Agudath Israel Of America Rejects “Hekhsher Tzedek”

Agudath Israel of America has issued a statement rejecting the Conservative movement’s “Hekhsher Tzedek” initiative.

"Agudath Israel of America regards the Hekhsher Tzedek idea as misguided and misleading," the group said in a press release today. "It rests upon, and will likely foster, a distorted understanding of kashrus, and a corruption of the Halachic process itself."

"As Conservative leaders have done time and time again in a variety of modern-day contexts, they are paying lip service to Halacha while in fact seeking to reshape it," the group alleged. "The “Hekhsher Tzedek” is simply the latest manifestation of Conservative leaders’ tradition of exchanging Divine mandates for contemporary constructs."