Queens, NY – A kosher food vendor has hired a heavy hitter in the legal profession in its upcoming court battle with the Mets over selling hot dogs at Citi Field on the Jewish Sabbath.
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Stepping to the plate for Kosher Sports Inc. will be the high-powered law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, which represented Al Gore in his historic clash with George W. Bush for the presidency in 2000. The firm also repped the NFL in anticipation of an anti-trust battle with the players union.
Kosher Sports filed a breach-of-contract suit against the Mets nearly two years ago after the team banned it from slinging kosher food during Friday night and Saturday home games — a move the vendor says caused it to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits.
Kosher Sports had signed a 10-year, $725,000 contract to sell glatt kosher hot dogs, sausages, knishes, pretzels and peanuts at Mets home games, according to the suit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court. The case is set for trial this month.
Team officials “at the highest levels” of the Mets organization were apparently concerned about “undermined credibility with Sabbath-observing” fans, the court papers filed by the vendor charge.
Fortunately for both sides, the jury will parse contract law rather than a complex question of Jewish law — whether food that is prepared and sold on the Sabbath can be truly kosher.
“It doesn’t look kosher,” said Rabbi Zushe Blech, a lecturer at the Center for Kosher Culinary Arts in Brooklyn, who is not involved with the case.
Blech added that no observant Jew would attend a Mets game on the Sabbath, anyway.
“Blech added that no observant Jew would attend a Mets game on the Sabbath, anyway.”
Well exactly. And that’s why I think it’s great this company was at least there to offer kosher hot dogs to the secular or non-observant Jews in the audience!
I read the article & then re-read it again… and I’m pretty sure the kosher company has a strong case! They signed a 10yr contract w\the Mets, that it was ok for them to sell their products there… but then the Mets “bans” them from selling their product on the Sabbath?! What gives?!
I can only conclude that the Mets probably have some buddy-buddy behind the scenes relationship w\the *other* hot dog vender owner & have promised to undercut the kosher company’s profits to give the other company more revenue.
Well, that’s most definitely a breach of contract! So I guess we’ll see what happens…
“Blech added that no observant Jew would attend a Mets game on the Sabbath, anyway”
What world does he live on??? Friends who are not shomer shabbos always ask me why they see guys with kipot at the games? I’ve always assumed they had the tickets and simply walked to the games but aren’t there issues with walking through the security device, having the ticket read by a barcode reader and the difficulty of learning/reading because of all the noise? Even if you could structure your visit so there is no direct malacha that is assur on shabbos, many rabbonim would likely hold that there is still a big shaylayh as to whether going to a Mets game is the best use of time shabbos afternoon or Friday night after davening.
Interesting situation..The food vendor is stopped from selling because the Mets have decided it is wrong. It would appear on the surface that the team is overstepping it’s authority in a matter of religion. The aticle does say that it’s a matter of contract law over that of a religious one. Question remaining, did Kosher Sports agree to this in their contract with the Mets?
My question to the better informed..does selling Kosher on the Sabbath or Holidays make the food un Kosher?
Sherry, if the food is prepared in any way on the Sabbath, it affects the kosher status of the food. As a result, once the certification is tarnished no kosher keeping person will partake even on a regular weekday.
The buddy- buddy deal is probably with the Kashrut organization.
Who goes to Mets games anyway?
How can there be a hechsher if they are selling it on Shabbos?
there is no mashgiach there on shabbos how can you eat the hot dogs during the week as well. no reliable hashgacha would give an hashgacha on a meat place opened on shabbos and no orthodox person would eat in a meat place that is also opened on shabbos. so if they decide to sell hot dogs on shabbos they can kiss their business good bye.
Who is the Bal Machshir ?
I would assume they want to sell non-supervised stuff from separate equipment on shabbos (obviously, no mashgiach would be present, so the equipment under hechsher would be locked away). The Mets want to not have anyone competing with their other vendor, which is legitimate, especially if that’s what the contract says, which was agreed to by both sides.
That having been said, what is the thinking behind this contract? Do the Mets think that nobody’s interested in kosher on shabbos? Or maybe that’s irrelevant to them–maybe they only want a kosher stand to attract more yidden to the park, and they assume that, while non-shomer shabbos might want kosher food, its lack of availablity woudn’t keep them away.
The more Jews eating kosher the better. In the Mets fan’s mind is no wicked intention to defy the Ribono Shell Olom. The Kosher dogs should have a card included. A special tefillo for your team to win, and an acknowlegdment to the Eibishte that whatever he decides is for the best.
I am a little confused. Would the maaser from the owner of kosher Sports not be considered tainted since he es earning his parnassah on Shabbos and therefore in a sense stolen? How does this affect a frum person who may do business with this person?