Newton, MA – Something wasn’t kosher at a Newton butcher shop.
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Acting on a tip, investigators from Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office learned that the Gordon & Alperin Butcher Shop was advertising “Kosher Meat” when the shop was no longer kosher certified.
Under a settlement agreement, Golbos Inc., operator of the Gordon and Alperin Butcher Shop, and its principal, Ricardo Bosich, agreed to pay a $1,000 fine to resolve allegations that they violated the Massachusetts Kosher Food Law.
Consumers who observe Orthodox Jewish dietary laws purchase foods processed by a shop that is under the supervision of one of various rabbinic authorities, which certify establishments as kosher.
Gordon & Alperin had previously been certified as kosher, but discontinued the supervision around September 2008. Still, they continued to represent on their storefront and their Web site that they were a kosher establishment.
In addition to the monetary payment, the defendants have agreed to refrain from advertising practices that mislead consumers into believing that its products are kosher unless the establishment is certified kosher.
Bosich, who cooperated with the attorney general’s investigation, has informed the attorney general’s office that the shop is now resuming kosher supervision.
Bosich, the owner, did not return a call seeking comment.
That is a very light slap on the wrist for the crime of making Yiddim eat treif!
Massachusetts must have a very “liberal” hashgacha arrangement since most Vaads will no go back and forth and resume hashgacha for an establishment found to have fraudulently advertised they were already under hashgacha when they were not.
did his prices go down?
where is his wife?
Es Iz Pirim? “Bosich, who cooperated with the attorney general’s investigation, has informed the attorney general’s office that the shop is now resuming kosher supervision”. Really?
Without a Mashgiach Temidi a shrewed one, with the only one with keys they shouldn’t get a Hechsher. Otherwise it sends the wrong message that you can self Treifah and when caught you become Kosher. The joke is on us; they are laughing all the way to the bank.
I don’t understand, nowhere does it say that the man was selling non kosher items. I really don’t think that its the government’s job to be telling people that if they want to say something is kosher they need to have a hashgacha. If the owner says its kosher, and doesn’t want to get a hashgacha, people should be able to decide on their own if they want to eat there, the government shouldn’t be able to force a hashgacha.
Even in Israel where the kashrus racket is notorious, there is no law that any store need to have a hashgacha.
the sign says he has no more rabbi why cant he say he is still kosher.its up to people to trust him or not.unless you are saying he was saying kosher and was not kosher.it says he was no longer certified.
is he Jewish?
The cost of hashgacha was more than they could afford and the supervising agency wasn’t willing to compromise on price, despite the fact that they were the only glatt kosher butcher in the area. What’s the difference between Price Chopper selling sealed Meal Mart or Solomon’s vs Gordon & Alperin selling sealed Alleprocessors, etc. kosher meats? The processor’s seal was inside the package that was sealed at the factory. They didn’t sell treif meat. If they were willing to cut up a package to order without a kosher supervisor, that’s the only violation. The sign clearly tells customers that they are making such a request at their own risk and without kosher supervision.
who said anything was traif it could be and most likely is just a case of a store not wanting to pay the hashgacha he may have kept the same policies in place when the certification was in place. maybe he only gets the meat from a kosher distributor. the hasgacha is a good one, don’t you people on the blogs dare denigrate rabonim whose baby toe has more torah knowledge them 10 of you.
who said the food was treif? Do you have any idea how much supervision costs?
LOL! Ala ‘Delicatessen’. Where’s his neighbor gone? Mmmm, that’s good sausage.
There is no need to slander this man. Nobody accused him of selling treif and there is no evidence of such either. We should be trying to help this man with his situation. He clearly wants to do what is right
This isn’t the first place in Massachusetts that couldn’t keep paying the outrageous amounts that rabbis charged. The food is just the same as always, but it costs less becasue they don’t have to pay off the rabbonim.
I live in Boston, and I can tell you that the owner (who is Jewish) was NOT EVER selling treif. Read the sign in the photo, people. If he broke Massachusetts law, it was just technical, like one of the posters said. I personally don’t think it’s so great that there was all this confusion with his hashgacha, but, really, he was NOT selling treif. And, now he IS under hashgacha again, anyway.
If he had fought the state, he likely would have won (based on the New York precedent). But it would have cost a lot more than $1,000.
The government has no business deciding what constitutes Kosher.
As long as he isn’t making a false claim about the products he sells, or having a hashgacha, and doesn’t use a trademark he isn’t licensed to use, the law shouldn’t have anything to do with it.
his only problem was that he lives in boston with the red sox!!! all else it good. judge ppl as u would want them to judge you.
Please update this article ASAP.
RABBINICAL COUNCIL OF MASSACHUSETTS
FOR IMMIDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 617-426-2139
In the October 13, 2009 edition of the Boston Herald, an article appeared regarding the Massachusetts Attorney General fining Gordon and Alperin Butchers of Newton, MA for “advertising `Kosher Meat’ when the shop was no longer kosher certified.”
This is referring to the time period between September 2008 and August 2009 when Gordon and Alperin did not have any kosher supervision. Since the Rabbinical Council of Massachusetts has been giving supervision starting on September 2, 2009, there have been no violations of any kosher laws and the highest kosher standards have been maintained in the facility with a full time kosher supervisor present.
The article mentions that one of the violations had been that the proprietor advertised on his website as being under kosher supervision. In May 2009, we received a phone call from a consumer informing us that the Gordon and Alperin website had on it that the store was under the kosher supervision of the Rabbinical Council of Massachusetts. We immediately sent a letter directly to Ricardo Bosich, the owner, requesting that he remove the information from the website. Within a week, the website had been taken down.
We look forward to maintaining kosher supervision at Gordon and Alperin as it continues to provide Glatt kosher meat to the Greater Boston Jewish community.
Rabbi Saul Epstein
Rabbinical Council of Massachusetts
177 Tremont St.
Boston, MA 02111
O: 617-426-2139
F: 617-426-6268
repstein@kvh613. org
This was a horrible thing! The poster that u see in this blog was only on display for a few days in Sept. 2008. For a whole year he misled people by keeping the “Baser Kosher” in Hebrew on his store. This is an old fashoned store where they cut up sides of beef – not pre-packaged meat like in supermarkets. Who knows what he sold people
so the question is -is he kosher now? and why can’t the groups that certifies kashruth keep their hands in their pockets and understand that there are some of us who really care about kashruth and would like to be assured that we are buying kosher meats without the exhorbitant cut thast the mashgeach imposes so we have to go to Connecticut or NY to buy our kosher meat at reasonable prices
If not a Shomer Torah Umitzvois, unpackaged meat becomes Bosor Shenisalem Min Hoeiyin. I said “IF”.