From: Robin Ticker <faigerayzel@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 8:32 AM
Subject: Re: Rubashkin in Prison, The Bigger Picture Part - 2. and It's NOT the Economy - by Paul Eidelberg
To: zev@talklinecommunications.com, adam@jewishweek.org, editor@5tjt.com, editor@jewishpress.com, editor@jewishweek.org, editor@yated.com, editorial@chofetzchaimusa.org, guttman@forward.com, info@mishpacha.com, jonathan@jewishweek.org, letters@forward.com, letters@washingtonjewishweek.com, weekly@hamodia.com, yklass@jewishpress.com, Baltimore Jewish Times - Phil Jacobs <pjacobs@jewishtimes.com>, Jewish Herald <editorial@jewishherald.com>, hq@lubavitch.com, poyt63@yahoo.com, typ@attglobal.net, Chaim Dovid Zwiebel <dzwiebel@agudathisrael.org>, "Mr. Nathan Diament" <ndiament@ou.org>, Pesach Lerner <plerner@youngisrael.org>, Rabbi Weill <rabbiweil@ou.org>, "Yehiel M. Kalish" <ykalish@agudathisrael.org>, newstips@vosizneias.com, dsilber@drisha.org
bs"d
Dear Jewish Journalists, Jewish Rabbinic Leaders and Fellow Activists,
{Please forward to all media lists)Rubashkin Denied Basic Rights
South Dakota Prison Officials Strip Rubashkin, Deny Him Kosher Food And Religious Items, Supporters Claim.
Pretty dismaying. Is this an accurate report? They said a video was taken. Why would they make it up? The source is chabad.info. It's about serious infractions in South Dakota State penitentiary in Sioux Falls where Rabbi Shalom Rubashkin was taken initially pending his transfer to Iowa when he insisted on wearing Yarmulka and Tzizis in Prison..
Before continuing please take some time to read
More on Rubashkin Part 1. It attempts to analyze the Bigger Picture! It is a letter to Attorney Sam Hirsch representing Rubashkin and Shmuly Yanklowitz representing Uri L'Tzedek.
It was posted in reponse to Zev Brenners program http://talklinecommunications.com/ featuring them both. People may argue that what is happening in Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian State is unrelated to what happened to Rubashkin. I disagree. I see clear connections.
What follows is more analysis and is directed primarily to Uri L'Tzedek. Uri L'Tzedek has lofty goals. Those that are quick to condemn human rights abuses actually might unintentionally or intentionally feed and enable evil. The biggest condemners of G-d fearing Jews come from leftist Jewish Media who are quick to condemn them based on allegations, theories, other biased negative media reports based on one or more of innuendos, lies, heresay, and absolutely no fact, like the Jewish Week's Article
'Messianic Marlboro Man': Are American-Born Settlers More Likely to Go Postal?
I would be pleasantly surprised to see that they actually find it newsworthy to present their Readers with articles based on clear factual data like article by Barry Rubin.
Why I Murdered 13 American Soldiers at Fort Hood: Nidal Hassan Explains It All to You
Make a point to watch the powerpoint slides of the academic lecture! Hassan is the first terrorist in history to give an academic lecture explaining why he was about to attack. Yet that still isn't enough for too many people-including the president of the United States--to understand that the murderous assault at Fort Hood was a Jihad attack.
More on Rubashkin Part 2
To: : Shmuly Yanklowitz and Ari Hart of Uri L'Tzedek
My purpose is not to defend Rubashkin. It is to analyze the outcome of the closing down of Agriprocessor and then to take an honest appraisal of what Uri L'Tzedek has accomplished with their victory of raising awareness of the lack of social and moral ethics on the part of Agriprocessor. To the rest of you reading this, please take a minute to watch a video describing Shmuly Yanklowitz as a real Jewish community hero. He has over 19,000 votes. http://www.jewishcommunityheroes.org/nominees/profile/shmuly-yanklowitz/
It's seems to me quite probable that in reality the opposite is true since one can expect that the economic conditions of the illegal Guatemalan workers actually deteriorate after being sent back to Guatemala. After all, why would they take the risk of being illegal immigrants if it was better in Guatamala economically. I am not even referring to being detained and imprisoned for being in the country illegally by the US gov't. I am not denying or confirming that there were abuses under Rubashkin and abuses must be addressed, and I have not researched evidence or testimony one way or the other, however, did the actions of Uri Le'Tzedek truly benefit this community consisting of legal and illegal employees given American Immigration Law and the reality of the employment conditions (wage and working conditions) in Guatemala itself? What actual good did Uri Letzedek accomplish? Many employees lost their jobs. Many legal employees lost their jobs or money as did many businesses. Does Uri LeTsedek now support them with charity until they find alternative employment or sources of income? Let us not even address the ripple effect of all the charities that benefited from Agriprocessor staying in business.
On the positive end, I suppose Uri L'Tzedek encourages employment to those that are in this country legally in an ethical manner and assures minimum wage for all employees. On the negative side this in turn raises the price of Kosher meat in an industry that must pay their employees the minimum wage. Besides the rise in prices, another worrisome negative is that it will encourage poorer Jews who are not as observant to buy non Kosher meat which is way more affordable.
