POSTVILLE REDUX

There is much in the Forward story that requires several grains of salt. There is much that is clearly biased as well. But there is one statement at the end of the article that must wake us up.

Professor Mark Grey made the following statement:

“The bottom line here is that I’m not sure these devout Jews are using Jewish ethics to treat their workers.”

If that is true, how shameful of the Rubashkins. And how shameful of the hashgacha organizations who turn their back to it. And how shameful of us if we do not do something about this.

We can assume that both the Union and the Rubashkins are not very trustworthy in their interpreatation as to why there is no union at the plant. Both sides have a very vested interest in their own version of the story.

One thing seems ever so clear, however, and that is that the ethics of the people running the plant are sorely lacking.

Pious people need to run a pious business. Rabbis who do the shechting there must be aware of what is going on. The fact that they do not interfere speaks poorly of their ethics as well. How dare they not speak up?!

We are totally taken aback by the silence of the hashgacha agency. Do they think that their only interest is in the technical correctness of the kashruth of the place?

If a person steals a cow and has it shechted, the meat is still kosher, but it is assur- forbidden. The kashruth can not be denied, so instead we make the meat forbidden. NU? Should we be permitted to eat Rubashkin meat? Where are the ethical considerations?

There is a famous story of a rabbi who forbade his kehilla to eat a certain shmura matzah from a certain bakery. His reason? The bakery owner mistreated his workers. Once again, we say NU?

All sorts of rabbis ran to make sure we knew that they believed that everything in Postville was “kohser” in the street sense as well as the halachic sense. They let us know that the issues were complex and not at all as portrayed by PETA. Fine, we accepted that What will they tell us now?

Yes the meat is kosher, but if it is prepared on the backs of mistreated workers then shouldn’t we declare it to be assur? Is it is fair to ask people who make $450 a week to contribute 11% of their salary ($50 by Rubashkin’s account) to a health policy? That would leave them with less than $400 per week. Much less if you factor in taxes, etc.

How much more dirty laundry will come out of Postville and why aren’t our Gedolim doing something about it?