Comedian Zehavit Rosenbloom on Looking for Kosher Certification Symbols

Zehavit Rosenbloom is a mom with seven children who is performing standup comedy and recording videos for Jewish audiences.She has created many Jewish chsracters including ultra religious Rebbetzins, secular Israelis, and El Al representatives who put passengers through intensive interrogations before letting them board planes.

She calls her comedy routines Zeya Comedy and we have been sharing some of her sketches in future Jewish Humor Central posts. Today we're sharing a sketch in which she finds letters on grocery products and interprets them as kosher symbols even though there is no such connection.

Enjoy!

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Why do Jews Eat Chinese Food on Christmas?

It's been a tradition, or better said, a common practice, for Jews to eat Chinese food on Christmas day, either by going to Chinese restaurants or buying Chinese takeout food for dinner at home.

Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan made it sort of official when she was asked during her confirmation hearing where she was on Christmas day. Here's what she said:

 

The reasons most cited for the affinity between Jews and Chinese food are that Chinese restaurants are generally open on Christmas day, most of their menu items do not include dairy, and that their non-kosher meats are chopped up and hidden inside of dumplings or wrappers.

 

Today it's not so easy to find a kosher Chinese restaurant in many cities, but you'll likely have a selection to choose from if you live in the New York-New Jersey area, or in other states with large Jewish communities like South Florida, Los Angeles, or in Israel.

Dani Klein is doing a great service to the kosher Jewish community by providing an updated list of kosher restaurants worldwide at www.yeahthatskosher.com. To find a certified restaurant in your area, his website is worth checking out. 

Also be sure to check out the smartphone apps Kosher Near Me and Kosher GPS.

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Keeping Kosher and Shomer Shabbat in Singapore

Singapore is a small-but-prosperous island nation, both a city and a country, located just off the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia.

The first Jewish settlers came to Singapore over 200 years ago, most originally from Baghdad, Iraq.

Today, over 2,000 Jews call Singapore their home. How do they observe their Sabbath and where do they find kosher food products? 

What happens when national duty conflicts with the religious customs of a Jew in Singapore? Do Jews in Singapore experience any anti-Semitism? 

Here’s how one orthodox Jewish family fit into Singapore society while keeping to their traditional customs. 

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The Impossible Burger Goes Mainstream

Last June we reported on the Orthodox Union's kosher certification of the Impossible Burger, the closest approximation of a real beef burger ever. 

Until now it has been a niche product, available only in a limited number of kosher and non-kosher restaurants. Every month more restaurants are adding it to their menus.

The product is really going mainstream with yesterday's announcement (not an April Fool joke) in the media that Burger King is adding Impossible Whoppers to their menu in their St. Louis locations, with plans to take it nationwide later this year. White Castle is already offering Impossible sliders in their locations.

So why is the Orthodox Union (OU) certifying this vegetarian burger if you can't get it in kosher restaurants? Well, you can in a few restaurants scattered around the U.S., but the big news is that Impossible Foods is planning to distribute their patties with a new improved recipe to supermarkets later this year. 

Right now it's available in five restaurants in Teaneck, NJ, and three in Manhattan. Impossible Foods includes a search field on its website so you can search for one in your area. 

In this video, Danielle Renov, a food blogger at PeasLovenCarrots, joins with the OU in cooking up an Impossible Cheeseburger.  Enjoy!

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The Secret Behind Kosher for Passover Coca-Cola

McGill University professor of chemistry Dr. Joe Schwarcz takes us back to the 1930s when Rabbi Tobias Geffen, Chief Rabbi of Atlanta, worked with the Coca-Cola Company to make the popular drink Kosher for Passover.

Invented in the 1800s by Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton as a health tonic and pain killer to replace the morphine that he was addicted to, it originally included an extract of coca leaves and cola nuts. The formula for the drink was always a well-kept secret, but the company didn't want to lose the Jewish market which was expressing concern about its kosher status year-round and especially for Passover.

So they asked for the participation of Rabbi Geffen and the rest is history, as Dr. Schwarcz explains in this video.

Enjoy!


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19 Types of Shoppers You Meet at the Supermarket - Which One Are You?

It happens almost every time you go to the supermarket. You can't help running into him or her. And it's always annoying. Who are we talking about? 19 typical shoppers who drive you nuts. 

There's the checklister, the calorie counter, the helpless husband, the snacker, the shopper blocker, the taste tester, the overstocker, and 12 more who test your patience while shopping.We hope you're not one of them.

