Challenging our notion of ethical consumption

MOIRA SCHNEIDER

“We live in an age of over-consumption and mis-consumption and the most impact we can make today is in our consumption choices,” said this American Orthodox rabbi who founded and leads Uri L’Tzedek, the only Orthodox social justice group in North America.

He also founded the Shamayim V’Aretz Institute, an animal welfare activist centre.

In 2015, Newsweek rated him one of America’s top 50 rabbis and in 2016, the Forward named him one of America’s most inspiring and influential.

Addressing the topic of “Ethical Consumption: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century”, he referred to a scandal that erupted in 2008 involving Agriprocessors, the largest kosher meat producers in America. He and a colleague decided to go there to see what was going on.

“We found workers (illegal immigrants) paid well below the minimum rates and animals being treated very badly. The owners had been accused of bank fraud to the tune of 10 million dollars.

“The idea of kosher representing a higher standard, had been lost. I saw the religious community rallying behind this company and I said: ‘This doesn’t represent Torah values.’

“We (Uri L’Tzedek) launched a boycott. This was unheard of – an Orthodox Jewish movement launching a boycott against a kosher meat producer – and the backlash was enormous,” he remembers.

The rabbi’s lodestar, however, is tikkun olam – repair the world – maintaining that kashrut and brachot are tied to a spiritual consciousness of what we consume.

“How did we lose a consciousness that fasting on Yom Kippur and not eating pork is just as important as not mistreating workers?” he asked, quoting writings on the Torah prohibition against mistreating animals or workers.

He related that he had met someone at a kosher restaurant who earned four dollars an hour – half the minimum wage. “There is a lot of corruption around kosher certification (in the United States) today,” he added.

“Consciousness of what we do, actually matters. It’s often said that to expose problems in the Jewish community would be ‘chillul Hashem’ (desecrating G-d’s name).

“(It is said that) Kosher is no worse than other industries, the sad part is it’s no better. We’ve gone so far from what kashrut was about, that it requires a tikkun,” he stated. 

Referencing Jewish philosopher, the Rambam (Maimonides) the rabbi stated that the overall goal of all rituals and laws is the creation of a just society. And paraphrasing another, Rav Soloveitchik: “Somehow, we’ve got the idea that Jewish life is about the synagogue, but it happens in the workplace, the streets and every time we make ethical choices.

“After Yom Kippur – do I fundamentally relate to food differently? Shabbat – it’s not just checking the box for Jewish continuity.

“Did it produce a new way in how I relate to others in the world?” Rabbi Yanklowitz asked.

“If all rituals are not vehicles for character development and societal progress, then I’m not sure what they’re for.”