New York, NY – Mets lose another one! A Brooklyn federal judge handed down an unorthodox decision, ordering the Mets to allow a kosher-food vendor to sell its fare at Citi Field on the Jewish Sabbath.
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Kosher Sports, which has a 10-year contract to sell ts blessed hot dogs, knishes and peanuts at the ballpark, sued the Mets in federal court last month, claiming it lost half a million dollars when it was prevented from selling food Friday nights and Saturday.
The Mets’ lawyer argued that selling or buying kosher food on Friday nights or Saturday is a contradiction in terms. The Mets say the company can’t be kosher if they’re operating during the Sabbath, when many religious Jews don’t work, but the judge declined to take a side.
“I cannot get involved in (a dispute) over rabbinical law,” Brooklyn Judge Jack Weinstein said with a smile during a hearing Friday.
The Mets say that they didn’t violate the contract with Kosher Sports — that Aramark, another food-concession company, did.
Aramark has refused to supply the kosher vendor with carts for Friday nights and Saturdays, the Mets said.
The ballclub countersued the kosher company, claiming the Mets were owed $650,000 for the right to sell wares at the games.
Kosher Sports says it doesn’t cater only to Jews, should be able to sell wieners any day of the week and was given the green light to stay open.
The suit has not been resolved. But Weinstein, who seemed bemused to be acting as Solomon in a dispute over Hebrew dietary laws, ordered the Mets to back off while the case is pending.
The judge ordered the two sides to work out the terms of the agreement among themselves.
What someone ought to explain to these people is that the cart will lose its Rabbincal Supervision and will no linger be Kosher!
The judge is right. This is a commercial dispute. While most hashgachos prefer that their restaurants not remain open on shabbos, that is not the issue here. Many non-frum yidden look forward to a ball game on friday night or saturday with their kosher hot dogs and the contract clearly contemplated the concession would be open for every Mets home game.
This judge knows better , he is a yid and knows what kosher is all about , in anycase . They will lose all there kosher business since no one will give them a hecsher for operating shabbos
I think if all jews to boycut him only for 1 game, he will get the message
It is nothing to with being open on shabbos. Most big companies are lopen shabbos ike coca cola, and kraft etc. and do have a hechser. A meat place though needs a mashgiach temidi an how would that work friday night and shabbos?
The Mets were right. The judge obviously does not like Orthodoxy (very common among Jewish judges) so he ignored the Mets’ kashrus argument. The “rabbinic law” crack is proof of that.
The only people tp lose out here would be frum people because the frum vendors will lose their hechsher. My suggestion would be to allow regular vendors to sell Hebrew National hot dogs. They are not glatt but they are “kosher” enough for those frei Jews who attend games on Shabbos.
Reply to #4
“Depends on who owns the business, and what arrangements are made with the Mashgiach”
A frum mashgiach timidi would probably not want to come to the games on Friday night or shabbos since he probably lives too far from Metx stadium to walk.
“
I agree. Everyone should boycott the kosher stands at Citi Field, but make sure to pass by the kosher stand and tell the workers so they know how much business the lost. Then, make sure your caterer does not use the same hechsher, as it obviously is not reliable.
Many of the jews that easy the kosher food aren’t shabbos observers yet prefer to eat kosher.
I’m mekabel that from now on I’ll not only not buy from this stand any more, but I won’t go to any Mets games anymore as well (I never went to any ball game ever in my life, so no crying for loosing a customer )
#6 ,
“A meat place though needs a mashgiach temidi an how would that work friday night and shabbos?”
Hospital cafeterias do it. I’ve known some mashgichim who supervise them on Shabat; it is a very hard job, supervising the cooking of kosher food that they themselves can not eat.
#8,
“A frum mashgiach timidi would probably not want to come to the games on Friday night or shabbos since he probably lives too far from Metx stadium to walk.”
There are frum neighborhoods within walking distance of the Mets’ stadium.
#9,
“Everyone should boycott the kosher stands at Citi Field”
What is the supervisiong kashrut agency?
Many goyim buy Kosher products in the USA, as they know that Kosher meat is of a higher quality, and has undergone additional inspection than trefe meat. Therefore, goyim should have the right to buy Kosher food on Friday night and Saturday. The Mets cannot dictate to a vendor when he should be open or closed. Instead of the Mets worrying about the Kosher hot dog stand, why doesn’t it worry about all of the alcoholic beverages, which its vendors serves to fans during the game. Many of those same fans drive home, after consuming numerous bottles/cans of beer, during a given game. This is true at ballparks and at stadiums across the country. A greater value is placed upon profits from the alcoholic beverages, than the safety of the driving public.
Their gonna lose a lot more money wen they pull their hechsher
#13 maybe you should look int something before you run your mouth and sound like an idiot. If you only knew the exytensive training that every single day of game employee has to go through every year you would not have wrote such a foolish comment
At least they eat chamim ba shabbos some hot dogs instead of cholent!!!
