Tel Aviv
Tel Avivs biggest nonkosher grocery chain is going kosher. The new owner of Tiv Taam grocery, Russian-born billionaire Arkady Gaidamak, said this week the stores would stop selling pork, shellfish, and other tref products. I believe that in a Jewish state in which there is a large Muslim minority, selling pork is a provocation, Gaidamak said. Israeli commentators suspect that Gaidamak is trying to appeal to the Orthodox community as a step toward running for political office. Many of his fellow Russian immigrants, though, are not pleased: Tiv Taam was one of the only stores in Israel that carried imported Russian pork sausages.
