The Jew & The Carrot {hearts} Aitan and Adva Dairy. Thanks to Nextbook for producing a wonderful podcast and feature one of our favorite Jewish goat farmers - yes, there’s more than one!

“Goat Days”
Nextbook 2.25.08
By: Jesse Graham
(Listen to the podcast)

There’s a growing movement among environmentally conscious observant Jews to rethink kashrut. Its adherents place less emphasis on the official kosher stamp, and more on where their food comes from. They want locally and organically grown produce, and if they are meat-eaters, they want to know that the meat they’re eating comes from farms that treat animals humanely.

One devotee of this movement is an unassuming thirty-year-old named Aitan Mizrachi, founder of the AVDA Dairy, a small-scale goat dairy farm in northwestern Connecticut that produces organic, kosher raw milk yogurt and cheeses.

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Here’s the newest article about kosher, ethical meat…this one I wrote for American Jewish Life  (Those of you who read this blog religiously might already be well-versed on the subject - but for the non ethical food-obsessed Jews out there, it’s definitely still hot news.)

Conscious Carving
American Jewish Life
By: Leah Koenig
February 25, 2008

Early on a Friday morning this past December, 70 Jews gathered in a frost-covered field in rural Connecticut. Some of them huddled in small groups, talking in hushed tones and blowing on their frozen fingers. Others stood at a distance, quiet with thought. They were all there for one reason — to witness three goats being slaughtered for meat, in accordance with Jewish law.

No, these people were not part of some underground Jewish cult. They were attendees of a food conference hosted by the New York-based non-profit, Hazon (which, for full disclosure, is my employer). The purpose of the ritual slaughtering, was to “enable people to have a more direct understanding of where kosher meat comes from,” said Hazon’s Executive Director, Nigel Savage. In this case, it would be the same meat that many of the participants would eat that night for dinner.

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Today, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an above-the-fold, front page article about our newest source of mystery meat - cloned cows.

In the article “Consumers May Not Be Able to Avoid Cloned Food,” the Chronicle reported that the Orthodox Union has publicly stated that food items derived from cloned animals are kosher. Rabbi Menachem Genack of the O.U. stated that cloned animals would be kosher as long as they belong to a single kosher species, such as cattle, sheep, and goats.

Given the highly uncertain health effects of eating cloned meat, and the biological manipulation necessary to create cloned animals, I call on rabbis from across the denominations to speak out on this issue.

How can an animal production technology, which is proven to be cruel to the animals it creates, be kosher?

Animals can be cloned from the tissue of a dead animal. Would that cloned animal be kosher?

The principle of Kelayim requires the separation of species - what does it say about the replication of species?

What about the fundamental notion of eating food in its natural state, as God brought it to us. Does the biological tinkering with the DNA of life disturb our respect and awe for the divine manifestation of the natural world - in the food we eat?

I think the O.U.’s statement is wrong - I’d like to hear what others think, particularly our Jewish legal scholars.

With Love for Hashem, and Love for its divine manifestation in Food.

Z

By the way, for more information, check out my previous post, “Is Milk or Meat from a Cloned Animal Kosher?“

From this week’s New York Jewish Week:

Can You Be A Kosher Locavore?
by Sandee Brawarsky
Published on: Feb 5, 2008

‘Locavore” is 2007’s Word of the Year, as anointed by the Oxford American Dictionary. The word refers to someone who makes an effort to use locally grown ingredients. More than a word, it’s a collaborative movement, encouraging people to buy their food from farmers’ markets or grow their own, with the aim of eating healthier, supporting local farmers and avoiding the great costs of fuel in shipping foods long distance.   

Locavores — some of whom set a 100-mile radius to define local — may be environmentalists, food lovers who appreciate a challenge, health conscious cooks, novice and veteran farmers, for those with a spiritual bent who want to be aware of what they’re eating and where it comes from. But locavores who are both urban and kosher face particular challenges, especially in New York City in mid-winter.

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Seldom have I found an article as compelling as the January, 19th NY Times article The Food Chain - A New Global Oil Quandary: Costly Fuel Means Costly Calories.

Many of us are very conscious of what we eat, where it comes from, and how it is produced. We do what we can in our communities by supporting CSAs, local farmers markets, buying not toxic household cleaning products etc. While we are aware on some level of why these choices are important, I find that it is often hard to see the big picture. It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around the extent to which there is a global food crisis emerging all around us. Because we live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, in many ways this reality has not yet hit home.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this article.

As a staff attorney for the Center for Food Safety, I was appalled that the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cloned animals for use in our food today. I have to ask, “who does our federal government protect? How can they allow this into the food system without facts showing it is safe and without any labeling or public disclosure requirements?” As a Jew, it makes me ask other questions: “Will this be allowed in kosher milk? Kosher meat? What do our rabbis think? What about the eco-kosher movement?”

