By Moshe Freind<\/p>\n
We live in an era of unprecedented convenience. If you walk into any frum supermarket today, the shelves are bursting with every treat, gourmet dish, and high-end culinary creation imaginable. But beneath this surface of abundance, a quiet and dangerous shift is taking place in our community\u2019s mindset\u2014one that strikes at the very foundation of a Chassidishe home.<\/p>\n
It used to be that\u00a0Kashrus\u00a0was the ultimate boundary line. A Lubavitcher Chassid wouldn\u2019t let a single morsel cross their lips without knowing exactly\u00a0who\u00a0stands behind the\u00a0hechsher, who the\u00a0Rav Hamachshir\u00a0is, and whether the standards meet the non-negotiable requirements of\u00a0Chassidisher shechitah\u00a0and proper\u00a0oversight.<\/p>\n
Today? It seems the most powerful\u00a0hechsher\u00a0on the market is the dollar sign.<\/p>\n
Open any local chat or community group and you will see the same pattern. The moment a new food establishment or product hits the scene, the first question isn\u2019t,\u00a0\u201cWho is the Rav? What are the standards of Bishul Yisroel? Is it Lubavitcher Shechitah?\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, the frenzy is entirely about the price point.\u00a0\u201cDid you see how cheap the chicken is?\u201d \u201cThey have a sale on prime beef!\u201d<\/p>\n
We have become a community obsessed with chasing the cheapest option, adopting a corporate \u201crace to the bottom\u201d mentality for the food that literally builds the blood and tissue of our children. The Alter Rebbe explains in\u00a0Tanya\u00a0that non-kosher food\u2014or food lacking in proper, meticulous\u00a0Kashrus\u00a0standards\u2014clogs the mind and the heart (metamtem hamoach ve\u2019halev). It creates a spiritual block that no amount of learning or\u00a0davening\u00a0can easily pierce.<\/p>\n
Yet, for the sake of saving a few dollars a pound, some are willing to play Russian roulette with their family\u2019s spiritual well-being.<\/p>\n
Somewhere along the line, ensuring a high standard of\u00a0Kashrus\u00a0got mislabeled as a\u00a0chumrah. We hear people say,\u00a0\u201cOh, I\u2019m not that crazy strict,\u201d\u00a0or\u00a0\u201cIt has a symbol on the window, it must be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be entirely clear: knowing who the\u00a0Rav Hamachshir\u00a0is and validating their standards is not a Chumra. It is basic\u00a0Halacha.<\/p>\n
When it comes to buying a house, a car, or even a laptop, we spend hours researching, reading reviews, and checking specs. We want to know exactly what we are getting for our money. But when it comes to the meat that goes onto our Shabbos table, we suddenly blindfold ourselves, hand over our credit cards, and trust a massive loophole because it\u2019s a bargain.<\/p>\n
The Rebbe demanded of us to be a light, to raise the standards of the world, and to be meticulously careful with what enters our homes. We cannot afford to let financial convenience or personal politics dictate our spiritual boundaries.<\/p>\n
The next time you hear about a cheap new food trend or a store boasting prices that seem too good to be true, don\u2019t ask how much it costs. Ask who is behind it. Our\u00a0Neshamos, and the\u00a0Neshamos\u00a0of our children, are worth a whole lot more than a discount at the checkout counter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Moshe Freind We live in an era of unprecedented convenience. If you walk into any frum supermarket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[134,111,139,556,69],"class_list":["post-470469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nutrition","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}