Does Using Early-Bird Discounts Create a Ribbis Issue?

By: Rabbi Mordechai Frankel

Kashrus Kurrents Spring 2014

Q: I would like to send my young children to a backyard camp during the summer. The camp is offering an ‘early-bird special’ if I register my children now. If I wait until the summer to register, they will charge more. Is there any ribbis issue with registering now and receiving the discount?

A: Ribbis involves lending money to another Jew and charging interest. Doing so may violate a Torah prohibition or a rabbinic prohibition, depending upon the situation. If it is necessary to charge interest, the two parties may sign a document known as a “heter iska”, which converts the loan into a business investment, thereby avoiding the prohibition of ribbis.1 People are often unaware that a number of common transactions may violate the prohibition of ribbis. Here are a couple of examples:

(1) Reuven buys an item with Shimon’s credit card, and assures Shimon that he will pay the credit card bill. However, Reuven forgets to pay the bill on time, and […]

Bishul Yisroel Sephardi: And Now For The Rest Of The Story

By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

Published Spring 2014

If anyone ever visited New Orleans, one of the must-see tourist highlights in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, is a quaint Cajun wooden floor coffee shop known simply as Morning Call. Morning Call is a café that sold one product only – a delightful, deep fried square doughnut that you smothered with heaps of confectioners’ sugar and enjoyed along with a delicious hot cup of French market coffee. These square doughnuts are known as beignets (pronounced ben y’ays). I don’t know if a beignet matches a fresh jelly-filled sufgania , but beignets are a New Orleans favorite and Morning Call is still frying beignets.When I was a member of the New Orleans Kollel many years ago, Morning Call was certified kosher by the local congregational rabbi, and at that time there was no Kosher Cajun restaurant to go to for a kosher bite to eat. The proprietor of Kosher Cajun was […]

Food Fit for a King: Reviewing the Laws of Bishul Akum and Bishul Yisroel

By: Rabbi Moshe Heinemann

Published Spring 2014
It is not uncommon for food manufacturers to call us with a keen interest in kosher certification without the the slightest idea what it takes to produce a kosher product. What complicates matters is that they would like to have a kashrus tutorial capsulized into a telephone conversation. Obviously, we can’t give a thorough kashrus course over the phone, but we can categorize practical kashrus into three main areas: ingredients, equipment, and process.Occasionally, there may be circumstances where both ingredients and equipment are 100% kosher. Through a violation of a rabbinic ordinance, some foods or food products would be prohibited, while other food products undergoing the very same process would […]

Separating Challah When Giving the Bread Away

By: Rabbi Mordechai Frankel

Kashrus Kurrents Summer 2014

Q: I have heard that someone who bakes loaves of bread with the intention of giving them to other people does not separate challah with a brocha. Can you explain the parameters of this halacha?

A: One is obligated to perform the mitzvah of separating challah when kneading dough which will be baked into bread. The amount of flour one must knead in order to be obligated in this mitzvah is an asiris ha’aifa, which is equivalent to the volume of 43⅕ beitzah.1 The exact volume of a beitzah is a matter of dispute. L’halacha, one should separate challah without a brocha when kneading 2.6 lbs. of flour, which on average is equivalent to 8⅔ cups of flour. According to Rav Chaim Noeh, one can separate challah with a brocha when kneading 3.675 lbs. or more of flour (on average, 12¼ cups). Many follow the opinion of the […]

A Halachic Guide to Seudas Shabbos and Lechem Mishna

By: Rabbi Dovid Heber

Summer 2014 | Updated August 2024

One of the highlights of the week is the Shabbos seuda. The divrei Torah, zemiros, Shabbos delicacies, family and guests allow us to come closer to the Ribbono Shel Olam and recharge our ruchniyus and gashmiyus (spiritual and physical) batteries. Although a delicious bowl of chicken soup on Friday night and hot cholent during the daytime seuda enhance the Shabbos meals, one does not fulfill his obligation of Seudas Shabbos with either of these items. What is necessary to fulfill one’s obligation for Seudas Shabbos?

