Kosher retailers also at fault
After reading your article (“The politics of kashrut,” The CJN, May 8), I wanted to express my frustration with prices of kosher food, in particular meat.
On Passover, I purchased a 12- to 12.5-pound brisket from a kosher butcher and paid a shocking $268. I asked the retailer why it was so expensive. Of course their response was because it is kosher and all the related expenses to make it kosher. I understand and accept that, however, I find it hard to believe that COR (the Kashruth Council of Canada) would charge that much to justify such an outrageous price per pound. My educated guess is that the profit margins, in particular for meat, are substantially higher, as was the case with my brisket.
Although I’m fortunate enough to be able to indulge in such a luxury, I feel it’s unfair to others who may not be able to enjoy what is a Jewish tradition. One wonders how many families have opted to buy “kosher style” because they blame COR or the retailer.
My opinion is that COR may have some impact on kosher meat, but I believe retailers are marking it up substantially.
David Papernick
Toronto
Add women to COR board
I have found the current series of reports on COR (the Kashruth Council of Canada) to be very interesting, relevant and especially timely.
I have a further question: If the Jewish woman is the akeret habayit, or mainstay of the home, and is entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the kashrut of her home, how is it that there is no woman on the board of COR?
I would think that with all the experience in shopping, cooking and keeping kashrut in general, a woman would be an ideal candidate to monitor and help run COR.
Gale Borison-Socken
Toronto
Fanning the flames
The article about COR (“The politics of kashrut, The CJN, May 8) is a chillul HaShem. You have accomplished nothing by printing a story about the animosity between the COR and the Badatz hashgachot. What was the point? The article only serves to fuel the flames of anti-Semitism, particularly on the part of PQ MNA wannabes who claimed that the cost of kosher certification serves only to line the pockets of rabbis.
Ruth Sacher
Montreal
Stop eating animals
In response to the many pages of print dedicated to a discussion about kosher food, I appeal to all readers to consider their choices. Yes, if indeed kosher food is more expensive, this would be appalling. I have yet to see kosher plant-based foods at exorbitant prices.
As someone who is Jewish, I have stood before kosher slaughterhouses in Montreal and Toronto. There are literally tears coming down the eyes of the cows. Some of the chickens are dead, and certainly all appear diseased and sick. In general, the animals can be seen to be suffering greatly and covered in their own filth.
In Israel, plant-based restaurants and diets are on the rise. Why can’t we, in the Jewish community in Canada, follow suit? There is passage after passage in the Torah about minimizing the suffering of animals and showing humans’ relationship to the rest of the earth. Surely this is what is spoken of in all Jewish sacred texts: not only the minimizing but the absolute abolition of harm done to others.
We now are finding that a plant-based diet is the healthiest for humans, reducing heart disease, diabetes and many cancers. For the environment, our health and for all the sentient beings around us, we owe them all and ourselves such compassion.
Sharon Lax
Toronto
Thanks from Calgary
Mazel tov to The CJN on your new look. I especially enjoy the Rabbi-2-Rabbi weekly piece. Coming from a small Jewish community like Calgary, clergy is limited, and we are not often provided with such riveting dialogue. It is great to read about the wonderful events and activities that are taking place in other communities, and your paper is a vehicle to keep us in the West connected with Canadian Jewry.
Susan Dvorkin
Calgary