The heads of the mehadrin kashrus committees in Israel
have expressed shock and disgust over the brutal behavior of
a company owner who beat a kashrus mashgiach after its
hechsher had been rescinded for cause.
The incident occurred last week, when the mashgiach of
Kehal Machzikei Hadas of Belz arrived for a routine check in
the spice and legume packing plant, Tavlinei Hakfar in
Ashdod. The mashgiach entered the factory and noticed
that the workers were packing dried fruits and legumes in
packages with the kashrus seal although the products
had not been approved the BaDaTz Machzikei Hadas of Belz.
The mashgiach asked the owner of the company to stop
packaging the products which had not been approved. The owner
refused, and ordered the workers to continue their work.
The mashgiach, Rav Binyomin Yakobovitz, called the
nationwide supervisor of Machzikei Hadas and HaRav Yosef
Mordechai Zilber, who is responsible for raw materials used
by factories, and reported the incident. HaRav Zilber
immediately sent a fax to the owner of the company canceling
its hechsher.
Upon receipt of the fax, the owner grabbed the
mashgiach and began to beat him. He grabbed a stick
and beat the mashgiach with it, stopping only when
workers and customers intervened. But he then locked the
mashgiach in a room.
The mashgiach reported this incident of brutality to
the offices of the BaDaTz, who then called the police, who
came and unlocked the mashgiach.
Thursday night, the beis din of the BaDaTz Machzikei
Hadas met to discuss this serious incident and other
situations in which mashgichim and those issuing
kashrus certificates encounter violence and threats.
The beis din instructed the mashgiach to file
an immediate complaint against the company owner with the
police.
Thursday night, when the heads of mehadrin kashrus
committees learned about the incident, they decided to act
together in order to combat this phenomenon of aggressive
company owners and to prevent them from receiving
kashrus certification.
