24 Comments

• Chitas

  Agripocessors is getting lynched! Investigate most large successful businesses and you’re going to find a bit of dirt. Since when is Agriprocessors the worst villian while all other frum businesses are all so squeaky clean? Go into almost business in the service industries in NY and guess who you’ll find working there–illegal aliens, that’s what!

  The media is sensationalizing the Agripocessors story with distortions, outright lies, and lurid, unsubstantiated, and outrageous, allegations. Tainted with a bit of jealousy for those successful rich Jews and sprinkled with some of old fashioned Jew-hatred and the stories grow legs.

  All G-d gearing Jews everywhere should ban together and support the Rubashkin family. Today they single out and attack Agriprocessors, tomorrow it could be your Jewish business next.

• anonymous

  No comment.

• A.L

  I love how the media misquotes everything. Aaron Rubashkin never said he was “replacing Sholom Rubashkin” he said the “company is looking for new leadership”.
  In any event I’m sure they know what they are doing…

• Yitz

  Good people, may h’ bless you and protect you.

• trading places.

  Sholom Rubashkin is being replaced ss CEO just like Moshe Rubashkin stepped down as the Director of CHJCC and put in Lang.

• Milhouse

  It’s mamash a lynch mob, and the worst are the so-called “frumme yidden”. Whatever minor failings Agri has, they pale into insignificance next to the callous lack of ahavas yisroel shown by the frum people who are talking about organising boycotts and defaming Agri. They should be ashamed of themselves.

• Questionable

  Dear “A.L.”,

  What is the difference between “replacing Sholom Rubashkin” and the “company is looking for new leadership?“ Both phrases mean the exact same thing- all adding up to that particular family member will probably be replaced with yet another one. That gentleman will probably just be given a new title and continue doing the exact same thing.

  Don’t you think *something* should happen to the so-called ”leadership” of this plant? Look where it got the entire business. Breaking law after law, not supervising or leading is no way to run things.

  I understand that this family is full of chessed and gives tremendous amounts of tzedekah, but that does not excuse breaking the law and making a terrible chillul Hashem.

• Gershom and Sarah

  we love you guys and you are in our prayers always!

• meir rhodes

  all of us connected to Hevron wish only good for the Rubashkin Family and the jewish community of Postville.May the Almighty guard this beloved family and this wonderful community as it goes thru this time of trial.

• Jewish Princess

  The law of the land is the law. Although other companies are certainly guilty of the same mal-practices, and of course Agri has been plagued by PETA and other cranks, you will not get into this type of trouble when you play by the rules.

  It is truly unfortunate that this happened to pillars of the community–but there must be another way to run a business, make profits, and not run into government raid. I can’t believe this is the biggest illegal alien raid in US history!

• C M

  To number 1: There’s a difference between the “most large” companies where you’ll find a “bit of dirt”, to Agri where most of the employees are either illegal or being paid illegally.

  I hope NOTHING bad happens to them, but grownups must realize there are consequences to risky action.

• SHUT UP TIME

  DEAR A.L. YOU SEEM SO SELF RIGHTEOUS. I HOPE HASHEM JUDGES YOU A HECK OF A LOT MORE FAVORABLY THEN YOU ARE JUDGING THE RUBASHKINS. I’M ALSO WILLING TO BET THAT YOU DON’T GIVE ANYTHING NEAR THE AMOUNT OF TZEDAKAH OR CHESED THAT THEY GIVE AND DO. SOMETIMES WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE ANYTHING SMART TO SAY (FOR YOUR OWN BENEFIT) ITS BETTER TO JUST SIMPLY KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. I’M NOT TAKING SIDES, IT’S NOT MY PLACE TO DO THAT, ESPECIALLY WHEN I (NOR YOU) KNOW THE TRUE FACTS!!!!

• Mendy

  The Rubashkins should be supported by us unequivocally. We are not the Federal Government, and we do not need to do their job. We are fellow yidden, we benefit from their hard work, especially those of us who live out of town and can now find meat and poultry locally in our supermarkets. Almost every restaurant in the country, and many, many private contractors and other labor-intensive employers hire illegal aliens. There are 12 million in the country, and they are here because they are working.
  We need to make excuses for them, because they are the same as everybody else, and not pontificate sanctimoniously.

• Eli

  Did anyone think of the 250 mishpochos that live off the plant…not to mention over 1000 very nice local people.

  BTW do you have a cleaning lady? do you report her expense on your tax return with her social?

