[Avodah] Chometz Whiskey Alert

[Zev Sero]

> AKO Executive Committee has reason to believe that there are large 
> liquor companies in the United States which may be owned in whole or 
> part by Jews. We are concerned that such companies may not have arranged 
> for the sale of their chametz (mechiras chametz) during Pesach.

So these companies *may* have some sort of Jewish ownership, and they
*may* not have sold the chametz.  Or perhaps they have no Jewish
owners, or they did sell their chametz.  We don't know and haven't
bothered to find out.


> Accordingly, we recommend that Kashrus Agencies and consumers change 
> their policies and only consume those alcoholic beverages which [are 
> free of standard kosher concerns and] are known to (a) be produced by a 
> non-Jewish company or a Jewish-owned company which arranged for the sale 
> of their chametz

I don't understand on what basis such a change should be made.  The
authors of this statement seem to have forgotten that the whole issur
on chametz she'avar alav hapesach is a knass.  The whole *point* of
the issur is to get the message through to the miscreant that he will
not profit by his transgression, so next year he may as well do the
right thing.  How is this purpose fulfilled by boycotting companies
about whom we know nothing, who may very well be owned entirely by
goyim, or who may actually have done the right thing all along?

In addition, the point of a boycott is to "name and shame"; the object
of the boycott must be specifically named, in sufficient detail that
he can know he is being boycotted and why.  If we switch to a system
where we boycott anyone who is *not* on an approved list, what lesson
can we possibly be teaching those who don't appear on the list, and
have no idea they're being boycotted, let alone why?  Even if they
notice that their sales have gone down, will they easily find out
why that happened, so that they may learn and change their ways?

It doesn't make sense.

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher