Founded on the principle that we are what we eat, Magen Tzedek is an ethical seal signifying that kosher food has been prepared with care and integrity. Products carrying the Magen Tzedek seal reflect the highest standard on a variety of important issues: employee wages and benefits, health and safety, animal welfare, corporate transparency and environmental impact. A concept that grows more relevant with every passing day, Magen Tzedek demonstrates that ritual and ethical commandments have an equal place at our tables.
The Magen Tzedek garnered attention from many Orthodox Jews, particularly from the organization of Agudath Israel. Agudath Israel accused those heading the Magen Tzedek initative of "redefining kashrut," that "the Conservative movement has no respect for halacha," and concluded by calling Magen Tzedek "a falsification of Jewish heritage."
You would think that you couldn't politicize something like food, particularly in a religious context, but that's exactly what is happening here. Up until approximately the 1950s, the differences between the Conservative and Orthodox movements were subtle. That changed with the creation of suburbia. The American dream to live in a nice, big home with a lawn and white picket fences was too alluring. As such, Conservative communities lived further and further apart, which caused strains on the Conservative movement in terms of being able to maintain "the traditional lifestyle." Nowadays, the Conservative movement looks much more like the Reform movement than it does the Orthodox. The Magen Tzedek initative is nothing less than the Conservative movement trying to re-gain validity as a movement. Since the Orthodox have became the "gatekeepers of Judaism" and have monopolistically declared that they are "halachic Judaism," they don't want to relinquish any of that validity or power to non-Orthodox movements.
The Orthodox are correct that kashrut strictly has to do with dietary restrictions. However, the Conservative movement is also correct to say that the Magen Tzedek is not to replace the traditional concept of kashrut. I agree with that statement. We should not give up the traditional sense of kashrut because it is an institution that helps define Jews and Judaism. However, to dismiss the concerns brought up by the Conservative movement (see this responsum for more details) is to dismiss other Jewish values. Treating animals with kindness, workers with dignity, and considerations for the environment are just as much Jewish values as kashrut.
This is more than a threat on the Orthodox monopoly of the definition of halacha. What one has to keep in mind is that Orthodoxy, like any form of fundamentalism, predicates itself upon bifurcation. It's either a simplistic "yes or no" and "black or white" type of answer. There is no grey in the middle. How does this relate to kashrut? In the traditional sense of kashrut, either a certain food is kosher or it is not kosher. You can't ask if a pig is kosher and answer with "maybe." We know that pig is treif. If the Orthodox got past their cognitive dissonance and accepted these values as part of their consumption decisions, it would complicate matters greatly. Which values take precedence? For instance, let's say that there is a product that has the Orthodox Union hechsher, but we all know that the workers that produced the product are treated very poorly by their employer. Do we buy it because it is prepared according the laws of kashrut or do we decide to not buy it because it violates the mitzvah of לא תלין? Ethics are more difficult to control than ritual, which is why the Orthodox would prefer to keep the matter a ritualistic one.
I do, however have a couple of issues with Magen Tzedek. One is the practical issue of enforceability. Without being Big Brother, how are you going to be certain that a given business is following those standards? Also, how do we determine what those standards are in the first place? Furthermore, I take issue with the fact that most Jews who consume kosher products are Orthodox. They're not going to want what they perceive as a heresy next to the current hechshers. It would be bad business for hechshers as Orthodox Union and Star-K. Finally, I don't think this is going to encourage kosher consumption, which is one of the primary reasons for this initiative to begin with. Although it's a bold endeavor, I nevertheless that it doesn't get at the root causes that have made most Jews non-observant.
I would hope that we can set aside food politics to our utmost to have Jews embrace Jewish values in all facets of their life.
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