8 Tishrei 5774
September 12, 2013
Rabbi Yaakov Meir Stern Shlita of Bnei Brak, whose name appears on many sets of 4 minim for Sukkos, reports that his name is being used without authorization of packages of the four minim.
As such, the rabbis announces that sets which are actually under his supervision must display a hologram which displays his logo.
The alert adds all esrogim with his hashgacha are not grafted, no fear of orla and tithes have been taken.
The alert concludes the rav does not give hashgacha on sealed/ inspected boxes of esrogim.
5 Comments
I don’t understand regarding the etrogim. It says that he does not give a hechser on closed boxed Etrogim. So how does one determine what Etrogim are under Rav Stern’s hechsher and how are they distinguished from the forged ones?
The way I understand it is that boxes that are marked “sealed and inspected” that have a label saying he gives a hashgacha are not under his supervision. He does not supervise such esrogim.
The rav also supervises the other three components of the four minim as well as non-sealed esrogim, and they must have holograms.
I hope this adds a measure of clarity for you.
It sounds stupid and it is counter logic. but Just take the esrog out of the sealed box….hey presto…its now Kosher!!!.
I think that Rabbi Stern means to say that he takes no responsibility to guarantee that the esrog in the box conforms to all the detailed halachos of a kosher esrog. Therefore he’s announcing that anyone selling esrogim in closed boxes with his name on them is defrauding the public.
The only question remains as to the extent of the fraud. Are these totally unsupervised esrogim, even with regard to Trumos, Maasros, and Orlah? Or are really OK with this regard, but they still need to be checked for blemishes, etc.?
I think he means that when his hashgocho appears on sealed boxes, it is only in regard to the non-grafted, non-Orla status of the etrog and that tithes have been taken, but it is not an endorsement of the kashrus quality of the etrog itself for the mitzvah of Arba Minim.