Posted July 1 2008 by Dani Klein
“Raid Unsettles Kosher Beliefs” WSJ article 7/1/08
For those of you who don’t get the Wall Street Journal, here is an outside view of the Agriprocessors matzav, and what some Jews are doing about it. (Its also a plug for my fellow “36 under 36” recipient Shmuly Yanklowitz, co-founder of Uri L’Tzedek.)
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“Raid Unsettles Kosher Beliefs”
By MIRIAM JORDAN
July 1, 2008
An immigration raid on the country’s largest kosher meatpacking plant has fueled a nationwide debate in the Jewish community about what it really means to be kosher. 
The debate flared after May 12 when federal immigration agents raided the country’s largest kosher meatpacking plant, Agriprocessors Inc., and ultimately arrested 389 illegal immigrants.
The Postville, Iowa, plant specializes in kosher slaughter, a process that is overseen by rabbis and involves a quick, deep stroke across the throat designed to kill an animal within seconds. The closely monitored process, deemed humane by Jewish law, is designed to spare suffering. But the people doing the work were allegedly treated inhumanely. The raid, an example of the Bush administration’s crackdown on industries employing illegal immigrants, exposed allegations that workers were being underpaid, physically abused, sexually harassed and extorted.
A federal investigation of the plant is under way and immigration officials declined to comment. No officials at Agriprocessors have been charged with wrongdoing, and management declined to be interviewed for this article.
The incident involving alleged mistreatment of immigrants has dismayed some Jewish leaders who say that Jews should be particularly sensitive to human suffering.
“The Jewish narrative for 2,000 years has predominantly been about our powerlessness as unprotected immigrants,” says Shmuly Yanklowitz, co-founder of Uri L’Tzedek, a progressive Orthodox group. The allegations are “particularly embarrassing because of how deeply connected our religious and historical identity and universal moral mandate are to the plight of these workers.”
One such worker, Joel Rucal, is a Guatemalan immigrant who worked on the chicken line before the raid. He says his mother, who also worked at the plant, was arrested and wears a monitoring device around her ankle. Mr. Rucal also listed alleged abuses in the plant including extra shifts without pay and sexual advances by supervisors.
“Sometimes we needed to use the bathroom and they didn’t allow us,” says Mr. Rucal. “We were afraid to say anything because it was the only job we could get.”
Agriprocessors, started by Aaron Rubashkin, a Hassidic Jew from Brooklyn, is best known for its kosher brands such as Aaron’s Best and bills itself the world’s largest processor of what’s called glatt kosher beef, which adheres to the strictest kosher standard. A statement issued by vice president Chaim Abrahams said the company had hired immigration and safety-compliance experts after the raid. An employee hotline was activated last Friday.
The association of Conservative rabbis called on consumers to shun Agriprocessors products in late May. “You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer,” the statement said, quoting the Deuteronomy.
Rabbi Weiss Mandl, top supervisory rabbi for kosher certification at the plant, says: “We were not aware of any mistreatment of workers.” However, he added, “we are not involved with cutting and packing…That’s not the kosher part.”
But for Rabbi Morris Allen, kosher is about more than a process. The revelations at Agriprocessors have prompted the conservative rabbi from Mendota Heights, Minn., to call on consumers to avoid the company’s products. The 53-year-old is founder of a movement that advocates for animal and worker welfare in kashrut, food prepared in accordance with Jewish law.
“We shouldn’t accept a standard of kashrut that is more concerned about the lung of a cow than the hand of a worker,” he says. “Isn’t it important for us as Jews to care that our food isn’t just ritually kosher but ethically kosher, too?”
Rabbi Allen’s critics say that until wrongdoing is proven, no Jewish organization should condemn Agriprocessors or seek punishment for the company. Some Orthodox rabbis, who control the supervision of kosher plants, have charged the Conservative movement with hatching a plot to take over kosher certification. Some detractors also say that most Conservative Jews, who constitute the largest Jewish denomination, don’t even keep kosher.
