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Nov 28, 2019
McDonalds to tbe the first kosher restaurant in Israel open on Shabbos
Big news in the kashrut world, and the chilul shabbos world. This can be the harbinger of significant change, whether you consider it for the good or for the bad...
For the first time ever (ever is a big word and I am not sure this is necessarily 100% true), the Rabbanut has given kashrut certification to a restaurant that will be open on Shabbos.
The Ben Gurion airport branch of McDonald's is the first restaurant to be in this, exclusive for now, club as a kosher restaurant open on Shabbos.
The restaurant in Ben Gurion is obligated to be open on Shabbos, to provide a food options to travelers, just like every other day of the week. This was a condition in the tender that they recently won for the right to sell in the airport.
The Rabbanut could have kept to its policy and said, if you are open on Shabbos you cannot be certified as kosher. Instead they contacted the Tzomet Institute and asked them to go in and analyze the branch from a halachic and technological perspective and see what is ok and what can be changed so the branch is not desecrating Shabbos in any way when preparing the food.
Tzomet took on the challenge and sent in their top people to look at the situation. Among the changes they recommended were to not install special thermostats on fridges and freezers that are installed in other branches. Also, the various warming drawers used should be set to remain on the entire Shabbos, along with changing other knobs and buttons to be covered throughout Shabbos so workers will not change temperatures at any time.
The Tzomet people said the situation is very similar to what happens in hotel kitchens.
source: Kipa (among others)
1. so it is true - when there is a halachic will, there is a halachic way...
2. This will open the door to many others to open on Shabbos. Many have already wanted to, with the Rabbanut refusing to allow them even if they are pre-cooking the food. They have compared themselves to hotels, that the Rabbanut allows to function on Shabbos, but the Rabbanut disagrees.
3. Why does McDonalds get this special dispensation when others have not?
4. One of the problems always mentioned in any discussion about restaurants functioning on Shabbos is that the mashgiach cant come supervise on Shabbos. is there going to be a mashgiach in the airport on Shabbos that can technically go in and check the McDonalds? If not, how can they give the hechsher, with the local branch manager knowing that on Shabbos he can do anythign and never get caught?
5. Thsi will also hurt the social argument against restaurants opening on Shabbos, turning Shabbos, using technology, into a regular weekday. If this is possible, restaurants and stores can open up anywhere, adjusting their procedures to meet halachic requirements, and Saturday can be almost exactly like Tuesday, but now the Rabbanut allows it, at least for McDonalds.
6. No mention was made in the article of the food being cooked before Shabbos and only warmed upon the customers ordering it. So, with all these technological adjustments, is Dave at McDonalds cooking the McNuggets when Rudolph places his order or is he taking something cooked yesterday and sticking it into the warming drawer? How will this meet the quality standards of McDonalds, serving reheated food, and how will this go down with the customers? And, if they are cooking it fresh, all the rules of Shabbos are meant to prevent cooking. The technological advancements we use are designed to prevent cooking and only warming, so if they meet all the Tzomet requirements, which they seem to, how will the food get cooked, if not before Shabbos?
For the first time ever (ever is a big word and I am not sure this is necessarily 100% true), the Rabbanut has given kashrut certification to a restaurant that will be open on Shabbos.
The Ben Gurion airport branch of McDonald's is the first restaurant to be in this, exclusive for now, club as a kosher restaurant open on Shabbos.
The restaurant in Ben Gurion is obligated to be open on Shabbos, to provide a food options to travelers, just like every other day of the week. This was a condition in the tender that they recently won for the right to sell in the airport.
The Rabbanut could have kept to its policy and said, if you are open on Shabbos you cannot be certified as kosher. Instead they contacted the Tzomet Institute and asked them to go in and analyze the branch from a halachic and technological perspective and see what is ok and what can be changed so the branch is not desecrating Shabbos in any way when preparing the food.
Tzomet took on the challenge and sent in their top people to look at the situation. Among the changes they recommended were to not install special thermostats on fridges and freezers that are installed in other branches. Also, the various warming drawers used should be set to remain on the entire Shabbos, along with changing other knobs and buttons to be covered throughout Shabbos so workers will not change temperatures at any time.
The Tzomet people said the situation is very similar to what happens in hotel kitchens.
source: Kipa (among others)
1. so it is true - when there is a halachic will, there is a halachic way...
2. This will open the door to many others to open on Shabbos. Many have already wanted to, with the Rabbanut refusing to allow them even if they are pre-cooking the food. They have compared themselves to hotels, that the Rabbanut allows to function on Shabbos, but the Rabbanut disagrees.
3. Why does McDonalds get this special dispensation when others have not?
4. One of the problems always mentioned in any discussion about restaurants functioning on Shabbos is that the mashgiach cant come supervise on Shabbos. is there going to be a mashgiach in the airport on Shabbos that can technically go in and check the McDonalds? If not, how can they give the hechsher, with the local branch manager knowing that on Shabbos he can do anythign and never get caught?
5. Thsi will also hurt the social argument against restaurants opening on Shabbos, turning Shabbos, using technology, into a regular weekday. If this is possible, restaurants and stores can open up anywhere, adjusting their procedures to meet halachic requirements, and Saturday can be almost exactly like Tuesday, but now the Rabbanut allows it, at least for McDonalds.
