From the Queens Tribune:“The Kosher Nostra, led by rabbinical organizations in Queens and the Five Towns, saw a shakedown opportunity with an icon of the Lower East Side and a rabbi from the most famously independent minded Modern Orthodox family in America. So they waited four weeks before Pesach, unzipped, urinated all over them, and declared something shmekt nit frish [smells funky].”
This year, less than a month before Passover, when Streit’s was filling orders for their peak season, the Vaad HaRabbonim of Queens removed Streit’s Matzo from the list of products that they consider fit for kosher consumption. The Vaad HaKashrus of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway followed. So days before the holiday, Streit’s was taken by surprise. Some stores, like the kosher supermarket Brach’s, pulled the matzo from the shelves. People were confused about the kosher status of Streit’s products. Adding insult to injury, VHQ did not, and still has not, made it clear what the company’s offense was, and how they can get back on the approved list.
Who knew the world of matzo-making was so cutthroat?
