8/8/2008 Special JVNA Online Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:

1. Introduction/Background Considerations

2. Press Release: JEWISH GROUP URGES THAT AGRIPROCESSORS VIOLATIONS BE SEEN AS WAKE-UP CALL TO HOW ANIMAL-BASED DIETS VIOLATE JEWISH TEACHINGS, HARM JEWS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

3. Jewish Forward Editorial :Judging Character - And Kashrut

4. Article: Agriprocessors Faces Multiple Child Labor Violations

5. New York Times Op=Ed Article: “Dark Meat”/My Letter in Response

6. Jewish Telegraphic (JTA) article

7. Associated Press Article: Kosher Slaughterhouse Owners Surrounded by Scandal

8. JVNA Press Release on “Hekhsher Tzedek”/Repeat FYI

9. Sample Letter on “Hekhsher Tzedek”/Repeat FYI

10. NY Times Editorial re Agriprocessors: 'The Jungle,' Again

Some material has been deferred to a later update/newsletter to keep this one from being even longer.

[Materials in brackets like this [ ] within an article or forwarded message are my editorial notes/comments.]

Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the JVNA, unless otherwise indicated, but may be presented to increase awareness and/or to encourage respectful dialogue. Also, material re conferences, retreats, forums, trips, and other events does not necessarily imply endorsement by JVNA or endorsement of the kashrut, Shabbat observances, or any other Jewish observances, but may be presented for informational purposes. Please use e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and web sites to get further information about any event that you are interested in. Also, JVNA does not necessarily agree with all positions of groups whose views are included or whose events are announced in this newsletter.

As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks,

Richard

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1. Introduction/Background Considerations

The issues discussed in this special JVNA newsletter will be increasingly in the news in the next few week, at least. So, please be on the lookout for articles in your local Jewish and secular publications, and please use the material below for your letters to editors and talking points. It is VERY important that we build on the growing media coverage of the Agriprocessors controversy.

The material below is just a sample of recent material on the issues, so please use the Internet to get additional material if you wish.

As indicated in previous messages, we require not just “band-aids” that patch up specific local or possibly temporary problems but substantial changes in the entire food system, including a major switch toward veganism, to avoid the unprecedented catastrophe that the world is rapidly approaching.

Bottom line, as far as I am concerned: we must speak out against injustices, to people and animals, and we must continue to diligently work toward sharply reducing animal-based diets and agriculture, because they have many negatives, contradict basic Jewish teachings, and contribute to global warming and other threats to all of humanity.

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2. Press Release: JEWISH GROUP URGES THAT AGRIPROCESSORS VIOLATIONS BE SEEN AS WAKE-UP CALL TO HOW ANIMAL-BASED DIETS VIOLATE JEWISH TEACHINGS, HARM JEWS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

JEWISH GROUP URGES THAT AGRIPROCESSORS VIOLATIONS BE SEEN AS WAKE-UP CALL TO HOW ANIMAL-BASED DIETS VIOLATE JEWISH TEACHINGS, HARM JEWS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

For Immediate Release:
August 8, 2008
Contact:
Richard H. Schwartz, President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA)
President@JewishVeg.com Phone: (718) 761-5876

Jewish Vegetarians of North America issued the following statement today:

The disturbing reports of alleged appalling conditions for animals and workers at the Postville, Iowa slaughterhouse should be a wake-up call to the Jewish community and to consumers of Agriprocessors' meat products to the urgent need for a major reassessment of how the current production and consumption of meat and other animal products violate basic Jewish teachings and harm people, animals and the entire planet.

We strongly support efforts by many groups to improve conditions at the slaughterhouse. But, even if these conditions become far better, we believe that it is still urgent that Jews shift away from animal-based diets because they involve many inconsistencies to Jewish law and values:

* Producing and consuming meat and other animal products represent strong violations of basic Jewish mandates to preserve our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people and avoid a chillul Hashem (desecration of God's Name).

* The raising of 60 billion animals worldwide for meat, eggs and milk is contributing to global warming, widening water shortages, rapid species extinction and many more environmental problems that threaten humanity and all of creation.

* We can reduce the current epidemic of diseases afflicting Jews and others through a switch toward plant-based diets.

* In view of the many current threats to humanity, it is scandalous that the world is not only trying to feed 6.7 billion people, but also over 50 billion farmed animals; that 70 percent of the grain produced in the United States and 40 percent produced worldwide are fed to animals raised for slaughter; that the standard American diet (SAD) requires up to 14 times as much water as a vegan diet.

* A 2006 UN FAO report indicated that animal-based agriculture emits more greenhouse gases (18 percent in CO2 equivalents) than all the world's cars and other means of transportation combined (13.5 percent), and that the number of farmed animals is projected to double in 50 years. Therefore, what we eat is more important than what we drive and consciousness about both are ethical imperatives.

* This is extremely important for Jews today because Israel is especially threatened by global warming. A report by the Israel Union for Environmental Defense in 2007 indicates that global warming could cause: (1) a rise in average temperature of 3 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit; (2) a significant increase in the Mediterranean Sea level, which would threaten the narrow coastal strip of land where 60% of Israel's population lives and where major infrastructure, such as ports and power plants, would be seriously damaged; and (3) a decrease in rainfall of 20-30%, which would disrupt agricultural production and worsen the chronic water scarcity problem in Israel and the region.

