Breaking! Heads of Queens and 5 Towns Vaads Both Linked to OU

Call for allowing only "national" kosher supervisions issued by high-ranking employee of OU and former OU senior employee.

Streit's management called it an "ambush," and so it is.

Rabbi Yosef Eisen, head of the 5 Towns Vaad HaKashrus, is a former senior employee of the OU who still works closely with the OU, as a simple Google search of the OU Kosher website shows.

You can do the same for Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, head of the Queens Vaad HaKashrus, and get even more results. That is because Rabbi Schonfeld still works for the OU. In fact, as David Kelsey notes, last year Rabbi Schonfeld appeared on the Nachum Segal Show in his official OU capacity. What did he speak about? Passover products. And Rabbi Schonfeld – a current OU senior employee – started the Streit's ban.

The fish stinks from its head, as the old Yiddish saying goes. In this case, the head is carrying a large OU "Kosher for Passover" seal.

Previous Posts:

1) Zev Brenner breaks the story.

2) A video followup.

3) the Jewish Star report.

David Kelsey's post.

Download Nachums News_ Nachum Hosts Rabbi Schonfeld for the Annual JM in the AM Passover Products Show __ NachumSegal.com

Comments

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

You know, this has been bugging me. You can walk from the headquarters of the OU offices to Streit's factory if you are in good shape. You can get to the offices of the Queens vaad from OU by taking a subway and bus for $2.00. The Long Island Rail Road, a few blocks north of OU, will take you to the Five Towns, but it costs a few bucks more. How many employees of the OU live in the "leaned on" areas?

[Shmarya]

Many.

[Yisroel Pensack]

The Wall Streit Journal should do an expose on this!

[Yisroel Pensack]

Don't mess with the Kosher Noshtra.

[rabbidw]

One question? According to a previous entry, Rabbi Genack just recently went to the Streit's factory and inspected it. Is that true?
One comment. Rabbi Schonfeld's sole known qualification for either of his positions is that his father is Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, who famously battled with members of his board to hire him at the YIKGH. Some resigned over that hiring. Si why is R'Moshe Soloveichick not qualified to take over for his father.

[Shmarya]

What is YIKGH?

[rabbidw]

Young Israel of Kew Garden Hills

[rabbidw]

I have just posted the following message to the UTJ list under the heading
Is it a hechsher or is it extortion?

I have never been so ashamed of being identified with the Orthodox Community. Streit's Matzah, which I have been eating for 50 years, is no longer on the shelves in stores under the Va'ads of Queens and the Five Towns. Streit's has been under the Hechsher of members of the Soloveichik family forever, is now under the supervision of R'Moshe Soloveichik, the son of R' Aaron and nephew of the Rov. The problem? According to rabbi Joel Sconfeld, the head of the Queens Va'ad, and a paid employee of the OU Kashrus division, no one knows Rabbi Soloveichik. He does not "swim" in the world of hechsherim.
Well, to the best of my knowledge, there are phones in Chicago. The CRC has vouched for his good standing. (That's the Chicago Rabbinical Council, major players in the Hechsher world.) Or go pay a visit yourself. Streit's is located in the wilds of Rivington Street. No plane trip is required, just a metropass for the subway. Streit's has announced that any Va'ad is welcome to inspect.
But that would be too easy for the mafiosi of the hechsher world. Instead, like Al Capone breaking windows and burning trucks to establish a "need" for protection, The Queens Va'ad, followed by another OU employee who heads the Five Towns Va'ad, has now declared the "need" for a National Hechsher. And who better than the OU? Which after all, is now out a substantial sum from the Rubashkin account.
As an attorney, I would recommend bringing civil Rico action against the two Va'ads, which calls for triple damages. If the Va'ads want to act like racketeers, treat them like racketeers.
There is something called a chezkas Kashrus, the halachic equivalent of Newton's law, items at rest remain at rest unless moved by an outside force. The kashrus equivalent is that if something is Kosher one year, you have to show what changed before you can change its status. These Va'ads waited until just before Pesach before going into their act. They answer to no one, to no halachic precepts. They are a prime example of Acton's Law. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[Shmarya]

