Israel Rokeach is credited with organizing the first kosher soap company in America. During the first half of the 20th Century his company, I Rokeach & Sons, evolved from simply a manufacturer of kosher soap and vegetable oil into a business that, according to a 1950 “Asbury Park Press” story:
produced everything used in the kitchen from cleaning to eating.
Products are still sold today under the Rokeach name.
Israel Rokeach’s career began, not in America, but overseas in Lithuania where he was born in 1841. According to a feature on the Rokeach business written years later in the January 20, 1980 edition of the “Asbury Park (N. J.) Press:”
Rokeach discovered in 1870 that soap could be made from vegetable oil rather than non-kosher lard. Orthodox Jews were prohibited from using the traditional cleaning product.
But with Rokeach’s discovery a ready market was eager to purchase the firm’s new product guaranteeing the company’s initial success.
Several internet sources and even some Rokeach advertisements produced years later also indicate that his soap hit the market as early as 1870. While this may be true on a small scale, the “Statement of Facts” in a 1935 case heard in the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court made it clear that it wasn’t until 1884 that Rokeach actually established a company to sell the product.
Israel Rokeach established in 1884 in the City of Kovno, Lithuania, the business of manufacturing and selling white oblong cakes of Kosher soap and originated and popularized the idea of putting three Hebrew letters either in red or blue coloring spelling the word “Kosher”all the way through the soap.
This early pictorial representation of Rokeach’s soap cake was found in the April 18, 1924 edition of “The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.”
The court records go on to say:
In 1894 said Israel Rokeach came to the United States and became a resident and citizen thereof. In that year he commenced, in the City of New York, the sale of Kosher soap… and also commenced the sale of vegetable oil for domestic use.
Their vegetable oil, available in both tins and bottles, was depicted in another “Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle” advertisement, this one in their June 13, 1924 edition. The ad touted it as:
Best for baking, frying and salads.
Several Internet sources suggest that Rokeach arrived in the United States, not in 1894, but as early as 1890, while 1910 census records record his arrival in the U. S. as 1891. That being said, the first directory entry I can find for him was in 1893/1894, when he listed a Manhattan address of 30 Suffolk Street and the occupation “soap.” So, suffice to say, his U. S. business was up and running sometime in the early to mid-1890’s.
Up through the early 1900’s Rokeach was apparently content to only supply the Jewish population of New York’s Lower East Side with his soap and vegetable oil. During this time he listed lower Manhattan addresses of 48 Market Street in the late 1890’s and 8 Birmingham Street in the early 1900’s.
Then, in 1906, according to the court records, Rokeach formed a partnership consisting of himself and his three sons, Aaron, Louis and Levi, calling it “I. Rokeach & Sons.” At this point, his “Rokeach Hand Soap” was apparently gaining traction in other parts of the City as evidenced by this February 10, 1906 advertisement for a Brooklyn department store named Lautman’s. The ad, partially reproduced below appeared in a Brooklyn newspaper called “The Chat” (his hand soap appears on the lower right-hand side).
Shortly after this advertisement was published the company moved to Brooklyn where they listed their address as 29 Ten Eyck Street in Brooklyn’s 1908 directory. By 1910, they had moved to 409 Hewes Street, also in Brooklyn.
Five years after forming their partnership the business incorporated as I. Rokeach & Sons, Inc. The notice of incorporation appeared in the December 14, 1911 edition of the “Brooklyn Times Union.”
The corporation styled “I. Rokeach & Sons, Inc.,” of Brooklyn has been chartered with a capital of $25,000, divided into shares of $100 each, to make and sell soap, scouring powder, etc. The directors are Israel Rokeach, Louis Rokeach and Levi Rokeach of Brooklyn.
Around the same time the company also began to expand its product menu, periodically adding new items to complement their kosher soap. By the early 1930’s the company was manufacturing a menu of “Household Products” that, according to this July 19, 1935 advertisement in the “Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle,” will:
Keep Your Home Clean and Kosher
Likewise, another “Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle” advertisement, this one in their August 8, 1935 edition, made it clear that their vegetable oil was now one of a number of:
Pure and Kosher Food Products
Later, the company even added wine to the menu as evidenced by this licensing notification that was appearing in the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” as early as January, 1941.
This selection of their wines appeared in a March 20, 1945 “N. Y. Daily News” advertisement for Hearn’s Department Stores under the heading “Fine Passover Wines & Liquors.”
As the company’s product menu expanded so did their facilities. As early as 1913, a May 31st article in “The Chat” announced that they were moving to a new location on Hewes Street (No. 345).
The six-story and basement brick factory building, formerly occupied by the Thomas Shoe Co., and located at the southwest corner of South Fifth and Hewes Streets, was sold during the past week. The factory is of heavy mill construction, with boiler, engine, elevators, being built on a plot 75×100…
The purchasers, I Rokeach & Sons, Inc., are the largest bottlers of salad oil in Greater New York. They are also extensively engaged in the manufacture of scouring powder. The concern was established in 1891, and their business has grown to such an extent that they will now utilize the entire building for the manufacture and distribution of their products.