Filmmaker Meir Kay created this video at Aron's Kissena Farms kosher supermarket in Flushing, Queens, New York. 

Enjoy!

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Non-Observant Jews Try Going Kosher for a Week

The funny folks at Buzzfeed found six non-observant Jews who have never tried to follow kosher rules and challenged them to eat only kosher foods for a week.

They gave them the basic laws of kashrut and followed them as they tried to stay within the kosher guidelines. Here are their reactions as they went through the week.

Were they successful? Watch the video and see.

Enjoy!

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A Higher Authority? Hebrew National Posts Videos Combining Its Kosher Franks With Bacon, Cheese, and Mussels

JTA reports that Hebrew National, makers of hot dogs that generally win consumer contests for best tasting frankfurters, but are eschewed by many Orthodox Jews who don't trust their triangle K kosher certification, has been running short videos on its home page that show its hot dogs on skewers with cheese and shaved bacon.

As Uriel Heilman writes in the JTA article,

Dan Skinner, a public relations manager for Hebrew National, told JTA he doesn’t see any problem with the videos, which were produced in partnership with Tasting Table, which produces content for food companies and runs a culinary website.

“Our hot dogs follow very strict kosher standards in terms of the preparation of the hot dogs themselves, and keeping that kosher process is very important to us,” Skinner said. “But our consumers eat the hot dogs for a number of reasons. Some stick to our hot dogs for kosher reasons, and some eat our hot dogs for reasons of taste and preference. For those consumers we have presented recipe options that are not necessarily kosher recipes in the strictest sense.

The article cites a survey that shows that only 14 percent of consumers polled in that survey said they seek out kosher for religious reasons. 

Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of the kosher division of the Orthodox Union, told JTA that in general there is no inherent problem with companies advertising the use of their kosher products in non-kosher recipes — but there are some exceptions.

“It depends on the context,” Genack said. “A kosher product that’s sold to the general population, if it’s not confusing in any way, that would be OK. If it’s a company that’s selling kosher meat and there’s a real potential for confusion, that would be a problem.”Granting of O.U. certification is not dependent only on the food, Genack said.

The O.U., the largest kosher certifier in the country, does not offer certification to restaurants or caterers that violate the Jewish Sabbath, and it would not certify an establishment whose ambiance does not comport with Orthodox values, such as a strip club, even if the food were strictly kosher. He also noted that the O.U.’s contract with food companies includes a clause that places limits on advertising that might damage the O.U. brand.

“Kosher supervision does not only relate to the kosher food; it’s also the ambiance,” Genack told JTA. “A lot of these things are judgment calls.”

But judgments can be subjective. It didn't take long for us to find a couple of products certified by the O.U. that could give the wrong impression that ham and pork are kosher because Mrs. Schlorer's Ham Glaze and Sauer's Pork Rub are shown with the OU on their labels and described as exclusively seasoning those treif meats. 

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Kosher Switch for Using Electricity on Shabbat Ignites Rabbinic Controversy

Flipping a wall switch on Shabbat to turn on electric lights in a room is considered a prohibition by Orthodox Jews. It is less of a problem to Conservative Jews and not an issue with other Jewish denominations. 

Members of Orthodox communities don't spend Shabbat in the dark. They either use 24-hour time clocks to control their lighting or leave the lights on all day. But they keep looking for better solutions. Along comes Menashe Kalati with an invention he's been perfecting for more than three years.

It's called the Kosher Switch, and uses sophisticated technology to overcome the main objection to using electricity on Shabbat, that causing the flow of electric current is close enough to kindling a fire which is specifically prohibited by the Torah.

As Tova Dvorin reported in Israel International News,

The switch uses a series of light pulses fired at random to stop - or start - the electric current to flip the switch, which is fired at a randomized series of intervals and at a randomized rate of success when a piece of plastic (the toggle) is moved.

A green indicator light demonstrates when the system is inactive, allowing for the observant Jew to flick on the switch on Shabbat, as it is simply moving a piece of plastic; the randomization process allows for the system to work based on a number of halakhic (Jewish law - ed.) principles preventing indirect toggling of electric switches that leads to a definitive outcome.

The switch has a separate toggle to be used during the week as well as a normal light switch.

Kalati has taken his idea to the IndieGoGo crowdfunding community to raise the $50,000 needed to start mass production of the device. As we post this item, he has reached 92% of his goal.

