"The Reform, Conservative Hypocrites Jews Should Stop With Their Rubashkin Crap Please"

VosIzNeias, the lharedi news blog that bills itself as "The voice of the Orthodox Jewish Community," reprinted a column written by an editor of the Austin-Statesman on the latest Rubashkin controversy.

But look what VIN did.

VIN ran the column under the headline, "The Reform, Conservative Hypocrites Jews Should Stop With Their Rubashkin Crap Please."

And VIN appended the following "Editors note" at the end of the article:

Editors note.
Rubashkin might have had some serious violations from the past, but let’s wait and see what happens, but for reform Jews to be the ones to jump on a wagon, as if they are so innocently looking for kosher food, saviors of Jews, and the honesty of Judaism, please give us a break, we can guide the reform movement where to look within themselves much before when it comes to food. so please stop with your crap, you guys look foolish.

Orthodox Jews need no advise whatsoever, from the reform, conservative movements when it comes to Judaism.

Now let's see what the "hypocritical" article said:

Is it kosher if its produced cruelly?
Slaughterhouse in Iowa raises questions about observing Jewish dietary law.
By Gary Susswein
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Saturday, June 07, 2008

For Jews, eating kosher food is supposed to be an ethical, moral, even holy act.

But the news out of Postville, Iowa, over the past few weeks has raised disturbing questions about whether keeping kosher means that my family is supporting a business that may actually be corrupt and exploitative. And it's prompted my wife and me to think hard about where our food comes from and how it's made.

Last month, federal agents raided the largest kosher slaughterhouse in the country and arrested nearly 400 undocumented workers. Court records and media accounts paint a chilling picture of life for the employees at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville: salaries well below minimum wage; workers who toted guns; allegations of violence and sexual abuse by supervisors; even a methamphetamine lab on site.

If they're true — the company's owner said this week that "everything is a lie" — these stories suggest a culture far removed from the morality that's supposed to imbue Judaism, in general, and the laws of kashrut, in particular.

Many Orthodox and some Conservative Jews keep kosher because tradition teaches us that God commanded it in the Torah. Those commandments were then expanded and codified in Jewish law. At their core, they prohibit mixing meat and dairy and only allow Jews to eat certain animals that were slaughtered humanely.

Over the millennia, rabbis have explained that the laws are a vehicle to promote compassion and health, to distinguish the Jewish people as unique — even to spiritually avoid taking on the characteristics of vicious, unsavory animals or the violent way in which an animal was killed.

My reasons for keeping kosher are a little more esoteric: buying kosher beef and poultry, using separate sets of dishes for meat and dairy and reading food labels to make sure my kids can eat what's inside are a constant reminder of my Judaism. By keeping a kosher home, I'm consciously putting my religion at the heart of one of the most essential things I do — eating — and binding myself at every meal to a set of beliefs and a community that give me a moral framework for life.

So there's a wide chasm between why we keep kosher and the alleged behavior of the folks who produce our meat. Here in Austin, most kosher meat comes from Postville under the brand name Rubashkin's.

Kosher means "fit and proper," says Rabbi Steve Folberg of Congregation Beth Israel, who keeps kosher even though his branch of Judaism — the Reform movement — doesn't require it. "What does it mean to label something as 'fit and proper' that hurts people, exploits people or was produced cruelly?"

For my wife, Melanie, and me, it means refusing to buy Rubashkin's meat since the news broke, opting instead for industrial-sized bags of Empire brand kosher chicken from Costco. Next month we're traveling to the East Coast, where more kosher foods are available, and we plan to fill a cooler with red meat. We haven't figured out what we'll do after that.

Many groups are taking a wait-and-see approach, noting that Jewish law requires a presumption of innocence. The Orthodox Union hasn't pulled its kashrut certification from Agriprocessors but has said it will do so if charges are brought.

Some liberal Orthodox rabbinical students, though, are urging a full-scale boycott of the company. Conservative leaders — who have talked for several years about a kosher certification that takes ethics into account — issued an advisory asking Jews to decide for themselves whether to eat the meat.

In a sermon two weeks ago, Cantor Neil Blumofe of Congregation Agudas Achim, the Conservative synagogue where I belong, challenged us to consider our responsibility. "If we dismiss the events in Postville as business as usual," he said, "we lose an opportunity to examine more closely how we can uplift our lives in the first place."

Blumofe and Folberg both wonder if the spirit of kashrut can be reconciled with industrial slaughterhouses in which meat is mass produced and shipped across the continent. Each has Jewish friends who now buy organically raised (and presumably ethically produced) nonkosher chicken as a moral choice.

Melanie and I have talked about doing that. But I'm not ready to take that step. Keeping kosher is too ingrained in me. And I still believe in the possibility that the spirit and mechanics of kashrut can be wed.

Rabbi Eliezer Langer of Congregation Tiferet Israel, an Orthodox synagogue in Austin, strongly rejects the idea that the laws of kashrut are at odds with the modern, industrialized process. And while he's loath to condemn Agriprocessors on unproven allegations, he sees signs — the public response, Agriprocessors' looking for new management — that conditions in Postville may change.

