KOSHER BLOGS- A COMPLAINT FROM KOSHER "OFFICIALS"

In an article entitled “New Power of Kosher Blogs are a Mixed Blessing, Kashrus Officials Say” which appeared in Kosher Today on Monday, July 23, 2007, the claim was that there are blogs out there that rush things into print long before they ascertain the truth of what they write.

The article quoted Rabbi Moshe Elefant of the OU who said, “There are, however, blogs where people post comments without the proper knowledge of the kosher food regulations. What we don’t want is people making assumptions and commenting on issues that they are not experts in.”

The gist of the article could be found in the following words: “Kashrus officials say that consumers can get the most accurate information from the web sites of major kosher certification agencies and from such sites as www.kashrut.com. The officials did not hide their concern that the speed with which kashrus information is posted on the blogs could at best be a mixed blessing.”

Certainly, people do post a whole of uninformed comments that pretend to an expertise in Kashruth that the poster just does not have. And blogs do sometimes post too quickly. We were guilty of that when we railed against kosher for Passover gasoline only to find out that we (and countless others) had been pranked.

It has been our experience that when people post uninformed comments, most blogs are quick to post corrective comments either of their own or of others who post to the blog.

One of the reasons these blogs exist is that it is fairly impossible to ever get FULL information from any of the large agencies or even any of the local Vaadim. A quick example: Some friends called their local Vaad to ask about a hashgacha. They were told by the Vaad spokesperson that “we find that they (the other hashgacha) are not up to our standards.” A follow up question about what standards were not being met went without a response.

When we contacted a national vaad to ask about a certain English liquor, we were told that because the rabbis at the national agency did not have any information, they were calling the liquor about which we asked non kosher. We phoned the London Beit Din and asked them about the liquor and were told it was under their hashgacha. Either the national agency was lazy or less than totally forthcoming.

So, apparently, going to the “nationals” is not always the best way to go. Contrary to what we read above (“get the most accurate information from the web sites of major kosher certification agencies”) going to the “nationals” for information is at best often only a chimeral hope.

We do not believe that the kosher blogs are “at best a mixed blessing.” No way! At best, those blogs are important sources of information that are not mired in inter agency politics, chareidi misstatement, or any agenda.
At worst, they can be dreadfully wrong from time to time. And, sure, some times they could even be a mixed blessing. But we would rather have all of them, even with their blemishes, than not have them.

Finally, we have searched high and low to see if we could get any information on this next issue. Just what is a KOSHER OFFICIAL? Is there a license for that? Who certifies kosher officials? Do they get to wear a badge and carry an ID? Just who are the anonymous officials quoted in the article?