OTHER VIEWS
Lessons From A Scandal
Whippany, N.J.
gutsy op-ed in the New York
Times has sharpened the debate
over the Agriprocessors kosher
meat factory scandal — and perhaps point-
ed the way toward
rapprochement
between Orthodox
and non-Orthodox
Jews.
Written by an
Orthodox rabbi,
Washington's Shmuel
Herzfeld, the Aug. 5
article calls on the
Rabbinical Council
Andrew
of America and the
Silow-Carroll
Orthodox Union, bas-
Special
tions of mainstream
Commentary
Orthodox Judaism,
to appoint an inde-
pendent commission "that would make sure
the plant upholds basic standards of kashrut
and worker and animal treatment — and
that it is in full compliance with the laws of
the United States."
It's the conflation of two ideas — "stan-
dards of kashrut" and "worker and animal
treatment" — that makes Herzfeld's essay
controversial in the world of kosher super-
vision. The OU has been trying hard to
distinguish between the two, saying that
their supervisors can only make sure that
the ritual slaughter and inspection of meat
are kosher.
As for workers' rights and humane
treatment of animals — that's the pur-
view of government agencies, says the OU.
Herzfeld isn't the first rabbi to call for an
ethical dimension for kosher certification.
Conservative rabbis, led by Minnesota's
Morris Allen, are pushing for a hechsher
tzedek — a righteous certification — that
would do just that.
But Herzfeld is perhaps the most visible
Orthodox rabbi to do so — or at least do
so in the most visible of all places, the New
York Times. Attention must be paid.
Agriprocessors fought back, distribut-
ing an Aug. 11 rebuttal to Herzfeld written
by one of its attorneys, Nathan Lewin, a
legend in Washington for his defense of
Jewish religious freedoms.
The rebuttal is remarkable for its focus
not on the allegations against the plant,
which Lewin largely ignores, but for its
attack on Herzfeld's premise that a plant's
kosher certification should be linked to its
business ethics.
Lewin does this by trying to discredit
the validity of Herzfeld's reference to
Rabbi Israel Salanter (1810-1883), the
pillar of the ethics movement known as
Mussar. According to Herzfeld, Salanter
"refused to certify a matzah factory as
kosher on the grounds that the workers
were being treated unfairly!" Lewin can't
find a solid schol-
arly reference to the
Salanter story and
calls it "fallacious."
It's an odd gambit
on Lewin's part
— implying that
if the principle of
judging a factory's
kashrut according
to the treatment of
its workers was not
established by a
19th-century rabbi,
it can't possibly be
an operable criteri-
on. In other words:
ethics, shmethics.
Missing from Lewin's lawyerly rebuttal
is the larger picture — like the one cap-
tured in a devastating editorial in the Aug.
7 Forward that recounts the past two years
of journalistic and governmental investi-
gations surrounding Agriprocessors and
the sordid legal history of the extended
family that runs the plant.
And then there's the biggest picture of
all. It is a basic premise of the mitzvot
that our everyday acts can and should be
infused with holiness. Every breath we
take, every bite we eat, can be elevated by
connecting it to the sacred. The Mussar
movement itself was an attempt to "close
the gap between the high ideals we hold in
mind and the living truth of how we act in
life," according to Aish HaTorah, the influ-
ential Jerusalem yeshivah.
Nevertheless, the rabbinical authori-
ties closest to Agriprocessors continue to
deflect the ethical and legal implications
of the allegations — or at least outsource
their concern to secular inspectors. And
that's too bad because they have the
opportunity to turn the scandal into a
boon for observant Judaism.
Imagine what it might mean for the
image of Orthodoxy, and Judaism, were
the rabbis, instead of saying, "That's not
our job:' to declare that, indeed, Judaism
has standards at least as high as those of
the National Labor Relations Board.
Imagine the credit it
would bring to Torah-
observant Jews were
leaders to immediately
draw up their own set
of labor and animal
welfare standards. Or
if a sage were to stand
up and say, "when Jews
talk about 'holy; we're
not just talking about a
razor-sharp knife, but
about sensitivity to the
pain of animals and
humans alike!'
Non-Orthodox rabbis
like Allen have been way
out front on this one.
But that's only a temptation for the other
movements to be smug. They, too, have
failed to honor the tradition. I grew up in
a Reform synagogue and was taught why
classical Reform chose to reject kashrut.
But Reform also teaches its followers
to "study it and to consider whether or
not it may enhance the sanctity of their
home." That too many institutions and
individuals — and that includes many
Conservative Jews — have failed to take
up this challenge is a loss for Judaism, and
Jews. I understand why a non-Orthodox
synagogue would bristle at adopting stan-
dards set by Orthodox supervisors. But
that doesn't mean it can't create menus
it is profoundly disturbing. When such
pernicious ravings are given the expo-
sure and endorsement of one of the Arab
American community's leading voices,
and when other Arab community leaders
condone them through their silence, it
does not bode well for the future relation-
ship between Detroit's Arab and Jewish
communities.
Indeed, that relationship may be as
strained as any time in recent memory.
The Jewish Community Relations Council
and the Oakland County-based offices
of the American Jewish Committee,
Anti-Defamation League and B'nai B'rith
have been working together to mount a
coordinated Jewish community response
to several anti-Israel activities. Each
organization brings distinct expertise and
resources to this effort.
As an organization committed to fos-
tering good relations between the Jewish
community and Metro Detroit's other
ethnic and religious communities, Council
remains open to engaging with Arab
American community leaders who clearly
reject Jew-baiting. 111
A
The rabbinical
authorities clos-
est to Agriprocessors
continue to deflect
the ethical and legal
implications of the
allegations.
and standards of its own, based on sus-
tainable agriculture, healthy ingredients,
or anything else they think might forge a
deeper spiritual connection between what
we eat and how we live.
Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews
have grown distant over the years,
and the mutual recriminations over
Agriprocessors won't help.
But I can imagine another outcome.
In this scenario, Orthodox authorities
embrace this opportunity to teach fellow
Jews, and the world, about the Jewish way
of holiness, from field and feedlot to the
dinner table. And the non-Orthodox meet
them halfway and establish a personal
"kashrut" that raises eating from a bio-
logical necessity and sensuous indulgence
to a taste of the divine. LJ--
Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor-in-chief of the
New Jersey Jewish News.
Answering
Israel's Critics
The Charge
Arab American propagandist Ali
Abunimah wrote last week that Israel
has for decades carried out extra-
judicial executions and torture of
Palestinians in the occupied territories.
The Answer
Under the Oslo accords, the Palestinian
Authority is required to fight terrorism
by arresting those involved and break-
ing up the infrastructure of terrorist
organizations. The P.A. having failed
to do so, Israel has in recent years sent
its soldiers and special agents to do the
job, successfully preventing most ter-
rorist attacks planned against Israelis.
— Allan Gale, Jewish Community Relations
Council
of Metropolitan Detroit
© Jewish Renaissance Media, August 28, 2008
Robert Cohen is executive director of the
Bloomfield Township-based Jewish Community
Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit, the
public affairs voice of the Detroit Jewish com-
munity. JCRC's chief funding agency is the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
For related commentary, see Editor's Letter:
page A5.
August 28 • 2008
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