Young Israel of Kew Garden Hills

Thanks!

~~~~~~~~~

As an attorney, I would recommend bringing civil Rico action against the two Va'ads…

Actually, the Feds should have done this against many hashgachot and kosher food distributors long ago.

Perhaps now is the time it will really happen.

[rabbidw]

The feds don't want to mess with religious institutions. I wish I could bring an action as a consumer, but I cannot think of a theory that would give me legal standing to sue. Due process is important. If the Va'ads had done an inspection and declared upon their inspection, that they were not satisfied, they could not be touched, but their decision without an inspection is the equivalent of a psychiatrist giving a very public and very damaging psychiatric opinion, based purely on gossip and speculation.

[sage]

Rubashkin is to Postville as the OU is to both Postville and Streits.

Justice is screaming out for Criminal RICO indictments.

[Michael P.]

According to the logic of the Vaad of the Five Towns, nobody should hold by their hashgaha either because they are not a national supervising agency. I guess that all of the restaurants and products which they supervise are now questionable also.

[sage]

They could retort that they are, indeed reliable, being under the OU umbrella.

But that begs the larger comment. The OU has proven itself corrupt and cannot be trusted [Malfeasance in the Rubashkin Scandals, etc]

Again, Justice is sceaming out for Criminal RICO indictments.

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

You can trust the OU symbol on food products:

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/cdc_tainted_peanut_butter_3_de.html

[sage]

LOL!!!!!!

[WoolSilkCotton]

Wasn't there a photo here on FM a few months ago, showing a container of toilet bowl cleanser, with an OU symbol on it?

[sage]

By golly, yes there was!!!!

LOL again!!!!

[WoolSilkCotton]

Streit's Shirt For Men & Women

http://www.moderntribe.com/judaica/jewcy/streits_shirt_for_men__women

[sage]

Maybe they could also come out with a shirt, on which, is "RICO" with a jail cell containing AR, SMR, Rabbi G. and Rabbi W.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Maybe a shirt with 'Otisville FCI Minyanaires Club' and the names you mention along with the rest of the daily minyan participants there.
http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/otv/index.jsp

[sage]

It's a great idea, although these folks don't deserve Otisville.

Fort Leavenworth or some other similar place, I feel, would be far more appropriate.

[The Monsey Tzadik]

Wasn't there a photo here on FM a few months ago, showing a container of toilet bowl cleanser, with an OU symbol on it?

This is one way the OU is influenced by the haredim, trying to get money from the gentiles by any possible way

[Yochanan Lavie]

What is YIKGH?

Posted by: Shmarya | April 08, 2009 at 03:25 AM

It's a cartoon exclaimation of disgust.

[rabbidw]

The Father, Fabian, has been Rabbi of the Young Israel Of Kew Garden Hills for more than 50 years. He fought with his board and membership to make sure his son, Joel, became the associate rabbi. He lost some members, who were not happy, but why shouldn't the son inherit the family business, rather than go out on his own and make something of himself?

[Jack]

This is really just the tip of the iceberg. The majority of item that are kosher certified by the so called national organizations require no hechsher at all. Tshuvos with heterim from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein are today deemed a major leniency. I could say with certainty that if the major players were not making major dollars we would all be better off.

I worked in t industry for years and hypocrisy, nepotism and downright antithesis of Hillel's words "mah dsani lachavrcha taaseh" Or the new Judaisms' approach to kashrut "what is hateful to you make sure you do to some one else" All else would be counterproductive.

Just as in the cases of Lanner and friends, we are partially responsible for knowing what is happening and remaining silent. Kumi or stand up and stop this nonsensical approach to yididshkeit and the mafia mentality against all those who opinions differ from the kosher dons.

Chag Sameach even though the rabbis' of the so called major kashrut organizations are smiling all the way to the bank because the average Jew had to spend hundreds of dollars extra to quench their money grabbing thirsts.

[state of the Jews]

Chag samayach v'kasher l'kulam.

[rabbidw]

People sometimes WANT a hechsher as a totem. (and yes, I use that word deliberately, you can look it up) So giving a hechsher that is not needed can be a joke, but not harmful. But giving a hechsher on wood alcohol ( can blind or kill) or on pet food that turnd out only to be kosher for animals, not for people) that gives kashrut a bad name.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Pesach Parade (apologies to Israel Berlin)

In your Pesach bonnet, with all the matza on it,
You'll be the shainest maidel in the Pesach parade.
I'll be all in cheder and when you're at the seder,
I'll be the proudest bochur in the Pesach parade.
On the avenue, 13th avenue, the photographers will snap us,
And you'll find that you're not in Yated anymore.
Oh, I could write a piyut about your Pesach sniyut,
And of the Streit's I'm munching at the Pesach parade.

[wheres the money]

An easy web search shows where all the money to the Queens Vaad is going (these are just two links of many 990 forms available for the Queens Vaad Harabonim on the internet):

http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/990.php?ein=112774666&yr=200612&rt=990&t9=A

http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/990.php?ein=112774666&yr=200512&rt=990&t9=A

[ben Avraham]

As a ger, I really am beginning to wonder whether I didn't make a very serious mistake by becoming an orthodox Jew.

[Yochanan Lavie]

BA: The philosophy is okay, but like every group Ortho has its phonies. Converts make better Jews oftentimes than born Jews, and we are all "Jews by choice" in open societies such as USA and Canada. Stick to your ideals, and ignore the politics to the extent you can. We need people like you.

[Where's The Response?]

How can all this happen without any response?

The Vaad Harabonim Of Queens (http://www.queensvaad.org/about_vaad/members.cfm)

Mr. Daniel Maurer, President Of Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld's Shul
demaurer@nyc.rr.com