In my opinion this is a lose/lose situation all around. I am a season Yankee ticket holder, but I can’t imagine the concession operation to be all that different. If you read the article “Kosher Sports” is suing the Mets. The Mets, & Aramark (which is not a jewish company) understand that to run a kosher establishment you need to follow Jewish law. I’m sure based on their research they’ve determined that there was a need (ie profitable) to open in the first place. I would imagine they researched the strictly kosher eating crowd which will not buy from a vendor with questionable hashgacha. In my limited experience non kosher eating game goers don’t go & buy kosher food unless there is no line at the kosher stand & what they want is limited to what the stand sells. Most non kosher eating people want a hot dog with the works (which the kosher stand doesn’t have) & more than just fries or a k’nish as sides. (Yes they do sell chicken nuggets & turkey sandwiches & more). Kosher prices are also much higher. So kosher sports might have won the battle but once they loose their Hashgacha (which they will). They will be a more expensive “kosher style” cart, & realize that an extra 25 hours of business does not equal an extra day of profits.
I am someone that has gone to games but I say that any masgiach that would want to spend their shabbos at a stadium watching frei people eat hot dogs I don’t believe I would trust their kashrus.
To #13 -Yoizel- It is you who are misinformed. I have seen fans at ballparks repeatedly consuming large amounts of beer. After they have one beer, they consume another, etc. Many of these fans have to drive home. The ball parks are irresponsible, in that regard, as the safety of the driving public is impacted. I stand by my former statement, that the ball park management is more concerned about profits from the sale of alcoholic beverages, than it is for the safety of the driving public. Incidentally, you referred to me as an “idiot”. Don’t you know what loshon hora is! Don’t you have any respect for other people’s opinions on this board?
Kosher Sports is, has been and always be in full compliance with its halachic obligations. Let all the facts come out before you rush to judge. People should be judged favorably just as we ask Hashem to judge us favorably especially during the month of Elul.
Is this judge related to eli weinstein from the other article?
I will no longer buy from them… its back to the good old days where kosher food was not available and we still enjoyed the game.
#13 : Yes, they buy kosher products, but they are not strict about those products being glatt. As I said before, if they want kosher products, let the non-kosher vendors sell Hebrew National, which is “kosher” but without an Orthodox hechsher.
Whatever. I can’t afford to go to any games anyway. So who cares?
I don’t live there and an observant. Would it be better if non observant Yidden eat kosher food on shabbat rather than non-kosher foods? If my kids (ches v’shalom) decides not to observe and goes to mets ballgame, i rather them to eat kosher foods on that day than trief.
As I doubt the company who supplies glatt kosher food at nearly a dozen parks across the country, including the superbowl, with a nationally recognizable hechsker, the only reasonable guess as to what they are looking to do is in compliance with halachah. Anyone who has visited the carts in the past at Citi Field can attest that all the food is cooked at the cart itself. So what they probably would do is lock up the cart and put it away before Shabbos, and use a treif cart from Aramark to cook and sell their food on Shabbos, and use a heter mechira to sell the business if it is owned by a Jew. No mashgiach is required, because the food would not be under any supervision, and to ensure kashrus of the weekday cart, no previously opened packages of food would be permitted for use in the kosher cart. Sounds like a reasonable way to ensure the kashrus of the weekday cart.
It’s astounding to see that with all the problems we face, 25 people see this matter of hot dogs at a sports event important enough to comment on. We have real problems that need addressing and can do without kosher ballpark food as Yiddin did in the past.
i so agree with #26 …all of you are wasting your time defaming and writing loshon hora about a company and its owners when you have no real information about the case. tey use Star K and would not be stupid enough to put that in jepardy. but of course we all have to jump to the wrong conclusions because that is so much more juicy and enjoyable. Enough! We are our own worst enemies and need to give frum people the benefit of the doubt…certainly when we are reading articles from such “heligeh” sources as the daily news and ny post???? Cmon people it’s Elul…I am constantly disappointed with this website who claims to be apositive means of growth for Klal Yisroel and ends up being a festering breading ground of pure sinas chinam
Kosher food cooked by a Goy on Shabbos for a Yid is assur until (kiday li’asoso after Shabbos) The actual food, If deliberately cooked by a Yid on Shabbos it is assur to that Yid forever, and the kailim that it was cooked in must be kashered or he cannot eat from them. “lo saseh kol malacha” is the same issur di’oireisa as navailos or chazir. Even if the ingredients are 100% kosher.
Remember the noise in Boro Park when an ignorant goyishe employee of a kosher fast food joint ran to the local supermarket to buy non-kosher hot dogs because they ran out? The same can happen on Shabbos if there is no supervision.
The stall can’t stay open on Shabbos if it wants to keep its hashgachah. It can sell all the kosher-labeled food it wants. They just can’t call themselves kosher. At my baseball stadium, they sell Hebrew National as kosher dawgs.