the majority of men in the origin of the Kashruth Association were not motivated by high principles and that the majority of rabbis joined because they were afraid to stay out and not because they wanted to be in the Association.
“You will also recall that you told me over the telephone that your father-in-law, Mr. Fischel, had urged you not to perform this service of protecting the people of New York on the Kashruth matter for the Kosher Butchers Association.
“You will also recall that you told me of similar requests being made on you by other people, including Rottenberg personally; and that you feared the pressure that could prevent you from doing what you said you wanted to do, namely to accept the proposal made to you.
“I am construed to believe that you simply did not have the strength to stand up under pressure—and that this lack of strength, not a communal viewpoint, is the reason for your conclusion.
“As to the attitude of the Administrative Committee of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, I am only surprised at your statement that they feel that the Kashruth Association should be given a greater opportunity to function.
“They expressed the very same attitude toward the Kashruth Association that both you and I agreed upon—and they seemed to feel that the Jewish community would be better off without that organization,” Mr. Sapiro asserts.
The conflict between the Masters Kosher Butchers Association and the Kashruth Association of Greater New York arose because the former organization declared its opposition “to taxation without representation.” The Master Butchers claim that the Association refused its demand for representation. The Kashruth Association, according the the Butchers, would require its members to sign a contract for an indefinite period, to purchase products from dealers designated by it. Membership would also obligate the butchers to obey all the rules of the Association under penalty of having the Association insignia, denoting Kashruth, withdrawn at a day’s notice.
The Butchers assert the insignia would be withdrawn not because the butchers sell non-kosher products but simply because they are unwilling to pay the prices designated by the Association.
The Kashruth Association is an outgrowth of the Mayor’s Kashruth Committee appointed in 1931 by former Mayor Walker as a fact-finding body. Its plan of Kashruth supervision is scheduled to be put in operation on January 1st, 1933. The Association consists of lay leaders and 218 rabbis of New York.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
