""Cofix opened its first store in Bnei Brak eight months ago, and about six months later, Cofix's second store opened. Cofix is not currently entering Bnei Brak, but is opening its sixth store - and the question arises: Why didn't it bother anyone in five stores, while now suddenly it's not respectful to 'walk with cups of coffee on a city street'?"
These are the words of Avi Katz, founder of the Cofix chain of stores in Israel, whose new store, which opened over the weekend near Itzkovitz in Bnei Brak, is causing a stir on the streets of the ultra-Orthodox city, in an interview with Haredim 10.
With the opening of the store, a fierce attack was launched in the Hamodia newspaper, and by Friday night, pamphlets were already being distributed on behalf of the "Committee for Preserving the Character of the City," which were also posted on bulletin boards, against what they call "a new scourge that has recently appeared in the city that threatens the character of the city of Torah and Hasidism.".
Under the headline "Because I Was a Glutton" it is written that "a murky wave of fast food stores is sweeping across our city of Bnei Brak, with new stores popping up and opening overnight in every nook and cranny, until there is no longer an area of the city that does not have a store of this type.".
On the other hand, not everyone is convinced that the basis for the struggle is indeed a spiritual concern.
""I'm not sure that whoever is behind the advertisements, on the street and in the press, is innocent," said one of the shoppers at the entrance to the new store. "A fight like this costs a lot of money. Ads in newspapers and on the streets. It could very well be that those who are financing the fight are competing store owners who are afraid of the new competition and are doing everything they can to continue making money at the expense of the residents.".
Katz, an observant Jew, naturally agrees with this, saying: "Rabbi Landa the Elder would demand three conditions for kosher - that there be no chairs after eight o'clock, that the store close at 11 p.m., and that the packages be sold unopened.
""Cofix meets all three of these parameters. And only one question remains: What happened now? Maybe because Bagan Warsaw and Baitskowitz were used to a certain color of a coffee cup?
""For years, when I would pray in Itzkowitz, I would go out after prayer and buy myself a cup of coffee at the grocery store, sorry, at the largest fast food chain in the country that stands across the street, for 15 shekels. That's how it was for years. So no one told me it wasn't respectful to walk down the street like that.".
Rabbi Landa refused to give kosher to your business?
""It's amazing how cleverly they inserted Rabbi Landa's name into the story. Of all the pashkvilim, Rabbi Landa is not signed. When he wants to say something, he knows better than to sign his name, here he didn't sign. That's a fact.
""In general, Rabbi Landa did not refuse to give us kashrut since we never asked for Rabbi Landa's kashrut, for technical reasons. So it is ridiculous to say that he refused. They took the pashkvil, attached Rabbi Landa's name to it, which did not belong to the subject at all - and made unfair use of his name.".
Why don't you really have Rabbi Landa's kosher?
""All of our products are in Mehodar kosher, and supervised by Badatz Beit Yosef. That is, the cake, for example, is not kosher, because it is not baked in the store, but there is supervision because the products are in Mehodar kosher. We could not apply to Rabbi Landa's kosher because in this kosher, they insist that all products be under the supervision of Rabbi Landa.
""We operate a network of one hundred branches and a large portion of our products do not carry Rabbi Landa's kosher certification. Our appeal to the Beit Yosef Center has proven itself and the public is voting with their feet.".
Katz promises that the sixth store will not be the last: "We will also open the ninth, with God's help. You can't fight a wave, a flood. Cofix is a real, strong, just and decent thing, and it will sweep away a few anonymous scoundrels with it.".
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