In last week's issue the Forward continued its seemingly relentless attack on Torah observance and those who facilitate it. This time the target was shechita and the Rubashkin family's AgriProcessor plant, which was the subject, a year-and-a-half ago and again in March of this year, of abuse at the hands of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) which distributed on its web-page grisly films of cattle slaughtered at the AgriProcessors' plant in Postville, Iowa.

A Forward reporter claimed to have visited the Postville plant and found that a largely Hispanic crew of 800 workers (whom he called "impoverished humans") was being abused on the job, forced to live in cramped and squalid living quarters, "shortchanged" on its paychecks, and deprived of safety training and health care. The front-page headline called the AgriProcessors plant a "Kosher 'Jungle' " and declared that the employees suffered "Fear, Injury, Short Pay."

The only problem with this expose is that it is, according to current eyewitness testimony, totally false. Rabbi Asher Zeilingold of St. Paul, Minnesota, who was concerned about the story because he does some hashgachas for AgriProcessors, took it on himself to visit the Postville plant with a Spanish-speaking congregant of his synagogue. His first-person account - which puts the lie to the Forward's allegations - will be featured in next week's Jewish Press. Here are a few highlights:

The Forwardstory speaks of employees being forced to live in overcrowded apartments. Yet, this was totally belied by Rabbi Zeilingold and personally witnessed and was told by employees.

The Forwardstory also represents that AgriProcessors pays most of its employees about $6.00 per hour. However, the 20 workers Rabbi Zeilingold met earned between $8.50 and $9.50 per hour.

The 20 Hispanic employees Rabbi Zeilingold saw also categorically denied that any supervisor was "bribed" or that "bribes" were necessary to obtain better shifts as claimed in the Forward story.

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Further, contrary to the assertion in the Forward story, there is a free clinic available to the workers for routine medical services. The employees are also given the opportunity to purchase medical insurance for more serious medical needs. The interviewed employees also said they had been given substantial safety training.

In addition, Federal labor laws allow employees to choose whether they want to be unionized in a free and fair election. AgriProcessors' employees voted not to be unionized, and it is not surprising that the union organizer, who is quoted in the Forward piece so negatively towards AgriProcessors, is bitter over the union's loss at the polls.

Rabbi Zeilingold visited the employees' bathroom and did not find it "damp and dirty" as the Forward claimed.

Rabbi Zeilingold and his Spanish-speaking congregant, Dr. Carlos Carbonera, returned from their first-hand inspection of the AgriProcessors plant and its treatment of Hispanic employees with the firm conviction that the employees are treated well and respectfully and that the Forward reporter - who does not even indicate whether he speaks Spanish and whether he had a Spanish interpreter with him - provided the Forward's readers with an incendiary and totally false picture of conditions in Postville.

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Finally the truth
Date 01:06, 06-1, 06

Finally the truth comes out. Thank you.
Yaakov Weiss

Are You Kidding Me?
Date 02:11, 11-3, 08

I work at Agriprocessors and I will be the first person standing in line to tell you that The Forward has it correct not The Jewish Press. Was this Rabbi paid off like Postville? There is no free clinic and with the wages that Agriprocessors pays, who can afford the health insurance. There is no training at ALL. If any of this story was true, these employees are scared and don't want to lose their jobs. About the union, I have a memo put out by Agriprocessors telling the hispanics that the union is a syndicate and do not talk to them. There is no equal opportunity in this company and hasn't been for years. I have been there for 3 years so I am not seeing this with blinders on. I am not hispanic but I can tell you that they were and are abused. Stop the lying and help everyone that is about the lose their jobs and not be able to feed their families while the Rubashkins celebrate the day of court.
Don't tell me or anyone else this garbage is true because it is not true. We were getting charged for things on our checks that shouldn't have been and if you did say anything, your job was threatened.
There are no jobs in this area so looking for other work is not possible, therefore you want to keep what you have even if you are being abused.