The Kollel of Greater Boston is advertising a lecture by Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, rabbinical administrator of the Star-K, Wednesday, May 2, at 8:15pm. The event will take place at Young Israel of Brookline, 62 Green Street. The topic is “Cutting Edge Issues in Kashrus.”

The last time R’ Heinemann spoke in these parts was about five years ago. As I remember it, the topics he covered were kosher veal, Sabbath-mode appliances, and genetically-modified vegetables. He spent a great deal of time discussing the terrible conditions that veal calves are subjected to, but never ultimately passed judgment on the practice, just something about “Jewish housewives” preferring lighter-colored veal. He told a funny, if unfortunate, story about another “Jewish housewife” who, upon installing a Sabbath-mode oven, complemented the Star-K on finding a way to making cooking okay on Shabbat. (Note: It’s not okay.) And with regard to the vegetables … even when a tomato has turkey genes mixed in, if it looks like a tomato and it tastes like a tomato, then it’s still a pareve tomato.