On Tuesday, August 12, a team from Uri L'Tzedek travelled to Postville, Iowa with three goals in mind:

    • To hear first hand the stories of workers, townspeople, and community workers affected by recent events.
    • To provide support to those affected and assess in what ways our community can assist in the future.
    • To further the halachic and values based discourse around our responsibilities as consumers of kosher food.

Chazal teach us that no understanding compares to that which is grasped through shemia v’reiah (first hand listening and seeing). Listening first hand to working mothers relate their stories of exploitation and abuse at the hands of their employers and the federal government deeply affected us. Hearing their personal stories, seeing their current situations, and absorbing the tears that were shed has left us with the resolve to fight for justice in our communities and work to ensure something like this never happens again. While the futures of those detained and awaiting deportation do not look positive, we must fight to ensure that the future of all other vulnerable individuals who work to provide our kosher products will be different. Obtaining kosher food by way of the suffering and exploitation of the vulnerable ger is unacceptable.

Though we have suspended the boycott in light of improved wages and safety conditions at the plant, the hiring of Jim Martin, and reforms he has instituted, we encourage individuals to stay informed and always make consumer choices that reflect what types of Jewish ethics and morals they wish to see in the world.

Our trip was not sponsored by any interested parties, nor was it designed to render any judgement on the kashrut of the meat or the status of current legal proceedings. We present this work in the hopes that it will inspire the Orthodox community to think in new, creative ways about how we might address the current problem now and how to avoid a chillul Hashem of this magnitude in the future.

Please see the stories and photographs that document our trip below.

Special thanks to Filipe, our translator, and Yoni Brook of the Kindling Group for the pictures.