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- Shabbat! The Kashrut Expert Continues to Explain What to Watch Out For During Vacation Trips.
- There’s No Doubt: Whoever Has the Merit and Partakes in This Mitzvah, Hashem Will Certainly Fulfill in Them What the Gemara Promises About Supporting a Torah Scholar from Their Assets: 'No Eye Has Seen, O God, But You.'
The Renowned Kashrut Expert Rabbi Yochanan Reichman Continues His Enlightening Campaign, with Good Taste and Wisdom, on the Topic: The Haredi Community’s Approach to "Kosher Jewish Kitchen and Food Products" at Home and Beyond.
- Firstly: “From the animals we learn wisdom” – Leave the field of food kashrut to professionals.
- Secondly: “They teach us understanding” – It's time to stop living in self-deception; there's no logic in deluding ourselves.
Chapter 2 – Stringencies Due to Lack of Knowledge, About Damages, Losses, and Unnecessary Aggravation.
And This is What Happens When a Kashrut Supervisor Lacks Extensive Torah Knowledge and Isn’t Sufficiently Professional and Expert in Managing Kashrut Systems:
As a kashrut supervisor, a friend of mine who works for a competing kashrut committee asked me to join him undercover for an inspection at one of the luxurious halls in the center of the country. I hesitated but was convinced it would benefit those who keep kosher. We arrived about half an hour before the wedding that was to take place that day and heard shouting coming from the kitchen. We met the hall owner, pacing the corridor, angry and helpless.
“What happened?” we asked. He muttered, “Your supervisor...” “What happened with my supervisor? God have mercy!” “Go in and see,” he shouted at us. We entered, and the supervisor approached us, smiling. “I threw away all the couscous,” he said. “Why?” we asked. “Because the non-Jew poured hot water on the couscous, and it’s bishul akum (cooking by a non-Jew).” (That’s how couscous is cooked). We immediately realized that the supervisor wasn't sufficiently knowledgeable, as many authorities hold that non-Jewish cooking by pouring from a first vessel does not apply, and even if it does, it only cooks the outer layer, which can be nullified. Lack of knowledge and professionalism in kashrut sometimes causes significant damage and unnecessary aggravation. What a shame.
A Prominent Rabbi in a Haredi City Who Oversees Kashrut in Yeshiva Kitchens in His Area called me and shared that he had heard in one of my lectures that a built-in safety mechanism in a commercial combi-steamer oven stops the oven when the door is opened and resumes operation when the door is closed. Therefore, I argued in the lecture, what good is it if a Jew lights the oven but a non-Jew opens and closes the door later? The initial lighting by the Jew becomes void, and the non-Jew's closing of the oven door constitutes bishul akum.
Now he was conducting an inspection in the kitchen of one of the largest and most prestigious yeshivas and saw the oven full of trays of chickens for the meal. A non-Jew opened and closed the oven door. The rabbi wanted to throw out all the chickens because of bishul akum and first asked for my opinion. I told him, with all due respect, that according to halacha, if the chickens were already cooked by a third during the Jew's initial lighting of the oven (ma'achal ben Drusai), there's no prohibition of bishul akum. The rabbi started berating himself over the phone, saying, “I know this halacha; I studied almost all four sections of the Shulchan Aruch, yet due to lack of practical experience and professional knowledge, I almost caused unnecessary damage and loss. How good it is that Hashem granted me the wisdom to clarify with you before issuing a final ruling.”
Another Story: At a family event in which I participated, a distinguished man sat at the table beside me and spoke to those around him, sharing that he works in the field of kashrut. One day, he visited a catering facility under his supervision and was horrified to see the chef frying meat patties in a new pan that still had the price tag on it. “What does that tell you?” he asked, trying to impress his audience. A kashrut supervisor immediately understands that the utensil was not immersed in a mikveh. “What?” they asked. “It hasn’t undergone immersion in a mikveh,” he said. Without further ado, he said and did, “I took all 400 patties, threw them in the trash, poured bleach on them, made sure they were destroyed, and saved the Jewish people from eating from non-Jewish utensils. That’s it.”
