Ignorance
is the greatest
enemy. As long as there are Jews who don't consider it worth
their time to even investigate if the meat they're eating is nevaila
and if the mechanech teaching their children is a min, there's no
telling how far we'll fall. Chabad, likely, will only be the
beginning.
For
many reasons, it's unlikely that
there will ever be any large scale announcements or bans issued against
Chabad by roshei yeshivos. Similarly, there will probably
never
be any formal and binding declaration in the nature of "Lubavitchers
are no longer considered Orthodox Jews and may not be relied
upon". Orthodoxy is currently far too splintered and chaotic
for
anything like that to be successful.
But
that doesn't mean there can't be
significant changes in the halachic and moral standards of growing
numbers of Torah Jews. And bnei Torah should have the
education,
intellectual honesty and sensitivity to kedusha to lead the way.
If
this book will have accomplished
nothing more than cause a few dozen bnei Torah to think, research and
seek assurances that at least their corner of Judaism is free of this
threat, then we will feel vindicated. But there's so much
more
that could be done.
Sometime
in October, 2003, these two
emails requesting clarification from, respectively, Empire Kosher and
Kedem Wines were sent.
(800)
367-4734
For
the first time
I have seen Empire chickens (frozen 4 lb bags) available for sale in
… . Checking with a well-informed friend in New
York, I
was told that, of approx. 90 shochtim at Empire, there are around three
from Chabad whose beliefs are, at best, in doubt.
Can
you assure us
that a particular shipment of chicken we receive here is not from any
of those three shochtim and that the product is up to our personal
halachic standards?
Could
you help me?
We
(by which I include my circle of
friends, colleagues, family and students) are finding it more and more
difficult to feel confident that your wines meet our kashrus
standards. It is our belief that leaving supervision of wines
(and other products) in the hands of Lubavitchers places the continued
maintenance of acceptable kashrus standards at risk. We know
that
others disagree with this principle, but, as consumers, we are acting
in conscience and requesting your assistance.
My
specific question: since it is
obviously the policy of your company to rely on even the most extreme
of Chabad ideologues abroad, how am I to assess the quality of
supervision even of operations about which I haven't heard specific
warnings. Further, how am I to know that even your New York
State
and California wines aren't under similar supervision?
I
appreciate your help,
Copies were
also sent to the OU (as
the supervising
authority).
No reply from either of the companies was received (nor from previous letters sent by other interested individuals) and nothing
substantive was heard from the OU (they sent only what amounts to an
acknowledgment that they'd received the email). Subsequently,
a
letter outlining the exchange was mailed to the OU at the explicit
request of a senior American rosh hayeshiva - to which, again, only
silence was forthcoming.
This next
letter was sent directly
to each of the Chabad shochtim of a
North American meat processor. It, too, received no response.
Dear
Rabbi …
Please
forgive me for writing this - I
really mean no offense.
For
many years I've been buying
… for my family and recommending it to people in various
communities who have asked my opinion. Over the past while, I
have been increasingly worried over the possibility that there might be
shochtim at the company whose de'os run counter to the demands of my
mesorah.
I
am particularly anxious to understand
your relationship to the opinion of your Rebbe (expressed in the sichah
of acharon shel Pesach, 5710) that a rebbe is "atzmus u'mehus
areingeshtelt in a guf" and that, therefore, it is permitted for a
chassid to "beten" from him (even, apparently, after his death).
I
wouldn't for a moment deny any Jew
the right to believe and practice as he sees fit, but I, too, have
personal standards. Some were left to me by my teachers and
others imposed upon me through my humble efforts to properly understand
Torah and halacha. My confusion in this matter is causing me
some
discomfort.
Due
to the nature of this problem, I
must add that I cannot, in all honesty, guarantee that any reply I
might receive to this letter will remain private.
We have no
doubt that all of these
companies are aware of our sentiment
and would prefer not to have to face any criticism. We are
equally sure that they - like any company - would be very nervous if
they sensed that public opposition to their reliance on Lubavitchers
was rising.
Another point:
there is a firm
principle in the retail industry that if
one person goes to the bother of registering a complaint about a
product, then there must be many dozens more who are similarly
dissatisfied, but didn't bother speaking up. One or two
letters,
then, might not be enough. But if one hundred people
complain,
Kedem and Empire will know that there are thousands who want to be free
of these doubts.
And they'll
respond.
We're not
suggesting that companies
like Kedem and Empire must
completely (and expensively) re-create their businesses - only that
they take the needs of a large segment of their market into
consideration. In fact, there is already at least one company
(Chai Kosher Poultry in Toronto) that has a special shechita run
specially labelled "KO" (for "Kashered Open"). It is known
that
anything with that label has been processed using only non-Lubavitch
shochtim. Creativity and open mindedness could, no doubt,
lead to
such simple solutions elsewhere as well.
One final
related thought. It
goes without saying that, for
bnei
Torah, shailos chochomim are of fundamental importance -
especially in such crucial matters. And, of course, a ben
Torah
doesn't try to cleverly shape his question in order to mislead a
chochom into providing the answer he's looking for.
Nevertheless,
we would advise a ben Torah to ensure that the chochom upon whom he is
relying has properly researched all the subject's significant
complexities. Perhaps readers could make the material in this
book available to rabbonim to somewhat lighten the heavy burden that
proper research imposes.
We're
asking you to participate in
a consumers' movement. Feel free to send your own letters to
kashrus supervising agencies and kosher producers (and let us know what
- if anything - you hear in response). Ask morei hora'ah their
opinions. Let's help each
other learn what's
really going on and how to avoid
nichsholim.
Join us.
If you do
contact morei hora'ah,
kosher producers or kashrus
agencies about this issue, please let
us know
- whether or not you get results.