As part of its ongoing campaign to defile anything and everything holy, the new Israeli government has taken aim at the kashrus status quo that has prevailed unchallenged in the country for almost 40 years. Back in July 1983, in response to numerous instances of bogus and baseless claims of kashrus, the Knesset passed the Law of Kashrut Misrepresentation, which requires the identification or advertisement of food or an eatery as kosher to be backed up by kosher supervision. The law’s small print invests the local rabbinates with the exclusive authority to grant this supervision, and a subsequent amendment enshrines the national rabbinate as the sole arbiter of the kosher status of imported products. The law also created an enforcement division that issues fines and other penalties to offenders.
As was its
intention, the law bestowed a monopoly upon the rabbinates. Yes, Rabbi
Unreliable of the Vaad Hakashrus of Fallacy can still issue letters of kosher
certification, but woe to the eatery or factory that, on that basis, declares
its wares as kosher without first also meeting the requirements of the local
rabbinate and obtaining its certification. And once eateries and factories must
abide by the strictures of kosher law and pay for the rabbinate’s
certification, they have nothing at all to gain by also obtaining bogus
certification.
Not surprisingly,
the collective voice of the many Rabbis Unreliable is raised in protest of this
affront to free market principles. They claim that it is an absolute sellout of
enlightened economics to the dark, archaic demands of theology. To the folks
currently holding the reigns of power in the Knesset, who have always been
ashamed of the religious roots of our nation and who are consequently hell-bent
to relegate them to the dustbin of history, the Kosher Law is a stain on the
lily-white liberalism that they envision represents the ethos of the Jewish
nation. It does not help matters that these same politicians bend over backwards
to curry the favor of the many Rabbis Unreliable from around the globe and
their wealthy constituents.
The Kosher Law is
within the crosshairs of their sights and their triggers are cocked, but it is
not yet time to fret. Grandstanding is the hallmark of the Israeli politician.
Their vain threats, like their fleeting moments of prominence, come and go. If
Rav Amnon, the author of the moving Yamim Noraim prayer U’nesaneh Tokef,
had ever weathered such threats, he might have used them as an even better
example of the transience of our existence, instead of the vaporizing dream
that he employs as his finale. The threats of Israeli politicians should be
dismissed just as one ignores annoying static. They are a pain in the ear, and
nothing more. Until a threat actually materializes, consider it not done.
* * *
That said, the
editors of Where, What, When asked me, a resident of Eretz Yisrael with
more than a little experience with its kashrus
ins and outs, to share with WWW’s
readers my thoughts about the unlikely. What if the Kosher Law is modified to
strip the rabbinates of their monopoly, which will allow Rabbis Unreliable to
issue bogus kosher certificates without interference? Can we, and how will we,
overcome such a calamity? Allow me to begin by noting that the prophet
Zechariah (12:11) presages, “On that day, the eulogizing will grow as intense
as the eulogizing over Hadrimon in the valley of Megiddo.” Our Sages comment
that if not for the Targum of this verse, we would never know what it means, for
there is no record of a eulogy over Hadrimon’s passing. The Targum goes on to
explain that it is not Hadrimon’s eulogy that serves as the paradigm of extreme
mourning but rather the eulogy delivered over the passing of King Achav, whom
he killed in battle. The message is: before one begins to lament and mourn, it
is essential to first understand what catastrophe has transpired. In our case,
where the details are clear, we must first determine whether the planned
revision of the law is a catastrophe worthy of mourning, and even whether it is
a catastrophe at all.
So, let us devote
some paragraphs to discuss the current state of rabbinate-certified kashrus, before any revisions to the law
take effect. At the beginning of each school year, a number of seminaries
invite me to familiarize them with the intricacies of the local kashrus scene. I introduce the topic by
asking them whether they would grant kosher certification to a restaurant or
hotel that employs gentile cooks without a full-time mashgiach. In order to avoid the prohibition of bishul akum,
gentile cooking, I propose to the students that they could send one of their
ranks to the restaurant or hotel at the beginning of the work day to turn on
all the fires (which is adequate according to Ashkenazi tradition), and sternly
warn the proprietor that his employees had better not turn off the fires until
they are done with them for the day. Invariably, all the girls agree that they
cannot grant kosher certification on this basis, because, in absentia, there is
no way to prevent the gentile cooks from turning the fires off and on at will.
