By Rabbi Eli Gersten
The Gemara Avoda Zara 61b teaches that if one is מטהר יינו של עובד כוכבים ברשותו (produces kosher wine for a non-Jew in the non-Jew’s premises) even a double chosem is inadequate to protect the wine against possible tampering. The wine requires as an additional safeguard the presence of a mashgiach who sits and watches or who makes periodic unannounced visits ((שאינו בא לקיצין. Rav Belsky often quotes this Gemara as the basis for hashgacha today. We see how great was the view that Chazal had for unannounced visits that they equate it to having a mashgiach sitting and watching!
Rabbi Mordechai Merzel, rabbinic coordinator for the Orthodox Union Kosher Division, will be a presenter at the 14th Americas Food and Beverage Show and Conference on Tuesday, October 26 from 3-4 p.m. at the World Trade Center Miami.
Old World Kosher Sausage today announced that it has been certified kosher by the Orthodox Union, the world’s largest kosher certification agency. The new variety of kosher chicken sausage bearing the OU symbol will be distributed nationwide beginning in the next few weeks
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
In general, one is not permitted to be mivatel issur lichatchila. There is a machlokes whether this is an issur d’oreisah (Ravad) or an issur d’Rabbanan (Tosfos). Though most poskim hold that it is only an issur d’rabbanan[1], yet many[2] (including Rav Belsky) feel that one should be choshesh for the opinion of Ravad.
By By Rabbi Menachem Adler
The accompanying sidebar from Martek explains the nutritional importance and benefits of DHA and ARA oils in infant development and growth and actually its nutritional value for all age groups. DHA is a long chain omega-3 fatty acid and ARA is an omega 6 fatty acid. As discussed in the accompanying sidebar, many people mistakenly think that these fatty acids can only be derived from fish. In fact, what prompted this little piece is a prior article in this magazine, which may have given the impression that all DHA and ARA fatty acids are seafood-derived. Fish is of course a category of food which is kosher sensitive, as only fish which have fins and scales are kosher. Thus, in order for fish-derived DHA and ARA oil to be accepted as kosher, we need to know that they were derived from a kosher fish source.
Dear Rabbi:
QUESTION: As an OU company, I have many customers who want their names printed on the label with no mention of the manufacturer (also known as private label products). We understand the need to sign a contract, to ensure that everyone is “on the same page” with the OU requirements for private labels, though the “legalese” of the contract makes it hard for us to understand what exactly we are obligating ourselves (and what our label company is obligating itself) to do to remain OU certified. Can you advise us in “plain talk” what exactly are the responsibilities of the manufacturer and the label company in the agreement? Specifically, what is this “parallel product” clause, and why is it needed?
It’s a textbook of sophisticated food technology that is utilized in refining oil, a compendium of kosher law, and therefore, a remarkable combination of centuries-old halacha and the most up-to-date developments. After a long production process, it is now available to set kashrut standards for the entire industry.
By Rabbi Yisroel Hollander
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Baltic States, the frozen north, and particularly in Lithuania, home to great Jewish communities -- now these communities are gone and only memories remain. I share these memories -- my grandparents trod this ground 70 years ago.
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
I have heard it said that running a successful kosher program is as easy as PIE: Products, Ingredients and Equipment. One must keep an updated schedule B (products) an updated schedule A (ingredients) and have a proper system for keeping track of the kosher/pareve status of equipment. I would like to add another interpretation to this wise adage. Running a successful kosher program is as easy as π (as in 3.14159…).
By Rabbi Eliyahu W. Ferrell
“May I have a steak well done, please, and a fruit cocktail?” is a request that is commonly heard in a restaurant. It’s very rare to hear someone in a restaurant say, “Waiter, I’d like an order of rotten fruit, please, and do you have any steak that causes botulism?”
By Rabbi Simcha Smolensky
As a traveling RFR (rabbinic field representative) for more years than I care to admit to, one quickly learns that regardless of how carefully we plan our days, flexibility is the key to success.
By Rabbi Gavriel Price
In order to get to Indospice, a vanilla bean export company deep in the jungles of Bondowasa Java, Indonesia, Rabbi Moshe Machuca arrives at a local airport, drives up, down, and around steep mountains, past fishing villages, thatched huts, caribou, monkeys, and exotic birds for five difficult, but colorful, hours until he reaches the plant. There he watches as workers at Indospice scald vanilla beans in vats of boiling water and set them in the sun for three to four weeks. The process, called curing, initiates a series of biochemical events within the vanilla bean that yields one of the most cherished, and expensive, flavors in the world: natural vanilla.
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