U/D 6-12-07 10:39 AM
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The CRC [Central Rabbinical Congress of NY, Hisachdus Harabbonim] has issued a pesak today that frozen strawberries from Bodek are 100% OK if the berries are cooked or ground.
Originally posted 6/6/07 11:29 PM:
New York – Jewish religious authorities have banned strawberries, due to hidden bugs that’s not visible to the eye, and are therefore considered un-kosher until a new cleaning method is found.
An emergency alert was released proclaiming that even with extensive checks and washing, the berries are not to be eaten. It read: “Until now, the method of washing strawberries thoroughly in soapy water in order to remove any insects was considered by Jewish religious law sufficient. However, recent tests have proven that even after this rigorous procedure, insects are still present.
“Until this problem is solved therefore, fresh strawberries should not be eaten.”
oy if yidden would only look at themselves as carefully as some look at strawberries, theyd find alot more than small bugs
be consistent and dont be a phony!
Just do the right thing…. always.
–Strawberries will be 40.00 a pound in boro park. And watch for 67 hashgochos on the new strawberries coming out.–
be my guest and pay 40 a pound. I’m going to stick to the strawberries at the local korean fruit store. It doesn’t take a genius to look at the strawberries in the heimishe grocery stores and know that they are infested. Any fruit that is half rotten is likely to have bugs in it.
Strawberries will be 40.00 a pound in boro park. And watch for 67 hashgochos on the new strawberries coming out.
Water, Shaitlach, bugs in water, strawberries, cell phones, internet,…..
Any basur v’cholov shailos anymore?
What the heck is judiasm becoming?
The bugs actually improve the strawberries taste by giving them adding a distinct sweet but tangy flavor.
what a scam
WHO CARES?!!!!
bought grade A strawberries and examined them with a loop and magnifying glass and couldn’t find 1 strawberry before or aftr washing.
Think it has to do with quality of produce
===================================
you couldn’t find 1 strawberry even if you looked with a loop?
Oh my gosh!
does that mean we were eating non kosher food for years….
bought grade A strawberries and examined them with a loop and magnifying glass and couldn’t find 1 strawberry before or aftr washing.
Think it has to do with quality of produce.
Isnt this like the bugs in the water?
If you see a dot but you need a magnifying glass to see the bugs body parts then acording to Harav Elyashin Shlita then its called a bug, or as as some other poskinm say that you must be able to see everything (ie distinguish the dot to resemble a bug, parts and all) with the naked eye?
5:55
Right on the target!
the difficulties with StwBerries is to determine rather it’s just a natural dot or a insect as u worded it – it’s ‘camouflaged-like’ therefore, u have to inspect the SEEN dot(s) , spots- with a loop rather it’s a bug or just a spot.
….simple.!!
But it still has to be SEEN with the naked eye.
WAKE UP EVERYONE!
The spots are visible they are using the magnifier to discern whether the visible spots are bugs or not.
On a white background you can see a speck that is quite small but on a dark background the same spot is near impossible to see. So how small does a bug have to be to be invisible?
I follow my Favorite Orthodox Rabbi’s opinion, or the Rav’s whose clothing and opinion agree with me. I never bend my opinion to a Rav rather I find a Rav who agrees with me. Is it “your” opinion that large but well camouflaged bugs are OK to eat? Is a bug that is large but camouflaged different then a bug that is small and camouflaged? Maybe you want to be my Rabbi because I really love strawberries, broccoli and spinach!
Mr 4:31 –
Your post was great right up until you insulted an entire neighborhood of peopel, that you don’t know.
Why do you think that the Far Rockaway community is any more or less modern than elsewhere?
Do have any statistics about how many of those children went ‘off the derech’ vs. the percentage of children from BP or Willy?
How dare you?
the rabonim in LA tried numerous times in various ways to find the bugs, no such luck, when asked the rabonim in LA answered very simply 1. our strawberries are fresher then the ones in NY
Maybe the people in NY who have been looking for bugs have floaters in their eyes so they will always be seeing bugs.
