Kosher-For -After-Pesach Beer

If you live in the United States and you like beer, then you most likely have encountered beers sold by Manhattan Beer. The company is one of the biggest beer distributors in the United States with annual sales of tens of millions of bottles and cans.

If you are American and like beer and are religious, then you have a problem buying beer from this company for several months after Pesach. This is because the owner of the company, Mr. Simon Bergson, is Jewish. He was asked to sell his chometz but always refused.

Why? He had many good reasons. First, why should he sell his business to a stranger when he built it up himself? Second, being a Jew unfamiliar with religious life, he did not understand why chometz had to be sold. Third, being a law-abiding American citizen, he knew that he could sell his business only to someone who had a license to sell alcohol. Someone like that was probably one of his competitors. Only a nut would sell his business to his competitor.

When there isn’t any beer, this is a problem for many Jews who consume this beverage as well as for event halls that host simchas, and of course for anyone making a shalom zachor.

PESACH PROBLEM

The story began during a Shabbos HaGadol drasha in the Beis Eliezer Yitzchok shul on Kingston, corner of Montgomery in Crown Heights. Rabbi Don Yoel Levy is the rav of the shul and is also the head of the OK kashrus organization.

During his drasha, R’ Levy spoke about the problem of buying beer after Pesach. According to the data that he had, most beer sold in New York was distributed by Manhattan Beer which is owned by Simon Bergson.

“This is full-fledged chometz sh’ovar alav ha’Pesach,” said R’ Levy. He said that over the years, various kashrus organizations approached Bergson but were unable to convince him to sell his chometz. Therefore, they would be publicizing a letter, warning one and all, including supermarket owners, owners of halls and restaurants, not to buy beer from Manhattan Beer after Pesach. Whoever needed beer had to buy a lot of it before Pesach and sell it with the rest of his chometz, for after Pesach it would be prohibited to purchase it for a long time. R’ Levy referred to it as almost a “decree that the public could not withstand.”

Rabbi Kalman Weinfeld is rabbinic coordinator of the restaurant, hotels and catering department at the OK. He was sitting at the drasha. Next to him sat Rabbi Nosson Sternberg, a businessman and askan, son-in-law of the askan, Rabbi Eli Slavin. When they heard this, R’ Sternberg whispered to R’ Weinfeld that previously, he had been in charge of computers and programming at a bottling plant. In his work, he had annually attended a beverage association conference in New York where he got to know the representative of Manhattan Beer.  This rep was a religious Jew.

Said R’ Weinfeld, “If you know him, maybe, being frum, he would be willing to help arrange a meeting with Mr. Bergson so we can explain to him the importance of this matter?”

That very night, R’ Sternberg called the man that he knew. It turned out, the man no longer worked at Manhattan Beer. The man said that he himself had tried talking with Mr. Bergson about selling the chometz, but to no avail.

R’ Sternberg asked the former employee whether it was possible to show up at the main office of Manhattan Beer without an appointment, in order to meet with Mr. Bergson. The man said that wasn’t possible. As far as he knew, they would not even allow him to park there, never mind walk into the building without an appointment.

R’ Sternberg hung up the phone with a sigh. He didn’t think there was anything they could do and he called R’ Weinfeld to report.

Nevertheless, R’ Weinfeld kept thinking about it. The next day, after he completed a supervisory visit in New Jersey, he didn’t stop wracking his brain – how could Mr. Bergson be convinced to sell his company’s chometz to a gentile, thus saving tens of thousands of Jews from transgressing a prohibition.

He decided to write to the Rebbe in detail and ask for a bracha and guidance for how to proceed. He put the letter into a volume of Igros Kodesh as many Chassidim do.

The letter he randomly opened to was a letter from Purim 1944 in which the Rebbe explains the mitzvos of gifts to the poor and mishloach manos; when you are trying to get someone to influence a friend in Torah and mitzvos, there are two ways of doing so. One way is “matanos la’evyonim,” by telling the person how disgusting evil is, as well as the punishment of gehinnom for someone who transgresses. This way, says the Rebbe in the letter, is the mussar approach. The other way is to explain the greatness of the Creator, how great Torah and mitzvos are, and how to come close to the Creator of the world. This way is the way of Chassidus.

