Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide

Appendix C - Examples of Kashrut Policies in USCJ EC
Program Parent and Staff Handbooks
Following are some examples from parent and staff handbooks. Each synagogue will
have different policies, so be sure to check with your rabbi before setting policy down in
a parent or teacher handbook.
Parent Handbooks
Example 1: Kashrut. To ensure an appropriate level of kashrut (Jewish Dietary Laws)
the following standards are to be maintained by students and faculty:
• No meat of any kind may be brought into the school building. Lunches MUST be
dairy or parve.
• No shellfish may be brought into the school building. This includes shrimp,
lobster, crab, and oysters.
• Store-bought baked goods that are brought into the school for parties or Shabbat
MUST have a “hechsher” (symbol of being kosher).
• Home-baked or cooked food may not be brought into the school for class parties
or school events.
Example 2: FOOD/KASHRUT POLICIES: Torah Tots is part of Synagogue Aleph
Bet, a Conservative Synagogue and therefore follows the rules of Kashrut. You must
adhere to the following guidelines to ensure that you are following our Kashrut policy.
You may only send in dairy or parve foods as stated below.
1. A mid morning snack is provided. All snacks are kosher and children will be
given apple juice, grape juice or water with their snack. Some of the snacks that
the children will be given are cheerios, crackers, vegetables, and fresh fruit. On
Friday, the children will be provided with challah as well as a healthy, kosher,
snack provided by parents.
2. All children are required to bring a dairy or parve lunch from home. The lunches
will be refrigerated. A list of acceptable foods is provided in the back pages of
this manual for your convenience. Please be aware that our refrigerators are small;
therefore, ice packs in the lunch bags would be very helpful.
3. All dairy products are allowed. This includes milk, yogurt, cheese sticks, cottage
cheese and cream cheese.
4. All parve foods are allowed. This includes eggs, peanut butter (or peanut butter
substitute) and tuna fish.
5. Fresh fruits and vegetables are allowed.
6. All bread and grains are allowed. You may send bagels, pita bread, rice, and
pasta. With respect to chips and pretzels please check the label for a hechsher.
7. All meat, turkey, chicken, pork and shellfish products are not allowed. This
includes all kosher meat products.
8. The school does have microwaves for heating up your child’s lunch. Any lunch
item you would like heated up, must be placed in a microwaveable container.
Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide
Maxine Segal Handelman
USCJ Department of Education
119