[Avodah] Kashrus

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

There are several very different reasons why I might not trust the kashrus of the food that someone gives to me. Let me list a few:

- He might be trustworthy, but I cannot rely on him because technically his edus is pasul.

- He might be trustworthy, but his lack of knowledge makes it likely that he will make mistakes.

- He might have a reputation for being *not* trustworthy.

When trying to decide whether or not to rely on someone, he should carefully consider exactly what his reasons are. And then, he should ask himself, "Are these fears reasonable or not? Am I exercising an appropriate amount of caution, or am I going overboard?" I'm not saying that an abundance of caution is a bad thing, but a person should be honest with himself and try to know the difference between what is required and what is not.

Rav Moshe Feinstein has an interesting teshuva in Igros Moshe YD 1:54, where he discusses a situation regarding whether or not to trust the kashrus of a well-intentioned, but non-frum, person. I found it very interesting that he approached this question ONLY from the perspectives of ne'emanus and trust, and never once did he worry about the mistakes that this person might make.

I wrote much more on this topic in Avodah Digest 9:68, at http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol09/v09n068.shtml#07

DISCLAIMER: some people have misunderstood my position, so I must emphasize: I do not advocate that we should all follow bare-bones minimum halachos. Doing more than is required is very often recommended or even actually required (despite the apparent contradiction). The main point which I'm trying to make is that we should all learn the difference between what is required and what is more than required, and that we not look down on others who choose to do only the minimum requirement.

Akiva Miller

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