"Within the Orthodox rabbinate, there's a great deal of discussion about the appropriate steps," he says, adding that he doesn't believe the plant will lose its kosher certification: "It will change before it gets to that point."

I hope he's right. And I hope that, before long, I can again buy kosher meat, confident that it is an ethical, moral, even holy act.

I think we can all agree on two things:

1. There is nothing hypocritical in this article.
2. The Conservative Jew who wrote it knows more about Judaism than VIN does.

Comments

[YDE]

A few ideas compete amongst each other for sheer magnitude of arrogant idiocy; the winner is probably the idea that Empire's chickens are produced in any way, shape of fashion differently from Rubashkin's chickens. May the commentator choke on his lobster thermidor (made with Empire chicken).

[yidandahalf]

Haven't checked out VIN today, but that looks like the poorest excuse for an editor's note I have ever seen. Can they not find anyone with even two years of high school to compose these things?

[C-Girl]

Considering that every other C , LMO & R response to Agriprocessors' wrongdoings over the past few years (and there have been way too many) has been pretty much ignored by the haredi press, I'd wager that this last round has finally struck a nerve. Business is hurting. Product isn't on the shelves. They have a lot to lose and have finally recognized a threat that needs to be addressed.

In addition, many Jews are finally taking notice of the company's history- thumbing their nose at the court in NY over unionizing illegal workers (did they think no one would notice??), the mill fire saga (felony charges for Moshe & Shalom?), all the EPA and OSHA violations. This is not an innocent company that was unjustly targeted. You want to talk about anti-Semitism? Consider the crimes as though they were perpetrated against every Jew who innocently purchased their products and you'll see who the real anti-Semites are.

This is a group of people who knowingly broke every law they thought they could- under the cloak of Torah- and got caught with their black pants down.

[mordecai]

As time marches forward more and more will be reveaed of the situation at the Postville plant. The Feds are not interested in Kashrut law and what we learn we will have to interpet as to how it applies to Kashrut.

Frankly I do not keep kosher. As a vegetarian I would not eat the meat regardless of how "humanely" the animal was slaughtered.

But it seems that the snowball rolling down the hill is getting bigger. I envision more Jewish organizations abandoning Rubashkin.

It disturbs me that a religion as ours that preaches ethics and morality has been so bogged down by an over-emphasis on the letter of the law loses sight of the obvious moral issues involved.

[yidandahalf]

I am tired of hearing their "The goyim do it, the goyishe slaughter is worse." Two wrongs make a right to them. We must clean our own house, these shandas upon us by the name of Rubash-in must be stopped and held accountable for everything they have done. How can they be called Rabbi? They make a mockery of Judaism. Let them build their 'Kosher Hill' houses above the toxic waste spill in Pennsylvania they made. Their money is filthy yet they are walking pushkes. Their soup kitchen is filled with treif meat and their Allou scandal has yet to be revealed in all its glory. Coming from what shtetl and with what memories, the old man seems to go out of his way to recruit illegal Ukrainians to work in Iowa. No doubt they have thier finger in the drug/pill pie as well. Is their no end to it?

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

Did anyone get a chance to see Friday's WSJ? Swift, which got in trouble about 18 months ago, is offering jobs for $12/hour. The employees, many from Burma, are quite happy. Meanwhile, Rubbishcan is still paying $8/hour.

[John K. Diamond]

"It disturbs me that a religion as ours that preaches ethics and morality has been so bogged down by an over-emphasis on the letter of the law loses sight of the obvious moral issues involved."

Absolutely correct, Mordechai.

If we had today the kind of Rabbis who were living just 100-200 years ago in charge, the Rubashkin Animal enterprises would have been shut down permanently in December, 2004.

Very unfortunately, we don't, and that's where a substantial part of the problem lies.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

The Conservative Jew who wrote it knows more about Judaism than VIN does.

I particularly like this part of the article:

"By keeping a kosher home, I'm consciously putting my religion at the heart of one of the most essential things I do — eating — and binding myself at every meal to a set of beliefs and a community that give me a moral framework for life."

[rabbidw]

I am going to boast. The writer is my first cousin. I told him on Friday when he sent me a copy, that he could have dealt with the subject from a purely journalistic POV. (He is the City Editor) Instead, he chose to go public, not such a simple matter in Austin, TX, which is not exactly as Jewish a neighborhood as Boro Park and Monsey. IMHO his article is a tremendous Kiddush Hashem. I am proud of him, and his father, OH' would have been burstiong with pride.

[steve]

The true hypocrties are the Rubashkin fressers at VIN.

Orthodox Jews need no advise whatsoever, from the reform, conservative movements when it comes to Judaism.

And it the reverse is true, as well.

[Friar Yid]

This reminds me a lot of the Rubashkin story they posted just a few days previous, as well, with a similar title no less. This one claims to be written by a Conservative Jew. I wonder if they know that VIN published it under the title "Deceptive Jewish Rabbis, And Their 'hechsher tzedek' Crap." Sounds like someone's taking this a wee bit personally.

