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There is a concept of "Eid echad ne'eman b'issurin" which means if a person testifies on something that is questionable we believe him. An example would be regarding kosher: if I go to a friend's house and he serves me chicken, and he tells me it's kosher, I'm allowed to take his word for it. So if a restaurant owner is an observant Jew, must he have a kosher certificate?

msh210
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David Feigen
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    Because he is making money – Y     e     z Mar 27 '14 at 18:18
  • He's a Nogea Bedovor –  Mar 27 '14 at 18:19
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    Related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/6543 & http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/11957 – msh210 Mar 27 '14 at 18:19
  • @YEZ Why should that matter? The homeowner also doesn't want his pot to be treif. – Double AA Mar 27 '14 at 18:55
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    Do non-Jews or non-religious Jews work at this restaurant? – Fred Mar 27 '14 at 19:26
  • @DoubleAA There are degradation of motivation - there could be no such thing as עד אחד נאמן were that not true- every situation has something which could be of benefit or not to you. Otherwise, assume everyone is always lying to not be embarrassed. – Y     e     z Mar 27 '14 at 19:31
  • @YEZ Even if that is true, how did you make up your red line? Would you not buy from my lemonade stand because I'm making a quarter? Would you trust a free hot dog stand on a street corner? – Double AA Mar 27 '14 at 19:32
  • @DoubleAA I don't know why the amount of money should matter, if it is a tangible benefit. And the Talmud distinguishes between levels of benefit, so I don't know why I need to. – Y     e     z Mar 27 '14 at 19:37
  • You just said there are degradations of motivation! – Double AA Mar 27 '14 at 19:42
  • @DoubleAA tangible benefit. – Y     e     z Mar 27 '14 at 19:43
  • For years there was a pizza shop in Brooklyn NY that did not have a hechser and everyone ate there. – R. Mo Mar 28 '14 at 13:12
  • I know that the OU will not allow a religious owner to act as mashgiach of their own establishment, unless there is an emergency. The Star K will. I worked as a mashgiach for around two years. – Baby Seal Mar 28 '14 at 17:26
  • If the star K allows a mashgiach of their own establishment, then they aren't concerned about him being nogea bedovor! backseat chazan has stated earlier that since he is nogea bedovor we can't trust him. I guess that's the argument between the OU and star K – David Feigen Mar 31 '14 at 02:34
  • "There is a concept of "Eid echad ne'eman b'issurin"" How do you know that? – mevaqesh Jun 13 '17 at 18:36

2 Answers2

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I was told by R' Dovid Fink shlita that, speaking very generally, Ashkenazi poskim tend to require kosher certification, the reasoning being that the standards of kosher might be different from your own. Sefardi poskim, on the other hand, tend to consider a restaurant kosher if there is a visible observant Jew working there, exactly as you describe. As others have noted, though, there are many for-sure kosher restaurants that do not have independent certification that nobody would reasonably tell you to not eat at.

Tatpurusha
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How do you know who the restaurant owner is or if he is trustworthy? If you meet a stranger and he invites you to his house, how do you even know that he keeps kosher. It used to be that there were stores which everyone knew were kosher because of the reputation of the owner. Nowadays, stores are owned by people who may or may not be trustworthy (or adequately knowledgeable about kashrus). It is like picking up a product with a 'plain k' on it rather than an actual copyrighted kashrus logo (such as the OU).

Nowadays, there are people who claim to 'keep kosher' but do not really know what is or is not kosher.

Even if you know the owner and trust him, he would need to show a kashrus certification so that other customers who do not know him personally can be certain.

sabbahillel
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  • A person has a chezkus kashrut, so even a stranger is ok – David Feigen Mar 27 '14 at 18:29
  • Maybe you met the owner and asked him? – Double AA Mar 27 '14 at 20:00
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    It doesn't matter if I ever even met the guy every Jew unless proven otherwise has a chezkus kashrut – David Feigen Mar 27 '14 at 20:35
  • why are people less trustworthy nowadays? –  Mar 27 '14 at 20:57
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    @Backseat Chazan Consider that it is 'normal' that people will violate Shabbat with no qualms, that they will have no hesitation in selling non-kosher food (or eating it themselves) and that it is no longer a rarity to find a store that is open on Shabbat. As a result, we cannot accept a person at random as a kosher aid. In actuality, the whole point of certification is that we know that the certifier is both trustworthy and has the knowledge to determine what subtleties might be addressed. I have seen people claim that something is Kosher because they do not know the halacha properly. – sabbahillel Mar 27 '14 at 22:02
  • You just took the whole concept of chezkus kashrut and threw it out the window! – David Feigen Mar 31 '14 at 02:31
  • @David Feigen No there is a Chezkas Kashrus, however given the society in which we live, the chezkas kashrus cannot be applied to any random individual. Thus, I can apply the chezkas kashrus to the people in my shul. However, if I see someone driving to a temple on shabbos, I cannot assume that he has a chezkas kashrus. There are certain stores where I can assume that the owner has a chezkas kashrus and I know that he is careful with what he brings into his store. See Ironies, Divine and Otherwise for an example of what could occur. – sabbahillel Mar 31 '14 at 02:44