Monday, January 26, 2009

Kashrut Agriproccesors Style כשרות בסגנון אגריפרוססורז

Read this Wall Street Journal article on alleged mistreatment of workers at Lubavitch-owned Agriproccesors, a leading “kosher” meatpacking facility. My favorite quote: When asked about the allegations, the head mashgìach [kashrut supervisor] said, “We’re not involved with cutting and packing. That’s not the kashrut part”. Can you say “copout”?

These are the same people who adhere strictly to the letter of the law, to the extent that cleaning products used in their homes during Passover must be certified Kosher for Passover. The people for whom the O-U symbol isn’t good enough; they adhere to chalov yisroel kashrut, wherein all dairy products must be from the milk of cows milked by Jews only. No, this is not a joke.

Yet the mashgìach feels fine about the alleged mistreatment of workers as long as the latter are “only” cutting and packing (whatever that is), i.e., aren’t directly involved in the actual product. Can it get any more hypocritical?

Hurray for Rabbi Morris Allen for making kashrut about the spirit of the law, not just the letter. How come cigarettes aren’t treif? All it would take would be for the rabbis to declare them such. But no: All’s kosher, as long as the cattle’s lungs are glatt, or smooth. As long as you’re glatt and cholov yisrael, the mashìach [Messiah] will come.

1 comment:

  1. Definition of nonsense: Caring whether the milk you drink came from a cow milked by a Jew or a non-Jew. This sort of triviality will diminish us. The non-Jews will laugh at us for making such a silly rule, and the non-Orthodox will ridicule the ultra-Orthodox. More anti-Semitism, more in-fighting.

    A cow has milk to give, and THAT'S IT. The cow doesn't care who squeezes its udders, it does no harm to the cow, and the milker doesn't immerse her (possibly unclean) hands therein, so why even make such a rule? We'd be better off studying ethics, living good lives, and teaching our children not to waste their time contemplating *nahrishkeit* even God never thought of.

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