tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40 2008-04-03T16:41:58Z Three rabbis blog on Judaism and the world today. Movable Type 4.1-en tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.39871 2008-04-03T16:31:46Z 2008-04-03T16:41:58Z

It has been heartwarming to read the warm responses to Rabbi Waxman’s post asking Beliefnet to reconsider its decision to cancel Virtual Talmud. Virtual Talmud offered an alternative model for internet communications: civil discourse pursued in postings over a time...

Rabbi Susan Grossman Rabbi Waxman’s post asking Beliefnet to reconsider its decision to cancel Virtual Talmud. Virtual Talmud offered an alternative model for internet communications: civil discourse pursued in postings over a time frame of days (rather than moments) predicated upon the belief in the value of and respect for alternative viewpoints. We hope we have showed through our debates that Jewish tradition offers a rich resource that can help us find answers to all of today’s questions: from finding contemporary meaning in ancient Jewish rituals, to making sense of the political and cultural issues leading the headlines, to exploring our personal roles in repairing the world. ]]> We hope we also showed that there is value in weighing alternative positions: that it is only in seeing different sides of an argument that wisdom can be gained. This is the brilliance of the Talmud that debates every question from many angles and is even willing to live with ambiguity and the option of more than one legitimate answer. Over 1800 years ago, Rabbi Tarfon taught: "The day is short, the work is great…it is not your task to finish the work but neither are you free to exempt yourself from it." (Ethics of the Fathers 2:15-16) Even if the "powers that be" (as one post put it) are closing this venue, the interaction between modernity and tradition can continue through the reading, study, conversations, and community involvement of all of you who have so faithfully read our debates over the last few years. tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.38557 2008-03-31T17:00:29Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

Well, loyal readers, all good things must come to an end and we’ve been informed that this particular experiment in blogging as a forum for creating wide-ranging discussion on topics of interest to contemporary Jews has run its course. Maybe...

Rabbi Joshua Waxman matter, and the way we in which discuss them matters as well. ]]> Tam v’nishlam: hadran alach--this task is completed; may we merit to return to it and continue to glean new understandings and meanings.]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.38570 2008-03-31T16:09:08Z 2008-04-03T16:40:43Z

There are few times in this blog’s history when I have felt that Rabbi Grossman was one hundred percent correct in her criticisms of my ideas. However, a few weeks ago she called me out for citing a few crack...

