Would You Like Some Meth with Your Meat?

Have you been getting a buzz from your brisket? This might be why:

By Ben Harris
Published: 05/13/2008

NEW YORK (JTA) -- In laying the legal groundwork for a massive raid of the country's largest kosher slaughterhouse, federal authorities cited claims that
illegal narcotics production took place at the factory and hundreds of illegal
immigrants were employed there, including several of the rabbis responsible
for kosher supervision. The charges were among the most explosive details to emerge following the raid Monday at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa.

Agents arrested 390 workers in what Immigration and Customs Enforcement
called the largest raid of its kind in U.S. history. The raid, which required federal
authorities to rent an expansive fairground in nearby Waterloo to house detainees, prompted the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa to temporarily relocate judges and court personnel to the site because the facilities in Cedar Rapids and Sioux City were inadequate...

The raid follows a six-month investigation involving more than a dozen federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the departments of
labor and agriculture...

Agriprocessors said in a statement Tuesday that it "takes the immigration
laws seriously" and intended to "continue to cooperate with the government in
its investigation." "Agriprocessors will also inquire further into the circumstances that led to these events," the company said. "We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families whose lives were disrupted and wish them the best. We are deeply committed to meeting the needs of all of our customers and are operating again today."

In the affidavit filed as part of the 60-page application for a search warrant, additional details were revealed of the government's investigation of Agriprocessors, a company that has been beset by numerous allegations of health and safety violations, mistreating workers and using controversial slaughter practices. According to the document, a former supervisor at the plant -- identified only as Source #1 -- told investigators that some 80 percent of the workforce was illegal.
The source also said he believed rabbis responsible for kosher supervision entered the United States from Canada without proper immigration documents. According to the affidavit, the source did not provide evidence for his suspicions about the rabbis.

Source #1 also claimed to have discovered active production of the drug methamphetamine at the plant and reported incidents of weapons being carried there. Methamphetamine, more commonly known as crystal meth, is Illegal in the
United States. The popular nightclub drug gives users a sense of energy and euphoria that can last for hours...

The affidavit says that 697 plant employees are believed to have violated federal laws. With Agriprocessors producing more than half of the nation's kosher meat, the raid has prompted fears of a disruption in supply...

Rabbi Menachem Genack, the head of the Orthodox Union's kosher supervision
department -- the largest outfit certifying the kosher status of Agriprocessors' meat -- told JTA that other companies had assured him that they could make up for any shortfall from the Postville plant. Genack reiterated the O.U.'s policy of leaving matters of immigration and labor standards to the government. "No one else has the resources to do what the federal government can do," he said. If the company turns out to be criminally liable, Genack said, that could be grounds for losing its kosher certification.

The affidavit says the government has probable cause to believe that an Agriprocessors supervisor assisted workers in acquiring fake documents in exchange for a cut of the proceeds. Federal investigators provided documentation for a former Agriprocessors employee, identified in the affidavit as Source #7, for the purpose of gaining employment at the plant. Once hired, the source reported on rabbis who insulted the workers and threw meat at them. In one alleged instance, a "Hasidic Jew" duct-taped a worker's eyes and then hit him with a meat hook, "apparently not causing serious injuries."

Agriprocessors has come under fire before for its labor practices, as well as health and safety violations. In March, authorities fined the company $182,000 for violations at the plant.People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has clandestinely videotaped a controversial slaughter practice used at the plant. In addition, an investigation by the Forward weekly newspaper revealed allegations that employees were underpaid and exploited. Agriprocessors officials denied the allegations.

There are a few obvious questions that arise here:

1. A group has been calling for a hechsher tzedek, Kashrut supervision that would assure not only that ritual kashrut is maintained, but that the company operates in an ethical (and legal) way ( http://hekhshertzedek.org/ ). Isn't it about time that everyone -- including and especially the Orthodox Union, got on board? By the way, Israel's Bema'aglei Tzedek organization has instituted a similar hechsher project (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123055).


2. Agriprocessors had been under scrutiny for some time, amidst allegations regarding worker conditions and slaughtering practices. One might expect a company that knows it is under investigation to try to clean up its act internally and quickly. What were they thinking by letting conditions get to this point?
   
3. OK, so the idea of having a mashgiach (kashrut supervisor) is to make sure that kashrut laws are being followed and to observe anything that would be questionable. If a mashgiach can't spot a crystal meth lab operating under his nose, would that call into question his ability to notice if a pig rather than a cow was coming down the conveyor belt? Hmmm.

Stop Trashing Chabad!