FDA Approves Cloned Animals for Our Food

Today’s FDA decision was a long-awaited regulatory assessment of cloned animals, proclaiming that food from cloned animals are just as safe as food from naturally raised animals. (See FDA on Cloning) And while the FDA did not address whether cloned milk and meat is kosher, they did decide today that it is safe for Americans to eat.

The FDA made this decision in the worst way possible. FDA based its decision on an incomplete and flawed review that relies on studies supplied by cloning companies that want to force this cloning technology on American consumers. Biotechnology companies such as ViaGen provided FDA with the “science” in this case. There are no peer reviewed studies showing that this stuff is safe for us to eat.

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Conversation around the dinner table on Shabbat turned to the topic of kashrut. Why is it so expensive? (in Vancouver, a 14lb turkey goes for $75) Why does it cause Jews to be so rude to other Jews, whose kashrut standards don’t match their own? Why does it matter if I wait four hours or seven – and says who?

I did not grow up keeping kosher, and although I’ve lived in de facto kosher kitchens for the past 4 years (my roommate’s dishes were dairy, but I was mostly a vegetarian so it didn’t really matter), it’s only recently that I’ve begun toying with the idea of taking on this particular yoke of heaven. But I found that all of the reasons I would give for why I might chose to keep kosher had nothing to answer all these tachlis questions. Read more »

As a card-carrying Jewish professional, I have the maddening responsibility of thinking two holidays ahead at all times. So while I am trying to put the finishing touches on our second annual (Fair Trade) Chocolate-Covered Tu Bishvat Seder, I’m also looking for a more sustainable vendor for the hot dogs for our Purim carnival. I can’t believe that after several years of serious progress (especially on the krunchy-kosher koasts), no one is selling a kosher organic hot dog yet. Even with some serious google-fu, this is the best I could come up with. Kosher organic chicken dogs. Blech. Maybe we’ll just go with these.

Any thoughts?

My previous post laid out the reasons why – while the tzedek hekhsher and ethical kashrut are wonderful intentions – the business practicalities beg answering. Indeed, it’s an open question if our little 2% of the meat market will make an impact on the greater meat industry.

But this post is hopefully “the other hand,” and at the very least inspiration as to how working with kashrut authorities might indeed yield a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community — one which leads to a healthier and more sustainable world for everyone.

Our shochet was amazing. Rabbi Yehuda Benchimhoun, an Algerian-descended French Jew of Lubavitch conviction, is a reluctant but intense shochet whose story and words impressed us all here, but above all his kavannah, his incredible intentionality with the animals he shechts. More than just being a six day a week vegetarian, he impressed us all with the seriousness with which he approached his duty to honor the life of animals. He was deliberate, he was careful, he was precise. And his respect for the letter of the law alongside its intent was phenomenal.

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It’s Saturday night and for those who haven’t read so, the goat shechting has come and gone which as Leah said was a truly amazing experience. I had the questionable honor of video taping the entire process — from braying to dinner plate — the initial details of which I’ll save for my fellow brave compatriots on this blog team.

But of all the parts of the goat shechting, this Friday at Hazon’s Food Conference, I was less moved by the shechting itself and much, much more so by the moshgiach and shochet, Rabbi Mendel and Rabbi Yehuda respectively.

The overseeing moshgiach was none other than the head of the Orthodox Union’s (OU) kosher products division, the honorable Rabbi Seth Mendel. Rabbi Mandel answered tough questions about kashrut and humane treatment for over three hours straight.

Listening to Rabbi Mandel, I realized I was hearing words and concepts I’d not heard since business school. Rabbi Mendel spoke less frequently about Hashem, Torah, and tradition and more about competitive advantage, market share and consumer price pressure. It suddenly made sense that there are two primary forces at play in modern kashrut: not just God’s word but Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand.

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Today JTA reported on the upcoming biennial meeting in Orlando, in which the Conservative movement is expected to pass a resolution on the new Hechsher Tzedek, ethical kashrut labeling program.

The article also interviewed other religious and lay sources on the merits of the Hechsher Tzeek program. Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of the Orthodox Union’s kashrut division raises an interesting question, mentioning that ensuring social justice in our food system is the responsibility of the government, not religious bodies.

I actually agree with Rabbi Genack– the government has a greater responsibility to do so, and a greater potential to create appropriate regulations….theoretically.

However, for a variety of reasons, the federal and state governmental bodies that would have a role in regulating, legislating, litigating and enforcing laws that ensure the safety and health of workers in the food industry, and ensure a safe and healthy food supply–including OSHA, the USDA, the WTO, those enforcing federal anti-trust laws– have been asleep at the wheel. In the absence of a more sustainable, ethical food system in which these externalities are appropriately regulated, civil society, including religious institutions have an obligation to work towards such a system, starting with the Jewish community’s Hechsher Tzedek.