[Catherine]

I agree with you John
I just dont understand the whole idea of love of meat eating.
TO me and i have been a meat eater for years, and i love to cook and i made the best meatballs believe me!!!
I gave it all up!
and i dont miss it
SOmetimes i wish i never knew the taste of meat lamb chicken I wish no one did, then
we wouldnt have all this contentions
and fighting,
we would deffinitly have peace and way more love.
I'm very saddened to see all these things.
My only wish is that
we all on this earth, be happy and peacefull toward one another.
THank you
Baruch Hashem
and Love
Catherine

[David A.M. Wilensky]

Non only am I a regular reader of this blog, but I'm a proud Austinite. It's great to see Austin getting attention. I grew up with Steve Folberg as my Rabbi and I was actually at the sermon that Neil Blumofe gave. It was quite good.

[Richard Schwartz]

As usual, some very important issues are being ignored: Contrary to basic Jewish mandates, the production and consumption of meat and other animal products is causing an epidemic of diseases, mistreats many farmed animals, seriously damages the environment, inefficiently uses land, water, energy and other resources and this causes a hillul HASHEM.

For more information, please visiy JewishVeg.com/schwartz and to see our documentary, please visit ASacredDuty.com.

[Ichabod Chrain]

I'm scratching my head.
If Orthodox Jews need no "advise" from Conservative Jews, then why even re-print the article. Besides what good does it do Agriprocessors to have their supporters insult a portion of their market? And anyway, the article identified liberal Orthodox Jews rather than any Conservative body as wanting to start the boycott, so why slam Conservative Jews?

[Susan]

How altruistic of this company to petition sucessfully for EW-3 visas for Chinese people to work in their plant in Postville. Local newspapers had articles on this the first time some Chinese came, one of their children was enrolled in the public school. But it seemed they all vanished. A lot of owrk to orientate someone to have them leave after being able to document they had worked there. If the (transferrable) visas sold for $30,000 in China, how long would someone work at Agriprocessors to pay that off? When Mr. Hu Yao Bin arrived in 2004 at San Francisco to work at Agroprocessors, he wanted the inspecting officer to send his legal permanent resident card to his intended address in San Franciso's Chinatown. This is legal.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

what many fail to notice on the matter of Agriprocessors, is that it is not a matter of being Orthodox or Conservative or Reform Jews, but rather, if the Ag.proc people are Jews altogether under any standard!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Gentiles don't make fine distinctions between the "denominations." (Neither do unaffiliated Jews who are not knowledgeable). They just assume that "Orthodox" is super-dooper Jewish. Which makes rubbishcan a super-dooper chillul Hashem. And I don't understand the pov of VIN. Would they rather Conservative Jews ate trief?

[Yosef ben Matitya]

Would they rather Conservative Jews ate trief?

no, reb yochanan, they seem to want to sell them their kosher meat (non glatt), which they themselves will not eat and then spit at them and their institutions behind their backs.
while at it, they will go yechi in their so called synagogues where they -who knows?- may be worship semblance of pigeons locked in their archs. :-)

[yidandahalf]

The commentors on VIN are hardcore. They are the sort who would still use stoning at any instance of perceived transgression. Sometimes their reactions shock even me.

Since this whole Rubashkin thing hit the fan Vus iz neias blog VIN took it upon himself to either not print or entirly delete comments that are Are saying the bad and the ugly of Rubashkin. Apparently VIN is very pro Rubashkin and will do anything to stop comments which contradict his side of the story even if it can be proven . I tried sending proveable comment to show the bad and the ugly and he keeps on deleting them . In the past month i mustve sent 20-30 comments and all were erased. VIN YOU ARE A LOW LIFE AND REFUSE TO HEAR THE OTHERSIDE. Even the ~yeted~, to a certain degree printed the bad and ugly. VIN we are spreading the word that you are a very slanted and biased blog and no one should read you. You are a total disgrace to your religion and to the blog world.

[yidandahalf]

They have deleted some of mine as well. Thought it was just a glitch at first. Lately they are completely nauseating.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Yid & 1/2: To paraphrase an old Roman saying; In VIN, no veritas.

[Carol Ann Varley]

When slaughterhouses relocated from the cities to rural areas, a skilled labor force was lost. Illegal immigrants, many of whom cannot speak English, are ill-trained to perform proper slaughter techniques. That, combined with high-speed lines, account for mistakes on the kill floor. Needless animal suffering and worker injuries result (meatpacking is dangerous). In other countries workers must pass a certification test and speed lines are regulated. Unless people speak out, it will be business as ususal. One organization advocating change is the Humane Farming Association.

[Proud Reform Jew]

Yet again, arrogant elements of Orthodox Judiasm want to marginalize and spit on other Jews who do not adhere to their hypocritical holier-than-thou standard.

Being Jewish is more than just following the mitzvot. It's about being a good and ethical human being. It's about treating employees with respect. It's about selling a quality product. It's about treating animals with dignity.

If the Orthos want to continue spewing their hatred, so be it. Enjoy your rotten, improperly-slaughtered Rubashkin's.

I'm an ethical Reform Jew and proud of it.