We urge that tikkun olam-the healing and repair of the world -- be a central issue in synagogues, Jewish schools and other Jewish institutions. Judaism has marvelous teachings on environmental conservation and sustainability, and it is essential that they be applied to respond to today's many current environmental threats.

Further information about these issues can be found at our JVNA web site JewishVeg.com. We will provide complimentary copies of our new, highly-acclaimed documentary A SACRED DUTY: APPLYING JEWISH VALUES TO HELP HEAL THE WORLD and related materials to rabbis and others who will contact us and indicate how they might use them to involve their congregations, schools or other groups on the issues. The entire documentary can be seen at ASacredDuty.com, and there is much background material about the film at that web site.

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SUPPLEMENTARY SUPPORTING MATERIAL

Support for our argument that the mass production and widespread consumption of meat conflict with Judaism in at least six important areas:

1. While Judaism mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives, numerous scientific studies have linked animal-based diets directly to heart disease, stroke, many forms of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases.

2. While Judaism forbids tsa'ar ba'alei chayim, inflicting unnecessary pain on animals, most farm animals -- including those raised for kosher consumers -- are raised on "factory farms" where they live in cramped, confined spaces, and are often drugged, mutilated, and denied fresh air, sunlight, exercise, and any enjoyment of life, before they are slaughtered and eaten.

3. While Judaism teaches that "the earth is the Lord's" (Psalm 24:1) and that we are to be God's partners and co-workers in preserving the world, modern intensive livestock agriculture contributes substantially to soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats, global warming, and other environmental damage.

4 While Judaism mandates bal tashchit, that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, and that we are not to use more than is needed to accomplish a purpose, animal agriculture requires the wasteful use of grain, land, water, energy, and other resources.

5. While Judaism stresses that we are to assist the poor and share our bread with hungry people, over 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter, while an estimated 20 million people worldwide die because of hunger and its effects each year.

6. While Judaism stresses that we must seek and pursue peace and that violence results from unjust conditions, animal-centered diets, by wasting valuable resources, help to perpetuate the widespread hunger and poverty that eventually lead to instability and war.

In view of these important Jewish mandates to preserve human health, attend to the welfare of animals, protect the environment, conserve resources, help feed hungry people, and pursue peace, and since animal-centered diets violate and contradict each of these responsibilities, JVNA believes that committed Jews (and others) should sharply reduce or eliminate their consumption of animal products.

“One could say "dayenu" (it would be enough) after any of the arguments above,” stated JVNA president Richard Schwartz, “ because each one constitutes by itself a serious conflict between Jewish values and current practice that should impel Jews to seriously consider a plant-based diet. Combined, they make an urgently compelling case for the Jewish community to address these issues.”

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3. Jewish Forward Editorial :Judging Character - And Kashrut

Judging Character - And Kashrut

Editorial

Thursday, Aug 07, 2008

The Babylonian Talmud features a lengthy, oft-quoted discussion of the liability incurred by an individual whose ox gores another person's livestock. If the ox has never gored before, the owner may claim it was an unforeseen accident and pay only half the injured party's losses. Likewise for the second and third offense. With a fourth attack, however, the ox is deemed mu'ad, or “forewarned.” The owner is then fully liable. He can no longer claim he didn't know.

The lesson of the recidivist ox is one of the first and most memorable taught to schoolchildren when they begin their Talmud studies. The narrative is easy to follow, and the moral is clear-cut. It teaches, or should teach, that individuals are responsible for their actions - not just in principle, but also directly and quantifiably liable; not only for what they do, but also for what they fail to do and what they fail to anticipate. No one may traffic with a mu'ad and claim not to have known.

A memorable lesson for most, but seemingly forgotten by the distinguished rabbis and communal functionaries who paid a quick visit last week to Postville, Iowa. They had come to inspect the controversial kosher slaughterhouse owned by Agriprocessors, Inc., which faces widespread allegations of abusive and dangerous working conditions. The rabbis spent three hours touring the plant, met briefly with local Christian clergy and social activists, and gave the operation a clean bill of health. They found no evidence, as one rabbi put it afterward, to suggest that “someone should not buy things from Agriprocessors.”

Well, no - not based on what you might find in a three-hour walkthrough arranged and paid for by the company. But that's not enough. When your target is mu'ad, you have to consider the whole record. And Agriprocessors and its owners are most assuredly mu'ad.

A three-hour tour could not uncover the extensive, “egregious” child labor violations that the Iowa state labor commissioner reported to the state attorney general just five days after the rabbis left town. The labor commissioner said he had “never seen anything like it” in his 30 years in the field, according to JTA. He recommended that the allegations be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law.” But it took him months to gather the facts. Three hours wouldn't suffice.
Three hours wouldn't turn up the voluminous evidence of abuse gathered by the Forward when we first broke the Agriprocessors story two years ago. We found compelling indications of sexual harassment, shorted wages, favoritism and bribery in work assignments, inadequate safety training and horrific work accidents in the place we called a “Kosher Jungle.” But our reporter spent a week in Postville, interviewing current and former workers, merchants, officials and community leaders.
He visited homes and viewed pay stubs, rent receipts and food and medical bills. Our staff spent months more on the phone with federal and state officials, academics, food industry experts and others. It took us more than three hours.

If the rabbis didn't want to believe us, they could have consulted the public record - the archive of complaints brought and fines imposed on the company by state and federal authorities, year after year, for health, safety, food contamination and environmental pollution violations.

