Preemptive disclaimer
Oct. 30th, 2008 08:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuThe news coming out of Postville IA is disturbing. Agriprocessors may finally be collapsing, and the end of the story looks to be as ugly as what has come before. Horrible mistreatment of employees. Horrible mistreatment of animals. Theft. Tax evasion. And the belief that it's all defensible because it's "in the service of God."
So I feel compelled to say: This is not the Judaism I believe in. What the Rubashkin family is alleged to have done is a chillul Hashem, the public defamation of God's Name.
So when you read the news from Postville, know that many Jews are as disgusted as you are. Many of us have been boycotting Agriprocessors. And the pictures you will see, the words you will read, the practices that you will hear described as "kosher", make us angry and sad.
Though I know that Jews everywhere will be tarred with the broad brush of blame that will attach to the Rubashkins, I hope you, gentle reader, will know better.
So I feel compelled to say: This is not the Judaism I believe in. What the Rubashkin family is alleged to have done is a chillul Hashem, the public defamation of God's Name.
So when you read the news from Postville, know that many Jews are as disgusted as you are. Many of us have been boycotting Agriprocessors. And the pictures you will see, the words you will read, the practices that you will hear described as "kosher", make us angry and sad.
Though I know that Jews everywhere will be tarred with the broad brush of blame that will attach to the Rubashkins, I hope you, gentle reader, will know better.