Editing Hechsher

{{short description|Kosher certification mark}}
{{Redirect|Hashgacha|hashgacha as providence|divine providence in Judaism}}
{{Refimprove|date=January 2009}}
A '''hechsher''' or '''hekhsher''' ({{IPAc-en|h|ɛ|x|ʃ|ər}}; {{langx|he|הֶכְשֵׁר}} {{IPA|he|(h)eχˈʃeʁ|}} "prior approval"; plural: ''hechsherim'') is a rabbinical [[product certification]], qualifying items (usually foods) that conform to the requirements of [[halakha|Jewish religious law]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hechsher |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hechsher |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=Merriam-Webster |language=en}}</ref>

==Forms==
A hechsher may be a printed and signed certificate displayed at a commercial venue or on a media advertisement advising the consumer that the subjected product is [[kosher]]. Such certificates usually display the name of the rabbinical court issuing the hechsher, the name of the business or product, date of issue, expiry date and stamp of rabbi who issued the certificate.

It may also be a [[certification mark]]ing on individual retail packaging of items which have been certified as Kosher. This marking is usually a basic stamp or emblem indicating the issuing rabbinical court. Modern hechsherim display sophisticated holograms and seals which are hard to forge.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://forward.com/news/9003/kosher-goes-high-tech-in-fraud-fight/|title=Kosher Goes High Tech in Fraud Fight|work=The Jewish Daily Forward|date=24 November 2006|access-date=27 April 2018|author=Popper, Nathaniel}}</ref>

==Types==
A hechsher is typically issued for food products, and is also issued on non-food items which come in contact with foods, such as cleaning agents and disposable cutlery, certifying that its ingredients do not contain any animal extracts or other halakhically prohibited substances.

The dietary laws of [[kashrut]] specify food items that may be eaten and others that are prohibited as set out in the [[613 mitzvot |commandments]] of the [[Torah]].

Observant [[Jew]]s  will generally only eat permitted foods. To assist Jewish consumers, [[rabbi]]nic authorities produce and regulate their own ''hechsherim''. It is usually [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] rabbis who assume the jobs of ''[[Mashgiach|mashgichim]]'' (singular masculine ''mashgiach'' or singular feminine ''mashgicha'', "supervisor"). This means that they will "supervise" the products and processes that manufacture kosher food to ensure compliance with the required standards. The ''mashgichim'' allow the manufacturer to apply a ''hechsher'' to the packaging of the product only if it is found to contain only kosher ingredients and produced following ''halakha''.

The rabbi may also apply additional words or letters after the ''hechsher'' to denote whether the product contains [[Kosher foods#Meat|meat]] (often denoted "Meat"), [[Kosher foods#Dairy products|dairy]] (D or Dairy), neither meat nor dairy ([[Pareve]]), whether the product is [[Kosher foods#Kosher for Passover|Kosher for Passover]] because it contains no [[chametz]] (P), whether the product is ''[[Pas Yisroel]]'' (bread baked at least in part by a Jew), ''[[cholov yisroel]]'' (milk whose extraction was done by or under the supervision of a Jew), or whether the product is [[yoshon]] (lit. "old": all grain contents took root before the previous [[Passover]]).

It is also common for rabbis to issue a hechsher on religious accessories, such as [[tefillin]], [[mezuzot]] and [[tzitzit]], which must be produced according to specific halakhic procedures and requirements. Other items which are used for religious practice such as [[Four Species]] bear a hechsher testifying that they confirm to halakhic requirements.

In Israel, it is common for manufacturers of all kinds to display a hechsher on products or in commercial advertisements, certifying that their production was not done during the [[Shabbat]].

==History==

===Seals===
[[Image:Lmlk-seal impression-h2d-gg22 2003-02-21.jpg|thumb|LMLK stamp]]
The [[Babylonian Talmud]] cites an early example of a kashrut seal: the seal of the [[High Priest of Israel|Kohen Gadol]] on jugs containing olive oil used in the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Jewish Temple]] for the lighting of the [[Menorah (Temple)|Menorah]].<ref>Shabbat 21b</ref>

'LMLK seals' (bearing the Hebrew letters למלך, equivalent to LMLK) were stamped on the handles of large storage jars mostly in and around [[Jerusalem]] during the reign of King [[Hezekiah]] (circa 700 BC), based on several complete jars found ''[[in situ]]'' buried under a [[destruction layer]] caused by [[Sennacherib]] at [[Lachish]].<ref>Ussishkin (2004), ''The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish'', p. 89 ("As the work of the renewed excavations developed it became clear that the destruction of Level III must be assigned to Sennacherib's attack in 701 BCE.").</ref> None of the original [[Stamp seal|seals]] have been found, but about 2,000 impressions (also referred to as ''stamps'') made by at least 21 seal types have been published.

