The appointment of special assistant district attorneys in the counties of the state of New York where considerable Jewish groups live for the enforcement of the New York State Kosher Law was asked in a resolution adopted at a conference of Kashruth boards in Greater New York.
Two hundred delegates, representing 25 Orthodox synagogues and 21 Kashruth boards, voluntary organizations functioning in the various boroughs of New York City, were present at a conference convoked by the Kashruth Association of New York State, held at the Congregation Derech Emunah, Arverne, Long Island. Samuel Israel, president of the association, presided and Thomas F. Dwyer, Commissioner of Public Markets, and Homer Welch, Supervisor of Public Markets, were among the speakers. Other recommendations aimed toward evolving a uniform method of marketing kosher foodstuffs and kosher meat. The establishment of a chemical laboratory was also urged.
The ingenuity employed by some New York butchers catering to the needs of the Jewish population in circumventing the New York State law was brought to the attention of the authorities recently with the arrest of Oscar Glassberg, New York butcher, who had a sign on the window of his butcher shop reading in Hebrew: “Bosher Bosher.”
Under the provisions of the New York Kosher Law all meat shops having on their windows the sign “Bosher Kosher” (kosher meat) must sell only kosher meat. Those who display the sign “kosher” and sell non-kosher meat are guilty of fraud. The difference between the Hebrew letter equivalent to the English “B” and “K” are indistinguishable from a distance. Mr. Glassberg, who sold non-kosher meat, it was charged, displayed on the windown of his ship the sign “Bosher “Bosher Bosher,” (meat, meat), instead of the prescribed “Bosher Kosher.” (kosher meat). Glassberg was released on bail pending trial for fraud.
Rabbis testifying at the preliminary proceedings stated that the Bosher Bosher sign might mislead some into believing that the meats sold in the shop are kosher.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