No where in Halacha from Brisk to R’ Solovetchik will you find that any produce that has bugs that can only be seen with even glasses, is ussur. If you can see the bug with your naked eye, fine, wash the thing off and as the cRc says, enjoy!
this whole strawberry issue is brought by the same hot heads who wanted to assur Meal Mart for an accidental piece of sofek cheilev(never proven vadie)and the same rable rousers who wanted to assur roofing shingles on mikvaos untill they actually where shown a piece of roofing shingle.
with all due respect to Rabbi Blumenkrantz OB”M. he was a bit radical and extreme in halacha because he had to be given all the modern people living in Far Rockaway, they needed stronger gedarim so that their children would at least be somewhat shomer shabbos
OK Boys,
Lets take a poll.
How many peopel that read this blog have actually bought strawberries in the last few days and inspected them?
If you have, please say so and tell us your findings.
If not, please go out and buy some. Then seperate teh lot you bought in 2, cut and wash one group, then look for bugs.
The other group don’t wash, but do cut and look for bugs.
Curious about what we find.
The power here is in the people.
–Hey boys, you know that ain’t a magnifying glass, it’s a loop – a jeweler’s magnifier–
Well since a bug only has its special issurim if it is a whole bug, maybe what they are looking for is whether the bugs they find are whole or if they are missing parts in which case eating strawberries is permitted and for that you need a loop.
Not sure if these folks are from KJ or Williamsburgh but it is a well known fact among those that are in the kosher food business that there are very few rabbis in KJ and Williamsburgh today that know what they are talking about when it comes to kashrus matters.
Hey boys, you know that ain’t a magnifying glass, it’s a loop – a jeweler’s magnifier – used to detect minute imperfections in diamonds, not bugs in fruit, which means the magnification is very high, as opposed to a magnifying glass, which is not necessary according to Halacha. Only what’s visible to the naked eye. It’s absulutely ridiculous.
–with regards to the yiddeshkiet issue I agree withu we are so busy with bugs and shaitlech we don’t realize the skirts getting shorter, the shirts getting tighter . . .
June 5, 2007 9:00 AM–
It doesn’t take a great genius to know that if you can’t eat fruits and vegetables and you eat Lieber’s chocolate instead the shirts are going to get tighter.
12:40 –
You are completely correct.
Over Shabbos I spoke with someone that is a Mashgicah for one of teh “Big 4”.
Basiclly it comes down to this:
All produce may have bugs and need to be cleaned and checked.
High quality produce, that many families buy for their homes have fewer bugs and are NOT infested, otehrwise they wouldn’t be “Grade A”
Lower quality produce used by certain caterers, restuarants and in much cooking and baking, may have a higher rates of insects/bugs and need better/more careful examination.
Whoever started this entire problem a few weeks back, hasn’t actually been checking all varity and quailty levels of strawberries.
I personally cut open 3 dozen strawberries bought at Costco, washed, then cut them and examined (some with a magnifying glass) and found only 1 bug. Hardly an infestation.
Lastly, the photo on the homepage here is amazing, it shows ppl inspecting with magnifying glasses, clearly what the halcha says we need not do!
If you can’t see it, it isn’t there. Thats the Halacha, plain and simple.
The whole crisises is incomprensible. Rabbis proclaimed that there is no valid cleaning methods. Yet they say strawberries from Bodek is kosher.
Shu”t Ksav Sofer Chelek Yoreh Dei’ah siman 63.
yoichlu ahnovim v’yisbo’u
Shloma this is an amazing picture!
is this really the Rabuniam checking the strawberries, or you and friends set down checking your Asrig?
The US Dept of Agriculture lists potential strawberry pests as the following:
1. Strawberry Clipper it is 1/10th inch in size and DEFINITELY looks like a weevil bug
2.Tarnished Plant bug – these are 1/4th inch in length, hard to miss because they are whitish.
3. Strawberry sap beetle – 1/8th inch long. Looks like a beetle, yuck.
4. Slugs, these are usually 1/2 in long or longer. Easy to clean off.
5. Thrips – the hardest to see. They are 1/16th inch long, which should be easily visible to the naked eye. They are whitish and show up easily on the red fruit. Thrips look like tiny little flies and would not be mistaken for seeds because they have legs and wings.
The prohibition is against eating bugs that are visible. We are not concerned k’halacha with microscopic bugs.
