Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Orthodox Union, Kosher Certifier, In Disarray

The leadership of the world’s largest provider of kosher certification, the Orthodox Union, is in disarray.

Sources on Monday confirmed massive infighting among the O.U. leadership and a slew of managerial changes as members of the board of directors vie for control.

The situation at the O.U. was first reported last week in The New York Jewish Week.

Harvey Blitz, the chairman of the O.U.’s kashrut commission, reportedly is challenging Simcha Katz for the presidency of the group. Meanwhile, the group’s executive vice president, Rabbi Steven Weil, has retained his title and an office at headquarters despite being stripped of any executive responsibility.

Rabbi Steven Burg, the former head of the O.U.’s youth group, NCSY, had been made temporary caretaker of the group last year but recently departed.

Michael Cohen, the former New York state political director hired less than a year ago, also has left abruptly.

With its logo appearing on more than 500,000 consumer products, the O.U. is the largest kosher supervision agency in the world. The total revenue from the operation – a closely guarded institutional secret – is used to fund an array of religious services and communal operations, including a public affairs office in Washington, a publishing house and a congregational umbrella group for synagogues.

A message from our CEO & publisher 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.