Jewish: December 2004 Archives

Once again, Dani gives us two links to the official OU responses to the shehita controversy. First is the Statement of Rabbis and Certifying Agencies on Recent Publicity on Kosher Slaughter which was actually earlier. Now, it happens to be hosted on the OU's site. The second piece is a message from Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb (Executive Vice President) and Rabbi Menachem Genack (Kashrut Rabbinic Administrator).

I'm putting the text of the message below. Between the two letters, I think the OU has done a decent job of responding both to the halakhic non-issue and to PETA's claims of animal cruelty.

While I doubt this will be the last we hear of this in the media (internet and otherwise), I'm willing to let it go until a real halakhic problem comes out of it or until something egregious actually warrants a response.

Got a tip that Dani linked to the OU's response to the Rubashkins/PETA controversy. For what it's worth, I think they did a good job of responding to that which required a response.

Have a good one.

UPDATE: As a special Hannukah treat to the loyal readers, I am giving away GMail invitations. I now have only 1 left, so get it while it's still there!

Drop a line if you're interested.

Fark links to this BBC article about Bank Leumi developing a credit card which will not work on Shabbat.

First, I'm curious how would this apply to people traveling overseas or for Internet purchases? Does it go by Shabbat in Israel or where the purchase was made?

On a more serious note, I have no idea what the point of this is. The Orthodox don't shop on Shabbat - or at least shouldn't.¹ Secular Jews (or clever Orthodox) will either use a different card - either from Bank Leumi or someplace else or just use cash or cheque. Certainly if the bank forces all clients to use the restrictive card, they would only increase the animosity towards the Orthodox.

Provided that the bank doesn't force people to use the cards, this plan seems fairly innocuous. If it makes you happy, go for it - certainly no issurim are being violated by having it. However, I'm troubled by this quote: "Reports also say it may not work on any day in shops which do not honour the Sabbath."

I have no idea how they would manage to do this from a technical perspective. The only thing I can think of is that "certain authorities" would create a blacklist and send that in to Bank Leumi. I can't even begin to enumerate the problems with such a system (think corruption, fights over authority, payoffs, blackmailing, etc.)

1. Perhaps it's like the content cell phones and the Orthodox can't be trusted to be shomer Shabbat on their own such that they need external techinical restrictions to keep them on the proper path.

Over shabbat, it occurred to me that my last post could be seen as overly critical of the OU. However, my goal was more to point out the inadequacies of its letter rather than criticize the OU itself or its practices in the areas of hashgacha. While I do think the OU needs to issue its own clarification, I also said that they need to get the benefit of the doubt in this case.

1. Thousands of shehitot are done at this plant. We have no idea if this is a common occurrence or an isolated incident.
2. We don't know for certain if the sheita is in fact pasul.
3. Until the Rabbanut issues a formal pesak halakha - the Jerusalem Post doesn't count - we're not sure exactly what their position is.
4. Even if the shehita doesn't meet the Rabbanut's standards, that religious body technically has no authority in America.
5. Even if the shehita was in fact objectively pasul, we have no idea if the meat was ever distributed or packaged as kosher. For all we know, the mashgichim saw it - and rejected it.
6. Someone who has actually visited the plant told me that several "runs" are done at the plant. Meaning at the same plant, different mashgichim oversee shehita for different organizations. Thus, the infraction might not have even occurred under the OU's watch.

As I mentioned in the last post, now is not the time for people who have never opened a Yoreh Deah to start paskening and invalidating the OU. They've been doing hashgacha for a long time and aren't going to do anything to cause the masses to sin.

Again, just sit tight and wait for the OU to formally address the issue.

Just got this e-mail about the shehita fiasco. Below is the complete text, followed by my comments.

(Too long for the front page).