Second Sydney hechsher launched today
COMMUNITY Kashrut is now officially a new kosher hechsher in Sydney, The AJN can reveal.
COMMUNITY Kashrut is now officially a new kosher hechsher in Sydney, The AJN can reveal.
It was announced today (Thursday) that Macquarie Bank executive David Sandler will be the chairman of the new organisation, which has been established under the auspices of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBOD) and the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of NSW (COSNSW).
He will be joined on the board by Marrickville Jewish councillor Rosana Tyler; Dale Carr, who is the founder and CEO of mobile advertising company Leadbolt and was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013; Mervyn Stein, who was heavily involved in kashrut and the Beth Din in South Africa; Dana Korn; Nicolas Meer; Bryan Sher and Robert Goldberg.
“I am deeply committed to ensuring the community has a hechsher which is truly representative, while maintaining the highest standards of kashrut and corporate government,” Sandler said this week.
Rabbi Yedidya Krauthammer from Israel has been appointed as the certifying rabbi and is expected to arrive in Australia today (Thursday).
Rabbi Krauthammer was the chief supervisor for kashrut in Petach Tikvah and worked as the deputy to Rabbi Micha Halevi, the chief rabbi of the city.
In Petach Tikvah Rabbi Krauthammer was responsible for supervising all areas of kashrut at more than 500 establishments and managed a team of more than 200 mashgichim.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to bring years of experience, knowledge and skills gained from working for one of Israel’s most respected hechsherim to this important endeavour for the NSW Jewish community,” Rabbi Krauthammer said.
The AJN expects the rabbinic panel of Sydney rabbis and further board members to be announced in the coming weeks, and that the hechsher will be operation within two months.
The hechsher has been established following a review into the state of kashrut in NSW by the Kashrut Commission of Inquiry (KCI), which conducted a 12-month investigation backed by JBOD, COSNSW, United Israel Appeal (UIA) and the JCA.
The report stated that the Kashrut Authority (KA), which was previously the only widely used hechsher recognised in Sydney, needed structural reform and lacked transparency in relation to operations and finances.
It also stated that the community was not properly represented on the KA board, that the KA’s decision to force kosher establishments to use one or two suppliers when it came to meat was “not based on halachic considerations” and that wholesale meat prices were 30 per cent lower in Victoria.
The KCI gave the KA 36 days to agree to reform or it would support the establishment of a second hechsher. However, the KA rejected the findings of the KCI.
JOSHUA LEVI
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