In recent months, I've been involved in numerous meetings of synagogue leaders or synagogue educators at which the subject of Chabad has come up in conversation. Interestingly enough, if you take a mild-mannered group of Jews involved in modern American synagogue leadership, and drop Chabad into the conversation, they somehow become almost vitriolic in their disdain for the boys from Crown Heights. So, some soul searching was in order to try to figure out what this movement can be doing that is just so powerful that it provokes such passionate opposition.

Some thoughts:

• Chabad threatens the economic engine that drives contemporary American synagogues. Synagogues are funded through dues, with only "members" entitled to "services". For Chabad, the only membership that is important is membership in the Jewish people.


• In Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, and some Orthodox congregations, it is Bar/Bat Mitzva -- and the synagogue's prerequisite of religious school / Hebrew school --that draws many people to become and remain dues-paying members. For many, synagogue membership begins with the oldest child's entry into synagogue schooling and concludes with the youngest child's Bar/Bat Mitzva. Chabad has built a different model, in which these elements -- membership, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, education -- are all independent of one another and are certainly not central to the organization's viability.


• Chabad is innovative and willing to take risks. In my neighborhood, many chose not to hear the Purim megillah reading in synagogues, but instead went to Chabad, at which they were entertained before and after the megillah by jugglers and dance performances that added to the carnival-like spirit of the holiday. Our regional Chabad rabbi appears on TV for a telethon on a Harley, dressed in full biker gear and hawking Harley kippot; would your rabbi do that if it made Judaism more accessible to young people? Similar examples abound.


• Chabad is market-driven and understands things about American Jews and their needs that mainstream synagogues often don't. They have successfully tapped into Jews' search for spirituality and community, without setting up obstacles (or "standards", if you will).


• Chabad has subtly communicated that its message and its leadership is authentic. You'll never hear them say that anyone else isn't authentic, but if their claim to authenticity is heard louder than the claim of synagogue professionals, people hear the message clearly.








• People will tell you that they are "shopping" for a synagogue. You'll never have to "shop" for Chabad. They show up all over: Outside the NY Public Library, Iowa City, Bangkok, Anchorage, Beverly Hills, and at a college campus near you. In Chabad, the rabbi's study will one day be the board room of a friendly law office, another day at a restaurant. The pulpit can be a college dining hall, a shopping center or a city street.
  
• Long before researchers found that Jews "want to do Jewish in non-Jewish spaces" Chabad was bringing Jewish values to work outside the Jewish community: involvement in drug rehabilitation work, honoring teens who do "good deeds", etc.
  

Don't get me wrong, I don't idealize Chabad. There are some issues that are profoundly disturbing: messianic emphasis - sometimes directed towards a deceased rebbe, heavy focus on the affective side of Judaism, ambivalence about Zionism (although not about the land or people of Israel).

What I'm suggesting is that, before demonizing Chabad, our modern synagogues would do well to study Chabad, perhaps even invite its leaders into a dialogue, and see what we could all learn from one another about building Jewish communities for the future.

Sinatra, Tchaikovsky, Springsteen, Bob Marley and my Seder

When I interview people for a job, one question that I've used for quite a few years is: What type of music do you like? I'm not interested in genres, but in songwriters and performers. I've always been inclined to hire people who like Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Notorius B.I.G., Frank Sinatra, Steely Dan, Billy Joel, The Roches, and for my classical music, Tchaikovsky.

Why do I use this question in an interview? Because it's a great way to get to know a person. For me, I used to think that the commonality among those favorites was their passion. If you like music that is passionate, then you are likely to be passionate about your work; or at least that's my assumption.

In discussing this with some colleagues, I realized that there is more to these artists than their passion, however. They are also some of the best storytellers around:

• You can just see the policeman stopping Jay-Z, when you hear him tell the story in 99 Problems


• The Roches' Face Down at Folk City puts you front and center watching someone perform at the old folk music club in NY


• Even if you've never seen the Nutcracker Suite, a listen to the music gives you insight into the story and let's you visualize it.


• Steely Dan's My Old School gives you a picture of the former student who is now with the "working girls at the county jail."


• Who doesn't recognize the characters that we're introduced to at the bar in Piano Man?
  

In each case, the performer and/or songwriter puts you up close to an unfolding story in a passionate way, and actually gives you such a clear picture that you are there.

Sound familiar? At this time of year, it should. This is exactly what is asked of us at the Passover Seder: Engage people in your storytelling and in your story-singing in such a way that we all see ourselves in the story ("as if he personally came out of Egypt").

Let's all learn from those people whose storytelling skills we respect: musicians, songwriters, artists, and storytellers. On the Seder night ahead, let's use the passion and our best ways of communicating to see the story, experience our presence in the story and to envision how the story continues from generation to generation.

