FailedMessiah.com

Chabad Messianism

Rabbi Gil Student notes the above Chabad messianic poster for a 11 Nissan concert in honor of the birthday of the "Rebbe Melech HaMashiach" (The Rebbe King Messiah).  Below the photograph of the Rebbe in white type it reads: "Yechi adonaynu moreynu v'rabbaynu melech hamoshiach l'olam vo'ed!" (Long live our master our teacher our rabbi king messiah forever and ever!). David Klinghoffer would have you believe Chabad messianism does not exist. Here is absolute proof that Klinghoffer is wrong.

UPDATE: A commenter on Hirhurim notes the root of the problem:

I think many people here are completely missing the point, as is common in any discussion about Chabad.

The heresy in Chabad has very little to do with the Messianism. As many people have correctly pointed out, believing that a dead Rebbe is the Messiah is little more than stupidity and foolishness.

Most Lubavitchers are heretics simply because they beleive that the Rebbe is omnipotent and omniscient; as such they believe that they should direct their prayers and supplications to him. (As someone who spent most of his life in Chabad schools and camps, I am in an excellent position to judge the beliefs of your average Lubavitcher.)

The source of this belief is the Rebbe himself. He writes (Likutei Sichos volume two, pages 510-511), "How can one make a request of a rebbe? Isn't that surely a problem of speaking to God through an intermediary?"

His answer is shocking. He prefaces it by explaining that the concept that he is about to express is a novel one, an idea not found in other books of Chassidus.

He answers as follows, "One cannot ask a question from the problem of an intermediary since 'Atzmus u'mehus alein vi er hat zich areingeshtalt in a guf'"

"Atzmus u'mehus alein vi er hat zich areingeshtalt in a guf!" For those non-Yiddish speakers, the Rebbe says that a rebbe is simply "the essence of God enclothed in a body!"

There's your kefirah.

(It is also worthwhile to see what the Rebbe writes in Igros Kodesh, vol. 3 pp. 419-420 about a Lubavitchers relationship with his rebbe.

"A person must, from time to time, think about himself and his position and situation, but the rest of the time it's better to think about the Rebbe, how he is constantly with his mekusharim (those with whom the Rebbe is bound, i.e. his Chassidim, and how he leads them through every step.")

David | 03.31.06 - 1:38 am | #

 

How To Navigate This Site

Just a quick post to explain site navigation. Each post is is indexed both by date and by category. Category links are on the right side of this page, as are archive links. So you can search by date for a post or look through an entire category – the Rubashkin kosher meat scandal, for example, Matisyahu or the Rebbe's position on Ethiopian Jews. Admittedly, some categories are too broad (it's hard to change this now, 18 months in), and some are very large. Either way, the archived page may take a moment or two extra to load.

The Google search box (located on the right side of this page as well) is not very effective. It often pulls up entire index pages rather than individual posts, and gives false positives because of the static information on the margins of each page.

The bottom of each post shows what category (or categories) the post is archived in. So clicking on the categories on the bottom a post should bring you related stories.

A word of caution – how ever you choose to navigate, the post you are reading will often be at the top of the new archive or category page you clicked on because stories are archived in reverse chronological order, newest on top, oldest on the bottom. Always check additional posts on the page before assuming the new linked page did not load. Sometimes, when TypePad, your ISP, and your computer are all perfectly in sync, a new page will load so fast that you won't notice – a small whiff of paradise in this decidedly mundane world.

FailedMessiah In The Forward

This week's David Klinghoffer's Forward column The Disputation deals with the Matisyahu issue and with Chabad in general. Here, for my money (and ego) is the money quote:

For centuries, the role of the Jewish people as a "kingdom of priests" (Exodus 19:6) calling humanity to the worship of the one God was suspended. In our day, thanks to the growing interest of non-Jews in Judaism, that has started to change. Matisyahu may be the best example of a Jew ministering in this priestly role on a mass scale. His efforts, however, have won him Jewish detractors, who prefer that Jews remain anonymous or irrelevant.

Take, for example, the sniping from the peanut gallery coming out of the consistently sour but readable blog FailedMessiah.com: "What Matisyahu does is unseemly. Few, if any, significant poskim (rabbinic legal scholars who rule on Halacha) would approve. But what bothers me more is blatant trading on Kaballah and Hasidut to make money. That this does not bother mainstream Chabad may be because this is what mainstream Chabad has itself done for years."

Indeed, Chabad's efforts have earned the movement its share of enemies. The rabbi at the Reform temple where I grew up used to speak out against the local Chabad emissary; the competition made him nervous. And in the Orthodox world, a few can't forget the imbroglio in the 1990s in which some followers of Chabad's late spiritual leader, the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Schneerson, let it be known that they expected he would return and reveal himself as the Messiah. Thankfully, that fever dream has subsided.…

I thank Klinghoffer for quoting me. Still, Klinghoffer is wrong on many counts:

1. I am certainly not opposed to Jews being a light onto the nations in an active fashion. What I and many other critics of Matisyahu are concerned about has been clearly stated on this blog. Being a light onto the nations or a need to remain "under the radar screen" is not one of them.
2. Klinghoffer ignores the fact that poskim do not allow what Matisyahu does, and that poskim from Chabad, while the Rebbe was alive, told musicians they could not do what Matisyahu is now doing.
3. Messianism has not gone away, as even any casual observer of Chabad knows, It is dominant in Israel, France, the FSU, and in Crown Heights. Matisyahu himself is a messianist.

Klinghoffer brushes away these facts just as he brushes away Marvin Schick's concern about the lessening religious standards in Chabad, something there is much proof for. He also makes it appear as if Schick is an enemy of Chabad, something that is absolutely false – although, to be fair, Klinghoffer may not know this.

How can Klinghoffer make claims that disregard fact? I'll give you my personal answer. Klinghoffer is a devotee of Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the maverick Orthodox rabbi shunned by many in mainstream Modern Orthodoxy and by most in the haredi world. Lapin has made a career (outside of his business involvements, which have been, in some cases, highly questionable from a legal standpoint) of supporting right wing political causes (he is one of Jack Abramoff's rabbis) and of "kashering" the religious and extremist right*. To do this, one needs to adopt an ends justify the means theology, which is just what Lapin has done. And this theology drives his disciples, as well.

Several years ago, WorldVision launched a campaign to aid those hurt by suicide bombing and terrorist attacks in Israel. The radio commercial had bombs exploding, sirens wailing. Where was the money going? To the West Bank and Gaza, and only to Arabs. I asked WorldVision why. A spokesperson responded by saying (I paraphrase) that WorldVision helps the most at need. Jews can take care of themselves. The Arabs cannot. I asked about the morality of  using terror attacks against Jews to raise money for Arabs. Terror hurts both sides, was the response.

The Salem Radio Network had a joint campaign with WorldVision to fund this very project. Ads for it ran during both the Dennis Prager and Michael Medved shows. In effect, both shows raised money for the extended families of suicide bombers. I contacted both hosts and explained the problem. Both wanted details that involved many hours of research. I did that research (without pay) and sent the information to Prager and Medved. Prager** banned all ads for that WorldVision campaign from running during his show. But what did Medved, whose rabbi-guru is Lapin, do? He increased the ads and began endorsing that very WorldVision project. Why?

I believe for the same reason Klinghoffer can so easily ignore fact. The ends justify the means.*** It wasn't worth damaging his (and Lapin's) relationship with the evangelical-owned and operated Salem radio over the WorldVision project, especially because WorldVision is a major powerhouse in the evangelical world and is, not surprisingly, a major advertiser on Salem stations.

Klinghoffer is a follower of Lapin. To the extent that his article reflects that relationship, it is Lapin – and his theology – that is to blame. The same is true for Medved and WorldVision.

If well-meaning Chabad supporters would focus on keeping Chabad within halakha, instead of kashering every instance of deviation from it, Chabad would be in much better shape, and blogs like Failedmessiah.com would not need to exist.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Evangelical and other Christian Fundamentalist theology, as it impacts the public square, is not necessarily incompatible with Judaism any more than it is automatically compatible. For example, while Judaism frowns on abortion, it does not ban abortion outright and allows (and sometimes mandates!) abortion for a host of reasons related to the physical and mental health of the mother. This is why many poskim (like some of those ignored by Klinghoffer) do not support the anti-abortion movement. Lapin goes beyond this position to, in effect, kasher all but the most blatantly anti-Jewish positions of evangelicals.

**Yes, it is true that Prager is also a supporter of Chabad. But Prager is not Orthodox, and his views on halakha are not close to Orthodoxy's.

***By ends in this case I mean ideological ends, not financial gain. In other words, in this case the ends are "ohr lagoyyim" and the means, Matisyahu and Chabad. Rabbi Lapin considers ohr lagoyyim to be a cornerstone of his public work and ideology/theology.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Still Burns

The Triangle Shirtwaist fire 95 years on. Jonathan Mark of the Jewish Week writes:

The UPI reporter, William Shepherd, was just by chance on the corner of Manhattan’s Washington Place and Greene Street when on March 25, 1911 flames started licking out of the eighth and ninth floors across the street. He knew the place, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. The year before its workers had gone on strike for better conditions.

Shepherd telephoned his office, where telegraph operators clickity-clacked a dramatic story across America. Shepherd saw, way above him, a young man helping a young woman to the ninth floor windowsill. The young man held her out the window, and let her drop. The man reached back into the flames, held a second girl out the window and then a third, letting them drop. None of the girls resisted, “as if,” reported Shepherd, “he were helping them into a street car instead of into eternity.”

A fourth girl put her arms around that man in the window and kissed him, perhaps impulsively for the first time or simply for the last. Then he held her out of the window and dropped her 100 feet to the sidewalk, quickly jumping after her.

“His coat fluttered upwards,” reported Shepherd, “the air filled his trouser legs as he came down. I could see he wore tan shoes.”

Shepherd wrote, “Later, I saw his face. You could see he was a real man. He had done his best.”

