After allegations were raised by one of the websites that one of the employees at the Matzah bakery was not Jewish, the owners of the bakery went and made sure she was Jewish. This article was originally published on COL.org.il and was translated for the benefit of our readers.
The episode that has captivated Anash and Shluchim worldwide regarding the kashrus of the matzos after it had been suspected that one of the female workers in the Crown Heights Matzah Bakery was identified as a non-Jew, has now come to an end in light of recent sources of clarification from Belarus and Rabbinical response regarding the matter.
Continued in the Extended Article.
The Letter from Minsk which Ended the Matzah Problem
After allegations were raised by one of the websites that one of the employees at the Matzah bakery was not Jewish, the owners of the bakery went and made sure she was Jewish. This article was originally published on COL.org.il and was translated for the benefit of our readers.
The episode that has captivated Anash and Shluchim worldwide regarding the kashrus of the matzos after it had been suspected that one of the female workers in the Crown Heights Matzah Bakery was identified as a non-Jew, has now come to an end in light of recent sources of clarification from Belarus and Rabbinical response regarding the matter.
Continued in the Extended Article.
“Halachically speaking the matzos are kosher, but one who cares to fulfill the mitzvah with more glory should buy other matzos for use at the seder,” ruled Rabbi Osdoba from the Crown Heights Beth Din, who is responsible for the kashrus department of the Beth Din, which gives the kosher certification to the Crown Heights “Lubavitch Matzah” Bakery.
There is a group of women who work in this “Lubavitch Matzah” bakery, who come from the Former Soviet Union and their job is to roll-out and flatten the dough. A suspicion was raised in the last weeks that one of these women was pretending to be Jewish. The owner of this bakery is R’ Yitzchok Tenenbaum who lives in Crown Heights.
According to the Code of Jewish Law, “One does not fulfill the obligation of matzah, only if it was kneaded, prepared and baked by a knowledgeable Jew who does it having in mind that it is matzah for Pesach.”
This suspicion has left many families of Anash and Shluchim who provide seder arrangements to many people in uncertainty about the kashrus of their ordered matzos. Some shluchim had already received their orders which aroused uncertainty about refunding the money they had spent and all the effort invested in this.
The Shliach clarifies in Minsk
The worker, whose name is Iryna, informed the bakery that her mother lives in Belarus (White Russia). Rabbi Osdabo then telephoned Rabbi Shneur Deutsch, a young Chabad shliach serving the city of Minsk and who, like his fellow colleagues, is accustomed to receiving such requests for identity clarification.
After searching through the records of the Jewish Community in Minsk, Rabbi Deutsch located Iryna’s mother who goes by the name of MANTUZAUA LUBOU. Her mother told the Rabbi that her husband was a non-Jew who was appointed a senior officer in the Russian Army. For many years she did not have any connection with the Jewish community or Judaism and her knowledge of the religion is really nothing. “Except for ”Pesach,“ she did not know how to pronounce the names of the holidays,” said the Shliach.
In a letter from Rabbi Deutsch he writes, that this woman who was working in the bakery, was born in 1935 in a city called “SOUODNE OBLES KRE AHORKO CHAUOUROSKI,” which is near Azerbaijan.
“At age 3 her mother died and she continued to live with her father. During the year 1943, around which time her father went to war and died in battle, she was told that her mother was a Jewish. Her Jewish name was Ana Ibnuva,” wrote Rabbi Duetsch to Rabbi Osdabo. “She has no substantial proof shows this, and she also does not know her mother’s maiden name.”
New matzos will not be distributed
This undated letter from Rabbi Duetsch, which was written on the stationary of the United Jewish Communities of Belarus, seems to be the basis for Rabbi Osdoba’s ruling.
Rabbi Duetsch concludes the letter as follows: “her mother related to me that her daughter lives in Brooklyn, New York, that her name is Iryna and that she also has a nephew who lives there, but she does not know if her daughter works or has any connection with the Jews.”
As quoted above, Rabbi Osdoba ruled that the Matzos are kosher and that anyone who wishes to fulfill the mitzvah with more glory and care – which is indeed the custom for Pesach – is invited to purchase new matzos, with his own money.
