One More Thing …

… With regard to Rabbi Asher Zeilingold’s “investigation” of the alleged worker abuse at Rubashkin’s Postville slaughterhouse. Rabbi Zeilingold is visually impaired, legally blind. He sees shapes, and can distinguish between faces at close range, although he does not see the faces clearly. It would be difficult if not impossible for Rabbi Zeilingold to see fear on the face of a Rubashkin employee, or to see who may be watching from a distance. Would his aidut (testimony) be accepted in a beit din? Without caveat? I don’t know.

I don’t hate Rabbi Z; I don’t even dislike him. I just wish he wouldn’t do crazy things like trying to exonerate Rubashkin with transparently a skewed “investigation.” Teaching his old friend Rabbi Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin about workers’ rights in halakha would be a far more productive endeavor, and one far more befitting his position as a rabbi and morah d’asra. And to drag Casriel into this …

Would You Trust This Man?

A rabbi has two parsonages located less than 6 blocks from each other. One is linked to his Orthodox synagogue. The other is linked to a division of the synagogue and perhaps to a second, fictitious congregation. Would you trust this man?

Rubashkin Innocent, Chabad Rabbi Claims

Chabad Rabbi Asher Zeilingold, the rabbi who called me “Adolf Hitler” and ‘excommunicated’ me, has launched a defense of Rubashkin. Rabbi Zeilingold visited Postville with my (former) friend Carlos Carbonero to “prove” the Forward wrong. In essence, what happened is two hasidic Jews, clearly presenting themselves as such, interviewed workers to determine the truth of the Forward’s story.

The core of the Forward’s argument is the intimidation caused by the large number of illegal alien workers and repeated threats from Rubashkin to turn in dissidents to the Immigration and Naturalization service. To believe Rabbi Zielengold is to believe that workers would tell the truth to representatives of Rubashkin. Rabbi Zielengold gives the hechsher (kosher supervision) to Rubashkin’s non-glatt meat and has had a close business relationship with the Rubashkin family since the plant opened almost 20 years ago. His name is on hundreds of boxes of meat produced daily at the plant, and is known to workers there.

Further, Rubashkin is a former resident of and still is a major donor to Rabbi Zeilingold’s community.

If Rubashkin would close, Rabbi Zeilingold would lose much. Therefore his “testimony” should be suspect. But, as Rubashkin and his rabbis prove on an all too frequent basis, in Chabad-land and haredi-land, truth does not matter.

By the way, the “Dr. Carlos Carbonero” mentioned in the article has a Ph. D. in math, and has no expertise or competence in labor relations, medicine, law or halakha. His sole purpose on the trip, beside driving Rabbi Zeilngold, was to translate from Spanish to English.

Rabbi Riskin Cancels Talk At Agunah Conference

The Jerusalem Post reports:

… “Being singled out as the only Orthodox rabbi to speak at the conference would risk having my suggested solutions to the agunot problem disqualified by the rabbinic establishment,” said Riskin.

Agunot, literally “chained,” are women that have separated from their husbands but cannot remarry according to Jewish law because their recalcitrant husbands refuse to grant a writ of divorce known as a get.

“I feel so strongly about the aguna cause that I would speak anywhere. And I often speak at the Shechter Institute or at other Conservative venues. “But on the issue of halachic solutions to agunot I am afraid that appearing in a Conservative context would be counterproductive.

“I am lobbying for solutions to the agunot problem that are within the boundaries of Orthodox Halacha,” explained Riskin, “while the Conservative Movement has positioned itself outside Halacha.”

Riskin recently published A Jewish Woman’s Right to Divorce: A Halakhic History and a Solution for the Agunah, in which he argues for prenuptial agreements and suggests using retroactive annulment of marriages hafka’at nisu’in in special cases.

Rabbi David Golinkin, president of the Schechter Institute, said in response to Riskin’s cancellation that, while he had great respect for Riskin’s work both in Israel and in the Diaspora, Riskin’s decision was “unfortunate.” “Just yesterday morning the rabbi’s secretary said he would be coming,” said Golinkin.

