We welcome the RCA's decision and encourage them to join with us, as the Reform Movement has recently done, in the work of Hekhsher Tzedek. Such a move would demonstrate that the entire Jewish community appreciates the need for restoring a culture of Kashrut in America Jewry. This decision by the RCA is an indication that Hekhsher Tzedek has been quite successful in demonstrating that our work matters--in terms of religious action and in terms of the everyday impact it has had already on the Jewish consumer.
Hekhsher Tzedek underscores the approach we have long advocated for Jewish life: an equal reverence for both "mitzvot bein adam l'makom" and "mitzvot bein adam lhavero"(what might be termed ritual and ethical commandments). This decision also underscores the fact that those who for the longest time dismissed this sacred work may well have been doing so simply because it emanated from the religious understanding of Conservative Jews and not because of the content of our work. Today, on the cusp of the New Jewish Year, perhaps a new recognition of the sacred work which all Jews are engaged in doing can be celebrated.
Rabbi Morris J Allen
Director Hekhsher Tzedek
Magen Tzedek: Making Kashrut a Sacred Undertaking for All Jews
