No, this isn’t a photo of the living quarters of undocumented Latin@ workers crammed into the basement of a Postville meat processing plant — but the temporary residence of “over 100 Bochurim [Rabbi Moshe Rubaskin has been hosting] in his home for the month of Tishrai.”

The plant, of course, is referring to the Rubashkins’ Agriprocessors slaughterhouse and packaging plant, the largest kosher beef producer in the U.S., which received 250 noncompliance citations for food safety from the USDA in 2006, the source of two Class I recalls in the past 9 months, as compared to 34 recalls in all of 2006 for the entire beef, poultry and egg industry.

And the man: Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin, convicted criminal and probable felon, who spent the Chagim celebrating with hundreds of community members and politicians, despite a recent indictment by a federal grand jury for toxic waste dumping at the site of his former Montex textile plant in Allentown, PA.

A local paper, the Morning Call, has more on the nature of the crime(s) of Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin, who is the brother of Agriprocessors’ president Sholom Rubaskin, and Moshe’s son Sholom Rubaskin– illegally storing hazardous waste on the site of their former textile plant, lying about it, followed by several fires (of unknown but suspicious origin) started at the plant, and over $400,000 in unpaid taxes. The city of Allentown is now left with the pleasant task of making redevelopment decisions for this 5 acre property contaminated by toxic waste dumping and burning, located next to Good Sheperd Rehabilitation hospital and residential areas. 

By Sept 17th, the father-son duo were free on $250,000 bail, and by Sept 30th they were celebrating in their Sukkah with NY State Senator Eric Adams, City Councilwoman Letitia James and State Assemblyman Karim Camara and many members of the Crown Heights Community, where Moshe Rubashkin is the Chairman of the Jewish Community Council. When Rabbi Moshe was elected to that position, he had just finished a 15 month prison sentence for writing bad checks from Montex, which came on the heels of a fine for denying workers’ workers compensation pay….and the list goes on…

Perhaps we may be able to rely on Failed Messiah, and the new Eye on Agriprocessors website by UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) union to monitor violations of food and worker safetyat the Rubashkin’s Agriprocessors plant in Postville, IA, the subject of many recent violations, but how do we know what other shenanigans and illegal misdeeds the fugitive family are up to?

Should they be continue to be heralded as community leaders by politicans and clergy alike?

Shouldn’t there be some accountability among the Jewish community (or the community of Crown Heights for the many violations of federal and state law, not to mention Jewish law, that they have committed?

Interestingly, the UFCW website says:

The UFCW believes that the majority of U.S. kosher meat producers maintain high quality food safety standards, and that Agriprocessors’ track record should not be taken as a reflection of the industry as a whole.

While meatpacking and processing tend to be some of the most exploitive and unsafe institutions and workplaces in all of American industry, we are lucky that some of the additional injustices present at Agriprocessors have not been generalized to the entire kosher meat industry.

If the free market is supposed to enable consumers to “vote with their pocketbooks,” why is the Jewish community not taking a stand against this kind of business owner?

How much longer will this good will last if the Jewish community does not take a stand on some of these issues, with their pocketbooks, pens or any other tools?