The practice of marking food as a sign of kashrut can be dated back as far as the 6th century CE. A clay stamp bearing a Menorah image from this period was discovered in an excavation near [[Acre, Israel]] in 2011. According to archeologists, local Jews stamped their dough with Menorah impressions while preparing bread, in order for consumers to verify its kashrut.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151586|title=Temple Menorah Stamp Affirms Jewish Claim to Land|date=10 January 2012|author=Ronen, Gil|work=[[Arutz Sheva]]|access-date=27 April 2018}}</ref>

In New York City in the late 18th and early 19th centuries a [[shochet]] (kosher slaughterer) sold meat from the animals he slaughtered, with a seal affixed certifying it was kosher, to butchers who also sold non-kosher meat. In 1796 the city's [[New York City Council#History|Common Council]] suspended the butcher license of a non-Jewish butcher, Nicholas Smart, for seven weeks for selling non-kosher meat with a counterfeit seal.<ref name="JPS"></ref><ref>Abraham P. Bloch, ''One a Day: An Anthology of Jewish Historical Anniversaries for Every Day of the Year'', p. 229. {{ISBN|0881251089}}.</ref> In 1805 another non-Jewish butcher, Caleb Vandenburg, also had his butcher license temporarily suspended after Jacob Abrahams, who had been the shochet in New York since 1803, inspected meat to which Vandenburg had affixed a seal saying it was kosher and testified that he had not slaughtered the animal the meat came from.<ref name="JPS">[https://books.google.com/books?id=LcU8AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Nicholas+smart%22+1796+kosher&pg=RA1-PA37 ''Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, Issue 25'', 1917, pp. 31-37]</ref>

===Certification===
An 11th-century certificate found in the [[Cairo Geniza]] written by a rabbinical court, testified the kosher status "according to rabbinic law" of the cheeses being sold by a [[Karaite Judaism|Karaite]] grocer, Yefet b. Meshullam of Jerusalem. The document explains that the cheese was produced in a factory on the [[Mount of Olives]] that followed rabbinic practice. The certificate reads: "The cheeses are kosher and it is appropriate for Rabbanite Jews to purchase them. We grant this permission only after having made a formal purchase from him and having witnessed an oath he took on the holy Torah."<ref>[http://www.genizah.org/Manuscript_Samples.aspx#_self]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630111224/http://www.genizah.org/Manuscript_Samples.aspx|date=2012-06-30}}</ref>

==Specific authorities==

{{Main|Kosher certification agency}}
{{See also|Kashrut#Product labeling standards}}
[[File:The Johannesburg (South Africa) Beth Din Hechsher.png|thumb|South African Beth Din hechsher|150x150px]]
[[File:Ou kosher.svg|thumb|150x150px|One of the world's best known hechshers is the [[Orthodox Union]]'s.]]
In [[The United States of America|America]], one of the best known ''hechsher'' symbols is the "OU" from [[OU Kosher|Orthodox Union Kosher]] the world's largest kosher certification agency, under the auspices of the [[Orthodox Union]]. As of 2010, it supervises more than 400,000 products in 8,000 plants in 80 different countries.<ref name="Fishkoff">{{cite book|title=Kosher Nation|author=Fishkoff, Sue|page=155|publisher=Schocken Books, New York|isbn=978-0-8052-4265-2|year=2010}}</ref>

In [[United Kingdom|Britain]], the largest ''hechsher'' symbol in Europe,  is the "KLBD" of the [[London Beth Din]] based in London. The "MK" symbol of the [[Manchester Beth Din]] is also a globally recognised symbol, listed  by many international brands.

Other hechsher include: [[OK Kosher Certification]] based in [[Brooklyn]], New York, [[Star-K]] based in [[Baltimore, Maryland]], [[EarthKosher Kosher Certification|EarthKosher Kosher Certification Agency]] with offices in Colorado, New York and Israel, the logo of both the [[Johannesburg]] and [[Cape Town]] Beth Din used in South Africa, [[Montreal Kosher|MK Va'ad Ha'ir]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mk.ca/|title=Home - MK Kosher|website=MK Kosher|access-date=27 April 2018}}</ref> based in [[Montreal|Montreal, Quebec]], Canada, and The Kashrut Authority<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ka.org.au/|title=Kosher Made Easy! Kashrut Authority of Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific Region - Home|website=Ka.org.au|access-date=27 April 2018}}</ref> based in Sydney, Australia. The largest number of agencies is in the USA.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}

''Kashrus Magazine'' publishes a bi-annual guide to almost all kosher supervision agencies worldwide;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kashrusmagazine.com/|title=Kashrus Magazine Online - The Guide for the Kosher Consumer|first=Avi|last=Lang|website=Kashrusmagazine.com|access-date=27 April 2018}}</ref> its 2019 ''Kosher Supervision Guide'' (226 pages including an index) features 1,427 agencies. A bi-annual supplement of some 32 pages is published in alternate years. The latest supplement was published in September 2021 and brought the number of agencies listed to 1,493.

==In popular culture==
At the 2006 [[Scripps National Spelling Bee]], contestant Saryn Hooks correctly spelled "hechsher", but her spelling was ruled incorrect. A few minutes later, the judges realized their printed spelling of "hechscher" was incorrect and reinstated Hooks, thanks to 7th grader Lucas Brown, who noticed the error and called it to the attention of his father.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Buffa |first=Peter |date=2006-06-04 |title=Can you spell 'drama'? |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-xpm-2006-06-04-dpt-peterbuffa04-story.html |access-date=2023-12-20 |website=Daily Pilot |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Chadash]]
*[[Civil laws regarding kashrut]]
*[[Kashrut]]
*[[Kosher foods]]
*[[Kosher tax conspiracy theory]]
*[[Magen Tzedek]]
*[[Products without kosher certification requirements]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.hechshers.info/ Hechshers.info]

{{Kashrut}}

[[Category:Kosher food certification organizations|*]]
[[Category:Religious consumer symbols]]
[[Category:Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law]]