The Importance of a Good Hechsher

A certain shliach recounted this story:

‘During the kinus a few years ago, I met up with a friend of mine, who serves as a shliach in another country. On Thursday night, we walked together to Oholei Torah, to take part in the workshops. On the way I noticed that my friend was limping. I asked him what happened, but he insisted that it was nothing, and that he would be fine.

Over the course of the evening, however, his foot deteriorated, to the point that he could barely walk. When it came time to go home, although the place where he was staying was on Carrol St, just over 2 blocks away, the walk was too much for him to handle, and we had to bring him there by taxi.

“Something is obviously very wrong with your foot”, I exclaimed, “shouldn’t you seek medical attention?” But he continued to maintain that it was nothing, and that by the next day there would be no trace of the turmoil.

Sure enough, when I saw him the next day, he was walking normally. I pressed him for an explanation, and he shared with me the following amazing story:

“When I was a child (he related), learning in Lubavitcher Yeshiva, I once had an accident while playing sports, and injured my foot. My parents wrote in to the Rebbe, who responded ליזהר בכשרות האכילה ושתייה – to be more careful with kashrus.

“Now, I was a Lubavitcher kid, from a Lubavitcher family, and we were obviously keeping kosher at home, but as a result of the Rebbe’s response, we found some ways in which we could raise our standards.

“This happened some 30 years ago, and since then, any and every time I compromise in my standards of kashrus, my foot immediately begins to ail me!

“On the way to the kinus, my flight had a stopover, and my second flight was delayed, and I was stuck for some time in an airport. I was, understandably very hungry, and was looking for something to eat. I found some food item for sale, that had a hashgocho. I knew inside that I should really not be depending on that hashgocho, as it was not up to my standards, but I chose to overlook that.

“Therefore, as soon as my foot started hurting, I knew with certainty what the cause was. I made a hachloto on the spot to stay away from this hechsher in the future, and was certain that my foot would be better the next morning, which it was!”