I. Seudas Shabbos

Men and women are obligated to eat three meals every Shabbos. Each “meal” must consist of bread.1 Chinuch-age children are also obligated. On Yom Tov, one2 is obligated to eat only two seudos as there is no obligation for a third meal.

Ideally, one should eat the volume of a k’beitza v’yoser[...] Read More

Zman Cheiruseinu

By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

Published Summer 2014
There was a story told about a very elderly Yid who was in the hospital with medical complications. The doctor came in with the patient’s test results and said, “Mr. Goldberg, your blood pressure is high and your cholesterol is high. You must change your diet. No more chopped liver; nothing cooked in chicken schmaltz.” Mr. Goldberg peeked out from under his blanket as his children were attending him, looked the doctor straight in the eye and said, “Vos vais a doctor vos a yid darf essen!”1

Although Judaism frowns upon a ‘Live to Eat’ mantra, eating does play a central role in the life of a Torah observant Jew. How can one observe Shabbos without Kiddush and Hamotzi? Who can observe a Pesach seder without matza? A Melava Malka, a Purim seuda, dipping an apple in the honey on Rosh Hashana – our calendar and our chagim […]

Taam Tov Btuv Taam: A Flavorful Blend of Kashrus and Spices

By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

Published Fall 2014

Unquestionably, the one area of food ingredients that attests to the global nature of the food industry is the spice trade. The Torah is replete with reference to the spice traders who carriedYosef to Egypt to the ketores, that was fundamental to the avoda in the Bais Hamikdash. The spice commerce has thrived from the beginning of commercial trade. New World exploration forged forward fueled with the hope of finding shorter spice routes to the Far East. Centuries earlier, Marco Polo witnessed flourishing spice trade first hand, during his travels to the Orient. Spice empires thrived as the European powers deepened their trade with the Far East. Today, spice trading continues to prosper. Spices hail from Albania to Zanzibar and arrive to these shores in many different forms as whole spices, spice extracts, oleoresins and essential oils. What are the kashrus issues facing this fascinating ancient/contemporary industry? Have modern processing techniques simplified or complicated matters?
What are spices? Are spices and herbs synonymous?
The term spice is […]

Shmitta 5775

Published Fall 2014

For over nineteen hundred years, the Jewish people have longed to return to Eretz Yisroel, the Land of Israel. It is only in the Land of Israel that we can realize our full potential as a nation; it is only in the Land of Israel that the Torah’s blueprint for life can be completely fulfilled. For the millennia, the most important dimension of this longing was the yearning to once again be able to fulfill the mitzvos hatluyos ba’aretz (agricultural laws), the commandments that can be observed only in the Land of Israel. With Hashem’s help, many of us in this past generation have realized part of this two thousand year old dream. Yet, this realization has presented us with new challenges.

Without a doubt, one of the greatest mitzva challenges of all times is the fulfillment of the mitzva of Shmitta, the year of Sabbatical rest for the land of Israel. The Midrash perceives this multifaceted mitzva as being so challenging and difficult that he who meets […]

Security Cameras on Shabbos

By: Rabbi Mordechai Frankel

Kashrus Kurrents Winter 2015

Q: It has become common for businesses and stores to have security video cameras which monitor the foot traffic in front of their properties. Similarly, many apartment buildings have video cameras which record anything that enters or exits the building. Is a Jew allowed to walk in front of such a video camera on Shabbos? Can a Jew operate a video camera knowing that other Jews will walk in front of it on Shabbos?

A: In order to answer this question, we need to address four issues.

(1) The video camera may be connected to a monitor that displays the recorded image. May a person walk in front of a video camera on Shabbos if it will cause his image to be displayed on a monitor?

