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Flashes of Light from the unkosher dark of Postville, Iowa
Justice & immigration | Civil Liberties | Environmental Justice | Globalization and Economic Justice | Sacred Foods | Spirituality of JusticeBy Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Most of the time, as a society we walk in darkness, wounded by walking blindly into an economic barbed-wire fence here, an environmental open manhole there. Once a generation - if we are lucky, once a decade -- there is a flash of lightning in the dark that lights up the truth of our country's politics.
For some of us, Katrina was such a flash of lightning. And now, for some of us, an allegedly kosher meatpacking plant oddly located, far from Jews, in Postville, Iowa.
Even in the dark, there is usually some prophetic voice warning of oncoming damage.
In this case, prophetic calls to apply "eco-kosher" and "ethical kosher" standards not only to food but also to such consumables as coal, oil, plastics went back to the work of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in the mid-'70s and my own book Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex and the Rest of Life in the mid-'90s.
From UnKosher Postville to a Decent Society
Justice & immigration | Earth | Sacred FoodsKosher, Eco-Kosher, & Beyond:
From UnKosher Postville to a Decent Society
By Arthur Waskoiw
Dear friends,
My letter two weeks ago, called "Unkosher meat, unkosher politics" addressed the oppression of humans and animals at the allegedly kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, by both the plant owners (Rubashkin family) and the Federal government, which jailed hundreds of its undocumented workers while ignoring the crimes of the owners.. (If you missed it, see –
http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1412 )
We urged our readers to write public letters to editors pressing the US government to stop charging undocumented workers with crimes, and start dealing with the far worse crimes of the plant owners. Our mailing has drawn a great many responses, a few of which we will share –- see below.
Unkosher Meat, Unkosher Politics
Justice & immigration | Sacred FoodsBy Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Off-hand, one might think problems at a kosher meatpacking house are the concern of the Jewish community alone. But in a current case, not so.
The Rubashkin meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, which has been the biggest supplier of allegedly kosher meat in America, has violated many moral, ethical, and legal codes of conduct -- American and Jewish. It has tortured the animals it is supposed to kill painlessly. It has exploited its workers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants who were fearful of complaining. It has even had the chutzpah to collect union dues from some workers and then pocket the money instead of passing it on to the unions.
Can Agriprocessors Do T'shuvah?"
Justice & immigration | Environmental Justice | Sacred Foods | Spirituality of JusticeRabbi David Seidenberg
Following on the heels of the recent Forward article(1) about
conditions for Agriprocessors' Brooklyn workers, the Times reports
that Agriprocessors is asking the Supreme Court to deny workers in
their Brooklyn distribution center the right to unionize because they
are "not documented workers and not allowed to work." According to the
Times, Agriprocessors claimed "to have just discovered that…the
workers were illegal immigrants," just a few days after the 2005 union
vote.(2) An image comes immediately to my mind: Captain Renault in
Casablanca declaring, "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is
Meta-ethical questions in the Agriprocessors debate
Justice & immigration | Sacred Foods | Spirituality of JusticeBY RABBI HYIM SHAFNER
The current uproar in the Jewish community regarding Agriprocessors
(Rubashkin kosher meat products) is disturbing. I do not profess inside knowledge of
the company and its management. I do not know the extent to which they are
guilty or innocent of the violations of which they have been widely accused,
violation of labor and immigration laws and of environmental protection regulations,
as well as disregard for human dignity and issues regarding animal pain.
I would like to pose several questions. What instruction does Judaism offer
when the welfare of laborers is in conflict with the welfare and monetary risk
SACRIFICING A SACRED COW: THE NEW JEWISH DIETARY IMPERATIVE
GREEN MENORAH COVENANT (on climate crisis) | Environmental Justice | Sacred FoodsBy Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz
“The term sacred cow has passed into the English language to mean an object or practice which is considered immune from criticism.” (Wikipedia)
“Can you imagine a supermarket allowing ‘Attention, Planet-Destroying Carnivores’ on the in-store radio?” (Hank Stewart, Green Team Advertising)
“We do not find lecturing people about personal consumption choices to be effective.”
(Carl Pope, Sierra Club)
New Ways of Accessing Kosher Meat
Justice & immigration | Environmental Justice | Sacred FoodsBy Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
It is very painful to read about a plant that was supposed to be Glatt kosher and manages this by squeaking by the narrowest definition of kosher that could be construed by Halakha [Jewish law]. They ignored many of the issues that had to do with Tza'ar Ba'aley Chayyim [giving pain to animals] and unfair treatment of laborers, as well as knowingly breaking immigration hiring laws.
In the meantime I have received a request from concerned people who would like to be able to engage a Shochet [ritual slaughterer] and find a way to address the needs to get their meat from free-range animals that were not fed hormones and grazed on land that was not polluted by herbicides.
Dark Meat: Postville from an Independent Orthodox Perspective
Justice & immigration | Sacred FoodsBy SHMUEL HERZFELD
NY Times August 6, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
Washington
ACCORDING to the Jewish calendar we are now in the month of Av, a period of increasingly intense mourning that culminates with a total fast on the Ninth of Av, which this year coincides with Sunday, Aug. 10.
One of the customary practices in these nine days is the avoidance of meat: it's the way we commemorate the destruction of the Temple, where daily animal sacrifices were once brought.
Refraining from food is symbolic, of course. The idea is not just to avoid meat but to limit ourselves so that we can better focus on the spiritual.
Eco-Kashrut Has Everything to Do With the Healing of the Earth
Earth | Sacred FoodsPhiladelphia Jewish EXPONENT
September 13, 2007
- Bryan Schwartzman, Staff Writer
Pushing for reductions in fossil-fuel emissions and trying to reverse the global-warming trend nationally and throughout the world may make perfect sense, but what on earth do energy-policy goals have to do with Judaism?
That question was posed to Rabbi Arthur Waskow -- who's written several books that examine how Judaism and the environment intersect -- after he'd delivered a recent talk on the subject at Congregation Kol Ami in Elkins Park.
His answer? Everything!
The founder of the Philadelphia-based Shalom Center replied that, first of all, a concern for stewardship over the earth is rooted in Judaism's biblical tradition, and is, in fact, a central component of it.
What Is Eco-Kosher?
Earth | Sacred FoodsBy Rabbi Arthur Waskow, from his book DOWN-TO-EARTH JUDAISM: FOOD, MONEY, SEX, & THE REST OF LIFE (Morrow).
By looking at Jewish approaches to food from the Biblical era to the modern age, we have brought ourselves to the edges of the present. If now we want to get a glimpse of possible futures for Jewish attitudes toward food, let us begin with four unconventional questions:
1. Are tomatoes grown by drenching the earth in pesticides "kosher" to eat, at home or at the synagogue's next wedding reception?
2. Is newsprint made by chopping down an ancient and irreplaceable forest "kosher" to use for a Jewish newspaper?