The differences between the two ways, says the Rebbe, is that with the first way, when you present it to someone, it’s not a mitzva in and of itself; it’s a means to draw him close to Torah and mitzvos, which is why it’s the aspect of “gifts to the poor.” The second way, the presentation itself is a mitzva for it is a mitzva to know the greatness of the Creator, “know the G-d of your father.” This way is not only “gifts to the poor” but also “mishloach manos ish l’rei’eihu.”

R’ Weinfeld immediately understood which approach he had to take. He fortified his bitachon that in the merit of the clear guidance from the Rebbe and the brachos, he would be successful.

Since the Rebbe spoke about mishloach manos, he thought this would be the right way to approach Mr. Bergson.

WHO MAKES KOKOSH CAKE EREV PESACH?

If you know R’ Weinfeld, you know that he is gifted not only with charisma but also with nonstop original ideas. He decided to go straight for Mr. Bergson’s heart before reaching his mind.

Since he heard that Mr. Bergson was born in Europe after the war, he assumed that he knew what kokosh cake is, which is why he called his mother in Yerushalayim and asked her for the recipe.

“My mother had never heard of normal people baking kokosh cake the week before Pesach, but I begged her and explained that it was for a holy purpose. Boruch Hashem, it came out great.”

After R’ Nosson Sternberg located the address of the main offices of Manhattan Beer in the Bronx, R’ Weinfeld headed over there. As anticipated, he was not allowed to even enter the company parking lot and was politely asked to leave. He drove off while strengthening his bitachon, knowing that this was a difficult mission and it wouldn’t be easy.

Although it was one of the busiest weeks of the year, erev Pesach, and the kashrus of restaurants and hotels, as well as overseeing more than two hundred mashgichim was his responsibility, he decided to visit Mr. Bergson’s home. Once again, it was R’ Nosson Sternberg who, through his contacts and siyata dishmaya, located the address. It was a luxury apartment in an exclusive Manhattan high-rise building.

At the entrance, he was stopped by the building’s security guard, who asked who he was and why he was there. R’ Weinfeld said he had come with a present for Mr. Bergson. The guard told him to wait and called the Bergsons and said that a friend named Kalman Weinfeld was waiting in the lobby with a present. After a few seconds, the guard put down the phone and told R’ Weinfeld to leave the present with him. “The Bergsons asked that you leave it here,” he said.

Not having a choice, that is what R’ Weinfeld did, but he did not leave. With permission from the guard he waited in the lobby for half an hour, as he said Tehillim for the success of his mission. He davened to Hashem that Mr. Bergson come downstairs so he would be able to meet with him directly.

His prayer was accepted. The elevator opened and out came Mr. Bergson with his wife and their guests. They headed for the exit.

R’ Weinfeld knew this was the critical moment. He had a few seconds to catch the attention of Mr. Bergson. As he quickly walked in his direction, he whispered the prayer, “Hashem, open my lips; may my mouth relate Your praise.” This was his mother’s advice. She had told him in the past that whenever he needed to speak to someone important, to say this brief prayer.

As he approached, he held out his hand and said in Yiddish, “Shalom aleichem Reb Shimon.”

A surprised Mr. Bergson looked at the bearded man with the black hat and suit. He held out his hand and said, “Aleichem shalom Reb Yid.”

“I am not a shnorer and I don’t run an organization. I came to give and not to receive,” said R’ Weinfeld, knowing that the first words he uttered would make it or break it.

“I left a kokosh cake for you with the guard.” Mrs. Bergson looked pleased. She knew what that was.

“I just ask that you finish it before Pesach so it won’t be chometz on Pesach,” he added. He took the opportunity to say, “The second thing I came to give you is the ability to do a good deed for the Jews of New York and this is because I heard that you do many good deeds.”