Well, we are reminded, meatpacking is a notoriously messy business.
[*** and one that contributes significantly to major diseases, global warming and other environmental threats, and violates at least 6 basic Jewish teachings. Yet, this is generally ignored.]

That's true. What's different about Agriprocessors is the sheer scope and scale of it all. The immigration raid last May, mounted by 16 different federal, state and local government agencies, was described by authorities as the largest such raid ever mounted against one firm. The child labor charges reported this month are described by officials and experts as unusual if not unique in scale for a single firm. And so it goes, in one category after another.

This is a company that is, by any reasonable standard, what the Talmud would call mu'ad.

This newspaper has been roundly criticized in the past two years for supposedly mixing apples and oranges - questioning the company's kosher certification because of its behavior in areas unrelated to the dietary rules. But they're not unrelated. As Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld wrote in The New York Times last week, [*** his op-ed article is below] character is critical in judging kosher food. If a supervisor or operator routinely violates some essential religious laws, how can he be trusted to enforce other laws? Restaurants and butcher shops in this country cannot receive Orthodox kosher certification if they do business on the Sabbath. Hotels in Israel lose their certification if they host unapproved forms of entertainment. Character counts, not just precision slaughtering.

The rabbis who visited Postville appear to disagree. They concluded, judging by their public statements, that the facility passes muster. That is, whatever allegations may have been made, they do not merit serious attention - nothing deeper than a quick walkthrough. They said, in effect, that this is an ox without a record. But there is a long record. Agriprocessors is one of a network of businesses owned by the Rubashkin family, a large, tight-knit clan identified with the Lubavitch community in Brooklyn. The operations, like the family, may be considered a package.

The family patriarch and company founder, Aaron Rubashkin, came here from the Soviet Union in 1945 and opened a kosher butcher shop. In time the shop became Agriprocessors, the country's largest - and dominant - kosher meat producer, run for many years by Aaron's son Sholom Rubashkin.

While Sholom ran the meat business, his brother Moshe operated a string of ventures, mainly in textiles and real estate, mostly in partnership with other relatives. One of the most colorful was a textile mill he ran in Allentown, Pa., but closed in 2000. A year after shutting it down, Moshe was convicted of failing to obtain workers' compensation insurance after a former employee was denied benefits. While on probation, he ended up with a conviction for bank fraud due to some checks that he wrote. He was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison and got out on parole in 2005.

Shortly after release, he was elected president of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, a government funded agency closely controlled by the Lubavitch community.

Meanwhile, the plant in Allentown was gathering dust and debts. It owed $200,000 to the Environmental Protection Agency for cleaning up hazardous chemicals housed there, and was about to be seized by the city for back taxes, according to public records. In April 2005, the plant was heavily damaged in a fire that was ruled arson. Three more fires, still unexplained, finished it off over the next few months. Chemicals that were stored on site caused the fire to blow out of control, allegedly endangering firefighters. In 2007, Moshe was convicted of illegally housing hazardous chemical waste, while his son Sholom - nephew of the Postville executive - was convicted of lying about who owned the property. They await sentencing.

Back in Postville, the elder Sholom was facing questioning in connection with another alleged arson-fraud scheme. Beginning in the late 1990s, Agriprocessors began receiving payments from a Brooklyn pharmaceutical firm, some $3 million, in return for which the meat company provided, Sholom said in a deposition, “nothing.” The Brooklyn firm, Allou Distributors, declared bankruptcy in 2003, shortly after its warehouse burned down. Prosecutors suspected that the owner, Herman Jacobowitz, a member of another Hasidic community, had been laundering company funds; the payments to Agriprocessors were suspected of being part of the scheme, according to The Des Moines Register. Jacobowitz was eventually convicted of trying to bribe a fire marshal to declare the fire an accident rather than arson, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Agriprocessors agreed to pay $1.4 million in civil restitution but was never charged criminally.

One of the most telling judgments passed on the family was rendered way back in 1995 by the National Labor Relations Board. Moshe and father Aaron owned a textile firm in New Jersey that was found guilty of deducting union dues from employees' paychecks but failing to hand over the money to the union for at least three years running, a violation of the National Labor Relations Act. The administrative law judge who ruled against the Rubashkins recommended that their attorney be suspended for his behavior in delaying the case. The board itself, hearing the case on appeal, commented in its ruling that the “Respondent” - named in documents as the textile firm and its owners - “has a proclivity for violating the Act and has previously been found to have engaged in identical conduct.”

That, it appears, is the government's way of saying they are mu'ad.
The question that must be answered now by inspectors and consumers of kosher meat is what standards should be applied in measuring character - specifically the character of an actor entrusted with supplying most of this nation's kosher meat - and just how hard to look.

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4. Article: Agriprocessors Faces Multiple Child Labor Violations

Agriprocessors Faces Multiple Child Labor Violations
By Michelle Long

Story Created: Aug 5, 2008 at 2:08 PM CDT

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/26288824.html

POSTVILLE - An investigation by the Iowa Labor Commissioner's Office has uncovered dozens of child labor violations at Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville.

Officials announced Tuesday that the child labor investigation spanned several months and produced 57 cases, each with multiple violations. The type of violations found include minors working in prohibited occupations, failure to obtain work permits, exceeding allowable hours to work youth, exposure to hazardous chemicals, and woking with prohibited tools.

The Allamakee County Attorney's office would typically handle the case but officials say they will most likely hand it over to the Iowa Attorney General's office.

