Klal Yisrael is Echad, they are rooted at the core, and the inability to see this means that you are disconnected from the “gantzkeit” perspective
Upon arriving in Bnei Brak back in 1982 to continue my learning, I discovered to my dismay that I would need to find other ways to quench my thirst. Pepsi was not available due to the company’s participation in the Arab boycott of Israel. Coke, despite its factory located prominently at the entrance to the Ir HaTorah, was frowned upon in the Torah world for not passing muster with respect to its hashgachah. I would have to subside on Cristal, under the hashgachah of Rav Landau ztz”l, and the ever-popular, effervescent Tempo, under the hashgachah of the Badatz.
Several years later, my cousin went to learn in Yerushalayim, and we kept in touch through the mail (no phone calls then — you would need to cram asimonim like mad into the payphone for a 30-second hello). One particular letter stands out in my memory. Pepsi had finally entered the Israeli market, with a Badatz hashgachah, no less! It was laYehudim haysah orah for the chutzniks.
One particular Yerushalmi Yid confided to my cousin that he indulged in the Amerikanishe beverage for the first time in his life and declared, “Es iz gantz geshmak, der Papusi!”
I’m sure it took my cousin a minute or two to discern that “Papusi” was one and the same with the beloved “Pepsi.” Of course, the label had no nekudos on it, so what else was he supposed to think? Why would Pepsi (or “Fufsi,” for that matter) be a more logical pronunciation? My cousin had a good laugh over it, and it still brings a smile to my face every time I think about what my reaction would have been had I been there.
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