The Chefs of Tel Aviv
By Rebbetzin Chaya Sora Gertzulin
Eis tzarah hee l’Yaakov, It is a time of deep pain and tragedy for Klal Yisroel. We are all walking around with aching hearts. We are one nation, one people, all connected. The pain of our brothers in Eretz Yisroel is our pain. We cry, we daven, for those being held in captivity, for the injured, for the lives lost, and for their families. It is a tragedy so horrific, the numbers so many, it’s hard to fathom.
At the same time, we hear stories of inspiration. Stories of amazing strong men and women, doing the best they can for Am Yisroel, giving it all they got. Stories that give us hope and warm our heart.
Tel Aviv is a lively, busy city, home to many restaurants. Diners frequent its upscale steakhouses, and Israeli-style food joints.
While a large segment of the population was called up by the army, and family members at home aren’t eating out, the restaurants are anything but empty. They are filled with extra chefs, staff, and volunteers, going all out for Chayalei Yisroel, those on the front lines, fighting for the Jewish nation.
A Burden to Overcome
Before supplying meals for the soldiers, many of the Tel Aviv restaurants had a hurdle to overcome. Some restaurants in this city unfortunately did not maintain kosher kitchens, or were kosher “style”, while others, whose owners kept their kitchens nominally kosher, didn’t have a teudah, a kashrut certification. But their desire to help, to do chesed, was so strong, that they undertook the proper measures to kasher their restaurants and receive certification.
As chef Shalom Simcha Elbert of OCD (one of the top restaurants, known for the chef’s meticulous care that goes into every dish – hence the name OCD) said, “The restaurant now has kosher supervisors and is closed for Shabbat… We want to feed people in a way that will honor them.”
20,000 Meals a Day
Ha’achim, another bustling Tel Aviv restaurant, also went through a kashering process, and is now preparing twenty thousand meals a day for the soldiers. Chef Yoatim Doktor plans to increase the production next week, by providing freshly cooked meals for the displaced surviving families of the horrific massacre in the south. The gourmet chef will be making schnitzel-pita sandwiches, and other child-friendly foods.
There are even some vegan and gluten-free restaurants that received a kashrut teudah. They too wanted to join the effort to provide special meals for those who requested it, as well as for hospital patients.