Rabbi Eliyahu Stern There are few times in this blog’s history when I have felt that Rabbi Grossman was one hundred percent correct in her criticisms of my ideas. However, a few weeks ago she called me out for citing a few crack websites on Barak Obama’s advisors. She was right. I never should have cited those websites--they were wrong and I apologize to my readers for my misstep. As I intimated in my first post the notion that Obama is somehow bad for the Jews is absurd based on what we know and what we have seen. All we as a community should be focused on is what the person has said and what he has done. While I am still unsure about a few issues and disagree with him on a few others, the more the campaign continues, the more I like what I hear and see from Obama. Many have already praised his talk on race as being indicative of the type of nuanced and complex yet straight and simple kind of thinking that this country needs, I would like add just a few points that have not been addressed. when he denounced Jeremiah Wright's statements yet did not thrown his longtime pastor overboard. I was among the many Jews who called on Obama to make such a statement and felt that those in his campaign who kept dismissing the issue were terribly mistaken. His remarks on Wright should satisfy any Jew who has gone to synagogue and heard a rabbi--who has married, or bar mitzvahed his kids, or counseled him and his family in rough times--say things they disagrees with or find disturbing. Clerics talk a lot--probably more than any other public official--and they say a number of different things that sometimes can sound awfully silly. This should never excuse calls for violence or hate speech, but we should always remember the context and history of the people making those comments. (Just a few weeks ago a leading rabbi from Yeshiva University called for the assassination of the Prime Minister of Israel if he were to ever give back Jerusalem--and all he was asked to do by the university was to apologize. He should have been fired or at the very least have been demoted). I understand those such as Hillary Clinton and my friend and wise op-ed columnist Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe who felt Obama’s comments came up short, arguing, in Jacoby’s case, that if there rabbi or minister ever made such a comment they would call for his dismissal. There are many cases where I would have no problem taking such a position. To be sure, if my rabbi had ever said "God damn America," I would be shocked and horrified and perhaps even call for his dismissal. But my rabbi did not experience America as a segregated country that undermined my very existence and my rabbi was never a U.S. Marine. Obama not only did the right thing by not dumping Wright, he taught America a lesson. Just because we don’t agree with everything everybody says that does not mean that we ought to reject them fully as human beings or as leaders. Obama’s approach to dealing with the situation broke with typical political thinking that paints people as either being black or white. Likewise, in Jewish life there is way too much black and white thinking among those in various denominations. We either “legitimize” or don’t “legitimize” other Jews as if their entire being and religious lives were based on one or two issues that we might disagree with them on. Such thinking destroys the complexity and beauty of life and humanity. By making every argument into a matter of legitimacy or illegitimacy it becomes impossible to ever have real conversations that recognize that there is no one group or person that has all the answers. People are not one 15-second sound bite, position, or idea. They are complex creatures with myriad and often conflicting opinions. Such complexity, however, should never prevent us from critiquing, judging, or challenging one another. Because we make things into black and white we loose our ability to openly criticize and challenge our own orthodoxies and opinions. Without our ability to criticize ourselves and others we risk living in a world destined to become its own inadequacies. Open and honest critique is the basis for redemption. More than anything since writing this blog I think we all have realized that disagreeing with one another does not mean not legitimizing their role as a leader of their community and the Jewish people. Writing alongside Rabbis Grossman and Rabbi Waxman has always been an honor. Any arguments we have had have been, in my mind, a machloket le-shem shamyyim, an argument for the sake of heaven, and what could be a more lofty and honorable endeavor than that.]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.38345 2008-03-25T20:04:41Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

As a post-baby boomer, it is interesting to me to see how much of today’s conversation about racial relations is still rooted in the 1960s experience and rhetoric of the civil rights struggle, and the disenchantment that followed. Many in...

Rabbi Joshua Waxman speech was very powerful and important, not least of all because he finally named some of the realities on the ground today rather than rehearsing old grievances. Yes, we need to recognize history, but we also need to move past it so we can clearly see and address the deep fissures and challenges our country is facing around race right now, rather than replaying the battles and resentments of yesterday.]]> you can listen to this debate between NAACP Chair Julian Bond and activist Kevin Powell). As Americans, we need to frankly face and address issues of disparity, fear, and resentment as they exist today if we can ever hope to move forward.]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.38286 2008-03-24T16:50:11Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

Years ago, as a rabbinical student, I was one of a group of rabbinical students who visited an African American seminary in Atlanta. My fellow rabbinical students and I expected an uplifting weekend of interfaith sharing like we had experienced...