Golinkin said that the Van Leer Institute was purposely chosen to serve as a neutral location so that Orthodox rabbis could participate. Schechter also advertised in the media mentioning Riskin as a participant.

“Some rabbis, and I don’t mean Rabbi Riskin, are more afraid of the haredim than of making certain to serve God and the Jewish people,” Golinkin said, adding that two senior rabbis who serve as rabbinic judges turned down an invitation to the conference. …

Understandable? Yes. But sad.

Google Launches Hebrew Gmail

That’s right, Google launches Hebrew Gmail.

Crime In The Name Of Chabad Theology And Religious Zionism

The Jerusalem Post reports:

A crowd of yeshiva students in Yitzhar attacked three police officers on Wednesday afternoon, after the three arrived at the West Bank settlement to look into security arrangements at local schools and yeshivas.

Dichter said he was baffled as to how Israeli society has reached a point where a civilian dares to hit a civil servant.

Approximately 30 people whom police identified as students at a nearby yeshiva hurled rocks at the policemen and at their patrol car, causing severe damage to the vehicle. The police officers, fearing for their lives, fired one warning shot in to the air to disperse the crowd and escape.

The three officers were the district security coordination officer and the Samaria subdistrict security commander, as well as the third non-commissioned officer.

“The patrol was concerned with checking the security of students in the settlement,” said a police officer from the Judea and Samaria District.

Police said that some of the assailants had worn masks to conceal their identities. Police reinforcements were called in, and are currently carrying out searches in order to apprehend the protesters. …

In February, the IDF withdrew a paratrooper company from Yitzhar after a spate of verbal and physical attacks on soldiers guarding the settlement.

A week before the company was withdrawn, 10 masked settlers attacked a soldier guarding Yitzhar, assaulted him physically and verbally, pushed him to the ground, and stole his communication radio set. Following a dialogue between settler leaders and IDF commanders, the radio set was eventually returned.

Hours prior to the incident, settlers from the community punctured all four wheels of the local commander’s jeep.

Last November, settlers in Yitzhar caused $30,000 damage to electronic surveillance equipment installed by the army to enhance the settlers’ security.

It is reasonable to conclude these “students” are the pupils of Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburg, a well-known Chabad rabbi and extremist.

Rabbi Aaron Rubashkin Abuses Workers

Rabbi Aaron Rubashkin, owner of AgriProcessors (Aaron’s Best™, Rubashkin’s™, Shor HaBor™, etc.), and his son Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin collected union dues from employees and pocketed the money themselves, rather than turning the funds over to the union as required by law. They got caught. The Forward reported this Friday. (Our report on this was posted 14.5 months ago, on March 13, 2005.)

Here in PDF is the decision finding against the Rubashkins from the National Labor Relations Board, in case you missed it the first time around.

Chabad Minority Tries To Force Interpretation Of Jewish Law In Elkana

Ynet reports:

Attorney Motti Mintzer, representative of local religious council and a resident of Elkana, told Ynet: “There is mikveh in Elkana since it was established. We moved to the permanent community and decided to build a new mikveh, according to the instructions of the local rabbi, and he ruled according to rulings of outstanding rabbis throughout the generations.”

“The local hassidim from Chabad are from a messianic cult and want to force the community to build the mikveh according to their specifications,” he said.

In response to Chabad’s claims that the religious council does not consider them part of the Orthodox Judaism, Mintzer said: “We don’t claim, we never did and we never will. Obviously they are kosher Jews, until they begin acting in a compulsive way, all the while refuting the authority of the community rabbi.”

Rabbi Yehuda Stern of Elkana commented: “I have ruled according to our custom on the mikveh issue. We are not a Chabad community and my ruling followed the rulings of outstanding rabbis throughout the generations.”