In less than half an hour, 146 people were dead, mostly young Jewish and Italian women. Witnesses said they fell “just like rain,” or like birds shot in the sky. In the street the water from the fire hoses ran red with the blood.…

Factoids:

1. The fire was on Shabbat.
2. At least one Triangle employee was saved because she kept Shabbat.
3. Most of the victims were young Jewish and Italian women.
4. The fire burned for 18 minutes. (Yorah Dayah enthusiasts, any thoughts on this?)
5. 146 people were killed.

Although I've had my political disagreements with him in the past, Jonathan Mark is a wonderful writer. Please read the entire piece. It's well worth your time.

Shas To Send First Ethiopian Rabbi To Knesset

Shas won 13 seats in yesterday's election. The 13th spot on the Shas list is an Ethiopian rabbi from Beersheva, Mazor Bayana. This means Shas will send the first Ethiopian rabbi in the history of Israel to Knesset.

Complete Israel Election Results

The Jerusalem Post has a complete summary of election results, including a complete slate for each party.

Rabbi, Shas MK Charged With Bribery

Shas Minister of Knesset Shlomo Benizri and his patron, kabbalist Rabbi Reuben Elbaz, have been charged with bribery. Benizri is number six on the Shas list. Shas won 13 seats and is expected to be a coalition partner with Ehud Olmert's Kadima. Benizri will not be allowed to hold a cabinet position until the trial is completed – if he is found innocent.

Rubashkin Kosher Meat Scandal, USDA Scandal

The entire archive of the Rubashkin meat scandal (and related USDA scandals) is here in reverse chronological order. The page is large, and it may take a moment or two to load.

The PETA video that started it all, my interviews with experts, and links regarding the Rubashkin family's other peccadillo's are all posted on the left side of this page.

Are Jewish Vegans Hurting Their Own Cause?

KosherAndHumane.com has an interesting post on how Jewish vegetarians and vegans often misrepresent Judaism. They argue that such misrepresentations hurt our chances of getting humane kosher slaughter and our chances for dealing with the true abuses that permeate factory farms. As you might expect, I agree.

Elie Wiesel On Darfur

Elie Wiesel on Darfur:

I am haunted by what I know of Darfur.

In Darfur, humankind’s center of suffering today, men, women and children are uprooted, starved, tortured, mutilated, humiliated and massacred -- and the whole civilized world knows it. And little or nothing, nothing significant, is being done to stop these massive violations of human rights.

Who is guilty? Those who commit these crimes. But to the question, "Who is responsible?" we are compelled to say: "Aren't we all?"

We can no longer stand idly by.…

As a Jew, and a survivor, I do not compare any events to the horrors of the Holocaust. Yet how can anyone, anywhere who sees the loss of life in Darfur, the systematic deportation, the killing of a people, not feel outraged? How can anyone who remembers other genocides – Cambodia, Rwanda, the Holocaust, the former Yugoslavia – remain silent?

If we neglect the suffering victims of Darfur, their plight will be our fault – and, perhaps, our guilt.

That is why we must act today.

Won't you make your voice heard?

Click here to sign a postcard urging President Bush to take action.

All are entitled to live with dignity and hope. All are entitled to live without fear and pain.

For the victims of Darfur, we must intervene.

Thank you,
Elie Wiesel

Rabbi Elyashiv's Evil

Dan Rabinowitz at SeforimBlog has a more complete picture of just how bad the new ban on Rabbi Nosson Kamenetsky's Making of a Gadol is. Not only did Rabbi Elyashiv agree to consult with Rabbi Kamentsky before banning the revised edition of his book, Rabbi Elyashiv's grandson, who serves as a senior assistant to Rabbi Elyashiv, confirmed this. But the ban was published – published with Rabbi Elyashiv's agreement and signature, and without consulting Rabbi Kamentsky first or even warning him. Indeed, Rabbi Kamentsky writes:

The author has made it his habit to daven in the morning in R' Elyashiv's minyan from time to time, so that if anything arises he can be informed of immediately.

This last Friday and Sunday he was at the minyan and no one (including Yisroel Elyashiv - another grandson) said anything when asked if everything is fine. It was only after he came home that he found out about the ad and article in Yated Neeman."

No due process. No respect. Just ban, ban, ban. Rabbi Elyashiv is either suffering ill effects of advanced age or is a very evil man. Either way, he should no longer be a leader of Jews.

Haredim Publish Children's Book Equating Zionists With Nazis

Haredim are loaded onto a cattle car bound for Auschwitz as zionists look on and laugh. The Hebrew over the heads of the zionists refers to a now infamous quote from a zionist leader, "Only with blood shall we redeem our land."

Haredim, most probably affiliated with Neturei Karta and Satmar, have published a children's book that claims zionists collaborated with the Nazis. Of course, what haredim don't say is that their own leaders, 1) told haredim not to leave Europe, 2) claimed that the Germans would not reach (name the town, village or shtetl) because we are anti-zionist, and 3) had their leaders rescued by, most often, zionists. Further, the Rabbis March on Washington that lead to the creation of the War Refugee Board and the rescue of more than 200,000 Jews was conceived and organized by a zionist, and most of the rabbis participating were zionists. And then we have the case of the 6th rebbe of Lubavitch, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, who condemned the Va'ad Hatzaloh, ridiculed their (successful) rescue efforts, and condemned zionists – along with non-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Jews. No senior Lubavitch rabbi attended the Rabbis March.

The children's book is a version of a longer book I used to own, also published by the right-fringe of haredim. The book was widely available in Mea Shearim and Geula bookstores, and in haredi enclaves in the US.

In related news, a group of haredim apparently affiliated with the publishers of this book tried to stop people from voting in Beit Shemesh today. They had to be dispersed by police.

Rubashkin Protest Mug On Sale!

Normal price is $14.99. On sale through Pesach for $12.99. Bring a few to your local seder.

Moscow Shul Attacker Sentenced To 13 years

The skinhead who attacked a Chabad synagogue in Moscow, wounding 9 people, including four seriously, was sentenced to 13 years in prision today. The stiffer charge of incitement to racial hatred and violence was dropped by the court. The prosecution intends to appeal that decision.

Purim Toiyre

Just noticed this parody of CrossCurrents. Next year, Hirhurim? Please!

Morons For God

Our dear friends over at Neturei Kaka have paid a visit to Hamas murderers. The Gulf Times reports:

The rabbis from the small ultra-Orthodox movement Neturei Karta, which earlier this month sent a delegation to Israeli archfoe Iran, travelled to the the West Bank town of Ramallah to express its support for the Islamic militant group which shares its staunch opposition to the Jewish state.

“We are true Jews who have come to the Palestinian Legislative Council today to proclaim our allegiance to the new Hamas regime,” said a spokesman for the group, which regards the Jewish state as blasphemous and the Palestinians as the rightful rulers of the Holy Land.

“We came to express our complete support for the Palestinian people. We consider ourselves Palestinians and, like them, we regard ourselves as under Zionist occupation.”

[Hat tip: Pinchos ben Yair.]

Rabbi Meets The Hitler Of Our Times

Nat Hentoff writes in the Village Voice about Mordechai Liebling, a rabbi who met with the head of Sudan's ruling junta and the country's elite while on a mission to end the genocide in Darfur:

I have wondered what it would be like to be in the presence of Sudanese president General Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the apprentice Hitler of our time, who is responsible for the genocide in Darfur, which is very likely to surpass the Rwanda genocide in the number of slaughtered corpses. Rwanda's atrocities lasted less than a year, but Darfur's started in 2003, and in addition to the killings, more than 2 million black Africans have been displaced from their razed homes and villages.

Recently, however, I talked to an American rabbi who actually has been in the same room with the mass murderer Bashir, members of his cabinet, and other officials.

The rabbi is Mordechai Liebling, vice president for programs at the Jewish Fund for Justice. In June of last year, he was invited by the Muslim American Freedom Foundation to be part of an interfaith, interracial delegation of religious leaders to Sudan.

Rabbi Liebling was briefly in a quandary. Since his first wife died four years ago, he has been raising four young children. And as he wrote in the March–April Jewish Currents, Bashir's government had "arrested the two senior members of Doctors Without Borders for releasing a report on rape . . . and journalists were being detained and accused of being spies. . . . I imagined myself being arrested as a Zionist spy."

"But how could I not go?" he said in the article, "A Rabbi Investigates in Sudan." He was to be the only rabbi in the delegation. Moreover, he added, "My parents were Holocaust survivors, and I grew up in a home crowded with murdered grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins."

The delegation had access to the top rank of Sudanese officials and even had a motorcycle escort on their rounds. Not surprisingly, however, as the rabbi noted, "President Bashir and senior Sudanese officials repeatedly lied, with great sincerity, right to our faces about the past, and about their intentions."

Over the years, I've interviewed all kinds of people, including some I would not want to meet on the street at two in the morning. Once, covering a gang of very wayward youths, I overheard a plan to dispose of me permanently, but the leader called it off. Yet I've never met an actual organizer of genocide.

"What was General Bashir like?" I was compelled to ask  Rabbi Liebling.

"The general," he began, "is a master politician. He exudes warmth, congeniality, and seeming sincerity. And he denies any involvement in the murders and rapes by the janjaweed." These Arab militias armed and financed by the Bashir government, along with Sudanese army officers and soldiers, are on the front line in the killing fields of Darfur.

The rabbi also met, as he described in Jewish Currents, "the cultural and political elite of the country, among them scores of elderly Sudanese with Ph.D.'s from European and American universities. They were charming, erudite, lovely people who did not admit to us any government wrongdoing. . . . I think I now understand how privilege and denial function together—as happened in Germany. It made me reflect on my own levels of denial as a privileged person in our global society."

When the rabbi and I spoke, he added: "These genteel, cultivated people showed me no consciousness of the rapes and murders by the janjaweed. They would not engage in any discussion of the slow genocide that keeps going on. It was a classic example of cognitive dissonance, of denial, and that is how it also happened in Germany."

