Shrinkin g
Market
Kosher consumers
pressure rabbis
over closing of
West Bloomfield butcher.
Gail Beal of West Bloomfield makes
selections Monday at the Farmer Jack
kosher butcher counter.
Man Hitsky
Associate Editor
F
finding a Shabbat-
observant butcher to
replace the shop in the
West Bloomfield Farmer Jack
supermarket has become "the
No. 1 priority of the Council
of Orthodox Rabbis (COR),"
according to Rabbi Elimelech
Silberberg, one of two members
of the Detroit COR's presidium.
The organization, which
supervises kashrut at five sub-
urban butcher shops, has been
deluged with telephone calls
after Farmer Jack Supermarkets
announced the "underperform-
ing" Maple and Orchard Lake
roads store would close at the
end of July.
While frozen kosher meat is
available at many area super-
markets, fresh kosher meat
that is supervised by the COR
is available only at the Farmer
Jack's in West Bloomfield and
Oak Park, Strictly Kosher
Meats at Lincoln Center in Oak
Park, Superior Meats in the
One Stop Kosher Supermarket
in Southfield and Harvard
Row Kosher Meats in West
Bloomfield.
Many observant kosher con-
sumers refuse to use Harvard
Row because the owner, John
Katz, is not shomer Shabbat
(Sabbath observant).
Rabbi Silberberg told the
Jewish News that the COR
"has a lead on someone who is
interested in coming to town to
sell kosher meat to fill the void."
The rabbi's congregation, the
Sara Tugman Bais Chabad Torah
Center in West Bloomfield, is
a quarter-mile east of Farmer
Jack.
"It may take a little time to get
the right person:' the rabbi said.
"The Vaad [Harabonim - CORI
doesn't put people in business,
but we try to facilitate. I'm con-
fident that something will get
done."
Rabbi Silberberg believes the
Farmer Jack kosher meat coun-
ter did well, even if the store
wasn't profitable. He was told
the counter sold $800,000 in
kosher meat per year, "so there's
a market." The butcher at the
store declined to comment.
Rabbi Silberberg checked
last week with Hiller's Market
at Maple and Orchard Lake to
see if they would be interested
in a kosher butcher counter, but
was told the store has no room
to add a kosher counter. Hiller's
sells frozen kosher meats. The
rabbi also was trying to find
out if another food store might
be taking over the Farmer Jack
space and retain the kosher
butcher counter.
Mimi Markofsky, owner of
Elite Kosher Catering, based at
Congregation B'nai Moshe in
West Bloomfield, hopes a new
butcher will help keep prices
competitive and give observant
Jews in the West Bloomfield area
an outlet for kosher meat.
She praised John Katz at
Harvard Row, but said there is a
"whole group of Orthodox Jews
who won't shop" there. She said
that on occasion a customer will
ask her for a special cut of beef.
If she does not have it on hand
from her suppliers, she has to go
to the 10 Mile-Greenfield area to
obtain the product. She said that
is cost-prohibitive for her and
her customers.
Katz, 73, has been in the
for the same lower level of daily
kosher meat business for 50
supervision as shomer Shabbat
years. He says his Harvard
butchers.
Row store across Maple Road
"If my son owned it," Katz
from Farmer Jack has enjoyed
said,
"the Vaad would want full-
a steady business from loyal
time
supervision
at $500-$600
customers. He knows his non-
shomer Shabbat observance has per week." That would make the
kept some customers from using business financially unsound, he
said. 1]
his store.
Representatives of the COR
called him last
week to see if he
Case Club Closes
would be willing
to sell his busi-
The Kosher Case Club on Greenfield in Oak
ness. But Katz
Park has closed after 1 1 /2 years.
has no interest in
The business had been in a dispute with
retiring now. "If
the Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater
I continue to feel
Detroit (COR) and the nearby One Stop
good, I'll work five
Kosher Supermarket over its sale of indi-
or six more years."
vidual food units.
Katz's son,
The COR contended that its agreement
Larry, runs
with the store was to allow bulk sales only.
the prepared
When the Kosher Case Club began selling
foods counter
individual items, One Stop asked for a belt
at Harvard Row.
din (rabbinical court) to review the issue.
John Katz said it
The beit din ruled that Kosher Case Club
would be difficult
must sell only in bulk.
to turn the busi-
The store, on Greenfield between 1-696
ness over to Larry
and Lincoln, apparently closed Friday, July
because of the
7. Kosher Case Club owner Miriam Shear
COR's "grandfa-
did not return a call from the Jewish News
ther clause which
seeking comment.
allows Katz to pay
July 13 • 2006
13