Jewish Music Review: Gershon Veroba: Reach Out

I have picked up Gershon Veroba's latest album, Reach Out. I had purchased his last album as well entitled "Turn it Around" and really enjoyed it. This latest release is quite different in many ways from the previous. This album is what can be best described as a "band" album. The CD features Gershon's band, Takana which is compromised of the following musicians: Gal Gershovsky, Tony Montalbo, Bill Nelson, Zvi Lampert and Bobby Shubowitz. Gershon smartly decided to go with many English songs as that is his strong suite. If I could select a genre for this CD it would certainly be classic rock. You can hear many Billy Joel influences and others throughout. My daugther enjoys the first song the most: Bamorom. I enjoyed it as well, although some of my other favorites are a song by Yakov Gifter: Mi Sheososh as well as Ana Avadoh and the last song sung with guest vocalist Sam Glaser,"Across The River". The English songs seem to have a very serious tone to them with the exception of the last one. Overall I really enjoyed the album and my only complaint is the mix. The mix was done on the dry side almost unplugged if you will. I'm not saying you should have tons of reverb everywhere but in certain spots it would have been appropriate. Feel free to listen to clips of this release.

Le Marais Restaraunt: Kashrus Issues Debated..

If you thought that Gourmet Glatt was a Kashrus debacle, there is a new Kashrus problem that is sure to make an even bigger stir!I refer to the famous Steak House in NYC: Le Marais. The former Mashgiach, Yizchak Bitton is alleging that the chef is a Jew-Hater and that he had smuggled in non-kosher food etc. He even started his own blog and website to further his cause. The OU which gives the Kosher supervision for this establishment, states that they had looked into every accusation proposed by Mr. Bitton and found that NONE of the allegations were credible.

Mr. Bitton developed amazing conspiratorial theories involving crime organizations to explain why people denied his allegations, and attributed dark and evil motives to sincere and honest individuals within the OU. Mr. Bitton was dogmatic in his interpretations of situations and did not acknowledge the legitimacy of other opinions. We explained to Mr. Bitton that he was entitled to his opinion, but we do not have to agree. He insisted that his viewpoint is fact and not an opinion.

In protest of our decision to not have the chef fired, Mr. Bitton voluntarily resigned from his position at the restaurant. Since then, Mr. Bitton and others have circulated e-mail allegations about this matter. Many of the statements are patently false, such as the accusation that the chef physically assaulted Mr. Bitton and intentionally placed insects in the food. In a private conversation with an OU staff member, Mr. Bitton admitted that this was not true. Another allegation is that the OU chose to defend the chef for financial considerations. This accusation is absurd. Had the OU insisted that the chef be dismissed, it would have had no financial impact on the OU, as Le Marais would readily have complied. Indeed, the easiest course for the OU would have been to ask the restaurant to dismiss this chef, and the whole matter would have been put to rest. The OU did not take this course of action because we felt that the kashrus of the restaurant was properly served and to dismiss a chef without just cause was unethical and immoral.

Coming Soon: Jewish Music Review: Gershon Veroba

I have been hearing some really good things about Gershon Veroba's latest release "Reach Out". I had actually purchased his last regular album " Turn it Around" and thought it was pretty good. Keep an eye out and I'll have the review up shortly.