As many are familiar, yoshon is a mitzvah d’Oraysa, rooted in Parshas Vayikra (perek ,כ״ג pasuk י״ד)
וְלֶחֶם וְקָלִי וְכַרְמֶל לֹא תֹאכְלוּ עַד־עֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה עַד־הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת־קָרְבַּן אֱלֹהֵיכֶם חֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם בְּכֹל מֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם
Bread, parched grain, or tender grain you shall not eat until this very day, until you bring the offering of your G-d; it is an everlasting statute for all your generations in all your dwelling places.
Until the mid-1970s, chodosh (new grain) was largely a non-issue in the United States, as the country had large surpluses of wheat. Since wheat becomes yoshon once Pesach has passed, and the wheat was being stored in grain elevators at that time, the U.S. crop was yoshon. In 1974, the Jackson–Vanik Amendment was enacted to pressure the Soviet Union to permit Jewish emigration – tying the loosening of trade barriers to emigration. As emigration restrictions eased, trade barriers were lifted, allowing large-scale exports of wheat to the Soviet Union and later China as well. The legislation had an unintended halachic impact: as exports grew, the surplus disappeared; wheat now reached the market soon after it was harvested, and chodosh became an issue.
OU Kosher Chief Executive Officer Rabbi Menachem Genack notes that Rav Ahron Soloveitchik zt”l was highly stringent about keeping yoshon. “It is largely due to him that awareness of yoshon spread.”
As yoshon awareness and certification grew, so did the need for clear guidance on which products were permissible. Rabbi Yosef Herman, zt”l, of Monsey, New York, stepped into that role, devoting decades to making yoshon observance accessible to the broader community. For more than 40 years, he tirelessly researched yoshon products across the U.S., compiling his findings into an annual guide relied upon by consumers nationwide.
“Rabbi Herman worked very closely with OU Kosher Rabbinic Coordinator and yoshon expert Rabbi Dovid Gorelik,” reflects OU Kosher Rabbinic Coordinator Rabbi Stareshefsky. “He would ask companies detailed questions about their grain sourcing and production. Because of him, people who were makpid on yoshon suddenly had access to a wide variety of foods. He knew how to interpret every code and date on products containing grain to determine whether they were yoshon.”
It was in Rabbi Herman’s zechus that Shmuel Stefansky became one of the first business leaders in America to introduce yoshon into his product line. The CEO of the Brooklyn-based Dagim fish company has warm memories of learning the mishnayos and halachos related to the Korban HaOmer and yoshon with his father, Yitzchok, z”l, on the second day of Pesach each year.
In 1986, Rabbi Yosef Herman called Stefansky and asked which of Dagim’s products were yoshon. “
At the time, awareness of yoshon was limited, and few manufacturers truly understood what it involved,” Stefansky recalls. “Our only wheat-based item then was breaded fish, and Rabbi Herman explained the requirements and process of yoshon. I reached out to Rabbi Elimelech Friedman, the OU mashgiach at our supplier, and he helped put a system in place to ensure only yoshon flour was used. Since then, we’ve been makpid to use yoshon in all of our flour-based products, and that commitment has remained a point of pride for us.”
Of Dagim’s nearly 70 products, between 40 and 50 contain flour, including pizza bagels, pizza, and breaded fish and eggplant. The company’s pretzels are the only items that are sometimes chodosh, but Stefansky says those, too, will soon be yoshon yearround, with updated packaging to reflect the change.
“Yoshon products are in high demand and we’re committed to customer satisfaction,” Stefansky says. “It costs nothing to make yoshon flour, so it’s a nobrainer. Or, as Rabbi Gorelik says, a no-grainer.”
Since Dagim’s founding in 1957 by Stefansky’s grandfather, Leo, z”l, the company has maintained close ties with its certifier, OU Kosher.
“We have partnered with OU Kosher for decades and are excited about the new Yoshon Quick Search tool, which is especially helpful for consumers,” Stefansky says.
Nearly 1,500 miles and a time zone away from Brooklyn, another OU Kosher-certified company in Hudson, Kansas, has been serving yoshon consumers for the past 25 years. Founded in 1906, Stafford County Flour Mill Co. produces all-purpose, high-gluten, and whole wheat flour under the Kemach name, and holds the unique position of being the only flour mill in America that solely mills locally grown wheat and stores it onsite from harvest to milling.
