Kosher butcher worth his salt

LIFESTYLE

ARLENE FINE Staff Reporter

T ibor Rosenberg has been making ends "meat" for the past 23 years. That's how long he has been a kosher butcher. Twelve of those years he worked for Michael Altman, the personable owner of Altman's Kosher Meats at Cedar-Green. Eleven years ago, Rosenberg bought the business from Altman. It was only recently,

"I enjoy everything from butchering the meat to (coshering it to selling it."

¦ - Tibor Rosenberg, kosher butcher

howeveri that the name of the butcher shop was officially changed to Tiber's Glatt Kosher Meats.

"Although I have owned and been running the store all these years, once the new sign went up, I had a few customers complain that the store is not as good as last year," laughs Rosenberg.

Running a high volume kosher butcher shop is very demanding, says the busy butcher. It is not uncommon for him to put iii eCMJO-hour work weeks, especially around the holidays. But, Rosenberg, 43, does not complain.

"I love this business," he says. "I enjoy everything from butchering the meat to kosher ing it to selling it."

Rosenberg's sentiments about his business are echoed by Altman, who is employed by Rosenberg and works at the store 40 hours a week. "It's wonderful to he with the customers all day. After all these years, many of them are like family to me," he says.

Shoppers often comment' ori Altaian's personal interest in their families and in .their meat selection.

"Mr. Altman often comes up to me and advises

Tibor Rosenberg, left, purchased his butcher shop 11 years ago from Mike Altman, right, and changed its name.

me how to prepare a certain cut of meat," says a customer. "His advice and recipes are never wrong." Altman, who is in his mid-70s, says he sold the store to Rosenberg only because the demands of the job were getting too much for him. "I called my family together and offered the store to my " children," he says. "They didn't want it, so I spoke to Tibor. I knew he was a good worker and would serve the customers well." Altman is proud of the business he created. "When I opened my first store at Chagrin and Avalon over 40 years ago, there were 50 to 60 kosher butchers in the area. Now there are only three. We have a very loyal following." Moving to Cedar-Green in 1971 was a big step for Altman. "I was afraid to rock the boat, because I had built up a good business in Shaker

See BUTCHER / 43 BUTCHER from page 42

Heights But a friend advised me that the move and the timing were right. When we moved to Cedar-Green it was as though-the customers were waiting for me."

Tibor says he has tried to run the store, which employs 12 people, the way Altman ran it. He has made some changes, however, including expanding the deli, which offers smoked meats and prepared foods like kugels, cholent and his mother's special gefilte fish. Every Friday, he sells over 250 loaves of challah delivered from linger* s Bakery, which is owned by his brother.

This arrangement works well for the steadily. increasing number of Orthodox Jewish families moving into the Cedar-Green neighborhood. Rosenberg, who came to America from Czecho Slovakia when he was 13, resides in Beachwood with his wife, Irene, and two daughters.