Extra care and stringencies – but not on someone else’s account
This episode of suspicion which occurred at the bakery has disappointed many who have the custom be extra careful and stringent during Pesach.
“It is important that we remember: in the Torah chometz (leaven) is prohibited even in the smallest amount, how much more so the spilling of blood. Being extra stringent on the account of someone else’s blood is not glorification of the mitzvah. Rabbi Osdoba ruled that the matzos are kosher and that anyone who wishes to be more stringent should go buy other matzos. Along with this, we all have to know this clearly: it is prohibited to glorify and be stringent on the account of spilling blood. Whoever wants to do this, he is encouraged to go buy new matzohs,” said Rabbi Yosef Heller, member of the Beth Din and Dean of the Kollel Avarchim which is under the sponsorship of the Rebbe’s secretariat.
Rabbi Heller concluded, “No one is permitted to go to the owner of the bakery and demand from him new matzos because he originally sold him un-kosher ones. It is widely known that we are dealing with a mistaken occurrence and no bad intentions.”
kan tziva resident
I am in agreement with not killing tannenbaum over this, but I do think he should compensate the pepole in some way…eg, I bought my matza during his cash and carry sale. I feel he should at least sell everyone who did the same a few pounds of matza for the sedarim at that same price instead of raising the price, as I have heard he has done. This is rishus!
The mishna brura clearly states that one should not use matzo if a goy was involved in the process for the seder.
what would we all do if there was this problem with our wine???!!!.
ch resident
which lady is the one!?
i went to the matza bakery to help out.
i practically know all of them!
masmid
your translation is messed up so check it over. it says that the woman working in the bakery was born in 1935,in reality yhe letter says that her mother was born in 1935.
THE PROBLEM IS WORSE
FROM THE ABOVE ARTICLE:
According to the Code of Jewish Law, “One does not fulfill the obligation of matzah, only if it was kneaded, prepared and baked by a knowledgeable Jew who does it having in mind that it is matzah for Pesach.”
Is there one Russian lady in the Crown Heights matzoh bakery who is a “knowledgeable Jew who does it having in mind that it is matzah for Pesach?”
WHO IS KIDDING WHOM?
Huh?
Her mother told the Rabbi that her husband was a non-Jew who was appointed a senior officer in the Russian Army.
that this woman who was working in the bakery, was born in 1935
“At age 3 her mother died and she continued to live with her father. During the year 1943,she was told that her mother was a Jewish.“She has no substantial proof shows this.
OK a few questions. #1 is this woman’s mother alive or dead? unless i dont have any reading comprehension I think I read that the Shliach met with the woman’s mother and spoke to her. However I also read that the woman’s mother died when she was three so which one is it?
#2 Is anyone buying this? I mean she has absolutely no proof of anything she has said so what puts her BECHEZKAS KASHRUS? And to the point of relying on this for the communities Pesach! Aren’t we supposed to have the highest standards?
#3 Would Tennenbaum give these matzos to the rebbe for the seder.I am not looking to make another yid have a monetary loss but who ever said that you have to work for half a year? I work 12 months a year. we all work 12 months a year and we work very hard for our money so why should our money that we spent, thinking we were getting one product and ending up with quiet a different product not be worth to us? I mean if I bought an appliance from an electronic store and it was broken do we say “ hey you know the owner of the electronic store will take a loss if I get my money back so im going to keep the broken appliance??? of course not we take it back and dont think twice. So why should this be any different? he didnt provide what he said he was providing and I think each and every person who bought matzos is entitled to some sort of a refund. In whatever way will be determind to be satisfactory to the community. not tennenabum. and I understand what the rabonnim are trying to do by saying that the matzos are kosher for pesach so lets just enjoy pesach and afterwards we will figure out the money situation. They are thinking that people will be angry before pesach but once its over everyone will just say forget it leave him alone and next year will be different but that isnt gonna happen by me. If people think I am being to hard on him then i’ll finish with one last piece of food for thought. I wonder what the matzo bakery’s hiring practices for these women is. Do they pull a 15 passenger van up to Brighton Beach, open the back doors and tennenbaum is sitting in the back with a bull horn calling out to all the babushkehs ” whoever wants to work for minimum wage jump in” Thas what it seems to me cause I wonder how many of these women thru the years were not jewish that we didnt know about. They definately dont have a stringent screening process and I for one have had enough of this bakery.
