Dateline Jerusalem – Israel, like the United States, is melting pot where people from all over the world seek to live and enjoy freedoms.  That results in a gathering of different cultures, customs, traditions, religions, and ethnic dishes. Since food is one of my pleasures in life, I am always anxious to try a new spice, flavor or recipe.

The other day a friend took me to a supermarket across town. I was like a child in a candy store with so many familiar American food items.  Although not necessities of life, I get tremendous joy out of occasionally having my comfort food. Not macaroni- and-cheese or meat loaf, but American food in general.

I should be accustomed to Israeli products by now, since I have been living in Israel almost 6 ½ years. There are just some things I am unable to get here, and I have to bring them back in my suitcase when I go abroad. To my surprise, many of these items were on the shelves of this market. 

Believe it or not, shopping for kosher food in Israel is a lot harder than in the States. There may not be as many kosher markets, but most kosher markets and restaurants in America have reliable hechshers (rabbinic certifications), which makes shopping and eating easy. A hechsher is a verification approving food, products, and establishments as kosher in that they comply with the ritual requirements of Jewish dietary laws.  The hechsher is marked on the packages of products and on certificates hanging on the walls of butcher shops, markets, and restaurants. 

Unfortunately too many people are misinformed when they think that food becomes kosher if a rabbi blesses it. Kosher means that it has been supervised throughout the production process and complies with kosher dietary laws.  In the States, most kosher markets and restaurants provide only glatt kosher food.  Glatt means smooth, and further that the kosher slaughtered animals have lungs that are smooth and without adhesions.  Glatt refers to a higher standard of kashrut.  Therefore, it is often used when describing food and products having nothing to do with the lungs of animals. 

In Israel, the certification of mehadrin or bedatz, like glatt, usually means it has a higher or stricter standard of kashrut.  Some believe nothing in the States reaches the level of that in Israel, that even the most relaxed standard of kashrut in Israel is higher than the strictest standard in the States. In Israel, food can be approved as kosher by the rabbinic authority of some cities or rabbis. This is acceptable by some who keep kosher, but usually not by those who are orthodox or who want a stricter supervision.  Some religious people in Israel will accept certain hechshers that are not mehadrin or bedatz. Even within those categories, some do not accept certain certifications. That just makes shopping more confusing for me. 

It mat not  be just the kosher American food that I miss, but the hechshers with which I am familiar.

L'hitraot.  Shachar