One of the forbidden melachos on Shabbos is kesiva, writing. Drawing a picture is also considered to be kesiva mideoraissa (writing which is forbidden by the Torah). 1However, […]

Inspections In All Directions

By: Rabbi Dovid Heber

Published Winter 2015

The STAR-K certifies tens of thousands of products manufactured across the globe. There are well over a million ingredients and products certified by hundreds of kashrus agencies worldwide. The following example may provide an idea of how many products are kosher certified.One million different products that are in containers measuring 6 inches in diameter lined up side by side (with no space between them) would stretch from Manhattan to Philadelphia. Since there are considerably more than a million kosher certified products, and industrial products are often sold in wider containers (e.g., 55 gallon drums), this line of products would most likely continue all the way to Baltimore. Furthermore, every kosher certified item (i.e., every container of every kosher product certified by every reliable kashrus agency) would easily stretch from the earth to the moon.To certify all of these products, kashrus agencies must adequately communicate with companies and mashgichim […]

Sushi L’Mehadrin

By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

Published Winter 2015

For time immemorial, our sojourns throughout galus, the Diaspora, have not only defined and influenced the minhagim, laws and customs, emerging from those foreign lands, they have also rejuvenated our Jewish cuisine with a burst of ethnic diversity – holopshkes (stuffed cabbage),borsht, and falafel, to name a few. As our migration advanced to the shores of the ‘goldine medina’, a whole new ‘Yiddishe’ repertoire of American delicacies was bestowed upon us. Who among us didn’t grow up with Sunday morning whitefish, bagels, and lox? Not long after, there emerged a proliferation of pizza shops in practically every Jewish neighborhood and community. The most recent food trend that has been introduced to the Jewish palate is Sushi.

Sushi, that unique combination of rice, rice vinegar, raw fish, and vegetables rolled in black seaweed sheets called ‘nori’ has found its place of prominence in virtually every kosher restaurant, smorgasbord and pizza shop. Furthermore, we are fortunate in […]

A Guide To Purchasing Chometz After Pesach

Published Spring 2015

The Torah forbids a Jew to own chometz on Pesach . In order to dissuade people from owning chometz on Pesach , there is a rabbinic injunction not to eat or benefit after Pesach from chometz which was owned by a Jew during Pesach . Such chometz is known as chometz sheovar olov haPesach , and it remains forbidden permanently.1

For this reason, one should not buy chometz from a Jewish-owned store immediately after Pesach , unless the owner sold all chometz that he owned before Pesach to a non-Jew for the duration of Pesach , and did not acquire any further chometz during Pesach . The laws of mechiras chometz (selling chometz to a gentile for Pesach ) are complex, therefore the sale must be made by a competent rabbi or kashrus authority.

If a Jewish-owned store did not […]

Laws of Biur Ma’aser

By: Rabbi Zvi Goldberg

Published Spring 2015 | Updated Spring 2022

The Land of Israel follows a unique seven-year cycle. For the first six years, fruits and vegetables grown there are tithed.1 The seventh year is Shemita, the sabbatical year, which has its own set of special laws. These laws mainly affect those living in Israel, but also those living in the Diaspora if they are in possession of Israeli-grown produce.2

For the tithing of the first six years, the Torah 3 sets an end date for the process called Biur Ma’aser. Biur Ma’aser includes a number of components, which are still applicable today:

Biur Ma’aser

Any untithed produce (tevel) in one’s possession must be tithed by Erev Pesach 4 of the fourth and seventh years of the Shemita cycle.5

Ma’aser Sheini is the second tithe separated on produce harvested in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th […]

Grillin’ With a ‘Bren’

By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

Published Spring 2015

One of Moshe Rabbeinu ’s first directives from the Ribono Shel Olam was that the Korban Pesach had to be tzli aish , no compromise – not boiled, not cooked, not raw – but grilled on the open flame. This was B’nei Yisroel ’s honest to goodness first barbecue! “ Maase Avos Siman L’Vanim .” Grilling has taken on a life of its own. As the weather warms, and once again we are ready to enjoy the outdoors there are many dos and don’ts that the savvy kosher griller should keep in mind before throwing that delicious rib steak onto the coals.

