Ethical Monotheist Leader Rebukes The Orthodox

There is much to discuss about Rabbi Yoffie’s essay, “Orthodoxy’s Kosher Crises,” in this week’s Forward. I highly recommend reading the whole thing.

But I want to focus on an important point that I believe concerns Rabbi Yoffie among other issues about the Rubashkin scandal.

Over the course of the past five months, the American Jewish community has observed with dismay the gradual unfolding of the Agriprocessors scandal. Agriprocessors may be a private corporation, but as the nation’s leading producer of kosher meat, it is one that operates under the Jewish communal banner.

Its actions have been followed closely, not only by Jews such as myself who observe kashrut, but by all Jews — not to mention many in the broader American public.

There are two points here, and they are connected. First of all, while many liberal Jews do not keep kashrut like Rabbi Yoffie does, certainly some do. Additionally, many Jews who do not keep kosher the way the Orthodox understand it still keep some form of kashrut. This may mean a lot of different things. For instance, some Jews will eat things outside of the home that they do not bring into the home. Others, like my maternal grandmother, may she rest in peace, may also prefer to buy kosher products even if they aren’t necessarily committed to only kosher products. For instance, when my grandmother made chicken soup, she would seek out “a nice chicken.” A “nice” chicken was a kosher chicken.

Rabbi Yoffie wants to preserve and build on this. He wants Jews to have some association in their lives with kashrut.

Additionally, many liberal Jews have a general sense of striving to be “a light unto the nations.” When terrible things are tolerated in the kashrut industry – labor abuses that people like my social-democratic ancestors fought long and hard to eradicate in this country – this harms how Judaism is perceived by others. This in turn precipitates a deleterious effect on liberal Jewish identity and faith. Just as kashrut becomes difficult to defend, never mind champion, so do other aspects of Judaism connected to it. A mitzvah becomes an embarrassment.

It is Orthodox Judaism that is primarily responsible for our system of kosher supervision. And Orthodox Jews represent the largest single consumer base for the kosher meats produced by Agriprocessors. Therefore, the Orthodox community and its leaders have a particular responsibility for addressing the troubling questions that have been raised and for working to repair the damage that has been done[...]

In the meantime, the Jewish community faces a public crisis of major proportions. The scandal has raised basic questions about the ethical foundations of our religious tradition, about undue deference to the wealthy and about Jewish indifference to injustice in our midst.

Why didn’t the Orthodox care about the damage they were facilitating?

The Orthodox outreach groups claim to be concerned about the spiritual growth of their non-Orthodox co-religionists. But the callous and myopic way they have handled this debacle suggests otherwise. When push comes to shove, it is quite clear. They don’t care all that much.

How can we trust groups like Chabad, Aish HaTorah, and most disappointing of all, the Orthodox Union, to have their hearts in the right place when they can’t be bothered to consider, or at least, act, on the effect that this will have on Liberal Jewish commitment to kashrut – already tenuous – as well as to Judaism generally? Perhaps the Orthodox can weather a Judaism that allows for abuse and even cruelty…but liberal Jews have a harder time with it. This scandal makes Rabbi Yoffie’s job harder.

Who has been improper in terms of answering the Rubashkin scandals even though it harms Liberal Jewry? The same ones who insist that they care so much about a “holistic” approach to kiruv (outreach), and have so much respect for Jews who aren’t Orthodox (even as they seek to make them Orthodox) the same ones who claim they appreciate even a modest increase in religious affiliation, the same ones who claim they want public school teens to “develop a positive Jewish identity.”

Rabbi Yoffie writes,

My fervent hope is that a resolution of the crisis will come speedily, with those in authority affirming Torah’s message of hope — which is that we must obey God, mitigate injustice and assure human dignity for all.

Some of the Orthodox are resistant to calling this issue a “chillul Hashem.” Very well, Chas V’ Shalom we should use a term that you folks apparently have proprietary rights to.

But understand. The Orthodox have harmed liberal Jewry. By harming (at the very least) Liberal Jewish affiliation with kashrut, they have harmed Liberal Jewish affiliation with Judaism generally. And they have revealed what they really care about. They care about their own.

And we are not their own.

Do not believe the Orthodox groups who acted corruptly, hedging their statements–often in favor of Agriprocessors as much as they thought they could possibly get away with, or were silent. And I am not even addressing the plethora of ultra-Orthodox hardliners (and right-wing Modern Orthodox – - who are we kidding?) pretending the brutality of this slaughterhouse of horrors is all somehow an anti-semitic plot by PETA and of course, the ever-nefarious unions.

The bulk of the mainstream Orthodox appear to have no other significant interest with us, at least, not when there is a conflict of any sort, besides money and converts. And apparently, when there is already some of the former in question, they brush aside their goals for more of the latter.

The Orthodox will sell-out even the spiritual needs of Liberal Jewry for a few shekels and convenience, and out of arrogance and rage at anyone non-Orthodox who dares to question them. The same Orthodox who become so incredulous when you dare to raise concerns over their “kiruv” efforts, methods, and trajectories.

Do a kol v’ chomer (light to heavy). If the OU and those further to the right are willing to harm Liberal Jews spiritually, how much more willing are they willing to harm their vocational future by sending them to uncompetitive colleges and yeshiva and seminaries with fundamentalist ambitions?

If the bulk of Orthodoxy will betray secular and liberal Jewry even in terms of their religious and spiritual well-being, which is absolutely what happened here, well, rest assured…there is nothing they won’t betray us for when pressures and opportunities arise.

Rabbi Yoffie wants the Orthodox to fix this situation and move on. But I would ask Rabbi Yoffie the following. If the Orthodox need oversight when it comes to a ritual aspect of Judaism like kashrut, how much more so do they need oversight, monitoring, and intervention when it comes to kiruv?

We can’t even trust them with our meat. We should trust them with our youth?