One Big Scam

[onionsoupmix]

In this whole entire city, there is not one package of kosher gum. Not one. I have shlepped from store to store, asked managers and hounded the kosher department workers. There is no gum and there probably isn't going to be any gum anytime soon.

I called Wrigley's. Their people tell me the glycerin is not animal based.

What else? What else is the

Comments

[fetteredwolf]

I probably spent $7000 on vet bills the past two years. So, I have cats and dogs and a guinea pig, she has tefillin and mezuzot. Whatever makes you happy, you know?

[onionsoupmix]

I know. But she's only doing this b/c she thinks God will like her better. But God doesn't care. Kind of like God doesn't care about my gum, I don't think.

[hamaskil]

Hi OSM, this is Hashem. I'm sorry to hear about your Wrigley problems. I've told those rabbis so many times that I don't care if you chew this gum or that gum. But they need to make a modest living, send their kids to overpriced Jewish day schools, take a quarterly kosher cruise vacation, marry off their children and buy them all apartments in Bnei Beraq... So I can't be of help. They don't really care what I say anyway. Sorry... you can also pray to my wife, Shechinah, she may have more to say.

[onionsoupmix]

Hashem, you need to speak up for yourself and not let the rabbis mess it all up. Just sayin.

[hamaskil]

I have tried. They don't listen to me. They say my opinion doesn't matter since it is yochid vs. rabim. So, you have to choose whom you listen to - them or me :)

[gishmak]

Message me your address and I'll be happy to send over some certified kosher gum from Brooklyn. :) Why take a chance?

[onionsoupmix]

yes, people have offered and it's very nice of you. I also know how to use the internet and just order Bloom's or Lieber's or whatever. But it's a pain. Why should I do things that are a pain on the off chance that God cares? The ingredients are the same. The same. Does Hashem really care? Why do you think so?

You can chew Wrigelys as long as...

[gishmak]

* You don't receive oral sex from a man
* You wait patiently until you receive your Get, because only out of the husband free volition can you receive a Get
* If you have the opportunity to kill an Amaleki baby, you do so without delay

- God

Re: You can chew Wrigelys as long as...

[gishmak]

why take a chance on the "off chance" that G-d cares?
well, let's see...think of consequences...
which is worse? taking a chance eating treif, G-d cares, you're held responsible...
or G-d doesn't care, you spent a few extra bucks.
Isn't it better to be more stringent and eat only kosher gum because of possible consequences??

[ruchel]

In "my" world, if the ingredients are just the same, the chewing gum is written on the kosher list and that's the end of the problem.

In "my" world also, given that all ingredients that may have been contact (products stored or manufactured in the same factory), I would go by ingredients if needed, and know rabbanim who do the same/allow it/tolerate it.

Btw I always treated products with "may contain traces of milk" as dairy, and heard recently from a rav that no, it's not enough to make it dairy, hence parve! Imamother ladies who faint, but I thought it was pretty "open minded"!

[sethg_prime]

As a matter of halakha, perhaps there is a concern about other contaminants on the production line that would render the gum non-kosher even if all the ingredients are kosher. (I know very little about practical kitchen kashrut, let alone industrial kashrut, so I am just speculating.)

As a matter of economics-you could look at this from the “demand” side as well as from the “supply” side. If there is a population devoted to machmirhood on principle, they will look up to whatever rabbis tell them to keep chumras, and look down on the rabbis who are lenient. And the best way to prove to yourself and your neighbors that you are sacrificing yourself to Hashem is to spend lots of money on your chumras, because in our society nothing is truly important if it doesn’t cost a lot of money. (Paging Mr. Marx.... Karl Marx, please pick up the red courtesy phone....)