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Rabbi Heinemann (shlit"a)'s opinion:
Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, Rabbinic Administrator of the Star-K, is of the opinion that if the restaurant is known mainly for the traif, non-kosher, products it sells, McDonald's, for example, then going into such a place [just to buy a plain coffee] would constitute marris ayin. An establishment like a coffee shop or ...
10
I think the issue is not so much ease of verification as much as it is ease of forgery. It's a lot easier for a restaurant to lie and state on a sign that it is Kosher than it is for them to forge a certificate from a certifying agency and also have someone at the phone ready to lie and give false answers should someone call the number printed on the ...
9
You don't need to jump straight to declining the invitation. There might be things you can eat, and even if not you won't be impolite to the restaurant by joining a paying group. The key is to communicate clearly. You can explain to the person who invited you -- or, more likely, his administrative assistant -- that you would be delighted to come to the ...
8
If the fish is kosher (i.e. you can identify it as a kosher species in an acceptable way, e.g. you see the scales on the whole fish, or for skinless salmon by the red color of its flesh which is a sign of kashrus), and everything is cold and clean (fish and utensils), then the fish can be eaten l'chatchila. This is based on the Shach in Yoreh Deah 91 (#3), ...
7
Factory products are produced by big companies and are produced in bulk, which are scared to put a trademarked symbol on their product when everyone could see it, because they will be the subject of a huge lawsuit.
Small restaurants may be more willing to take the risk, and may hope that nobody notices their infringement.
7
I sent an e-mail message to the Institute of Halacha at the Star-K. Here is the response that I received shortly after:
Hello,
Rav Moshe Feinstein writes that there is an issue of maaris ayin if a person goes to a non-kosher restaurant. McDonalds would certainly classify as a non-Jewish restaurant. However, even though Starbucks does sell some non-...
7
And as for the matter of whether it's permissible to eat in a restaurant in which they prepare only dairy foods but which is of people who desecrate the sabbath, lo, even in that place there can be a number of forbidden foods such as non-kosher fishes, and the fat in which they fry [things] can be from non-kosher animals or animals not properly slaughtered, ...
6
There are problems with food from a vegan restaurant.
See this Chabad site
A vegan restaurant would not have a hard time getting kosher
certification. However, as long as there is no such certification one
should not eat there. There are many reasons why a strictly vegan
establishment requires kosher certification. Here are a few of them:
...
6
Generally (at least here in Israel) they have it on display so generally I would think just noticing that it is still there and not expired should be OK.
EDIT: In many towns in Israel the certificates change color every quarter, so you can often tell if it is up to date just by the fact that it is the correct color
6
It would seem to be that this establishment is not to be patronized and or trusted to be serving kosher food unless they have a kosher certification.
This is based on a rule enacted by the Vaad Ha'arba Artzot - The Council of the Four Lands, the central body of Jewish authority in Poland from 1580 to 1764. The Vaad
instituted that it is forbidden to eat any ...
5
It's not any more of a problem than a khamse is at a North African restaurant. It's a siman for good luck, and not avoda zara. It's only problematic if you reject segulot and other superstitions, like the Rambam does. However, I would question what a JAPANESE cat thing is doing in a CHINESE restaurant!
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I used to work for a few months as a mashgiach for a restaurant. The main issues I had to worry about were lighting the stove, putting eggs that needed to be boiled in the pot, and checking the vegetables (especially leafy vegetables and bunches of herbs). The cooking itself was done primarily by the owner of the restaurant and a couple of non-Jewish women ...
5
I was told by R' Dovid Fink shlita that, speaking very generally, Ashkenazi poskim tend to require kosher certification, the reasoning being that the standards of kosher might be different from your own. Sefardi poskim, on the other hand, tend to consider a restaurant kosher if there is a visible observant Jew working there, exactly as you describe. As ...
5
Yes a Mashgiach can enter a restaurant, hotel or factory on Shabbos for the purpose of supervising. It happens all the time. In Israel too.
(Source: Experience and people I know who have done it and do it. I once worked a Pesach Hotel over Yom Tov. The 20 minute Seder was particularly fun /sarc).
A restaurant has some particular complications when it is ...
5
As you said -- Shulchan Aruch allows one to use a cold, clean non-kosher dish or cup "derech arai" -- occasionally. No taste will transfer, and if only done on rare occasion, we're not concerned you will forget and use it for hot.
