RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: magen tzedek ; DON'T CAUSE PAIN TO LIVING CREATURES

 

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: magen tzedek ; DON'T CAUSE PAIN TO LIVING CREATURES

From the Institute of American and Talmudic Law

Should Kosher Go Beyond Jewish Law?

Posted in Talmudic Law

12 July, 2010

Agriprocessors, the kosher slaughterhouse and meat-packaging factory in Postville, Iowa, was the center of controversy in May of 2008 when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided the plant and shut it down due to charges of illegal immigrant employment and child labor issues.

Two years later, results have been varied. Agriprocessors has been bought by SHF Industries, and has continued meat production, both kosher and non-kosher, under the new name AgriStar. The city of Postville has survived, and has once again begun to grow. However, only forty-one of the nearly 400 illegal immigrants detained in the raid were allowed to stay in the United States. And the head of Agriprocessors, Sholom Rubashkin, was recently sentenced to twenty-seven years in prison.

However, debate over the facts surrounding the Agriprocessors raid has continued in the Jewish community. The main fact in question is, none of the crimes that the plant committed broke any Jewish law. Illegal immigration and underage workers are not mentioned in the Talmud. And nothing done at the plant would have made any of the meat non-kosher. So in the world of Jewish law, Agriprocessors had committed no sin.

However, that didn't stop prominent Jewish leaders to speak out against the plant. A great example is Rabbi Arthur Segal, Rabbi Arthur Segal who requested through his blog that "the Jewish community, even those who do not maintain kosher, to demand…. That (a) processing plant goes beyond the letter of kashrut law, and treats its workers and animals ethically."

The point the Rabbi is making is clear; Kashrut should go beyond kosher and non-kosher. If a food-provider does not run its business ethically, they should not be allowed to deem their products kosher.

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From R' Arthur:

Please note: Shalom. The bolding  was done my me. I do not consider myself a ''great example'' of being a ''prominent Jewish leader.'' My rabbinic teachers and my rabbinic friends have more knowledge in their little fingers than I do in my entire body.

 

Note Bien also, that I disagree, respectfully, with paragraph 3 of the above. I do feel both Torah and Talmudic law could be considered  broken by Agriprocessors, as well as state and federal laws.

 

We Jews have many laws and rules about the treatment of animals as well as treatment of workers and the treatment of foreigners ....many. And I quote these in my many articles from two years ago,

(e.g:  Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:AGRIPROCESSORS:WHEN KOSHER IS TRAIF:HEKSHER TZEDEK'S NEED ) when I, along with other rabbis concerned with the practical applications of spiritual and ethical teachings of Judaism, called for a seal of justice, a heksher tzedek , to be placed on kosher foods, after an inspection from an ethical point of view, of factories.

 

One example about how we are to go out of our way, or beyond the letter of the law, when it comes to our employees' safety and economic welfare is wonderfully related in Talmud Bavli Tractate Bava Metzia 83a  :''Some porters broke the wine keg of Rabbah bar bar Chanan, He took their cloaks. They brought the matter before Rav. He told Rabbah: Give them back their cloaks. Rabbah said, with surprise, Is that the law? Rav answered: Yes. "So that you might walk in the way of the worthy." (Prov. 2:20) So he gave back the cloaks. They then said to Rav : We are poor people. We worked all day and are bent over from the work , yet we have nothing to show for it . Said he to Rabbah: Go, pay their wages. Said Rabbah: Is that the law? Rav answered: Yes. "and follow in the paths of the righteous." (ibid).

 

Rabbi A. Reisner explains: '' The literary and allusive nature of this story should not be allowed to pass us by. Rabbah does two things which, while apparently within his rights as he understands them, are ruled to be legally unacceptable by Rav. But Rav does not cite a legal precedent to base his ruling upon. He relies, instead, on a general ethical text from Proverbs, not generally seen as a legal source. Yet the two things are clearly intended to take us back to the ethical underpinnings of the Biblical cases in Deuteronomy 24, for they are precisely, taking a poor man's cloak (v. 13) and failing to pay his daily wage (v. 15). Our ethical sensitivity, argues Rav, must by law be greater than the law itself might be. A Palestinian version of the story is found in Talmud Yerushalmi Bava Metzia 6:6.''

 

I am happy to report, that many rabbis in the USA Jewish community responded, especially those in the conservative movement, and now a program of  a magen tzedek, and shield of justice, including inspections, in now in place.

 

Not forgetting the Prophet  Micah, R' Hillel and R' Avika's wise words about summing up Judaism, I do find these words by R' Abraham Heschel, most comforting: ''The teaching of Judaism is the theology of the common deed. The Bible insists that God is concerned with everydayness, with the trivialities of life… in how we manage the commonplace. The prophet's field of concern is not the mysteries of heaven… but the blights of society, the affairs of the marketplace. He addresses himself to those who trample upon the needy, who increase the price of grain, use dishonest scales and sell the refuse of corn (Amos 8:4-6). The predominant feature of the biblical pattern of life is unassuming, unheroic, inconspicuous piety… "The wages of the hired servant shall not abide with thee…" (Lev. 19:13)… When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof" (Deut. 22:8)... The challenge we face is a test of our integrity.[Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Insecurity of Freedom, 102-104]

 

I'd like to thank Editor Janet Smith who courageously published the below letter in the Island Packet Newspaper of Hilton Head Island, SC being one of the first secular newspapers to bring attention to the horrid conditions of some so-called kosher meat plants and the need for a Heksher Tzedek.

 

All people, animals deserve ethical treatment

Published Saturday, June 7, 2008 The Island Packet, Hilton Head Island, SC

Jews celebrate on June 8's eve, Shavuot, commemorating Moses receiving the Torah atop Mount Sinai.

Sinai was chosen because it belonged to no nation. The Torah's teachings belong to all humankind. The whole of Torah has been distilled to: "What is distasteful to you, do not do to your fellow."

As a rabbi, my ethical beliefs affirm the right of all to pursue the spiritual path of eating according to their traditions, upholding the dignity of human beings and of all life forms.

I am horrified that the huge meat packing plant in Iowa, which has claimed to be supplying "kosher" meat to many Americans, has in fact been violating Jewish and American law and ethics by torturing animals and oppressing workers.

Its ill deeds have been compounded by federal harassment and unprecedented criminal prosecution of hundreds of its workers-- rather than the usual practice of deporting undocumented workers. No action has been taken against the owners. I urge that federal authorities take vigorous action against the owners and ensure workers and animals are treated properly.

I further urge the Jewish community to demand not only a heksher (seal) of kosher on their foods, but a heksher tzedek, a seal of ethics, to ensure that all meat packing plants treat animals and workers humanely. The Torah also teaches: Tza'ar ba'alei chayim, "causing pain to living creatures," is a sin. And, "You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer."

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Hilton Head Island

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Shalom Uvracha, Peace and Blessings,

R' Arthur

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Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
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