Mineola, NY – The rabbi who provides kashrus supervision for Scott Morrell at the Woodbury Jewish Center came out strongly in support of Morrell and his catering business today, saying that the Vaad Hakashrus of Flatbush has supervised and will continue to supervise Morrell Caterers at their Woodbury location.
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“We are not changing anything or kashering anything,” Rabbi Meir Goldberg told VIN News. “We have done our investigation and nothing was compromised. We stand behind them one thousand percent.”
In a letter released today by the Flatbush Vaad, Rabbi Goldberg affirms that there is constant supervision at the Woodbury facility, with a mashgiach inspecting all items and that only the mashgichim have keys to the kitchen which is kept locked when they are not present. Rabbi Goldberg further explained that when Morrell Caterers caters an event at any other facility, including Temple Israel in Lawrence and Temple Beth Torah in Melville, the entire kitchen and all utensils are kashered completely.
While Scott Morrell is not Orthodox, Rabbi Goldberg said he had complete confidence in Morrell, calling him “one of the most upstanding people I know. Scott does not play games when it comes to kashrus.” Rabbi Goldberg further marveled at the fact that people are ready to take the word of two disgruntled non-Jewish employees.
“Halachically they have absolutely no ne’emanus,” said Rabbi Goldberg. “We have a reputable high end caterer, who is known to be ethical, with a reliable hashgacha and these two men come along and everyone is up in arms? It is sad to see how two non-Jews can pit Jew against Jew.”
In a statement released by Morrell, he pointed the finger of blame not at Tom Cataldo and Michael Savitsky, the two former employees who have accused him of serving tainted food, but rather at Howard Fensterman, a former client who is now a defendant in a $19 million insurance scam. Morrell alleges that the accusations against him have been masterminded by Fensterman, a managing partner at a Lake Success law firm, in an attempt to persuade him to withdraw from the lawsuit, accusing Fensterman and others of misappropriating funds and then telling investors that the money was appropriated by members of a royal family in Dubai. Morrell is one of three plaintiffs in the Delaware lawsuit and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages of 1.6 billion dollars.
Its reassuring to know from this Rav that there is no question regarding the hashgacha at the Woodbury facility. Whether or not there were treifus prepared at the other locations, at least those who attended simchas at Woodbury now have no concerns. For those who went to the simchas at the other locations, consult your local rav/posek regarding what you need to do regarding meals you might have eaten over the past several years.
Thanks Rabbi from vaad hakashrus! I am sooo delighted that now I have what to answer to wackos bashing another yid. that makes it one yid less to be hurt by. (It bleeds my heart when I hear that another yid has done something wrong, especially something as serious as this.) orthodox, shmorthodox, he’s a yid!
It took a couple of days to respond to the allegations I wonder why?
In our city, the Vaad hired a PI to check up on the kosher butchers & caterers. BH lots of Kashrus upgrades happened because of the work of this PI.
I will say some of the claims made by the these shkutzim made no sense Kashrus wise. They made a big deal about things being kept in the same fridge… BIG DEAL!
Who is their mashgiach??
But – Rabbi Goldberg has not addressed the other point: does morrell also cater non-kosher events. How does his Vaad handle those situations? Does he have two kitchens? etc. etc. there are many unanswered questions here I think.
Hey Charlie . what neemonis does a conservative jew that drives on shabbos?? and is not orthodox have? Brother just looking at that crew in the picture can scare you off. Why did it take 5 days to get the mashgiach to defend him? Why didn’t we even know for 5 days that this catering facility had a mashgiach? For five days everyone at the facilty was saying they don’t know who the bal machshir is.
This entire facilty and hashgocha is suspect. We are missing a great part of this puzzle. Maybe just maybe these are two disgruntled individuals and if so, let us see if the owners of this kosher facilty sues them for all they have and send them to jail for false claims trying to put someone out of business.
Shame on all those that jump the gun, quick to condem before they know facts. I don’t know who is telling the truth and who is not, but one thing is for sure, there are two sides to every story, and we, as jews have to be dan le’kaf zechus especially when you are dealing with disgruntled employees who may be believed mesiach lefi tumo but here there are motives behind it so, as the rabbi said they are not neemon…
I knew it was all lies! It would have been virtually impossible for them to be selling treif in that kitchen… It didn’t make any sense. And also, they always paid their bills. Let me educate all the judgemental posters, who were ready to ruin this guy’s parnassa with malicious words. People who sell treif as kosher… are dishonest all around.. They, on the other hand were always a straight, first rate, stand up operation.
