Reply To: Why Don't Camps and School Need a Hechsher?

Joseph:

Would you eat at a restaurant without a hashgacha?

CTL:

If you trust the school to properly fill your child’s mind with kosher education, you trust it to fill their stomach with kosher food.?

I disagree. It is far easier to judge whether or not a school is giving a “kosher education” than it is to figure out if it is serving kosher food. This is true both because a non-kosher idea is far more self-evident than a non-kosher food (which can look and taste just like its kosher counterpart, especially if it was only made non-kosher by mistake) and because it takes much more training than I have to be truly proficient in all of the Halachos relevant to a keeping an industrial-size kitchen kosher.

akuperma:

The school/camp gives a hecksher to itself… Consider, does the OU or Star-K need a hecksher for their own activities?

Yes, I do trust most kashrus organizations; but I do not believe that the average camp/school has the proficiency in matters of kashrus that kashrus organizations do.

Also, consider that most camps and many schools do not have a qualified Posek running the show, if they have one on the staff at all.

ubiquitin:

Why not? If you trusted the store owner why do you need someone else to tell you it’s kosher?

If r’ belsky z”l owned a restaurant you would only eat there if he paid the ou to certify it?

I would only eat from a restaurant without a hashgacha if I knew that the store-owner had A) yiras shumayim, and B) proficiency in all of the halachos pertaining to keeping an industrial-size kitchen kosher. If R’ Belsky owned a restaurant, all that would be true; but I do not believe that that is usually the case.

(Not that I’m bashing anyone here; I don’t believe I’d be qualified to keep an industrial-size kitchen kosher myself.)

Camps and schools have a morah Horaah that pakens their shailos, If you find him releiable, why would you need some other hashgacha on top of that?

and PBA:

The kashrus in a camp is the job of the camp’s rav. Same in a shul.

First of all, I’m not convinced that every single Rov, who only deals with day-to-day halachic issues on a regular basis, is proficient in all of the laws of kashrus to the extent that those who specialize in kashrus are.

Secondly, there are two distinct aspects to any kashrus organization; the Poskim, who set the halachic policy, and the Mashgicihm, who ensure that the halachic standards are actually being kept up. So even if I do trust the Posek of a camp/school to set the halachic policy, how can I be sure that that halachic standards are actually being upheld?