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How do you go about finding out if such and such Rabbi of such and such town is a good heschsher on the food item you want to purchase?
Thanks
It’s almost impossible. I have a much, much harder time keeping kosher properly in Israel than I do in America. It’s sad and unfortunate.
That really doesn’t make sense. There are plenty of excellent or at least acceptable hechsherim in Israel.
Personally I’ve relied on these:
* Edah HaChareidis
* Rav Landau – Bnei Brak
* Rav Rubin – Rechovot
* Machzikei HaDas of Belz
* Sheeris Yisroel – Bnei Brak
* Chassam Sofer – Bnei Brak
* Chug Chassam Sofer – Petach Tikva
* Agudas Yisroel – a little less but still ok for bread and the like
* Yoreh Deah (Rav Shlomo Machpoud)
* Beit Yosef (Rav Ovadia Yosef)
All of these are ok for me. (Keeping in mind I don’t eat meat in any case – I’m vegetarian.)
For most people it’s just politics. Nothing to do with actual kashrus standards.
Ashkenazim don’t use Mizrachi hechsherim, for some weird reason – and that’s not just about meat. Tell any Ashkenazi chareidi that you’re willing to rely on Rav Ovadia Yosef or Rav Shlomo Machpoud and they look at you as though you’re completely crazy. (While many Mizrachim have told me that these hechsherim are fine.)
Then, in Bnei Brak, half the city (the Litvaks) boycot Rav Landau, because he is not one of theirs. They only use Sheeris. The other half of the city boycots Sheeris, and only uses Rav Landau.
It’s all just politics and I refuse to be part of that.
The problem is that there are so many different opinions, and so much politics, that it’s hard to know who to trust. For example, I don’t rely on Triangle K in America, but there are people who do. In Israel someone might tell you that a hashgacha with a similar status to Triangle K is acceptable, but you have no way of knowing whether it conforms to your standards. You just have to find someone you trust who lives in Israel, and ask them. Unfortunately, not all of us have such a contact. You assume that just because you rely on certain hechsherim that I should be able to as well, but you don’t know whether our standards here in America are the same, so you have no rightful basis to assert that.
All I know is that I relied on the hechsherim which other decent frum people I knew relied on. I don’t have time to involve myself in the detailed intricacies of each and every kashrus agency, knowing each of their exact standards. Generally however I’m quite sure the hechsherim I mentioned above are *at least* as good as OU or LBD. For me, that’s enough.
I on the other hand find the Americans to be extremely confusing. The only ones I know are the OU (which is M-O and I know it’s ok for parve things in any case) and the CRC (Satmar) which I rely on for anything. About all the triple/triangle/square/round/inverted-Ks, I haven’t got a clue.
TCG: I believe that the Star-K is accepted by almost everyone in America as well. (And by almost everyone I’m obviously not including those who only eat Heimishe Hashgachos.)
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