Various Jerusalem Restaurants are sick of the "Hechsher War"

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Do you really trust into the Hechsher of Jerusalem restaurant ? I have experienced it quite a few times and the incident keeps on repeating itself: 

A restaurant or cafe in Jerusalem is officially under the Kashrut supervision of the local Rabbanut ("Mehadrin" or "Mehadrin min ha'Mehadrin"). Great ! Everything seems to be kosher. But is this really the case ?

Can it be the case when I see Palestinian kitchen staff turning on the stove and baking rolls and Croissants ? Not only warming up the goods but starting the entire baking process. Suddenly the baked goods are not Mehadrin anymore but Akum, as a Gentile is not allowed to start a cooking / baking process. Meaning, turning on the oven. Furthermore, it is questionable whether a Jewish staff member is even stirring a spoon after a Gentile turned on the stove in order to cook a meal. 

The Mashgiach from the Rabbanut wouldn't agree to a Gentile worker turning on the oven in order to bake buns. However, there doesn't seem to be such a strict supervision either. Many times I have seen a Mashgiach showing up, walking around for a few minutes and this was it. 

The Badatz Hechsherim are under stricter supervision and so are the one's of the Sephardi "Beit Yosef". A Belzer Mashgiach once told me that I shouldn't go to places where there is a Rabbanut supervision but, in case their is not Belz or Badatz Edah Charedit, I should refer a place where there is Beit Yosef. 

Beit Yosef, Badatz Edah Charedit as well as Badatz Belz carry out a much stricter and more reliable supervision and their Mashgichim mostly show up on a daily basis. The ingredients are being checked thoroughly and so is the cleanliness of the restaurant / cafe. However, those business owners with a Badatz Heshsher most also pay much more to the Edah, Belz or Beit Yosef. "The costs for a Hechsher would be far too exaggerated", thus the claim of the business owners. Moreover, if you as a business owner decide having a Belzer Hechsher, the Mashgiach only wants you to buy Belz ingredients and, Chas veChalilah, nothing with an Edah Hechsher. The same is happening as soon as an Edah Mashgiach spots out ingredients with a Belzer Hechsher. Let alone a Rabbanut or Beit Yosef Hechsher which is totally unexceptable to the chassidic Badatzim. 

Today, a Hechsher doesn't necessarily stand for kosher food but rather for politics. The Belzer consider their Hechsher as the only kosher one but force their clients to buy Belzer ingredients with Belzer Hechsherim. Thus, the Belzer also support their own food businesses. The Edah works the same way and the Rabbanut doesn't keep a strict supervision but the Mashgiach shows up from time to time. The Beit Yosef is strict but rejected by the Ashkenazim as it is a Sephardi Hechsher. 

Plenty of restaurants are sick of the internal Kashrut politics and paying horrendous amounts of money for supervision. I know restaurants in Jerusalem which are kosher but work without a Hechsher. These businesses are closed on Shabbat, use kosher ingredients and the place is clean. The only difference is that they don't have an official Hechsher. I actually do eat at such a place sometimes which suits me more than going to a certain cafe chain where a Palestinian is turning on the stove. And this chain has a Rabbanut Hechsher. 

Haredim won't go into any restaurant without a decent Hechsher but even if there is one, you still need to investigate. The best solution, however, is: Eating at home. And this, by the way, I actually enjoy most !

Link:

Jerusalem Kosher News on restaurant owner challenging the Rabbanut

Treifeh Cheese at the Machane Yehudah Market / Jerusalem

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Kashrut Supervisor BADATZ BELZ, Harav Yitzchak Ziegelman, at the Machane Yehudah Market.

Photo: Miriam Woelke

KOSHER ALERT:

"Jerusalem Kosher News" confirms that the popular cheese store BASHER at the Machane Yehudah Market has no Hechsher whatsoever. I have to admit though that their cheeses look tempting. Just great and so tasty. Once I walked in 

to the store and asked an employee whether the cheeses are kosher. To tell you the truth, every Jew understanding something about Kashrut knows that the store is definitely not kosher. There are simply too many cheeses from abroad and there is no way that they could be kosher.

