daniel, i am also daniel bloom

SMILE

A lot of us stopped keeping kosher because so many of the orthodox Jews we knew kept kosher and did not focus on those ‘other things’, like personal and business ethics. Kosher food preparation and distribution, especially in the meat industry, is an ethical abomination. It is a huge turn-off to anyone considering keeping kosher.

When so-called Torah Jews can focus on keeping kosher AND acting ethically, especially in the preparation and distribution of kosher food products, I’ll reconsider keeping kosher.

2. I feel that the post somewhat mocks the fear that “people will stop keeping kosher and just focus on the other things.” This a completely legitimate concern – why? Because that’s exactly what the majority of the American Jewish community, affiliated or otherwise, has done over the past century – that is, stop keeping kosher and just focus on other things.

3. On the issue of conflation: I think it was a huge mistake by Rabbi Morris Allen to call the venture Hekhsher Tzedek. Every time he introduces Hekhsher Tzedek he must insist that he is not creating a rival kashrut hechsher in the religious legalistic sense, but an ‘ethical seal.’ The name however, is creating the space where that confusion can occur. It is very likely to cause confusion amongst the uninformed, and could, rightly or wrongly, appear as an invasion of Orthodox turf. If it had been called ‘Tav Tzedek,’ and been a joint partnership with Orthodox rabbis (which represent the largest kosher consumer demographic) then I think the whole thing could have panned out in a more cohesive manner.

Link: http://curiousjew.blogspot.com.....shrut.html

Gersh – At the risk of sounding like devils advocate (I support HT all the way and grew up Conservative, so I totally understand the feeling of being ignored) I think you make a good point, but, I also think that we have to note Rabbi Herring’s point…the oversight is going to be really difficult, and a seal is a promise, right? We’d be furious it we found out that some pork got mixed in with “kosher” sausage and we are furious to know that these animals are dying in incredibly inhumane ways. If we have a seal that can’t be enforced, we’re actually shirking our ethical duty by letting someone convince us that we’re fulfilling it when we’re not. That said, I’m trying to explain what I think Rabbi Herring meant, not what I feel to be absolutely true about HT, anyone want to weigh in on how enforceable they think HT guidelines are?

Lisa – As you’ll see if you check out the transcript, this subject was in no way broached. In fact, what Rabbi Shafran said about “looking to the past” seemed to me to preclude this topic. My impression is that Orthodox Judaism isn’t so into updating. However, there was a ton of dynamic energy in that room, and while I don’t think that the rules are going to get updated any time soon, I do think that these scientific discoveries are part of the conversations that people are having in terms of their reasons for believing in more ethical food choices and passionately wanting better oversight.

Where is the moral courage, indeed. The only reason these guys are all over Tav Hayosher and not Hechsher Tzedek is that they can’t risk agreeing with a Conservative rabbi. Poor Morris.