By Donald H. Harrison
LAFAYETTE, California – Chabad Rabbi Yisroel Labkowski estimates there are approximately 6,000 Jews in the Lamorinda area – the collective name for the three Contra Costa County suburbs of Lafayette, Moraga, and Orinda.
Up until recently, he said, they have been kosher-deprived.
Sure, there were small selections of kosher foods at various supermarkets and nearby specialty grocery stores, but they didn’t offer nearly the variety that one would encounter living in a Jewish neighborhood on the East Coast. Where, for example, could one purchase smoked white fish, or pickled herring, or various kosher cuts of beef?
So, about two months ago, Rabbi Labkowski and his wife Tzipora opened Bay Kosher in the front part of the building that also houses their shul, Chabad of Lamorinda. He engaged Mendel Schiffer, a native of Akko, Israel, to manage the store for him. Schiffer, who didn’t care for retirement, had been in sales most of his life, and yearned for something new to do.
Neither man had a background in groceries, but Schiffer told me, “Once you learn the products, sales are sales.” Rabbi Labkowski said he learned which New York companies were reliable suppliers through the Chabad network. Now, Bay Kosher carries dozens of fleishig products, among them stew meat for cholent, different cuts of brisket, bone in flanken roast, short ribs, veal, lamb, frankfurters, Polish sausage, Italian sausage, kishke, pastrami, corned beef, salami, chicken, and the list goes on.
The small market stocked up with an order for 1,000 pounds of meat products, and now Labkowski believes he will have to increase his monthly orders to 2,000 pounds. In addition, the market carries many other packaged kosher foods, which he says are “flying off the shelves.”
Are there that many Jews observing kashrut in Lamorinda? I asked him.
He responded that even if people don’t keep kosher all the time, many like to have access to kosher foods sometimes – especially if the prices can be kept affordable. He said he tries to make the kosher foods as affordable as possible. Yes, they are more expensive than non-kosher products, “but they don’t have to be three times as expensive” as they are at some kosher markets. Whenever he can get better prices, he said, he will try to pass the savings onto the customers.
Labkowski said he does not consider the market a revenue source for his shul; for now, at least, the money flows in the other direction. The point, he said, is to bring Jewish people closer to Judaism. Offering kosher food at affordable prices is one way to bring them onto the premises where the shul also is located.
After he moved to Lafayette in 2015, he did what other Chabad houses do to draw attention. He had a small Judaica store, which he later expanded into an art gallery and a Jewish library. But members of the community told him what they really wanted was the opportunity to buy kosher food. Having seen kosher markets attached to shuls in both the Ukraine and Russia, which he had visited years before the war between those two nations broke out, he saw how a market and a shul could have a symbiotic relationship. “We can help people keep kosher if they want to, without having to go vegetarian,” he said.
Chabad of Lamorinda purchased the building at 3477 Golden Gate Way in December 2021. The rabbi said he got a good price on the building because an oak tree previously had fallen on the roof, making it difficult for the owners to rent it out. So, they were happy to sell it at an affordable price, Labkowski said. After repairs to the roof and the establishment of a sanctuary, creating the grocery store was the next step. Now, the rabbi plans to add to the facility a kitchen from which kosher catering can be done. There will also be a place where people can sit down to enjoy kosher deli sandwiches.
Labkowski grew up in Brooklyn, and his wife grew up in Kfar Chabad, Israel. They met through a cousin of Labkowski’s with whom she was working in Dresden, Germany. Labkowski’s uncle served as matchmaker. Today, the couple has seven children, some of whom were in evidence at a large Chabad-sponsored menorah lighting celebration in Lafayette on the first night of Chanukah, Sunday, December 18th.
There are some connections between Chabad of Lamorinda and Chabad organizations in San Diego County. Labkowski’s father, Rabbi Zalman Labkowski, is dean of a seminary at which Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort of Chabad of La Costa received his smicha (ordination). Store manager Schiffer’s son, Lior, is a professional beach volleyball player based in San Diego.
“He lives right near Chabad of University City,” Schiffer says. “In fact, he lives closer to the Chabad there than even Rabbi (Moishe) Leider does!”
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com