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April 21, 2000/16 Nisan 5760, Vol. 52, No.33
Kosher crisis hits C. Europe
AGNES BOHM
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
BUDAPEST - Central European Jews are facing a shortage of rabbinical supervisors to certify a growing need for kosher products.
"Our capacity is not enough to fulfill all the demands, which are coming not only from Hungary, but also from other countries, like from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland," said Hermann Fixler, president of Hungary's Orthodox Jewish community.
"In the last 15 years, we imported a supervisor from Israel," Hungarian-born Rabbi Aron Hofmann, who "cannot fulfill this job alone," Fixler said.
But he added that there should be enough Passover matzo, as they have certified more than 22,000 pounds baked in the community's own bakery in what used to be an Orthodox Jewish enclave in downtown Budapest before World War II.
With some 100,000 Jews, the Hungarian community is Central Europe's largest.
Part of the kosher certification problem stems from the fact that Hungary's official Jewish community doesn't want to yield its monopoly over the process.
The Orthodox Union, a major certifier of kosher products in the United States, is willing to come into Hungary - and their service will be cheaper, said Peter Tordai, president of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities.
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