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FIVE TOWNS MESS FINALLY OVER?

This story comes from Kosher Today, dated Jan 2, 2007.

Five Towns Kashrus Mess Ends with Sale to Boro Parker
Cederhurst. NY…Gourmet Glatt has been sold to an investor group headed by Henry Kauftheil, a buisnessman and philanthropist from Boro Park. The popular Five Towns market owned by the Bolender family was forced to sell the store by the Vaad Hakashrus of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway after a coalition of rabbis who are members of the Vaad removed their certification of the store.

Although the Vaad refused to make public the specific charges aginst Gourmet Glatt, sources said that “the Vaad had simply lost confidence in the ability of ownership to continue to run a kosher operation.” Many community residents were incensed that they not only were no longer able to shop in the store, but that the Vaad had never told them what the alleged kashrus abuses were. The rabbis, however, maintained that “no useful purpose would be served by specifying what the charges against Gourmet Glatt were and it should be sufficient that the rabbis in the area removed the certification.

The sale to Mr. Kauftheil and his group was approved by the Vaad and the store expected to resume normal opeartions, sources told KosherToday. Rabbi Yosef Eisen, the rabbinic administrator of the Vaad,said, “Mr. Kaufthiel and his group have an interest in concluding this deal as soon as possible. All parties have been working closely together. We’re walking toward the chupah right now. The conclusion is, b’ezras Hashem, going to take place in the not so distant future.” The Five Towns story broke in October, just a few short weeks after the revelations that a Monsey butcher had sold treif poultry as kosher, contributing to the incresed anxiety by Gourmet Glatt customers. Some saw the Vaad actions as a direct result of Monsey, arguing that its demand that the store be sold was unprecedented. One rabbi told KosherToday: “In today’s environment if an owner of a kosher establishment loses confidence with its certifying rabbis, it’s curtains