mashgiach, or rabbinical inspector —
in addition to local health or state agri-
cultural department employees — would
be responsible for ensuring at least some
measure of cleanliness, authorities at
the Union of Orthodox Congregations'
kashrut division say they tend to leave
such matters to the governmental au-
thorities.
'We try to make sure the standards
of the plant meet the standards set by
the government, the FDA, the USDA.
[But] we rely on them for that," said
Rabbi Menachem Genack, rabbinic ad-
ministrator of the Union of Orthodox
Jewish Congregations of America's
kashrut division (OU), the largest
kashrut organization in the nation.
Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg of Young
Israel of Southfield and a member of the
Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater
Detroit (Vaad Harabonim) said the rab-
binic group operates in the same way,

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allowing state and local health inspec-
tors to determine the status of a store.
The Vaad is responsible for providing
rabbinic supervision at most area retail
kosher shops, including bakeries, butch-
ers, markets and food service business-
es.
"Obviously, if it was so terrible,
[health officials] would close [them]
down," he said, adding that he was un-
aware that health officials did tem-
porarily close the now-defunct Sara's
Glatt Kosher Deli and also have issued
numerous insanitary notices to several
kosher businesses.
This is not to say that the mashgichim
and the rabbis themselves have stood
idly by as sanitary conditions have
waned at stores.
"It is a very important thing," Rabbi
Goldberg said, regarding the health con-
ditions of a store. The Vaad's control can
only go so far, he said.
'We are not in the position to take ac-
tion to close an establishment," he said.
"At best, if we thought the consumers

were at risk, we could yank the super-
vision."
"Our basic point of control is to su-
pervise or not to supervise," he said.
"That is the question."
Jack Zwick agrees. As a member of a
group overseeing the providers of food
to Federation Apartment dwellers, he
canceled a contract held by one of the lo-
cal kosher business owners after find-
ing that the store owner's product was
"substandard."
"I firmly_ believe that the
Vaad is not capable or respon-
sible to be health inspectors or
business ethics inspectors," Mr.
Zwick said.
"However, I believe that if
businesses have been found by
the state to flagrantly violate
these matters, they should be
issued a formal warning and
then hashgachah (kashrut su-

pervision) should be removed."
Sanitation aside, some debate
whether the Vaad covers some halachic
requirements ofsupervision.
For example, the Vaad is responsible
for the supervision of all of the kosher
butcher shops in the area but does not
require constant supervision of these re-
tail stores, an oversight some would see
as a violation of Halachah.
(The Metropolitan Kashruth Coun-
cil, headed by Rabbi Jack Goldman of
West Bloomfield, meanwhile, refuses to
provide supervision for any business
with meat products. Citing the constant
need for supervision, Rabbi Goldman
said he prefers to stick to dairy and
pareve products or raw ingredients used
to manufacture such food, which do not
require constant supervision.)
"Halachically, meat requires that it
be supervised at all times," said Rabbi
Menachem Genack, rabbinic adminis-
trator of the Union of Orthodox Jew-
ish Congregations of America's kashrut
division (OU).

"Cheese and wine also have higher
levels, pareve items on a less frequent
basis."
Local butchers said that their mash-
giach (on-site kosher supervisor), often
a rabbi or a friend of a Vaad member,
visits for only a few brief moments a day,
checks the shop's shipments of meat
products and leaves. One store, Superi-
or Kosher Meats in Oak Park, employs
a mashgiach who lives in Boston who in

turn employs a local mashgiach who
stops in the store twice a week.
"The inspection?" asked Mr. Co-
hen, the butcher. "Walk in that door,
walk to the back door, walk back out.
That's my inspection."
Rabbi Goldberg said the supervi-
sion that is supplied is adequate ac-
cording to Halachah. He said
inspectors visit the butcher shops
once or twice daily to check on meat
shipments and to make sure proper
preparations of the meat are fol-
lowed.
Despite the arguments over su-
pervision, the question remains over
whether kosher is actually cleaner.
Bill Carlson, a supervisor for the
Oakland County Health Depart-
ment, said kosher establishments make
up a small percentage of the 3,800 es-
tablishments the county department is
responsible for inspecting. All businesses
are treated in the same manner.
'We expect all of them will be in com-
pliance [with the health code]," he said.
Not all kosher establishments have
suffered the wrath of health officials.
Before it recently closed due to fi-
nancial reasons, Classic Coney Island

Above: Jack Cohen cuts beef,
then chicken, on the
same machine without
washing the surface in
between.

Right: Jack Cohen said the
Vaad's supervision was
cursory. "The inspection? Walk
in that door, walk to the back
door, walk back out. That's my
inspection."

had three near-perfect ratings since its
December 1995 opening. The second in-
spection report, issued March 18, con-
cluded with the inspector's remarks,
"Excellent operation!"
Jerusalem Pizza, owned by Aryeh and
Soril Sharon, has tallied up two high
scores on its inspection reports since it
opened last summer. Aside from a dent-
ed can of beets and misplaced cleansers,
the store has had very favorable reports
with few violations.
Others have repeatedly
racked up violations and in-
sanitary notices.
Cohen & Son is a prime
example.
Although his most recent
inspection report in April
1996 had a handful of viola-
tions, it was hardly the most
typical of reports for the al-
most five-decade-old busi-
ness.
Inspection reports revealed
a consistent roach problem
since 1990 at this meat store.
The most serious occurred in
November 1993, when nearly 300 roach-
es were discovered on floors, shelves and
counters, in pots and pans, behind the
toilet, and "in orange scum in [the] drain
tank." A dead mouse lay near the bath-
room and "bird-nesting material" was
found in the corner of the ceiling.
Mr. Cohen was charged with a mis-
demeanor and the store was briefly
closed. In December 1993, he pleaded
guilty and was ordered to pay $200, or
spend five days in jail. He paid the mon-
ey.
By March 1994, a state inspector not-
ed "significant progress" in Cohen &
Son's sanitation. But in subsequent vis-
its, roaches continued to bedevil the
store.
Mr. Cohen spoke frankly about the
difficulty of sustaining a family butch-
er shop in the face of sharp competition
and a shortage of young Jews willing to
learn his trade.
"It's a dying business," said Mr. Co-
hen, who worked for 43 years in the
store founded by his father. "No Jewish
kids want to work [in butcher shops]
anymore ... Sooner or later, us alter kock-
ers, we want to quit."
He closed his store at the end of De-