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Summer 2014 Kosher Preparations (06/25/2014)
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Rabbi Zvi Goldberg and Rabbi Boruch Beyer discuss slurpees, sodas, ice cream, travel and other summer-related issues
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Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
hello and welcome to Stark's monthly
webinar we're here in the star main
offices in fville Maryland Baltimore
Maryland I'm Rabbi Goldberg to my right
is Rabbi barer joining us once again for
the
webinar these webinars are archived and
the the archive information was in the
email that you got it's at kosher
class.org and it's also at our Vimeo
Channel and YouTube as well if you want
to call in uh let's say you're uh
driving it's not convenient to look at
your computer screen here's the number
1203 uh R Chapman could you put that
down on the chat
1203 and it's passcode
2020 uh in case or if if you have some
trouble hearing us over the uh over the
internet you can give a call
in and uh listen on the phone we'd like
to hear from you again
1203 passcode
2020 we'd like to hear from you you can
chat at the bottom of your screen
a matter of fact going to make that
chat uh that chat bigger right
now so it will be easier to
see okay there we
go if you can hear us please uh just a
couple of people could just chat with us
that you can
hear us and that way we know that the
sound is getting out and the video is
getting out
also okay Rafal says that we're
good and uh we are good to
go okay um just as another uh reminder
this is we're going to take off for the
summer this is our summer kosher prep
Rabbi buer and then we go on vacation
but not really we're busy in the summer
uh in and and on the on the date that we
would have the next webinar we have paid
vacation paid vacation sure for two
months is this
okay um we have we have a we have two
weeks of of uh seminars of training
seminars in kers
from July 21st till the end of the month
two separate weeks programs for rabbis
and M and so that's really that really
keeps us busy at that time and we'll
reconvene the last Wednesday of August
God willing
um so let's talk about what uh what does
a person need to do to get ready for
summer he needs to have his Slurpees and
I see R buer has
a that's for you this flavor is actually
not Kosher they can treat me right is
this flavor kosher this is what looks
like Coca-Cola flavor looks like this is
actually Coca-Cola Coca-Cola flavor
that's that's always an always kosher
flavor it is kosher okay
amen
okay um I think that's the first slurpie
I've had
in years um so we do have a a kosher
Slurpee list uh that's the new one's
going to be up online uh should be
today and so it's a great time people go
to 7-Eleven for their sles in the summer
the kids I can't tell you how often my
kids are telling me let's stop for for a
Slurpee so I notic this one thing about
that I was yeah what was it just
happened just happened when I went to
get this slurpie okay so I went to the
local 7-Eleven M you know up the okay
down the corner over there anyway so um
so I go in there and I was actually
looking for a diet slurpie that's the
truth and they had a diet Slurpee it was
um
watermelon uh I forgot already
watermelon something okay sugarfree
whatever now they also had Coca-Cola and
they had some other standard brand I
don't know whatever it was spread
something like that now that's 7-Eleven
which is local here to the community so
they have on their you know pasted on
there it says kosher kosher kosher did
not say kosher on the diet one we don't
we don't super we don't certify we don't
supervise but they do it for their for
the for the customers did not say kosher
and I did not have the handy dandy
slurpie list okay so I wasn't sure I
wasn't going to spend a buck 25 on
something that wasn't kosher and then
come and drink it and then and and then
and then lose out on on that you know
excellent prop of drinking it on on the
you know on the show so I had to settle
for the one that has sugar in it but if
I would have had the list I would have
found that that it actually is kosher
that that diet one that diet one is some
of the diet ones are dairy right or used
to be some of them are D some of the
slurp and well yeah because the sugar
substitute the diet Pepsi had a
tagos ingi right some still is that
still the case uh I think so um I'm not
sure okay AB can tell us um if he's
listening but um that's just that's a
from Rabbi sharp from the CRC who joins
us on the webinars but they put together
also I don't know exactly how it works
they put together slippy list together
with you you work together yeah CRC in
Chicago and Rie berer put together the
uh the it's really it's independent but
we kind of uh share notes I noticed here
on the on this list that's up there now
R it says 7eleven slurpie list flavor
syrups it doesn't say slurpie list in
other words so you could expl I the new
list say slurpie flavors so so okay but
what was the original intent with the
Slurpee syrups right that we're not
actually saying that we're not actually
saying that the slurpy star is
certifying slur in America right that
you get in your cup is actually
certified under the K that's not the
case what we're saying is that we've
reviewed the kosher certif certificates
goer certifications for all of the
concentrates or syrups that are used by
the 7-Eleven around the country to you
know in in the slurpie machines and
we're saying that those flavors are the
syrups as as they are produced
manufactured corre now you have to have
some way of knowing or trusting or
figuring out that what it's to the sign
really matches the flavor that is on the
list and sometimes the best way to do
that is to go around to ask them
permission to go around and look right
the other side yeah yeah so or or uh or
or maybe you don't need to do that I
mean that's always been a a little bit
of a gray area yeah 7-Eleven most
7-Elevens I don't think would let you do
that um but some will there is also the
concept that really they don't want to
switch it because uh the 7-Eleven uh um
Administration doesn't like if they
don't use what they're saying that
they're using right 7-Eleven management
according to the franchise laws requires
them to use certain things right similar
to when you go to a soda fountain let's
say you go to a uh same concept you go
to a soda fountain um in uh people go
out to a lounge or whatever a hotel or
something and they're sitting and they
order a certain soda right you know you
don't really can't really guarantee that
that's what it is but it's probably good
enough right I mean we're not certifying
it per se that's what I'm trying to say
right I mean we did find I mean there
have been cases where the 7-Elevens have
not
used um the as advertised s they unusual
well we had a situ I've heard of a
situation where um in the Summer where
