This period – Passover Eve, is the great hour for kashrut experts of all kinds.
If throughout the year they demonstrate amazing knowledge of everything that happens in slaughterhouses, factories, and various kashrut bodies, then on the eve of Passover they demonstrate real expertise.
A certain kosher is fine, but on Passover you can't trust them. An unknown is 'strong,' but on Passover we have our strictures. These are not 'equal' all year round. There are endless problems with kosher.
And these? Worse than 'rabbinate'.
And these experts, on Passover, but also all year round, invite only one question, quite bluntly I must say: How do you know? What do you understand by kosher for the sake of God? How do you know anything about slaughter, deboning, and the components of products?
You have no - you have to put this on the table for once - no idea. Nothing.
You quote your father, who repeats the words of his brother-in-law, who recites with closed eyes the words of his neighborhood rabbi, who also has never seen the insides of a chicken in his life.
Certain professions are held to be particularly strict and meticulous, but the consumer audience has no idea what goes on there.
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Before writing the column, I spoke with one of the great experts in kashrut, who works independently, and he said that this 'fancy' kashrut is a partner in the food businesses over which it supervises kashrut, which leads to 'turning a blind eye' and 'heavy loss' permits in quite a few cases.
Was the meat eaten? Of course not, but it's a long way from here to the strict reputation that the kashrut body has earned for itself.
An important, well-known rabbi rules for his followers and does not hesitate to reject kosher products without batting an eyelid. Regarding products that are controlled by certain "mehadrin" kosher standards, he rules that using them requires disinfecting the utensils that came into contact with them.
It's just that this rabbi is one of the "Mehadrin" kosher rabbis in a different way.
How does he rule on laws when he is in such a clear conflict of interest? Is he even capable of making a ruling, when he receives his (high) salary from another kosher body?
""People don't understand kashrut, only the strictness," a kashrut expert I interviewed told me. "A leading kashrut body in the economy is making laws that are not necessary, and in doing so, it is causing major damage, financial loss, and distortion of the law.".
Does any of the consumers know this? Who is even familiar with the laws of kosher, its practice?
The field of kashrut is perhaps the field that suffers most from stereotypes and prejudices. If people knew what the hierarchy of kashrut bodies really is, they would be surprised, but they have no idea, the man explained to me.
Lack of knowledge also gives rise to childish behavioral mutations that lack any logic: "I don't eat this kosher food at home. I eat it outside," quite a few Haredim are wont to say in a learned voice oozing with self-righteousness.
That is, outside the leash is loose, you can go wild. At home, they are strict, or as Moshe Mendelssohn said, 'Be a Jew in your home and a man when you go out.'.
How do people come to such hollow insights? Is kosher only good in a restaurant, in a hall, outside?
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The laws of kashrut have clear rules and principles. In general, any decent Jew can be trusted to testify that the product is kosher, and as it is said, "One witness is trustworthy in prohibitions," for if two witnesses were required, "You shall not have a man eat with his neighbor," as the Rishonim wrote.
Only what? For some reason, the 'witness' is not always loyal to the general public. And someone must examine this: Why is he not loyal? Why does he become loyal in every other matter, and only in kosher does he suddenly lose loyalty? Does his lack of loyalty with consumers stem from their understanding of the field – which is mostly non-existent – or from paradigms to which they have been accustomed by their family members, the community, and their immediate society?
Folded on Passover. G.G. My friend, I greet you from the city... Happy Holidays.
The local rabbi, again this year on Shabbat HaGal, demanded that we "cease consuming luxuries and sweets that are kosher for Passover," and reminded, in a nostalgic voice as you have bothered to mention, that "our righteous ancestors were content with potatoes and Passover soup, and nothing will happen if we hold back for a week and don't eat delicate Swiss chocolate.".
Well, what do I say to you, tell your rabbi that our righteous ancestors didn't eat snacks and sweets even before Passover because they preferred to spend their money on bread and oil? Or that giant Jewish factories with fancy kosher seals were, until a few decades ago, a utopia that no one dreamed would ever come true?
And I will now refer you to the words of the author of Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Siman Rambam, who takes the trouble to mention that it is commanded to "rejoice on the holiday with additional things.".
What are some other things? It seems that Elite's 'Mekoplet', or a fine ice cream from 'Rio', which are strictly kosher for Passover, definitely meet the criteria.
Tell the rabbi, therefore, that sentimentality has no basis in Halacha, and Arab foods, as long as they meet the recognized rules of kashrut, are certainly permissible, and even desirable.
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