Five-Star Standard

As we sit together in the conference room of the STAR-K, the Baltimore-based kashrus certification agency Rav Moshe Heinemann has led for half a century, he recalls his visit to the venerable Rebbe Yoel of Satmar to discuss the mikveh project. “I asked the Rebbe, ‘What’s the best way to make a mikveh?’ and he replied with customary wit: ‘The best way is not to make it based on the Shulchan Aruch.’ After a pause, he continued, ‘If you need to look in Shulchan Aruch, it’s already a problem.’ ”

The lesson, Rav Heinemann says, was clear: Optimal mitzvah performance means avoiding sh’eilos, even if ultimately they can be resolved.

Over 60 years later, as the beacon of Rav Moshe Heinemann’s halachic guidance shines forth from Baltimore, Maryland throughout the United States and beyond, the Satmar Rebbe’s long-ago admonition to strive for halachic excellence, not baseline compliance, remains his own guiding principle. His prime vehicle for setting the frum community’s halachic bar high is the STAR-K, through which he has become perhaps America’s foremost authority in the multifaceted, ever-more-complex field of kashrus.

In his varied roles — as the head of the STAR-K, longtime rav of the Agudath Israel of Baltimore, and a sagacious leader of the city’s Torah community — Rav Heinemann has charted a path that prioritizes two values, emes and shalom, above all else. His seamless synthesis of the potentially competing tenets of standing up for truth and promoting peace has helped both his community and his kashrus organization reach great heights of success. With a staff of 60 at its headquarters and some 800 full- and part-time employees around the globe, STAR-K has grown to be one of the largest kosher certifiers worldwide, providing supervision for tens of thousands of producers, products, and eateries on five continents.