Hechsher

Article
Talk
Read
Edit
View history

Tools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Hechsher" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January
2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
A hechsher (/hɛxʃər/; Hebrew: ‫([ הֶכ ְֵׁשר‬h)eχˈʃeʁ] "prior approval"; plural:
hechsherim) is a rabbinical product certification, qualifying items (usually foods)
that conform to the requirements of Jewish religious law.[1]

Forms
A hechsher may be a printed and signed certificate displayed at a commercial venue
or on a media advertisement advising the consumer that the subjected product is
kosher. Such certificates usually display the name of the rabbinical court issuing
the hechsher, the name of the business or product, date of issue, expiry date and
stamp of rabbi who issued the certificate.

It may also be a certification marking on individual retail packaging of items

which have been certified as Kosher. This marking is usually a basic stamp or
emblem indicating the issuing rabbinical court. Modern hechsherim display
sophisticated holograms and seals which are hard to forge.[2]

Types
A hechsher is typically issued for food products, and is also issued on non-food
items which come in contact with foods, such as cleaning agents and disposable
cutlery, certifying that its ingredients do not contain any animal extracts or
other halakhically prohibited substances.

The dietary laws of kashrut specify food items that may be eaten and others that
are prohibited as set out in the commandments of the Torah.

Observant Jews will generally only eat permitted foods. To assist Jewish consumers,
rabbinic authorities produce and regulate their own hechsherim. It is usually
Orthodox rabbis who assume the jobs of mashgichim (singular masculine mashgiach or
singular feminine mashgicha, "supervisor"). This means that they will "supervise"
the products and processes that manufacture kosher food to ensure compliance with
the required standards. The mashgichim allow the manufacturer to apply a hechsher
to the packaging of the product only if it is found to contain only kosher
ingredients and produced following halakha.

The rabbi may also apply additional words or letters after the hechsher to denote
whether the product contains meat (often denoted "Meat"), dairy (D or Dairy),
neither meat nor dairy (Pareve), whether the product is Kosher for Passover because
it contains no chametz (P), whether the product is Pas Yisroel (bread baked at
least in part by a Jew), cholov yisroel (milk whose extraction was done by or under
the supervision of a Jew), or whether the product is yoshon (lit. "old": all grain
contents took root before the previous Passover).

It is also common for rabbis to issue a hechsher on religious accessories, such as

tefillin, mezuzot and tzitzit, which must be produced according to specific
halakhic procedures and requirements. Other items which are used for religious
practice such as Four Species bear a hechsher testifying that they confirm to
halakhic requirements.

In Israel, it is common for manufacturers of all kinds to display a hechsher on

products or in commercial advertisements, certifying that their production was not
done during the Shabbat.

History
Seals

LMLK stamp
The Babylonian Talmud cites an early example of a kashrut seal: the seal of the
Kohen Gadol on jugs containing olive oil used in the Jewish Temple for the lighting
of the Menorah.[3]

'LMLK seals' (bearing the Hebrew letters ‫למלך‬, equivalent to LMLK) were stamped on
the handles of large storage jars mostly in and around Jerusalem during the reign
of King Hezekiah (circa 700 BC), based on several complete jars found in situ
buried under a destruction layer caused by Sennacherib at Lachish.[4] None of the
original seals have been found, but about 2,000 impressions (also referred to as
stamps) made by at least 21 seal types have been published.

The practice of marking food as a sign of kashrut can be dated back as far as the
6th century CE. A clay stamp bearing a Menorah image from this period was
discovered in an excavation near Acre, Israel in 2011. According to archeologists,
local Jews stamped their dough with Menorah impressions while preparing bread, in
order for consumers to verify its kashrut.[5]

In New York City in the late 18th and early 19th centuries a shochet (kosher
slaughterer) sold meat from the animals he slaughtered, with a seal affixed
certifying it was kosher, to butchers who also sold non-kosher meat. In 1796 the
city's Common Council suspended the butcher license of a non-Jewish butcher,
Nicholas Smart, for seven weeks for selling non-kosher meat with a counterfeit
seal.[6][7] In 1805 another non-Jewish butcher, Caleb Vandenburg, also had his
butcher license temporarily suspended after Jacob Abrahams, who had been the
shochet in New York since 1803, inspected meat to which Vandenburg had affixed a
seal saying it was kosher and testified that he had not slaughtered the animal the
meat came from.[6]

Certification
An 11th-century certificate found in the Cairo Geniza written by a rabbinical
court, testified the kosher status "according to rabbinic law" of the cheeses being
sold by a Karaite grocer, Yefet b. Meshullam of Jerusalem. The document explains
that the cheese was produced in a factory on the Mount of Olives that followed
rabbinic practice. The certificate reads: "The cheeses are kosher and it is
appropriate for Rabbanite Jews to purchase them. We grant this permission only
after having made a formal purchase from him and having witnessed an oath he took
on the holy Torah."[8]

Specific authorities
Main article: Kosher certification agency
See also: Kashrut § Product labeling standards

South African Beth Din hechsher

One of the world's best known hechshers is the Orthodox Union's.

