SPRING VALLEY — A coalition of local rabbis is advising Jews to have their cooking utensils purified if they have purchased meat in the past decade from a local butcher accused of selling nonkosher chicken.

The Tuesday night decision by rabbis from Spring Valley, Monsey and New Square, in consultation from rabbis in Israel, follows the discovery by owners of a kosher supermarket that the owner of Shevach Meats was stocking shelves with nonkosher chicken.

Rabbi Mordechai Orbach, head of the Congregation Sharei Teflah in Monsey, said 20 rabbis came together to discuss the case and conduct interviews with those involved to see how long the non-kosher chicken was being sold at Hatzlocha Grocery on Maple Avenue.

Orbach said the rabbis decided that anyone who purchased any meat from Shevach Meats, during the congregation's nearly 10-year association with the supermarket, should kasher — or make kosher — their utensils when it could not be determined how long the nonkosher chicken was being sold.

"Because of the suspicions we had with the chickens, we lost reliability on any meat," Orbach said. "The community is devastated. That is the word. Heartbroken."

Orbach said the rabbis checked out Hatzlocha's purchase and sales records, as well as talking with an employee of Shevach Meats.

The rabbis learned that purchases from the store's regular distributors, such as KJ Chicken, Vineland Kosher Poultry and Alle Meats, had decreased, but sales of their products had increased, Orbach said.

"The only result is that there was some other source," he said, adding that because of an investigation by the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets, he could not name the alleged supplier.

The owner of Shevach Meats, Moshe Finkel, has been accused of stocking the shelves of Hatzlocha Grocery with nonkosher chicken and labeling it kosher. Finkel, who rents space for his butcher shop behind the supermarket, bought kosher chicken and other meats in bulk, and then sliced, packaged and sold them at the grocery store and to wedding halls, religious schools and upstate Hasidic camps.

Finkel did not return calls to his Monsey home yesterday.

Last week, store owners discovered that Finkel had not been getting deliveries from a regular distributor and when they searched the butcher shop found nonkosher chicken.

Orbach said he spoke with Finkel on Sunday and that the butcher told him that "his greed got the best of him."

"He also said he was convinced by the source that it was kosher," Orbach said, adding that when Finkel packaged the meat, he placed false labels on the chicken.

Orbach said the rabbis also concluded that the store owners were "victims like the rest of us," and absolved Rabbi Shlomo Breslauer and Rabbi Shlomo Ullman, who supervised the butcher shop, of any blame, as they could not have had any knowledge of what was being delivered because shipments were made when the store was closed.

Kashering venues, where Jews can bring pots and pans and dip them in boiling water, were set up throughout the community since the sabbath ended Sunday.

Orbach said self-cleaning convection ovens could easily be made kosher, but older convection models and toaster ovens would have to be replaced.

The state agency quarantined 15 cases of the chicken yesterday and sent samples to be tested for salt, a key ingredient in koshering. A spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday, but published reports said those suspected of passing nonkosher foods as kosher could face a $1,000 fine.

The issue has reached a frenzy on assorted Jewish Web blogs, with one blog, Voz Iz Neis, receiving nearly 600 comments on its posting.

"Once we were convinced that he definitely sold nonkosher chicken, then it became a very clear-cut case," said Rabbi Menachem Meir Weissmandel of Chemed Shul in Monsey. "People in the community are very hurt. It's like going to the bottom. It's the worst of the worst."

Weissmandel, who runs a kosher supervision agency but did not deal with Finkel's butcher shop, said the case seemed to be an isolated one and did not tarnish the rabbinical supervision process elsewhere.

"The Jewish law says his reputation is tarnished," Weissmandel said, referring to Finkel.

Rabbi Meir Libersohn, who runs a Merckosher, an Argentina-based kosher supervision agency, said he sent out an e-mail informing people who might be visiting the area about the Shevach Meats situation, as well as those in the community who may have purchased food from the butcher.

SPRING VALLEY — A state investigation into the sale of possibly nonkosher chicken by a local butcher is expected to be completed by early next week.

