Another U.S. kosher slaughterhouse, another closure
The shuttering of a New York kosher poultry slaughterhouse for serious sanitary violations is once again putting the spotlight on a Hasidic sect, some of whose members have repeatedly defied the law.
By The Forward and Gal Beckerman Tags: Jews in America Jewish World Israel newsThe shuttering of a New York kosher poultry slaughterhouse for serious sanitary violations is once again putting the spotlight on a Hasidic sect, some of whose members have repeatedly defied the law.
A federal judge imposed a temporary restraining order and injunction December 29 against further slaughtering and processing at the plant, which serves the ultra-Orthodox enclave of New Square, home to members of the Skver Hasidic sect. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York had requested these measures after numerous attempts by federal officials since 2002 to get the slaughterhouse to comply with the guidelines of the Poultry Products Inspection Act.
The plant had been found by federal authorities to have numerous violations. As reported in a local newspaper, The Journal News, poultry residue was found on the plant's walls and in the manager's office; there was no sanitizer in the bathrooms; a chiller tank full of processed birds had no running water, and pools of stagnant water and piles of trash surrounded the plant.
More than 355,000 birds were slaughtered there in 2008, with almost all the meat going to Oneg Poultry, a grocery store in New Square, according to The Journal News.
As the Forward reported in November, the slaughterhouse, New Square Meats, was already under fire for its attempt to build a bigger plant, five times the size of its current one, close to New Square's border with the town of New Hempstead. The proposed 26,250 square foot slaughterhouse would cost $3 million. Some local officials were particularly upset by the fact that New Square Meats had received a $1.62 million grant from New York's Empire State Development Corporation to help subsidize the new building without getting approval first from the county- or town-planning departments.
Representatives of the Skver sect did not return calls seeking comment.
The slaughterhouse incident is the latest involving the Skver Hasidim, who in 1954 founded the village of New Square, and have seen their population double in the last decade. The sect's recent history is filled with instances in which its institutions have brazenly flouted the law ? from a scandal over the illegal use of federal education grants to a standoff over an unlicensed summer camp.
"The fundamental question, of course, is what is it about these people that makes it possible for them to, on the one hand, claim to be more religious and pious, and on the other hand, break rules that are non-halachic rules," said Samuel Heilman, a professor of sociology at the City University of New York's Queens College and the author of several books about Orthodoxy.
Heilman said that the answer to this question lies in the ability of Skver - along with other "fundamentalist groups" - to divide the world into strict divisions of "us and them," "insiders and outsiders."
"In almost every domain of their lives they live by very, very stringent rules," Heilman said. "But those aspects of life that don't deal with those stringent rules, there they feel they can be a lot more cavalier."
In 1997, in a vast scheme involving tens of millions of dollars, four Skver men acquired federal Pell grants for thousands of nonexistent or ineligible students. The grants are intended for needy students but were instead used illegally to fund institutions in New Square, including its yeshiva.
The sentences of the four men were later commuted as part of a series of controversial pardons on President Bill Clinton?s last day in office. The commutations were fiercely criticized, with some suggesting they may have been linked to New Square's support for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign. But federal prosecutors investigating the commutations found no basis for legal action against the former president.
More recently, this past summer, the New York State Department of Health closed down a Skver summer camp in Sullivan County, N.Y, south of Catskill Park, citing "numerous, persistent and serious violations." The closure came after a standoff that lasted for months with various state and local agencies.
The Skvers had not obtained the proper permits for the summer camp from the town or the state. Only after a heating-oil spill that brought a charge from the Department of Environmental Conservation did other regulators get involved and find health hazards that led them to deem the camp uninhabitable. Even after two demands from local authorities that they evacuate, the Skvers refused. It took a court order from a local judge to empty the camp.
In each of these instances, the Skvers have been reluctant to speak publicly, except to insist that they do not see themselves as being above the law and to complain that they are unfairly singled out for scrutiny.
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The more a person tries to live a elevated life the larger the target is on his or her back. Notice where this article is printed. Yes I am sure that there is a basis for these allegations. However as noted in #13's response they were not serving the community at large. I am sure that these situations are being magnified. Probably by some self-hating Jews (like possibly # 2)
The thing that's crazy about this, and other kosher plants that have health violations is that they are inherently hurting themselves, not others. This meat isn't being sold to so strangers half a world away, but being sold and eaten by relatives friends and neighbors. I can't understand why they would want anything other then a clean facility. Do they not believe in modern germ theory? Why would they put there own kids at risk? It's a shame...
KOSHER aint necessarily CLEAN!