The Iowa Labor Commissioner's Office says they are still in the process of investigating general wage violations at that plant in Postville.

In May, an immigration raid at the company put nearly 400 workers in federal custody. Now many of those workers face deportation. The labor investigation first started in February, prior to that immigration raid.

Agriprocessors has released the following statement to KCRG-TV9:

Postville, Iowa 5:00 p.m. August 5, 2008…Agriprocessors is at a loss to understand the Iowa Labor Commissioner's referral and press release of today on the issue of alleged child labor at Agriprocessors. As the government knows, it is Agriprocessors' policy not to hire underage workers, and to terminate any employees who are determined to be under 18 years of age. In fact, in 2007, Agriprocessors terminated four employees whom it determined were underage and had provided false documents in order to obtain employment.

The Company has cooperated with the government throughout its investigation, providing documents and opening its plant and its records to government inspection. In early 2008, government inspectors came to the Postville plant, looked for underage workers, identified two youthful looking employees for further investigation, investigated their background and ultimately allowed the employees to return to work. The company allowed the Iowa Department of Labor to tour the plant and interview any employee they saw fit. They toured every department in the plant and interviewed any worker they wanted and found no minors. Agriprocessors was told that the Department's group consisted of five people, one of which one was an expert in identifying minors. At no time did the government identify to the company any violations.

When the government told Agriprocessors in April 2008 that it knew that underage employees were working at the Postville plant, Agriprocessors repeatedly requested that the government identify those workers so that the company could terminate them. The Iowa Labor Commissioner's Office refused. As a result of the government's decision, apparently those children may have continued to work at the plant and presumably at least some were arrested in the May 12 ICE enforcement action.

The government now has seen fit to issue a press release alleging child labor law violations. The government's press release does not state that the company knowingly hired underage workers. The company asks the public to keep an open mind and wait for the evidence before making any judgments about these, or any other, allegations.

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5. New York Times Op=Ed Article: “Dark Meat”/My Letter in Response

August 6, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
Dark Meat
By SHMUEL HERZFELD

Washington

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/opinion/06herzfeld.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

ACCORDING to the Jewish calendar we are now in the month of Av, a period of increasingly intense mourning that culminates with a total fast on the Ninth of Av, which this year coincides with Sunday, Aug. 10.

One of the customary practices in these nine days is the avoidance of meat: it's the way we commemorate the destruction of the Temple, where daily animal sacrifices were once brought.

Refraining from food is symbolic, of course. The idea is not just to avoid meat but to limit ourselves so that we can better focus on the spiritual.

Unfortunately, this year kosher meat has become a different type of symbol, one not of mourning and spiritual devotion but of ridicule, embarrassment and hypocrisy. In May in Postville, Iowa, immigration officials raided Agriprocessors Inc., the largest kosher meatpacking plant in the country.

What began as an immigration sting, however, quickly took on larger dimensions. News reports and government documents have described abusive practices at Agriprocessors against workers, including minors. Children as young as 13 were said to be wielding knives on the killing floor; some teenagers were working 17-hour shifts, six days a week.

This poses a grave problem and calls into question whether the food processed in the plant qualifies as kosher.

You see, there is precedent for declaring something nonkosher on the basis of how employees are treated. Yisroel Salanter, the great 19th-century rabbi, is famously believed to have refused to certify a matzo factory as kosher on the grounds that the workers were being treated unfairly. In addition to the hypocrisy of calling something kosher when it is being sold and produced in an unethical manner, we have to take into account disturbing information about the plant that has come to light.

The affidavit filed in the United States District Court of Northern Iowa, for instance, alleges that an employee was physically abused by a rabbi on the floor of the plant. If true, this calls into question the reliability and judgment of the rabbi in charge of making sure the food was kosher.

What's more, two workers who oversaw the poultry and beef division were recently arrested for helping illegal immigrants falsify documents. If they were willing to break national immigration laws, one could reasonably ask whether they would be likely to show the same lack of concern for Jewish dietary laws.

Unfortunately, the responses of the leading Orthodox organizations, the Rabbinical Council of America and the Orthodox Union, have, in my opinion, fallen far short of what is needed to be done and have done little to diminish the extent of the desecration of God's name. I am a member of both groups, but I am dissatisfied with their stance, which asks us to sit back patiently and wait for the results of a federal investigation. On some level, this might be prudent, but on another it is unacceptable.

What is needed is for the Orthodox Union to appoint an independent commission whose members have not in the past been paid by either the Orthodox Union or Agriprocessors. Such a commission would select a team of rabbinic experts to spend an extended period of time at the plant and then make suggestions and recommendations. This independent team would make sure the plant upholds basic standards of kashrut and worker and animal treatment - and that it is in full compliance with the laws of the United States.

Hebrew National used to run a commercial that said: “We answer to a Higher Authority.” Well, we do. We need to express shame and embarrassment about the reports coming out of Iowa, and we need to actively work to change these matters. Then we should ask ourselves if our behavior and our values need improvement. Only if we truly think about these issues will we truly be keeping kosher.