If the Rabbis who examined these fruits had trouble seeing bugs that were 1/16th inch in length, or longer then this must be because they have not been eating their greens, which are high in Vitamin K, a necessary nutrient for retinal vascular health.
I have noticed a huge increase in macular degeneration among frum Jews since the ban against greens. It was to be expected unfortunately.
This is a case of adding to the Torah and taking away from it. There is no ban against eating bugs you cannot see, but if you do not eat your veggies, you will not be able to see the bugs that you should be able to see. Or anything you should be learning either.
So, cooked bugs are Okay???
I don’t think so?? Also it would taref up your pot.
I did examine the “dots” under a microscope in fact. I happen to have one for my science class. And the “dots” were pin shaped. They had a little tiny flower like head and a pin like stem. This is the baby strawberry plant.
It is a miracle of Hashem that each fruit will bear a fruit according to its kind.
As far as raspberries, I have checked a lot of them and once in a while the whole box is buggy, but usually, I will wash them inside and out, put them on a white paper napkin and see nothing.
Of course I only buy fresh, top of the line produce because I think it is important for my family’s health. This is not what is being used in restaurants. I do not think it is fair to put the rules that apply to restaurants on the Jewish housewife would is careful to choose her produce.
As far as the bug excreta goes, if you do not want to eat it, make sure you do not eat anything made with flour because it is full of it.
B’tayvon to you also.
Re: BARZILAI
The definition of “excrement” is “waste matter discharged from the body”
Honey is not waste, and therefore not excrement. The “collector” bees collect nectar and then pass it with their mouths to other bees at the hive who then add enzymes from their bodies. The enzymes cause the water to evaporate. The remaining nectar is stored in a honeycomb, over time it turns into honey.
Can someone explain;
some politics going on , last week Fairmont frozen …. advertised -the rabonim shikun skvere together with rabbi Shia Katz the Magerver rebe, that its muter L’katechilah as-it-is!! Now CRC says only grounded … is there anything there or not ; get their FACTS straight .
11:15 whoever said its not mutar.
just telling you to enjoy it! yummy…..
1100 you’re right they are mutar. I’m sorry for your ignorance but that doesnt change halachah.
Fish nhas worms, fruit and nuts bugs and worms, Vegetables have bugs flour has worms. so we cant eat anything. Now there is a question of Pikuach Nefesh (starving to death) and Pikuach nefesh is doche all halachos. So enjoy!!!!
okay I guess frozen cooked or ground woems we are allowed to eat! sounds Delicious!!
Machul Lach.
Machul Lach.
Machul Lach.
I took no offense.
Chochom attik, you’re right! Insect excreta is not assur, it’s muttar to eat. In fact, you could argue that honey is no different, in that it, too, goes through the bees’ system before being excreted and stored in the honeycomb.
BUT– have you given any thought to “where did those little black bobkes come from”?
–But if you are seeing black dots, which are not seeds, and which do not have legs, then it probably was excreta from the bugs you couldn’t see.–
Eating food with extreta on it is not assur.
god bless our raboonim, we should stand behind them and tell them not to keep it ” hush hush ” because we beleive it’s going to be a chillul hashem, the is only growing and the victims who are most probbally reading this as well, we are with you we feel your pain but thank’s to the poeple who always say “hush hush” its not going to last that long, with hashem help justice will prevail.
to all those comentaros who always give the excuse ” dineh de’malchusoi dineh” the raboonim should uphold this statute thats if they learn rashi or maybe they are just past that gerosei chachoomim, they would make sure that anybody who harms our children gets justice like ” dineh demalchusoi dineh”???, and leave the straberies issue to everybody’s common sence.
When my husand tried to have a prominent child molester (he’s been doing this for 30 years and the whole community knows about him) the Rabbonim all begged him not to do it. When my husband asked them what their plan was to stop him they had no answer.
My husband has this guy arrested. All he got was 30 days house arrest because CHOSHIVA people in the community intervened. A night before his sentencing he attacked another 15 year old boy. The boys father did not report it to the police and now this guy is still up to his old tricks. If anyone wants to check him out, he lives in Boro Park and is on Megan’s List.
Please…Please do not knock the Rabbonim down, you are being Mevazeh a Talmid Chacham whoever doubts what our Rabbonim say…
We have to be thankful to them for making us aware of Sheitlich, bugs in the water, strawberries..etc..etc..