Kashering a Non-Kosher Grill

As unlikely as it sounds, there are times when the occasion arises where a non-kosher grill requires kosherization. This method is impractical for a barbecue pit in the park. However, in the event that one needs to kasher a non-kosher grill, below are the steps […]

Security

By: Rabbi Moshe Heinemann

Published Spring 2015

In these turbulent times, many people have installed alarm systems in their homes which give them a sense of security. There are various types of burglar alarms which may or may not be connected to a central system, and it is clear that the system will work only if all is intact, the component codes are set in the right sequence, and the unit is in working order. It is a good idea to test it every now and then to make sure the system is in proper operating condition. All it takes is one faulty connection to negate the whole system.

Our feeling of security should come from the recognition that we have a protector in heaven, rather than relying entirely on some mechanical device devised by man. The Ribbono Shel Olam watches over our homes if we do His will. The mezuzah attached to our doorpost is our protection. It is a direct link to the “Central System”. Certain letters […]

Surprise Du Jour

By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

Published Summer 2015

TYPICAL RESTAURANT SCENE #1: “Ma, I’m going to grab something to eat before supper.” “Fine, but don’t make yourself fleishig. We’re having milchigs tonight.” “No problem. I’ll just get an order of fries from Kosher Burger!”
Was that a fatal supper flaw or not? Possibly, but it is not uncommon for afleishig restaurant to cook their french fries or onion rings in the same fryer that is used for chicken. If that is the case, the fries are 100% fleishig and the little boy is cooked! One would have to wait the required amount of time before eating a dairy meal.[1]

This is not the only pareve pitfall for an unassuming kosher consumer. There are many other factors to be aware of when dining at a fleishig restaurant. Just as a fryer can be used for both meat and pareve products, so can the knives that are used to cut salad vegetables. Also, frying pans used between cutlets and vegetables, or ovens that cook any number of meat and pareve food […]

Three Mentchen Ready for Bentchen

By: Rabbi Dovid Heber

Published Summer 2015

The scene is ever so common in Jewish homes. A delicious meal is served and followed by mayim achronim . Then one of the participants of the mezuman proclaims, “ Rabosai mir vellin bentchen ”[1] (Gentlemen, let us recite Birchas Hamazon ), and everyone present responds.[2]

The basic halachos are well known. If three men who have reached the age of Bar Mitzvah [3]eat bread[4] together, they form a “ mezuman. ”[5] One of them, known as the “ mezamein ” is the leader.[6] If there are ten men, “ Elokeinu ” is added[7] by the mezamein between the words “ Nevoraych ” and “ She’ochalnu ”, and by the rest of the group between “ Baruch ” and “ She’achalnu ”.

The Mishna at the beginning of the seventh perek of Brochos [...] Read More

Pre-Purchase Advice – for Ovens and Cooktops

Visit the STAR-K website at www.star-k.org for lists of oven products under STAR-K certification.

Eruv Chatzeiros in a Hotel on Shabbos

By: Rabbi Mordechai Frankel

Kashrus Kurrents Fall 2013

Q: When a person stays in a hotel for Shabbos, does he need to make an eruv chatzeiros to allow him to carry items in the hallways and lobby?

A: In order to answer this question, we need to review some of the basic halachos of eruv chatzeiros.

In the times of Chazal, it was common for private houses to be situated around the perimeter of a rectangular central courtyard, known as a chatzeir. The chatzeir was used by the members of these houses for chores, such as washing clothes and grinding grain. The Torah considers a chatzeir to be a reshus hayachid (a private domain) if it is surrounded on all sides by walls of the houses and one could, therefore, carry in the chatzeir on Shabbos. However, due to the fact that a chatzeir is less private than a house, the Rabonnon forbade carrying in a chatzeir […]

