Reply To: Hechshers

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rebdoniel
Member

A while ago I did, but I then learned more about the relevant issues, and now, only eat cheeses with the OU hechsher or better.

I also no longer eat any products whatsoever under Tablet K, such as breads or bagels. A rebbe of mine says that Tablet K davka ought to be avoided, because there is simply a lack of adequate manpower to ensure a reliable yotzei ve nichnas. The same rebbe says that Ner Tamid K (on Amy’s) is reliable, since R’ Hazdan’s only kashrut endeavor is Amy’s, and they therefore are more directly supervised, although I understand that this is also not generally accepted by most in the community.

I used to also eat cheeses under the title La Dolce Vita or The Good Life, that have the hechsher of Rabbi Dovid Katz. I don’t eat those cheese anymore, because that company says explicitly on their website that the cheeses are produced using the “heter” suggested by Tosafot and R’ Soloveitchik (although, in all fairness to the Rav, there are doubts as to whether he really ate Kraft cheese, but if he did, it is in line with shitat Tosafot, anyways). R’ Dovid Katz is a big talmid hakham, from what I understand, yet I don’t know of too many frum Jews who use this cheese. A related episode was that in the Jewish Press, in the 70s, they rean advertisements for Findlandia cheese (vegetarian, with no hechsher), and at that time, they featured an article where R’ Klass, zt”l, argued that such cheese could be eaten, based on the Tosafot above.

Orthodox bona fides don’t necessarily mean that the specific standards used are meaningful. Rabbi Dovid Katz of Avenue L, Rabbi Dovid Sheinkopf, Rabbi Benjamin Weinblatt of Queens, Rabbi Moshe Novoseller in Philadelphia, Rabbi Elimelech Lebowtiz of Tiferes Yisroel, Rabbi Ralbag, Rabbi Israel Steinberg, etc. all have the right credentials. They’re all black hat-wearing, Igud haRabbonim-affiliated rabbonim, but the tzibbur doesn’t hold by their kashrus, for differing reasons.