UOS commits to transparency and better all-round service

For the first time in the country’s communal history, the leadership of the Union of Orthodox Synagogues (UOS) has laid bare its financials and governance vulnerabilities for the community to scrutinise and dissect.

And, it has made a solemn commitment to rectify burning issues around kashrut which have bubbled beneath the surface for years, threatening in recent weeks to splinter the community into shards.

Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein, the UOS, and the kosher department, offered to answer questions in a webinar hosted by the SA Jewish Report earlier this week – marking a turning point in transparency.

This follows a dramatic outburst from members of the community about the cost of kosher food and kosher certification fees, resulting in a showdown on social media and on ChaiFM.

“We have to meet the expectations and the needs of the community. We have something precious, that we should be proud of and work to fix. If there are problems, let’s fix those problems together,” Goldstein urged.

He said it was a unique community, united under one hechsher and one Beth Din that was globally recognised, and this was something to be proud of.

The chief rabbi said that while there was always room for improvement and growth, the UOS had been radically transformed and modernised in recent years.

In the next few days, the democratically-elected UOS board will appoint a new, totally independent ombudsman to help speedily resolve any impasse between the kashrut department and manufacturers and kosher consumers.

The kashrut department under Rabbi Dovi Goldstein admitted that customer service was lacking and was a “bugbear in the community”. He said the kosher department committed itself to vastly improving customer service, and would try to achieve a tighter 24-hour turnaround time in addressing consumer issues.

The kashrut department has acquired 154 new companies in the past three years. This means an increase in the number of kosher products on the shelves, additional revenue for the department, but it has also added to the administrative workload. For this reason, the board will look at employing someone to help improve service levels and customer relations.

“We know there is service failure and we have to turn this around,” said Kenny Rabson, non-executive member of the UOS board.

A scientific pricing model came into effect about two years ago following the overhaul and radical restructuring of the kashrut department. This model has increased revenue, enabling the UOS to now scrap the simcha fee of R12 per head for kosher functions, and the shuls’ UOS affiliation fee.

The UOS board made a commitment to review costs when it came to smaller producers and manufacturers who were struggling to pay increased kosher certification fees. Rabson said the smaller producer wouldn’t get their certification for free “as there are costs to be borne”, but the UOS would make sure it was more affordable and acceptable.

Rabson committed to making the audited results of the UOS available to the community, saying they would be posted online as soon as Grant Thornton and BDO completed the audit in the next week or so.

He revealed that the total revenue of the UOS was R31.9 million for the last financial reporting period, of which R29.4 million (94%) came from kashrut. The unaudited profit for the period was roughly R216 000.

He divulged that the annual payroll of the 41 salaried employees at the UOS was R22.7 million, explaining that 30 were employed in the kashrut department, and the others in the Beth Din and the office of the chief rabbi.

Rabson said the salaries were funded from the money coming in from the hechsher.

He revealed that the annual cost of the chief rabbi’s office is R2.6 million, of which about R600 000 comes from the Cape Town community. This pays for the chief rabbi, the five people who work in his office, and the costs of running the office. It doesn’t pay for any of the chief rabbi’s major initiatives like the Shabbos Project and Generation Sinai. Those initiatives, he confirmed, are all totally paid for by private donors.

Rabson, who wouldn’t be drawn into discussing individual salaries, confirmed that the average annual salary at the UOS was about R480 000, which is less than the salaries of equivalent jobs in the corporate world.

On the controversial high cost of kosher meat and chicken, Rabson emphasised that the UOS didn’t make a profit from shechita. The annual revenue generated from kosher food services such as butcheries and abattoirs is R7.7 million and the expenses are R7.8 million, running at a small loss of R100 000.

He said the costs incurred for the shechita process divided by the number of units slaughtered was between R4.30 and R4.60 per kilogram depending on whether it was beef or chicken. “The translation into the price of a kilogram of beef is less than R5. So, if four people are eating a kilogram of meat, our costs are R1.25 per person eating that meal,” said Rabson.

The chief rabbi said the shechita fee made up a small percentage of the overall cost, and the UOS had nothing further to do with the price. “It’s a free market, so prices are set by the butcheries. We are just involved in charging the slaughtering fee, which makes up a small percentage. The price of meat and chicken is not set by the UOS. If anyone feels they can bring prices down through the free market, it can certainly be done,” he said.

The cost of kosher meat and chicken is high globally because of smaller volumes and the added cost per unit price of things like shochtim, they said.

Goldstein said the UOS was in the process of setting up a review committee headed by UOS board member Bradley Sifris and labour expert Professor Andrew Levy to assist mashgichim who have complaints and labour issues.

The intention is to help improve their working conditions. For a while, mashgichim have been speaking to the media on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs, and have expressed concern about coming forward publicly with complaints. Rabson assured them that they wouldn’t lose their jobs by coming forward to address their issues.

There are more than 100 mashgichim described by the chief rabbi as “the heart and soul of kashrut”.

Rabbi Dovi Goldstein said it was on the UOS “wish list” to have mashgichim employed by the UOS itself as opposed to being paid by individual caterers, restaurateurs, and retailers. Though this had been considered, it was difficult to implement from a cost and practical point of view.

On the issue of local manufacturers seeking an overseas hechsher, the chief rabbi and Rabson agreed that it could fragment the community.

“I don’t believe dollar-based costs are going to be dramatically cheaper than in South Africa, and I still think going overseas will take what we have built up over years and start to destroy it brick by brick. Once we go down that road, you will start to see many aspects of South African Jewry start to fragment and something very special will start to dissipate,” said Rabson.

“This is all a learning experience for us, and we are happy to take the lessons and do better,” the chief rabbi said.