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Spirituality

Amicable Change

Adat Shalom caterer now to be supervised by Rabbi Jason Miller, not Vaad.

Shelli Liebman Dorfman

Senior Writer

0

n the heels of a new partnership
and a name change, A&J Kosher
Catering — formerly Rosenberg
Kosher Catering — has taken on a new
kashrut supervisor.
Conservative Rabbi
Jason Miller will provide
kosher supervision for
the business, inside Adat
Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills.
The change came fol-
lowing a new directive of
Rabbi Jason
the Council of Orthodox
Miller
Rabbis of Greater Detroit
(Vaad) in Southfield, which for many years
provided the catering business's kashrut
supervision.
"The Vaad has instituted the require-
ment that a full-time mashgiach [kosher
supervisor] be present from opening
to closing at every single caterer we
supervise in the city;' said Rabbi Joseph
Krupnik, kashrut director at the Vaad.
He verified that all other local kosher
caterers supervised by the Vaad have a
full-time Vaad mashgiach present, includ-
ing Chef Cari and Jewel Kosher Caterers,
both in Oak Park, Sperber's Kosher
Catering and Elite Kosher Catering, both
in West Bloomfield, and Matt Prentice
Restaurant Group, which offers kosher
catering out of the Jewish Community

Center in West Bloomfield.
Krupnik said because A&J often caters
more than one function on the same day,
it is not feasible for them to pay for a full-
time kashrut supervisor, which would
include supervision during the time they
are not preparing for an event, but are still
open.
A&J owners Al Kovalenko, chef at
Rosenberg Catering for 191/2 years, and
Jeffrey L. Rosenberg, whose grand-
mother Cecil and parents, Al and Sarah
Rosenberg, preceded him in the business
founded in 1946, became partners last
August and changed the catering name.
"We provide catering on days and at
times that do not coincide with other
events and parties:' Rosenberg said.
"We cater programs like lunch and
learns three times a month, our monthly
Friday night Synergy service and the
Alliance for Teens in Detroit's [ATID]
Monday night school. It did not pay for us
to have a full-time mashgiach when we
only need one during the actual prepara-
tion and serving of the food."
"A&J Kosher Caterers will be under my
hashgachah [kosher certification], with
oversight from Rabbi [Aaron] Bergman,
who is the mara d'atra [Jewish law
authority] of Adat Shalom where A&J is
located:' Miller said.
"There will be supervision by a mashgi-
ach in the Adat Shalom kitchens whenever
food is being prepared."

"The Vaad is an important and indispen-
sible agency in our community' Miller said.
"I have consulted with Rabbi Krupnik in
the past on kashrut matters and I value and
respect his opinion and guidance" he said.
"I am not competing with the Vaad in
the arena of kashrut supervision. Rather, I
recognize that the Orthodox need not have
a monopoly on kashrut. Any caterer or
proprietor has the right to decide who will
declare his establishment kosher. The Vaad
recognizes this."
Miller says he is providing the supervi-
sion as a service for the community. "I
want kosher food to be readily available to
our community," he said.
A member of the Conservative
movement's Rabbinical Assembly, Miller
has served as a mashgiach at the Jewish
Theological Seminary in New York and
has studied privately with kashrut expert
Rabbi Joel Roth. He is currently rabbi
and mashgiach at Oakland County-based
Tamarack Camps and, on a part-time
basis serves as the director of ATID and
as the part-time rabbi of Congregation
T'chiyah in Oak Park.
Added Rosenberg, "Our decision to
make this change, came from more than
the cost of having a full-time Vaad mash-
giach." A bigger concern, he said, came
from the Vaad's request that to assure their
complete supervision during all business
hours, they must be given a key to the
business. "We, along with the synagogue,
did not want to do that. We want to remain

our own bosses, not the Vaad."
In spite of the change, Rosenberg con-
tinues a longstanding relationship with
the Vaad, in which his grandmother was a
founder and charter member. "We made
our change under the guidance and coop-
eration of the Vaad, and we will always
have a connection."
Added Krupnik, "The decision to leave
our supervision was very amicable."
The Vaad will have a continuing presence
at A&J, providing kosher supervision on a
contractual basis for families and organi-
zations requesting it. Rosenberg said the
caterers will absorb the cost of hiring the
Vaad as opposed to Miller for such events.
"The additional cost is not much, but it
will be totally covered by us, with no charge
to the client:' Rosenberg said. A&J will pro-
vide this service to any client, even if it is to
accommodate only a single guest.
"We have separate dishes that will be set
aside for use only with Vaad-supervised
functions," Rosenberg said. He doesn't see
this as a big concern, citing that almost all
functions cater to Conservative clientele.
"All of the products we bring in will
have the same kosher certification as they
did when we were solely with the Vaad,"
Rosenberg said. "We will continue use
glatt kosher meat and poultry only from
Morris Kosher Poultry in Hazel Park."
A letter sent to members by the syna-
gogue maintains that the kashrut level
of the synagogue and its kitchen will not
change with the change in supervision.

❑

A Shabbat Twist

Beth Shalom students learn by making
all the fixings for Shabbat.

C

ontinuing the theme of Shabbat
in its religious school classes,
K-2 students in Congregation
Beth Shalom's Center for Jewish Learning
in Oak Park learned firsthand during a
Shabbat workshop late last month.
Parents and grandparents joined the
learning fun as youngsters rotated through
different stations creating and preparing
items for Shabbat while learning about its
observances. Children donned chef's hats
and learned how to bake challah as teach-
er/baker Nomi Rottenstein told them the
reason we use two challot during Friday

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January 1 . 2009

night dinner and why we cover them: God
provided a double portion of manna just
before Shabbat to Jews wandering in the
desert after the exodus from Egypt; the
cover represents the dew that fell on the
manna to preserve it.
Other stations included painting and
decorating candle holders, challah covers,
tzedakah boxes and Kiddush cups to go
into special Shabbat boxes the children
also decorated for use at home. While
doing all of this, students learned why
we light two candles — to remind us of
the two times the Torah commands us to

observe Shabbat.
Following these activities,
everyone joined in singing
Shabbat songs and listening to
Shabbat stories.
Beth Shalom Education
Henry Cantor of Huntington Woods works on his
Director Bosmat Dovas
challah cover beside Rachel Nodler of Oak Park
explained her goal for these
and her mom Leslie.
learning experiences. "My hope
is that more families will enjoy
their Friday night Shabbat din-
ner together, singing, saying the blessings
our beautiful students knowing that they
and eating wonderful food. It was so nice
were creating beautiful items that will be
to see the smiling faces and the pride of
used on their Shabbat dinner tables." 11]

