The Vaad L’Shmiras Tzivion Yehuda (The Committee to Preserve the Jewish Character) has scored a victory, announcing both Yated Ne’eman and Hamodia will refrain from publishing ads for hotels and resorts that have not obtained the stamp of approval from the Vaad. At present, the new arrangement applies only to hotels in Eretz Yisrael.
A kol korei was publicized in the three chareidi dailies a number of weeks ago, Yated, Hamodia and Hamevaser, calling upon mehadrin hechsherim to link their kashrus to tznius concerns in resorts. The kol korei was signed by Maranan V’Rabbanan Rav Elyashiv Shlita, Rav Wosner Shlita, and Rav Shteinman Shlita.
At present, it appears the newspapers have agreed to comply with the vaad’s request, to only accept ads from hotels approved by the vaad.
In a related note, JKN met with a veteran prominent hotel rav, a member of the chareidi community who is well entrenched in the goings-on of the Jerusalem hotel scene and the kashrus scene. He explained that one of the chareidi kashrus organizations approached him (the name of the organization is on file) and tried to compel him to agree to tznius standards in the hotel as per the vaad’s directives.
The rav explained to JKN that his hotel is actually in line with many of the requests made concerning the dress code of waitresses and other measures. He explained the entire move from his point, is to link hechsherim to tznius in the hotel is intended to open the door for this particular hechsher to obtain a foothold in the Jerusalem hotel circuit. He explained there is a power struggle among chareidi hechsherim, and this particular hechsher is working tenaciously to create facts on the ground in Jerusalem, using the tznius issue to advance its business agenda.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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10 Responses
Frum publications, by definition, expect advertisers to meet the publications level of Yiddishkeit. It seems all they did was to outsource the evaluation of ads to someone (so if you complain about an ad, the publisher can forward your call).
It would be nice if Mr. Spira would leave out the unsubstantiated rumors of dirty politics and just report the news.
Some people like tznius. At any price.
What was wrong with linking kashrus with absence of animal cruelty?
Just like car tires have 3 mutually exclusive ratings for traction, speed, and temperature, why not instead request that kashrus agencies provide both a lack of animal cruelty rating and a tznius rating in addition to their kashrus rating as secondary factors which a consumer should consider, but not blur the distinction between kashrus and these other matters?
:: sigh:: you know, it is getting harder and harder to be a simple Jew. I think if Korach was around today he would create a Vaad of ….. and declare that anyone who was a God fearing Jew must buy my product (and keep my hechsher in business) or else their children will not be allowed to attend schools, get married, and be ostracized from the community. It makes me sick that this is what “really” being a Jew has come to. Not to say their cause isn’t just, (it most probably is), but there are other venues to go about affecting changes in our community. And how do you explain this to irreligious people who see us as the Taliban and would sooner become a christian than practice Judaism just because they cannot relate to us any longer. I sigh because the Judaism that my great-grandparents practiced, is dead. these “hechsherim” will only cause greater schisms in our people and we cannot afford it.
I look forward to the day when a real Jewish newspaper comes out and buries the yated and hamodia in the deepest ground and does not allow for religious overzealousness and accepts ads from hotels that provide kosher meals to travelers.
What is the to’eles of printing this sort of article? Foothold, power struggle, business agenda? Is such language permited even if we knew for certain it was true?
More mishagusim. If anyone might enjoy something: assur it. A frum family might enjoy a few days off in a hotel that has charedi standards of kashrus acceptable to it: assur it. Of course most of these hotesl have televisions in the rooms because most of the guests are not haredim. The laws of economics dictate that most haredi hotels in Israel have to appeal to a broad spectrum of the population if they are to be financially viable. Most of the population want television. So what do we do. Try and run them out of business. It is about time the haredi consumer raised his voice against these fanatics. No, I don’t mean the respected rabbonim who are pressured to sign these papers but the fanatical “askonim” who mislead them about the world out there. I don’t own a TV at home and don’t watch one when I go away to a hotel. It would be nice if it was thought that I can actually stand up for what is right even if I am away enjoying myself.
ONCE AGAIN tyw and ykn {Yechiel Spira } thinks they know better than the rabbanim, by doing there own reserch (so to by echud hatzala
Why don’t all the holy people who immediately shrei gevalt whenever anyone questions these ridiculous new takkonas that come out like daffodils in the spring time, all of which are backed by some group of Rabbonim, but exclusively engineered by “askonim” or interested parties, not listen to the same Rabbonim who tell them not to use the Internet? It seems that chaimsGOLD not only thinks he knows better than the Rabbonim, he proves it in public.
When will kasrus organizastions make sure that products contain the volumn of food indicating on the packaging. Tuv Taam 7oz. herring doesn’t contain 7ozs. of herring. But the OK still gives it a hechsher.