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June 14, 2002/Tamuz 4 5762, Vol. 54, No. 39
Concerning kashrut
Bakery openings kindle kosher conversation
LEISAH NAMM
Assistant Editor
The local availability of kosher bakery items rose dramatically last month when the bakeries inside two Phoenix Albertson's grocery stores received kosher certification.
The bakeries - located in Albertson's grocery stores at 1625 E. Camelback Road and 10665 N. Tatum Road - made the switch May 9 and now offer a variety of kosher breads, cookies, bagels, pies, rolls and decorated cakes.
The bakeries at Albertson's are a cooperative effort between the Orthodox Union (OU) and the Greater Phoenix Vaad Hakashruth, a kosher certification agency.
Last week, the two Albertson's bakeries became the exclusive vendors for kosher Krispy Kreme doughnuts, shipped daily from Krispy Kreme's Tempe depot, the company's wholesale division which was recently certified by the Vaad, said Rabbi Chaim Silver of Young Israel of Phoenix, who supervises both Albertson's bakeries.
All Albertson's products are pareve, except for the doughnuts, which are dairy and will not come in contact with other bakery goods, said Silver.
What impact will the two bakeries have on the Valley's Jewish community?
"Kashrut is a very important part of Judaism," said Rabbi Michael Wasserman of the Conservative Beth El Congregation in Phoenix. "It's a sign of the Jewish community coming of age that we have (greater) availability of kosher products," he said. "It will certainly encourage people to keep kosher, so it's a very positive thing."
Shortly after the bakery became kosher, Silver said he was approached by a woman who told him she'd never kept kosher before but is now making a commitment to buying only kosher baked goods because of the Albertson's bakeries. "That makes the whole project worthwhile," Silver said. "That is the main goal, to make kosher available to the entire community."
In addition to the bakeries, the two Albertson's stores have expanded their kosher food selection to include fresh and frozen meat, which concerns Rabbi David Rebibo, rabbinic administrator of the Vaad.
"It's very easy to play around with the way they're packaging some of that fresh meat," Rebibo said.
"It's not as highly secured and as highly professional" as a fully kosher establishment would be, he said. "The community needs kosher butchers to (supervise) the handling ... (and) cutting of fresh products."
Larry Beedle, meat manager at the Tatum store, said all fresh meats are prepackaged. "If that plastic happened to get broken, then it's not kosher. We don't touch anything."
The kosher meat selection includes fresh Empire chickens and Aaron's glatt-kosher beef; Hebrew National and Empire prepackaged deli meats; and frozen Empire chicken and turkey products.
Of greater concern to the Vaad, Rebibo said, is the Camelback Albertson's proximity to Segal's, a kosher butcher, market and restaurant that has been serving the Phoenix Jewish community for 35 years. The close location raises a possible issue of Jewish ethics, Rebibo said, as it could negatively affect an existing business.
Competing kosher businesses often sit side by side in cities with large Jewish populations, like Los Angeles and New York; but proximity is defined differently in a city like Phoenix, which has a smaller kosher consumer base, he explained.
Rebibo said that although the increased availability of kosher meat might benefit the consumer right now, the Vaad is concerned with the long-term effects.
"I am not sure that kashrut is well served if it remains entirely in the hands of the supermarkets because the supermarkets have to make decisions for their own business," Rebibo said. A freestanding Jewish butcher will stay where the kosher constituency is, but the supermarket could leave the neighborhood, he added. If the supermarket puts the local kosher butcher out of business and then leaves the neighborhood, "then where are we?"
Rebibo expressed less concern about the availability of fresh meat at the Tatum store, since the neighboring kosher "constituency has no one there to serve it, and (Albertson's is) serving a legitimate need." But selling fresh kosher meat within "a mile of an established (business) like Segal's (is) impacting this guy's business, and that I don't think is fair."
David Segal, owner of Segal's, said his store gets "wonderful support from the Jewish community" and that his employees "try and do everything to service our customers properly so they don't have to run all over" town to purchase kosher products.
He said it's too early to see if his store will be impacted negatively by Albertson's. "In the long run, it (will probably affect) me," Segal said.
He said the Jewish community should support Jewish vendors, because the local Jewish vendors support local Jewish schools, synagogues and organizations, "and in order to maintain doing that, they need to do the business. ... We help the Jewish community and in return, we would like the help and the support of the Jewish community in our business."
