STAR-K KOSHER CERTIFICATION rtnhyktcs ,urafv sgu Kashrus KurrentsVOLUME 24 NO. 3 SPRING 5764-2004 The SweetestFruitof them all Good Fences Make R ABBI TZVI ROSEN, EDITOR Good Home Owners BY DR. TZVI WHITE Unbelievable but true. Overheard conversation between Mother REVIEWED BY RABBI MOSHE HEINEMANN, and a precocious seven year old at a typical STAR-K RABBINIC ADMINISTRATOR supper table… Home ownership, the American dream. After “Now dear you must eat your fruits and moving in, one hopes it doesn’t turn into an vegetables!” American nightmare. So many things to take care “I just finished a delicious double portion.” of; so many things to consider. Utilities, the struc- “Great what did you eat?” ture, the appliances, the list is seemingly endless. “A yummy chocolate bar.” Dealing with normal home issues is hard enough, Chocolate is surely nature’s sweetest combination of fruit and veg- just think how many more issues have to be con- etable, sugar and cocoa beans. Chocolate, the king of confections, continues to grow sidered in a kosher compliant home. Kosher in popularity. Kosher chocolate is a delicious study of technology and halacha. Let’s mezuzas on all entrances. Kosher appliances to explore the intoxicating world of chocolate. make the kosher kitchen user friendly. No trees King David, Dovid Hamelech, extols Hashem’s acts of loving kindness by proclaim- hanging over the backyard area where the sukkah ing metaphorically that he desires to drink from “Your river of delight,” “minachal is to be built. Moreover, does anyone realize that adonecha tashkeim.” What is a river of delight? Let me give you a first-hand explana- roofs, porches, balconies and landings have to be tion. Before Hershey Park built Chocolate World, tourists were treated to a tour of kosher as well? How do you make a porch kosher authentic chocolate-making. Clearly etched in my childhood memories was a delicious compliant? The answer - build a ma’akeh. river of chocolate cascading into a chocolate-fall of millions of Hershey bars and What is a ma’akeh? Hershey kisses. It was awesome, to say the least. The Torah states in Parshas Ki-Setze, vbc, hf” Over the years, chocolate manufacturing has continued to grow both domestically “…lddk vegn ,hagu asj ,hc - “When you build a and internationally. Chocolate connoisseurship has reached new heights. Believe it or not, the most expensive chocolate today costs in excess of $90 a pound. The choco- holic delights at the sight of Belgium truffles, French bonbons, Swiss chocolate, and other chocolate bars that abound. Today, most major chocolate manufacturers in the U.S. have reliable kosher certification. Some specialty chocolate manufacturers are kosher certified as well. Cholov Yisroel chocolate in particular has recently seen unprecedented growth. Today a Cholov Yisroel consumer can feast on a Mars bar coun- terpart without having to compromise on taste or quality. Chocolate raw ingredients make a long trek before becoming a familiar chocolate bar or chocolate covered cherry. The prime ingredient in chocolate is the cacao bean, which grows in many regions of the world, including Africa, Central America, and Southeast Asia. Two main varieties of trees produce cacao beans: the Forastero tree in West Africa which produces commodity quality cacao beans, and the Criollo tree, CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 found in Venezuela and other South American countries, which produces premium quality cacao beans. The first stage of cacao bean processing is harvesting, which may be done by machete - a slow and tedious process, or by automatic shakers that shake an entire tree Insidethis issue free of the cacao pods. Next, the pods are cracked open and the cacao beans are CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 The Sweetest Fruit of Them All ......................Page 1 Good Fences Make Good Home Owners....Page 1 Hot off the Hotline ................................................Page 2 Air Conditioner Information ............................Page 2 New Under Star-K Certification....................Page 3,8 Subscription Information ..................................Page 4 Recommended Soft Drink List ........................Page 7 the kinyan kesef, happens on a weekday so there is no issur, prohibition of mekach umemkar, business sale transactions, on Shabbos. There could be a potential problem when Yom To v falls on a weekday because the authorization and the processing of the sale can take place on off the same day. As with every transaction, the pur- Hot chaser’s sale is authorized immediately. If the processor completes the transaction on the same day, or if the vendor’s bank does its own process- R ABBI MOSHE HEINEMANN ing, the vendor’s account will be credited on Yom the RABBINIC ADMINISTRATOR To v. Therefore, one may be forbidden to keep the website open on Yom Tov, unless there is a pre-Yom To v agreement