This morning, The Jewish Vegetarians of North America put out a press release that condemns the goat schecting at Hazon’s food conference.  As a Jew and a vegetarian, I support this statement.  Or rather, I support the legitimate concern for animal welfare and environmental integrity at the foundation of the statement.  Still, I think that unless the JVNA plans to condemn ALL the simchas, events, and conferences in the Jewish community that serve meat - then perhaps Hazon’s Food Conference is the one meat-serving conference they should endorse. 

Like the majority of Jewish events, The Hazon Food Conference will not promote mindless or wasteful meat consumption, nor will it violate tsa’ar ba’alei chaim by promoting animal mistreatment.  On the contrary, the schecting and consumption of the goats at the Food Conference will encourage participants to take responsibility for their food choices.

More importantly, the schecting will not happen in a vaccuum.  It will be one of several sessions throughout the weekend that get participants thinking about meat consumption (ethical, kosher, industrial, abstinence from and otherwise).  Regardless of whether or not participants attend the schecting or eat the goat meat, they will be surrounded by thoughtful conversations about JVNA’s central question, ”Should Jews be Vegetarians?”  For some participants the answer will be no - but if JVNA is serious about the question, they ought to support the Food Conference’s serious engagement with it.

I’ve been a committed Jewish vegetarian for 8 years, but I realized a long while ago that the day I once hoped for (the one where all Jews renounce meat forever) was simply never going to come.  And in the meantime, there is a lot of work to be done to ensure that the Jews who do decide to eat meat are doing it in a way that respects the land, the animal, and themselves.

Read the JVNA’s full Press Release below the jump.

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This year, Black Friday was significantly lightened by more news on the ethical, kosher meat front (and more shoutouts to Hazon, Kosher Conscience, and The Jew & The Carrot) - this time in the Wall Street Journal by long-time Hazon friend and journalist-extraordinaire, Julie Wiener.  Read the article below and find the original text here.

Wall Street Journal
How Kosher Was Your Turkey?
Some Jews demand better treatment for birds.
BY JULIE WIENER
Friday, November 23, 2007

Yesterday, 24 New York City households served turkeys that were not only free-range, organic and raised on a nearby family farm–but also 100% kosher. For that, their guests can give thanks to Simon Feil, a 31-year-old actor who has devoted the past 1 1/2 years to starting Kosher Conscience, a “kosher ethical meat co-op.” The co-op, which 90 people have expressed interest in joining when it begins regular poultry and beef deliveries in a few months, will offer kosher meat that has been treated humanely “at every stage,” he says.

Judaism’s taboos on pork and shellfish, as well as the requirement to separate meat and dairy products, are well known even among gentiles. Yet for many contemporary American Jews the taboos can feel arbitrary, cumbersome and devoid of meaning (only 17% say they keep kosher homes). At the same time, some Jews who do find spiritual meaning in the dietary laws have become frustrated that kosher food production does not always reflect their values.

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YehuditBrachah reports on Jewschool about a new Nathan Cummings Foundation grant for Hechsher Tzedek. The budding Conservative movement initiative started by Rabbi Morris Allen. According to Allen’s blog, a group of Rabbis and lay leaders who have been working on the project will be presenting at the upcoming Conservative movement biennial convention in Orlando. Both the grant and the increasing momentum within the Conservative movement around the important issue of food justice in Kashrut should be exciting for both observers of kashrut and those concerned about food justice alike! (even better for those of us who fall into both categories!)

The beginnings of the Hechsher Tzedek originated with Allen’s first trip to the Agriprocessors’ kosher meat plant in Postville, IA–which produces meat under the label Rubashkin’s. Now a variety of potential ethical issues around the Agriprocessors’ plant have been coming to light– including the newest, which is a potential violation of precautions to prevent the spread of BSE, or Mad Cow Disease.

The Daily Forward continues its coverage of the UFCW campaign to bring Agriprocessors’ violations into the public eye. In conjunction with the Jewish Labor Committee, UFCW orchestrated a leafletting action outside Trader Joe’s that source Agriprocessors’ kosher meat last Wednesday. The UFCW leaflet included claims about violations of mad cow safety rules, a claim that was subsequently disputed by Sholom Rubashkin on the Agriprocessors’ website and in Yeshiva World News.

Also from Yeshiva World News: Osem has reportedly “recalled tens of thousands of bags of Bamba, Bissli, and Dubonim snacks” because of a small toy prize inside the package with 3.5 times the allowable level of lead. Maybe babies shouldn’t be fed Bamba anymore…

Stay tuned for updates on the UFCW campaign.

11.26.07 Update: The Jewish Advocate reports on last week’s leafletting action outside Trader Joe’s in Brookline, MA, organized by the Jewish Labor Committee.