As Kosher Awareness Grows, More Make the Switch Even When Eating Out

MINNETONKA, MN — When Leslie Paskoff of Minnetonka, Minnesota, recently invited some friends to her kitchen table, it was a “going kosher” party. Guests peeled stickers off of new kitchen tools, and helped organize kitchen cabinets, separating dairy and meat utensils. Dr. Paskoff tried to avoid the Rabbi’s blowtorch and keep his cool.

Two weeks later, Dr. Paskoff “feels very good about it.” His strictly kosher home was a work in progress for over a year, as he and his wife debated the merits and complications of going kosher. The Paskoffs were first attracted to the idea after joining their local Chabad Shul run by Rabbi and Mrs. Mordechai Grossbaum. They were touched, they say, “by the warmth of the Chabad philosophy,” and slowly grew in their observance. The family attends shul and classes regularly and has become more Shabbat observant.

The next step, they felt, was going kosher.

The Paskoffs are representative of a continuing trend that started with Chabad’s kosher awareness drive launched by the Rebbe back in 1975. Ever since, Chabad Shluchim focus much of their outreach on the education and practice of kashrut, generating interest and consumption of kosher food.

The big surprises that come with keeping a kosher kitchen, says Dr. Paskoff, are the little details that crop up: a hechsher, kosher certification, is needed even on soap (Brillo, they learned along the way, is not kosher). He is excited to raise his children with something he didn’t have growing up, even when things get hairy. And even though he won’t admit it, says Dr. Paskoff, his 80-year old father who grew up religious but left it years ago, is secretly pleased.

With a kosher store in close proximity, and his rabbi merely a phone call away, Dr. Paskoff feels confident that he and his family will be able to keep all the laws of kashrut.

Article continued (Lubavitch.com)