Eating Contests, Intermarriage, and Uman

Hot Dog Eating Contests

Question

I am running a camp this summer, and we are trying to decide which activities we should plan. One person suggested that we have a hot dog eating contest, i.e., a contest to see who can eat the most hot dogs within a ten-minute span of time. My question is: If a person eats a massive number of hot dogs all at once, e.g., 20 hot dogs in buns within ten minutes, does he need to recite Birkas Hamazon afterward or is this included in what Chazal call achilah gasah?

Rav Auerbach

I refuse to answer this question. Such a contest is antithetical to everything that the Torah stands for, and any camp that proposes such an activity should definitely change its itinerary. They should instead make a contest to see who can learn or say the most Mishnayos in the shortest amount of time. Even though one should generally learn Torah methodically and not rush through it, in this case it would be preferable in order to avoid such an abhorrent activity as the hot dog eating competition that you describe.

Rav Zafrani

The din of achilah gasah only applies if one was already full from a previous meal and then ate more. Therefore, the halacha is that if a person was extremely full from his Erev Yom Kippur seudah, and then on Yom Kippur ate more food, he would be potur because of achilah gasah.

However, if one had an extremely large meal and ate an amount that, if eaten in two separate meals, the second meal would be considered an achilah gasah, then as long as all of the food was consumed in one meal, since at some point during the meal he experienced seviah and was satisfied, he is obligated to bentch. Even though, in your scenario, he planned from the outset to eat all of this food and did so very quickly, that does not exempt him from the obligation to recite Birkas Hamazon.

However, I am in complete agreement with Rav Auerbach that this "contest" is not something that Jewish youth should be engaging in, and they should look for alternative fun activities.

Davening for Others to Do Teshuvah

Question

My nephew left the fold and, Rachmana litzlan, recently married out of the faith. I would like to daven for him to leave his wife and return to Torah observance, but I am wondering if it is acceptable to daven for this.

Rav Zafrani

The Gemara in Brachos (10a) states that Rav Meir davened that the reshaim in his community should die. His wife, Beruriah, disagreed with this and urged him to daven that these reshaim should do teshuvah. The Maharsha on that Gemara raises the question of whether one is permitted to daven for someone else to do teshuvah.

You should daven for your nephew to do teshuvah. No matter how far he is from Torah observance, the doors of teshuvah are never closed. Look at Rabi Akiva, who, for the first forty years of his life, hated talmidei chachomim so much that he wanted to bite them and break their bones.

Seven Bochurim in Uman for Rosh Hashanah

Question

Seven bochurim in our yeshiva want to go to Uman for Rosh Hashanah because we feel that we will daven much better there. The rosh yeshiva is not willing to let us go, since he says that we have a small yeshiva and seven bochurim missing will have a major impact. Am I obligated to listen to the rosh yeshiva?

Rav Zafrani

As long as you are in yeshiva, the rosh yeshiva has the status of your rebbi muvhak. As such, you are obligated to listen to everything he says regarding yeshiva policies, such as the one you mention.