Rubashkins: not winning any prizes anytime soonSince the raid on the Agriprocessors plant on May 12th, bashing the kosher meat giant has become something of a sport. Everyone from the New York Times to failed messiah to yours truly has taken a few shots (some cheap, some well-deserved) at the Rubashkin family and the business they run out of Postville, Iowa.

I’ve never been a big fan of the Rubashkin family. In fact, I called for a boycott of their meat in January, months before Uri L’Tzedek was on the case. But I’m getting a little frustrated with the way the scandal is being dealt with by liberal-minded people like me.

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Since federal agents conducted an immigration raid on the Postville, IA, AgriProcessors meatpacking plant on May 12th, the Jewish community has been in a furor over everything from worker’s rights, to accusations of sexual harassment, to the possibility of a kosher meat shortage if AgriProcessors is forced to close.AgriProcessors: disconnected and unprofessional? In the last week there have been a fair number of developments:

• The Jew & The Carrot has an interview with Zalman Rothschild, a former mashkiach (kosher supervisor) at AgriProcessors. Rothschild says there was a nice rapport between the rabbis and the Mexicans who worked at the plant (except with the women, ahem) when he was there, but calls AgriProcessors “unprofessional” and “disconnected” from the day-to-day operations.

• Ben Harris at JTA went to Postville and spoke with Sholom Rubashkin, now former CEO of AgriProcessors. Though Rubashkin insisted he was “clean as a baby” and offered to give Harris a tour of the plant, the offer was eventually reneged, and Harris was referred to the company spokesperson, who refused to discuss the allegations the workers are making about hiring minors, forcing workers to take 14 and 15 hour shifts, and an environment of sexual harassment. Harris also went to Brooklyn to speak with Aaron Rubashkin, who started his business in 1953, the same year he emigrated from Russia. The elder Rubashkin was more forthcoming than his son, and flat out denies every allegation made. He comes across as scattered and affable, but uninformed. Included in the article is a lengthy audio clip of the interview.

• The Chicago Tribune reports that the State of Iowa is easing up on many of the fines that it initially imposed on AgriProcessors. After AgriProcessors “promised to improve safety for its workers” the fines were reduced from $182,000 to $42,750. Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley is concerned about the reduction in fines, and has spoken to the AP, explaining that he understands the reasoning behind the shrinking fines, and hopes AgriProcessors can live up to their promise to improve conditions for workers.

Aaron Rubashkin and his son Moshe: a tad evasive

• AgriProcessors frequently shipped meat to smaller communities, where other kosher meat and poultry options weren’t available. These communities are now feeling the pinch as AgriProcessors struggles to fill orders, and many are left without any kosher meat, reports the New York Jewish Week.

• The Forward reports that demand for AgriProcessors meat (which sells under the brand names Aaron’s Best, Rubashkin’s, Shor Habor, Iowa’s Best Beef and Supreme Kosher) has not slowed since the immigration raid on May 12th, and if anything they’re struggling to fill orders with the reduced output from Postville.

Affection or Confection: which would you choose?Can an omnivoracious eater find love with a vegangelical? Such is the question posed by this article in the New York Times, which profiles a handful of "interdietary" couples, including vegetarian Jewcy friend Leah Koenig and her kosher beau. Just in time for Valentine's Day, the article, which is guilty of a few gross generalizations (vegans shiver at the thought of kissing someone who has so much as sipped honey-sweetened tea? Please, spare me), actually does raise an interesting point: Food has a strong subconscious link to love.

Seeing as how preparing, providing, and sharing food is often an act of affection and intimacy, do couples with conflicting diets stand a chance? From those profiled, the answer to that question seems to be a resounding...maybe. Assuming the relationship is built on tolerance and compromise, then sure, you're golden. But if your vegan boyfriend or carnivorous girlfriend disapproves, or worse yet, tries to change you, you're screwed.

The article also looks at other dietary issues. One gluten-free goddess recounted a story of being dumped by a guy who "liked bread too much" to date her. Ouch.

Related: No Death, No Dinner

There has been a lot of press in the past year or two about how Rubashkin, the second biggest kosher meat producer, has mistreated both the animals it slaughters, and the workers in the plants it operates.
Rubashkin: Boo! Hiss!

First, PETA released a video showing cows' throats ripped out with a meat hook and cows writhing on the floor, trying to get up and run away after the ritual slaughter.

Then the Forward published an article about how poorly workers were being treated at the Postville, Iowa plant that had previously been the subject of the PETA video. Among the many complaints were low wages (the cap was at seven dollars an hour for most workers), and no unions because the workers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants, are afraid of being deported. There were also reports of workers being shortchanged for hours they worked, and of supervisers demanding bribes from employees who want to change shifts, or help relatives get a job. Perhaps the most troubling issue in the article is the lack of safety training given to the workers at the plant. The Forward quoted one man who said he received no training at all, and learned what to do only by being chewed out for bad work.

Most recently, Rubashkin tried to prohibit its employees from unionizing by claiming they weren’t really “employees” if they were undocumented workers, and in the country illegally. The National Labor Relations Board found against Rubashkin, Rubashkin appealed, and two weeks ago the US Court of Appeals rejected the appeal.

I know that in smaller communities it can be hard to get any kosher meat, and that when it is available, it’s often sold in Wal-mart, and is Rubashkin meat. There are rabbis debating whether or not Rubashkin facilities can even be considered kosher, but even if it is technically kosher, there’s no question that buying Rubashkin meat is supporting a company with bad ethical standards.

Let’s stop buying Rubashkin meat.
Wise Organic Pastures: Yay! Huzzah!
Ideally, of course, I support going vegetarian (so does Alicia Silverstone) but if you can’t give up meat, try contacting Wise Organic Pastures who provide kosher organic meat to distributors nationwide. That way, even your chulent can be socially conscious.

Happy Meat?At the tender age of 17 - upon discovering the ridiculous amount of resources (grain, land, water, etc.) that were used to feed cows and chickens instead of directly feeding humans - I became a vegetarian.  A year later I went vegan.  It was all so wonderful and confusing - being a young liberal college student surrounded by sexy dreadlocked activists and PETA literature.  What else was I supposed to do?

During those early years, I dutifully cooked limp tofu stirfrys, checked my Ruby Red grapefruit juice for carmine coloring (which is made out of bugs, people!) and tried to convince my friends and family to change their flesh-loving ways - not an easy task considering I grew up in the meat-loving Midwest.  Soon, I started to notice that I could not share a meal with other people without giving my "why I am a vegan" spiel.  It was great to get the chance to express my views, but the whole thing started to grate on me.  Couldn't I just eat for once and not talk about it?  I also started to feel tired a lot so I started puting Bragg's Liquid Aminos on my and taking a calcium vitamin.  Then one day my brother - a definite carnivore - said to me, "if you have to take a vitamin to get all your nutrients, are you really eating the right diet for yourself?"  His words merely confirmed what my body was already telling me. 

Now, eight years after first eschewing meat, I'm still a vegetarian - aside from an occasional craving for a corned beef sandwich, I just don't want it anymore.  However, I happily eat eggs and drink all the milk I can get - though I buy my eggs from small scale farmers, and make sure my milk is organic and from pasture-fed cows or - at very least - anti-biotics and hormone free (I have enough raging hormones of my own, thank you).

My story, I think, is not unusual.  More and more, vegetarians and meat eaters alike are clamoring for sustainably raised and produced foods that don't ravage the land and pay proper respect to the animals that so kindly share their goods.

The Jewish community is getting in on the action too - check out this article about the rising Kosher organic/pasture-fed meat craze in this week's Jewish Week. Or this one in the Washington Post from a couple of weeks ago (featuring a special bonus video). 

The bottom line?  Find out about where you food comes from and don't eat food that makes you guilty.  But while you're out there fighting the good fight for animal welfare and ecological well-being, don't forget to take care of yourself.  You can read more on this topic and just about everything else on Jews, food, and sustainability at The Jew and the Carrot.

KarmaI realized I probably wasn’t going to find enlightenment in India about four days into my trip. I was drinking chai in the restaurant of the Shiva Hotel before a yoga class, talking with Iryse, a snarky Belgian woman who I’d just met. We chatted briefly about the weather, where we came from, and real estate prices in our respective cities, and then she asked me if I believed in Karma.Hmm. “I don’t not believe in Karma,” I said. “But I can’t say I believe in it either.”Iryse told me that she was in a car accident months back. Part of the reason she came to the holy city of Rishikesh was to figure out if there were healing Karmic forces at work. I cringed.