FailedMessiah Cited In NY Times – Lubinsky Cries Antisemitism As Evidence Against Agriprocessors Mounts

Menachem Lubinsky, the Agudath Israel of America honcho who is also Agriprocessors' spokesman and a kosher food industry 'expert,' plays the antisemitism card as quoted by today's…

…New York Times.

Here's Lubinsky's quote:

A spokesman for the company, Menachem Lubinsky, said it had been unfairly singled out for labor violations that were unproven accusations. Mr. Lubinsky told The Jewish Week newspaper that Agriprocessors was facing a “Dreyfus trial in the media,” referring to the case of a Jewish military officer in France who was unfairly tried for treason in the late 19th century.

Please.

The Times pice mentions Friday's Iowa Department of Labor announcement that Agriprocessors had been cited for 31 safety violations, 7 of them repeats from the inspection done about 6 months ago. AS we saw Friday, those violations include an uncovered hole in the kill floor area large enough for a man to fall through, unguarded saws, and improper storage of gas canisters, along with many others.

The Times also mentions us:

Last month, a New York public relations firm representing Agriprocessors, 5W Public Relations, posted fake blog comments under Rabbi Allen’s name on FailedMessiah.com, a Web site that is fiercely critical of the Rubashkins, and on the Web site of JTA, the Jewish news agency. Shmarya Rosenberg, who runs FailedMessiah.com, traced the fraudulent comments on his site to a 5W address. JTA reported that one false posting in Rabbi Allen’s name came from an address belonging to a 5W executive, Juda Engelmayer.

The postings seemed intended to discredit Rabbi Allen by making him appear to use crude, arrogant language. In a statement, 5W confirmed that the postings came from its offices but said that they had been made by an intern without approval.

Actually, 5WPR was forced to admit the intern story was false. Rabbi Allen and Hechsher Tzedek have been waiting for 5WPR to apologize. Sources tell me that patience is up, and HT will file suit against 5WPR shortly.

Rabbis Debate Kosher Ethics at Meat Plant - NYTimes.com.pdf

[Hat Tip: Dr. Gershon Mendel.]

Comments

[EndingSuperstition]

yup chabad is the greatest threat to judaism in the past 2000 years cept for the romans.

i learned this a few summers ago in the "ivy league torah study program" upstate.

most people confuse n conflate judaism w/chabad.

if we let chabad mobsters yell antisemitism and let the times etc not clarify antisemitism n anti messianic neojudaism then our brand name is gonna be seriously diluted.

[rebitzman]

++most people confuse n conflate judaism w/chabad.++

Which is ironic - because what they seem to practice is a LOT closer to Xtianity than it is to Judaism.

[PishPosh]

rebitzman word to ya, judaism is a lot closer to christianity then anything else.
Why do so called lost tribes need coverting whenever they are brought to Israel? Like the Indian Bnai Menashe. If they left for other lands like india right before or after the first churban, why are they going thru a conversion to some hocus pocus rabbinic mumbo jumbo that didnt exist when their ancestors left the holy land?

So instead of a crucified Jew Judaism slavishly bows and genuflects before the talmud and its interpeters. No big difference.

And though not one myself I would agree with the Karaites that Rabbinic Judaism is pseudo Torah living based on the tortured argumentation that their interpetation is not adding or subtracting.

The Torah says first to go to the Levi Cohen or Shofet. Seems we have Leviim and Cohanim enough to alyiahs to. And your typical Rabbi, nice guy or not is not shofet in any sense of the word.

[rebitzman]

++So instead of a crucified Jew Judaism slavishly bows and genuflects before the talmud and its interpeters. No big difference.++

You need to get out more - and you REALLY need to learn how one correctly poskims hallachah (hint - it doesn't begin and end in the Talmud).

That SOME do what you say is a sad fact - to insinuate that it's religion wide simply is false.

[rebitzman]

OH - and pick a handle and stick with it, please.

[EndingSuperstition]

this is my only handle.

some may disparage me etc but...

the iltsp chabad people did say i was the most promising guy and gave me vodka personally blessed by then then not dead guru schneerson.

and yah the halachic process ain't related to the torah cow magic at all. the various torah knockoff cults are one of my hobbies...xtianity, islam, mormonism, Rambamism, sabbatia zevism, chassidism, reconstructionism etc.

i have gotten a lot of chabad donor to stop donating. i'm proud of that.

if you don't know the chabad/hareidi view on the sole purpose of halacha then you don't understand those cults.

i like to put it this way:

The ONLY point of ALL halacha is _________.

(hint its unrelated to human happiness/heaven/hell/obscure hebrew terms pronounced in an affected ashk accent)

[David F.]

Is there a midrash with a similar moral to "The Boy who Cried Wolf?"

This mindless invocation of "anti-Semitism" is rendering the term virtually meaningless.