The young women are always shocked to learn that this scenario is unfortunately
the standard of many rabbinates for dairy restaurants, and that such a setup
would not be tolerated by any respectable U.S. kashrus agency.
For meat
restaurants and hotels, the kashrus
protocol is tighter. Rabbinates do not suffice with a single daily visit, but
rather require a certain number of hours of presence each day. Nevertheless, a
gaping hole in the supervision still remains. For the most part, only very
rarely do rabbinates require that a restaurant employ a full-time mashgiach. For a hotel, a full-time mashgiach is standard, but it depends
what you mean by full time. More often than not, the mashgiach may arrive after breakfast has been prepared and leave
after supper has been cooked, leaving breakfast preparation and supper serving
unsupervised, in the hands of gentiles and the irreligious, who are
halachically unreliable. Even in the rare case that a mashgiach is there from the first cracked egg in the morning to the
return of the last dish to the kitchen in the evening, a hotel’s kitchen is
often so sprawling, and there are so many cooking stations, that it is next to
impossible (read: impossible) for the mashgiach
to keep track of which fire he turned on. It takes a good deal of innovation
and a very strong supervisory hand to avoid bishul akum in a hotel
setting, and these are often absent in a rabbinate hashgacha.
Besides
consequential bishul akum, the absence of a full-time mashgiach leaves in its wake the
halachic concern that unsealed meat, chicken, and fish have been exchanged for
their non-kosher counterparts. In the presence of those whom halacha considers
unreliable – and in the absence of those whom halacha considers reliable –
unsealed meat, chicken, and fish are prohibited. Often, rabbinate certification
allows for the mashgiach to take a
midday break, or for the change of shifts to proceed without coverage in the
middle. And almost always, the mashgiach
does not seal the freezers and refrigerators under his lock and key when he
leaves. This, again, is below the threshold of acceptability for any
responsible U.S. agency. For some reason that I cannot fathom, many rabbinates
permit this practice without batting an eyelash, refusing to get involved.
The above is not
to say, chas v’shalom, that the kosher certification of all rabbinates
is unreliable. There are definitely some who have it figured out. But it is to
say that there are many rabbinates out there that are not guarding kashrus adequately, even in places where
better is expected, and it therefore behooves consumers to confirm on their own
the validity of the particular rabbinate supervision before indulging.
* * *
Why has this
prevalent lackadaisical attitude not yet been remedied? There are a number of
culprits, and some might be reading this article right now. That sounds harsh,
so allow me to explain. There is a hotel with which I worked for two-and-a-half
years, as a personal project, to bring its kashrus
standards up to those of the well-known U.S. agencies. I was ultimately
unsuccessful, and the reason why I failed was concisely summarized by the
manager of the supervisory staff: “Look at all the sheitlach and streimlach
in the dining room. They are all happy with the kashrus, so why should I bother working with you to improve?” The
manager struck the nail on its head. As long as visitors indiscriminately eat,
either out of naiveté or convenience, the rabbinic supervisors of restaurants
and hotels have no incentive to improve. People vote with their feet, and
unfortunately, all roads currently lead to the dining room.
There are some
restaurants, yet scant a hotel, that have opted for a higher-level supervision
in order to lure discriminating customers, but they are few and far between.
Why? Despite the general ambivalence that pervades the tourist population, more
restaurants and hotels might consider higher-level supervision, if not for the
fact that the rabbinates’ monopoly often renders such a plan financially and
logistically unfeasible. Since the rabbinates have a monopoly, their supervisor
must be present and must be paid. If a higher-level agency is not interested in
utilizing the services of the rabbinate’s mashgiach,
and they often are not, the proprietor must pay two salaries for one job.
