Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

I must admit, a Matzav report has me rather befuddled:

The AKO Executive Committee has reason to believe that there are large liquor companies in the United States which may be owned in whole or part by Jews. The AKO is concerned that suc [sic] companies may not have arranged for the sale of their chometz before Pesach. These companies primarily manufacture bourbon, cordials, and American whiskey, and also deal in a small amount of Scotch and vodka.

Chometz-containing liquors owned, produced and/or aged by Jewish-owned companies over Pesach are forbidden as chometz she’avar alav haPesach.  

Since many liquor products are aged for many years before they are sold to the public, it cannot be assumed that these beverages are acceptable for kosher use even if they are purchased a long time before or after Pesach...

I admit I have never heard of the AKO Executive Committee. The website they give for their email address, akokosher.org, Google asserts hosts malware, such that you should not visit their site. This seems to be just because they are not computer savvy. But I am not about to visit their site to find out more. The AKO Executive Committee is apparently the Executive Committee of the Association of Kashrut Organizations. But I don't know enough about these organizations. It this of the major organizations? They appear to be based in Chicago, IL, and various major Kashrus organizations are part of it. Update: I see now that VosIsNeias has a scan of the letter, which gives identification and contact information.

But here is what befuddles me about this warning.

Chametz She'avar alav haPesach, we end up holding that it is a kenas, a Rabbinically imposed fine, to make certain that people do not maintain chametz in their possession over Pesach. So the issur is deRabbanan, not deOraysa. (And therefore, I would read the prohibited status as extrinsic, rather than intrinsic to the item.)

The AKO does not tell us that these companies are certainly Jewish owned, in whole or part. Rather, they assert:

The AKO Executive Committee has reason to believe that there are large liquor companies in the United States which may be owned in whole or part by Jews.

Emphasis mine. That is, it is a safek.

Furthermore, even if Jewish owned, they assert:

The AKO is concerned that suc [sic] companies may not have arranged for the sale of their chometz before Pesach. 

That is, there is a further safek.


Even if it were a single safek, rather than a sfek sfeika, we say that safeik deRabbanan lekulah. So it is entirely permitted. So why worry?

Yes, for certain types of sfeikos, we don't just sit back and say it is a safeik. It is efshar levareir. But there are levels of efshar levareir, and at some point we don't say that it is so. You do not have to travel across the world, or spend more than the item is worth, in order to determine this. Do we need, in this case, to investigate the owners of these companies, do detailed background checks on each owner for Jewish ancestry, and interrogate those who run the companies to see whether they sold it, and obtain proof that they aren't lying to you? Perhaps this is easily determinable with a few phone calls, for people with the right connections and telephone personalities. But perhaps not. Is the concern

If it is so easy, instead of warning us about the sefeikos, why does the AKO not tell us about the vaddais? And why state that the safeiks are problematic?

And if it really takes great investigation, then I am not sure that such mesiras nefesh is called for, or advisable. It is all a fine, derabbanan. And if the rabbanan say that safek derabbanan lekula, then they are not imposing their fine in this case. So why make trouble and turn the sefeik into vaddai, and make certain items prohibited for the Jewish people?

Comments welcome. Tell me why I am wrong, or why I am right.

{Update: See the discussions at Vos Iz Neias and the Yeshiva World as well. At the Yeshiva World, someone posted the following from the Star K from a while back:

“What about the whiskey manufacturers? After years of research, it is clear that the overwhelming majority of companies producing spirits are either large corporations that are publicly owned or are non-Jewish. There is a major American whiskey company that is Jewish owned that has been selling their chometz through the Orthodox Rav in Louisville, Kentucky for well over a decade. Moreover, the finished goods do not go directly to your neighborhood liquor store; they first go to large distributors that house great inventories of alcoholic beverages. In many large metropolitan areas, the owners of the liquor distribution companies are Jewish and do not sell their chometz. There is little control over what is distributed on Pesach. However, unless one knows for a fact that the liquor comes from a non-observant Jewish distributor that did not sell his chometz and owned the alcohol over Pesach, or if whiskey comes from the local Jewish liquor proprietor who did not sell his chometz and owned the liquor over Pesach, one need not be machmir. Since chometz she’avar alav haPesach is a rabbinic prohibition and we have a safek, a reasonable doubt, the halacha allows us to take a lenient position.”

What is different now?}

Of course, don't rely on what I write here lehalacha. Consult your local Orthodox Rabbi for guidance.