>Date:    Mon, 28 Dec 1998 11:25:45 -0500
>From:    MS KATHRYN P ROSENTHAL <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Is Kosher Really Kosher for Us?

>I'll be going back to NM in a few weeks.  Anyone know the real deal on
>kosher?
>
>Kath in Mich.

I'll admit that I don't know much about the kosher process.  But I
thought it was worth sharing a story.  At Christmas we had a visitor that
told us this story - it is definitely true, he is a life long friend of
my wife's.  Anyway...

The friend works for a major fruit juice concentrate/fruit supplier in
California.  He was in China negotiating a multi-million dollar sale,
where he brought along a rabi to ensure the kohserness of the product.
During the kosher inspection, the rabi asked to buy a monkey.  The
chinese man thought it was a joke, but the rabi was insistent.  When the
chinese guy realized he was serious, they went in the back and he sold
him a live monkey for $100.

Keep in mind that it is highly illegal to transport many things,
especially disease carrying animals like monkeys back from China.

The rabi feed the monkey apples and sleeping pills to knock it out, then
stuffed it into some luggage and brought it on as carry on.  During the
long trip back, the monkey woke up, and crapped in the bag.  The friend
said it stunk up the whole section of plane and was extremely
embarassing, he was afraid the rabi would get caught (his companie's name
was on the rabi's ticket, so they would get into huge trouble also).

The rabi to the luggage w/ monkey into the john, and fed it more apples
and sleeping pills.  When they were arriving in the US, the rabi put the
monkey in a pouch, and tied it around his middle to make it look like he
was overweight.  As they approached customs the friend noticed all these
large signs saying '$25,000 fine for smuggling the following items...
inlcuding animals of course.  The rabi turned to him, put on his little
hat, said "Watch this", and walked right past the customs agents. They
didn't touch him, supposedly due to his religious nature.  The friend
said he and almost every other person got their luggage thoroughly
searched.

I don't know why the rabi did it, the friend figured he was just flexing
his religous muscle to boost his ego.

I fully realize all rabi's probably don't do this, but in any case, it
was very dissappointing.  The friend also said that rabi's can shut down
any kosher plant for any reason, just because they feel like it if they
want.  In his dealings he said you can get whatever you want out of them,
as long as you have money (bribes).

I don't mean to offend anyone, but I felt obligated to pass along some
accurate information.

James Crocker
===============================================
"Taking a new step...is what people fear most."
 - Dostoyevski
===============================================