STRAIGHTENING OUT THE FACTS

On March 27, 2007 I was served with a gag order restraining me from issuing any further comments on my website amashgiachspeaksout.com or speaking to the public via any media outlets regarding the Kashrut corruption I personally witnessed at the OU and Le Marais. By law this is an order that can only be signed when both parties are present, as there is no such thing as "prior restraint" on issues of free speech,
and although I was not summoned before the judge the gag order was signed nonetheless.

Meanwhile the OU went on a massive media parade featuring their growingly distorted and false side of the story, including two radio interviews on the Zev Brenner show, and feature stories in the Jewish Press, and the Jewish Voice, to name a few, none of which bothered to contact me at all. Their main objective was clearly to malign me and
ensure the usual Passover swarm of clients, but in fact what they have done is A) amply illustrated to the public how determined they are to cover up and silence the facts since they should have dealt with and resolved this matter long ago and B) contradicted themselves even more.

Thank G-d, as of April 24, 2007 this motion to restrain my free speech was overturned by the Supreme Court of New York. Therefore, I will finally put forth the testimonies and recordings that support my statements regarding the numerous Kashrut violations committed by Mark Hennessey, the current chef at Le Marais, as well as the deeply
unfortunate and now publicly evident cover-up of this crisis by the OU Rabbis, up to the highest echelons.

Hopefully this will put an end to the absurd lies of the O U and its disdainful attempt to ignore this crisis despite the fact that I went above and beyond my call of duty to resolve the matter internally between Le Marais and the O U before I decided to go public. I pleaded with Rabbi Luban not to allow himself to be dragged into a foolish
blind covering up for their Rav Hamachshir, in order to prevent this matter from becoming a public scandal. Unfortunately, three letters, seven emails and four meetings over the course of seven months have proved fruitless and futile in having the OU honor their own probation agreement after the last incident and remove the threat toKashrut at Le Marais.

Why was the OU so deceptive? Removing he chef would have meant admitting to a huge blunder committed by their own staff member, the Rav Hamachshir, who allowed the same chef that was previously fired for Kashrut reasons from Levana restaurant directly under his jurisdiction, to be knowingly hired by Le Marais (which was the newest account directly under him ,after Le Marais lost it's hashgacha from the OK). But perhaps more importantly the OU had arrived at a staunch decision to "back" Sol Kirshenbaum of Levana's for fear of exposing Levana's covering up the chef's Kashrut misdemeanors at his restaurant. This is clearly evident by the email that was intended
strictly for Rabbi Luban, but was mistakenly sent to me by Rabbi Genack, the head of the entire OU Kashrut organization, six minutes after receiving my email indicating that I knew what had happened at Levana's (see court documents): "There's no satisfying him, for our protection go back to Sol Kirshenbaum with this email." Rabbi Luban
tried to ridicule my claims by announcing on the Zev Brenner show that the OU had nothing to lose by either firing or keeping the chef, because I stated that the OU was protecting its "business interests."In fact, I was referring to its reputation, politics, clients and connections, (in this case Levana's) that the OU felt the need to protect! While the OU claims to have pursued "a thorough investigation" actually my letters were never answered until I told them I had recordings and would have no choice but to bring it to the public. What they are calling a thorough investigation was a calculated attempt to cover up the basic facts about the chef's being fired from Levana's when it was told to me by Mrs Levana Kirshenbaum herself. It is unfortunate that Rabbis who carry so much responsibility to the public could lie so easily and sacrifice the integrity of Kashrut and of their establishment.

THE CHEF PURCHASED, SMUGGLED AND USED DAIRY MARGARINE CAUSING SUBSEQUENT "RE-KOSHERING" OF THE POT

One of the major violations of the chef was purchasing dairy margarine from the supermarket without prior permission, smuggling the dairy margarine into the upstairs kitchen( known as the pastry kitchen) and using it in a pot until the box was discovered in the garbage by the morning Mashgiach. This was clearly intentional because of the chef's repeated opportunities to ask permission on his way out and on his way back in and before using the dairy margarine in the unsupervised pastry kitchen upstairs. How many times he got away with this kind of kashrut sabotage before he got caught red-handed we will never know!