I was boiling with anger and couldn’t hold back. I told the “illustrious” supervisor that according to halacha, he is damaging his fellow and is liable to pay the caterer for the loss of the goods because, halachically, food cooked or fried in a utensil that hasn’t been immersed is not forbidden for consumption. Lack of knowledge and professionalism in kashrut sometimes causes significant damage and unnecessary aggravation. What a shame.
At a Major Rabbinic Conference Where I Was One of the Speakers, the distinguished figure who spoke before me on the topic of challah separation emphasized to the audience that when challah is forgotten to be separated before baking, it is separated after baking, and then one must intend to absolve the absorption of the oven and tray, etc. What is the law when the portion separated for challah gets lost, perhaps it got mixed in the dough or among the challahs by mistake? Then it is nullified if there are 100, and if there aren’t 100, one asks for a ruling on the previous challah separation and separates again.
I didn’t want to correct him in public as I don’t like it when others do that to me, so I sent the speaker a note saying: “When challah is separated after baking, for example, one roll, and this roll gets lost and mixed among the other rolls, even if there are 100 rolls against the separated challah roll, it does not become nullified because it has the status of something counted individually (davar shebeminyan), and even in a thousand, it is not nullified.” The rabbi turned slightly pale, but only I understood why.
The rabbi waited until I finished my lecture and approached me. First, he thanked me for being sensitive towards him and not correcting him publicly. Secondly, with a slightly trembling voice, he said that he is deeply troubled because he has indeed been lenient and instructed the supervisors under his supervision in bakeries across the country all these years that even if challah was separated after baking and got mixed up among the other loaves, if there were 100 loaves, it is nullified. It never occurred to him that there could be an issue of something counted individually not being nullified. The solution is to ask for a ruling on the previous challah separation.
Lack of knowledge and professionalism in kashrut sometimes causes significant damage and unnecessary aggravation. What a shame.
The Famous Producer Was Wandering, Desperate and Helpless, the event was ruined, the kashrut supervisor was urgently called. What happened? They prepared 800 portions of beef asado for a prestigious dinner, and the non-Jewish chef was the one who poured the wine sauce on the meat (the sauce consists of water, oil, spices, and wine). The wines were all cooked and checked a million times, but it was discovered that one of the bottles wasn’t cooked, and the wine is forbidden due to the prohibition of non-Jewish wine (stam yeinam). The supervisor called the inspector, and the inspector called the rabbi, who issued a ruling that since there is no sixty times the volume against the wine, and even if there were, the wine imparts flavor (milta d’avida l’tama), and even in sixty, it isn’t nullified. Therefore, it is impossible to serve the flagship dish of beef asado at the prestigious event to those who keep strict kosher. The producer called me on the verge of tears, “Rabbi Reichman, what do we do?”
With G-d’s help, I told him this: “Firstly, stam yeinam is nullified in six (6); it doesn’t need sixty. Secondly, even if we say that the wine is considered milta d’avida l’tama (something that imparts flavor) and it isn’t nullified at all, here you have a case of 'this and that cause' because there is also kosher cooked wine giving flavor. Besides, when the wine is already mixed with other ingredients, it no longer has the prohibition of stam yeinam. Therefore, if the non-Jew poured the mixture into the pot and didn’t make the mixture itself, there is no prohibition at all. Therefore, I don’t see any reason to disqualify the dish for consumption according to halacha.”
The rabbi in charge of the event's kashrut contacted me, listened, asked questions, investigated, and when he understood the matter thoroughly, he decided to consult with other rabbis. The answer came back that Rabbi Reichman was correct: the beef asado is kosher according to the stringent halachic guidelines received from Moses at Sinai. Lack of knowledge and professionalism in kashrut sometimes causes significant damage and unnecessary aggravation. What a shame.
From here, the call goes out: Don’t touch my anointed ones! Whoever doesn’t understand kashrut should keep their hands off this lofty field.
It is crystal clear. Jews – holding celebrations, going on vacations, consuming, eating, do so only in places supervised by an expert, certified, and experienced professional in the field!
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