Shmuel Herzfeld, rabbi of Ohev Sholom-The National Synagogue, is a member of the Rabbinical Council of America.
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My Letter in Response

August 6, 2008

Editor, NY Times
Letters@NYTimes.com

To the Editor:

Kudos to Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld for his article “Dark Meat” (August 6 issue), in which he challenges his fellow rabbis to apply Jewish values to all aspects of the production of meat. As president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA), I hope his challenging article will lead to a consideration of how animal-based diets and agriculture (1) violate basic Jewish teachings on preserving human health, treating animals properly, protecting the environment, conserving natural resources and helping hungry people. (2) increase cases of heart disease, several forms of cancer and other diseases and (3) contribute to global warming and other environmental problems that threaten humanity.

More information can be found at our web site www.JewishVeg.com. Our new documentary which explores the issues “A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World” can be seen at ASacredDuty.com.

Very truly yours,

Richard H. Schwartz

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6. Jewish Telegraphic (JTA) article

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, center, the executive vice president of the National Council of Young Israel, speaks with a worker at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, on July 31, 2008.
By Ben Harris Published: 08/05/2008

NEW YORK (JTA) -- In what could result in the first charges to be brought against management at Agriprocessors, the Iowa Labor Commissioner's Office has sent dozens of alleged child labor violations to the state's attorney general for prosecution.

months-long investigation of the Postville-based company, which is the country's largest kosher meat producer, the labor commissioner found 57 cases of alleged child labor violations, Iowa Workforce Development announced Tuesday.

Dave Neil, the labor commissioner, told JTA he had never seen anything like it in 30 years working on labor issues in Iowa. In a statement, he described the allegations as “egregious” and recommended the attorney general prosecute the company
“to the fullest extent of the law.”

Agriprocessors responded with a statement saying it was "at a loss to understand" the labor commissioner's referral, noting that the company had cooperated with the investigation. The company also claims the government denied requests to identify underage workers so they could be terminated. It asked the public to keep an open mind before making any judgments.

Several documents provided by Agriprocessors to JTA show the company responded to requests for information from Iowa officials conducting their investigation; the first request was made in January. The documents include a request that the labor commissioner reconsider its decision not to disclose the names of suspected underage workers employed at Agriprocessors.

The company also provided copies of termination documents for three employees who were fired after they were found to be underage. A fourth employee was fired for insubordination after she was asked to produce a birth certificate and became belligerent.

Neil told JTA that in April, when Agriprocessors made the request for the names, his office only had general reports of child labor violations without specific names.

“If we had solid names and evidence at that time we would certainly have done that,” Neil said. “We had reports at that time. We put them on notice to that effect. And then we started our investigation.”

The labor commissioner's referral comes as Agriprocessors continues to try to restore its production capacity and revive its public image in the aftermath of a May 12 immigration raid, which the government says was the largest of its kind in U.S. history.

It also comes just days after a group of 25 Orthodox rabbis visiting Postville on a trip paid for by Agriprocessors issued the company a clean bill of health.

The immigration raid led to the arrest of 389 illegal workers, a number of them underage. In the raid's aftermath, employees unleashed a flood of allegations against their former employer, charging that they were subjected to harsh working conditions and sexual abuse, among other complaints. The company has denied the charges.

The Orthodox delegation reported this week that the Postville plant bears no resemblance to its image as a place where safety lapses are routine and workers allegedly are abused and underpaid.

In the course of their one-day visit, coordinated through the National Council of Young Israel, an Orthodox synagogue association, the rabbis toured the plant and met with its recently hired compliance officer, the mayor of Postville and a Presbyterian minister.

Some of the rabbis also met with representatives of St. Bridget's Catholic Church, which has taken the lead in ministering to families affected by the raid.

“At this point I don't see any reason why someone should not buy things from Agriprocessors,” Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, the regional director of Chabad of Illinois and the president of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, told JTA. “They run a very impressive operation. They're very dedicated to making sure that everything is being done in the most appropriate way possible."

To date, no senior managers have been charged with a crime, though a grand jury investigation is ongoing. Two supervisors have pleaded guilty to assisting illegal immigrants in the procurement of false employment documents and a warrant is outstanding for a third.

While the visiting rabbis were careful to point out that they have no personal knowledge of what transpired before their arrival, they expressed confidence that current conditions at the plant contrast with its checkered reputation.

Participants told JTA there were no restrictions placed on where they could go in the plant and with whom they could speak. Several conducted their own interviews with employees, who reported that they were treated well and were provided with ample safety training.

"I was shocked when I walked into that plant because I was expecting a lot worse," Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the executive vice president of National Council, told JTA. In a statement, Lerner referred to the plant as a “Cadillac.”

In the eyes of the company's critics, and even some Orthodox rabbis, the fact that Agriprocessors paid for the trip rendered the rabbis' conclusions suspect. Neither of the national council's two news releases regarding the trip disclosed that Agriprocessors had footed the bill for the rabbis.

“If they're going and being paid by Rubashkin, then that should be forthrightly disclosed,” said Maury Kelman, a lawyer and Orthodox rabbi who has led congregations in Israel and New York.

Kelman said Jewish law, or halachah, insists that rabbis involved in such matters do everything to avoid even the perception that their judgment could be compromised.

“It's very important if rabbis are going that things look totally above board, and that it's 100 percent clear that the desire is to do the right thing and not just the expedient thing,” he said. “If somebody's being paid, you're beholden to them. Halachah is very clear about this.”

Lerner rejected the suggestion that the rabbis' impartiality might be compromised.

"Give me a break," Lerner said. "To impugn the integrity of 25 people is out of line."

The rabbis also were criticized for not meeting directly with former workers, who have lodged the harshest complaints against the company. They did, however, meet with one of their advocates, Paul Rael, the director of Hispanic Ministries at St. Bridget's.