On March 31 2007 and on April 22 2007, Rabbi Elefant, (joined by Rabbi Luban and
Juda Engelmyer) had emphatically stated on the Zev Brenner Radio Show in response to a caller's inquiry that the Dairy Margarine had been inspected by the morning mashgiach and had never actually been opened or used. On the official OU letter response to this issue which is signed by the highest of the OU hierarchy, they make the same distorted claim "For example, in one instance the chef purchased dairy margarine for the restaurant (though it was caught before it was used)." Additionally, the Jewish Voice reports the OU's claim that the margarine was OU Parve (made on
dairy equipment!) In fact however, the margarine was used and the only reason the mashgiach intercepted it before the dish was served to customers is because he was originally more suspicious of the chef then I was and found it by spotting the empty box of margarine in the garbage. The contents were then thrown out and the pot had to be koshered by the mashgiach.

All of these public statements by OU Rabbis referenced above are absolute distortions of the truth that they themselves acknowledged in the meetings I had with them as will become evident when you hear the recordings.

- In this first testimony recorded at the third meeting (Dec 12, 2006)
at the OU headquarters you can hear Rabbis Elefant and Schreier
acknowledging the dairy margarine was used and Jose the owner of Le
Marais acknowledging the severity of his chef's violation.

THE CHEF LIED IN FRONT OF STAFF ABOUT USING UNCHECKED STRAWBERRIES WHEN CONFRONTED BY A WITNESS

The last violation the chef performed under my tenure (and there were many in between) was the chef's blatant lie about his use of unchecked strawberries. The chef completely denied having anything to do with the preparation of that salad which contained the strawberries or any fruit salad in general. He was confronted by Martin (a kitchen worker whose bravery should be a great example for a lot of us), who testified that he had seen the chef preparing the salad. In front of the whole staff, the owner and myself included, the chef lost his composure and tried to change his story. I told him "now you are trying to change your story! at which point he lunged at me, only to be held back by the owner. At that point the owner looked devastated and said he would have to fire the chef since he had already received a letter(e-mail) from the OU stating that the chef was on probation and would have to be removed upon the next violation. (Unfortunately he did not follow through since when he spoke to the Rav Hamachshir
the Rav Hamachshir reinstated the chef and told him not to fire him.)

On that same Zev Brenner radio show on April 22 2007, Rabbi Luban stated that the strawberries incident was a mere accident. Whereas in fact, the severity was not only that he used the unchecked strawberries but that he LIED saying he did not even make the fruit salad, which only further proved his determination to sabotage Kashrut and his inability to be trusted! The Rabbis' way of deflecting the seriousness of this issue now is by claiming that the actual strawberries "might have been checked" when if fact they were not checked. NOBODY LIES FOR NO REASON! In fact, you can hear Rabbis Elefant, Schreier and Luban admitting they are well aware that the chef lied. Unfortunately, changing their story on public radio is an apt demonstration of their own capacity for dishonesty about matters of Kashrut.

When addressing this incident in my meeting with them, the Rabbis of the OU unanimously said "we all agree he lied about the salad"

[Incidentally, for those who underestimate the need to check
strawberries with due diligence, please check out this video on
YouTube made by rabbis in the UK, which explains the
process for checking strawberries because of general possible "infestation" of
worms.]

COUNTLESS OTHER OCCASIONS WHERE THE CHEF VIOLATED KASHRUT PROTOCOL

According to the statements made by Rabbi Luban on the Zev Brenner radio show, there were only these two incidents (margarine and strawberries) in a two-year span. In fact however, there were COUNTLESS incidents that continuously displayed the chef's contempt for Kashrut. The strawberry incident happened in late October of 2006.
In early September, in my first meeting with Rabbis Luban and Schreier, after acknowledging all the violations which I had outlined and cited in the letter I had sent to Rabbi Schreier, Rabbi Luban requested the preparation of a document listing all of the chef's Kashrut violations and placing him on probation mandating that he be
fired if he violated Kashrut again, which was to be signed by Jose.

-My phone conversation with the Rav Hamchshir(third week of Sep
2006) about that kashrut violations documentation

- My second phone conversation about that same documentation (third
week of Oct 2006).He dragged his feet for close to two months till he
finally sent the e-mail to the owner documenting the list of all his
chef's Kashrut violations.

