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30 Friday, March 20, 1981
DICTATING
MACHINES
$8888
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Olive Oil, Lard and the Father of Certified Kosher
Kosher Overseers
Association of America, Inc.)
By DR. I. HAROLD
SHARFMAN
Rabbinic Administrator
Hollywood Foods, Los Angeles
(Copyright 1981,
-
"CERTIFIED KOSHER"
— these two words have be-
TEMPLE EMANUNIL
proudly presents
THE PICCOLO OPERA COMPANY in
HIGHLIGHTS FROM GILBERT & SULLIVAN
Saturday
March 28th
Harold Orbach, Tenor
Marjorie Gordon, Soprano
and
Eleanor Felver, contralto
James Berg, Baritone
David Gloff, Baritone
Doris Grapentine, Piano
Coffee & Dessert
at 11:00 P.M.
Temple Emanu-El
Information
14450 W. Ten Mile, Oak Park 967-4020 The Concert 11:30 P.M.
at
Coming on April 5th
MAGGIE KUHN
Founder of the Gray Panthers
speaking on
"Aging
The Experience That We All Share"
come such an integral part
of the Jewish tradition and
lifestyle that it is assumed
by many to have accom-
panied Jews throughout the
world whenever they moved
to new ,homelands. It is in-
teresting to note that it
wasn't until 1851 that the
phrase was incorporated
into the culinary arts of
American Jewry. And even
then, it was only after years
of research and dedication
that standards were set and
met by food manufacturers.
The "Father" of the
American "Certified
Kosher" was a New York
City judge named Mordecai
Manuel Noah. A friend of
Jackson, John C. Calhoun
and Martin Van Buren,
Noah gained his appoint-
ment as judge of the Court of
Sessions for the City of New
York in 1841. A politician,
he also authored numerous
books and plays. In fact,
during his own time, his
popularity as a writer
rivaled the fame of Edgar
Allen Poe.
One of his little known
and most adventurous un-
dertakings was the estab-
lishment of a Jewish home-
land on an island in the
Niagara River which he
named "Ararat." At an
elaborate ceremony in Buf-
falo on Sept. 15, 1825, Noah
invited the oppressed Jews
of Europe and the hounded
American Indians, whom
he believed to be descen-
dants of the Ten Tribes of
Israel, to join with Ameri-
can Jews in settling the new
homeland.
The project faired when
not one Jew settled on the
island so he turned his
energies to another
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ockers
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Judge Mordecai Manuel Noah is shown in this
artist's drawing checking a Florence Oil Flask in a
kashrut test devised in 1842 by Dr. Lawrence Reid.
* * *
dream, the establishment as "pure olive oil," reaping
of a homeland in Israel hugh profits through this
which he felt would and guise.
Some companies went to
should be paid for by the
such great lengths as to ship
Christian community.
In his appeals for money their mixed lard oil abroad
he told his gentile listeners to Italy and France, have it
that "it was their greatest rebottled and imported back
duty to help Jews regain the into this country labeled
land of their fathers." "pure olive oil." As the rab-
Because of his inordinate bis in the Talmud re-
interest and dedication to marked, "the walls have
the Jewish community, his ears" for rumors of this
wife bestowed on him the scam spread quickly among
title of mashgiakah, the community.
"mashgiakh"
The
"kosher overseer." As an
Orthodox woman, her im- wasted no time. He, to-
mediate' concern was w ith gether with his friend
maintaining her kitchen Joseph Dreyfous, called
according to the principles upon Prof. Lawrence
Reid, a researcher who
of kashrut.
Her intense devotion to taught chemistry at the
this cause caught the inter- College of Pharmacy of
est of her imaginative hus- New York, to devise a test
band and between them to determine what was
they began the long and dif- and what wasn't "pure
ficult journey toward the es- olive oil."
Prof. Reid found that by
tablishment of scientific
testing of questionable in- immersing the oil in ice at a
gredients in products to be temperature of 36 degrees
sold under the stamp "Cer- Fahrenheit, any lard pre-
tified Kosher." sent could readily be de-
tected. The oil separated
Their attack began on and the lard would congeal.
one of the staples of the
He devised a second, even
diet, oil; in particular, more technical test, both of
olive oil. In 1842, lard ap- which gave proof to real and
peared in large quan- " fake " olive oil.
tities on the American
Armed with this informa-
market. Cincinnati be- tion, Noah arranged with
came the "lard capital of the publisher of the Occi-
the world," producing dent, in Philadelphia, the
more than 11 million Rev. Isaac Leeser, "reader"
pounds of the product i n of the Spanish-Portugese
1849•
Synagogue, to run the story
So possessive was Cin- of the tests. As spokesman
cinnati of its new found for American Orthodox
wealth and power that a law Jewry, Leeser's credibility
was passed by insurance added weight to Noah's dis-
companies that allowed covery.
them to charge one-fourth of
At the same time h.
one percent extra for insur- began correspondence
ance on all property and with the rabbis a France
buildings in which cam- and
Italy suggesting that
a
phine was used, housed or they oversee the produc-
stored. As if to affirm its tion of the oils for purity
qualities, the Baltimore and indicate their ap-
Sun of Aug. 24, 1842 re- proval with a seal and
ported that "lard oil is used ""
Certified Kosher stamp
for almost all purposes to on each acceptable
which sperm and olive oil product.
have hithertofore been
It wasn't until seven
,applied and with a large
saving. It burns well in years later, in 1851, that
lamps, acts well on machin- Rev. Leeser received news
ery of all sorts, on wool to be from the Chief Rabbi of
manufactured, and it is said the Consistory of Marseil-
that sometimes it gets upon les that the process of
guarantee had been estab-
salads and is eaten."
Lard, forbidden in the lished. Thus did the applica-
kosher diet, is composed of tion of the relatively new
hog fat, which is melted and science of modern chemistry
strained clear. The tempt- to determine the kosher
ing cheapness and ready status of a food product fi-
availability of lard moved nally begin to make an im-
many unscrupulous man- pact on food manufacturers
ufacturers to mix lard oil and processors in the
with olive oil, and pass it off United States.