Hentoff also notes the involvement of rabbis from across the Judaic spectrum in the fight to end the genocide in Darfur:

Mordechai Liebling is far from the only rabbi intently involved in ending the Darfur genocide. He will join an extraordinary range of religious and secular organizations and prominent individuals in a huge demonstration for that purpose in Washington on April 30. George W. Bush will be invited to speak. Let's see if he comes.…

Meanwhile, as reported in the March 17 Jewish Week—and hardly anywhere else—on March 14, a rally by 150 rabbis at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, near the United Nations, "drew rabbis from across the New York area and from all four branches of Judaism."…

Said Rabbi Saperstein: "I think the message from the rabbis is that in the end, if thousands more die in Darfur, we're all going to be held accountable. [Already] we all have to live with the responsibility of what happened in Rwanda."

Haredim are disproportionately Holocaust survivors or their descendants. Yet how many haredi rabbis attended that demonstration? How many have tried to help end the genocide in Darfur (or earlier in Rawanda)? Disproportionately few (if any).

Perhaps haredi ideology can be summed up this way: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself? That's the way God wants it.

Why should non-Jews care about helping Jews if the most visible Jews do not care about helping them?

Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu: It Is Forbidden To Vote For Kadima

In another example of scintillating intellect, two days before the election Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has issued an edict forbidding Israelis to vote for Kadima, for any secular party, or for any religious party that supported (or supports) Disengagement. And who is Rabbi Eliyahu? He is the "spiritual leader" of the National Religious Party and may be most famous for his very public assurance to Gaza residents that Disengagement would not happen. The rabbi was so sure of this, he claimed it was "prophecy." He also ordered Gaza residents not to take compensation packages from the government. The suffering former residents of Gaza are now going through is due in large part to Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.

Rabbi Eliyahu Calls For Teddy Bear Dismemberment

In another example of insanity in the guise of rabbinics, former Sefardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has called on Jews to dismember teddy bears:

In a tough break for the children of Orthodox Jewish families, a former grand rabbi of Israel has urged parents to amputate their dolls to avoid the perils of idolatry.

Basing the move on a Biblical ban on the possession of idols, Mordechai Eliyahu, a Sephardic rabbi, broadcast his edict on a religious radio station calling for an arm or a leg to be dismembered.

In the case of a teddy bear or other stuffed animals, the children will see their beloved toys lose an ear or an eye instead.

"It is very important that these toys do not remain intact so as to remove the element of idolatry," said Eliyahu.

Better the children should deface their gedolim cards.

Rabbi Kamentsky's Letter?

A reader has sent me a the text of what appears to be Rabbi Nosson Kamentsky's letter to Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (and perhaps to some other gedolim as well) detailing the agreement made after the original ban, and how Rabbi Kamentsky's enemies were trying to goad Rabbi Elyashiv into breaking it.

My problem with the letter is the deferential tone. Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv is perhaps the least moral of what passes for a gadol in today's haredi world. The man does not deserve respect – he deserves ridicule and shunning. The proper response to Rabbi Elyashiv is to spit on him and on all he stands for.   

בס"ד אור לח' אלול תשס"ה

' להו"כ הגאון הגדול ר ……………………………………………נעימות בימינו נצח,

בט"ו בטבת תשס"ג, דהיינו לפני כשנתיים וחצי, הוציא כת"ר יחד עם גדולי ישראל אחרים איסור על הספר שבשפה האנגלית "עשייתו של גדול" שהח"מ חיבר. והריני רוצה להביא לידיעת כת"ר את תוצאות האיסור ההוא ולבקש מכת"ר דבר מה כדלהלן.

כמה שבועות לפני שהוצא האיסור ביקשני מרן הגרי"ש אלישיב שליט"א לנסח מודעה לעיתון "יתד נאמן". ואני מצרף למכתבי זה את הנוסח של המודעה שמרן הגרי"ש אישר והכניס לעיתון. וכפי שיראה כת"ר, הסכים מרן הגרי"ש שליט"א שכאשר דברים מסויימים בתוך הספר ישונו, אז יוכשר. ולכן עבדתי על השינויים הנדרשים הרבה זמן עד שהכנתי "מהדורה מתוקנת" של ספרי. אכן טרם אספיק לגמור את ה"מהדורה מתוקנת" וכבר רצו אויבי נפשי למרן הגרי"ש ודרשו שיוציא איסור גם על הספר החדש, ומרן שליט"א דחה אותם בשתי ידים. אחרי זה ביקשתי אני ממרן הגרי"ש שליט"א שאם יבואו אליו עוד פעם אחרי שאוציא ה"מהדורה מתוקנת" לאור ויגידו לו כזו וכזה כתוב בספר, שלא ישמע אליהם עד שאיקרא אני לפני המלך, מאן מלכי רבנן, להיות נוכח כשיתרגמו שונאיי את דבריי מהשפה הזרה. ומרן שליט"א ענני, "בקשה זו היא בודאי נכונה".

ובכן מבקש אני גם מכת"ר שאם יבואו אינשי דלא מעלי אלה אל כת"ר שיחתום איזה נוסח גם נגד ה"מהדורה מתוקנת" לבל ישמע לעדותם עד שיקרא אותי אליו ובחפץ לב אבוא לפניו ובפניהם כדי להזים עדי רשע אלו. רציתי רק להוסיף שהרי גם כת"ר וגם כל אלה שחתמו יחד אתו לא קראו את הספר המקורי, ואדרבה שני גדולי ישראל שכן קראוהו אמרו בפירוש שאין שום סיבה לאוסרו. הלוא המה: הגאון ר' זליג הלוי עפשטיין שליט"א (מזקני ראשי הישיבות באמריקה, תלמיד מובהק של המשגיח של ישיבת מיר ר' ירוחם הלוי ליבוביץ זצ"ל, וראש ישיבת "שער התורה גרודנא" בארה"ב) והגאון ר' משה שטרנבוך שליט"א (אב"ד עדה החרדית בירושלים, תלמיד מובהק של מרן הגרי"ז מבריסק זצ"ל, מחבר ספרי "מועדים וזמנים" שו"ת ועוד). שני צנתרות הזהב האלה אשר יודעים היטב את השפה הלועזית ההיא קראו בעצמם את ספרי המקורי והכשירוהו כמו שהוא. אמנם מפני שלא רציתי להמרות את איסורו של כת"ר שליט"א, ומהיות טוב, נטיתי את שכמי לסבול עמל והוצאות  עמודים), וגם לא אמכור את ספרי 224רבות כדי להשלים "מהדורה מתוקנת" (אשר בה שיניתי החדש בארץ ישראל, כי אם באמריקה. ומלבד מה שמבקש אני מכת"ר שיקרא לי להיות נוכח באם יבואו מתנגדיי אליו, הנני מוכן ומזומן לבוא לפני כת"ר גם כעת עתה לפרט הדברים שכתבתי לעיל, אילו רצונו של כת"ר בכך.

אני מתנצל על אריכות מכתב זה כי מרוב שיחי וכעסי כתבתי עד הנה, ולכן תחת שאכתוב מכתבי בכתב ידי אשר כך יאות ממידת דרך ארץ, תקתקתיו כדי שהקורא כת"ר ירוץ בו. ואני תפלה שלא יחול ר"ל על דורנו הקיטרוג של הבת-קול שהוזכר בסנהדרין ק"ב ע"א בשם רבי חנינא בר פפא עיי"ש: מי שהנהיג את יהדות ארה"ב במשך הרבה שנות עשור, אבא מארי מרן הגאון רבי יעקב זצ"ל (אשר עליו סמך מרן הגרא"מ שך זצ"ל בכל הענינים), תתנו שילוחים לבניו בשביל כמה "אמעריקאנער אינגלאך" שטי כזב? ואסיים בברכת שלום כמנהג ת"ח שמרבים שלום בעולם, בכבוד התורה ויקרא דרבנן,
(חתימת הרב נתן קמנצקי)

                                                                         With Heaven’s help: Evening of 8 Elul 5765

To the distinguished Hagaon R’…… ……………..……. greetings of pleasantness.

On 15 Teveth 5763, about two-and-a-half years ago, his Torah honor together with other gedolei Yisrael issued a ban on the English-language book, Making of a Godol, which the undersigned authored. I want to bring to his Torah honor’s knowledge the results of that ban, and to request something from his Torah honor, as below.

Several weeks before the ban was issued, Maran Rav Elyashiv shlita asked me to compose an announcement for the Yated Ne’eman newspaper. I attach to this letter the text of the announcement that Maran Rav Elyashiv approved and inserted in the newspaper. As his Torah honor sees, Maran Rav Elyashiv agreed that when certain things in the book will be changed, it will become qualified. Therefore I worked on the required changes much time, till I prepared an “Improved Edition” of my book. However, I hadn’t even completed the “Improved Edition” when my mortal enemies ran to Moron Rabbi Elyashiv and demanded that he also issue a ban on the new book; and Moron shlita dismissed them from his presence. After that I asked Maran shlita that if they come to him again after I publish the “Improved Edition” and tell him that such-and such is written in the book, he should not hear them out until I am called before the king – who are kings? the rabbanim - to be present while my enemies translate my words from the foreign language. Maran Rabbi Elyashiv replied, “This request is certainly proper.”

Thus, I also ask his Torah’s honor that if these indecent people come also to his Torah’s honor to sign on some form against the “Improved Edition” not to listen to their testimony until he calls me to him and I will gladly come before him, and in their presence, to prove false these evil witnesses. I want only to add that both his Torah’s honor and the others who signed together with him did not read the original book; and, on the contrary, two gedolei Yisrael who did read it said explicily that there is no reason to forbid it. They are: Hagaon R’ Zelik Epstein shlita (from the senior rashei yeshivos in America, an outstanding talmid of the Mashgiah of Mirrer Yeshiva, R’ Yeruham Levovitz zatzal, and Rosh Yeshiva of “Sha’ar haTorah Grodno” in America) and Hagaon R’ Moshe Sternbuch shlita (head of the Beth Din of Aidah Haharaidis in Jerusalem, an outstanding talmid of Maran Hagaon R’ Velvalleh of Brisk zatzal, and author of Mo’adim uZmanim, Sh’ailos uTshuvos, and other volumes). These two precious gedolim, who know the foreign language (English) well, read the original book themselves and ruled it kosher as is. But because I did not want to defy the ban of his Torah’s honor shlita, and in order to make things even better, I bent my shoulder to bear much toil and expense to complete the “Improved Edition” (wherein I changed 224 pages); and I will also not sell the new book in Eretz Yisrael, but only in America. Besides my request that I be called to be present if my opponents come to him, I am fully ready, if this be the wish of his Torah’s honor, to come before his Torah’s honor at the present time to detail what I have written above.

