[Avodah] Mar'is Ayin and Personal Standards

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Feb 09, 2010 at 01:12:09PM +0000, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: R' Rich Wolpoe asked:
: > ... the owner will not permit us to use boxes from unkosher
: > products or even kosher dairy products. [This is a kosher
: > fleishig Chinese Restaurant] It seems he has a very strong
: > sense of mar'is ayin and is afraid that boxes from unkosher
: > products or from dairy products will hurt his restaurant's
: > kashrus reputation.

: > Are his mar'is ayin standards over the top? Is there any
: > halachic reason for him to think that way?

: Why do you ask if there is a *halachic* reason for him to think
: that way? He doesn't need any *halachic* reason. It seems to me that
: for questions of Mar'is Ayin, a *sociological* reason would be quite
: sufficient.

I'll go one step further... Is the owner saying he think it's assur to use
those boxes? It sounds to me like he's saying it's simply bad marketing.
I see RRW's post, like some of the cases in the discussion of policy vs
taqanah, as blurring the distinction between a tactical decision with
a halachic one. (That's not to say he is; just that it's how it looks to
me.)

E.g. When the OU did away with OU-DE, they didn't say that milchig
keilim ought to have the same din as milchig ingrediants. Rather, they
felt that for tactical reasons, given that much information posed a
nichshal that just wasn't worth it. The question wasn't on the halachic
level altogether.

And neither is this owner's worry about his restaurant's reputation
imply that he actually feels those who jump to conclusions force a
mar'is ayin and thus an issur on using the boxes.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The fittingness of your matzos [for the seder]
micha at aishdas.org        isn't complete with being careful in the laws
http://www.aishdas.org   of Passover. One must also be very careful in
Fax: (270) 514-1507      the laws of business.    - Rav Yisrael Salanter