Reply To: Hechsher – Just on the Food or on More?

I want to know that the FOOD I am eating is 100% kosher. That is the purpose of a hechsher organization. If they want to be involved with the issues of how the people who sell the food are dressed, or if they or their customers watch TV in their place of business, or if they are open late enough to accommodate people who maybe do not get home from work until after 7:30 PM, but still might want to go out to dinner, then they should call it exactly what it is – setting the standards for their community restaurants, and they have the right to do so. But I cannot for the life of me see what that has to do with the kashrus of the food. They are two distinct issues that circumstantially end up overlapping, but it is unfair to remove a hechsher from a food establishment solely because the owner does not subscribe to the hashkafa of the LOR. The Rov can (and should)strongly recommend that his kehillah not patronize that establishment (that worked very well in my community and the restaurant in question altered its waiting staff dress code, to reflect a more tzniusdig demographic), but in my humble opinion, kashrus is kashrus, tznius is tznius, and both issues should be dealt with on their own merits.