The Movement for Reform Judaism

Smiling inwardly, I walked into Platters – and did a double take at the huge volume of smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches.

Later that day I complained to my elder daughter.  “Dad”, she said, “I don’t think you realise that not everyone is like us.  There are loads of people for whom Pesach doesn’t last beyond seder night”.

A long pause.

I saw myself gazing myopically at the list of ingredients on jars and packets in my kitchen, trying to spot any offending mustard seeds that would consign the contents to the green wheelie bin.

“Do you think we make it too difficult for people?” I asked.  “After all, we’re dealing with something that is meant to be symbolic, a knot in the handkerchief, a reminder.”  That’s true of kashrut all the year round and on Pesach, festival of freedom, I don’t feel very liberated.  Lucy wasn’t sure.

A few weeks ago I went down to the Strudel Café at the Sternberg Centre and was examining the stock of temptations on the counter whilst waiting for my tuna baguette.  I said to Alan, “Why don’t you stock the new Walkers Baked Crisps?”  I was thrilled to bits to discover baked crisps with 70% less fat – I love crisps.  “Not kosher,” said Alan.  “Why not?”  I asked.  “Don’t know”, he said, “but they’re on the Kashrut Division NK list”.

I was really irritated.  It’s daft.  You can eat brill but you can’t eat turbot, even though they are closely related fish.  The latest London Beth Din update says that all varieties of M&M’s are now not kosher and neither is Gales lemon curd.  Amongst new products, Alpen Luxury Oat Flake & Clusters are forbidden as is Ocean Spray White Cranberry & Grape Juice.

It seems to me that certain sections of the Jewish community have lost sight of the wood for the trees and the search for things that render a product un-kosher now verges on obsessive-compulsive disorder.  The value of kashrut  is as a powerful reminder of who we are and the values that we stand for, even when we are indulging in the mundane acts of shopping and eating.  If you were to experience my cooking, you would know just how mundane eating can be! 

Kashrut  is not an end in itself. 

Never mind considering the welfare of animals reared for food and the demands of eco kashrut, isn’t it high time that the Reform Movement took a stand and suggested to our members that there is no need to make Pesach a celebration of slavery nor regular kashrut  more akin to a police search for Class A drugs than a reminder of Jewish identity and values.

Do you think we could agree on a regime less obsessive and offer people alternatives, validating the different ways in which people can tie the knot in the handkerchief without having to go – if you’ll pardon the expression – the whole obsessive-compulsive hog?  Or do you think that guilt on the one hand and indifference on the other makes it not worth the effort?

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