[critical_minyan]

although the new york times tried to frame this as an orthodox vs. conservative divide, i think that it is more like a charedi vs. modern orthodox and conservative divide. I go to a modern orthodox synagogue and almost everybody in my shule is squarely against Rubashkin and the OU and is disgusted by the OU"s apologetics for the shenanigans in Postville.
There have been numerous Orthodox Rabbi's who have been critical of the OU and the RCA, most prominently Rabbi Herzfeld in DC. The times article also failed to mention the activism of orthodox groups such as Uri L'tzedek.
I am happy the article was written but I disagree that its a pure Orthodox vs. Conservative issue.

[yidandahalf]

BigChabad has left so its anti-semitism shrei-ing means what, oh Chabadniks? What does it mean? You have your own pseudo Judaic cult with a Jesus stand in, lots of paraphenalia which include papist style holy water and there are probably not enough goats in the entire middle east to supply your tefillin industry. Nothing very Jewish about that leather the last I heard.

[yidandahalf]

should have read BigChabad has left Judaism

[rebitzman]

++this is my only handle.++

You've used at LEAST three in this thread alone.

++if you don't know the chabad/hareidi view on the sole purpose of halacha then you don't understand those cults.++

Read your 2nd post - you painted JUDAISM with the braod brush - not Chabad. That was my objection.

[DK]

As I wrote on The Kvetcher, from now on, when a haredi cries "anti-semitism" to deflect or silence those concerned with his financial and exploitive crimes, we will call that "Pulling a Lubinsky."

[PishPosh]

Rebitzman, when you step back and look at Judaism its exactly what you call replacement theology to the Torah. That you think that shokeling your lulav somewhere in brooklyn or even in Israel without a bais hamikdash is somehow fulfilling a Torah Mitzvah then you really need some help in your co-dependence. That you really think that Christians reading the "old testament" and somehow reading JC into into its psukim is is any different then the nonesense that suddenly we are told we cant have fowl with milk either??? Its just another reading into the pasuk the sectarian sect that survived the Mikdash.

First they pull this nonesense about not eating meat and milk at the same table even though the Torah permits it. If you barbeque some ribs in barbeque sauce and then have milk to drink you havent violated anything of Mitzvot Lo Taaseh of the Torah.

Its only Talibanistic Rabbis who not only warped the kashrut chukus but then got everybody to panic about eating fowl and milk, just because maybe they feared they were to stupid to know if they were serving fowl or meat.

So why do you probably pay good money for a luluav and etrog, when their is no shlosh regalim. Let your Rabbi pay for your supplies since you allow him to keep your Torah for you by doing exactly what christians do such as twisting the pasuk of not following the majority to do evil and excising it to read "and you shall follow the majority," to give their yakity yak some foundation.

And dont forget, you have a choice. If "Lo Bashamayim hi" is the final say then when can anything be "elu velu divrei elokim Hachayim" If lo bashamyim then Hashem has no say and you cant snake out of an argument by saying "elu velu" since you already claim elokim has nothing to do with it.

And this is the only handle I use. I also now and then email Shmarya from my yahoo account with my FM name in the suject area because I want him to know its not a spam or crank or virus carrying email from someone like you. I dont know where you came from suddenly but you sound like that "avraham" moron who was here several months ago having nothing but his own stupidity, like yours, to contribute, get a new ip address so now you can override Shmaryas ban on you?

Again you dont answer the question. If the Bnai Israel in India have a mesorah that they are from Shevet Mennashe, then who the hell are your Rabbis to question them. Why should they become Jews, when they are part of the greater AM ISRAEL. Moshe wasnt a Jew, the Avot werent Jews, what do they need to convert to??? A johnny come lately that showed up 1000 years after their ancestors left the homeland and ended up in India? Maybe its the Rabbis who need to be converted to back to Am Israel from Judaism.

[rebitzman]

++Its only Talibanistic Rabbis who not only warped the kashrut chukus but then got everybody to panic about eating fowl and milk, just because maybe they feared they were to stupid to know if they were serving fowl or meat.++

On two instances in the Torah - the people demand that they be given meat.

What were they given? Did anyone complain or say "Hey - this isn't meat"?

++Again you dont answer the question. If the Bnai Israel in India have a mesorah that they are from Shevet Mennashe, then who the hell are your Rabbis to question them.++

Why would I answer you? I agree with you.

Seems that in your hatred of observant Jews, you have stopped reading what they actually write.

++get a new ip address so now you can override Shmaryas ban on you?++

And they say irony is dead.

[Paul Freedman]

PishPosh--they need to be converted not because there was no rabbinic Judaism component of biblical religion but because it is claimed they converted to Christianity formally after leaving--why not frei out then?

[Paul Freedman]

Indian "lost tribes" I don't know anything about, I admit, outside of Mel Brooks

[Paul Freedman]

But yes, there are contradictions in being a human anything, including human witness to Israel--at least you have your health

:-)

[Menachem Korn]

thanks for your excellent coverage of this story. your reporting is even more delectable than glatt kosher shabbos roast!

concerning the 5W incident: isnt posting a fake message for the purpose of slandering someone a felony offense of identity theft?

lets see mr. englemayer spend some quality time in prison with the Aryan Brotherhood to keep him company...

[Menachem Korn]

Rabbis Debate Kosher Ethics at Meat Plant ....

... their conclusion: it's not kosher to get caught.