New Jersey Jewish News
MetroWest News Story

by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

First, the answers: Yes, you can pop popcorn in your office microwave — but stay away from those office mugs. Attend that business meeting in a non-kosher restaurant, but don’t eat any salad. And forget those Godiva chocolates unless they’re packaged in an OU-certified box.

On Feb. 26, experts from the Orthodox Union discussed issues of keeping kosher in the workplace at Ahawas Achim B’nai Jacob and David in West Orange before an audience of about 85 people. Topics included attending office parties, meeting business clients in non-kosher restaurants, using office microwaves and coffeemakers, and observing Pesach at work.

The evening served as the debut of Kosher in the Workplace, part of the Harry H. Beren Ask OU Community Lecture Series program, through which OU experts visit affiliated synagogues throughout North America. “Observant Jews can be found in every stratum of the workplace. The OU wants to empower them with knowledge of how to properly function in this environment,” said Rabbi Robert Shur, program coordinator of the Community and Synagogue Services Department, in a prepared statement. The evening was cosponsored by AABJ&D, Congregation Israel of Springfield, Congregation Ohr Torah in West Orange, and Congregation Etz Chaim and Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center, both in Livingston.

The speakers last Sunday were Rabbi Hershel Schachter, OU posek (halachic decisor) and senior rabbinic adviser, and Rabbi Menachem Genack, chief executive officer of OU Kosher.

While Schachter focused on kashrut in the office itself, Genack reviewed the precepts of ma’arat ayin (literally, what will be seen by the eye), a rabbinic principle that focuses on how an observant Jew’s public behavior appears to others.

Schachter’s presentation dealt with such practical issues as the office microwave oven. The question: whether the thick steam in a small microwave oven will contaminate kosher food with particles from treif cooked previously in the oven. While it would seem that use of the microwave would not be permitted, Schachter offered a simple solution. “The [particles] will not fly through a paper or plastic bag. That will solve your problem.”

The case of shared mugs in an office, however, cannot be resolved so easily, since they can be used for all sorts of nonkosher products, such as flavored coffees or soups. “Bring your own mug,” suggested Schachter.

Passover offers its own workplace challenges. What do you do if a coworker brings a forbidden food to the conference table that happens to be located in your personal office?

It depends, said Schachter, on whether the coworker is Jewish or not. Basically, a Jewish homeowner is not implicated if non-Jews bring a not-kosher-for-Passover food into a Jew’s home during the holiday, Schachter said, even if they enter the house with a sandwich or other hametz product in their pocket.

Hametz brought in by another Jew, however, is a different situation altogether; the Jewish host shares in the guest’s violation. The principle would play out in one’s office, said Schachter: “I’m having a meeting in my office. Everyone is eating lunch. I have a matza sandwich. [My colleague] has his sandwich. If it’s a non-Jew, it’s okay. If it’s a Jew, I have a problem.”

Vending machines in the office offer similar Passover quandaries. If they are owned by non-Jews, there is no problem buying and eating the kosher non-Passover foods once the eight-day festival ends. But if they are owned by Jews, “you have to wait until they are all used up and refilled to use them” after Passover.

Salad problems

Genack offered an overview of the principle of ma’arat ayin, including examples from rabbinic sources, and then applied them to business meetings at non-kosher restaurants. “We are not permitted to leave wet clothing out to dry because people will misinterpret it and think we washed them on Shabbos,” Genack said, citing the Talmud.

Applying the same logic to a business lunch in a non-kosher restaurant, he said, “Nowadays, people know what a business lunch is…. You’re allowed to go into a non-kosher restaurant and do business if you’re not going to [eat] anything.” The question becomes more complicated if the person wants to eat something — even uncooked — kosher food, such as a melon. “That’s ma’aras ayin,” since others might spot a yarmulke-wearing Jew bent over a meal in a non-kosher restaurant and get the impression he is eating treif food. However, Genack added, there is a proviso. “Let’s say you’re absolutely famished. Then you could order a melon” or other uncooked, permitted food. But, he pointed out, a cold salad “is not simple” because the laws of kashrut demand that certain types of lettuce be inspected for insects.

Genack also took up the issue of a business meeting where the observant Jew is provided with a kosher meal from an outside purveyor. If, however, the utensils and dishes are kosher but look no different from the other diners’, he said, “mamish [verily] that’s ma’aras ayin.” The solution, said Genack, is to “leave the [kosher] seal from the food on the table where people can see it.”

As for Godiva, in response to a question about unpackaged chocolates lining the shelves at stores at the Mall at Short Hills, Genack explained that only the U.S. plant is under kosher supervision, so without having seen the box the chocolates came in, you cannot assume they’re kosher.

One issue remained unresolved at the end of the evening. Schachter, in his talk, pointed out that it would be inappropriate to attend a Christmas party, or even a holiday party, and it would be equally inappropriate to say “Merry Christmas.” “Even if there’s no religious intention, nonetheless, the Jewish person is not permitted to participate,” he said.

One attendee pointed out, however, how difficult that would be in his workplace, where people have gone out of their way to respect his religious principles, wishing him L’shana tova — a happy Jewish New Year. Schachter responded by saying he would reevaluate his position. “You raise a serious question,” he said at the close of the evening. “I’m going to work on that.”

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