[Kosher]
An immigration raid at a meat plant sparked debate over kosher standards.
Rabbi Allen first became concerned in March 2006 when he read an article in the Jewish press about poor conditions for Latino laborers at the Agriprocessors plant. With the blessing of the Conservative movement’s leadership, he formed a commission of inquiry and won Agriprocessors’ permission to visit the plant.
Rabbi Allen led a five-man team that included a Spanish-speaking rabbi, labor and immigration activists and an official from the United Conservative Synagogue, representing Conservative congregations.
“We discovered things that were unbelievably painful,” Rabbi Allen says. Among other allegations, he says pregnant women working on their feet all day were denied bathroom breaks; injured workers lacked proper medical care; and accounting machinations deprived workers of payment for all clocked hours.
To avoid creating controversy within the Jewish community, he says the team decided to quietly make recommendations to the Rubashkin family. While the company didn’t respond, he says the situation “gives us an opportunity to link social responsibility with religious ritual” by introducing ethical standards into kosher certification.
Rabbi Allen went public with his gripe against Agriprocessors after agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, raided the 60-acre plant during the morning shift in May. A 56-page affidavit filed by an ICE agent to obtain a search warrant cites informants who allege that plant supervisors hired minors, forced workers to buy cars from them “or they would be fired or given poor work shifts” and abused them physically and mentally.
The document refers to one rabbi “calling employees derogatory names and throwing meat at employees,” and a supervisor blindfolding a Guatemalan worker and hitting him with a “meat hook.”
After the raid, Rabbi Allen returned to Postville to meet community leaders, clergy and workers awaiting deportation. On May 22, the Rabbinical Assembly, the association of Conservative rabbis, issued a statement calling on consumers to avoid Agriprocessors’ products. It quoted Deuteronomy: “You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer.”
Reaction has been swift. Synagogues and blogs are rallying in support of the ban. Uri L’Tzedek, the Orthodox group, joined in with a boycott petition so far signed by 2,000 Jewish religious and political leaders. And this week, the Conservative movement is set to release guidelines for an initiative called Hekhsher Tzedek, Hebrew for “justice certification.” Meant to supplement traditional kosher certification, it will attest that kosher food was produced at a facility that meets ethical standards in areas like wages and benefits, health and safety and animal welfare.
Rabbi Allen’s BlackBerry is stuffed with angry emails accusing him of sowing discord among Jews. “It’s not a matter of hurting Jews or non-Jews,” says the rabbi. “It’s a matter of finding the truth and what is acceptable according to whom we are as a people.”
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7 Comments currently posted. 
Zechariah Mehler says:
Moshe Glasser says:
There is a much bigger problem than the kosher one. I actually have no trouble believing that most of the rabbis who dealt with the meat had no idea what was going on in the production line (Jews do the slaughtering, but the processing of the beef gets done on a line, and can be done by anyone halachically). However, the meat business is awful all around, and I would be shocked if Rubashkin was doing business any differently than their competitors. Read Fast Food Nation, and you’ll discover that things, far from improving after the publication of Upton Sinclair’s scathing expose The Jungle eighty years ago, are far worse today. Rubashkin was most likely doing business the way everyone else was. Want to see kosher meat get even more expensive? Have fun.
Someone Whoknows says:
Most of these posters are looking at this the wrong way.
There is never an excuse for wrongdoing, yet the plain truth is that it is more than hard, nearing impossible, to get non immigrants to work at places like this. Even Heineman has illegals - probably not as much.
It’s a slaughterhouse. There is blood, there is sinew, bones, and organs; there are animals sensing death and frightened. It’s everything you’d expect from a the worst slasher films. It’s not for the faint of heart and it is certainly not for the average latte sipping American.