Chabad seeks to dictate halakha so that its rejected minority view is forced on the majority. This scenario repeats itself often. Why? Because Chabad theology is clear: We are right, everyone else is wrong. Majority rule in halakha or anything else is overridden by what can only be termed Chabad arrogance.

But soon this won’t matter. Chabad is a rapidly growing amalgam of born-hasidim, ba’alei teshuva and hangers-on. Soon, counting the hangers-on, it will surpass mainstream Orthodoxy in numbers. And when it does, mikvaot will follow Chabad opinion, as will schechita, sofrut, and just about everything else. And when that happens, the idea of a second coming will be firmly rooted as part of Jewish tradition.

As I have written previously, the probability is great that your grandchildren’s children will await the coming of a messiah named Mendel Schneerson, and will do so believing this to be a normative belief with roots stretching back to Moses.

And when that happens, there is a list of graves you’ll want to spit on. Far better to spit on these individuals while they are still among us. If you do not know how to find them, pick up a copy of the Jewish Observer and spit at random.

Emmes

Rabbi Gil Student writes:

When a restaurant mistakenly receives a delivery of non-kosher meat, notices it immediately and doesn’t allow it in the restaurant, and then someone walks by, sees the package outside and reports it to his rabbi — then, by all means, shout at the top of your lungs that the restaurant is serving treif meat, publicly embarrass the owner and drive him out of business. But when the physical and spiritual wellbeing of children is at serious risk — “Hush hush, mush mush. We don’t want to ruin his parnassah.”

Of course, in both situations discretion must be properly utilized. But what really bothers me are the communal figures who don’t usually watch their mouths but are suddenly being so careful. Don’t they realize that when they are quick to denounce everything and then suddenly don’t denounce this, they are sending a huge message with their silence?

Haredim Steal Baby’s Body From Morgue To Prevent DNA Testing That Would Implicate Parents In Baby’s Death

Ha’aretz reports haredim rioted outside the Ashdod cemetery and stole the body of a baby girl from the cemetery’s tahara room to prevent DNA testing that would most likely implicate the baby’s parents in the baby’s death. DNA testing on a corpse is generally held to be permissible according to Jewish law. The baby’s parents brought the baby to a medical clinic seeking treatment for an infectious disease. The doctor prescribed antibiotics, but the parents apparently opted for homopathic treatment instead. The baby died as a direct result of the infection.

And haredi rabbis? Silent, as usual.

Aish.com: Stupidity In The Name Of Torah

You can’t make this stuff up, folks. Rabbi Shraga Simmons writes on Aish.com:

Amazingly, that day at Sinai was the first time the Jews ate dairy products. There is a general prohibition of “eating a limb from a live animal” (ever min hachai), which logically should also include milk, the product of a live animal. Ever min hachai is actually one of the Seven Noahide Laws which the Jews observed prior to Sinai (and which has applied to all humanity since the days of Noah).

However, upon receiving the Torah, which refers to the Land of Israel as “flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:18), dairy products became permitted to the Jews. In other words, at the same moment that their meat became prohibited, dairy became permitted. They ate dairy on that original Shavuot, and we do today, too.

Now, let us compare this with an actual series of verses from the Torah:

Genesis 18

And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.

To believe Hebrews did not eat milk or dairy products (or eggs, because eggs are also “ever min hachai“) is on its face insane. To believe this when a specific biblical verse contradicts it is simply stupid.*

Aibishter, look what these rabbis have done to your Judaism!

*And do not try to say that Avraham merely prepared the food for the “men” – who were not keeping the halakhot of bnai noach – to eat. Avraham would be forbidden to do so under any normative understanding of halakha. Plus, this assertion is itself foolish.

What The Meaning Of Is Is

When I read the New York Magazine piece exposing the man-on-boy sexual abuse of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, abuse that spanned decades and implicated Brooklyn’s rabbinic hierarchy in a prolonged coverup, I hoped for change in Orthodoxy. Two weeks later, the Forward broke the story of the Rubashkin family’s abuse of its workers at the world’s largest Glatt Kosher slaughterhouse.

