Kosher meat and immigrant rights

Failed Messiah blog

Has anybody seen this blog? It includes a great deal of discussion (some of it inflammatory and unfair) about something we at Jewish Community Action know a little bit about:

Here’s a quick summary of the situation: In late May, The Forward, a left-leaning-though-not-disreputable Jewish weekly (www.forward.com) published an article alleging considerable worker injustice at AgriProcessors (Postville, Iowa), the nation's single largest producer of kosher beef and poultry.

This plant, which employs 800 or so mostly Latino people (Guatemalan immigrants, Mexican immigrants), is owned by the Rubashkin family, themselves members of the Lubavitcher Chassidic branch of Orthodox Judaism.

Well, leaders in the Conservative movement (in the interest of full disclosure, it should be stated that I am a member of a local Conservative synagogue, Beth Jacob in Mendota Heights, Minnesota), including Beth Jacob's Rabbi Morris Allen, and leadership in the Rabbinical Assembly (of Conservative rabbis) and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (the movement’s central coordinating body), were concerned. To say the least.

Meanwhile, Agriprocessors has been interested in showing that the plant’s conditions are good, and so was issued a report diametrically opposed to the account published in The Forward.

Complicated, isn’t it?

(Catch up by reading a whole series of articles, op-eds, and letters in The Forward and in The Jewish Press [www.jewishpress.com].)

Around the Twin Cities, and my guess is around the country, halachically observant, non-vegetarian Jews were wondering: Should I just not eat meat? Should I switch to free-range, organic, even though it’s not kosher? Is my outrage appropriate, or even useful?

What to do? How to learn the truth? A perplexing question.

Well, Rabbi Allen decided that Conservative Jewish leadership could make a difference. But know that this process—learn more, advocate for worker justice and immigrant rights, and ensure Jews that the kosher meat they eat is produced at an ethical and safe facility—well, it just isn’t going to happen overnight.

In fact, ANY real strategy for progressive change--the kind of change that would ensure worker justice and immigrant rights, even at ONE packing plant--isn't going to happen in three weeks. Or several months. Maybe not even in a year.

(Impatience is just one reason among many why the left has no power. One reason among many why the gains of the 20th century labor movement have been rolled back. One reason among many why we are powerless to change cruel, unethical, dangerous business practices. One reason among many why we have no vision for immigrant rights, no vision for an anti-racist society, no vision to end poverty....Because we expect magic wands to be waved, statements to be spoken, and things to change, in an instant. And we turn away from the long, hard work that it really takes to create change.)

But I digress. Jewish Community Action--a Twin Cities-based group that engages Jewish people and congregations in long-term solutions to social justice problems—is working in a supporting role to the aforementioned group of Conservative rabbis and leaders. We believe that they are showing wisdom in taking their time. They are holding conversations with people, learning more, and thinking about how positive relationships can make incremental changes. Changes that would ensure worker justice, immigrant rights, and could prove a model for labor practice and immigration reform throughout the U.S.

In the Twin Cities, there is no rabbi more in front on immigrant rights issues than Rabbi Morris Allen. He is passionately committed to justice, and would no more “wink and nod” at allegations of injustice than he would encourage his congregation to eat trayf.

When will it be time to invest?

Last week, two different announcements were made about taxes. First, the House and Senate in Washington were debating whether to permanently eliminate the estate tax at a cost of billions of dollars per year to our country's future. Second, a group of affluent Minnesotans, in conjunction with Growth and Justice, ran a full page ad calling on the state to raise taxes, with the largest increase for those with the most resources, in order to invest in the future of our state for education, health care, child care and transportation.

With a national debt of $8 trillion and annual deficits in the hundreds of billions, it is hard to understand the call for eliminating more taxes. Of course, if your goal is to invest in the future of the richest families in the country, at the expense of all Americans, than eliminating the estate tax makes sense. It is important to recognize that many very wealthy Americans have said they don't want this tax eliminated and believe it is harmful to our future.

The full page ad was meant with sarcasm and derision by Governor Pawlenty. Apparently his only interest is to keep taxes down, despite the repeated reports of the growing number of uninsured in Minnesota and the huge disparities in education between white students and students of color. It is time for Minnesotans to seriously debate tax policy and make sure it is one of the key issues in the coming elections, both for Governor and Congress. We need to ask what kind of future we are building for our children when we are not prepared to invest in them with higher taxes. Yes, we should demand accountability from lawmakers and make sure they are investing well, but if we don't give them more resources through higher taxes, than they cannot invest in the future of our children.

Victory

In the world of organizing, it is often hard to see tangible symbols of success or victory. Meetings come and go, coffee is sipped and policy is debated. We often lose sight of the goals and accomplishments because of the common frustrations of the day. But, last Friday night with the Indie Jews was quite a different story.

Just over a year ago a tiny group of unaffiliated Jews sat around a kitchen table to discuss the many conversations they had had with unaffiliated peers through JCA’s Inreach. There was a common consensus (and slight shock) that there were other Jews in the Twin Cities area that had a strong desire to have a Jewish community based on social justice, but not through a congregation.

A year later, nearly 30 people gathered to celebrate the one year anniversary of our first Indie Shabbat with a special Indie Jew birthday party- complete with cake, ice-cream and party hats!

The energy was celebratory and feeling was real. A true victory. Not of policy or government, but of community: Relationships, common ground, Judaism and justice.

Together we have built community. Together we have made change. Together we look to a future of social justice.

Thank you to ALL of the Indie Jews who have come to be a part of this movement.

Letter from a JCA Member

(The following letter appeared in the Lakeshore Weekly News)
The Plan for Northwest Plymouth

Mayor Judy Johnson and the Plymouth City Council are about to make a decision to promote urban sprawl in the Northwest Sector of Plymouth. In deciding on low density development for this previously undeveloped part of Plymouth they are supporting the building of “McMansion” neighborhoods. That’s against the best interest of our community, our planet, our children, and our grandchildren.

We, if we are young enough, but for sure our children and grandchildren are threatened by climate change and global warming. It is a reality. There is no scientific debate. The polar ice caps are melting, the glaciers are disappearing, the CO2 levels are at a 650,000 year high. The burning of fossil fuels in Plymouth that means gasoline for cars – is the cause of global warming. Urban sprawl which is what the Mayor and the City council are advocating will foster global warming.

The alternative is to develop communities that allow for workforce/affordable housing that will enable the placement of mass transit. We need to reduce one care – one person transit that burns more gas.

So Madam Mayor and City Council it’s time to stop making decision based on political expediency and start deciding based on public good.

Victor Sandler M.D.
Open Spaces and Housing For All Coalition
Jewish Community Action