In America, one of the best known hechsher symbols is the "OU" from Orthodox Union
Kosher the world's largest kosher certification agency, under the auspices of the
Orthodox Union. As of 2010, it supervises more than 400,000 products in 8,000
plants in 80 different countries.[9]

In Britain, the largest hechsher symbol in Europe, is the "KLBD" of the London Beth
Din based in London. The "MK" symbol of the Manchester Beth Din is also a globally
recognised symbol, listed by many international brands.

Other hechsher include: OK Kosher Certification based in Brooklyn, New York, Star-K
based in Baltimore, Maryland, EarthKosher Kosher Certification Agency with offices
in Colorado, New York and Israel, the logo of both the Johannesburg and Cape Town
Beth Din used in South Africa, MK Va'ad Ha'ir[10] based in Montreal, Quebec,
Canada, and The Kashrut Authority[11] based in Sydney, Australia. The largest
number of agencies is in the USA.[citation needed]

Kashrus Magazine publishes a bi-annual guide to almost all kosher supervision

agencies worldwide;[12] its 2019 Kosher Supervision Guide (226 pages including an
index) features 1,427 agencies. A bi-annual supplement of some 32 pages is
published in alternate years. The latest supplement was published in September 2021
and brought the number of agencies listed to 1,493.

Spelling
At the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee, contestant Saryn Hooks correctly spelled
"hechsher", but her spelling was ruled incorrect. A few minutes later, the judges
realized their printed spelling of "hechscher" was incorrect and reinstated Hooks,
thanks to 7th grader Lucas Brown, who noticed the error and called it to the
attention of his father.[citation needed]
See also
Chadash
Civil laws regarding kashrut
Kashrut
Kosher foods
Kosher tax conspiracy theory
Magen Tzedek
Products without kosher certification requirements
References
"Hechsher". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
Popper, Nathaniel (24 November 2006). "Kosher Goes High Tech in Fraud Fight". The
Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
Shabbat 21b
Ussishkin (2004), The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish, p. 89 ("As
the work of the renewed excavations developed it became clear that the destruction
of Level III must be assigned to Sennacherib's attack in 701 BCE.").
Ronen, Gil (10 January 2012). "Temple Menorah Stamp Affirms Jewish Claim to Land".
Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, Issue 25, 1917, pp. 31-37
Abraham P. Bloch, One a Day: An Anthology of Jewish Historical Anniversaries for
Every Day of the Year, p. 229. ISBN 0881251089.
[1] Archived 2012-06-30 at the Wayback Machine
Fishkoff, Sue (2010). Kosher Nation. Schocken Books, New York. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-
8052-4265-2.
"Home - MK Kosher". MK Kosher. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
"Kosher Made Easy! Kashrut Authority of Australia, New Zealand and the Asia
Pacific Region - Home". Ka.org.au. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
Lang, Avi. "Kashrus Magazine Online - The Guide for the Kosher Consumer".
Kashrusmagazine.com. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
External links
Hechshers.info
vte
Kashrut
Principles
Milk and meat in Jewish lawPareveHechsherKashrutMashgiachBitulKil'ayimKosher by
ingredient
Kosher meat
Kosher animalsShechitalimb of a live animalForeleg, cheeks and mawProhibition
against slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same dayChelevNikkurGid
hanashehTerefahBen pekuah
Kosher foods
Bishul YisraelChalav YisraelPas YisroelChadashOrlahKosher locustKosher fishKosher
wine
Kosher certification agencies
BadatzCentral Rabbinical CongressChicago Rabbinical CouncilEarthKosherEdah
HaChareidisKosher CheckSeal-KKashruth Council of Canada (COR)Kosher Supervision of
AmericaLondon Beth DinMontreal KosherOK Kosher CertificationOrthodox Union
KosherRabbinical Council of CaliforniaStar-KTablet-KTav HaYosherTriangle KUnion of
Orthodox SynagoguesKosher Australia
Related
Civil laws regarding kashrutCriticism of kashrutKosher airline mealKosher
restaurant (list)Kosher styleKosher supermarketKosher tourismMagen Tzedek
Categories: Kosher food certification organizationsReligious consumer symbolsHebrew
words and phrases in Jewish law
This page was last edited on 4 August 2023, at 16:46 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0;
additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia