Rabbi Kurtstag and others at the Beth Din should step down

Alice Goldman, Johannesburg

In light of the Jewish community’s call for our previous president, Jacob Zuma, to “stand down” and “do the right thing” in light of his flagrant corruption and lack of interest in the people he was supposed to be serving, I believe that the same call should be made to Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag and his band of merrymen at the Johannesburg Beth Din.

I assume that, since this hasn’t occurred, SA Jewish Report either sanctions the Beth Din’s lack of action in carrying out its duties and functions or, like Johannesburg’s kosher Jewry, it is being dictated to by the Beth Din.

Under the Beth Din’s watch, this unethical “incident” has occurred – and its claim, made in your March 9 issue, of the incident having “come to our notice a few months ago” (“Behind the stripping of Stan & Pete’s kashrut licence”) raises questions as to why the Beth Din seemingly kept very quiet about this discovery.

A huge amount of money, charged per head for every function catered by Stan & Pete – and all kosher caterers and establishments – is paid to the Beth Din regularly, apparently without regular checks and inspections.

The Beth Din is there to check. Unless it just gets money in its pockets for doing nothing; for passing the buck and turning a blind eye?

Clearly it has done so, and is doing so.

I agree that one should assume that people are honest and do their job ethically and morally. After all, who would have thought a reputable company like Stan & Pete would do what it did? But the Beth Din is receiving payment for checking, yet it is NOT checking.

No matter how many changes will now take place, no matter how much better the mashgiach is trained, who employs who or who is paying who for that service, it is the Beth Din under whose auspices the standard of kashrut is upheld. It is responsible for past and future behaviours.

So, how could this have happened? Please, Rabbi Kurtstag and your band of merrymen, stand down. You are a corrupt, dishonest bunch, passing blame regarding what should have happened, but didn’t. The buck stops with you.

See this week’s edition for more on the investigation. – Editor