• lazer

  it’s amazing when another jew is in troble then all the self hating jews come out of the wood works, and keep hitting the injured horse. I’m just wondering form all those that are critcizing Agrei how many filed tax’s with out getting returns and they are the ones that talking about Gineiva & Chillul Hashem (the Self Hating Jews)

• sheabudah D.

  Uh, Mr. (or Mrs.) “SHUT UP TIME,” you are actually taking sides, though you probably have too severe a case of tunnel vision to recognize this. Like many Jews, I eat Rubashkin meat products, and I hope that this situation doesn’t result in the shut down of the business. That said, crime, especially when it takes place in the kashrus business cannot be tolerated at all.

• anonymouse

  Re: SHUT UP TIME. First of all stop yelling. Second, it does not make a difference how much money the Rubashkins give to Tzedakah, that does not give them the right to make a chilul hashem and that certainly does not give Moshe R. the right to do what he’s been doing to the rav of CH and many others in the community. In this too his family is a part of since they support him $$$.

  I’m not trying to judge them, but it says that when bad things happen to a person he must take the opportunity to reflect on his deeds and repent.

  V’chol hamaiven yovin.

• pa

  Words are limited so use them wisely they ar powerful, so “al tiftach peh” the above includes the words of even those who are not the wisest of man, so to all of the above brilliant useless commentators, instead of putting your absolute ……. out there, say something productive which will benfit your family the Rubashkins and Klala Yisroel say an additional Kapitel Tehilim, Learn a Mamer Chasidus, or say something nice to a friend.
  your word may one day judge you.

• been there

  i dont see why the whole world has to jump on the slanderer’s band-wagon;
  I spent 3 years in postville; Sholom Rubashkin gives moe tzedaka, and in a nicer fashion than anyone i have ever met….

  you could ask most o the people that live there, and they’d all say the same…

  i see no reason why his name should be besmirched like this

• Grateful

  we are a very lucky generation. thank G-d.
  it did not come in easy though, it took the previous generations a whole lot of hard work, lost battles and sweat for us to enjoy these privileges.
  we are now reaping the fruit of their hard labor.
  one of these hard working people, that i know who contributed to where the kosher world in america is now today is indeed the Rubashkin family.
  I am not a particularly close friends of theirs. i don’t partake any social activities with any members of the family other than buying the meat from their company, always being friendly and cordial, so for what i am about to say is not dictate to me nor paid for by them, i am not promoting their business neither G-d forbid boycotting any other meat or poultry company.
  what i am about to say is mere reflections of what i have been a witness of in the 30 years, i have been in the united states
  i don’t know about any of you all, but one thing i have seen for at least 30 years that i am in the us, is the name of the rubashkin family in the light of charity to the needy, the homeless, the hungry and so many many more that i don’t even know and as the years went by, there are not any jewish organization in this country or in the world at large, that does not receive their generous contribution.
  the first time i came in new york, i went to boro park and was told to go to mrs. rubashkin restaurant and what i saw, i was just about 20 years old then, was a line of beggars, yeap, a line of poor people to get food…that was my first encounter with the family . little did i know that i would be buying my meat from them when i got to the food business a few years later.
  back then, the plant in postville iowa, was not in existence, then. it came at least a few good 15 years later to come around.
  when, they developed that plant, it was in the middle of nowhere, talk about mesiruth nefesh, to be in goyish land where no one had ever seen a jew let alone, one with beard, hat and tsistis.
  oh, yeah, that was not easy to start there, it took every bit of hard time and long lonely hours away from anything jewish and any social life to build what you know of today.
  raising little children and teaching them yourself and getting up in the early morning, working day and night, being challenged by evrything and anything that can come to mind, even the harsh winter weather and yet, the rubashkin built an empire by their hard work and never, ever forgot their commitment to the jewish community. to the contrary, the bigger they became, the bigger the donations and their pledges.
  they built a whole jewish town in the middle of nowhere and provided work to hundreds of people, created a jewish school and yet stayed humble and kind and very much kept on following their parents footsteps.
  i can safely say that i am a witness of their generosity.
  so, what is the purpose of this letter.
  well, it is time for us to stand by them, to not let them down by demanding to our grocer, the product that we have been buying for so many years.
  let us be loyal and stick to what you have been buying all these years, demand that brand and wait if you have to before buying something else.
  beside you being loyal, it is an advise as a smart and discerned consumer that i give you.
  think about it:
  if all of us start buying from other companies more than that they are able to produce, because let’s face it, it will become a surcharge for them, prices of meat are going to sky rocket.
  if you think you are paying high prices now, wait until you give the ticket to other smaller plant to come in. they won’t be able to give a big production,( because it does take time, money, effort and lots of mistakes to expand)
  agriprocessor was able to control the meat price, trust me.
  i remember when there was a time when i had to buy meat or poultry from other companies and would tell them about their high prices. their answer was usually, i don’t need your business, i have more than i can handle…that’s the truth. i know of some companies right now like that! emes.
  and above all, please don’t fall for the politics of kashruth and listen to false rumors.
  we know what the medias can do and all the harm they can inflict, so let us not be fooled.
  we are what we do, and our actions have ripple effects.
  “one person can make a difference”
  let’s make that difference!
  i urge you to help the rubashkin family through this hard time, by sticking to their product and let’s pray to Hashem that for whatever reason, these challenges had to come their way, it should come to an end and have a great ending.Y”H’.

