NYJW on Five Towns Kashrut Controversy
The Jewish Week has chimed in on the 5 Towns Kashrut kerfuffle in their usual half-baked fashion. Without mentioning the basis for the whole controversy - the fact that Gourmet Glatt's owners had been allegedly mislabeling chickens - they air Mr. Bolender's grievances of this all being over a "personality conflict":
Whether the allegations are true or not, the fact that the Jewish Week chooses not to mention them whatsoever, leaving the reader to believe that there is only one side to the story - Mr. Bolender's - is perfectly in line with the Jewish Week's style of reporting. They even throw in the obligatory anonymous-quote-from-a-community-member:
An owner of a major kosher supermarket in the Five Towns says he has been given an ultimatum by the organization that provides him with kosher supervision: either sell his business by Feb. 1 or it will withdraw its kosher supervisors.Riiiight. This had nothing to do with the fact that there was a huge and extremely public conflict over allegations of whether Mr. Bolender's store was found to be labeling one brand of chicken for another.
Mark Bollander, [sic] a partner of Gourmet Glatt Kosher Meat Market in Cedarhurst, told The Jewish Week that the threat was made by the Vaad Hakashrus of the Five Towns and Rockaway, which has virtually dominated supervision of kosher establishments in the Five Towns for about 30 years.
“The Vaad told me that you have to get out of Dodge by Feb. 1 or we are pulling your supervision,” he said. “This was not over any kashrut issues, it is strictly a matter of personality.”
Whether the allegations are true or not, the fact that the Jewish Week chooses not to mention them whatsoever, leaving the reader to believe that there is only one side to the story - Mr. Bolender's - is perfectly in line with the Jewish Week's style of reporting. They even throw in the obligatory anonymous-quote-from-a-community-member:
An Orthodox resident of the Five Towns who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the ultimatum is not widely known in the community but that those who learned of it were “shocked” that the Vaad would act to “put [Gourmet Glatt] out of business.”Nice to see the Jewish Week in good form, providing their readers with a story that, as usual, has the least possible relevance to the actual news.
“It is taking away their ability to make a living over something that has nothing to do with kashrut,” he said. “Even if they wanted to open another business elsewhere they would not be deemed to be worthy of another Vaad giving them [supervision]. Clearly this is not a question of kashrut because if it was, why would they wait until Feb. 1? Unless their reasoning was extremely sound, this is not the way to go. Their job is to watch out for kashrut” and nothing more.
posted by orthomom at 11:57 AM
37 Comments:
better than the Jewish Press' moronic take on the issue. At least that reported something.
This is a kashrut issue. Once there are questions about one thing there might be questions about another. If the Vaad does withdraw, they can always go back if the owner cleans his act up. If he switches the labels on one thing how are you supposed to know what he is doing with other things? The Vaad obviously has these questions as well which is why they have a right to withdraw their hashcacha
Concerning the cost of yeshiva and the school board issues:
http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2006/10/10242006.html
um excuse me, yes this is true the Vaad will be pulling the hashgacha but this really had nothing to do with kashrus. Other issues yes, many but there was never a question of kashrus violation.
It seems to me that the reporter contacted the Vaad and they didn't want to talk about it.
From reading all the stories and your blog it also seem the this is less a matter of Kashrut and more of a matter of the Vaad being insulted.
The Vaad is acting more like the Mafia and less like Rabbis. Taking away a man's living..What if he has kids, how are they going to have food on their table for Shabbos Dinner
duh, by selling the business for millions of dollars?
The buisness will be worthless in february do you really think he is going to get fair market value?
not if they wait till february
If GG is reliable why make them sell it-if they can't be trusted pull hashgacha immediately. Is the Vaad a Lets Make a Deal Organization. I hope not-I hope they have integrity.
can I bid here?
Simply the Vaad is in a bad position because of Eisens charade.
Because you think so? As soon as the vaad pulls its hechsher, they will have far more credibility in most people's eyes, since they will no longer monopolize the local kashrus industry.
Not true , I find it hard for a Vaad to give hasgacha to Dunkin Donuts that is open on shabbat and a Bagel Island who has no mashgiach temidi with owners that are shabbat desicrators.
Just my thought. Perhaps The new Rav (Hasgacha) @ gg would be the intermidairy and provide kashruth while just having the Vaad of the 5 twns alone as their hasgacha.
Dunkin Donuts is not under jewish ownership and the vaad has people who check up on them on shabbos
But on that note, there is a new bagel shop in the neighborhood under jewish ownership that is open on shabbos. Now, that's something people should take issue with.
anon 759
you are an idiot.
dunkin donuts is owned by a goy. he happens to be a very nice guy. get your facts straight you idiot.
you must be from far rockaway!!!
