HOLD ON THERE, KIMOSABE!

We were sitting in the sukkah (during sukkot) and just enjoying a good schmooze. The topic, as it often does, turned to the on-going kosher meat scandal out of Postville. With all that has been written and said, it is hard to understand the whole thing at this point.

Yet, with all the brouhaha, one thing has been very clear. No matter how much our fine feathered friends of the Chapeau Noir persuasion may insist that there is no ethical dimension to kashruth, they are wrong. Worse, they know they are wrong.

Let’s say that Arpachshad (granted not a Jewish name- he is under cover), steals a cow. Then he takes said stolen cow to a shochet. The shochet shechts the animal, and it is found to be kosher. The meat is deveined, the forbidden fat is taken off, and the meat is soaked and salted. Voila! One kosher animal.

But hold on there, Tonto! The meat may be kosher, but it is ASSUR (forbidden). We may not eat it.

And that, boys and girls, is proof that there is an ethical dimension to kashruth.

So much of big business kashruth today is political. Rabbis of the black hat persuasion fear having to surrender some of their control over the industry, so they decry the Hechsher Tzedek (Conservative) and the new effort coming out of the RCA (Orthodox). Then they claim that there is no ethical dimension to kashruth.

Oh, so very wrong!