But the reaction to both stories has so far been muted. A spate of commenters has left comments here and elsewhere decrying the “lashon hara” involved in outing these creeps, with some insisting the “lashon hara” is worse than the crimes committed by Kolko or Rubashkin. If anyone thought rabbis – our so-called moral leaders – would react with horror to either story, one would have been wrong. In rabbinic parlance, Rabbi Kolko is innocent until proven guilty, and his accusers, who dared to violate lashon hara and mesira law to out this pedophile, are guilty no matter what. And what self respecting rabbi would let animal cruelty or worker abuse or theft get in the way of a nice glatt kosher steak? The answer to that largely rhetorical question is none would.

Today’s Orthodoxy is bereft of morality. It is merely a collection of microscopic laws viewed narrowly, without context or meaning. Any Judaism that can l’chatchila (with foreknowledge) sanction the kashrut of a rib steak produced through theft, abuse and animal cruelty, or that covers up for child abusers like Rabbis Baruch Lanner and Yehuda Kolko while persecuting their victims, is not a Judaism I can subscribe to. And, I hope, it is not one you can subscribe to either.

Orthodox Judaism In Action

The Forward reports:

In 2004, an undercover investigator for the animal rights group PETA worked in the chicken department at Agriprocessors, the country’s largest kosher slaughterhouse. A few days into the job, the investigator contracted campylobacter, a bacterial infection common to chickens. The illness, which caused bloody stools, led him first to the company’s doctor and then to the emergency room. Soon thereafter, he went to Agriprocessors’ human resources director to seek reimbursement for his medical bills. He recorded the meeting on a hidden camera and the following is a transcript of their exchange:



PETA Investigator: So what happened . . .

Human Resources Director: You went to the emergency room.

PETA Investigator: I went to the emergency room. I had really bad issues, I was bleeding. They did a stool culture and they determined that it was a bacterial infection as opposed to a viral. They said it was campylobacter and I got my records from them when I went to [the Agriprocessors’ doctor] originally, I said you know this is probably from work because I just started working in the poultry department like five days ago and I mean it’s kind of a coincidence, you know, that I’m getting a bacterial infection that’s common with chickens and he said, “Well if it is work related then you can come back and we’ll fill out a report to be reimbursed.”

Human Resources Director: You know, I don’t mean to be mean, cruel, heartless and inhuman. My husband doesn’t work here, my two sons don’t work here, and all three have bloody stools and everything within the last month or so. [Laughs]

PETA Investigator: From what?

Human Resources Director: You know, it’s just a bacteria thing that’s going through. And that’s the God’s honest truth. Um, had you thought, I mean it is sort of frightening, I have people catch colds and say they caught cold because of work. There is a really big grey area here. So you went to [the Agriprocessors’ doctor] …

PETA Investigator: I gave the, I showed the nurse you know that it was campylobacter which is very, very common in chickens. I mean it doesn’t take an educated person to realize that after working with…

Human Resources Director: I wonder why, I mean I have how many people working over there and they don’t get it.

PETA Investigator: Well I’m sure, well actually the nurse said that someone has gotten it before, they came in with the same symptoms, he had to go to the hospital emergency room eventually, the same exact thing as me. It was a migrant worker, a Mexican guy I guess,

Human Resources Director: So basically you’re asking if I’m going to cover that under work comp?

PETA Investigator: Yeah, well whatever it is, I have health insurance, I just assumed that would…

Human Resources Director: I have a hard time saying that I could, though.

[The PETA investigator says the company never reimbursed his medical bills.]

CONVICTED FELON RABBI MOSHE RUBASHKIN IN CORRUPTION SCANDAL

The New York Jewish Week reports:

A state court in Brooklyn is weighing whether to require the chairman of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council to turn over financial records to his officers after two directors alleged that he has misdirected funds for personal gain.

More details on the criminal career of Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin and his family can be found on the left sidebar of this page.