I apologize for the length of this letter, for from the abundance of my grief and vexation have I written till now; therefore, instead of writing my letter in manuscript, as would be fitting according to the rules of good manners, I typed it, so that the reader, his Torah’s honor, be able to go through it quicky. And I pray that the denunciation of the Bas Kol cited in Sanhedrin 102a in the name of Rabbi Hanina bar Popo, vide ibidem, not affect our generation, may the Compassionate One spare us: Whosoever led American Jewry for many decades, my father Maran haGaon R’ Yaakov zatzal (on whom Maran Rav Shakh zatzal relied in all matters), do you send off his sons because of several “American yinglakh” who stray aside unto deception? I will end with blessings of peace, as is the way of Talmidei Hakhamim who increase peace, with honor of Torah and dignity of rabbanan,

(signature of Rav Noson Kamenetsky shlita)

GUEST POST: 18 Myths About Judaism And Vegetarianism

[As always, a Guest Post is a guest post . I do not necessarily agree with all – or anything, for that matter – a Guest Post's author writes. This case is no exception to that rule.]

EIGHTEEN REASONS JEWS THINK THEY SHOULD NOT BE VEGETARIANS (AND WHY THEY ARE WRONG)
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America.

Gedolim Of Yesteryear

Mississippi Fred over at On The Main Line has posted contemporaneous pictures of famous rabbis from the 1700's and 1800's culled from a Dutch museum. Included are drawings of the GRA and Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch (above) made during their lifetimes.

The Text Of The Ban

Deiah v'Dibur, the online edition of the Israeli haredi rag Yated Ne'eman, has published a translation of the new (second) ban against Rabbi Nosson Kamentsky's revised book, Making of a Gadol:

    Daas Torah
    BS"D, 14 Adar 5766

    On Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5763 a statement prohibiting the book, The Making of a Godol, was issued. Since a new book has now been printed with the claim that the matters that needed rectification were indeed rectified, after Hageonim Hatzaddikim R' Y. Rosenbloom and R' D. Segal examined the matters, this [claim] has been found to be untrue — kema'aseihu borishonoh kein ma'asehu be'achronoh — and therefore the ban remains in force.

    Yosef Sholom Eliashiv

    Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman

    Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz

    Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg

    Nissim Karelitz

    Tzvi Markovitz

    Chaim Kanievsky

    Shmuel Auerbach

    The Following Letter was Issued three years ago and reaffirmed now.

    Condemnation of the book "The Making of a Godol"

    We were appalled to hear from reliable talmidei chachomim about the distribution and sale of a book called The Making of a Godol, which is full of severely debasing remarks, derisiveness, degradation and hotzo'as sheim ra against several figures among gedolei horabbonim, the leading lights of Yisroel in recent generations and the rishonim kemal'ochim whose words guide the lives of all Beis Yisroel, whose elucidations of the Torah we imbibe and whose greatness, veneration and holiness are rooted in the hearts of all Jews with a fear of Heaven. This is what the book seeks to negate, by discrediting, disgracing and debasing their illustrious honor, which is also the honor of Hashem yisborach and the holy Torah, as explained in Rabbenu Yonah, Shaar 3, The Tenth Madreigoh.

    Moreover, the book casts doubt and creates confusion by infusing spurious opinions and incorrect hashkofoh regarding learning chochmos chitzoniyos and various types of literature, implying falsely that there is no contradiction to Torah study if certain approaches are followed, all in the name of gedolei Yisroel. By so doing it blemishes the proper hashkofoh that we have received from our rabbonim, gedolei hadoros, who raised loud and bitter cries, and wholly dedicated themselves throughout the last fifty years to the task of uprooting the terrible breach of blending external studies together with the pure study of our holy Torah as given at Sinai. Herein lies an awful danger, particularly for the young abroad, many of whom [in any case] face great pressure from their families and their environment in this matter and are liable to fall into the traps set by those who seek to distance them from the eternal springs of devoted Torah study.

    Therefore we hereby state our opinion that such an aberration cannot be tolerated in the holy nation of Am Yisroel and therefore this book is prohibited from entering kehal Hashem, whether by bringing it into the home, reading from it or dealing with it commercially, and every man of prudence who wishes to keep his fear of Heaven and purity of heart intact and is concerned to educate his family properly will keep it at a great distance from both himself and his household, with the realization that it poses a great danger to all who have a fear of Heaven in their heart. This is not a book of tales about gedolei Yisroel, but just the opposite. It is wholly filled with a chilling spirit that distances one from the true purpose in life that can have unforeseen and grave consequences.

    He who heeds our words will be blessed by Hashem Yisborach, and together with his household will rise to higher and higher levels of Torah and yir'oh, cleaving to the Tree of Life, the holy Torah, and will cover himself with the dust from the feet of gedolei hadoros, the conveyors of Torah, who pass it on for eternity throughout the generations until the arrival of the Messiah speedily, in our days.

    Upon this we have signed for the honor of the Torah Hakedoshoh, and the honor of the Chachomim and those who pass it on in purity.

    Yom Shlishi, Rosh Chodesh Kislev, 5763

    Signed,

    Yosef Sholom Eliashiv

    Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman

    M.S. Shapira

    Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz

    Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg

    Nissim Karelitz

    Tzvi Markovitz

    Chaim Kanievsky

    Shmuel Auerbach

    Shlomo Wolbe

The lesson from this? Haredi Orthodox Judaism and truth do not mix. If you write the truth, you will be banned – no matter what you have been promised by gedolim.

Our response should be clear and strong: Disinvestment from the haredi world and its institutions. Speak with your wallet and with your feet.

[Hat top: Calvin not Hobbes.]

New JBlog: Kosher And Humane

KosherAndHumane.com is a new website/blog exploring the issues of "tzaar baalei hayyim and our kosher food chain." Here's a sample of the writing:

Does Jewish law – which commands owners to feed their animals before eating, and mandates humane treatment of animals – support  what appears to be barbaric cruelty? If it does not, why are we eating these products, and why are rabbis  endorsing them? … Does human desire (note: I wrote "desire," not "need") automatically trump tzaar baalei hayyim law? …

Should we care about animal welfare? Or is the comfort of our stomachs more important than the laws of our Torah?

Rabbi Avraham Shemtov On the 770 Court Decision

Steven I. Weiss has posted exerpts from an interview he did today with Rabbi Avraham Shemtov of Agudas Chasidei Chabad, the "anit-messianist" "main" Chabad organization. Shemtov claims no shluchim are messianists, and paints messianism as a small faction within a faction. Here is the comment I left to that post:

[Rabbi J.I.} Schochet did not write his essay against Berger in a vacuum. He wrote it with the approval of Agudas Chasidei Chabad – meaning he wrote it with the approval of Rabbi Avraham Shemtov.

The average Chabadnik is a messianist – but he may not be a yellow flag waving overt messianist. The shluchim are quiet messianists, with exceptions – especially in France, Russia and Israel, where overt messianism is dominant.

This war Shemtov may fight is against a fringe element of the overt messianists, the Sfasniks that occupy 770. This group is the most overt of the overt messianists. They believe the Rebbe is alive and standing in front of them.

The problem here is that journalists and outside rabbis do not understand the politics and groupings, and they over simplify the situation. Most overt messianists want the Sfasniks thrown out of 770. And, very quietly, Shemtov himself hints at what is to come:

So, what will 770 look like six months or two years down the line? “770 will look as it should, reflecting the beliefs and the direction of Lubavitch which is all-inclusive, a place for everybody to feel at home and to feel inspired to conduct themselves as a Jew and a Yid should…I think that we are concerned about the prevailing atmosphere and spirit which would be in accordance with the Rebbe’s teaching, and if [the messianist signs are] an impediment, of course” they’d be removed.”

I had posted on my old website (the one Chabad hacked and destroyed) an entire archive of overt messianism from shluchim all over  the world. That Shemtov claims not to know what Berger is referring to is an open lie. That he can utter it in relative safety speaks volumes for how the media has, until now, covered this truly sad story.

So, if messianist signs keep more people away from Chabad than draw people to Chabad, the signs come down. If not they stay. Some fighter of messianism.

Antisemitic Cartoons

A Jewish-sponsored Israeli antisemitic cartoon contest. And you people thought I was being bad …

[Hat tip: Sefardi Wannabee.]

Rabbi David Batzri: Why Didn't God Create Arabs With 4 Legs? They Are Donkeys!

Israel-based Kabbalist Rabbi David Batzri and his son Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri oppose a Jewish-Arab primary school that has existed in the Pat neighborhood of Jerusalem for nine years. The school is seeking to expand, and the mystical Rabbis Batzri organized a meeting to stop the expansion. Here is part of what they said, as quoted by Ynet:

At the conference, the elder Batzri told Pat residents: “The establishment of a school like this one is a despicable and impure act. Stand in the way and prevent this. Darkness and light cannot be mixed. The people of Israel are pure and Arabs are a nation of asses. The question must be asked, why didn’t God give them four legs, because they are asses.”

The son, Yitzhak Batzri, also made objectionable comments. “The Arabs are beasts and asses,” he said. “They are inferior, they want to take our daughters. People say we are racist, but – they are the evil ones, the cruel ones, the scum of snakes. This is war.”

Israel is preparing to indict the rabbis. This type of speech, disgusting as it is, should not be prosecuted – unless violence is be linked to it, as it so often is.

Ha'aretz adds the following bit of theodicy from the Batzris:

Batzri also said the outbreak of bird flu in Israel is God's punishment for calls in election ads to legalize gay marriages.

"The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through plagues against animals and then in people," Batzri said in a religious edict quoted by his son.

Batzri said he hoped the deaths of hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens would help atone for what he called the sins of left-wing political parties, Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri told Reuters a week before the Knesset election.