where's where that's where they sell the
majority of the Slurpees um they ran out
of a particular flavor and they couldn't
get get one in quick enough so they did
use some off brand and I don't remember
exactly what it was or whether it was
kosher or not but I think it might have
been kosher anyway but the point is that
it's not a guarantee but it's a there's
a strong likelihood that that it is what
they what they say it is Abe says that
um it is a fanther product I think he
means the watermelon a the watermelon
that you're talking about is the
watermelon uh diet is indeed kosher and
Par yes so um after the show you're
going to go back in and you can you can
get one um Josh is asking what about
non- koser residue which is which is the
other issue with the curpes is that when
they switch flavors they don't always
keep the same right um machine it
doesn't always come out of the same uh
spout so even though it may say a kosher
flavor on it it's possible that prior to
that they were using
right that kosher and and Josh says is
is it btle meaning is it
nullified probably so that's probably
yeah usually that's one of the things
that we say right the slurpie concerns
of non kosher are not that first of all
great we've said in the past that
there's
um
um there's there isn't much slurpie in
the actual slurpee machine okay there's
only about four large cups worth of
Slurpee okay held in that machine at any
one time so there's a big
turnover uh during the day so more than
likely you're not going to and and the
overwhelming majority of slurpie flavors
are poer talking about it must be
there's more than 100 for sure more than
100 slurpy flavors available um and the
ones that are are not Kosher are maybe
half a dozen or less so the likelihood
of you finding a non- kosher one is is
Slim um and there's also two Dairy Flav
out there so that could theoretically be
a problem also but again since the
turnover is great and uh and there is
the concept of it being
nullified um it would only be maybe in
the first cup that's uh that's being
served after the after the non kosher
flavor so most people that we talk to
are comfortable uh using it if a person
is not comfortable and wants to go to a
higher level that that there is some
sense to that you know of of I know of a
one one one of my Rabbi friends he only
drinks the Coca-Cola because he feels
that that's you know not something
that's switched around too much and it's
always going to be they always have to
have Coke so he feels comfortable I told
people that that if they don't know then
they can stick with the standard you
know the Coca-Cola that's usually fine
um uh Scott says at night I'm not sure
what that means at night mean when
there's not a turnover possibly oh
because people aren't buying maybe okay
okay the bottom line is that the
concerns are not that not that uh
frightening um here you you wrote
originally that twizzle strawberri is
not Coos certified until fur the not
that's still true I think that's still
true yeah there's a what is in the twiz
Twizzler strawberry there's something
called monster black horata Ole okay I'm
probably pronouncing that wrong but
there's an orange bang smoothie a
monster black which is an energy drink
Slurpee energy drink
Slurpee okay so you going to again all
right talk about non-healthy and the
trapic Tropicana grape wild strawberry
which at this point is not uh is not
Kosher um and there's a couple of the yo
cream Jolly Rancher flavors which are
which are dairy mhm your is asking is
this only for 7-Eleven slurpie of any
such Slushy machines well uh we have
also some information about Royal Farms
right so we have information about you
have to look into each each Royal Farms
and
Real Farms which is a local Maryland
franchise uh serves a slurpie like drink
that call slushies they don't buy
7-Eleven slurpie flavors right they buy
different well
7-Eleven basically buys flavors from
Coca-Cola and Fanta so so it's possy
also buys the same flavors of Coca-Cola
and fanto I see so they're they're
pretty much the same the same product um
there's another there's another widely
uh distributed brand called ices mhm um
which is also most of them are certified
by the U the flavors for the ices mhm
okay
um right Adam is saying if there are
only four big cups where are the rest
they seem to be able to supply more than
four cups no they keep they keep I mean
at a time in the machine and then as it
empties so then they it refills it
refills and it it gets gets slushy so
fast yeah well that's the science behind
the uh the machine that was this the so
when the when you go and it's not ready
there's a light on the thing something
it's not ready solidifying I suppose
there's some sort of a chemical and and
scientific reaction that happens with
the getting it down to a certain
temperature that you'll get it at that
slushy State not completely Frozen but
you know like slush um that's the the
the uh we want we wanted to mention a
little bit about shaved ice you go you
you know you go sometimes to a park or
somewhere and you see them selling um
shaved ice mhm with flavorings on it so
usually these places do not have any
certification at all right uh meaning
there's no we used to have one star k I
think we might still be doing it but a
local a local uh just pass actually on
the way to
711 one of ours no just okay just
someone selling shave D shaved D so
um you know we feel that if you check
the flavors that are being added um and
many of the flavors are going to be
koser certified then that would be okay
you're basically you're your own Mash
right and again the concerns with
flavors and anosha are not that great
that we should worry about maybe they're
pouring you know into this bottle from a
different bottle and all sorts of Tricks
we're not that concerned with that I
wanted to open up just a little can of
worms um while we were on the 7-Eleven
not not too bad um and um and that is
the people call about iced
coffee um in the
summer um so I I I have checked out in
the past we have checked out with
7-Eleven uh who certify if the iced
coffee that's being sold at the 7-Eleven
stores is kosher and they did Supply us
with um kosher
certificates uh saying that those
flavors actually were kosher certified
um by the by the circle U uh for the
most part so that's something else that
thewhere this iced coffee in 7-Eleven at
least is made similar in concept to
Slurpee in that it's it's a bag in the
box kind of a machine where they get a a
bag or a box of concentrate put it in
the back of the machine and then it's
coffee do we recommend that people check
out the box just like or more than
required more sure that I think it would
be in the same same level as a as far as
as a slurpie goes so if you don't check
out slur to see anything on the box if
you check it I see um I mean I can tell
you the names of the well actually maybe
I can't tell you that but um okay that
might be
proprietary R Secrets but 7-Eleven