Jessica A. Chittenden, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets, said the state agency that had quarantined 15 cases of chicken last week from Hatzlocha Grocery would have the results of salt testing — a key ingredient in koshering — by Tuesday.

In addition, Chittenden said, the agency also wants to, among other things, find out if the chicken was ever certified kosher and by whom and how it was advertised in the Maple Avenue kosher supermarket.

"We're trying to clarify the facts because there are a lot of allegations out there," she said.

She added that a merchant found to be passing off nonkosher foods as kosher could face a maximum $1,000 fine.

Moshe Finkel, the owner of Shevach Meats, has been accused of stocking the shelves at the supermarket with nonkosher chicken that was labeled as kosher.

Finkel, who rents space for his butcher shop behind the Hatzlocha Grocery, bought meat in bulk, and then sliced, packaged and sold it at the grocery store and to wedding halls, religious schools and upstate Hasidic camps.

Finkel, who lives in Monsey, has remained largely out of sight and was not at his home yesterday morning. He did not return phone calls left on an answering machine. Many in the community have speculated that he has left the state.

Since store owners found nonkosher chicken in Finkel's butcher shop last week, after discovering that he had not been getting deliveries from a regular distributor, many in the deeply religious Orthodox Jewish community have hurried to kasher — or make kosher — utensils they had used to prepare Shevach Meats chicken.

A coalition of local rabbis this week advised that anyone who had purchased any meat from Finkel, in his nearly decade-long association with Hatzlocha Grocery, should have their utensils purified because they do not know how long nonkosher chicken had been sold there.

Kashering venues, where Jews can bring pots and pans and dip them in boiling water, were set up throughout the community since the sabbath ended Sunday.

Some appliances and other items cannot be kashered, so many families have had to buy new pots and pans and get rid of older convection ovens and toaster ovens.

Both Ramapo and Spring Valley police said yesterday no criminal charges had been filed against Finkel.

"I think the whole mess is an aberration," Rikki Spivak said yesterday as she packed her car after shopping at Monsey Glatt Kosher Supermarket. "It's not representative of the entire industry. It's a greed thing. I don't think people should be walking around afraid of food."

The Monsey woman said she was unaffected by the nonkosher chicken scandal because she shopped at Hatzlocha so infrequently. But she said she knew many friends and family members who had to throw out dishes and utensils.

"There shouldn't be any less trust at this point," Spivak said. "There has to be a degree of trust."

Shimon Mendlowitz, who owns Monsey Glatt and Wesley Kosher on Route 306, said he had noticed an increase in customers buying their meats from him, but he said that may also have to do with people returning from vacation and preparing for the high holy days.

Mendlowitz said he packaged all his meats at the store, but there was no issue whether his food was kosher.

"Some people have asked questions, but I have reassured them," he said.

SPRING VALLEY — An abandoned suitcase discovered early yesterday morning outside a Monsey grocery store that has been rocked by a bogus kosher-meat scandal turned out to contain nothing that was explosive.

But for a few tense moments at 1 a.m. — just an hour into the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — the Rockland County bomb squad was treating the suitcase with the utmost suspicion.

"They X-rayed the suitcase and determined it was not a danger," Spring Valley police Sgt. Thomas Martin said. "It was some socks and a metal pill box."

It was unclear how much further detectives might investigate the case.

The scare started when an owner of the Hatzlocha Grocery on Maple Avenue noticed the abandoned suitcase on the sidewalk and called police.

About two weeks ago, the kosher grocery discovered that a butcher, Moshe Finkel, the owner of Shevach Meats, had been selling nonkosher meats as kosher to Orthodox Jewish families.

An investigation into the sale of the nonkosher chicken by the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets is expected to becompleted today.

With that controversy in the air, and the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, the owner did the right thing by calling police, Sgt. Martin said.

"I know that people are upset about the nonkosher meat, but what connection there is to that, I don't know," he said.

"We have it here," Martin said of the suitcase. "If no one shows up for it, we will probably throw it away."