Yes, this was the biggest raid - but not the biggest secret. Virtually the entire farming and agricultural industry is engined by immigrants, many illegal. The hidden secret here is that it’s done. Ask the folks at HIAS - the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and they’ll tell you that they feel for the employers here. They know first hand what is happening all over the country.
One issue may be that Agriprocessors needs to make serious changes to get up to full speed and compliance, but the real issue here is the United States’ immigration policy. It needs fixing and fixing fast. The lesson of Agriprocessors is that this is a problem looming large and will only get worse.
let Agriprocessors fix up and get the meat back on your plates. Chicken is now $7.49/lb - bizarre. People can’t afford that. Meat is even more now.
Let’s focus on the real problem - fixing the U.S. immigration policy. Instead of boycotting the meat company, make an even stronger effort to patronize shops with illegals - show our legislators that this is an issue that they need to take seriously and take it seriously now!
Rabbi Morris Allen says:
There is a war going on here, the war between the kashrut standards of Orthodoxy and Conservatives. For so long, Orthodoxy has controlled the “industry” and we see what has happened.
Tzedek will set a standard set by a committee and it will be certain to protect workers from abuse. An added benefit it that it will protect the IRS from being defrauded, because Tzedek will entail honesty on taxes as well.
We will give a pass to small stores where illegals work, but not large companies - that is to much leeway. If an owner has a housekeeper or nanny, he or she better be legal.
Then again, if these illegals are paid well and treated well, maybe it won’t matter that they are illegal. This hasn’t been worked out yet.
Meanwhile, the Agriprocessors matter should continue until we get what we deserve. Tzedek on out terms, Tzedek for our beliefs, and a Tzedek that we can regulate.
Uri L'Tzedek says:
On May 23rd of this year, Uri L’Tzedek wrote an open letter to Aaron Rubashkin, expressing how deeply upset we were by evidence of worker mistreatment in his company, Agriprocessors, and calling on the community of kosher consumers to join us in demanding change. Since the outset of our campaign, Uri L’Tzedek has sought protection and fair treatment for workers at Agriprocessors’ Postville plant. Our effort has been guided by the spirit of Rabbi Yosef Breuer of blessed memory and his 1949 essay “Glatt Kosher - Glatt Yosher,” where he describes strict standards of kashrut and strict standards of ethics. As Rabbi Breuer wrote: “God’s Torah not only demands the observance of kashrut and the sanctification of our physical enjoyment; it also insists on the sanctification of our social relationships.”
The Jewish community in general and the observant community in particular are bound to the people who provide our food through the sacred social relationships of worker, employer, and consumer. Through this campaign, we have given voice to thousands of observant Jews who believe that the standards of kashrut of our food be matched by the kashrut of our ethics, and their voice has been heard loudly and clearly.
After the events of the May 11 federal raid at the Agriprocessors plant, and the release of government reports, affidavits, and media surrounding working conditions at the plant, thousands of observant Jews felt those sacred social relationships had been damaged. Uri L’Tzedek responded to those events with a letter that asked Agriprocessors to pay its workers a minimum wage and recommit to abiding by all U.S. law relating to worker safety and rights. In order to ensure that the company meets these modest requests, we asked that the company establish a department and staff to deal exclusively with these concerns.
In recent weeks, Agriprocessors retained James Martin, former Senior Federal U.S. Attorney to serve as Chief Compliance Officer for the company. Mr. Martin has instituted a number of important reforms including: the creation of an anonymous tip line for employees to report safety and rights violations without fear of retribution; establishment of a safety department within the company that is staffed by an officer and assistant (with plans for two additional employees); and development of new safety training initiatives. Mr. Martin has also assured us that his term is expected to last at least one year. His role, according to communications between Uri L’Tzedek and Agriprocessors, is to set in place the procedures and personnel to ensure that the compliance effort is “continual, robust, and permanent.” Mr. Martin, a reputable and skilled attorney with years of experience prosecuting corporate crime, has now accepted on himself and his firm, the Prevene Group, the professional responsibility to ensure the company treats its workers with the respect, dignity, and rights that are demanded by U.S. law.
