[Avodah] Glatt Yosher?

[David Cohen]

I don't know if anybody has brought this up on Areivim already (and if
so, the moderator can feel free to block this post), but there is an
organization here in Israel, B'Maagalei Tzedek, which does provide a
"yashrus" certification -- called the "tav chevrati" -- to
restaurants.

See http://www.tav.org.il/abouttav.asp

I think that this is a wonderful idea, and would love to see their
efforts succeed.  However, here is the difficulty:

When it comes to kashrus, we are concerned with the spiritual damage
(in the more mystical or more rational sense of the word, as you
prefer) that will come to us as individuals by eating non-kosher food,
so we will abide by a policy of eating only in certified-kosher
restaurants, even if there is only a very small selection of them.

When it comes to yashrus, on the other hand, while there may be an
argument to be made for individual spiritual damage being caused by
eating "non-yosher food," there's not the same kind of black-and-white
issur/heter issue, as the primary impact is on the societal level.
Thus, I suspect that many people would be willing to adopt a policy of
eating only in "yosher-certified" establishments if there were a large
enough selection of them that such a policy would not mean severely
restricting one's dining choices.  Only once a large number of people
adopted such a policy would it have substantial societal impact.

Unfortunately, this is a catch-22, since it is only if large numbers
of people adopt such a policy that large numbers of restaurants will
feel the economic pressure to "go yosher."

--D.C.