RABBIS SAY

The controversy over Gourmet Glatt Emporium, a popular kosher supermarket in Cedarhurst, grew this week with the decision of the Vaad Hakashrus of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway to withdraw its kosher supervision of the store one hour before the start of the Sabbath last Friday.

The Vaad had said earlier that Gourmet Glatt had until Feb. 1 to sell its business or lose the Vaad’s supervision.

“I feel totally drained from this fiasco,” said Mark Bolender, a partner in the supermarket. “I gave my life and soul to this community and I hope the community does not turn its back on me.”

Bolender, who added a second kosher supervisor just a week ago, continued to insist this week that the Vaad’s action stemmed strictly from a “personality” conflict.

“There were no kashrut issues whatsoever,” he said.

But in a “message to the community,” the Vaad said it acted after Gourmet Glatt hired the second kosher supervisor, Rabbi Yehuda Kravitz, in “violation of its contract and policies with the Vaad.” In addition, it said Gourmet Glatt had “serious halachic and contractual violations over time” and that it was unable to get the owners to correct them.

The Vaad, comprised of some 38 Orthodox rabbis in the area and a paid administrator, supervises more than 40 food establishments in the area, from bakeries and pizza shops to restaurants and supermarkets.

Bolender maintained that bringing in Rabbi Kravitz was “the last thing I wanted to do,” but he said “they left me no choice because they were going to terminate their contract on Feb. 1” if the store was not sold.

“I respect the Vaad of the Five Towns,” he said, adding that he hired Rabbi Kravitz only “to protect my investment.”

Bolender noted that his recently expanded supermarket has been in the Five Towns about 30 years and was one of the first to sign on with the Vaad, and that eight other Jewish families and more than 40 workers were dependent on the success of Gourmet Glatt.

Five calls to the Vaad’s office Tuesday were not returned.

In its statement to the community, the Vaad said its action was “not taken lightly” and that it recognizes the “effect upon the livelihoods of many people.”

“But as a Vaad Hakashruth we are primarily charged with the stewardship and maintenance of the highest standards of communal kashruth,” it said. “After exploring many alternative avenues and solutions over an extended period of time, the Vaad has reluctantly taken the final step of removing its supervision and imprimatur.”

Some area rabbis took the matter a step further and recommended that their congregants not shop in the store at all, even though it sells canned and packaged goods as well as fish and bakery items. An e-mail said to be from one congregation said its rabbi ruled that “any items purchased before” supervision was removed last Friday could be eaten and that the “koshering of dishes and pots” is not necessary. But, it said, the rabbi “recommends that people should not continue to patronize this establishment.”

The fact that the Vaad’s “message to the community” made no mention of continued shopping at Gourmet Glatt has left some residents confused.

Although some people appeared to have heeded the call of area rabbis not to shop at the store, others said they were deliberately flouting that directive, frustrated with the Vaad’s decision not to spell out their concerns with Gourmet Glatt.

A number of Internet blogs, or online personal journals, on the controversy were critical of the Vaad, with one saying that though the Vaad must be supported and every eatery held to the same standards, the Vaad “is being somewhat vague — perhaps suspiciously vague — on the actual reasoning behind their decision. … They’re careening toward a vote of no confidence if they don’t start discussing why they did what they did.”

Franklyn Snitow, the attorney for the Vaad, said he had read many of the blogs and found that “many of the criticisms of the Vaad are misinformed with regard to the basis for the Vaad’s actions.

“It’s easy to criticize people in official positions, but it certainly is not productive to engage in characterizations and conclusions that aren’t accurate,” he said.

As rumors swirled, Gourmet Glatt took out an ad in this week’s Jewish Week in the form of an open letter to the community, asking for continued support and requesting that “no lashon hora [slander] be spoken about anyone.”

The ad calls for communal peace and tells the Vaad that the store sincerely regrets the present situation and “never intended to create any rift.” The ad asks what can be done to rectify and “somehow coexist with two certifications — with the Vaad as the leading authority.”

But Snitow said that the last straw for the Vaad came when Gourmet Glatt hired “another kosher supervisory organization, which is strictly in violation of their contractual obligations with the Vaad.”

Snitow said Bolender could have waited “until December or January” before bringing in another supervisory agency, during which time he could have continued negotiations with the Vaad.

“I don’t know that it was an ultimatum,” he said of the Feb. 1 deadline.

Although Rabbi Kravitz said it is not unusual for kosher establishments to have more than one kosher supervisory agency, Snitow said two agencies working at Gourmet Glatt would have been an “unworkable situation.”

Rabbi Harry Cohen, an administrator of a different kosher supervisory agency that is not connected to this dispute, said that although Rabbi Kravitz should have sought permission from the Vaad before agreeing to provide kosher supervision, he disagreed with the actions of the Vaad.

“Where do these rabbis come off forcing him to sell?” he asked. n