Once when I was a bachor home for bein hazmanim, a balla buss I knew well was behind me in line in Toronto’s ‘Kosher City’ grocery mart.
Like its name implies, this store sold a large variety of everything and anything with a reliable hashgacha.
He began to challenge me –in good spirit – regarding the path I had chosen (knowing myself as a bachur, I likely started up). Many yeshiva bochurim who went home to their communities have had similar experiences, I’m sure. “How are you going to support yourself?” “Are you not going to go to school?” “Don’t you think culture is important?”
We had a calm and good-natured back-and-forth until he said something that was not only deeply offensive, but wrong, and for which chazal teach is the very definition of apikorsis (Sanhedrin 99b; opinion of Rav Yosef).
“While, of course, Torah is vital, at the end of the day what did the Chasam Sofer do for klal yisroel? What can those who are just talmidei chachamim, who stay in a beis medras,h do to improve the needs of the klal?”
I don’t know if that is an exact quote, but I do remember the Chasam Sofer being used as an example simply because of the ridiculousness of that illustration even in his warped thinking –as the Chasam Sofer was vital in saving Hungarian Jewry!
While I truly believe and hope that he meant to make a more nuanced point, there was something else that struck me as odd, and it was to that which I ultimately responded.
While he was espousing his vindictive views he was unloading his cart of groceries. Onion rings, chips, soda, meat, canned goods, etc. I nodded toward his purchases, and replied.
“Do you have any idea how much Torah went into that bag of potato chips? Why, shouldn’t they be considered bishul akum?! How about your meat –do you have any idea the Torah that is known to these shochtim and their on-site poskim who, often, live in remote areas so that you may have a steak? Do you have any idea how many shailos come up and need to be resolved just so you can have frozen onion rings?!
“Do you have any idea the amount of Torah you consume when you eat a bowl of spaghetti?!”
You see, to many, the world of kashrus is magic. ‘Poof!’ and there is now an OU on Gatorade. ‘Shazam!’ and Kraft’s vinegars have a hashgacha on the label. ‘Abra–cadabra’ and Welch’s grape juice has a limited kosher run.
Of course if we think about it for a moment we would come to realize just how much Torah, how many man-hours, and the amount of labor which goes into each and every product that we put into our mouths.
And all of this work, all of this Torah, often comes from well beyond our personal techum. Due to shipping capabilities and refrigeration it is not at all uncommon to be walking down an aisle in a grocery store in Los Angeles and pick up a product made five days ago in Philadelphia, that is certified by a kashrus agency based in New York, who in turn sent a mashgiach living in Baltimore after speaking to his posek who lives in Brooklyn!
We mustn’t take our bounty of kosher food in America for granted.
And if there is one individual to whom much research and chochma in this fieldis owed it is to Rav Zushe Blech z’l.
Rav Zushe tragically and suddenly passed away last week. He was just 64 years of age.
He was a kashrus expert’s kashrus expert.
He literally ‘wrote the book’ on kashrus, ‘Kosher Food Production’, which I will speak of in a moment.
But I first wish to speak personally about him, as although not from his closest chaveirim, I was deeply wounded by his passing.
When I was twenty-five years old I was hired as the rav in Buffalo, New York.
Twenty-five is young by any standard. But what made that job even more daunting was that I had to also run the local vaad, which began to widen its net in my first few years.
Before I left Lakewood, I read through every Daf Hakashrus (OU’s kosher periodical and teshuvos; edited by Rav Grossman), and every pamphlet and book on modern food production I could get my hands on. I also spent a significant amount of time with my father-in-law, who at the time was running the COR-Canada’s largest vaad, and the kashrus of Toronto, training in the field.
But the world of kashrus is endless. Something new always arose. When that would happen, when I needed to speak to someone who knew both the halacha cold and the science clear-my father-in-law told me that there was only one man for the job: Rav Zushe Blech.
I was a nobody, and Rav Zushe could have easily not given me the time of day.
But from the first time I reached out to him, he would always make time for me.
Once, in my early years, I naively mentioned to Dr. Regenstein – Cornell’s professor of food science, who gives accredited courses there on kashrus –that there needs to be a book on kashrus for factories and for his classes.
“There is one!” he responded. “‘Kosher Food Production’ by Rav Zushe Blech”.
Published by Wiley-Blackwell-and sold at an academic book price-it is the book on kashrus and its modern challenges –how vinegar is made; production of of dairy, whey, butter, etc; grape products; chemicals and enzymes, the list goes on, and this book covers them all with great breadth and careful wording.
Readers of Ami have also gained from Rav Zushe’s keen intellect and knowledge (aside for Ami’s interview with his in a recent annual Kosher issue).
For, whenever I touch upon any particular halachic topic I try to send my article and sources to a talmid chacham, someone objective to review it before I send it on. I try to find whomever is known to be an expert and knowledgeable in the field about which I am writing.
Whenever I touched upon kashrus, I would always review the article with Rav Zushe.
For example, last year in this space we dedicated three columns on the fascinating topic of honey production and the concerns with Forest Honey. Rav Zushe’s time and breadth of knowledge was invaluable. He asked for and got zero credit, but reviewing our emails on the subject tonight I realize that I could not have written these without his help.
Searching tonight, I found my last correspondence with him. In it one will discover both his breadth of knowledge and how much people like him have helped us all eat what is permissible.
“Shalom U’Beracha, Kavod HaRav, Shlita!
“I hope all is well (and I miss hearing you lein when I am in Monsey!)
“I am being interviewed by someone who wishes to know some surprising facts as to the need of Kashuth on seemingly innocuous products.
“I was wondering if, over shabbos, or now, you can add to my list. I feel that I might be missing a good one, and there is no greater chacham in this area to turn to than you.”
By the end of our series of correspondence on this issue, we arrived at the following fascinating (partial) list:
A) Confectionary Sugar Glaze (e.g. shine on chocolate covered almonds) coming from the lac bug.
B) Beaver glands used in artificial vanilla and maple flavor
C) Zinc Stearate used as a release agent in the tiny beads that make up Styrofoam cups, which comes from animals (stearate)
D) The consistent color of white in granulated sugar is created by passing them over charcoal animal bones;
E) Black ink often has squid ink in it, and for this reason, one gum company that I certify (Big League Chew/Ford Gum) can make gumboils that are kosher and engraved with your company logo unless you want it in black!
[This last two are not related to Kosher per se, but come to show that food is more than meets the eye]
F)Titanium Dioxide in creamer
G) Paper is added to many foods and beverages -they call it cellulose, but it is simply reams of paper, so that they can say ‘A Great Source of Fiber!” (i have to get a release for this last one if you want me to use it)
Yes, kashrus is just that complex, and, yes, we owe a great amount of hakara to those who dedciate their time so that we may eat without concern.
Rav Zushe revolutionized our knowledge of kashrus. May his neshama have an Aliyah, and may he be a meilitz yashar to his Rebbitzen Vitta, his brother and sisters, and his children and grandchildr
Shul Chronicles 
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