June 2008 – Iyar/Sivan 5768

Dear Friends,

      I've never felt ashamed of performing a mitzvah, at least until last week. That’s when I read the stories about the raids on the AgriProcessors plant in Postville, Iowa. The company produces most of the kosher meat in the country as well as a significant amount for the non-kosher market; not all cuts and/or animals can be certified as kosher and the remainder is sold on the regular market to chains such as Trader Joe’s and Wal-Mart. 

      For those who did not catch the story, federal authorities raided the plant and arrested 390 workers on immigration charges. Authorities allege that up to 80% of the company’s workforce was in the country illegally and that almost seven hundred plant employees may have broken federal laws. In addition to the immigration charges it is alleged that workers were physically abused, not paid the required minimum wage or paid for all the hours they worked and that some of the workers were as young as thirteen. It has also been reported that a drug ring was operating out of the plant.

      It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller; guns, drugs, violence, even blackmail. Sadly, however, this is all too real and even if not all the allegations are true, it seems quite possible that the company not only turned a blind eye to the presence of illegal immigrants in its plant, they may have actively recruited such employees as they would have little to no recourse if they were poorly treated. I’m sorry, but that just isn’t kosher - whatever the seal on the packages might say.

      It does not matter if cattle are slaughtered cleanly and quickly if they are then butchered while still clearly aware of what is happening. It does not matter if the animal is without blemish and declared ‘glatt’ if the worker who cleans and packs the meat is not only taken advantage of economically but abused physically.

      We could just throw our hands up and say keeping kosher is hypocritical and we want no part of it. However, besides being unsatisfactory from a Jewish perspective such a response it ignores the fact that the problems at AgriProcessors are not confined to the kosher food industry. Instead, kosher consumers and the rabbinic world are searching for another option; that is one of the reasons that there is a new movement afoot amongst observant Jews, an attempt to certify that the products they purchase are not just ritually fit but ethically appropriate as well. The Hekhsher Tzedek is spearheaded by Rabbi Morris Allen and is a joint project of the Rabbinical Assembly and United Synagogue. It is not a replacement for the existing system of supervision but rather an additional proof that would certify that designated kosher products also reflect Jewish ethical standards with regard to corporate behaviour, labour relations, animal welfare and environmental standards.

      I'd heard about the project months ago and while I thought it was a good idea I wasn't sure it was entirely necessary. Now I know otherwise. As much as I might want to believe that kosher food production could not be much different than mainstream plants I've been forced to confront that, in fact, they may be worse. Far worse, in fact, if their owners lay claim to the ritual standards of kashrut while ignoring the equally important ethical mitzvot of our tradition.

      Being a Conservative Jew does not allow us to pick and choose which mitzvot we observe; we are equally obligated to all of them. The system of kashrut is not a list of technical details; it is a set of laws meant to heighten our awareness of God and our place in God's creation. How can we be satisfied by a hekhsher on a package when we know of the inhumane - and inhuman - practices of the company behind the brand? That is the difficulty the Hekhsher Tzedek seeks to reconcile, something that existing kashrut authorities feel is unnecessary. The situation in Postville is clearly proof that it is very much needed.

      For more information about the Hekhsher Tzedek please visit their website, http://hekhshertzedek.org/ 

B’shalom,
Rabbi Yvonne Youngberg