Wedding Rescheduled

My dear friend was getting remarried, a most happy occasion. Only one problem, though: he had selected a hall on Long Island with poor kashrus supervision. The owner, a non-observant Jew, has always been known to be suspect in kashrus. He has a hashgacha, but one not sufficient to control the problems involved. The owner always had the keys to the rooms where the food is stored. Recently, under pressure, a new certification was added, but...

I told Mendel that he should look into a private mashgiach. It would not be cheap--$700 at the bare minimum--but that would include many hours stretched out over several days, and the rav whom I had recommended is a top-notch rav hamachshir on his own right.

The mashgiach met with the caterer and spoke with the choson, and then finally he called me. I could tell that he was reluctant.

"I can do it, but I can’t take pride in it. There is something wrong here. My sixth sense as a mashgiach is telling me not to certify this affair. Maybe it was something in the caterer's look at me when I asked him questions. Did this owner ever have the keys to the food?"

"Yes. Only recently did he relinquish them to his mashgiach, a man who has worked for him for over 20 years."

"No, I won’t do it. The choson can get someone else. I won’t do this one."

To his credit, Mendel refused to look for someone else. He said to me, "If a man will pass up $700 and tell me that he cannot do the affair, then I will have to find another hall and lose my deposit."

The Dinner

She had called about the same time last year. It seems that the Orthodox organization with which she works has scheduled their dinner for several years now at a New York hall utilizing a caterer from out of the area. The kosher certification is definitely not high quality. She knows that, but this year she called with a question.

"Could we arrange a private hashgacha behind the scenes?"

I have been party to many such arrangements over the years, but this one would be a big undertaking. Kosher supervision, like many professions, charges by the hour. This one was bound to entail many hours for the mashgiach.

"I can’t guarantee that it will work. (I remembered Mendel and his disappointment.) However, it does not take much to try. I advise that we have someone investigate whether it can be done and at what price. Initially, you’ll have to pay the rabbi about $200 for his time. He will visit the caterer's facility and see if it is feasible there. Then he’ll see the hall and see what it needs in order to be kashered and for the dinner to be properly covered.

"He will then speak to the kashrus agency to see how they plan to do the event. Only then can he advise you whether he feels that the affair can be properly covered by an independent mashgiach, whether he can handle it alone, at what price, and whether the kashrus agency has assigned enough men to properly cover the affair. You are looking at a minimum of $500-700 for the mashgiach himself, and then I cannot tell you how many additional mashgichim might be necessary. Realize that this rabbi, in addition to his earlier trips, needs to be at the production in the caterer's commissary and then oversee the kashering at the non-kosher hotel-and, if need be, add on any things the kashrus agency is leaving out; possibly a significant amount-and then remain for the affair."

Rabbi Katz

Rabbi Katz is a freelance mashgiach. The members of at least one Brooklyn shul keep him active. Their rav demands of these congregants that they have a mashgiach at every affair. Since most of New York's frum caterers don't have a mashgiach working when they cater in their own facilities-a shocking fact that most people aren't aware of-the rav requires his members to hire Rabbi Katz or someone else for their semachos.

I met Rabbi Katz while he was working at a wedding in Williamsburg. He seemed rather relaxed and certainly not overworked. I thought he’d have a few minutes, so I asked him.

"Rabbi Katz, what is your job at this affair?"

"To be quite honest, I have nothing to do tonight. This place is the easiest of all my jobs. True, the kashrus agency has no mashgiach here tonight, but the caterer himself works every affair in the kitchen. He doesn’t stop! He attends to every fire. He can see everywhere in this kitchen at once. It is the easiest job I have.

"Now the _______ Hall is a different story. There, I cannot see how they have an affair without a mashgiach. There is no Jew in the kitchen during the affair. Fires go out, and I am the only one there to relight them. In that hall I earn every penny I get paid and then some. It really keeps me on my toes. I do not understand how anyone makes a wedding there without hiring a private mashgiach."

Why New York?

Only in New York do you have over fifty different certifications working in the same small area, each with a different degree of supervision. On 13th Avenue in Boro Park alone there are over forty kosher establishments within 18 blocks. These establishments are supervised by over fifteen different hashgachos. Do you really believe them all to be the same?

"Out-of-town," the local vaad controls everything, very often even having control of a kosher kitchen at a fancy hotel. This does not exist in New York.