Setting an ethical table

As I was reading yet another chapter in the on-going exposé of business as it’s conducted by the holier-than-thou crowd which runs Agriprocessors, the largest kosher meat slaughtering and packing institution in the country, I engaged in a thought experiment. If I had the choice of eating a steak produced by people who flaunt the laws of society, exploit first one group of workers, and then their replacements, or a pork chop produced by a packing plant that treated its workers with respect, paid them an honest wage and treated the animals humanely even in bringing them death, which would I chose? The kosher steak or the traif pork? On the one hand the steak from Agriprocessors is from a kosher animal which rabbis have certified was slaughtered according to halacha, Jewish religious ritual. On the other hand, the pork is chazer, but the people who bring it to my table aren’t. Thus the dilemma. The obvious solution, of course, is to go vegetarian. But that avoids the issue.

I’ve addressed this sort of thing before. Back in October 2006 I wrote about Conservative rabbis whose law committee voted against (yes against!) requiring Conservative Jewish employers paying their employees a living wage. There’s nothing in halacha that requires it, they complained; Jews would be at an economic disadvantage, they moaned as they washed their hands of the question. Now Conservative rabbis are taking the other position arguing that there is more to kashrut than the process by which kosher animals are slaughtered and prepared. There is an ethical component as well. It’s nice that the Movement is on the right side of an ethical issue this time.

Rabbi David Lincoln, emeritus of New York’s Park Avenue (Conservative) Synagogue is quoted in the Forward as saying “I think there’s a general feeling that in the Orthodox community, in many Orthodox communities, and especially in the more Haredi, more extreme Orthodox communities, there’s more concern for the strict rules of halacha, for how you cut the animal’s throat and how you examine the lungs. They’re not really concerned about whether you’re stealing, or whatever, or going into court and perjuring themselves.”

Harsh words. But some Orthodox rabbis agree. Shmuel Herzfeld, an Orthodox rabbi from Washington, DC wrote an op ed piece in the Times condemning the hypocrisy Agriprocessors and those who defend its practices, calling it a desecration of God’s name. He was roundly condemned in his turn by the Orthodox Union which certifies Agriprocessors. One Orthodox group, Uri L’Tzedek, describes itself as the Orthodox Social Justice Movement. Its website says that its purpose is “to develop the new, growing discourse among traditional Jewish communities making the connection between God, Torah, and social issues in America, and to help translate that discourse into action.” It has come out against the abuses at Agriprocessors but again, defenders of the see no evil, discuss no evil camp of the Orthodox attack it and its leaders.

So, must ethical people chose between pork and vegitarianism? Or can American Jews apply to ourselves the standards we hold dear when discussing America. Many of us abhore the policies of the current administration. It is our right. Is it an obligation to go public with our complaints? Of course. Are there those Jews to whom the administration is doing the right thing? Of course. Is it their right to defend? Certainly. Is either less American for doing so? Is one group demonstrably more patriotic than the other? P’shaw, of course not. Is America embarressed by the public outcry? I hope so. Should the public scrutiny cease? Not until a determination is made. It’s the same with the Agriprocessors scandal. Those of us who maintain a kosher household must weigh what we read and decide. To eat meat or to go parev. Hiding the truth, denying the truth is an abandonment of ethical principles. Knowing what I right is no secret. Read Micah. We know what God requires, what Judaism has always advocated—to do justice, to love goodness and to walk modestly with our God. Exploiting our workers for the purpose of greater profits, ignoring the prophets in the process cannot be defended. I won’t eat the pork, but meat produced by Agriprocessors is off my table.