Vegan restaurant

Question:

If a vegan restaurant is supposedly certified kosher, although the certification is not from one of the well-known ones and I looked into it and the Rabbi gives more leniency about the necessity for a full time mashgiach, etc are you allowed to go there and also, they are open on Shabbos. Please include any halachic sources, so I can share this with the people who have been going there and maybe just don’t realize it is ossur to patronize them. I already know this, but I need it verified by a Rabbi with sources.
Thank You

Answer:

Hello,

With all due respect to the certifying Rabbi, but the very basics of a hechsher is that the owner of the business agrees to keep to halacha, and is afraid of violating it, because the mashgiach might catch him and they will lose their hechsher. If the hechsher allows them to be open on Shabbos, and openly violates halacha, how can we trust that the food in the restaurant is kosher? What is stopping the owner of the restaurant who couldn’t care less about kashrus laws, from bringing treif products on Shabbos and cooking with them?  What is stopping him from cooking trief meat in the pots on Shabbos?

Aside from this, who is the cook in this restaurant that isn’t even shomer Shabbos. It is most probably a gentile, which means that the food is bishul akum and may not be eaten.

Another issue, that even if the cook is Jewish, if he isn’t shomer Shabbos the pots may not be eaten from because they are trief with the absorbed taste of chillul Shabbos. The halacha states that if food was cooked in a pot on Shabbos that the absorbed taste in the pot is forbidden to eat (See sources). Therefore, whether the cook is Jewish or not the pots are trief.

Not only are the pots treif, but any food cooked in the restaurant on Shabbos, such as sauces, salads, side dishes, and even mains, are often cooked and refrigerated for the coming days. Anything made on Shabbos is trief, as it was made thru chillul Shabbos. So even if we “overlook” the lack of hashgacha in the store, the store itself is making the food treif!

The issues here are a lot more fundamental than just “more leniency about the necessity for a full time mashgiach”.

Now aside for the hard halacha, would any sane person travel with an airline, whose pilots disregard the most basic aviation safety rules, and this is publicized in the news every week? Would anyone use a surgeon who has been caught numerous times violating basic health safety rules during surgery? When the surgeon was approached about this, he replied that he doesn’t believe in the medical establishments, safety rules, and he operates according to what is convenient for him? Would any responsible person use this surgeon for open heart surgery? I hope not. So how can we just “trust” the owner of this restaurant, when we know clearly that he doesn’t have any respect for halacha?

Unfortunately, when it comes to food, there is a big yetzer hora, to rationalize without knowing the real facts.

I wish you much success in trying to convince people, to take kashrus more seriously and not jeopardize their spiritual health.

Best wishes

Sources:

שו”ע יו”ד ס’ שי”ג.

אוח ס’ שי”ח סע’ א’, ) מג”א (ס”ק א’) – “אסור לו לעולם. משמע ברשב”א סימן קע”ה דהקדירה אסורה ג”כ”. ) א”ר (ס”ק א’) – “אסור לו וכו’. אפילו הקדירה (רשב”א קע”ה)”. ) שבות יעקב (ח”ב סי’ כ”א) – “… עכ”ל הרשב”א ומהדברים אלו הוציאו אחרונים המשמעות מתשובת הרשב”א לאסור הכלי היינו בבישלו במזיד שאסור לו התבשיל עולמית גם הכלי הבלוע ממנו אסור לו עולמית”.

תוס’ שבת שם ס”ק א  באר היטב (ס”ק א’) – “ומשמע ברשב”א סי’ קע”ה שהקדרה אסורה ג”כ”.ושלחן שלמה (סעי’ א’) – “ואף הקדירה אסור”.  גר”ז (סעי’ א’)  מ”ב (ס”ק ד’) – “כתב המג”א בשם הרשב”א דגם הקדירה שבישל בה בשבת אסורה לו לבשל בה מפני שהיא בלועה מדבר האסור לו” בן איש חי (שנה ב’ פר’ בא אות א’) – “והמבשל באור בשבת חייב. ואם עשה במזיד אסור לו לעולם, וגם הקדרה אסורה לו בלא הגעלה מפני שבלועה מאיסור, וצריכה הכשר כשאר כלים הבלועים מאיסור”.  תהלה לדוד ס”ק א  ערה”ש (סעי’ ח’) – “וגם הקדירה אסורה”.כה”ח ס”ק ט  ארחות שבת (פרק כ”ה סעי’ נ”ג) – “כתבו הפוסקים שכשם שמאכל שנתבשל באיסור אסור מדין מעשה שבת כן הקדירה שנתבשל בה המאכל הזה אסורה, כדין קדירה שנבלע בה דבר איסור, ולכן אם ישראל בישל בשבת במזיד אסור לו לבשל בקדירה הזו לעולם [ואין לו תקנה אלא בהגעלה], ולאחרים מותר לבשל בקדירה זו במוצאי שבת, ואם בישל בשוגג מותר בין לו ובין לאחרים למוצאי שבת”.