June 8, 2006
OU KOSHER INTRODUCES KosherProfessionals.com WEBSITE FOR THOSE IN THE FIELD OF KOSHER CERTIFICATION
The Kosher Division of the Orthodox Union, which already maintains the oukosher.org website with its multiplicity of features for general audiences as well as for companies, has created a website specifically for professionals, to provide insights into the increasingly complex and changing field of kosher certification.
The new website, www.KosherProfessionals.com, will utilize the resources of the entire OU Kosher Division, including its 50 Rabbinic Coordinators, based at OU headquarters in New York; its two poskim, or halachic (Jewish law) decisors, Rabbi Hershel Schachter and Rabbi Yisroel Belsky; as well as the hundreds of OU Rabbinic Field Representatives all over the world.
“This website is a monumental achievement and a valuable resource,” declared Rabbi Menachem Genack, Chief Executive Officer of OU Kosher. “The OU is the industry leader in the world of kosher. We work with other kosher agencies and local va’adim (rabbinic organizations) to raise the standards of kosher in America and throughout the world. The new website will provide the kind of information that kosher professionals and other interested individuals will find informative and extremely helpful in keeping up with the changes in products and processes that impact on kosher certification and the halachic implications of these developments.”
The site includes both audio shiurim (lectures) and articles on a range of topics. These include technical articles, information about the latest changes in equipment and food technology, halachic questions, and practical solutions to issues that arise in kosher supervision.
The website is directed at four audiences:
• Kashrut professionals, both from OU Kosher and other agencies, to help them in their work of kosher supervision;
• Semicha (rabbinical) students and talmidei chachamim (students of Talmud) in general, who are interested in the practical world of halachah and the application of centuries of Jewish law to modern technology;
• Community rabbis, who can use the site as a resource for lecturing to their community and answering the questions of their congregants; and
• The general public, for a behind-the-scenes look at the intricate and complicated world of kosher supervision.
The website is now available online. It is supervised by Rabbi Yonatan Kaganoff, OU Rabbinic Coordinator. He can be reached at 212-613-8283 or kagany@ou.org.