בס"ד שבט תשע"ב ?Darchei Shalom; Glatt Kosher-Limited to food Glatt Kosher- limited to food? A) Introduction http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/us/22iowa.html/June 21, 2010 27-Year Sentence for Plant Manager/By JULIA PRESTON A federal judge in Iowa on Monday announced a prison sentence of 27 years on financial fraud charges for Sholom Rubashkin, the former manager of a kosher meatpacking plant where hundreds of illegal immigrant workers were arrested in a 2008 raid that garnered national attention. Although the case against Mr. Rubashkin originally centered on immigration charges, during the trial in Sioux Falls, S.D., prosecutors focused instead on financial abuses when he was in charge of the Agriprocessors slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. …..The sentence is also likely to deepen the belief among some Orthodox Jewish leaders, who have sustained an international campaign on Mr. Rubashkin’s behalf, that he was unfairly tried. Mr. Rubashkin was convicted in November in a federal trial of 86 counts of financial fraud…. Judge Reade noted that Mr. Rubashkin had misled the bank repeatedly about the finances of Agriprocessors, ordering employees to create fake invoices and moving cash secretly among different accounts, including some designated for religious purposes. Judge Reade rejected a defense argument that Mr. Rubashkin was not motivated by greed, but was trying out of loyalty and religious faith to sustain a business owned by his father, Aaron Rubashkin. At the time of the raid, Agriprocessors was the largest kosher beef producer in the country. Some Jewish leaders were not calm. “Our community will react just as I have, with shock and disgust,” said Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive vice president of the National Council of Young Israel, who has organized support for Mr. Rubashkin among Orthodox Jews. Rabbi Lerner said he would try to raise an outcry to bring attention to the appeal. Yehoshua Grunstein 1 Melbourne 5772/2012 בס"ד שבט תשע"ב ?Darchei Shalom; Glatt Kosher-Limited to food http://www.vosizneias.com/20172/2008/09/09/postville-ia-ou-to-remove-hechsher-from- rubashkin-if-no-new-management/ Postville, IA - OU To Remove Hechsher From Rubashkin If No New Management. Rabbi Weissmandel: My Hechsher Will Stay Published on: September 10th, 2008 / News Source: JTA - VIN News Postville, IA - Following the filing of criminal charges Rabbi Weissmandel who also against owners of the kosher meat producer provides kosher certification for Agriprocessors, the Orthodox Union says it will withdraw Rubashkin plant told VIN News in its kosher certification of the company within two weeks a phone interview "My job and unless new management is hired. expertise is strictly kosher "Within the coming days, or lets say a week or two, we will supervision, as long as the strict suspend our supervision unless there's new management in guidelines of Kosher Shichitah is place," said Rabbi Menachem Genack, the O.U.'s head of followed in this plant my Hecsher kosher supervision. will stay on". said Rabbi Weissmandel. http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2010/02/rabbi- wiessmandl-removes-hechsher-from-agristar-567.html February 11, 2010 Exclusive: Rabbi Weissmandl Removes Hechsher From Agri-Star Two separate people close to the plant have now told me that Rabbi Weissmandl removed his Supreme Kosher supervision from Agri-Star. One story is that Hershey Friedman, Agri-Star's owner, wanted to add another haredi kosher supervision and Rabbi Weissmandl refused to allow it. If true, my guess is that supervision is Lakewood-based. The OU is still supervising Agri-Star products, as well. I spoke briefly with the OU's Rabbi Menachem Genack, who was in a meeting at that moment over the situation and was unwilling to comment. Yehoshua Grunstein 2 Melbourne 5772/2012 בס"ד שבט תשע"ב ?Darchei Shalom; Glatt Kosher-Limited to food B) Kashrut in Israel a. Surveys- the majority of Israeli's keep Kosher1. The Law forbidding deception in Kashrut, paragraph 1983-/התשמ"ג ,חוק איסור הונאה בכשרות .b ."