Kashrut makes strange bedfellows: A Satmar community in New York State invited OU (Orthodox Union) teachers to teach them some detailed Kashrut laws.

Kashrut and kosher referring to the guidelines governing the acceptability of food and kitchen utensils in accordance with Jewish Law.

The anti-Zionist Hassidic Satmar sect and the modern-Orthodox OU are not generally assumed to have much in common other than a commitment to Torah Judaism, each according to its own, often very different, understanding.  However, “it is clear,” declared Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of OU-Kosher, “that in the Torah world, we have much more in common than what sets us apart."

Rabbi Genack made the remarks after OU's Ask-Outreach program conducted a two-part hands-on kosherization session for the Satmar Yoreh Deah Kollel of Kiryas Joel, NY.

The Ask-Outreach program, funded largely by the Harry H. Beren Foundation of Lakewood, NJ, was specifically designed to put OU-Kosher in contact with communities in the Torah world that are not part of its usual constituency. 

The OU's Rabbi Yosef Grossman, Director of Kashrut Education, and Rabbi Moshe Perlmutter of Passaic, NJ went to the Satmar Talmud Torah’s kitchen - capable of serving 10,000 meals daily - to illustrate foodservice kashering, performed in large kitchens such as those found in schools, hotels and catering establishments.

Twenty members of the Satmar kollel participated in the session, at their request. Rabbi Grossman said there could have been 100, based on interest shown by the community, if there had been space to accommodate them.  Both he and Rabbi Perlmutter said the participants were “a very learned group.” 

Ask-Outreach has similarly visited Chabad Lubavitch, Belz, Bobov, Vichnitz, Skver and other Hassidic groups. “It was only a matter of time before we got to Satmar,” Rabbi Grossman said.

The OU explained that the Satmar kollel members seek out practical applications of all aspects of Jewish Law that they study, thus leading to the request to the OU.

"The range of communities that have availed themselves of Ask-Outreach," Rabbi Genack said, "is living proof that the OU’s expertise spans the Jewish world, and that respect for our knowledge and its practical applications is a unifying force in the observant community.”

The session in the Satmar kitchen focused on ovens, pots, kettles and other items, emphasizing how to make a non-kosher vessel kosher once again.  Rabbi Grossman noted that everything in the Satmar kitchen was kosher, but that the techniques could still be demonstrated.

“We received a very warm reception at Kiryas Joel and were made to feel right at home,” Rabbi Grossman said.

Rabbi Perlmutter noted that this was the first time his kashrut seminar was "totally Satmar and on their home turf, in their kitchen, with their own mashgiach [kashrut supervisor] participating... We both learned a lot from each other.”