25 years of KA
The Kashrut Authority has celebrated its Silver Jubilee with a gala dinner in Sydney.
Baron Revelman, Rabbi Moshe Elefant, Rabbi Moshe Gutnick
The milestone occasion was held at Double Bay’s InterContinental Hotel with over 200 industry leaders, professionals and communal members attending.
The innovative kosher dining experience was created by The InterContinental’s executive chef, Julien Pouteau, based out of the KA-certified dedicated permanent kosher kitchen in the hotel and was MC’d by Rodney Marks.
The KA was privileged to have Rabbi Moshe Elefant, Chief Operating Officer of the Orthodox Union, as its guest of honour.
In his keynote address, Rabbi Elefant spoke of his unique understanding and appreciation of the global kosher certification industry. Addressing remarks to KA president Baron Revelman, Rabbi Elefant said: “You work with people but you don’t really know how the operation is until you actually come and visit and see things on the ground; and I can tell you Mr. Revelman as the President you should be very proud. You have a fantastic operation. You should be very proud.”
Rabbi Elefant added, “If I didn’t care so much about this community, I would actually offer Rabbi Gutnick a job at the OU … you are very, very fortunate to have a person who combines in himself such knowledge both in halacha – Jewish law – and food manufacturing but is also such a mentsch.”
With a jam-packed two-day schedule accompanied by the KA’s Rabbinic Administrator, Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, Rabbi Elefant began his itinerary by gaining first-hand knowledge of chicken schechita, ritual slaughter, in Sydney assessing all aspects of the process and offering constructive suggestions to The KA. He met Sydney’s shochtim [ritual slaughterers] saying he had never seen such a good system for salting and soaking.
Rabbi Elefant addressed students at both Kesser Torah College and Moriah College, offering his valuable insights into Kashrut participating in Q&A sessions at both campuses.
Rabbi Elefant also spoke at Sydney’s Central Synagogue about the importance of community involvement in Kashrut. He said: “Kosher consumers have a very powerful voice. The Kosher diet is the healthy diet of Klal Yisrael.” Rabbi Elefant advised attendees and the broader community to unite behind The KA, ensuring the strongest collective voice is delivered to manufacturers.
The Rabbinic Council of NSW was encouraged to maintain the highest Kashrut standards and to support the local established Kashrut agency in maintaining them. Kosher restaurants, bakeries, shops and cafes were also visited, including airline meal manufacturing.
Rabbi Moshe Gutnick said: “It was a pleasure hosting Rabbi Elefant during his first visit to Sydney. His ever-watchful eye and probing questions reinforced in my mind his expertise as one of the leading Rabbis in the world of Kashrut today.”
The KA has traditionally certified products and locations as being Kosher in NSW and Queensland with the Melbourne-based Kosher Australia doing similar work in other states although there are no defined areas and both organisations are open to work anywhere within Australia.