police will be here surely yeah I mean
we can double check on that people can
call us but as far as I know the
7-Eleven ice
coffees uh should be okay don't
recommended yes no maybe I'll go out of
the limb here and say that you could you
could drink them okay there you go um
Ron is saying that there's an
intermittent freeze up of the video not
of the slurpy if anybody else is having
some trouble please let us know uh it
seems that mostly everybody else is okay
Alba Alba is from Spain there she goes
she joins us from Spain she says her
shot is a liquid squeezed out of tiger
nuts which is very which is a very sweet
small potato like Tu oh that's which may
look like milk but has no Dairy that cha
yeah I'm probably hor however I
pronounce it okay thank you in in Spain
the tradition was to give this liquid to
babies who were having milk tolerance
problems is that the one you said was
Dairy that was one I said it wasn't
kosher oh that one's not Kosher okay
fine her or okay yeah um you is asking
what's the difference if they change
from flavors from non- kosher to kosher
isn't everything cold so there would be
no absorption into the utensils that's
true but you have actual residue of the
old flavor possibly going new that was
the that was the they don't clean it out
they the reservoir there's no time to
stop and close down the machines you
know they told us that they don't even
they prefer not to because kids like
it
um on the west coast there a question
here about Circle C I'm not sure what
that question is uh we once encountered
that the flavor in the machine was not
the same as post okay that can happen
from time to time it's rare ice coffee
may have St issues is the ice
coffee I was not
discussing you're correct ice coffee
could have we always have to point out
because we are the star k correct we
have this big sign over here that that
the star k only certifies I apologize
for is uh we do have work with the Young
Israel National Council of Israel to
certify non under the stard D but yeah
yes and the dairy slurp are also all the
dairy Slurpees and everything Dairy we
discuss so far is
not
um so if a person is is is worried about
that they should uh stay away um Abe
says if possible in some of the small
gas station type stores once you try to
check the actual bag in box to see if is
kosher so I assume that's ab's
recommendation that the smaller stores
are not that they're not that concerned
about what you know the uh so the you
know what would go wrong if right
correct I agree with that and I just
want to point out though that I've that
I have heard recently from the OU that
when we say check it that it's kosher
what we're basically saying is make sure
that the flavor is the flavor that
they're advertising you're not going to
necessarily and more likely than not see
as koser symbol on the bag or the Box
because they just don't put them there
okay so you're just looking to see that
that's the flavor that they're
advertising uhhuh okay Rafal says Circle
K is a chain of convenience stores
similar to 7even okay I thought this
was the certification one track mine R
my buber like kous all the time
cous isn't that's why we're here aren we
okay okay um gotta get out more often um
so is it similar to the 7-Eleven we
didn't we check out we didn't check out
the the Circle K convenience stores no I
would imagine that if they're
advertising Coca-Cola flavors and fany
flavors that it should
be I would imagine we
uh we would have to check into that yeah
um so we did we did the slurp the sh ice
what about W
smoothies yeah any of these convenience
smoothies okay so right so our engineer
is asking about Wawa smoothies again
smoothie is not a slurpie though is it
smooth a smoothie you mean something
like a like a fruit smoothie fruit
smoothie we're we talk about fruit fruit
things also but we can talk about that
now I guess fruit smoothies if a Wawa
smoothie is fruit smoothie and R
Goldberg can I guess comment on this
also mean fruit smoothies have other
issues um to deal with I don't know
anything about Wawa smoothies off about
my head depends what else they add
really right well depend what's in it if
there's juices and in it uh especially
grape juice obviously that would be a
problem we get the question about people
who want to go and have um if they they
want to go to a juice bar let's say and
they have orange juice oranges that are
squeezed into juice is that is that
question I I usually tell people of
course uh if you're in Israel you it's
different you need to take Jas need to
tithe it um as a matter of fact I
remember once getting off a plane in Tel
Aviv and I was looking at one of the the
the cafes there for something to to
purchase and uh everything was opened
and it didn't have the certifications
that I was looking for and I said oh you
know what I'll just I'll just buy an
Apple you know and I said no I can't buy
I can't buy an Apple I mean I could buy
it but I would have to tithe it after
after a whole trip on the plane I wasn't
ready to start taking my Meers um so
let's say in in the US or elsewhere
outside of Israel you go to a juice bar
and you want to buy an orange juice I
usually tell people that they can be
their own Mas they can if they see that
that's you know what it is you see it's
set up for oranges and he's they usually
do it right in front of you they just
put the oranges in right and
if if you use one of these um you go to
these places where they they uh they
juice the different things in in the
machine right they just like throw out a
whole piece of celery and and it comes
out you know juice or liquid um I would
imagine that would be more of a problem
because you would have to worry about
maybe there's grapes stuck in the uh
Machinery possibly saying if they
sometimes do if sometimes do grapes that
that that could be an issue I I didn't
think about that but the uh
the
uh sometimes people want to get a juice
like a vegetable juice what about right
where they're they're using buggy bug
issues right there bug issues and
strawberries too and strawberries too so
um our policy is star itself would not C
never certify something like that that
didn't check the vegetables and the
fruits we would never certifi however
for an individual if your intent is not
to um nullify the bugs by by uh putting
them through the Smoothie then then it's
okay to buy in other words you just want
a smoothie and this is the process it's
in in in in terms it's
called your intent is not to not to
nullify it but you should know that this
bug is going to be in your in your so
even at home even at home it could work
on yes there are some if anybody wants
to know the details about that you can
certainly call us we have a statement
that we can read to you about exactly
how to do it but um again star would
never certify such a thing
um okay so let's move on to soda RAB
buyer I was looking at your soda
list I was looking at your soda list and