The bird flu outbreak stemmed from far-left political parties "strengthening and encouraging homosexuality," Batzri's son quoted him as saying.

[Hat tip: Minnesota Twin.]

David Berger On The 770 Court Decision

Steven I. Weiss has Rabbi Dr. David Berger's take on the recent 770 court decision. Dr. Berger is unsure of what to make of it and he prefers to wait and see what the practical results are. That was my reaction when I saw the decision last week, and it's why I have not posted anything on it until now.

Dr. Berger has a litmus test of sorts – will Rabbi Krinsky remove messianic signs and banners from the building, inside and out? Will he ban messianic practices like making rows of honor after prayer for the late Rebbe to "walk" through? Or will the status quo remain?

The theology of the Krinsky "anti-messianist" faction and the overt messianists is the same. It is only the practical ideology, their public actions, that differ. Both believe the late Rebbe is the messiah. Both believe the late Rebbe answers prayers directed to him and "dispenses" advice to those who ask for it. It is only publicizing the late Rebbe's "messianic status" that causes disagreement.

As a commenter on Canonist points out, the real test is not whether the Krinsky faction removes messianic signs from the building and bans overt messianic practice inside. The real test is whether Chabad followers remove questionable messianic theology from their hearts.   

The Sin Of The Golden Calf?

RebelJew has a nice d'var haTorah on the sin of the Golden Calf.

Why Israeli Protest Is Violent

Noted right-wing activist Yisrael Medad wonders why the settlement movement and Israel's right wing have not eschewed violence:

[T]he understanding that we need marshals, that we have to be as non-violent in appearance as possible (like sitting down with no rocks to throw anywhere, etc.) is lacking.

I have tried to give seminars and workshops (I appeared as an expert on non-violent civil activism at the sedition trial of Feiglin and Sackett) but have been rebuffed and basically ignored.

But maybe things will improve.

Hardly likely. Non-violence was possible in America because the non-violent protesters had a commitment to democracy – Israel's fascist and theocratic right wing does not. In effect, what Medad wants is for fascists to masquerade as democrats. That may work for a day or two, in very limited circumstances, but it cannot work for the long term. It is the neo-fascist theocrats that dominate the National Religious camp that are to blame for this. Their malfeasance over the last 30 years gave birth to the rotten fruit of Gaza, Amona and the Rabin assassination. And believe you me, more of their progeny will continue to rot the Jewish state from within. May God save us.

Haredim Issue New Book Ban

Hirhurim is reporting that the Israeli Yated Ne'eman (controlled by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and his kanoim) has published a ban against Rabbi Nosson Kamentsky's revised edition of Making of a Gadol. Haredim have now banned science, history, the Internet, Rabbi Slifkin, Making of a Gadol (twice), and many forms of technology. It's time for the rest of Judaism to ban haredim. Speak with your wallets and with your feet. Don't donate to haredi institutions. Don't attend haredi synagogues. And do not buy haredi produced or supervised products. It's time to put these thugs back in their caves.

SHAS: Stroke Because Sharon Crossed Us, Don't Vote Shas? You Will Burn In Hell

Rabbi Shimon Baadani, a leading member of Shas's Council of Torah Sages explains PM Ariel Sharon's stroke:

"Ariel Sharon had a stroke because he went [against] Shas and hurt religious services," Baadani explained during a sermon he gave at a Jerusalem synagogue.

Oh, and one more thing. Vote in the upcoming election for any other political party? You will burn in hell, Rabbi Baadani says.

Now that ought to win Shas a lot of votes.

Hesder Rabbi To Students: Refuse To Serve In IDF

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Yeshivat Elon Moreh tells hesder students to evade army service:

For the first time in Israel's history, a Yeshiva rabbi is explicitly calling on students to evade army draft in a bid to avoid taking part in the evacuation of settlements, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday.

"If you think the IDF will force you to evict Jews from their homes or to go against your faith – don't join the army," Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, the head of the Elon Moreh yeshiva, told students, some of whom are already serving in the army, others will soon be enlisted.

Who is Rabbi Levanon?

At the time of the pullout, Rabbi Levanon's students led the trend of insubordination in the army, and most reported they made the decision following consultations with their yeshiva head. However, Levanon himself insisted he had never instructed his students how to act, saying he left the decision in their hands, hoping they would come to the right choice.

Let's hope Israel comes to the "right choice"– this man is paid by the state. That must stop immediately, as must all state funds to any institution that preaches desertion, insubordination and sedition.

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, the book that in large part created the US Meat Inspection Act of 1906 is available free online.

Is That Dog In Your Hamburger? The Answer Is "Yes" If George Bush Gets His Way

In a further degradation of food safety standards, the Bush Administration's USDA is now allowing rabbit, cat and dog meat to be mixed with ground beef and sold. Andrew Martin of the Chicago Tribune reports:

A short notice from the United States Department of Agriculture has created a stir-and perhaps a wave of nausea-among the nation’s meat inspectors.

Called “FSIS NOTICE 15-06: Use of Non-Amenable Animal Tissue in Inspected Products,” the notice essentially says that animals that you wouldn’t normally associate with hamburgers can be “included in amenable meat or poultry products produced in official establishments.”

In other words, anything from deer to dog meat can be ground into hamburger, as long as it meets state regulations, which inspectors say tend to be looser than the federal government’s.

Martin asked Steven Cohen, spokesman for the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service, if dog meat really could be mixed with beef and sold to consumers across America:

“I don’t believe that it is illegal, but there is no place that is producing dog meat,” Cohen said, adding that the regulation fits a “very limited circumstance. “I don’t think there’s anyone who is doing this on a commercial basis.”

But roadkill wouldn’t qualify because, since the animal wasn’t slaughtered, it would be considered adulterated, he said.

According to Martin, even migratory birds could be added to the mix:

Non-amenable animal tissue, as defined in the notice, is any tissue from animals not subject to inspection under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act. It includes edible tissue from exotic animals, rabbits, migratory birds and other animals not under the scope of USDA inspection, like alligator and kangaroo.

This is especially troubling because state inspections are often much weaker than the USDA's – which itself has been weakened by the Bush Administration. With Bird Flu a real threat, allowing the admixture of migratory bird tissue with beef is asking for trouble – big trouble.

And how has this announcement affected the nation's already disheartened Food Inspectors?

News of the notice swept through the community of meat inspectors after one of them sent an email to USDA’s technical support center asking for clarification. In response to a question, Kris Kenne, a USDA staff officer, said someone could mix deer meat with pork and sell deer dogs with a USDA logo as long as the ingredients were labeled and state law allowed it.

Does this also mean that a slaughtered cat or dog can be added to sausage, Kenne was asked?

“Yes, that is a possibility should one wish to pursue to use them as an ingredient in the product. Public perception may not be so acceptable of the practice though,” Kenne responded.…

“Suffice it to say, this is bizarre to inspectors in the field,” said Trent Berhow, president of the Midwest Council of Food Inspectors locals…

Bird Flu In Israel

Bird flu appears to have reached Israel – Ha'aretz reports, as does the Jerusalem Post and Ynet.

Chabad's Very Own Messianic Rasta #7: "Deconstructing" Jewish Law

The Algemeiner Journal, a Chabad mouthpiece published in Brooklyn, has a piece written by a Chabad shaliach, Rabbi Levi Brackman, defending Matisyahu:

… There is a fundamental difference between the Kabbalistic and the non-Kabbalistic views of Judaism. Up until the French Revolution in 1789, society was divided into three groups: the church, the aristocracy and the peasants. In the terminology of the post-modern French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-2004), the landowners and the church were the centre and the peasants were the periphery. The two did not mix. Education, money and power were restricted to the elite; the peasants enjoyed no such privileges. After the French Revolution, the periphery was also given some of the privileges that were previously the exclusive right of the centre. With this came the emancipation of the Jews. Although the landowners and the educated were still regarded as the centre, the difference now was that peasants had the possibility of entering this exclusive domain.

 

The post-modern era, according to Derrida, was a time of “deconstruction.” All things were seen in pairs, one superior to the other: rich and poor, educated and ignorant, powerful and powerless, etc. The deconstructivist view is that rich is not necessarily superior to poor, in fact, being poor can be more advantageous. Seen from this perspective, poor is the new centre and rich is the periphery. Derrida goes one step further and says that hierarchy should not exist at all; rather, all boundaries between centre and periphery should be deconstructed [1].

 

Western society is a deconstructed civilization in many ways. Whereas in the past women were seen as inferior, today they are often regarded as superior to men. Similarly, modern human rights laws have ensured that the views of vulnerable minorities are respected and listened to.

 

Non-Kabbalistic Judaism, in general, does not deconstruct boundaries. According to this school of thought, the centre should be distinct from the periphery. Here we have the concept of ‘enclave Judaism,’ which clearly marks out the boundaries between the holy and the profane. The fact that this type of Judaism disagrees with Matisyahu’s style of music and choice of audience is no surprise, for it regards the mixing of the centre with the periphery as an obvious desecration of G-d’s name.

 

The Kabbalah as interpreted by many Chassidic schools, however, adds a deconstructive element to Judaism. To be sure, Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and Halacah (Jewish law) are two parts of a single Torah, mirroring each other in perfect seamlessness, like a body mirroring a soul. Halacah is the pragmatic counterpart of mystical Kabbalah. The authentic masters of Kabbalah and Chassidism were great masters of Halacah as well and saw halachic boundaries not as limitating, but as structural patterns reflecting the energy zones of life and the cosmos. Yet within the halachik system itself, the Kabbalists revealed a new light, often one that deconstructs bouandries, merging the finite and the infinite in an extraprdinary fashion.

 

The Kabbalah teaches, for example, that in the messianic epoch women will be perceivably greater than men, because inherently feminine energy is superior to masculine energy. The Kabbalah also deconstructs the boundaries between the physical and the spiritual. Whereas non-Kabbalistic Judaism holds spirituality superior to physicality, the Kabbalah maintains that in the final analysis the physical is more potent, the body deeper than the soul.

 

The principle is simple: the higher the source the lower it reaches. Esau is thus seen as having a higher spiritual antecedent than Jacob. One who meditates may reach lofty spiritual heights; however, the essence of G-d will remain elusive. Ironically, Kabbalah teaches that the only way one can connect to the Divine essence is through the physical. Spiritual levels are by definition constantly cognizant of their dependency on their sources. Conversely, physical objects project auras of egocentricity – they seem to depend on nothing other than themselves for their existence. This aura is, in a sense, parallel with the nature of the Divine essence whose existence is truly independent [2]. According to the Kabbalists, the ex nihilo nature of the creation of the physical universe necessitates direct intervention of the Divine essence. It is this intervention that allowed the physical to assume its egocentric aura. Thus, there is a unique similarity – at least in terms of language – and connection between the physical and the Divine essence [3].

 

This sheds light on the Jewish phenomena of Mitzvoth, which are mainly physical acts rather than mystical meditations. It is precisely through the physical act of a Mitzvah that the most profound connection with the Divine is forged. In fact, according to a Midrash [4] – adopted by the Kabbalists – the purpose of creation was for humans to unveil the Divine essence found in those parts of the universe which are most devoid of G-dliness [5]. This stresses the inherent value of the mundane and unrefined aspects of the universe – where the mission is most intense [6].

 

This completely deconstructs the boundaries. What was once the centre – without the Kabbalistic explanation – can now be seen as the periphery and vice versa [7]. Thus, by bringing a G-dly message to the intensely profane one in a sense is fulfilling the purpose of creation in the most profound manner possible. Indeed it is this ideology that has caused me to choose to live in secular Evergreen, Colorado rather than in a Chasidic enclave of Brooklyn, New York.

 