Rabbi Susan Grossman Years ago, as a rabbinical student, I was one of a group of rabbinical students who visited an African American seminary in Atlanta. My fellow rabbinical students and I expected an uplifting weekend of interfaith sharing like we had experienced in visits to other (largely white) seminaries. We were unprepared for the raw anger directed against us as Jews. We were blamed for "Jewish exploitation of blacks." We heard stereotypical charges against Jewish pawnbrokers and Jewish landlords, the middlemen who represented institutionalized oppression in the ghetto. Having lived in the buildings of exploitive landlords myself, I could understand their anger against such landlords (not all of whom were Jewish). But I could not understand why these students held so tightly to their anger against all Jews or why they transferred such anger to us. One of the more self-reflective students explained it this way: African Americans were angry that we Jews could succeed in America where they could not because we could pass as whites whereas they could not. I have thought a lot about those interactions since the recent brouhaha over presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s relationship with his controversial black liberation pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. speech on race was clearly crafted to put at ease not only white America but also Obama’s Jewish supporters. Obama won points in the Jewish community for including a reference to one’s rabbi among other clergy with whom a parishioner might disagree. Obama also won points as a friend of Israel by accusing Rev. Wright of distortion in blaming the conflict in the Middle East on "the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam." Obama’s vision of how, together, we can move beyond mutual recrimination toward real change and betterment for all is truly inspiring. I am convinced this is not just rhetoric for him but reflects his deepest beliefs. However, in a fairly long speech touted as the definitive response to his relationship with Wright, Obama’s silence on Wright’s support for Louis Farrakan was deafening. Where was Obama’s repudiation of the decision by the magazine run by Wright’s daughter to award Farrakhan the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award as a man it said "truly epitomized greatness"?. Where was Obama's courage to speak truth to power, to decry hate talk in all its permutations? Obama’s silence reminded me of another memory, this one of a congregant. He remembers his family traveling to the beach on the Maryland shore. He was a child. Maryland was still a segregated state. They arrived at the beach to find a section of beach for blacks only and another section for whites only. Posted between the two was a sign that said: "No Jews or Dogs." The family had to get back in the car and head home. It was a stark reminder that, as Jews, his family did not fit in. I have not had a chance to confirm the historicity of this memory. It is a telling sentiment, nevertheless, about the ambivalence we Jews experience in discussions about race in America. One thing this campaign has revealed is that we Jews still see ourselves as a minority in a Christian world whereas the African American community still largely sees us as part of the white majority. If we are ever to effectively resurrect the Jewish-African American alliance Obama talks about, then we will need to address this "race" issue as well. ]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.38165 2008-03-20T17:54:05Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

It may be a twist of fate that Eliot Spitzer faced his downfall a few days before Purim, the Jewish holiday that entertains how people are often not what they appear. Spitzer appeared to be someone who defended and upheld...

Rabbi Susan Grossman Purim, the Jewish holiday that entertains how people are often not what they appear. Spitzer appeared to be someone who defended and upheld the law of the land. He was known as a ruthless attorney general. Now we know it was all a mask. Spitzer’s sin was not only that he cheated on his wife. He also cheated on the people of New York who voted him into office as governor to uphold the laws of the land. ]]> shanda (shame, scandal). We are averaging about one a year. Jack Abramoff’s lobbying scandal in 2006. Paul Wolfowitz giving his girlfriend a cushy job at the World Bank in 2007. Now Spitzer in 2008. What is it with these guys? Have they no sense of shame? Or, as Rabbi Stern implies, do they just think they can do whatever they can get away with? This dynamic is also discussed by the rabbis in Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot). They wrote: Know that a seeing eye is above you and everything is written. The point is: we shouldn’t do things because we think we won’t get caught; God sees everything and records all. Obviously others can see too, as Spitzer sadly discovered, a bit too late. Anthony Weiss, in an analysis for the Forward, points out that the Jewish community had embraced Spitzer as a favorite son even though Spitzer held himself somewhat aloof from the Jewish community. Intermarried, with little contact with the organized Jewish world, Spitzer nevertheless claimed that Jewish values inspired his liberal outlook and commitment. Too bad he could not also apply those same Jewish values to his interpersonal and professional life: values such as honesty, the sanctity of marriage, and following the law of the land. ]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.38107 2008-03-19T18:03:25Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

My Dad had a terrific insight on the lessons learned from the Spitzer fiasco and the rise and tarnishing of his successor, David Paterson. In Ethics of our Fathers we are told that Hillel “once saw a man’s skull floating...

Rabbi Eliyahu Stern the rise and tarnishing of his successor, David Paterson. In Ethics of our Fathers we are told that Hillel “once saw a man’s skull floating on a body of water: whereupon he said: Because you drowned others, you shall be drowned and ultimately those who drowned you they themselves will also be drowned.” (2:7) There were far too many people gleefully cheering at Eliot Spitzer’s downfall. They were mimicking Spitzer’s own glee, but ultimately the ones who had the biggest joke played on them were the people themselves. For only a few hours after the honorable David Paterson took the oath over the Bible and was inaugurated in as Governor of New York, he admitted to having his own infidelity problems. And so who really is the joke on? Of course Paterson’s and Spitzer’s situations are radically different but the point remains the same: When we go on witch hunts the hunts will eventually come to our own doorsteps. ]]> Celebrating downfalls is one of the saddest cultural mores of our society. It creates a world that encourages its own destruction. Its not that we should be lax with our standards, but that the most important trait a lawmaker can have is a sense of compassion and understanding. Divorcing compassion from judgment was Spitzer’s first great sin, everything after that is only commentary that repeats the very same offense. tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.38035 2008-03-18T14:51:44Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

In this Jewish season of farce, a lecherous ruler (King Achashverosh) is mocked for his desire to have a pretty woman (Queen Vashti) dance for his court wearing nothing but the royal crown. Truth, of course, is even stranger than...

