Re: BBC on the web

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyross.com>]

On 27 Jan 2002 at 2:20, Joseph Pappalardo wrote:

> Isn't it kinda like the rabbi that  has his name on a kosher product?
> Assuring that something is kosher?  Some just take the check, don't they?

That would be unethical and a violation of Jewish law.  It may also be 
fraudulent under secular law.  A rabbi should at least assure himself of 
the food-handling process sufficiently to be convinced that it is kosher. 
 Nowadays, most food is certified by an organization such as the Union of 
Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (the O-U emblem) or the Vaad Harabonim of 
Massachusetts (The V-H embem) or some such, and they have exacting 
standards.  An individual rabbi would probably be used mainly for the 
most strictly Orthodox standards, I would think.

But my father tells a story of going with his older sister to the 
butcher, when he was a child.  Everyone had to wait to buy their meet 
until the rabbi arrived to certify that it was kosher.  When he arrived, 
all he did was take out his stamp and stamp it kosher, without looking at 
it very much.  When I told that story to a rabbi, he said that that rabbi 
probably was stamping meat that he was confident was kosher because of 
his knowledge of where it came from.

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
 15 Court Square, Suite 210                 lawyer@attorneyross.com
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