Even though the product has the endorsement of some prominent Orthodox rabbis, there are still voices of objection being raised, mainly questioning whether this innovation is against the spirit of Shabbat and whether it will cause people to assume that all light switches are permitted on Shabbat.

Some lively discussions on the pros and cons of this product are taking place on Internet sites and only time will tell whether the proponents of technological innovation prevail or whether those who resist all new approaches keep this product from becoming popular in their communities.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem.

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EXCLUSIVE On-Site Report! Best In Show and Unusual New Products From Kosherfest 2013

Hickory smoked beef brisket, beautifully hand decorated wine bottles, breaded chicken fries, flavored panini with grill marks, pizza cones, and a haggadah in the shape of a wine bottle.
 

These are some of the prize winning and unusual products on display yesterday and today for the thousands of visitors representing all aspects of the food industry at Kosherfest 2013 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.
 

More than 325 exhibitors lining both sides of seven aisles are vying  for the attention of visitors (trade only -- but some kiddush aficionados seem to have found their way into the hall) who try to manage noshing and stuffing literature into the bags provided by some vendors (and rolling suitcases brought by attendees).  And there's plenty to nosh and to stuff.  

Some of the samples are meat, some are dairy, and some are pareve.  But all three types are scattered around the show floor, so anyone trying to keep kosher has to make careful choices.

The vendors are hoping that visitors will make bulk purchases, and some of the newer, smaller, and foreign companies exhibiting for the first time are hoping to find distributors who will bring their wares to your local supermarket.

If you love kiddush, can make a case for being in some kind of food-related business, have a few hours to spare and don't mind walking half a mile to a parking lot, this is the place for you.  It's still open all day today, Wednesday, from 10 am to 4 pm.  The on-site registration fee is $80.

We interviewed a few of the exhibitors and got closeups of some of the more unusual delicacies in this video for you to savor.  Enjoy!  

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California Kosher Agency Approves, Then Rescinds Personal Lubricant Certification

Here's something from the "You just can't make this stuff up" category.

We've all heard of Kosher food products, but how about kosher personal lubricants?

Last Wednesday Trigg Labs, manufacturer of a line of the "Wet" brand of personal lubricants announced that 95% of their lubricants and intimate items are now certified kosher. 

The following day, the Rabbinical Council of California, the certifying agency, decided to rescind its approval of the kosher status of the products.

The first Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) report prompted "punny" headlines in The Jerusalem Post (Kosher lube slides onto shelves ahead of Jewish Valentine's Day) and Haaretz (A kosher climax: Wet personal lubricants get rabbinic certification).

The reference to Jewish Valentine's Day is about Tu B'Av, the 15th day of the month of Av, which occurs tomorrow, July 22. It's A very ancient holiday that went almost unnoticed in the Jewish calendar for many centuries. But in recent decades, especially in Israel, it has taken on the trappings of Valentine's Day -- a Hebrew-Jewish day of love and romance.

Originally a post-biblical day of joy, it served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women in the second Temple period, before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E..

The products qualified as kosher following a 2-year long ordeal of rabbinic certification by the Rabbinical Council of California. As part of the process, every ingredient and piece of equipment at the 52,000 square-foot manufacturing facility was subject to "Kosherization" procedures and reviews.

The packaging for the sexual wellness products now has the letter 'K' on the back, certifying the items are kosher. The founder of 'Wet', Michael Trigg stated "With Kosher certification, in the coming months, we plan to introduce Wet® in Israel. The 'K' imprint on our packages says that we maintain the highest standards of purity and answer to a higher authority."

After the lengthy and complicated process, Wet was set to become the only kosher certified personal lubricant in both Canada and the United States. Kosher Wet products were scheduled to appear on the market within the next three months.

As the first JTA article reported,

Menachem Lubinsky, president of Lubicom, the marketing company that hosts the annual Kosherfest trade show, said he wasn’t sure if certification was necessary from the standpoint of Jewish law.

“I usually deal with supply and demand,” he said. “I’m not aware of any large demand for this. I’m more aware of people looking for kosher-for-Passover dog food. Having said that, there’s been a trend in recent years to make more over-the-counter drugs and cosmetics with certification for people that don’t want to bring anything into the house that isn’t kosher certified.”

