IMPORTANT NOTICE FROM COMMUNITY RABBONIM
BS"D
14 Tammuz, 5780 / July 6, 2020
Dear Members of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway Community,
Due to recent events that may have a serious, adverse impact on the unity and kashrus in our community, we feel it is important to reach out and communicate our position to the entire community. We daven that our words will be understood in the manner in which they are intended, to enhance a sense of shalom and achdus within our broad and diverse community.
The Vaad Hakashrus of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway is an organization that is run by community Rabbonim and lay leaders, both of which reflect a broad cross-section of the community. With Siyata Dishmaya, and with tremendous efforts over several decades, our Vaad Hakashrus is known throughout the kashrus industry as one of the most reliable and professional vaadim in the entire world. Some of the features that make our Vaad special are:
1. Neither the Rabbonim on the rotating Executive Rabbinic Board, nor the lay leaders, take a single penny for their hours of service to ensure the kashrus standards of our community are kept at a very high level.
2. Our carefully selected professional staff comes with decades of experience and a sterling reputation throughout the world of kashrus.
3. Our professional staff is salaried and therefore stands nothing to gain or lose based on the number of stores certified, ensuring absolute integrity.
4. None of our Rabbonim would ever be involved in a kashrus decision of a restaurant that is owned by a relative, or even a mispallel of their Shul. If a matter of concern arises regarding a store owner, that person's Rabbi - if he is a member of the Rabbinic board - recuses himself from any vote that affects his own mispallel.
We want to alert you to a new hashgacha recently formed by two Rabbonim in our community known as Mehadrin of the Five Towns. We have no ill feeling toward the Rabbonim who provide the hashgacha, but we must categorically and absolutely recommend to all of the members of our community that they avoid eating at the restaurants under that hashgocha – specifically FiveFifty Restaurant and Shoppe, Chimichurri Charcoal Chicken, and Keneret Fresh Market. Please be advised that one of the establishments is owned by the Rav Hamachshir’s brother-in-law, a conflict of interest on its very face. In fact, each and every one of the establishments under this new hashgocha are owned by mispallelim of the Shul of the Rav Hamachshir, which under our Vaad’s standards is in itself a cause for invalidation. This is not in line with the high levels of integrity and impartiality that is at the foundation of our community Vaad.
In addition, we have labored diligently to maintain a unified Vaad Hakashrus for a broad and diverse community. Rabbonim and lay leaders across the spectrum have worked together for decades with a sense of mutual respect and a pure desire to make kosher food readily accessible to the members of our community. We have built in our community an efficient and harmonious Vaad Hakashrus and a wonderful platform of achdus, something that many Rabbonim in other communities yearn to emulate. Indeed, we have dedicated much time and effort to try working together with the Rabbonim involved in the new hashgacha, only to be told that they had no desire to collaborate with our unified Vaad.
In the interest of maintaining the high standards of impartiality established by our Vaad, we strongly recommend that one not patronize any establishment under the Mehadrin of the Five Towns hashgacha.
With heartfelt prayers that our sincere efforts to enhance kashrus and religious life in our community are succes
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