.... it doesn't matter who makes the wine, we don't trust it if it's not Jewish, and incidentlally, this will stop us from going over to a goyish friend's house and having a drunken orgy (at least not with HIS wine) So now all non-Jewish wine is banned. ALong with much grape soda and grape flavored candies, and lots of cranberry juice, and lots of other stuff. Ok. So now.. we are going to go SO far that we are going to treat this wine as radioactive.. a few drops makes the entire food/drink forbidden. And if a few molecules of flavor remain, those are radioactive to. Oh and since after a few hundred years, we've decided to up the wine-alert level, now even if the cask has been fire burned out, so a few molecules of wine THAT REALLY HAS NOTHING WRONG WITH IT TO BEING WITH AND ARE NO LONGER EVEN THERE. That makes the whoel cask contaminated now, ther's no way to clean it. By this logic, it is assure to eat any food which ahs touched the air, since lingering molecules of treif food in the air will have settled on your sandwhich. This is utter stupidity. Are our lives not difficult enough already? Do you want people that live outisde of Israel and New York to just give up being Jewish?

I find it sad that this is an old issue which has been dealt with long ago, and gets brought up again every twenty yrs or so. The fact is that Rav Moishe Feinstein in Igros Moshe explains that with Blended whisky, the Shulchan Oruch clearly says that it yayin stam is bitul bsheish ie there can up to a sixth of yayin stam within the whisky, for it to be kosher. This is basic halochoh. People ought to learn these things before they go and make wild statements. Dayan YY Weiss in Michas Yitzchok as well as Rav Shmuel HaLevi Wosner in Sheivet HaLeivi both deal with whether new liquid (here the malt whisky) which is placed into old casks subsequently revive the old wine flavour. They both point out that even if it does happen, the amount is so small that it doesnt make a large enough difference to the taste- despite what any mumche might say or indeed any new style of marketing which these distilleries are latching on to. There we go- it is clear cut that the poskim allow us to drink blended whiskey, kol shkein malt whisky. Lchaim for all those doublewood/macallan/sherry wood finish lovers!!!

Bitel Bshishim or in this case bitel bshesh only applies if the taste can not be detected. Anyone who knows about whisky knows that the flavor of sherry imparts a - well - flavor. I lovwe the Israelis. They all hate Judaism so much. Ever wonder why you l got whipped in Lebanon twice, limped out of Gaza with your tails between your legs, are wheezing out of the West Bank, have lost half of Jerusalem and are the onl country on earth a third the size it was 30 years ago? Maybe G-d is happier with the Arabs. You are unholy people trying to live in a holy land and you are being vomited out. Good ridance.

Johnyy Walker is not aged in sherry casks. Any debate doesn't apply to it at all.

There is a tosfot in Avoda Zara which says that yayin nesech which is absorbed in the walls of a barrel is OK. Also if it is Noten Ta'am lifgam it is OK to some authorities. My wfie says that the odour is worse because of the sherry barrels and as I rely on her kashrut in the kitchen I rely on her opinion on the whiskey as well.