I see that there are some Dairy sodas or
dairy right yeah there might be there
might be a
few um there's certainly not many
Phantom non yeah Banana Split blue
vanilla P colada I never would have
thought even to look
for for a dairy uh you know Mark on on
it yeah let me ask you a question some
of on your list some of the things some
of the items State when bearing the
certification when bearing OU and some
don't can you explain to us what's the
difference when do I need to look for
the certification and when not so you're
you're getting into into slightly murky
little bit murky Waters here but um soda
Waters
corny joke but anyway the
um the the OU policy generally is to
only put the U symbol on bottles that
are bottled under the OU
certification um and since the way that
the soda industry is set up in this
country and in all countries um is that
the the companies that do the
bottling are farflung
right they're not necessarily centered
in Jewish areas so some of the bottlers
will be actually under certification
while some of the bottlers will not
necessarily be so so you might have a
you know a bottler and some out of the
way place which those is not certified
but they're but they maybe have a
contract with Coca-Cola or Pepsi or
whatever the case may be and they are
allowed to produce those products
so what we're basically saying with the
list
is if we say it needs a symbol then more
than likely you'll find a symbol if we
say it doesn't need a symbol then
sometimes you won't find it sometimes
you will um the question really is can
you drink Coca-Cola let's say for
example without a
symbol um or could you drink pepsicola
or Sprite or whatever the case is um
that's a that is a good question and
that's one that we've posed you're
talking about in America yeah right now
thought there's no I thought there's no
problem so we've always said we've
always said Coca-Cola without a symbol
right but part of this part of we've
always said it's no problem is this
something new no oh the OU will will not
officially tell you that right but we've
always said that because we know the
process and we know that there's nothing
that goes on at the Bott level right
that will be a problem we have
assumption that this that the that the
um concentrate that they're using is
actually
Coca-Cola U which I think is a a fairly
uh valid assumption okay because they're
contracted with
Coca-Cola um let's give another example
the star k certifies um a brand of soda
called Jones Soda which you might as
well plug since we're on the staras show
um if you're looking for a good unusual
soda for Jones and they um they produce
at a number of different bottlers
independent bottlers around the country
um we visit those bottlers on a regular
basis but we're not always there so and
those bottlers could be bottling for for
a dozen different companies in addition
to
Jones so how do we know that the cola
the Jones Cola is really the Jones Cola
and it's not this maybe they substituted
it for the cola from uh you know instead
of Jones they substit from Goldberg's
Cola or whatever the case may be buyer
Cola and the answer to that is is that
it's it's a s it's a thought a logical
thought that the company is required by
contract with the person asking for them
to bottle
to use the product that they sent to
them Jones make sure that the Jones
flavors are sent to this bottler right
so so the bottler has it's in the bott's
interest to use what the customer wants
if Mr Jones opens a bottle of kumquat
soda which I think they have um and
tries it and it doesn't taste like
kumquats are exactly like he wants it
then they're in trouble so that's what
we basically go on and the same thing
with plastic Coca-Cola so even though
someone's not necessarily visiting the
plant we're assuming that they're using
so that is that is still our assumption
right we do not require I I I I I
noticed that the that the required
symbol was on things I think are bottled
hot that's what I thought that's another
issue right like the I te that's more
into iced tea the Iced Teas and the
nectar and certain IC teas certain fruit
drinks are bottled hot which means
they're pasteurized in the process and
those definitely need a c definely they
need to kosher the equipment before they
produce correct correct they need to
caser it correct so and there's there's
also a little bit of a rule of thumb
with that I mean usually if if a if a
premium tea is the kind that they
usually bottle hot MH U which means that
they they want to try and and sell it
with um a clean label with a little bit
little on the label as possible so as we
look at it it'll just say ingredients uh
tea water and uh you know sugar or
something like that um they don't want
to have preservatives on the label so
those are usually hot they want to do
that hot so that way they can I see it
will be no necessity to the preserv is
because the heat will kill whatever
germs there's no preser no no additional
ingredients yeah but the premium tees
the Arizona te's the honest te's those
kind of teas are usually bottled hot the
brisk tees the lipin tees generally
generally are um are about cold okay
let's take some of the questions here um
Jonathan's asking about uh readers that
stores that are uncertified starc does
certify some of the readers stores the
ones that
uncertified
um best to call here at 41484 4110 speak
to RAB kurzfeld he handles those the
reita
stores um we said the Reas itself yeah
the actual
Ras the basic Reas ice cream I think we
said all along was um the mixes were
kosher they are they are made kosher the
question is what about in the stores
that that use them um Yehuda says in New
York City there are many stands that
sell cut up fruit can one purchase these
cut up fruits the question is what else
do they what else do they cut um is it
just a fruit if it's just a Fruit Stand
um I think you can be comfortable uh
buying buying at a Fruit
Stand their knives if it's a Fruit Stand
they they should have special Europe is
one of the few places where you can go a
whole store special knives dedicated for
fre the problem with the knives comes in
when you have in a supermarket where
they have a meat section have fruit
section and we're not sure exactly which
knife they're using uh I would caution
you though that uh there are some fruits
that have bugs like we've been
discussing like strawberries but one of
the later uh discoveries is that
pineapples also have have mites on them
and we had a whole webinar you can find
that on our Vimeo Channel um about about
we showed you how to cut it properly
that that the mites uh don't but there
are real there real issues now with
pineapples at least currently uh uh Abe
is saying that some of the key kiosks
the juice kiosks they add some flavored
water so you cannot assume it's just
plain water coming out of the
spout that's interesting the consumer
should check as have as as you have
mentioned they need to be their own Mas
