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March 23, 2001/Adar 28, 5761, Vol. 53, No.25
Letters to the EditorMarch 23, 2001
Restore certificationEditor:As a once and future resident of the Valley (and a kosher-keeping, Sabbath observant, synagogue-going Conservative Jew), I'm saddened to read in Jewish News that Karsh's kosher certification was lost (Jewish News. Feb. 16). As a former resident of Minneapolis, Boca Raton, Scottsdale and current resident of Kansas City, I find it hard to believe that because a business is "open on Shabbat and Passover," it can't be adequately supervised by the Vaad Hakashruth. I live and have lived in cities where bakeries are supervised by the Vaad and open on Shabbat and Passover. I'm sure that if one looked they would find other such places in Phoenix and down the road in Tucson. Having attended many b'nai mitzvah in the Valley, I know that Karsh's pink boxes are a fixture at many of them. Shabbat wasn't Shabbat without chocolate chip horns, seven-layer cakes, raspberry tortes or challahs from Karsh's. I find it difficult that the demands of a handful of Orthodox consumers would override the general interests of the Valley's Jewish community for keeping Karsh's certified kosher. The logic of removing Karsh's kosher certification, if extended, would mean virtually no major food producer could retain its certification, since these are open 365 days a year and likewise produce, on Shabbat and Passover, items labeled kosher by the Orthodox Union and other kosher certifiers. There is a lot of bakery business up for grabs in the Valley if Karsh's is no longer "kosher." I wonder where it's going to go? I urge the residents of the Valley to speak up and request the restoration of Karsh's certification. If Vaad recertification not forthcoming, I urge the Conservative rabbis to supervise and certify the kashrut of Karsh's. The Valley can ill afford the loss of such a tradition and asset as Karsh's sacrificed to the ill logic of the Orthodox. Allan Cook Overland Park, Kansas Drawing the lineEditor:I was greatly impressed by the sensitive analysis of Irwin Wiener in his letter about the kashrut argument involving Karsh's bakery (Jewish News, March 16). He draws a line between the supervision in making a product and the evaluation of the religious deportment of the material handler. This line seems to become blurred in a contest for enhanced devoutness among fervent believers. Unfortunately, this self-righteous judgment is applied only by zealots to people they wish to denigrate. Can this action be called a mitzvah? Martin I. Selling Phoenix |
