[RBS] Rav Bigel's shiur

[Phil'n'Chanie Rosenfelder]

Thank you to Rav Vargon, Rav Soloveichik and  all others involved in
bringing Rav Bigel to explain kashrut systems and issues in a clear
way.

In his shiur Monday night, Rav Bigel spoke to us as consumers - what
does it mean legally  that there exists a government body in charge of
kashrut , and what we as consumers can 9and must) do to make sure that
teh kashrut officers do their work properly.

So, what does it mean that there is a government body in charge of kashrut?
1.   the law says no one may use the word "kosher" unless they have
hashgaha from that goverment body (ths protects consumers from
Conservative, Reform or "K"
"kashruyot", cuz they cannot use the word "kosher")
2.   every city or mo'etza eizorit has its phone numbers in the bezeq
phone book, so that it is easy to call any city's rav and find out
what their kashrut criteia are
3.  there are certain criteria that are dictated by decisions of the
rabbanut rashit.  alll rabbanei arim and mashgihei kashrut are
constantly updated by the rabbanut rashit regarding decisions and
issues that come up.
4.  every local rabbanut, and the national one, are subject to all
laws and to checks and balances by government offices, including the
rabbanut's own office for the enforement of the laws against fraud in
kashrut (*)

as consumers, we can and must:
1.   learn hilchot kashrut and occassionally do our own checks - call
the mashgiah of a factory / restaurant / hotel  or rav of a city and
ask what their criteria are and also how often they check....
2.  complain to the Kashrut fraud office and/or chief rabbis' offices
whenever we suspect a problem
3.  complain to the kashrut fraud office, and even the state
comptroller, with "big" issues
4.  demand that local rabbanuyot follow the decisions of the rabbanut
rashit FOR EXAMPLE IN THE CASE OF PESSAH: THE RABBANUT RASHIT  sent
out regulations regarding preaprign stores etc fopessah.  One of the
regulations is that nothign shoudl be marked "kitniyot" unlessit
actaulyl conatains kitniyot.  However, we all see many food items that
are marked kitniyot for no reason (see Starkist tuna-in-water or
stauss cottage cheese for
example.)

Irgun Rabbanei Tzohar is workign very hard to make sure that all
rabbanuyot follow the rules of the rabbanut rashit.  They have asked
that we all join forces to put pressure on the factories as well as
the mashgihim to protest their dishonesty .   This may eveninclude boycotting
(and informing the companies such) .   There will be more information
about this in the Tzohar parsha sheets in the coming weeks.

SIDE NOTE REGARDING PESSAH
Rav Bigel pointed out that Israel has the strictest laws regarding
stating ingredients packaged foods - anything that is more than half of
a percent of the product must be stated. (far less than batel b'shishim)

the Ramah clearly states that ashkenazim may eat food that was cooked
in pots in which kitniyot was cooked, and also that if some kitniyot
fall into a bowl of food, one is simply required to remove any visible
kitniyot.
this means that there is no problem eating almonds from a kasher
l'pessah factory that also packages kasher l'pessah dried peas, and if
a pea is found in the bag of almonds, one removes the  pea and enjoys
the almonds

therefore - any kasher l'pessah (b'hashgaha) food product in which
NONE of the ingredients listed are kitniyot (one can look up
e-numbers, or just assume that they are corn-based), one can safely
assume that the mashgiah or the company decided to write "kitniyot"
against rabbanut rashit instructions, and buy and eat it.  (and then,
after pessah, complain to the factory and the rabbanut that issued the
hechsher)

BUT, one may ask, why not juust accept the "humrot" that the factories
or mashgihim invent?
well, do we want to hate pessah?  do we want our kids to hate pessah?
do we want pessah to be all about separating ourselves from our
neighbours, or do we want Torah and Mitzvot to enable strengthening
our bonds to each other?