Lerner said his group was expecting to speak with the workers and was surprised to see that none were present for the meeting.

The rabbinic delegation, which dwindled to four for the late-afternoon meeting with Rael, sought to establish itself as a conduit between the church and Agriprocessors to discuss outstanding problems.

Rael told JTA he was “absolutely” ready to open a dialogue with the company. Chaim Abrahams, an Agriprocessors representative, said the company was “considering” the suggestion “in a positive light.”

Regarding past allegations, Lerner said he had asked that a file of worker complaints be prepared and that he would take up the issue with Agriprocessors. But Lerner stressed that the main issue now should be how to move forward.

Rael said he won't be ready for that until various problems, like employee back pay, are worked out.


“The minute that I got through giving my little dialogue, they said, 'That's the past,'” Rael recalled. “I said, 'Yeah, but the past is what created the problem.' If their intent is to move forward, I can't move forward until this issue is totally, totally done."

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7. Associated Press Article: Kosher Slaughterhouse Owners Surrounded by Scandal

Kosher Slaughterhouse Owners Surrounded by Scandal

By DAVID B. CARUSO (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
August 04, 2008

NEW YORK - Two decades ago, the Rubashkin family of Brooklyn opened up a kosher slaughterhouse amid the cornfields of Iowa - not exactly a center of Jewish culture.

The bearded, fedora-wearing strangers from Brooklyn quickly transformed Postville into its own small-town melting pot. Immigrants from Guatemala and Mexico began arriving in great numbers to work at the slaughterhouse. Soon, the town was home to churches and temples, and the shelves of the grocery stores were stocked with tortillas and bagels.

Lately, though, the Rubashkins' grand cultural experiment seems to have lost any chance at a feel-good ending.

The family's Iowa business, Agriprocessors, the nation's biggest supplier of kosher meat, was raided by U.S. immigration agents in May. Nearly 400 workers, mostly Guatemalans, were swept up and jailed and are likely to be deported as illegal immigrants.

Labor organizers and workers have also accused the company of exploiting its employees, tolerating abusive behavior by managers and illegally hiring teenagers to work on the factory floor.

A few Jewish groups have questioned whether the plant, given its problems, should keep its kosher certification.

It all adds up to a mess for a family that has never sought attention, and now feels it is being attacked unfairly, especially by the media.

"The press? Terrible!" the family's patriarch, Aaron Rubashkin, told a reporter with the Jewish news service JTA during a rare interview in June. He said allegations that the company knowingly hired illegal immigrants and children and tolerated abusive conditions were all lies.

"I wish everybody would be treated like we treat people," he said.

Attempts to arrange an interview with Rubashkin this week were not successful. His representatives told The Associated Press that the 80-year-old butcher had traveled to Iowa from Brooklyn, where he still runs the family's half-century-old butcher shop.

The family's history, though, is well documented.

Aaron Rubashkin and his wife, Rivka, fled the Soviet Union after World War II and settled in Brooklyn, a world center of Hasidic Judaism. Rivka's uncles, the family has said, had been imprisoned in Siberia because of their religious beliefs.

In the 1950s, Aaron founded a kosher meat market in the city's Borough Park section. The family prospered in America.

Then, in 1987, the Rubashkins made an incredible leap: Looking for a way to bolster an unreliable supply of kosher beef, the family bought an abandoned non-kosher meatpacking plant in tiny Postville, Iowa.

Two of Aaron's sons moved to Postville to oversee the plant, and a steady stream of Hasidic families followed. Soon, Postville, then a town of around 1,500 people, found itself drawing immigrant laborers, too.

Suddenly, the town was infused with rabbis and other Jews, Guatemalans and Mexicans, expatriates from former Soviet Republics - and a host of new ethnic tensions.

The town became a regular stop for out-of-town reporters looking for a story about America's diversity. A documentary crew visited. National Geographic did a pictorial. Journalism professor Stephen Bloom wrote a book, "Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America."

Amid it all, the company was a huge success, with popular brands such as Aaron's Best and Rubashkin's. By 2006, Agriprocessors had a second factory in Nebraska, run in partnership with the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and annual revenue of $250 million.

In 2004, however, the animal rights group PETA recorded a gruesome video of the company's operation that showed cattle staggering about in apparent pain after their throats had been slit and their tracheas partly removed. Agriprocessors, while defending its techniques as a religious ritual, agreed to change some practices.

One of Aaron's sons, the influential Brooklyn rabbi Moshe Rubashkin, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 2002 after writing $325,000 in bad checks related to a family textile business. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

A son-in-law, Menachim Balkany, a political fundraiser who hobnobbed with mayors and congressmen, was charged in 2003 with misusing a $700,000 federal grant. The prosecution was dropped when he agreed to make restitution.

Agriprocessors also found itself battling a lawsuit filed by a bankruptcy trustee overseeing the remnants of a New York health and beauty supply company whose owner had pleaded guilty to a multimillion-dollar bank fraud.

The trustee said the company, Allou Distributors, had a host of suspicious transactions on its books, including $2.9 million in unexplained payments to Agriprocessors. The lawsuit demanded Agriprocessors return the payments, which it claimed were part of the scheme to hide Allou's assets.

Agriprocessors insisted it did nothing wrong and had been supplying Allou with surplus meat, but it agreed last summer to pay $1.4 million to settle the case.

