Ending Kosher Nostra:

How to Bring Sanity to the Kosher Industry

By Rabbi Jason Miller

There’s a joke I often tell about a conversation regarding the kosher laws between Moses
and God. God dictates the Jewish dietary laws to the Israelite leader in easy to understand
terms, but Moses repeatedly complicates these statutes. Finally, frustrated, God gives up
and tells Moses to just do whatever he wants.

From the commandments to not cook a calf in its mother’s milk and the prohibition on
eating certain animals, the kosher laws have become a very complex system of eating
restrictions. To ensure the compliance of the kosher standards from the farm to the
factory to the grocery store to the restaurant, an entire industry of supervision and
certification was been established. In recent years, I’ve found myself entrenched in this
world of hashgacha.

In her recently published book, Kosher Nation, Sue Fishkoff provides the reader with an
insider’s perspective about what goes on in the kosher food industry on a daily basis.
Each chapter details another aspect of the Jewish dietary ethic – how kosher food has
conquered the U.S. market, the business of kosher certification, the rise and fall of the
Jewish deli, the kashering of a hotel for a wedding, and the often scandalous production
of kosher slaughtered meat. Fishkoff circles the country to explain the subtle nuances of
“keeping kosher” in the 21st century. She travels as far as China to shadow a kosher
supervisor checking for compliance in several factories. Fishkoff provides insight into the
sometimes dirty politics in which the kosher certification agencies have notoriously
engaged. From extortion and price gouging to fraud and general dishonesty, kosher
certification has gotten a bad name.

My journey to the kosher certification profession was not planned. In 2008, I was hired as
the rabbi of Tamarack Camps, with my main focus to supervise of the agency’s kosher
kitchens. To adequately prepare for this new role, I returned to the Jewish Theological
Seminary in New York where I was ordained. Though I had served as a mashgiach
(kosher supervisor) in the cafeteria as a rabbinical student, I required detailed instruction
to oversee the large camping agency’s many industrial kitchens as a rav hamachshir
(certifying rabbi).

This new position led to my private certification of a few bakeries, bagel stores, and a
vegetarian restaurant with the eventual formation of my own kosher certification agency
– Kosher Michigan. This experience has been nothing less than fascinating. I now certify
a paper mill that makes paraffin wax paper for kosher foods, olive oil bottling at a spice
company, a gourmet chocolate factory, a foodservice corporation that provides shelf-
stable meals to areas hit by natural disasters, as well as several other businesses. I’m
frequently called upon to kosher industrial and residential kitchens, consult Jewish
organizations on kosher matters, and speak about the kosher food industry.

I have become accustomed to fielding many questions about my kosher certification.

People want to know if “the Orthodox” (as if it’s a monolithic group) accepts my
imprimatur. They want to know if “Conservative kosher” (their phrase) is really
legitimate. I’m frequently asked to articulate my standards and demonstrate my
knowledge. Without even understanding the term, they want to know if all of the food I
certify is glatt (even the bagels!). Some are surprised that I conduct unannounced spot
checks more often than many of my Orthodox colleagues.

As Fishkoff demonstrates in Kosher Nation, the kosher business has changed drastically
over the past several years. She writes, “kosher has become one of the country’s hottest
food trends… A generation ago, kosher was a niche industry, the business of the
country’s small minority of observant Jews… Today one-third to one-half of the food for
sale in the typical American supermarket is kosher. That means more than $200 billion of
the country’s estimated $500 billion in annual food sales is kosher certified.” Not bad for
a religious tribe that accounts for less than 2% of the U.S. population.

And it’s not just that there’s more kosher food out there. The rules of the game have
radically changed as well. So many proverbial fences have been erected around the
kosher laws that no 19th century rabbi would recognize them. Rabbis today can make a
modest living washing leafy vegetables and checking them for miniscule bug infestations.
The ultra-Orthodox have ruled that such innocuous items as strawberries, Romaine
lettuce, Bressel sprouts, smoked salmon, and water cannot be consumed because of either
insects or microscopic copepods. Non-observant Jewish owners of kosher grocery stores,
meat markets, and restaurants are no longer trusted to hold the keys to their own
businesses.