Alana Kornfeld Slate.com). Let me start by saying clearly that this isn’t a question of whether Spitzer’s own behavior is in any way excusable or appropriate; it’s not. The man repeatedly committed adultery and ultimately humiliated his wife and teenage daughters, exposing the hypocrisy of a holier-than-thou public figure who was blatantly violating the law.]]> although according to Monday’s Times, only one in five prostitutes actually solicits on the streets). Against this the claim is made that sex-work is inherently degrading, although it must be said that many of the (legal) options for underprivileged men and women to earn a living are pretty degrading as well. Jewish tradition, on the other hand, is unequivocal in banning prostitution, starting with the verse, “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, that the land not become prostituted and full of depravity.” (Lev. 19:29). In legal sources, prostitution is roundly condemned as a violation of both human dignity and a threat to the structure of the family. In part this is precisely because Judaism does not treat human sexuality as something dirty or disgraceful, but as a normal part of a healthy life and one that, within the bounds of a sanctified relationship, can even be a vehicle for holiness. It is precisely this potential for healthy–and even holy–sexuality that prostitution undermines, turning sex into a commodity instead of an important part of a loving and mutually-respectful relationship. The point about threatening family structures is important as well: in countries where prostitution has been legalized such as Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands, demand has gone up: clearly more men will avail themselves of a prostitute’s services if they can safely and legally do so than otherwise would. While not every man who hires prostitutes is married or otherwise betraying a committed relationship, many surely are and it is neither ethical nor good public policy to make this sort of behavior easier. The fact remains that there are compelling arguments to be made on both sides of the legalization debate and the plight of women who are forced to choose (or are simply forced into) the sex trade cannot be overlooked. But we need to take this fact as a call for tougher enforcement and to provide poor women with more opportunities for decent paying legal jobs, rather than a signal to throw the doors open to a policy that degrades us as individuals and as a society.]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.37875 2008-03-14T15:40:06Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

It has been said that if you say something often enough and emphatically enough, more and more people will believe it. Something that at first may seem obviously ridiculous with repetition becomes accepted fact. That is why Holocaust deniers are...

Rabbi Susan Grossman Book of Esther we will read next Thursday night on Purim. The story recounts how the evil vizier Haman sought to destroy all the Jews in the Persian Empire because he was insulted that the Jew Mordecai would not bow down to him. The Jews are saved when King Ahashverus’ queen, Esther, who had hidden her identity as a Jew and Mordecai’s relative, reveals she is Jewish and begs the king to save her life and the lives of her people. ]]> ADL and the Israel Project need funders who can make smart internet resources and training available to our college youth and young adults. That is also why we cannot stand idly by, but must join the struggle as modern Esthers: because lies that are not exposed as lies come to be believed as truth. ]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.37761 2008-03-12T21:49:02Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

It is a truism that the power of the Internet is to allow for the proliferation and dissemination of information without passing through central sources (newspapers, radio, TV) that would screen or block them. The advantages are obvious: repressive governments...

Rabbi Joshua Waxman held to high standards of integrity to offer their honest opinions on which information is worth paying attention to). ]]> Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League monitor online hate group activity and put out their own counter-messages. Given the realities of the Internet, as well as the principles of free speech, it is virtually impossible to shut hate groups down and prevent them from spreading their venom. Instead, the best we can do is to consistently combat their claims in the marketplace of ideas (on the principle that sunshine is the best disinfectant), continue to be sure their message is marginalized in mainstream media, and vigorously pursue criminal cases against the organizations and their leaders since they are often involved in a wide variety of illegal pursuits (from tax evasion to money laundering to theft) to fund their operations.]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.37706 2008-03-11T21:16:32Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

The other night my friend, Jewish media guru Steven I. Weiss, asked me to go with him to hear Bernard Henri Levy's State of World Jewry lecture at the 92nd street Y in Manhattan. Levy can be very entertaining and...

