Mehadrin hashgacha in the 5 towns

Are you familiar with the Rabbanim on the new hashgacha? Is it reputable?

Not familiar. Is this for Starbucks?

This could be a controversial question. The VAAD of the Five Towns posted a letter signed by a great many Rabbanim in the area advising patrons to avoid the food establishments under the supervision of a new hechsher, the Mehadrin of the Five Towns, M5T hashgacha. In turn, the Mehadrin of the 5 Towns posted a public letter explaining who they are:

Harav Eliyahu is a talmid of the prestigious Porat Yosef Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, as well as Mir Yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael, having studied bechavrusah with Hagaon Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel ZTL for many years. Following that, Rav Eliyahu learned in BMG of Lakewood, until finally opening a Kollel Rabanim in Brooklyn, NY. Rav Eliyahu still maintains the Kollel, in addition to being a Dayan on the Choshen Mishpat Beis Din in Brooklyn. Rav Eliyahu is aslo a sho’el u’meshiv in a prominent New York Yeshiva. Rav Eliyahu has an internet based daf yomi shiur with 6,000 daily listeners

Harav Silberberg is a talmid of Hagaon Rav Eliezer Shach ZTL of the Ponevezh Yeshivah in Eretz Yisrael, under whose guidance Rav Shalom studied for many years. Rav Shalom is also a prized talmid of the great Rav Dov Schwartzman ZTL, having learned by him for 5 years. Rav Shalom additionally furthered his learning in BMG Kollel of Lakewood for many years, until he was hand selected by the Lakewood Roshei Yeshiva to open a Lakewood Kollel Rabanim in Sydney Australia, to where BMG send avrechim to learn. Rav Shalom was forced to return to the USA when his father’s health took a turn for the worse. Additionally, Rav Silberberg is one of the better known Rabanim of the Halacha Hotline. Currently, Rav Shalom is the Rosh Kollel of a prominent New York Kollel, overseeing, and directing the avreichim in learning, hashkafah, and halacha. Rav Silberberg is also the Rav Hamachshir of the Bayswater Eiruv. <<

It’s curious that the Sephardic Rabbis in Cedarhurst and Lawrence did not sign onto the VAAD’s letter.

Sounds like a lot of politics to me…

We are not familiar with the details of this specific case so we can’t answer to the specifics here. In general, the overwhelming majority of the time it’s all about money and politics and little to do with Kashrus.

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Not familiar at all–just sticking my nose in. But yeah definitely sounds like money/politics reading the letter. They would say “standards,” but it’s really not a big deal to have multiple hekhsherim–here in L.A. we do it and everyone’s just fine.