We had a guest today. Her spouse is a well-respected chef who now works at a restaurant in south Florida.
I asked our guest which hasgahah the restaurant used.
It really made no difference; all the local, acceptable hasgahot are Ashkenazi.
Which means that if a Sefardi or Mizrahi aligned with Bet Shamai, that Sefardi or Mizrahi could only eat at home. Of course if the Sefardi's or Mizrahi's spouse wanted to eat out, then maybe for the sake of shalom biet, the Ashkenazi heksures are sufficient. (I was tempted to write "OK," but that could be misinterpreted.)
The problem for the Sefardi/Mizrchi is that Ashkenazi hasgahah is too lenient.
Ashkenazi hasgahah too lenient?
How can that be?
Actually, pretty easily.
CAVEAT I am neither a shochet or mashgeach. What I relate below is what I have learned from various sources.
Start with inspection of a slaughtered animal.
Lesions on the lung?
If the lesions are healed, the meat is acceptable to an Ashkenazi mashgeach.
Lesions on the stomach(s)?
Same thing.
Only if the lesions are open will the Ashkenazi reject an animal if lesions are discovered.
ON THE OTHER HAND, the Sefardi/Mizrahi mashgeach will reject the animal.
Onward to the kitchen.
In the Ashkenazi kitchen, the chef may be a non-Jew (nokar), but as long as a Jew lights the fires on the stove and in the oven, the food is considered kosher (assuming it is kosher in all other respects).
Not so in a Sefardi/Mizrahi kitchen.
Lighting the fires is the first step.
In the Sefardi/Mizrahi kitchen, a Jew must do some of the food preparation. Cut the meat into portions; put the chicken (or duck or other fowl) into the oven; season the fish; something so there is a Jewish hand in the process. (Ashkenazi hands are welcome; Sefardim/Mizrahim are not THAT strict.)
Obviously in the kitchen where our visitor's husband is chef, we know he is an observant Jew and we know he has a hand in the food preparation. (The question of the meat remains, but we're moving in the "Shammai" direction.)
For restaurant owners, following the less stringent Ashkenazi kashrut is logical; the demographics are that observant Ashkenazi Jews greatly outnumber observant Sefardi/Mizrahi Jews in south Florida (as they do elsewhere in the U.S.).
Interestingly, Bet Yosef , a/k/a halak, hecksures can be found at some area kosher markets, along with "Beis Din of Crown Heights Vaad Hakashrus," but there is, to the best of my knowledge, no Sefardi/Mizrahi commercial kashrut supervision in south Florida.
Anyway, the next time someone insists that Ashkenazi kashrut is more strict than Sefardi/Mizrahi supervision, disabuse them of the notion; it simply isn't so.
בתאבון