okay that's interesting that the water
is already pre-fl flavored uh so I guess
you would have to check that out find
out whether or not the water is is is uh
pre- flavored it's pre-f flavored or not
um also we have if you're in New York
City you have the cop pod issue that you
want to make sure that the cop pods are
filtered out the little bugs that are in
the New York City water can you address
Josh wants to know the purchase of
Coca-Cola and Pepsi while traveling
outside the US it's $664,000 question
we'd rather not address it we know that
everybody drinks it but we're not sure
why um because the the OU does not
officially sanction the Coca-Cola syrups
outside of the US Mexico Canada where is
it the last time we checked this out
Isel Israel last time we checked
this uh which was a while ago we were
told by the OU people at the OU that
um they don't certify out that they
obviously they only certifi with as a
symbol and I was basically kind of
recommended that if it's in a a country
where it's where there's a a strong
kosher presence then more than likely
that local place that local VOD or local
agency would be so what this countries
we had Canada US Mexico England and
Israel I think was that it yeah
officially so theoretically if you're on
a plane from uh from wherever from Spain
to uh wherever and you buy giving your
Coca-Cola official the official ow you
position is that you wouldn't risk I
think I think that's our official
position too because we don't want to
say more than the I'm not talking for
Rabbi harlap who's the certifier for
Pepsi but Pepsi has told us in the past
um when I spoke to them about it that um
that Pepsi all over the world is the
same MH I don't think Coca-Cola makes
that claim okay
so it's uh so the official OU position
on Coca-Cola we stated and star k can't
say more than that the Pepsi is okay um
wherever so I think the more westernized
the country the safer you probably are I
wonder if because of this webinar Pepsi
will see up in their sales
worldwide um okay you who do wants to
talk about the Coca Cola Freestyle
machines where they have 100 flavors oh
that's very interesting and we we right
where you can mix and
match into that yeah all the flavors of
kosher yes it's a very interesting thing
it's very
Hightech um you can I think it's I
forgot already how many different
combinations you can possibly have but
you can you can kind of pick and choose
your your combinations of soda uh you
can have like you know cherry flavored
soda or cherry flavored Sprite or Sprite
flavored Cola all these different
different weird things but the
interesting thing about it is that it's
designed in such a way that the the
canisters or whatever it is that that go
into the back of the machine are are
copyrighted and they're only made to fit
into that machine by Coca-Cola
themselves so it's impossible impossible
to get an off brand you can't you can't
forge you can't fake it beautiful and
the OU stands behind all the flavors
that are available in those machines so
those are the Coca-Cola Freestyle
machines where they have them I have
never seen one a lot of stores have it
like you'll see it in some Target stores
have it like that was also very
interesting and it's very Hightech is
that the machine itself I guess this has
done wirelessly or something but it it
notifies
the distributor when it's running low of
of a certain I see flavor okay um we do
have a question about coffees that yood
is asking um and I believe
that uh that you you emailed this
question as well can one purchase
flavored coffees if the store has Noh
but the flavors themselves right that
come in the bottle have H on the bottle
um and the answer is the flavors the
flavors are added to the to the well
that's the question that's the old
Starbucks question and so if it's
Starbucks we have a separate issue and
there how wash if all you're talking
about is is the co the coffee is kosher
and they're just taking the flavor and
adding it you have black coffee black
coffee and a flavor
then that's not a problem right we do
parenthetically we're referencing the
Starbucks issue which is that they wash
the cffs some of them wash right in in
that you can that information you can
find on our website but um yud is giving
us the the URL for the the Coca-Cola
statement um oh really oh really let's
see what that
is let's open that up let's see what
that says
there what does it say
okay looks like it's taking too long
because in this day and age you have bad
it's too long we lost this did we lose
the picture oh there's a picture back
okay um we'll take a look at that
afterwards about a little window on your
chat and Sh the the is yeah could do
that yeah okay now let's we want to move
on because there's so many topics that
we um that we promis to talk about I
think we bid off more than we can Cheo
your is asking is there no problem of
residue left from the previous bottling
if if you have a CO a a a soda bottler
the answer is no there is no residue
they don't want to mix the flavors they
wash it out it's all cold it's that that
has never been any any any problem at
all if it's cold if the if the soda is
prob cold we've never found any cautious
problem with that at all um we did have
another question about uh we we we
invited open Line questions right so we
got a question that has to do with
traveling that I wanted to share with
our listeners
um and the question is about
transporting a safe for Torah a Torah
scroll many camps are transporting Tes
by plane train bus and automobile our
camp wraps the Torah in the Talis and
then in the duffel bag and carries the
Torah onto the plane can the Torah be
put in the overhead bin um can it be
placed as luggage underneath can it be
put in the trunk of a car should you buy
a separate seat for it uh so the the
questions uh that were presented to us
so I spoke to one of our one of our uh
local Baltimore
sofin um I'm not sure if he wants to be
quoted so I'll leave it I'll leave his
name out but he said what he does the
the best thing to do when he's
transporting a turist scroll scroll on a
plane he said he's done this many times
is that he takes off
the The Wooden po that hold the toret he
he unravels it he removes the scroll
from that that he puts underneath the
plane he boxes it nice and he puts it
underneath the plane the scroll nowadays
he says it's pretty small and he puts it
in a carryon and and he wraps it nicely
and he puts it overhead and there's no
no problem at all um well that's good if
you're a Sofer and you you know how to
reattach exactly that's what I said to
him I said Rabbi that's good for you
you're a s when you get to where you're
going it's easy for you to reattach you
have to take the the senu and you exact
you have to tie it together think the
artart director in Camp is going to know
how to do that the average person is not
uh is not gonna do that I as him I as
today right about putting it