Paranoia, Cossacks, Bolsheviks and Bugs in Your Broccoli

So, in a discussion with my boss, I explained a tendency towards paranoia as stemming from my family's history. It's simple. My ancestors spent a few hundred years in Ukraine outrunning Cossacks, then Bolsheviks. Paranoia becomes somewhat hereditary.

Thinking about it more carefully, I realized that they probably didn't actually outrun anyone. After all, there's no evidence of fast speed in my family. Frankly, if you think about Jewish athletes, you won't come up with names of runners, either. Hank Greenberg and Shawn Green --- sluggers; Sandy Koufax threw his way to fame; Mark Spitz was a swimmer; the Israeli Olympic medalists were in windsurfing (or something like that) and judo.

If my ancestors and those of fellow Members of the Tribe didn't outrun their adversaries, then they must have had other traits that allowed them to stay out of the way of danger. My guess: The same "radar" that allows Members of the Tribe to find one another at a party or concert must have a component that allows us to pick up emerging danger. What's paranoid in the U.S. in 2008 would have been called a survival mechanism in 19th century Ukraine. That same "paranoia" probably also helped my mother-in-law and her family -- good Berlin Jews -- to suspend the disbelief that sophisticated, cultured Germans might actually turn against the Jews even in the modern 20th century, and get out of the country when they still could.

Fitness is the word that I believe is used by scientists to describe the traits that help a certain species to survive. That trait, when present, gives the organism a better fighting chance against enemies. Those organisms with the traits are more likely to make it. In the Jews' case, paranoia may have been such a trait. And as we know, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they're not out to get you.

If I'm right, then the question is: what happens to those traits when they're no longer needed? Perhaps the appendix, that utterly useless piece of our GI tract, is a great example. This appendage probably once played some role. Today, it's sole purpose is to occasionally act up and require immediate medical attention.

Paranoia then, is the appendix of the Jewish nation. We've made it into a bit of an art form. The Jewish community spends millions of dollars in America to support organizations that will protect American Jews against a level of anti-semitism that would be a joke to my grandparents. After all, does a nasty teenager spray painting a swastika on a building in suburbia really hold a candle to rape, pillage and kill? Matter of fact, in my Long Island shtetl, some locals were so desperate to exercise that once adaptive character trait of paranoia, that they "discovered" that desks in the public library were arranged in a pattern that reminded them of a swastika (http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/1010000101/post/1100021310.html ). And in Alabama, a retirement home continues to work on its building so that people flying over won't see the swastika that tha building looks like from above (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=534010&in_page_id=1811 ).

From my limited understanding, Darwin would get it. The adaptive behavior of having ultrasensitive radar to dodge the next pogrom in Ukraine gets transplanted to America and has us biologically programmed to look for evidence of anti-semitism here.

But could it also be driving the Kashrut market? In the past century, American observant Jews have upped the ante for keeping Kosher. In the early and mid-twentieth century, the Kosher consumer was taught how to read ingredients on labels to ascertain whether something was Kosher. That was good enough for many communities for several generations. Then Kosher supervision became more widespread, making keeping Kosher easier. Suddenly, in the last 20 years, new "enemies" have arisen: hidden bugs that allegedly threaten the Kashrut of every vegetable (http://www.bodek.com/aboutus.htm ). And then there are the little crustaceans that infiltrated even Brooklyn water supplies, threatening the drinking water supply for the Kosher consumer (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E5D71631F932A35755C0A9629C8B63 ).

Crazy religious people looking for traife because Kosher has just become too easy? Nope. It's the appendix thing: what was once an adaptive trait - paranoia - remains a trait. Like the appendix, it struggles to come to the forefront, but can only do so by acting up occasionally.

Shabbat Shalom, Darwin!

How Many Aveirot Can YOUR Governor Do?

Our great state of New York has been completely absorbed in the details of a scandal, whose details are still emerging, that will be ending the relatively brief career of Governor Spitzer. Whether what we will learn in the days ahead will prove to be a simple sex scandal (unlikely), or one that will involve some financial wrongdoing and possible misuse of public funds and public office, remains to be seen.

What it does do for me is remind me of how, back in the day, when I was a rabbinical student, we used to have aveirah (sin) contests. The concept was a simple one. Knowing what we knew about Judaism and its laws, what is the situation that we could dream up in which one person could break the largest number of laws concurrently. So, for example, one of the better ones would be a situation in which a person was having sex with a married, menstruant woman while smoking a cigar on Yom Kippur. Total: at least four.

