Kashrut crisis at an impasse
THE NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBOD) and JCA have placed the onus at the feet of the community’s rabbinic leadership to sort out Sydney’s kashrut conundrum.
THE NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBOD) and JCA have placed the onus at the feet of the community’s rabbinic leadership to sort out Sydney’s kashrut conundrum.
While welcoming the KA’s acceptance of their nomination of five new lay leaders to be appointed to its board, JBOD and JCA have conceded the appointments will not affect the supervision of kashrut or solve the current impasse between the KA and caterer Amaze In Taste (AIT).
“The KA operates as an arm of the Sydney Beth Din and any change in the rabbinic structure of the KA and oversight of kashrut in NSW is subject to the Sydney Beth Din,” JBOD president Yair Miller and JCA president Peter Philippsohn said in a statement.
“As such, the lay leadership of the community is not in a position to make any further progress. It has become clear during this extensive process, that there are differing views within the Sydney Rabbinate both as to the constitution and effectiveness of the current kashrut structure.
“The Board of Deputies and JCA now call on the rabbinic leadership to urgently deal with the current confusion around halachic responsibility in kashrut in NSW and to propose a structure that is clear, accountable and acceptable to all.”
The statement follows Rabbi Yosef Feldman’s decision to provide kashrut supervision to AIT following the failure of the caterer to secure supervision from the KA after a dispute over payments. The majority of Rabbi Feldman’s colleagues in the Rabbinical Council of NSW (RCNSW) voted against his move at a meeting on November 23.
KA president Baron Revelman said Rabbi Feldman’s provision of the hescher had “singlehandedly put into jeopardy the notion of one united Kashrut Authority for the NSW Jewish community”.
“In spite of his attendance at that meeting, Rabbi Yosef Feldman is ignoring the resolution, has made the decision to act of his own accord … thereby thwarting attempts at a resolution,” he said.
Rabbi Feldman countered that the KA “disingenuously reported” on the RCNSW meeting, failing to mention that his hechsher was given prior to it.
“When voting, the rabbis were also not informed of a number of facts, including that I am working to ensure purchase of Sydney meat by AIT and that a deal between the KA and AIT was at the time not imminent,” he said.
He said “as the lay leadership of the community correctly asserted in their statement, the main issue preventing a united kashrut is the rabbinic governance structure of the KA”.
AIT spokesperson Hilton Cohn backed that statement.
“A transparent, community based, trustworthy, not for profit organisation is one that AIT wishes to work together with to promote kashrut for the benefit of the entire community,” he said.
“AIT will use all its endeavours to working with all interested parties to achieve this goal.”
GARETH NARUNSKY
Rabbi Yosef Feldman is providing kashrut supervision to caterer Amaze In Taste.
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