Last week, mashgiach Robert Frank told me that the Orthodox Union, in his experience, was indifferent to kashrut supervision. They were just in it for the money.
Monday evening, Robert calls. "I think the Orthodox Union is getting pretty nervous," he says. "I saw Rabbi Luban at a bris this morning. He seemed nervous. I said to him, come over to my house and I’ll show you videos of the non-kosher stuff. He said he didn’t have time. Then he took a bus to Manhattan.
"Fox News called me up. They want to do an interview. Arnold Diaz.
"I can’t let these people get away with this. They’ve been getting away with it for too long. All they [the Orthodox Union] do is let people do whatever they want to do. Maybe we’ll get some change out of it.
"I even received death threats. One of my coworkers told me that workers were telling him that they want to kill me now for this. They want to come over and hurt me because I might cost them their job. I want to rock the boat.
"I don’t care. They had me so stressed out. I was out of my mind. They were trying to drive me out of there. I don’t care anymore. Now everybody is going to know what is going on.
"Everybody is reading your blog. You’re famous in New York now. Everybody at shul is reading it.
"If I go in Wednesday and he writes me up again, it will just make him look guilty. I’m going to say, give it to me so I can go give it to the media. I’ll just email it to you. I want to cause them so much problem that they’ll think twice before bothering me.
"After you wrote that thing about me, other mashgiachs all over the world say this is a big problem. It’s a problem all over the world, but mashgiachs are afraid. They’re afraid for their jobs."
"My lawyer was shocked I went to you. I said, I had no choice. I was put in a spot where it was going to start all over again. I was going to have another two or three years of aggravation. I can not live with a sword over my head. That’s the way I live every day there."
Robert Frank emails me: "ENCLOSED IS A LETTER TO ME FROM RABBI SCHRIER FROM THE ORTHODOX UNION CONCERNING THE DELIVERIES, AND MY REPLY TO HIM, BUT HE MAKES NO MENTION IN HIS E-MAIL TO ME ,OF WHAT THE ORTHODOX UNION IS DOING TO STOP THE HARASSMENT THAT I HAVE BEEN RECEIVING FROM RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY AND THE MANAGER SANDE PEPAJ IN REGARDS TO MY BEING DILIGENT IN FINDING NON KOSHER FOOD A PERFORMING MY MASHGIACH FUNCTIONS."
Rabbi Schrier of the Orthodox Union emails Robert Frank:
Reuven:
In regards to your request for assistance to properly check
the delivery skids, we have done the following:To help alleviate the pressure you feel when checking the
products, the hospital once again has offered to provide a
person to remove the boxes that you feel hinder your ability
to properly check the deliveries. The hospital requests that when
the delivery arrives you contact the supervisor on duty
immediately to provide assistance with checking the skids.
The hospital committed itself that when you need to check the
skids you will not have at that time conflicting responsibilities.
The person will be committed to helping you finish checking
the skids by 8:45am, which gives you ample opportunity to daven
after that before Zman Krias Shema.
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention and we hope
this will solve the issues you have been having with the
arriving deliveries.
If this system is not working please call me or Rabbi Luban
immediately.Rabbi Dov Schreier
Rabbinic Coordinator
Phone 212-613-8342 Fax 212-613-0686
e-mail- schreier@ou.org
Robert Frank responds to Rabbi Dov Schreier: " DEAR RABBI SCHRIER, I WAS NEVER OFFERED ANY HELP FROM RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY TO HELP BREAK THE SKIDS DOWN , WHEN THE KITCHEN WORKERS NEED ANYTHING FROM THE DELIVERY SKIDS THEY JUST TAKE THEM OFF , WITHOUT ASKING ME IF THE PRODUCT IS KOSHER OR NOT , I CAN NOT WATCH ALL THE SKIDS AT ONE TIME , A SYSTEM HAS TO BE PUT IN PLACE TO SECURE THE SKIDS AND THAT NO ONE HAVE ACCESS TO THEM UNTIL THE MASHGIACH CAN SEE IF EVERYTHING IS KOSHER. WHAT ABOUT MY ISSUES WITH RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY AND SANDE PEPAJ TO PREVENT THEM FROM HARASSING ME ON A ON GOING BASIS TRYING TO STRESS ME OUT, AND GET ME SICK, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THEM , WHEN I WAS ON DUTY LAST FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AND SUNDAY I HAD NO PROBLEMS FROM THE MANAGERS ON DUTY,BECAUSE THOSE 2 WERE OFF, THE MANAGERS THAT WEEKEND LET ME DO MY JOB, WITHOUT STRESS, WHY ARE YOU STANDING BY AND LETTING RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY AND SANDE PEPAJ CONTINUE TO HARASS ME. WHY ARE YOU IGNORING MY REQUESTS TO YOU FOR HELP."
Robert Frank emails: “DEAR MR FORD, BELOW IS A MESSAGE THAT I RECEIVED FROM A REPORTER AT THE NEW YORK POST THAT THEY WILL BE RUINING A STORY ABOUT THE KOSHER FRAUD.
I ALSO SPOKE TO RABBI YAKOV LUBAN AT THE ORTHODOX UNION TO FIND OUT WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM , RABBI LUBAN TOLD ME THAT THE ORTHODOX UNION WILL NOT INTERFERE ON MY BEHALF IN REGARDS TO ANY RETALIATION THAT OCCURS IN REFERENCE TO MY COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE HARASSING TREATMENT BY MY SUPERVISOR RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY AND MY SUPERVISOR SANDE PEPAJ, WHICH MEANS THAT THEY ARE FREE TO CONTINUE THEIR HARASSMENT AND RETALIATION TO ME FOR REPORTING THE KOSHER PROBLEMS TO MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL AND THE ORTHODOX UNION , WHICH WILL RESULT IN MY EVENTUAL JOB TERMINATION.”
