Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld and the NY Times

More than a dozen people have asked me to post Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld's NY Times op-ed, Dark Meat, published in yesterday's NY Times.

I haven't done so until now because…

…I believe his proposed solution is unworkable and will only lead to a repeat of the abuses we have already seen.

Any inspections done for safety, health, environmental, immigration, and employment law compliance need to be done by trained, bonded, independent third-party auditors who arrive unannounced at random times throughout the year and who have unfettered access to Agriprocessors entire operation – including other related companies owned or controlled by the Rubashkin family. (This may need to be extended to other suppliers and business partners, as well.)

Here is what Rabbi Herzfeld wrote:

ACCORDING to the Jewish calendar we are now in the month of Av, a period of increasingly intense mourning that culminates with a total fast on the Ninth of Av, which this year coincides with Sunday, Aug. 10.

One of the customary practices in these nine days is the avoidance of meat: it’s the way we commemorate the destruction of the Temple, where daily animal sacrifices were once brought.

Refraining from food is symbolic, of course. The idea is not just to avoid meat but to limit ourselves so that we can better focus on the spiritual.

Unfortunately, this year kosher meat has become a different type of symbol, one not of mourning and spiritual devotion but of ridicule, embarrassment and hypocrisy. In May in Postville, Iowa, immigration officials raided Agriprocessors Inc., the largest kosher meatpacking plant in the country.

What began as an immigration sting, however, quickly took on larger dimensions. News reports and government documents have described abusive practices at Agriprocessors against workers, including minors. Children as young as 13 were said to be wielding knives on the killing floor; some teenagers were working 17-hour shifts, six days a week.

This poses a grave problem and calls into question whether the food processed in the plant qualifies as kosher.

You see, there is precedent for declaring something nonkosher on the basis of how employees are treated. Yisroel Salanter, the great 19th-century rabbi, is famously believed to have refused to certify a matzo factory as kosher on the grounds that the workers were being treated unfairly. In addition to the hypocrisy of calling something kosher when it is being sold and produced in an unethical manner, we have to take into account disturbing information about the plant that has come to light.

The affidavit filed in the United States District Court of Northern Iowa, for instance, alleges that an employee was physically abused by a rabbi on the floor of the plant. If true, this calls into question the reliability and judgment of the rabbi in charge of making sure the food was kosher.

What’s more, two workers who oversaw the poultry and beef division were recently arrested for helping illegal immigrants falsify documents. If they were willing to break national immigration laws, one could reasonably ask whether they would be likely to show the same lack of concern for Jewish dietary laws.

Unfortunately, the responses of the leading Orthodox organizations, the Rabbinical Council of America and the Orthodox Union, have, in my opinion, fallen far short of what is needed to be done and have done little to diminish the extent of the desecration of God’s name. I am a member of both groups, but I am dissatisfied with their stance, which asks us to sit back patiently and wait for the results of a federal investigation. On some level, this might be prudent, but on another it is unacceptable.

What is needed is for the Orthodox Union to appoint an independent commission whose members have not in the past been paid by either the Orthodox Union or Agriprocessors. Such a commission would select a team of rabbinic experts to spend an extended period of time at the plant and then make suggestions and recommendations. This independent team would make sure the plant upholds basic standards of kashrut and worker and animal treatment — and that it is in full compliance with the laws of the United States.

Hebrew National used to run a commercial that said: “We answer to a Higher Authority.” Well, we do. We need to express shame and embarrassment about the reports coming out of Iowa, and we need to actively work to change these matters. Then we should ask ourselves if our behavior and our values need improvement. Only if we truly think about these issues will we truly be keeping kosher.

Shmuel Herzfeld, rabbi of Ohev Sholom-The National Synagogue, is a member of the Rabbinical Council of America.

Comments

[chaim]

Kudos R. Herzfeld. This is a rare example of an orthodox Rabbi calling a spade a spade. It is also a rare example of an orthodox rabbi publicly stating that how we treat our fellow man is as important as how we worship our god.

All people, jewish or not, religious or not, should be horrified about the reports about the plant, and if half the reports are true, shame on the Rubaskin family and shame on any Rabbinic organization associated with the plant that does not unequivocally condem how the plant was apparently being run.

I am pretty certain that if the allegations are true, the rules of shecitah and melicah (if salting is done there) were probably being violated on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, like in virtually every sector, money speaks louder than virtue.

[chaim]

I read a few paragraphs of the 5 towns article. It read like Goebels propaganda. It was ridiculous.

