A new taste in kosher

WHILE he has been a mashgiach, or kosher supervisor, for a number of years, Rabbi Meir Rabi is beginning to take on the big guns of Melbourne’s Kosher Australia and Sydney’s Kashrut Authority.

According to Rabbi Rabi, his aim is to expand the kosher market to encourage more people to take up Jewish dietary laws.

“It is part of Jewish identity,” he said. “This philosophy has driven me to try to expand as much as possible.”

It was with this philosophy in mind that he approached cereal giant Sanitarium and bid for the rights to certify its products.

While many Sanitarium products were previously considered kosher, they are now under the supervision of Rabbi Rabi, who runs his own brands Kosher V’Yosher and It’s Kosher.

But this expansion has caused whispers of concern among the established kosher organisations in Australia.

While Kosher Australia and the Kashrut Authority were unable to comment before the print deadline, a number of rabbis spoke to The AJN on condition of anonymity.

One questioned the stringency of the Melbourne-based rabbi’s kosher brands. A second feared there would problems with yet another hechsher, or kosher stamp, being introduced within the community because it could cause confusion among consumers who aren’t aware of the finer points of kashrut.

The only organisation to openly discuss Rabbi Rabi’s expansion was the Rabbinical Council of Victoria (RCV). It rehashed a statement from 2007, emphasising the need for kashrut authorities to be accountable to the

community. “The RCV is concerned with maintaining the integrity of kashrut in the community and as such will not endorse a kashrut authority in which the rav hamachshir (rabbinic administrator) receives fees directly from client restaurants or food product companies,” the statement read. “The ability to make impartial decisions about the approval or otherwise of products and food outlets is of paramount importance in the role of the deciding rabbi(s).”
The RCV has previously expressed concerns about Rabbi Rabi’s production of soft or “laffa” matzah sold before Pesach.

Last month it issued a stern warning that the matzah may be consider chametz.

Rabbi Rabi shook off the criticisms though, assuring the community he was learned and saying that other rabbis could not handle his innovative approach.

“They have a view that they don’t like the innovation,” Rabbi Rabi said. “I respect that, but halachically we have interesting and challenging discussions.”

As well as Sanitarium products, he added he had recently certified a range of Floridia brand cheeses and would be adding more food stuffs soon.

NAOMI LEVIN