16 Jul KASHRUS QUESTIONS & ANSWERS WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT

I am a frequent
traveler and
sometimes I
find myself in
a motel with
a kitchenette. Am I able to
go to the local fish store and
purchase kosher fish?
A: You certainly cannot buy fish that
is cooked or fried. You also may not
buy fish that doesn’t have any skin on
it, because once the skin is removed,
aside from salmon, there is no way
of knowing exactly which type of fish

it is and it could possibly be a non-
kosher fish. But if the fish is raw with

skin on it, you need to make sure that
the cutting board on which they are
cutting the fish is clean and has no
residue from other fish. Also, you
need to make sure that they do not
use the knife they always use because
that knife is used to cut non-kosher

fish as well. You would have to bring
your own knife that’s only used for
kosher purposes.

There are certain types of dried
fruit that are susceptible to
bug infestation and require
checking. Do they still need to
be checked if the package has
a hechsher on them?
A: When we give a hashgacha on a
product that has fruits and vegetables,
part of giving the supervision is

making sure there’s no infestation
issues. Kosher law is very strict
on infestation so there is no way
we could label a product “kosher”
if the issue of infestation has not
been properly addressed.
Many years ago, there was a brand
of romaine lettuce that was being
sold with a certain supervision.
We all know that romaine lettuce
is typically very infested and really
needs to be washed and checked
very wel. When I became aware
that this product was being sold
in our community. I called a rabbi
to ask him what his system was
for cleaning the romaine lettuce.
He answered as follows: “Rabbi, I’m
not certifying the bugs, I’m only
certifying the vegetables.’’ I was not
very impressed to say the least, but
that is the story. In my mind, one

of the ways in identifying a reliable
supervision is by making sure the
vegetables that they are certifying are
one hundred percent edible. If there is
infestation, a reliable kashrus agency
would not be certifying it.