Rabbi Eliyahu Stern Steven I. Weiss, asked me to go with him to hear Bernard Henri Levy's State of World Jewry lecture at the 92nd street Y in Manhattan. Levy can be very entertaining and so I decided to join him for the lecture. Perhaps the most comical part of an otherwise serious presentation came when the French philosopher went on a rant about the transforming face of anti-Semitism. In the medieval period, Christians accused Jews of killing their God, then in the modern period enlightenment thinkers accused Jews of creating the God they wished to kill, then when race came in style, Jews were accused of originating from a deformed race. You get the point. Whatever was the idiom of the day, it eventually became a weapon to use against the Jews. ]]> Jews should use the Internet to combat anti-Semitism. But Peres’ plea for more Jewish presence on the Internet sounds more like an 88-year-old shooting in the dark than the sharp statesman he is. Just because some medium is "hot" does not mean it’s the most effective way to accomplish one’s goals. As Andre Oblor writing in the Jerusalem Post argues, "It is not enough to tell students and young people to go and "do something technological. Resources need to be dedicated, research needs to be done, and policies need to be developed." Peres should be commended for reminding us about the increasing presence of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism on the internet, but he needs to have his ideas more well developed on what exactly it would mean to fight these new demons on the "Internet." ]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.37543 2008-03-07T16:08:47Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

I share with the Beliefnet community a message I sent to my congregation last night: The escalating violence in Israel has not escaped anybody’s notice over the past week, beginning with the killing of a Sderot resident by a Hamas-launched...

Rabbi Joshua Waxman I share with the Beliefnet community a message I sent to my congregation last night: The escalating violence in Israel has not escaped anybody’s notice over the past week, beginning with the killing of a Sderot resident by a Hamas-launched rocket, and continuing with responses and counter-responses that have caused great suffering and loss of life on all sides. Earlier today, a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem opened fire in a famous yeshivah in Jerusalem, murdering eight and wounding nine more. As human beings, our heart breaks for the loss of innocent life on both sides of the conflict. As Jews, our heart breaks for the Land of Israel and the violence that threatens to overwhelm it. We mourn with the victims and add our prayers that peace will soon come to the land of Israel and all who live there. May God spread out a shelter of peace over us, over all Israel, over all who dwell on earth, and over Jerusalem.]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.37510 2008-03-07T16:05:25Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

A Palestinian gunmen today walked into Merkaz Harav Yeshiva gunning down eight boys in the middle of prayers. This horrible act of terror is but another sad chapter in this 60-year war. Yet, it represents an emerging trend in the...

Rabbi Eliyahu Stern gunning down eight boys in the middle of prayers. This horrible act of terror is but another sad chapter in this 60-year war. Yet, it represents an emerging trend in the sorry state of relations between Palestinians and Israelis–one based in the house of study. As this war continues, it's bloodying and blurring the lines between what is politics and what is theology, what is sacred and what is profane, and what is holy and what is secular. A 60-year battle is being re-turned into an eternal war. To understand the significance of this act one needs to understand who and what is Merkaz ha-Rav. Simply put, the act is nothing short of a Jew walking in to Al-Ahzar University or Notre Dame and wantonly killing Christians taking the Eucharist or Muslims prostrating themselves to Allah. Mercaz is the leading religious Zionist learning center. It is also a hotbed of settler ideology and the recent events will only further radicalize the student body. ]]> There is much to be said regarding this scene of bloodshed occurring in this specific house of study. There is also much to be said about the holy books lying on the ground strewn with blood. There is also much more to be said about what it means that is horrid act took place right before the festival of Purim when Jews in Persia thousands of years ago overcame the threat of annihilation. But now is not the time for academic conversations and intellectual meanderings about warring ideologies and fundamentalisms. Now is a time to weep, to weep for the dead, to weep for what has been made profane, for what cannot be celebrated and for what cannot be saved. Now is also the time for Muslim's around the world to express their commitment to te project of humanity. Let me just say for record shame on every Muslim who does not outright condemn this heinous crime. Shame on every Muslim cleric who tries to wash his hands by saying “what do you expect when Israel…” as if this is what we should expect from any living creature. tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.37392 2008-03-05T17:25:25Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

We took up the question of the Conservative Movement’s Hecksher Tzedek a few months back and I am glad Rabbi Grossman brought it up again. At the time I was taken aback by the negative comments that some had posted...