underneath um underneath in your luggage
and he he felt um he didn't like that
idea he said it make a damage he didn't
he felt it make a damage felt it wasn't
honorable for sa Tor to get you know
thrown around now it it's you know if
you see those pictures of the of of the
baggage handlers yes obviously so you
know they may drop it probably hold it
they may they may drop it if you put it
underneath he felt we're not discussing
whether or not it's permitted or
forbidden from a technical perspective
but whether or not it's a good idea he
felt it was not um um and he said if it
doesn't fit you know if I I'm interrupt
but if you if you you're sheling with
yourin right many times okay um so is
there anything wrong with putting your
Fain in your suitcase and check is not
sa Torah uh it's a holy item right but
sear is much much Holier and also it
also is um is much bigger and more
likely to get uh to get damage um so
yeah for that reason he suggested that
if you if if you can't if it's too big
to put in the bin because if it has the
the wooden poles attached it may ver
well be too
big I'm just trying to picture this you
know nowadays there's a little bin space
usually on flights you come in with your
is there room for me here your sa for
Tor that's going to think
right going to be an interesting flight
right exactly well um you know if you
have let's say two people traveling
together and you're entitled to a
certain amount of space so maybe it
could fit lot of friends that way you'd
have to know that it would fit so then
you could buy another seed for it and uh
you could hold it theoretically couldn't
you hold I don't think that they would
let you hold it oh cuz your seat belt
issues they'll be afraid if fly off and
hit someone in the head right I think so
you can buy another seed for it that's
an option um Buckle in your buckle
buckle right um and so that was his
approach to it of course others may have
uh different approaches um I I did not
have an opportunity to ask her behind
him to see what he would say but that
was his uh his his idea I asked him
about putting it under a bus when he put
it under the bus let's say you're
traveling on a bus and you want to just
put it underneath and he thought that
that also is not a good idea because you
want to have it in your under your in
your um watching it you want to be
watching it you want to be on top of it
you don't want to have to worry what's
happening underneath and is someone
banging it around is someone going to
walk off with it is some what's going to
happen with it you should keep it that
probably would fit in the bin above
above the the bus seat and that's uh
that what he he recommend again he's not
saying that is forbidden to put it
underneath but just he he would like to
have it under in his sight um at all
times uh can it be put in the trunk of
car and the answer to that is yes
there's no problem putting the Safar in
the trunk of a car as long as you don't
you know leave leave it them putting in
the in the uh with the
bus in a car you're in control of it I
mean you're you're because your a car
and plus you're not on top right it's
not going to get banged around you put
it where you want and it will stay there
okay so there's no problem at all with
with the trunk
um okay um let's take some more of these
traveled question question is quickly I
want to point out that if you go to our
homepage stark. org and you we have some
uh travel information there you can
there's there's a button there that says
traveling kosher and you can click that
you can see our articles and our our
webinars we had some really good ones um
we had one with uh Steve SEL last year
about about tips Trel tips about
traveling not so much uh you know what's
the kind of discussion but how does a
Jewish person wants to keep shabis and
wants to keep kosher and what did it he
travels he travels you know like travs
extensively more than 100,000 miles a
year he knows the Minon he knows all the
all the ins and outs of how to travel
and that was a very good one I would
recommend that there's the DAT line
issue RAB dat line issues RAB Heber we
have the airline articles RAB Rosen um
Hotel articles from R Goldberg yeah
too all these um Okay so uh thank youu
articles Star Tech uh Stark Tech put up
the link for that Josh says he's in and
he's running
off uh please mention the return of our
kidna boys we're all daving and and
hoping and and praying that the boys
will be returned safely very very
soon um the uh let's talk just I made a
couple of notes about Airline meals I
was on a flight recently from Washington
and uh I ordered DC Washington DC you
the president of the United States from
from Dallas airport oh you weren't
coming to Baltimore no I was going from
Dallas like to I go over they they fly
you from Washington to I think only
Obama gets that kind of treatment you
know I flew I flew overseas so that was
I was I was uh I ordered the Koshi meal
of course um which I called uh to
reconfirm firm when they told me that my
meal what can you say what united united
I called and I called them I called him
when I made my ticket to to order a
kosher meal and then I called them uh to
reconfirm but when I called them that
time it was within 24 hours and they
said sorry we don't have your uh your
kosher meal listed and it's too late to
order it so I he said we have it on the
return but not on the outbound I said to
him well I got to eat both ways I said I
probably when I ordered meals I probably
ordered them both ways he said maybe but
there's nothing he can do really that's
he said it was within 24 hours nothing
you can do so I brought food along with
me your status obviously is not right
not up there I brought I brought the I
brought food along with me she is and uh
and then I got on the plane and they did
have my meal after all that after all
that they had my meal however it was a a
will I think uh what was it called will
wilmart
Walmart no Wilson no I'll tell you in a
second I'll tell you what what brand it
was okay I don't
remember two people said wilon it was it
was not Wilton no milmar it was milmar
it was a milmar me milmar mil not milart
mil not milart that's that's uh m l m a
r can you spell it m m r that's that was
off BR and um it was Dairy actually it
was Dairy Meal which was fine I didn't
care okay and U it had all the you know
it had the the symbols on it and um I
had never come across a non meal that
was the point of the
story and I'm looking at it I'm looking
for the for the for the symbol and I
just figured it's must be here somewhere
and they have a little ticket that goes
along on with it that tells you about
the meal and it says specifically there
if it's not marked it's not it's so um
so I didn't I didn't eat it and um so
the steart just came by and she saw um I
put that to the side and I was eating my
peanut butter and jelly she was insulted
no she said can I ask you what's wrong
