Rabbi Shlomo Rudski
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Rabbi Shlomo Rudski, was a man of great integrity. His life was devoted to Gd and to His People.
Both from his earliest years in his wonderful home and also from his training in the famous Lomza Yeshiva, he was imbued with a passion to revere the Torah and truth. He treasured these values and vigorously cultivated them in his personal life and was equally determined to plant them in his new home in Australia where he applied them assiduously to his communal undertakings. This was his very essence and energy that drove him to search for truth and follow it as Abraham followed Gd's instructions, without fear or prejudice. It is this commitment to objective Torah truth that we wish to continue in our Kosher work and also project on this site. Rabbi Rudzki was the first Chief Minister of the South Caulfield Hebrew Congregation, aptly named ק"ק תפארת ישורון and was one of the first Rabbis in Australia to organise Kashrus for the community. His legacy and vision lives on in Kosher VeYosher and It's Kosher, the new face of Australia’s oldest continuously functioning Kosher Certifying Agency. Discerning Rabbi Rabi's qualities and capabilities, Rabbi Rudski insisted that Rabbi Rabi "command, control, expand and improve Kashrus for all Jews in Australia. There is no need for another super Frum Kashrus agency." Gd blessed Rabbi Shlomo Rudski OBM with great foresight. He left Europe when he could already see trouble brewing whilst unfortunately many others did not comprehend what they saw. He similarly foresaw in his closing years, the future direction of Melbourne's upward spiral of increasingly stricter Kashrus standards, and took steps to ensure that alternatives were provided for Australia's Yidden who were not inclined towards these ultra-orthodox models and lifestyles. Gd also blessed Rabbi Rudski with the great courage and determination enabling him to travel alone as a youth, to a distant land, and a strange country. He was similarly blessed by Gd with the courage and determination, even in his senior years, to ensure that Australia's Kashrus landscape not fall to the absolute control of a single certifying ultra-orthodox authority. And Gd blessed Australia with a Rabbi whose epic trust and faith, empowered him to visualise and construct a future inspired by the European Yiddishkeit he was familiar with, and the Torah life and learning of the Lomza Yeshivah [where he received his Semicha] he revelled in. He would build a future that was both a tribute to the past and an ode to the future. His visions of the future however, were most practical. He similarly had the trust and faith to forge on alone and construct Australia's first Kashrus service that has endured and now, re-badged as It's Kosher, is significantly expanded across Australia and New Zealand. Rabbi Rudski's Gdly blessings and his personal energy is enshrined in his work for Kashrus. We have proudly borne Rabbi Rudski's legacy and modestly suggest that we have, in keeping his instructions, furthered his ambitions. In the years since his passing The Holy Kosher Authority - Kosher VeYosher, has been the first to provide Australia with fresh hot Kosher food in three popular locations within the city of Melbourne and also its major shopping centre, Chadstone [Chaddy, in its affectionately known diminutive] Sydney too has been blessed by It;s Kosher's bold initiatives, gaining 16 Kosher foods shops strategically placed throughout the Sydney CBD and surrounds. Our Sages, ever pragmatic, and always seeking the positive, see that rivalry also has its benefits - it spurs effort and discloses energies that otherwise might have forever lain dormant. And so Rabbi Rudski's leadership endures. His solid foundations and It's Kosher's vigour, enthusiasm, innovative spirit, expertise in Halacha and consequent success, has awakened and mobilised energies in the other plodding Kosher organisations, that in all likelihood would have otherwise remained forever dormant. Australia's Kosher consumers are the beneficiaries, now enjoying a new attitude by the Chabad leaning Kosher groups, directed by the brothers, Rabbis Moshe and Mottel Gutnick, announcing re-evaluated Kosher policies and activities including:
The future is unknown, but judging from our past experiences, we confidently predict a significant expansion and improvement in the range, variety and availability of Kosher foods in Australia and New Zealand. We celebrate this prediction for its heralding that Jewish life in the coming years, will be more inviting, comfortable and successful. May our efforts find favour in the eyes of, and blessings from The Almighty. |