We believe that through hiring Mr. Martin, Agriprocessors is beginning to take significant steps towards directly addressing the concerns of the Jewish leaders and consumers who signed our May 23rd letter. In light of these early signs of reform, Uri L’Tzedek is no longer calling for the community to abstain from purchasing Agriprocessors’ products. Time will show what kind of results these reforms will yield for the workers at Agriprocessors, but the social justice philosophy of Uri L’Tzedek is one deeply committed to challenging what is broken in our world but partnering to support efforts towards fixing it.
We are inspired by all the people throughout North America and the world who have raised their voice on this critical issue. Their participation in this effort has been the critical foundation of our work, and it has generated crucial moral awareness and has yielded impressive results. We are similarly thankful to the Agriprocessors corporation and the Rubashkin family, who by and large have engaged in a respectful dialogue.
If Agriprocessors does not implement Mr. Martin’s recommendations or demonstrates that it is not committed to full compliance with all laws regarding worker safety, pay, and rights, then we will once again raise our concerns with Agriprocessors and with the community of kosher consumers.
There are still matters of great concern in Postville: shattered families left without wage earners, mothers unable to find jobs to pay for basic necessities, children thousands of miles from home living in fear of another raid, a broken Postville economy, and deeply flawed federal immigration policy. Addressing these larger issues is integral to our work as activists. Uri L’Tzedek leadership has helped raise significant funds for the families deeply hurt by the raids and has met with U.S. House and Senate staff, and has had a conversation with Senator Joseph Lieberman, Head of the Department of Homeland Security to express our concerns about the human suffering that results from these kinds of enforcement tactics.
These events strengthen our conviction that Klal Yisrael and the Orthodox community are committed to leading the way in creating a just society and sanctifying the Name of God. We believe that this campaign signals a new level of communal expectation of all our businesses to conduct themselves with the highest standards of yashrut and tzedek, ethics and justice.
Moshe G says:
ALERT: the above comment posting under the name “Rabbi Morris Allen” is, most likely, a fraudulent posting from the Rubashkin’s PR firm, 5wpr. Read this sensational JTA expose:
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/109424.html
Apparently 5wpr has been posting anti-Orthodox, strident sounding comments on blogs in Rabbi Allen’s name in an attempt to caricaturize him and make him look bad. So bizarre.
Zechariah Mehler says:
I have had some dealings with 5w Pr in the past and so I contacted them today about this issue. After speaking with one of their representatives I was sent an E-mail from Ron Torossian the head of 5w Pr. Bellow is the letter.
“While traveling earlier this week with my family out of the country, my IT department investigated accusations which we have now learned to be true. A senior staff member failed to be transparent in dealing with client matters. He has taken full responsibility.
We have been in business since January 2003 – and according to Odwyer’s 2007 rankings our revenues exceeded $11.5M, and we are the 21st largest independent PR firm in the United States.
Growing companies often have problems in their expansion, and we continue to strive for the highest performance. We have instituted internal measures to ensure this cannot happen again. We continue to strive for the highest ethical standards.
This battle is not about blogging, it is however about protecting the highest levels of Kashrut in the Jewish community. We as a firm feel personally and professionally passionate about these, and related issues.
Critics of traditional Judaism have chosen to smear the largest provider of the highest level kashrut meat in the world. We stand with protecting kashrut.”
I have never been much of a fan of the Aarons, Rubashkin’s line. Long before the INS raid there were murmurings about the unhalachic way that the company conducted themselves. Myself and my family have actually stopped purchasing anything from Agriprocessors. I know this can be tough for most people since Aarons is the most readily available kosher meat especially in smaller Jewish communities.
If anyone else is looking to buy other kosher meat there is a company called Wise (http://www.wiseorganicpastures.com/catalog/) that lets you order off their website. I have had the opportunity to meet one of the heads of their company and I can tell you they are really good people.