• Milhouse

  What do we care if they broke some law. Let the government care about that. Since when is it our top priority to obey every regulation that some bureaucrat or legislator dreams up? I’m not saying the Rubashkins are perfect, just that they are 100 times better Jews than EVERY ONE of their critics. And that the tzedoko and chesed that they do is 100 times more important than some picayune violation of goyishe law.

  Our law is the Torah, not the immigration code. As Lubavitchers we know that our parents and grandparents in Russia lived on the black market and on bribery, and they got out by forging passports, bribing officials, and violating the border laws of two countries – Russia and Poland. They were all illegal immigrants, maybe nobody should have hired them?

  Dina demalchusa dina? Go learn something and then talk to me about it. Better still, when you keep every word in Shulchan Aruch, EVERY ONE OF WHICH is more important than this obscure and disputed memra, then talk to me. It’s not an ikkar in the Torah, let me put it that way.

• Deborah

  God Bless the Rubashkin family! We all jews- friends, relatives of the family or not-MUST STAND UNITED with the Rubashkins.We keep you, Dear Rubashkins, in our prayers daily. Let HaShem keep you, protect you and save you from any harm.
  Shame on any yid who thinks badly or speaks Loshen Hora about you.
  We LOVE you, be strong and do not pay attention to the stupidity out there or over here.

• g-d bless rubashkin

  to milhouse: what u wrote“Since when is it our top priority to obey every regulation that some bureaucrat or legislator dreams up?”is not exactly correct, bec. acc. to the torah it is in fact our responsibility, to follow the rules of the land. and this that you say “As Lubavitchers we know that our parents and grandparents in Russia lived on the black market and on bribery, and they got out by forging passports, bribing officials, and violating the border laws of two countries – Russia and Poland. They were all illegal immigrants, maybe nobody should have hired them?” is completely misconstrued! you are completely negating the whole perspective of what took place then…your making tzaddikim look like reshaim and therefore making it sound as if we have some leeway into doing crime ourselves! In russia they were doing MISSIRAS NEFFESH…THEY WERE ILLIGAL IMMIGRANTS BECAUSE THEY WERE KICKED OUT OF EVERY COUNTRY THEY STEPPED FOOT IN FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, WITHOUT A HOME!…AND FORGING PASSPORTS WAS ONLY TO BE FREE IN ORDER TO LIVE PEACEFULLY IN A TORAH WAY! IF YOU MAY HAVE FORGOTTEN THEY WERE NOT ALLOWED TO LEARN TORAH IN RUSSIA! SO DON’T TRY TO JUSTIFY ACTIONS BASED ON MISINTERPRETED IDEAS…AND OBVIOUSLY THIS IS NOTHING PERSONAL AGAINST RUBASHKIN CHAS V’SHALOM BEC. IM ONLY EMPHASIZING THE POINT THAT YOU CANT JUSTIFY ONE’S DEEDS IN CORRUPT MANNER YOU HAVE TO BE A TRUE YID WHICH MEANS YOU ARE ALWAYS THERE TO AID YOUR FELLOW JEW, BUT YOU HAVE TO BE REAL AND DON’T MILITATE THE TRUTH BASED ON BIAS OPINION…YOU HAVE TO BE LOGICAL….HOWEVER THE POINT IS THAT G-D WILLING WE WILL ALL BE OUT OF THIS TZARAH ASAP! “WE”, BEC. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER…WHEN THERE IS A TZARAH ON ONE LIMB ON YOUR BODY THE REST OF THE BODY IS THERE AS WELL…MOSHIACH NOW!

• Milhouse

  Im so so sorry for misinterpreting the truth. You are so right and i pashut feel like a misnagid for writing what i did. This may sound wierd but i feel like i need to get michila from you or rubashkin..im not sure. Im so confused after all of what i messed up on because now i see that it actually reflect on my essence. i need to change my life and you have saved me and showed me the way. thank you so much and G-d bless rubashkin..G-d bless you.