Rubashkin Son-In-Law Rabbi Milton Balkany Threatens Orthodox Rubashkin Boycott Leaders – Rubashkin PR Flack Menachem Lubinsky Plays Holocaust Card

It looks like that's what happened when Balkany, another Aaron Rubashkin son-in-law Sholom Baer Minkowitz, and Rubaskin PR flack Menachem Lubinsky met last week with the leaders of…

…Uri L'Tzedek, as the Forward reports:

…Uri L’Tzedek’s willingness to organize a boycott seems to have succeeded in persuading the often unreachable Agriprocessors leadership to sit down and talk. The meeting marked the first time since the raid that Agriprocessors has agreed to talk with any of the Jewish groups calling for reform at the plant.

In attendance on the Agriprocessors side were Menachem Lubinsky, a consultant to the company; David Oberman, director of operations and sales; Sholom Baer Minkowitz, a son-in-law of Aaron Rubashkin and director of New York operations, and another son-in-law, Milton Balkany, who has no official position within the company. Balkany, the first person affiliated with Agriprocessors to make contact with Uri L’Tzedek, is something of a public figure apart from his connection to the company. A prominent figure within the Brooklyn Lubavitch world, and a major Republican campaign donor, he made headlines in 2003 when he was charged by the federal government with embezzling $700,000 from an Orthodox girls’ school. [The grant was for educating disabled children. Balkany distributed the money among his family and used large chunks of it for his personal expenses.] After issuing an apology and making restitution, he was not prosecuted and remains dean of the school.

Shmuly Yanklowitz and Ari Hart, co-directors of Uri L’Tzedek and students at the Manhattan liberal Orthodox seminary Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, along with Jason Herman, a young pulpit rabbi, represented the organization.

According to both parties, the conversation was frequently acrimonious.

“They came in trying to intimidate us,” Yanklowitz said.

According to the rabbinical students, Balkany at one point made an ominous reference to “the last guy who went up against my father-in-law.” Balkany denies having made any sort of threat, maintaining that he had referred only to a business loss that a Rubashkin competitor had suffered.

In a conversation with the Forward, Balkany dismissed Uri L’Tzedek as being too far to the left for its positions to be relevant within the rest of the Orthodox community. Lubinsky invoked the Nuremberg Laws in his criticism of the calls for a boycott.

“As someone whose grandparents suffered greatly during the German boycotts, I don’t even like to hear that word,” Lubinsky said.

Lubinsky suggested that if company representatives had anticipated that Uri L’Tzedek would report to the media about the meeting, they would not have agreed to meet.

Whether anything will significantly change at Agriprocessors because of the meeting remains unclear. The company agreed to draft a document stipulating its workers’ rights policies and to send it to Uri L’Tzedek within 48 hours after the conversation. To date, the document has not arrived.…

Lubinsky has a long history of taking money from Rubashkin while at the same time "reporting" on Agriprocesors in his Kosher Today newsletter – all without any disclosure of his financial ties to Agriprocessors and Rubashkin.

Balkany US DOJ Indictment Press Release:

Balkany 2003 Federal Charges-1.pdf

More on Rabbi Milton "Yehoshua" Balkany, including his attempt to use a beit din (religious court) to force an aide to a US Senator to do Balkany's political bidding.

Comments

[rebitzman]

Substitute the Bush response to those who oppose the War in Iraq to these guy's response to the attack on Rubashkin AND replace 9-11 with the Shoah, and you can see whose playbook the rabbis are playing out of.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Rebitzman: Let's keep partisan politics out of this. Both parties are thoroughly corrupt, and democrats have been involved with corruption involving chareidim, too. Look at Charles Hynes.

[shmuel]

I like the idea of a nationwide boycott. I personally don't buy their crap and won't let any of it in my home. Went to a function recently and asked whose meat it was. Shockingly, Rubbishcan. Looks like some of their treife is still circulating. My portion circulated right into the garbage can. The green beans were good, though.
Anyway, with all the big supermarkets dropping Rubbishcan, maybe a nationwide boycott among the rank and file is doable. Count me in. And while we're at it, let's all think about decreasing our red meat consumption, anyway, and rediscover fresh fruit and vegetables. Our traditional Jewish diet is a killer and a miserable vestige of shtetle life. I was at a charedi Shabbos kiddush the other day: cholent, p'tcha (don't ask), brown kugels, kishke, roast chicken. Not a green to be seen for miles. With diabetes and obesity such enormous problems among us, when will we wake up to these dangers?

[Lawrence M. Reisman]

1. Calling Balkany a "prominent figure in the Brooklyn Lubavitcher world" isn't quite accurate. Balkany is not a Lubavitcher and never has been. He married a Lubavitcher and agreed as part of the marriage deal to bring his children up as Lubavitchers, which he has done.

