Program helps rabbis in Israel answer queries about kashrut from 40 countries in seven languages.

(Courtesy of OU) OU Kosher has created a training course for rabbis who operate a halacha hotline through the Sephardic Halacha Center. The free service provides kosher guidance for consumers and food manufacturers around the world while at the same time strengthening ties with the Sephardic community in Israel.

The Halacha Hotline has 120 rabbis answering countless halachic questions that come in from 40 countries, including the United States, Israel, France, Panama, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Brazil and Russia in seven languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Farsi and Hebrew.

The partnership began in May when the Sephardic Halacha Center in Israel realized it needed assistance in responding to particularly complex questions about laws of kashrut. At the time, Rabbi Yaron Ashkenazy, the hotline’s head supervisor, contacted OU Kosher’s Rabbi Ezra Friedman to ask whether OU Kosher could create and run a kashrut training course for the hotline rabbis. Rabbi Friedman is deputy director of the OU Kosher office in Israel and director of the Gustave and Carol Jacobs Center for Kashrut Education.

Just two months later, the training came to fruition; the courses began in July and will continue through November, with 15 courses taught weekly in Bnei Brak, Israel. OU Kosher is teaching most of the courses while also helping to find additional rabbis who specialize in kashrut to teach future courses.

Rabbi Friedman and Rabbi Yissachar Dov Krakowski, CEO of OU Kosher Israel, are among those carrying out the learning program.

The hotline phone numbers are:

United States: +1-718-704-0984

France: +33-975-181027

England: +44-203-1500201

Panama: 0050-78322420 or 0015-44471760

Mexico: 00-52-55-36877140

Argentina: 005411-59841328

Spain: 0034-911238399

Russia: +7-499-6092388

Ukraine: +380-94-711-2513 or
+380-94-711-8616