But at 65, Rappaport says he’s looking for another owner to take over the Omnitsky Kosher Deli on Oak Street in Vancouver as he prepares for retirement. “I recently put the business up for sale and I’m looking for a potential suitor to take over at this point in time,” he told Stephen Quinn, host of CBC’s The Early Edition. The deli owner says he first bought the business from William Omnitsky in Winnipeg in 1983. Omnitsky’s father, Louis, first opened the business in 1910. Rappaport then moved to Vancouver, where he first set up the deli on Cambie Street in 1997, then moved it in 2014 to its current location on Oak Street. “When I came out to Vancouver 27 years ago, there were little to no services available for people to … keep a proper kosher home,” he said. Rappaport bought the business from William Omnitsky in Winnipeg and ran it there for 15 years before moving to Vancouver, where he opened a meat processing facility in addition to the deli. (Justine Boulin/CBC) It has since become known for its pastrami and corned beef sandwiches, with some customers like Michael Beher coming from a great distance to dine at Omnitsky’s. “There’s not a good kosher deli within 1,200 miles of Seattle, the other closest place would be Los Angeles,” said Beher, who lives in Seattle. He said he has been coming to the Vancouver deli since 1997. WATCHES | Omnitsky customer Michael Beher explains why he travels from Seattle to Vancouver to eat at the kosher deli:
Michael Beher travels from Seattle to eat at Vancouver’s Omnitsky Kosher Deli
Beher says the next closest kosher deli to Seattle would be in Los Angeles. Growing up with a rabbi father, Rappaport says there was a strong emphasis on tradition and keeping the rules of Judaism alive. So when the opportunity came to provide kosher meat for the Jewish community in Vancouver, he jumped at the chance. Rappaport said customers had to order kosher meat from Toronto or Winnipeg before he opened the business in Vancouver in 1997, and closing the deli would be a huge loss to the community. Rappaport says customers had to order kosher meat from Toronto or Winnipeg before the deli opened in Vancouver. (Justine Boulin/CBC) “I promised [my customers] that one way or another we will find a way to continue this in an appropriate way to serve their needs for years into the future,” he said. Rabbi Philip Bregman, who says he knows Rappaport and his dishes well, also said he plays an important role for Jews in Vancouver. “We won’t eat at a restaurant if they don’t serve kosher meat, which is very, very little and very much,” he said. The deli serves desserts and hot food, in addition to carrying pickles and other canned goods. (Justine Boulin/CBC) The word “kosher” comes from Hebrew and means “fit for use or suitable for consumption,” according to the certification body Kashruth Council of Canada. It relates to a set of laws found in both the Bible and the Talmud and is invoked by many different groups outside of the Jewish community – including vegetarians, people of other faiths, those with certain allergies, or others who simply prefer the fact that foods have pass a third-party certification process.
Passing on the tradition
Yvonne Smith, one of the first employees Rappaport hired in Vancouver, says she learned a lot from working with Rappaport, including how to make Jewish desserts like knish. “I didn’t know anything about kosher food … so he brought a lady from Winnipeg to show me and teach me how to make a knife. I learned a lot about the Jewish religion while working there,” Smith told CBC News. . Smith worked for Rappaport for 20 years at the processing plant before moving to 100 Mile House, B.C., but says she often returned to help out — especially during Easter. Yvonne Smith, center right, a former Omnitsky Kosher Deli employee, has returned to the deli several times to help out during Passover. (Submitted by Yvonne Smith) “It was stressful especially during the holidays… but everyone was really happy with everything [Rappaport] did for them,” he said. “He worked really hard for his community and a lot of people rely on him to have kosher food in town.” The Early Edition6:30 The owner of Omnitsky Kosher Deli is ready to retire but wants to find the perfect buyer Eppy Rappaport has run the Omnitsky Kosher Deli for nearly 40 years. He’s ready to retire, but first he needs to find the perfect buyer. Our own Missy Johnson caught up with him about the rise of anti-Semitism, the perfect sandwich, and what this community has meant to him over the years.