Heshy Engelsberg, Webmaster and Member Of Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld's Shul
heshy@earthlink.net

Howard Kohn, President Of Torah Center Of Hillcrest
pres@torahcenterofhillcrest.org

Additional Leading Members of The Vaad Harabonim Of Queens:

Rabbi Peretz Steinberg
yiqvoffice@gmail.com

Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov
info@kehilatsephardim.org

Rabbi Yehuda Oppenheimer
youngisraelfh@aol.com

Rabbi Shlomo Hochberg
rabbi@yije.org

Rabbi Aryeh Sokoloff
rabbi@kewgardenssynagogue.org

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky
rabbi@bnaiyeshurun.org

[Ironic?]

...But like Mr. Gates, Mr. Brach's business tactics have sown resentment. His detractors have accused him of muscling out small competitors by gradually gobbling up every nook and cranny of kosher, from meat to groceries to baked goods to fish...Such, too, was his power that his shoppers included devout men and women whose rabbis forbade them to buy from Sam Brach's. For by his own admission, and for many reasons, Mr. Brach has defied the rabbis for nearly 25 years, above all by not submitting Brach's Glatt Kosher Supermarket to the supervision of the Vaad Harabonim (Rabbinical Association) of Queens, a group of rabbis that oversees most of the kosher stores and restaurants in the borough.''They feel I grow too much for myself,'' Mr. Brach said...
(New York Times: January 3, 1997)

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/03/nyregion/sam-brach-ruled-in-kew-gardens-hills-times-change.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/R/Religion%20and%20Belief

Isn't that ironic?

[?]

I recently read the widely circulated article concerning the Streits matzo controversy(http://thejewishstar.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/different-from-all-other-years-streit%e2%80%99s-matzo-off-preferred-list-in-five-towns/).

Although I am completely an unbiased reader (I have never met any of the individuals the article gravitates around), I am nevertheless bothered by the glaring fact that there are many deafening, yet completely unanswered questions. After skimming through the comment pages on the numerous websites that discuss the article, I noticed that the masses are bothered by the same simple yet troubling questions.

How can a Rabbinic organization take such severe action (the article extensively describes the harm it caused to R' Soloveichik) against a respected individual, without even being able to verbalize a complaint against him? The article quotes Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld as saying "He [R' Moshe Soloveichik] just doesn’t swim in the kashrus world … we’re not saying he’s bad; not at all. We just don’t know." What does that mean? Shoot and ask questions later? To put it simply: the whole story just does not add up- there must be politics at play that does not meet the innocent eye.
I decided to search around the web, to see if I would be able to find any articles that R' Moshe Soloveitchik may have written that would cause him to find disfavor in the eyes of those who attacked his hechsher. It didn't take too long to find a document that began to crystallize a seemingly sinister and petty plot.

I came across this letter (http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2009/01/r-bomzer-censured-by-vaad-for.html) that was published on a blog called "Daat Torah." One of the Rabbinic signatories on this letter, written in opposition to Rabbi Bomzer's Geirus protocol, is the Rav Hamachshir of Streits Matzo, Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik. When I "Googled" Rabbi Bomzer's name I discovered that he has been a long term leading member of the Rabbinical Council of America, the Young Israel Council, and is the President of the Vaad Harabonim of Flatbush (http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=32337) I also discovered that his son R' Moshe Bomzer, is a prominent member of the Orthodox Union, and serves on the "Rabbinical Council of America’s Executive Committee" (http://www.rabbis.org/about_us.cfm).

To my laymen eyes, it looks like a simple story of underhanded revenge. Quite saddening if true, but all would agree that the real tragedy would be the utter miscarriage of justice if this story were not properly investigated and reported.

[pic]

This picture online of Rabbi Schonfeld seems to confirm what you are writing:

http://oukosher.org/images/uploads/P5140017.JPG

[Rebecca Friedman]

I have known Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik for many years, both in Chicago on a personal level - we ate at his house on many occasions, including Pesach - and on a professional level, as he has answered many kashrut shailot for me. I have a small Kosher catering company, and Rav. Moshe's detailed and practical knowledge of kashrut has allowed me to effectively serve my customers and operate a scrupulously Kosher operation. He is a fine, upstanding, learned man and comes from an exceptional family. His personal ethics are of the highest order and I would never for a minute believe any rumor that attempted to smear his good name. Within the Chicago community, Rav. Moshe has only the highest level of respect, as he indeed deserves. Rav. Moshe runs a small shul, and is widely revered by his congregants. He is generous with his time, and unstintingly answers his cellphone, helping anyone and everyone who calls and asks. He is modest, self-effacing and very honest. His work with Gerim is also highly commendable. I have never been so ashamed to be associated with the Orthodox branch of Judaism as I was when learning of this latest scandal created by the OU. I am seriously considering no longer relying on their hecksher, as is has become apparent that this organization is riddled with corruption. It is a sad day for anyone affiliated with kashrut. I pray these misguided leaders from the 5 Towns Vaad and elsewhere will do teshuvah and attempt to make reparations, both financial and otherwise, for the significant damage they have done to Rav. Moshe and his family.

[Shimon Weil]

Have Eisen and Shonfeld issued a public apology to Streits and Rabbi soloveichik yet?

They are big tzaddiks, I am certain that they will admit to having faults.

[David Willig]

I want to know whether Yoel Schonfeld thinks he is a bigger Talmid Chacham than Moshe Soloveichik, or whether he thinks his father is a bigger Talmid Chacham then Rav Aaron Soloveichick? Pygmies are judging giants.