Biblical Nutrition
Would you eat something called “Noah’s Nuggets”? How about “Abraham’s Bossom”? House of David, an online retailer billing itself as the “the world’s premier distributor of biblically based health products“, offers these products and more, in their “Foods of the Bible” line. The products appear to be kosher – or at least the product photos on the website show kosher symbols. Caveat emptor.
My favorite is the Bible Bar:
…a highly effective appetite regulator based on the seven foods from the Book of Deuteronomy 8:8 – “A land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey”.
Wouldn’t that be a great treat on Tu B’Shvat? The closest local retailer is a place called Gospel Den – maybe I’ll stick to ordering my bible-foods online.
BS”D
Who needs a seder when you can perform your mitzvah by just swallowing a pill?
;+>
Aviel
I don’t think I’ve ever seen that kosher symbol (is it a W ?) before.
Nor have I, and it’s not listed at Hechshers.info or, kashrut.com, or kashrusmagazine.com. I’ll send them an e-mail to ask… and while I’m at it, I’ll recommend they offer other versions of the Bible free with orders of $100 or more.
And is that a COR hechser I see on these products: “King David’s Treat”, “Noah’s Nuggets”, “Sweet Shalom” and “Temple Treasures”?
Whether the Kashrus is good or not, I was more interested in the bars for their humor quotient. What’s next? Manna Bake Mix? Pheasant (Slav) Poultry Seasoning?
I would be very leary, as I noticed that the company is based in Orlando, FL. As a previous FL resident, I can attest that there is a lot of weird, questionable and just plain bad hashgaga in FL. There are a lot of retired Conservative rabbis doing kosher supervision in FL (this is not meant as a slight agains C rabbis, just a statement of fact as a large amount of the kosher-keeping community would not rely on the certification of a C rabbi) and there are even some self-proclaimed rabbis with no smicha from anywhere doing hashgaga work in FL. I’m very curious as to who is behind the “W”
I really can’t see it so clearly – but it is possible that the W (with a small K on top) is Rabbi Yehuda Kelemer of the YI of West Hempsted?
It is listed here under “Young Israel of West Hempsted”: http://www.kosherquest.org/index.asp?theaction=symbols
Re: W small K, I believe it is Rabbi Kelemer’s. My mother (the families are old friends) recently mentioned it to me. The W supposedly stands for a maiden name in the family.
http://www.kosherquest.org shows the W-K as a reliable hechsher. However, the W looks very different than the one on this product, and there is no K that I can detect.
So I’m reading these comments and I’m thinking, “What do I know?” Then I read, “…is that a COR hechsher…”, “W small K, I believe it is Rabbi…” and finally, “…shows the W-K as a reliable hechsher.” Again I ask myself, “What do I know?” I know I’m not going to search [till the sun rises] via the HECHSHERS SITE NAVIGATOR at http://www.hechshers.info/index.htm. But I do know where my copy of Rabbi Eidlitz’s, “Is It Kosher?” [Feldheim; 3rd ed. 1995] is and now I’m more that just curious: “COR” – Kashruth Council, Toronto Jewish Congress and “W-K” – perhaps I think, it’s a “VK”…as in Vancouver Kashruth? Oy, I’m not even close. So enough of this, let’s look at the source! The web source, that is. And, it’s “House of David – America’s Premier Distributor of Biblical Health Products.” Then a stillness comes over the gas in my tummy. And I’m trying to remember that urban legend about the tasting event, “Jews for cheeses” when I notice the blinking box. The blinking box that reads, “FREE King James bible with orders over $100.” Wow, maybe now I’ll ask them if they got the “Kashering Katz’s Cat” kit? Or was it about kosher dogs from Coney Island? Nevertheless, when I look at that approbation I see a “shin.” No, I’m wrong, there’s no dot. It’s a “sin.” And it’s daylight now.
Folks, direct from the horse’s mouth: Tom Ciola of House of David reports that the “Small K, Over Large W, Within A Circle” heksher is from the Young Israel of West Hempstead (Rabbi Yehuda Kelemer). However, all future bars will be made in Canada and will all feature the COR (Toronto) heksher.
As for the King James bibles, they get them at closeout pricing, so it’s not quite feasible to offer the Pocket JPS Tanakh as an alternative to Jewish customers :)
On 25 July 2005, Sherman Levine wrote:
I know I’m not going to search [till the sun rises] via the HECHSHERS SITE NAVIGATOR at http://www.hechshers.info/index.htm.
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I have added several indexes to the web-site in order to simplify searching for a hechsher. Please let me know what problems you encountered so that I can improve the site.
Kind regards,
Roger.
Many thanx Roger.
BeWell & ShabbatShalom,
Sherman