In the News: Beacon Kosher

[mabfan]

One of the odd things about Nomi and me being involved in so many different aspects of the world is that we find ourselves consulted on a variety of issues. And sometimes, we end up in the newspaper because of that.

As I reported last week, I was contacted by the National Geographic News to give my opinion on Eris and Pluto. This week, the Brookline TAB is running an article about the closing of Beacon Kosher, a small kosher market here in Brookline that closed after 15 years of business after the death of its owner, Moshe Cohen-Skali.

As it so happens, the TAB knows that I'm one of the "go-to guys" when it comes to Jewish issues in the town, and so they contacted me to ask my opinion on the closing of the market. Now, as Nomi posted back in March under the heading Baruch Dayan HaEmet -- Moshe Cohen-Skali, she knew the owner of Beacon Kosher because he was her Hebrew teacher for many years at Maimonides. So I suggested they talk to her as well.

The result is an article, Beacon Kosher closes after 15 years, in which we're both quoted:

Fuller Street resident Nomi Burstein first knew Cohen-Skaly as her seventh-grade Hebrew teacher at Maimonides School on Philbrick Road. The Israeli native remained her teacher until she graduated five years later in 1989.

“He was always very, very sweet,” Burstein said. “He was a tough teacher, but I credit the majority of the fluency and comfort I have in Hebrew with the consistency of Moshe as a teacher.”

Although Burstein lives steps from The Butcherie, she was always ready with a “shalom” greeting for her former teacher if she were in the Washington Square area.

“And sometimes I’d drop into Beacon Kosher if I wasn’t [sic] in the neighborhood,” she said. “I have always been astounded by how well he remembered students. It didn’t matter that I had graduated 10 years ago.”...

“The closing of Beacon Kosher is not indicative of the health of the kosher community in Brookline,” said Michael Burstein, Nomi’s husband. “It is sad that no one was able to take it over and keep it open, but the community is still here.”

Comments

[gingicat]

Oh, that's sad. I used to shop at Beacon Kosher all the time when I lived on Swarthmore Road (back in 1998!), filling out whatever they didn't have with a short run to the Star Market across the street. Really good people.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I guess the problem was that it was really Moshe's store, and when he died, there wasn't anyone set to take it over.

[autotruezone.livejournal.com]

Was it really 15 years, or are they approximating? I could have sworn that Beacon Kosher opened *after* I moved to Brighton, which was in the spring of '94.

When it first opened, the aisles were actually spacious, in contrast to the Butcherie, which had not yet expanded into the store next door.

In any case, I sure will miss it!

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall it opening when I was in graduate school, which would be somewhere around 1993-1995.