Yah'hadus in Monsey?

Some history is in order; When I lived in Monsey some 50 plus years ago there were no restaurants, caterers, eateries to speak about. If there was a Bar Mitzvah, it was in Bais Medrash Elyon and the Appledorfer’s made the kidush and the cholent, etc. 


Now, the scenery has changed without anyone controlling the reins of kashrus. Therefore, in Monsey and the surrounding communities are very susceptible to weakness in kashrus, shatnez among other issues of Yah’hadus for some yet unexplained reason(s). Is it that the residents or Rabbonim are not demanding anything?


We had the Shevach/Finkel episode, the KYO restaurant, King David, China Town, Monsey Shatnez tester, etc. among some smaller non-publicized episodes.

It was proven to a group of 7-8 Monsey Rabbonim at countless meetings and demonstrating to them many sets of clothing that had “non-shatnez labels affixed to them by the Monsey tester, yet contained shatnez. Other garments that had non-shatnez labels were not even opened up for testing, a total sham.

The kosher certifiers in the Monsey and surrounding areas over the past few years were generally nothing to write home about, definitely nothing to be proud of either. As long as the kosher Certifier had a title Rabbi, Dayan, etc. it was accepted, even though it just barely good-enough, sometimes not even that much.


The uneducated kosher consumers have been used to look for certain “buzz-words”, Heimish, Chasidishe, etc. In the real world of kosher, those buzz-words don’t really work.

At most one should be able to at least rely on the Owner/Management of the establishment for the kashrus standard and system when there is these type of kosher certifiers. Sadly, that is very often not the case.

Numerous times it’s the fault of some local Rabbonim/Askonim that get in the way of addressing serious issues head-on. The lack of proper Shatnez testing in Monsey area is the fault of Forshay area Rabbonim. 

The weak kashrus and the scandals in the Monsey area is also attributable very much to the Forshay Rabbonim.

We recently had the Monsey Eiruv blow-up, with valid accusations regarding the weakness of kashrus, yet as soon as the real issues of the Franklins became resolved, the kashrus issues became null and void, yet more they publicized that the failed Hashgocha will work with the dysfunctional Mivakshei-Kashrus, which they are  no more than a “Wan ’ne-be” Organization to upgrade of kashrus standards through unqualified clueless mashgichim with the best of intentions.

As the saying goes “the road to … is paved with the best of intentions”.

Where were all of the Rabbonim and Mivakshei-Kashrus for the 10 plus years? They did a Choni Hamaagel sleep, now they all turned over to the other side and went back to sleep once they got their desired green-backs, and they are calling it “ we made Shalom”, “what a sham and defrauding of the kosher consumer”.

In kashrus, one must realize that there are two main areas of concern; the system in place, and the kashrus standards. When one has a strong tight system but a lower standard, we still have basic kashrus, on the other hand if one claims to have very high standards, but no reliable system in place, we do not have any kashrus at all.

There were over the years various Hashgochas appearing on the Scene in the Monsey area which did not give any level of comfort to the ones that are looking for even basic kashrus standard. To add to that, when we tried recently to publish a full-page advertisement in the “Community Connections” that addressed many kashrus issues including some unreliable kashrus items in Monsey, the Community Connections refused to publish the advertisement.

There is a Rabbi Binyamin Taub living in Monsey area, giving some hashgochas to food service establishments. He has been in the kashrus field for many years, he’s very knowledgeable, very organized, etc. perhaps as a first step, ask the vendors to utilize his hashgocha. The Rabbonim can and should check him out, afterwards they should advise their congregants and constituents to only purchase items from a vendor that has the acceptable hashgocha.