במתן תעודת הכשר יתחשב הרב בדיני כשרות בלבד"11- # Hechsher withheld from the "Ma'a'da'nei Aviv" slaughterhouse that sells treif chickens to a Jewish company that sells non-Kosher meat to Jews [overturned by the Supreme court, case # 7203/00 on 12/12/2001/] Hechsher withheld from a Hotel/Hall with non-modest plays etc'. [overturned by the Supreme court, case # 465/89,] Hechsher withheld from the "Mitral" meat-supplier that was importing Kosher meat as he simultaneously imported non-Kosher meat. [overturned by the Supreme court, case # 5009/94] C] Deciders of Law; Hechsher to a Hotel that will serve Ice Cream after Meat ר' עובדיה יוסף ]יב/צ"ג[- ...כי אילו יכולנו שו"ת יחל ישראל ]כ[ בעל הציץ-אליעזר ]יא/נ"ה[-...כי פשוט יש בדבר כזה משום להעמיד דגל הדת על תִ לה בודאי שהיה …מן הראוי הוא נתינת יד רשמית לפושעים המלעיגים על דברי חכמים ומזלזלים בדברי סופרים ואומרים דין הניין לי ודין לא עלינו למחות בתוקף ולייסר את החטאים להנהיג ,במקביל לדרגות הניין לי, ויש בזה למעשה לא רק נתינת יד אלא גם נתינת בנפשותם המכשילים את הרבים .אבל הכוכבים של משרד הכשר לאי זהירות בקלה כבחמורה ולהפרדה בין דברי בזמנינו ובדור יתום זה אשר בעוונותינו התיירות ,דרגות מגיני הרבים אין מי שיכול ויודע להוכיח ומכל תורה לדברי סופרים ...היש לך ביזוי דברי חכמים יותר דוד אשר יראו שמי שיש גדול מזה...עקדת יצחק [פרשת וירא ,שער כ ]....מוטב שיכָּ רתו שכן למחות ,וידוע שתפוסת בתי המלון לו חמישה מגיני דוד או שישרפו החוטאים האלה בנפשותם משתעקר אות בארץ הקודש מלאה פה לפה במשך ימים פירושם שהאוכל המוגש אחת מן התורה בהסכמת הרבים ...ה"נודע ביהודה" רבים ,ורבים מיראי ה 'הנמצאים כתיירים הוא כשר "גלאט ," בארץ ישראל אינם מעלים על דעתם כלל ובמלון כולו מורגשת [מהדורה תניינא ,אבן העזר ,סימן ז[" :...מכיון שנכשלים במזיד , שבתי המלון שבארצנו הקדושה אינם אוירת השבת ואילו מגן - אמרינן בכגון דא :הלעיטהו לרשע ."…וכל ישראל ערבים כשרים ,ונכנסים ואוכלים שם בלי פקפוק דוד אחד פירושו זה לזה...הערבות ההדדית משמעה הטלת אחריות על כל והיסוס ,ואם נסיר את ההכשר וההשגחה שהאוכל הוא כשר אך ישראל ,ובפרט על הרבנות ,לעשות הכול למען שמירת יכניסו בעלי המלון נבלות וטריפות ובשר אין אחריות של הרבנות ההלכה כתיקונה ,ואין בה היתר לפגוע בשלמותה של ,' על אוירת השבת ועל טיב בחלב ממש וכו ונמצאת מכשיל את ההלכה בשם צמצום החטאים של המזלזלים בה ....על כן התמימים המופעים במלון לדעתי מכל הבחינות אסור לרבנות לתת הכשר וגושפנקא כל שהוא על סוג בית מלון שכזה 1 ש 'לוי ,ח 'לוינסון ,א 'כ"ץ" ,אמונות ,שמירת מצוות ויחסים חברתיים בקרב היהודים בישראל ,"מכון גוטמן למחקר חברתי שמושי ,דצמבר 1993. Yehoshua Grunstein 3 Melbourne 5772/2012 בס"ד שבט תשע"ב ?Darchei Shalom; Glatt Kosher-Limited to food D] Afterword http://www.cjnews.com/node/81728 Kashrut agencies shouldn’t be leveraging ethics/RABBI REUVEN TRADBURKS, Wednesday, September 10, 2008 …there are mitzvot that govern the ethical behaviour of workers, as well as the behaviour of employers toward workers. There are also mitzvot that govern personal ethical behaviour. We should all be honest…. The issues concerning Agriprocessors are not personal. They involve the question… how can a kashrut supervisory agency use its leverage to ensure that a company’s practices are kosher before stamping its food as kosher? In other words, we are asking the OU to use its leverage –its muscle – to achieve a broader good. The sentiment is fine – to predicate kosher supervision on kosher business practices. However, the process is inherently flawed, dangerous and, to my mind, to be avoided in the extreme. Let’s examine this idea. 1) Why not use kashrut supervision to leverage compliance with other mitzvot? After all, ethical treatment of workers is not the only mitzvah in the Torah…. How about Shabbat? And what about the entertainment?... If we want it to use its leverage to achieve better working conditions, why stop there? Workers’ rights are not the only mitzvah in the Torah. 2) …I think the notion of using leverage to force companies to treat workers fairly is not prudent and will create an inappropriate use of coercion in other areas as well. 3) …Why has the issue of ethics become the responsibility of the OU alone…., If we care about the ethical treatment of employees…, perhaps we shouldn’t shop at Wal-Mart, since it blocks unions. And maybe we shouldn’t have watched the Olympics and supported a regime that is totalitarian and restricts freedoms. Or perhaps we shouldn’t buy items made in China, or products made by Coca-Cola, a sponsor of the Olympics. And perhaps we should require these embargoes of our shuls and schools as well….While kashrut agencies should avoid using leverage, we as consumers ought to use our own leverage. Yehoshua Grunstein 4 Melbourne 5772/2012 .