The employee, however, told me that some cheeses are kosher, others are not. I walked out and overcame my Yetzer HaRah for a delicious piece of cheese. Nevertheless, when I pass, I hardly ever see any religious Jew inside but the store does make money though. They just renovated but the staff doesn't look too Jewish to me.

Giraffes are KOSHER but are we allowed to eat them ?

B"H

In Sefer Devarim (Deuteronomy), G - d gives us a list with all kinds of kosher animals including the conditions on how to determine a kosher animal. A week ago, we read Parashat RE’EH and it is there where we find the exact list: Sefer Devarim 14:5 lists a kosher animal called ZAMER which Rabbi Sa'adia Gaon as well as the RADAK identify as a GIRAFFE. So, a giraffe is a kosher animal but, the question is, whether we are allowed to eat it's meat. 

Giraffes are considered kosher because they have split hooves and chew their cud. As we all know, a pig, for instance, cannot be kosher, as it only has split hooves but does not chew its cud. In order to be regarded as a kosher animal, both conditions have to be fulfilled and not only one of them. 

There is an opinion that we still cannot eat the meat of a giraffe because a Shochet wouldn't know where exactly to schaecht the animal due to its long neck. This, however, seems to be a false rumour because the neck may be cut anywhere. 

The reason why Jews still do not eat the meat of a giraffe is a lack of tradition. It is simply not part of Jewish tradition to go into a store and buy some giraffe meat or does anyone of you know a Jew having put giraffe meat onto a grill ? 

Those of you who would like to have a deeper look into the subject should go to the  Site of Dr. Ari Zivotofsky. It actually is very interesting to learn more about the animals mentioned in the Torah and the Talmud. A topic we usually treat as a minor issue.

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Sources:

- Sefer Devarim, 14:5 

- Natan Slifkin: "Sacred Monsters", page 76

Kashrut Update from Israel's Chief Rabbinate

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For those of you who are interested in the latest Kashrut Update of the Chief Rabbinate:

http://www.jerusalemkoshernews.com/category/chief-rabbinate-updates/ 

Many haredi directions don't necessarily eat ate places with a chief rabbinate Mehadrin Hechsher. Especially Chassidim follow their own and stricter Kashrut regulations.

Noodles and Soup Nuts "Kasher le'Pessach"

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Not too many years ago, we were complaining about not having noodles during Pessach. As a wheat product, noodles are Chametz and we are forbidden to consume Chametz (forbidden grains such as oats, wheat, spelt, rye or barley) on Pessach. Only dry Mazzot and potatoes, fish, meat, onions, pepper, cabbage and carrots for Ashkenazi Jewry. Sephardi Jews have an easier Pessach, as some of them eat rice (forbidden for Ashkenazi Jews) and Kidniyot (peas, humus, corn or anything made of it). Then the first cakes kosher for Passover were available. Made out of potatoe flour. 

When I went to the supermarket tonight, believe it or not, I saw noodles kosher for Pessach. Noodles and soup nuts ! Some noodles kosher for Pessach are for Kidniyot eaters such as Sephardi Jews but I also saw Pessach noodles without Kidniyot.

Here are a few impressions from the MEGA supermarket branch in Dizengoff Street / corner Pinsker in Tel Aviv:

Kosher for Pessach !

Noodles kosher for Passover

With Kidniyot and made from rice.

Soup nuts kosher for Passover.

Wine for the Seder

Mazzot

Biscuits kosher for Pessach

Photos: Miriam Woelke

No doubt. Pessach is an expensive holiday and many Jewish families in Israel, including plenty of haredi families in Mea Shearim or Bnei Brak, depend on charity organizations handing out food baskets.
One of those organizations is located in Mea Shearim and run by Chassidut Toldot Avraham Yitzchak: "LINAT HA'CHESED". Two years ago, I talked to some of the Chassidim running LINAT HA'CHESED.