with the processor, that batch Hotline reporting would take place after Yom Tov. One web Commerce on the Web Revisited site designer that we contacted stated, “…yes, you can certainly accept orders over the internet and This article is a further clarification to the Hot off the Hotline question... place them on hold until a certain time. We have built e-commerce sites in the past where orders are placed and the credit card is verified but not Q: On Shabbos does an observant few days later. Depending upon the business charged until someone on the ‘backend’ approves Jew have to close a website that is transaction procedure between the principles - the this.” selling products online? bank and the processors, processing may occur In conclusion, a website would be allowed to the same day, every few hours, or however they remain open on Shabbos since payment is deferred Based on information that the Star-K received choose to arrange their system. from two credit card companies, Rav Heinemann until Monday or later. Regarding Yom Tov that falls During a regular banking day, the sale and the on a weekday, it is recommended to design the web- had answered that since purchases are accom- post dates frequently coincide. This is not the case plished by entering a credit card number, whereby site in such a way that payments would be deferred during the weekend. Since banks are closed on until the conclusion of the Yom Tov. the bank immediately transfers funds from the Saturday and Sunday, weekend monetary transfers purchaser’s account to that of the vendor, web We thank our readers for their important do not occur until Monday when banks reopen. input to help clarify this issue. commerce would be prohibited on Shabbos. Even banks that offer 24 hour banking will not However, many of our Kashrus Kurrents read- have the transactions actually transfer until Special thanks to Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz of ers informed us that this information is erroneous Monday because the banking transfer system is regarding weekend transactions. After much Diamondcard, Chris Foss of AmericanEagle.com, tied into the Federal Reserve which is closed on Chris Weir of Wachovia Bank, Mr. Charles Seigman, research to further clarify this issue, Hot off the Saturday and Sunday. In practical terms, this Hotline is presenting the corrected version of how and Mr. Israel Senderovic for their valuable assis- means that the money which was authorized from tance. credit card business is transacted generally, and the consumer’s account on Shabbos specifically how it is transacted on the weekend. when he made the online sale, would When a consumer makes a purchase by cred- not be withdrawn from the purchaser’s it card on a web site, a number of steps take place credit card and entered into the vendor’s before the money actually leaves the purchaser’s account until Monday morning or credit card account and reaches the vendor’s bank thereafter. The same procedure holds account. A consumer goes online to a web site and true for purchases made with debit decides to make a purchase. Step one is for the cards. Purchases made using Pay Pal consumer to submit his credit card number services are delayed even longer because online. Almost automatically the credit card it takes an extra day for processing. account is “checked” to see that the credit limit As was mentioned previously, has not been exceeded. If this is the case, an authorization means that the computer authorization number is issued to authorize the checks the purchaser’s credit card sale. Nothing has been transferred yet. Once the account and “sees” that there is credit sale is approved, the next step takes place - pro- available. However nothing passes from cessing the sale. This means that the purchaser’s one account to another until the trans- credit card is debited and the vendor of the web- action is completed. Technically speak- site’s bank account is credited. This means that the ing, the vendor’s monetary acquisition, credit cards credit line allowance is reduced and the vendor receives payment. Credit card sales are processed by specialized companies known as “processors.” Processing Electronic Room Air Conditioners used to be done by the banks themselves. Today, most banks do not do their own processing. Bank Star-K is pleased to announce that in of America, Wachovia and Wells Fargo still do their own processing. The job of the processor is response to our suggestions, GE has modi- to act as a facilitator between customer and ven- fied its 2004 electronic room air condition- dor. The processor is the clearinghouse of sorts ers so that they will now return to their which takes the money out of the credit card account and puts it into the vendor’s account. The default position. This means that on processor usually processes a number of transac- Shabbos and Yom Tov, the air conditioners tions at once.