Is It Kosher? by Barbara Deutsch

School of Thought Is It Kosher?

By Mrs. Barbara Deutsch

Every early morning, for as long as I can remember, I have started my day at 5:00am and gone either to the gym or taken a long walk.

During Covid, my gym was closed, now forever, and I turned to walking outdoors and doing yoga videos inside. For some reason, yoga has lost some of its hold on me lately as my brain has been working on overdrive and it races with random thoughts and ideas even while I’m meditating.

I have no idea why and I’m too busy to figure it out right now; that’s part of the problem.

But walking in the early morning, rain, shine and even cold draws me and my walking buddies outdoors and motivates us to leave our warm and inviting beds. It really helps me to have one of my walking, formerly gym, buddies waiting to greet me.

Once we are finished walking with a lot of talking, we are ready for any of the challenges that may confront us on this day. We are also confident that we will be able to fix what happens when we process the next morning together.

I find it meditative and soothing to review “yesterday” while planning for today with my walking buddies. Let me note that I am barely 5 feet tall with short legs and a bum knee; if I am being honest, two bum knees, one of them worse than the other. Each one of my walking friends, Autumn, Nicole, and Jan, is at least 5 inches taller than I am and has long legs with perfectly healthy knees.

As it should be, each one of them is also at least 15 to 20 years younger than I am, too.

To keep up, I have to take three steps for every one of theirs; even though they usually have to slow down their pace for me, we somehow manage to make it work.

There is a whole host of walking benefits, the most important one being having a partner. any other morning. The weather was crisp, and the sun was shining, a perfect day in which to stretch, chat, and figure things out while walking miles to nowhere.

As Nicole and I were winding down our walk and taking our last lap on Central Ave going to Cedarhurst Ave, we noticed a young man in a kippah walking volved, I walked up to the door, knocked on the window with my fingers, opened the door and motioned for him to come out.

He was the only customer.

Confused but amenable, the young man in the kippah said, “Hello.”

I quickly asked him if he was from around the neighborhood and informed

I find it meditative and soothing to review “yesterday” while planning for today with my walking buddies.

into the one bagel store that is open on Shabbos and has no hechsher.

Nicole turned to me as we passed the shop, “I wonder if he knows that this bagel store is not the kosher one?”

I shrugged, stopped, and said, “Maybe we should tell him?”

“But he is already inside,” she said.

For reasons that I cannot really articulate, as I usually don’t like to get inhim of the kashrut status of the store. There are community members who shop in this bagel store – no judgement here.

The young man, smiling broadly now, replied, “Thank you. I am from London, and as I looked around the store, I somehow felt that something was not right.”

I have never been in that busy bagel store and cannot testify to what food is displayed and offered.

Nicole pointed in the direction of one of the three kosher ones down Central Ave; he thanked us and took off to get his morning bagel and coffee.

As we walked home, Nicole informed me how impressed she was that I had pushed myself to get him out of the store to tell him the score about the kashrut. We agreed that it had been the right thing to do. Was it because he appreciated the advice?

Is it not our responsibility as a lantzman, fellow observant Jew, to make someone aware no matter the outcome?

Please note an anecdote from a friend with whom I shared this essay:

My brother-in-law came in from Israel and accidentally went into the same bagel store yesterday! Bought a salad and was taking it to go… He also looked around and thought something wasn’t right. He asked the cashier if the store was kosher. She said no. He was going to give the salad away, but she actually gave him his money back.

Shout out to that bagel store for doing the right thing; it must happen more often than we think. Was wondering, should the store have a sign that says it’s not kosher?

Just thinking.

It’s been a week of more walks and talks, and I’m still not sure and still looking for the answer. What would you have done? Have you ever stepped up and gotten involved when seeing someone doing something that should and could be avoided?

I’m still walking with good friends so we probably will eventually be able, or not, to figure it out on one of our walks together.

Barbara Deutsch is currently the associate principal at HANC 609 and a longtime reflective educator, parent, grandparent, and new great-grandparent. Even after all these years, she still loves what she does and looks forward to working with kids every single day. She is vacationing in Israel for the summer.