Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Rabbi Slams 92nd Street Y For Serving Non-Kosher Food At Gala

A little-known rabbi has launched a media assault against the venerable 92nd Street Y for serving a “kosher style” meal at its May fundraising gala.

In a full-page ad in the latest issue of the New York Jewish Week, Rabbi Sholtiel Lebovic issued a “COMMUNITY ALERT AND PROTEST!!!” against the major Manhattan Jewish community center, known for its high-profile lecture series.

Lebovic, who claims to hold the “world record for Koshering more kitchen than any single individual since the world was created,” calls on the Y to hire a kosher caterer for the gala, which takes place in four days.

The gala’s website refers to gala’s “dinner experience” as “kosher style,” a euphemism that generally means that only kosher ingredients are used, and there is no mixing of milk and meat, but the food is not prepared under rabbinic supervision.

“A phone call to the right kosher caterer has to be made to set this right and have a truly kosher event,” Lebovic said in an email to the Forward.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.