•

•

•

bugs, emanated from a sewer system in
the alley shared by Mr. Cohen's butch-
er shop. He said he has battled the con-
dition with extensive pest control
measures.
Water bugs and cockroaches were
found in an open storm sewer, said Paul
Munoz, owner of Exclusive Pest Ser-
vices, an Oak Park firm which was con-
tracted by the bakery.
"Basically, the problem is with all of
the buildings in the strip mall," he said,
adding that rodents also made their way
into the attached buildings.
At the nonkosher Cattleman's Mar-
ket on Coolidge in Oak Park, labeling
problems have headed the list of cita-
tions recently. In the latest report filed
by health inspectors in June 1996, im-
properly labeled smoked fish was con-

fiscated and store packaged
items lacked basic label re-
quirements.
Items offered past expiration
have also made the list of
violations observed in past in-
spections. In January 1995,
Cattleman employees were told
to throw out meat because it
was kept past its expiration
date after a customer com-
plained of an "off odor" on a
piece of strip steak. 'We have a
lot of problems with our meat,"
the meat manager conceded.
Cleanliness has also bedev-
iled Cattleman's. In the latest report
filed in June 1996, inspectors found an
accumulation of blood on the floor of the
fish and meat cooler and a buildup of

A worker in a dirty apron
glides his hand through
the dough at Zeman's
in Oak Park.

meat residue on the wrap machine. In
August 1995, inspectors forced Cattle-
man's to dump 36 pounds of rice because
of mouse droppings.
Lena Russell, acting manager of the

grocery store and butcher shop
in Oak Park, said the store does
its best to stay on top of cleanli-
ness and pest control issues.
'We've got an exterminator
that comes in once a week or
twice a month," she said, adding
that the frequency depends on
the season. 'We had [some mice
in the store] during the summer.
You know those things run
around. But we took care of it

then."
Products kept on the shelves past the
expiration date have not been an issue
in the past year, she said.

❑

State Kosher Law Vulnerable

Officials are reluctant to enforce "religious" law, a law that may be unconstitutional.

DAVID ZEMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

/-'

S

even years ago, state health in-
spectors ordered a butcher named
Michael Cohen to stop advertising
his shop as kosher. The reason, he
was told, was that he had violated a rab-
binical edict to remain closed on the Sab-
bath.
Mr. Cohen's inspection from the Met-
ropolitan Kashruth Council was termi-
nated and the Council of Orthodox Rabbis
refused his request for certification. But
Mr. Cohen continued to advertise his
meat as kosher.
That Mr. Cohen essentially told the
state to stick it, and got away with it,
speaks volumes about the state's timid-
ity in enforcing its own kosher laws.
The episode also illustrates the discom-
fort felt by state officials in monitoring
Michigan's kosher food industry, a
business that remains inherently reli-
gious.
"We are not professed experts on Jew-
ish customs or laws," conceded Patrick
Mercer, a supervisor in the food division
of the state Depot intent of Agriculture.
"We presume [the rabbinical groups]
know what they are doing ... It's very dif-
ficult for us."
On the books for nearly 70 years,
Michigan's kosher laws are meant to
prevent consumer fraud. They make it
a crime to knowingly sell food as kosher
when the food — or the store selling the
food — has not been approved by a prop-
er Orthodox rabbinical group.
But the state is reluctant to step into
kosher disputes. Not only do officials feel
uneasy wading into the ancient rituals
of Jewish dietary observance, but the law
itself remains vulnerable to court chal-
lenge.
In recent years, laws similar to Michi-
gan's have been struck down in New Jer-
sey and in Baltimore for violating the
separation of church and state doctrine
of the United States Constitution. Mean-
while, a butcher in Commack, N.Y., is

contesting the New York law on consti-
tutional grounds.
While the rulings are notbinding on
Michigan courts, they suggest the Michi-
gan law may also be susceptible to a court
challenge.
At the heart of each case is a central
question: How far may a state go in mon-
itoring the religious standards of kosher
law? Supporters of kosher legislation say
the laws do not involve the State in reli-
gious matters; they simply are a way for
the state to enforce truth in advertising.
"People pay premium prices for kosher

dox kosher doctrine.
"By singling out the rules of one reli-
gious sect and saying, 'This is what we
as a secular government will enforce,' this
lends the state authority over a religious
practice," said Ronald Kevin Chen, a Rut-
gers Law School professor who led the
drive to have the Baltimore law over-
turned.
Dr. Chen noted that even in the Or-
thodox Jewish community, there are dis-
putes over some provisions of kashrut,
making it inevitable that the government
will have to resolve at least some religious
law.
To these critics, the Jewish
community alone should en-
force kosher law, with no help
from the state.
In Professor Chen's view,
the Michigan kosher law is
singularly ripe for a court chal-
lenge.
`This law is actually worse
than the other laws because
you have the state determin-
ing who is a recognized reli-
gious authority," he said. "The
state can no more recognize
The Vaad's certification of Cohen and Son butcher shop was never one rabbinical group over an-
other than it can recognize
removed, Nile Cohen said.
who is to be the pope."
food, and they want to be assured it is
Mr. Mercer, of the agriculture depart-
as it's represented," said attorney Dennis ment, concedes there is no set formula for
Rapps of the National Jewish Commis- determining when a particular certifica-
sion on Law and Public Affairs, a group tion group has become "recognized" in the
that supports kosher legislation.
community.
"When you're not getting what you pay
Instead, the state has adopted an I-
for, that's consumer fraud," Mr. Rapps know-one-when-I-see-one approach, tin-
said.
der which both the Council of Orthodox
Supporters note, for example, that state Rabbis- (Vaad Harabonim) and the Met-
officials are not required to decide which ropolitan Kashruth Council apparently
foods are kosher. Rather, the state sim- qualify.
ply enforces the rulings of "recognized"
Mr. Mercer noted that nobody has chal-
Orthodox certification groups.
lenged the credentials of either group.
But critics counter that these laws, by
But their "recognized" status did not
their very nature, entangle the state in impress Michael Cohen.
religious doctrine — in this case, Ortho-
In 1990, when the state told Mr. Cohen

he could no longer advertise his meat as •
kosher, he threatened to sue, saying the
state's order violated his religious free-
dom as a Conservative Jew.
The state blinked.
A state agriculture spokesman said the
department did not have the resources to
defend the kosher law in court. Besides,
the spokesman said, the state considered
the dispute "a religious matter."
In addition, Mr. Cohen's shop, Cohen's
Kosher Meats, closed last March.
As a result, the constitutionality of
Michigan's kosher law has never been
tested in court.
So how does a state draft a kosher law
that will withstand a court challenge?
Courts in other states suggest a solu-
tion. They say states should not decide
whose kosher standards a business must
follow. The state should not, for instance,
require that only Orthodox standards be
observed, or that a particular certification
group hold sway.
Instead, these courts say, states can
avoid a lawsuit by requiring stores to sim-
ply disclose on what basis their food is la-
beled kosher. For example, if the Vaad
has approved the store's products, the
store may trumpet that endorsement. If
the kosher designation comes from a less-
er-known authority, the store must dis-
close that as well.
The state's only role would be to make
sure the product has been endorsed by
the rabbi or group of rabbis it claims to be
endorsed by. This approach would be sim-
ilar to laws which bar the promotion of
products as being approved by a specific
consumer magazine when they have not
been so approved.
Stores that falsely advertise can be
prosecuted for consumer fraud without
the state becoming involved in questions
of Jewish law and religious authority.
And in the end, it is the customers who
will decide if a product meets their own
standard of kashrut.

❑