My wife and I broke up a party:

My wife and I broke up a party. I have an abhorrence of breaking up parties. When I was a small child, nine maybe, my beloved Germanic grandma told me about the difference between French Leave and English Leave. She was a goldmine of misinformation, so please don't try to learn anything from what she said: “French Leave” is a term of disdain, but it's the right thing to do. The Frenchman thanks his host or hostess discreetly and sneaks away, leaving the party in full swing. The Englishman goes around saying goodbye to everyone, shaking hands, and giving everyone else the excuse to go. He breaks up the party. I would never want to do that!

But there we were, at a dinner party that started at seven p.m. on December 25. Several delicious hours had passed, and the whole meal had been served with much animated conversation. Many of the guests were older than we, in their seventies. We had to get up early the next day for morning services, a Yahrzeit. So we suggested that we bentsch. Bentsching was fun.

But sure enough, after that, everyone said goodbye and left. I knew it was going to happen. I cringed all the way through bentsching. Maybe we should have crawled into some corner to say our prayers without a mezumin. But ... bentsching shouldn't break up a party.

It's Unscrupulous, but it's Kosher?

Like many orthodox Jews, I am against the idea of a “Hechsher Tzedek”, a kashruth seal of approval that certifies both the halachic kashruth and the ethical quality of the food production. But please bear with me. I seem to have a commonsense position that many proponents of Hechsher Tzedek might be able to accept. I shall use the Rubashkin Circus for my example. I know there are Rabbis who have said that there's only one thing that matters: Was the meat processed according to Halacha? To this question, I have an answer.

To a large extent, we trust the people who produce our kosher meat to police themselves, and to work accurately. If we know that the people controlling kosher meat production have no respect for secular law; if we know that some of their workers are mere teenagers who work twenty hours a day; how can we begin to assume that their kashruth is accurate?

In general, if a family does not observe the sabbath, their observance of kashruth is suspect. And if we know that people work very, very long hours, we know their work cannot be error-free. Similarly, if a meat processor seems to observe and respect nothing but halacha, and forces workers to work far past the limits of accurate work, we cannot trust him. For the Rubashkins at least, we need no new seal of approval, just a little common sense.