[Avodah] re Halachic guidlines for kashrut

[Lisa Liel]

On 11/29/2011 4:22 PM, martin brody wrote:
> I'm sorry, Lisa, but I disagree with you. "Community" standards may be 
> relevant to a shteitel in Poland, but in a city like Los Angeles with 
> hundreds of thousands of Jews, which community standards? Whose 
> community standards?

> In fact we all have an obligation to learn halacha and not rely on a 
> Rabbi's pronouncements what is kosher or not. The fact that many have 
> spent years studying Talmud and can't figure out whether something is 
> kosher or not does not speak well.

Which community standards? The community you identify with. And I'm 
sorry, but you aren't entitled to disagree about this. Not within the 
bounds of Orthodox Judaism.

I'm aware of any number of annoying stories like the gelatin one. I'm 
aware that Rav Moshe pasked that peanuts were not kitniyot and could be 
eaten on Pesach and that it was an attitude of creeping chumraism that 
resulted in his being effectively ignored. I'm aware of the problem and 
it is a problem. But the solution isn't to throw it all away, which is 
what you are suggesting, whether you think so or not.

Lisa