Confused about the myriad of kosher symbols on food packaging? Don't know how to reach a kosher certifying agency? Interested in traveling around the world, and you want to know about kosher, synagogues, and Jewish life, and have no way to find out? Here's the answer: The Kosher Supervision Guide-2019 Edition. With 1,427 kosher certifying organizations worldwide, this Guide has it all. Just turn to the front of the book for a pictorial index of every known kosher symbol in the world, and then look it up on the appropriate page in the book. Or, turn to the back of the main section, and search for a kosher agency by name. If you are traveling anywhere in the world, The Kosher Supervision Guide-2019 Edition puts at your fingertips exact contact information for the people responsible for kosher in every given community. You have their names, telephone numbers, cell numbers, fax numbers and email addresses. You have websites which give you detailed food information in every community. Plus, the Guide includes a brief list of kosher certifications for each kosher agency. The Kosher Supervision Guide-2019 Edition is published by the Kashrus Institute, which has been providing the kosher consumer and the kosher trade valuable information for over 37 years. The Institute does not supervise any product and is not affiliated with any kosher food agency, but serves as an informational and educational organization, publishing 5 magazines and 3 guides throughout the year. Subscriptions are available from The Kashrus Institute at (718) 336-8544 or kashrus@aol.com at $28/year for domestic subscriptions, and is also available to subscribers outside the U.S. at a slightly higher rate. Sample copies are also available; contact the Institute for detailed subscription information. Extensive communication takes place between the Kashrus Institute and all known kosher certifying organizations to update their information in the new Guide. All agencies receive a questionnaire and follow ups. Hundreds of hours of production are put into producing each and every Kosher Supervision Guide, now 224 pages. What the Guide does not tell you is upon which agency you should rely. As in everything in life, each person is responsible for himself, and nobody should dictate their prejudices on anyone else. The Guide gives you much detailed information which will help you make your own choice upon whom to rely, or you may consult a rabbi or kosher certifying agency for further guidance. We welcome information or queries about kosher symbols and kosher agencies not included in the current Guide. An Addendum to the current Guide will be published in October of 2019. The next full Kosher Supervision Guide will be published in October of 2020.
About the Author: Rabbi Yosef Wikler is the founding Editor and Publisher of Kashrus Magazine, publishers of "The Kosher Supervision Guide-2019 Edition". Since October 1980, Rabbi Wikler has been the "Ralph Nader of the kosher world." He has served as an ombudsman for the kosher consumer in the world of politics, in numerous organizations, at conferences, with kosher food companies and their kosher certifying agencies. He is contacted by kosher agencies from across the world to help notify the American kosher consumers of information which they need to know. Rabbi Wikler maintains close contact with many of the 1,427 kosher certifying agencies listed in the Kosher Supervision Guide. When someone enters the field of kosher supervision, opens a business and wishes to choose a kosher supervisor, or a young man decides to go into kosher supervision, he often confers with Rabbi Wikler. Primarily, Rabbi Wikler is an educator, one who has trained many rabbis and kosher supervisors (mashgichim). Ordained in 1975 by Yeshiva Emek Halacha, Rabbi Wikler served as Menahel of Yeshiva Birkas Reuven from 1980-1998. Rabbi Wikler's career in writing spans nearly four decades. First there was a regular column in the "Boro Park Community News," entitled "What's the Bracha?" Following, he wrote a regular column on kosher in the "World Jewish Tribune," a weekly newspaper. His book, "The Foods We Eat, A Kashrus Handbook" was published in 1980. Soon after Rabbi Wikler started publishing Kashrus Magazine. In addition to the bimonthly magazine, Kashrus Magazine publishes a monthly newsletter, "Kashrus Monthly". Rabbi Wikler is also the host of a weekly radio program, "Kashrus On The Air" (which airs Mondays 6-7 PM EST over JRoot Radio, www.JRootRadio.com; 718-506-9099; www.jrootradio.com).