With the news that the hechsher of Rav’ Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau Shlita was removed from Strauss mehadrin dairy products, some consumers were not pleased, including members of the Chabad community, Chabad Online reports.
Rav Yitzchak Yehuda Yeruslovsky Shlita, the rav of the Chabad community in Kiryat Malachi and the secretary of the Chabad beis din in Eretz Yisrael appears unwilling to accept the new reality. The report states the rav today, Tuesday, called on Chabad chassidim not to bring Strauss mehadrin products into their homes since R’ Landau’s hechsher no longer appears on the product.
In the letter published by COL, Rav Yeruslovsky is full of words of praise for R’ Landau Shlita, and his mesirus nefesh in the kashrus industry, mentioning the care he takes never to infringe on the livelihood of others.
Therefore, the rav calls on those who value R’ Landau and his kashrus to boycott Strauss mehadrin “not to assist chas v’sholom those who had a hand in the new situation”.
It appears that Chabad rabbonim have contacted the appropriate people at Strauss, but were met with laconic responses.
Strauss mehadrin products are now under the supervision of Badatz R’ Rubin Shlita.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
13 Responses
Would you please explain what occured. Has Rav Landau removed his Hecsher or has Strauss decided that he’s too stringent for them?
I wonder what happened as it would effect my decision when buying their product next.
Sour grapes (with a Hechsher!)
Lets say this was exclusively a “corporate decision,” can we fault Rabbi Rubin for being the new provider of hashgocha there? I think not.
Who is Rav Rubin?
to#4 rav rubin is one of the best hashgachot in Israel for the last 30 years he also for the most part has no political agendas hes the head of the kashrus of rechovot and is sought after by many kashrut boards allover the world
#5, I usually wouldn’t question Rav Rubin’s integrity, but here we have Rav Landau which is unquestionably one of the best Hechsherim out there and takes no money for himself to recieve his certification, I would question any Rav that would replace his supervision without proper clarification.
טרה will be geting Rav Landau’s hecsher
Mr. Levin, the issue of Rabbi Landau removing his supervision is a good one. I personally would like to know why he removed it. When a rabbi removes his supervision from a product it may not be because of political reasons but rather because he has observed a number of irregularities that would preclude his ability to trust the owner of the whatever firm it may be.
I got no idea who either rabbonim are but I would like to know why did Rabbi Landau remove his certification. I happen to like Strauss products a lot and so do my ainiklach.
8,
You don’t have to buy it because of any holyer than thou hechsher. You could rely on the OU or whatever international hechsher is on the packaging.
I don’t think that is the issue here. I am familiar with the Strauss products. Actually there is no OU as I recall. They are ice cream and dairy products.
The issue here is why would a rabbi remove his certification. Sometimes the OU does. I remember an incident not too long ago with a Hasidic bakery not too far from me which had NUMBEROUS certifications and all of them including the OU dropped them because of such things as barring the rabbi from checking the storage closets, refusing to give over the keys so the Rabbi can make unannounced visits 24/7, etc.
Then, one of the bakery drivers from this very same bakery had a short time before this whole brouhaha started his own bakery with an Israeli theme. I knew the one and only supervising rabbi in charge and there was no OU. Well, the rabbi dropped this bakery. I presume because he saw monkey business which would be consistent with a delivery driver who worked for a Hasidic bakery who played games.
Some people do not rely totally on the OU and it is because they adhere to certain opinions of major rabbis that demand for the sake of fulfilling the minimum requirements of the law that certain restrictions need to be adhered to that the OU does not necessarily practice on their own. Because if someone wants a particular certification or demands more stringencies it is not because of a feeling of superiority on their part rather it is because they understand the particular Code of Jewish Law requires it.
I think they may be a problem with Strauss but because I don’t know either rabbi, I don’t want to pass judgement until I get all of my facts first. Who is to say either one or the other is not fastidious in his personal religious practices or in his supervision? I don’t know.
By the way, I see you had time to go on this website. When I called tonight you were busy talking about something in Las Vegas. Your call screener told me you didn’t have time for my call. How come you have time for this website but not for my call?
It depends on the individual and how stringent he/she is and who’s hecsher he/she uses.
If someone uses various hechers and is not to particular who’s they buy from, then this will probably make no difference.
If they are strict only to use certain ones and
they use only one of those mentioned here then it will of course make a difference, which will still be on the package.
As one could expect, no one really knows any of the details. Both Rav Landau and Rav Rubin’s hashgachas are accepted as being among the best in Israel. If Rav Landau never takes money for his hashgacha as some have suggested, then he has suffered no loss by losing the hashgacha. If Strauss felt it was worth giving up a free hashgacha to pay for a hashgacha, they must have had a compelling reason to add on unnecessary costs. Or on the other hand, maybe those writing their comments are incorrect and they both charge for their hashgacha. Nevertheless, no one has suggested at any time that there is any problem with any of the kashrus of the products. Let’s all move on in life until we hearing a compelling reason to pay any more attention to a change from one good hashgacha to another.
It’s totally common that when a company decides to use a different rav hamachshir/hashgachah, that the old rav hamachshir informs the public that they are no longer responsible, and then the new rav either announces or starts. Announcing the “pulling” of a hashgachah could be from a problem, but most commonly you see this when a company is changing hashgachos. Now the question is as #1 asked, why did they switch? I can tell you that Rav Rubin’s hashgachah is every bit as strict as Rav Landau’s so it may not be anything serious. The answer could lie in marketability. Rav Rubin is the “in” hashgachah for many companies and establishments. He’s no-nonsense in kashrus, but may not strong-arm other policies like ensuring closing earlier.