July 2009

STAR-K Brings Kashrus to a Location Near (and Far From) You!
by Margie Pensak

When Rabbi Chaim Glazer, an eleventh grade rebbi at Yeshiva Toras Chaim, in North Miami Beach, Florida, was teaching his class about Kelai Elanos (the issur of grafting two trees of different species together), his lesson plan research led him to a STAR-K Kashrus Kurrents article on hydroponics--the cultivation of plants in a nutrient solution rather than in soil. Always seeking to give his students "beyond book learning experiences", Rabbi Glazer contacted the author of the article, STAR-K Kashrus Administrator, Rabbi Zvi Goldberg. Rabbi Goldberg suggested that he and the bochurim learn about the halachic implications of hydroponics, face-to-face--despite the fact that they were about 950 miles apart--using a video camera.

Rabbi Glazer's talmidim were able to watch Rabbi Goldberg speak about: the ramifications which hydroponics has on the brocho rishona of fruits and vegetables, the prohibitions regarding harvesting them on Shabbos and Yom Tov, the implications hydroponics has for trumos, maaseros and shmitta, and the use of hydroponic romaine lettuce as marror at the Pesach seder. The bochurim asked some excellent questions: What do you do if you go to the store and cannot figure out if the fruit or vegetable is hydroponic? Do hydroponic strawberries have insects? Is the Israeli exported greenhouse grown romaine lettuce, Alei Katif, grown hydroponically?

Rabbi Glazer used Rabbi Goldber's shiur, in conjunction with a high-tech hydroponic greenhouse tour, to reinforce his teaching lesson. "Today's bochurim sometimes find it hard to relate to concepts they've never experienced," notes Rabbi Glazer. "Rabbi Goldberg and the Star-K educational program enabled my students to experience real-life applications of what they are learning about in the classroom."

STAR-K's utilization of technology in educating others about kashrus is nothing new. STAR-K's InterAgency TeleKosher Conference series uses the telephone to enable local vaadim, rabbis and mashgichim, the world over, to speak directly to kashrus experts from various agencies, in a non-political forum, posing their most pressing kashrus questions that are distinctive to their communities.

Students living closer to STAR-K's Baltimore, Maryland offices, have the opportunity to learn about kashrus, in person, without the use of technology. STAR-K Kashrus Administrator, Rabbi Dovid Heber, recently spoke to a group of Lakewood Teachers Seminary students about the various production methods of breakfast cereals and their impact on Hilchos Brochos. Similarly, tenth graders from Reenas Bais Yaakov, in Highland Park, New Jersey, benefitted from a recent shiur which Rabbi Heber delivered exclusively for them--a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into the STAR-K kosher symbol, from a halachic, technical, and tracking perspective.

Why did Reenas Bais Yaakov teacher, Mrs. Chaya Eidelman, decide to visit STAR-K, with her tenth grade students? "I wanted to show the girls something that would encapsulate Jewish Baltimore. Of course, STAR-K is known far and wide for kashrus, and things beyond kashrus, also."

STAR-K's educational efforts also include the hosting of an intensive week-long annual Kashrus Training Seminar, each summer, for rabbonim, kollel fellows, and others serving as klei kodesh. It features lectures by STAR-K's rabbinic staff members, audio-visual presentations, a hands-on practicum, and several field trips.

STAR-K took a mini-version of its Kashrus Training Seminar on the road, to the yungerleit of Rabbi Avrohom Lefkowitz's Kollel Bnei Torah, Lakewood, New Jersey, in late December. Rabbinic Administrator, HaRav Moshe Heinemann, and STAR-K Kashrus Administrators addressed various topics, including: Kashering --Restaurants/Caterers/Factories, Guide to Hashgocho of Restaurants and Caterers (includes checking for tolaim), Cholov Yisroel, and The Kashrus of Bakeries.

These educational programs are just some of the many ways that STAR-K CERTIFICATION is committed, as a non-profit agency, to representing the kosher consumer in promoting kashrus through education, research and supervision. For further information regarding STAR-K programs, contact 410-484-4110. To join STAR-K's ongoing TeleKosher Conference Series, scheduled for the last Wednesday of each month at 12 noon EST, call: 605-475-8590 and enter conference 528-5502.

June 2009

STAR-K Leads Kosher Novice Tour for Johns Hopkins University Students

Jenna Fogel's grandparents keep kosher and she has eaten kosher foods, but she admits she never really understood the meaning behind them. "I always thought a rabbi said a prayer and put a kosher stamp on the box and then it was considered kosher," says Jenna, a Chemical Engineering major. Such kashrus misconceptions were clarified for Jenna and nineteen of her fellow Johns Hopkins University students when STAR-K Kashrus Administrator, Rabbi Zvi Goldberg, led them on a recent tour of Baltimore's Seven Mile Market.

"A major focal point of the tour was to show how many of the items they normally buy are kosher already, and that they can keep kosher nowadays with minimal effort," said Rabbi Goldberg. "I also explained what goes into certifying more complicated items, such as sauces or poultry, and showed them what the common symbols look like."

The more than 20,000 kosher products dotting the aisles of Seven Mile Market–one of the largest kosher supermarkets in the U.S.--motivated the Hopkins undergrads to ask hashkafic questions like: Why would an imitation bacon bits product be needed if it is just for taste purposes, and one should not have ever tasted bacon? Doesn't this defeat the whole purpose of kashrut?

