Weenie Riot in Brooklyn
I keep kosher, and have for about 20 years. When I move into a new apartment or kasher my kitchen for Passover, I clean the oven and stove and then let each burner and then the oven stay heated on high for an hour to burn off any non-kosher remnants remaining from the previous tenant (or any non-Passover-approved remnants from the year). I know, of course, that this was the practice of my grandmother and her grandmother, but I am also pretty sure that 409 by itself does a pretty good job. Also dish detergent and a decent dishwasher. Throwing away equipment? Huh? When I started keeping kosher, I gave away all of my plastic and stoneware and my teflon pans, and I know plenty of observant Jews who have had garage sales, but throwing away??
I have “burned” my cookie sheets in a broiling oven from time to time (on purpose) and have boiled my silverware more than once, but to me the whole practice is intended as a reminder that food is a gift from God and that various types of food are a reminder that we have more than our ancestors in the wilderness. Keeping kosher connects me to other Jews across dimensions of time and place. It’s not actually about what a “weenie” may or may not have touched. Oy!
I see keeping kosher as a spiritual rather than a physical practice. This particular attitude towards kosher food makes me crazy, especially the part in bold.
Non-Kosher Hot Dog Incites Rage At Jewish Eatery
Owner Of Shawarma King Restaurant In Brooklyn Brandished Electric Knife To Fend Off Enraged Customers
It was an all-out frankfurter frenzy this week at a popular Jewish restaurant in Brooklyn, as a certain hot dog caused a near-riot.
It’s not what you would expect: a worker in a NYC eatery caught on tape fending off a group of Jewish patrons with an electric knife.
“I was petrified – stuff was going through my mind,” a patron who didn’t want his name used said. “I want to live. I don’t want to get stabbed for a hot dog.”
The long-time patron says the chaos broke out when he and a rabbi noticed the frankfurters on the grill were non-Kosher, in a restaurant that’s supposed to be dishing out the Kosher variety.
“The package didn’t look Kosher,” the patron said. “It was the last piece in the package.”
Some customers were quick to defend the worker, who was surrounded by, according to some witnesses, a hundred enraged people.
“He just got angry,” the patron said. “He wasn’t about to do anything to the guys.”
The rabbi, who originally certified the Shawarma King restaurant Kosher, has written a letter to the community in a Jewish newspaper. In the letter, he calls the frankfurter mix-up a “terrible mistake.”
“It was a one-time incident,” Borough Park resident Yosi Stern, who translated the Yiddish letter for CBS 2, said. “They caught it before it was even served to the consumers.”
The rabbi tells the community that a worker was sent out to buy hot dogs, and that he went to the wrong market and bought non-Kosher hot dogs.
Neighbors say the owner is an honest man.
“He’s a very religious man,” one neighbor says. “He studies every morning, and he’s not the type of guy to fool people.”
The popular spot on 13th Avenue was shut down for several days as rabbis examined the premises for non-Kosher food, and threw out equipment that came in contact with the uncertified meat.
Customers, and the restaurant’s owner, say they’re hoping similar incidents don’t come up in the future.
The restaurant’s owner says that, in addition to throwing out equipment, utensils were cleansed with a flame to purge any pieces of the non-Kosher food.
my grandmother’s idea of kosher was eating the cheeseburger on a paper plate
Ah! You should have SEEN the look TexBetsy gave me at the Iron Cactus last week.
All I said was “Ooh! Crab cakes, you want to split an appetizer of crab cakes?!?”
WRONG suggestion.
I had, in fact, sprouted horns and batwings growing out of my shoulders — I could see this reflected in the hairy eyeball Tex was giving me at that very moment.
I got the message. Recovering, cowering, cowed, I was like…(quietly) “Oh. That’s treif.”
We got the Guacamole.
My eyeballs have hair?!?!?! no way!
You go to Shawarma King, you should be getting Hebrew National without having to ask, nu?
BettyJeanLee – there is kosher and there is kosher! Whenever I travel to one of the best US restaurant cities, I have dinner with friends who live there. Both are Jewish; one loves the shellfish and will always ask to share an appetizer with me; the other demurs. Whatever! As a first-generation Irish American, I am delighted to have food that is NOT stew!
Speaking as the resident Shiksa -
I respect anyone who attempts to be kosher, ha’laal, or vegan. I don’t understand it, but I respect it.
Tex – if you ever come out here for a visit, I will not subject you to my cuisine (which is about as far away from Kosher as you can get), we will find a Kosher place.
Regards,
Tengrain
The trouble with trayf!
i am not even going to comment. i dated a guy who was kosher and i had a friend who was kosher. neither would have behaved that way over what was an honest mistake. i don’t wish to offend so i will keep my comments in my head. namaste.
What a lot of hassle and work for a damned hot dog.
Just but Nathan’s. They have to “meet a higher authority.” Or, so the ad says. They’re the only ones we buy and I’m not kosher. Is there a big production for the bun, mustard and onions too? I think I would lose interest after all the prep work.
Blog against Theocracy!
I’ll have two with mustard, and not quite so much mob mentality please.
)
Blogging against theocracy in my morning post rechtaw.