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17 Ellul 5761 - September 5, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
OU Products Sold with Hetter Mechirah Identified
by Yated Ne'eman Staff

The Israeli shemittah products sold in the United States under certification from the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU) are parsley, dill and cilantro. These products are, in turn, used in hundreds, or even thousands, of other products. Most eating establishments including restaurants and pizza parlors, use these products and thus may use these products that come from Israel and are forbidden as having been grown in shemittah. This report is a follow-up to our front-page article of two weeks ago, which was the only report to appear in a newspaper. The Yated will publish further information as it becomes available.

According to an expert in the food industry, Israeli parsley is of particularly good quality and is much in demand. Cilantro, or coriander, is used in Sephardic cooking extensively, and known as kuzbara.

Organized Kosher Laboratories (OK) has announced that it does not certify products containing produce that was harvested using the hetter mechirah and monitors the production of products under its supervision to ensure that these items are not used in OK-certified products.

The products were grown at Kibbutz Sedeh Eliahu in the Beit She'an Valley. Special efforts were made in implementing the sale of the fields and the subsequent cultivation, in large part based on an approach outlined by Rabbi Whitman, the rav of Tnuva. Fields were sold individually, and with the permission of the Israel Land Administration (Minhal Mekarke'ei Yisrael). They also mentioned that the Beit She'an valley may not be part of Eretz Yisroel.

The Gedolei Haposkim in Eretz Yisroel have declared that the entire hetter mechirah approach is fundamentally flawed and should not be relied on whatsoever. The steps that were taken there are only significant if the fundamental approach is accepted, but have no significance otherwise. Consideration of the fact that the Beit She'an valley may not be part of Eretz Yisroel was explicitly rejected by the Chazon Ish who said that such considerations are not to be introduced into halachic discourse, even as subsidiary considerations where the main point is based on something else. The Chazon Ish is recognized as having clarified and established the entire modern approach to the mitzvos hateluyos ba'Aretz.

When a kashrus certifying organization is not identified with a particular community but serves the Jewish community as a whole, it is usually expected that it will follow rulings that are broadly accepted. The approach that the OU has taken in this case is, at best, highly controversial in the Orthodox community. It is not even generally accepted in OU production within Israel for sale within Israel itself. When there is some special consideration for following a non-conventional approach, all products produced this way are usually clearly labeled so that those who want to avoid them may do so. This was not done in this case.

 

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