I have been involved with debating some very touchy subjects re: the stated and unstated policies of various Kashrut Agencies and Administrators
In defense of some gray areas, I have raised some arguments that tended to support the agencies positions.
It seems several cyberspace colleagues have hostile positions towards those same agencies and therefore "went into a tizzie" re: my posts
They demanded that my arguments be compelling - rather than merely supportive. IOW it was not enough for them to see that sources tended to support those policies, rather the policies must flow strictly from sources that would dictate these positions. IOW Kashrut Agencies should have zero latitude to make a judgment call, nor should Rich Wolpoe support them unless there is no defensible alternative!
I really wonder how many individuals or institutions in Jewish life take such an absolute minimalist position. Does every Rabbi have to stick to the very LEAST required by Talmud or Shulchan Aruch?
I have suggested that the minimalists - assuming they are sincere - direct their energies to creating their own kashrut agency that will conform to their feelings and afford them the least restrictive policies on any given matter! After all in North America we have the freedom to start a new private enterprise and to give it a "charge" to follow the dictates of its owners or directors.
If Kashrut Agencies have indeed been over-stepping their bounds, then the marketplace will make these new and improved changes most welcome! And that would put pressure on existing agencies to re-think their positions.
OTOH, if the marketplace rejects such revisions, then railing against the agencies for having "good business sense" is simply futile and ultimately counter-productive.
KT
RRW
1 comment:
The cure to creeping chumraism isn't the equal and opposite mistake. And it truly is "equal" -- both are putting the desired result ahead of what studying issue ought to be telling them is the proper result.
-micha
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