ZachKessin (#6) – Au contraire. Feldheim was being held in a county detention facility under the oversight jurisdiction of the New Jersey Department of Corrections…the government was feeding him, and the government had do determine whether or not to consent to his request for Kosher food. The goverment’s decision to base that determination on the “authenticity” of underlying religious conviction is proper…how to get to that answer is a conundrum faced by any correctional system in this country, and sometimes by the military.

That said, you can no more expect the State to base their opinion al pi Halacha, than you can expect them to base it on what you and see as Conservative or Reform nonsense…the State is neither a Frum nor a Conservative organization.

All the State can do is base the decision on the inmate’s self identification with a “faith,” supported then by some statement from recognized clergy of that faith that the inmate’s position is consistant with tenets of the faith.

The state has every right to root out fraudsters who want kosher meals because they are better or served faster. Keeping in mind that most prisoners are sociopathic, that is probably what motivated this non-Jew to request kosher food.

I personally feel that the State of New Jersey (or any other) should not have a stake in deciding who is or is not Jewish, just as I would not want the State to decide what is or is not kosher. That way lies a very large can of worms.