In the follow-up JTA article on Thursday titled "Kashrus Interruptus: Certifier Pulls Out", JTA's Ben Harris reported:

Sorry kosher sex fans, but the California rabbinical group that was set to certify personal lubricants as kosher has yanked its hechsher.

We know this is hard to swallow, especially for those who may have come to rely on Wet’s line of sexual wellness products.

Here’s the certification group’s deliciously worded statement:

As reported in the media, the Rabbinical Council of California’s Kashrut Division was in the final stages of certifying products produced by Trigg Laboratories. Certification of non-edible items is common in the kosher industry, but the intended uses of these items as now revealed, was misunderstood. The RCC has rescinded its certification with immediate effect, and deeply regrets the widespread consternation that this error caused.

Oy!

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Hakadosh BBQ, Texas-Style Pop-up Restaurant, Has to Change Name to Satisfy Rabbis

When Ari White opened Hakadosh BBQ, his kosher pop-up barbecue restaurant, using a wood burning smokehouse trailer that produces Texas style brisket and smoked turkey legs, he thought it was a clever name. 

It caught the fancy of his customers who delighted in the experience of eating high quality barbecue and smiling at the play on words.

But he didn't expect the name to catch the ire of some rabbis who didn't appreciate the humor.

As Dani Klein wrote in The Jewish Week,

By playing on Hakadosh Baruch Hu, “The Holy One, Blessed Be He,” White has invoked the wrath of some rabbis, who feel his barbecue equipment trivializes God’s name.

After a recent Philadelphia-area fundraiser for the Kohelet Yeshiva High School featured White’s barbecue, some rabbis in attendance complained to the kosher certifying agency of White’s businesses, the Baltimore-based Star K. The actual names of White’s concerns — Gemstone Catering, which does events, and Got Cholent, which provides catering on Shabbat — were not the problem.

Star K rabbis conferred and decided earlier this month that the smoker’s name should be changed, White said.

This week White announced the new name of the venture, Wandering Que, another play on words combining Wandering (as in Wandering  Jew) and Que (as in Barbeque). Maybe this time the rabbis will not feel offended, or maybe they just won't get it. 

So be on the lookout for White's smoking contraption as it visits locations in the Catskills and on the streets of New York. You never know where it will pop up, so there's a web site and a Facebook page for BBQ lovers to keep track of this latest addition to the kosher food scene.

Aaron Herman of The Jewish Week got a taste of White's specialties and interviewed him at a New York street food fair. Here's the video.

Enjoy!

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Israeli Haredi Rabbis Meet to Regulate Shapes of Bourekas

(PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT A PURIM PARODY OR JOKE)

Photo: Vosisneias.com

Israeli Haredi rabbis are moving toward regulation of the shapes of bourekas, the popular puff pastry filled with morsels of potato, cheese, mushroom, spinach, and various other fillings including meat. 

They are concerned that if bourekas continue to be baked in the same shape whether they are filled with meat, dairy, or vegetable mixtures, the public will become confused and possibly serve the meat bourekas at a dairy meal or cheese bourekas at a meat meal.

As Sandy Eller wrote in Vosizneias.com,

In a meeting with members of the baking industry, Rabbi Chagi Bar Guriya of the Rabbanut Harashit, demonstrated how despite their different shapes, it almost impossible to determine the filling of any closed pastry including bourekas, cigars and croissants, which has in the past created problems for both kosher consumers and those with food allergies.

Saying that the health concerns for those with food allergies is an even greater problem than the potential kashrus issues, R’ Bar Guriya suggested that perhaps a new industry standard be adopted, with all pareve bourekas being completely closed, while those with dairy fillings be left partially opened so that their filling is visible, or using different shapes to designate the type of pastry filling.

Members of the baking industry who were present at the meeting countered that not all the suggestions made would be possible to implement and further requested that any decisions made should be enforced throughout the entire country.

The Rabbanut Harashit is expected to decide on an official policy shortly.

As is often the case, the comments by Vosizneias readers are more interesting than the articles. Some make fun of the seriousness shown by the rabbinate on this issue and point out that there are more pressing issues that should command their attention. Others quote sacred texts and direct readers to chapter and verse justifying unique shapes for meat and dairy products.

Some examples:

You have GOT to be kidding!

I wish they'd meet about how best to protect children within their communities at least as often as they meet about bourekas/croissants/pastries.

There are about 1,000 issues they need to tackle before they deal with this so-called "problem".

