Friday, October 24, 2025

An Email Re: A Hashgocha of R' Yechiel Babad Tartikuv-

 Dear Rabbi Shain,


Good Morning! 
I'm  from Flatbush 
NY Smash (1360 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11230) is Sephardi-owned and under Tartikov supervision. Daytime relies on the owner; evenings previously lacked a frum presence. 
Key Issues:
  1. July: Reported no frum staff evenings to Reb Yechiel Babad. They hired a Sephardi girl with minimal halachic/kashrus knowledge to stand at the register.
  2. September: Found she was training a non-Jewish employee to do her job, claiming the owner would be present while the new employee was working. The next day (11:30 PM), no Jewish staff; non-Jews said mashgicha quit, and the owner left at 6 PM. Babad's son falsely claimed via text that a Jew was present—I told him he's being misled or worse.
  3. Current: Mashgicha returned only because the owner withheld her last paycheck; she is not comfortable reporting to the Department of Labor and plans to quit soon due to low pay ($17).
  4. Ongoing: Non-Jewish griddle worker cracks eggs directly onto the hot surface without blood-spot checks—unlikely incentivized to inspect.
Community views Tartikov as reliable (from your blog, I now see you strongly disagree), and when I share my experience, people are shocked by these lapses. From my talks with Reb Yechiel, he seems aware there are issues, but hopes I'll drop it and go away.
Who can I report this to for real pressure on the hashgacha or store?
Thank you,

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How much does owe Babad ??