Since I hadn't played this game for decades, the guv gave me a chance to stretch those brain muscles again, and to show that I hadn't lost it.

Below are a list of the aveirot that might (allegedly and all that jazz) have been crossed:

1. chillul ha-shem - Actions that a Member of the Tribe does that cast aspersions not only on him/her personally, but on the Jewish people and, ultimately, God.
2. tzedek tzedek tirdof - We are commanded to pursue righteousness. When a person who has spent his entire career ostensibly pursuing justice turns out to have been regularly involved in illicit business himself, it calls into question anything that anyone might be doing to pursue righteousness and justice.
3. kedusha - Anything we do either adds to the holiness in the world or detracts from it. There's no neutrality in Judaism. Frequenting hookers detracts. This falls under the general mitzvah that "you shall do the good and the upright."
4. shemirat ha-guf - The commandment to guard one's body and health. Unprotected sex is not only unsafe for you, but it puts the first lady of this great state at risk, and sends a really crappy message to the young people of the state.
5. Not paying retail prices - The guv was caught because of large financial transactions that sent up a red flag to his bank. Thus proving that, if you betray thousands of years of Jewish history and practice by paying undiscounted, full retail prices, and don't even ask for a volume discount, punishment is sure to follow.

Shabbat Shalom,

The Notorious R.A.V.

Orthodox Rabbis Fight Tradition -- Attempt to Organize a Hierarchy...It Won't Work, Guys

The Modern Orthodox American rabbinate, as represented by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), provoked a public debate by siding with the current Chief Rabbi of Israel in agreeing that the Israeli rabbinate will no longer automatically accept conversions done by RCA members. The agreement of the RCA and the Israeli rabbinate (http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100907 and http://www.rabbis.org/documents/Comprehensive%20and%20Final%20Geirus%20Policies%20and%20Standards%20Protocol.pdf) presents a detailed plan for regional courts that will officiate at Orthodox conversions across the country. While any Orthodox rabbi may conduct conversions independently of these courts, he does so at the risk of said conversions not being accepted by the Israeli chief rabbinate.

Although I had some strong initial reactions, there are some rabbis who I deeply respect who are far more knowledgeable and articulate than I am, and who are doing a fine job of putting the pros and cons of this on the public agenda (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1203605147501).

Instead, here is a take on it that doesn't deal so much with the issues around conversion per se, but with the tangential issues that it raises (which perhaps shouldn't be seen as that tangential):

• 87% of American Jews do not consider themselves Orthodox (Source: United Jewish Communities Report Series on the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01). Of the 13% who claim to be, a significant number belong to Orthodox groups that do not participate in or follow the lead of the Rabbinical Council of America. That means that the current debate matters to less than 10% of American Jewry. On a good day.
• Similarly, the vast majority of Americans who choose to enter the Jewish people do so through movements that are not Orthodox.
• The vast majority of Orthodox Jewish converts are not moving to Israel any time soon.
• The majority of Israeli Jews are not strictly observant by Orthodox standards.
• Personal opinion: the last Israeli chief rabbi who had the respect and admiration of the full range of the Israeli population was Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook. He died over 70 years ago. Even if I give you Rabbi Herzog, another great leader, that still only takes us to 1959.

So the point of part one of my blog entry is that the real argument may make great reading (who wouldn't pay to see Rabbinical Celebrity Death Match?), but the actual issue is fairly irrelevant to a huge number of Jews.

What is interesting to me is this angle: Did the rabbis involved miss the Jewish history lesson in which they taught that Judaism works best as disorganized religion? Do they really expect -- here or in Israel -- to impose structure or order on the Jewish people?

Here are some texts and stories that tell of attempts to impose this kind of top-down hierarchical structure -- with only one or a small number of leaders calling the shots -- on the chosen people:

Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood about Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said: 'What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand about you from morning to evening?' And Moses said unto his
father-in-law: 'Because the people come unto me to inquire of God; when they
have a matter, it comes unto me; and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and
I make them know the statutes of God, and His laws.' And Moses' father-in-law said unto him: 'The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear away...for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it alone. Listen now to my voice...provide out of all the people able men, those that fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring before you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves...So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law

(Exodus / Shemot 18)

Oh, and then there's the Mishnah, circa 200 CE. Rabbi Judah the Prince takes the time and energy to gather oral rabbinic teachings into one set of documents, the Mishnah. What do the people do? Over the next few hundred years, the push-back is the Gemara which often rejects certain mishnaic teachings and which includes teaching from the beraita, those very teachings that Judah chose not to include in the mishnah.

