The Orthodox Union Kosher Division today expressed its gratitude to the Harry H. Beren Foundation of Lakewood, NJ, for renewing and increasing its grant in support of OU Kosher’s kashrut education programs.
“We are most grateful to the Harry H. Beren Foundation for its continuing confidence in OU Kosher and in its ability to create programs of education on a variety of levels into the intricacies of kashrut,” declared Rabbi Menachem Genack, Chief Executive Officer of OU Kosher. “We were very pleased to receive the first grant a year ago, expected that it would be for one year only — which is usually the case — and were delighted to learn that the grant would be renewed for a second year, with an increased level of support.”
Foundation trustees wrote to OU Kosher, “The Harry H. Beren Foundation of Lakewood, New Jersey is continuing its relationship with the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations due to the exceptional manner in which the OU has perpetuated and memorialized the name of the unforgettable Mr. Harry H. Beren, z”l, and the Foundation looks forward to the OU continuing in this same manner.”
The grant has made possible a variety of programs in the year since it was first received. They include the Harry H. Beren Ask OU Mesorah Conference II, The Pareve Mesorah, held last February at Lander College in Queens with an attendance in excess of 300; the Harry H. Beren Ask OU8 program in August, which in three-week and one-week sessions provided high-level training in kosher certification to professionals and students in the field; and the Harry H. Beren Community Lectures, most notably, the Kashrut in the Workplace Series, which are conducted nationally.
“The continuing generosity of the Beren Foundation will once again make possible not only the OU’s kashrut education programs, but their expansion as well, as the OU furthers its goal of expanding community knowledge about the immutable laws of kosher and their interaction with new developments in the field,” Rabbi Genack said.