December 2000 -- Kosher In California (excerpt)
Kosher In California A Look at the Rabbinical Council of California by David Mizrachi |
When a shipment of mislabeled products arrived at a northern California chain of supermarkets, it was the RCC who received the first call to immediately inform the public via their resources and contacts. When the Beis Din of Paris needed to know whether there is a competent rabbi in Arizona to deliver a get, they turned to the RCC. And when a reverend needed to know “When is the next Jubilee?,” the RCC got the call! The RCC was founded in the early 1960's to provide organized rabbinic services and kashrus. During the 1990’s a new administration reorganized the Council and expanded it to include almost all of the synagogue rabbis and heads of educational institutions in LA. Rabbi Nissim Davidi, a talmid of the Philadelphia and Ner Yisroel yeshivos and a member of the Los Angeles Kollel (and son of the former Chief Rabbi of Iran) was chosen to head the Kashrus Division. Together with a staff of well-trained mashgichim, Rabbi Davidi oversees approximately 100 different retail and industrial supervisions, including numerous catering facilities. The RCC has seen a surge in new company applications. “We are a service-oriented organization, and that resonates well with the companies,” says Rabbi Davidi. The RCC has a very close relationship with both the OU and the Star-K, on both a personal and a professional level, says Rabbi Davidi. They also work with the San Diego, Northern California and Seattle vaadim. "When over 100 Noah’s New York Bagel stores were certified by the RCC, the vaadim in Nothern California and Seattle worked with us closely in implementing the supervision." And with councils around the country, he adds, "If it is not kashrus, then it is gittin, Din Torah or some other communal matter we do together." The RCC Beis Din At the same time that the RCC Kashrus Department was revamped, the RCC executive hired Rabbi Avrohom Union to establish a community Beis Din. Rabbi Union, a close talmid of the Gaon Rav Dov Schwartzman, had previously served as a Rav and Dayan for Cape Town, South Africa. As administrator of the RCC Beis Din Rabbi Union oversees conversions, gittin, and other Rabbinical Court actions which are accepted worldwide. The RCC Beis Din is particularly active in the field of financial arbitration (dinei Torah) and has received considerable attention from newspapers and legal magazines. From a six-page feature article in the December 2000 issue of KASHRUS Magazine. |
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