Orthodox Union – Helping to Brand and Privatize Water
With Plenty of Environmentally Destructive Plastic Containers
The Orthodox Union is putting their kashrut certification/brand on water, even though we’ve been drinking the stuff for thousands of years without any clerical supervision.
But with water, there is a problem in addition to the unprecedented phenomenon of kashrut supervision on water.
Rachel Biale, of the Progressive Jewish Alliance, wrote on Jewcy that kosher water should be water devoid of the exact behavior of that what the Orthodox Union is endorsing and facilitating. Ms. Biale railed specifically against water that “comes in a disposable plastic bottle,� as well as which is “sold by a private for-profit company.�
Unfortunately, the Orthodox Union recently began co-branding kashrut “supervision� of water for the DS Waters of America, a massive commercial water supplier. And of course, this is only one of the many ever increasing water companies that the Orthodox Union supervises, since you can never be too careful (or pay too little) for water.
What I would ask you (and the Progressive Jewish Alliance) to consider is that in fact, the Orthodox Union, the largest kashrut supervision in the U.S., is acting in a contradictory way to both our faith and our environment in a manner that no other religious organization of its caliber is doing. They are–domestically, at least–the absolute worst religious offender, and they siphon in the name of Judaism.
Before we stand up for what is environmentally sound in the name of Judaism the way Hazon wants, or like like the Progressive Jewish Alliance wants, we need to enforce some basic standards in our own community, who in this situation, include the bottom of the moral barrel.
We need to stop the Orthodox Union from acting in the name of the general Jewish community’s behalf. At the very least, we need to stand up and denounce the Orthodox Union for doing such things in our name. We need to publicly distance ourselves from this dishonorable and irresponsible behavior that boils down to greed.
And one guess what the Orthodox Union uses such money for.
We have a leaky faucet in our house.
8 comments
“The Orthodox Union is putting their kashrut certification/brand on water, even though we’ve been drinking the stuff for thousands of years without any clerical supervision.”
The US didn’t have an official tax till the civil war (and that one was declared unconstitutional), and yet we have one today. Things change with time when new things become necessary. Like when we found out Desiani water wasnt really spring water…who knows whats in it???
People were eating Mcdonalds french fries for years saying “what could be wrong with them” until we found out that they used to use pork for taste in them. Its nice to know you are such a kashrut expert that you dont need the help. Most of us arent that full of ourselves
Simmy, comparing water to McDonald’s products is even a sillier excuse for giving the OU a carte blanche to take payment for supervising that which needs no clerical supervision than I would have expected from the peanut
galleryminyan.while i agree with you DK about the MCD thing, his first point is a good one
If there’s something else in bottled water, that would go beyond kashrut- it would be an issue for the FDA. Consider that we do not need supervision for milk (don’t even think of getting started on the whole cholov yisroel racket, I’m going to stick to the basics here). Since the farmer has the government breathing over his shoulder, it’s been poskened that we should have no fear that he is adding, let’s say, pig milk to his output.
Never mind the fact that you really can’t milk a pig. Never mind the fact, also, that most milk is processed to *remove* milk fat, cutting the reason for that urban shtetl legend off at the knees. And never mind, additionally, the fact that the original concern was about camel milk.
But most commercially available milk is hechshered. As is the Indian Butter Sauce for chicken at my local grocery store (it’s “dairy”) and bottled ham glaze (I kid you not). And for a while, Fuji film bore an unauthorized hechsher. For the gelatin, you may ask? Well, no. Just because they thought it was good luck. Which may be the real reason why water needs a hechsher.
ps- It is assur to throw away recyclable plastic bottles. Just ask my rabbi.
pps- the issue with McD fries was beef tallow. What’s with this Jewish obsession with pork?
ppps- To the first commenter: Sorry in advance for being so full of myself. I didn’t feel like being full of anybody else today
It’s not news that Dasani isn’t spring water.
Dasani has ALWAYS been tap water. It’s the very same filtered local tap water that your local Coke bottler uses to make Coke, except instead of adding Coke syrup they add some minerals (mainly salt) to make it taste a little more like spring water.
Same goes for Aquafina, which is Pepsi without the Pepsi syrup (although no minerals are added). And DejaBlue, which is Dr Pepper without the Dr Pepper syrup. And so on. None of this is new.
As for McDonald’s, they were using tiny amounts of beef extract in the fries. Not pork.
It’s just marketing. Familiar symbols move merchandize and the manufacturers clamor for co-branding. If OU refuses, they will compromise laboriously built up relationships and deny the producers something they badly want, benefit from and are willing to pay for.
Has the OU, or anyone else, ever said that unsupervised water is not kosher? No. So what’s the problem here? Do you think that by giving supervision to water that chooses to pay for it — thereby relieving consumers of any unnecessary stress about the topic, regardless of our views of the justification for such stress — that the OU is doing something wrong? If so, DK, put yourself in the category of the Aryan Nation and others who complain about the supposed “Jew Tax” that raises the price of kosher-certified goods. But otherwise, what’s your problem?
Oh, your problem is the OU, in fact. Your article makes it pretty clear that the water kashrus thing is just an excuse to lead us to something cold, refreshing and glatt kosher…
But no drinkee, Dave!
(I’m not even going to respond to the “ethical kashrus” argument (plastic bottles?!), which you don’t even buy for a second — you usually mock phony liberal Judaism, don’t you?)
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