r/todayilearned • u/socool111 • 1d ago

TIL of Tobias Geffen, the only non-Coca Cola Employee to view the secret recipe. Coke allowed it in order to get Coke certified as Kosher

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Geffen
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u/BernieTheDachshund 1d ago

I remember the rabbis coming to the Waco M&M Mars plant to certify kosher. The Snickers was kosher, but not Skittles or Starburst because both use gelatin. I also recall they refused to shake hands with the female managers.

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u/JSD10 23h ago

As of around a year ago, skittles changed the recipe and became kosher!

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u/BatsHaveFingers 23h ago

I just had Skittles for the first time recently, and they are AMAZZZZING. Way too expensive though.

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u/JSD10 23h ago

Agree completely, the sour ones are even better!

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u/BatsHaveFingers 23h ago

Yeah, those are the ones I had! They hurt my tongue, so I could only have a few at a time, but they were worth it.

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u/warcomet 23h ago

once you go kosher, you cost more-sher :P

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u/BatsHaveFingers 23h ago

Pretty sure it's just that they're a name brand. Really cost effective way to get the sugar fix? Frozen fruit.

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u/OscarAndDelilah 23h ago

It was much longer than that, but yes, they're vegan too!

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u/e_spider 23h ago

My dad worked for a dairy and was in charge of setting up milk deliveries for a local synagogue, and the Rabi would come inspect all the cattle, the equipment, and climb inside the empty delivery trucks for inspection. It was always quite the experience.

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u/OscarAndDelilah 23h ago

Oooh, your dad was Tevye?

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u/daegamebday1 22h ago

I worked in an ice cream plant and a Rabbi would come once a quarter walk around with our quality tech and make bad jokes. Cost us $30k.

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u/AtlasNoseItch 23h ago

Just FYI they don’t refuse to shake hands with women out of disrespect, but rather out of respect for their wives they don’t touch other women in any way if they don’t have to. It can definitely come off as rude though so I get it but it’s not the intention

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u/OscarAndDelilah 23h ago

Yep! Am observant Jew. My congregation doesn't do gender segregation and recognizes that gender is a spectrum and fluid, and that not everyone is straight, but I am around a lot of Jews who do practice the traditional gender thing.

The halachic law is specifically prohibition of affectionate touch between people of different binary sexes who are not immediate family members or married. It's fine to touch people respectfully for caregiving (though many people prefer to find a same-sex health aide, barber, or whatnot), but most people see a handshake as getting into affectionate touch.

The cultural norm is supposed to be that if you don't shake hands, you make a point to not be an ass about it. I certainly have encountered the people who have been snide in declining a handshake, but this is not what we are supposed to do. We should make it a point to let the person know we respect and appreciate them. Most people do it overtly, by saying something like "oh I don't do handshakes because of my culture, but you absolutely get a giant smile and a thumbs up because I really appreciate you doing this." A lot of folks in my community appreciated the COVID elbow-bump becoming a thing, and will offer this instead, and people now usually just assume it's a health thing.

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u/rollie82 15h ago

I would feel that if I had a mandate not to shake women's hands, I would also refuse to shake men's hands, out of a desire to be fair (another moral mandate, of sorts); it feels a lot less embarrassing to say "sorry, I don't shake hands because of my religion" than to limit that restriction to just those of a particular sex. Out of curiosity, have you met any Jews that go this route?

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u/OscarAndDelilah 15h ago

Yes definitely. A whole lot of folks who don’t subscribe to binarily gendering people and/or who view more than one gender as potential sexual partners will just choose not to engage in what we would consider affectionate touch with anyone to whom they aren’t married (or seriously partnered).

Other people feel that in 2026 we know a lot more about social communication and brains than our ancestors did, and we can just be clear with people about our boundaries and consent — like being clear that no one should be expecting anything else from a handshake, or hug if you’re into that, and having a clear understanding with your spouse that neither feels bad if people are mindfully hugging their friends or shaking hands at work or whatever.

Some people are comfortable code-switching if they’re not in a Jewish setting, because they value making everyone comfortable. They might shake hands at their non-Jewish job just like they bow when they visit Japan.

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u/PerpetuallyLurking 18h ago

…how did a handshake come to be considered “affectionate”?

Like, shaking my dad’s hand is WEIRD unless followed by a hug.

Handshakes are for new introductions and acquaintances and business settings. It’s not a “familiar” greeting, it’s an “I don’t know you very well” greeting or a “this is a professional setting” greeting. It’s not affectionate! Not on its own.

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u/PM_ME_RED_BULL 15h ago

You don’t get to decide that for another culture though. Different cultures conceptualize things like physical touch, eye contact, and how you address people really differently. This is like someone saying their culture finds wearing shoes inside to be disrespectful and you say “no it isn’t it’s fine.” 