By his own admission, Matisyahu is being guided by the Chabad School of Kabbalistic thought. Thus, as long as he adheres to Jewish law and does not get carried away with stardom and the narcissistic celebrity culture of modern-day America, his music may be considered, in my opinion, a sanctification of G-d’s name.

~~~~~~~

[1] See Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology, John Hopkins, (1976). [2] See Maimonides, Hilchos Daeos, 1:3. [3] For a more in-depth analysis of post-modern parallels with the Chassidic School of Kabbalistic thought, see Naftali Loewenthal’s forthcoming article, “Jewish Mysticism in a World of Change: Pre-Modern, Modern and Post- Modern Perspectives,” which in part inspired this article. [4] Bamidbar Rabba, 13:6. This Midrash was quoted most frequently by the seventh Lubavicher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn. [4] For a complete treatise on this subject see Faitel Levin, Heaven on Earth, Kehot Publication Society (2002). [5] Inherent in deconstructing boundaries is the danger of losing all sense of limits, and thus raising the possibility of further concealing the Divine essence. To forestall this possibility the Halacha (Jewish law) must be steadfastly adhered to at all times.

This is the same argument made by the followers of Shabbatai Tsvi and the Frankists to defend their heresies. While Judaism has, in more recent times, had a concept of descent for the purpose of (later) ascent, this never entailed the intentional descent into  base physicality or sin – except in the theology of the Sabbatians and Frankists. As for the rest of Rabbi Brackman's hogwash about deconstuction and halakha, the theology Rabbi Brackman represents is not Jewish – at least not Jewish in a way Jewish legal scholars for millenia would recognize or endorse. And that speaks volumes about today's Chabad and its minstrel prophet, Matisyahu.

Chabad's very Own Messianic Rasta #6

The Jewish Week has an article about the racial controversy surrounding Matisyahu. I've made the point before that much of this idea that Matis is being singled out for approbation because he is white is foolish. He's being singled out because, for the last 100 years, white artists have taken black artists' songs and released them to white audiences – often without acknowledgment. For much of this time, these black artists were denied both public acclaim and money, while the Pat Boones of the world became rich and famous at their expense.

If Matisyahu were a more substantial act, and if Matis was generous to those black artists he mimics, perhaps things would be different – but Matisyahu is not generous in this regard, and his act is far from substantial.

This history is largely ignored by those who attack Matisyahu's critics.

The Jewish Week quotes Murray Forman, a professor of communication studies at Northeastern University who has written extensively about reggae and hip-hop:

But, Forman added, no discussion of Matisyahu — or any other artist, for that matter — would be complete without mention of a social force mightier than race and religion combined: money.

“At some point we also have to recognize that Matisyahu is also a product of culture industries,” he said. “Not only he benefits from adopting reggae, but the music industry benefits as well.”

In Matisyahu, he said, the industry found an unlikely and attractive musical vehicle, one that could deliver reggae music to an audience, predominantly white, that would otherwise have most likely remained uninterested.

“Matisyahu is being promoted and marketed to a particular audience,” Forman said. “There’s an industry alongside this that says this is where we’ll meet the largest audience and generate the greatest revenue. And I think it’s folly for anybody to overlook the industrial role here.”

As proof of sorts, Forman mentioned that the industry itself refrained from labeling Matisyahu’s music as reggae. His albums are listed under the “Alternative” category on iTunes, and “King Without a Crown,” his biggest hit, reached No. 7 on Billboard’s rock chart, and not the R&B and hip-hop chart, which monitors reggae musicians as well.

To be sure, other artists who have begun as marketing schemes have since risen to prominence. Eminem, to cite the best example, got his first break for being the first white rapper, became successful for appealing to a large white audience otherwise indifferent to hip-hop and went on to become one of the genre’s most esteemed musicians, regardless of skin color.

Given the recent ride he’s on, Matisyahu may be moving in that direction. But Forman is skeptical.

“Eminem is a superior rhyme artist, he’s a skilled producer, he can freestyle, and his style is quite literally unparalleled,” Forman said. “He’s much better than Matisyahu is in his respective category. Matisyahu will never be at the top of the reggae skill chart. He’ll never trump even half of the artists we haven’t even heard of. He is not a superior artist.”

And that is exactly the point I've been making all along.

Rubashkin Spokesman Mike Thomas: “We view PETA’s efforts as an attack on kosher slaughter. They put their political interests before the right to the free practice of religion”

The JTA has a report on the Rubashkin Scandal. Note the leading way the piece begins:

A kosher slaughtering plant says it has come to terms with a written warning from a U.S. government agency.

But the activist group behind the complaints that led the U.S. Department of Agriculture to probe the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, isn’t satisfied.

A spokesman for Agriprocessors, which received the warning following an investigation into allegations that kosher slaughter rules — and therefore, U.S. law — were being violated at the plant, said the company accepted the probe.

“It was fair,” Mike Thomas said. “That’s the job of the regulator and we respect it.”

Well, duh! Rubashkin was caught red-handed ripping the throats out of live animals. He could have been fined a very large amount of money and could have spent a long time in court, with the astronomical attorney's fees that would entail. Instead, he got off with a warning letter, and the USDA secreted the report for almost one year, saving Rubashkin's reputation. He could not have asked for a better outcome.

But did Rubashkin really "come to terms" the findings of the report? No:

In a letter to Agriprocessors dated Sept. 20, 2005, the department warned that “future violations could result in the matter being referred for legal action,” though no such action has occurred.

PETA believes the warning and report should “serve as a wake-up call” to Agriprocessors, Friedrich said.

But Thomas said Agriprocessors has no plans to talk to PETA, let alone comply with any of its demands.

“We view PETA’s efforts as an attack on kosher slaughter. They put their political interests before the right to the free practice of religion,” Thomas said.

When the news initially made headlines, some members of the kosher community were upset that slaughter at Agriprocessors appeared less humane than they expected.

But that hasn’t affected sales, Thomas said — and since the PETA video was made, Agriprocessors has opened another plant, in Nebraska.

As noted in a post below this, Rubashkin's attorney Nathan Lewin echoed Thomas's words and was quite clear – Rubashkin did no wrong.

As long as Jews continue to stuff their mouths with Rubashkin's products, nothing will truly change. Refusing to eat Rubashkin's, Aaron's Best, and other AgriProcessors products is the only way to make a difference. Speak with your mouths – and your wallets.

RUBASHKIN SCANDAL: PETA Calls For Independent Inspections

PETA is calling for independent inspections to make sure Rubashkin is following Humane Slaughter regulations:

The group vowed to appeal to the U.S. Attorney’s Office that declined to prosecute the case, call on the Agriculture Department to fire investigators who failed to enforce kosher standards and intensify calls on the Orthodox Union, which oversees kosher operations at the plant, to allow what PETA calls “legitimate animal welfare experts” into the plant to monitor the process.

“This is the least the O.U. should be doing if it takes its own claims about kosher being humane seriously,” a PETA spokesman, Bruce Friedrich, said in a e-mail.

It's hard to argue with PETA's demand. Of course, I'm sure the OU, KAJ, and Rubashkin will.

Rubashkin's Attorney Nathan Lewin: Rubashkin Did No Wrong

Rubashkin's attorney Nathan Lewin claims the USDA report is clear – Rubashkin did no wrong:

"The body of the report has got a lot of stuff that indicates that no one thought that there was anything inhumane," Lewin said. "It's only because it looks bad that PETA is able to exploit it."

When this scandal broke in 2004, Lewin – often billed as a "noted" Constitutional expert by Agudath Israel – accused PETA of being Nazis. When pressed for evidence, Lewin admitted he had none, other than the coincidence that Nazis (like the Torah) were big on animal welfare. But, here is why Lewin is lying.

In October 2003 Lewin and many rabbis from kosher supervising agencies met senior-level USDA officials in Washington. The rabbis, led by Agudath Israel and Lewin, asked the USDA to rewrite the Humane Slaughter directive because its wording prohibiting "sawing" with a knife could be "misinterpreted" by inspectors leading them to stop the line during kosher slaughter. The group lobbied strongly for line inspectors to be restricted from enforcing Humane Slaughter directives on their own. The USDA agreed to this and issued new directive calling for line inspectors to call the regional USDA office before taking action. And regional offices were made to understand that the line should rarely be stopped. This was done because no one at the USDA had ever seen Rubashkin's throat-ripping with meat hooks. USDA officials, more worried about Muslim slaughter because of its often amateur execution, were happy to oblige the rabbis because USDA officials trusted them. Immediately after the directive was changed to the text Lewin and the rabbis wanted, Lewin's client – Rubashkin – brought out the meat hooks and began ripping out the throats out of live animals.

Lewin's late father was a noted defender of shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter). Lewin's father wrote many years ago about the inherent humaneness of shechita, repeating ad nauseum the "fact" that the 'swift and painless' cut of the schochet's knife immediately severed the carotids and jugulars, leaving the animal unconscious before it realized what happened, and dead within seconds after that. Yet today's rabbis – and Nathan Lewin – justify throat-ripping with meat hooks, and argue that shechita that does not sever the carotids and jugular is not only kosher, but humane.

Nathan Lewin's actions prove his father wrong, and they should send a clear warning to anyone who cares about kosher or animal welfare.

RUBASHKIN SCANDAL: The Jewish Week Reports

Unkosher Goings-On At Meat Plant

Inhumane slaughter was unchecked by inspectors, federal probe of Iowa kosher slaughterhouse finds.

Stewart Ain - Staff Writer In a damning report, a federal investigation in late 2004 found that employees of one of the nation’s major kosher slaughterhouses “had engaged in acts of inhumane slaughter,” that federal inspectors did nothing to stop it and instead accepted gifts of meat from plant employees. Further, the inspectors were found in their offices playing video games, the report said. In the course of the probe of AgriProcessors Inc. of Postville, Iowa, by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a federal inspector at the plant said that in February 2004 he saw rabbis there inspecting turkeys “with fecal matter on them” and then inspecting other turkeys without washing their hands. “This could cause cross contamination,” the report said. The federal inspector ordered the slaughtering halted until the problem was corrected, but he was overruled and told he “could not interfere with the rabbis.” Nevertheless, he told the rabbis to wash after each inspection and the rabbis complied. The Inspector General’s report, dated April 25, 2005, was obtained last week through the Freedom of Information Act by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA placed the report on its Web site. A spokesman for the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service, Steven Cohen, said the investigation was triggered by a videotape released late last year by PETA that purported to show steers at AgriProcessors walking around after their necks were cut as part of the ritual kosher slaughter, and after workers had pulled out their tracheas with a hook to speed the bleeding. Several of the animals were videotaped staggering around in a pen with their windpipes dangling. PETA said it took several minutes for some of the animals to collapse and die. It was the act of pulling out the tracheas with hooks that the federal report said was “inhumane slaughter.” The report pointed out that Jewish ritual slaughter — the quick severing of both carotid arteries with a sharp knife, causing the animal to lose consciousness by anemia of the brain — is considered a humane method of slaughter. It added that no other work, such as additional cutting to facilitate bleeding, is to be performed on the animal until it is insensible. The federal investigation found that no federal inspectors were present in the slaughtering area and that some were in their offices playing computer games — Cohen said that has been corrected. Cohen also said the “inhumane” treatment of the steer has been stopped and that in the event a steer is not rendered unconscious when its throat is cut, a “stunning device” is used. The Inspector General’s report was sent to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Iowa, which declined to file any criminal charges. But Cohen said three of the 10 federal inspectors assigned to the plant were administratively disciplined. One was suspended for 14 days and two others were given letters of reprimand; he declined to say which actions merited which punishment. But Rabbi Harry Cohen, a kosher supervisor at Eastern Meats in Brooklyn, a distributor of kosher meat, charged that had these violations occurred at one of the five slaughterhouses in New York and Maryland that he had supervised, federal inspectors “would have stopped the kill and closed the slaughterhouse.” He said the Iowa plant’s practice of yanking out the trachea had rendered the animals non-kosher because the lungs would have been damaged in the process, and it would have been impossible to properly examine them to determine if they had imperfections that rendered them non-kosher. AgriProcessors, the country’s largest producer of meat certified as glatt kosher, sells meat under the brands Aaron’s Best, Rubashkin’s and Iowa’s Best Beef. Rabbi Cohen said that had the federal inspectors ordered the plant shut, it would have had serious repercussions. “What would they have done with all the families that depend on the plant” for their livelihood? he asked. “Are you going to close up a whole town? Close them up and you close up the whole country” because they are the nation’s largest supplier of kosher meat. “The whole country depends on them,” he said. A PETA spokesman, Bruce Friedrich, said his organization would like to see the plant open its doors to outside experts to see if conditions have really changed.

RUBASHKIN SCANDAL: The Forward Reports

USDA Slaps Kosher Slaughterhouse
By NATHANIEL POPPER
March 17, 2006

One of the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouses was censured by the United States Department of Agriculture for using inhumane methods in its slaughtering process.

AgriProcessors, a Chabad-Lubavitch-owned slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, was criticized in an internal report by the Department of Agriculture and later warned about its methods in a letter from the department. Since then, the procedures in question have been changed.

The slaughterhouse drew attention from the government in 2004 after an animal rights organization released an undercover video showing gruesome footage of cows being killed at the plant. AgriProcessors has faced questions from the Orthodox Union's kosher division and criticism from the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly. The slaughterhouse has made some changes to its operations, but it has defended its old methods as consistent with kosher law — which aims to minimize suffering for the animal, among other things. The newly released report says the company had "engaged in acts of inhumane slaughter."

The internal report, which was written in April 2005 but only released this week, also criticizes the Agriculture Department inspectors who worked at the plant for ignoring the violations. According to the report, inspectors were playing computer games and sleeping on the job. The government decided not to pursue criminal action against AgriProcessors or against the inspectors.

A lawyer who represents AgriProcessors, Nathan Lewin, said the report makes it clear that everything done at the plant was approved by the Agriculture Department until the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals made the video.

"The body of the report has got a lot of stuff that indicates that no one thought that there was anything inhumane," Lewin said. "It's only because it looks bad that PETA is able to exploit it."

