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18 Sivan 5759 - June 2, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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The Owner of a Simcha Hall in Yerushalayim Who Almost Served Treif Meat is Fined

By Betzalel Kahn

A very serious affair, in which Jews were nearly served meat which hadn't been kashered, was disclosed a number of days ago. It occurred in the simcha hall affiliated with the Beis Knesses HaGodol in Jerusalem. Due to this serious occurrence, the Chief Rabbinate fined the managers of the hall, and decided to assign an on-site kashrus supervisor to the hall from the time it opens until it closes. In addition to this, instructions were given to kasher the utensils which had come in contact with a kli rishon. Officials in the Jerusalem rabbinate warned that one should not expect to receive mehadrin meal at a hall that does not regularly have mehadrin supervision.

Mr. A. M. of Jerusalem recently married off his daughter. On the copy of the menu which he had ordered prior to the wedding from the owners of the hall of the Great Synagogue, it was clearly written: "Lemehadrin, glatt kosher meat, Beis Yosef."

On the afternoon of the wedding, Mr. M. arrived at the hall in order to inspect the proceedings. He entered the kitchen, and noticed the mashgiach standing there, but he claimed that he wasn't the mashgiach of the food for that evening. "I only supervise the mehadrin produce," he said to Mr. M., in a manner which seemed to imply that the meat products at the wedding were not mehadrin.

Mr. M. decided to investigate the situation more carefully, and began to examine the labels on the wrappings of the meat which had been prepared for cooking for his wedding. A brief examination indicated that the meat was Dutch calf meat, which hadn't been kashered yet at all. "On the crates of the meat was a label which clearly stated: Kosher, Not Kashered."

"I took a few of those labels and approached the man in charge, who at first adamantly claimed that the meat was kosher and glatt. I showed him the labels, which said : `Kosher, Not Kashered,' and then he began to evade my questions, claiming that he had purchased the meat at a well- known store, and that those labels simply hadn't been removed from the box after the meat had been kashered," Mr. M. told Yated Ne'eman.

"I told him, `You're feeding Jews treifos. More than 400 people are liable to eat treif meat here tonight, and you're trying to tell me that the meat is kosher?'

"I was forced to forego meat at the wedding and had chicken served instead. After the wedding, the affairs director of the hall admitted that the meat hadn't been kashered, and said that the mashgiach was to blame."

The disappointed and offended host turned to the Chief Rabbinate, and filed an official complaint in the Nationwide Unit for the Enforcement of the Prohibition Against Kashrus Fraud. Rafi Yochai, the director of this unit in the Chief Rabbinate wrote a letter to Mr. M. saying that it had become clear that the owner of the hall had indeed violated kashrus procedures in a gross manner. Rabbi Yitzchok Ilovitzki, the head supervisor of the Chief Rabbinate who conducted the investigation, claimed that a number of decisions were made in the wake of this serious occurrence.

It was decided that the supervision in the hall would from now on be constant and that a mashgiach would be present in the hall from the moment of its opening until its closing. All of the dishes and pots which had come in contact with a kli rishon had to be kashered. The owner of the hall was fined an administrative fine, due to his violation of the Law Against Fraud in Kashrus, which he had committed by his failure to abide by kashrus standards.

The Rabbinate says that halls can reliably maintain only the level of kashrus as agreed on their original documentation, in order to prevent the possibility of deceiving the person who has ordered the food for the affair. Officials in the Rabbinate said that it is not inconceivable that similar occurrences occur at other times, and people must carefully examine the food which arrives at the halls.

The deputy chairman of the Religious Council of Jerusalem, Rabbi Yehoshua Pollack, who is responsible for its Kashrus Department, told Yated Ne'eman that mehadrin level of kashrus can only be reliably ordered at a hall if that hall has a regular certificate attesting to the fact that it provides mehadrin services. "If a person wants to supervise the food and the kashrus of the hall himself, let him do so. But he should know that in doing this, the owner of the hall will have to bring in food products from outside which are not regularly used in the hall, and this is liable to cause problems."

He then added that the host of a simcha who wants to hold a celebration in a hall which is not mehadrin, should not make an agreement with the owner of the hall, regarding the provision of mehadrin food products, because the Rabbinate does not approve this. There is no mehadrin supervision whatsoever on a hall which does not have a kosher lemehadrin certificate.

The Rabbinate said that publicizing this information will deter attempts to violate kashrus procedures, and save innocent Jews from eating treifos.


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