Comments on: Hebron Wines

By: Pith from Pinhas

Pith from Pinhas — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:43:05 +0000

I am afraid that seems to me to be more a comment on the Belz hechsher than on the Hebron Winery.

Fact 1: Import of foreign foodstuffs without the certificate of the Chief Rabbinate as stated in Rav Lior’s letter is illegal and dangerous to the overall level of kashrut in the country.
Fact 2: The existence of a “badatz” hechsher without the approval of the local Rabbinate is also illegal and dangerous to the overall level of kashrut in the country. How are people who are not intimately involved to follow all the different hechshers without a “lowest common denominator”?

Furthermore the wording used by Rav Lior, not known to the best of my understanding to be one of the more extreme in the field, implies to me that the Hebron people simply rode roughshod over the minimum requirements of the Rabbinate as if to say, who needs you, we’ve got Belz?

Another point: two giant strikes against Taaman (distributors of both the Hebron wines and the Moshiko grape juice you told us has a forged hechsher) in one day??? Very sad, very sad indeed.

By: David

David — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:06:05 +0000

Although there was found “unapproved ingredients”, could someone detail please why then the Belz do not have a problem with this?
Did these ingredients make their way into the wine?
Are these ingredients really not kosher, really are kosher or possibly the type of ingredients which may or not be kosher according to how applying different halachic technicalities (bittul, doesn’t give taste, a chemical that is not considered food but considered pagum substance etc.).

By: Peretz Dissen

Peretz Dissen — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:01:05 +0000

This begs the question – what does R’ Lior know or object to that R’ Hoffman is OK with? Do the ‘imported grape juice or other raw materials’ without Rabbanut Harasheet approval have a Chutz La-Aretz Hechsher?
In general, when there is a double Hechsher on a product, do the two parties ever compare notes with each other? One would think that two sets of eyes are better than one…