More trouble may lie on the horizon.

Moshe Rubashkin pleaded guilty this year to storing hazardous waste without a permit at a defunct, family-owned textile plant in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His son pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents during the investigation. They have yet to be sentenced.

Supporters say the Rubashkins are no scofflaws, just unsophisticated businessmen who made some mistakes as their company grew.

"These are simple people. They are a family of butchers," said Dovid Eliezrie, a California rabbi who has been assisting the family with the media.

Scott Frotman, a spokesman for the Food and Commercial Workers union, had a different take, calling the company's treatment of its immigrant work force "morally reprehensible."

"They blame the media. They blame us. They refuse to accept responsibility for anything that is going on in that plant," he said.

State and federal investigators are looking into various alleged violations at the company, such as employing underage employees, not paying workers, improperly using hazardous chemicals and not having alarms that could be heard by employees. The Rubashkins have not been charged.

"We are God-fearing people and we believe in the American system and we believe it will ultimately turn out OK," Getzel Rubashkin, 24, a grandson of the family's patriarch and an employee at Agriprocessors, told The AP in a recent interview.

He also said the family hasn't given up on Postville, which he has called home since age 10.

"There are people who would like to see us leave, but on the whole we have very warm relations," he said.

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8. JVNA Press Release on “Hekhsher Tzedek”/Repeat FYI

JEWISH GROUP COMMENDS CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT FOR “HECHSHER TZEDEK” CAMPAIGN: URGES FURTHER STEPS

For Immediate Release:
August3, 2008
Contact:
Richard H. Schwartz, President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA)
President@JewishVeg.com Phone: (718) 761-5876

Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) issued the following statement today:

We commend the Conservative movement for its ambitious new "hekhsher tzedek," ("certificate of righteousness") campaign which will provide an additional stamp on kosher foods that meet its standards for working conditions, treatment of animals, the environment and other Jewish values..

However, as praiseworthy as their actions are, we respectfully urge the Conservative movement to go further to avoid implicitly providing a stamp of approval to the continuation of the animal-based diets and agriculture that are:
o contributing to an epidemic of diseases in the Jewish and other communities;
o contributing to global warming and other environmental problems that threaten humanity and all of creation;
o violating basic Jewish mandates to preserve human health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people and pursue peace.

The Hekhsher Tzedek brochure properly indicates that “Companies that work with animals should have policies and practices in place to insure they are treated humanely at all points of the production cycle.” (Emphasis added.) Based on that statement, which is consistent with Judaism's beautiful teachings on compassion to animals, we respectfully urge the Conservative movement and other Jewish organizations to speak out against the many abuses of animals on factory farms - for example, the killing of male chicks immediately after birth at egg laying hatcheries; the crowding of hens in spaces so small they can't raise even one wing; the debeaking of the hens to avoid harmful pecking; the artificial impregnation of female cows annually so they will constantly be able to give milk; the removal of calves almost immediately after birth, often to produce veal in a very cruel process; and MUCH more.

Another important requirement for getting a Hekhsher Tzedek certificate is meeting standards for “environmental impact.” This is also commendable since Judaism has such powerful teachings on sustainability and conservation. Hence we also urge the Conservative movement and other Jewish leaders to consider: the many negative environmental effects of raising 60 billion farmed animals worldwide (over 10 billion in the U.S. alone) for slaughter annually; that, according to a 2006 UN FAO report, 'livestock' agriculture emits more greenhouse gases (18 percent in CO2 equivalents) than all the cars, planes, ships and other forms of transportation worldwide combined (13.5 percent); and the contributions of the production of meat and other animal products to rapid species extinction, widening water shortages, destruction of tropical rainforests and other valuable habitats, and many more environmental threats.

And since another of Hekhsher Tzedek's criteria is properly health and safety standards, we also urge consideration of the strong links of meat and other animal products to heart disease, several forms of cancer and many more chronic, degenerative diseases.

"We need an ethical stamp of approval on nutritious plant foods - organic beans, whole grains, veggie burgers and more - that don't take the lives of innocent animals, that aren't the worst dietary contributors to global warming, the worst polluters and resource drainers and the most scientifically- incriminated dietary risk factors of the nation's deadliest diseases," said JVNA president Richard H. Schwartz. “This is especially important at a time when Israel faces the worst drought in history and a 2007 Israel Union for Environmental Defense report projects that global
warming will cause severe heat waves and storms, up to 30 percent less rainfall and severe flooding from a rising Mediterranean Sea.”

JVNA would very much welcome respectful dialogues/debates with Hekhsher Tzeek rabbis and, indeed, all rabbis on “Should Jews be Vegetarians?” Such discussions would constitute a kiddush Hashem (a sanctification of G-d's Name) because it would show the applicability of eternal Jewish teachings to dietary issues.

Rather than directly or indirectly endorsing the general continuation of present practices that are so harmful in so many ways, it is essential that our rabbis and other Jewish leaders increase awareness that a major shift toward plant-based diets is essential to avoid the unprecedented catastrophe that the world is rapidly approaching and to move our precious, but imperiled, planet to a sustainable path.

Further information about these issues can be found at the JVNA web site JewishVeg.com. We will provide complimentary copies of its new documentary A SACRED DUTY: APPLYING JEWISH VALUES TO HELP HEAL THE WORLD to rabbis and other Jewish leaders who will contact us (president@JewishVeg.com) and indicate how they will use them to involve their congregations on the issues. The entire movie can be seen and further information about it can be found at ASacredDuty.com.

