The claim is that it no longer looks "McDonald's," so people won't get confused and think that all McDonald's are kosher. Sorry, but it sure looks McDonald's to me. That may be davka because of my unfamiliarity with the chain, and I presume that many others who only eat kosher food are in the same boat. We see the arches and that clown, and that's McDonald's. The colors just don't register, as far as I'm concerned.
McDonald's is a business and like all businesses, it's out to make money. No doubt that it will, and it will probably open more kosher branches in Jerusalem.
8 comments:
I don't agree with the excuse 'if they see one is Kosher people will think all are kosher' because once again it takes responsibility for personal behavior away from the person.
If the Rabbis really bought into the whole excuse, NONE of the popular world-wide chains should have a Hechsher because then people might think that McDonald's all over the world is kosher.
Pesky, you overestimate the "intelligence" of others, especially those raised in religious places.
How many Israelis would even think of checking that bread, cakes etc are dairy? In the states it's hard to find parve at times. And here in Israel, there have been companies sneaking in the powdered milk without large warnings.
Most people don't check carefully.
Now with frum communities being used to "Shabbat eruv," many people take for granted that they exist all over and carry when they shouldn't.
Good point about the eruv. In fact, we were just discussing on Shabbat that having an eruv means that many frum kids don't even realize that hotza'ah is one of the 39 Melachot...
Mrs. S, it's not just kids who don't know. A whole generation plus has grown up never knowing anything but having an "eruv" to make life easier on Shabbat.
"L'havdil," I remember when my oldest was in the 2nd grade and the teacher gave them the assignment:
"Have your mother explain how to kasher pots for Passover."
I couldn't help her, since I didn't do it. Unlike most Israelis at the time, we had duplicate pots for Pesach.
Shalom!
Pesky, many halachot are designed to trouble shoot, like dairy bread not being kosher unless it's made in a small quantity to be eaten immediately or in a distinctive shape. One Pesach Rav Melamed in his Revivim column in B'Sheva wrote about the problems with many Pesach products looking exactly like the hametz products. One man wrote in that during Pesah he checked the purchased cakes in his house and asked a friend to do the same. It turned out that somehow at the store the almost identical packages had been mixed. The rav then described a numerous trouble-shooting halachot.
There's a difference between having kosher and non-kosher branches of the same chain in Israel and in the rest of the world. Outside of Israel, kosher eaters know that they have to check carefully. In Israel, for obvious reasons, many assume too much, and yes, halacha obligates us to protect our fellow Jews from at least some of their assumptions.
Yes, Hadassa, thanks
Dairy bread, cookies and pastry are a big problem in the states. There's no way of knowing unless you carefully check labels, when they have them.
Even here in Israel, dairy is added to a surprising amount of foods in some restaurants. Always ask.
Dairy in the states -- my granddaughter was invited to a BD party today where they were serving "Angel's" cake -- but the other stuff was all made in the dairy / non cholov Yisroel oven at the party girl's home..... Thankfully my dtr checked before dropping her off, and went out and bought a new birthday cake.......
Leah, I hope the family didn't mind. When we were on shlichut the girls were in a Jewish school where few kids were religious. Most birthday parties were traif, and I was happy when they were on Shabbat so I didn't have to send them.
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