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What is a Mashgiach?

by Rabbi Shalom Hazan

  

Library » Mitzvot » Kosher » Miscellaneous | Subscribe | What is RSS?

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The Mashgiach (literally: inspector) is the person in the factory, butcher-shop, restaurant, etc., who was hired by the rabbi(s) who issued the Kosher certification, to ensure that everything is kosher.

Many kosher facilities employ non-Jews and the Jewish owners are not always there; it is the job of the mashgiach to make sure that no non-Kosher products enter the facility, and that the meat is constantly under Jewish supervision.1

Footnotes

  • 1. See Talmud tractate Chullin 95a.

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Kosher
Literally means "fit." Commonly used to describe foods which are permitted by Jewish dietary laws, but is also used to describe religious articles (such as a Torah scroll or Sukkah) which meet the requirements of Jewish law.
Mashgiach
Supervisor. Usually a reference to the person hired by a rabbinical organization to supervise a facility to ensure its kosher status.