May 29, 2008

The May 12 federal immigration raid at the Agriprocessors plant in Iowa is only the latest chapter in the troubling saga of the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse. An undercover investigation by animal rights activists, suggesting behavior considered cruel even by the standards of the meat-packing industry, was the first sign that things were not right in Postville. Later investigations suggested a troubling pattern of worker abuse, from the flouting of child labor laws, to underpaying employees, to endangering workers’ safety.

Fairly or not, Agriprocessors carries a symbolic weight in the Jewish community. The fallout from that has sometimes been disappointing, especially among kashrut authorities who punted on the question of whether kosher supervision should take into account factors beyond the killing floor. And there have been heartening trends, like a move first among Conservative rabbis, and now among some Orthodox leaders and students, to consider workers’ rights and safety when it comes to issuing a hechsher. In the absence of rabbinic guidance, some shoppers have voted with their checkbooks, opting for products from Agriprocessors’ competitors.

The pressure applied by some Jewish groups, including the Jewish Labor Committee, has been measured and persistent, and paid off this week, it seems, in an announcement by Aaron Rubashkin, Agriprocessors’ owner, to seek a replacement for its CEO, his son Sholom. It is a welcome first step.

Understandably defensive, some in the observant community have regarded the scrutiny at Agriprocessors as another case of Orthodox-bashing. But for the well-meaning activists and consumers in the Jewish community, demands that Agriprocessors clean house is not a blow against tradition, but a defense of it. Nothing honors Torah so much as those who are willing to advocate for its highest principles.

• Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com