They contemplate making many alterations and improvements to the building.
An item in the October 4, 1928 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” announced that the company was on the move again, this time to a newly constructed building at 240 Wythe Ave, also in Brooklyn.
I. Rokeach & Sons, Inc., awarded the building contract for a new factory at N. 3rd St. and Wythe Ave. to Turner Construction Company. Construction will start immediately. The building will be four stories and basement in height, 200 x 90 in plan, reinforced concrete throughout.
A decade later, in 1940, the company added a second location to the business, this one in New Jersey. The announcement appeared in the April 11, 1940 edition of the “Asbury Park Press.”
I. Rokeach and Sons, Brooklyn, has purchased the Farmers and Packers plant at Farmingdale, N. J., for establishment of a new business in canning soups and other products…
The plant has not been operated for about a year. It includes a one-story building, contains 20,000 square feet of floor space, on a three-acre plot.
The Rokeach’s will employ about 75 persons in the new enterprise…
The reasoning behind the new location was explained years later in the October 19, 1952 edition of the “Asbury Park Press,” by William I. Rokeach, a grandson of Israel Rokeach who at the time was a vice president in the firm.
Until 1940 all production was done in New York. But high costs of water and shipping vegetables to the city prompted the firm to hunt for a new location.
“We settled on Farmingdale,” said Mr. Rokeach, “because it is right in the heart of a great farming area. We are now able to obtain all our fresh vegetables within 30 miles of the plant.”
Within several months of the announcement the company was already soliciting local farmers for their vegetable crop as evidenced by this advertisement for carrots in the September 27, 1940 edition of “The Freehold (N.J.) Transcript.”
…which led to among other things a variety of canned soups.
On a side note: ironically, during World War II, German prisoners of war actually worked alongside local workers at the Farmingdale facility. According to a January 20, 1945 “N. Y. Daily News” story headlined “Hey Adolf – This Kosher?”
Farmingdale, N. J., Fifteen German prisoners of war, quartered at Fort Dix, are packaging kosher food products at the I. Rokeach & Sons plant here, it was learned today. They’ve even developed a fondness for the kosher food, fellow workers reported. The prisoners are employed to help meet the manpower shortage under contract between the company and the government.
In 1950, I. Rokeach & Sons decided to expand the Farmingdale plant and consolidate the entire operation there. The announcement appeared in the December 10, 1950 edition of the “Asbury Park Press.”
Work has been started on a 40,000 square foot addition to the I. Rokeach and Sons plant at Chestnut and Water Streets.
William Rokeach, vice president of the firm, which prepares foods and manufactures cleansers, said that when the expansion is completed all production at the company’s 75 year-old Brooklyn Plant (not sure how they came up with that number…they operated in Brooklyn for roughly 45 years so maybe its a typo?) will be transferred here.
Mr. Rokeach said the present staff of 40 employees will be increased to 100 when the new facilities are completed….The new building will triple the company’s capacity here.
The company’s production includes “everything used in the kitchen from cleaning to eating,” Mr. Rokeach said.
The announcement included this rendering of the expanded New Jersey facility.
A year later, an October 19, 1952 story in the “Asbury Park Press” referred to the company as “the world’s biggest manufacturer of kosher food products.”
The company, which processes 50 different products, is the world’s biggest manufacturer of kosher food products. Its most widely distributed items are soap, canned soups, borscht, gefillte fish, scouring powder and silver polish.
From 50 to 150 persons work at the one-story plant, depending on the season.
This detailed listing of the company’s early 1950’s offerings appeared in the March 24, 1953 edition of the “N. Y. Daily News” under the heading “Your Passover Shopping List!”
Up to this point, over the course of three generations the Rokeach family remained active in the company business. This changed in 1956 when, according to a feature on the Rokeach business published in the January 20, 1980 edition of the “Asbury Park Press:”
An 86-year tradition was broken in 1956 when the firm was sold to a Wall Street group and a Rokeach no longer was listed among officers on the company letterhead.
This change apparently led to a diversification of the business that four years later resulted in the sale of the kosher food business.” The August 12, 1960 edition of the “Buffalo Jewish Review” announced the sale in a story under the headline: “Company Plans Shift From Borscht to Bras.”
I Rokeach & Sons Inc. announced that it will sell its Kosher Food Division to Crown Products Corp. and will continue negotiations for acquisition of Exquisite Form Brassiere, Inc.
Benjamin C. Wheetler, Rokeach president, said the Kosher Division, which had sales under $3 million a year, had been unprofitable for the past six years. Crown will acquire the Rokeach Kosher food products plant at Farmingdale N. J., existing inventories and the right to use the Rokeach name. The sale must be approved by the Rokeach stockholders.
