LOCAL NEWS NEW DESIGNS In Diamond Wedding Bands Only Mayo Bakeries Producing Pareve Kosher. Bread In Detroit RICHARD PEARL Staff Writer W hen Leo Mertz closed his bakery at Dexter-Davison Shopping Center at the end of 1988, the Detroit Jewish com- munity was left with only two sources of locally baked pareve kosher baked goods --- Zeman's and New Modern Bakery. Zeman's, with stores in Royal Oak Township and Southfield, sells directly to the consumer. New Modern Bakery, , on Linwood in Detroit, sells to grocery chains. And although a strong possibility exists another Detroit baker will begin pro- ducing kosher breads and rolls, it appears highly unlikely there will be a return to the days not too long ago when there were 38 Jewish bakeries in the metropolitan area. That figure was supplied by Morrie Weiss, who says he purchased Zeman's for $50,000 in 1973 after area rabbis told him of the needfor kosher bakeries. Today, he said, Zeman's, Star and New Modern are the only three Jewish-owned bakeries in the Bakers Union Local 78, which Weiss said at one time had over 140 Jewish bakers and was known as the Jewish Bakers Union. "It's a difficult thing to have a kosher bakery today," said Rabbi Mordechai Wolmark, director of kashruth for the Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit; which oversees Zeman's. "For one thing, you have to be closed on Shabbos, and that's a big day in the bakery business, what with wedding cakes and the heavy shopping done on Saturdays in the general community," he said. "And Friday night, of course, is the big baking night for those bakeries. But for a kosher bakery, they must be closed by sundown on Shab- bos, and they must be closed for all of Pesach. "Bakeries are a very dif- ficult business to begin with — you bake at night and sell by day, because people want what's fresh. So between 12 midnight and 1 a.m., that's when a baker starts his day." Rabbi Wolmark said the Council "had received a number of inquiries from bakeries considering going kosher, but nothing worked." He said one of those was the New York Bagel Baking Co., which decided against „ the change when company of- ficials realized they would have to be closed Saturday, which is their busiest day. He said a large Detroit bakery has been talking with the Council about becoming kosher for several years and may yet do so because of the success achieved by national companies Entenmann's and Pepperidge Farms. The firm would produce bread and rolls locally but market cakes and other speciality baked goods nationally because, the rabbi said, "the mark-up on bread is not worth the expense to ship it around the country. "But they know if they want to stay in business, they have to keep up with the com- petition." He declined to 'For one thing, you have to be closed on Shabbos, and that's a big day in . the bakery business: name the firm, but said it pro- bably would use the OU sym- bol of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations or the OK symbol, both of which have better national recogni- tion than the Council's COR. Mertz still bakes kosher dairy products at his restaurant in Oak Park. He says he also sells baked goods to such schools as Hillel and Akiva and to caterers. "I'm happy with what I'm do- ing right now," he said. New Modern Bakery, own- ed by Stuart Spilkovitz, pro- duces 39 varieties of pareve breads and rolls, including rye, challah, pumpernickel, white and french breads. It has been under the supervi- sion of Rabbi Jack Goldman's Metropolitan Kashruth Council for 12 years and sells to Farmer Jack, A & P, Great Scott and Kroger and also to Foodland of Ferndale. As with Zeman's, all breads are handbaked, in accordance with Jewish law, Rabbi Goldman said. "There are no shomer Shabbos breads bak- ed in Detroit. The breads and rolls here are pas palter, which means kosher bread baked by gentiles under rab- binic supervision. In Brooklyn, N.Y., you can get shomer Shabbos breads." Zeman's also sells breads and rolls to' Great Scott and Kroger and to caterers, synagogues, delicatessens and the Jewish Home for Aged. Gary Wald, a Great Scott buyer, said the company "is looking to expand" its kosher bread line in seven stores and had been negotiating with Zeman's, "but we couldn't reach agreement on price. Weiss is a pretty independent sort of guy." He said the com- pany sells Zeman's in its delicatessen -areas. ❑ I NEWS Exciting New Selection All Rings Discount Priced Order Now For Early Delivery Italians May Upgrade PLO Rome (JTA) — Italy will soon upgrade the Palestine Liberation Organization's diplomatic status, the PLO representative here said in an interview published Sunday. "The question has been under discussion and now we are in the phase of defining the new terminology," Nerner Hammad told the newspaper La Repubblica. "A number of formulations have been ex- amined, among them 'general delegation of Palestine' or `permanent delegation of the Palestinian state; " he said. But Hammad, who said he will meet this week with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Andreotti, said he does not believe Italy will actual- ly recognize a Palestinian state in the near future. "I think that the status of the PLO representation in Italy will be raised, in a way that will be a step forward with respect to the current situation, without, however, going all the way to full recognition," he said. In Athens, meanwhile, the Greek Foreign Ministry is coming under pressure from Arab diplomats to recognize Israel and a Palestinian state simultaneously. The Arabs are said to want such a move to take place before the June 18 elections in Greece. 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