In response to allegations against the AgriProcessor kosher slaughter house that came following an immigration raid last week, the Conservative movement asked its members to take these allegations into consideration before buying meat products produced under the Rubashkin label.
The Agriprocessors Plant in northeast Iowa, the US's largest kosher food processor and the scene of one of the biggest raids in US history.
Photo: Courtesy
Close to 400 workers were detained at the AgriProcessor plant last week in what is said to be the largest immigration raid in US history.
An affidavit filed as part of an application for a search warrant lists pages of allegations against owners and supervisors of the company, including physical abuse and exploitation of workers.
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly stopped short of calling for a boycott of meat produced by Agriprocessors but says Jews should consider for themselves whether or not to buy the meat.
"As kashrut seeks to diminish animal suffering and offer a humane method of slaughter, it is bitterly ironic that a plant producing kosher meat be guilty of inflicting any kind of human suffering," a statement said.
Members of the Conservative movement's Hekhsher Tzedek Commission condemned the company last week, saying kashrut requires more than adherence to ritual matters and should include ethical standards.
Leaders of the movement encouraged Jews to read the "Hekhsher Tzedek Al Pi Din," a paper written by Rabbi Avram Reisner, a companion to the Hekhsher Tzedek Policy Statement and Working Guidelines as part of their Shavuot preparations.
The paper is available on the Web site of the Rabbinical Assembly (www.rabbinicalassembly.org). http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org> ) and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (www.uscj.org http://www.uscj.org> ).
