Sixth Sense Search the archive either by selecting a Category from the pulldown menu or enter a Keyword in the search field below.
The Forward's Fifty - November 13, 2007
The Sixth Sense By Menachem Lubinsky The Forward, an English language daily with a long history of publishing newspapers for the New York Jewish community last week released its annual "Forward 50." These are the paper's choices for 50 leading American Jews that include Michael Mukasey, the new U.S. Attorney General and such well known Jews as Congressman Henry Waxman and Attorney Alan Dershowitz. Presumably this is a list of Jews who have made an impact on the Jewish community. Amongst the 50 is Rabbi Morris Allen, the Conservative Rabbi who has been promoting the Tzedek Hechsher to safeguard the ethical and environmental issues pertaining to kosher slaughter, particularly at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa. No one can blame the Forward, which has been in the forefront of the Agri lynching, for selecting a poster boy in their relentless anti-Agri coverage. Nor is there is any evidence that the Tzedek Hechsher has gone beyond its public relations successes. But if we are indeed speaking of tzedek (righteousness or justice), why is it that none of the Forward 50 include people who have made an enormous impact on the lives of millions of Jews by introducing kashrus to countless shoppers all over the country? Candidates might have included supermarket executives who have opened huge kosher pavilions in supermarkets all over the country, kosher certification agencies that are enabling millions to have access to kosher, and some of the manufacturers who have introduced quality kosher foods and wines. Perhaps it also would have been nice to note that with the exception of the saber-rattling that the Forward covers, kashrus has been an amazing unifier of Jews from all walks of life.
