Kosher costs and pitfalls aired at informative meeting

SUZANNE BELLING

 PHOTOGRAPH BY SUZANNE BELLING

 Pictured: Rabbi Yossi Baumgarten

One definite answer given by Rabbi Yossi Baumgarten, principal rabbinic supervisor of the kashrut division of the Union of Orthodox Synagogues, was to go back to the basics of our grandparents – buy the chicken, enlist a shochet and then pluck the feathers and salt and soak the bird yourself.

Rabbi Baumgarten was addressing a meeting of the Co-ordinating Council of National Jewish Women’s Organisations, accompanied by Greg Bloch, head of the kashrut division of the UOS, and Jarred Abelson, head of finance and group services. The Council comprises the Union of Jewish Women, SA; WIZO South Africa; The SA Union of Temple Sisterhoods; and the Johannesburg Sephardi Ladies’ Society.

The old-fashioned way cuts out the cost of the middleman – or the many women employed to de-feather and clean the chicken. And even then, it is not as smooth or clean as a treif chicken because, by soaking the bird in water, the blood becomes cooked and the chicken is therefore not kosher.

There is no simple answer today – people want the convenience of ready-kashered meat. The fact that the Jewish community only uses the forequarters of an animal also adds to the cost.

Rabbi Baumgarten who inspects kosher facilities on a regular basis, says “kashrut is the heart of Judaism”.

He explained that even observant shop or restaurant owners need mashgichim to ensure 100 per cent observance and had to be subjected to inspections. The frum owner of an establishment could only supervise pareve or dairy foods, he said.

He explained how, during inspections, he believed Hashem was watching over him, and cited examples of how mistakes were averted.

Regarding increases in prices, this was true of the smaller establishments, not big factories where the approval of a Beth Din label on mass-produced goods did not add to the cost. However, this did happen in smaller establishments.

He debunked the belief that a hechsher was needed on pure (unflavoured) water except on Pesach, which answered an often-posed question from the community.

He dealt with infestations – for example in cauliflower and broccoli – as this was to’eivah (an abomination in the eyes of Hashem). “If one transgressed by eating pork, it is one transgression, but to eat ‘goggas’ (insects), one can have as many as six transgressions,” he said, having proved this to a chef in a five-star restaurant in the same hotel as a kosher function.

He explained how easy it was for an unkosher ingredient, such as an emulsifier, to be part of a shipment. He had spotted this in time in a shipment of chocolate that had been then exchanged.

The women bombarded the rabbi and Bloch with questions – for example:

• Why do people – especially charitable organisations – have to pay function fees? “It doesn’t seem fair when we are raising money.” The team offered to look into this in an attempt to find an answer.
• Some of the participants wanted to know “why the premises of kosher restaurants were ‘so often’ unclean?” The solution suggested by the team was that the women’s organisations carry out regular visits to the premises of these restaurants in an attempt to point out the problem and rectify it with the establishment.

The biggest expenses for kosher diners were restaurants, butcheries and purchasing cheese and meat.

The team stressed that the Beth Din has an “open-door” policy and was always available to discuss matters of kashrut.

Lynne Raphaely, national president of the Union of Jewish Women, who chairs the Co-Ordinating Council, welcomed and thanked the speakers.