Two months later, according to a story in the October 14, 1960 edition of the “Bridgeport (Conn) Post:” the stockholder approval of the sale was obtained along with approval of a corporate name change.
L Rokeach & Sons, Inc., shareholders at a special meeting today approved proposals designed to merge Rokeach with Exquisite Form Brassiere, Inc… They also voted to change the name of I Rokeach to Exquisite Form Industries, Inc.
The new company will devote its energies primarily to the manufacture of women’s foundation garments, a spokesman said. Rokeach, which had been engaged both in food manufacturing and production of women’s undergarments, sold its food business recently. A spokesman for Exquisite Form said that Exquisite Form’s sales, plus the non-food business of Rokeach totaled “in the area of $25,000,000.
Crown Products apparently continued the kosher food business under the I. Rokeach & Sons name with Monroe Nash now serving as president of the subsidiary. The 1980 “Asbury Park Press” feature on Rokeach mentioned that at the time, the company had a total payroll of 120 employees and was manufacturing more than 75 kosher products that were distributed to about 1,000 accounts. Sales during the 1978 fiscal year were reportedly $9 million, and sales had recently increased when the company acquired Mother’s Food Products, Inc., and its Newark N. J. production facility in January, 1979. By then, the company also maintained a corporate office in Englewood Cliffs with 15 employees.
That 1980 feature went on to say that the company remained true to its kosher roots.
Rokeach continues to follow all prescribed religious practices for the production of kosher products which allows it to display The Union of Orthodox Congregations’ endorsement on its packaging.
Only kosher ingredients are used by Rokeach. It observes all Jewish religious holidays, including the Sabbath, by halting production.
After 48 years, in 1988 the company shut down its Farmingdale N. J. plant consolidating the entire Rokeach operation at the Mother’s Food Products plant in Newark N. J. The reasoning behind the move was explained in an August 31, 1988 story in the “Asbury Park Press.”
In separate decisions, I. Rokeach & Sons Inc., a kosher foods canner on Water Street, and Foster Canning Co., a pet foods canner on Railroad Avenue, are ceasing operations after about a half century as two of the borough’s businesses.
Rokeach, a subsidiary of publicly held Crown Cork & Seal Co., Engelwood Cliffs, has laid off 72 of its 75 workers under a plan to relocate its business to the company’s Newark plant by the end of September.
Rising water costs and an inability to attract workers for production jobs paying between $5 and $8 per hour made operations at the 48-year-old, 150,000 square foot Rokeach plant unprofitable, said Oney Sims, vice president of manufacturing.
State Department of Environmental Protection regulations that require area municipalities to cut groundwater use by 40 to 50 percent by 1990 to prevent salt water intrusion figured heavily in the decision, Sims said.
“We were considering either closing the Newark plant or the plant here,” Sims said. “When we looked at how high our water costs would be, the choice was obvious.”
Under DEP rules, enacted in 1985, Rokeach would have had to buy 100,000 gallons of the approximately 200,000 gallons of water it used daily from expensive treated surface water sources, he noted.
Ultimately, the Rokeach brand was acquired by R. A. B. Food Group in May, 2006. The company had previously acquired the Manischewitz brand in 1998. According to a December 11, 2006 story in the New Jersey “Courier News:”
In addition to new products at Manischewitz, R. A. B. Food Group’s growth comes from acquiring smaller kosher labels and the consolidation of operations at a renovated, more modern plant in Newark. This May, it acquired the 136-year-old Rokeach brand, whose holdings include Mother’s, Mrs. Adler’s and Margareten.
To this day, items are still sold under the Rokeach name.
The six-story Brooklyn building at 345 Hewes Street that I. Rokeach & Sons occupied from 1913 to 1929 remains to this day. Built in 1900, today its occupied by Bnos Chayil, a private all-girls Jewish school.
The four-story building on Wythe Avenue that the company built in 1929 also remains to this day. It’s currently a rental building with 48 units.
The company’s Farmingdale, N. J. building, pictured here (likely in the 1970’s?) looks pretty much the same today.
It’s currently occupied by Kid International.
The bottle I found is machine made and contains about seven ounces. Its embossed:
“I. Rokeach & Sons, Refined Oils, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Similar versions of the Rokeach bottle that occasionally appear on the internet include the added embossed letters “INC,” below the company name. This suggests that the embossing may have changed when the company incorporated in 1911.
If so, it’s likely that the subject bottle, which doesn’t include the embossed “INC.” dates no later than 1911 when the business incorporated in New York. That being said, recognizing its machine made I expect that it wasn’t made much earlier either, say 1905 to 1911.
The other side of the bottle exhibits the embossed outline of a crown and the Star of David. Both likely outlined paper labels that are readily apparent in the 1924 advertisement that appeared earlier in this post.