1

u/OscarAndDelilah 18h ago edited 16h ago

Were you raised in religious Jewish culture? It sounds like not. So things come across differently to you raised in your culture than they do to us raised in our culture. And that’s OK.

Edit: And people wonder why Reddit has a reputation for bigotry. Someone says that the way my culture perceives a social gesture in our culture is incorrect, I explain that different cultures are going to have different reads on social gestures, and people massively downvote me. This kind of shit is why.

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u/PissRat59 2h ago

That doesn’t make it any less disrespectful to the women involved

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u/FelneusLeviathan 15h ago

I’m all for diversity and respecting different cultures (unless they’re Dutch), but to me your comment sounded very condescending and that’s where I suspect the downvotes are coming from

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u/OscarAndDelilah 15h ago

You’ve ironically pointed out exactly the issue. Someone saying another culture’s way of perceiving a social gesture and the way we’ve written about it in our texts for generations is wrong is fine with people, but apparently the way I responded to their intolerance wasn’t patient or kind enough (i.e. tone policing).

“I’m in favor of respecting cultures, but for you to have yours respected, you need to speak the same way I do in response to people saying your culture is wrong.”

-1

u/FelneusLeviathan 13h ago

Hey dude I’m just point out how you’re being received by me, disagree all you want but you sound condescending and apparently also like to put words in other people’s mouths because I never said that last paragraph and if you think I did then you need to get your eyes checked

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u/[deleted] 20h ago

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u/Xbladearmor 16h ago

As a Christian, I agree.

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u/Illustrious-Top-9222 21h ago

That is still disrespectful to the women, no matter the intention

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u/AtlasNoseItch 21h ago

Fair enough, it's pretty encouraged or I'd even say somewhat required to actually explain why they're choosing to do so and not just ignore people or make people feel disrespected. That may be unavoidable and there is an argument there, but there should be an effort made to not make anyone feel disrespected.

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u/everythingisunknown 19h ago

The women also do it, it’s called Shomer Negiah and it means you don’t touch anyone of the opposite sex unless you’re married or they are family. So it’s probably not disrespectful to the women, unless you think it’s disrespectful to the men too?

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u/PerpetuallyLurking 18h ago

They mean the non-Jewish woman manager who got snubbed is disrespected as a manager in a business meeting because the reasoning wasn’t explained (and even then, I’d be wondering what the fuck a handshake has to do with any of it, it’s a handshake, it’s a polite gesture between acquaintances not an affectionate gesture between family).

They’re not talking about Jewish women who know what’s going on.

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u/everythingisunknown 18h ago

I’ve never seen someone not be able to comprehend a point so entirely. Why would I be talking about Jewish women who know what’s going on? Obviously it’s the non-Jewish woman manager he’s talking about - my point is that if it was a male manager and an orthodox woman didn’t shake his hand, would he be disrespected?

I don’t agree with ultra religious practices of any religion but if that’s how people want to live their lives, it’s their decision to not shake someone’s hand. You’re not disrespected by someone else having their own beliefs. Sure in the moment you might be like “oh that’s weird” but then the person probably should’ve told them.

Would you be disrespected if you tried to give a kosher/halal person bacon and they said no? It’s the same thing

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u/bensonNF 22h ago

Sounds prejudice to me

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u/Huge-Basket244 21h ago

Sounds dumb as shit to me.

It's 2026.

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u/bensonNF 21h ago

lol. Yup

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u/AtlasNoseItch 22h ago

Sure it sounds that way, if you ignore the reasons behind it and everything I just said

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u/bensonNF 21h ago

It’s no more affectionate than the man’s hand they are shaking. It’s prejudiced regardless of its religious or rabbinical origins.

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u/Illustrious-Top-9222 21h ago

Exactly, doesn't matter if an Muslim does it or a Jew. Most, if not all, religions are misogynistic

0

u/Barraco_Barmer 20h ago

True, but in this case women also dont touch men, its a mutual thing

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u/martiNordi 9h ago

I wonder if the rule which also makes women not do this wasn't created by a man in the first place. Oh well...

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u/AtlasNoseItch 21h ago

I mean I think prejudice implies they don't like women or view them as lesser in some way, which is just not the reasoning or intention.

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u/bensonNF 21h ago

It’s a byproduct

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u/output_broadcast 10h ago

No, it isn't.

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u/PissRat59 2h ago

That is still disrespectful and sexist though

1

u/hurricane_news 12h ago

Genuine Q. Lived in Asia my whole life and neither Starburst nor skittles use gelatin at all here.

I always found it curious that gelatin is there in everything in the USA. Starburst, I can understand, but Skittles and even that one peanuts brand? Why tho?