with this says you don't like the fies
Ser here what's your problem I said I
said it's kosher but it's not the kind
of kosher that I eat he said what what's
that I said well I need the Israel milk
how else am I going to say it I I need
the Israel milk she said okay I'm going
to tell them that they should order the
Israel milk now that really has nothing
to do with the order milk from Israel
now that's what's G to happen it has
nothing to do with the with if you go
from New York you always get is you go
from any of the New York airports they
they would not the reason that they buy
this Nel is that it is I imagine it's
cheaper it's cheaper so it's not and
nobody you you could complain all you
want to the certifying agency or to the
to the company that makes the product it
it's just a matter of dollars and cents
United wants to save a few dollars and
so they order n and I suppose that they
figure from Washington there aren't that
many people who want Isel and so they
don't they don't uh they don't order it
from there this the first time they came
across such a thing usually if you'll
get a dairy meal it'll be usually if you
get Dairy from New York or from you know
you get the moral of that story is not
sure well don't assume that your Dairy
meal is
is you know it's always a good idea to
bring your own food because either they
may not they may not have it and if they
have it it may not be the certification
that you recognize or approved um it's
not a good idea to rely that you're
going to get food on on the airplane uh
because there are a lot of a lot of
errors that can occur
um SF says milmar and Wilton are the
same
company it is
not
okay okay so Wilton he's saying that
wilon milmar is the brand for not is
okay I I I mean I now I now I realize
that which I hadn't before um people
call us to ask us what about the L story
when they travel L what about it uh is
it all kosher there seems to be some
level of kosher how does that work so uh
rabie Rosen in his article details it
very well
that is certified by the uh the agency
that is in the country where they are
leaving from
so they don't transport meals from
Israel to the United States nobody does
so in Israel certifi I think that's the
case with all the AR right well um I was
in um we'll finish up the L I was in I
was in I was in uh Switzerland and I got
a meal from Vienna so in Europe you
could it could uh switch yor not coming
from New York right so so in Israel it's
certified by the rabet of of benorian
airport in in in Toronto if it Le in
Toronto I believe it's certified by the
kitchen is Co in America it's oou and
now so every place where they go they
certified by a different uh agency and
the utensils circulate between all the
different uh
commissaries yeah that's right so um it
is a little bit of a of a of a
um a great area this the L me so we
actually recommend when you go just
order the the uh the glot meals
sometimes they call them regal regal
meals from America maybe called Regal or
glot meals the ones with the most
plastic wrapping all around them all the
plastic W so that you have a mountain of
it after you finish getting to your
little tiny omelet exactly right
um so so you order those that's what we
recommend to order those the sealed uh
glad meals let's see if there are
any questions here that we can deal with
um before we end the there's so much
more to talk about Rabbi
buer let me tell you let's see what we
say over
here
uh okay do F sodas have the same status
as
Slurpees meaning that if you see what
what does that mean that if you if it's
uh if they're advertising Coca-Cola
I think generally accept generally
people do do accept it uh we bought Alba
says we bought two saf turs from the USA
two really nice golf bag travel cases it
would wrapped in bubble
wrap the cases were huge and built for
an atomic bomb the airline treated them
like gold no rough housing at at all
okay that could be an option you know
that's inter just that is an option to
to wrap it to wrap it very well and put
it uh underneath as a matter of fact one
of the rabbis I spoke to says that
that's what he does with his C he wraps
a golf case no not necessarily golf case
but he wraps it really well with bubble
wrap and and he writes fragile all over
it and you know careful handling and I
mean with a portable you knowum you know
right technically the fact that it may
stack things on top of it uh would not
be would not actually be since it's
wrapped in its own case would not be
forbidden um again I was just telling
you before what this sulur says he's not
comfortable with that he would rather
have it M on the I mean how does how how
are transported normally from from I'm
saying people carrying themselves but
saying when people
buy or sh orders one right is it is it
does it is it shipped or do people
travel with it that's a good question
that's that's a good question we could
look into that more we should have a
special webinar about about traveling
with with uh things holy objects like SE
we could have the Sofer come by and
explain to us all these details yeah how
you travel with you f in you know make
sure not to leave it filling in the car
when it's hot um I was in Israel once
and um we were at a park and we had we
were staying overnight so we had a
filling with us and it was like it was
about 100 degrees to start off with I
knew if I leave it in the car you know
I'm going to come back and everything's
going to be melted it could get to be
120 130 140 degrees in the car be very
very hot so I took them to the uh to the
um the station
and I asked at the ranger station yeah
the ranger station and I asked them to
to hold on to M filling so she promptly
took it and put it on the floor because
she had no unfortunately she had even
though she was Israeli she had no idea
what it was I said would you mind
picking up putting in one of the boxes
um and you have to be very careful there
are stories I know stories of people who
left it filling in the car and you know
on the front dashboard or even not and
they come back and the whole thing is
just melted off the all the letters are
melted off you have to be very careful
with that uh one one idea might be to
wrap it in in the same bag as an ice
pack not a melting ice pack but a keep
it in your cooler like a cooler yeah
keep it in the cooler with ice and but
still you have to know you can't leave
it there you know right for for for such
a long
time um can you give us the link for the
updated kosher soy list okay that's
going to be available
later um I have pushed Airlines Ron says
when they lose lose my kosher meal
request most will come up with one from
the local freezer Supply
even within hours of fly time but don't
depend on it okay I guess it depends how
hard you push them depends on what your
mile status it could also depend what
your mile status is I was once on a
plane uh again going to Israel and um um
and the person next to me he was on
again un united and he was what they
