I give up :(
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In the time that's passed since that Ritual Committee meeting and the president's power play, we've had several kiddushim at which bakery cakes were served. Despite my husband's announcement from the bima asking congregants to notify him so that he (or I) could go buy a cake from a kosher bakery, no one has called, and all of the cakes were bought from a nearby non-kosher bakery, as usual. This means that the congregants in question called the office to make sure that the president, who does the food ordering, was informed, but the president didn't bother notifying my husband--he just went ahead and bought the cakes from his favorite local bakery. For each kiddush, an Entenmann's cake was purchased at a nearby supermarket for the grand total of two congregants who refuse to eat cakes that have no hashgachah (rabbinical supervision to ensure that they're kosher).
My unavoidable conclusions are that (a) only two of us care, and we've been "bought off" with Entenmann's, and (b) it really doesn't matter what any individual says or any committee decides--the president will do whatever he jolly well pleases, as usual. :(
In the time that's passed since that Ritual Committee meeting and the president's power play, we've had several kiddushim at which bakery cakes were served. Despite my husband's announcement from the bima asking congregants to notify him so that he (or I) could go buy a cake from a kosher bakery, no one has called, and all of the cakes were bought from a nearby non-kosher bakery, as usual. This means that the congregants in question called the office to make sure that the president, who does the food ordering, was informed, but the president didn't bother notifying my husband--he just went ahead and bought the cakes from his favorite local bakery. For each kiddush, an Entenmann's cake was purchased at a nearby supermarket for the grand total of two congregants who refuse to eat cakes that have no hashgachah (rabbinical supervision to ensure that they're kosher).
My unavoidable conclusions are that (a) only two of us care, and we've been "bought off" with Entenmann's, and (b) it really doesn't matter what any individual says or any committee decides--the president will do whatever he jolly well pleases, as usual. :(
posted by Shira Salamone at 11:04 PM
8 Comments:
I sympathize. Just curious, by nonkosher bakery are you referring to a Jewish bakery that claims to b kosher but has no supervision and is open on shabbat, the kind all of us observant Jews used to patronize or a non Jewish bakery (e.g Italian bakey) with no pretension to being kosher. Then we're talking lard and that's really serious.
The bakery in question is not Jewish-owned, to the best of our knowledge, but claims not to use any lard. Our former rabbi checked its kitchen once and didn't see any non-kosher ingredients, so most of the congregants see nothing wrong with eating that bakery's products. But it's not under continuing rabbinic supervision of any kind. So it depends on whether a person and/or an institution is willing to accept the bakery's assurance that they never using treif/non-ksoher ingredients. This is one of those "do we judge a food product's kashrut by ingredients or by rabbinical supervision?" questions.
This is one of those "do we judge a food product's kashrut by ingredients or by rabbinical supervision?" questions.
Um, no it isn't. That would require that you had a reliable, stable ingredients list, and you don't.
But you know what? Entenmann's produces stuff that is better and more interesting than iced sheet cakes anyway, so you and your husband are getting the better end of the deal.
Try Fairways!! R' Marmorstein's hashgacha is very reliable (and respected). And their bakery has delicious stuff. Just don't ask for the calorie count.
I don't understand the problem. Your congregation is fine with it, as evidenced by the fact that only you and your husband have an issue with the bakery. To make this even stranger, you don't have an issue eating the food from the bakery, you have an issue eating the food from the bakery at Shul, as you will eat out in places without supervision.
The synagogue is going out of their way to have something for you and your husband. I think that you should be grateful, and stop these senseless campaign to control all cakes through your husband's efforts.
Your demands on others to accommodate your quirky observant practices (I held the line you did, not eating non Kosher food in Jewish homes/organizations, but eating out in restaurants at one point years ago, so I get it) is one thing. Your demand that they practice Judaism exactly like you seems unfair, unreasonable, and relatively intolerant.
"That would require that you had a reliable, stable ingredients list, and you don't."
Good point, Reform BT. According to my own posts, the shul switched to using local non-kosher bakeries for dairy cakes a bit over two years ago. If my so-called memory serves me correctly, that decision was made at least in part because our then-rabbi had checked the kitchen of the bakery now being used and had assured us that they were using only kosher ingredients. But, even assuming that that was true *at that time,* I'm not sure whether our former rabbi ever checked their kitchen again--and, in any case, he hasn't been seen in this neighborhood since moving out at the end of his contract over six months ago. Who knows what they're using *now?* Kashrut is supervised for a reason.
RivkaYael, my husband or I could schlep a kosher cake home from Fairway just as easily as from other areas with a higher Jewish population, assuming that the president cared enough to let us know that a cake was needed. But he's too busy proving he's boss to bother.
For the record, Miami Al, I decided, several months ago, that I had no excuse for eating in non-kosher restaurants in New York City, where I can get to one just by hopping on a subway. I might give myself more leeway when traveling in areas devoid of kosher restaurants. The only things I'll have from that bakery are hot chocolate and tea.
As for the rest, you can blame it on the teachings of my first rabbi in NYC, who insisted adamantly that all food brought into a synagogue should be under kosher supervision. It was he who taught me to differentiate between my personal practice and my synagogue's practice, on the grounds that any Jew should feel free to eat in any synagogue. So I come by my "quirky . . . intolerant" practices legitimately.
"The synagogue is going out of their way to have something for you and your husband. I think that you should be grateful,"
I will admit that, when this dispute first began a couple of years ago, there were many sponsored kiddushim at which I simply skipped the cake altogether, so having a kosher alternative is an improvement.
"stop these senseless campaign to control all cakes through your husband's efforts."
Yep. That's exactly what I'm doing. As you can see from the title and body of this post, I've concluded that, without the support of the congregation and/or the cooperation of the president, this "campaign" is a waste of time. I don't intend to discuss this at any further synagogue board or Ritual Committee meetings.
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