P.s. Why should I suddenly listen to the rabonnim What gives them a sudden CHEZKAS KASHRUS? after all, all that they do is fight and argue all the time anyway so why should I listem to them? They arent an example for such a holy community anyway.
WHAT A JOKE
reader
There are so many cases of people who are Jewish but have little proof, people who are not Jewish and claim to be, etc. What can be done about it? Moshiach now!
Yisroel
I have two questions 1. weren’t there two ladies whose Jewishness were questionable? so what happened to the other one? 2. why is the letter from Bellaruss without a date? could it be that the date was deliberately ommitted in order to justify an after the fact justification for the “Psak” of Rabbi Osdoba!
john
it could of been alot worse (monsey) thank hashem were chassidim we are not impervious but we sure are better and keeping the lid on i heard in montreal they hire teenage boys to roll the dough for a nice amount of money and that it could be better bichlall nuu whats the story with the krechme? refuses to pay the high tax for the hechsher?? can that be done??
commentater
This so typical of chelm
Just so you know
People – including myself – go to the kretchme because we trust the owner who, as far as I know, is a trustworthy Jew.
But it is important to keep in mind that he, in turn, is trusting his Mexican workers to follow kashrus guidelines while he is not there, as there is no mashgiach temidi.
Case in point: A friend of mine happened to go in to the kretchme on a Friday morning and was the only customer. The Mexican worker asked him to come to the back to take challah which he did.
This got me thinking: Had they been prepared to start working on that batch of dough, yet no Jew walked in for 30 minutes, would they have waited and waited or would they eventually have just made the pizza with the dough from which challah was not taken?
The owner, I am sure, asks the workers if challah was taken. He trusts their answer and we trust in his trust of his employees.
So in conclusion at the end of the day, the REAL “mashgiach” is the Mexican worker who the owner trusts to keep the kosher guidelines when he is not present.
However, I admit that I continue to patronize the kretchme. Best vegetable calzone.
sara
Are the workers in other matza bakeries all shomer shabbos? Would our matza prices go up if that is who our matza bakery, exclusively?
i think
i think the ladies mother lost her mother when she was three years old. this ladies mother found out she was jewish after her non-jewish father died. now she told rabbi dautch that since she is jewish so is her daughter.
C-H member
I like the way every one is so concerned about keeping the MITZVAH in the HALACAH way he can. let me ask you. Half you people out there don’t really care. as if you did really care what’s with the HALACHAH of talking LOSHEN HORAH and MACHLOKOS and the way woman your wife’s & daughters dress the HALACHAH does not apply to you in that way only with MATZAH?
mr. r.
oooooo how nice. very well put
ayl
blood?
i shouldn’t ask for part of my money back being that rabbi ozdoba said if we want to be mehader we should not use these matzos by seder?
we bought there because we thought it was mehader.
turns out its not.
my blood and my money is more important.
chai’echo koidmin.
i dont understand rabbi heller.
yeh right!
money talks and all the rest walks
clarification
is the mother dead or alive????????????????
helping for pesach
Attention all of you time wasters:
why didnt anyone think of this question, if the lady is jewish than what is the inyan of being mehudar its like all the other rollers
ayl
a hidur is one thing a chisaron kis is another.
tennabaum and the BD are RESPONSABLE
its their responisibility to return part of the money.
and not our responsiblity to give away our hard earned money because they made a mistake.
why should we pay for someone elses mistakes?
we bought and he sold al daas its MEHUDAR
it is their responsiblity to make sure everything is MEHADER
Guy with his head screwed on straight
To C-H member and mr. r
Fisrt off, why dont you guys learn how to read and write and spell please.
Secondly, before you post your comment proof read it and be sure that it make sense to those who read it, after all we dont reside in your brain so therefore we dont know what it was you were thinking when you wrote your comment.
Now on to your comment; what you are saying makes absolutely not one shred of sense. You have alot of chutzpah to question peoples motives in regard to their concerns about the halachos!