All satirical cynics can scoff all they want, but opening up Yorah Deah Ch 97 and view the content there will seperate (sic) between fact and paradiddle.

We think that regulating size and shape of baked goods is a slippery slope that could lead to changing the appearance of cheese danish, limiting the size of soft drinks, and keeping the cigars separate from the partially open bourekas lest they (chas v'chalilah) lead to mixed dancing. Somehow our local kosher bakery found a simpler solution: all dairy baked goods are on gold trays, next to a sign that says all items on gold trays are dairy. 

(A tip of the kippah to Jack Kustanowitz for bringing this story to our attention.)

EXCLUSIVE On-Site Report! Best In Show and Unusual New Products From Kosherfest 2012

Glatt kosher b facon, energy ballz, pareve chocolate peanut butter gelato, Passover granola, gefilte fish with pieces of carrot mixed in, and fish salami and franks.

These are some of the prize winning and unusual products on display yesterday and today for the thousands of visitors representing all aspects of the food industry at Kosherfest 2012 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.
 

More than 325 exhibitors lining both sides of seven aisles are vying  for the attention of visitors (trade only -- but some kiddush aficionados seem to have found their way into the hall) who try to manage noshing and stuffing literature into the bags provided by some vendors.  And there's plenty to nosh and to stuff.  

Some of the samples are meat, some are dairy, and some are pareve.  But all three types are scattered around the show floor, so anyone trying to keep kosher has to make careful choices.

The vendors are hoping that visitors will make bulk purchases, and some of the newer, smaller, and foreign companies exhibiting for the first time are hoping to find distributors who will bring their wares to your local supermarket.

If you love kiddush, can make a case for being in some kind of food-related business, have a few hours to spare and don't mind walking half a mile to a parking lot, this is the place for you.  It's still open all day today, Wednesday, from 10 am to 4 pm.  The on-site registration fee is $80.

We interviewed a few of the exhibitors and got closeups of some of the more unusual delicacies in this video for you to savor.  Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

Just When You Thought You'd Seen It All -- Announcing Kosher Diapers!

As big fans of Purim humor, we feel threatened whenever true stories appear that seem to be Purim jokes but are very real. How can we come up with funny make-believe products and headlines when funnier ones appear in the news every day?

After yesterday's post about blurry eyeglasses to prevent the wearer from seeing immodestly dressed women, we thought we'd seen it all. But no, we hadn't, because today's unbelievable but true story is the announcement of Kosher Diapers.

We're not kidding. Apparently some diaper users were concerned that using the tape on the tabs to attach the two halves of the diaper is somehow related to sewing, one of the 39 categories of work that was used to build the Temple and is therefore forbidden on Shabbat. Or that the bond was so strong that once applied, the only way to remove the diaper was to tear it, another forbidden task.

So some ingenious marketer came up with the idea of using only Velcro tabs, which can be hooked together and separated again and again, without violating any Shabbat laws. Presumably, the new kosher diapers will be sold wherever you can buy kosher pacifiers and kosher toilet seats.

The boxes have a seal stating that the diapers are approved for Shabbat and Holidays, but no rabbi's name appears as the approver. We suspect that they're planning to announce it on Purim.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Pickles But Were Afraid to Ask

We all love a good pickle with our sandwich or just to snack on. Half-sour, full-sour or dill, everyone has their favorite. But who are the people behind the pickle? JTA's Uri Fintzy visited the United Pickle factory in the Bronx and The Pickle Guys store in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and witnessed the pickling process, found out about the Jewish connection and revealed a secret about the actual "Kosherness" of the Kosher pickle.

In the course of the interview with the pickle people, secrets of pickle making and answers to long standing questions about this consummate Jewish delicacy began to emerge. Watch the video below to find out:

- Is a kosher dill pickle really kosher?

- Why do pickles have a Jewish connection?

- How do you make different pickle flavors?

- What about pickling at home?

- Why do pickles go so well with a sandwich?

Enjoy!

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2nd Avenue Deli Prevails in Heart Attack Grill Lawsuit

2nd Avenue Deli's Instant Heart Attack Sandwich

Heart Attack Grill's Quadruple Bypass

In May 2011 we shared a story of a lawsuit filed against New York's 2nd Avenue Deli by the Heart Attack Grill, a non-kosher Arizona restaurant. The complaint was that the 2nd Avenue Deli stole the names of some of the Heart Attack Grill's most popular sandwiches, the Single, Double, Triple, and Quadruple Bypass Burgers.