Mr. Bergson’s sharp business sense was intrigued. “What is the matter regarding?” he asked.

R’ Weinfeld quickly explained the subject of selling the company chometz of Manhattan Beer.

“I was already approached a number of times on this subject,” Bergson answered. “I never understood why I should sell my business.  And in general, I am prohibited by law to sell my business to someone who does not have a New York State liquor license.”

Mr. Bergson spoke quickly, as he pulled out a personal business card. “I am going now to the restaurant with my guests.  I would be happy if you called my office tomorrow and we will see if we can work something out.”

R’ Weinfeld appreciated the opening offered by Mr. Bergson, something which had never happened before, but he also understood that an appointment for tomorrow might well be a polite way to get rid of him, so he politely and with pleasant insistence deflected the offer by saying, “I accept your permission to call you tomorrow, but please allow me to wait for you here until you return from the restaurant, since the matter is extremely important.”

Mr. Bergson gave a short laugh and disappeared through the exit.

STARTING FROM NOTHING

Shimon Bergson’s story is unusual. His parents, before the war, both lived in the Polish city of Chechinov, but did not know one another. They first met in Auschwitz. It was when the Nazi guards sent his father to the woman’s camp to fix something.

After surviving the death march to Mauthausen, they were liberated by the Allies and returned to their hometown where they married. Shortly thereafter, they left Poland. Their son Shimon was born in a DP camp in Austria as his parents waited for a visa to the United States.

When they finally arrived in America, his father opened a business that sold rugs and clothing. When Shimon was old enough, he started working in the beer business. “I started with gornisht,” he told a reporter. His father obtained a loan from friends for him which Shimon repaid a year later.

He became a dominant figure in New York’s beer market. He turned his storefront on the Lower East Side into a beer empire. Over the years, he acquired more exclusive distribution rights to more popular brands and in the last decade, he became the biggest wholesaler in New York with an annual sales of close to a billion dollars.

Despite this amazing success, he did not completely forsake his roots. His father had left Judaism and tradition behind after the war, but Shimon observed a little bit. His conversation is peppered with Yiddish phrases. “Even if I’m not shomer Shabbos, that doesn’t mean I don’t observe mitzvos,” he says, as he cites his attendance at Yomim Noraim services.

FATEFUL MEETING

How long should he wait? This, R’ Weinfeld did not know. It could take an hour and could also take half a day, which was particularly concerning right before Pesach when his other responsibilities increased significantly.

Either way, he made use of the time. He took out his cell phone and called a number of renowned halachic experts in the field of kashrus, Rabbi Levy, Rabbi Weissmandel and Rabbi Asher Eckstein, who work in kashrus year-round, and asked them for halachic guidance. What were the best, most mehudar ways to sell the chometz?

Although they were also busy before Pesach, with numerous halachic questions posed to them, the three understood the significance of the situation and gave him as much time as needed to clarify the halacha.

Nearly three hours passed before the Bergsons returned. R’ Weinfeld saw the look of surprise on Mr. Bergson’s face as he saw R’ Weinfeld still standing in the lobby, waiting for his return.

This time, he was more patient and listened as R’ Weinfeld described the problem and the difficulties caused to thousands of Jews, as well as possible solutions. “I told him what the rabbis suggested, that he give me power of attorney through a kinyan sudar, so I could sell all his chometz interests and that the goy would be one of the managers of his business.”

He agreed to discuss this idea and invited R’ Weinfeld to his office the next day at one o’clock, to arrange the deed of sale and the other details.

R’ Weinfeld reported to R’ Nosson Sternberg and the two agreed to go together to the meeting. That night and the following morning, they worked to formulate a sale of chometz document with the optimum wording. He received the final version from Rabbi Eckstein and took the document to the offices of Manhattan Beer.

The meeting took place as arranged, with one of the company managers in attendance.  The conversation between the parties was conducted with all seriousness, and covered every detail of the sale process.

