I can't tell you how happy I was to see that a blog has been started for Hechsher Tzedek. This is a movement that is long overdue - although I've heard that no other religion has so far taken an active, formal stance to promulgate the protection of the human beings involved in food production. Many faiths have proscriptions and prescriptions regarding the consumption of food, but we can be proud that our Conservation Movement - starting right here in Mendota Heights, MN - is also evincing an interest in the workers that bring that food to us. This is true moral involvement. It is also a fitting and mature response to the terrible working conditions suffered by many of our Jewish immigrant grandparents a century ago.
I am puzzled only that some of our coreligionists are not joining with us enthusiastically. I understand that Orthodox Jewry may feel a bit threatened. They have held the rights, so it speak, to certification of Kashrut status for a long, long time. But this movement, if I understand correctly, seeks only to add a layer of certification in an entirely new area - to try to halt some of the abuses of slaughterhouse workers that everyone knows are real in at least some places. I, for one, would like to be sure that the food that I eat comes from places that have been honestly examined and are free of worker abuse. It would be wonderful if Jews of all persuasions could join together immediately and agree that this idea, at least, is firmly rooted in the texts that all of us respect and love.
MosherMosher
Magen Tzedek: Making Kashrut a Sacred Undertaking for All Jews