According to Reuters, the 2nd Avenue Deli asked a federal judge last year to declare that it had not imitated the Arizona sandwiches by offering an "Instant Heart Attack Sandwich" and "Triple Bypass Sandwich" because the New York creations were kosher and used completely different ingredients.

Last week the judge sided with the 2nd Avenue Deli. As Jonathan Stempel wrote in a Reuters dispatch yesterday:

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Thursday that the 2nd Avenue Deli may keep selling its "Instant Heart Attack" sandwich and launch a "Triple Bypass" version, noting clear differences between the deli and the Heart Attack Grill.

The 2nd Avenue Deli's potato pancake- and meat-based sandwiches pose little risk of customer confusion with the Heart Attack Grill, which sells giant cheeseburgers and fries cooked in lard, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer said.

The decision is a victory for the 2nd Avenue Deli, which under the threat of litigation in May 2011 had sought a ruling that it did not infringe any Heart Attack Grill trademarks.

Engelmayer said "it is safe to say" even unsophisticated customers could readily differentiate between a Manhattan kosher deli selling latke-based sandwiches and a medically-themed Las Vegas restaurant selling "gluttonous" cheeseburgers.

The judge also noted that the 2nd Avenue Deli, being kosher, cannot serve sandwiches that include both meat and cheese, such as the Triple Bypass burger.

The 2nd Avenue Deli's $24.95 sandwich consists of two potato pancakes, known as latkes, stuffed with corned beef, pastrami, salami or turkey.

"I'm really happy that we were vindicated," said Joshua Lebewohl, co-owner of the 2nd Avenue Deli. "This is a fight that was not of our choosing, and our customers are the true victors."

Following the court decision, he said the Triple Bypass, including three latkes, was to go on sale on Friday for $34.95.

The Heart Attack Grill had conceded during the litigation that the New York deli could be entitled to "limited" use of the disputed names. Engelmayer limited the 2nd Avenue Deli's use of the disputed names to restaurants in Manhattan.

In a statement, the Heart Attack Grill said the decision confirms that it can retain "unbridled use of its trademarks throughout the entire United States."

Lebewohl said his late uncle Abe, who established the 2nd Avenue Deli in 1954 and whose 1996 murder remains unsolved, came up with the idea for the Instant Heart Attack.The case is Lebewohl et al v. Heart Attack Grill LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-03153.

It's easy to visualize some pastrami sandwiched betweeen a couple of potato latkes. But it takes some imagination to appreciate the Heart Attack Grill's "quadruple bypass." Here's a video to show what the Las Vegas restaurant serves, free to anyone who weighs more than 350 lbs. Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: An Upside-Down Kosher L'Pesach Tombstone in Namibia

Photo: Moshe Silberhaft

Last week we posted a story about a tombstone that appeared in a British sitcom with Hebrew lettering that was backwards and inadvertently stated that the occupant of the grave was "pickled at great expense."

Now comes a kindred story far removed in time and space that was published yesterday in the Washington Jewish Week. It seems that in the country of Namibia, formerly called Southwest Africa, there is a tombstone in a cemetery in the capital city of Windhoek that once was engraved with the Hebrew words "Kosher L'Pesach" upside down. 

This has been a sort of urban legend for the last few decades, with various versions appearing on the internet, sharing the basic story line but with conflicting details such as the name of the man who was described as Kosher L'Pesach. But out of the mists of history the true story has finally come out, thanks to Harvey Leifert, who served at the American embassy in Namibia twenty years ago, and who wrote the article in the Washington Jewish Week.

As Leifert reported yesterday in the paper,

Photo: Moshe Silberhaft

The Jewish community was small when I lived in Windhoek, and has dwindled since, but some Jews have always lived far from the capital, in small towns and on farms. One such person was Walter Galler, a resident of Swakopmund, then a small German port on the Atlantic, up the coast from the larger and better situated British port of Walvis Bay. We know little of Galler, who was born on Aug. 8, 1888, and died on Sept. 28, 1939.

Galler was married to a non-Jewish "colored," or mixed-race, woman, and when he died, the story goes, his widow arranged for a Jewish burial in the Swakopmund Cemetery, on the edge of the Namib Desert. Mrs. Galler then ordered a simple tombstone to mark her husband's grave, and she felt it must include an acknowledgement of his Jewish faith. She somehow knew that a Hebrew inscription was appropriate, but the only Hebrew text in her home was the certification "kasher l'Pesach," found, along with a Star of David, on the label of a bottle of wine.