(When we say a non-kosher dish, we mean someone baked ham on this plate; this plate went through the dishwasher, cooled off, ...
4
In my experience, most agencies in america are strict in only allowing the Mashgiach to watch, or to do things that are related to his job, like washing lettuce, etc. Every kosher agency I have come in contact with requires a certified, trained Mashgiach to wash Lettuce, because, truthfully, it's not just washing the lettuce, it's also looking for bugs, and ...
4
According to a YUTorah shiur by Rabbi Elie Weissman, one of the enactments of the Vaad Arba Aratzos (Poland, around 1600) was not to buy food or wine from someone -- even if he keeps kosher! -- unless he's certified by the town Av Beit Din.
I'd be fascinated to learn more about this...
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The only analogue I can think of offhand (not that I know vast areas of Torah) — that is, where someone has contracted for an unlimited amount of a product within a finite amount of time — is the right of a foodworker to eat from the food he's working with: see Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 337. Paragraph 18 there says he may not give of the ...
4
I wrote to Dr. Ari Greenspan and R' Dr. Ari Zivotofky, who have hosted "Mesora Dinners," serving foods with interesting Halachic statuses, in various places. As far as they know, there are no kosher restaurants that include locusts on their menus.
When they held the Mesora Dinners in the United States, the menu did not include actual locusts; they just got ...
4
The Shach (7) to Yore Dea 87:4 says clearly there is no marit haayin when there is a evident possibility that you are doing something permitted, for example cooking for the sick. This is based on the Shach when describing cooking non-kosher milk with meat:
בבישול לחודיה ליכא משום מראית העין, דהא יכול להיות שמבשל לצורך רפואה או שאר דברים
The cooking ...
3
It is forbidden to eat food that was produced by non-Jews or non-observant Jews (i.e. a Jew who is not fully observant of the laws of Shabbos) because it cannot be assumed to have been produced in accordance with the laws of kashrus. (This is true regardless of the producers assertions to the contrary. We cannot rely on the testimony of a non-Jew or non-...
3
I think many people tend to check ingredients anyway for new products, since they are accustomed to many products with incorrect kosher labels. A quick visit to kashrut.com shows just how many products have incorrect kosher identifications on a regular basis, and one of the ways of catching those mistakes is by checking the ingredients. And since R. Moshe ...
3
I defer to the others who can answer when kosher certification was required, but I think you might also be interested in hearing what has changed over the last 20 years with regard to requirements for a mashgiach temedi (full-time, on-site supervision). When I first came to my community, the city's only shomer Shabbos butcher did not require a mashgiach ...
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In a really good Shiur I heard about The Cairo Genizah from rabbi Becher Here there is a Documentation of a Rabbinic supervision given to a Cheese seller in and around the times of the Rambam
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My understanding of Halal (and therefore take that with a significant grain of salt - but I did read an article about it once) is that it would actually make things more complicated. The supervision would be duplicative, and the issues, while overlapping are not fully satisfied. And it would only be possible if something about the Halal certification was ...
3
The CRC says:
Coolata (Dunkin Donuts): Not all are certified kosher. Only recommended when purchased from a kosher certified location.
I would read that as saying it depends on the flavor, primarily.
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As discussed elsewhere, Rabbi Heinemann's opinion is that it's a problem if it's mainly known for the non-kosher stuff.
Do a reasonable amount of people go in there for just beer? If so, you should be okay.
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They are committing fewer transgressions though I believe it's controversial whether or not the ones that remain are more/less severe since there are texts that indicate that rabbinic prohibitions are more severe (plus there may well be biblical prohibitions still present since shellfish and non-kosher meat are not the only biblical prohibitions). If we ...
3
A woman is permitted (as they are also required to eat Kosher therefore they can supervise on this). Someone who is not Shomer Shabbat cannot be (as you cannot trust them).
The kashrut authority will have their own set of standards beyond this. This is quoted from London Beit Din:
MASHGICHIM -WHO IS ELIGIBLE? What does KLBD look for in a mashgiach?
“...
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According to Rabbi Yitzchak Abadi, there is no issue with Maarith Ayin. Here are some quoted examples and responsa. Some of these responsa are from his son A Abadi.
Example 1:
Questioner: How can you compare a treif restaurant where
people go to eat treif to an airplane that serves kosher meals, also
the kosher meal is clearly distinct to those who ...
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