Mr. Bergson, the owner of the beer giant, appointed R’ Weinfeld to be his shliach to carry out the sale according to halacha and in accordance with the law. He followed every detail of traditional practice, and learned all details of the sale. He understood that this is not a matter of circumventing halacha, but a real sale.

The goy who bought the chometz was the director of the purchasing and sales department, and it was made clear to him that he would be the real owner of the business.

To remove any doubt, R’ Weinfeld repeatedly said that the matter was exceedingly serious, and that the deposit given by the purchaser was sufficient to complete the sale, making him the true, absolute owner of all of the chometz, with the rest of the payment to be made after Pesach based on an accounting of the expenses and profits.

The two of them, the buyer and seller went out of the room occasionally to consult with their people and when they wrote the deed of sale, they carefully recorded all the addresses of the plants, properties and warehouses of the company.

A moment before the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Bergson asked R’ Weinfeld, “How much do you get for this deal?”

R’ Weinfeld replied, “You insult me; this was not for money.” It took Mr. Bergson some time to digest that this was purely for the mitzva.

The atmosphere in the conference room was celebratory. They all warmly shook hands and R’ Weinfeld couldn’t help but suggest that Mr. Bergson put on tefillin.

“The last time I put on tefillin was at my bar mitzva, 57 years ago,” he said thoughtfully.

R’ Weinfeld interpreted this as his consent, rolled up his sleeve, put a yarmulka on his head, and put tefillin on him. After the tefillin were taken off, they danced and sang, “Siman Tov U’Mazal Tov.”

“I am moved by having put on tefillin,” he admitted. He said he was pleased that he helped many Jews refrain from the prohibition of chometz she’ovar alav ha’Pesach.

R’ Weinfeld gave him shmura matza for the entire Pesach. He also gave him the Rebbe’s HaYom Yom in English and the book about the life work of Rabbi Berel Levy a’h, which tells his life story and his work over decades in fortifying kashrus around the world.

At just that moment, in walked the director of sales who said that one of the biggest supermarkets in Flatbush, that a few days earlier had canceled a big order of beer that was going to be shipped right after Pesach, heard about the sale of chometz and reinstated the huge order. This was because rabbis in Flatbush who heard about the sale of chometz, gave their approval.

“I felt this was a sign from heaven,” said R’ Weinfeld to Beis Moshiach, “that our actions were pleasing and that we were answered from Above.”

JEWISH AWAKENING

A few days after Pesach, R’ Weinfeld and R’ Nosson Sternberg went to the offices of the company again, in order to thank Mr. Bergson for what he did. Mr. Bergson welcomed them with a friendly hug like an old friend. “Thanks to you, I did two mitzvos on one day,” he said emotionally. “The mitzva of tefillin, for the first time in 57 years and the mitzva of Pesach, that you helped me prevent many Jews from transgressing the prohibition of chometz sh’ovar alav ha’Pesach.”

He told them that since they had visited him the previous time, he used the free moments that he had to familiarize himself with traditional Jewish sources and matters relating to Torah and mitzvos. He pointed out that during the first days of Pesach, he went on a family vacation and did not go to work at all. During the following days, when he went to the office he did not act like the owner …

“Anyone who asked me any decision-related questions about the business, I referred to the real owner,” he said proudly. “After the holiday, I even gave the buyer the profits according to the accounting that we made at the end of the eight days.”

R’ Weinfeld concluded the story in the conversation that I had with him, “A year has passed since then and Mr. Shimon Bergson has become more involved in his Yiddishkeit, and I hope there will be a continuation.

“I thank Hashem that I am privileged to be a Chassid of the light of the generations, the Rebbe, who implanted Chabad and middos in me so I would use them with the proper understanding and feeling, so that when I would meet a lost Jew, I would reveal his better qualities and provide him the opportunity to perform mitzvos.

“Thank G-d I merited to be from those who are engaged and involved in the holy work of kashrus supervision. I hope that I merit to always be among those who provide merit to the many, and that all my actions be for the sake of Heaven and pleasing to Hashem.” ■