Beyond Milk and Meat…

Published Fall 2013

This past spring and summer, applicants from across the U.S., Mexico and Canada took advantage of an array of kashrus education opportunities hosted by STAR-K Kosher Certification in Baltimore, Maryland. In April and June, STAR-K administrators addressed the rabbinic alumni of Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (YU/RIETS) and Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, respectively, during their Yarchei Kallah. In July, STAR-K held back-to-back Foodservice Kashrus Training and Tenth Annual Kashrus Training Program seminars. Rabbi Dovid Yachnes, rav of the Orlando Torah Center, wrote a letter of appreciation that perhaps best sums up the impact made during all of these educational efforts. Commenting on these efforts, STAR-K President Avrom Pollak said, “STAR-K is always interested in supporting rabbonim and their communities around the country and the world, with accurate kashrus information and halachic resources, to further our mission of promoting kashrus and observance of halacha.”

Dear STAR-K,

Please allow me to share […]

Maintaining Proper Standards of Kashrus In Our Yeshivos & Schools

By: Rabbi Dovid Heber

Published Fall 2013

Kashrus has come a long way. Kashrus agencies ensure the highest standards of kashrus in factories and food establishments worldwide, by maintaining a staff of experts in halacha, and in food technology, equipment and ingredients. Consumers have been trained to know which products are acceptable and how to maintain a kosher kitchen l’mehadrin. Kashrus in shuls is usually overseen by the rav of the kehila.

However, one area of kashrus that has received little attention – even throughout the past several decades of unprecedented kashrus growth – is kashrus in our schools. These “heiligeh mekomos”, where tens of thousands of our “tinokos shel bais rabban” spend much of their time during the course of their formative years, deserve the same attention as factories, eating establishments, shuls and our homes.

It is difficult to address the needs of each school as every situation is different. The issues at a yeshiva with a full-service […]

Kashrus Goes Crunch

By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

Published Fall 2013

Everyone wants to emulate a winner. The world of food manufacturing and marketing is no exception. Whenever a new product reaches the marketplace, or a new business venture is successfully launched, rest assured that product or venture will be duplicated, cloned, or modified
immediately. One only needs to travel north of Baltimore to Pennsylvania Dutch country to see this in reality. Southern Pennsylvania is home to tens of snack food manufacturers, and is aptly dubbed “the snack food capital of the United States.”

Snack foods have always been an integral part of the American diet and the American way of life. But, snack food modifications do not stand still. As our eating habits, tastes, and health awareness change, so have snack food styles. As production streamlines and technology becomes more innovative, snack food companies continuously modernize to keep up with the times. Of course, one dimension of the snack food industry that always remains constant is kashrus. No matter how […]

Sheva Brachos Guidelines

By: Rabbi Mordechai Frankel

Kashrus Kurrents Spring 2013

Q: Could you give me some guidelines as to when sheva brochos are recited?

A: When a chosson and kallah get married, sheva brochos are recited on three occasions: (i) under the chupah, (ii) at the end of the meal following the chupah, and (iii) at the end of subsequent meals that are made lekovod the chosson and kallah. It is this third category which is commonly known as sheva brochos. If the chosson and kallah have both been previously married, sheva brochos are recited only on the day of the wedding.1 If either the chosson or kallah has not been previously married, sheva brochos are recited on the seven days following the wedding, with the day of the wedding reckoned as the first of those seven days.2 If neither the chosson nor the kallah have previously been living an observant lifestyle (or if one of them has […]

Getting Into the Thick of Things: GELATIN

By: Rabbi Avrohom Mushell

Published Spring 2013

Have you ever had a slice of p’tcha galarita – that spicy, globby stuff Bubby used to cook up? How did she manage to make it so thick?

Better yet, open a can of gefilte fish. Look at the stiff jell that comes as its broth. Why is it that when you cook your own gefilte fish, you do not get that solid jelly from your broth? Did you ever wonder why theirs is so thick and yours is not?

COLLAGEN may be the answer to this thickening question.

Collagen is a fibrous, insoluble protein that makes up a major portion of bone, skin and connective tissue. By cooking animal bones or adding fish bones to the broth of your gefilte fish, you will extract some of the collagen from the bones. This gives you the wobbly jelly in p’tcha or in the gefilte fish that comes in a can.

