Reply To: Why Don't Camps and School Need a Hechsher?

Joseph:

That doesn’t answer my question

True. But it did (attempt) to refocus the discussion on the question in the OP (which you didn’t answer, btw:)

But since you insist:

I would eat in somebody’s house, even though they obviously do not have a hashgacha, if I believed them to be both God-fearing and knowledgeable enough to properly run a kosher kitchen. And as I’ve pointed out in my response to ubiquitin, I would also eat from the restaurant of somebody whom I believe to be both trustworthy (especially considering the negius aspect) and as knowledgeable in hilchos kashrus as the average mashgiach in a major kashrus organization is.

But I don’t believe that most people running restaurants, schools, or camps to be in that category. (Nor, as I’ve said before, do I consider myself to be in that category.)

PBA:

Because that’s the rav’s job to worry about that.

Is that true? Does the Rabbinic figure of a school/camp walk into the kitchen unannounced and check on the proceeding, as a mashgiach does? Or do they only answer shailos that are brought to them?

This is essentially a metziyus question, and one that I do not know the answer to.

(Although all this is only relevant if the said Rabbinic figure is sufficiently knowledgeable in hilchos kashrus to be able to at least be familiar with all of the shailos that can arise in an industrial-size kitchen; otherwise his checking up on the kitchen accomplishes little. And to be blunt, I do not think that every Rabbinic figure is that qualified.)

apushatayid:

How can you be sure about anything

Indeed, it is almost impossible to be absolute sure about anything. But I’m no conspiracy theorist; I’m willing to believe what somebody tells me if I think it highly probable that this person is A) not lying to me, and B) knows what he is talking about. Therefore, I (as I have previously stated) trust most kashrus organizations, because I believe them to A) have Poskim who are extremely knowledgeable in the theories and applications of hilchos kashrus setting the policies, and B) have trustworthy Mashgichim who ensure that those policies are being carried out.

However, none of that is (necessarily) true in an uncertified restaurant, camp, or school.