Besides this financial handicap, the mashgiach
and his rabbinic manager often tend to be insulted, perhaps even justifiably
so, by the open implication that their work is not good enough. And since they
have a monopoly and cannot be removed, they could be overbearing and
uncooperative. They might insist on duplication or burdensome requirements,
just to remind the invading certification that the rabbinate is really the
boss. This combination of financial and logistical difficulties, along with the
general apathy of the tourist population discussed above, contribute to the
dearth of high-level certifications in the food-service sector. There are some,
but not nearly enough to keep tourists happy and conveniently and comfortably
nourished.
So, if the
government’s evil plans come to fruition, is lamentation or celebration in
order? The answer is that it depends. For readers of Where, What, When
and for the many others who cherish good kosher supervision, it is great news.
Freed from the need to employ the rabbinates’ mashgichim, to follow duplicate and sometimes punitive
requirements, and to pay twice for one job, many proprietors might finally
consider higher-level hashgacha that
until this development was out of the question. For rabbinic supervisors of
higher-level hashgachot, this would
be a big relief and blessing. They would now be free to employ the mashgichim that they trained and need
not figure out how to have the existing rabbinate mashgiach represent them. They could dictate the terms of their
supervision without having to tiptoe around the rabbinates’ existing practices
and personalities. Of course, if the threat becomes reality, those who
perpetrate it have only dastardly intentions. But on occasion, bad intentions
bring good things in their wake.
But this is not
the whole story. There is quite a large population in Israel of Jews who are
not religious but who are traditional, to the point that they insist on kosher
food. Their requirements are as basic as could be; for them, any certification
will do, even Rabbi Unreliable’s. And Rabbi Unreliable does not have to be
Orthodox. Under the proposed amendment to the Kosher Law, even Conservative and
Reform “rabbis” may certify food and eateries as kosher. As a result, this
large, well-meaning yet naïve population will suffer the brunt of the breaking
of the rabbinates’ monopoly. They may be in the position of unfortunately and
unknowingly substituting kosher, albeit issue-laden, food for unsupervised
food, and substituting minimally kosher meat and chicken for non-kosher meat
and chicken. It will be a giant step down for them.
* * *
So, we must ask
again whether the breaking of the rabbinates’ monopoly should usher in
lamenting or celebration. Truth be told, we could manage without. It would be
nice to have a wide array of hotels and restaurants that adhere to the highest
standards, or at least to basic U.S. standards. But even if there are not, we
know how to be selective, and we will figure out where to eat and what to do.
But the traditional masses will not. They are easy prey, for they do not know
how to discern between kosher fact and fiction. Hence, we must pray that Hashem
thwarts the government’s evil plan, and hopefully He will heed our prayers.
But we do not need
to wait for calamity to befall the masses before we move to improve the kashrus of that which we eat when we
visit Eretz Yisrael. It is time for us to have a kashrus awakening. Certainly, there is rabbinate supervision that
is not plagued by the issues that we discussed above. But since we know that
there is some, or perhaps even much, supervision that is not up to par, it is
time for us to stick with high-level hashgachot.
It will be inconvenient, and the ambiance of our tourist dining will suffer,
but we will both protect our souls and also begin to pave the way for
meaningful improvement by restaurant and hotel proprietors. When they realize
that their dining rooms are empty, they will have no choice but to raise their kashrus to a higher standard, at least
to the standard of the main U.S. agencies. It would be simpler for them to
accomplish this without the rabbinate’s monopoly still in place. But the minute
that improvement is a necessity and not merely a luxury, it will be
accomplished regardless.
May Hashem save
the masses of traditional Israelis from a kashrus
disaster. And may He grant us the fortitude to stand our ground and improve our
tourist kashrus, without waiting for
the politicians to do the dirty work for us, and that in the most despicable of
means.
Rabbi Kuber studied
in Kollel Avodas Halevi (Ner
Israel kollel) from 1982 to 1991. He currently resides in Telz Stone, where he
serves as Rav of Beis Medrash
Nachalas Tzvi Ohel Avraham. He has worked in kashrus for the last 28
years in the U.S., Eretz Yisrael, and the Far East. He is the author of the
recently published three-volume set, Crossing the Dateline, which discusses the complex topic of the
halachic dateline.
