A few years ago, my husband was given a leather briefcase as a gift. When he opened the box he marveled at the beauty of the piece and immediately proceeded to open it up and look at the manufacturing label.
After discovering that the case was made from pigskin, he humbly returned the gift and explained that one is not supposed to benefit in any way from non-kosher animals or their products.
His approach provides a lesson for me today when considering what food is acceptable to serve our families or put into our bodies.
On May 12, 2008, the Department of Homeland Security, through its Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, raided the Agriprocessors meat processing plant in Postville Iowa.
Admittedly “the largest single-site enforcement operation of its kind ever in the United States,” according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa Matt M. Dummermuth, the raid aimed to round up, charge, process, incarcerate and ultimately deport, hundreds of undocumented workers currently employed by the plant.
As a result of those raids, 390 people were detained. Of those, 314 were males and 76 were female; 12 were juveniles; 290 were Guatemalan; 93 were Mexican; and the rest were Israelis and Ukrainians.
This being an election year, the story could have been lost in the press and psyche of the American public if it had not been for Erik Camayd-Freixas. A Spanish interpreter, Camayd-Freixas wrote an essay after the sentences were delivered and the cases were closed in which he described what he thought was an abuse of power and therefore a violation of constitutional rights, including due process.
What was intended to be a professional exchange among fellow interpreters became a nationwide debate about what an interpreter can and cannot do, when confidentiality is broken, and when do the authorities (mainly federal judges, district attorneys and defense attorneys) go too far to enforce a law, in this case the Patriot Act, to prevent “illegal immigrants” from threatening national security.
I am particularly interested in this because, for the last five years, I have worked as a Spanish interpreter in the Wisconsin Court system. As an officer of the court and given that I was not present at the time, I am not in a position to assess the judicial process.
But what I can share is my opinion as an observant Jew. I’m still waiting for accountability.
Tainted process
None of the company leaders has yet been held accountable. And by accountable I refer not only to the law but also to their responsibility to fellow Jews, to the rabbinic authorities who certify their meat as kosher and to the consumers who buy their products.
The charges against Rubashkins and their employees are serious and finally legal action is being taken.
Earlier this summer, about 340 of the workers in the plant as well as two of the plant managers pleaded guilty to various crimes. On Sept. 9, the owners of Agriprocessors and four executives were charged with 9,311 child labor violations. Two of those executives were also slapped with two federal charges.
But what about the other type of accountability? We are now in the Hebrew month Elul, when Jews are supposed to right wrongs and repent. But aren’t we required to live by those guidelines all year and not just right before Yom Kippur?
What about our responsibility to live ethically? The Orthodox Union threatened to suspend its supervision of the plant unless new management is hired. New management was indeed hired on Sept. 18, but what’s missing is the sense that a terrible error has been fixed.
Aaron Rubashkin and his son Sholom, who was the overall plant manager, will no longer be involved in the day-to-day operations but will continue to profit from it. Is it me or is this not quite kosher?
Rabbi Menachem Weismandl, who also gives supervision to the plant, but is independent of the OU, said, “My business is kashrut, and as long as the high kosher standards are in place, I’m not removing any hechsher. My business is to make sure that the place is 100 percent kosher.”
How can kashrut not be compromised if the process through which it is obtained is tainted?
What makes meat kosher? Naturally, observing halachic practices in the way we slaughter the animals is one part.
But the second aspect is a human component. Immigrants caught in the raid described practices that included lax safety measures, underage workers handling dangerous equipment, unpaid overtime and verbal abuse.
Aren’t the people who work for the benefit of those observing the mitzvah of keeping kosher a crucial part of our equation? Isn’t it necessary that our food is processed within a framework of acceptable circumstances?
The message coming from Agriprocessors is that the end justifies the means, no matter what.
In Deuteronomy 24: 14-15, we read: “You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a countryman or a stranger”.
Hechsher Tzedek
The growing concern among kosher consumers jumpstarted a campaign to add a supplemental ethical certification to the current process. The effort to launch “Hechsher Tzedek” is headed by Rabbi Morris Allen of Mendota Heights, Minn., together with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism,
However, this has yet to take its well deserved place. Some leaders in the Orthodox community have decried these accusations and have rallied in the defense of Agriprocessors, including Rabbi Pesach Lerner, vice president of the National Council of Young Israel.
And many in the Orthodox Jewish community are resisting the redefinition of kosher, arguing that kosher has nothing to do with the ethical treatment of workers or even the merciful slaughter of animals.
But I believe that one cannot look at mitzvot independently one from the other. They are all bound together. Don’t our sages teach, “Mitzvah goreret mitzvah,” “Do one mitzvah and another will follow”?
We all have the right to earn money for our work. But when our actions infringe on other people’s most central rights to do the same, or when we benefit from something that is in its essence wrong, it is as if we were not doing anything right to begin with.
Why then is it that it is OK to benefit from meat being processed in a not so “kosher” way?
I believe it is a matter of judgment and accountability. We must take ownership of bad practices and poor choices. Regardless of our religious affiliation, we are all part of Klal Israel and are therefore responsible for each other’s actions.
The Jewish community should demand that those responsible for safeguarding kashrut standards and the business of selling these products, be held to a higher standard. Turning a blind eye and hoping no one will notice is not acceptable in Judaism.
It is the season of introspection. Nobody is above the law. Not in the secular world, and certainly not in the religious realm. We know. God knows. Isn’t that enough?
Cynthia Herber is a lawyer born and raised in Mexico City. She received a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and currently serves as a Wisconsin state certified Spanish court interpreter.
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