[Avodah] Tzarich Iyun: Glatt Kosher

[Prof. Levine via Avodah]

At 12:55 PM 1/17/2017, Micha Berger wrote:

>The history RAZZ doesn't discuss is the era in which the Mafia took over
>the kosher meat business.

Timothy Lytton in his book Kashrus relates some of this history. It 
is worth reading.  There were also rabbonim whose hechshers on meat 
meant almost nothing when it came to kashrus.  The claim is that at 
least 40% of the meat sold in the 1930s and 1940s as kosher was not kosher.


>In Boston, it drove my greatgrandfather (R' Yisrael Avraham Abba [Meir
>Simchah] Krieger, 1872-1931) to an early grave. And when RYBS took over
>a year later, there was a mess for him to clean up.

I do not know what you are referring to here,  but I do know that two 
outstanding talmidei chachomim who resided in the Boston area gave 
supervision to Morrison and Schiff delicatessen which many Orthodox 
people in the Boston area would not eat.  The late Bostoner 
Rebbe,  Rabbi Levi Horowitz,  Z"L, told me many years ago that this 
delicatessen was not reliably kosher.

>When the Hungarian and Chassidim for nearby regions immigrated / fled
>to the US, they needed glatt shlachthoisen, as it is their minhag to
>only eat glatt. More meiqil than Bet Yosef's glatt, because it's "only"
>a minhag, but what was already in place wouldn't meat their demand. And
>because they started from a clean slate, they didn't have these problems
>that the existing slaughterhouses did.
>
>During this era, it really was true that the glatt slaughterhouses were
>much more likely to be reliable WRT basic kashrus as well. Even many of
>those who were noheig to ohold like the Rama would look for glatt for
>this reason. And so, the word shifted in meaning.

I am surprised that you made no mention of Rabbiner Dr. Yosef 
Breuer,  ZT"L, and his efforts in the field of kashrus.  He 
originally opposed Glatt meat for two reasons.  1. It was more 
expensive, and his congregants were struggling financially in the 
early 1940s.  2.  This was not the standard in Germany.  Eventually 
KAJ did certify only Glatt meat, because this gave their shechita a 
wider market.

For the record,  Rav Breuer insisted that any meat under his 
supervision be taken from the slaughterhouse on the day it was 
slaughtered and not left overnight as was common practice at the 
time.  The reason - it was discovered that someone was actually 
changing plumbas on the beef that KAJ had slaughtered and putting 
their plumbas on meat that was under KAJ supervision.  A shochet told me this.

Yes,  there was a great deal of corruption at one time.  Lytton 
points out that it was the OU that played a key role in eliminating this.

YL  
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