MORE ABOUT TRANSPARENCY

We told you that we vociferously disagreed with the article in Kosher Today that appeared to endorse the position of several “kashrus professionals” that essentially stated that the various agencies/v’adim etc do not want transparency.

The article in Kosher Today quoted rabbis who were proud of not destroying a store owner’s reputation by being deliberately oblique in their comments.

In a perfect world, there would never be a worry of lashon harah, because no one would engage in it. Our world- as you may have noticed- is far from perfect. Every time some vaad or agency obfuscates on a matter of communal concern, all they really do is unleash the gossip mongers out there. What then follows is a disgusting trail of lies, half truths, innuendo and borderline character assassination stemming from every yenta out there. “My brother-in-law’s cousin’s wife’s sister-in-law works with a guy who knows the true story………….. .” And thus it begins. Had the rabbis been forthright in the first place, that type of rumor mongering could not have happened. So the very rabbis who pat themselves on the back for being sensitive to lashon harah, are indirectly responsible for unleashing the bulk of it.

There were a whole host of problems with the whole Streit’s debacle. Even the tiniest bit of transparency- or better yet: straightforwardness- would have made the whole thing better. What the editor of Kosher Today failed to understand was that you can not tell people that they may not buy a certain product for Pesach and then rush to reassure them that the product is indeed kosher for Pesach. Those two thoughts are totally contradictory to each other. Either it is kosher for Pesach or it is not.

To then say that they had to disallow Streit’s because they did not have a national hashgacha was brilliant! Our reaction at the time was to remind those two august bodies that there is no hand made shmura matza with a national hashgacha, either.

Second, the editor mentions, but does not dwell on, the inappropriate timing of the edict of the two V’adim. How could that sort of high handedness not fuel the flames of rumor and all that goes along with it?

We bloggers may get things wrong from time to time- true. But thank goodness for the majority of blogs which responsibly report on what goes on “out there.” We suggest that the editor of Kosher Today go back and look at what Thomas Jefferson had to say about government and newspapers. The same holds true for our blog and all the other blogs out there.