Kosher Blog

Isn’t there a fundemental problem with that? "80% of our products are reliable"1) So why are they "certifying that last 20%"2) if they’d tell people that last 20% isn’t reliable, why are they taking money from them!

I think what they’re saying is, given their outdated mode of operation, there have been unauthorized uses of the Half-Moon-K heksher. Plus, standards have changed over the last several years, and as the former director aged, perhaps he couldn’t be as meticulous.Regardless, it’s movement in the right direction.

Rabbi Harold Sharfman, z”l used to be the director of Half Moon K. He was a musmach from YU and was a mover and shaker in the kashrut supervision industry.
Rabbi Sharfman used to approve of products containing gelatin(non-kosher sources), carmine(derived from a beetle abdomen) and many other leniences. He had a kosher seal on these items which had a halachic quoted source from a “world reknown Sephardic posek,” who brought down how these items were to be prepared and then used. The preparations were not accordngly followed. I know on a number of occasions he was requested to remove his hashgacha on these items by Rav A.Y. Silver(distant relative of Rav Eliezer Silver,zt”l), who likewise opposed the use of these items going back to the early 1900’s . Letters & phone calls were made to Rabbi Sharfman to have his hashgacha removed from these specific items,

I just emailed Rabbi Eidlitz (a very reliable “yeshivishe” posek in Los Angeles) who basically handles all kashrus issues in LA. He said it is fine.

Rabbi Eidlitz shlita provides a list of the hechsures and kashrus agencies of which he approves and the “half-moon K” is *not* there. (See http://kosherquest.org/index.asp?theaction=symbols). Moreover, most poskim hold that the “half-moon K” is not currently acceptable. However, bear in mind that there are some types of foods which one would assume to be kosher even without certification, and yet others for which even a less reliable certification might be considered enough. This might explain why Rabbi Eidlitz may have agreed to the “half-moon K” for certain foods, at least according to another comment on this webpage. Please be warned that halacha comes from your halachically-observant Rabbi, not a comment some unknown person (including me!) makes on a webpage. Thus until Rabbi Eidlitz lists the “half-moon K” as kosher *no one* should consider him to hold that *any* product with it is kosher without asking him first. This can be done easily over the web at: http://kosherquest.org/index.asp?theaction=contactus
Kasima v’chasima tova!

BS”D

Yoni, the half moon K is reliably kosher. Rabbi Hollander, who runs it now, is a Telshe semicha who came to California to run Agudah (and now he runs Young Israel of Venice, I believe, though he’s far more “black” than the community). He told me last Spring that everything is up to snuff except for the bagged lettuces, at a time when all bagged lettuces were suspect. He personally does not hold to simply triple washing and chazaka of bug-free status, so he doesn’t eat the lettuce, or at least didn’t eat it last Spring. And I must say that many products lost their hechsher in the process of upgrading.

In any case, I live in the Valley Village community, and see Rabbi Eidlitz often, but I wouldn’t place faith that his list is comprehensive as far as reliable hechshirim. There are plenty which don’t show up on his list. But the list is full of reliable ones. I wouldn’t hesitate to eat half-moon K. Just wish it were on some of the products it used to be on, which were ubiquitous. Now, there’s an item here, an item there… which I guess is because they gave up so many questionable products which under Scharfman were given hechsher, and they no longer have the special half-moon K hechsherim for gelatin and carmine, instead they have hechshirim denoting yoshon, dairy, meat, pareve and Pesach. I fully reject the notion as well that reputable poskim don’t approve of the half-moon K as it stands now. Rather, it hasn’t been the subject of intense scrutiny by poskim unless they need to check. Thus, many don’t even know that the founder died and that a new group of rabbis are doing things to different standards, under their own poskim. As a person who has been involved in the production side, as well as the mashgiach side of kashrus, I know that old notions die hard, and by the time things are adopted by the majority, they’re already old news, and sometimes are not even applicable anymore.

A gut g’bentched yor!

BS”D

OK, I’ve seen half-moon K products now listed by Rabbi Eidlitz in the latest issue of Jewish Life (an LA publication) in his column. I guess this means that even by Yoni’s criteria, half-moon k has finally “made it”.

Craig Winchell

Craig, would you be kind enough to post the list here for those of us without access to Jewish Life (at least not the magazine :))?

BS”D

In the “Newly Available” section:

“Homemade brand organic baby food certified Half Moon K is available at Whole Foods markets.”

It was part of a list of 2 items, ther other one, not quoted verbatim: Les Petites Fermieres shredded 2 lb. mozzarella, OK, available at select Costcos.

Craig

BS”D

Oh, I should say that it’s in the regular feature “Kashrus Concerns” by Rabbie Eliezer Eidlitz. He has several sections: Unauthorozed, Mislabeled, Dairy without “D” Designation, Newly Available, No Longer Certified, Certified, and Restaurants. Yhis is the October 2006 issue on page 16 od Jewish Life, Traditional Living in Los Angeles” (and yes, being from Louisville, I know that further East people differentiate between “traditional” and “orthodox”, but here it’s a polite way of saying “orthodox”).
Craig

I emailed R’ Eidlitz last week (11/9/2006), and asked him specifically whether or not the Half Moon K was now reliable. This was his reply:

“Rabbi Sharfman passed away about six years ago. The new people, Rabbi Hollander and Rabbi Jenkins are fine.”

However, I wonder why anyone would retain a heksher with such a bad reputation! Why not design and register a new logo, rather than retain one which “everyone” knows is unreliable, and try to “improve it’s image”?

CORRECTION! Rabbi Eidlitz subsequently emailed me and stated that the “half moon k” is fine, EXCEPT FOR FIVE COMPANIES; that we should still CHECK with him ON AN ITEM BY ITEM BASIS!

Thus, as far as I can see, the “half moon k” is still unreliable. Some of their products are fine; some are not. Anything with their “heksher” requires further checking. In my opinion, that makes the heksher meaningless!

So now I’m really confused. I’ve always preferred the OU designation, have always trusted it. Just today, I noticed the Half Moon K on some of Paul Newman’s products (tomato and basil sauce and a mild salsa). I wondered if they were acceptable, decided to hold off. So, are they STRICTLY kosher or not.

At the end of the day, you need to direct this question to a reliable kashrut authority. I have done so and have asked such a Rabbi who informed me that the Paul Newman’s products you mentioned are completely acceptable. The nearly completed process of bringing the Half Moon K up to community standards is a positive development for those who care about kashrut and it should be supported.

I have worked as aMashgiach for the OU and the OK and CHK and other supervising agencies and I want to say that if anyone who thinks these agencies are without their problems, they are fooling themselves. They all are well meaning and are by and large reliable, but it is unfair of people to say that because the Half Moon K relied on some leniencies (in fact these leniencies had the approval of some great poskim of the last century)in the past that they are forever “Marked” as unreliable. As to why someone would want to keep an unreliable symbol and make it reliable, it is an expensive process to get a company to change their hashgocha. There are labelling expenses, advertising expenses, etc. Furthermore, the half moon k already has a customer base. To change it would probably mean losing many customers.

To the Half Moon K I say may you go from strength to strength and continue to improve the reliability of your kashruth supervision.