Mavens' Decision

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Your November 5th story "Mavens Loses Koser Rating" was by and large accurate, but one critically important point apparently did not come through, given the comment made by Elie Z. Fishman '92 (reported to echo "the sentiments of his Orthodox peers"). Mr. Fishman says that "by not keeping [Mavens] open to all sectors of the Jewish community, even if it's in the interest of profit, they're betraying the people it was originally designed for."

Unfortunately, the truth is that given Mavens' high operating costs in its Harvard Square location, unless the deli substantially increased its gross revenues and hence its profits, its doors would have closed in just a few more weeks. Notwithstanding its great popularity and healthy crowds, Mavens operated at a substantial deficit from the day it opened until the day it changed its orthodox kosher policy and decided to open on Friday nights and Saturdays. The change was made not to increase profits, but to eliminate the substantial losses that threatened to deprive Cambridge residents and Harvard students of the city's only kosher restaurant. By thus rescuing Mavens, we are able to serve kosher food to the vast majority of Jews who will eat in a restaurant kosher in every respect but which operates on Sabbath. Half a loaf is surely better than none.

Mavens does, however, plan to open a strictly orthodox, Sabbath-observant kosher deli in another, lower-overhead location sometime next year. Mavens regrets that its experiment seeking to serve the entire Harvard Square area Jewish community did not succeed, but it is delighted that it is still able to bring authentic New York-style kosher deli to the very large portion of the Jewish community for whom the Sabbath operating policy does not constitute a bar. Harvey A. Silverglate L'67,   Vice President, Kosher Deli Management, Inc., Operators of Mavens Kosher Court