Most any restaurant can be made kosher. Even McDonald’s can be made kosher. McDonald’s happens to be the largest of Israel’s burger chains with a 65% market share. The company sells hamburgers, chicken nuggets, French fries, and soft drinks since its opening in Israel in 1993. Currently McDonald’s has 160 restaurants in Israel with 40 of them under kosher supervision. Even though all the McDonald’s in Israel utilize only kosher products, the difference is that the non-kosher branches are open on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays, in addition to serving dairy products. 

Kosher symbols are a way that the public can identify which kosher agency is supervising the specific kosher product. When a kosher symbol is on the outside of a food product, you are supposed to be able to trust what is inside as being kosher. But this is not always true. Kosher certification agencies did not really start until the 1920’s but their origination can be traced back hundred of years. Many rabbis have decided to get in on some of this business and have started their own kosher supervision certification agencies which is why we not have literally hundreds of kosher certification symbols. Currently there are more than 1500 kosher certifying agencies around the world.

Yes, there are Jewish Rabbis which go to jail. Rabbi Sholom Rubashkin, the former chief executive officer of Agriprocessors, a now defunct kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa. This was once the largest kosher meat producer in the United States, but was cited for issues involving animal treatment, food safety, environmental safety, child labor and hiring of illegal workers. In November of 2009 Rabbi Rubashkin was convicted of 86 counts of financial fraud, bank fraud, mail and wire fraud and money laundering. In June 2010 he was sentenced to 27 years in prison and is currently serving his sentence in Otisville, NY.