OK Kosher Certification’s 8th Annual Mashgichim Conference

On Monday, November 20, 2006, over 100 mashgichim and rabbinic coordinators convened for OK Kosher Certifications’ 8th Annual Mashgichim Conference – a day of learning and professional development. The rabbis represented thousands of manufacturing facilities and 250,000 kosher certified products. An exciting day of conferencing, in a private hall in the heart of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY, was capped off with a delicious lunch, catered by OK supervised Crown Heights Bunch-O-Bagels and More.

The conference, once again magnificently coordinated by OK Rabbinic Coordinator Rabbi Chaim Fogelman and Dina Orron, was designed to provide the mashgichim with important and enlightening kashrus related information, in a friendly and comfortable atmosphere. Indeed, the Mashgichim, coming from as far as Australia, Israel, Thailand, Venezuela and Belgium including all of our USA representatives, delighted in each other’s company and bonded as if one family.

The theme of this year’s conference was “Taking A Closer Look At Kosher.” To go along with the theme, upon registration, participants were handed a cream bag, embossed with a green OK logo, and filled with OK binoculars, the OK Vegetable Checking Guide, an OK magnifying glass, and the latest issue of Kosher Spirit magazine.

The conference commenced promptly at 10:00 AM with remarks from OK Kosher Certification’s Kashrus Administrator Rabbi Don Yoel Levy, followed by a series of informative lectures and stories from the field. Program topics included: Anatomy of a Group 1, presented by Rabbi Yitzchak Gornish; Establishing Control of a Certified Facility, presented by Rabbi Yitzchak Hanoka; Halachic Issues with Pre-Checked Vegetables, presented by the Belzer Dayan, HaRav Usher Anshel Eckstein, shlit”a; The Importance of Having a Mashgiach Temidi, presented by the Av Beis Din of Kehillah Meged Yehuda, HaRav Yehudah Meshulem Dov Polatchek, shlit”a; and, a captivating presentation about producing bug-free vegetables by Mr. Refael Perlmutter, CEO of our featured company, Golden Taste. A highlight of the conference was a hands-on demonstration on how to inspect vegetables for insects, conducted by Rabbi Ungar, the mashgiach at Golden Taste. Two OK Mashgichim, Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin (Ohio) and Rabbi Dovid Reznick (Georgia) were featured for their extensive contributions to OK Kosher Certification and their dedication to our rigorous standard of Kashrus. In addition, Rabbi Shimon Lasker, OK E.U. Representative, was honored for his contributions to raising the standard of kashrus worldwide.

The event was both exciting and rewarding, allowing the visiting Mashgichim to interact personally and professionally with the OK’s home team of Rabbinic coordinators and with key members of the OK office staff.