[David]

I was impressed with the article. It's a great relief to see an Orthodox rabbi writing on this topic in such a way as not to suggest any kind of cover-up, nor any agenda apart from doing what's right. We need more like him.

[chaim]

what animlas are slaughtered at the plant. I want to try and avoid buying poutlry/meat that was slaughtered there. Any suggestions as to how I can acsertain whether a product originated at the plant?

[anonymous]

i loved the op-ed. Kudos rabbi Herzfeld.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Today's song parody, in honor of Chometz Lerner, is a take-off of Bob Marley's "Exodus"

Excuses: Delusion of duh sheeple! Oh-oh-oh, yea-eah!
.......
Men and people will fight ya down (Tell me why!)
When they see YHWH's light. (Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!)
Let me tell you if you're not wrong; (Then, why?)
Everything is [not] all right.
So we gonna walk - all right! - through de roads of Postville:
We dislike degeneration (Tell me why!)
(Of the kosher keeping nation) We don't want Agri-vation.

Yeah-yeah-yeah, well!
Uh! Open your eyes and look within:
Are you satisfied (with the leaders you're given)? Uh!
We know where we're going, uh!
We know where we're from.
We're leaving Babylon [Long Island],
We're going to the Iowa land.

2, 3, 4: Excuses: delusion of dah sheeple! Oh, yeah!
Delusion of duh sheeple! Send us another brother Shmarya!
(Delusion of duh sheeple!) From across the Great Lakes!
(Delusion of duh sheeple!) Send us another Archie Bunker!
(Delusion of duh sheeple!) From across the Cyber Sea!
Delusion of duh sheeple

YHWH come to break down pression,
Rule equality,
Wipe away transgression,
Set the minors free.

[Dissapointed with the RCA]

I think that the Rubashkins scandal is just a symptom of a general failure of the leadership of the RCA to take Choshen Mishpat and dina dmalchusa issues seriously (or at least as seriously as they should). While I am sure that the members of the RCA take dina dmalchusa issues seriously, they are probably not aware that a member of the Vaad Haposkim of the RCA (who is probably not even a member of the RCA and is very far removed from the YU world) made shocking comments a year ago in Teaneck about the application of dina dmalchusa dina in the USA and our obligation to keep certain halachos in Choshen Mishpat. The community was outraged and I doubt that this Rabbi will ever be permitted to appear in Teaneck again. However, I know for a fact that the RCA leadership was made aware of this Rabbi's statements and did not take any action. I am sure that the RCA leadership does not agree with this Rabbi's statements but their tepid reaction to the entire affair demonstrates a lack of seriousness about these matters that would have been unthinkable in the RCA of ten years ago. The Rubashkins affair is just a symptom of how some in our community take the ritual aspects of Judaism more seriously than the ethical.

[against hypocricy]

when you think how Rav Soloveitchik, tz'l, launched a one-man war against the politically-controlled kashrut of Boston decades ago it makes you wonder how he'd have responded to this insanity... R Herzfeld,at the very least, deserves credit for putting his name on the line to criticize his colleagues in a manner aimed to prompt them to a higher standard.... I was raised Orthodox and consider myself Orthodox, but before the O is Halachic... and i fear that the kashrut world has undermined the very halachic standard it is intented to protect.

[Archie Bunker]

"Rav Soloveitchik, tz'l, launched a one-man war against the politically-controlled kashrut of Boston decades ago"

Not true, as the ban against using the early KVH that allowed Conservative participation was from Rav Moshe Feinstein and others.

[Linda Seidman]

Thank you Rabbi Herzfeld for your honest appraisal of the crimes of Agriprocessors. I live in an Orthodox community and not one word has been spoken about the issues with the "non Kosher" shchita nor the "illegal" and "abused" workforce. What is Kashruth hashgacha worth? Those of us who purchase Rubashkin meat in our homes are bringing in "traif." Why does the Jewish community always sweep issues of importance under the rug? It is in the interest of the kosher certification companies who are getting PAID to say that Rubashkin is kosher, to sweep this issue under the rug. I believe that we would all be interested to find out how much Agriprocessors pays for their hashgacha. Then the Jewish community will understand that BOTTOM LINE, it's not about Kashruth at all, it's about the all mighty dollar.

[Concerned]

"Such a commission would select a team of rabbinic experts"? Why should this team include rabbis, or rabbi's only? Shouldn't it include experts from other disciplines, like law, social workers, workplace experts, etc.? Reminds me of the rabbis investigating a rabbi accused of sexual harrasment in Melbourne. Rabbi's investigating rabbi's sounds fishy to me.