Yeshiva University Observer

Issue date: 12/30/08 Section: News

From right, panelists R' Shmuly Yanklowitz of Uri L'Tzedek, Rabbi Basil Herring of the RCA, Rabbi Menachem Genack of the OU and Rabbi Avi Shafran of the Agudath Israel, prepare to tackle questions at TEIQU's opening event.

The intersection between ethics and kashrut [Jewish dietary laws] was the focus of the December 9th inaugural event of TEIQU, a student-run organization devoted to developing opportunities for increased intellectual discourse and dialogue in the realm of Jewish academics, faith and community at Yeshiva University," as per their mission statement. TEIQU - an acronym for "A Torah Exploration of Ideas, Questions and Understanding" - was founded this academic year by Gilah Kletenik (SCW '09) and Simcha Gross (YC '10).

TEIQU's symposium came in the wake of months of news coverage regarding the AgriProcessors scandal in Postville, Iowa. AgriProcessors, founded in the 1980s by the Rubashkin family, was the largest kosher slaughterhouse and meatpacking plant in the United States. A series of events that took place over a course of a few months, including a federal raid on the plant, charges of child labor violations and immigration and bank fraud charges against a member of the Rubashkin family, resulted in AgriProcessors filing for bankruptcy.

The scandal has generated much hot debate in the Orthodox community over what the proper response should be to companies that violate U.S. law. Seeking to address this question, Kletenik and Gross organized an evening of what they called "frank discourse and dialogue" to address the possible confluence of ethics and kashrut.

TEIQU invited the heads of "key Orthodox organizations that have been players in the aftermath of the Agriprocessors revelations" to come and present their viewpoints through a moderated panel entitled "The Kosher Quandary: Ethics and Kashrut."

One of the topics Kletenik and Gross asked the speakers to address is the Conservative movement's hekhsher tzedek [justice certification] proposal, a supplemental "ethics" certification that would reflect a production company's adherence to Jewish ethical standards.

An overflow crowd of over 300, including member of the press corps of the New York Times, the Forward, the Jewish Star and the New York Herald, filled Weissberg Commons of Belfer Hall to hear the panelists give their opinions.

Continued...

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