Machsike Hadass: Antwerp’s Orthodox Community and Its Kosher Supervision

In 1892, six small synagogues in Antwerp joined forces and appointed a rabbi. From that union grew Machsike Hadass, one of the city’s two Ashkenazi communities, and from the very start it took charge of shechita and of supervising kosher shops. More than a century later, it remains one of the kashrut names you may come across on products from Belgium. This article looks at its history, its standard and how to check its products.

Who is behind Machsike Hadass?

Machsike Hadass is known in Dutch as the Israëlitische Orthodoxe Gemeente, the Orthodox Jewish Community of Antwerp. Its address is Jacob Jacobsstraat 2, 2018 Antwerp. The city’s other Ashkenazi community is Shomre Hadass.

The community is Haredi and not Zionist in outlook. Since December 2010 its rav has been Rabbi Aaron Schiff, a Belzer chassid.

More than a century of communal life

The six synagogues that united in 1892 appointed Rabbi Noach Zvi Ullman, and the new community began appointing shochetim and supervising kosher shops. Royal recognition followed on 14 December 1910. Other foundations were laid early: an eruv in 1902, set up by Rabbi S. J. Sternberg, and in 1908 a cemetery at Putte, just over the border in the Netherlands.

The war brought devastation. On 14 April 1941, during the Antwerp pogrom, the house of Rabbi Rottenberg was ransacked. After the war, in 1954, Rabbi Chaim Kreiswirth was appointed chief rabbi. He died in 2001.

Rebuilding, and then building more

Machsike Hadass is one of the few European communities to have rebuilt all of its pre-war religious infrastructure and then expanded it. Its mikveh, opened in 1972, was the largest in the world for about 20 years. In May 2023 the community’s main synagogue, an Art Nouveau building, was reinaugurated after restoration.

Taken together, these dates describe a community that had shechita, shop supervision, an eruv and a cemetery in place within 16 years of its founding, and that rebuilt and expanded its institutions after the war.

What we know about its standard

• Outlook: a Haredi community, not Zionist.
• Leadership: Rabbi Aaron Schiff, rav since December 2010.
• Roots: shechita and the supervision of kosher shops have been part of its work since 1892.

We could not find published written policies from Machsike Hadass, for example on chalav Yisrael, so we do not set out details here. If a particular standard matters to you, ask the seller or the community directly.

How to check a product

We did not find a consumer kashrut guide from Machsike Hadass. The community publishes a weekly, Shabbat b’Shabbato, in Hebrew and Yiddish, but it is not a product list. That makes the certificate, or the name on the pack, the most reliable thing to check. A few practical steps instead:

• Ask the seller which authority supervises the product, and whether a certificate is available.
• Read the packaging for the name of the supervising community rather than relying on a general claim of “kosher”.
• Use third-party databases with care. One such database lists 528 product entries under Machsike Hadass, but that is not an official figure.
• Contact the community at Jacob Jacobsstraat 2 if you need to confirm that a certificate is current.

Three things you might not know

1. The Antwerp eruv, set up in 1902, is described as the oldest in the world.
2. The community’s 1972 mikveh was the largest in the world for around two decades.
3. Its cemetery is not in Belgium at all, but at Putte, just across the Dutch border.

On The Kosher Shop, every food seller tells us which kashrut authority supervises their products, and we check the certificate before their shop opens. Next in this series: the NIK and the rabbinate of Amsterdam.

Sources: JewishCom.be, 2009; Wikipedia: History of the Jews in Antwerp; isitkosherapp: Machsike Hadass; Ami Magazine, May 2023. The product count is from a third-party database, not from Machsike Hadass.