Orthodox rabbis criticized over Postville
Email|Link|Comments (0) Posted by Michael Paulson August 11, 2008 09:18 PM

There's an increasing amount of criticism within the Jewish community of the Orthodox rabbinate's muted response to allegations of widespread labor violations at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.

In the Forward, editor J.J. Goldberg pens an editorial slamming the rabbis who visited the plant recently http://www.forward.com/articles/13930/ :

"The rabbis spent three hours touring the plant, met briefly with local Christian clergy and social activists, and gave the operation a clean bill of health. They found no evidence, as one rabbi put it afterward, to suggest that 'someone should not buy things from Agriprocessors.' Well, no — not based on what you might find in a three-hour walkthrough arranged and paid for by the company. But that’s not enough."
And on the New York Times's op-ed page last week, an Orthodox rabbi, Shmuel Herzfeld, weighed in http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/opini ... =permalink :

"Hebrew National used to run a commercial that said: 'We answer to a Higher Authority.' Well, we do. We need to express shame and embarrassment about the reports coming out of Iowa, and we need to actively work to change these matters. Then we should ask ourselves if our behavior and our values need improvement. Only if we truly think about these issues will we truly be keeping kosher."
In the wake of the immigration raid and child labor allegations, the Agriprocessors web site currently features an inevitable plea: "HIRING NOW!"

UPDATE: AP's Rachel Zoll reports that the Postville problems are fueling interest in a broader set of requirements for assessing whether food is kosher. The Globe's Irene Sege had taken a look at a proposal for doing that in a story last month.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... abbis.html