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Rabbi Shmuel on hechsered goat cheese

by Sarah Rose · December 21st, 2006
Kosher, The Jew

Rabbi Shmuel responds to The Jew on why Eitan’s goat cheese isn’t kosher.

The bottom line - I wish the goat cheese venture much hatzlacha (I know what it means to be a good steward of baalei chayim) but it should be labeled according to what it is - kinda kosher, sorta kosher, kosher style or virtually kosher. We can sell or do or make or eat what we want, but the only thing we are allowed - legally and morally - to call pure Vermont Maple Syrup is just that
- pure Vermont Maple Syrup. So it’s really more of a disclosure/truthfullness issue than a kashrus one.

Surely within recent memory the almighty hechscher was less important: when we were peasants, when we grew and manufactured our own foods, we also had responsibility to see that ingredients and processing were kosher.

Is there a trend toward fetishizing the hechsher? Could it be a recent byproduct of our modern, industrialized and standardized corporate food system?

Tell us what you think.

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2 Responses to “Rabbi Shmuel on hechsered goat cheese”

  1. Rabbi Shmuel Says:
    December 24th, 2006 at 2:57 pm

    Firstly, I didn’t say it wasn’t kosher so it’s not a fair characterization of my position - if you recall, the issue was why the supervising agency at Freedman doesn’t allow it to be served. “The Jew” made the statement it wasn’t kosher - I didn’t. (A lesson - irresponsible statements by anyone can cause confusion and heartache so let’s go for precision out of the gate OK?)

    With that clarified, a better word than “fetishization” would be “reliance” - If Nigel knows Eitan and trusts his kashrus level as similar to his own, then great. It’s really when unknowing 3rd parties pick up a jar of pickles or cheese or a pack of meat or kimhi or whatever that they need something useful to make an informed decision by. Different kosher consumers have different standards and customs ( for example, yoshon flour, pas yisrael, chalav yisrael immediately come to mind) Simply saying “kosher” becomes meaningless.
    I do agree that the industrialization of food in general has created a kashrus (as well as an environmental and health) nightmare. So where possible, know where your food comes from (CSA’s anybody?) support your local farmer! A favorite saying of mine (I didn’t coin it - It just resonates with me) is “never eat anything unless you’re willing to look it in the eye” (OK so I lost the vegan vote) - I know where my eggs come from - my backyard. I know where my cucmbers come from - down the block (and I swap them for eggs and syrup) By the same token, if I am a kosher food producer and I want acceptance from w/in the kosher market from those who may never have the opportunity to visit my farm, an acceptable hechsher was the way to go.

    Going back to the original point - there is a mashgiach on the premises - has anyone approached the Vaad about extending its certification to things produced there? I suspect yes and that the Vaad articulated standards which the goat guys were either unwilling or unable to meet. So there we are. Let’s go back to a time where someone could trust his or her neighbor’s kashrus and when folks knew where their food came from - I’m there! But lets be fair to those who care (I unknowingly ate something this weekened which I don’t eat (from a kashrus standpoint) and it was most distressing. Do you remember the Seinfeld where George spiked the eggs with lobster? (sure you do) Vegetarians wouldn’t unknowingly want meat, nut allergy folks don’t want nuts - kosher consumers are no different.

  2. Jewschool » Blog Archive » Kashrut Meets Michael Pollan in Book-to-Be on Contemporary Food Issues Says:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 11:19 am

    […] We’re coming at kosher from all directions now….an eco-kosher hechsher from the Conservative movement might make it harder for folks who need an Orthodox hechsher to find good eco-groovy food! Kosher is about limits on desire and has nothing to do with factory farming! We’re not sure if Aitan’s goat cheese is kosher, with a big or little K, or just plain awesome… […]

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