I remember learning Hilchos Kashrus. We learned that when dealing with butchers & with restaurants, you need to look for people who are Shomrei Torah Mitzvos & who are Erlicheh Yidden. How can a non Torah frum Jew be trusted, even with a Hechsher? And look at the places he is doing his catering in – conservative & reform places of worship. How can those places be trusted? Even if I did have the money to use him I never would & would question eating at anything he catered-no matter how fancy the place is. And besides, why did he take a Brooklyn hechsher & not one more local, such as the Vaad HaRabbanim of Queens or the Vaad of the Five Towns (after all, Temple Israel in Lawrence is located in the 5 towns!)?
What I would like to know why TWO WITNESSES are not believed, (not saying they are right or wrong) what I am saying is according to halacha two witnesses have a tremendous power unless they are proven liars.
He has one facility under the Vaad, which even his enemies agree is not tainted, and 2 facilities which are essentially unsupervised, and the allegation is that he started to cook “real” treif in tgose locations. Obviously that could not happen in the vaad location because it’s under lock and key. But the whole thing stinks because, as the article says, there’s this whole investment lawsuit going on.
Why must many of us jump to conclusions before all the facts are out? Anyone can say anthing about someone or something else. In order to respond with facts and true information, you need time to gather your information. Those questioning the validity of the Vaad’s statement that they stand behind Morrell’s standards and what they do at the facilities they service, are therefore questioning the honesty and integrity of of the Vaad of Flatbush. Then again, I guess that’s why companies like Empire were forced to carry more than one certification.
It’s the old story, 2 yidden on an island that have to build 3 shuls….
Some day, we’ll all get along, just hope I live long enough to see it.
It boils down to who do you believe a rabbi who is the rav hamachshir of 90percent of all kosher establishments in Flatbush or 2 goyim former disgruntled employees.
I have been in kosher catering for a very long time and I want to share an important insight. There is a major difference between private and national hashgochos. The Rav from a national hashgacha will not care to reject a new account if they are not fully shomer shabbos or if they are partners in a non-kosher business as well. His salary and existence of the Hashgacha will not change. One should try to use caterers that are certified by hashgachos that have a large buffer of money that can reject these types of accounts. Sadly, a local Vaad, in this regard, is like a single Rav. They are not financially strong enough to say no to these types of accounts. I don’t know the inner-workings of the Flatbush Vaad other than it is run by a father and son team. I just hope they are able to rise above these issues. It is a stronger challange then one would think.
The article says “Rabbi Goldberg further explained that when Morrell Caterers caters an event at any other facility, including Temple Israel in Lawrence and Temple Beth Torah in Melville, the entire kitchen and all utensils are kashered completely.”
The Morrell website says “Morrell of Woodbury is Glatt Kosher, exclusively under the Vaad of Flatbush. Morrell Caterers of Lawrence and Morrell Caterers of Melville are under the strict Kosher supervision of Rabbi Steven Moss. Morrell of Woodbury can provide Glatt Kosher supervision at both Temple Israel of Lawrence and Temple Beth Torah of Melville.”
Steven Moss is a reform clergyman. It seems that Rabbi Goldberg meant to say that when Morrell caters in Lawrence or Melville, it’s kosher if and only if it’s under the supervision of the Vaad of Flatbush. According to Morrell’s own website, they also cater at those two sites under the “strict supervision” of a reform clergyman, whose standards of kashrus are such that Rabbi Goldberg probably wouldn’t vouch for him. Rabbi Goldberg should have been more circumspect (assuming the article quoted him correctly).
Do none of you even read – or know what happened? Even the 2 goyim don’t say he served traif. They ONLY say that in the 2 establishments under REFORM hashgacha he kept traif and kosher foods near each other – that he was sloppy and not careful about keeping things apart. Read before you comment!
Remember if the Vaad of Flatbush said there was anything wrong with the Moreels then they would be condeming themselves. That their own supervision was no good. Therefore they are fully and completely POSSUL for eidis.
There is a need for an outside kashrus organization, any one, to review and investigate what took place. Then and only then can this matter be put to bed.
I think #32 / koshercaterer’s point is that hashgachos that are not financially tight would not accept a caterer who also has a non-kosher division. Now that I think about it he may be right.