Whatever comes out of this whole fiasco the one thing that is for sure is that the hiddur of these so-called matzos has been compromised. As such, for those who spent alot of money on this DREK (me included) so that we would be able to have OISGEHALTENE matzos, we got jipped. WE DIDNT GET WHAT WE PAID FOR. True we have matzos but we might as well have bought them in Associated for 1.99 a box! Thats how MEHUDAR these Matzos are. So I think we have every right to A: be upset B: want part of our money back C: to question the Hiddur of them D: to discuss it and vent becuase we all know we wont be gettin gour money back so this is our chance to vent.
and lastly, what is the connection between the matzos and tznius? Do you know the people who are posting? ITS ANONONYMOUS. The people writing could have the best daughters in Crown Heights with the highest standards of tznius and your comment then would be pretty rediculous. Or the people writing could have daughters that wear mini skirts. WHO KNOWS???? Maybe they dont even have daughters or kids! in short HER OIF ZEIN A TZADIK AFF YENEM’S CHEZHBAN
paisee
A little respect for the rabbonim!
If you want to do something about it good you dont have to spread Loshon Hara around the whole world.
The Vatican
These Rabonnim are a joke. They are so bought off its unbelievable. For the right price they will tell us the Pope is Jewish! On a side note have any of of you guys seen these Flatbush Rabonnim running, falling all over them selves, running to the defense of that Molester, Kolko? Whats it all about one may ask? Why would a seemingly smart person defend a sicko like that? The answer of course is Money Money Money! They all stand to lose lots of Mullah, all because their little sicko friend there couldnt keep his hands to himself. So they defend him, to save their own tuchoses they defend him. Because if its proven that he did these heinous deeds then Torah Temimah will be forced to close down due to the financial hit they will take. And when it closes thses creeps know that their gravy train will have come to a screeching halt, so they defend him. Until they find out that one of their own family was molested, then they wont defend him anymore because family is thicker then money!
In short if you wanna know the motivation for any ruling that the Rabonnim make dont open the Shulchan Aruch to find the source for their Psak Check out their Stock Portfolio!
out-of-towner
to all the nasty commenters: are your MOUTHS kosher with all the loshon hora coming out?
many are “worried” about how mehudar the matzo is, yet have no problems shmearing the rabbonim…?
irony?
Confused
. Instead of “Ending the Problem,” like the heading writes, I found this whole article even more confusing. Is it just me, or does it make no sense? It first says that:
“After searching through the records of the Jewish Community in Minsk, Rabbi Deutsch located Iryna’s mother who goes by the name of MANTUZAUA LUBOU.”
Then, a few lines later, it says:
“At age 3 her mother died and she continued to live with her father. During the year 1943, around which time her father went to war and died in battle, she was told that her mother was a Jewish.”
So is she alive or dead? Jewish on not. The following linE makes no sense and makes things more confusing:
“She has no substantial proof shows this, and she also does not know her mother’s maiden name.”
Can someone explain this? So was anything confirmed. All I got out of it was that her father isn’t definitely a Goy, and her maybe may be alive or dead, Jewish or a goy? Help me out here!
elchonon
There was once a time that bochurim used to bake matza, I think that itsd you balabatim who are to blame! get of your tuches and go bake your own matza…so nu you wont have time to surf the net..
Appreciative
I appreciate the fact that we are allowed to“Buy more Matzos with our own money”
howabout
to me Rabbi Heller has always been a woos.
Thousands of people spent thousands of dollars. is that not blood money? How does Rabbi Heller not see the injustice and lack of responsibility on the part of the owner, mashgichim. hashgocho etc how is all that and all of them not responsible for anything and I have to worry about shfichas domim of the owners money.?
Bill Oreilly
HAHAHAHAHAHA
They think were fools and don’t know the truth …The truth is that 2 women were NOT Jewish, the original story is the truth everything after that is SPIN and lies.
Shame on them to screw us with a smile on their faces.
At least give us the truth that the ruling was made to save Tannenbaum from losing money, Please don’t try serve us up this plate of BS and expect us to buy it.
