We are.
Let me explain.
Rav Shraga Feivel Zimmerman, the current Chief Rabbi of Gateshead, England, spoke in the aftermath of a major kashrut scandal which rocked Monsey, N.Y., in 2006. He recalled the story of the Prophet Jonah that we read on Yom Kippur afternoon. The story describes a huge storm that was capable of overturning the ship. Everyone on the boat was frightened and took out their idols. They started praying to the idols. When that didn't work they woke up Jonah. What did he say about the raging storm? "It's because of me."
Jonah could have easily blamed the storm on the boat full of idol worshippers. Perhaps his presence on the boat was a mere accident, and the boat was destined for doom. No, Jonah said that responsibility is mine.
In the wake of the Doheny "Kosher" Meat scandal, it is also our responsibility.
Of course people are mad and want to find someone to blame. After all, anyone who ate Doheny meat, whether bought from the store or eaten through of the many restaurants and caterers that sourced their meat there, consumed food that was potentially trief (not kosher).
Yet, let's remember that the Prophet Jonah says, "it's because of me." We read this on Yom Kippur to remind us that we need to take responsibility, and need to do a soul searching.
As it says in the Talmud, it is not the mouse that is the thief, it is the hole.
We are all looking for a mouse to blame. It was the mashgiach, it was the rabbi, it was the agency. But the mashgiach as far as we know was just doing his job. The rabbi, head of the RCC, Rabbi Vann, who I know and admire, was doing his best according to the laws laid out in the Shulchan Aruch. While people might say, "if it had been me I would have behaved differently," the answer is likely, "no." We would have followed the same practices as the vast majority of kosher agencies.
The fact of the matter is that if while we may have eaten something that was treif, this was done by accident. We didn't knowingly buy treif meat, it was sold or served to us. Our responsibility doesn't lie in consuming the treif products -- it lies in allowing this to happen.
The hole in our Kashrut system is two-fold. First and foremost is the system of repackaging. Not so long ago, and still with a few meat producers, the animals were slaughtered and packaged at the slaughterhouse. Now, nothing is sold directly. The slaughter houses sell it to wholesalers, who sell it to distributors, who sell it to businesses and then ultimately to the consumer. As long as this system is in place, there will be thieves along the way that will be tempted to make a profit. This not just the case in the meat industry, but other areas of our our kosher food industry.
Secondly, if there were a serious demand for the strictest regulations governing kosher meat, or any other products, this would not have happened. The market always responds to the needs of the consumers. If consumers, businesses, and the like had demanded stricter controls, then we would have them. Instead, people are looking constantly for the cheapest meat, and not concerned with the way it got to the meat section.
Our immediate responsibility is to plug the holes in our kosher system, a system which is handled outside the view of the consumer, with little or no consumer oversight. In addition we must demand that companies do business differently. A review needs to be done on every level, with oversight by rabbinical experts who are ideally not part of any Los Angeles kosher supervision organizations, in order to approach this issue with the utmost impartiality.
We also need to avoid this becoming an opportunity for rifts in the community. That is exactly what the forces of negativity, the sitra achra, wants from us -- divisions, blame and schisms. We must be wary of self-serving individuals who use this tragedy as an opportunity for personal gain. We need to take this opportunity to come together and stronger as a community. There is nothing more that pleases God, says our ancient tradition, than to see Jews coming together, solving problems amicably, and treating each other with dignity and respect.
The lengthy discussion of the spiritual implications and the halachic implications of what to do with your kitchen items will be dealt with in a forthcoming article. For the meantime, until more information is available, don't use meat purchased after 3 p.m. from Doheny, and wait until a serious halachic decision is agreed upon by a majority of the cities rabbinic authorities in consultation with worldwide kosher experts to know what to do with your kitchen.