Rabbi Menachem Genack of the OU has admitted what many of us thought all along – the "ouster" of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin as Agriprocessors CEO is…
…nothing more than a ploy to help the OU leave its mark on Agri products while at the same time telling its irate consumers it has done its job.
…The situation has generated outrage from certain quarters of the Jewish world, with some calling for a boycott of Agriprocessors’ products.
Genack has said that if criminal charges are brought against the company, the OU would have to remove its supervision. Bringing in new management, Genack acknowledged, is an effort to head off that possibility.
"We don’t want to get to that stage, frankly," Genack told JTA. "This is an important supplier. We want the company to succeed."
Genack said that if Rubashkin is subsequently indicted, the OU wouldn’t necessarily have a problem continuing to supervise the company.
"I would think that if there’s new management, completely independent management, why would we withdraw supervision? Because of a history?" Genack said. "That wouldn’t make sense."
In other words, even though every other Rubashkin remains in place and even though Aaron Rubashkin – long directly involved in recruiting illegal workers and in other crimes – remains as President and Sholom M. Rubashkin remains as Vice President, the OU will leave its supervision on Rubashkin products.
This type of slippery parsing of language (and ethics and morality, for that matter) should make clear to all that the OU is not a kosher supervision to be trusted.
Those of you boycotting Rubashkin should consider expanding that boycott to include all OU-supervised products.
Zipi emails Luke: "I am sick of the OU. They are reminding me of the Mafia. Let me make it clear: I am all in favor of Kashrut. I am just fed up with the power hungry robbers who took over and bully the community. They are highly paid and walk around like public officials…problem: I am not sure how well are we served."
