RABBINIC POWER PLAY

The article in the NY Jewish Week tells the tale of a push by the Vaad of the Five Towns (Long Island’s tony south shore) to exercise control on one of their client businesses.

Actually, it was the last part of yesterday’s post that truly tells the tale:

“But The Jewish Star, a weekly that covers the Five Towns, quoted Rabbi Eisen last week as saying that Gourmet Glatt brought in Rabbi Kravitz without consulting with the Vaad or receiving its approval. He was quoted as calling the decision “irresponsible and reckless,” and said the ability of the Vaad to be “able to continue to certify the kashrut at Gourmet Glatt” had been jeopardized.”

So, it appears that the store decided to bring in a second hasghgacha. The local Vaad seems to be totally bent out of shape over what they view as an encroachment on their territory.

This is not unusual nor is it unheard of. Not too many years ago on Staten Island, a local store went to the Star-K for supervision. The rabbi of the largest Orthodox shul on Staten Island stood on his pulpit and called the action of the Star-K “hasagat gvul (encroachment)” and demanded that his congregants not eat there. He actually went so far as to say they could not eat there because the store did not have hashgacha. Of course, that was patently untrue. What was the rabbi’s problem? The store owner had bypassed the local Vaad.

Going back to our story, what is the big deal if the store brings in a second hashgacha? Lots of products carry more than one. And what right does the Vaad have to demand that the man sell his business?

The Vaad in Queens recently warned their stores that if they do not close at least two hours before shabbat, they will drop their certification.

The FRESH INK section of the Jewish Week (written by high school students)carried a story about an Orthodox rabbi who demanded that a fellow on his tour bus remove the Heschel School sweatshirt he was wearing because the Heschel school according to the rabbi was not Orthodox

A proclamation appeared in Israel recently demanding that people no longer serve or eat Yerushalmi Kugel for two extremely cogent reasons: the Yerushalmi kugel, according to�those rabbis, is “Arab food,” and the noodles thereon look like worms. (Would that we were kidding!)

We could go on and on. The point here is that our rabbis have become gangsters.Maybe they all need to go back to school and take courses in the fifth “tur” of the shulchan aruch- the book of the seychel hayashar (common sense).