“It’s all hard red winter wheat,” explains Food Safety and Production Manager Randy Watson, who has been with the company for 40 years and oversees its yoshon processes. “Winter wheat is planted in October and remains dormant throughout the winter. It’s harvested after Pesach, so it’s naturally yoshon.”
Stafford County Flour Mill Co. entered the yoshon market in the early 1980s, when it was approached by a flour company seeking yoshon flour for its customers in New York and surrounding areas.
“For 120 years, we’ve grown by offering specialty products, so we agreed to do it,” says Watson. “I didn’t know what the yoshon symbol looked like or what it meant. The first time a rabbi came by, he explained it to me and gave me an article about it. Once I understood its importance, it became important to me, too.”
Through that relationship, Stafford County Flour Mill Co. was later approached by a New York bakery producing brownies for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel. Because all imported grain products in Israel must be yoshon, the bakery required yoshon flour.
“Between those two companies, we probably produce about two to three semi-truckloads of yoshon weekly — anywhere from 42,000 to 50,000 pounds of flour,” Watson estimates. “We’ve respected Jewish laws and customs, and it’s worked very well for us.”
To ensure consistent yoshon status, Stafford County Flour Mill Co. sources ingredients well in advance. As Watson explains, quality flour begins with quality wheat. Wheat naturally contains an enzyme called amylase, which enhances baking quality by bonding protein and starch.
“We tend to add a bit more amylase,” he says. “Malted barley is rich in this enzyme, but barley isn’t naturally yoshon because it’s planted in the spring. So we buy it early and keep it in cold storage, with enough to last well past Pesach, ensuring we’re always using old-crop barley. We do the same with wheat starch, which we add as an enrichment.”
For Watson, working with OU Kosher has been a positive experience marked by camaraderie and mutual respect.
“I’ve had so much fun learning from, and teaching, the OU Kosher rabbis who have come here over the years,” he says. “They’re easy to get along with and a lot of fun. Our current OU Rabbinic Field Representative Rabbi Shraga Kaufman, and I, have a good time and we talk about our kids.”
Watson also gives tours of the plant, and says one highlight for students and larger groups is his explanation of the yoshon symbol and its significance.
“When I give a tour, I always pull out a $100 bill, show them the yoshon symbol, and say, ‘If anyone can tell me what this says, what language it’s in, and what it means, you’ll win this.’ If people come from a larger town, I ask whether anyone in the group is Jewish, and if the answer is ‘yes,’ I pull out a smaller bill. But no one has ever won the money! It’s been great to explain yoshon to them, and also to show that we do this out of respect for other people’s customs and religious laws, which I believe is very important.”
Watson is glad that Stafford County Flour Mill Co. is included in OU Kosher’s Yoshon Quick Search database.
“We’re proud to be part of a community that serves yoshon consumers,” he says. “The new search tool is a useful resource, even for companies like ours, because it helps us find potential suppliers. It’s a winwin, with everyone helping everyone else.”
For those who are makpid on yoshon, a quick supermarket run can easily turn into a full-blown scavenger hunt, with brand-checking and label-decoding to ensure products meet yoshon criteria. OU Kosher, the world’s largest kosher and yoshon certifier, has now simplified grocery shopping with a searchable database of more than 5,000 yoshon products, making the observance of this mitzvah more accessible than ever.
Available at ou.kosher.org/yoshon and on the OU Kosher app, the Yoshon Quick Search database allows users to search by brand or category, whether they are preparing a shopping list at home or checking an item on the go.
“As the community that is makpid on yoshon continues to grow, OU Kosher is there to support them and to respond to communal needs,” says OU Kosher Chief Operating Officer Rabbi Moshe Elefant.
OU Kosher mashgichim monitor factories that manufacture products made from barley, rye, oats, wheat, and spelt to determine when grain from the new harvest is first used. From that date forward, all products produced at that facility are considered chodosh. As a result, whether a product is yoshon or chodosh depends on the production date or the “best by” date code printed on its packaging.
Rabbi Stareshefsky, who spearheaded the Yoshon Quick Search project, explains: “The new tool tells consumers whether a product is yoshon year-round or only up to a specific date. It also explains how to read the product’s date code, whether it’s a four-digit production code or a ‘best by’ date. Each brand uses its own system, but every product
includes a date code.”
OU Kosher Managing Director of Marketing and Community Relations Rabbi Eli Eleff says that OU Kosher is always looking for ways to innovate and assist people, especially when it comes to information that isn’t always readily available.
“This new tool advances our mission to help Klal Yisrael keep kashrus at the highest standards, while empowering consumers to make informed decisions around yoshon.”