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9. Sample Letter on “Hekhsher Tzedek”/Repeat FYI

Dear Editor:

As president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA), I commend the Conservative movement for its ambitious new "hekhsher tzedek," ("certificate of righteousness") campaign which will provide an additional stamp on kosher foods that meet its standards for working conditions, treatment of animals, the environment and other Jewish values..

However, as praiseworthy as their actions are, I respectfully urge the Conservative movement to go further to avoid implicitly providing a stamp of approval to the continuation of the animal-based diets and agriculture that are:
o contributing to an epidemic of diseases in the Jewish and other communities;
o contributing to global warming and other environmental problems that threaten humanity and all of creation;
o violating basic Jewish mandates to preserve human health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people and pursue peace.

We need an ethical stamp of approval on nutritious plant foods - organic beans, whole grains, veggie burgers and more - that don't take the lives of innocent animals, that aren't the worst dietary contributors to global warming, the worst polluters and resource drainers and the most scientifically- incriminated dietary risk factors of the nation's deadliest diseases. This is especially important at a time when Israel faces the worst drought in history and a 2007 Israel Union for Environmental Defense report projects that global warming will cause severe heat waves and storms, up to 30 percent less rainfall and severe flooding from a rising Mediterranean Sea.

[*** one or both of the next 2 paragraphs may be omitted for space considerations.]

JVNA would very much welcome respectful dialogues/debates with Hekhsher Tzeek rabbis and, indeed, all rabbis on “Should Jews be Vegetarians?” Such discussions would constitute a kiddush Hashem (a sanctification of G-d's Name) because it would show the applicability of eternal Jewish teachings to dietary issues.

Further information about these issues can be found at the JVNA web site JewishVeg.com. We will provide complimentary copies of its new documentary A SACRED DUTY: APPLYING JEWISH VALUES TO HELP HEAL THE WORLD to rabbis and other Jewish leaders who will contact us (president@JewishVeg.com) and indicate how they will use them to involve their congregations on the issues. The entire movie can be seen and further information about it can be found at ASacredDuty.com.

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10. NY Times Editorial re Agriprocessors: 'The Jungle,' Again

'The Jungle,' Again

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/opinion/01fri1.html?ex=1218427200&en=7b8fbcd325b102f7&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Published: August 1, 2008

A story from the upside-down world of immigration and labor:

NY Times

A slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, develops an ugly reputation for abusing animals and workers. Reports of dirty, dangerous conditions at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant accumulate for years, told by workers, union organizers, immigrant advocates and government investigators. A videotape by an animal-rights group shows workers pulling the windpipes out of living cows. A woman with a deformed hand tells a reporter of cutting meat for 12 hours a day, six days a week, for wages that labor experts call the lowest in the industry. This year, federal investigators amass evidence of rampant illegal hiring at the plant, which has been called “a kosher 'Jungle.' ”

The conditions at the Agriprocessors plant cry out for the cautious and deliberative application of justice.

In May, the government swoops in and arrests ... the workers, hundreds of them, for having false identity papers. The raid's catch is so huge that the detainees are bused from little Postville to the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in Waterloo. The defendants, mostly immigrants from Guatemala, are not charged with the usual administrative violations, but with “aggravated identity theft,” a serious crime.

They are offered a deal: They can admit their guilt to lesser charges, waive their rights, including the right to a hearing before an immigration judge, spend five months in prison, then be deported. Or, they can spend six months or more in jail without bail while awaiting a trial date, face a minimum two-year prison sentence and be deported anyway.

Nearly 300 people agree to the five months, after being hustled through mass hearings, with one lawyer for 17 people, each having about 30 minutes of consultation per client. The plea deal is a brutal legal vise, but the immigrants accept it as the quickest way back to their spouses and children, hundreds of whom are cowering in a Catholic church, afraid to leave and not knowing how they will survive. The workers are scattered to federal lockups around the country. Many families still do not know where they are. The plant's owners walk freely.

This is enforcement run amok. As Julia Preston reported in The Times, the once-silent workers of Agriprocessors now tell of a host of abusive practices, of rampant injuries and of exhausted children as young as 13 wielding knives on the killing floor. A young man said in an affidavit that he started at 16, in 17-hour shifts, six days a week. “I was very sad, and I felt like I was a slave.”

Instead of receiving merciful treatment as defendants who also are victims, the workers have been branded as the kind of predator who steals identities to empty bank accounts. Accounts from Postville suggest that that's not remotely what they were. “Most of the clients we interviewed did not even know what a Social Security number was or what purpose it served,” said Erik Camayd-Freixas, a Spanish-language interpreter for many of the workers. “This worker simply had the papers filled out for him at the plant, since he could not read or write Spanish, let alone English.”

The harsh prosecution at Postville is an odd and cruel shift for the Bush administration, which for years had voiced compassion for exploited workers and insisted that immigration had to be fixed comprehensively or not at all.

Now it has abandoned mercy and proportionality. It has devised new and harsher traps, as in Postville, to prosecute the weak and the poor. It has increased the fear and desperation of workers who are irresistible to bottom-feeding businesses precisely because they are fearful and desperate. By treating illegal low-wage workers as a de facto criminal class, the government is trying to inflate the menace they pose to a level that justifies its rabid efforts to capture and punish them. That is a fraudulent exercise, and a national disgrace.

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