The trip to Seven Mile Market was just one stop along the tour route of the Baltimore observant community for the members of the Sinai Scholar Society, a program offered through the Chabad House at Johns Hopkins--an affiliate program run on forty Chabad Houses on Campus throughout the United States, for students with a minimal yiddishkeit background. Rabbi Zev Gopin, director of Chabad of Johns Hopkins and Central Baltimore, offered the Sinai Scholars program this past semester for the first time and feels that already it has been a great success. The complimentary program, limited to twenty students per semester, is offered two hours per week and requires writing a three to five page paper upon completion. Participation is completely voluntary and students do not receive credits for it.

"At the end of the Sinai course, a majority of the students said that they felt a major void when it came to their yiddishkeit," said Rabbi Gopin. "They might have prepared for their bar or bas mitzvah, yet, did not feel part of the Jewish community. Even those that admitted being agnostic, at the beginning of the program, felt otherwise by the program's end.

"I think the Seven Mile Market experience was a major eye opener for students who did not have any exposure to kosher," continues Rabbi Gopin."We got them as close as possible to what it is like to keep kosher. They learned how to be mindful of what is out there and how easy it is to observe. Thanks to the help from STAR-K, and the guidance of Rabbi Goldberg, the students were given an out-of-book experience they would not have had otherwise."

(By: Margie Pensak / YWN Desk)

June 2009

STAR-K Invited to Talk (Kosher) Turkey in Izmir
by Margie Pensak

STAR-K Certification has long enjoyed a successful and harmonious relationship with Turkey for over 25 years, providing Kosher certification for scores of Turkish companies. The STAR-K symbol appears on everything from Turkish-produced beans to candy, condiments, fruits, vegetables, juices, jams, honey, oils, nuts, pasta, pickled products, rice, sauces, teas, and vinegars.

STAR-K Kashrus Administrator, Rabbi Tzvi Rosen, was invited to Izmir in mid-May, by the Turkish Prime Ministry's Undersecretariat for Treasury and Foreign Trade, to address members of the Aegean Exporters' Association. Together, with STAR-K's Middle East/Europe Kashrus Coordinator, Rabbi Dovid Stein, he delivered a seminar, "Kosher Certification: Your Worldwide Partner for Successful Marketing". In attendance was Izmir's newest rabbi, Rabbi Mordechai Katan, and approximately thirty Turkish manufacturing companies.

Utilizing a colorful STAR-K powerpoint presentation entitled, "Understanding the World of Kosher...Naturally", the rabbis explained Kosher basics, Kosher marketplace opportunities, issues regarding the certification of various Kosher specialty products, the parallel growth of organic and Kosher, requirements and considerations when producing kosher/natural organic products, the Kosher Certification process, and the advantages of the STAR-K/QAI twin Kosher/organic certification program.

"Turkish companies have a keen interest to expand their markets and they feel that a necessary tool to assist them in that is Kosher certification," says Rabbi Rosen. "I feel that our seminar has built a bridge and a healthy rapport between the exporters union and STAR-K." Cagdas Gunes, a rapporteur at the Aegean Exporters' Association, only confirmed Rabbi Rosen's feelings when he added, "Our doors are always open for you."

March 2009

STAR-K CERTIFICATION Announces Newly Formed Alliance with Mexico's KMD Kosher Agency

BALTIMORE, MD, March 30, 2009 --The present-day Mexican Jewish community boasts a population of over 40,000. In Mexico City, alone, where the majority of Mexican Jews live, there are 23 synagogues and more than a dozen Jewish schools, where over 90% of its Jewish youth receive their education. To serve this rapidly growing Torah community, there are 19 kosher restaurants, 19 kosher butcher shops, 15 kosher bakeries, and 13 kosher grocery stores.

Jews are no strangers to Mexico. Although the Jewish presence in Mexico dates back to the Spanish Conquest, it was not until the final years of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century that a mass immigration of Jews from Syria, Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe, fleeing from persecution and poverty, gave way to the initial stages of a modern Jewish Mexican community.

Today, the Maguen David Community, formed by descendents of the Jewish immigrants from Aleppo, Syria, provides welfare, religious and educational services to its associates. Among its institutions, KMD is responsible for providing kashrus services.

To facilitate the ever-growing kashrus demands in Mexico, a newly formed alliance between STAR-K CERTIFICATION and the KMD was recently announced by STAR-K President, Dr. Avrom Pollak.

"STAR-K has a history of sharing its expertise in kashrus with other communities," explains Dr. Pollak. "We look forward to this new partnership which promises to have a positive affect on the volume of kosher meat and other food products not only in both the United States and Mexico, but throughout the world. It will be mutually beneficial for both organizations and communities, as well as the greater kosher community, especially during these challenging economic times."

"KMD is honored to announce this alliance, since it serves as an important launching pad for Mexican kashrus", said Salomon Dichi, treasurer of the Maguen David in Mexico "It means being able to provide foreign markets with Mexican-made products, showing both KMD and Star-K certifications. I would like to stress that these two companies have very similar certification standards. We hope that this alliance will be a big success in Mexico and the United States".

STAR-K Kosher Certification, a not-for-profit agency, is one of the most trusted kosher certification organizations in the world. With offices throughout the U.S., China, Australia, and Israel, STAR-K certifies food products and establishments, as well as industrial food chemicals, in well over 1,500 locations worldwide. The agency is internationally renowned for its extensive research on the complexities of food science and modern technology, as they apply to the laws of kosher, putting it on the cutting edge of the ever-growing multi-billion dollar kosher food industry. It is one of the foremost experts in the field of kosher pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, and medications. For more information about STAR-K, call (410) 484-4110, or visit www.star-k.org.

January 2009

 

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