call it was better than Premier
something Premier plus plus World K
status like top top of the line yeah
anyway the the the steward came to him
and said I'm sorry we haven't got your
meal he says it's not it's not in your
you know wasn't in your reservation he
says how can that be it's in my
permanent it's in my it's in my Perman
record that that it's always supposed to
be ordered for me the steart said I'm
just sorry there isn't anything there so
um so this fellow he takes out his phone
he turns to me he says just one second
he ttes out his phone he calls his
personal concierge that he had has that
United and he says you know in a very
nice way he says I'm sitting here on
such and such a flight does does my
profile have kosher meals in it and the
lady says yes it does he says well
you're telling me that I don't have a
Kosh meal and you know I don't I don't
know what to do so uh she apparently
assured him within like 10 minutes
somebody came onto the plane and said we
have don't worry we got it on the plane
and that guy that guy the St was left on
on the T
so you know so that is right it depends
on on how much you push and but again
it's not something you can you can rely
on um
uh why does a points out
Borstein is the major airline C caterer
in New York New Jersey area they are
under the OU and notl why does double
wrapping on airline meals helps if
there's moisture between the layers okay
that's a good question there is not
supposed to be moisture between the
layers
uh uh or any significant
accumulation uh the the the idea of
double wrapping and putting in an oven
is that even if the oven is non- kosher
and actually from microwave yeah they
don't put it actually in microwave they
put in the oven oh okay I thought
someone was asking okay he's asking an
airline meal that's double wrapped so
the idea is that since it's double
wrapped any residue that might might
let's say they put it on some non-
kosher residue uh that can't trans
transfer from one wrapping to the other
that's only true if it's not uh moist if
it's moist it can transfer uh that's an
issue that should be brought up with the
agency that's certifying if that if
that's happening so can can I bring up a
quick issue while we're talking about
wrapping things double wrapping things
which I think people sometimes come
across when you're staying in hotels and
many of the hotels nowadays have these
little microwaves mhm so can we use
those microwaves to heat up our kosher
food if you double wrap it if you double
wrap it yeah you should clean it and
then still double rapid right that's
yeah that's like at work we have we have
articles about that as well I don't
double wrap my stuff here at work at the
star maybe I
should one more thing most people don't
work at a kosher certifying
agency as far as I know yeah most people
they're not so lucky so
fortunate famously he brings you to
famous Lieutenant bound story of L pilot
who heard it with a sa Torah on board
and took it into the Pilot's cabin so it
should have the front seat very nice
okay um if if I'm traveling one more one
more and I go to a park and they have
these um or rest stop I've seen this
also and they have these grills set up
okay the grills in in in the
Parks
um you could caser them it's possible to
caser a grill with a liun Gummer which
would mean um uh using charcoal to
totally burn the uh the grap and clean
have to clean out the interior not and
then you'd have to burn the uh the gray
till it comes to a glow that's not it's
not practical at all sometimes when
people want to use non- koser grills we
tell them clean it out and uh get get a
new uh great I was just going to say if
you take out the grate that they have
there they can't take it out they don't
make it that you can take it out you
take it out they're attached you take
them out put on the floor okay if you
clean out the whatever's down there I
said put in your own thing theoretically
you can put in your own thing then you'd
have to uh fire it up to to to bring it
to what say 500 degrees but it would be
possible to do if if if if there's no
residue there you clean it so it's clean
and then you'd have to fire what to be
fire up the put charcoals in so that it
becomes you mean oven area the oven area
you have to kosher the oven area you
never you're not going to know if guess
the it's outdoors so it's going to
be very difficult it would be it is
difficult use I don't I don't think it's
that bring your grill Al that's it
better to bring your own I AB says it's
impossible to properly clean the entire
Grill and I agree with that I'm just
saying it's possible to do if you spend
enough time if you're there for like two
days you know you know maybe you're
staying overnight
um and and the
grills the grills that they have in New
York apparently cost about $5 in
Maryland you can get them for $99 so
well you can get those portable the
disposable grills now you that's what
he's talking about disposable Grill it
might as well just buy buy a a grill and
and and and bring that along I want to
thank everyone for joining I don't think
we got to all the issues that we were
intending but we got to very fair amount
of of different uh topics always good to
talk to your ra buyer and um you can
finish that up uh thank you you know
it's such a ripoff it's there's like
nothing left now I I was wondering if we
can give out cup of liquid to encourage
more listeners we can we can give out
like coupons maybe we can coupons for
Slurpees or something like that let's
see over here where we have people
joining us
from um we can there's a way here of me
figuring out there's some
way of figuring out where people
are joining us from and I want to do
that let's
see
um okay let's see where we have
again we have
Spain uh Mo mostly East Coast we have
erell we have West
Coast um and uh that's great so really
really
worldwide okay thank you all thank you
all for joining us this webinar will be
archived um in in in the coming uh days
at kosher class.org or on our Vio
Channel or on our YouTube channel where
you can find all of our previous
webinars uh we must have 50 60 webinars
there for you to to to look at if the
back set one day maybe right uh if you
have any questions uh for us or for
anyone at the Stark you can email us at
info stark. org uh you can call us at
4110 we have have uh two full-time um
receptionists who answer questions based
on well trained based on the information
that we give them uh and we they look it
up if they don't know they ask and we
welcome you to uh use that service our
website again is stark. org I want to
thank our wonderful technicians Rabbi
Chapman and Miss Debbie Rosenstein for
recording and uh thanks again for
joining remember next month in July
there is no not a webinar uh due to some
other activities that are going on at
the star k but we will look forward to
seeing you the last Wednesday of August
at 1200 noon thanks very much bye