After all, besides not being subject to extra expenses because of Kashrush stringency, the USA gov't didn't select all meat plants to enforce illegal immigration issues. Non kosher meat plants can keep hiring the illegal immigrants from Guatemala, pay them sub minimum wages and subject them to abuses unless the USA gov't gets on their case as well. It appears that Agriprocessor was subjected to selective prosecution where Agriprocessor was targeted to close down even though turning a blind eye to hiring illegal immigrants appears to be the industry standard way of operation for the typical meat plant. In addition, the judgement not to allow Rubashkin bail on grounds that he might run away to his Homeland Israel seem to come from left field.
My guess and hope is that Agriprocessor was far less abusive of their employees than non Jewish plants because the owners of Agriprocessor were G-d fearing Jews with laws against animal cruely and a religious requirement to create a Kiddush Hashem among gentiles. So if these illegal immigrants found work in other meat plants how did their working conditions compare with Agriprocessor. Have you done a comparison that is objective and fair? Perhaps many illegal workers from Guatemala were grateful at the opportunity to be treated with respect at AGriprocessor at what they considered a decent wage. The money they earned supported their families respectfully in Guatemala. Are you sure that there are no such examples of satisfied workers that also happened to be here illegally? You paint such a negative picture of Agriprocessor. Was Everyone there mistreated and abused? It seems hard for me to believe that G-d fearing Jews abuse their employees as a rule. Perhaps I am naive in a different way than you. My religious education never taught that it is ok to mistreat Gentiles. Quite the opposite. We are required to create a Kiddush Hashem!
Notwithstanding American Law requirements of minimum wage and our obligation to obey the law of the land, it is my understanding that paying less than minimum wage is not necessarily abusive because it's relative to the society one lives in. In Jewish Law, one must give charity on the level that the recipient is accustomed. Perhaps the solution is for Agriprocessor to open a plant in Guatemala not subject to American minimum wage as do other companies that manufacture in foreign countries like shoes and toys. Would you boycott them as well? Such a boycott would shut down the entire American economy. "Made in the United States of America" is a rare commodity in todays' world. Isn't there a real possiblity that workers in other countries get paid less then $7.25 an hour or employ children under age etc. Child Labor is a serious matter in foreign countries and not always illegal. But again everything is relative to the society that the people are accustom. It may be the lesser of an even greater evil.
Let me conclude with this eye opener by Dr. Paul Eidelberg.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <eidelberg@foundation1.org>
Date: Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Subject: It's NOT the Economy, Stupid!
To: list@foundation1.org
Arabs in Judea and Samaria were more prosperous and exercised far more self-determination under Israel than they now do under the PLO-Palestinian Authority!
It's NOT the Economy, Stupid!
Paul Eidelberg
A reader reminds me what I have often written about, namely, Israel's efforts after the Six Day War of June 1967 to raise the standard of living of "West Bank" Arabs.
As noted in my forthcoming book, "An American Political Scientist in Israel," the Arabs in Judea and Samaria were more prosperous and exercised far more self-determination under Israel than they now do under the PLO-Palestinian Authority! Under Israel's benevolent rule they elected their own mayors and enjoyed rights and opportunities non-existent in the entire Arab-Islamic world.
While the "West Bank" was occupied by Jordan, and Gaza by Egypt, conditions in these territories were quite dire. Life expectancy was low, malnutrition, infectious diseases, and child mortality were rife; and the level of education was very poor. Fewer than 60 percent of all male adults had been employed. When Israel regained possession of this land after the 1967 war, its government established new hospitals, health centers, and nursing schools. Infant mortality was greatly reduced and the standard of health improved beyond recognition. Roads as well as water and electric power facilities were constructed. Modern methods of agriculture were introduced. A system of primary and secondary schools was established, which greatly multiplied the number of girls and boys attending classes. Even more dramatic was the progress in higher education. From none in 1967, by the early 1990s, there were seven universities boasting some 16,500 students (where, unfortunately, they were also taught by their mentors, to hate Jews).
Eventually, tens of thousands of "West Bank" Arabs were employed in Israel. The Arabs' standard of living doubled and quadrupled. According to George Gilder: "Under Israeli management, economic growth in the West Bank and Gaza surged for some twenty years at a rate of 30 percent in 1979, averaging 25 percent per year …" (By the way, Gilder points out that "…without the presence of the Jews, there is no evidence that the Palestinians would particularly want these territories for a nation." "During the 1970s, the West Bank and Gaza constituted the fourth fastest-growing economy in the world … with per capita GDP expanding tenfold between 1968 and 1991 … Life expectancy rose from 48 years in 1967 to 72 in 2000 … By 1986, 92.8 percent of the population … had electricity around the clock, as compared to 20.5 percent in 1967 … [Similar advances occurred in hygiene, healthcare, child mortality, immunizations, and communications, which all rose to levels equal or exceeding other Middle East countries].
Despite Israel's "economic solution" to the plight and hostility of the Palestinians, their deeply engrained Islamic hatred of Jews never waned.
Those who think there are economic solutions to ideological and/or international ideological conflicts forget that no European country was more prosperous than Germany in the 19th century, yet this did not prevent Germany from waging war against France.
Israel's ruling elites like to believe that a middle class Palestinian society will live in peace with Israel. They forget that aggressive, militaristic sentiments and ambitions are not uncommon in places with a rising middle class.
Finally, one often says in America, "It's the economy, stupid.' As concerns the Palestinians, however, one must say—as suggested by one of my readers: "It's NOT the economy, stupid!"
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