2. Lubinsky's comment that he doesn't like to hear about boycotts is ironic. The Rubashkins are, after all, Lubavitchers, and Lubavitch twice instituted a boycott of Satmar-Hisachuds products. In 1977, when the Lubie-Sat wars broke out, the Vaad Rabonei Lubavitch started giving its own hasgocha on milk and dairy products, in order to allow Lubavitchers to stop using Golden Flow and J&J (both under Satmar-Hisachdus). They stopped using pretty mucy all other Satmar products as well.
Again, in 1983, when two Lubies suffered the loss of their beards in felonious assaults (which were eventually traced to a lunatic with no Satmar connection) The Lubavitcher Vaad announced a formal boycott on all products under the Satmar-Hisachdus hashgocha. This time, the boycott was published by advertisement in various newspapers, and specific products were listed. The Vaad's proclamation said that since the Satmar leadership did not denounce the activities of a half dozen goons vociferously enough, the entire Satmar leadership had to bear the blame.

[Lawrence M. Reisman]

1. Calling Balkany a "prominent figure in the Brooklyn Lubavitcher world" isn't quite accurate. Balkany is not a Lubavitcher and never has been. He married a Lubavitcher and agreed as part of the marriage deal to bring his children up as Lubavitchers, which he has done.

2. Lubinsky's comment that he doesn't like to hear about boycotts is ironic. The Rubashkins are, after all, Lubavitchers, and Lubavitch twice instituted a boycott of Satmar-Hisachuds products. In 1977, when the Lubie-Sat wars broke out, the Vaad Rabonei Lubavitch started giving its own hasgocha on milk and dairy products, in order to allow Lubavitchers to stop using Golden Flow and J&J (both under Satmar-Hisachdus). They stopped using pretty mucy all other Satmar products as well.
Again, in 1983, when two Lubies suffered the loss of their beards in felonious assaults (which were eventually traced to a lunatic with no Satmar connection) The Lubavitcher Vaad announced a formal boycott on all products under the Satmar-Hisachdus hashgocha. This time, the boycott was published by advertisement in various newspapers, and specific products were listed. The Vaad's proclamation said that since the Satmar leadership did not denounce the activities of a half dozen goons vociferously enough, the entire Satmar leadership had to bear the blame.

[steve]

Avi Shafran weighs in on the Rubashkin scandal:

http://tinyurl.com/59jbo8

[Carol Ann Varley]

I concur with Shmuel's post to reduce consumption of meat.

One day meat will be viewed like cigarettes; meaning; general awareness of its associated health risks.

The day may come when meat products have a label--Caution: hazardous to your health.

[R]

you can't compare meat to cigarettes, that sounds ridiculous.
Everything in large doses is dangerous.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Meat in small doses is okay. Our teeth indicate we are omnivorous. Cigarettes are harmful and toxic at any dose.

[yidandahalf]

By the time he sells out his operation it will be for alot less than what he could get now. But he won't face facts. Sholom, save your health ( which I hear is suffering from all this )and sell out now for more money...oh, forget it, you never listen anyway. You'll hold on til you are ready for the knackers yourself.

[Carol Ann Varley]

Is love in large doses dangerous?
Are our choices in life dictated by the shape of our teeth?

What is ridiculous is relative.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Sorry, Carol Ann. I am not a vegan, nor could ever become one. Even if I did, I would hypocritically need to buy meat for my cats (they cannot survive w/o animal protein, and fish alone is bad for them).

I believe in the golden rule of moderation. Fanaticism on both sides alienates people.

And yes, too much love is bad. Look at STD's (LOL).

[Carol Ann Varley]

YL,
I agree. Too much 'infectious' love is bad; STD's, HIV/AIDS are examples.

There is danger in meat. The Center for Disease Control reports 2 million illnesses each year traced to bacteria found in meat.

The increase started in the 1990's. Hmmm, could deregulation be a factor?

[Yochanan Lavie]

Yes, Carol Ann. Dereg is probably a large factor. I am against huge gov't and unnecessary regulation, but you can't trust the fox to guard the henhouse. The gov't which governs least means as little as is necessary- not a gov't that doesn't govern at all. That is why I admire TR.

[Carol Ann Varley]

In the June 23rd issue of Newsweek there's an article on cancer and genes. To quote:

"While we've known about the importance of tobacco and cancer for more than 50 years, we are beginning to understand how diet...can protect us against cancer."

It states meat cooked at high temperatures releases mutagens which could alter genes and help cause cancer.

Western diets raises the risk of cancer. Could red meat be a culprit?

If that's true, labeling may not be such a ridiculous idea afterall.