The Eida hachareidis is now giving a hechsher on bubble gum. Bazooka bubble gum.




This is "big" news. Bazooka was like a landmark that the Eida wouldn't touch.

The Eida is, and always was, against giving a hechsher to foods they didn't like, for reasons other than kashrut reasons. They did not like gum because they don't want people chewing gum in public, and it is not considered a necessary food item or snack. Bazooka has an additional problem of it having been a symbolic brand of Israel and of gum.

Things change all the time. What was considered a luxury item one day is considered more standard at a later date. If you look at Pesach items, for example, the Eida adds products to its hashgacha every year, even after refusing to certify them for many years, as they become considered more and more basic and less as luxuries.

This reminds me of the various ultra-left kibbutzim, such as those affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair, that since their inception were extremely anti-religious, yet in recent years many of them have been building shuls or starting to use the shuls that have been collecting dust for years.

איך נפלו גיבורים - How the mighty have fallen!