Rabbi Schreier's list on the document included:

1. Eggs incident (the chef was caught smuggling a half tray of
   unchecked eggs witnessed by a substitute mashgiach)
   
2. The numerous times he lit the pilot on his own
   
3. The many times he personally signed for incoming food
   deliveries (including a fresh fish delivery)
   
4. Not too long after the dairy margarine incident the chef went
   to the supermarket without notifying Rabbi Keller or myself even
   though he knew very well that he was barred from going to make
   purchases. The severity of this issue, is that the second kitchen
   (pastry kitchen upstairs) remained unsupervised by a mashgiach, and
   therefore, we had no control over what they can possibly import to
   that kitchen. It is also important to note, that when I had requested
   (at minimum) a Jewish worker for the upstairs pastry kitchen, Rabbi
   Schreier did not even consider suggesting this to the restaurant owner
   and just answered "it's not happening." (ref. please check my first
   letter to him)
   
5. The shellfish (a mysterious incident yet unclarified by the Rav
   Hamachshir that will be discussed at length elsewhere)
   Additionally, in the report I submitted to the OU as requested by
   Rabbi Luban and Rabbi Elefant, I included another violation I had not
   included in the my first letter to Rabbi Schreier:
   In the first week of his employment, during Rabbi Keller's shift the
   chef mixed fish ingredients into a chicken soup.

At that same first meeting, Rabbi Luban asked Rabbi Schreier if he was aware of the eggs violation (which was witnessed by the substitute mashgiach) to which he responded that he was not aware of it when in fact the substitute specifically told me he had immediately called Rabbi Schreier to inform him. Rabbi Schreier's dishonesty about such a simple event was evidence of his ongoing appeasement policy towards Le
Marais' Owner with all matters regarding the chef. Although this "Eggs" violation might appear for some people as a "minor" infraction and very much a "Déjà vu" thing, it just outlines this chef's pattern and contempt for any other Kashrut rules.The fact
that he did it with an unsuspecting mashgiach (the substitute) shows he certainly doesn't miss any opportunity to break a basic Kashrut protocol.(This violation as well as all the other ones show that mashgichim at Le Marais never had full control over a chef who is undeterred in his willful tampering with Kashrut.) I recently spoke to Simcha the substitute, and he is willing to testify about his own experience with the chef, Mark Hennessy.

-One audio extracts relating to the Eggs incident followed by Pilot story

-Proof and admition of the Rav Hamachshir warning me to be careful
with this chef, the first week of his tenure at Le Marais because as
he said he is a Sonay Israel( a jew hater.) and this before the chef had done anything wrong.

- This recording is about the OU's admission of the chef's probation status, which Rabbi Luban made sure not to mention on the radio!

IN CONCLUSION:

Having said all this I do not want to Chas Ve'Shalom malign any of the honest people and G-d fearing Rabbis who work for the OU or underestimate all of their accomplishments. This has been my attempt to enforce the OU's very own Kashrut policies and protocol and follow up on the probation agreement we had reached together. Unfortunately the matter was terribly mishandled by all of the OU Rabbis involved which convinced me I had to present the evidence to the general public so people could be responsible for themselves.

I am dismayed that the other mashgiach did not contest the OU's spreading contradictory versions of the dairy margarine violation that he himself witnessed. Additionally, the fact that Rabbi Luban, who initially seemed to me to be a straight person, who was the only one who at any point expressed a genuine concern about the Kashrut (which is why I bothered to try to resolve this matter within the OU for so long) came out on public radio and amidst other distortions claimed I said the chef was "connected to crime organizations" is very shocking to me. It is simply a desperate attempt to dissuade the public from accepting the legitimacy of my testimony.

The OU Rabbis know better then anyone the real nature of this story, but there is a consensus in the OU, which was confirmed by calls I received from other mashgichim who have had similar experience with the OU "you either keep quiet, or you tell the OU and you leave it alone." After being exposed first hand to this broad cover up on the part of the OU I refused to be just another accomplice and betray all the customers' Kashrut. I personally stand by everything I have said. Though I would have preferred if the scandal was avoided, it is my hope that people will voice their concern and that this will create more accountability in the future for the OU and Kosher restaurants.

I want to thank my family, friends, the Jewish community at large, dedicated bloggers and conscientious callers for their confidence and continuous support. I invite your feedback and will keep you posted with further background information on the nature of this situation, and ongoing developments.

Sincerely,
Isaac Bitton

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