• i • 30 Friday, March 20, 1981 DICTATING MACHINES $8888 also transcribing units 342-7801 , 0 ♦ 1 0 1 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 n aooths ockers aunt • Whirlpool •Dr essing Boo *Dance Aerobic Classes 9 Qualified Instructors STERLING RGTS. 16 Mrle t Dequindre (Meijer's Center) 978-8300 SOUTHFIELD 12 Mile Et Evergreen ( Evergreen Plaza) 552-9610 WESTLAND Wayne Rd. at Hunter (Westland Plaza)728-5760 WI8XSki, tWf+W, grn'Ii4WR•S . “31 4.!: 6migillt 0. 0". 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.