http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=105576

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2009/07/guatemala_a_tal.html

Please make your own conclusions.

I’d like to counter you on both points that you have stated. I did not fail to notice that the article was written by someone else, some Central Committee or, as you say, national Rabbinical Association. I also did not fail to notice that Rabbi Allen chose to forward and post the article, of his own free will, most likely because he endorses it and agrees with his contents. I do not think that a RabbiCop from the Rabbinical Association would have suspended Rabbi Allen’s Davening license for 40 days had he refused to disseminate this particular letter. As to where to better lob my criticism, well, I think that it should be lobbed in both directions.

I’d like to talk about the second point, but my reply will take us way off the topic of Jenna’s article, for which I apologize to Jenna and everyone else. As I am not sure how to start a new topic, I will leave it up to the board administrator to either sensor me or redirect the post to the appropriate thread.

To begin with, you have somewhat, well, misquoted me? The statement about American Rabbis was not my statement, nor was it an attempt at generalization. That would be rather stupid of me, as both myself and my family owe much to American Jewish Community in general and Rabbis in particular, both American and non-American born.

What I did was to quote unfortunate words professed to me by one unfortunate individual, who happened to be a rabbi (an American Rabbi, in his own words), who was a head of the congregation that we attended at the time, and to whom I and my wife had a misfortune to turn to for help during a very difficult and tragic time for our family. Needless to say, those words were the reason why we left that congregation shortly thereafter. Believe me, Liora, a simple “no” is much easier to handle than the pretentious words that we heard that day. But, I digress…

Anyway, I did liken Rabbi Allen’s post to the words that were professed to me and my wife, and for a reason.

I have followed Rabbi Allen’s involvement in and writings about the Agriprocessor affair. Rabbi Allen carried from it his humane kashrut doctrine, which is very commendable going forward. Judaism is about freedom, and no aspect of our religion is compatible with slave labor.

But what about the people? I am talking about those unfortunate souls who were seized by INS officials, about the broken families, fatherless and motherless children, deportations? I am not trying to condone what Rubashkins did, they did not treat their workers well at all. But yet, they provided substinence not just to the whole families who lived next to the plant, but also to their extended families back in Central America. All of that was gone the minute INS raided the plant.

But wait, who was helping the workers? Was there a legal fund set up to help mitigate the brutality of INS? Who was rallying the community for support and funds? Were there defense teams put together from brilliant Jewish pro-bono lawyers to help re-unify the families of workers, and give them a chance to settle, at least temporarily, in this land of milk and honey? Was any one of the men seized that day released on his own recognizance and reunified with his family, while his case was being heard? No, but there was much talked-about community indignation and humane kashrut.

Some of the most recent stories from postville can be found here http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2490362 and here http://www.womensradio.com/articles/Deportation-of-Mothers-in-Iowa-Tests-Local-Charity/4517.html. There is no mention of Jewish charities helping those poor illegal immigrants.

And yes, I do believe that it is possible for one individual to engage an organization, and produce tangible results.

I also think that your statement that “American Rabbis do not actually help people” is ridiculous and wrong. Would you say the same thing about pediatricians, teachers, lawyers and psychiatrists? As long as you’re going to overgeneralize based on your individual (or the rabbi you referred to’s) experience, you might as well take it to the extreme. I know thousands of people whose lives have been shaped by amazing, insightful, compassionate rabbis. In fact, I definitely feel that I’ve been helped by numerous rabbis throughout my life. And do you really think that one Conservative rabbi in Minnesota can and should be “engaging Yisrael Beiteinu”? How? A letter of protest aimed at inciting a community to take action in a grassroots fashion seems like a perfect way to get involved (although I recognize Jenna’s statement that this is not likely a bill that will succeed anyway).