Kashering your kitchen for Pessach

"Non - kosher" Food on the Machane Yehudah Market in Jerusalem

Photo: Miriam Woelke

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You will find two or three stands looking exactly like the one on the picture above. The stands are specialized in selling salads, olives, fish and different kinds of cheese. 

Usually people think that everything should be kosher on Jerusalem's Machane Yehudah Market but it is not. You still have to watch what and where you are buying.

If you pay attention: The salad stand has no Hechsher (Kashrut Certificate). The salesperson is offering his products by claiming that everything is "Badatz Edah Charedit" but the stand itself doesn't have any Hechsher hanging out. There is no supervision from the Edah and the only thing those stands do is buying huge cans and dividing the salads and cheeses into small plastic boxes. This is the way they sell it. 

The huge containers do may have a Hechsher but as soon as one fills it up into different packages, you won't see the Hechsher anymore. And who says that the first can really did have a Hechsher ?

Checking Fruit on Tu be'Shevat

Dried fruit on the Carmel Markt in Tel Aviv

Photo: Miriam Woelke

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This Tuesday night and Wednesday, the Jewish world is going to celebrate the new year of the trees, the biblical holiday "Tu be'Shevat". Dried and fresh fruit have to be kosher, meaning that we must check many of the fruit we are going to eat. Maggots and worms are the main factors we need to avoid. 

Here is an American / Canadian kosher list for "Tu be'Shevat". The first pages are in Hebrew but page 6, 7 and 8 are in English: 

http://www.jerusalemkoshernews.com/wp-content/uploads/tu-bshvat-yiddish-english-2012.pdf

Fish have to be kosher

 Fish baked in coconut milk

Photo + Recipes: Mimi's Israeli Kitchen

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In Sefer Vayikra (Leviticus), G - d is giving the Kashrut (kosher) laws to the Jewish people because He wants His people to eat kosher food. For instance, the Jewish Kabbalah explains that kosher food influences our souls in a positive way. 

Sefer Vayikra (Leviticus) 11:9 teaches that kosher fish need to have fins and scales. Vayikra 11:10 teaches that everything that does not have fins and scales in the water, seas and streams, may not be eaten. 

What if a fish only has scales or fins ? Is the fish still kosher ?

The Mishna in Talmud Chullin 66 defines that kosher fish must have fins AND scales. Furthermore, variousTalmudic commentators discuss the meaning of scales. Example: Scales should be removed with a knife and in case the knife cannot remove those scales, there may be a doubt whether such scales can be considered scales. Some scales may be attached or even part of the skin and then there could be a doubt if such a fish is kosher. However, most fish we buy on markets have scales which can be easily removed by a knife.  

Fish or creatures from the sea which are not kosher: Shrimps, shells, crabs, eel or crayfish. 

Links:

Jonah and the Fish - A Kabbalistic Insight

Where are the skeletons of Noach's Generation dying in the Flood ?

Häagen - Dazs ice cream no longer kosher

Can a Jew have Gentile friends ?

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May a Jew befriend non - Jews ? 

Diaspora Jews probably regard this kind of question as something odd. How can you not have Gentile friends when a Jew lives in the Diaspora unless you are a Haredi from Brooklyn, Kiryat Yoel, Monsey or Crown Heights ? The same with Israel's frum population: No religious child would see a need for having Gentile friends because its entire world consists of a Jewish kindergarden, a Jewish school, Jewish classmates and friends. 

The Torah itself states that a Jew should not be too friendly with a Gentile. One of the reasons may be that when Jews and Gentiles befriend each other, they will sit together and eat and drink. Example: A Jew sitting in the house of his Gentile friends and eating. The problem occuring is that the food won't be kosher. It is not sufficient when a cooked meal consists of kosher ingredients but a Jew has to turn on the stove in order to start the cooking process. In case he doesn't, he can still stir the food while cooking. Another problem is that the dishes in a Gentile home are not kosher.