Fast forward to the 18th century. Rabbi Elijah of Vilna (a.k.a. the Vilna Gaon) tries to take a top-down approach and get rid of those pesky Hasidim that are starting their own brand of Judaism, by excommunicating the lot of them. How did that work out? One look at Brookyn, Jerusalem, Yavne'el (in northern Israel) or for that matter, Postville Iowa, will tell you that the Ga'on was ignored.

Bottom line here: If you want top-down hierarchy, try the Catholic church. Jews just don't take orders very well. We seem, however, to do just fine with a little bit of chaos and some good old-fashion populism. Putting power into the hands of the Israeli chief rabbis and their approved American rabbinical leaders should be just about as effective as Moses' attempt to be a solo judicial act, Rabbi Judah's attempt to be the last word on rabbinic literature, and the Ga'on's attempt to stamp out a movement that was catching a popular wave.

Shomer Shabbos Battlin' Bukharian Barbers!

So, beautiful West Hempstead, NY boasted its first Bukharian Jewish barber, Yuri, around eight years ago. Being relatively hair challenged, I don't frequent barber shops that much, so I'd missed the fact that Bukharian Jewish immigrants had become the latest immigrant group to use barber-ing as starter businesses towards the American dream (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10445-2004Jul23.html). Back when I had serious hair, Italian immigrants had the lock on this line of business, at least in my native Chicago.

Soon enough, Serge, another Bukharian Jewish immigrant, also found West Hempstead to be a lucrative market, and we now had some real market competition (not counting Reggie's, which has the African-American barber business in town locked up).

The businesses were similar, yet competitive. Both offered low prices. Both offered one basic style - short. Both had 2 or 3 barbers, little if any wait. And both had hours that were posted on the door, yet still oddly unpredictable. But, curiously enough, Yuri and his crew sported black kippot, while Serge and his folks were bareheaded. And Yuri closed in the late afternoon on Friday, and reopened on Sunday

More recently, Serge sold the business to Abraham and Isaac (these are actually NOT psuedonyms), also Bukharian immigrants. And suddenly, a sign went up that the store was "shomer shabbos."

For the uninitiated, Shabbat observance has, throughout history, been defined by halacha (Jewish practice) as a key indicator of a person being an observant Jew and one who could be safely expected to be ethically reliable. It was for this reason that Shabbat observance had become a prerequisite for one to be an acceptable witness in legal situations in the observant Jewish community. The demand that Kosher food businesses (if not the owners of the businesses themselves) be closed on Shabbat (or in some cases, sold to a gentile if opened on Shabbat) likewise stemmed from these assumptions.

There were only two problems with the assumptions:

1. It could no longer be assumed that one who was not shomer shabbat was not ethically unreliable.

2. It could no longer be assumed that one who was shomer shabbat was ethically reliable (for a shomer shabbos guy who wasn't so ethical, but apparently can't pray in his jail cell, see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/us/16prison.html?ref=us ; for a shomer shabbat guy who has no problem selling non-Kosher meat as Kosher, see http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/Kosher.Jewish.Monsey.2.237901.html ).

In any case, there is a halachic issue of Jews benefiting from work done by other Jews on Shabbat. But, unless I missed class one day in rabbi school, there is nothing about one's barber (or barber shop) needing to be shomer shabbat. And...

Non-scientific observational research, conducted by The Notorious R.A.V. & Associates, show that Long Island boasts signs proclaiming many of the following types of businesses as being shomer shabbat: florists, auto mechanic, exterminator, plumber, electricians, accountants and more. You can even check out their businesses at http://www.yiddele.com/, which describes itself as The Shomer Shabbos Business Club.

So what's the problem here? Check out the following text from the mishnah:

Rabbi Tzadok used to say: Do not make the Torah a crown with which to aggrandize
yourself, nor use it as a spade with which to dig. As Hillel used to say: He who
makes worldly use of the crown of the Torah shall perish. Thus you may infer
that any one who exploits the words of the Torah removes himself from the world
of life.

As I understand this text, we are not to use the Torah, its knowledge, or its observance, as something that will make us bigger. Or will grow our business. Shabbat observance is an ethical and spiritual statement, not part of one's marketing plan. We cheapen the significance of Shabbat and of Judaism when we use them as part of a business plan, rather than as part of our life plan.

My advice: Let's get back to humility. You're shomer shabbat? Me, too. It's not on my business card or my office door; I don't need to see it on yours.

And for consumers, it's even easier: if you don't want an exterminator or plumber on Shabbat, don't call one on Shabbat.

As for Yuri, Abraham, Isaac and Serge...welcome to the 'hood. Now compete for business like everyone else. See you when I need a haircut...about every 3 - 4 months.