Mrs. Galler apparently cut out the Hebrew words and star and handed them to the stone mason. He chiseled the letters into the tombstone, but, not knowing the Hebrew alphabet, he inscribed them upside down.

There the story might have ended, but decades later, word of a "kasher l'Pesach" tombstone in a far-off cemetery was circulating in Windhoek's Jewish community. Almost uniformly, from what I have heard, members praised Mrs. Galler for making an effort to recognize and respect her late husband's religion, regardless of the, er, unorthodox result. One day in the 1970s, however, a visiting rabbi from neighboring South Africa drove to Swakopmund and inspected the grave. He determined that the upside-down Hebrew inscription must go, and so it was done. The Star of David remains, now flanked by two blank rectangles.

But, why was the inscription excised? According to Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, the current country communities rabbi, who was not involved in the decision, "the reason it was removed is that the gravesite was becoming a tourist attraction, and it was felt that it was 'unsettling' and disrespectful for the deceased." 

Over the years, Swakopmund developed into a lovely seaside resort town, attracting both Namibian and foreign visitors. Some still find their way to the local cemetery and leave a pebble on the grave that once was kosher for Pesach.

Israel's Chief Rabbi Blesses New Jersey Supermarket

Rabbi blesses Motel's sewing machine in Fiddler on the Roof

“Rabbi, is there a blessing for a sewing machine?”

“There is a blessing for everything.”

.....Fiddler on the Roof, 1971 

“Rabbi, is there a blessing for a supermarket?”

"Chief Rabbi Of Israel To Bless Fairway Market’s Extensive Kosher Offerings"

.....Paramus Post, June 2012
 

Yes, there is a blessing for a supermarket, if it’s the Fairway Market on Route 17 in Paramus, New Jersey.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, Israel's Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yonah Metzger, made a stop at Fairway Supermarkets in Paramus, New Jersey, and Plainview, Long Island, to tour the newly expanded kosher departments in the stores and to affix a mezuzah to the front doors.

Rabbis after affixing mezuzah to Fairway Market door

As Larry Yudelson wrote in an article titled "On Tuesday, the Chief Rabbi Toured Fairway" in The Jewish Standard, the oldest Jewish weekly in New Jersey,

“Let me emphasize, I’m here for a private visit,” Rabbi Yonah Metzger said on Tuesday after touring the Fairway Market in Paramus, affixing a mezuzah to its entrance, and blessing it using a formulation that did not include God’s name.

Metzger, Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, presumably did not sign off on the press release sent by Fairway’s public relations firm. It trumpeted: “Chief Rabbi of Israel to Bless Fairway Market’s Extensive Kosher Offerings.”

Metzger was in the United States for a two-day visit, primarily to speak at the Lubavitch Youth Organization’s dinner on Tuesday night. Metzger is “old friends” with Rabbi Shmuel Butman, head of the Lubavitch organization and organizer of the dinner, who said their connections go back decades.

The Fairway connection came from the honorees at Butman’s dinner: Howard Glickberg, Fairway’s chief executive and co-owner, as well as Richard Whalen, a leader of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents Fairway employees.

“We have good labor relations,” Moshe Morrison, director of kosher foods for Fairway, said. Morrison’s position at the family-owned supermarket firm is proof that, in his words, “Kosher is a huge program for us.”

Rabbi Avrohom Marmorstein, Fairway’s longtime kosher supervisor, and Rabbis H. Zecharia and Daniel Senter of Kof-K Kosher Supervision also were on the supermarket tour. Kof-K has begun supervising the kashrut at the Paramus store and at Fairway’s other suburban locations, including the newly opened store on in Woodland Park. Marmorstein now works with Kof-K.

“Marmorstein is known in the city. He’s a great hashgacha,” Morrison said. “But people in the suburbs haven’t heard of him.”

Marmorstein, who heads a small Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan’s 100th Street, began supervising Fairway when it was just one market on Broadway at 74th Street. The same mashgichim, or kashut supervisors, are working in the stores under the Teaneck-based Kof-K supervision, said Marmorstein, who also is a hospital chaplain in Hackensack and Ridgewood.

In the video below, Rabbi Metzger affixes a mezuzah to the door of the store as Rabbi Shmuel Butman, head of the Lubavitch Youth Organization, looks on.

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)