A Mafia-like reputation (“Kosher Nostra”) has been attributed to the kosher certification
industry. Fishkoff tells stories of strong-arm tactics and extortion when it came to kosher
meat. “Corruption and scandal also plagued the processed food industry,” she writes.
“Keeping kosher is a mitzvah, but giving kosher certification is a business. And that
means money, politics, and all the other unpleasant temptations that can distract a Jew
from fulfilling God’s commandments.” There’s a sordid history of lax supervision of
kosher-for-Passover food, substitution of cheaper treif meat in butcher shops, and rabbis
selling high priced kosher certifications with no oversight in exchange. Rabbi Don Yoel
Levy, the head of the OK kosher agency was interviewed by Fishkoff. He told her,
“Kashrus today is power and money. And unfortunately, it’s extremely competitive.
Instead of people working together to improve kashrus, everybody tries to get business
away from the other one.” Levy even blames kosher politics for his father’s death. He
attributes the 1986 scandal that included death threats against the state inspectors to be
the cause of his father’s demise.

I am frequently called by local business owners who have been interested in acquiring
kosher certification for years, but have been turned off by the methods of the established
agencies. I recently met with a store owner to discuss certifying her food market, which
had previously been under kosher certification. When I told her that I wouldn’t confiscate
her set of keys to her store even though she is not an observant Jew and that I donate the
majority of my profits to local charities, she told me that I was “a breath of fresh air.”

Positive change, however, is afoot in the kosher world. Today, more people are
increasingly concerned about the food they eat, where it comes from, and who is making
it. They want to be assured that it is clean, fresh, safe, and healthy. More people have
specialized diets because of lifestyle choices, health reasons, or religious values. Kosher
is just another option in a category that includes vegan, organic, gluten-free, and heart
smart. There is a growing non-Jewish demographic that is maintaining some form of a
kosher diet. And the leaders of Reform Judaism, which once shunned kashrut, are now
promoting adherence to the kosher laws on some level.

Like me, other Conservative rabbis around the country are launching kosher certification
agencies. There may be four major agencies, but there are close to a thousand smaller
ones. Getting rid of the monopoly enjoyed by some kosher agencies in communities will
only help reduce the price of kosher food. Kosher certification, I maintain, is about trust.
When dirty politics and corruption are allowed to enter, they only diminish the holiness
that kosher observance intends. Ending “Kosher Nostra” will add sanity to the kosher
industry.

We have become so far removed from the kosher laws of the Torah and Talmud that we
focus less on why we keep kosher and more on how punctilious we can be, only to “out
frum” the next person. We have become so concerned about everyone else’s kosher
standards that the same laws enacted to keep our community united are being used to
keep us from ever being able to eat together. I’m reminded of the joke about the ultra-
pious man who dies and goes to heaven. When a colossal feast of the choicest, most
expensive foods is laid out in front of him, he inquires with the ministering angel about
the kosher certification there in heaven. When he’s told it is the Holy One, God himself,
who has sanctioned the kashrut of the food he decides to play it safe and just orders a
fruit plate.

My goals for Kosher Michigan are simple. I want to help create more options for the
kosher consumer without exorbitant prices. I want to shift the focus of kosher
certification to trust and the compliance of sensible standards, regardless of
denominational affiliation. It does not necessarily follow that a restaurant owner who
does not observe the Sabbath cannot therefore be trusted to maintain the strictures of the
kosher laws in his establishment. And just because a non-Jew has looked at a bottle of
wine does not mean it is no longer suitable for Jewish consumption. I want to help people
ask educated, thoughtful questions about kosher certification, rather than resort to
pejorative comments that seek to divide our people.

I consider it a great honor to have the responsibility of keeping my eye on food

production and preparation to ensure proper compliance of our kosher laws. No matter
why people choose to eat kosher, I want them to feel confident trusting my certification.
I’m only one person, but if I can help make the kosher industry more “kosher,” it’s an
important start.

Rabbi Jason Miller is the founder and director of Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification
agency (www.koshermichigan.com). He is also the rabbi of Tamarack Camps.