Rabbi Zushe Yosef Blech, 64, a towering figure in the world of kashruth, passed away suddenly in late January. He is remembered as a kind, talented teacher, mentor and extraordinarily knowledgeable professional who, quite literally “wrote the book on kosher food production.”
Highly regarded as an expert on the intersection of technology, enzymology, industrial processes and halacha, Rabbi Blech’s seminal tome, “Kosher Food Production” (Blackwell Publishing/John Wiley & Sons), which had its second printing in 2009, is the definitive guide on kashrut certification, delving into a wide array of issues including food service, food service materials and containers. It also addresses sensitive topics such as rabbinic etiquette and ingredient management.
The hefty reference book, which delves into complex processes including how to determine if the inside of a tanker truck carrying only Florida orange juice is kosher, or how a can of OU-certified tuna fish is considered kosher, even though it was processed in the northmost echelons of the Arctic Sea, with no mashgiach in sight. The book and other publications by Rabbi Blech are on the desks of virtually every kashruth administration in America and beyond.
Rabbi Blech received his rabbinic training at Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore and his university degree from Johns Hopkins University. He worked for 14 years as a regional director for the kashruth division of the Orthodox Union, traveling the globe on behalf of the agency, and then served as a technical and halachic consultant to virtually all of the major kashruth certifying agencies worldwide. He was known for his ability to set up intricate systems and solve otherwise insurmountable problems in industrial kashruth.
For the last decade, Rabbi Blech has been the kashruth administrator for the EarthKosher hechsher, which certifies dozens of organic, gourmet, vegan or specialty products that often seek kashruth certification to reach a wider gastronomic audience, as well as personally certifying a number of restaurants in New York and New Jersey, including Teaneck Doghouse, the JCC Café at the JCC on the Palisades (Tenafly), New York’s The Challah Fairy, Cafe B’nai in West Orange, BH Gourmet Grill sports restaurant and bar and various food trucks and snack bars. Rabbi Blech also provided the hechsher for Brooklyn’s Kosher Culinary Center, the nation’s only kosher cooking school, where Rabbi Blech was also an instructor.
“There is no one in our universe like Rabbi Blech,” said Kosher Culinary Center dean of student affairs and co-founder Chef Avram Wiseman, who expressed personal loss on his passing. “Because he was a rav hamachsher (a rabbi senior enough to act as his own certifying agent), a posek (halachic decisor), an author and a true authority on commercial food production; I mean, he literally wrote the book on kosher food production. Besides all this and also being a beloved husband and father, he was also a mentor and one of the most warm and humble men I have ever met,” said Wiseman.
Wiseman added that despite all of Rabbi Blech’s skills, abilities, levels of knowledge over and above so many, “he remained humble, always approachable; a brilliant scientific mind,” he said.
Wiseman sought to explain how Rabbi Blech’s deep and broad wealth of knowledge extended in both halacha and science. “He had an understanding of commercial technologies involving industrial machinery such as spray dryers, dehydrators, vacuum-packers, preservation and packing materials. He is not going to be replaceable by any one person,” added Wiseman.
“Rabbi Blech emanated simchat hachaim (a love of life and everything surrounding it),” said Chanalee Fischer, who operates The Challah Fairy bakery and distributorship in New City, New York. “Rabbi Blech was a professional in his field with an unusual knowledge of not only the halachic aspect of kashruth; he had a broad range of information that could answer any question he was posed,” she added.
Rabbi Binyomin Taub (currently the kashrut coordinator for the Rabbinic Council of Bergen County, in New Jersey) will, for the very short term, provide stop-gap certification of Rabbi Blech’s personal hechsher, known as Kehilas Bais Ben Zion, which primarily certifies Monsey- and New Jersey-area food service establishments, for the coming two months. Rabbi Yehuda Goldman is EarthKosher’s interim kashrut administrator. Rabbi Taub noted in a letter to restaurants and food service partners that he is offering his services free of charge as he feels that this is exactly what Rabbi Blech would have done for others under such circumstances. His certification is for two months to give the small family company suitable time to find a replacement.
“I go back with him 21 years,” said Rabbi Taub. “I found him to be a friend and a mentor, understanding people of all kinds, each and everyone with their course of thought. To say he was brave and smart, an excellent advisor is an understatement. His knowledge in Torah and ethics combined, modern technology, was outstanding. Interacting with people whether mashgichim, who did not see him as an employer, but rather as a mentor, plant managers, CEOs of worldwide companies, Each and everyone of them with the various technical difficulties and always with respect, was something to look up to. His passing is of a great challenge to all of us who were close to him.”
Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, a kashruth expert who primarily manages the OU-Dairy designation for the Orthodox Union in Manhattan, shared that his first of hundreds of review visits to OU-certified production plants was with Rabbi Blech. “At the time, we were visiting an uncooperative and contentious dairy company in Wisconsin, which was about to lose its kosher certification if it did not make major changes. Rabbi Blech masterfully put forth the case, argued it with force and humor, and devised a brilliant plan to which the company readily agreed. It was very tense, but Rabbi Blech’s God-given genius and good nature saved the day.”
Rabbi Gordimer remembered that Rabbi Blech was uniquely suited to solving complex industrial issues with a clear head and eye for accuracy. “I was struggling to resolve a situation at a major dehydrated potatoes company, which manufactured pareve, dairy and non-kosher blends, and which needed OU certification for some products. No one knew how to tackle the issue—until Rabbi Blech was sent there, where he devised an exceptionally novel and very reliable system to flush and cleanse the production system with a high-powered burst of potato flakes.”
Rabbi Gordimer added that Rabbi Blech’s kashruth publications have immeasurably enhanced contemporary kashruth knowledge and supervision. He said that his publication of “The Dairy Industry: A Halachic Primer,” which first appeared in the OU’s Daf Ha-Kashrus in 1996 is “the seminal work on dairy kashrus.”
Many expressed personal grief on the loss Rabbi Blech, even as they worked together only in a professional or industrial environment. He was a kind and open man, gentle with his students and colleagues and congenial and kind to those with whom he came into contact.
“Rabbi Blech gave hashgacha the way it was meant to be given…zero involvement in its politics, he was non-judgmental and didn’t need to know the ‘it’ people in order to be respected,” said The Challah Fairy’s Fischer.
“He will truly be missed by everyone who knew him,” said Jonathan Gellis, a co-owner of the Teaneck Doghouse, a sports restaurant. “He was a smart, kind and gentle man who approached every situation with a smile. It was a true pleasure to know and work with him. We at the Teaneck Doghouse will never forget the kindness he bestowed on us and will always be grateful for him taking a chance on us.”
“I will sorely miss Rabbi Blech, as will we all. Yehi zichro baruch,” said Rabbi Gordimer.
By Elizabeth Kratz
Elizabeth Kratz is the associate publisher and editor of The Jewish Link of New Jersey and The Jewish Link of Bronx, Westchester and Connecticut.