The most common form in which collagen is marketed is partially hydrolyzed state known commonly as gelatin. […]

Shmitta 5761

By: Rabbi Dovid Stein

For over nineteen hundred years the Jewish people have longed to return to Eretz Yisroel, the land of Israel. It is only in land of Israel that we can realize our full potential as a nation; it is only in the land of Israel that the Torah’s blueprint for life can be completely fulfilled. Over the millennia the most important dimension of this longing was the yearning to once again be able to fulfill the mitzvos hatluyos ba’aretz (agricultural laws), the commandments that can only be observed in the land of Israel. With Hashem’s help many of us in this past generation have realized part of this two thousand year old dream. Yet, this realization has presented us with new challenges.

The Mitzvah of Shatnes

By: Dr. Avrom Pollak

This article is an attempt to provide a review of some of the pertinent details of the mitzvah of shatnes, to educate consumers so that they avoid purchasing garments containing shatnes, and to dispel many of the myths about certain types of clothing and textiles that do or do not contain shatnes. We hope to reduce the all too frequent instances in which the joy one naturally experiences upon purchasing a new garment is diminished when shatnes is discovered.

Mitzvos on the Fringe

By: Rabbi Moshe Heinemann

Just as the Torah carefully directs us in the arena of kosher diet, what we can and cannot eat, how food may and may not be prepared, and what foods are considered required eating, similarly, the Torah provides us with a kosher dress code regarding the clothing we wear, what fabrics or combination thereof may or may not be used, how clothing should or should not be worn, and what styles of clothing are recommended. One of the Torah‘s great “how to” mitzvos is the mitzvah of tzitzis. The Torah instructs us to insert specially wound fringes onto the corners of any four cornered garments where the corners surround the wearer.

Good Fences Make Good Home Owners

by Dr. Tzvi White, reviewed by Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, Star-K Rabbinic Administrator

Home ownership, the American dream. After moving in one hopes it doesn’t turn in to an American nightmare. So many things to take care of; so many things to consider. Utilities, the structure, the appliances – the list is seemingly endless. Dealing with normal home issues is hard enough, just think how many more issues have to be considered in a kosher compliant home. Kosher mezuzas on all entrances. Kosher appliances to make the kosher kitchen user friendly. No trees hanging over the backyard area where the sukkah is to be built. Moreover, does anyone realize that roofs, porches, balconies and landings have to be kosher as well? How do you make a porch kosher compliant? The answer – build a ma’akeh.

What is a ma’akeh?

[...] Read More

2006 Kashrus Training Seminar

Rabbi Chaim Moshe Levy, a Mesivta rebbe in Lakewood, New Jersey, knew it was coming, yet he still felt unprepared. In July, he received an overseas telephone call informing him that the time had come to take over the pulpit of his deceased father, Rabbi Daniel Levy, zt”l, as the Rav of I.R.G. (Khal Adas Yeshurun) in Zurich, Switzerland.

When You Need to Knead: A Guide to Hafrashas Challah

By: Rabbi Dovid Heber

Kashrus Kurrents Fall 2004 | Updated June 2024

[For a related article about the halachos of hafrashas challah for gluten-free blends, whole wheat flour, sourdough and at challah bakes, click here.]

One of the many ways Klal Yisroel serves the Ribbono Shel Olam is through the performance of mitzvos hateluyos ba’aretz, mitzvos that are dependent on the Land of Israel. Those who live in Israel have many opportunities to fulfill these mitzvos. In chutz la’aretz, the mitzvah of hafrashas challah is one of the only agricultural mitzvos that we are obligated to perform.1

It is well known that this is one of the mitzvos performed preferentially by women. Furthermore, one honors the Shabbos by baking and being mafrish challah on Erev Shabbos.2

The following are halachic guidelines based on the psak of Rabbi Moshe Heinemann shlit”a.3

A. Products

Products kneaded from chameishes minei dagan (wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye) […]