Rabbi Joshua Waxman Hecksher Tzedek a few months back and I am glad Rabbi Grossman brought it up again. At the time I was taken aback by the negative comments that some had posted opposing Hecksher Tzedek as an attempt to foist non-Jewish (ie, contemporary liberal American) values onto Jewish practice, as though Jewish practice were some timeless and monolithic institution that didn’t respond to changing values and mores. One of the reasons Judaism is as rich, varied, and resonant as it is, is that Jews were constantly adapting to changing circumstances and surrounding culture, and their practices adapted with them. It’s a point I’ve made many times before on this blog: Judaism is created by the Jewish people and evolves through time, rather than remaining static and fixed. Protesting that caring about the treatment of animals–or workers, or the environment–is somehow not a "Jewish" position is preposterous, especially because it doesn’t involve contravening any existing laws. I don’t see how one can possibly oppose the idea of this hecksher unless they have a vested interest in the current monopoly over kosher certification or believe that any innovation is wrong on its face.]]> tag:blog.beliefnet.com,2008:/virtualtalmud//40.37283 2008-03-03T17:17:51Z 2008-04-03T16:38:34Z

If the term ‘kosher’ means fit, or done right, is the food we eat 'kosher" if it's produced using unethical practices? What if it meets all other technical requirements? Conservative Rabbi Morris Allen says, "no". For Rabbi Allen, it is...

Rabbi Susan Grossman Conservative Rabbi Morris Allen says, "no". For Rabbi Allen, it is not enough to be concerned about the ritual specifics of the kosher food we eat without also being concerned about the ethical issues raised by its production, processing, and marketing. This realization grew out of Rabbi Allen’s "Chew by Choice" program, which he began to encourage kosher observance in his congregation. He soon realized that ritual observance divorced from ethical observance is inconsistent with Jewish values. Thus was born Heksher Tzedek, now a national program of the Conservative Movement. ]]> heksher is a symbol that a particular processed food has received the approval of a certifying agency as to its kosher fitness. Heksher Tzedek, a symbol sporting a "J" and the Hebrew letter tzadi--the first letter in the Hebrew word for justice, tzedek (but that is another kind of symbol all together). A Heksher Tzedek appears in addition to standard kosher supervision, which will still be done by the standard kosher organizations. To win a Heksher Tzedek, the company must pass five additional eco-kosher and fair trade qualifications: that the food is produced in a humane manner; that food producers provide fair wages and benefits for employees; that they provide workers a safe and healthy environment with sufficient training; that the environmental impact of food production is limited as much as possible; that corporations behind the food permit transparency to check accountability and integrity; and that humane kosher slaughtering is utilized. There is reason for concern about all of these issues as awareness about fair trade issues and the environmental impact of agribusiness increases. In addition, a recent PETA investigation has uncovered inhumane kosher slaughtering methods in South American kosher slaughtering plants, according to a recent report in the Forward. South American kosher meat plants, which provide the majority of meat for Israel, still use what is largely seen as a barbaric method: shackling the back leg of the animal, hoisting it up by its back leg, then dropping it to the ground to be held down and then slaughtered. More humane methods for kosher slaughtering are currently available. According to the Forward, such procedures are being discussed by Israel’s chief rabbinate but no action seems imminent. What’s the delay? The Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards unanimously deemed such shackling and hoisting as invalid over seven years ago. With Heksher Tzedek, the Conservative Movement is providing a real service: a way for all of us concerned about the social and environmental impact of what we eat to know that the kosher food we eat is truly "kosher" in the full sense of the word. That is helpful even for those who are vegetarians.]]>