Industry or Holy Vocation? When Shehitah and Kashrut Entered the Public Sphere in the United States during the Age of Reform

• Main Author: Susan Breitzer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-09-01
• Series: Religions
• Subjects: kashrut; halakhah kosher slaughter; regulation; Judaism; kosher
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/10/296

Long before the Agriprocessors scandal, the question of whether secular law and social concerns should shape the halakhah surrounding kosher meat production has been a live issue in the United States. In the 1890s, a critical mass of Orthodox Jewish immigrants gave rise to a more commercialized kosher meat industry, which raised the question of how much rabbinic legislation concerning kashrut could stay untouched by civil or union regulation. Although there has been plenty written about the regulatory roles of unions and government regulation in the kosher meat industry from the Progressive Era to the New Deal, the purpose of this essay will be to examine the responses of Orthodox rabbinic leaders in America to these developments. It will also focus on the role of non-Jewish legislation in creating greater uniformity of kashrut standards, as well as, ironically a more insular focus on the letter of the law, sometimes at the expense of civil legal concerns. Finally, it will examine how separation of religion and state created the system of kosher certification that emerged during the early twentieth century.