We have no choice for this year, its to late, but I HOPE FOR NEXT YEAR WE SHOW THEM AND GO ELSEWHERE TO BUY OUR HIGHLY PRICED MATZOS THAT ARE BACKED BY JEWS
New Bakery
we need a new Matzha bakery, now is the perfect time to start one if someone has the cash to start one do it now because we all had enough.
Rabbi Dubrafsky (Former Bakery partner)
I sold my share in the bakery at the right time. After the horrible matzos last year and this year with the shikzah this year I am not buying my Matzoa here anymore I am going someplace else. where they take care of you as a customer and sell you kosher Matzos.
WE NEED CHANGE NOW!!
HUH?? is right on the money (pun intended!!) It’s all to do with $$$…THEIRS, not OURS!
Shimshon & Martha OBM, the true Tzaddikim of CH, gave out THOUSANDS of dollars to help regular people, here in CH, our NEIGHBORS for G-d’s sake, make Pesach. Ordinary people like me have to hand over $20.00 a pound for cardboard. And we do so because we believe the “Rabbis”, bakery workers etc that the matzas we buy are Mehuddar. we could buy 18 minute MACHINE matzas for….how much?? But we don’t.
And the arrogance of the Rabbis to basically tell us all to get lost, too bad on you (us).
HOW DARE THEY!!!
Let THEM pay everyone who went & bought from other places after this eye-opener, if Rabbi T. won’t.
And I still say she’s a goy. It’s all too convenient, isn’t it!! the explanation doesn’t make sense.
Actually, none of them make sense. Neither do we, putting up with this garbage.
PS…Schwei & the others are VERY quiet on all this. WHY???
Open minded
If anyone was ever in any matza bakery other than CH, you would relize how inefficiant, unsanitary, non-mehudar and uncomfortable CH bakery really is. There are other bakeries that are much better in all these aspects and they treat you like a mench, not like they’re doing you the biggest favor by letting you guy matza from them. Think out of the box.
CH-ER
to ayl,
you are right on. at the end of the day are there going to be any repercussions for the ownership of the bakery or the bais din or anyone else involved in those aspects of the hierarchy or will it be as usual the customers will get screwed?
and appreciative is right too. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PERMISSION TO BUY NEW MATZOS NOW I FEEL BETTER.
at the end of the line there is one thing that matters and that is that people did not get what they paid for. its that simple! If we all knew that these matzos are no better than the supermarket’s would anyone have bought it then? of course not.
THERE HAS TO REPERCUSSIONS AGAINST THOSE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS. IT CANNOT GO UNPUNISHED AND LEAVE ALL THE CONSUMERS HANGING HIGH AND DRY. THERE HAS TO BE RESTITUTION
out of towner
why didn’t they do all the research on their employess before hiring????
this is crazy….people should not have to buy matzah again with thier own money, but be refunded.
i guess thats why i buy my matzos in Boro Park….and have been doing that for years….
GABa D on the web
With all due respect, the same Beis Din that gives the hechsher can’t be the one the paskens on the money issues. They are a party to the dispute (nogeah bedavar) so there is a conflict of interests.
I don’t see the issue of being “mehadrin” it says clearly that one doesn’t fullfill the obligation it doesn’ t say “behidur”. So it’s very poshut when a company makes a mistake that causes a loss to the customers the company must absorb the loss otherwise it’s not right. The people paid not only for the matzoh but for the “hashgacha” and now it turns out that the whole hashgacha is worthless. So at least part of the money should be refunded, at least enough to allow to replace all the matzohs needed for leil haseider. No need to be a GABa”D to come to this conclusion.
hashgochah is BS
to “just so you know”:
to me having a mexican who is scared to lose his job if things are not done kosher is worth a lot more than having a “mashgiach” who is scared to speak up when things are not kosher because he is afraid of losing his job.
an
to john check your facts about montreal teenage boys are hired true but for other jobs
kashrus
I hear the name Rabonim being mentioned continuously as if to imply that this Hechsher is part of the Beis Din Of Crown Heights.