6. No mention was made in the article of the food being cooked before Shabbos and only warmed upon the customers ordering it. So, with all these technological adjustments, is Dave at McDonalds cooking the McNuggets when Rudolph places his order or is he taking something cooked yesterday and sticking it into the warming drawer? How will this meet the quality standards of McDonalds, serving reheated food, and how will this go down with the customers? And, if they are cooking it fresh, all the rules of Shabbos are meant to prevent cooking. The technological advancements we use are designed to prevent cooking and only warming, so if they meet all the Tzomet requirements, which they seem to, how will the food get cooked, if not before Shabbos?
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This is not the first time at all: I ate in a kosher restaurant in Jerusalem on Shabbos, in the summer of 1981, which had the hechsher of the Rabbinate. You bought a ticket before Shabbos. I don't know when they stopped doing this.
ReplyDeleteI believe there is a mashgiach at ben gurion on shabbat
ReplyDeleteKT
I guess now he can have shabbos meals at McDonalds!
DeleteMcCholent or McKishke!
DeleteDo believe there's something 'not kosher' about this. Seems like a slippery slope.
ReplyDeleteDon't know the menu in McDonald's, but reheating hamburgers and chicken does not pass any quality test. And I highly doubt corporate McDonald's quality standards.
ReplyDeleteAnd making it fresh would never be acceptable kashrutwise.
Same for French Fries and hot dogs. Don't know about rest of menu. Hopefully the self service soda machines are not electrically operated.
Taking money can be solved by "selling" or leasing the business to a non Jew for Shabbat. Subject to ma'rit ayin issues.
2, 3, and 5 remain as problems.
McDonalds is known to push the limits on Kashrut requirements and force the Rabbinate to take grant certification by finding ways around their standards (by law, the Rabbinate cannot refuse certification if a restaurant meets their standards in food, they cannot set different standards or requirements for different restaurants) :
ReplyDeleteBack in the 90s (?) the first McD's branch in Jerusalem was Not Kosher (On Shamai Street). When they opened a new branch in what was then the New Tachana Merkazit, they were obligated in their lease to be kosher, but the Rabbinate has a policy of not granting certification to a branch of a chain if they have another branch in the same city which is not kosher. McD absolutely refused to make their other branch kosher, and eventually resolved the issue by creating a new chain of restaurants called "Kosher McDonalds", which unlike it's sister company (named "McDonalds" with red signage) "Kosher McDonalds" had blue signage.
Fast forward about 10 years, McD's decided they wanted to offer dairy ice-cream next to the meat burgers. They pointed out that there are Hotels which offer both Dairy and Meat, when the Rabbinate said that facilities that offer bother Dairy and Meat require 2 separate kitchens, McD's put up a wall between the meat counter and the ice-cream machine, thus creating a separate kitchen which was able to sell Dairy.
It looks like the next frontier for McD is operating on Shabbat.
interesting. thanks. that is a cute resolution to create the dairy kitchen!
Deletebut still, why couldnt the rabbanut just say no? they have said it to so many others who wanted to be kosher but open on Shabbos
Any which way, we can readily see that this is what happens when you allow the influence of the other nations to get into the business of food which to the Jew is primary; this is what it leads to. There is too much influence where it does not belong and that the Rabbinate is allowing this and every time it just gets worse might be because they are being pressured, but that should not be an excuse. The State must return to, at least, the basic laws of Torah such as preventing the desecration of the Shabbat and the laws of kashrut. They forget it is the Land of Israel, the Land of the Jews!
ReplyDeletesomeone suggested to me that perhaps the kashrut supervision on Shabbos will be done by video cameras with the Rabbanut receiving the feed and reviewing the material after Shabbos
ReplyDeleteStill doesn't answer cooking hamburgers chicken french fries etc on Shabbat.
DeleteI've seen a Plexi glass wall on a few feet wide. Hopefully, they at least require a separate employee manning the ice cream and associated machine.
Igrot Moshe has a tshuva about ice cream in a sports stadium (obviously soccer) in Mexico City 1960s. Presented as an 'at least they'll eat kosher' rationale.
no it doesnt. just possibly answers the supervision question.
Deletewhat was the issue with ice cream in a sports stadium?
Oops. Hamburger hotdog stand
DeleteQuestion: Yes, I understand, this seems weird and a lowering of standards and a slippery slope, etc
ReplyDeleteHowever, why not applaud that those who eat at this McDonald's will be eating food that's kosher (at least by some standard), rather than treif? These are people who travel on Shabbos. SHouldn't we be pleased that they have a kosher option?
Why can't those with higher standards avoid this McDonald's and those who would otherwise eat treif be able to benefit from it?
personally I am fine with it, if a bit bewildered about why the Rabbanut changed its policy (if it is really a change). I just like to see and understand changing trends. This could be big, if others sue the Rabbanut to force them to treat them equally as they do McDonalds. in the past they sued to try to force the Rabbanut to treat them the way the Rabbanut deals with hotels, but now the restaurant owners can point to how the Rabbanut treats other restaurants - McDonalds specifically, and can demand equality.
DeleteMaybe because captive audiences (diners with no where else to go) are allowed leniencies that non-captive audiences are not? (Yes, I realize that people don't really need to have hamburgers and fries available to them at every moment.)
DeleteYou forgot to mention the special financial arrangements that were made between McDonalds and the Rabbinate and probably the Tzomet institute that do doubt were part of the deal
ReplyDeleteIn a place as large as the airport there should be a room somewhere for a mashgiach to sleep on Shabat. A shul already exists. Just getting a "kosher" minyan might be a problem.
ReplyDelete