By COLlive reporter
Chabad’s rabbinical authority in Israel released an urgent statement to the public notifying them that a Kosher For Passover beverage bears its unauthorized certification.
The brand in question is Moses Vodka, a naturally organic vodka that is manufactured in Finland from sugarcane and pure and fresh well water.
Billed as “the first ultra-premium vodka certified kosher all year round,” its drinks have been featured at the annual Kosher Fest food exhibition in the US and won many awards.
Its regular brand is 96.7% neutral spirit “distilled from the finest sugarcane, combined with the purest sourced water available,” they write. “A dash of inverted sugar syrup is added. Applying a further rigorous filtration process, a pure 80 proof (40% alc.) vodka is the result.”
A second drink is the Date Vodka. “Following the original recipe of finest pure spring water with super premium spirit made from entirely natural ingredients, an infusion of the sweet red fruit, the date, is now added for an exotic and delicious liqueur,” they explained.
On the manufacturer’s website, Shaman Spirits are named as the one who contacted kosher certifying agencies in order to have Moses Vodka certified as kosher for Passover.
“In order to bring you the first super premium kosher for Passover vodka, the staff at Shaman Spirits is paying extra attention for all the details involved in the Moses Vodka production process,” they wrote.
On their website, they list the following Kosher certifications: Rabbi Simon Livson, the Chief Rabbi of The Jewish community of Helsinki, Badatz Beit Yosef and Badatz Chatam Sofer.
But in a letter dated Thursday, 13 Nissan 5779, Beis Din Rabbonei Chabad in Israel states that they have been shown a photo that shows their hechsher on a bottle of “Moses Vodka.”
“We hereby notify that this isn’t an alcoholic beverage or wine that is under the certification of the Beis Din – not for Pesach or year-round,” they clarified.
Attempts by COLlive.com to reach the vodka’s importer and distributor in the US, The River Wine, were unsuccessful.
Moses Vodka is under Chug Chasam Sofer Bnei Brak and bares its certification as well has proper certification paperwork. This is considered a reliable kashrut agency, and both Moses Date Vodka and Regular Vodka are labeled as such and are made feom sugar cane. After 10 years in the wine & spirits industry I am shocked that such an article would be written the way it is, ruining the name of a brand and the good names of the frum shomer torah mitzvos distributors. Until Chug Chasam Sofer B”B says anything to the contrary this brand and distributor has needlessly… Read more »
The article doesn’t say that it’s not kosher it says they advertised that they were certified by a chabad beis din that does not certify them. They may have other hechsharim but that one is a fake.
This article doesn’t seem to meet the standard practices of journalism. It claims there is a bottle with Chadad’s hechsher on it, but it doesn’t show a photo of that. I have a bottle at home, and the only hechsher on it is Chasam Sofer. Even Chabad’s letters says they only saw a photo. How do we know the photo is not forged? It’s strange that you claim Moses Vodka forged it, but you neglect to check if maybe the photo is forged? How are you verifying the accuracy of the facts in this article?