Let it be known that the CHK is NOT a communal Hechsher and is NOT under the Bes Din of CH. It is only under the supervision of Rabbi Ozdoba and it in fact is waging a war against the Beis Din. The CHK is currently privately owned without any Community ties whatsoever. it is for that reason that there is no siyata dishmaya and all these “accidents” are happening there.
joseph
exactly if you guys are so strickt about the Halocho then what about tzeeus and besids WHATCH YOUR MOUTH\LANGUAGE
P.S. say Yechi and everything will be o.k.
proud meshschist
Rochelle
Buddy up there, don’t talk about Montreal when you do not know what you are talking about!
PPL who run the Matza Bakery here are upstanding and besides if you actually learned the laws instead od surfing the net you would know that their is nothing wrong with a Bochur baking matzos. He can also think about it being for Pesach,can’t he?
At least our Montreal boys can.
yankel
bh
#1 in the torah it says that one must listen to rabbonim regardless…
#2 if you have a problem with the owner of the matza bakery than take him to beis din yourself, not r’chilus on the internet or any other place for that matter
#3 it is explained in chasidus that the inyan of matza is bitul, that is the pnimiyus of the mitzva, do you think that any of this rchilus will help your bittul???
so why dont you sit down learn some chasidus and work it out like a chosid the way the rebbe likes it
Yisroel
Who was responsible to screen out non Jewish women in previous years? Is there anyone who can vouch that no shiksas were rolling the matzos in previous years? or even this year? has anyone seen a letter from the Rabbonim who are giving the hechsher that this problem has been corrected? So if you want to be mehader and buy more matzos don’t buy it here.
confused
I DONT UNDERSTAND-IS THE WOMEN JEWISH OR NOT? IF YES THEN WHY WOULD IT BE A PROBLEM? WHY ISNT IT MIHUDAR?
concerned for CH
do you all realize how incredibly selfish your being? and its against your fellow man AND G-d! yes money is incredibly difficult to get these days but if your spenifg it to glorify the seder, and your doing it in order to allieviate another jews pain than you can be sure that hashem will repay you. and im pretty sure that all who wrote a comment against our rabbanim were not the ones who are going to take action. not because the ones who are actually going to purchase mehuder matzos are the ones who REALLY cant afford them but are not making a big stink out of it. so stop smelling up the messege boards and go buy a couple more matzos. and please try not to hurt anyone else on the way! thank you!
give me a break
to joseph
joseph: you are wrong if i say yechi i can walk the streets without any clothing cause its gonna be moshiach’s tzeiten! you are really mental midget.
and there is no connection between the two issues as “guy with head” said. I cant figure out why all the people that have nothing to say always complain about other problems instead of focusing on one issue. Just because some people dont dress appropriately does that mean its ok for the matzah bakery to cheat us? How stupid! Enough with the people that say “what about tznius” yea what about it?? when the babushkeh dont dress tznius then we can say what about tznius!
FREE THINKER
TO YANKEL
ITS TIME TO GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE SAND AND WAKE UP. #1 in the torah it says that one must listen to rabbonim regardless. PLEASE! THESE RABONNIM LISTEN TO THE TORAH ABOUT AS OFTEN AS IRAQ USED TO LISTEN TO THE U.N. SO THEREFORE WHATEVER THEY SAY IS WORTHLESS. AND ON #3 I WANT TO POINT OUT TO YOU THAT EVEN THE REBBE WOULD GET INVOLVED IN COMMUNAL MATTERS AND NOT SAY JUST OPEN YOUR SEFER BECAUSE ONE MUST ALWAYS BALANCE HIS LIFE BETWEEN THE TWO WORLDS AND THIS MATZH ISSUE IS A PHYSICAL ISSUE THAT MUST BE DEALT WITH ONTHIS PLANET. IT WONT BE SOLVED BY OPENING THE LIKKUTEI TORAH (EVEN THOUGH IF WE ALL LEARNED A MAMMER IT WOULD VERY NICE) SO IN CLOSING I’LL SAY THAT IF THE REBBE WERE B’GUF GASHMI AND HE SAID THE MATZOS WERE OK, THEN THAT WOULD PUT AN END TO THIS WHOLE DEBATE BUT SINCE IT WAS THE RABONNIM WHO SAID IT,AND WHAT THEY SAY IS WORTHLESS, THAT MAKES THIS DEBATE CONTINUE. AND TO A CERTAIN DEGREE, THE RABONNIM SAYING THAT THE MATZO IS OK ACTUALLY MADE PEOPLE EVEN MORE SKEPTICLE CAUSE EVEN THE RABONNIM’S BIGGEST SUPPORTERS CANT DENY THAT THEY ARE A DYSFUNCTIONAL GROUP THAT ALWAYS FIGHTS WITH EACH OTHER (FOR SHAME) AND OF COURSE THAT HAS CAUSED THEM TO LOSE ALOT OF THE COMMUNITIES RESPECT! NAD BY THE WAY STOP TRYING TO QUELL DEMOCRACY BY SAYING EVERY ONE STOP TALKING ETC. EVERYONE MUST LISTEN TO EVERYTHING THE RABONNIM SAY ETC. WE ARE NOT SHEEP GOING TO THE SLAUGHTER, WE DO HAVE A RIGHT TO HAVE AN OPINION NO MATTER WHAT RABBI OSDOBA SAYS. #1 HIS RELIABILITY HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE SHAKY #2 WE KNOW HOW TO LEARN ALSO AND ITS SAYS HEIPACH FROM WHAT HE PASKINED MAKING IT SEEM LIKE IT WAS FINANCIALY MOTIVATED!!!!
