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Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The ASK OUTREACH program, which was specifically designed to put OU Kosher in contact with communities in the Torah world not part of its usual constituency, reached out in a most significant way last week, conducting a two-part hands-on session in kosherization for the Satmar Yoreh Deah Kollel of Kiryas Joel, NY.
ASK OUTREACH is made possible by funding from the Harry H. Beren Foundation of Lakewood, NJ.
Under the direction of Rabbi Yosef Grossman, OU Director of Kashrut Education, and with Rabbi Moshe Perlmutter of Passaic, NJ providing the training, OU Kosher went to the Satmar Talmud Torah’s kitchen – capable of serving 10,000 meals daily -- to illustrate foodservice kashering, performed in large kitchens such as those found in schools, hotels and catering establishments. The next day Rabbi Perlmutter demonstrated industrial kashering, performed in plants and factories, at Oasis Food Company in Hillside, N.J., manufacturers of margarine and other condiments.
Some 20 members of the kollel, what Rabbi Grossman called “a very learned group,” participated. According to Rabbi Grossman, the group could have been as large as 100, based on interest in the community, if there had been space to accommodate them.
Outreach to Satmar follows similar approaches to Chabad Lubavitch, Belz, Bobov, Vichnitz and Skver Chasidim, among other groups. “It was only a matter of time before we got to Satmar,” Rabbi Grossman said. “We were approached to demonstrate kashering. Rabbi Perlmutter has great expertise in this area.”
In its study of Jewish law, the Satmar kollel seeks out practical applications of everything kollel members study, thus leading to the request to the OU.
“It is clear,” declared Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of OU Kosher, “that in the Torah world, we have much more in common than what sets us apart. The range of communities that have availed themselves of ASK OUTREACH is living proof that the OU’s expertise spans the Jewish world, and that respect for our knowledge and its practical applications is a unifying force in the observant community.”
Back in Kiryas Joel, the session in the Satmar kitchen, focusing on ovens, pots, kettles and other items, emphasized how to make a treif vessel kosher; as Rabbi Grossman pointed out, everything in the Satmar kitchen was kosher, but the techniques could still be demonstrated.
“We received a very warm reception at Kiryas Joel and were made to feel right at home,” Rabbi Grossman said. He was pleased to see the OU symbol on food items in the Satmar kitchen.
“We were very pleased to reach out to Satmar in our ongoing efforts to develop relationships with all segments of the Torah world who would like to benefit from our services,” Rabbi Grossman said. “We hope this approach to the Satmar community will be ongoing in future areas of mutual benefit.”
Rabbi Perlmutter agreed. He noted that in kosherizing seminars he gives for the OU, this was “the only time it was totally Satmar and on their home turf, in their kitchen, with their own mashgiach participating.”
Summing up their knowledge of kosher law as “phenomenal,” he said, “We both learned a lot from each other.”
Thursday, September 04, 2008
They came from Jerusalem and they came from Brooklyn, and from Berlin and Paris which are roughly in between the two. Others came from Las Vegas, from Providence, Rhode Island and from Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is also roughly between the two.
Twenty came from Lakewood and others from Monsey and New Square, NY, bastions of Judaism; smaller Jewish communities such as Indianapolis, Indiana and Scranton and Allentown in Pennsylvania were represented as well.
Besides Brooklyn, Kew Gardens Hills in New York was well represented. New Jersey communities included Cherry Hill, Springfield and West Orange. Philadelphia joined Scranton and Allentown in the Pennsylvania delegation.
Take a map, look for a Jewish community, and chances are that it was represented at the recently concluded ASKOU9 program of OU Kosher, intensive kashrut education for future mashgichim and for those already active in their communities who came to strengthen their skills.
The yeshivot and kollelim whose students participated were among the finest institutions of Jewish learning in the world. They included Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, which sent the 20 Chavrei HaKollel, the largest delegation ever from Lakewood to an ASKOU program. The Yeshivas Beis Zion of the Lauder Yeshurun Foundation in Berlin sent two young rabbis who returned home fortified with the skills to strengthen kashrut in Central and Eastern Europe. The Mirer Yeshiva Kollel in Jerusalem and the Philadelphia Community Kollel sent students. The RIETS rabbinical seminary at Yeshiva University was well-represented at the program.
Kollelim at Mesivta Tiferet Jerusalem of the Lower East Side, NYC; Bais Medrash L’Talmud and Ohr HaChaim in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, NY; and Emek Halacha, Yeshivas Derech Chaim and Belz in Brooklyn, NY all sent students.
