he Council of Orthodox Rabbis of
Greater Detroit provides supervi-
sion to the majority of local retail
kosher establishments, including
four independent butcher shops, three su-
permarket butcher shops, three bakeries
and nine food service businesses, includ-
ing caterers.
Formed in the 1930s in Detroit, the first
objective of the group was to provide
kosher supervision. According to Sidney
Bolkosky's book Harmony and Dissonance:
Voices of Jewish Identity in Detroit, 1914-
1967 , the other purpose of the group was
to establish a central authority in religious
matters, such as marriage, divorce, con-
version and adoption.
Headed by a presidium which includes
Rabbis Shaiall Zachariash, Elimelech
Goldberg and Elimelech Silberberg, the
council includes area pulpit Orthodox rab-
bis as well as the heads of yeshivas. The
members meet regularly to resolve issues
of religious significance.
The Vaad employs a handful of people,
including its executive director, Rabbi
Chaskel Grubner; two kosher inspectors,
Rabbis Berel Brody and Joseph Krupnick;
and a small office staff.
Rabbis Brody and Krupnick run the
day-to-day business of the Vaad's kosher
division, spending their workday morn-
ings visiting the one local kosher slaugh-
ter house, the butchers, the bakers, the
shopkeepers and others. In the afternoon,
the pair return to the small, wood-pan-
eled 'offices in Southfield to decide mat-
ters of religious law and other communal
issues.
The group supports its operation
through income obtained from an annual
dinner, private donations and fees collected
from kosher supervision.
Although it used to be in the practice of
soliciting clients to provide kosher prod-
ucts for the benefit of the community, the
Vaad no longer seeks clients the way it
used to, said Rabbi Elimelech. Goldberg.
Nor does it attempt to be a giant in the
kosher supervision field, like the Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congregations of Amer-
ica (OU). Its focus is for the benefit of the
Detroit Jewish community.
"It was the Vaad's desire to promote
that there should be kashrus [business-
es]," Rabbi Goldberg said, adding that the
Vaad hopes those under supervision are
successful enough to continue to provide
their services to the community. "It is not
the OU's desire to promote that there
should be kashrus [businesses]. If some-
body wants kashrus supervision, they will
supply it."
In addition, struggling businesses are
often given a break on the cost of super-
vision by the Vaad.
"In places like [the now-defunct] Clas-
sic Coney Island and Sara's [Glatt Kosher.
Deli, also closed] that are always in jeop-
ardy, there is no financial issue," he said.

T

"There is no price to extract."
The Vaad's supervisors also make an
attempt to help those in business by mak-
ing suggestions on ingredients and prod-
ucts.
"We try to locate reliable kosher prod-
ucts for the people we supervise that might
be cheaper or better, because we want to
see people in the business," Rabbi Gold-
berg said.
While the Vaad's client base is not
necessarily expanding beyond its list of
some 40 manufacturers and retail busi-
nesses, some of the owners of businesses
it supervises criticize the group as arbi-
trary.
Owners say fee schedules and fines are
assessed on a subjective basis, with one
shop owner, Morris Weiss of Zeman's New
York Bakery in Oak Park, once paying
$5,000 for a disagreement — in addition
to the more than $2,000 he is assessed for
annual inspection rates.
The argument occurred during the sum-
mer when a mashgiach (kosher inspector)
told Mr. Weiss that the flour used to make
a batch of bread was not appropriate for
kosher consumption because of certain re-
strictions. Mr. Weiss said he shoved the
mashgiach.
"You have fights," said Mr. Weiss, also
part owner of the Zeman's in Southfield.
"They say no. I say yes. If they say no ..."
"If you want to do business here, you
have to go through the Vaad," he said.
'They are like the Supreme Court. They
make a decision. There is no appeal."
Rabbi Goldberg would not disclose su-
pervision rates, but he defended the fees,
saying longstanding rates are lower than
charged in other communities.
"We get very little out of anything
financially," Rabbi Goldberg said. "At
best, we cover the cost of the supervisors."
(Because the Vaad is considered a
religious organization under Internal
Revenue Service rules, it does not file
an income tax form 990 or 990-EZ or
report its income in any public record.
Therefore, there is no information pub-
licly available regarding the salaries
of the Vaad's employees or its rev-
enues.)
The Vaad does have its critics. Some
butchers have said it directs business
to more observant clients.
Eugene Feldman, owner of Dexter-
Davison Kosher Meats, said the Vaad
"favors" a local butcher and will re-
fer potential customers to him.
"The rabbis help him, not you," he
said, refusing to disclose which butch-
er receives the business.
Rabbi Goldberg acknowledged
sending people to certain kosher
butchers.
He said most Orthodox people "will
tend to go to places where there is an
Orthodox proprietor."
KOSHER page 16

What Is Kosher?

The following is a basic list
of what constitutes kosher food:

MEAT:

* Animals must both chew
their cud and have split
hooves; these in-
clude but are
not limited to
oxen,
cattle,
sheep, deer and
goats.

* Must not be a bird of
prey. In that context, chick-
ens, turkeys, ducks, geese,
doves and pigeons are consid-
ered kosher while hawks, ravens,
ostriches, eagles, owls, pelicans and storks are not.

* To kill the animal, a shochet, a ritual slaughterer
slices the trachea and esophagus in one motion.

listing a

sharp knife, quickly

* Processing takes place after the animal is declared free of blemish or disease.

* In red-meat animals, blood vessels and
the sciatic nerve must be removed prior
to consumption. Because of this, the ves-
sel-rich hindquarters are generally sold
to nonkosher slaughterhouses. The rest
of the meat is then soaked and salted
and sold to the consumer.

PAREVE:

* Made up of foods that are neither
dairy or meat based. Vegetables, fruits,
grains, spices, coffee and tea fall into
this category as does fish.

* Fish must have fins and scales; shell-
fish is strictly forbidden. The eggs of
kosher fish, such as salmon roe, are

considered kosher while nonkosher fish
eggs are not.

PAIR

* These products, inclUding milk or
cheeses or anything made with dairy in-
, gredients, must originate from kosher
animals.

* Must be kept separate from meat prod-
ucts so much so that kosher homes in-
clude separate sets of cookware, utensils
and dishes for dairy and meat meals.

Cholev Israel is milk or related prod-
ucts that are obtained and bottled un-
der supervision to ensure that nothing
has been added to the milk to make it
treife..

"1-""1" F EB R U AR Y 28, 19 9 7

The Vaad Has A Long
Detroit History