Re: Best's Kosher

Question

First off, I want to say thanks to both Rabbi Abadis (both Aaron and his father) for a wonderful website and excellent source of halachic learning. I discovered this website a while back and as I check through it almost daily (except for on Shabbos and Yom Tovim), I learn from it that the way most Torah observant communities act on a number of things (paticularly kashrus and Pesach kashrus) is far more stringent than what actual halachah requires. This website is pretty much the first time I've heard of a lot of the principles in halachah (mirsas, nosen ta'am lifgam, stam keilim ainum benei yomam, etc..) that teach us that there are quite a few foods (than just water, orange juice, fresh fruits, fresh nuts, etc..) that don't require kashrus supervision and/or where one can depend on CAREFULLY reading the ingredients. So, I wanted to express hakaras hatov to Rabbi Aaron Abadi and his tate/father for a wonderful website. Keep up the good work on it!! Now, I wanted to offer a couple bits of info regarding that question someone asked about Best's Kosher meats (and a point about Hebrew National). I apologize if I'm too long, but I wanted to proivde some info that may help Rabbi Abadi in his p'sak concerning this issue. In terms of Best's, their website is http://www.bests-kosher.com Their supervising rabbonim are Rabbi Michael Small of Chicago and a Rabbi Kauffman. Best's, Shofar, and Sinai 48 products are not Glatt; and the company does offer a glatt version of its products known as Oscherwitz. Oscherwitz's Rov HaMachshir is Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik. Until 10 years ago, Best's non-glatt products were considered acceptable by most Ashkenazic communities I'm aware of but after that, from what I understand, several hashgachas said that Best's non-glatt products aren't reliable (or at least not recommended). And then the majority of Torah-observant communities (including where I live) said Best's is not acceptable. I've heard all sorts of rumors and reasons from various circles. Besides the fact that they're (the Best's products except for Oscherwitz) not glatt, the only definite problem I've heard about with them is that some of their schochetim are not Shomer Shabbos, and I'm not sure if this particular statement is true or not. (I was at our local Chabad house once and I overheard a discussion between a Chabadnik and another person about the "problems with Best's" and the Chabadnik said that 1 or 2 of Best's shochets married non-Jews). Regarding the question someone asked back in May on Hebrew National, their supervising rabbi is Rabbi Tibor (Tuvia) Stern. Until about 15 years ago or so, they were accepted by those who didn't require meat to be glatt. Then all sorts of issues were brought up ranging from the "Some of their employees don't care about Shabbos", "It has even worse problems than Best's", and "they have serious credibility problems with their supervision". Then in July 2001, the Forward newspaper published an article about Hebrew National called "Here's the Beef on Hebrew National: It's Not Glatt" where in it, a spokesman (R' Avi Shafran) for an Orthodox organization said the big reason for Torah observant Jews not eating Hebrew National is because it isn't glatt. Hebrew National's website is http://www.hebrewnational.com Best's has a copy of the kashrus certificates/letters issued by Rabbi Small and Rabbi Kaufman and Hebrew National has more info about it's supervisor Rabbi Stern. I hope all this info will be of help to Rabbi Abadi in the p'sak he makes. Two questions from this: I heard that the Shulchan Aruch says that red meat/beef items are required to be glatt for Sephardim and for Askenazim, non-glatt is permitted but l'chatchila it should be glatt, is this true. And is it also true that ALL the schochetim and bodkim with a kosher meat company must be Shomrei Shabbos/Shomrei mitzvos?