This Week in Postville: What the OU is telling rabbis
As always, couple items to note ....
- The Uri L'tzedek boycott of Agriprocessors has gone into effect. The self-described Orthodox social justice group (which doesn't like the word boycott) said it would refrain from purchasing Agriprocessors' products on June 15 if the company didn't agree to establish a transparent mechanism to ensure compliance with Jewish and U.S. labor law. A meeting took place last week, but the group is still waiting for assurances that the company has turned a corner. There's more on this here.
- Meanwhile, another Jewish group is jumping into the fray. In keeping with its historic roots, Ameinu, the American wing of the World Labor Zionist movement, has issued a statement urging Jewish groups not to patronize Agri. We've also heard that another summer camp, the Conservative Ramah Darom in Georgia, turned away a shipment from Agri. Our gut here is that this is likely to further convince the company's defenders that Jewish outrage over this issue is simply an opportunistic pile-on for liberal groups.
- Meanwhile, some of the most damning evidence of an impending shortage emerged last week when we discovered that FreshDirect, the popular Internet retailer that gets all its kosher meat from Agri, has some 40 kosher meat products listed as currently unavailable. No worries if you're planning to serve glatt kosher beef neck bones this Shabbos, the supply of which seems to be holding. (NOTE: If you follow that link, you need to type in a NYC zip code to see the page. If you're outside the city, use mine: 11215). However, there does seem to be enough meat for the company to have donated 1,000 pounds to flood relief in Iowa, a Chabad website reported.
- Finally, an email was circulated this week by a Lubavitch rabbi in Connecticut describing a recent meeting local rabbis had with Rabbi Seth Mandel, the OU's head of meat supervision. More on that, after the jump.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rabbi Yitzchok Adler for taking the initiative by bringing Rabbi Seth Mandell of the OU, to our community, to clear up any and all issues regarding Rubashkin Meat. Rabbi Mandell assured us that the many articles were "Loshen Harah" by people who are looking, for personal reasons, to hurt and damage the Rubashkin Name, and that the OU stands by and maintains that they continue to have the highest standards of Kashrus.The OU's Menachem Genack says the "people" Mandel was probably referring to is PETA, which first drew unwanted attention to the company in 2004 with an undercover video shot in the plant, and the food workers' union, which has waged a long and still unsuccessful campaign to organizers Agri's workers. As for the "any and all issues" comment, Genack says that's not the OU's position. He declined to be more specific on the record about the OU's outstanding issues with the way the plant has been run, though he said, as he has repeatedly throughout, that the kashrut of the meat is not in question.
In any case, the impression Mandel appears to have left, and that Samuels is pushing, is that there's no reason to be concerned about Rubashkin's – the meat is kosher, the allegations are unproven, and, anyway, those folks who are making them have an agenda. (Interestingly, Adler, the head of the Hartford Kashrut Commission, said his Orthodox synagogue had stopped serving Agri meat a while ago, in part because of allegations about the company. He wouldn't discuss what Mandel had to say, but said his own position is essentially what the RCA said two weeks ago.)
We'd love to ask Mandel himself what impression he had hoped to convey, but he hasn't returned our call yet.
UPDATE (June 20): In an email yesterday, Mandel writes that his conversation in Hartford was private and that the rabbis assured him his comments would not be publicized. The Samuels email "did not represent what I said," he wrote. Mandel says he never said that "any and all" of the allegations are slanderous, merely that people should reserve judgment until the facts are established.
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It’s a sad day when we see so many Jews attacking what appears to be a successful business for personal gain, blatant self-interested promotion and revenge.
I am not certain there is a kind way to kill an animal, but I am sure that Agriprocessors does it in the same manner permitted under Jewish, a proscribed by the koshering agencies. I am equally unsure of the logic of a company willingly, knowingly hiring so many illegals, providing them drugs, sex and crime built into this miniature society - it is just not smart business sense. It makes me believe that Agri is a victim of awful circumstances, coupled with a clear attempt by competing kosher regulators and meat processors to pile on while these guys are down.
While down, they donate thousands of pounds of meat to help Iowans get through the flood and destruction they face. While down, they hire an excellent staffing firm and rebuild their company, and while down, they fight the relentless war against them.
They gave jobs, money and life to a struggling Postville, and now many, many people will suffer as a result of bringing this company down. We cannot allow this to happen. There is no compelling reason other than that others want to move in the easy way.
Thank you so much for recognizing and exposing people to their own hipocracy. It would be ridiculous for people to talk of the faults of the Rubashkin’s- good people who have long served the religious Jewish community- when they, themselves, purchase products made in sweatshops in third world countries. I think that it is horrible to point a finger at people without any true evidence against them. I am not talking about having illegal immigrants working for them, but I am talking about abuse of these people. Anyone can tell people that their employers abuse them ans force them to work when the risk at stake is imprisonment. We should be able to evaluate what is immoral and what is loshon horah. I appreciate this article, and my family and I support Rubashkin’s in this unfortunate crisis.
I am a former USMID Veterinary Meat Inspector. I had absolute power to close down any slaughter house - packing plant that I was assigned to (1906 Meat Inspection Act), if I found any violation of Federal standards including Drugs, Immigration and, of course, unsafe handling of meat products. Once a week I would work alongside of the Jewish Shokuts (ritual slaugherers) providing Kosher meat for the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish community. There was never any friction or improprieties between us.
No meat or meat product is allowed in Interstate Commerce without the official “US Inspected and Passed Logo stamped on it under the supervision of a badge wearing USMID Veterinarian. Where were the veterinary inspectors at Postville??? I am shocked that this problem has occured. It would not have, if I wore the badge.
Eugene M. Kravis, DVM.
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Rabbi Moshe Yess
06/18/08 04:07 PM
BS"D
Talk about hypocracy! Do these same “outraged” Ortho-Jewish frauds who imagine themselves the “sheriffs of Torah Judaism” apply the same yard stick when they buy Chinese footwear made in sweatshops and worse?
I wonder if their clothes could withstand a shatnez check. The same clothing made in 3rd world countries under the worst labor conditions. Are they protesting that too? I THINKS NOT.
But now that an unsubstatiated, rumor-driven issue against a prominent and extrememly generous Chabad family has presented itself...these same “outraged” pretenders-to-piety and suddenly pro-active frauds have found a target to vent their underlying hatred of Chabad which has seethed for decades.
Give me a break! Talk about unbridled and condescending arrogance. Gentlemen, your t’fillin are possul.
Rabbi Moshe Yess