The community has got to get together to save Rabbi Eisen's parnosa
What a shabbos goy or a shabbos jid.It seems to me they are only in business because Rabbi Billets congregants like Donuts.
Rabbi Chait will give you a mouthful to save Rabbi Eisens persona.
first: most of the people in dunkin donuts are from the yeshivisha velte. so dont bash one of the only ehrliche and frum rabbonim left in our community.
everbody enjoys dunkin donuts. you people from far rockaway should stay there. you belong with the criminals. thats all you are is criminals.
rabbi eisen is the biggest criminal, second to reisman.
close the vaad.
build a wall along 878, and keep the city trash on the other side of the wall.
'something that has nothing to do with kashrut'
The Riverdale Vaad requires that stores accept food stamps as a condition of their hechsher. That also has nothing to do with kashrut. But it has a lot to do with justice.
'Dunkin Donuts that is open on shabbat and a Bagel Island who has no mashgiach temidi '
I don't see what the problem would be. The OU supervises a bagel place in the Bronx, open on Shabat, with spot-checks.
"owners that are shabbat desicrators."
So now the standard is what YOU consider to be shabbat deicration. Maybe you should seal your mouth of what comes out, instead of sealing what comes in. You are so anti anything outside your little box that you live in. You have a very easy way to determine what you put in your mouth, DONT EAT THERE. No one is forceing you.
It just sickens me at what length Rabbis will go to give hecksers to store just because there congregants want it. Ex:haagen Dasz,dunkin donuts
Anon 8:01- take note that there are rabbis that don't suggest eating there, as a result.
Anon 7:59- correct, the ownership of the 2 vaad supervised DDs (the one in Lawrence and the one in Valley Stream) is by a non-Jew.
Anon 7:54- when does the new supervising rabbi have time to be at GG, isn't supposed to be in Mexico?
Isn't Bagel Island under new ownership/management?
Anon 9:46- Haagen Dazs isn't supervised by a 'local' (five-towns area) rabbi. Why didn't the Vaad want this place? Before the current rabbi- I don't believe that there was certification, though I remember area residents frequenting the place
As to the information that Orthomom has provided re:JW article, the JW in it's own fashion is printing an article that doesn't provide a larger picture of the scenario.
Haagen Dasz gets it certification from Rabbi Billet because his congregants love their ice cream that appeals to his channies.
I sincerely hope the spate of idiocy we're seeing on this site is only representative of a cross section of those people dumb enough to spend their day commenting on blogs (present company included) --- and not indicative of the general level of intelligence of those living in the FT/FR community.
"This is a kashrut issue. Once there are questions about one thing there might be questions about another. If the Vaad does withdraw, they can always go back if the owner cleans his act up. If he switches the labels on one thing how are you supposed to know what he is doing with other things? The Vaad obviously has these questions as well which is why they have a right to withdraw their hashcacha"
No its not a Kashrus issue, when RYE was asked about this incident he said "Mistakes happen!".
"they will have far more credibility in most people's eyes, since they will no longer monopolize the local kashrus industry."
This is an illogical statement. The credibility of the VAAD will change only on the basis of how the community feels about their actions. And they will only reaffirm that they absolutely do have a monopoly on the local Kashrus industry, because once they pull their Hechsher every Rav on the board of the VAAD will absolutely forbid their Kehillah from walking in there!
Anon 7:54- when does the new supervising rabbi have time to be at GG, isn't supposed to be in Mexico?
Who said he is supposed to be in Mexico? Does Heineman only give Hashgacha in Baltimore, Does OU, KafK and OK only supervise NY?
I don't trust this vaad anymore. IT REALLY isn't a kashuras organization. I hope that GC runs Eisen out of town. Eisen go back to Brooklyn where you belong. If not for the 5towns you would be driving a Yugo, not a Lexus
If the vaad pulls out from GG, will the local rabbis frobid their members from shopping there or will they just advise against it?
BTW, I had the very good fortune of meeting Rabbi Kravitz and his mashgiach today while shopping at GG. I am very impressed by their ehrlichkeit and eidelkeit and their credentials.
To tell you the truth just the fact that they are there on a very busy and hectic Friday speaks volumes to me.
you see this would never happen if the Satmars open up all the food stores here in the five town, next they should open schools the tuition would be affordible
It was much simpler when there were two Vaads. One the 5T that checked out the stores kashrus. And one in FR that cared more about the owners than the food.
New stories in town, Rabbi Eisen is a partner in the new kosher supermarket opening,I would look for bugs,,
If it is a trust issue, then he should expect to pay for a supervisor tamidi. If he doesn't want to then I guess they have the right to pull the kashruth certificate. He would need to seek a different organization that is willing to take the risk. And, I think that the vaad of the community should be careful to bad mouth his business, or they should be taken to a beit din and pay damages. There should be some middle ground to make this work. Both sides need to get off their high horses.
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