Tell Magazine June 2018 5778

{THE REAL COST OF KASHRUT}
Reverend Sam Zwarenstein
This very sore topic is often debated and it isn’t going away any time
soon. The cost of keeping kosher, especially when it comes to purchasing
meat and other specifically hechshered (certified) products, is very
scary, and in many cases, bordering on being prohibitive.
You only have to pay
a visit to the kosher
section in your
local supermarket,
or head on in to a
kosher establishment
(restaurant, butcher,
etc.), and you say; “Here
we go again”. You can’t
help but feel as though
you’re being ripped off
and taken advantage of.
It would not be fair to
place any of the blame
on the establishments
themselves, as they
are caught up in the
same big (kosher)
hamster wheel that
we are, i.e. they
charge the prices they do because they
are lumbered with unfair costs and
somewhat ridiculous hindrances.
In March 2012 (six years ago), Rabbi
Meir Rabi of Kosher VeYosher wrote an
article called “The Cost of Kosher”, in
which he delivered a scathing attack on
the kashrut authorities (operating then),
and the inexplicable cost variations
levied upon the Jews of Australia.
In his article, he wrote:
“Kosher has been made unnecessarily
difficult, and unjustifiably expensive.
We do not, and many believe that
we cannot, explain and justify that
the costs are fair and not extortive.
Kosher has been made to look silly
and political. That’s the consequence
of insisting that a kitchen must
be Koshered after being used by
a Kosher caterer supervised by a
different Kosher organisation.
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Kosher has been made to look
trivial. That’s the consequence of
knowing that the products on the
Kosher list are not Kosher enough
for the rabbi who endorses the list.
Kosher has been made to look petty.
That’s the consequence of accepting as
Kosher the same food in one state of
Australia but not in another state.”
Some of these issues are not limited
to the Australian scene, and there are
many communities around the world
where some of the same absurdities are
rife. Where is the sense of community
cohesiveness and responsibility that one
would expect from such authorities?
What happened to the notion of
making kashrut accessible to the masses,
affordable to all who desire to keep
kosher, and treating the community not
only with respect, but also promoting
the values associated
with keeping kosher?
We all know about the
2014/2015 Kashrut
Commission of Inquiry,
which highlighted a
number of issues within
the NSW Kashrut
Authority, and eventually
resulted in the formation
of a second authority
in NSW (Community
Kashrut or CK).
It took a formal
commission and an
enormous amount of
community engagement
to get to this result.
Why? Well, that can be
debated at length on
many levels. I will however, state that
I believe it is because of unwillingness
of the “authorities” to engage in
change, as well as the audacity of some
people in positions of power. These
people think they know what’s best
for us at all times in these matters,
and that we should continue to trust
their judgement and their decrees.
When you place yourself on a pedestal,
and you determine the matters that
Rabbi Meir wrote about to be the
absolute truth, and the only way
to (in this case) keep kosher, then
you build unrealistic expectations
for those who strive to live by the
laws of kashrut. Effectively, you are
hindering, rather than facilitating a
community’s ability to keep kosher.
Instead of helping to keep the price of
kosher goods and services in line with
reasonable expectations, you help to