The time will come when you will all appreciate what they do..
I just want to make a statement to the Rabbonim..It is time to do something about going to Secular courts without the permission of a Beis Din, and one Yid Masering to the courts other Yidden..unfortuneatly it is rampant in the Heimishe circles, please come out with a Kol Korah about this big Aveira, when the Rabbonim will come out with this declration everyone will have respect for the Rabbonim…If any body disagrees with me please reply….
who would look at the video. the rabbonim assured video’s a long time ago. Try a CD or some thing.
Excreta? Yuk.
It would be nice if someone can create a video of how to check strawberries and exactly what to look for. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Strawberry seeds are not black, and, for that matter, are not really seeds. They are vestigial seeds. But if you are seeing black dots, which are not seeds, and which do not have legs, then it probably was excreta from the bugs you couldn’t see. B’tei’avon, friend.
TIME WILL COME WHEN EVREY YIDDISHE HOME WILL NEED A MICROSCOPE(WITH HECSHER FROM RABBONIM) TO EXAMINE EVERY PEACE OF FRUIT OR BREAD OR WHTEVER WE TAKE INTO OUR MOUTH
“””ABSURD!!!!!!
To the fellow who said he didnt see any bugs in his raspberries:
I worked as a mashgiach in wedding halls and spent many hours during the day in fruit and veggie prep. And let me tell you, raspberries are one of the most notorious to clean.
If you think you saw seeds on the white cloth, then the seeds I’ve seen have legs and scamper all over the place. Hundreds of bugs from a box of raspberries, alive and moving. And also in other fruits and veggies to a lesser degree.
“No one has worried about whether their furniture comes from Asheira trees, wormy or not. How about a hashgocha on furniture?”
Not a bad idea! maybe if there would be a Hashgacha on furniture I wouldn’t be in so much debt marrying of my children.
I put the strawberries on a white paper napkin. I saw little black dots. I examined them with a magnifying glass, they were still little black dots (probably seeds).
Bugs have legs. There is no prohibition against eating bug pieces or bugs you cannot see. If this were the case, flour which contains millions of little bug parts would be forbidden.
Last year I heard a Rabbi say that Raspberries and blackberries were forbidden because of bugs in them. I also washed these and put them on a white paper napkin and saw nothing.
I bought organic Driscoll brand raspberries, blackberries and strawberries from CA.
Berries are the best source of manganese which prevents neurological damage. If you will not eat the berries whole, put them in the blender so as not to risk serious health problems from manganese deficiency.
No one has worried about whether their furniture comes from Asheira trees, wormy or not. How about a hashgocha on furniture?
To 10:06
First of all, I said “many of you guys should all pack your bags”. I did not accuse everyone, as their are many positive posts on this topic.
Second of all, what exactly should the rabonnim do regarding drugs or molesters? What do you want our Rabonnim to say? Drugs are osur? Molesting is osur? Is that really going to help someone who is addicted or is a molestor? When a person reaches that level they need professional help from social workers or pychologists. The rabonnim are there for family support. Also, these are issues that should be discussed at home by parents with their children.
What exactly is wrong with Rabonnim coming out and saying not to eat Strawberries because there are bugs in them? This is what I expect them to do and I have a lot of gratitude to them for that. Now on the other hand, if they say something regarding drugs & molesting, I bet you would also critize them.
The way I see it, you are either with our Rabbonim or not. Judging from your comments ” I think it’s the other way around everything we do or eat we are still not good enough for them,”,,, I think I know which way you are going.
to b.a. mentch if you are reading this comment please disregard any offence I APOLEGIZE berabim, so be a real mentch and get back to your post we miss you.
to 9:51 am, you are accusing all the bloggers that we are knocking the rabbonim, I think it’s the other way around everything we do or eat we are still not good enough for them, they should focus on the drug’s and child molesters etc.
Anonymous said…
Anon 3:58,
No it was an Apple.
June 5, 2007 5:57 PM
No, it wasn’t an apple either. I can’t believe that so many Jews believe Christian stories. The gemara says it could have been a fig, grape or wheat. Please don’t argue whether wheat is considered a fruit or not. Speak to your rabbi.