Hilul Hashem - take 232

Hillul Hashem - desecration of God's name - is a serious sin in Jewish tradition. It happens when people who claim to be religious, do despicable things, and discredit religion and by association "the name of God."

The Rubashkin family, owners of the world's largest kosher slaughter house have been serial violators. (See previous postings on this blog.) First, cruelty to animals, then cruelty to workers, then imigration violations and now this, from JTA:

Rubashkin arrested again
By Ben Harris · November 14, 2008

Sholom Rubashkin has been arrested for the second time in three weeks.

Rubashkin, the former manager of the Agriprocessors packing plant in Postville, Iowa, and the son of the company owner Aaron Rubashkin, was arrested Friday at his Postville home on a federal bank-fraud charge.

According to the criminal complaint filed Friday in U.S. district court in Iowa, Rubashkin diverted millions of dollars in customer payments that were supposed to be used as collateral on a $35 million dollar bank loan. Rubashkin allegedly directed that the amounts not be posted to the company’s accounting system until a later date, which inflated the value of its accounts receivable and allowed Agriprocessors to borrow more money from the bank than it had collateral to cover.

The goverment further alleges that Rubashkin instructed an employee to delete evidence of the scheme from company computers on the day after he posted bond for his first arrest in late October.

If convicted, Rubashkin could face up to 30 years in jail. He was scheduled to appear at a hearing in Cedar Rapids at 11:00 a.m. Friday.

Rubashkin had been free on bail following his arrest last last month on charges related to his alleged role in helping procure false documentation for illegal immigrants employed at the plant. If convicted on those charges, he could face more than 20 years in jail.

Rubashkin’s legal troubles come as court proceedings get underway for Agriprocessors’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, a move that has imperiled the American supply of kosher meat.

Prior to May 12, when federal agents arrested more than one-third of the company’s workforce in illegal immigration charges, Agriprocessors was the largest producer of kosher meat in the country.

I have long been boycotting Agriprocessor products. I urge you to do the same. They are not kosher by any real standard. Agriprocessors sells several brands of meat products including Aaron’s Best, Rubashkin’s, Shor Habor, Iowa’s Best Beef and Supreme Kosher. While their beef production is (temporarily?) close down due to their legal difficulties thay continue to supply chicken and turkey products.

Kosher ? Not !!

Another reason to boycott Rubashkin and Aaron's branded "kosher" products, both produced by AgriProcessors, the U.S. largest "kosher" slaughterhouse, now infamous for mistreating both its workers and its animals.

According to an article posted yesterday on the Forward web site, "The AgriProcessors slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, received 250 non-compliance records from the United States Department of Agriculture during 2006, five of them for inadequate safeguards against Mad Cow disease, and multiple others for fecal matter in the food production area. While the entire beef, poultry and egg industry had 34 recalls in 2006, AgriProcessors had two during the last eight months, both of them Class I, the highest risk level."

So now, in addition to clearly violating Jewish laws about tzaar baalei hayim (cruelty to animals), and al talin schar (workers rights), AgriProcessors is now greedily and blatantly disregarding of the health of it customers.

Feh ! The hypocrisy stinks to heaven.

For more info and background, you can also see this posting on Jewschool, or read all about the animal cruelty of AgriProcessors' operations as exposed by PETA, or view the shocking videos on that site, one of which is posted at the top of article.

OU threatens to Yank Agriprocessor's Kashrut Licence

This just in from JTA.

Following the filing of criminal charges against Agriprocessors, the Orthodox
Union may withdraw its kosher certification of the company [Agriprocessors.]

On Tuesday, the O.U. announced it would withdraw certification from the kosher meat company, the nation's largest, unless new management is hired.

The announcement came just hours after Iowa's attorney general filed criminal charges against Agriprocessors and its owner, Aaron Rubashkin, for child-labor violations.

"Within the coming days, or lets say a week or two, we will suspend our supervision unless there's new management in place," said Rabbi Menachem Genack, the O.U.'s head of kosher supervision.

I have blogged about the Agriprocessors scandal a few times aleady.

While the OU's action is commendable, it is also long over due. Why are they threatening this only now that State criminal charges have been filed. Agriprocessor's inhumane practices to animals - and violation of Jewish Laws re tzaar baaleh chaim [suffering of animals] were conclusively documented on film by PETA several years ago. (In fact the films even showed technical violations of kosher slaughter rules - animals clearly not killed by a single cut to the throat.) Agriprocessor's violation of Jewish Laws of fair labour practices were documented by various labour unions, and by investigative journalists of the Forward, several years ago. Agriprocessor' exploitation of foreign workers and violation of American Immigration Law has been known since at latest the big immigration raid on there Postville plant earlier this year.

Why did it take State criminal prosecution to force OU's hand?

Well better late then never.

Maybe this will provide further impetus for the Hescher Tzeddek movement, which strives to have Jewish authorities certify food as not only meeting the Jewish legal requirements of kashrut, but also the Jewish legal requirements regarding suffering of animals and fair labour practices. Let's hope so.

Rabbi Bunko

The Rubashkin family really are too much !

The same family that brought us Aaron's brand - cruel but ostensibly kosher meats; the owners of Agriprocessors - one of the most awful meat packing plants in the U.S. (see my earlier blog entries on this subject), have now been fined for illegally storing toxic chemicals at a textile plant they owned. To top it off, they apparently denied owning the property, when questioned by U.S. federal officials.

Read all about it on Ha'aretz.

My favorite quote from the article:

Rubashkin's brother-in-law is the prominent Republican fundraiser Rabbi Milton Balkany, nicknamed Rabbi Bunco, due his fundraising tactics.

These guys give Shylock a bad name.

Hechsher Tzeddek: Taking the Ethics of Food Seriously

Partly as a result of the numerous scandals over "kosher" slaughterhouse Agriprocessors (see my previous blog entries about this topic here and here), the Conservative movement is poised to institute a Hechsher Tzeddek - or "ethical kashrut" - certification program.

This is good news.

According to a proposal now before the movement's bi-annual conference, the certificate is to be given to food produced in a manner that meets certain environmental and labor standards, including worker safety and fair wages. The resolution is expected to pass easily.

The proposed certificate will appear alongside already existing kosher certification rather than replace it, say members of the Hekhsher Tzedek Committee.

Nigel Savage, executive director of Hazon, a nonprofit dedicated to Jewish environmentalism and social justice issues involving food, applauded the hekhsher tzedek initiative, which he said is a beautiful example of taking existing Jewish law to a higher level.

“In our generation, a growing number of Jews keep kosher and care about ethics, about treating workers fairly, about respecting the land,” he said.

The hekhsher tzedek will consider issues of workers’ rights and safety, and issues of animal welfare, including how animals are raised and slaughtered. Organic food issues are not yet part of the effort.

So, while not prefect, its a good start.

For the full story from the JTA click here.