Cream of the Crop

W

hen a chassid from New Square discovered the secret to healthy eating at an Amish enclave in Pennsylvania, he just had to get those products for his family and a few health-conscious friends. He never imagined it would be the beginning of a business that’s spread all over the Tristate area, or a shidduch between two very different cultures that happen to look a bit similar on the surface

Ask Rabbi Chaim Pal of New Square, New York, and he’ll tell you that if you want the richest milk, the most nutritious eggs, the healthiest chickens, and authentically organic produce, Amish country in Pennsylvania is the place to get it.

Rabbi Pal was a long-term learning yungerman from New Square who never really considered going into the natural produce business, until he partnered with the Zook family and other Amish farmers in Lancaster County who raise grass-fed cows and chickens without antibiotics or added hormones and market their produce under the brand name “Meant to Be.” Today these Amish farmers raise whatever Rabbi Pal asks them to and then sell it to him. Rabbi Pal, in turn, sells the “Meant to Be” products to stores in the New York/New Jersey area under the New Square Kashrus Council hashgachah.

Rabbi Pal started his business as a private endeavor for his own and a few other families about five years ago, in his search for healthier food options — such as milk and eggs that wouldn’t cause allergies.