By: Don Driggers
Several Five Towns businesses claim that rabbis from the Vaad Hakashrus of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway retaliated against them when they began using rival kosher certification providers.
Chimichurri Charcoal Chicken in Cedarhurst filed a lawsuit which claims the Vaad told community members to avoid eating there after they stopped using the Vaad certification, along with Keneret Fresh Market in Hewlett and Cedarhurst’s Five Fifty Restaurant.
The NY Post reported: A lawsuit filed last month by Chimichurri Charcoal Chicken claims the rabbis behind the Vaad Hakashrus of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway ordered observant residents to stop eating at the chicken joint last year after it started using a competing certification service.
The Vaad — led by Rabbi Yosef Eisen, who is also named in the suit filed in Nassau County — even killed Chimichurri’s lucrative catering work in a retaliatory move, court papers claim, as revealed by The NY Post.
“The existing Vaad does not want competition, is afraid of the competition, and is trying to use its power to drive them — or attempt to drive them — out of business,” the lawsuit says.
The Rabbi’s, however, look at this as a first amendment issue and a freedom of religion issue, making this a very interesting lawsuit.
The Vaad’s lawyer, Frank Snitow, told The Post the lawsuit “is entirely without merit,” adding that “Rabbis have an obligation and a right under the First Amendment to guide their communities with respect to religious issues and this does constitute a religious issue.”
In other words, their argument is essentially that they are fulfilling their religious obligations to steer Jews in buying food that in their view is properly certified Kosher.
This entire subject of kosher certification is a little-known topic to the world outside of the Orthodox community, however over the last decade several activists, have created lists of food the non-Kosher world buys in supermarkets which have kosher certification in an effort to save non-Jewish consumers money.
The NY Post explained: Chimichurri claims its problems started last July after it dropped the Vaad — the dominant kosher certification operation in town — for a rival called Mehadrin of the Five Towns. Unwilling to accept the loss of business, the Vaad issued a “defamatory” statement blasting Chimichurri’s kosher food standards, the lawsuit claims.
The Post reported many Jewish business owners have refused to comment on the issue, which many describe as mafia-like strongarming, however one restaurant outlet spoke to the NY Post.
Arthur Ashirov, owner of Keneret Fresh Market, who said he’s seen revenues drop 10 percent since the Vaad’s letter denounced his small grocery in July.
“The Vaad doesn’t want to have competitors. That’s the bottom line,” said Ashirov, who says he’s unlikely to sue because it will cost too much. He said he’s sticking with the rival certification service because he thinks they are doing a good job and are less expensive.
“I have no issues with the Mehadrin,” Ashirov told The Post. “They are very attentive, and they charge a flat fee while the Vaad charges extra for everything they do.”
