SERIES
Unsung Heroes
Shining the spotlight on those behind the scenes
this month: mashgichim by Chandrea Serebro
mashgiach takes on a great responsibility and the burden of a community,
pledging her good name, as well as the
name of the community, on everything
done on her watch. Knowing all of this,
the next time you see the Yid sweating
away behind the scenes, silently, offer a
word of thanks to that person who
strives to give you quality kosher food.
And after reading here about two of the
dynamic mashgichim in Joburg, you’ll
see just how important this position is,
and why, in many ways, these hidden
heroes are more important to us than
any Michelin chef could ever be.
Ever wondered who’s in the kitchen?
With the growth in popularity of celebrity food channels, we all know to inquire about sous-chefs and master
chefs, but ever wonder what goes into a
kosher kitchen other than its delicious
recipes? If you were to wonder, you
would be amazed to know there is one
person working behind the scenes, the
hidden hero, who is making it all happen. Because, after all, as a patron of a
kosher establishment, you have no idea
what goes on behind closed doors. It
takes relatively little effort to keep a
kosher home – but what about when
you are in a kosher function-hall, catering for a thousand people, or a restaurant, or a deli catering to the entire
community?
18 JEWISH LIFE n ISSUE 85
This responsibility falls on the very
broad shoulders of the establishment’s
mashgiach, the supervisor who oversees the kashrut status of a kosher establishment. It is a requirement for all
kosher establishments to employ a
mashgiach – including hotels, restaurants, delis, butcheries, bakeries, caterers, cake makers, production lines,
dairy farms, abattoirs… and that is just
what comes to mind.
The mashgiach is the onsite inspector who works on behalf of the supervising kosher authority, the Beth Din in
our case. It’s often the mashgiach who
is there unfailingly, for long hours, doing physical work, always needing to
have a smile on her face as she runs between the customer and the kitchen. A
Judy Mindel is an
ordinary lady doing extraordinary
work. She wakes
up every day
knowing that everything she will
do that day is for
the Big Boss – and she’s not talking
about caterer Gary Friedman, for whom
she works as a full-time mashgicha.
She’s referring to a Boss who is more
than a little bit larger and loftier: Hashem. “I always tell the new mashgichim
who come to do their apprenticeship in
our kitchen that this job is between us
and Hashem. And this is something I
feel every day. We have such a huge responsibility in what we do, and it is often very overwhelming and scary. We
can never be complacent, because there
is so much at stake – and sometimes the
more you learn, the more you realise
how much you don’t know.”
But