“Peace” within the Kosher butcher retail trade, affecting the conduct of 3,500 Kosher butcher shops within the Metropolitan area, with a view of establishing an effective community supervision plan for the sale of Kosher meat in compliance with the biblical dietary laws, was achieved yesterday, according to an announcement issued by Samuel Rottenberg, President of the Kashruth Association of Greater New York.
An agreement was concluded between the Kashruth Association, representing the Orthodox Rabbinate of the city, as well as numerous elements interested in the solution of the Kosher food problem, and the Master Kosher Butchers Association, Inc., the dissenting group which carried on a vigorous opposition to the community supervision plan introduced by the Kashruth Association on January 1, 1933, through the medium of a Uniform Kosher Sign.
The opposition gave up its fight and agreed to recommend to its membership of approximately 1,200 butchers, to accept the Uniform Kosher Sign of the Rabbinical authority under an agreement reached between the two bodies, which is paving the way for the realization of the extensive community supervision plan of the production and distribution of Kosher food articles in the City of New York. Under the terms of the agreement which was ratified by the Board of Directors of the Kashruth Association and by a general meeting of the Master Kosher Butchers Association, held Tuesday evening in Clinton Hall the Butchers Association “accepts the supervision and control of the Kashruth Association in all matters of Kashruth and the observance of ritual or other requirements under Jewish law and tradition” for the purpose of protecting the Jewish people of Greater New York against abuses concerned with. Kashruth and for the purpose of assuring the Jewish public that the Kosher foods which they purchase are Kosher and fit for consumption in accordance with the highest religious and ritual standards.
The Master Kosher Butchers Association is, under the terms of the agreement, recognized as “the trade association in the Kosher retail meat industry in Greater New York” which may be recommended for all Kosher butchers to join.
As a protection of the interests of the individual butcher, the agreement stipulates that in cases of complaint against any members of the Butchers Association concerning a violation of the Kosher laws, the Kashruth Association may “after a due hearing (by three Rabbis) and upon sufficient cause to it appearing, cancel or revoke its Certificate of Kashruth or take such disciplinary action against any holder of its Certificate as may seem to it desirable.” The Master Kosher Butchers Association was given the right, however, that a committee of three of its members may be present at such hearings.
One of the important provisions in the agreement is the undertaking of the Master Kosher Butchers Association to accept or retain, after February 1st, when the agreement goes into effect, only such members who have been qualified by the Kashruth Association as being entitled to obtain a certificate on the basis of which the sale of Kosher meat may be conducted.
William Greenwald, president of the butchers’ group, called upon the members of the Master Kosher Butchers Association yesterday to file applications with the Kashruth Association for the issuance of individual certificates to them.
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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.
