Rabbi's Blog

Throughout my life I have had the merit of meeting many great Rabbis, Roshei HaYeshiva, Halachic decision makers, and, in the secular world, some public officials and statesmen. I am dating myself by stating that I have met the fathers and even the grandfathers of some of the leaders in our current time and generation. Being a pulpit Rabbi has given me entrée to many of the great Rabbis and leaders of our time. Recently, I was granted the privilege of spending precious time with a Gadol (great person) with whom I’d previously had the honor of hosting in my home a few times. He is the most sincere, down to earth, practical Rabbi I have ever met.

We were once driving in a car and the Rabbi pulled out a small, packaged pastry. As he struggled  to open the child-proof cellophane wrapping, he noticed all of the hashgachos /certifications enveloping this poor little cookie. The cookie was about three by three in size and came armed with four different kosher certifications. He remarked as he finished eating the cookie that “the taste and quality of the cookie did not improve based upon how kosher it may have been.” He lamented over how divisive the Jewish people have become, causing  every group to insist upon its own Hashgacha. This Rabbi has been involved in the Kashrus business for over sixty-five years and has seen it all. He told me, “Kashrus is serious business, but let’s not make it into a business!” Despite his advanced age he is not naïve with regard to understanding contemporary business, the need for maintaining kashrus standards in light of the constantly changing market. Nevertheless, this Rabbi, dedicated to the highest standards of kashrus throughout his entire rabbinic career,  strongly believes that once something is legitimately kosher and acceptable to all, it is frivolous to add additional layers of certifying agencies on top of the already reliable, totally acceptable kashrus endorsement.

This past week many of us enjoyed the annual pre-Pesach supermarket tour with Rabbi Eidlitz. Rabbi Eidlitz is also a no-nonsense straight-from-the-hip shooter who fully understands and distinguishes between things that are kosher and things that appear to be kosher. Reading between the lines of his words are the nuances of which items really need to have special Pesach certification and which items really don’t need special certification but nevertheless are produced to need it anyway. These special products usually cost a lot more than similar products cost during the year. Please DO NOT MISINTERPRET my words by thinking the entire kosher industry is overrated; it is not. Kashrus and keeping kosher is essential and has been something that has kept the Jewish people intact for thousands of years.

One of the first places  kosher mentioned in the Torah is found in this week’s parsha Shmini. The interesting thing about the word ‘kosher’ is that it is not used in the Torah for kashrus. The actual meaning of Kasher means ‘fit’ as in fit for a Jew to use  and, in the case of food, to eat. The Torah uses the terms of Tehorah and T’meah - pure and impure -  when describing the animals which we are permitted to eat and those which we are not permitted to eat. In Vayikra 11:45the Torah states: “Ki Ani Hashem HaMaaleh Eschem Mei’Eretz Mitzrayim L’hiyos Lachem LeiLokim, V’Hiyisem Kedoshim Ki Kadosh Ani”. “For I am Hashem Who brings you up from the land of Egypt to be a God unto you; you shall be holy, for I am holy”. The Kli Yakar points out that in all instances the Torah describes Hashem taking the Jewish people out of Egypt with the word ‘Hotzeisi’ - to take out. In this instance the word HaMaaleh  -to raise up - is used instead. The Kli Yakar distinguishes between the creatures that are directly on the earth and dirt from the ones that are a little above the ground. The type of grasshopper that is kosher is above the ground; it is able to look around and see things above. One of the major distinctions between man and animals is that man walks on two feet while animals walk on four. The animal walking on all fours looks down at the ground while a human being, walking erect on two feet, is able to look up. Even though our bodies are physically walking on the ground, we have been given the ability to be more spiritual, therefore enabling us to look up to the spiritual world of the heavens and God.

When a person climbs a mountain the air is fresher, cleaner and purer. The more we elevate ourselves the closer we are to that which is clean, pure and holy. If a person is in a canyon,  a place which is low, dark, alone,  the chances of becoming holier and of growing spiritually decrease. The Gemara in Zevachim 54 describes the Jewish people being taken out of Mitzrayim, a place filled with impurities, as the lowest of all the countries spiritually,  rising up to enter the Land of Israel which is the highest of all lands and the holiest and most spiritual of all places on earth.

Now we can understand that when the Torah teaches the laws of what we can and cannot eat, it describes these laws in terms of maintaining our purity and cautiously not becoming impure. The purpose of eating is to elevate ourselves to a higher spiritual level. It is for this reason that the Torah specifically uses the term to ‘raise’ up and not just to ‘take’ us out of Egypt. It was more than just getting out; it was physically raising, elevating us up.

This is truly the point at which we, the Jewish people, are separated from the rest of the world. The laws of Kashrus were given to the Bnei Yisrael because these laws elevate us as individuals and as a nation. There are a number of laws that were instituted to protect us from mingling amongst the gentile nations for fear of intermarriage. These laws have kept us apart from the rest of the world to make us stronger, closer, and holier. So, the next time you see a hechsher on a wrapper think about its true purpose. Let it be a reminder to separate from the rest of the world, not from each other.

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky

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