The Torah teaches that G - d created Jews + Gentiles. Each of them has his own task in life. If Jews and Gentiles were one unit, G - d would have created only one people but He didn't. Meaning, there must be a difference between the two. Jews are able to cause a "Tikkun - Soul Rectification" by keeping Mitzvot and Gentile, on the other hand, should follow the "Seven Noachide Laws". 

The Torah commands us to be nice to Gentiles. There is no reason why we shouldn't. Not every great person in this world has to be Jewish, and there are many great non - Jews in this world. Furthermore, we have to keep our contracts with them and be fair business partners. 

I have a lot to say about my own experiences while living in Germany. All of my friends were Gentiles. Well, except for some members of the local Jewish community I knew. However, I wouldn't really call them "friends" but rather acquaintances. 

When you live at certain places in the Diaspora where there aren't too many Jews around, you won't have too many chances of finding Jewish friends. Hence, most of your friends will be Gentile. Although you may think that Gentile friends are great people to have and that nothing can keep you apart - reality looks different. There is always a certain point in life when you feel alone. Abandoned and misunderstood by your Gentile friends. The times when your beloved friends step away from you can occur at different times and as a result of various events. For instance, when you insist on "a Jew should marry a Jew". My Gentile friends probably felt left out when I made this kind of statement. Another point is that Germans are easily offended by telling them that they are guilty of the Holocaust. Germans from the younger generation don't see any reason for taking the responsibility for the Holocaust and also point out that not every German was a Nazi but also a resistant fighter. 

It doesn't matter whether you are a German, American, British or any other Jew: We all know the feeling of how it is when suddenly our Gentile friends start criticizing us because we are Jewish. The reasons differ but suddenly we are becoming aware of how terribly alone we are. Furthermore, we feel the need for a Jewish friend. Kabbalah is calling this effect a "special need for a soul connection". Jewish souls are connected and there are times when we feel the desire for having this connection. For someone who feels like us and does unterstand. Someone we have something in common with.

Is a kosher animal slaughtered by a Gentile kosher ?

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There may be cases where Jews enter a Muslim butcher store with the intention of buying some meat. Especially in those areas where there is no Jewish store available. While living in Germany I said to myself that it is better buying sausages in a Turkish store where there are no pork ingredients than in a regular supermarket. I used to live in Nuremberg / Fuerth and there was simply not kosher store, whatsoever, around. The next kosher stores are in Frankfurt or Munich. 

The question comes up whether the meat of a kosher animal slaughtered by a Gentile is kosher. KOSHER according to Jewish Halacha.

The Talmud Tractate CHULLIN teaches us exactly how a kosher animal should be slaughtered in a Jewish sense. Among others, what kind of knife the Schochet (ritual slaughterer) should use and that the knife should not have a damages. The cut has to take place within a second and a damaged knife may cause the animal to suffer. In such a case, the meat won't be kosher anymore. After the ritual slaughter, different organs of the animal are being checked in order to find out whether the animal may have been sick. The Talmud has very strict rules about what is kosher and how to slaughter an animal. 

What about a Gentile who sticks to the Jewish Halacha and schaechts a kosher animal such as a cow or a chicken ?

The Talmud Tractate Chullin 13 says that such a precedure would not produce kosher meat. A slaughter done by a Gentile is invalid even if the animal itself was kosher. Although Muslims don't eat pork, they still do not slaughter the animals according to Jewish halachic standards. 

Kosher Pork Taste

Quelle: GetfitKatie

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Israel's Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Jonah Metzger announced that a new kind of goose liver tastes like pork. Various secular Jews eating pork are now able to replace their non - kosher habit by a kosher choice. 

Jew are not allowed to eat pork, as the Torah commands us and I simply don't understand why there are Jews who are desperately looking for pork and its taste. There are so many other things to eat; why pork ? 

Most of my colleagues in Tel Aviv eat pork which they buy at the local non - kosher supermarket chain "Tiv Ta'am". When I asked them why they feel like eating pork they told me that the meat has more taste than other kinds of meat. I doubt whether they would replace their pork meal by a piece of goose liver. 

