Rabbi Yosef Feldman replaced as hechsher provider

J-Wire
February 24, 2015

http://www.jwire.com.au/rabbi-yosef-feldman-replaced-as-hechsher-provider/

Rabbi Yosef Feldman

Following his appearance the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse  Souther Synagogue’s Rabbi Yosef Feldman is no longer providing a hechsher for Sydney caterer Amaze in Taste.

South Head Synagogue’s Rabbi Benzion Milecki, Jewish Learning Centre’s Rabbi David Blackman and Kehillat Masada’s Rabbi Gad Krebsare  now currently  providing a new interim hechsher for AIT.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman has provided the interim hechsher to AIT for the past year but has decided in the interests of the community he would agree to an alternative hechsher solution for AIT following the bad publicity he received resulting from his evidence at the Commission

A spokesperson for AIT said: “To ensure that the community would have no disruption of service he did not do so until a suitable alternative was found.

The new alternative became available after the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of New South Wales (COSNSW) asked Rabbis Milecki, Blackman and Krebsare to provide the interim hechsher pending the outcome of the recommendations made under the Kashrut Commission of Inquiry Report (KCI).”

He added: “AIT would like to publicly acknowledge and praise Rabbi Feldman for his valuable services for the past year.

Rabbi Feldman stepped in to assist AIT with an interim hechsher during a difficult time for the company and we are forever indebted to him for his friendship and support.

Whilst it is not in the purview of a catering company to comment about the recent publicity, we can emphatically state that Rabbi Feldman’s knowledge and integrity in the area of Kashrut have been an immeasurable asset to the company and allowed AIT to operate with the highest standards of both catering and Kashrut.

AIT welcomes the recommendations of the KCI report and looks forward to the implementation thereof at the earliest opportunity for the benefit of the entire community.”

Rabbi Yosef Feldman, currently spiritual head of Southern Sydney Synagogue in Allawah, has, as previously reported, resigned from all official and teaching positions within Chabad at the Sydney Yeshiva.