[Avodah] food's kosher,but

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 11:38:09AM -0800, Saul.Z.Newman at kp.org wrote:
: http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2012/02/17/when-tzedek-isnt-the-conservative-movement-finds-a-cause/ 

: in  comments,  micha  noted-----
:> "lacosta": why does serving treyf affect the hechsher but abusing workers 
:> doesn't"

That is: Quoting "lacosta" who asked: why does...

To which I answered:
:> Because the hekhsher is a statement that "this isn't treif".
...
:> But [the restaurant with the belly dancer is] still different, because
:> the consumer is the one who would be sinning. Here it's the producer who
:> sinned, not what do we do. One can't crossbreed fruit, but after the
:> fact, crossbred fruit are kosher. Here too it's after the fact.

: and another  commentor----
:> In short response to your response, I think that if the Orthodox 
:> rabbinute, in general, paid more attention to the type of issues that 
:> could be considered "ethical" issues in the general society, it would 
:> undercut things like this Conversative "hecksher." 
...

But an earlier comment that I wrote there addressed this point:

> The Conservative Movement, at least its left wing, bought into the
> identification of Juadiam with "Tikkun Olam", here being used to refer
> to social activism in causes popular among the more liberal camps of
> the Democrat Party. So, this comes as no surprise.

> If they want to say ethics are more important than kashrus, it's likely
> they're right. Where things go wrong is this notion that there is a
> tradeoff. Checking the ethics of companies the cater to our community --
> kashrus, sefarim publishers, etc... -- is a good idea. But has nothing
> to do with kashrus. There is a choice being portrayed rather than telling
> people of the need to pursue both.

> What don't gain much vilifying the members of this camp for living
> to their own ideals. Rather, what we need to do is to stay out of the
> newspapers with stories of ethical lapses. When these things happen,
> we talk of chillul Hashem -- this is simply the fallout. We give
> the non-Orthodox movements far too much fuel for believing that it's
> meticulousness in the more rite areas of halakhah or in ethics. We
> regularly hand them opportunities to claim they are the ethical high
> road. We can't blame them for taking it.

> But Judaism is the pursuit of both.

> A second piece of the damage is that because it's not the Orthodox world
> taking on the role of ethical mouthpiece for Judaism, the ethics being
> promoted are those of Liberal America, [which are] not [always those of]
> the Torah.


BTW, when I wrote "But Judaism is the pursuit of both" I understated my
own belief.

AIUI, the introduction to Shaarei Yosher says otherwise, as did Hillel
hazaqein. Judaism /is/ all about bestowing good on other people, and
things like kashrus are the means of becoming someone (1) more capable
of choosing to do so in the heat of the moment and (2) who more often
knows what "tov", as Hashem defined it, is.

To quote (my translation of) Shaarei Yosher (Hebrew & English at
<http://www.aishdas.org/asp/ShaareiYosher.pdf>, proofreaders welcome):

    Yisbarakh HaBorei Veyis'alah haYotzer...
    Blessed shall be the Creator, and exalted shall be the Maker,
    Who created us in His "Image" and in the likeness of His "Structure",
    AND PLANTED ETERNAL LIFE WITHIN US, SO THAT OUR GREATEST DESIRE SHOULD
    BE TO DO GOOD TO OTHERS, TO INDIVIDUALS AND TO THE MASSES, NOW AND IN
    THE FUTURE, IN IMITATION OF THE CREATOR (as it were). For everything
    He created and formed was according to His Will (may it be blessed),
    [that is] only to be good to the creations. So too His Will is that
    we walk in His ways. As it says "and you shall walk in His Ways" --
    that we, the select of what He made -- should constantly hold as
    our purpose to sanctify our physical and spiritual powers for the
    good of the many, according to our abilities.

We were crearted to that our greatest desire is leheitiv im zulaso, not
and in the future. Doing good, but also phrased in terms of learning
to want to be meitiv, and developing the capacity to be meitiv in
the future. And that is developing the tzelem E-lokim.

And so, every mitzvah that isn't directly leheitiv im zulaso (one of
the golden eggs), I believe is part of that preparation (caring for
the goose that lays them).

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             For a mitzvah is a lamp,
micha at aishdas.org        And the Torah, its light.
http://www.aishdas.org                   - based on Mishlei 6:2
Fax: (270) 514-1507