I guess that various Jews are attracted by the forbidden or just want to be like all the other nations. They don't understand the reason why Jews should be different from the nations.

YUK ! Worms (Maggots) in Rice

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The following photos are from a haredi forum and show how rice can turn into maggots (worms). This is the reason why we have to check rice before we boil it. 

See all photos HERE !

The short life of a kosher Chicken

"Kugel, Kugel" - Kosher Food Take Away in Ge'ulah / Jerusalem

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There are a few very good stores where you can purchase "Take Away" food. Located in Malchei Israel Street in the haredi Ge'ulah neighbourhood (next to Mea Shearim). Some dishes are not that cheap but I very much recommend the tasty Ashkenazi food. By the way, the Hechsher is "Badatz Edah Charedit" !

Photo: Miriam Woelke

Nevertheless, most Haredim prefer cooking and preparing their own food at home, as they hardly trust in any Hechsher. For instance, I know that Chabadnikim don't even touch meat with an Edah - Hechsher but only meat with their own Chabad Hechsher.

Regarding meat: Many chassidic groups have their own Shochtim (ritual slaughterers) and thus, only buy in their own shops.

"SISALEK" Ice - Cream in Ge'ulah / Jerusalem

Photo: Miriam Woelke

B"H

A few days before Pessach, I bought an ice - cream at Jerusalem's haredi ice - cream store SISALEK in Ge'ulah / near Mea Shearim. The price for one ball is rather high but I liked my milchig date ice - cream.

SISALEK has a milchig and a parveh counter but not too many Haredim from the neighbourhood buy at the store. A "Rabbi Rubin" Hechsher is hanging in the window and Rabbi Rubin is not too accepted among various haredi groups and directions. Chassidut Belz, for instance, is stricly against Rabbi Rubin Hechsherim and doesn't come near such products. The Edah HaCharedit, at the nearby Kikar Shabbat, has its own standards anyway.

For whatever reason, and I am a little surprised about it, SISALEK decided to stick with Rabbi Rubin.

Links:

Ice - Cream at SISALEK

Sikarikim versus SISALEK

Ice Cream kasher le' Pessach

Seen in Ramat Gan near Bnei Brak.

Photo: Miriam Woelke

The UNKOSHER Jerusalem Food Festival

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Festival posters published by Jerusalem's Municipality

Source: 2424.co.il

Jerusalem's mayor Nir Barkat seems to be dreaming of a multicultural Jerusalem. A Jerusalem just like Tel Aviv or New York in order to ship in more tourists. No matter how, as the municipality needs money. And thus the mayor doesn't care about Jerusalem's history and about Judaism as a whole. 

Last week, from Sunday until Thursday night (31st March 2011), the municipality ran an Treifeh (not kosher) food festival in the Old City. Just a few meters away from the Temple Mount, in the Jewish Quarter, various stands were offering unkosher food. 

Barkat is turning Jerusalem into a Disneyland and extreme Christian sects, as the Evangelical Christians or Pentacostas, keep on looking for their advantages.

Jewish Orthodox organizations, on the other hand, were demonstrating against the Treifeh festival :

 

 Haredim hung up Pashkevilim and warned against participation. Not all stands offered unkosher food and there was some kosher food. However, who would be able to see the difference ?

Source: Ladaat

Moreover, certain Christian groups were so happy (clappy) about the Treife festival that they started lighting candles in the Jewish Quarter. Local Jewish shopkeepers were almost freaking out and said that those Christians have nothing to do in the Jewish Quarter.

 

The Chief Rabbinate (Rabbanut) Jerusalem warning the population of participating in the festival.

Source: Chadrei HaCharedim

The Protests

Photos: Chadrei HaCharedim

The EDAH HACHAREDIT on Salmon Heads

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"Jerusalem Kosher News" has some detailed information on the Edah HaCharedit and eating salmon heads:

http://www.jerusalemkoshernews.com/2011/03/eida-chareidit-alert-salmon-heads/#more-4886