Silver said precautions are being taken to make sure that Segal's does not lose business. "It's a very high priority of mine to make sure that they do not," he said.
Rebibo said the Vaad receives no financial compensation for its role and cooperated in converting the Albertson's bakeries because they meet an unmet need.
Kosher consumer Eric Sultan of Phoenix agrees that Albertson's offers kosher bakery products that can not be purchased elsewhere, but said he is more likely to purchase kosher items at the local Jewish vendor. However, he might reconsider when making large purchases in which there may be significant savings.
Elizabeth Rothstein of Phoenix said that she used to shop at a different grocery store but now shops "almost exclusively at Albertson's for everything because they took the extra effort and they're so accommodating and have this wonderful bakery now."
A related matter that has caused confusion and controversy in Phoenix's Jewish kosher community was the Vaad's recent withdrawal of kosher certification after 37 years for Karsh's Bakery, a locally owned central Phoenix business.
Last fall, under pressure from the Vaad, Karsh's underwent a thorough kashering project, separating its pareve and dairy work areas and equipment, according to owners Arnie and Gloria Gardner.
After completing this process, the Gardners agreed to take the next step the Vaad strongly suggested - closing every Saturday for Shabbat.
The Gardners resumed Saturday hours less than six months later because they experienced a 20 percent drop in sales, said Arnie Gardner. Subsequently, the Vaad withdrew the bakery's kosher certification on the premise that a Jewish-owned business must be closed on Shabbat.
Albertson's bakeries are open on Shabbat without transgressing Jewish law, because the company's owners are not Jewish, according to Rebibo. Jewish law requires a Jew to close his business on Shabbat, but not a non-Jew, he said.
"The laws are meant for Jews and Jewish owners," he said. "If the owners of Karsh's were not Jewish ... things could be different. ... Non-Jews are not required to keep Shabbat."
Rebibo said this standard is true everywhere and doubts any kosher-supervised, Jewish-owned bakeries or restaurants in the United States remain open on Shabbat. "This is not the local Vaad who makes such a decision," he said.
In the past, this wasn't necessarily so. Karsh's obtained kosher certification for many years while keeping Saturday hours.
"Times have changed and the demands have changed," Rebibo said. "When Karsh's received its first supervision, (it) was the only source that existed for any kind of (kosher) bakery or bread."
With the abundance of kosher-supervised baked goods available, this is no longer the case, and therefore the kosher consumer's demands are higher, he added.
"What we did in the end over here was just to comply like everyone else was complying - to be with everyone all over the country. We're no different."
Although Karsh's is no longer officially certified, the bakery uses kosher ingredients and follows the same procedures, Arnie Gardner said.
All Albertson's bakery items are pas yisroel, meaning a Jew participates of the baking process. According to Silver, to ensure this participation, the oven's "on" switch has a special computer chip to which only he has the code.
So what happens if the oven goes out on Shabbat or on a Jewish holiday when a Jew is forbidden to light a stove?
"We did have a situation where the oven went down," said Jay Dawson, bakery manager of the Tatum and Shea store. It was the first day of Shavuot, and he was unable to reach Silver until two days later, when the holiday ended.
"We just kind of winged it," Dawson said, by sending customers to nearby Albertson's stores. "The customers are really understanding about it," he said.
"It's a difficult situation," Silver said, but "the worst case scenario already happened so we're already very seasoned with these problems."
In addition to Albertson's, supervised freshly baked kosher bakery goods are produced by Mazal Bakery, which works out of Beth El Congregation; Cactus Kosher Foods; Segal's; and Cookies Amour, all located in Phoenix; and Fairytale Brownies in Chandler.
Does competition from Albertson's concern the owners of these businesses?
"Not at all," said Lynne Wellish, who owns Cookies Amour with her mother, Joan Wellish. "I'm glad there are so many more options for people in town. Maybe ... it will encourage more people to keep kosher, and that might open up our market a little bit more."
Wellish estimates 15 percent of her customers keep kosher.
Cactus Kosher owner Rubin Sabin said it's unclear whether or not the Albertson's bakery has affected his store's business. "You always get the new kid on the block getting the customers to see what they have," he said. "Competition is good, it makes everybody think a little bit.
"(If) we're not giving the people what they need, maybe we'll learn to do that in the future."
Contact the writer at leisah_namm@jewishaz.com.
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