Kosher Australia

The complexities of Pesach generate many questions, some of which can only be solved by asking one’s Rabbi.

A famous story is related concerning R’ Chaim Brisker who, hours before Pesach, received a knock at the door. Outside stood a poor villager.

“Rabbi, I need to ask you a question about Seder night. Is it permissible to drink milk for the four cups at the Seder?”

Kosher Australia’s raison d’être is to assess and advise the local community about which foods are kosher.

A lesser known fact is that we also materially assist many far flung communities from Asia to Europe.

A log of help desk calls reveals queries from Rabbis in Hong Kong, Singapore, Candy, Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Mumbai, Bangkok and London. In fact, there is one Kosher consumer in Crown Heights (New York) who rings us regularly with Kashrus questions. He claims that our Rabbonim give him clear answers!

Kosher Australia is a Kosher certification authority. But as our brief is not merely to verify that products are Kosher, but to make acceptably kosher food more available for the Australian community, we often find ourselves in the role of Kosher ‘enablers’. It may come as shock to readers, but not every company that seeks Kosher certification actually obtains it. Despite the best of intentions, we cannot Kosher certify the manufacturer of crocodile burgers who had an export contract for the US.

If we were to ask people what they think is covered by Kosher certi­fication, most people would probably answer simply – the food and drink that is being supervised of course!

I recently met a relative who is a pharmacist. He excitedly said, “I have a great idea for Kosher Aust­ralia. Why don’t you look into kosher certifying vitamins? I hear so many requests for kosher vitamins.” My heart sank. How could I explain to him what an enormous job it is to check out the 50 or so ingredients in your average multi vitamin or the 70 plus ingredients in a food supplement for body building or weight loss?

It is quite clear in Halachah that the prohibition against eating milk and meat com­bined is extended to also include restrictions on eat­ing milk and meat separately but in close proximity to each other time-wise. The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 89:1) rules, in accordance with the most widely accepted opinion, that the waiting period between eating meat and dairy products is six hours, although the Ramo and others, commenting on this law, bring other minority opinions and customs, such as waiting for one hour or three hours.

Most people would be familiar with the ban on Shechitah imposed suddenly and unilaterally by the New Zealand Govern­ment under the guise of humane treatment of animals. (Apparently shooting the animal through the head or bludgeoning it to death is seen as more ‘kind’ to animals.)

At the time of writing, this ban has been temporarily suspended pending legal action to be heard in March 2011.

The NZ ban is not the first time that shechitah has been attacked or banned.

For many of us, the first meal of Rosh Hashanah is filled with interesting foods. Starting with apples dipped in honey, some people eat gourds, fenugreek, leeks, beets and dates. The reason for these culinary customs comes from the Talmud (Krisus 6a) “Abaye said ‘Now that you have said that an omen is significant, at the beginning of each year, each person should accustom himself to eat gourds, fenugreek, leeks, beets and dates…’.”

Last week I mentioned the three main concerns that a consumer raised with me.

Her second complaint was why there are few Kosher symbols on products that we list in the Kosher guide.

A fair question. If one ventures into a supermarket in the US, say Publix, Ralphs or Wall-mart, 60-70% of all products carry a reputable Kosher certification. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find an ice-cream or a cereal that does not carry an OU or an OK kosher symbol. So why not here?

There are couple of reasons:

Recall the shopper in Coles who approached me with three complaints?

The last complaint was that her children had been to a different city during the holidays where the Rabbis there had allowed products that the Rabbis in Melbourne prohibited. The children had therefore decided that Kashrus was just politics and decided to follow the less stringent ruling of the out-of-town Rabbis. She was furious and demanded that I ‘fix it’.