ASKOU9 was divided into two programs – a three-week kashrut internship with 26 participants including rabbis, rabbinical and kollel students; and a one-week kashrut training program with 70 participants including community rabbis, assistant rabbis and students, as well as for members of local Va’adim HaKashrut. The two groups combined in the final week of the three-week session.
“We were amazed at the high caliber and diversity of the ASKOU participants,” declared Rabbi Yosef Grossman, OU Director of Kashrut Education, who coordinated the programs. “They literally came to ASKOU from the four corners of the Torah and kashrut world. Many of the participants were noted Torah scholars and authors. It was a privilege to host such a distinguished and diversified group of upcoming future Torah leaders.”
Together, the groups participated in lectures from OU experts, and went on the road to plants, slaughterhouses, restaurants and catering halls certified by the OU. Their responses showed the value of the program.
When asked how he liked the three-week session, Shmuel Kruk, a semicha student in Lakewood, responded enthusiastically, “I loved it.” Rabbi Avrumi Tannenbaum, a member of a Brooklyn kollel and a one-week ASK OU participant, commented that the program was “excellent, informative, and unbelievable to receive a service from an organization of this sort.” Yehuda Gras, another one week participant remarked, “Fabulously run with military precision and fantastic, fascinating lectures!” All this from someone who has taken the program for the third time! Apparently he really loves it.
In what may be considered the Kentucky Derby of cheese competitions, OU kosher-certified cheese manufactured by Bluegrass Dairy & Food/Glasgow Division of Glasgow and Springfield, KY recently won first place gold in all three classes at the Kentucky State Fair for its Natural Cheddar (Wilderness Trails brand) and its Natural Gouda (Bluegrass Dairy & Food brand).
And to prove that Bluegrass thrives far from its old Kentucky home, its Colby (Bluegrass Dairy & Food brand) took third place at the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association 2008 World Cheese Championship.
The company’s OU-certified Natural Cheddar (Wilderness Trails brand) also achieved first place at the 2007 Tennessee State Fair and was recognized as the best dairy product at the competition – honors which Bluegrass expects to be awarded again at the 2008 Fair this month.
Bluegrass Dairy & Food is a manufacturer of OU-certified cheese and cheese powders, as well as hundreds of dairy and non-dairy specialty powders of all types, including maltodextrin, honey, molasses, yeast, flavors, emulsifiers, shortenings, sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt and creamers. The company is also a full-service dairy, featuring butter and all fluid dairy products, and it processes OU-certified Cholov Yisroel (special rabbinically-supervised) liquid and powdered milk upon request, including Cholov Yisroel whole milk powder for the confectionary industry. Kosher for Passover milk and cheese products are also manufactured.
Currently, Bluegrass provides the dairy and snack industries with the following OU-certified kosher natural (organic and regular) cheeses and cheese powders: Cheddar, Colby, Colby Jack, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, Muenster and Parmesan.
“Working with Bluegrass Dairy & Food is always exciting,” remarked Rabbi Andrew Gordimer, OU Rabbinic Coordinator (account executive) for Bluegrass. “The company’s full-time OU coverage enables it to produce almost anything as kosher, and all types of new cheeses and various projects are developed and introduced on a constant basis. The flexibility of Bluegrass’ infrastructure and staff is amazing, and the company’s commitment to break ground and establish top-quality product in so many areas, while maintaining the highest of kosher standards, has made it a rising and shining star in the kosher and general food industries.”
Rabbi Eliyahu Safran, OU Kosher’s Vice President of Communications and Marketing noted, “It is gratifying to watch Bluegrass Dairy & Food grow and develop into a much sought-after producer of so many industrial dairy products and now to equally excel in the production of these fine Natural Cheddar and Natural Gouda cheeses. Undoubtedly Bluegrass production capacities and know-how, coupled with the Orthodox Union’s meticulous and professional guidance, has won honors and recognition for this great Kentucky company.”
Rabbi Yosef Capland, who is the Orthodox Union’s rabbinic field representative at the plant and who is deeply involved in the production of the prize-winning cheeses, declared, “Working at Bluegrass has been a wonderful experience. Being part of a winning team, which has risen to such heights with its prestigious and popular kosher products, demonstrates the effectiveness of the OU program and its appeal. Coming to work at the Glasgow facility, with the complexity of the plant and the kosher-sensitivity of its products, is something I enthusiastically enjoy and look forward to every day. The Bluegrass staff’s clear and total commitment to kosher compliance in all ways makes it such a pleasure.”
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