Just in time for Passover preparation, OU Kosher’s ASK OU Outreach program will again take its show on the road, this time to New Haven, where under the auspices of the Yeshiva of New Haven, it will present a kashrut (kosher) education seminar on the campus of Yale University. The seminar will be held on Sunday, March 14 at 8:00 p.m. at the Slifka Center, 80 Wall Street.
ASK OU Outreach, made possible by funding from the Harry H. Beren Foundation of Lakewood, NJ, brings senior OU Kosher rabbis to a variety of audiences across the Orthodox spectrum to share with them their expertise on the finer points of Jewish kosher law.
According to Rabbi Dov Greer of the Yeshiva of New Haven and its affiliate synagogue, a significant component of the Jewish community of New Haven is connected to Yale University, as advanced graduate/medical and law school students as well as faculty, many of whom send their children to the Yeshiva of New Haven and attend services there. He termed the Yale segment “the anchor of the community.”
“I’m very pleased that the yeshiva can bring ASK OU Outreach to New Haven just before Passover for what will certainly be a stimulating session,” Rabbi Greer declared.
For the past decade there has been a major Orthodox Union presence at Yale, noted Rabbi Yosef Grossman, Director of Kashrut Education for OU Kosher. During that time, the OU, together with Hillel, has sponsored the Heshe and Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC), a program in which a young rabbi and his wife, known as Torah Educators, present a variety of religious and social activities, primarily directed at undergraduates, to recreate the atmosphere of the yeshiva on a secular campus. The current Torah Educators are Rabbi Jason and Meira Rappoport. JLIC is found at 15 campuses across the United States and Canada.
“We are extremely pleased that the OU Kosher experts have been invited to meet the kashrut educational needs of this intellectually advanced community,” declared Rabbi Grossman. “We have a great deal of pride that we will be dealing with the prestige of Yale and the entire New Haven community, which plays such an important role in the success of the Yeshiva of New Haven.
Seminar sessions will include:
• Preparing a Hotel to be Kosher for Pesach and Yom Tov Sheini, with Rabbi Dov Schreier, OU Rabbinic Coordinator and Director of Food Service; and
• The Struggle to Preserve our Tradition: Birds You Never Imagined Were Kosher, with Rabbi Chaim Loike, OU Rabbinic Coordinator for Organics. The session will include a live bird showing, always a source of delight and amazement at ASK OU sessions.
The suggested donation to attend is $5. For more information, call Sima Greer at 203-909-0307.