Posted by admin on July 28, 2010 under Sixth Sense | 
By Menachem Lubinsky
The Dagim Company, manufacturers of many fish products, recently contributed a significant amount of product to Masbia, a network of kosher soup kitchens founded by Alexander Rappaport and supported by the Metropolitan Coordinating Council on Jewish Poverty. Just before Passover, KJ Poultry delivered truckloads of kosher poultry products to various Jewish neighborhoods with large numbers of poor. Sources tell me that many kosher food manufacturers routinely donate products to Masbia, Met Council and other food pantries that help needy Jews with kosher products. They also say that they could use many other products that they are forced to purchase and which puts a strain on their limited budget.
The re-emergence of the soup kitchen is an ominous sign that Jewish poverty has not been relegated to the past. In fact, Met Council says that well over 150,000 Jews live below the federal definition of poverty. While the soup kitchens of another era, in the ‘30’s and ‘50’s, served mainly elderly Jews, today the clients are young families, many victimized by the relentless recession. Some of the “clients” of Masbia are people who at one time were amongst the Middle Class, but as a result of an illness, death, or job loss suddenly find themselves in need of a hot meal in one of the Masbia soup kitchens throughout the city. For those companies that have stepped up to the plate thank you and for those waiting on the on-deck circle the community will no doubt thank you as well.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on June 28, 2010 under Sixth Sense |
He was portrayed as a vicious person, one who employs minors and thinks nothing of children handling knives. Even in his federal conviction for bank fraud, he was portrayed as a monster; one that prosecutors argued deserves life imprisonment, a disproportionate sentence for the crimes that he was accused of. After all, who could forget the unprecedented government raid of hundreds of armed law enforcement officials that led to the eventual bankruptcy of Agriprocessor. Shalom Rubashkin was according to a coalition of unions, liberal rabbis, extremist animal rights advocates, and even Church officials nothing short of a villain who perpetrated vicious crimes. Crimes? Not one of the charges made against Mr. Rubashkin in the raid stuck and a jury last week acquitted him of the remaining 68 charges of child labor. The raid, it turns out, was an unbelievable blemish on overzealous law enforcement.
As I look back on this case (and yes I did represent Shalom Rubashkin for a period of time, as it turns out for a just cause), the saddest part of this tragedy is that so many people denied Shalom Rubashkin of a fundamental right: a day in court. He was prejudged, convicted and even hung before evidence was ever presented in court. It behooves me that people who spoke in the name of justice saw nothing wrong with destroying a man, a family, and a business. They were so sure of their cause that they cast aspersions on the ability of government and kashrus organizations to care for animals and laborers. They indeed got their pound of flesh but in the end of the day there should be no question about their destroyed credibility. My hope is that we learned a valuable lesson of never rushing to judgment before a man or woman has had their day in court.