annoyed in CH
1. So let’s see: a woman named “Ivanova” claims her father told her when she was 3 years old that her mother was Jewish. And this is to be taken seriously? In this day and age when Russian goim are constantly pretending to be Jewish just to be able to come to Israel or to get assistance from Jewish organizations of various stripes?
2. From the psak of Rabbi Ozdoba it is clear that he does not consider this woman to be a muchzekes as a Jewess. For if he did, there would be no hidur in buying any other matzos, would there?
3. The owner of the bakery paid good money for the hechsher, which has to cover all aspects, including the vetting procedures of potential employees. Assuming those vetting procedures where followed, the responsibility (financial and any other kind) has to fall on the issuer of the hechsher.
4. It would be nice (minimally respectful) in this case for the bais din to issue a proper psak, complete with mekoros and reasoning. Not to mention that the Rebbe clearly and repeatedly said that Rabbonim must answer to “mehechan dantuni” questions.
Yishmael
Who Knew that matzos need to be made by Jews, in previous years.Did you inquire about it, perhaps? or did you find our that Matzos have to be Lishmah, from the Internet?
An interested onlooker
Dear Concerned for CH,
Business is really business. Sometimes you make money and sometimes you make lots of money.
Sometimes you lose money and sometimes, lots of money. Those are the risks a business owner must take.
Mr Tenebaum doesn’t give money back after a particularly good season, because he is in business and made a good investment in the Matzo bakery.
This season it didn’t work out. The bottom line is that he sold merchandise, advertised as one thing, and it turned out, unfortunately, to be something else.
It truly is a shame and a Rachmonus. However, until he agrees to give back some of his profits in future years when things will be good, IYH, out of Yasrus, he should make some financial restitution this year.
illiterate
I think we should reverse the roles. We should put the men to clean the house and shop. A WOMAN or group of WOMEN should open a new Matzah Bakery. The men have zero YIRAS SHAMAYIM.Allof them
IN Conclusion:
Now its my turn to say something.
#1 Thank you to GABa D and yankel they seem to be the only ones who recognize the real issues.
#2 if the rabbanim say that the lady is jewish then there is no problem with the matzoh.its the same as getting your matzoh in boro park!
#3 It would be nice to see additional mature, and wise, clean opinions in this forum
#4 ATT: Webby maybe we can get this letter retranslated. This would clarify many points. it seems that it wasnt translated into english properly.
#5 I wish you all a chag kosher (mehudar) vesamayach
schmaltz Galore and more
TO ALL YOU MATZAH BALLS OUT THERE:
A GUTEN SHABBOS! ENJOY YOUR KASHE, KUGEL AND FLEISH.
MERRY PASSOVER! ENJOY YOUR PASCHAL LAMB.
Anonymous
If there are many other workers doing the same job as this woman at the same time, then the potentially-problematic matzos should all be fine, as bittul b’rov on yoveish b’yoveish min b-mino should apply.