AgriProcessors was founded by a group of Lubavitch Hasidim who moved from Brooklyn to northern Iowa in 1987 to revive the meat-packing plant, which had been shut down. Since then, AgriProcessors, which sells under the labels Rubashkin's and Aaron's Best, has become the country's single largest supplier of glatt kosher meat —? and the only one that is approved for import into Israel (though Israel currently does not import meat from America because of concerns about mad cow disease).

The slaughterhouse's recent problems began when PETA released its videotape, which was made by an undercover operative at the plant. The tape showed steers limping around the slaughterhouse floor — in some cases for more than a minute after their throats had been slit. The footage that generated the most criticism involved a so-called "trachea rip": The cow's trachea and esophagus were pulled out with a hook while the cow was still walking, in order to enhance bleeding.

A number of ultra-Orthodox agencies have stood by AgriProcessors' methods. Initially the O.U. supported the plant, but then pushed it to eliminate the trachea rip, which the plant did. In cooperation with the O.U. and the Agriculture Department, AgriProcessors also introduced a stun gun that immediately kills animals not rendered unconscious after the first cut. These animals are processed for nonkosher sale.

The director of kosher certification at the O.U., Rabbi Menachem Genack, said his organization has sent an inspector to the Iowa plant every other month since the controversy began. The O.U. is satisfied with the slaughtering process now used by AgriProcessors — although Genack said he still has questions about the rotating pen used at the plant, which turns the animal upside down before its throat is slit. The rotating pen is required for a plant to be certified kosher in Israel, but the O.U. has endorsed the use of a pen that keeps the animal upright.

The rotating pen was also at the center of a letter written last year by the president of the R.A., Rabbi Perry Rank. The assembly had encouraged slaughterhouses to abandon the rotating pen. Rank wrote, "When a company purporting to be kosher violates the prohibition against tza'ar ba'alei hayyim, causing pain to one of God's living creatures, that company must answer to the Jewish community, and ultimately, to God."

A spokesman for AgriProcessors said that the kosher status of the meat never has been in question, but he acknowledged that "every process can be improved. The modifications we made improved the process."

The O.U.'s Genack said he was happy with AgriProcessors' response to the O.U.'s concerns. However, he understands why the proceedings have become so emotionally charged.

"Any way of killing animals is not going to be a pretty sight," Genack said. "The notion that this is some sanitized easy procedure ?— no matter what system is used — it's not. But I'm happy that we changed the procedure."

RABBANUTE: THROAT-RIPPING WITH HOOK ON LIVE ANIMALS IS OKAY – AS LONG AS GENTILE DOES RIPPING – US LAW HUMANE SLAUGHTER LAWS DO NOT MATTER

Matthew Wagner of the Jerusalem Post reports in today's JPost.com ePaper:

The head of the Chief Rabbinate's international ritual slaughter
division said he would permit the import of meat from AgriProcessors
Inc. of Postville, Iowa, despite a US Agriculture Department report that
found the slaughterhouse in violation of animal cruelty laws.

    Rabbi Ezra Raful said, "In the case of AgriProcessors, there is no
halachic problem."

    "For some people, what happens in a slaughterhouse looks pretty
gruesome. But that does not make it non-kosher," he said.

    Raful said AgriProcessors, the only US slaughterhouse authorized to
export to Israel, halted exports to Israel several years ago for
commercial reasons. He said renewing export to Israel might not even
require a routine investigation to verify that slaughter methods met
Israeli standards.

  "Rabbi Shimon Zeidof is head of the slaughter team at AgriProcessors
Inc., said Raful. "He is known and respected by us. We have worked with
him in the past."

    Conditions at AgriProcessors triggered a controversy in late 2004,
when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) placed on its
Internet site video footage taken clandestinely inside the plant.

    The gruesome footage showed workers using metal hooks to pull out
the slaughtered, but still conscious, animals' tracheas and esophagus,
in an attempt to sever their carotid arteries.

    Normally the severing of these arteries, which cuts off blood to the
brain and causes the animal to lose consciousness almost immediately,
takes place during the shehita [ritual slaughtering]. Cutting the
arteries also facilitates the removal of blood, prohibited for
consumption according to Jewish law, and prevents discoloring of the
meat.

    The US Humane Slaughter Act of 1978 requires stunning in all
American slaughterhouses, but makes an exception for religious
slaughter, as long as the animal's neck is cut swiftly and no "carcass
dressing" is performed before the animal is insensible, according to The
New York Times, which reported on the Agriculture Department's findings
Friday. The use of hooks violated this US law.

    After a six-month investigation, the Agriculture Department
suspended one of its own inspectors for 14 days and issued warning
letters to two others, a department spokesman told the Times. The
investigation ended last April, but the report was only released to PETA
after months of requests under the US Freedom of Information Act.

    The department's Inspector-General's Office forwarded its report to
federal prosecutors, but "based on the information presented to us, we
decided there was not a prosecutable case," said Robert Teig, a deputy
US attorney for the Northern District of Iowa.

    Raful said Jewish law permitted a non-Jew to use a hook to sever an
animal's carotid arteries, as long as most of the trachea and esophagus
were severed by the shochet [ritual slaughterer].

    He said that if a Jew used the hook, the slaughter was not kosher
because of the halachic principle of marit ayin - the mistaken
impression that the ripping of the arteries with a hook was part of the
Jewish slaughtering process.

    This issue would not arise if a non-Jew ripped out the artery, since
a non-Jew is disqualified from performing shehita (ritual slaughter).
Raful said he had been informed by sources in AgriProcessors that only
non-Jews performed the ripping.

    Raful said it was unfair to apply subjective criteria of cruelty to
shehita.

    "For me it is terribly cruel to boil a lobster live or to fry a live
shrimp or freeze a fish live. It depends on what you are used to. It's
all very subjective.

    "But the Torah is not subjective and the same Torah that prohibits
cruelty to animals allows shehita," he said.…

Every claim of the humaneness of shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter) made by Orthodox rabbis in the last 100 years has been based on the schochet (ritual slaughterer) swiftly and painlessly severing the carotids and jugular vein. And every one of those claims are false. The halakha (Jewish law) that allows shechita to be kosher if only the greater parts of the trachea and esophogus are severed is based on a faulty understanding of large animal biology dating to medieval times. Yet Orthodox rabbis – who have lied about shechita for more than 100 years, including during sworn testimony before government bodies and courts – are more than willing to allow this animal torture, even though the science of the issue – and the law – are both clear.

Rubashkin's rabbis allowed and endorsed the intentional violation of Humane Slaughter law. How can they be trusted with kashrut?

Rubashkin's New Label?

Here's a link to T-shirts. They're sold at cost – absolutely no profit at all. Wear one to your local supermarket. Buy a dozen and go grocery shopping with your friends.

The Rubashkin T-Shirt

Buy it here. (Also available: Postage stickers, stickers, post cards and other items – including a "Throw Your Panties At Matisyahu" thong.)

PURIM SAMAYACH!

A Purim Samayach to you all.

Rubashkin Scandal Damages Japan-US Relations

Nope. You read it right. The Rubashkin scandal has now gone international. The Washington Post reports:

Japan's vice farm minister said on Monday his ministry would seek further explanations from the United States about its beef inspection system after Hong Kong suspended U.S. beef imports.

Japan wants to know why beef shipped to Hong Kong from a plant of U.S. beef company Swift & Co. contained banned cattle parts, Vice Agriculture Minister Mamoru Ishihara said.

"It was very disappointing," Ishihara said when asked by reporters about the U.S. violation of its beef trade agreement with Hong Kong, which came nearly two months after Japan detected a similar violation in its inspection of a shipment of U.S. veal.

The U.S. plant that made an ineligible shipment to Hong Kong is also one of the U.S. meat-packing plants certified by the U.S. Agriculture Department as eligible beef suppliers to Japan.

Ishihara said that the latest violation may answer Japanese questions about whether the ineligible U.S. shipment to Japan was an isolated case or a systematical problem.

"We will think about the issue while taking into account the incident in Hong Kong," Ishihara said.

Hong Kong has suspended beef imports from the U.S. processing plant following the discovery of beef imports with bones from the plant during an inspection last week at Hong Kong airport.

On December 29, Hong Kong partially lifted its ban on U.S. beef that had been in place since late 2003 on worries about mad cow disease. Hong Kong was the fifth-largest market for U.S. beef products in 2003.

According to their agreement, only boneless beef from cattle less than 30 months of age -- with high risk material such as brain and spinal cord removed during the slaughtering -- could be imported to Hong Kong from designated plants approved by the United States.

Japan suspended U.S. beef imports on January 20, just a month after it eased a two-year-old ban on American beef imposed over mad cow disease fears, when Japanese inspectors discovered banned spinal material in a veal shipment from New York.

The Japanese government has said it cannot allow imports to resume until Washington finds the cause of the violation and takes steps to prevent a recurrence.

In a report submitted to Japan on February 17, the U.S. Agriculture Department said that a U.S. firm made an ineligible shipment because the exporter and the USDA inspector were not sufficiently familiar with the requirements of Japan's beef export program.

The veal was shipped by Atlantic Veal and Lamb and supplied by Golden Veal, both of which were certified on January 6. USDA personnel confirmed at the time that both understood the requirements of the program.

In the report, the USDA concluded they were confident that the circumstances surrounding the ineligible shipment were unique because it was the first and only shipment of veal to Japan under the beef export program.

Last week Japan sent a list of questions about the U.S. report. Ishihara said on Monday that the USDA would reply the Japanese questions as early as this week, and might send officials to Japan for technical-level talks over the issue.

Ishihara also said Japan expected U.S. explanation about a different report from the USDA's inspector general that said federal inspectors overseeing an Iowa plant operated by AgriProcessors Inc. failed to properly inspect cattle carcasses and report violations.

The USDA under George W. Bush – what can one say?

Why Wasn't Rubashkin Prosecuted?

To understand the Rubashkin scandal, it is helpful to see how the USDA enforces regulations in other areas of the meat industry. The Senate held hearings last week on the USDA's enforcement of GIPSA, the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration, regulations. GIPSA is in large part meant to protect small and mid-sized ranchers from predatory pricing inflicted by ag behemoths like Tyson and Archer Daniels Midland.

So, how well did the Bush Administration enforce GIPSA? According to the USDA's Inspector General, not at all:

The Agriculture Department has decided not to take action against a former agency official who blocked investigations into predatory pricing in the nation's $120 billion livestock trade.

Gross mismanagement, not criminal conduct, by JoAnn Waterfield is to blame for several years of obstruction, department Inspector General Phyllis Fong told the Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday.

"I'm not sure what further action could be taken," said Fong, who released an audit on the problems in January. "What we found I guess we would best characterize as tremendous mismanagement."

There was "no indication of criminal conduct," Fong added.

So, how long did the USDA allow agribusiness to crush small ranchers? Well, lookie here:

The latest audit said Waterfield stopped complaints from being filed or prosecuted. She pressured employees to create an appearance of strong enforcement by logging day-to-day activity -- sending letters or making phone calls -- as investigations, according to the audit.

Waterfield, who quit abruptly before the audit was released, did not return a call from The Associated Press. She spent about 14 years at the Agriculture Department, the last five as deputy administrator for the Packers and Stockyards Program, part of GIPSA.

That program oversees a $120 billion industry and is supposed to investigate practices that inhibit competition, unfairness and deception in the livestock, meatpacking and poultry trade.

So Waterfield's term of incompetence matches exactly with George W. Bush's. And will Waterfield be prosecuted? Of course not – not in a Bush Administration. And what about former Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman? Did she know what was taking place?

Lawmakers asked if Waterfield's superiors knew about the obstruction. The inspector general said they did not. "We have no evidence there was tremendous involvement of the ranks above her in any kind of sense," Fong said.

In other words, five full years without a prosecution in an industry filled with abuse, and no one noticed. The best one can say about this is that Veneman was asleep at the switch – just like her boss.

But I believe one can say more. Senior-level USDA officials – including, according to at least one report, Veneman herself – created the situation that allowed throat-ripping at Rubashkin, even though it violated Humane Slaughter law. And, again, follow the money. Just as agribusiness contributes large amounts of money to political causes, so does the Rubashkin-Balkany family. Further, Agudath Israel and most of the rabbis involved with kosher supervision at Rubashkin are closely tied to the Republican party. Indeed, I believe some of these rabbis were invited to a White House event while the Rubashkin USDA investigation was open – something that could very well have influenced the investigation's outcome.

When one looks at the big picture, it is easy to see why Rubashkin was not prosecuted – even though investigators amassed reams of evidence against them, and PETA caught the dismembering on videotape.

But all does not rest on Bush and his cronies. Crimes were committed here, just as crimes were committed in Allentown and New York. Vehamayvin yavin.

IF YOU ATE RUBASHKIN MEAT, DID YOU EAT TREIFE (NON-KOSHER)?

If you ate Rubashkin meat from November 2003 through November 2004, did you eat treife (non-kosher)? The answer to this question is complicated, but the answer, I believe, is yes you did – and here's why.

Rubashkin ripped the throats out of live, fully sensate animals. This cruelty should render the meat from those animals treife – but it did not, according to the OU, KAJ, Crown Heights Beit Din, etc. Why not? The answer to this question exposes the dirty little secret of kosher supervision and shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter).

You may have been told by your rabbi, in Hebrew school, in the synagogue, that the purpose of shechita and its main benefit is that it is the most humane form of slaughter. Agudath Israel and the OU have made this contention many times over the years, often to governmental agencies, sometimes under oath, and it is a major component of campaigns to protect shechita across the world. But it is not true.

The Rubashkin case has proved that humane slaughter is not an essential component of shechita. That is why rabbis were able to rule with ease that meat from Rubashkin-tortured animals was kosher.

While I admire the ability of Rabbis Hershal Schachter, Yisroel Belsky, Menachem Genack, the KAJ, etc., to find this leniency in the law which saved all of us from having to re-kosher our kitchens, the fact remains that humane treatment of animals is not a part of kosher law as applied today, and, while the legal codes of Judaism place a high significance on animal welfare, the legal scholars of Judaism – today's Orthodox rabbinate – do not.*

So, did you eat treife? In the ultimate sense, yes you did – and you did so with the blessings of the rabbis who permitted animal torture. Remember that the next time you look for the kosher seal.

* The same can apparently be said for hygine, food handling standards, and use of diseased animals – see the New York Times report in the post immediately below.