Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Kosher Innovations That Didnt Make It

Over the years KI has made inventions that have astounded the Jewish world. The most famous being the kosher lamp and toilet paper. Some less famous ones include the mitzvah muzzle and lashon hara gag. But there were some ideas that were rejected or just never caught on.

Tznius leg warmers were one of the items that never made it. Being that regular leg warmers resemble pants they decided to make it a one piece that wrapped around both legs instead of two separate ones for two separate feet. It never caught on due to the inability to walk in them.

Purple Ketchup. Who remembers purple ketchup? Yes the KI institution of frumology came up with this one. We know that red is an immodest color. If you like being bleached then hop on over to meah she'arim wearing red, they will be more than happy to shower you in bleach. So instead of the usual immodest ketchup they turned it purple. The purple Ketchup hit its climax when it made its way into McDonald's happy meals. That's when Kosher Innovations decided their product is to kosher to make it to a non-kosher place, and they pulled it from the shelves never to be seen again.

The Umbrella Hat. The hat that could be used for davening and acts as an umbrella when you cant carry one on shabbos. This too never caught on for various reasons that included it looking ridiculous.

The Talis Kattan Bag. "We all know you have a Tallis bag. Introducing the Talis Kattan Bag. Store your tzitzis, in this useless item over night. Available with name tags (this is from last years post)". Well as much as they thought it would catch on like the talis bag, it didn't and they aborted this one too.

There are probably many more of inventions like these that I don't know of. They feel rejected and hurt because no one wants them. I'm just voicing them to others out there, because maybe they too will one day become like their role model inventions such as the Kosher Phone, Kosher lamp, Tefillin sweater and others.

11 people gave their 2 cents:

Mighty Garnel Ironheart said...

True story: for decades, physicians have read X-rays by taking the films and mounting them on white light boxes.
In the last decade, this has been replaced by a computerized system in which a digital version of the X-ray is displayed on a large screen. No more films and hence, no more need for the light boxes.
So I was thinking: hmmmm, large white light box. Might make a good vegetable checker. Maybe I should grab a bunch from my hospital and take it to the local kollel to sell - "Hospital grade vegetable checker!" But before I could do that, Artscroll did this:
http://www.artscroll.com/Products/KBUG.html
Damn!

Mordechai Y. Scher said...

But they didn't retain the metal clip that holds the films. That could be useful to hold stalks or leaves in place. You still have a chance to sell an 'improved' version!

Why didn't I think of this...

Dr. Ironheart, I assume you're on call tonight/tomorrow like so many of us. I wish you a quiet time.

Barb Chansky said...

Thanks for making me laugh about the things that usually raise my blood pressure:)

Mikeinmidwood said...

Garnel Ironheart

I laugh at the way they say its great gift every kallah will love it. You could still sell it at a lower price and beat the competition.

Mordechai Y. Scher

Liking the improved version.

Barb Chansky

Glad I could help make another ones day happier.

Anonymous said...

I actually own a kosher lamp, but I have no idea what the tefilin sweater is. I can't picture it, would you like to describe it?

Anonymous said...

There is a kosher hot water heater for Shabbos too, but I have a low tech version - my kitchen pipes run through my boiler room; you get a nice amount of warm water with which to wash dishes, if you wash quickly.

Garnel Ironheart said...

The kosher sweater is long sleeved in one arm and short sleeved in the other so no more rolling up to get the tfillin shel yad on .

But Tesyaa, I'd ask about the warm water thing. Even though you have nothing to do with it, it is still water that was heated on Shabbos.

Anonymous said...

Garnel, it might be a problem for bathing, but not for dishes.

Mikeinmidwood said...

Tesyaa/ Garnel Ironheart

The tefillin sweater actually has sleeves on both sides that are all the way down, but they have zippers on the sleeves so you can put on your tefillin without the hard work of rolling the sweater sleeve up.

I would have no clue how a KOSHER water heater workS.

Anonymous said...

Here is a link to the Shabbat hot water heater. I have not seen it in action.

Mikeinmidwood said...

Tesyaa

Oh, I thought it was something else, it looks like a fine product.