Hebrew National and the Law

A while back, I saw an article describing a case against Hebrew National, challenging their label as kosher.
See http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/19/us/hebrew-national-kosher/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Recently, I saw another article touching upon the same subject, this one dealing with the American constitutional issue of whether a question of kosher can be before the secular courts.
See http://forward.com/articles/160863/hebrew-national-must-answer-to-lower-authority/

What I find interesting about all this is not specifically the kashrut issue but on how all this may affect or promote the concept of eilu v'eilu. The very fact that legislators enacted a kashrut law in many states leads me to believe that indeed government can get involved in the general world of kosher foods. Not to, in any way, get involved in the definition of what is or is not kosher -- that would be a violation of the separation of church and state -- but in the legal value of fraud. You can't say that something is kosher when it is not -- the definition of kosher to be defined by the religion.

But here is the problem for the courts -- within the religion there are many definitions of kosher. So, in regard to the challenge of the Conservative definition of 'kosher', legislation started to include the more specific definition of kosher as defined by Orthodoxy. (Could this then be a new issue of religious freedom, the right of the Conservative Jew to use this term?) The problem for the courts, though, still continues -- for within Orthodoxy there are also a spectrum of definitions. So what to do?

There is a conundrum for the court and I can only see this being resolved in some acceptance of this spectrum My question will now be: how will this acceptance of spectrum within the legal system then impact the Jewish world? Will this force a greater investigation of the topic of eilu v'eilu?

The reality is, though, that the reality of different hechkshers have not impacted positively on a knowledge of eilu v'eilu in themselves. How many people still declare the hechkshers they don't use as treif and these machshirim as ones who are machteh et harabim so why should I think the courts may make a difference? The fact is that, through these court decisions, the general populace -- not just the Orthodox -- may begin to see things about Jewish Law of which they have no idea. They may begin to see the definition of kosher as a legal term -- subject to legal dispute -- and not just an issue of facts. It is the advancement of this perception that may begin to then even impact on dogmatism within Orthodoxy.

Then again, maybe not. I just think that all this brings the very nature of Halacha to the fore -- and that could be interesting.

Rabbi Ben Hecht