"As a Goy, I have the utmost respect and admiration of Orthodox and Hasidic people. " Even when they break the law and endanger people`s lives by not obeying basic standards of hygiene? The behaviour of this sect with regard to this slaughterhouse is obviously disgusting and they should be punished." Alex: I see that you are very selective in how you quote me. If you read my note entirely, it does not excuse any breaking of the laws of the land or Halachah. My gut feeling is that the USDA has inspectors who have no knowlege of how a Kosher plant works, brought up isolated incidents. They will nit pick anything in a Gentile plant or Kosher plant to justify their job. The Kosher Standard is much higher than USDA requirments. The Rubishkin plant in Iowa was singled out for having illegals work in their plant, when the other than Kosher plants all over America were much more brazen about their hiring practices. You have a problem with Hasidics,not the breaking of laws.
"As a Goy, I have the utmost respect and admiration of Orthodox and Hasidic people. " Even when they break the law and endanger people's lives by not obeying basic standards of hygiene? The behaviour of this sect with regard to this slaughterhouse is obviously disgusting and they should be punished.
Both the slaughterhouse and the summer camp were exclusively serving the Skver Hasidim. They themselves were eating that chicken and their own children were going to that camp. Either the violations weren't as bad as the government claims or these people were suicidally cavalier with their own lives and that of their children. I really doubt it's the latter.
What happened to innocent until proven guilty. This was a CLEAN good slauterhouse that is being targeted by PETA and other anti-slaughter groups that oppose the halachic way of slaugtering animals.
There are always two sides to a story. If the errors were one time violations and not chronic, this should not be an issue. If this story is completely accurate, they should be held accountable by the government and any Kosher authority assigned. I cant speak for the misuse of Pell funds,as I do not know the situation. As a Goy, I have the utmost respect and admiration of Orthodox and Hasidic people. They have a passion and a fire for HaShem that should be the example for all in the Jewish community. I have studied Torah extensivly and halachic laws. I am amazed at the lack of knowlege among Reconstructionist, Secular, Reform, and Conservatives. Like it or not, the Orthodox and Hasidic are needed. If it were not for them, we will be caught with our pants down when the Temple is constructed,not to mention the Sofer Stams who preserve the integrity of the Torah. To call them fundamentalists, or extreme is very small minded, mean spirited, and self righteous.
There was a time that the Jewish people were forced to live in Ghettos. Some of us evidently would still prefer to remain in them.
Make sure to count your fingers after shaking hands on a deal with these guys.
This community, as the article points out, has been invovled in a number of scandals. They have no relations with their surrounding community. They vote as a bloc and have a great deal of political clout as a result. But for the laws of the land, they have the utmost contempt and feel they are above it and if they are caught they can bribe their way out or threaten political officials with a shift of voting patterns. Every constituencies has its self interest but this one has only self interest and to hell with everyone else. So far they have been allowed to get away with it due to their numbers and political unity.
The charges are ridiculous. Orthodox people always do netilat yadayim (ritual hands washing) after bathroom. How many people in non-Kosher meat plans wash their hands at all and who watch them?
As president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America, I believe that the closing of this kosher slaughterhouse should be another wake-up call to the need for the Jewish community to consider the many moral issues related to typical Jewish diets. For example: * the production and consumption of meat and other animal products arguably violate basic Jewish mandates to preserve human health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people and pursue peace. * animal-based agriculture is contributing significantly to global warming and many environmental problems that threaten humanity; * Animals are raised under horrible conditions of on factory farms; * There is an epidemic of diseases strongly connected to animal-based diets; Further information at JewishVeg,com/schwartz, and ASacredDuty.com, where you can see our acclaimed documentary "A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World.
.... belonging to the larger hasidic sect was agriprocessors of habadnik rubashkin closed with several dozens serious violations
Because they vote like robots. Their rabbi says vote for X, they all vote for X. They have enough political clout to get away with breaking the law.
How are these filthy vermon permitted to have ANY kind of contact with food? The fanaticism these people display is sickening - and their outright disregard for health codes and just logical ways of living makes me want to throw up. Dreckschweine all of them!
A big mistake was made back in 1948 when the state of Israel was founded. Ben Gurion allowed the hasidic people so much power-as he thought there will not be enough Jews in the new state.They procreate like rabbits and the government pays for each child. Ever since they believe they own Israel. Now in the U.S.A. they have the same chutzpa.They either clean up and learn to live in the 21st century or go back to the shtetel where they came from.I am thoroughly disgusted.
Well, if they live by halacha - there is the halachic rule "dina d'malkhuta dina" - the Law of the land is the Law. Are the Skwerer ignorant of halacha ??? Not only that - by disobeying this they commit hillul Hashem, do they not ? Posek (Reform)