Editor

There's a new kosher symbol in town -- and it juggles.

Congregation Tifereth Israel and its rabbi, Ethan Seidel, were set to unveil the kosher hechsher, JuggleK, during a dedication scheduled for this morning at the Conservative congregation in the District.

The hechsher is under Seidel's supervision. The first company to receive the new certification is Soupergirl, a D.C. soup production and delivery business that has been preparing its vegan soups in Tifereth Israel's kitchen, where it rents space, since July.

JuggleK, in fact, was created just for Soupergirl. Sara Polon, a District resident who runs the company with her mother, Marilyn, a Rockville resident, was looking to reach kosher consumers.

"The kosher community is really underserved in D.C.," Polon said, adding that she also wanted the kosher "supervision to stand for more than just being kosher. I'm really passionate about being environmentally friendly and supporting local businesses."

While the Conservative movement recently released requirements for its Magen David hechsher for ethical standards, that seal requires a company to have a kosher certification already in place.

Soupergirl did not have such certification, so "she would still need my hechsher" to qualify for the Magen David, Seidel said. He decided to offer her a certification that includes both kosher food and ethical aspects.

Polon was interested in getting a kosher stamp of approval from Seidel because "Tifereth Israel really embraces the values I feel passionately about," she said.

JuggleK stands not only for kosher food, but for ethical treatment of employees, environmental responsibility and honesty in consumer dealing.

The name was inspired by Seidel's love of juggling, and the logo is a metaphor for the hechsher's standards, according to David Zinner, Tifereth Israel's executive director. The logo's juggling letter K depicts "four balls in the air and part of the goal is to juggle all four values," Zinner said. "We think it's important Jews pay attention not just to kashrut, but to ethical standards," he said, adding that one of the balls is askew to "remind us that we're not perfect. Only God is perfect, but we can" strive to be better.

Plus, he said, "people will smile when they see" the logo.

Zinner's a big fan of Soupergirl. "Have you ever had her soup? It's really good," he said. "When we put it out on Shabbat, people race over to the soup," which includes such offerings as Super Papa's Al Pomodoro soup (an Italian tomato and bread dish) and Sir Lentil's Lentil Soup of Many Flavors (an Armenian lentil soup with eggplant, apricots, curry and paprika).

Unlike Orthodox shuls and some Conservative synagogues, Tifereth Israel has no outside hashgacha, kashrut supervision, which Seidel handles himself with the assistance of some congregants he has trained to be mashgichim, kosher supervisors.

A check with a handful of Washington-area Conservative rabbis found them supportive of Seidel's new hechsher.

"I know his interpretation of Halacha and his stringent kashrut standards, and they're more than acceptable for me," said one, Rabbi Jonah Layman of Shaare Tefila Congregation in Silver Spring.

Polon realizes that some kosher consumers will not accept Seidel's seal, but both she and the rabbi said that since her soups are vegan, they would appeal to both Conservative Jews who keep kosher, as well as some modern Orthodox.

"I've talked to a large number of very observant people and because we're vegan and we're not using meat and we're in a synagogue, they said they would accept this hechsher," Polon said.

Seidel, meanwhile, has no plans to market JuggleK to other food purveyors. "I'm not ruling it out, but I'm looking for other businesses, " he said. "I don't want to be in competition with the hechshers" out there.