The Lehigh Valley Kashrut Commission is a committee of the Hebrew Family League (HFL), a tax exempt not for profit organization under IRS section 501(c)3. The Hebrew Family League, founded in 1961, is a volunteer organization that oversees the LVKC, as well as the Jewish community’s Mikvah (Ritual Bath House) and Chevra Kadisha (Jewish Burial Society).
The Kashrut Commission has a volunteer Board of Directors, President Harry Fisher. The board oversees business issues. Decisions of Jewish law are governed by our Vaad Halachah, Rabbi of Congregation Sons of Israel in Allentown.
Rabbi Jonathan Powers, Director of Kashrus Supervision has been serving the LVKC since April 2006/5766; Rabbi Powers currently does supervision for several national hashgachot as well as with commercial food production. Rabbi Powers also serves as a Mashgiach for The Noshery at Muhlenberg College on behalf of the Star-K.
MEET OUR STAFF
Director of Kosher Supervision – Rabbi Jonathan Powers
Rabbi Jonathan Powers has worked as a Mashgiach for the LVKC since 1997 when he moved to Allentown, PA. While working for the LVKC as the Mashgiach Temidi at Abe’s Place, he also simultaneously worked with the Star-K (Vaad Hakashrus of Baltimore), OU (Orthodox Union), and Rabbi Teitelbaum (The Volover Rav). He left Abe’s Place to work as a Mashgiach for the OK Kashrus, in Philadelphia. He then briefly moved away from Allentown, PA to work for the OU in New Jersey. Rabbi Powers moved back to Allentown in 2005 and commutated to Philadelphia to work at his family’s restaurant, Yitzi Peking, under Star-K & Keystone-K supervision, on the main line. In 2006, he was appointed by Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner to be the Director of Kashrus Supervision for the LVKC. After the closing of Yi-tzi Peking in 2007, Rabbi Powers returned to Abe’s Place as a mashgiach for the Star-K while simultaneously working for the LVKC. In 2010, he left Abe’s Place to be the Mashgiach for the Star-K at The Noshery at Muhlenberg College. While currently filling his role with the LVKC and Star-K, Rabbi Powers also assists several other National Kashrus Agencies, such as the OU and Kof-K, with other regional supervision.
