Thread by @JYuter

1. A brief thread on the significance of this statement (apologies to those who have heard this before) 🧵:

https://twitter.com/benwaxman/status/1417343387775217664

2. Years ago the Jewish social justice group @uriltzedek initiated a "Tav HaYashar" campaign to certify kosher establishments that met halakhically mandated obligations towards their employers, specifically paying workers on time, paying min wage, and safe working conditions.

3. One criticism in response was that kashrut certifications should only be about the kashrut of the food to the exclusion of everything else lest it confuse the concept of kashrut certification.

4. However, there's a long track record of kashrut being suspended (or threatened to be suspended) for matters unrelated to food. E.g. "improper" entertainment at Catskills resorts, Mendy's holding a New Year's Friday Night dinner, or naming a restataunt, "Jezebel."

5. Also, even @uriltzedek was not entirely consistent when it came to enforcing halakhic obligations - either intrinsic to Jewish law or halakhic enforcement of civil law e.g. the hiring of illegal immigrants / undocumented workers.

6. Therefore, in kashrut, as in most matters relating to Torah, law, and ethics etc. people follow whatever rules are most convenient to their particular positions at the time and easily invoke an entirely different set of principles as the psychic need arises.