We began the evening with a Havdallah service led by Rabbi Dr. (RavDoc) Ryan Dulkin with his guitar (Hazzan Dulkin was not feeling well). RavDoc Dulkin then led an interesting Talmud discussion. For those who are interested in some deeper understanding about drinking in the Sukkah:
the gemara (Sukkah 28b), as well as some Rishonim (Rashi 20b, s.v. lo; Rambam, Hilkhot Sukkah 6:5) and the Shulchan Arukh (639:1), implies that drinking in the sukkah constitutes a fulfi llment of the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah. Interestingly, some Acharonim note that casual eating and drinking during the meal must be done in the sukkah (see Sha’ar Ha-Tzyun 29, who suggests that even water drunken as part of a meal must be had in the sukkah, regarding which he concludes, “ve-tzarikh iyun.”).
We then had a delicious Kosher Steak Dinner, best bargain in town ($18 for the steak dinner with one Scotch sampling - or $5 for the full tasting). We then had Michael Waxenberg and Michael Shanas lead us in an witty and interesting talk on the history of Scotch, what makes liquors Kosher or not, and then we proceeded to have a full Scotch tasting, where we all rated the different Scotches and learned what makes them different. It was a new program for Shaare Zedek, very well attended and one of our first joint men's club event with BSKI (with who we are in the process of merging).