Why do we insist on "glatt"?

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Crown Market in West Hartford has announced that they are closing, after three quarters of a century.

 I've been working in Hartford for a year or so, so I occasionally do kosher shopping in West Hartford. But I never went into Crown until a few weeks ago. It didn't look too good on the outside, and most of the meat is under kashrut certification that doesn't meet my community's standards.

 I finally stopped in a few weeks ago. And was pleasantly surprised. It's clean & has a great selection of kosher groceries. I was looking forward to going back there often, and am very disappointed by the news.

 If they had switched to a hechsher that was acceptable to the Orthodox community for their meat, and offered only glatt, they might have been able to survive.

 But why should they have kowtowed to pressure? Non-glatt meat was perfectly fine when I was a kid, and I grew up Orthodox in Brooklyn.

 Of course, I've kowtowed myself. I want people from my community to trust the kashrut of my home, so I only buy glatt, despite that I think it's nonsense.

 Is there any way to move the goalposts back, or will the Orthodox community continue mandating unfounded chumrot? Most chumrot are not as much of an issue, because they effect individuals or sub-groups. But kashrut chumrot effect the community at large. Bringing non-glatt into your home has become a kosher dividing line.

 If people really want a dividing line on meat, why can't it be about things like humane treatment of the animals? Wouldn't it be great if a hechsher became communally unacceptable because the rav didn't care about hoist & shackle, or the like?

Comments

  1. Shira SalamoneFebruary 24, 2014 at 4:32 PM

    "Is there any way to move the goalposts back, or will the Orthodox community continue mandating unfounded chumrot?" Good luck with that. :(

    "If people really want a dividing line on meat, why can't it be about things like humane treatment of the animals?"

    Fun dein moil un G-tt's oir arein--from your mouth to G-d's ear! But who cares what *I* think? As you were saying in your next post, I just a "Conservative apikorus." (Yep, I get that flack on my blog every other day.)



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